Chapter 69: The Second Impact!

Light!

Infinite light shone upon Blue Star.

Viewed from space, Blue Star resembled a pure white sphere of light.

"Crack!"

As if something were shattering, Blue Star began to expand rapidly.

In an instant, it grew to the size of Saturn.

Violent geological movements began; the seas churned like thick soup, and continents rose and fell like waves.

What were once hundred-meter tsunamis and magnitude-ten earthquakes were mere trifles amidst these changes.

Tsunamis reaching thousands of meters swept away everything beyond the seas.

Mountains thousands of meters high collapsed like building blocks.

Had it not been for the protection of the Laws of Nature shielding humanity, the environmental changes alone would have been enough to extinguish the human race.

"It has come."

Zhao Wenjun said in a heavy voice.

The conference room where they stood was a hundred meters high.

It allowed them to easily overlook the changes in the city.

First came the initial wave of land expansion; the city, already fragmented,

was torn to shreds during this transformation.

The distance between buildings had reached a hundred meters.

Coupled with the emerging vegetation and forests, the entire city had been swallowed by the woods.

Shorter buildings had long since vanished without a trace.

Only a few skyscrapers remained, standing alone like watchtowers amidst the primeval forest.

Next was the light in the sky; Zhao Wenjun and the others had originally thought this light was merely a backdrop.

They believed it was a spectacle with no influence whatsoever.

Little did they know that within the light lay more light; the light filling the sky emitted further beams.

Small spheres of light fell one by one, descending densely from the heavens.

Professor Wang cast the Eagle Eye Technique to take a look, his heart startled as he cried out, "Inside those light spheres are monsters wielding curved blades, along with some giant fire-winged birds."

"Where are the spatial gates? Quickly check where the spatial gates are!" someone shouted.

Professor Wang shook his head: "There are no spatial gates, at least not within the range of my vision."

"What is going on? Didn't Advisor Fang say there would be spatial gates?"

Within the Trial Tower, Fang Shi's points were far ahead, making him the strongest among humanity.

Combined with Jiang Xian's account of the dialogue between humans and gods, Fang Shi's authority was extremely high.

They instinctively placed their trust in him.

Everyone followed the information he left behind, preparing for the Second Impact.

As expected, the Second Impact truly occurred.

But strangely, the information provided by Fang Shi seemed to have flaws.

The monsters were no longer arriving through spatial gates; instead, they descended from the sky riding light spheres.

"It doesn't matter; this way they become targets, making them easier to shoot."

"Indeed, spatial gates appear randomly, making them hard to predict. The trajectory of these light spheres is so obvious, and their speed is constant; if we still miss, it would be utterly unreasonable."

A burly man holding a long bow spoke.

If this were before, bringing weapons to a meeting would have been strictly taboo, but now it had long become the norm.

"Sigh, I never expected the Second Impact to be this simple. With buildings serving as absolute fortresses, waging guerrilla warfare is practically effortless."

"As long as we hide inside and fire arrows from ambush, what can these monsters do to us?"

Everyone spoke and laughed cheerfully, their tone quite relaxed.

For a moment, the tension brought by the Second Impact was swept away completely.

It must be remembered that before Fang Shi's rebirth, things were not like this; back then, no one knew the apocalypse would become even more cruel.

Or perhaps some guessed it, but they did not know the specific time of the change.

Therefore, humanity's preparations were not that sufficient.

First, humans were gathered far too scattered, so their combat power was not concentrated.

The reason was that later on, humanity discovered that while gathering together was safe, it reduced the frequency of monster attacks.

This led to a decrease in the efficiency of gaining experience, and some people became unwilling to accept it.

For those with ability, the apocalypse was like a game of grinding monsters and leveling up.

Although dangerous, the rewards were tangible.

Thus, there were many who advocated acting freely.

Second, concentrated living was essentially communal dormitories.

Moreover, with no electricity in the apocalypse, there was no running water either; hygiene issues were themselves a major problem.

Although spells could solve these issues, everyone was too busy using spells to level up.

Without a valid reason, why would anyone go out of their way to solve these problems?

In the apocalypse, there were so many empty rooms; just living anywhere was fine.

In short, various reasons led people to be unwilling to live in concentrated groups.

Or rather, the degree of concentration was not as exaggerated as it is now.

With defenses like this, the first wave could be held, but by the second wave it would be doomed.

When the second wave arrived, the spacing between buildings widened once more.

Building after building stood like isolated islands in a green forest.

The Fire Feather Folk pressed against the ground floor, and buildings with little stored food quickly gave out.

Even those with ample food were only dying a slow death.

Humanity's main forces, scattered by the leveling factor, were like loose sand.

Faced with the Fire Feather Folk's organized swarms, they were crushed in an instant.

After that came all manner of terrible events, and a small number of people had their levels raised.

They formed an assault team and once again reconnected the links between human groups.

Humanity gathered once more, its strength drawn into a single current.

Only then was the crisis of the second wave resolved.

This was still the lucky outcome; in unlucky regions, humanity was wiped out to a man — none survived.

This is the importance of information timeliness — the change it brings is immensely vast.

Far more violent than the change in Fang Shi's strength.

Humanity went from being one foot from extinction to almost becoming a post-apocalyptic vacation.

Like two entirely different worlds.

Just then, Professor Wang, who had been carefully observing the orb of light, narrowed his eyes.

He shouted: "Not good — the monsters inside the orb have entered the building!"

"They landed on the rooftop terrace and are walking down through the terrace entrance."

"Some civilians still on the rooftop stairs were killed for no reason."

"What!" everyone present cried out in shock.

The reason everyone had been sitting here at ease, fearless, was—

Wasn't it because they knew the otherworldly monsters had one fatal flaw?

They were utterly helpless against any human inside a house.

Now that this iron law had been broken, no one knew how much damage it would cause.

Bang!

Zhao Wenjun leapt up first, burst out of the conference room, and ran toward the rooftop.

He knew that some civilians were outrageously bold.

As long as they felt safe in their hearts, their nerve for watching the show was boundless.

Now that monsters had descended onto the rooftop, the casualties were sure to be terrible.

The rest of them came to their senses as well and left one after another.

In an instant, the entire conference room was left with only the old man at the head and Professor Wang.

The old man said: "Professor Wang, have you used the Message Technique to notify everyone?"

Professor Wang's expression was Heavy and Solemn: "Already notified. This matter is very serious."

"The buildings are dangerous, but the monsters are physically powerful and can fly — there are simply breaches everywhere."

"If we don't respond in time, humanity will suffer terrible casualties."

The old man nodded and said in a deep voice: "You're right. You, the First Mage, should hurry off to join the fight as well."

Professor Wang said: "I'm here to protect you, sir."

The old man laughed heartily: "Life and death are fated; I've lived long enough."

"Go — there are more people waiting for you."

"I believe that even without me, you all can take up the heavy responsibility."

Professor Wang was silent for a moment, feeling the old man's resolve, and finally turned and left.

The old man gazed at the city, bright as broad daylight, and sighed in his heart.

He had witnessed this land go from backward to prosperous.

He had also seen it decline from glory after the apocalypse.

What the future held, the old man did not know, but he understood that each generation has its own mission.

The future would be created by those who came after.