Dark clouds filled the sky.
Beneath the city, all the gathered and queued civilians, the soldiers igniting some outdoor stalled vehicles, and the well-dressed crowd assembling within the barrier of the Imperial Court were left in awe.
At this moment, they were all filled with a sense of vastness as they gazed at the rolling black waves of clouds on the horizon.
“A rainstorm? “
Among the rolling, wave-like dark clouds, Colonel Goldlion aboard theDestruction Numberturned his head to look at these clouds that had gathered at some unknown time.
Suddenly, he felt the Science Demon aircraft emitting a sinister aura, rapidly compressing within the cabin and deflecting a portion of the unknown energy hurtling towards it.
“Our communication equipment is completely destroyed. ” The pilot took off his headset and tossed it aside. “What exactly was that thing? Do you know, Mr. Ginse? “
“Possibly an enemy with a special bloodline. Only that kind of eerie power is beyond our understanding and explanation. “
Suddenly, the aircraft shuddered, as if it had struck something semi-solid. The colonel was startled to see stains appearing on the glass canopy.
He then discovered the stains seemed to have splattered outward from an explosion inside the cabin.
“What is this?! “
As the pilot in front cried out in alarm, Colonel Ginse stared wide-eyed as a fleeting, vaporous figure materialized at the pilot’s seat. It screamed soundlessly in agony, its skin bulging and bursting erratically in places.
Eska immediately recalled the files on this very aircraft he had once read.
The grainy black-and-white document photos contained precious records left from that incident.
This scene before him was almost identical to the depiction of that anomaly moment in the records.
Beneath the pitch-black clouds, the aircraft’s roar echoed for over ten li as it tilted forward. A pitch-black shadow jumped down from above. After a short fall, its parachute billowed open high above, and the figure drifted slowly down toward the dark, silent, and abyssal earth.
……
Under the protection of the lampshade, the candlelight flickered, illuminating Prince Chuer and others within the force field barrier. They looked up as panicked screams suddenly rang out.
Prince Chuer shook his head. When he looked up again, a noticeably agitated woman beside him bumped into a high-ranking official, who was bending sideways to wipe his eyes with a handkerchief. This man’s thigh then unsteadily jostled against Prince Chuer in the crowd, causing the already distracted prince to instinctively reach for support.
Before the glass lampshade was pressed down by the man’s hand, the nearby Blood Warrior reacted swiftly to block it in advance.
Then, Sarichion Hazelton seemingly saw, amidst a haze of overlapping phantasmagoric visions—whether two or many—someone had delivered the documents prepared by his father.
He saw the messenger’s files being urgently transferred into the barrier, whereupon many people eagerly began to read them. Afterward, everyone present became shrouded in an indescribable terror… their faces grew indistinct, skin revealing hints of skeletal contours as they looked upward.
Hard vines seemed to bulge and weave beneath the ground underfoot.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince. ” Hazelton woke with a start to see a young man in a black uniform riding a bicycle from the rear and flank, who dropped the bike and ran toward this side, a thickly stuffed document pouch waving in one arm.
Amidst chaotic hustle before the barrier, the documents were passed inward from outside.
At the room’s entrance, Shadowfolk—including Semith and several others—rushed out toward the house, trying to take shelter in the B&B.
Just at that moment, from the dark interior, amidst the fire-blasted gauze and its receding curls, Zhao Anlong of the bloodstained coat and Zhao Xuemei of the distinct crisp lake-blue attire emerged.
Followed from further still in their slipstream’s darkness, came Kim Clister, clad in his bloodied armor, along with, there trotted his she-gunship shadow’s familiar engineered helper, guard.
The moment Kleist appeared in the air thick with a simmering heat, he felt as though his body was being pierced by some energy, and he looked down at his trembling skin.
Suddenly, the metallic mechanical figure beside him let out a mechanical whir. Its two legs stabbed into the ground, and the orange energy in its eyes receded and vanished. Yet, inside its entire body, parts began to click and clatter, transmitting faint collision energies into the ground in a certain frequency, like a telegraph signal.
A figure clad in a specially crafted, dark suit of armor stepped out of a swirling black portal that materialized in the doorway and landed lightly on the ground before Zhao Anlong.
The masked man asked in a deep voice:
“Do you have any way to deal with him? Otherwise, the world will inevitably end in another paroxysm of destruction. “
As soon as he finished, Zhao Xuemei suddenly noticed Zhao Anlong’s face illuminate, blown brighter by a spreading energy.
Inside and outside the room, many people looked down at the skin on their hands. It began to show anomalies, as if directly rotting and decomposing in the air.
Inside the energy shield, Saritsine, who had taken the documents and pushed through the crowd to read, looked somewhat confused at the annual summary report on the man named President Yangliner he now held in his hands.
He seemed quite ordinary—merely the founder of a wandering knight order from that forgotten era.
Then, turning his head, he noticed a crowd mingled nearby comprised of people from every social stratum gathered there. They were staring in fear down at the abnormalities on their own clothes.
Buildings throughout the city began to shift from solid to ethereal, while the phantom of Tarkos City, which had been gradually dislocating from the original structures, started transitioning from transparency to a somber darkness.
Some weary and dazed people saw that this increasingly revealed city, steeped in a more profound atmosphere, seemed to showcase and foreshadow what they would only witness years in the future—a prophecy where their own traces had already vanished.
……
In the faint shadow of light and darkness.
Cuckoo silently watched from a height as Sword Thirteen gripped his weapon, slowly edging along the dim, faintly orange crystalline corridor, warily turning sideways to survey the still air around him.
…
Click-clack. Click-clack.
Sigurd and Yang Zicang both looked toward the corridor of orange crystal grids beside them.
A multi-faceted metal machinist, taller by one leg than a stool and large, with a spider-like structure, walked over from the other end of the passage.
On one of its larger diamond-shaped surfaces, rows of old, dark, small metal circular granules, rich with primal rusticity, contracted and protruded in sequence with mechanical kinetic force, displaying some simple text.
Sigurd turned his head to look at Yang Zicang. “One bad news. “
“Bad news? “
Yang Zicang, feeling a certain indescribable sensation gathering in his chest, looked up at him.
“You just laid out four plans. “
“Yeah. “
“So, do you know if anyone is getting a fifth contingency plan for the apocalypse ready? “
Sigurd glanced sideways at the words continuing to appear on the machine, then turned back to Yang Zicang and said:
“A rather big problem has emerged in your world. “
“A big problem? ” Yang Zicang asked.
Behind him, a few people saw that somewhat peculiar machine had stopped beside the Equipment Maintainer; thus, Kevin and Page walked over to Yang Zicang and the others, who had already been chatting for a few minutes.
“Invasion, security, multiple, large, architecture, danger, danger — that’s all the content. “
As the mechanical spider-like guardian on the high stool rotated a polyhedron, aiming it at the text Yang Zicang didn’t recognize, the Equipment Maintainer continued:
“Translated, it means: your large city with many buildings is in great danger. “
Upon hearing this, Yang Zicang instantly felt a surge of worry in his heart, but he held back his emotions.
Kevin and Page moved closer, behind the Equipment Maintainer.
“Compared to them, I don’t have much strategy, ” Yang Zicang said. “But I do have a small plan of my own. “
“Oh? ” Beneath the Equipment Maintainer’s helmet, light orange pupils stared at the young man before him.
“Hey, President Buchen. What are you two whispering about over there? ” Kevin raised his arm and called out.
“Ah, haha… ” Yang Zicang scratched his head with an awkward grin. “Nothing much. Just thinking about how to get back to the surface. “
Seeing Yang Zicang’s response, the phoenix-like Phoenix-Perching Tree also paced over from behind.
Amidst Sigurd the Equipment Maintainer’s backward gaze, Yang Zicang scratched the back of his head with a bit of difficulty, then lowered his arm and spoke to the person before him.
“I… have a million-level item called the Heart’s Wish Charm. Could I exchange it with you for something?“
No sooner had he finished speaking than Yang Zicang saw a card fall with a softthudand land unexpectedly in his hand.
With a slight start of surprise, he looked at the card that seemed to have naturally found its way between his fingers. “Dwight Croft？“
The Equipment Maintainer fixed his gaze on Yang Zicang’s head for a moment, then looked straight ahead again.
“This is the first time I’ve heard of such a thing as a Heart’s Wish Charm. Might I have the honor of studying it a bit?“
Yang Zicang glanced at the approaching Phoenix-Perching Tree, then at the two people—Kevin, who had just walked over and looked somewhat confused at what he had heard.
“Of course.“
The young man raised his hand, and some flickering, zigzagging lines gathered at his fingertips, condensing into hexagonal snowflake-like particles. So it could be manifested like this now, Yang Zicang thought, as he handed the tiny piece, the size of a small fingernail, to Sigurd, who had extended his open palm.
Taking it, Sigurd felt it and a look of fleeting realization, like clouds parting from confusion, briefly cleared his eyes.
“Thank you for your generosity.“
Sigurd closed his palm with a snap, making the small crystal vanish within his grasp. “As for the equipment blueprints you require, they will be transmitted to the Mechanics in due course.“
Sigurd, clad in his dark armor, slowly raised his right arm and opened his palm.
A sharp gust of wind descended from a distant height!
Clang!
A steel vine, twisting like a snake, was caught in his grasp, the chain snapping taut as it straightened, revealing a dark, simple lightning-shaped spear at its tip.
“This is the first underground item I saw after waking up. “
Sigurd tilted his right palm, his left gauntlet slowly brushing across the front of the ancient spear.
“It might already have a name, so I didn’t give it one. “
Fenghuang tilted its head to look at it. Sigurd handed the spear to Yang Zicang, “It can take you out. Until you find its next owner, I entrust it to your care. “
Yang Zicang looked at the thing with a slightly strange feeling.
I should be hearing a voice in my mind telling me what this is, he thought as he reached out to take it, but no sound came, as if the model didn’t recognize it either.
Yet, some inherent sensation already told him how to break out of the crust with it.
For example… gripping it tightly.
Yang Zicang’s expression shifted as a sudden force tightened the muscles of his arm, launching him skyward like a rocket, breaking the sound barrier with a roar as he soared into the high sky.
Seeing this, Feng Ximu thought for a second, spread its wings, and transformed into flowing flames, following closely behind.
Below, Sigurd looked up, watching the black dot that had already vanished through the thin mist breaking through the towering crystal wall.
In the soil, Tayla sensed numerous iron vines surge around her like responding to a command, several waves tilting and shuttling in a certain direction. Fortunately, they did not attack her. The woman clutching the key strained to maintain her Stellar Yuan awareness, feeling the violent turmoil of these terrifying monsters.
Suddenly, she felt the dirt tremble slightly.
The Phoenix gradually caught up and enveloped Yang Zicang, who was barreling straight ahead at high speed underground.
“What do you plan to do? “
“I, uh… ” As soon as Yang Zicang opened his mouth, he felt fine mud rush into it. He immediately sealed his lips and held his breath, but he still struggled to work the air in his mouth, letting out muffled sounds. “Mm… mood… mmm… “
“What? “
“Mo… ment… “
The Phoenix wrapped around Yang Zicang fell silent for a few seconds. “Fine. I’m going to live a long time anyway, and there are flowers and grass everywhere. “
Yang Zicang squinted, his naturally twisted face turning even more incredulous as he looked at the shroud of flames enveloping him, helping to shield him and buy time against corrosion.
“When the Phoenix-Perching Tree borrowed my lifespan, it never repaid me. I’m not the kind to do things like that. “
After it spoke in the shape of a deformed fire phoenix, fine, densely flickering lines appeared within the radiant flame barrier, converging onto Yang Zicang. But before long, the Phoenix-Perching Tree screeched: “You even had the heart to leave me over a million? “
“Mmm… mm-yes. It is. “
The used bank card slipped from his hand during the high-speed collision. Yang Zicang wanted to rely on his ability to catch it, but he couldn’t anymore. This simple black lightning spear had already carried him anotherLiinto the air.
……
Suddenly, the entire world transformed into sound, crashing into his eardrums.
Amidst the rumbling roar, flames receded behind him, unable to catch up.
Yang Zicang, holding the spear and leaping into the sky, opened his eyes. Within his torn clothes, a hexagon and a heptagon on his chest slowly appeared and disappeared, interweaving with each other.
He looked at the mountains and valleys below. Under the strange aura that covered them, countless living beings were wailing.
“So much… the breath of death. “
Yang Zicang murmured. He looked into the distance, toward where Tarco should be. Some thunderclouds flickered faintly in the blurry distance, like a boundless horizon.
He aimed the spear in that direction. “What the hell happened? Can I still make it? “
As he charged forward, a subtle, jagged line of light flashed toward him and quickly vanished into nothing.
It was as if the person who sent that telepathic link didn’t really exist.
Flames surged diagonally upward from below.
“It’s already too late then. “
Yang Zicang looked at the sky and the earth with a sudden look of melancholy.
“My action can begin now. ” He sighed softly. In his mind, he recalled the image of himself shown by Liang Xi before his departure—the impression of revival burnt into being—before his eyes softened.
Ten millionTemporal-Plexuseswere rapidly consumed.
His arm muscles still gripped the long spear thrust toward the sky, and the force that bent and even held it horizontally was enough to keep him upright and suspended in the air.
“I have had enough experiences, and what is about to happen is also a part of this journey. “
After saying this, Yang Zicang’s skin began to tremble slightly.
“Holy Ring Council, I am beginning to gift the Authority Ring I am currently forging to every individual on the land of Mutu. “
The spreading fine cracks violently surged outward.
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