Chapter 19: Exterminate all heavenly disasters! No death, no rest!

Sunlight shone again over Yong State, the blood tide receded, and atop the ruined city ruins, people began to rebuild their homes.

And on this ruin, the first thing completed was a huge statue; the statue had a solemn expression, held a sharp long spear, its tip at a 45-degree angle, pointing directly toward the direction of the eastern sunrise.

The statue was built on the former site of the Double Gene Helix Building, and directly beneath the sculpture lay a vast plaza.

"Our leader Zhang Jie, using his body as a torch, ignited the sun and returned the future to our hands."

"The golden meteor that streaked across the night sky before the apocalypse was his unyielding will."

"Just as in the equally dark era ten years ago, our leader, like a meteor slicing the night sky, eradicated Yong State's greatest tumor and gave us a brand‑new era...."

On the plaza beneath the statue, a cadre was delivering a eulogy, while countless surviving Yong State residents gathered here, solemnly and reverently raising their heads to gaze upon the statue.

Today is Zhang Jie's memorial service; they plan to designate the day of his death as a commemorative day, named Blaze Day.

"It means: a day to celebrate rebirth from the blaze, and to remember the day the blaze turned to ashes."

On the relatively intact ruin‑building in the distance, Lin Ran lay quietly on the railing of the rooftop.

This is the place where she and Zhang Jie watched fireworks together that day.

She thus gazed far off at Zhang Jie's towering statue, her vision gradually blurring and doubling, overlaying the statue with the distant sun on the horizon.

The statue and the sun are both him, yet also not him.

Lin Ran no longer knew how long she had been wandering aimlessly; she kept roaming through the places in her memory where Zhang Jie had once existed, trying to find traces of his presence there.

Though his traces have already merged into every aspect of Yong State, but why...

No matter how she tries, she can no longer find Zhang Jie's figure?

Hearing the eulogy drifting from afar, Lin Ran suddenly felt a hint of fatigue and slowly closed her eyes.

A breeze brushed past, sweeping across Lin Ran's cheek; in her daze, it seemed as if the wind reached out to touch her cheek, caressing the tear mole at the corner of her eye.

That was what Zhang Jie loved to do most—he loved to quietly watch her, then uncontrollably reach out his hand...

Lin Ran jolted awake, a remnant tear hanging at the corner of her eye.

A small tentacle extended from behind her, gently stroking the corner of her eye.

"Is it you..."

Lin Ran helplessly took the long spear from behind her, noticing that the small eye where the shaft met the spearhead was looking at her with concern.

Zhang Jie left many things behind for this world: the gene equation that inaugurated the era, the blazing sun suspended high in the sky, and also his thoughts and spirit that remained in this world.

But he's so stingy... despite leaving behind so much, only this long spear was left for himself.

Gazing at the spear in her hand, Lin Ran lost herself once again.

She had considered using Zhang Jie's blood in the spear to clone a new Zhang Jie, but she knew that even if the clone looked exactly like him, it would not be Zhang Jie—not the Zhang Jie who grew up with her from childhood.

Even if Zhang Jie were truly reincarnated, could she then recognize him? Would he then know her? Would she even still exist in that world?

Once again she fixed her gaze on the blazing sun in the sky, her pupils gradually losing focus; even as the scorching sunlight made tears stream down her eyes, she did not look away.

This is the only way she can feel that Zhang Jie still exists in this world—the most dazzling manner.

He lives on the sun.

Suddenly, a clamor came, disturbing Lin Ran's thoughts.

"Blood Disaster has come!"

"Organize defense!!!"

All Blood Disasters in space have already died, but those on the surface remain active, continually attacking even cities that have become ruins.

Hearing the nearby clamor, Lin Ran's eyes instantly regained focus.

She looked at the fang‑bared, claw‑waving Blood Disaster creature, and hatred welled up from the depths of her eyes.

"Blood Disaster... again Blood Disaster... again Blood Disaster!"

On the makeshift front line resisting Blood Disaster, a female madwoman burst out from somewhere, smashing countless Blood Disasters into pieces wherever she went.

This frantic act frightened everyone; all they saw was the female madwoman wielding a blood‑colored long spear, but she did not use it as a spear, relying solely on brute force to smash.

That spear seemed to have become a great hammer; every Blood Disaster she saw was smashed, sending flesh and blood flying.

Accompanied by hoarse shouts, the last and strongest Blood Disaster completely lost all movement.

Yet she still would not relent, continuing to grasp the spear and pound the massive Blood Disaster corpse over and over.

"Again Blood Disaster! Again Blood Disaster! Again Blood Disaster!"

With each swing, those around could feel the earth shake; she kept striking again and again, weeping and laughing, until the huge Blood Disaster corpse was thoroughly and uniformly mixed with the underground soil.

Lin Ran's eyes turned blood‑red, her whole body smeared with blood‑mingled soil, and she panted wildly.

Because of the Blood Disaster, the front line collapsed and she lost her father.

Again because of the Blood Disaster! Caesar established himself as king by his own life, and she lost her mother as well.

Still because of the Blood Disaster! She lost the last person she cared about in this world.

"It's all because of the Blood Disaster! It's exactly because of the Blood Disaster!!!"

The resentment, despair, and grievance accumulated over this time all burst forth; Lin Ran stood amid a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, roaring at the sky.

"I, Lin Ran, swear! I will hunt down every Blood Disaster in the universe!!!"

"My revenge will know no end! No death, no rest! Until eternity!!!"

In the year 2782 of the Yong State Calendar, Yong State's leader Zhang Jie, using his body as a torch, ignited the sun and handed the new era over to the people.

That same year, in the third month after the disaster passed, Yong State's strongest Gene Warrior, Lin Ran, broke through the ninth‑level Gene Lock, becoming the strongest Gene Warrior in history.

Lin Ran was successfully appointed as the new generation's leader; after her breakthrough, she ventured alone into Blood Disaster‑infected lands, beheading countless Blood Disaster mothers in a month and, by her own strength, slaughtering countless Blood Disasters on the planet.

After pacifying the globe, Yong State entered a state of rapid development; when the entire planet was a single nation, there was no concept of exchange rates or foreign trade, and the vast planetary territory turned into a land of gold.

But this held only on the premise that there was no Blood Disaster enemy; under Lin Ran's push, Yong State quickly unified under the single principle of technology supremacy.

To prevent another extraterrestrial launch of Blood Disaster blood seeds from eroding the sun, a Stellar Defense System was swiftly established.

Countless research institutions were opened, vast amounts of biotechnology surged forth, and people seemed to have returned to the Golden New Era inaugurated by Zhang Jie.

Three years later, with the concerted efforts of the whole world, the Expedition Vessel biological warship was developed; from then on, the Prosperous Nation officially ushered in the Stellar Era.