Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 419 - 361 Alarm_1

The days passed, one by one.

In the darkness, only the lonely satellite sparkled.

Time was accelerated once more, as if all irrelevant details were being ignored.

Distant Giant Beasts arrived one by one until finally, a staggering group entered the metal city's gates, which then closed with a thunderous boom.

All the worlds of the living now existed here.

Beyond the high walls lay eternal silence, with only the roars of the Giant Beasts passing by and no sound where the satellite's light could not reach.

This was the last noisy place in a world that had died.

Like a flickering candle in the wind, it endured day after day in dire conditions. Despite the tremendous pressure, after getting through the initial difficult period, everyone gradually became accustomed to it.

They gradually became one.

At the beginning, the Giant Beasts were slightly flustered while performing their duties and many accidents occurred, but it wasn't long before they began to work together in harmony.

In the end... this hastily implemented plan actually achieved a level of perfection not even the Phoenix and the fox had anticipated.

No one could explain why.

It was as if it was meant to be this way all along.

Until one day during a casual conversation as it neared its end, Hydra looked at the city lights and suddenly chuckled softly, "Don't you think this is very similar to the history of the Current Circumstances?"

Hmm? Huai Shi was confused.

"I mean the situation now, and our relationship with the other Evolutionary Groups, don't you find it familiar?" Hydra said calmly. "If the Giant Beasts are gods, then the roles played by the groups are those of humans—we are the gods, they are the mortals. Without the protection of the gods, humans would be buried in darkness, and the world maintained by the gods would be meaningless without humans—this world is so cruel, we must stick together to survive... just like in the Chaos Century of antiquity."

"Chaos Century?" Huai Shi was silent for a long while and then suddenly asked, "Has there ever been historical evidence of such a thing?"

"There's just no direct evidence, but if we were to deny all hypotheses and guesses because of that, what would be the point of history?"

Hydra's massive head shook slightly. "Though Scholars refuse to acknowledge that ambiguous era existed, for Alchemists, that is the most enchanting of times... Hell and the Current Circumstances had not yet separated, the traces of gods had not yet left the human world, and true hints of Chaos and destruction lingered from even earlier times.

Back then, the Golden Age was not yet over..."

Huai Shi lazily rolled his eyes. "I think it's not so bad without gods. Having people fly over your head every day is annoying just to think about."

"Ah-ha, typical thinking of the Astronomical Society."

Hydra chuckled softly. "Never mind, debating these vague and uncertain matters is pointless. I'm just surprised that I could one day play the role of gods."

He paused, with a strange smile. "What do you think, if in an era before the ancient times, would a creature like me have been called the God of Death?"

Huai Shi was taken aback.

Today's Hydra, in order to complete his work, mostly resided underground in the city, in the place where the sediment of the Abyss was thickest.

All the deceased consciousnesses, along with the disintegrating Source Substance, sank there to be burned in the conversion furnaces on standby. The remnants of the Abyss's sediment were then separated out through the matrix—

It was through such means that the city's deep stability was ensured, preventing it from turning into a bizarre version of Hell overnight.

If one considered duties and appearances, Hydra indeed could rightfully claim to be the God of Death in this brief Dreamland.

"If I am the God of Death, then that guy, the Phoenix, would be the Sun God, Wilderness Guard is the Water God, and Taurus is the God of Thunder.

Additionally, there would be the satellite considered the God of Light, Scholars who could be called the God of Wisdom gathered together, those sentries flying around could be called Messenger and Travel Gods... see, doesn't it make sense?"

"And what about me?"

Huai Shi blinked curiously. "What kind of god am I?"

"What do you think? Considering how you lie around in the smelting center every day, of course you're the God of Forge and Craftsmanship; do you even need to ponder it?"

Hydra scrutinized Huai Shi's current form and nodded. "If we were to go by the terms of Rome before the Stigma Genealogy, in the Hall of Ten Thousand Gods epoch, you might be the type with Titan Giant ancestry."

Huai Shi couldn't help but roll his eyes again. "You just want to say I'm ugly, right?"

"Haha, you're quite self-aware," Hydra teased.

Confronted with Hydra's jest, Huai Shi nonchalantly lifted his claw and grabbed a handful of ore from the small mountain pile beside him, crunching it like peanuts, spitting out the stone fragments all over the ground.

Amidst the thunderous CRUNCHING, Hydra couldn't help but get a headache and glanced at Huai Shi. "Have you gotten bigger recently?"

"Have I? I didn't notice?"

Huai Shi, clueless, pinched the rolls on his belly. "But I'm definitely fatter. Not enough exercise. Is there anything for me to demolish?"

"..."

Hydra rolled his eyes. "Never mind."

Not long after the topic had ended, from the direction of the laboratory behind the smelting center, came a high-pitched clamor of steel friction.

Amidst the tremendous rumbles that shook the mountains, the huge workshop ceiling slowly opened.

Deafening steam whistles erupted.

Amidst the sky-high steam, a bizarre steam-powered metal giant freed itself from the support frames and with teeth-grinding friction, slowly lifted its four legs and clambered to its feet.

It took two steps forward and then another two.

It didn't fall apart?

"Ahahaha, do you see this? You bunch of idiots, my Ultimate War Weapon Zero, Mark II! It's finally a success!"

The maniacal laughter came from the chest of the metal giant. Its pilot was so exhilarated that he couldn't control himself, pulling the joystick to make the giant walk across the land.

He confidently stood with his hands on his hips in Huai Shi's direction.

Does that mean, 'Look how awesome my steam-powered metal giant is?'

Huai Shi looked down and examined it for a while, then silently raised his hand and gave a thumbs up the size of the giant itself.

Meaning, 'Like.'

He was too lazy to complain about this thing anymore, let alone the fact that the logic behind calling this the Ultimate War Weapon was utterly nonsensical. Where was there even an enemy for you to have your ultimate battle with now? And with so many big creatures here, when would it be your turn to enter the battlefield?

Regardless, the steam-addicted guy, after receiving Huai Shi's approval, triumphantly piloted the metal robot and sprinted towards his colleagues in the city, declaring:

"See that? I am Gangda..."

BOOM!

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud bang sounded, and the metal giant exploded into pieces. Countless fragments burned into molten iron in the air, SIZZLING as they fell onto the half-destroyed wreckage on the ground.

That thing called 'Ultimate War Weapon Zero something-or-other' met its end before it could even start.

"Ah, the reaction furnace exploded."

Hydra laughed with schadenfreude, "I warned him a long time ago that steam power has its limits. The brute force approach doesn't work here, but he wouldn't listen. I wonder if he's still alive."

"Probably, maybe... I guess?"

Huai Shi was also uncertain, staring wide-eyed. Soon, from the falling cockpit, he saw a parachute slowly opening up.

Smoke billowed inside the cockpit as a scorched Dog-headed Man crawled out, coughing violently.

Still alive. Yes, at least he's still breathing.

Huai Shi rolled his eyes, unfazed; he had become accustomed to this guy courting death ever since he was transferred here and began to let loose.

"Looks like you've got some work to do. I'm outta here."

Hydra still had work to do and didn't have the patience to deal with any ultimate war weapons. He planned to escape before that guy came over to Dream HuaiLar asking for new alloys.

"By the way, there's something I've been meaning to ask..."

Before leaving, Hydra lifted the tip of his tail to tap one of his heads, curiously inspecting Huai Shi's neck — the iron ball that was already a bit rusty amidst countless steel scales.

"What is that?" he asked.

"A Bell," Huai Shi replied, looking down at his neck in confusion. "Haven't you seen one?"

"No, I mean why do you wear a Bell?"

"...I forgot."

Huai Shi thought hard for a moment and then nodded seriously. "I think it's kind of cute wearing it, don't you think?"

"...As long as you're happy."

All nine of Hydra's faces twitched uniformly before he turned to leave.

But just as he turned around, he saw a red light suddenly shooting into the sky from the city.

And a piercing emergency alert that shredded everyone's eardrums.

War alert!

Huai Shi and Hydra exchanged glances, frozen in place.

What the hell?

「Half an hour later.」

The usual spot for the Monsters' meeting — Huai Shi's den — was packed with Giant Beasts who had rushed over.

And with the mad dash of a truck, a new projector was already in place.

The Phoenix, who had hurried back from afar, folded its wings and landed smoothly.

Before it could steady itself, the Giant Beasts were already bombarding it with questions.

"What's the situation?"

"I'm dying of thirst, gimme some water first... Just watch for yourselves."

The Phoenix removed the camera from around its neck and threw it over, then opened its beak wide, gesturing for Wilderness Guard to make it rain. After finally quenching its thirst, it took a breath.

And on the giant projection screen — which was Huai Shi's chest — the footage shot by the Phoenix finally showed the most critical scenes.

—— On the desolate land, countless surging black tides!