Chapter Fifty-Four: A Great Sun Hangs Across the Vault of Heaven

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Sitting in the car, Chen Xian’s mind was filled with a thousand tangled thoughts. For a while, he felt only a dull oppression weighing on him.

Just as his thoughts churned, his phone rang. He took it out and saw that the caller was his mother. Chen Xian answered at once.

“Mom, what is it?”

“Xiao Xian, have you seen the notice issued by the authorities? Come home immediately!”

His mother’s worried voice came through the phone.

“They’ve built a shelter not far from the city. A lot of people have already gone there to familiarize themselves with the place.”

“Hurry back. We’ll go there together. If some kind of natural disaster really strikes, at least we’ll have somewhere to hide!”

“Mom, I’m already on my way back.”

“I’ll be home soon!”

Since Chen Xian was already returning, he naturally agreed.

When the car was nearing the city, Chen Xian turned his head and looked out the window.

The road into the city, once packed with people and vehicles crawling along at a snail’s pace, was now astonishingly empty. The car he was riding in did not slow down in the slightest.

By contrast, the lanes leading out of the city were filled with a seemingly endless line of vehicles.

Looking closely, Chen Xian saw that every car was crammed with people. Clothes, quilts, and even pots, pans, and bowls could be seen in most of them.

The sight immediately told him that these vehicles were all heading for the shelter.

Now that the shelter had been opened and the authorities had issued a warning concerning the impending disaster, panic had spread throughout the population. Most people probably intended to take refuge immediately.

……

“Brother, you’re finally back! Let’s hurry to the shelter!”

The moment Chen Xian stepped through the door, he heard Chen Qiqi’s anxious voice.

He looked around and saw that his father and mother had already packed everything. Two suitcases stood beside them as they waited for his return.

Seeing this, Chen Xian did not delay. He nodded.

His parents had already packed his belongings as well, so there was nothing left for him to prepare.

“Beep, beep, beep…”

The road to the shelter was terribly congested, and the air outside was filled with the ceaseless blare of horns.

A journey that would normally have taken only an hour lasted for most of the day. It was not until the last rays of sunset had nearly faded that Chen Xian and his family finally reached the shelter.

Looking up, he saw that the mountain before them had been hollowed out, leaving a passage wide enough for vehicles to pass through.

“Dad, Mom, let’s go in.”

Seeing the crowds surging through the passage, Chen Xian narrowed his eyes slightly.

An intensely oppressive atmosphere hung over the people. Every face was filled with fear and unease.

“Xiao Xian, we should hurry and follow them. If we arrive too late, there may not be any room left,” his mother said gravely.

……

On Profound Star, technology had exploded forward a century ago. Since then, technological products had entered every aspect of people’s lives.

The advance of technology had transformed the backward methods of production, making the lives of countless people increasingly prosperous and powerful.

Although science and technology had achieved remarkable progress over the past century, neither Great Daxuan nor the nations overseas had any intention of stopping their exploration.

On the contrary, they were investing even more manpower and resources into it.

The advantages brought by technological advancement, as well as its potential, were obvious to anyone with foresight.

At this moment, manned spacecraft still existed in the sky. However, there were no longer any astronauts aboard them.

Ever since the anomaly had appeared in the starry sky three years ago, everything related to the cosmos and the galaxies had been replaced by machines.

The same was true of the spacecraft now.

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At this moment, night was descending over Profound Star.

Whether it was the astronomical telescopes observing the galaxy or the spacecraft in the sky, all of them captured a horrifying scene.

In the images, a ghastly green radiance crossed the endless galaxy at an almost incomprehensible speed. It tore through the eternally unchanging darkness of space and raced straight toward Profound Star.

“This is bad…”

At an astronomical observatory, a man in military uniform suddenly rose to his feet. His face changed drastically, filled with terror.

As he cried out, he rushed straight for the telephone.

“Hurry!”

“It has come!”

Those three short words seemed to exhaust every ounce of strength in his body.

“What?”

The figure on the other end of the line also sprang to his feet, his fists clenched tightly.

“Are you certain?”

At that moment, an image was transmitted and appeared directly on the screen before him, leaving no room for disbelief.

All the nations of Profound Star had witnessed the same unbelievable scene.

That ghastly green radiance had crossed the endless galaxy in an instant. At that speed, the being would completely descend upon Profound Star in less than a minute.

The horrifying sight left everyone with cold hands and feet, their hearts trembling violently.

The green light tore through the primordial darkness. Along its path, whether meteorite clusters or anything else that stood before it, everything silently vanished upon colliding with the radiance.

There was none of the earth-shaking destruction people had imagined. No meteorites shattered, and no streams of light scattered through space.

The dark galaxy remained as silent and frigid as ever.

“Damn it! Why has it arrived so quickly? Is Profound Star really going to be destroyed?”

“What are we supposed to do?”

“It hasn’t given us any time to prepare!”

For a moment, the leaders of every nation on Profound Star were thrown into frantic discussion. Countless people wore grim expressions, panic written across their faces.

“This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!

“How could anything move at such a speed?

“We cannot simply sit here and wait for death. We must do something!

“Profound Star should not remain trapped in this age!”

“…”

Chaos and commotion erupted among the upper echelons of the nations across Profound Star.

“Quick! Calculate its trajectory and launch those weapons into its path before it arrives!”

Night had fallen. The bright moon had yet to rise, and the world should have been shrouded in darkness.

Instead, the night sky began to glow with an eerie green light.

Above the sea of clouds and beneath the vault of heaven, sheets of green radiance slowly unfurled like curtains, veiling the sky.

Such a strange phenomenon was naturally noticed by more than the officials.

Across Great Daxuan, countless civilians gazed into the heavens, their faces filled with terror.

The appearance of such an omen in the sky was clearly related to the disaster mentioned in the official warning.

At the thought, countless people panicked. Without sparing a moment for anything else, they rushed toward the shelters.

Rumble…

A thunderous roar erupted from among the mountains.

At that moment, the people of every nation on Profound Star watched in horror as countless pillars of fire rose from the desolate mountain ranges and shot toward the heavens.

If one looked down upon the planet from above, one would see flames ascending from every region of Profound Star.

Some civilians who had not yet reached the shelters looked up, utterly astonished.

“What on earth is happening?”

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“There must be thousands—perhaps even tens of thousands!”

After making a rough estimate, some people formed a general idea of the number.

At that moment, everyone on Profound Star was filled with unease.

Some even knelt on the ground, praying to the gods they worshiped in ordinary times.

“Will it work?”

Deep within an underground facility in Great Daxuan, everyone stared fixedly at the screen before them, their hearts suspended in their chests.

Nearly ten thousand East Wind Ones had shot directly into the sea of clouds, carrying their hopes with them.

If they failed to produce the desired effect, the consequences were too terrible for anyone to imagine.

Outside, some people who had been unable to reach the shelters in time put on the sunglasses issued by the authorities and looked toward the sky.

Before the flames launched by the various nations could even reach the sea of clouds, a ring of ghastly green radiance tore through the night sky.

Brilliant as a blazing sun, it stretched across heaven and earth.

At that moment, whether they lived in regions of Profound Star where night had fallen or on the opposite side of the planet, everyone was covered by the green light.

The entire planet could see that ghastly green sun.

Such a phenomenon, utterly contrary to common sense, horrified everyone.

After all, according to everything they knew, light could not bend.

Yet this scene, which violated the laws of nature, appeared vividly before their eyes.

The green radiance seemed to exist everywhere. That great sun likewise seemed to be everywhere.

No matter where they were, anyone who looked up could see it.

As the green light spread, the whole of Profound Star became enveloped in its halo.

A suffocating sensation rose in everyone’s heart, and they instinctively closed their eyes.

Even with their eyes shut, they could clearly feel the pressure radiating from the green halo.

“It’s over!”

A despairing voice rang out within the underground facility of Great Daxuan.

Everyone stared intently at the screen.

Beneath that great sun, the nearly ten thousand East Wind Ones that had risen into the sky had not even approached the sea of clouds, much less reached outer space, before they vanished one after another.

It was as though they had never existed.

The sight filled everyone with despair.

The situation was even more terrifying than they had imagined.

The power contained within those East Wind Ones was enough to wipe out every trace of civilization on Profound Star.

Yet beneath that great sun, such power was destroyed without the slightest resistance.

How many people, then, would die beneath it?

At the thought, everyone shuddered with fear.

Beneath the green radiance, the mountains, rivers, vegetation, sea of clouds, and empty sky all began to undergo strange transformations.

Terrifying whispers echoed throughout heaven and earth. Everything twisted and warped.

Endless green began to spread, dyeing the horizon a lurid shade.

The entire world sank into an eerie silence.

“It’s over.”

“Could this be the end of the world?”

The civilians who had not yet made it into the shelters watched the countless pillars of fire vanish like phantoms. Their hearts filled with utter despair.

Fear and hopelessness spread through every place where living beings still remained.

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