Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 702: Chapter 577: Sudden Entry_1

”What—did—you—say?”

Raymond’s eyes widened, almost believing he was hallucinating.

Immediately after, he saw the dying giant beast spasming violently, no longer able to maintain its massive weight suspended in the sky.

Like a kite losing control, it swayed and fell towards the clouds. Towards the earth...

The distance was too great, and Raymond couldn’t possibly catch up.

It never crossed his mind that the person he had gone through so much trouble to save, braving a storm of bullets, was about to reach safety, only to get himself killed?!

In the increasingly rapid fall, Huai Shi slapped his head and suddenly asked, ”What day of the week is it today?”

Raymond could never fathom Huai Shi’s train of thought. He was flooring the accelerator, chasing desperately. How could he have ever guessed Huai Shi’s mind worked in such astonishingly bizarre ways?

”Sun... day?” As soon as he said it, he felt like he was going mad, unable to understand. ”Do you Dongxia people pick a good day to jump off buildings or something?!”

”Sunday, not bad.” Then, from within the hurricane, came Huai Shi’s final response, ”Didn’t you say we were almost there? Tell them to prepare below—”

He pulled at the Lock Chain, revealing a cheerful smile. ”—for I will return like lightning!”

Indeed, like lightning itself.

With the retraction of the Lock Chain, the Synthetic Beast’s tentacles suddenly spread, pouncing towards the rock-like clouds below and stirring the hurricane.

Falling down.

In an instant, with the ripples of the cloud sea, Huai Shi had vanished from sight.

”What?” Raymond stared in confusion at the shadow Huai Shi had left behind. It took him a long time to react. ”No, wait, aren’t you wearing a helmet? With all those Curses down there... you’ve got guts!”

”Uh...” Lin Nineteen, whose presence was becoming increasingly faint, finally mustered the courage to interject, ”I think the teacher might have just, simply forgotten.”

”...”

Raymond took a deep breath and, in the silence, asked seriously, ”So if we chase after him now, will we still be in time to collect his body?”

.

.

The moment he plunged into the clouds, a familiar coldness hit him.

It was the rich moisture and the bloody smell; the degenerative rain brewed within the clouds, forming a membrane over the earth, foreshadowing something ominous.

As the wind hit his face, visibility rapidly dropped.

The coldness started to eat at Huai Shi’s skin, slowly petrifying inward, but under the dim light, it could only turn into peeling flakes of stone.

Constant flashes of lightning leaped within the clouds, violently stirring everything in sight and leaving scorch marks on the Synthetic Beast.

In the gloom, countless fires roamed.

Huai Shi could see the figures dashing back and forth within the thick clouds on both sides and hear the roar of engines.

Countless winged machines and flying devices maneuvered in the clouds, fighting like birds, incessantly pecking at each other’s wings, colliding in explosions and fleeting flares.

Even smoky, falling aircraft grazed Huai Shi’s head, and in the flames, Huai Shi could see pilots ejecting from them.

Then, above, even more enormous Giant Beasts plunged into the battlefield.

Like whales swimming in the ocean, they opened their mouths to engulf schools of fish.

The seemingly calm clouds hid turbulent undercurrents with incessant killings, as countless flashes lit up, extinguished, and then burst forth anew.

The newcomer who suddenly intruded immediately encountered concentrated fire from both sides.

Living Bombs spread their wings and swooped in.

They left massive wounds and bloody holes on the dying Synthetic Beast.

The Giant Beast wailed, struggling desperately but unable to shake off the Sharp Blades wedged into its bones.

As the Lock Chain tightened, the Synthetic Beast, in pain and madness, flailed its body haphazardly. It dived down until it broke through the clouds and fell into a world shrouded in torrential rain.

A crack appeared above the clouds, a transient dusk light illuminating the incomplete silhouette of the colossal entity.

It also illuminated the horrific, scar-covered world.

Huai Shi nearly suffocated.

That was... true Hell.

A gray fog tide enveloped the earth. Myriad spores bloomed with enchanting flowers atop the land. Blood rain splattered around. Terrifying Burning Wind formed dozens of Tornadoes that roamed chaotically over the earth, cruelly uprooting everything. Lava-like flames gathered in the eyes of the Tornadoes, illuminating the grim world.

Sharp Ice Crystals grew from mud and steel, becoming clusters of enchanting crystals. Yet, these crystals were quickly covered and obscured by ash-like snowflakes.

Looking down, one could feel numerous fierce colors squirming on the earth, wrapped together in deathly struggles, expanding or contracting, devouring each other in a fight to the death, then merging into other abnormal hues.

The entire Town of Dusk had turned into a cauldron of Chaos.

In a daze, Huai Shi felt as if he had glimpsed some terrifying Alchemy, yet he didn’t know whether the end result of this Hell would be disaster or a miracle.

Perhaps both.

But he no longer had the luxury to ponder these details.

For at the end of the earth, the Illusionary Giant, wearing a majestic Crown, had already emitted a radiant glow, roaring as it marched forward. Carrying the heavy Iron Crystal Throne on its shoulders, the Dome Giant walked through Hell, heading straight for the Great Pyramid.

Just like God Spirits struggling against each other, the very earth quaked, the sky shuddered.

Huai Shi’s vision blacked out.

He felt the swift weakening and mutation of his body, even the discomfort and panic within his Soul.

Blood rain, Burning Wind, and the tide of sedimentation, followed by the poisonous air, and even being forcibly weakened... Huai Shi suddenly felt a discomfort similar to altitude sickness.

He couldn’t catch his breath.

His physical strength was rapidly dwindling, knocked back to a level just slightly stronger than an ordinary person.

Immediately, his Source Substance began to evaporate and ascend frantically. A mist-like fear Curse infiltrated his consciousness, then was again transformed by the Hand of Confinement into Source Substance, creating an unbearably uncomfortable cycle.

It was as if he were caught in a contradiction.

The toxic air continuously supplied him with unceasing vitality, yet the weakening Curse caused his strength to drain away. With the debuff of halved physical endurance on him, he was quickly drenched and revitalized by the invigorating blood rain.

The tide of sedimentation was constantly absorbing his Source Substance and reason, but the Curses of fear and bloodlust kept replenishing his energy and strength...

From small wounds, blood flowed endlessly, but his robust vitality was swiftly creating more blood.

His whole person seemed like a swimming pool with both the inlet and outlet valves opened simultaneously, feeling an unusual discomfort amidst the violent metabolism and the flux of Source Substance.

He was bleeding out while also urgently receiving blood transfusions. As death loomed close, he kept pushing back the deadline. It felt so contradictory, so bizarre.

But after getting used to it, it seemed... kind of thrilling?!

Huai Shi raised his hand, looking at his skin that kept peeling and regrowing. Amidst the imminent fall, he felt an indescribable novelty.

Then, he finally noticed the ground rapidly enlarging before his eyes... And that towering, burning edifice.

Countless rusted steel pieces grew over it like thorns, winding layer upon layer. At the pinnacle of the tower, the Sun, like a solitary eye, still shone with a dim glow, so familiar.

That was the heart of the Town of Dusk.

This... is the very center of Hell!

A roar burst forth from the ground beneath. Piercing lights spewed from the anti-aircraft matrix, tearing through the carapace of the giant Synthetic Beast. The stench of char spread along with the evaporating coolant.

At that moment, with a tremendous sound of Space Break, a massive shadow descended from the sky.

On the ground, those in protective gear looked up in astonishment, glimpsing the countless tentacles flailing in the wind, as well as the giant Synthetic Beast covered in cracks and wounds.

It splattered viscous blood and writhed within the hurricane. As the Spear of Compassion penetrated it further, it poured all its strength into enduring the pain, igniting the overloaded gravity generator within its body for the last time—

The dreadful momentum of a mountain collapsing abruptly halted, but then, violent explosions spewed flames from deep within its tentacles and jaws.

Amidst the bloody rain, dark green venom spread in all directions.

With a thunderous quake of the ground, the giant silhouette plummeted into the flames and stilled forevermore.

And atop the shattered body, a figure slowly emerged from a crack in the skull.

”Scared you, didn’t I?” He looked around the now silent battlefield, hands on hips, unable to help but burst into triumphant laughter. ”Safe landing, worthy of me indeed!”

”What in the world is that thing?” August put down his telescope, staring bewilderedly at his companion.

”Err, it seems like... it might possibly... be Secretary Huai?” a member of the Exploration Team replied in astonishment. ”Didn’t they say he escaped from prison and would arrive soon? Look, here he is!”

”You call dropping out of the sky with that thing ’arriving’?” August felt that everything was off.

”Even though descending with such a huge thing from the sky is overly cool, he did land safely, after all!” The Exploration Team member crouched behind cover, hardly concealing his envy. ”I’m so jealous. I wish I could try it once.”

”Who the hell cares what he brought down with him!” August was nearly pulling his hair out in frustration, pointing at the distant bio-engineered beasts, the bunkers of the Eye of Nightmare, and... Huai Shi, standing smugly in the middle.

”But why did he land in the enemy camp?!” August was on the verge of freaking out. ”Don’t tell me he’s defected?”

”That’s not entirely out of the question,” his Exploration Team companion said in a hushed voice. ”I have a junior who went to Ivy Vine. I heard him say before that Secretary Huai went to Ivy Vine for less than two weeks, and he even has a child now... Look how happily he’s smiling!”

And at this point, Huai Shi finally realized something wasn’t quite right.

There was no admiring or respectful gaze that he had anticipated.

No cheers from colleagues or warmth from the Iron Crystal Throne.

And why did the uniforms of the people around him look... so much like Ivy Vine’s?

In the utter silence, those gazes gradually began to turn dangerous.