Pretending to be a genius starts with the civilization advancement assessment.

Chapter 214 Divine Grace as Vast as the Sea, First Encounter with the Stars (5.5K)

The entire planet Earth fell into a deathly silence.

First came the deathly silence brought about by the discovery of the cruel truth.

At that moment, it was as if the entire planet had been plunged into an ice cellar of absolute zero, and even the air had frozen.

Countless people lost their ability to think at that moment, with only one absurd and cruel thought remaining in their minds: all the suffering, sacrifice, and separation they and their deceased relatives and friends had endured was merely a test? A kind of assessment?
Immediately following was the deathly silence brought about by the Gospel of the Resurrection.

The angry lava had not yet erupted when it was extinguished by the rain that fell from the sky, leaving only a hazy mist.

At this moment, the entire planet and its billions of inhabitants seemed to fall silent, with only their hearts pounding wildly in their chests, making a loud "thump-thump" sound, as if providing the most primal accompaniment for that incredible divine oracle.

"Resurrected?" Chen Yu's voice was filled with disbelief.

He was the first to break free from this double blow.

"Everyone who died in the assessment? Old Zhang? Little Liu? And that kid from Aunt Wang's family?!"

Each name he uttered represented a heavy memory and regret, and at this moment, these names seemed to be infused with the brilliance of life, burning brightly in his eyes.

"All...everyone who died because of the assessment?" Elizabeth murmured to herself, a violent emotional fluctuation appearing in her icy blue eyes for the first time.

The aloofness that had always enveloped her was shattered at this moment.

She remembered the little girl who, in the early days of the London settlement, held her hand and said intermittently, "Sister, don't cry," despite her high fever and the extreme scarcity of supplies and rudimentary medical conditions, and her infected wound.

She recalled Aaron, the young adjutant who always wore a shy smile during the first Abyss in Renton Tower, but at the last moment pushed her away and deliberately detonated the source energy crystal within his body, perishing together with the elite Abyss Beast "Shadow Reaper" that charged up.

Those faces she had buried deep in her heart, which she thought she could only see in memories and dreams, now had the possibility of standing vividly before her again.
A surge of sour, hot liquid rushed into her nasal cavity, forcing her to tilt her head back slightly and look at the sky, which had just been purified and appeared exceptionally clear.

"God! God! This...this is fucking terrible!"

Andrei, a man known for his boldness, rudeness, and outspokenness, was gripping his hair tightly with his large hands, letting out a beast-like howl.

This man, who never flinched in the face of bullets and the claws of abyssal beasts, now had his shoulders trembling violently.

He thought of the survivor camp in Hope Town on America's east coast, which had been breached by hordes of "corrosive giant lizards," and of the mother who had placed her baby in his arms at the last moment before being swallowed by the acid. The compatriots he couldn't save, the guilt that gnawed at his heart in the dead of night—could there really be a chance to make amends?
"Old Cat, did you hear that? Resurrection! They can be resurrected! Fatty, Xiaoling, and Brother Zhao... they can all come back!"

The monkey seemed to be delirious, gripping the old cat's arm tightly, his nails almost digging into the cat's combat uniform. He was so excited that he was incoherent, his face covered in snot and tears, yet he was still grinning, his expression twisted to the point of being comical.

The bear opened its mouth wide and made meaningless "hoho" sounds, its honest face filled with unbelievable joy, as if afraid that making a louder sound would startle this beautiful dream away.

Nightingale bit her lower lip so hard it almost bled, and her body trembled slightly uncontrollably.

Ecstasy, disbelief—all sorts of emotions surged and collided like shockwaves from an explosion among the Star Core level experts around Lin Yi.

They would grab each other's shoulders and shake them vigorously, as if trying to confirm through each other's body temperature that this was not a collective hallucination.

Or perhaps he would look up to the sky and let out a long, cathartic roar, releasing the grief and repression that had been building up for forty years.

Or they might embrace tightly, sobbing uncontrollably, using their tears to wash away the deep wounds of their souls.

Forty years of blood and fire, forty years of sacrifice and separation, countless days and nights of perseverance and struggle, at this moment, it seems that they have finally received the richest reward.

However, at the heart of this wave of ecstasy, a mixture of tears and laughter, Lin Yi was also extremely shocked and overjoyed, even needing to take a deep breath to calm himself down.

However, he also harbored a deep-seated confusion that no one else knew about.

resurrection?

A high-level rating actually comes with the reward of resurrecting all the dead?

This was completely beyond his comprehension in his previous life.

According to the information he obtained from the Pan-Spirit Alliance virtual network in his previous life, he had never heard of anyone being able to revive the dead who died during the civilization advancement assessment.

Such methods must require at least a god-level intervention.

That's a god!
What does this mean?
Could it be that behind this assessment, instead of the relatively cold selection and elimination mechanism he has always believed in, there is some deeper intention that he has not yet understood?

Is it an extra reward for potential?
Or is it some other intention?

Countless questions surged wildly in his heart like boiling bubbles.

However, he showed no sign of abnormality on the surface. He simply hovered there quietly, his clothes fluttering gently in the breeze, as if he too was immersed in digesting the afterglow of this earth-shattering information, perfectly blending into the ecstatic crowd around him.

At that moment, as if in response to the complex emotions that permeated the world, a mighty force, centered on Blue Star, which could not be detected by any instrument but could be clearly "perceived" by all living beings, like infinitely tiny and omnipresent particles, instantly covered every corner of Blue Star and permeated every inch of space.

The next moment, a miracle occurred.

Without warning or sound, it was as if the laws of the universe itself were gently manipulated by an invisible hand, silently rewriting the underlying code of reality.

In a newly restored square in the city center, in a well-planned, tree-lined residential area, in a vast field that utilizes energy technology to achieve high-efficiency production, and in an open space inside a heavily guarded yet absolutely secure military base.
In areas deemed "relatively safe," soft, pure white light began to illuminate the area silently.

The light was not dazzling, but rather somewhat hazy, yet it contained the most primal warmth and peace of life, like the first cry of a newborn baby, carrying the most primitive power.

Within the light, countless blurry figures began to rapidly solidify from illusory outlines, like 3D printing, from nothing to something, from transparent to real.

Flesh and blood, bones, clothing, even the objects they held in their hands at the moment of death, and the frozen expressions on their faces.
They are all being perfectly reconstructed in a way that transcends the laws of physics.

These resurrected people are all different in appearance, dressed in clothes that clearly bear the marks of different eras, and their faces still retain the most authentic expressions of the moment before their death.

It could be extreme fear and distortion, or the ferocity and determination of fighting, or the bewilderment, helplessness and emptiness, or even a few with a sense of liberation and peace.

In the central garden of an old town in Helu City, a young girl wearing a dress with small floral prints that was popular more than forty years ago appeared blankly under a "glowing sycamore" tree that emitted a faint blue light.

She looked no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, her face was pale, and her hands were still in a pushing-forward posture, as if she was resisting some unseen terror.

She looked at the skyscrapers around her with their flowing energy patterns, watched the sleek hoverbuses glide silently by in the distance, and observed the strange, functional yet aesthetically pleasing clothing worn by pedestrians—clothes she had never seen before. Her eyes were empty and confused, as if she hadn't yet recovered from the excruciating pain and chill of her throat being torn apart by the claws of the "Corrosive Abyss Wolf."

She subconsciously touched her neck, the smooth touch sending a shiver down her spine.

On the parade ground of a large military base, a group of soldiers wearing first-generation standard Yuanwu Army combat uniforms suddenly appeared next to the training equipment.

There were about twenty of them, and their uniforms still bore traces of gunpowder.

The moment they appeared, their excellent military skills enabled them to take immediate action.

They let out low shouts and quickly formed a tight circular defensive formation back to back, their weapons pointing outwards, exuding vigilance and a murderous aura.

The captain, a man with a hideous scar on his face, growled, "Alert! Where are we? Where's the leader?! Signalman, try to contact command immediately! Medic, check the wounded!"

At the entrance of a large material transfer center in Southwest China, a middle-aged man wearing a "volunteer" armband and covered in soot stood there in a daze.

He was still vaguely gripping the handle of a non-existent box, his body leaning slightly forward, maintaining a posture of exertion.

That was the moment when he exhausted his last bit of strength as he tried to salvage the last few boxes of compressed biscuits from a warehouse about to be engulfed in flames after the apocalypse.

He stared at the spacious and bright transfer center before him, where various automated robotic arms and transport robots worked in an orderly manner. He looked at the neatly stacked boxes of supplies with labels he couldn't understand, and at the surprised expressions on the faces of the people around him. He froze, like a frozen sculpture.

He subconsciously loosened his clenched fist, staring blankly at his empty yet powerful palm. Beside a martyrs' cemetery on the outskirts of a large city in central China, amidst tranquil pine and cypress trees.

An old soldier with gray hair and wearing an old military uniform appeared on a clean stone road, still holding the steering wheel with both hands.

His face wore a peculiar expression that mixed resoluteness and relief, with even a faint smile at the corners of his mouth.

A few seconds later, his cloudy but determined eyes blinked, realizing that the ear-piercing explosion had not occurred; instead, there were birdsong and the rustling of wind through the pine forest.

He slowly lowered his loosely clenched hands, looking around at the solemn and quiet environment with a puzzled expression. He gazed at the rows of neat tombstones and the outline of a bustling, unfamiliar, and vibrant city in the distance. His wrinkled face was filled with a sense of bewilderment at the disorientation between time and space.

“I am not.”

He opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything more. The last thing he remembered was driving an old truck loaded with high explosives, roaring as he charged into the surging tide of abyssal beasts, using his life to light up the last second for the evacuation team behind him.

difference.

The enormous, dizzying differences assaulted the senses of every resurrected person.

Their deaths spanned more than forty years, and occurred at vastly different stages of civilization.

From the initial chaos, despair, and collapse of order in the early days of the apocalypse, to the scarcity of resources and the arduous struggle to hold on, and then to the early localized counterattacks and the initial application of technology, the Blue Planet in their memories was bloody, desperate, precarious, and extremely dangerous.

What forcibly entered their eyes at this moment was a new world that was orderly, technologically advanced, and full of strange source energy and vibrant life!

The massive energy condenser beams, like the backbone and totem of civilization, stand majestically throughout the city, their tops disappearing into the clouds.

The streets are lined with peculiar, mutated plants whose branches and leaves naturally emanate a faint glow of energy.

People were dressed in clothes he had never seen before, made of strange materials and seemingly possessing some kind of function. Although their faces showed bewilderment and shock from just experiencing a huge information shock, they showed no signs of the numbness, fear, and exhaustion typical of the apocalyptic era.

In the sky, the abominable shadows and suffocating howls of the Abyss Beasts were no longer present, but rather the elegant flight paths left by patrol aircraft adorned with the community's insignia, and the faint ripples of the "Sky Curtain" defensive energy field, like a transparent eggshell, visible higher up, under the sunlight.
"Is this heaven? Or is it a hallucination after my death?" the girl in the floral dress murmured, her voice barely audible.

"No. This energy environment...this architectural style and materials..."

The resurrected veteran of the Yuanwu Army keenly sensed the active yet peaceful Yuan energy particles in the surrounding air. Their concentration and purity were more than ten times stronger than in the era when he was alive and had just begun to utilize Yuan energy!
The materials and structure of those buildings were completely beyond his comprehension.

"Information. Information directly entered my mind! About the assessment, about Commander Lin Yi, about the past forty years."

One of the soldiers, a young communications soldier, suddenly clutched his head and shouted, his face filled with the pain and shock of having his understanding forcibly refreshed.

Yes, the moment they were fully resurrected and their consciousness was completely awakened, the questions about "civilization advancement assessment," "the crisis of the Abyss Beasts," "forty years of resistance," "the leadership of Commander Lin Yi," "the establishment of the Blue Star Community," "the revival of technology and energy," and the reasons why they were able to be resurrected came to mind.
All this crucial information was directly imprinted deep within their consciousness, allowing them to grasp the basic outline of their wondrous situation and this new world in a very short time, almost in an instinctive way.

Shocked.

An overwhelming sense of shock swept over the souls of every "returnee" like a tsunami.

They were awestruck by the commander named Lin Yi, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and the legendary stories he created.

They were awestruck by the miraculous rebirth and glorious present of this land that had been transformed in just over forty years.

They were even more overwhelmed by the fact that they had been able to come back from the dead and witness and join this hopeful new era.

Tears welled up uncontrollably again, but this time, they were no longer tears of despair and grief.

Instead, it was tears of joy that felt like a lifetime had passed.

It is the soul's stress response to suddenly seeing light after a long period of darkness, the immense joy of surviving a catastrophe, the bewilderment of a strange world, the faint sadness of lost time, and the vague anticipation of the future.
These complex emotions intertwined, transforming into cries, shouts, and discussions that spread across the various resurrection points, shattering the previous silence.

However, before this commotion, a mixture of ecstasy and bewilderment, could fully develop into a global celebration...

That vast will resounded clearly once again in the hearts of all the people of Earth.

[The 'resurrection' reward during the civilization advancement assessment is a confidential matter and must not be disclosed to outsiders through the Pan-Spirit Alliance virtual network or other means.]

This chilling warning instantly froze the fervor and unrest that had just begun to rise globally.

Everyone understood that this seemingly selfless "divine grace" was not without cost and limitations; it was strictly sealed within the Blue Star civilization by an insurmountable boundary.

Just as the chilling warning echoed, like invisible threads entwining the hearts of every human being on Earth, and everyone was thrown into disarray by the series of mind-blowing changes, Lin Yi, who was hovering above the ruins of the Amazonian main nest, suddenly felt everything around him being forcibly stripped away and severed by some incomprehensible force in a fraction of a second.

The land and sky before me were no longer the familiar place that had just witnessed a miracle; instead, they suddenly transformed into a cold, desolate vacuum of space.

There was no transition, no process, not even the slightest spatial fluctuation or energy ripple.

He was as if he had been cut out of a painting and pasted onto a completely different background.

In an instant, he was transported from the vibrant surface of the planet to this desolate outer space.

He almost instinctively steadied himself instantly, and the star-core level source energy within his body instantly circulated at high speed, enveloping his entire body.

Fortunately, the reason why the Star Core class can be called Space Marines is because they have become source energy life forms and can survive in space. Otherwise, if it were a Stardust class, they would have died instantly.

However, even with Lin Yi's resolute will and the countless storms he had witnessed in his two lifetimes, the scene before him still shook him to his core.

The first thing that caught his eye was the planet below, most of which was covered by azure oceans and white swirling clouds.

Blue Star.

It floats silently against the backdrop of a dark, velvety universe, its edges enveloped in a thin, beautiful atmospheric glow, appearing both beautiful and fragile, like a sapphire set in endless darkness.

Immediately afterwards, his gaze was drawn to the presence in the void directly in front of him.

There, a spaceship he had never seen before floated silently.

Its entire body is matte black, as if it can absorb all the light that shines on it. Its shape is a simple spindle shape to the extreme, without any visible portholes, engine nozzles or weapon hardpoints. Its lines are smooth and cold, like the most primitive geometry sculpted by the universe itself.

A figure stood before this awe-inspiring black shuttle-shaped spaceship.

It was not made of flesh and blood, but rather of pure light and shadow and countless ever-changing, complex runes that were beyond his comprehension.

His very existence seemed to be a manifestation of some kind of cosmic rule. The mere contact of his gaze caused Lin Yi's soul to feel an instinctive tremor and awe, as if an ant were looking up at the sky, or a mayfly were facing the sea.

A little further to the side and rear, he saw another spaceship.

The style of this spaceship was completely different from that of the black shuttle-shaped object. It was covered with a gentle emerald green light, and its shape was elegant and peculiar, like some kind of growing plant or natural crystal. There seemed to be vine-like energy patterns flowing slowly on the hull.

Although it also exuded an extraordinary aura, compared to the absolute oppressive feeling brought by the black shuttle-shaped object, this emerald green spaceship appeared much more peaceful.

Standing silently in front of the emerald green spaceship was a figure.

She was a tall woman wearing a strange robe that seemed to be woven from starlight and mist.

She had long golden hair, an exquisitely beautiful face, and a diamond-shaped crystal on her forehead that shimmered with a faint, understated light.

Lin Yi keenly noticed that the woman was looking at him with a complex and unfathomable gaze, her eyes seemingly containing nebulae.

(End of this chapter)