Apocalypse Forecast

Ten minutes later, Huai Shi squatted next to the burning base, finally figuring out what had happened.

"It exploded?" he said incredulously.

"Yes," the base superintendent said mournfully, "it exploded."

"What about your restaurant?" Huai Shi anxiously asked, "The one famous for its lunar pancakes?"

"Gone." The base superintendent’s expression became increasingly sorrowful. "All the chefs are dead."

Huai Shi was furious.

Is there something wrong with this lousy travel group?

Kepler Base had disappeared before he even saw it. A big base, one of the ten famous moon restaurants, and it was just blown up like that?

Wasn’t everything fine when we arrived?

Both the spacecraft and Mitra Space Station were fine! How did everything change the minute we entered the lunar orbit?

Even sitting in an airborne cabin, one could encounter a meteor shower.

Landing was barely on time, but then Kepler Base vanished?

More importantly, how was he going to explain this to Broken Dog?

How am I supposed to tell the dog, sorry, the promised restaurant is gone? The pancakes are gone? This sled trip was in vain?

It seems you no longer want to live...

Huai Shi covered his face through his mask, feeling the pain of a tragic future.

The dog beside the sled had grown impatient waiting for the pancake Huai Shi promised and was gnawing on the sled’s frame; one could only see sparks flying in the vacuum, not hear any crunching.

Illuminated were the bodies piled behind the sled.

Extremely horrifying.

This was the ’gift’ brought by ’Santa Claus.’

The bodies of attackers encountered on the way.

Unfortunately, every face frozen in the extreme cold looked identical, with no difference whatsoever.

After checking, the alchemists fell into silence.

They were all artificial humans...

Moreover, they were of the most common version, made through the simplest methods, leaving no traces to follow.

Unnoticed on Huai Shi’s shoulder, the Raven phantom observed everyone’s appearance, slowly revealing a meaningful smile.

"Ah-ha, things are getting interesting," Tong Ji chuckled softly. "This curse is quite innovative, I see..."

"Curse?" Huai Shi asked.

"Yeah, don’t you see it, fool?" Tong Ji said, "Everyone here, specifically those heading to Helios Workshop, has been ’cursed.’"

Huai Shi hesitated, furrowing his brow, sensing something amiss.

As a rocket filled with negative energy, one would expect him to be highly sensitive to such matters. Virtually any curse that would fall on him should be rebounded by his divine nature; he even has an extra dose of Element of Destructive now—though it’s ominous, his fate seems increasingly resilient. What kind of fate could possibly overwhelm him?

Moreover, let’s not forget the Book of Fate...

Have you heard of tenfold rebound?

Anyone attempting this would only meet a tragic end.

And why was he completely unaware?

"It’s simple, Huai Shi. A curse is merely its expression and result—utterly ingenious, haha, no, should we say it’s like using a cannon to shoot mosquitoes?" Tong Ji understood everything after observing all the alchemists.

Because its subject wasn’t a single individual.

But everything they’ve seen.

Simply put, it’s the entire surface of the moon... reaching up to the orbital layer!

—Someone secretly set up a mystic ritual large enough to cover the entire moon!

Everything entering cannot, to avoid causing more signs due to a too-large scope and to conserve energy, the host of the ritual narrowed its range.

Targeting only ’all alchemists.’

All holders of the Helios Workshop beacon!

Because the ritual is so massive, its power became thinner when distributed, and with their heavy space suits, none of the alchemists noticed the tiny traces surrounding them.

They all failed to see, the ’moon’ holds malice against them!

This is why Tong Ji marveled, referring to it as using a cannon to shoot mosquitoes.

If the mountain won’t come to me, I’ll go to the mountain.

If there’s no way to make the sun revolve around the earth, then making the earth revolve around the sun works just as well.

Rather than letting people step into a trap willingly, the trap was shifted beneath their feet.

With such skill and ability, one could almost affect the moon’s operations, but it mainly turned the environment against everyone.

Not attacking fate directly, but deftly manipulating probability, letting everything fall onto the unfortunate side.

Just like a miracle turning into a disaster.

Before any luck could happen, it would transform into an equivalent misfortune, while equal misfortune would stack with equal misfortune...

No good deed shall occur, while accidents arise frequently.

This isn’t merely like spending a few thousand on a card pool and failing to draw a five-star character.

In this vacuum with no air, filled with terrorizing cold on the moon’s surface, any accident would lead only to death!

But having such power, still sending those artificial humans to attack the alchemists, seems like overkill, utterly baffling.

However, now, although it is a bit late... everyone finally became aware of this malice.

Such a bizarre disaster, who created it?

In the moment of realization, Ragnar seemed to have thought of something, suddenly raised his one eye, and coldly looked at Rachelle.

Behind the helmet, Rachelle’s expression twitched involuntarily.

"You... Why are you looking at me..."

"Because I have a question for you, Rachelle." Ragnar took a step forward, pressing him: "Before coming to Kepler Base, where did you go?"

Rachelle was stunned, immediately annoyed: "I, I didn’t go anywhere, why are you asking this!"

"Didn’t go anywhere, huh! We took the Egyptian space station to the lunar central hub at the same time, but why did you arrive a day later than me?"

Ragnar pressed on step by step, through his mask, looking down at his ’old friend’: "Where did you go?"

"I didn’t go anywhere, I was stuck in traffic, okay!"

Rachelle retorted with wide eyes: "Why do I have to tell you where I went!"

"Ha, I could guess even if you didn’t say... Just half an hour before your arrival, the Dark Side Prison suddenly had an incident, do you think there’s some connection here?"

Ragnar sneered coldly, his single eye shot out a chilly light.

His hand pressing at his waist, looking ready to make a move: "Don’t try to argue, Rachelle, the alchemy matrix of the Dark Side Prison was made by our workshop, and I can see the disaster residue on you clearly!

You must have entered the Dark Side Prison recently!"

"I..." Rachelle’s voice became shrill: "This has nothing to do with you!"

"Then why did you lie?" Ragnar raised his voice, sternly questioning: "What are you trying to hide with such an evasive attitude?"

He paused for a moment and asked word by word: "——What does the death of Grandmaster Publius have to do with you?!"

Once he spoke, everyone was stunned on the spot.

Looking at each other.

Publius Augustus.

The Grandmaster who rose eighty years ago, ’Holder of the Silver Rod’, ’Split Man’, ’Wandering Man’, ’Discoverer of the Seventh Creation’, standing at the pinnacle of Source Studies...

Just died abruptly like that?

Unbelievable.

Even Rachelle stiffened.

Staring dazedly at the person in front of him...

Unable to believe his words.

"Dead... Dead?" He staggered back a step, then hysterically screamed: "It’s none of my business, it has nothing to do with me, I’m just... I’m just..."

"...He was just accompanying me, Ragnar."

An old voice rang out.

It was Garandor.

The old man calmly explained: "Mr. Rachelle, as a Potion master authorized by the Stone Pot Society, accompanied me to check Publius’s health before the departure.

This was a secret task, and he was subject to a silencing mandate, unable to discuss it with others. Does this answer satisfy you?"

Ragnar fell into silence.

Unable to understand why Publius’s death implicated another Grandmaster.

Thinking something darker...

Perhaps Publius’s death was at Garand’s behest?

Or this was the result the Stone Pot Society gladly saw!

Thinking about Publius’s numerous unique technologies and patents, everything seems to be explained...

But the depth behind this is too much.

The once believed deep pond turned into a pitch-black, tumultuous sea, and he dared not look deeper.

As for Garandor, he did not doubt why Ragnar would know about Publius’s death.

After all, the base of the alchemy matrix of the Dark Side Prison was made and maintained by his workshop [Silver Stele]. With such a big incident, and he being on the Moon... Emotionally and rationally, his senior brothers would inform him at the first moment.

"I know what you want to ask, Ragnar, I can answer you: although the source of this curse is unclear, I can determine it has no relation to Publius’s death."

Garandor threw out another huge secret: "

Although most of his senility was a disguise, as early as fifteen years ago, Publius’s soul had begun to shrink gradually, his source substance decayed... Leaving only a shell.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have died so absurdly during the escape."

In the silence of the crowd, Garandor finally said:

"Currently, his death is still being kept under wraps, before the investigation results are out, it should not be disclosed to the public, and also hope none of you spread."

Ragnar bowed his head, saying no more.

Next to him, after finally digging out the refrigerator from the ruins of the kitchen, Huai Shi was feeding a dog a vacuum pancake and looked up in confusion.

Feeling like he missed a shocking scoop.

What are you talking about?

.

.

Just like that, ten minutes later, once the chicken finally finished eating the grains, the fire burned through the lock, and the dog finished gnawing the pancake...

After numerous twists and turns, just at the scheduled time, scheduled place, the scheduled alchemists, were finally about to embark on the final journey.

Heading to the ultimate destination——Helios Workshop!

As for when the rescue team, while clearing the base ruins, discovered Ragnar’s body, it was already six hours later.