The spell's range covers the entire territory of China? Hand it over to the state.

Southwestern border, boundary marker No. 77.

The sky here is unusually low, not because it's going to rain, but because the clouds have a sickly gray-yellow hue, a bizarre reflection of the two parallel universes slowly squeezing the real world from afar.

There was a strange smell in the air, like rotten eggs mixed with burnt rubber. This smell is called "apocalyptic smell". If you smell it for too long, it can cause mold to grow in your lungs.

But along the winding border, a faint golden light split the world in two.

On one side is purgatory.

On one side is the human world.

Zhao Tiezhu spat out the grass root in his mouth, pulled down the brim of his camouflage hat to cover his bloodshot eyes. He was the company commander of the 3rd Company of the border defense regiment, and at this moment he was lying behind the cover, staring at a point a hundred meters ahead through binoculars.

It was packed with people.

"Company commander, three more have fallen." The observer's voice was hoarse, and the notebook he was holding was almost soaked with sweat. "At this rate, half of these men will starve to death before the monsters even arrive."

Zhao Tiezhu didn't say anything, but his cheeks were clenched tightly, and his jawline was as hard as a piece of granite.

They were a group of refugees from a neighboring country in the southeast.

In the aftermath of the cataclysm, the neighboring small country completely collapsed. The instance descended upon the very center of the capital, without any buffer period, and the entire country's leadership quickly went silent. The common people, like ants scattered from a nest, fled towards the border like headless flies.

After all, everyone can see that the golden dragon-shaped light curtain in the east is the only bright spot within a radius of several thousand kilometers.

But they can't get in.

The Great Wall: Absolutely Rejected

This thing is ruthless. Without Su Yun's permission, not only would a person be killed if they bumped into a mosquito that's lost its mind about reproduction this season, but also if it doesn't have a permit.

"Company commander, are we just going to stand by and watch?" New recruit Li Erniu couldn't hold back any longer. "I still have half a bag of compressed biscuits in my bag..."

"Shut up!" Zhao Tiezhu growled, his voice like it was being ground on sandpaper. "Military orders are absolute. Without orders from above, anyone who dares to cross the boundary marker will be shot dead!"

Li Erniu shrank back, not daring to utter a sound, but his eyes kept drifting outwards.

In truth, Zhao Tiezhu was more distressed than anyone else.

He was a soldier, a soldier who served to protect his country and save lives. Now, watching a group of unarmed civilians waiting to die right under his nose, the feeling of helplessness was even more frustrating than having an enemy holding a gun to his head.

But he knew even better that this barrier of light was the last line of defense. Once it was breached, what would flood in might not just be refugees, but also plague, panic, and even... monsters in human skin mixed in with the crowd.

……

Outside the wall, a refugee camp.

It was called a campsite, but it was really just a muddy swamp.

Amu took off his only remaining suit jacket and draped it over the top of the makeshift tent—if a few tree branches supporting a tattered plastic sheet could be called a tent.

"Brother, I'm cold."

A faint sound came from beneath him. It was his seven-year-old sister, her face sallow, her lips chapped and peeling, curled up in a tiny ball.

"It's not cold, it's not cold." Amu hugged his younger sister tighter, using his body heat to warm her slightly trembling little body, humming a tuneless nursery rhyme, while tears welled up in his eyes.

Amu is no ordinary person.

Just a day ago, he was a leading civil engineer in the neighboring country, earning a high salary, living in a villa with a swimming pool, drinking coffee in the morning, and listening to symphonies in the evening. He was fluent in three languages, including Luang Prabang, and he even participated in the construction of a transnational bridge in Harbour City.

At that time, he felt that he was a citizen of the world and that no boundaries could stop the elite class from moving forward.

Now he realizes how ridiculous that idea was.

When civilization collapses, whether elites or beggars, they are all just pieces of meat in the face of death; the only difference may be the tenderness of the meat.

"Brother, can we go in?" The younger sister pointed to the towering golden light curtain in the distance, her eyes filled with longing. "It's so bright over there, it must be so warm."

Amu looked up.

That light curtain was truly beautiful. Even from a hundred meters away, one could feel its solemn and grand aura. Occasionally, the wind would shift, and the breeze blowing from that direction would even carry a faint scent of rice blossoms.

That's the taste of heaven.

"Yes, definitely." Amu lied to his sister, and to himself, "Longxia is a great nation, a land of etiquette. They won't stand by and watch us die. Let's just wait here until they open the door."

However, the people around him were not as "optimistic" as he was.

Despair spread like a plague. Some people knelt in the mud and kowtowed to the light screen, their foreheads bleeding from the blows; others went mad and smashed stones against the illusory wall, only to have their hand bones broken by the recoil and lie on the ground howling in agony; still others fought tooth and nail over half a piece of moldy bread, even brothers, their fingernails digging into each other's flesh.

Once people lose hope, their animalistic instincts take over.

"roar--!!!"

Suddenly, a piercing roar rang out in the distance.

The sound was not like that of a wild beast, but more like the scraping of rusty iron against glass, making one's teeth ache and scalp tingle.

The previously agitated crowd fell silent instantly, followed by screams ten times louder than before.

"They're here! They're here!"

"Run! Run!"

In the distance, the mist churned, and dozens of dark figures darted out of the woods, using both hands and feet.

It is a bristly corpse beast.

Originally an ordinary wild boar, after being corrupted by the dungeon's aura, its size swelled to the size of a truck, its body covered in black hairs that looked like steel needles, its skin festering and oozing pus, revealing dark red muscle fibers underneath. Most terrifying of all was its mouth, with two tusks protruding and dripping green saliva.

They were hungry.

These monsters have an incredibly keen sense of smell; the tens of thousands of refugees gathered here are like a grand feast in their noses.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

The ground began to tremble.

The charge of dozens of monsters was comparable to a tank formation. The dozens of refugees at the front were trampled into unrecognizable piles of minced meat before they could even scream.

"Help! People from Longxia! Help me!"

"Open the door! Please, please open the door!"

The crowd went crazy.

Driven by their survival instinct, they disregarded all rules, and tens of thousands of people surged toward the golden light like a black tide.

Amu picked up his sister and was swept along by the crowd, unable to move forward.

He doesn't want to die.

But he didn't want to be chewed up alive by those monsters.

"Ah!!!" A middle-aged woman next to me was pushed down, and before she could get up, she was trampled by countless feet, and her voice stopped abruptly.

Amu desperately protected his sister's head, feeling as if his ribs were about to break.

Nearly.

The golden light curtain was right in front of me.

It is so sacred, so warm, yet so cold and ruthless.

boom! boom! boom!

The people at the very front of the group crashed into the light barrier. No miracle occurred. The [Absolute Denial] property activated, and the people at the very front were thrown back as if they had hit a high-voltage electric wall, their bodies convulsing, and they landed on the people behind them.

"I can't get over it... I can't get over it..."

Amu was in despair.

Behind them came the sounds of monsters chewing and screaming, while ahead stood an insurmountable wall of gods.

This is a dead end.

He looked at his sister, who was pale with fright in his arms, gave a bitter smile, and reached out to cover her eyes.

"Don't look," Amu whispered. "We'll count sheep until we get to one hundred, then we'll fall asleep."

……

Inside the outpost.

"Company Commander! They've broken in! They're less than fifty meters from the light barrier!" Li Erniu's hand, holding his gun, trembled, not from fear, but from urgency. "These beasts are eating people! Children! Those are children!"

Zhao Tiezhu's fingernails had dug deeply into his palms, and blood was dripping down between his fingers.

He cannot fire the gun.

Opening fire without orders will be punished, especially during this sensitive period.

But... screw the punishment!

Zhao Tiezhu whirled around, grabbed the walkie-talkie from the table, and roared, "Regimental Headquarters! This is Zhao Tiezhu! The situation at the front is out of control! I request permission..."

Ring ring ring—!

Before he could finish speaking, a red telephone on the table, a high-level private line that had been silent since the beginning of the catastrophe, suddenly rang.

Zhao Tiezhu's hand trembled, and he almost dropped the walkie-talkie.

He took a deep breath and picked up the phone.

The voice coming through the receiver wasn't that of the regimental commander.

It was a calm, authoritative voice, exuding composure. The voice seemed to possess a certain magic, creeping along the telephone line and instantly soothing all the anxiety in Zhao Tiezhu's heart.

"Order."

"First, immediately grant node access to accept all non-hostile refugees."

Second, annihilate the invading enemy in units of platoons.

"Third, push our boundary markers... thirty kilometers outward. Tell those monsters that Longxia has taken over this territory."

Beep, beep, beep.

The phone hangs up.

It consists of only three sentences and less than fifty words.

But to Zhao Tiezhu, this was an imperial edict, a get-out-of-jail-free card, a bugle call to charge!

He tossed the phone aside, and the frustration on his face vanished instantly.

He ripped off his hat, revealing his stubble, turned to the entire company of soldiers, and shouted:

"The whole company has them!"

"Open the insurance for me, you bastard!"

"Everyone, get ready!"

"Open the door!!!"

……