Chapter 250

"Crimson-black clouds flashing with scarlet lightning are spreading across the sky of Sakura Island, expanding at an uncontrollable speed toward the entire Earth. From time to time, eerie shrieks emanate from the clouds. These clouds were not born on Earth; they are invading from another world..." A frontline reporter for Shenzhou TV Channel 1 is currently standing on a swaying boat, professionally broadcasting the terrifying scene recorded by the live feed while enduring the surging sea storm.

Seeing this apocalyptic sight, those who have experienced the Collapse Night in Cuizhu, the human corruption in the Magic City, or the birth of the Demon God in Fengxiang can now empathize with the people of Taomu City on Sakura Island, and one after another, they subconsciously and uneasily gaze toward the direction of Sakura Island.

As those who have personally experienced the disasters of the Alien Gods, the Alien Gods—whose very essence of birth is a symbol of the universe's filth and collapse—are a terror beyond anything humans can imagine. They are the embodiment of fear, more insane than being tortured by a perverted serial killer, a tragic traffic accident, or a natural disaster. The tip of the iceberg they reveal is enough to cause mountains to crumble and the earth to split. Humans and all living things on Earth seem like nothing more than tiny ants passing by and dying miserably under their feet. They are completely indifferent to humans; the reason they might notice humans is perhaps just a casual glance back...

Therefore, they pray with complex and contradictory feelings, hoping that they can eventually survive the disaster as luckily as they did, yet also hoping that they might as well die under the calamity, otherwise, living would be just like them—never able to return to a normal life again, never able to experience the beauty of life as they once did.

After all, this is a truly terrible world.

"Daddy, I want to eat ice cream." A little girl and her father pass by an ice cream truck. Seeing the bright and tempting ice cream scoops on the truck's poster, she immediately licks her lips, unable to resist the craving, and looks at her loving father with eager eyes, seemingly unaware of the increasingly panicked crowd around her, her emotions stable.

The father, who received the emergency school closure and dismissal notice for his daughter, also turns a blind eye to the changes around him, his eyes only on his well-behaved and sensible daughter. He touches his daughter's little head and says with a smile, "Daddy can buy it for you, but can you guarantee that you can eat your dinner like usual?"

"Ningning can!" Li Yuning looks at Li Jiahong with a firm gaze, clenching her fists to show her strong determination.

Li Jiahong nods with a smile, then takes his daughter into the now-empty ice cream truck, uses the tools inside to make a three-color scoop for his daughter, and pays for the ice cream. After paying, he even shows the payment amount to the video surveillance camera.

Since his daughter needs both hands to hold the bowl and spoon, Li Jiahong carries Li Yuning as they walk afterward.

As the father and daughter walk home, sharing a bowl of ice cream, Li Yuning seems to finally notice the pedestrians on the street and scans them casually, but her eyes remain calm with habit. She asks Li Jiahong, "Daddy, what is Boss Brother doing now? He must be lying in the shop petting cats again."

To this, Li Jiahong just smiles without answering, but he thinks the same, the image of a youth who is always leisurely living his life in the shop appearing in his mind.

"Those bad things are out again. Will Red-Clad Uncle come out to beat them away this time?" Li Yuning asks curiously, and under Li Jiahong's somewhat surprised gaze, she adds, "Just like how he protected us when I was little."

"You still remember?" Li Jiahong is somewhat surprised.

Li Yuning nods: "I often have the same dream. In the dream, there is always Red-Clad Uncle with a painted face, stepping forward when Dad and I encounter danger. He's ugly, but also cool."

Hearing this, Li Jiahong cannot help but smile. "You can't say that to Red-Clad Uncle; he'll be sad."

"Indeed, when he is in front of me, I usually call him Brother."

"……It seems your focus is a bit off."

After walking for ten minutes or so, Li Yuning finishes the ice cream. Li Jiahong puts his daughter down to let her throw away the trash herself, then the father and daughter hold hands again to go home. They weave through the running crowd like fish swimming against the current.

"Oh right, when will Uncle He, who always has many eyes around him, come back? He said that when he comes back, he would take me to eat something delicious."

"Daddy doesn't know about that either, but looking at the situation, it should be soon."

"Daddy, Uncle He is actually silly, hee hee."

"Why do you say he is silly?"

"Hey, Sister Xiaoyu has always been by his side, but he didn't even notice." Li Yuning says with a sly smile, "Sister Xiaoyu told me to keep it a secret from him; she probably wants to see when Uncle He will finally notice."

……

He Jia'an's body is teetering, his whole body covered in lacerations, the texture of his skin having completely lost its healthy state. He looks no different from an ordinary walking corpse. All around him are the shattered corpses of Vampire meat-worms. The Magic Blade in his hand has become ruddy, and the blood droplets on the tip of the blade are like saliva symbolizing hunger, still unsatisfied with the current slaughter and wanting more.

He Jia'an walks with a limp. His right side is flexible and moves freely, but he cannot feel anything because the right side of his body has been eroded by the power of the Magic Blade. The tubes injected into his body have devoured and replaced the flesh and blood of his right side, though his right brain is safe and sound.

This does not mean the Magic Blade has kindly let him off; rather, it is like the expensive strawberry on a high-end strawberry sundae—a delicacy it wants to save for last to savor slowly.

He Jia'an has destroyed several more hidden Advent Rituals on campus. After the gathered Blessing power lost the function of the rituals, it decomposed and dispersed once again, becoming part of the complex and decadent air of the Inner World.

"Captain He." Just as He Jia'an is searching for where the next Advent Ritual might exist, Xin Junmao, who had been separated for a long time, once again appears out of nowhere, growing out of a piece of flesh on the wall. Xin Junmao, whose appearance is not yet fully formed and is just a humanoid tumor, says to He Jia'an, "The Advent Rituals in Kisaragi High School have all been destroyed, and I have also cleared out the Vampires in the school. We should leave here... Hmm, it looks like you are in bad shape."

A pair of crooked eyes on the humanoid tumor scan He Jia'an, whose dull eyes and stiff expression seem completely indifferent to what is being said.

When he gets within a certain distance of Xin Junmao, He Jia'an nimbly swings his blade down. He seems to no longer care who the person appearing before him is, numb like a killing machine, just like Matsumoto Gin, who was almost completely controlled by the Magic Blade before.

However, the severed Xin Junmao laughs indifferently. After falling to the ground, he merges with the flesh on the floor and quickly disappears, leaving behind only a thought-provoking remark: "It seems there is no need to fulfill the promise for now. The person you need has already arrived. I hope you can wake up before your blade cuts her neck."