The city of Exupery in the northwestern part of the continent was covered by lingering, undispersed black ash and smoke.
Madeline stood before an Only-Olin pawnshop in the alley behind the city hall.
She didn’t know why, but even though all the other shops had been closed, smashed, and looted, this pawnshop in front of her still stood firm like a lone tree in the storm.
“Selling something too? ” a man interjected as he walked over with his hands in his pockets.
The woman touched her diamond ring, pursed her lips, took two steps back, glanced at the smoke of war in the city, and then quickly walked into the pawnshop that looked like a shabby store.
Inside was a noisy clamor: radios, steel basins, centuries-old ceramic jars, exquisite fountain pens, and even national medals were all being handed over the counter.
Yet, without exception, they all received a decent return, though most chose the universal black bread and medicine.
-｛Distributor March: Pride Spirit is watching my current life experience.｝
With the sound echoing in his heart, the young assistant looked up.
Madeleine, whose face was still pretty, handed over the ring. The young man gave her a couple of extra glances, took it with his slender fingers, and looked at the two names engraved inside. Then he looked up at the woman.
“I’ll keep this for you. Um, this is a very valuable diamond ring. Until this shop temporarily closes, you can come and collect a bag of food every two days. Or the equivalent in other medicines and daily necessities. “
“Thank you, sir. ” Madeleine couldn’t believe there were still such kind people at a time like this.
It was clear that the shop in front of her was basically offering aid to people like her. She guessed that the reason they still maintained the pawnbroking service might be because without it, the shop would go bankrupt immediately under the flood of people seeking free handouts.
“Also, you can help out here in the shop today, ” the young man said.
“Huh? ” The woman looked at the assistant behind the counter in surprise. “Really, sir? “
The shop owner glanced at the young man beside him, then looked outside the door at the man with his hands stuck in his pockets, scanning the street left and right, and broke into a faint smile.
But then the sound of a few cannon blasts echoed from the street, plunging everyone inside the house into chaos amid the tremors.
“—Everyone, head south together! Either fight tooth and nail to seize land to survive, or stay put and wait to die right here! Come on! General Pierre is waiting for those who want to live on! “
“And who is this Pierre supposed to be? “
In the jostling crowd, people hesitated and then ran to the doorway to take a look.
This was far from the first group of people heading south these past few days to seize land.
In the first few days, that real army indeed attracted the following of over thirty thousand young men and women from the city, but they gathered and engaged in looting due to a lack of supplies. Rumor had it that within less than two days, the casualties… triggered the emergence of demons from underground.
Rumors said that the force, having barely traveled a few dozen miles and swelled to nearly fifty thousand, encountered resistance in Crisp Rock Town. Not long after the chaos began, everyone had their bodies pierced by iron vines, their flesh and blood sucked dry, leaving only tattered human skins hanging across the wilderness.
Today, Crisp Rock Town has become a quiet patch of soil, not even the birds and beasts having been spared.
Suddenly, a sharp-eyed man pushed through the crowd and entered the shop, whose door was made of a wooden plank. He glanced around at the people inside and said to the shopkeeper,
“I’ve taken on a mission to evacuate all the citizens here. Or, well, the living creatures. “
……
An officer with a major general’s rank insignia on his shoulder plates, holding a map and some telegraph documents in his hands, stepped into the candle-lit room.
“Another city that will cease to exist from now on. “
Several figures sitting by the table, some smoking and others drinking tea, looked up at the speaker. “You mean, the demonic figure of the Doom Ironvine has appeared again? “
“Which unlucky bastard is it this time?” asked a man with reddish-brown hair, his arms crossed.
“Don’t joke around. ” The man holding the map gave him a scornful look.
The reddish-brown haired speaker stood up in a crooked manner, letting out a sneer:
“If I remember correctly, this is already the twenty-somethingth or thirtieth mass death incident in the area? Well, I’m talking about this week’s. “
“Indeed, the Ironvine Fiends are increasingly easier to spawn from the underground. “
The people around all murmured a few words of discussion.
“And the range is even larger. When our survey team went to measure, the bone-chilling cold nearly covered an area of twenty to thirty, or even fifty to sixty kilometers in radius. “
“The land, strewn everywhere with catkin-like fluttering biological tissues, is simply indescribable by the term ‘uninhabited wilderness’. “
As he narrated, a creepy chill began to permeate the room.
“Those scenes are truly horrifying. It’s no exaggeration to call it a massacre that doesn’t even spare insects like ants. “
“Damn it… ” A man, reading the newly arrived record file in his hand, clenched his fist.
“Should we show these to the Fogfolk? ” Amidst the silence of reading, a person with the marshal rank insignia of another nation on their shoulder looked up and said.
“The Fogfolk? Hah. ” A woman by the table let out a laugh. “What else can they do besides burrowing tunnels in the ground and plastering propaganda banners in the sky? “
“At least their tunnels are dug deep and far, and their propaganda coverage is wide enough, pacifying the hearts of many who might otherwise breed chaos. Not like some nation’s leaders, cowering in some despicable bunker. “
“Hmph. ” The woman glanced at the Marshal of the Grand Duchy who had spoken.
“Send me a copy of all the documents.” The old man by the table, who was not particularly noticeable, said to the distributor.
As the State Council President of the Stelo Republic spoke, the Major General nodded and handed over a copy of the detailed documents in his hand.
“Hold on, give me a copy too.“
The State Council President of the Stelo Republic looked up towards the figure under the shadow of the lamplight across the table – a deputy mayor from the city of Waldestadt.
Their gazes met, and both instinctively glanced at each other’s ears, a flicker of alarm passing through them in an instant.
Within a silent breath, they both averted their eyes. The old man offered a faint, pursed smile, while the deputy mayor gave a slight nod, tapping his fingers twice.
This subtle exchange went unnoticed by those around them, who were still lost in the shadow of death.
The demons, appearing with increasing speed and frequency due to the chaos, only served to further stoke the world’s disturbances into a greater frenzy.
Countless souls, desperate for a chance to survive even amidst despair, made a gambler’s choice. Though they knew that fleeing south would likely mean death on the road or amid the violent unrest, they still chose to take the risk.
The more this happened, the more frequently demons of the apocalypse manifested ahead of time.
These past few days, tens or even hundreds of thousands of commoners have been losing their lives; it is a desperate dead end, a fate more terrifying than anything else in the world.
……
Lately, almost every day, a complete dossier with the latest intelligence on the turbulence spreading among the populace of the continent’s nations gets delivered to this informal World Ark office building, adjacent to the Parliament of Steffin.
The buzz here has completely surpassed that of the Imperial Parliament.
Rescued Krun citizens, empire elites, and many more “Fogfolk” arriving from across the earth through various means all circulate here, so much so that even the surrounding administrative buildings and high-end neighborhoods have become … in this apocalypse … highly sought-after … dwellings with a bizarre, fervent aura for the elite.
“Strange, today’s delivery has arrived.“
Bai Yuan, wearing a cap and a plain long coat, walks into the room.
Yang Zicang, who was studying a file on the Old Angel Foundation, closes the book in his hand, turning his attention to the booklet placed at his side.
“For someone to collect first-hand data so swiftly on the doom-ferromonstera outburst across most of the continent—they simply can’t be an unknown organization without a name.“
Hei Yang, who resembles a refined lady flipping through a magazine in the room’s corner, gets up and walks over. She stands next to Bai Yuan, staring at the document:
“Mr. Bai Zilong, are you still in the dark about who’s been sending these materials?“
Bai Yuan raises his hand, covering his mouth, and emits a couple of weak coughing sounds, like someone chronically ill, as he says in an exhausted tone:
“I don’t know, eh. Anyway, today I was stationed outside the Security Office door, and it turned out to be another person who received a request for help who brought it. And the people who deliver the letters are all very willing to help the World Ark, and their descriptions of that person are all very normal and ordinary. “
“But we just can’t find him. ” Yang Zicang said as he looked at the materials. Then he lifted his head to glance at the two people in front of him.
Perhaps because he didn’t bring his own change of clothes, Miss Hei Yang was wearing an ordinary cotton knit sweater from/ Steelefen, while Bai Yuan, who insisted on being addressed by his new name “Bai Zilong, ” was also wearing a common blue jacket that served as a work uniform.
The two of them were not in their usual black and white attire.
Dereiano and a puzzled Zorro walked in.
The rough and heroic man said:
“Maybe it’s some kind of local organization, tracking the events of the ?? Magic Vine ?? outbreak. “
“Maybe they sent it to us just to try and get a piece of some ?? Glory ?? or ?? Rainbow ?? possible benefits. “
“In that case, if they want to find some way in the final moments to protect more people… Us too… ” Yang Zicang sighed with a hint of heaviness. “We are also helpless. “
“We are also at our wit’s end. “
Suddenly, Zorro looked at his watch.
“One of the brothers/friends intends to provide some information to our World Ark. “
Dereiano glanced his way, his expression shifting slightly:
“Oh? So it seems they’ve figured out somewhere that you’re a member of our core team. “
……
Shortly after, the man with a faint scar on his brow and the space between them, though his features were still quite handsome, returned.
He furrowed his brow tightly as he flipped through a document in his hand.
“What’s wrong? “
Zorro presented the documents in his hand. The eyes of the several people present shifted slightly.
Except for the paper and font, the content of the two documents was exactly the same!
This new one was also annotated with some incremental data on the Iron Thistle Eruption in recent days, along with place names and approximate counts of civilian casualties.
“Your friend… ” Yang Zicang looked up.
Zorro shook his head gently.
“It’s the rule, ” said Dereiano from the side. “Unless our brothers actively seek help, we don’t interfere with their operations. “
“So, the current situation is that within a certain organization, there are two different people providing us with the same information? “
Yang Zicang glanced at the others present and said in a deep voice:
“Whatever that organization is, let’s not leak this matter. They could very well be in opposing camps. “
“Makes sense, but our focus now should be on the screening technology… “
Knock, knock, knock.
The murmur of discussion quieted down. The group turned around. “Come in. “
The painted dark brown solid wood door was pushed open. A staff member from the State Affairs Office, wearing a blue fabric uniform, stuck his head in and said:
“Honorable President, there is a letter addressed to you that arrived at our office. “
“Oh? ” Everyone let out a soft exclamation of surprise.
Yang Zicang glanced at the two identical documents on the table, stood up, walked over to take the letter, expressed his thanks, closed the door, tore open the envelope, unfolded it, and began to read.
—To my beloved friend, the President of the Qingying Gazette, Comrade Yang Buchen…
Yang Zicang’s fingers tightened slightly.
—I am Edgar Jin Christie.
“……“
“Haha, seems like today is letter-delivery day. ” A few footsteps approached. “Who is it? “
Yang Zicang flipped the envelope over to look at the front.
“A friend from this continent of mine. “
The sender’s address was already from the small central continental country of Duntelin.
This indicates that since leaving the Grand Duchy, Jin Kelaist had spanned nearly half the continent’s distance in two months amidst various upheavals, and was about to cross the Jisuo Mountains.
But now he was trapped in a small local city.
“What does he want to do? ” Bai Yuan asked.
Yang Zicang hesitated slightly before saying:
“Perhaps they have encountered the crisis of uprisings erupting everywhere and want to seek my help. But… that might not be it either. “
He kept turning the envelope over in his hands, observing it—not bad that such an item could be successfully delivered to the State religious Federation Congress.
“Then I’ll go bring him over here. ” Bai Yuan immediately declared with confidence.
“Hmm, it’s a bit strange. ” Yang Zicang walked toward the chair, looked at the latter again, and said:
“He didn’t ask me to take him far away; instead… he wanted to entrust me with a favor, and a request proposed by the biologist traveling with him. He wants to discuss it in person. “
“A biologist and their plea? “, “They were confused and asked what it was about. “
Several of them said, ” “… We’ve had more than enough to do recently,’ Yang whispered past lips to reach Black Finch while the latter waited further, “That task of yours playing solo from a different location wouldn’t feel fair anyway perhaps maybe get them here instead regardless routes wouldn’t be an alternative earlier choice and uniting ways efficiently appear. ” suggested Hei Yang nearby.
Bai Yuan immediately coughed a few times, feigning illness. The woman shot him a glance mixed with disdain and curiosity.
……
The now-defunct Kimbe Institute of Technology had only one person left to prove its legacy—its old principal, Kim·Ferrmann. Dressed in a freshly made suit, he stood dignified inside a spacious, large shelter.
Several old-timers from the lab stood around him.
“My long life of mere survival has finally earned back a fare worthy of it. “
The centenarian Kim·Ferrmann looked at the documents scattered on the table, reports on the ever-spreading Doomsday Demon Vine. Every time he received a new file, it meant another string of zeros had been added to the numbers above—lives lost, scale increasing.
Every shift up a level represented the extinction of countless living beings.
A telephone rested on the table.
He turned to the old-timers beside him, left and right. They all watched him in silence.
Having originally wanted to say something more, Kim·Ferrmann gave a slight nod, stepped forward, then solemnly placed his palm on the telephone. After two seconds of silence, he cranked the handle swiftly.
“I am the initiator and final decision maker of the Kimbe Legacy Operation. Dr. Cruz·Kim·Ferrmann. “
The familiar sound of breathing came through the earpiece.
“Now, I confirm to Miss Zhao Man, the Blazing Radiance of Mist State, that the Kimbe Legacy Operation is officially starting from this moment. “
— “Confirmation received. “
— “The Legacy is in position. Kimbe Operation is green. Please issue final confirmation. “
Kim·Ferrmann opened his mouth. The old-timers around him slowly drew closer.
“This uncertain future is not something you should bear alone. “
Several people reached out and placed their hands on his shoulders.
“We confirm. “
……
After some chaos in various parts of the world, countless leaflets suddenly scattered down from the sky in medium-to-large cities with relatively smaller populations.
At this moment, residents who had already evacuated more than twenty kilometers away from the cities due to various reasons pushed by the Fogfolk looked at some charitable individuals who had been helping everyone in the cities recently, distributing strange leather clothing to the public.
Some radio stations across various countries were suddenly hijacked by a large number of signal interferences.
— “We are the Jinbei Heritage Action Group, now broadcasting worldwide! Personnel in the following cities, please leave the urban area to at least twenty kilometers within twenty-nine minutes, and you must cover your heads and lie on the ground. The regions are… “
A long list of city names spread amid the astonishment of many people suddenly receiving this broadcast.
In the World Ark office within Steffin, Yang Zicang and others looked curiously at this suddenly appearing intelligence document and listened to the sound coming from the radio they had brought over.
“Jinbei Heritage, what kind of organization is that? “
“What’s going to happen? “
People nervously looked at the radio that kept broadcasting city names.
— “The Jinbei Heritage Action is dedicated to seeking a possibility of continuation for the destruction of the world. The above cities will become shelters for the apocalypse in twenty-five minutes… “
“There’s even a plan against the apocalypse! “
The office instantly fell into chaos.
“In twenty-five minutes, what will happen? “
People gathered around the machine in shock.
Some nearby town residents who received the broadcast began standing in the distance, peering at the distant horizon.
The large number of Fogfolk gathered near the World Ark’s office area panicked into motion all at once.
Like frightened rabbits, they were eager to rush to the nearby city of Steffin that had been announced on the broadcast.
Yang Zicang and some camera equipment were hastily lifted into the air, and by means of an airship from the World Ark, were sped towards Schrock City near the Imperial Capital.
— “Five minutes remaining, please evacuate all personnel in the nearby airspace. “
Inside the porthole, the crowd leaned against the modified glass panes, gazing out at the empty metropolis on the ground below, which lay like a gray-black rigid scar covering the blurred horizon of the hills.
In the distance, a pilotless propeller plane flew towards the city’s sky.
“That is… “
“It’s a distance counter driven by a propeller! A self-destructing aircraft that automatically cuts the engine power to crash land upon reaching its preset target distance! “
The sky and the ground, and even the tens of thousands of gazes watching this sudden event through emergency broadcasts, all focused on that tiny, black shadow of an aircraft as it reached the city’s sky.
“Could what they’re doing be related to this? “
But what could it be? People everywhere in the world stared, uncomprehending, at the fading black shadow of the aircraft.
The black dot abruptly lost power and began to fall!
Amidst everyone’s fixed stares, a flash lit up on the ground!
In an instant, the entire world was bleached to pure white!
The air was suddenly compressed and then split apart by the explosion.
Then a thunderous roar violently swept across the land, shaking all directions. A blinding flash that could obliterate an entire city in an instant exploded from the horizon with an expanding ring of air. The flames following the flash were rapidly pulled and spread into the vacuum left in the clouds, forming a golden scallop-shaped cloud.
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