From the end of the world

Chapter 762 The Dramatic Changes in the World

The scene before me was an endless, desolate wasteland. What was once a prosperous city was utterly destroyed, as if struck by an asteroid. Shapeless fragments of buildings lay everywhere, and the roads were twisted and broken. As far as the eye could see, nothing remained intact.

Where have you brought me?

For a moment, I thought I had returned to that southern city, but upon closer inspection, I could sense that something was amiss. The southern city, having been repeatedly scorched and bombed by me and Xuanming, was covered in traces of burning and melting, and many areas had become glassy. Even the city center, which had once been protected by the "Wall of the Outside World," was later engulfed by my sea of ​​fire. The damage here, however, rarely showed similar characteristics.

Could I have been transported to a destroyed coastal city in the east? But that place is shrouded in the chaotic spacetime of the apocalypse and the divination masters' laws of heaven and earth, and I can't observe any such signs in the spacetime I'm in here.

Similarly, it's impossible that I accidentally traveled back to the afterlife, a simulated apocalyptic world. If it were the afterlife, the moon would be enormous; here, the moon is normal size, and the surrounding night sky is dotted with stars. You can't see stars in the afterlife. Surely I couldn't have traveled to another world? At least based on my observation of the order of spacetime, this is definitely the real world.

Besides that, I can't recall any other city that was destroyed so tragically. If something similar had happened before I entered the afterlife, I surely would know... Could it be that while we were dealing with the Gospel House in the afterlife, something extraordinary happened in the real world?

My first thought was of the concept of Yin and Yang. To confirm the time, I took my phone out of the flames. Since I had returned to the real world, the phone was connected to the network and automatically adjusted the time and date. The weather forecast also showed my current location.

The date was early July. About a month had passed since I entered the afterlife.

Good, at least it didn't take years. Only about a month, which is quite lucky. It must be the power of a jinx at work; we should thank that force this time.

The current time is 9:30 PM, and the weather is clear. That's why the moon and stars are so clearly visible. Then, the location... I almost thought I was seeing things; it says "Saltwater City," the city where I was born and raised.

I glanced around again, then looked down at the place name displayed on my phone. No matter what, I found it hard to reconcile this scene with the Saltwater City I remembered.

But I can only acknowledge this fact. Because I have already extended my perception to extremely distant areas. With my current range of perception, let alone a small city, encompassing the territory of the country I'm in would be effortless.

The scope of its perception continues to expand, rapidly covering the entire Asian region and even spreading globally.

The old boxing god once told me that he possessed extremely powerful hearing, enabling him to hear most of what was happening on Earth.

Now I can do things on the same scale.

Looking down from a planetary perspective, I can see my current location. Pretending to be stupid is useless; I am currently in the very place where Saltwater City was originally located.

Meanwhile, it wasn't just Saltwater City that suffered massive destruction.

I flew high into the sky, gazing into the far distance. Countless pieces of information came into view. I forced myself to calmly accept the situation and quickly synthesize and organize my observations.

In just about a month, the whole world seems to have changed beyond recognition. Let's start with the situation in China. The capital is in a much worse state than Saltwater City. The city and its surrounding area have been completely razed to the ground and disappeared from the map. In the very center, there is a deep abyss with a diameter of tens of kilometers.

Coincidentally, on the other side of the landmass in the Southern Hemisphere, a similarly sized deep hole with a diameter can also be observed.

Because I wasn't looking directly at a world map, I wasn't quite used to the current perspective, so it was hard to tell which country's territory it was. Maybe it was Brazil or Argentina? The large tunnel in the capital wasn't completely vertical. Analyzing the angle of the entrance and the surrounding damage, it's easy to conclude that an incredibly powerful force pierced through the Earth, striking from the capital to the other side.

The rest of the world also suffered varying degrees of annihilation. Visible even from outer space, a third of Europe was shattered by an unknown force, and the nearby British Isles were completely destroyed. The traces of destruction are scattered across countless other continents, and countless countries and regimes will disintegrate as a result.

While I was shocked by the horrific disaster, I had some idea why. Such a massive impact could have resulted in a global catastrophe.

The reason it didn't end that way is because the culprit who caused all of this consciously concentrated their power. The so-called "aftershocks" are the power that scattered and dissipated, the wasted portion. The culprit's efficiency in utilizing power was clearly beyond the comprehension of ordinary logic.

In addition, I also sensed some unfamiliar Great Impermanence level powerhouses active outside of Luoshan's sphere of influence.

There is also a "Great Impermanence" beyond Luoshan... I knew this knowledge, but only as knowledge. This is the first time I have actually confirmed it.

I've been abroad before. When I went with Liu Shuying to assassinate Meng Zhang, the head of Taoyuan Township, at the township's main base, the location was in a country outside of China, but it was still within the sphere of influence of Luoshan. Although I knew that mysterious organizations and powerful figures at the Great Impermanence level existed outside of Luoshan, I occasionally thought about whether I should investigate and make contact, but in the end, I always for some reason, nothing came of it.

It wasn't just me; those around me only mentioned it when necessary. Normally, they wouldn't even think about it, let alone mention it. It was as if the area outside Luo Shan's sphere of influence was some kind of otherworldly realm, and I unconsciously avoided exploring it. Only now, after pushing open the third door, do I realize that my past self was somewhat strange.

It's unclear whether Liu Shuying's ideological biases during the reshaping of the new world stem from the fact that the mysterious organizations outside Luo Shan's sphere of influence haven't grown as rapidly as those within Luo Shan's. This unconscious neglect might even reveal Liu Shuying's unspoken favoritism. Perhaps the new world is designed with the underlying message of "hoping the major conflicts will all occur here."

Even the fragments of the Divine Seal don't seem to have spread to other regions. Perhaps Tai Sui was also affected, or perhaps it was aware of this design and took advantage of it, as the candidates for the Void Realm Apostles are all concentrated in related fields.

This discordant "forced tendency" may also be one of the sources of the doomsday process.

My gaze returned to China. With the capital, the political center, destroyed, and the devastating consequences for society as a whole, the entire country was now in a state of apocalypse. Luo Shan seemed to have taken over the task of maintaining social order, with large numbers of demon hunters appearing directly before ordinary citizens to maintain security using supernatural powers.

Due to a lack of experience, many places appear to be maintaining order through violent suppression, with some even resorting to using mental powers to brainwash and hypnotize ordinary people into absolute obedience. Needless to say, absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is true not only for the Witcher faction, which was originally part of the transcendentalist movement, but even the Witcher faction within the social order seems to be showing signs of corruption and decadence.

Originally, Luo Shan only wanted to take over the secular government and never expected it to happen so quickly. They probably initially planned to proceed gradually, first taking over the existing ruling structure and then pushing forward step by step... But now, not only are they severely unprepared, but they are also severely understaffed, and chaos may have broken out in many places, making it difficult for the front and rear to coordinate with each other.

Perhaps Fazheng has a way to resolve the current situation; my impression of him is that he's very good at organizing and managing things. I need to hurry up and call him, Jian Feixian, Ma Zao, and Zhu Shi back... Of course, before that, I need to make sure the issue of the Mountain and Yin-Yang problem is resolved.

Where was the Divination Master at this time? Had he really been killed by the Mountain Yin-Yang?
"—Did you see that, Zhuang Cheng?"

The voice of Tai Sui, seemingly inspired, suddenly rang in my ears.

He must have been invoking me through the divine seal fragment that was bound to me.

"This is the world now," Tai Sui said sadly. "The appearance of magical powers and strange phenomena on Earth, especially monsters called 'Great Impermanence,' will bring about such consequences."

"With so many monsters that could destroy human civilization with just a little indulgence, it's utterly illogical that the history of this world has continued to this day. You might think that everything will be fine as long as we get past the apocalypse, but even without the apocalypse, this world couldn't continue normally."

“Don’t talk in other people’s ears,” I said. “I won’t grant your request. This is a matter of principle.”

"Principles? It's more like selfishness," Tai Sui said disappointedly. "Even after seeing all this, you still haven't wavered at all? You're still self-centered, indifferent to the world and others, only caring about your own desires... only seeking self-satisfaction?"

(End of this chapter)