Chapter 259: Everything Stagnant

Darkness.

Endless darkness.

And an indescribable squeezing sensation, as if being stuffed into an overly small can, with bones all over the body groaning under the strain.

Fishy, warm, sticky.

This was Liang Wen's final sensory experience before his consciousness faded.

He felt himself being dissolved by some scalding liquid, from skin to flesh to soul.

So this is what being digested feels like...

Damn it...... not cool at all.

Liang Wen's final thought was a merciless mockery of his own fate.

Afterwards, the signal point representing his vital signs on the giant screen of the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau headquarters went out completely.

Raise the view to an altitude of ten thousand meters.

Look down.

The whole city resembled a massive petri dish being eroded by white mold.

With Happiness Community as the absolute center, the "Bone City" constructed from grim white bones and writhing flesh had already devoured one-third of this prosperous metropolis.

Jagged bone spikes pierced skyscrapers, thick membranes of flesh covered the streets.

Once bustling with traffic, now only deathly silence remains.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens, in their sleep, were wrapped by the ever-expanding fleshly nutrient bed, unable to utter a single scream before becoming fodder for the monster's evolution.

The few who awoke at midnight and tried to flee were chased down by the endless bone worms bursting from the earth and dragged into darkness.

This was a silent slaughter.

A...... one-sided feeding.

——Federal Weird Investigation Bureau, Command Center.

The air felt oppressive, almost solidifying.

Duke Wei's aged body sank into the commander's chair, his eyes fixed on the expanding crimson on the big screen representing the contaminated zone, and on the gray signal points blinking out one after another, marking the demise of his elite warriors under his command.

The last signal belonged to Liang Wen, codename "Abyss Walker".

It too went out.

The entire army was wiped out.

Duke Wei's hand, usually as steady as a rock—so steady that even lifting a scalding teacup wouldn't cause a tremor—now trembled uncontrollably.

A young investigator responsible for data analysis stood up, face deathly pale, voice distorted by fear.

"Report...... Director......"

"The energy level of 'Bone City'...... has surpassed the Quasi‑S threshold, and...... continues to grow exponentially."

"Conventional weapons...... have completely failed."

"According to model projections, in another forty-seven minutes, its main body will completely cover all of Z Province......"

"By then...... it is expected to cause over seven million direct deaths......"

"This is...... a disaster approaching Nation‑Destruction Level."

Each word struck like a heavy punch, slamming hard into the hearts of everyone in the command center.

Duke Wei slowly closed his eyes; beneath his dry eyelids, a murky gleam of tears flashed past.

He said nothing.

He merely slowly raised his hand, reaching for the red telephone tucked in the farthest corner of the console, a phone no one dared touch.

Picking it up meant one thing.

Abandon this city.

Abandon the millions in the city who couldn't evacuate in time, living people.

By means of a nuclear strike, to erase this land—and that monster—from the map completely.

Just as Duke Wei's finger was about to touch the telephone receiver.

"Wait!"

Another monitor let out a terrified shout.

"Look up quickly!"

Everyone instinctively looked up, toward the real‑time feed on the screen showing the airspace above Bone City.

Thick dark clouds formed a massive vortex, its dead‑center aimed precisely at that area of Bone City.

"Boom—"

A bolt of purple lightning, thick as a divine spear, tore the sky and slammed down!

But this lightning, capable of reducing any steel structure to ash, upon contacting Bone City's main body, produced no explosion.

It was like a flood finding an outlet, completely absorbed by that tower of bone that had pierced the cloud layer!

Bone City, devouring lightning!

It was drawing in nature's most violent power!

As the lightning poured in, the entire Bone City burst into blinding white light; the growth speed of its bones surged, countless thicker, more ferocious bone towers sprouted wildly upward, as if trying to puncture the sky.

It was no longer satisfied with merely devouring the city.

It began to proclaim its existence toward the sky, toward nature.

It was evolving from a mere weird creature into some unfathomable, incomprehensible divine prototype……

The deepest part of Bone City.

The core wrapped in countless building remnants and flesh tissue.

Ouyang Feng's consciousness had long since completely dissipated.

No.

Perhaps using "dissipated" to describe it is not accurate.

Rather, his personality, all his emotions, memories, and reason, had been completely burned away by that absolutely pure wish coming from the "Wish Bottle".

His wish was—

At any cost, surpass Jiang Yuan, surpass Chen Shao, surpass everything in this world.

Now, this wish is being realized in the most absurd yet direct way.

As long as he eats everything.

As long as he turns the entire world into part of his own body.

Then he will become the sole survivor of this world.

Naturally, he has thus... surpassed everything.

Here there is no longer the aloof ace investigator Ouyang Feng.

Only a pure, greedy, insatiable eating instinct remains.

A... wish itself that is devouring the world...

Command Center.

Lord Wei's pupils reflected the screen showing that Sky-reaching Bone Tower devouring lightning.

His face showed no hesitation whatsoever.

It was a calm mixed with endless sorrow and resolve.

He picked up the red telephone, his voice hoarse yet unusually clear.

"Strategic Command Department."

"I am the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau, Lord Wei."

"I request to activate the Highest Authorization Command, 'God's Staff'."

The other end of the phone remained silent for a full ten seconds before a similarly grave voice came through.

"...... Coordinates confirmed."

"Authorization approved."

"The 'God's Staff' strike program has been activated."

"Countdown: ten, nine, eight......"

Lord Wei slowly hung up the phone, turned his back on the massive screen, and no longer looked at the city still home to millions.

This old man, decisive in battle and never having bowed to anything in his life, now presented a background that was extraordinarily desolate and aged.

"...... Three!"

"...... Two!"

"...... One!"

"Launch!"

Somewhere in the northwest, the underground base encircled by mountains slowly opened its huge launch hatch.

A silvery-white intercontinental missile emblazoned with the Federation's highest insignia rose into the sky, dragging a fiery tail capable of lighting up the entire night sky.

It tore through the clouds, drawing a deadly arc at ten thousand meters altitude, and plunged straight toward the city submerged in the Bone Sea.

That was humanity's civilization's strongest roar.

However.

Just as the warhead bearing destruction and hope was about to pierce the thundercloud above Bone City,

The entire world.

Suddenly it was as if the world had been hit with a pause button.

The missile's tail flame that had sliced through the night sky froze.

The rolling, roaring black clouds stilled.

The torrential rain pouring down from the heavens hung suspended in midair, each droplet clearly visible.

Immediately afterward.

The entire world, including the nuclear warhead about to detonate, everything began to resemble an old photograph eroded by time.

Colors rapidly faded.

The image became mottled.

Finally, it turned into a lifeless, monotonous...... black and white.