Chapter 156 Ascension in Broad Daylight (Part 1) The Middle-Aged Man's Fanaticism...
The middle-aged man's fervent words were met with considerable indifference from many in the audience, prompting numerous questions to arise:
"Is it really coming to this?" "The gains are only on paper, but the losses are very real. Is it worth it?" "This isn't the first time we've experienced eternal night. We did it before too..."
The man maintained a smile throughout, remaining noncommittal to the crowd's doubts. Only when he heard "the eternal night of yesteryear" did he raise his hand, and the air in the hall suddenly fell silent.
The person who had just spoken the loudest wanted to say something more, but under the prompting of his companion, he realized with alarm that the representatives of Quark Pharmaceuticals, Lange Communications, Trak Finance... these companies that had occupied leading positions in their respective industries since the establishment of the city-state had remained smiling and silent. The protesters were all emerging forces that had entered the upper city over the past three hundred years.
A strange chill ran through him, but the middle-aged man didn't look at him. In the silence of the room, he nodded, then nodded to the illusory figure on the long table.
"Next, let the city lord's representative arrange the follow-up actions."
The city lord? The city lord who never appears, whose fate is unknown?
A profound sense of astonishment gripped the protesters. At the center of their gazes stood the ethereal figure, a template smile on his face, seemingly oblivious to the undercurrents swirling on either side of the long table, his voice melodious and gentle:
"Hundreds of years ago, a great catastrophe struck, wiping out one-tenth of human civilization. Gray fog filled the sky, and the sun and moon disappeared. Humanity finally discovered that without light, even surviving was a luxury."
"Thus, the city-state rose from the ground, and the Sun Chasing Project officially began."
"I don't agree with you participating in the Sun Chasing Project!"
Bai Haoyan dejectedly tore at his hair, his voice already trembling with despair as he spoke, "...Is there really no other way? Have we really come to this point? The eternal night...the eternal night will come sooner or later..."
“Yes, Bert, we have reached the point where this is the only way. Humanity has reached the point where this is the only way.”
Sylvia's eyes were tired, and she lowered her head slightly as she spoke. Her soft blonde hair fell from her cheeks, reflecting a shimmering light in the dim room, as if it were glowing on its own.
"Fate is actually very generous to mankind. Even in the most desperate situations, there is still one choice: even in the future when eternal night is approaching, mankind can still raise its own sun."
Fragments of time in the spirit world appear by chance and disappear without warning.
After working so hard for half a day and only managing to capture such a short fragment, Du Yu let go of it, allowing it to return to the ripples of the spirit world, without any disappointment in his eyes.
Based on the information revealed in that fragment, along with the other fragments she painstakingly retrieved, Du Yu has been able to piece together the truth of what happened back then, almost completely.
The coming of the great catastrophe was foreshadowed, the first sign being the decline of the sun.
In order to unravel the mystery and also to save themselves, all forces united as never before. Humanity put aside all differences and jointly launched a lunar exploration program called "Yuanfu" in an attempt to find the reason for the sun's demise on the far side of the moon.
However, it was precisely this human exploration that prematurely triggered the cataclysm, and the struggle of a tiny race in the vast universe actually attracted the attention of [Source].
Thus civilization fell, and thus the sun collapsed.
Humanity's once vast tribes have been reduced to a small city-state, and even this small habitat is in constant danger of being destroyed.
The fragment just shown depicts this scene: threatened by eternal night, Icaria's mother and father, humanity's top scientists and the instigators of the lunar exploration program, are determined to use their last chance to raise the sun again.
Judging from the results, they succeeded.
Three hundred years later, the sun rises from the west every day, illuminating the entire City of the Sun Chaser through the gray fog.
But they also failed.
The seeds of disaster sown in haste have finally been ignited. The mad and desperate "Old Days" extinguished the stolen embers and personally brought eternal night to the world.
She shook her head with a sigh of disappointment. After exploring the spirit world for so long, she now only had one question left:
Sylvia's actions were clearly different from those of the Lord of the Pure Sea. Even the "Old Ones," who were personally declared insane by Icaria, could be considered upright in their actions. Both were fighting the Great Cataclysm, but the Lord of the Pure Sea chose to transfer the pollution to two other parallel worlds. While the original Water World was insane due to the Tai Sui, the City of the Sun's revelry lasted all night.
How did these two groups manage to fight the Great Cataclysm together? Was it limited cooperation, or did they oppose each other?
Du Yu's eyes darkened. Going back to the result, three hundred years later, the "Lord of the Pure Sea," who was clearly an evil god, had an ambiguous relationship with the council. Sylvia, who personally presided over the artificial sun project, was unknown to everyone. Her descendants even became leaders of the uprising against the city-state.
After much confusion, all the complex questions point to one simple question: Who exactly is the Lord of the Pure Sea?
"The self-imprisoned on both ends of the scales of fate, the source and end of the river of impure souls, the guardian of natural disasters, the lord of the realm!"
"You are the purifier of impurity, the guardian of destruction, the one and only in the infinite!"
"The unclean and despicable man falls to the ground in fear, begging you to enlighten this dull mind!"
In a huge glass fish tank, or rather, a glass swimming pool, a burly man with a bronze complexion swims naked, constantly changing his swimming style, the splashing waves resembling an unsinkable little boat.
Suddenly, Onsa Kebul stopped moving, his body remaining in a comical pose. The splash disappeared, and the person who had stopped swimming was now strangely floating on the surface of the water.
"host!"
Amidst the frenzied shouts, a silver voice appeared out of nowhere, devoid of any discernible emotion:
"Ascension requires sacrifices, and the spirits and blood of heretics are the best fuel. Go and kill Christina Fisher, and that traitor cursed with a broken oath."
"I will obey your command!"
The silver voice disappeared, but the excitement in Onsa Kebul's heart could not be calmed for a long time.
"Ugh, this is an eyesore."
A voice full of disdain appeared out of nowhere, and this uninvited guest showed no awareness of ruining the atmosphere, even escalating the situation further:
"Hey, are you an exhibitionist? On another note, I've heard that swimming too much can flatten your butt. If you're not careful, you might lose even this one and only bargaining chip to win divine favor."
"You Shi!"
Angsaber suddenly twisted his body and looked at the edge of the glass fish tank, roaring:
"Even if you are a messenger of the gods, you cannot commit such blasphemy!"
The woman, with her legs crossed, shrugged, sporting a face that looked like it came from who-knows-where, and pouted: "Anyway, He doesn't care... Do you think I want to see your big breasts? You're not the only one who received the order."
Onsa Kebul took a deep breath and, for the sake of the Lord, did not hold a grudge against You Shi. With a splash, he stepped out of the water, his bronze skin trembling and shaking off water droplets. He did not look like a human, but rather like the skin of some kind of man-eating shark.
"Hey, you really want to go?"
Onsa Kebul turned around, and the unfamiliar woman's face was shrouded in darkness, except for a pair of eyes that gleamed with an eerie light, staring at him unblinkingly:
"You know that old codger Fisher, even that defector has latched onto the coattails of the New Gods, and I heard he's quite valued... Even if it were Onsa, the 'unsinkable' member of the Ocean Research Society, carrying out a mission like this, he'd most likely die."
She was met with a sneer, and the other person didn't even bother to argue with her, leaving naked.
"Tsk tsk."
Yu Shi crossed his legs on the other side, clicking his tongue and shaking his head: "I've only ever heard that swimming makes your butt flat, but I've never heard that it makes your brain flat too."
"Click".
The glass pool's edge was cracked, and dark water gushed out. You Shi sat motionless on the edge, seemingly floating in mid-air. Whirlpools rose on the surface, and the water level dropped rapidly. She lowered her head, a rare hint of melancholy in her eyes.
"...That's fine too."
"Regardless of life or death, this 'good show' is finally coming to an end."
"Ughhhh, when will this end? I've had enough!"
Inside the cramped resettlement apartment, Timi frantically tugged at her hair, banging her head heavily on the table several times, her expectant gaze fixed on Qu Lingyu, who was pacing back and forth in the room.
Taking back the dim jade pendant, Qu Lingyu's heart sank slightly. Meeting Ti Mi's gaze, she felt a little surprised:
"You're not even going to ask me?"
“You must have your own reasons. I’m not as smart as you. As the saying goes, one must discover oneself through quiet listening in order to understand how to get along with others correctly.”
The Listener? A missionary of the Lord of Listening?
Qu Lingyu raised an eyebrow. Using Timi to join the [Lord of Listening] Church was originally a temporary measure, but now she was genuinely interested in the church's doctrines. However, she didn't have time for idle chatter right now; a melancholy expression appeared in her eyes.
"There's no time. We can't wait for Director Fisher. We have to leave now."
Upon hearing that she could leave, Timi was slightly taken aback. What appeared before her joy was fear. That person was very kind, but there were thousands of resettlement points in the lower city alone. How could she possibly take care of them all by herself?
God help them... They have to save themselves.
"What? You're saying the resettlement site is going to hold the Sunshine Festival ahead of schedule?"
On the edge of the city, seemingly swallowed by darkness, a cluster of purple flames illuminated the dim interior. In the firelight, Cai Chunyu held the message she had received, completely baffled.
No one born in the City of the Sun is unaware of the Sunbathing Festival.
When the great cataclysm struck, humanity exhausted all means to build the City of the Sun with the help of the central AI, Yuanfu. They established a grand ritual array to protect the entire city from the erosion of the gray fog. To commemorate that day, the council designated the day the city was bathed in sunlight for the first time as the Sunbathing Festival, the most important festival of the year for the city.
But there are still several months until the Sunrise Festival, what are those idiots in the council doing?
Moreover, the sun disappeared without a trace, the erosion of the haze intensified, and the group of incompetent sheriffs could barely keep up with the resettlement sites. At this time, they were celebrating the festival in a big way. Has the administrative division of Yuanfu been infected with a virus?
Cai Chunyu paced back and forth in the room, her brows furrowed. If it weren't for the difficulty in obtaining the news—in the ceremony in the resettlement area, only believers who were devout enough and had a high enough level of spiritual power could transmit the message through prayer—she would almost have doubted whether her people were reliable.
Cat Beard sighed as well. The oracle clearly stated that all believers should be evacuated, and those who had given up their efforts to develop the church should also be evacuated. They were not entirely willing to do so, but they had to admit that even with a bright future, the church was indeed short of people at the moment.
Qin Xinhong led her team to gather information outside, while Gu Yinglan and Tian Yinuo stayed in the mahogany church to reassure those behind. The newly added members either had limited abilities or their credibility needed to be assessed. She looked around and realized that the only people she could actually use were the group of people inside the room.
"wrong."
Wenren Qiu adjusted her glasses, her gaze suddenly sharpening behind the lenses. She raised her hand and tapped repeatedly on the personal terminal, and red dots appeared one after another on the projected map of resettlement points, densely packed and almost forming a spider web.
"wrong……"
Cat Beard looked at the location of the red dot on the map, a look of bewilderment and surprise far beyond his years appearing on his face, and then Wenren Qiu murmured aloud.
Cai Chunyu's knowledge of the occult was somewhat lacking, but as Wenren Qiu moved, the red dots on the map became increasingly dense, and the resulting image was so clear that even a fool could understand its meaning:
"How dare they?!"
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Author's Note: Sorry I'm late. I was hoping to finish it in August, but my health let me down. I was constantly running to the hospital in August, and I just had minor surgery. I don't know if I'll need to stay in the hospital afterward. Anyway, it's almost over, so I'll write whenever I have a spare moment. You can save your reading until it's finished. I'm really sorry to all my readers who have been following the story. [crying emoji]
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