Chapter 45: The Apocalypse Is Our Common Enemy!

Page (1/3)

Under such circumstances, hardly anyone would dare dismiss news of this magnitude, or the spectacle unfolding before them, as a joke.

The livestream that had spread across the entire internet a few days earlier had not been a film promotion. It had been genuine fact.

Across the world, millions had already died in the crisis brought by the meteorites!

And yet, in comparison with the population of the entire world, that number was still terribly small.

Gerald City lay thousands of kilometers from the town where the gray-white worms had first appeared!

No one had imagined that such a disaster would suddenly descend upon this place—upon them.

It had happened too abruptly.

So abruptly that many people had no idea what they ought to do, yet instinctively felt that they had to do something.

The result was even greater chaos.

By then, Shen Hao had already appeared atop a building in Gerald City.

There was little point in remaining at the military base. Maintaining contact remotely was enough.

Of course, standing here was not particularly useful either.

If one insisted on finding a purpose, then facing the disaster on the front line and watching countless terrified people struggle might give him a deeper understanding of the meaning of “the apocalypse.”

“Chaos. Nothing but chaos.” Martial Dao Shen Yu had also appeared beside him, looking somewhat dazed. “The apocalypse means chaos. When survival itself is threatened, morality, order, wealth, affection—all the things people once valued and cared about—seem to become meaningless in an instant. Only fear and chaos remain.”

He thought of the refugees he had seen not long ago.

Though the disasters were different, and the civilizations were different, the similarities in this moment were astonishing.

Among the refugees, there had been those who abandoned all restraint, hysterically indulging their desires. The same was happening here. Some people were storming into stores to rob merchandise and money. Others were dragging women away amid the confusion. Still others were wantonly setting fires.

Among the refugees, there had been those unwilling to surrender their lives, willing to do anything to survive. The same was happening here. Some people were abandoning their cars and sprinting down the paralyzed roads, while others were dragging their entire families through the crowds, desperately forcing their way into underground facilities.

Among the refugees, there had been those who struggled to preserve order and guide the people around them. The same was happening here. Some police officers still refused to abandon their duties, doing everything they could to organize evacuations and ease the traffic, while many ordinary people had joined them.

How remarkably similar!

“So no matter which world it is, no matter what kind of civilization it has, the apocalypse is the common enemy of us all.” Shen Yu firmly etched the scene before him into his memory.

With the Gray Mist Space at his command, he seemed by nature to stand apart from the countless ordinary people of the world. Yet his human capacity for empathy allowed him to feel what they felt.

Two utterly different emotions became tangled together within him.

At that moment, however, Martial Dao Shen Yu suddenly leaped from the high-rise and descended into a narrow alley. Several thugs were there, pointing guns at a young couple who had only just managed to reunite, along with their five-year-old daughter.

Their only reason was that the young wife was fair and beautiful.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

Scenes like this were unfolding throughout many parts of the city. In the midst of the chaos, some people were releasing the evil that order had long suppressed within them. Shen Yu and Martial Dao Shen Yu could not possibly control them all.

But what was happening directly before their eyes was still a provocation.

Martial Dao Shen Yu said not a word. He simply landed in the center of the alley and raised his head.

“Kill them.” Shen Yu’s voice came from the building above. Martial Dao Shen Yu heard it, as did the North Alliance command center. “Although the Association stipulates that we cannot affect other worlds, especially by taking the lives of their inhabitants, that rule applies only when we lack the permission of a member of that world. I hereby grant you explicit authorization.”

The next instant, without any visible movement from Martial Dao Shen Yu, every thug rolled his eyes back and collapsed limply to the ground.

They were already brain-dead.

Had there not been a child present, Martial Dao Shen Yu would have chosen a more brutal method.

The command center fell equally silent. No one spoke.

Under circumstances like these, what did a few thugs matter?

Instead, some people gained a much deeper understanding of what the words “member of this world” truly meant.

They represented not only the greatest constraint imposed upon other worlds, but also a higher form of “legitimacy.”

In such circumstances, it would not be an exaggeration to say that, on certain levels, they represented the highest authority of the entire planet and of human civilization itself.

After doing what he had intended to do, Martial Dao Shen Yu pointed toward the main road.

“Take the main road and get as far from the city center as possible. The rest depends on your luck.”

He spoke in Chinese, without caring whether the family understood him, and turned to leave.

He had merely acted because the incident had happened right before his eyes. That was all.

As he turned, however, the young husband suddenly asked in halting, dry Chinese, his voice trembling, “Hello. Thank you. Could you tell us what exactly has happened to our city?”

“You speak Chinese?” Martial Dao Shen Yu stopped and turned back in surprise.

“A little. I took it as an elective at university.” The young man clutched his wife tightly and held his daughter in his arms, instinctively shielding them behind himself. His nervousness was plain to see.

When those thugs had stopped them moments earlier, his remorse and terror had been beyond description.

But this man who had descended from the heavens, with an Eastern face and dressed in traditional Eastern clothing, had brought them a miracle.

Desperate to grasp at something—anything—he had asked the question.

Martial Dao Shen Yu nodded slightly.

“A worm more than fifty meters in diameter is located several thousand meters beneath the city. Run while you can. Good luck.”

After leaving them those few brief words, he rose directly into the air and returned to Shen Yu’s side.

His actions had been prompted solely by the fact that the incident had occurred before him. Nothing more.

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

He had no intention of doing anything else.

There were simply far too many happy families like this one scattered throughout the city.

As for the man named Carey, receiving the answer only left him even more bewildered.

A worm. He knew what that meant, and he fully understood what was about to happen to the city.

But what use was that knowledge?

A monster fifty meters across! Where could they possibly escape to?

“Pat, pat.”

The trembling sound came from the daughter in his arms. Carey’s body shuddered, and the confusion in his eyes instantly hardened into determination.

“Let’s go.”

He pulled his wife along and quickened his pace, comforting his family as he went.

“Let’s get farther away. Don’t be afraid. Did you see that superhuman just now? Someone is helping us. We only need to get as far away as possible!”

Before leaving, he also picked up two guns from the ground.

There was only one thought in his mind: take his wife and child away from the city center, and get as far away as possible!

The family was undoubtedly fortunate, but neither Shen Yu nor Martial Dao Shen Yu continued to pay attention to them.

For that family, Martial Dao Shen Yu’s momentary act of kindness had changed their fate and given them a new chance. But to Shen Yu and Martial Dao Shen Yu, it was nothing more than an insignificant interlude.

The two of them were now closely monitoring the changes in the amount of gray mist within the Gray Mist Space.

“It really is increasing faster,” Shen Yu said.

Clearly, no matter how chaotic the scenes within the city became, a steady stream of people had begun fleeing.

Those living near the outskirts of the city were reacting the fastest.

The roads behind them were jammed, but those who had escaped ahead of the congestion were pressing down on their accelerators as hard as they could.

They wished they could get as far away as possible.

At this rate of increase, there was a chance they could gather enough gray mist to summon a martial arts expert before the worm arrived!

Shen Yu and Martial Dao Shen Yu said nothing more, waiting patiently.

Some parts of the city had already burst into flames. In others, the sound of continuous gunfire rang out. Yet no one paid any attention. Compared with what was about to happen, this destruction was utterly insignificant.

Then, with half an hour remaining before the predicted time, the voice of Interstellar Shen Yu came through the command channel.

“I’ve brought the warship.”

Page (3/3)