Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 1281: Chapter 979: Undercurrents and Sea Waves

Luo Su wanting to stir up trouble was secondary.

Isaac was worried about something else.

After so many years together, how could he not know: when Luo Su said ”we,” he definitely meant ”you all.”

Including himself was absolutely impossible.

When the time came there would definitely be a whole pile of troublesome chores shoved their way, and then Luo Su would watch everyone work themselves to death while he sat on the side drinking coffee.

In that instant, the vice principal had the urge to resign for the 1,098,061st time.

But it was undeniable that Luo Su really did have the Ability to influence the Jurisdiction Bureau’s decisions, and could precisely pick out the meat he wanted from the Bureau’s plate.

When necessary, he’d even spit the bones back onto the plate...

Of course, he couldn’t afford to burn his karma like that anymore.

After all, big family, big business.

If you want the whole family to eat, and you yourself to keep living comfortably, then you can only knuckle down and work hard.

Besides, now that the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy had just been rebuilt, what they needed most was to expand their influence, to show the whole world their Ability to shoulder more responsibilities.

They weren’t afraid of dirty work or hard work; what they feared was everyone working while they themselves were stuck outside the field, unable to get in.

To put it a bit nastily, this wave of open conspiracy from the Piper had also created convenience and opportunities for them to flex their Ability... otherwise, doing anything would be even more of a pain.

Rare chance—do it now.

He didn’t even bother changing his clothes; Luo Su just pulled the suitcase out of the closet and got ready to take off.

”Get ready, Isaac.”

Luo Su gave his final instructions: ”London is probably going to be knee-deep in trouble right now. I might be gone for quite a long time, maybe not even back before the war of the myriad worlds breaks out. If something sudden happens and I don’t have time to react, then it’ll be up to you all.”

Isaac froze. ”What about the school?”

”Aren’t you doing pretty well with that already? You don’t need to worry about the Abyss campus either. Next week, Sharma will head to Ramanujan to provide support, and Ms. Chen has Yang Zi helping out... Besides, I already thought about this back when we picked the sites. I specifically chose the most desolate, marginal locations—those two places aren’t within the scope of the war of the myriad worlds. Once you lock the doors, nobody will care.”

”And the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy?” Isaac pressed.

”Internal affairs, if undecided, go to Isaac; external affairs, if undecided, go to Marcus.”

Luo Su answered without even thinking: ”If you need strategy and guidelines, call a meeting with the Academic Affairs Office. If you need decisions, go to Taiyi Academy. If you need a tool guy, go find Huai Shi.

If even then you still can’t solve it, I’m afraid it won’t make much difference whether I’m here or not. At that point everyone should just eat and drink, throw a BBQ...”

”What’s a BBQ going to do?” Isaac frowned.

”If nothing you do works anyway, then you might as well hurry up and enjoy yourselves.”

Luo Su waved it off lightly, picked up his suitcase and was about to leave. He walked a few steps, then came back, and finally gave a serious instruction:

”Also, while Sharma and Yang Zi are still around, hurry up and get them to fix that big guy we’ve got in the warehouse. It might come in handy in a while.”

”But their schedules are already full.”

Isaac flipped through the calendar in his head and shook his head. ”There’s no time.”

”Listen to yourself—if there’s no time, then work overtime.”

Luo Su said in mock astonishment, ”We don’t have any rules here about weekends or an eight-hour workday. This is the startup phase—working overtime until you get cirrhosis of the liver and pulling all-nighters until you have a cerebral hemorrhage is perfectly normal, isn’t it? And it’s not like you have to give them a raise...

It’s all for Utopia, so it’s nothing to be ashamed of!”

He turned back one last time, gave Isaac a clenched-fist ”you can do it” gesture, and that Old Turtle vanished without a trace.

I’m out, I’m out...

In the silence, only Isaac lowered his head, calculating the workload that even eight of his Future Time Axis Split Bodies couldn’t handle, and finally realized what had just happened.

A strand of hair fell silently from his gradually thinning scalp.

So this is Utopia, huh. I’m in love.

.

.

Eastern Marine Area of Yingzhou.

The world felt like it had been shut inside a black box, heaving and spinning amid the roar.

Violent rolling, rising and plunging—immeasurable masses of heavy seawater churned at the edge of the hull, surging onto the deck. Even the pale searchlights couldn’t pierce that dense curtain of rain.

Only when a sudden streak of light flashed across the clouds did the ferocious visage of sea and sky reveal itself.

Beneath clouds dark as iron, the thunder rolled and pounded. Countless surging waves rose and collapsed like mountains, every tiny Transformation triggering a continuous barrage of booms.

Mixed into the thunder, impossible to distinguish.

The sweeping gale circled chaotically around, like invisible Giants yanking on ropes, grappling in brute contests of strength, with no one knowing where they meant to drag the ship—fragile as a dead leaf.

If this had been a flimsy sailing ship, it would probably have been torn apart by these savage waves long ago, right?

But even modern alloy forged by current technology struggled to withstand such ferocity. As the once-peaceful Sea bared its savage form, the Power of the entire world seemed to contract with the waves, indiscriminately shattering anything that dared intrude into this stretch of ocean.

In the narrow corridor, the middle-aged man clutched the handrail, stumbling forward, almost being tossed up by the Power in the swells. The safety line kept tightening; the clasp and the handrail scraped together, throwing off faint sparks.

In the end, he finally managed to push open the door in front of him.

”Miss Anna, we’ve arrived.”

But inside the cabin behind the door, it was completely empty. Only a few textbooks were rolling across the floor with the surging of the tide.

Yamashita froze for a second, then instinctively looked up—and immediately felt a bout of vertigo.

Right now, in the violently rocking cabin, there was only one figure that hadn’t undergone any change at all.

As if she were defying gravity, she sat cross-legged on the ceiling, head lowered, fully absorbed in the handheld game in her hands. In the golden hair she’d tied up, a mischievous lock of fringe had slipped free from its restraint and dangled down.

The Teenage Girl’s deep-blue eyes ”lifted” to look at the man standing dumbstruck at the door. Whether it was an illusion or something else, in that instant of daze, Yamashita seemed to glimpse a faint gleam within them.

”That fast already? I was this close to clearing it...”

She regretfully lowered her head, looked at the game that couldn’t be paused, then could only frantically mash the controls for a few seconds before her character was promptly hauled back to base on a cart by some cat-shaped creature.

”Ahh, what a shitty game! Who the hell puts out an early-access build with no starter gear and mobs this annoying?”

Aniya raged, killed the screen, shoved the handheld into her pocket, then simply stepped off the ceiling to stand up, lightly hurdled, and passed right over Yamashita’s head.

”Do me a favor and keep me posted, I’ll be right back.”

Boom!

With a deafening crash, the whole hull suddenly lurched upward. The steel shrieked as if they’d smashed into some reef.

And when Yamashita turned around, the Teenage Girl had already disappeared down the corridor, walking on the ceiling as if it were solid ground, her footsteps light. He just stood there, stunned for half the day, then looked down at the raincoat he’d specially brought—and realized he hadn’t given it to her at all.

”Hey, hey, Miss Anna, at least...”

She was already far gone.

Yamashita shook his head helplessly, simply threw the raincoat on himself, and dashed out in miserable pursuit.

So I join the yakuza, and the boss still shoves me over here to play babysitter? Or do I seriously have some hidden Talent for childcare?

In the violent shaking, he yanked open the hatch, and immediately the howling wind and rain slammed him like a flood right in the face, almost shoving him straight back into the cabin.

Out on the deck, the crewmen with cables strapped to their bodies were struggling to run. Amid the booming crashes, every one of them was shouting themselves hoarse.

Massive amounts of Sea water were sucked up into the sky then smashed back down, endlessly scouring the deck. Even the slightest stray surge was enough to pick up and fling away anyone who wasn’t properly braced.

Over the piercing wail of the alarms, the searchlights lit up the huge wave coming in from afar. The tide, towering like a building, rampaged through the hurricane winds, then suddenly crashed down toward the pitifully tiny vessel before it.

The hull was swallowed in an instant, then struggled back up out of the raging Sea swells. Cracks that should never have appeared were already spreading across the deck.

”No good, we’re about to roll over!” The captain’s terrified shout came through the headset. ”Mr. Yamashita, we can’t go any farther!”

”Cut the crap! You think we came out here for charity work?!”

Yamashita clung to the railing, climbing up from the soaked deck like a drowned rat, roaring into his earpiece: ”What’s scarier, the waves or the coast guard?!

Show me the guts you had back when you were smuggling! If you mess this up and delay the job, nobody else will have to lay a hand on you—I’ll personally help you commit seppuku!”

”That won’t be necessary, Mr. Yamashita.”

The Teenage Girl’s lazy voice came over the comms. ”This is far enough, we’re already close. From here, you all just need to back up a bit.

After all, if the ship really does capsize, I’m afraid I’ll have no choice but to swim back to Tanbo...”

Amid the violently rocking waves and deck, that slender Teenage Girl calmly strolled through the water still pooled there and hopped up onto the twisted guardrail.

In the distant clouds, lightning flashed. The thunder and Thunderbolt split the sky again, illuminating the dark Sea and heavens.

And the heaving waves right in front of them.

Just like that, she lightly stood on the rail, stretching out her body. She started warming up, until every muscle stiff from gaming relaxed again.

Finally, she waved back over her shoulder.

”Miss Anna!”

Yamashita gripped the rail and shouted to her: ”Please take care out there.”

”Relax, I’ll be back in a flash!”

The Teenage Girl grinned, tipped herself backward, and in the next instant disappeared into the gloom.

When Yamashita leaned over the rail to look down, he saw that figure walking atop the raging waves as if on solid ground.

The turbulent Sea could not swallow her.

She moved like she was strolling through a garden.

From start to finish, she stood at the crest of the waves.

Wherever she passed, she left only splinters of ice that rapidly cracked and dissolved in the surf.

With a low tremor, the beams of the searchlights flared to life in the downpour, piercing the heavy curtain of rain to spill over the Sea, making the surface gleam with the cheap-luster sheen of inferior jade.

But beneath that thin layer of light, a pitch-black shadow began swiftly surfacing—spreading.

In that instant of hovering there, White Wolf bared its teeth, revealing sharp fangs.

Almost like a smile.

—Got you!