Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 459 - 397 Osiris_1

"..."

Huai Shi's eyes bulged in astonishment. "Group Star? Can trains dream too?"

"An ordinary train certainly can't, but do you think an ordinary train could move effortlessly over the Endless Sea and operate on such a large scale?" Raven said. "Under certain conditions, people's dreams can approach each other or even overlap, just like soap bubbles floating in the air. If there is something in the area emitting a strong gravitational pull, everyone might even enter into a common dreamland—after all, dreams are nothing more than phantoms formed by the active Source Substance during sleep. As long as the container is large enough, it can hold countless dreams."

"In other words, like plugging into a server and turning a single-player game into an online one, right?"

"...I've discovered that you always have a peculiar understanding in some strange places."

"Much appreciated," Huai Shi said with a modest smile.

"However, at the moment, the connections are not that tight—just barely sensing each other, that's all." Raven murmured with a sense of longing, "After all, Group Star has been in Deep Sleep for so many years... Once its self-awareness nearly dissipates, even its dreams become fleeting and insubstantial... To see Osiris fall to such a state is truly lamentable."

"What's that?" Huai Shi seemed to have heard a significant term. "Osi-what-now-ris?"

"Yes, that's right, Osiris." Raven tilted her head, looking at him puzzled. "Hm? Didn't I tell you about it?"

Smiling, Huai Shi grabbed her by the neck and pulled out the Book of Fate with his other hand. "How about this? Let's flip back through the past records together. If you did indeed tell me, I'll give you all my money. But if you didn't, I'll twist your neck off, how about that?"

"Hey, young man, calm down a bit," Raven flapped her wings, struggling. "Why are you treating a beautiful older sister like this! Don't get angry; I'll give you a perk, okay? A perk?"

"I don't need it, thanks!" Huai Shi glared at her with wide eyes. "Could you please explain to me what Osiris actually is?"

"...Well, it's a long story. Don't be hasty; I'll make it short." Raven, obviously guilty, looked around uneasily. "At first, I wasn't quite sure myself. After all, it had been asleep for such a long time, and its appearance had completely changed from before.

"It was only after noticing a response from the Book of Fate that I could be sure."

"So, what exactly is Osiris?" Huai Shi folded his arms and scrutinized her.

One wouldn't need to rack their brains to know that something named after the Egyptian God of the Underworld couldn't be anything pleasant.

"If I'm not mistaken, the predecessor of Group Star should be a former official member of Utopia—the Fifth Stage Sublimator from the 'Road of Eternity' within the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy," Raven said seriously, "—Hell Annihilator Aircraft · Osiris."

"...What?!!!"

In the silence, Huai Shi felt his chin uncontrollably hit the ground.

"Didn't catch that, did you? It's the Hell Annihilator Aircraft · Osiris." Raven spread her small wings. "Code-named Pluto, it's Fortress-level war weaponry. It represents the arrival of Judgment Day on the battlefield. With Utopia's support, at full power, it can even pass judgment on a [Ruler]—a combat robot..."

"Wait a second." Huai Shi forcibly dispersed the sudden surge of emotion in his heart and raised his hand to stop her. "If I remember correctly, isn't the First Stage of the Road of Eternity 'Knight'?"

"It is 'Knight,' yes," Raven nodded, "but no one specified what kind of mount, did they? It's the 22nd century, young man. People have cars to drive and planes to fly; who would ride horses?"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!" Huai Shi cried his eyes out, grabbing Raven by the neck and shaking her vigorously. "I was only one step away! Just one more step and I could have become a giant robot pilot! Why? Why?!"

"Because you're poor, young man," Raven sighed. "The Road of Eternity is the series within the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy that requires the most money to progress through! Did you think buying equipment was free? A Knight's entire combat power lies in their mount. Both at the First Stage, while others may have Alchemy Heavy Motorcycles or even Exoskeleton Armor, what about you? Your 'permanent' bicycle? Do you have any idea how much money Utopia burned when it advanced to Osiris? Just to fabricate its Armor, all the mines from four Borders, including the Borders themselves, were completely obliterated. Your one or two hundred million wouldn't even fully cover a layer of flooring, so where's this confidence coming from?"

Huai Shi was on the verge of tears, looking up and sighing deeply.

He was so close to becoming a Giant Star Robot pilot, just a little bit, a tiny bit…

People should never know what they've missed.

Huai Shi even considered starting over from scratch.

"Alright, enough with the small talk. Osiris is a thing of the past. The current Group Star doesn't even possess one percent of the Power that Osiris once had; at most, it's just a wreck. Otherwise, if it could be utilized in any way, it wouldn't have ended up as just a train that runs only once a year... But the fact that it was once a member of Utopia will not change. The reaction of the Book of Fate just proves that point—inside it, there are definitely fragments of the Heavenly Kingdom."

All official members of Utopia receive a unique Event Stamping from within the Heavenly Kingdom, carrying that book with them as proof of identity. Aside from providing them with rare support and abilities, the book grows with them, eventually helping them achieve a breakthrough and reach a higher state of completion.

"Therefore, we must enter the remnants of Osiris's last consciousness," Raven sighed. "Our goal is to find the location of the Heavenly Kingdom fragment and determine to what extent this vehicle has been eroded by alien substances. We also need to see if there's any chance to salvage it. According to my original plan, if there was a possibility of restoration, we would find a way to pack it up and take it away. But now it seems... it's probably really dead; otherwise, it would have responded the moment we boarded."

With the fragment of the Heavenly Kingdom ahead, Huai Shi, of course, wouldn't flee the scene. Moreover, he was curious about the once-mighty Osiris.

Following Raven's guidance, he inserted the S-level Authority Card he got from Paradise into the slot reserved in the Dreamcatcher, then hung it on the head of the bed.

After Huai Shi lay down, it wasn't long before waves of drowsiness came over him. It was as if a soundless call was coming from somewhere, gently pulling at him, wanting to take him to its side.

"Do you feel it? Osiris is calling out to you... it has already acknowledged your presence." In his ears, Raven's voice came, low and tender. "This is your Sky's Command. The unfulfilled dreams of all who have passed without advancement shall rest in your hands. Only you are the worthy inheritor of this vast legacy."

Me?

Huai Shi couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly in his haziness.

Why me? A Second Fifth who's more like a Cowherd than a Prince? A Salted Fish Unspector who lacks ambition and just idles his days away? I don't even know what virtue or ability I possess that would make the Book of Fate notice me—it must be blind... Compared to the dream I'm about to enter, everything I have now feels more like a dream. Why does it hold such grand expectations for me?

He truly didn't know.

Perhaps one day, it will recognize my true, unteachable nature? When that happens, will all of this abandon me and leave?

"Do not be afraid, Huai Shi."

In a daze, it felt as if someone was gently caressing his cheek, so tender. "Until you can bear this responsibility, I will always be by your side... until the day you no longer need me."

It felt like a hallucination.

He could no longer hear the words that followed.

He had already sunk into the depths of the Dreamland.

.

Having passed through the seemingly endless darkness, having plummeted from the depths of the Abyss to its end, by the time Huai Shi came to, he was standing on a burning deck.

From afar, a scorching wind blew.

When he turned his head, he saw a magnificent landscape of mountains and rivers—but now, as far as his eyes could see, all the peaks and rivers were shattered. They were on the brink of destruction, alongside the crumbling fortress descending from the sky.

Under the setting sun's shattered light, this Steel Giant that lingered on the edge of death issued a silent wail.

Huai Shi seemed to be standing over its heart. Looking up, he could see countless grotesque scars, the steel curling back like open wounds, from which real blood flowed. The blood burned as it fell, creating rivers of molten lava.

Beneath the solemn steel crown, the Giant's face was maimed, its eyes dull, its countenance fractured, devoid of the terrifying majesty that once reigned supreme. Its lower half was severed, lost to places unknown.

Thus, it was awkwardly propped up against the mountainside, bathed in the twilight's dying glow. It was dying.

Even Osiris, even Pluto, had to face death.

Now, death was imminent.

This was the dying dream of Osiris, the only remaining trace of a once Fifth Stage Sublimator.

*'Come here—'*

As if someone was calling by his ear, a soft whisper, *'Come this way.'*

In front of the Giant's chest, the steel Armor slowly opened, revealing a narrow gap; sparks flew from the broken circuits, rising in a plume of thick smoke. Behind the gap, flickering lights came on, illuminating a narrow path.

But as soon as Huai Shi entered, he realized he wasn't the only outsider here—there was another, more detestable presence ensconced within.

Ubiquitous.

On the ceiling, the walls, even in the corners of the corridor, countless specks of purplish-red appeared. They seemed like some kind of fungal spots but with the texture of innards, deeply nauseating. Like aberrant flesh parasitizing the steel, the fungi incessantly writhed, forming eye-like voids that coldly stared at Huai Shi, the intruder.

A piercing roar erupted.

But then, as the doors closed, they were isolated behind them. Fierce electrical light surged, forcibly sweeping away the 'fleshy fungi' that had penetrated inside the door, clearing a path for Huai Shi to proceed.

Huai Shi weaved through the vast metal structures, as though walking in a Temple of Steel, feeling an indescribable solemnity and oppression.

The calling voice continued, guiding him forward relentlessly, through layer upon layer of massive gates, straight to the core.

At last, he arrived in front of the heart.

Its heart was shattered; the Source furnace, the size of a building, was riddled with cracks and had completely died out.

Stopped beating.

But within the 'heart's' rupture, faint Source Substance still rose.

It formed a metallic cube as tall as Huai Shi himself.

Upon closer inspection, it was composed entirely of countless tiny and intricate components, meticulously assembled to form something resembling a book.

It beckoned Huai Shi forth.

And when Huai Shi, following its guidance, placed his palm on the Steel book, the smooth metal surface suddenly trembled. Wisps of ephemeral light appeared, woven together, moving across the metal cover, displaying what seemed to be Osiris's final words from a distant time—though they appeared as a string of bizarre, indecipherable characters.

???

A hundred thousand question marks rose above Huai Shi's head.