Chapter 715: Disaster
"I think this time, we're in big trouble."
The first to notice something was amiss were naturally the observatories of various countries. Things like solar and lunar eclipses, frankly speaking, are all matters of planetary orbital movement, and there are formulas that can calculate their occurrence time in advance. So, for the sun to disappear from the sky, it was simply not an eclipse.
"Judging from the last signal sent by the satellites, an unknown black curtain has completely enveloped Water Blue Star."
"The global satellite positioning system has completely collapsed; this is the most troublesome thing at the moment."
"No, there's something even more troublesome."
"?"
"Without sunlight, we'll soon freeze to death, or starve to death."
"Freezing to death isn't a concern, because we've just experimented: the black curtain enveloping us is a complete thermal insulator. All the heat from Water Blue Star's surface is locked in here, unable to dissipate into space."
"A greenhouse?"
"We can use artificial light sources!"
...
"The apocalypse is finally here." Yu Nan, lying in bed and quietly watching the sky turn black, felt a wave of relief.
This time, he had almost bet everything on the arrival of the apocalypse. If it didn't come, this old chap's latter half of life would likely be spent hounded by debt collectors and dodging payments.
...
The panic brought by the darkness quickly began to ferment. Even with all the city lights ablaze, there wasn't much difference from an ordinary night, except for the moon missing from the sky. Guided by the lights, most people chose to return to their familiar homes first. Of course, a few more astute individuals quietly headed to the nearest supermarkets.
No matter what happened, it was always right to stock up on supplies at home.
People are all about following trends. Those who originally planned to go home felt their own sense of tension rise after seeing more and more people stream into the supermarkets.
It didn't take long for all the food and water in supermarkets and convenience stores to be bought up, leaving behind only empty shelves.
"Damn it, how did the sky get bright again?!" Yu Nan had waited for a long time in his safe house, only to find that the sun had reappeared, and nothing else had happened.
"Where's the apocalypse we agreed upon? Did it stand me up?!"
He felt a bit disheartened.
Back when he was a Reincarnator, he wouldn't have bothered repaying the debts he carried; he'd just chop down anyone who dared to ask for payment. But now, Yu Nan was just a weakling, even weaker than an ordinary person.
It would take at least a month to slowly nurse his long-term malnourished body back to health using the Body Tempering Art.
Equally disheartened were those who had rushed to loot supplies from the supermarkets yesterday.
They had risked life and limb to buy some things, only for nothing to happen in the end.
"Fuck, I spent five hundred yesterday just to buy two bags of rice from a scalper!!!"
"Bro, you're so clever, actually buying from a scalper. I just took stuff directly. It was so chaotic in the supermarket yesterday, I just grabbed it and walked out, the staff couldn't do anything."
"FBI WARNING, I'm reporting you!"
"Thieves, get out!"
"Disgraceful!"
"Cyber police, where are the cyber police?!"
Overall, the Seris Empire was still a country with good order. Even with the sudden chaos yesterday, and everyone rushing to supermarkets for supplies, people would normally still dutifully pay.
"What was all that about yesterday? Those damn 'experts' haven't given any explanation."
"I heard it was an alien invasion. I have an uncle in the security department, and he was immediately recalled yesterday."
"Really? Aliens too?"
"The official account I follow said it's a sign the apocalypse is coming, telling us to prepare supplies. Below, there's even an online store link where you can directly order a wilderness survival pack with one click."
"Stop reading that garbage! Besides spreading rumors, creating panic, and making dirty money, what else do those rotten accounts even write?!"
"..."
Because nothing ultimately happened, the internet exploded. Bored netizens, who had nothing better to do than follow the drama, all began to ridicule this inexplicable event.
The authorities, however, offered no explanation, because they too were confused.
"The sky is dark again."
Two days later, the sun disappeared once more.
"They wouldn't play me for a fool this time, would they?" Yu Nan muttered to himself.
Such was the great ebb and flow of life.
He had just received his first debt collection notice, reminding him that the first payment was due in three days.
He touched the handgun in his pocket, his mood complex.
"What in the world is going on?" Lun Qin fiercely pounded the coffin in front of her, trying to make Bai Mo, who lay inside, answer her. Her subconscious told her that this guy definitely knew something, but just wasn't saying it.
"A mantis trying to stop a chariot." Not long after the sky darkened for the second time, Bai Mo said, though it was unclear to whom.
"What 'a mantis trying to stop a chariot'?" She pounded the coffin with loud thuds. With her current strength, comparable to three hundred times that of an ordinary person, steel plates would tear like paper under Lun Qin's palm. Yet, this coffin, made of unknown material, didn't show even a single crack. rAn0BЕs
Bai Mo still didn't answer her question.
"Clang!"
Just as Lun Qin was feeling frustrated, the sound of shattering glass suddenly came from the adjacent room.
She instinctively felt something was wrong. Their apartment was on the fifteenth floor; what could possibly break through a windowpane?
In her urgency, Lun Qin directly crashed through the two walls separating her room from her brother's, appearing before him.
Behind her, two large, human-shaped holes were left.
"What is that?!"
Before her was a creature she had never seen. Lun Qin could guarantee that this was absolutely not what any, *any* creature on Water Blue Star should look like.
It had a slender body, with two extremely strange wings growing from its back. In the middle of each butterfly-like wing, a pair of horrifying eyes stared out.
This monster had broken through the window glass, knocked the curious Lun Heping to the ground, and then extended its hideous tentacles toward the boy, who was already petrified with fear.
"Help me!"
"Die!"
Without any wasted movement, Lun Qin, desperate to protect her brother, lunged forward with an arrow-like step and easily sliced the monster into two halves with her hand-knife.
However, the monster's tenacious vitality completely exceeded her imagination as a human.
Even after being cut into two pieces, its remaining body still controlled its tentacles, swiftly thrusting one into Lun Heping's body.
Pain!
Excruciating pain!
Lun Heping felt as though his flesh and blood were being siphoned away, bit by bit, through a straw.
Not only that, but the strength in his body rapidly drained away with the sucking, his consciousness gradually blurring, making him utterly unable to control his hands to pull out that damned tentacle.
"Splish!"
The super-strong girl beside him grabbed the monster's remaining torso, still attached to Lun Heping's backside, and forcefully squeezed it into a mass of white pulp, finally finishing it off.
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