Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 416 - 358 Going to the South_1

At this moment, as the sun extinguished, Shah's projection in the venue slowly turned around, scrutinizing his colleagues with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.

"Now, no one doubts my previous conjectures, do they?"

"Previous conjectures?" Nakajima's expression twitched as they retorted, "Which one are you referring to out of the twelve hundred conjectures you submitted before? The one about carnivorous plants crossbreeding?"

"...Be serious, my friend," Shah said with a grave expression, "You know which one I'm referring to."

"So, could you be more straightforward next time and announce your new findings beforehand?" Niflheim glanced at the individual and emphasized, "At the very least, you shouldn't bury important conjectures in a pile of trivial matter."

"Didn't I just want to bring everyone a sense of surprise?"

Shah shrugged.

After all, even he didn't know how many of those more than twelve hundred conjectures were correct and reliable. Certainly, the one about carnivorous plants crossbreeding was not.

And by now, even the most confused Creator should be able to see the questions on the test paper clearly.

The theme of this Witches' Night.

—Survival and perseverance amidst Doomsday.

The reason why Explorers were given so much time in advance was to prepare for this moment, wasn't it? If previously it was about keeping an army for a thousand days, now it was time to go into battle.

What kind of life form, mode of existence, species, and social structure can last longer under such severe conditions?

To evolve in the Abyss is to avoid extinction within the Abyss.

Now the extinction is about to arrive.

Who, in the end, will be able to continue living?

No one was certain.

It's just like locking the Sublimators in a Border and then chiseling open the boundary spike, slowly sinking the Border into the Abyss Bottom with no escape.

How to live longer.

This is the essence of the Doomsday Evolution Theory.

There are no nuclear bombs, no zombies, not even any indescribable monsters, just a world that is gradually drying up and withering away, sinking deeper into death.

All those crammed in this iron box would feel a sudden surge of baseless terror and unease.

"Actually, I have a suggestion," Nakajima said.

Qinger Tai nodded, "I do as well."

Shah shrugged, "I don't care either way."

Niflheim was silent for a long while before nodding slightly, "Then, shall all research groups give up their independence and prepare to converge?"

That was currently the most prudent solution.

No matter what happens next, it's best to come together first and pool our thoughts and efforts.

Even an extra dog can guard a door.

"But the problem is…"

Suddenly, Shah asked, "Who will take the lead?"

There could be many methods, but it was worth thinking about which one would ultimately be implemented.

Even with collective wisdom and effort, it's not possible to implement everyone's ideas. Otherwise, if human resources are too dispersed, it's better to act individually.

No one spoke.

Clearly, everyone thought they should be the one.

Only Niflheim scoffed.

"It doesn't matter who takes charge," the venerable Creator said, glancing at Shah who was eager to stir up trouble, "as if we have any other effective measures at this point."

Shah's smile remained unchanged, his face radiating an innocent ignorance.

He didn't at all act like someone who always caused trouble.

But Niflheim was indeed not wrong; in fact, he understood this better than anyone else.

In the past, they could still guide their proxies step by step to execute their plans, but now, all bets were placed.

It was a done deal, and no room remained for tactical micromanagement.

To blindly command across an entire world, to push the front line forward by fifty meters... you're joking, right? Isn't that a surefire way to fail?

Moreover, the exploratory groups below were all elites, not to be taken lightly. Their measures and strategies for crisis were even richer than those of the Scholars above.

Life was already hard; should they also endure haphazard commands from above, did they even want to continue?

From the moment Deification transformation was completed, their creation was essentially finished.

The answers had already landed on the paper.

Now, imagine telling the examiner after the test, "Sorry, I don't think this answer is quite right, let me change it"... dream on!

The main players had now become the Explorers struggling to survive inside.

More than four hundred Scholars and various other participants, adding up to more than a thousand in total.

These thousand or so people could virtually be considered to encompass most of the techniques mastered by Current Circumstances. This meant, aside from other kinds of safety measures, they could nearly be seen as a miniaturized version of Current Circumstances, scaled down by tens of thousands of times.

Most measures that Current Circumstances could take in the face of crisis could also be enacted by them, and ensured to be flawless on a smaller scale.

Of course, having a Creator behind them naturally could bring more help, but in doing so... the painstaking efforts of that departed Creator would have gone completely in vain.

"Haven't you realized by now?"

Niflheim glanced at his colleagues, "This isn't a study of Abyss Evolution Theory; it's an opportunity gifted to Current Circumstances by the Predecessor! A drill to examine all the countermeasures for Doomsday!"

Turning the entire Witches' Night into Hell, integrating the Element of Destructive, it became a sandbox modeled after Doomsday...

This was the last gift that old man left for Current Circumstances.

It was a limited exercise, yet still incredibly precious.

Or you could say, a mockery from the once Utopia—when destruction comes, can your proud conservation continue to maintain this world?

"Honestly, I'm really looking forward to the final outcome."

The fingers of Niflheim tapped on the table as he quietly stared at the large screen, "It's like that Predecessor expected of us..."

.

.

In the darkness, Huai Shi, deep in sleep, thought he heard an airplane flying overhead.

He assumed it was a hallucination, then another flew by.

"Hm?"

The Dog-headed Man frowned, turned around, lifted the halo behind himself towards the sky, and then suddenly cast a beam of light filled with the rainbow-colored spiritual pollution akin to a disco spotlight.

"Damn! Which bastard is using high beams!"

A roar came from the sky, "Turn it off already!"

"Who's there!"

Huai Shi yelled up, "What are you flying about for?"

"Messaging!"

Sitting on the steam plane, the Dog-headed Man pulled the lever, made a Great Circle in the sky and came back, bellowing through his megaphone, "Huai Shi? Where's Huai Shi at? I've been circling past several times, how come I haven't spotted you?"

"Are you calling me?"

Out of the darkness in front, an enormous dog head slowly rose, eyeing the plane flying by like a mosquito, its voice thunderous, "I'm right here?"

Mother of god, that's huge!

The Dog-headed Man piloting the plane nearly pissed himself; the steam plane, inadvertently not pulled back, directly lost control and fell.

Then, Huai Shi promptly caught him, pinching the plane with the tip of his nail. He lifted it and placed it before an eyeball as big as half a soccer field for a close examination.

"You calling me? What's up?"

The Dog-headed Man climbed out of the plane, struggling to hold up the searchlight, almost falling off Huai Shi's fingernail.

Even the special strong searchlight couldn't see clearly. It could only illuminate from the tip of Huai Shi's nose to the root of his ears, a scale that already exceeded the Dog-headed Man's imagination.

"I..." He blurted out half a curse then suddenly realized, swallowed it back down, and squeezed out an awkward smile, "What have you been eating to grow so big?"

"Stones, you want some? Crunchy, huh?"

Huai Shi pulled a stone pillar from the ground and stuffed it into his mouth. He started gnawing it like sugar cane, and amidst the crunching sounds, stone chips flew.

The Dog-headed Man's eyes twitched furiously, particularly when he saw the exposed iron ore within the twisted stone pillar. When Huai Shi's teeth sparked as they closed, he was on the verge of peeing himself.

We're all Explorers, so why is your act so extravagant?

Not until Huai Shi had finished gnawing on the stone pillar and wiped his mouth did he ask, "Why aren't you talking?"

"It's a... long story..."

"Motherless child?"

Huai Shi tentatively followed up, and the Dog-headed Man's face started to twitch again.

No choice; he was desperate, and finding someone to talk to had not been easy.

Apparently anticipating a barrage of nonsense from Huai Shi, the Dog-headed Man blurted out all he had to say at once, "The Witches' Night is beginning to face doomsday within! The Astronomical Society is gathering all surviving Explorers to pull through this crisis together! If you're interested, head south from here! Keep going until you can see the stars! Then under the only star, we've established the Doomsday front lines, welcoming every Explorer!"

Having said everything in one breath, the Dog-headed Man jumped back onto the plane. He struggled to turn the engine crank, got the machine running again, put on his goggles, and waved at Huai Shi, "Hey dude, let go! I still have to deliver messages to other places!"

"Oh, right."

Huai Shi hurriedly released his grip, his movement a bit excessive, nearly tossing the Dog-headed Man's plane into the sky. Then, he reacted, stretched out his hand and fetched the plane that had just flown up back down.

"Wait, you're not messing with me, are you?" His eyes widened, "Didn't all the stars fall down?"

"Then won't we launch satellites!"

The Dog-headed Man was furious, "Can you not be so strong? You've squashed my plane."

"Sure, sure."

Huai Shi let go awkwardly. The plane fell straight down, then desperately carved an arc to pull up its altitude again. It honked two angry horns at Huai Shi and then, with smoke billowing from it, flew off into the distance.

Huai Shi heard heavy footsteps coming from afar, heading south.

More planes were flying in all directions, with loudspeakers and searchlights, broadcasting in 24-hour loops, telling every survivor to head to where there are stars.

For some reason, Huai Shi's mood, which had been gloomy for days, improved a bit.

The world was not dead yet. Because there were still people who hadn't given up...

"Men!"

He cheerfully called out, dragging a long note through this shattered silence, "—Sing!"

And so, behind him, among the RGB light pollution of various colors, over a hundred thousand Lizard Men began to sing. Protected by Behemoth, they set off on a new journey!

To the south!