Chapter 362: The Sky Shattered

The battlefield has turned into a complete mess, a pot of porridge that could be eaten hot.

Machine guns spray everywhere, tree roots grow wildly, Lightning Chains fall all around, black feathers drift down in droves, tentacles wave across the sky.

Everyone is in total chaos.

The source of all this chaos, Ying Duo, stands beside the gun emplacement, his golden eyes reflecting the pale blue light, his finger hovering over the space bar of a virtual keyboard.

【System Prompt: Charge complete, launch command pending confirmation.】

Watching the phosphor dust flutter down under the blue light, Qi Junyi pinched his own thigh hard, keeping himself awake, lest he fall into the Illusion Realm created by the Butterfly Speaker.

The Church's freshly organized battle plan, after being ambushed midway by the forces at Sand Island Peak and the Butterfly Speaker, began to show signs of collapse; finally, Qi Junyi's gaze fell on the massive cannon beside Ying Duo.

He opened his mouth, about to shout something.

But it was already too late.

Because—

Ying Duo's finger had already pressed down.

【System Prompt: Launch command confirmed.】

Boom—!!!

It's not a sound.

It's light.

It's annihilation.

In that instant, the entire cliff was engulfed by the pale blue light, converting all gathered energy into a pillar of light that pierced heaven and earth.

The cannon's barrel wasn't aimed at the sky; it was aimed at the Slum.

To be precise, somewhere underground the Slum.

The place that everyone had ignored, that almost no one would think of, was revealed by tonight's Church response as the true location of Tianmian City's greatest secret.

The pale blue pillar of light descended from the heavens.

There was no explosion sound.

There was no shockwave.

Only—

Annihilation.

The Slum's ground vanished in a huge chunk the moment the light arrived, the people and everything inside seemingly erased from existence at the source.

There was no explosion nor collapse; the ground was left with a hole dozens of meters across, its edges smooth as a mirror.

Where the light passed, all sound was devoured by absolute silence.

Immediately, the first crack appeared in the sky over Tianmian City, followed quickly by a second.

The third.

... countless more.

The sky split open, like a shattered mirror.

This wasn't merely a metaphor; the sky was truly breaking.

The cracks interwove and spread across Tianmian City's night sky, revealing pure void behind them.

In every corner of Tianmian City, this apocalyptic scene could be seen.

Countless people lifted their heads, watching the breaking sky, their expressions shifting from bewilderment to fear, and from fear to despair.

Someone fell to their knees, beginning to pray to the deity.

Someone scooped up a child, scrambling toward home.

Someone froze in place, utterly stunned by the scene.

"God..."

An old man muttered, murky tears slipping from his eyes.

"Will you abandon us?"

No one could answer him, for even the Church's self‑styled divine emissary did not know.

——————————————

The Pale Throne Grand Cathedral, the highest Jian Kong Shi.

Mu Lingxiao stared at the cracking sky outside the window, expressionless, yet her hand trembled slightly.

"... Space‑time Core confirmed damaged." The communications officer's voice quivered with each word, as if forced through clenched teeth.

"And because the city's energy was temporarily diverted to sustain the shield, it indeed reduced that cannon's power—only a reduction—but Tianmian City's energy conduits suffered massive paralysis, and the isolation barrier was gradually collapsing."

Mu Lingxiao gave no response to the communications officer's litany of bad news; she simply stared at the Ying Guang Lu figure on the screen.

The kid still stood beside the gun emplacement, expressionless, gazing at the breaking sky, looking especially innocent.

"Saint," the communications officer's voice trembled even more, "what should we do now?"

Mu Lingxiao replied, her voice calm to the point of coldness.

"Activate all backup energy conduits, prioritize spatial stability in the residential zones, then dispatch all available Rune masters to the conduit area and do our utmost to repair."

She paused abruptly at that point.

"As for that cannon and the Flame City Cannon, they are no longer important."

The communications officer was stunned, "Not important?"

Just moments ago she had nearly gathered all of the Church's forces there, and now she says it's unimportant?

Mu Lingxiao had no intention to explain; she simply watched the shattered sky, as if seeing another world through the cracks.

Initially it was a backup plan, but now it has become the only one.

They were all swept into the storm; no one could stay uninvolved.

"Sister."

A gentle voice came from behind, sounding especially friendly.

Mu Lingxiao turned around, while Mu Linyuan had been standing there the whole time, watching everything unfold, and only now chose to speak.

He walked slowly to the window and looked up at the shattered sky.

"What's beneath the Slum?" he asked, his tone so gentle it seemed offhand.

"The core system of a game."

To his surprise, she told him the truth very plainly; Mu Linyuan just raised an eyebrow when she added another sentence.

"And the positioning of the Noah's Ark."

——————————————

【System Prompt: Launch successful, target hit.】

The prompt was rather inconspicuous, because Yang Yixie's view was soon flooded with those visually polluting system pop‑ups.

【Congratulations on successfully killing XXX, gaining experience +…】

【Congratulations…】

【Level increased to Lv. 29!】

【Level increased to Lv. 30!】

It finally stopped at level 30.

Yang Yixie stared at the number for two seconds, then glanced at the experience gain notification still popping up, and fell silent.

So that's level 30?

Fine, in that case his trial card wasn't wasted after all.

Before Yang Yixie could feel happy, another system prompt popped up.

【System Prompt: Disassembly failed, obtained 'Penetrating Annihilation Blast Cannon' blueprint fragments ×4】

【Current item remaining time: 13:47】

He instinctively wanted to disassemble that cannon again, to see if he could collect enough fragments, but as soon as his finger lifted, another system prompt interrupted him.

【Warning! Warning!】

This time the pop‑up wasn't a plain white frame but crimson, its edges flickering, blindingly harsh.

【Detected massive spacetime chaos, Chaos Level: Extremely High!】

【Expected effects: spatial turbulence, teleportation‑type skills disabled…】

Yang Yixie's pupils contracted slightly; he looked up and saw the sky over Tianmian City cracking.

Some invisible force was howling past him.

He lowered his head to glance at his status bar.

【HP: 96%↓】

【Energy: 67%↓】

The numbers dropped each second, and the rate was accelerating.

Yang Yixie's finger moved.

Without hesitation or thought, purely on muscle memory, he immediately opened the inventory.

A dense array of icons spread before his eyes; there were so many that he could only scan them one by one, trying to find something usable now.

【Name: Spacetime Stabilizing Shield Generator (purple)】

【Type: Protective item】

【Effect: Generates a stable shield in a spacetime‑chaotic environment, protecting the user from spacetime distortion.】

【Duration: 15 minutes】

【Cooldown: 72 hours】