Abyssal Wanderer.

The moment Duanmu Youxue reached out her hand, Wang Ying pulled out a pistol and pressed it directly against her head.

"Don't move."

She warned in a low voice.

"Lie down quietly and let her inject you with the anesthetic. I promise I won't hurt you."

Although she spoke calmly, Wang Ying still felt very uneasy at this moment—the anesthetic they injected into Youxue was administered strictly on time and in the correct dosage, so how could she suddenly wake up like that?

Meanwhile, Duanmu Youxue turned to look at Wang Ying with a playful expression.

"You've miscalculated the dosage. To completely anesthetize our brain activity, you'd need at least three times the normal amount."

As if she could read minds, she directly answered the question that Wang Ying was wondering about.

"Lie down!"

Wang Ying remained unmoved, instead pressing the gun barrel even harder against the other man's forehead.

"And now you want to ask, since we've been awake the whole time, why have we been pretending until now?"

Duanmu Youxue said with a smile.

"us?"

Ji Mu was puzzled when the other party grabbed his hand.

"If she wasn't anesthetized, then the Lin Yuan family's daughter naturally wasn't anesthetized either."

As Wang Ying spoke, without shifting her gaze, she also pulled out a gun with her other hand and pointed it to the side.

Just as Eri Hayashibara sat up, a gun was pointed at her head.

"Because we have no ill intentions, we simply want to invite you to go underground with us and witness the end of all this."

Hui Li's expression showed no panic whatsoever; instead, she spoke calmly.

"You mean no harm?"

Wang Ying seemed amused by these words.

"It's all over now, no one else will die."

Huili responded to Wang Ying's mockery in this way.

"Shut up! Lie down now so no one will die."

Wang Ying raised her voice to issue a final warning, while simultaneously using her eye-tracking device to disengage the safety on both guns.

Almost simultaneously, a unified voice came from all directions.

This commercial event venue, serving as a temporary base for those infected with the Dionysus virus, housed over two thousand infected individuals. Previously, due to the protective clauses of the Dionysus architecture, these infected individuals were trapped in a virtual void within their minds, their bodies completely losing their autonomy.

But at this moment, they rose from where they had been lying, as if they were one person. Each of them had the same expressionless face, and their movements were concise and efficient.

After standing up, the two thousand-plus people turned their heads at the same time and looked towards the center of the venue.

More than two thousand emotionless gazes instantly focused on Wang Ying, who was holding a gun, and the oppressive aura they contained almost made her legs go weak and she fell to the ground.

On the other side, Ji Mu was so frightened by the scene that his legs went weak and he knelt on the ground like a duck.

"We really meant no harm."

Seeing this, Duanmu Youxue reached out her hand and said this.

After all, if they really had malicious intent, they wouldn't have given Wang Ying the chance to pull out her gun.

but……

"why?"

Under the watchful eyes of more than two thousand people, Wang Ying had no choice but to put down her gun.

But she still asked, puzzled.

"Are you asking 'Why have they all become superhuman?' or 'Why don't we have any malicious intent?'"

Eri Hayashibara stood up and asked.

Without waiting for Wang Ying's reply, she answered on her own:

"If it's the former, the inhibitor released by the pharmacist wasn't as effective as expected. You'll find out the specific reason in a moment. As for the latter... I already said, it's all over, and no one else will die."

As she spoke, she walked over and took the pistol from Wang Ying's hand. After turning off the safety, she put it back into the holster on Wang Ying's waist.

"Next, we will lead all mankind to that harmonious heaven where there is no conflict."

…………

"The release order for the Great Thunder has just been confirmed. Let's go, there might still be time to evacuate."

The master of ceremonies said.

But to be honest, he wasn't sure if it would really be in time.

Jim gripped the memory chip tightly in his hand, gritting his teeth as he said:

“Then you take Hanel with you, and let me try again.”

In that case, even if he ultimately fails, he will at least be able to save one person.

"It's meaningless. This judgment is based on the Delphi Prophecy Bureau's observations of whether humanity will survive in five hundred years—humanity will only have a future if the Nord Resettlement Zone is destroyed. Even if you complete the adjustments and modifications to Depth 7 now, you cannot prevent this."

In response, the emcee offered this advice.

Besides, he didn't have time—there were less than thirteen minutes left before the Great Thunderstorm arrived, and completing the adjustment and transformation from Depth 3 to Depth 7 would take much longer than that.

This doesn't even take into account the evolution speed of that memetic entity on the tenth floor. It might not take more than ten minutes for it to evolve to the point where it can destroy the entire Nord settlement.

"I see."

Jim nodded and said:
"I just can't let go of the people I know and leave like this."

Upon hearing this, the emcee looked at him very seriously, as if trying to find a trace of hesitation in his eyes.

But in the end, he could only nod and sigh:
"If that's what you expect."

Although this key witness is missing, the punishment for Apollo Bio and Neptune's traffic violations will not be much less, given the evidence currently held by the Jupiter Group.

Jim nodded gratefully, then said quickly:

"Hanel should be here, probably dealing with the out-of-control apothecary; also, the mortician should be nearby, and it would be best to take him along if it's on the way."

As he spoke, he marked two points on the electronic map.

This was also a consensus they reached together: staying behind and struggling ugly to the last moment was Jim's obsession, while if Jiang Zhou could survive, he would be able to do more in the future.

Therefore, after leaving behind his last bit of support, Jiang Zhou had better...

But it was at this moment of farewell that the emcee received the latest news from Briareus.

The content of the message left the Jupiter Group envoy, who had already been manipulating gravity to float, completely stunned.

[Due to unforeseen circumstances, the board has decided to bring forward the Great Thunderclap. Calculations show it's impossible for you to escape to a safe distance; all your hard work has been in vain. If you wish, you can immediately upload your mental model back to the Mental Matrix via the Hundred-Armed Giant Protocol, at which time I will rebuild your body.]

Back on the ground, the emcee turned to look at Jim, who was working with the technicians to move the energy storage unit and connect the power transmission matrix to the multi-function printer.

He opened his mouth, wanting to tell them that any effort now would be in vain.

But he couldn't bring himself to say it—telling someone on their deathbed that they were about to die was too cruel.

Immediately, the emcee realized that if he stayed any longer, Jim, as the Orpheus Path Adjuster, would surely see through his act and extinguish their last glimmer of hope.

He then regained control of gravity and floated up, disappearing like a streak of light from the geothermal power plant.

“Pluto Deep Dive just gave a reply, saying it was the arbitrary decision made by the person in charge of the affiliated labor dispatch studio, and the board of directors was unaware of it.”

Upon hearing this, Briarus abruptly cut off the communication projection while muttering curses under his breath.

"That guy named Carol Christie, why did he have to show up only after the prophecy was established... even ten minutes earlier would have been better!"

If He had received this message ten minutes earlier, He could have used it to postpone the thunderous event as much as possible.

But now that the prophecy has been established, joining in to help will only make the old man on the board more determined to launch the Great Thunderbolt even sooner.

Duan Fan, standing to the side, shrugged as he looked at the irritated Briareus.

"Perhaps this is a self-fulfilling prophecy."

This is what the person who least should believe in fate said.

…………

Central Asia, Nord resettlement area.

The long night is almost over. Although faint starlight can still be seen in the sky, the east is already turning a pale white.

In addition, directly above the Nord settlement, a pale blue star, never before recorded in any star chart, is growing brighter and brighter—so bright that it seems as if it might fall at any moment.

Around the resettlement area, the "Continental Shelf Stabilizer" from Vulcan Heavy Industries fully revealed its massive size in the morning light.

These mechanical behemoths were deeply embedded in the earth, stabilizing the surrounding crustal structure to withstand the devastating impact.

On the tenth floor of the resettlement area, Perseus I is currently waging a full-scale battle against the embodiment of fear.

Calling it a battle might not be accurate. Even with Icarus's full support, Number One performed at 120% of his usual level, but his current state was more like desperately trying to prolong his life.

Even so, he still fulfilled his promise.

We must not let anyone else die on the tenth floor.

On the fourth floor of the resettlement area, Wang Ying and Ji Mu were being "escorted" by a large group of expressionless superheroes as they waited for the elevator to take them to the so-called "harmonious heaven".

If you continue downwards, passing through the surface and reaching the seventh basement level of the resettlement area, you'll find a completely different scene.

The nuclear explosion left the area in ruins, plunging it into complete darkness.

Jiang Zhou, dragging his injured body, struggled to climb to the top of a tall building, turned on the emergency lights, and waited for rescue.

Meanwhile, the rescuer he was waiting for—the master of ceremonies—was pondering in his final moments: if the mental model had been uploaded through the "Hundred-Handed Giant Protocol," then what was the "self" who was still thinking now?
From the moment he was born from the incubator, he has been thinking about more practical issues in accordance with the needs of the Hundred-Armed Giant.

Only now, when he is truly facing death, has he begun to seriously consider this eternal question.

What exactly is that "I" that points out?
For no apparent reason, he suddenly remembered what he had promised Jim—to take Hanel away from here.

From a more pragmatic perspective, such things are completely meaningless now.

No one in the entire Nord resettlement area can be saved; everyone will die here.

But when the emcee thought about this, he felt that the question of "what am I" seemed to have a vague answer.

So he floated up and flew straight toward the crash site marked on the map.

Meanwhile, at the geothermal power plant, Jim and his team had gathered all the available energy storage devices to create a power matrix sufficient for him to advance to Depth 5.

Although it's still far from enough, if we add...

Just as Jim was thinking this, in the sky he couldn't see, the azure "star" above the Nord resettlement area suddenly lit up.

The "Great Thunder" launcher, located at the center of the Olympus Space City ring, unleashed a torrent of azure directed energy toward the Nord settlement amidst Briarous's lament.

It was a dazzling pillar of light that connected heaven and earth, covering an area large enough to encompass the entire Nord resettlement area.

The beam of light carried astronomical amounts of energy, bringing a grand dawn to the entire Nord settlement before the sun did.

Just seconds before dawn, Hecate, the goddess of the moon who had been floating a thousand meters above the Nord settlement, finally stood up.

Her night-colored robes and long, black silk-like hair fluttered in the wind, and the gold ornaments she wore shone brilliantly in the reflection of the azure stars.

But these glittering lights are insignificant compared to the light that will later shine over the Nord resettlement area.

As the stars grew ever brighter, Hecate gently stroked them from a distance, and the dark safe that had always been at her feet opened on its own. Immediately, the thirty-five small, silver-white spheres inside floated up.

“Jim Reit…”

She spoke softly, her tone gentle and full of anticipation.

At this moment, both Jiang Zhou and Jim heard Hecate's words through the Janus program.

"This is an advance payment, so please don't disappoint me."

As soon as she finished speaking, the seven pitch-black spheres that had been floating around Hecate instantly swallowed the seven silver-white spheres containing antimatter.

Hecate looked up lazily at the dawn that was about to tear through the long night, and pointed to the sky.

The sleeves of her robe slid down with her movements, revealing her pale and slender arms.

At the same time, the seven pitch-black spheres containing antimatter—or rather, the seven universal printers containing a sufficient amount of antimatter—rapidly rose into the sky, quickly spreading out a pitch-black curtain of night that protected the Nord resettlement area from all directions.

Printed successfully: [Planetary-level Directional Energy Deflection Shield - Dark Night].

Almost the instant the "night" was laid out, the "dawn" brought by the great thunder arrived.

Two equally magnificent energies collided, unleashing a tremendous light that brought daylight to most of Central Asia.

Hecate!!!

Like thunder, an angry voice resounded across the World Wide Web in Central Asia.

You don't need to shout, you can hear me here.

Hecate responded calmly to this.

Your actions have crossed the line of "protecting human civilization." Do you really think I wouldn't dare touch your damaged database?

The thunderous voice continued to roar.

You continue with your duties, I have no objection. As for me, I'll continue with my research project, you don't need to worry about that. If you want to increase the workload within the rules, go ahead, don't give me any special treatment.

Hecate answered in this way, and then directly blocked the other party's signal—with her authority and power, the person whose signal she blocked would not be able to find her for a while.

The reason for doing this is that the computing power that this body can access in the base reality is limited, and it really doesn't have the energy to fight those guys online - at this moment, most of the computing power needs to be used to allocate energy to support the deflection shield.

Before long, the first batch of seven grams of antimatter was almost completely consumed.

…………

Meanwhile, about seventy kilometers away from the Nord resettlement area, Christie, who was rushing to her destination at full speed, also saw the dawn that dispelled the darkness.

"Has the great thunder already descended?"

Sita, who was stored in her internal storage facility, asked after seeing that scene.

"I don't know what they're in such a hurry for. I already said I'd take responsibility for getting you there..."

Christie complained.

"But given the current situation, is there any point in us going now?"

In response, Sita asked directly.

"It will happen!"

Christie shouted, and at the same time, he revved the engine even more frantically. (End of Chapter)