Chapter 123: Southern Invasion Entrance
The System was clearly encouraging them to enter.
And if the place contained powerful enemies...
Cain’s thoughts immediately shifted toward the additional Stats he could obtain.
The final notifications appeared.
[Mission Completion Reward: Calculated according to individual contribution and overall mission difficulty.]
[Mission Failure Condition: Successful establishment of the permanent World Gate.]
[Warning: World-Class Missions may contain enemies far beyond the current average strength of this World.]
[Proceed with extreme caution.]
The translucent screens stopped changing.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Cain slowly raised his head.
The spatial crack remained suspended above the ruined park, dark energy shifting inside its irregular opening.
Only now did its existence feel completely different.
This was no longer some strange remnant left behind by the Zombie King.
On the other side was an invasion route.
And somewhere beyond that opening, four Spatial Anchor Gates were gradually securing a permanent connection between their World and territory controlled by an entirely hostile race.
Cain stared into the darkness.
They had originally come here for one final inspection before leaving the city.
Apparently, leaving would have to wait for now.
His lips gradually curved upward, although there was little humor in the expression.
"Looks like we have something else to do first."
Cain had barely finished speaking when another cold sensation passed through his mind.
This time, it was not limited to him or the four people standing nearby.
The System’s voice seemed to descend across the entire world.
[Ding!]
[World Announcement.]
Cain’s expression changed.
A much larger translucent screen appeared in front of him.
[The World-Class Mission: Sever the Zombie Race Invasion has been officially activated.]
[The Zombie Race is attempting to establish a permanent World Gate connecting its territory to Earth.]
[All surviving humans on Earth have received the World-Class Mission.]
[Four Invasion Entrances have been detected across Earth.]
[The locations of all four Invasion Entrances have been revealed.]
The notification disappeared.
Immediately afterward, another translucent image unfolded before Cain’s eyes.
A map.
It wasn’t a simple map of the surrounding city, but the entire world.
Darkened landmasses stretched across the translucent projection while four crimson points burned at completely different locations.
Cain’s gaze immediately moved toward the closest one.
The crimson marker pulsed several times.
[Southern Invasion Entrance]
[Current Location.]
The remaining points were spread far across the world.
[Northern Invasion Entrance]
[Eastern Invasion Entrance]
[Western Invasion Entrance]
Ron stared at the projection.
"Those other three are really on the other side of the world."
Nathan’s expression became serious as he studied the enormous distances separating the four markers.
Cain nodded faintly.
"So everyone received it."
That changed things.
Until a few moments ago, Cain had assumed the five of them had simply triggered a mission because they discovered the spatial crack.
Apparently, this was much larger than their group.
Every surviving human had now been informed that the Zombie Race was attempting to invade their world.
More importantly, everyone knew where they could enter.
Another notification appeared beneath the map.
[Each Invasion Entrance connects to a different region of the same Invasion Corridor.]
[Participants may enter the Invasion Corridor through any available entrance.]
[The four Spatial Anchor Gates must be destroyed before the World Gate Core can be attacked.]
Cain’s eyes narrowed slightly.
That last part was new.
The initial mission information had only explained how the Spatial Anchor Gates maintained the invasion passage. Now that the World-Class Mission had fully activated, the actual final objective had been revealed.
More lines followed afterward.
[Primary Objective: Destroy the North, South, East, and West Spatial Anchor Gates.]
[Final Objective: Destroy the World Gate Core.]
[The World Gate Core is protected by the Spatial Anchor Network and cannot be destroyed while any Spatial Anchor Gate remains active.]
[Destroying all four Spatial Anchor Gates will disable the Spatial Anchor Network and remove the protection surrounding the World Gate Core.]
[Mission Completion requires the destruction of the World Gate Core.]
Cain stared at the final line.
So destroying the four Gates would not immediately end everything.
They would still need to attack whatever existed at the center of the Invasion Corridor afterward.
"Such a troublesome mission."
Alex looked toward him.
"You’re worried about the mission?"
"No." Cain closed the map and continued as he shrugged his shoulders, "It just means there’s more work to be done."
Before anyone could respond, the spatial crack suddenly trembled.
Dark energy erupted from its shifting edges.
Everyone instinctively stepped backward.
The irregular tear in space began widening as the distortions surrounding it grew increasingly violent.
Jack raised both fists.
Nathan already had an arrow resting against his bowstring.
Ron moved his spear forward.
Cain remained at the front and watched carefully.
The crack expanded until it stood several meters tall.
Its unstable edges gradually stopped shifting, while dark-gray energy condensed around the opening and formed something resembling a large doorway suspended slightly above the ground.
The interior remained impossible to see through as there was only darkness.
Occasionally, faint gray currents moved across its surface before disappearing somewhere beyond.
Another notification appeared.
[Southern Invasion Entrance has stabilized.]
[Entry is now available.]
Ron looked toward Cain.
"So we’re going in?"
"Obviously." Cain chuckled lightly.
A World-Class Mission would not appear whenever he wanted one.
Experience and direct System rewards inside the Invasion Corridor were doubled. There would almost certainly be enemies far stronger than the ordinary zombies remaining around the university.
More importantly, the consequences of ignoring the mission were too serious.
If the System’s prediction was accurate, allowing the Zombie Race to complete the permanent World Gate gave Earth a ninety percent chance of being destroyed.
Cain did not particularly care about becoming some heroic savior of humanity or something.
But this world was the world he lived in with his family and friends.
That alone was enough.
Cain turned away from the entrance.
"We’re going back."
Ron blinked.
"I thought you said we’re entering."
"We are."
Cain looked at the four of them.
"But I’m not bringing only five people into something called a World-Class Mission."
That was enough explanation as the five immediately returned toward the outer area of the park.
>>>
GUYS, I have an announcement for next month!
For September, the Golden Ticket Bonus Chapters will be TRIPLED!
Yes, TRIPLED!!!
For every 100 Golden Tickets, I’ll release a total of 6 Bonus Chapters. However, half of those Chapters will be saved for a huge Mass Release on October 1st!
Here’s how it will work:
50 GT = 1 Bonus Chapter released immediately + 2 Chapters saved for the Mass Release
100 GT = Another 2 Bonus Chapters released immediately + 1 Chapter saved
150 GT = 1 Bonus Chapter released immediately + 2 Chapters saved
200 GT = Another 2 Bonus Chapters released immediately + 1 Chapter saved
And the same pattern will continue throughout the entire month!
So, for every 100 Golden Tickets, you’re basically unlocking:
3 Chapters released immediately + 3 Chapters saved for October 1st = 6 Bonus Chapters total!
That means if we manage to reach 500 Golden Tickets by the end of September:
500 GT = 15 Bonus Chapters released throughout September + 15 Chapters MASS RELEASED on October 1st!
That’s 30 Bonus Chapters in total!
And if you guys somehow manage to reach 1,000 Golden Tickets...
1,000 GT = 30 Bonus Chapters released throughout September + 30 Chapters MASS RELEASED on October 1st!
That would be 60 BONUS ChapterS!!!
So yeah...
I’m already gassed just thinking about how high you guys might push it next month.
Or maybe this changes absolutely nothing since I’m still a newbie :))
>>>
In case you’re wondering why I’m doing this, it’s because I’ll be having surgery around the end of next month or maybe early Oct (idk, we’ll see).
After that, I might not be able to write as much for a while since there’s a good chance that I’m going to be cooked at that time (there’s a quite high chance that it might be cancer, although I really hope it isn’t. Physically, I still feel completely fine so far, so wish me luck :))