Apocalypse Forecast

Under the shade of the tree, the old woman who had just been talking to Marcus slowly withdrew her gaze.

She looked at the student beside her.

The student was also looking at her, eyes curious, as if she had no idea what had just happened.

Until she took the lead and asked, "Fu, just now I noticed the projection of the Sea of ​​Silver over Empire University had an abnormal fluctuation... do you have any clue?"

"Did it?" Fu Yi blinked innocently. "I didn’t notice anything, Professor."

The old Professor kept smiling. "If one traces it back, the traces can be found."

"Fine."

The teenage girl sighed. "I just cut the line to order a pizza, that’s all. No need to get so jumpy, right?"

"Just ordered a pizza, did you?"

The old Professor glanced, half-smiling, in the direction Huai Shi had left, and at those distant surveillance eyes aimed this way that were still on high alert, showing no sign of relaxing.

"See, even people from the Jurisdiction Bureau got spooked. Thought this old crone was messing with something again."

"Sorry, Professor."

"It’s nothing. This is still within my clearance. Besides, it was just ordering a pizza, wasn’t it?"

The old woman gave her a deep look. "This isn’t some big deal, Fu. But as your teacher, I don’t want you squandering your Talent so casually. Any operation on the Sea of ​​Silver requires repeated thought and careful weighing.

Unless you have the resolve of Pompeii’s destruction—unshaken—and the resolve to shoulder the worst possible consequences, you are not fit to lay a hand on that dominator’s Authority.

Any flippant meddling will bring unpredictable consequences. You must keep that carved into your heart.

"I promise."

Fu Yi nodded, answering seriously.

Like every good student’s promise—reassuring.

"Then, see that it doesn’t happen again."

The old woman raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

Invisible ripples spread from her fingertips, and the vague mist shrouding Empire University silently dissipated.

No trace of any operation remained.

"Come, child, the afternoon class is about to begin."

She glanced back at the student behind her. "Today, I’ll be teaching you the prototype analysis of the Seat Angel..."

As the distant chimes faded.

A new class began.

.

"I’m truly sorry for interrupting your meeting with your friend."

On the Border express heading for the launch base, Marcus finally offered an explanation to the scowling Huai Shi. "But the visitors from the Existence Institute kept pressing us; there was nothing we could do."

"Visitors?"

Huai Shi instinctively glanced at the watch-like vital monitor on his wrist.

He still had a chunk of Element of Destructive derivative in his pocket; wandering around Empire University with that on him really wasn’t appropriate. Tanbo had been too comfortable—go wherever he wanted—and he’d ended up forgetting this little issue.

What he didn’t expect was Marcus adding, "After all, Miss Fu Yi’s identity is... sensitive."

"Huh?"

Huai Shi’s brows furrowed; he realized this wasn’t simple. "Huh? Huh? Huh? Whose identity did you say is sensitive?"

"Ahem, strictly speaking, Miss Fu Yi, as a key protection target of the Jurisdiction Bureau, is not allowed to meet with someone like you who is contaminated by the Element of Destructive. It involves important Talent protection, after all..."

"Hold it."

Huai Shi raised his hand. "Start from the top, okay? What key protection, what important Talent?"

Marcus’s expression stiffened for a second. He pushed his glasses up and glanced to the side. "I can explain slowly, no problem. But could you ask your pet to stop eating? At this rate, there won’t be any carriage left..."

"The hell?"

Huai Shi froze, angrily shaking the rope in his hand. "What pet do I—holy shit, what is that thing!"

Only now did he notice that half-length of rope in his hand. He’d been holding it the whole time, bringing it all the way from Empire University onto the Border express.

And the other end of the rope was tied to... a dog?

A giant Husky!

As if it had been hiding in a blind spot of his attention all along, Huai Shi only now realized—no, he finally noticed the thing he’d been ignoring... that this dog had nearly chewed up all the seats behind them!

Where did this dog come from!

Startled, Huai Shi lashed out with a flying kick. The damn dog refused to be outdone, pouncing at him and clawing its way up, trying to gnaw on his hand.

Huai Shi wasn’t about to roll over either. He decisively drove a "black dog digs the heart" into its belly, and the dog gave as good as it got—ducking its head to clamp onto Huai Shi’s wrist and refusing to let go, almost biting through his metalized right hand.

Rage surged up in Huai Shi’s chest; he yanked out The Fly King, about to ram it into the mutt’s mouth—only for the dog to conveniently open wide, throat pointed straight at Huai Shi, and then... hetui!!!

A stream of molten flow erupted in an instant, grazing Huai Shi’s hair and splashing against the carriage wall, actually burning a hole clean through the hull!

This thing was a goddamn weapon of mass destruction!

How the hell did it get past customs?!

Wait, no—that was me who led it through...

Huai Shi’s mind blanked for a moment as he remembered: at customs, the inspector had stamped his papers, gave the dog’s head a friendly pat, and praised, "Sir, that’s a fine dog you’ve got there..."

The dog’s entry permit was still stapled to his passport!

Thinking of that, Huai Shi’s knees trembled. So... all the damage this dog caused would be on him?

At once, a certain term that was both a terrain and a plant kept floating through his mind... a hundred thousand times over!

How the hell had he just casually led this dog from Empire University all the way here?

Watching this dog about to open its mouth again, still not done, Huai Shi’s face changed on the spot. He pounced, snapped its jaws shut, clamped them tight, and sat on its butt to pin it down.

Right across from him, Marcus, who had just witnessed this round of "dragon versus dog," was already dumbstruck.

He had never seen a man and a dog fight this hard before, abusing a small animal with such earth‑shattering grandeur.

Truly a sight to behold.

He almost wanted to applaud.

So this is the Prince of Paradise... I’m sold, I’m so sold!

"...This is a misunderstanding." Huai Shi stressed solemnly. "This dog is not mine, seriously!"

"I get it, I get it." Marcus promised. "I’ll keep it secret, absolutely. You have to trust my professional ethics."

And with this damn dog interrupting like that, Huai Shi suddenly didn’t know how to ask about Fu Yi’s situation anymore.

But looking at this mutt that had somehow been dragged from Empire University onto the train without him even noticing, he felt like he understood something.

Don’t tell me... Fu Yi’s talent from Witch’s Night can still be used outside?!

A mind controller?

Someone who can even influence him without him noticing?!

Isn’t that just way too broken?

For a moment, Huai Shi’s mind went blank, and a mess of unspeakable words like "editor," "hypno‑X system," "magician" and so on kept popping up uncontrollably.

"What kind of operation is this?" he quietly asked inside the Book of Fate.

"Hm? Isn’t this perfectly normal?" Tong Ji asked back, puzzled. "After all, she’s that kid Cheshel’s final masterpiece. Having this much ability isn’t weird, right?"

Huai Shi was numb.

He stared blankly for a long time, incredulous:

"...Are you talking about the dog or the person?"

"Aren’t they both?" Tong Ji answered lazily. "If you really want to nitpick, the dog’s actually the by‑product for her... and that’s all thanks to you."

"Me?" Huai Shi’s eyes widened. "What the hell does this have to do with me!"

"As a test subject, you were the champion who trashed Witch’s Night and brought the dawn. Without your help, Cheshel couldn’t have finished his work."

Tong Ji said, "You still don’t get what his final creation was? It wasn’t Behemoth, nor the conversion of elements between the Eternal Beast and the Ranch Owner, but that world’s cycle itself.

All those species’ consciousnesses gathered, and actually formed a miniature Sea of Silver inside Hell, a complete Sandbox of the Current Circumstances...

Everything the Sea of Silver has, it has too.

In other words, anything that works in there can work out here as well.

Even if the power inside can’t be brought out, things like experience, insight, feelings—once you’ve gone through it even once, you’re never going to forget.

You idiot, never mind you running wild the whole way, did you forget about your teammates’ gains too?"

"But she... she didn’t become a Sublimator!"

"Yeah."

Tong Ji asked seriously, "Isn’t that actually the most precious part?

To the Sea of Silver, all Sublimators are rebellious brats who want to run away from home the moment they achieve something. Someone like Fu Yi, who voluntarily stayed behind, is rare as hell!

After losing that measly chance to sublimate, she instead deepened her connection with the Sea of Silver."

"And after having that experience of endless consciousness converging, after personally pushing the unified consciousness to operate, she’s already one of the ordinary people in the world most closely tied to the Sea of Silver!

Cheshel personally raised her into his most brilliant work, pouring all his remaining effort and affection into her, just hoping she could find some enlightenment out of the confusion of life.

From the moment Witch’s Night ended, her file was sent up by the Decision Room to a higher layer of authority core and she became a key protection target.

Her value is even above Liu DongLi, who has a complete Resonant Physique... how could some Sublimator thugs and leg‑men compare?"

Granted, she has no talent for creation, nor the aptitude for destruction. This ability only reveals its true worth when used for maintenance.

The Prototype Engravers under the Silent Ones Stone Stele have already marked her for observation, beginning a long period of evaluation and waiting, in the hopes that one day she will grow enough to inherit the heavy burden from her predecessors.

To become a maintainer of the Sea of Silver.

Group meme shielding, ultra‑wide‑area consciousness interference, sealing up knowledge of Hell, and even guiding humanity’s subconscious through the Sea of Silver...

Laying down common sense, guaranteeing order, maintaining the operation of Current Circumstances society to ensure the Sea of Silver’s stability.

She has that kind of potential, that kind of talent, and even has the rare bonus of hands‑on internship experience. The only thing she lacks is the education to draw out that power.

After hearing all this, Huai Shi didn’t react for a long time.

He really couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Why something so precious...

"Would be used by someone to stuff a dog on me?"

He grabbed the dog’s face with both hands, tugging at the corners of its mouth, examining those razor‑sharp metal fangs, his expression twitching.

The teenage girl’s parting laughter sounded in his ears again.

"I’ll keep watching you."

She had said, "Don’t forget, okay?"

And suddenly, Huai Shi understood. He lowered his head to study those ice‑blue, wickedly charming eyes, his expression twitching all over again.

This isn’t just "watching."

She went and planted a surveillance eye right next to him!

Since when was tech this advanced?

But after holding this dumb dog’s head and looking at it from left to right for a long time, he still couldn’t see anything special, nor find any trace linking it to Fu Yi.

Huai Shi thought it over seriously, pried open the dog’s mouth, and tentatively asked inside:

"Hey? You there?"