Free Web NovelChapter 401: Chapter 393: "Call Me God!
At the edge of the Earth’s Lung, the King-level Wandering Ship, the *Kindling*, lay at anchor.
Its twelve-kilometer-long hull, covered in giant, colorful murals in the style of the Amazon Tribe, was half-shrouded in light mist and half-bathed in sunlight.
It carried a million people.
The survivors of the South American Continent had found a precarious peace on the King-level ship, carrying on the new tribal spirit of the Andean Alliance amidst the sea of mist.
Local time: 11:00 AM, December 30th.
Martinelli, the helmsman of the *Kindling*, hadn’t slept in two days. He was well aware of the speculations surrounding the "Cosmic Letter" and the "53-day countdown." Although he had made all possible preparations for the worst-case scenario, his heart still pounded with dread as the day drew near.
’I hope everything will be all right.’
’I hope the speculation is just a misinterpretation, that Nirvana still holds some goodwill for us.’
The common people knew nothing of this.
They went about their lives, surviving as they always had, occasionally holding their traditional celebrations on specific dates to commemorate things worth remembering—
The year-end soccer match!
As the 30th year of the Wandering Era drew to a close, a celebratory match was in full, roaring swing at the *Kindling*’s Golden Ball Square. Players, their faces and bodies painted with wild red and blue patterns, passed and kicked the ball in a tense, exciting game.
"GOOOOOOOAL!"
"It’s in!"
"A winner in the 93rd minute!"
"Red Fire Tribe!!! They pulled off a textbook counter-attack!"
Amidst the roar, the referee blew the final whistle.
The players erupted in celebration.
The substitutes and coaches rushed madly onto the field, piling on top of each other on the synthetic green turf. They tossed the players high into the air, sweat mixing with tears of joy as it dripped down.
The cheers reached the heavens.
There were heroes on the field that day.
But a shadow, like a sudden, inopportune storm cloud, loomed over the sky. Then, a force that not even an S-class Awakened could block descended directly. It sliced across the entire length of the *Kindling* as it sailed over the sea of mist, using the epicenter of the stadium’s cheers as a demarcation line. In a flash, the massive, twelve-kilometer-long Wandering Ship met the blow head-on, without any warning.
A single strike.
The *Kindling* was split into four pieces.
Along with some of the players caught on the cutting line, it was torn asunder.
Celebration instantly turned to panic and terror, spreading across the capsizing ship. Humanity was thrown back thirty years, to the fear of the apocalypse they had faced at the dawn of the flood era.
The uninjured players lost their footing, stumbling into the chasm in their panic.
The few who managed to stay on their feet looked up to see a strange, floating ship hovering a thousand meters in the sky.
An inhuman-looking young man stepped out of the ship, treading on empty air.
Arrogant and majestic.
’Humanity has survived for 30 years under my "protection," yet they have made no progress in finding the Eye of the Divine. The King-level Wandering Ships are too slow; I never expected to rely on these behemoths to find it. Destroying one, on the other hand, will make this species recognize the gap between us. It will stop them from entertaining any inappropriate, blasphemous fantasies.’
’This is the punishment from their future god.’
’A god can bestow gifts, and so too can he take them away. This is also a necessary lesson—"killing the chicken to warn the monkey," as they would say.’
The youth remained high above, gazing down indifferently at everything below.
His voice, cold and detached, traveled through the Net, spreading across the Endless Ocean.
"Humans, you may call me—"
"God."
...
...
...
This "God" still possessed "pity," having only "bestowed" a small "punishment." The ants still had their uses. If they were all exterminated, wouldn’t he have to find the needle in the haystack himself?
’Although that wasn’t entirely out of the question.’
’But a "God" has his dignity.’
The boundless Great Western Sea Region.
All the sea beasts here had been eradicated. Rows upon rows of Wandering Ships, under the command of "the Net," were arranged in a perfectly orderly fashion. They were anchored by size on the windless, waveless surface of the sea.
Admiral-class, Gold-class, Silver-class, Bronze-class—
Every type was present.
The only exception was the King-level.
The King-level Wandering Ships were exceptionally cumbersome, and this "God" had other plans for them.
The neat rows of ships looked like a fleet on review.
High above, the *Nirvana* hovered at an altitude of seven or eight hundred meters, overlapping with the rising sun. The youth had activated "the Net." Tens of thousands of undetectable threads hung down from the sky, connecting to tens of thousands of ships. Closest to the *Nirvana* were four Admiral-class Ships from the European Sea Region; they had gathered the fastest due to their geographical location.
The *Constantinople*, the *Tudor Rose*, the *Fontainebleau*, and the *Great Bullfighter*.
On the deck of the *Tudor Rose*, the hands of Big Ben—hailed as "the Bell of Bells, the Clock of the World"—had just swept past the 8 o’clock mark.
Greenwich Mean Time: 8:00 AM sharp, December 31st.
More and more ships continued to gather.
’That’s about enough of them.’
The inhuman youth stood inside his ship, looking down through a transparent material at the scene below. His voice traveled through the Net, reaching every single Wandering Ship.
"Humans."
"Thirty years ago, I brought you a glimmer of hope amid disaster. Yet you have failed to fulfill your duty. You have forgotten your mission in a mere thirty years. This is, without a doubt, an unforgivable sin."
"Even a merciful god’s patience has its limits."
"As you have seen, the *Kindling* has forsaken me."
"And so I granted it extinguishment."
"I will leave you five days. After these five days, a new King-level Wandering Ship will be purged every other day. Go now. Atone for your sins, by any means necessary."
"It is a pendant, one bearing an eye. Find it."
Using the Net, the youth projected an image of the "Eye of the Divine Pendant" into the mind of every human. He possessed the main terminal for the Net; even if he himself had no power, he could still easily control the entire situation.
"Now, I permit you to leave."
One by one, the Wandering Ships on the periphery broke from the formation, sailing off in different directions in an orderly fashion, like arrows shot toward the four corners of the earth.
The youth watched it all unfold.
On the faces of the humans below, he saw anger, solemnity, and repressed fury...
’But so what?’
’The being who controls more power is, by definition, a god.’
...
...
...
Shi Ming opened his eyes.
The evolution to the Nirvana Tier had taken even longer than his evolution to the Holy Hall Tier.
But thankfully, this time he had hijacked Quintetra’s fated opportunity, which saved him an immense amount of time. Not only did he now possess the Nirvana skill, [Bore], but his physical constitution and five core attributes had also firmly entered the Nirvana Tier.
The first thing he did was check the current time.
8:20 AM on the 31st.
Only one minute remained until the events from his vision.
’Such a coincidence?’
’Was the prophecy from the Eye of Destiny intentional, or just a coincidence?’
’Did it really pull me here just to solve this problem?’
His ship, the *Providence*, was still hidden in the Light Cone Space, right where he had left it. It hadn’t been summoned by the *Nirvana*, nor had it been discovered. But Shi Ming didn’t return to the *Providence*. Instead, he activated his *Sun Piercer* and unleashed [Ultimate Lightning].
From within the solid ice, a sharp arrow of light shot forth, powerful enough to pierce the sun.
...
The "God" who had just issued his "divine decree" suddenly remembered that there seemed to be some Holy Hall-level Sea Beasts slumbering on this planet. It was time to root them out.
’Let the world feel [Sorrow] once more,’ he thought.
’Just for a bit of fun.’
