Apocalypse Forecast

"What?" Huai Shi didn’t quite get it.

"A car."

Tong Ji raised her wings, imitating the sound of a roaring engine with her mouth, "That car that can drive on any crappy road! The one that’s super flashy for picking up girls and cruising the streets!"

She emphasized seriously, "Look at how cool it is when others drive, I won’t allow my Contractor to go without something that other kids have!"

No way!

Who needs a bike anymore!

Huai Shi was so frightened his chopsticks almost slipped from his grip, "Isn’t there a horse?"

"That one’s not convenient for carrying stuff, and it’s got a bad temper. It’s gotten so fat lately, and it likes your students more than you. Plus, it doesn’t let you ride it."

Tong Ji wrapped her small wings around his neck and started today’s demon-esque whispering, "Just think, with Helios, you can go wherever you want, take whatever you want, grab whatever you fancy, right?"

"No, no, no."

Huai Shi finally managed to catch the food falling from his mouth, wiped his face, and shook his head vigorously, "I actually need to have the fortune for that!"

"Why wouldn’t you have that fortune? Sister thinks your fortune is priceless. It’s just one outdated version of a crappy car, with fate on your side, only a virtuous person like you should have it..." Tong Ji exerted herself to coax, "Besides, isn’t there still me?"

"It’s precisely because you’re here that I’m scared!"

Huai Shi widened his eyes, "That crappy car, none of the sisters outside have it, and you insist I should have one? I don’t think it’s anything good... Besides, stealing meat from the mouth of the Great Grandmaster, that’s suicidal!"

Doesn’t he know himself?

He overdid it previously, causing Soloist to enter a sealed state, and his Soul Weapon couldn’t be used.

Now, there’s only a non-paid high-spec King Xiang, but King Xiang is also a Stigmata Relic, the original greatest advantage of ’massive source substance’ can’t be inherited and is only useful for self-defense.

Calculating the strongest attack means, besides Beelzebub, there’s only one dog left.

How could one go against Publius and Garand?

Just because your dog’s head is tough?

Moreover, wasn’t the plan to gather some Rejuvenation Crystals from the car to take back? How come now you want to take the whole car?

"Are you dumb? There’s a half-baked god on Helios now; slaughter that thing, and how many Rejuvenation Crystals do you want!"

The more outrageous the talk got!

This has to be manageable!

"Trust me, it’s not that difficult," Tong Ji saw through his cautious nature at a glance, "You’re just worried that you can’t beat Publius and Garand, right? They’re currently busy with internal conflicts, and the final outcome is uncertain... Most importantly, there are powerful allies you can try to win over!"

"Who? It?"

Huai Shi instinctively looked at the silly skeleton next to him.

The skeleton scratched its head while looking at him.

It couldn’t understand why the People of the Current Circumstances were talking to the air... Is this a custom or habit of the Current Circumstances? No, no, no, it must surely be loneliness, right?

This is what those magazines refer to when they talk about pitiful ones fantasizing about having a girlfriend?

How sad, better give him two more bowls of rice.

Its sympathy grew more intense.

Huai Shi couldn’t make sense of what was stirring in its empty skull, only feeling increasingly stressed.

Let’s not mention its partial power from the Great Grandmaster’s peak period; now it’s almost completely amnesiac, relying solely on instinct, functioning unpredictably - frankly, more thrilling than drawing cards.

Totally unreliable.

"Who said it’s it!" Tong Ji rolled her eyes, "You forgot... Helios has its own rules, right?"

Huai Shi’s movements stiffened for a moment.

He finally understood.

Helios itself is not a lifeless, unthinking thing.

Precisely speaking, the Sun Chariot which originally represented the sun’s motion, though outdated, still carries the Authority Relic of the Sky’s Command.

Even if it lacks a self-conscious will, it still executes the orders left by the ancient gods of Olympus.

Futilely making a seventy-year cycle voyage amidst the stars.

It has quite a flexible ’autopilot’ system capable of adapting to various changes, including self-maintenance, advancement, docking, charging, and updating its internal condition.

This includes limited cooperation with Alchemists and the opening of internal secrets to the outside world to trade for its own repair progress.

Like a rigid AI, able to perfectly execute all preset commands and even possessing some flexible thought.

But the defect is that once its rules are mastered by others, it becomes passive, and it can’t respond when encountering unexpected situations.

Thus, it’s able to allow Alchemists to long exist on the chariot.

Helios provides its unique resources and the unparalleled internal environment, even the mysteries left by the gods, in exchange for the service and maintenance of Alchemists.

The essence of the relationship is cooperation, not dominance or submission!

Its loyalty has always been to only one, which is the long-gone Olympus Gods.

But now, it’s clearly been caught off guard by cunning tactics.

This round, the old driver was tragically hoodwinked by celestial traps!

What a tragedy.

Huai Shi could pat his head and sort out what happened.

Evidently, it was exploited by the internal rule’s defect and fell into a trap, its entire assets stripped by Publius for creating Transformers!

But it doesn’t mean Helios itself has lost its Power. On the contrary, even though its form was destroyed, its power was extraordinarily strengthened in this Mystic Ritual.

Just as incapable of self-control, though.

If properly utilized, it might wrestle with the Great Grandmaster, and even though the success rate is low, it’s surely better than waiting idly for allied bombardments.

Besides, even if it doesn’t work, can’t you still throw a wrench into their plans?

Sitting idle is just idling...

Deep inside, Huai Shi would never admit he was convinced by Tong Ji, so he coughed and put the rice bowl down.

"Why don’t we... give it a try?"

Try it then.

Let’s try.

.

Half an hour later, Huai Shi once again shouldered the saddlebag, prepared to set off with the dog.

At the door, the Skeleton handed over a huge and heavy bottle: "Here, water."

"Thank you, thank you." Huai Shi gratefully packed the water away.

Unexpectedly, he saw it dragging out another box, which opened to reveal all vacuum-sealed blocks.

"Ah, almost forgot." The Skeleton said: "Here are compressed... biscuits? Not sure, seems like food too, for you."

"And these goodies!"

Huai Shi’s eyes lit up, he opened the bag and started stuffing them crazily.

Meanwhile, the Skeleton continued to bring out various things: "Do you want to take some tea leaves? You seem to enjoy tea quite a bit. Oh, do you need tape? It would be troublesome if your spacesuit broke... Ah, there’s a tent here, just a moment."

"Why not take a teapot along? And a pot too, I hardly use them anyway."

"Do you need a change of clothes?"

"Here’s a headlamp, but the battery is almost dead."

"Do you want the watch? It seems to show time, but I haven’t figured out how to wind it up, not sure if you can."

"Bring a telescope too."

"This vibrating rod seems quite formidable, take it for protection..."

Forget the last one!

Before Huai Shi could refuse, his body was already overloaded with gifts from the Skeleton, holding a grill in his left hand and carrying a box of old clothes in the right, almost too burdened to walk.

He watched in horror as the Skeleton tried to shove the vibrating item into his pants pocket, causing him to jump back several meters in fright.

"No, no, no, let’s skip this one."

The Skeleton didn’t understand why Huai Shi was so scared of this item, scratching its head, it planned to recommend more Skeleton goods, but saw Huai Shi stepping back a few paces, pulling the reluctant Broken Dog, bidding farewell: "It’s getting late, I’m off now."

"Ah? Oh... goodbye!"

The Skeleton paused, waved goodbye: "Safe journey, brother!"

"Mm, you should hurry back too."

Huai Shi walked a few steps, again waved goodbye, turned and walked into the darkness.

Yet as he walked, he couldn’t resist looking back.

Through the shattered light, he saw that half of the Skeleton still sitting there, waving at his departing figure.

The empty eye sockets revealed no discernible expression, yet gave a sense of blessing and anticipation.

Made him feel increasingly guilty.

Struggling to proceed.

Huai Shi painfully retracted his gaze, stepped forward a few paces, finally stopping with a sigh of regret.

Turning back, he glanced behind.

Scratching his head.

Experimentally asked: "Why not... join me?"

In the silence, the Skeleton paused.

Then, half of the body jumped up from the ground, raised its arms, cheered.

"Great!!!"

"..."

Huai Shi couldn’t help but cover his face.

For such a dangerous thing, at least hesitate a bit!

But thinking again, with how haunting Helios is, leaving it here might not be as safe as having it by his side.

Even though being by his side surely isn’t safe...

Thus, according to Helios’s surveillance records later, current circumstances time at 1:15 in the afternoon, the ragged tricycle carrying two people, a dog, and a small white mouse started rolling!

With a squeak and squawk, heading into the depths of the Steel Maze.

.

.

At that moment, He Di stood in a hall stained with blood and carnage.

Expressionless, handed a photo into the darkness.

The photo vanished into the murky shadows.

Soon, a hoarse voice emerged: "Who is this?"

He Di nonchalantly replied: "Astronomical Society’s gold medal hitman, the successor to the Ivory Tower, King of Tanbo, Huai Shi."

"Seems I’ve heard about him in Hell..." The presence in the darkness skeptically glanced at the photo before him, scrutinizing the smiling face, frowning: "Male or female?"

"Male."

"Seems pretty young?"

"Yes, eighteen." He Di’s gaze lowered, as if with admiration: "Promising young talent, truly humbling."

The entity laughed with disdain.

"Disposition approach?" it asked.

"Find him, kill him, chop off his head."

He Di hadn’t finished, as if recalling something, emphasized cautiously: "No, should personally chop him into minced meat, destroy the Stigmata, and taint all his Source Substance with ash poison.

Remember, don’t grant him any chance of cliff jumping, escaping, feigning death, or resurrection."

"So cautious?"

The blood-seeking Hunting Dog revealed a vicious smile, "First time seeing you so meticulous."

"Your answer?" He Di coldly retorted.

"I will, as per your wish."

The darkness churned, vanished without a trace, only scattered ashes on the ground congeal, forming blurry footprints, disappearing into the distance.

The Crowned vanished without a trace.