Chapter 439: Nightfall
"Not surprising, the mechanism has always known only how to stand by and watch." Lin Qing shrugged.
"Changing the fate of world destruction isn’t something that can be done just by talking about it," Abigail retorted, "Even just preserving our world has already left the mechanism exhausted."
"Wanting to do something and not being able to, doesn’t that make the mechanism seem even more incompetent?" She was dismissive, "Sadly, I wish it were a bit more inept... instead of dragging the entire world towards doomsday as it is now."
"..." Abigail closed her mouth, seemingly unwilling to continue the debate.
Chen Xuan smiled, "Being inside the mechanism, sometimes it’s easier to be blinded, try looking from a different perspective, and maybe you’ll have a sudden insight."
"How to change? Trying to persuade me to leave the Dimensional Limit Mechanism again?"
"No need, this trip may be an opportunity." He opened the door, "Let’s go, to the new world."
The moment the door opened, the mixed sounds of people immediately flooded their ears.
"Not bad, there’s actually no power cut tonight," Honglian praised.
"Probably because it’s easier for people to panic in the dark." Chen Xuan remarked, "Sacrificing a bit of crop yield for the sake of public stability, Director Du’s approach is still quite smart."
Abigail followed the three along the narrow corridor. She noticed there wasn’t a single window here, all relying on overhead fluorescent lights for illumination, many of which were already yellowed and dim, and would emit dazzling flickers. But the people living here seemed to have adapted to it, not even bothering to lift their heads, leaning against the walls and muttering to themselves, only giving way appropriately and glancing when they passed by.
Abigail curiously observed the crowd, a word popped into her mind: followers.
"Are they praying?"
"Looks like the situation has become more severe..." Chen Xuan answered evasively, "They’re just trying to survive."
She unexpectedly understood.
Can prayer help someone survive? Obviously not.
People only resort to such meaningless actions to comfort themselves when they are powerless.
Entering a hall, the crowd gathered here was even larger, everyone without exception was staring at the large screen on the wall, the entire atmosphere seemed tense and anxious.
Abigail also glanced at the TV, the picture was so dark that almost nothing could be seen, except the time in the lower right corner was remarkably clear.
"It’s already midnight 12 o’clock... have we been gone that long?" Honglian frowned.
"Maybe it’s because of our complete withdrawal causing the time difference to widen," Chen Xuan said.
"What are these people watching?" Abigail asked in a low voice.
"Watching the sky."
"Watching the sky? Is there something terrifying up there?"
"Yes, the deadly weapon delivered by the mechanism." He quickened his steps towards the upper floor staircase, "I’ll explain to you later, we need to hurry now."
Abigail was momentarily dazed.
This world... also has a Dimensional Limit Mechanism?
The four pushed through the bustling crowd, arriving at the entrance of the stairwell, where two armed guards immediately stopped him, "Mr. Chen, where are you going?"
"It’s not allowed to go out now, the main gate is about to close," added the other.
Abigail gave him a meaningful glance.
Chen Xuan mouthed "I’m Chen Shixin" to her, then said to the guards, "Isn’t there still two hours? We’ll be back shortly."
The guard was quite surprised, "Didn’t you hear the broadcast? More precise orbital calculations have revised the impact time, there’s now less than an hour left."
"When was it broadcasted?"
"Around eight or nine in the evening."
Chen Xuan felt a slight chill in his heart. So, the final result is an hour earlier? He wasn’t worried about lacking cover during the impact, but others might not be as fortunate.
"Why don’t we wait until the impact is over before going out?" Lin Qing proposed.
Just as he hesitated, the indicator light in the stairwell suddenly turned deep red.
At the same time, the voice of Secretary Shasha came from the loudspeaker on the wall — different from usual, she sounded very tense, even stuttering over the announcement, "Pre-presenting an emergency announcement, we just received confirmed information, based on the latest orbit analysis, the expected collision time has been moved up to 1... 1:01, with the impact point in the northwest of Sha Jiang District, about 15 kilometers from Binjiang Garden. From now on, subway stations will close their doors to prevent potential shock waves, residents are asked to immediately return to their homes and prepare for an earthquake. I repeat, residents are asked to immediately return to their homes..."
The public’s discussions instantly erupted intensely.
The guards looked at each other.
"Moved up again?"
"Are there still search teams that haven’t come back?"
"Who cares about those people now. The impact point is so close to us, are we the most unfortunate stronghold?"
"Oh Celestial Patrol, please protect us!"
Anger, worry, fear, prayer... voices of all kinds surged from all directions.
Chen Xuan secretly thought this wasn’t good, the impact point was in the northwest of Sha Jiang District, which was also where the mechanism camp was located. And the mechanism camp was built right next to the spaceship wreckage, meaning the latter was even closer to the hazardous lunar impact zone.
Although they had the Celestial Patrol overhead holding up, who knew if it could completely block it? What if something just hit it accurately?
"I want to ask, can you restore the elevator parts into a complete elevator? For example... repair it starting from a steel plate or a screw." He turned to look at Abigail.
"Do we really have to force it?" She shook her head, "My suggestion is to buy a new one."
"I understand," Chen Xuan no longer hesitated and immediately made a decision, "Then you all stay in the stronghold, I’ll go protect the wreckage."
"Wait... You’re going alone?" Lin Qing subconsciously grabbed his arm.
"Yes, I’m more confident on my own." He turned around and patted her hand, "Actually, there’s nothing to worry about, have you forgotten my ability?"
He was referring to the miraculous shopkeeper’s recall.
With the Divine Eye Technique, he usually had ample time to respond to crises.
With that thought, Lin Qing let go of his hand, "Then make sure not to force yourself. At worst... we can abandon this world."
Chen Xuan nodded, walking straight towards the entrance door.
"Freeze."
Whether it was the guard stepping forward to stop him or the one watching at the door, they all became immobile in an instant.
"The immobilization will be lifted in one minute, then you may continue closing the door as usual." He said without turning back, "Don’t wait for me to return, if Director Du asks, tell him I insisted on doing this."
Abigail watched his departing figure, a vague understanding already creeping into her mind of what these Wanderers intended to do.
"The mechanism has always known only how to stand by and watch."
Lin Qing’s words floated by her ear.
Perhaps she left something unsaid, but the implication was already evident — "They’re nothing like the mechanism."
Faced with the crisis of world destruction, they would never stand idly by.
...
Chen Xuan entered Jiang City cloaked in darkness, only to realize the storm outside was incredibly fierce. The ’yellow sand’ composed of the carcasses of nanobots was no longer just a visual concept, but had turned into a tangible threat capable of tearing clothes and cutting through flesh. As they scraped across abandoned car shells, one could hear crackling crash sounds, and occasionally even see sparks fly.
If it were an ordinary person without protection, they would likely be covered in wounds after just a few hundred meters.
This also proved one point... the never-ending storm in the sky was by no means a natural phenomenon.
It seemed more like an environment possessing autonomous driving ability.
As the Celestial Patrol descended, the sandstorm was also forced into the ground area. If it blew at this height for a year, it might change the entire landscape of Jiang City, and of course... also completely block all strongholds from venturing out to gather resources.
Fortunately, Chen Xuan’s body had been strengthened by the Heart Method, so the sand grains could only scratch tiny blood marks on his face, painful but bearable.
He summoned two Thousand Thoughts Swords to guard his side, speeding up towards the direction of the mechanism’s abandoned camp.
Moments later, the enormous silhouette of the spaceship wreckage finally appeared in his line of sight.