Dressed as the last nine-tailed fox

Chapter 366 The Black Umbrella Appears, Humanity Destroyed

"The Director of the Imperial Observatory?" Seeing the Director of the Imperial Observatory turn deathly pale in an instant, Gao Weiche felt an indescribable heaviness in his heart. After taking a deep breath, Gao Weiche's mood calmed down a little. He pretended to be calm and said his guess, "After seeing... seeing the miserable state of the five junior brothers above, I immediately questioned everyone in the Imperial Observatory. Everyone gave the same answer, without exception - last night was like usual, I did not hear any strange noises, nor did I see anything strange."

Gao Weiche paused, then added, "Even I didn't notice anything different about last night compared to usual."

Immediately afterward, Gao Weiche tilted his head slightly, and once he could no longer see the supervisor out of the corner of his eye, he blurted out, "So I guess that the five junior brothers who were on night watch yesterday suffered the same fate as those two chickens just now, all of them killed instantly by the black umbrella... It seems that they were not tortured before they died, and their passing was not painful." In this heavy atmosphere, Gao Weiche's last words seemed more like a tacit comfort between him and the supervisor.

"You're right." This comforting remark pulled Jian Zheng out of his grief and fear. He finally looked up and nodded slightly to Gao Weiche, indicating that Gao Weiche should say anything else.

“From last night until now, apart from the five junior brothers above, no one has come into close contact with this black umbrella. It appeared out of thin air overnight. Any living thing that enters its range will die. No one knows just how powerful it is.” Gao Weiche’s eyes were unfathomable. “But the most terrifying thing about this black umbrella is that it grows. If…”

Gao Weiche didn't voice the worst-case scenario. Instead, he bowed and clasped his hands in a gesture of respect to the Imperial Censor, saying urgently, "Imperial Censor, we should immediately report the situation of the Black Umbrella to the Emperor and brainstorm solutions."

"You noticed it too, didn't you?" The supervisor's eyes went unfocused, utterly lifeless.

“I… Supervisor.” Gao Weiche lowered his eyes. “We can’t be sure of the origin of this black umbrella yet. The situation may not be as bad as we think. If we can build a structure to completely cover the black umbrella and the observatory, isolating them from the world, there might be a new turning point.”

"You've noticed it too, haven't you?" the supervisor repeated. "Even if this black umbrella doesn't absorb new living things, it's still growing little by little. If this continues..."

The supervisor's lips grew increasingly pale. "It will engulf the entire world."

As they talked, the black umbrella had already spread to the ninth floor of the observatory. "This...this..." Gao Weiche's pupils trembled helplessly upon seeing this. "Why is it growing faster and faster?"

"It's because of those two chickens, it must be because of those two chickens!" Realizing that his actions had led to the current situation, Gao Weiche became completely at a loss, muttering to himself, "What have I done? What have I done...?"

At this moment, the supervisor thought of something and hurriedly took out fifty yarrow stalks from his pocket. Not caring whether they were clean or not, he sat down on the ground and began to deduce the meaning.

After a long while, the supervisor finally turned his gaze to Gao Weiche and said in a deep voice, "This has nothing to do with you. I told you to throw the chickens up. Besides, judging from the current situation, even if we hadn't thrown those two chickens up there, the growth rate of the black umbrella wouldn't have been much slower than it is now."

The supervisor's gaze was deep, and his tone was filled with despair, "Its growth will only accelerate until it covers the entire human world, leaving no one alive."

Gao Weiche suddenly looked in the direction of the supervisor. The divination results on the ground pointed to only one outcome—certain death. If there were only a slim chance of survival, the result on the ground clearly did not even offer that slim chance.

“This…” Gao Weiche’s finger trembled as he pointed at the yarrow stalks, “Supervisor, what are you calculating? Have you already figured out the origin of the Black Umbrella?”

The supervisor sat upright on the ground, nodding slightly, about to say something, when he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. If he hadn't reached out to support himself in time, he would have collapsed to the ground.

"Supervisor!" Gao Weiche hurriedly helped the supervisor up.

With the help of Gao Weiche, the supervisor managed to steady himself. His face was ashen, as if he were about to burn out.

Gao Weiche half-squatted down and saw the supervisor frown. After the supervisor regained his balance, he still chose to ask the question, "Supervisor, what is the origin of this black umbrella?"

"The black umbrella appears, and humanity perishes." The supervisor closed his eyes in anguish. "Only divine skill could create such a destructive weapon. This black umbrella is divine punishment, God's way of punishing humanity!"

When the supervisor uttered the words "divine punishment," Gao Weiche clearly felt the umbrella ribs sway slightly, and the entire umbrella surface trembled. Whether it was Gao Weiche's imagination or not, he heard several excited cheers in his ears, as if the black umbrella was cheering for the imminent engulfment of the human world.

Gao Weiche's eyes were filled with confusion, his whole body was ice-cold, he couldn't understand why God would send down divine punishment, "But we did nothing, God is always merciful, why would He punish innocent people?"

"No." The supervisor shook his head and said firmly, "We must have done something to anger the gods, which is why they have sent down divine punishment to punish the entire human world. We must have done something wrong."

As soon as the supervisor finished speaking, a yarrow stalk on the ground suddenly began to move.

"What's that! Supervisor, look!" Gao Weiche pointed to the moving yarrow stalk.

After moving for a moment, the yarrow stalks stopped. Seeing where the yarrow stalks had stopped, a glimmer of hope rekindled in the ashes in Jianzheng's eyes. "After nine deaths, a sliver of light has broken the deadlock."

The yarrow stalks formed a hexagram indicating a miraculous turn of events.

Gao Weiche felt as if he were walking on the edge of a thorny cliff, with a bottomless abyss beneath his feet, about to be swallowed by darkness. But the moment he saw the divination, he grabbed a tenacious vine that was climbing out of a crevice in the rocks. The divination was like the vine, giving him a faint glimmer of life. This faint glimmer of life also carried the warmth of the soil, making his cold body feel a little warmer, and his heart, which had been hanging in his throat, was able to catch its breath for a moment.

"God has not abandoned humanity. God has not abandoned humanity!" the prison warden shouted, his cloudy eyes glistening with tears. "God has given us a chance to atone for our sins, a chance to atone for our sins... Humanity is saved..."

As he spoke, the supervisor's breathing gradually became long and soft, like a silkworm spinning silk, thread by thread, until it slowly dissipated. The surrounding air seemed to become quiet and solemn as well. Although there was a disturbance in the Star Gazing Tower, even the chaotic noise outside the window stopped. Gao Weiche clenched his fists, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and he opened his mouth but no sound came out.

As blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and his last breath escaped, the supervisor's body gradually lost its warmth. He slowly lowered his head, his posture still upright, a smile playing on his lips, as if he had simply fallen into an eternal slumber. Gao Weiche trembled as he reached out to check the supervisor's breath. "Supervisor!" After confirming that the supervisor was no longer breathing, Gao Weiche cried out in anguish. Even with his exceptional talent, he was still young. Having witnessed the deaths of his colleagues and elders in such a short time, he could no longer hold back his tears. The usually bustling Star Gazing Tower was now utterly desolate; he was the only living person left in the vast space.

……

Yi Changle and Kaitian were on the highest level, having a clear view of everything that was happening below. Looking at Gao Weiche, who was lying on the ground weeping and clutching his arms tightly, trying to draw warmth from them, Kaitian sighed and remarked, "He is indeed a man of loyalty and righteousness. But if he knew how many shady things his respected supervisor and his five junior brothers had done behind the scenes, would he regret shedding these tears for them today?"

Even if the things they were doing required sacrifice, Yi Changle and Kaitian would never persecute innocent people. The five disciples who died could be considered as "carefully selected" by the two of them. The five of them, relying on their status as disciples of the Imperial Observatory, committed all kinds of evil deeds. They ate and drank for free every day, borrowed money from others, and even forced respectable women to commit crimes with the Prefect of the Capital. This left the oppressed with no one to turn to for help and committed suicide in despair.

"Those five deserved to die! This way of dying is too lenient on them. They deserved to be torn to pieces!" Kaitian cursed angrily. "It's just a pity that we can't expose their despicable deeds to the public yet."

"As for this Director of the Imperial Observatory," Kaitian said angrily, "he's about to die, yet he still puts on a show. I've never seen such a hypocrite! So much innocent blood is on his hands. No, Yi Changle, you send a message to the King of Hell and make sure all these people go to the eighteenth level of hell when they arrive in the underworld!"

"Don't worry, they will all go to hell." Yi Changle paused, then continued, "Not only them, but also the Prefect of the Capital and those who colluded with them in the palace. Every single one of them will not escape, whether it's the Black Umbrella or the eighteen levels of hell."

……

Gao Weiche retrieved the palace access token from the corpse of the supervisor, and with his eyes swollen from crying, he entered the palace.

When Yi Changle and Kaitian first arrived in the capital, they discovered that the imperial aura hovering above the palace was extremely thin, and the dragon shape it formed was so faint that it was almost invisible. This indicated that the dynasty was nearing its end, and the human world was about to be replaced by a new dynasty.

This was a matter of life and death for humanity, and Gao Weiche dared not delay for a moment. He ran wildly along the moss-covered palace path, passing through many palace gates, taking three steps at a time, and finally stopped outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Gao Weiche knelt before the dragon-patterned steps and shouted, "Your Majesty, your humble servant Gao Weiche of the Imperial Observatory has important matters to report!"

The eunuch in charge quickly approached Gao Weiche, deliberately lowering his high-pitched voice, "Lord Gao, His Majesty is resting and cannot be disturbed in the slightest!"

Gao Weiche ignored the eunuch's words, "Your humble servant Gao Weiche of the Imperial Observatory has important matters to discuss with Your Majesty!" He knelt down and shouted again and again, but there was still no response from inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Lord Gao! If you disturb His Majesty, no one can protect you!"

“Protect me?” Gao Weiche raised his head, looking at the eunuch as if he were looking at a dead object. “If I can’t see His Majesty, not only me, but you…” Gao Weiche pointed to the eunuch, “but also him, her…” Then, Gao Weiche pointed to the guards and palace maids guarding outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, “and even the entire human world will be doomed.”

"You..." The eunuch wanted to say something in rebuttal, but after seeing Gao Weiche's eyes, he unconsciously took a step back, creating some distance between himself and Gao Weiche before saying, "You're really crazy!"

The eunuch turned around and reverted to his arrogant demeanor. He ordered the guards, "Take him away. Don't let him disturb His Majesty's peace!"

With so many people around, if Gao Weiche were to recklessly reveal everything that happened at the Star Gazing Tower, the people outside the palace would likely know before he even entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation that human power is too insignificant before the gods, and the mere mention of 'divine punishment' would only cause panic among the people and lead to chaos throughout the land.

Gao Weiche clenched his fists. The Imperial Censor had died to give humanity a glimmer of hope, and no matter how slim that hope was, he could not let the Imperial Censor's sacrifice be in vain. He had to see the Emperor.

Just as Gao Weiche was about to break free of the guards and rush into the Hall of Mental Cultivation, a female official hurried toward him. "Lord Gao, Her Majesty the Empress requests your presence."

"Queen?"

……

Kunning Palace.

The woman at the head of the table was extremely beautiful, with a dignified and elegant face, and slender, thin eyebrows like the bright moon. She looked like Guanyin who had stepped out of a painting, as if time had left no trace on her.

Gao Weiche rarely entered the palace. He disliked places with many strangers, and the Imperial Censor indulged him, even helping him find excuses to decline palace banquets. Therefore, Gao Weiche had never met the Empress before. Upon seeing the Empress for the first time, he thought that even if they were not in Kunning Palace, but somewhere else, he would recognize the beautiful woman sitting on the high seat as the Empress at a glance. He had heard the Imperial Censor mention more than once that among all the women in the world, only this Empress possessed such a noble and ethereal temperament. "Your humble servant Gao Weiche greets Your Majesty the Empress."

"No need for formalities." The Empress leaned slightly against the back of the chair, her skirt cascading down naturally, her fingertips casually resting on the edge of the chair. "You are his successor?"

Gao Weiche lowered his head, but he could still feel a gaze scrutinizing him without any attempt to hide it. Although the Empress did not name him, Gao Weiche knew clearly that the 'he' she was referring to was the Supervisor. "Yes."

"He has always kept you hidden away, how could he bear to let you enter the palace alone today?"

"Your Majesty, I have important matters to report..." Gao Weiche knelt down again, "Your Majesty, I have important matters to report."

"Am I that terrifying in your eyes? So much so that you kneel down at the drop of a hat?" The Empress chuckled. "Get up and raise your head."

Gao Weiche hadn't dared to look closely before, but now he noticed that the Empress's expression was somewhat languid, and even her posture... her knees were casually crossed, which seemed very unrefined, especially in front of him, a man from another family.