Chapter 336 - 278: The Big Orange Cat and the God of the Black Mist

However, there was only silence.

’Did that cat sense the danger here? Is that why it didn’t come over...?’ The thought flashed through Chu Bamboo’s mind. He let out a soft breath. "Forget it. In that case, I’ll call her name in the next world-line, right as the black mist is about to enter the nuclear facility!"

Chu Bamboo took several ragged breaths, forcing himself to focus. He raised a finger to the spot between his eyebrows and activated his Duplicating Seal Skill, sealing away all information in his mind related to the black cocoon and the true name of the Cat of Destiny. However, even after sealing these memories, he was still bleeding from all seven orifices.

’...I knew it wouldn’t be that simple!’ Chu Bamboo’s heart sank, confirming one of his previous suspicions. Sealing the memory was like removing a debuff that dealt continuous damage, but the damage he had already sustained wouldn’t heal.

"Good thing!" Chu Bamboo crushed the poison in his mouth.

In the next instant, time reversed.

...

Opening his eyes again, Chu Bamboo checked his condition. It was good—the negative effects of the contamination were all gone. He was now back to his peak, normal state.

Chu Bamboo’s eyes snapped open. He calmly scanned his surroundings and was surprised to find himself inside the nuclear facility.

’I reset to this point in time?’ Chu Bamboo’s actions paused for a fraction of a second, then he resumed sketching the No. 5 array diagram. He meticulously replicated everything he did in the last timeline...

...right up until the Fifth Apostle revealed his identity.

Then, in a state of joyous surprise, Eleven opened the main gate to the nuclear facility. The black mist, having found its target, began to seep in endlessly.

Chu Bamboo waited quietly. The moment the black mist entered the nuclear facility, he unhesitatingly touched his forehead and unsealed the information about the Cat of Destiny in his mind.

This time, he didn’t speak the names aloud. Instead, the keywords "Cat of Destiny," "Chaos," and "God" flashed with high intensity through his mind...

In the next instant, the void twisted.

A Big Orange Cat materialized out of thin air. It glanced at Chu Bamboo with a strange look in its eyes, then scanned its surroundings. "This is... a forbidden place. Where... Oh, it’s you!"

The Big Orange Cat looked thoughtfully at the Fifth Apostle.

At that moment, the Fifth Apostle’s body tensed up as he stared at the Big Orange Cat, his expression a mixture of shock and uncertainty.

Nearby, the Eleventh Apostle’s expression also grew extremely grim. With a slight clenching of his hand, all the surrounding wraiths entered an attack stance.

Licking its paw, the Big Orange Cat narrowed its eyes. The Fifth Apostle’s body began to tremble violently. As if it understood something, the Big Orange Cat lazily looked over at Chu Bamboo. "Mr. Zhu from the shantytown district... Interesting! Say, how did you find out about me... Huh?!"

The Big Orange Cat’s fluffy fur suddenly stood on end. She felt an inexplicable, lethal sense of danger. She instantly wanted to flee, but her expression turned ugly.

"...It’s been sealed off? It’s a trap, meow!!!"

At that moment, the black mist surged in with a roar, lunging almost fanatically toward the Big Orange Cat.

"...It’s ****?!" The Big Orange Cat’s pupils dilated. She seemed to have uttered a name, but at that moment, Chu Bamboo felt his eardrums rupture. He watched in astonishment as Eleven, beside him, also clutched his ears with a contorted face. In the distance, the Two-headed Scale People cowering in the corner... were in the same state!

Just the name... was enough!

Crucially, Chu Bamboo hadn’t even understood what the name was, as if it had been deliberately bleeped out.

A Destiny Force Field manifested around the Big Orange Cat’s body. She was resisting with all her might, but against the black mist, she was no different from the Fifth Apostle in the previous timeline, being penetrated bit by bit.

The black mist was completely different from before. It had become extremely violent and profound. If its previous flow was like a babbling brook, the mist now seemed to have condensed into a liquid, its speed like a raging tsunami!

Moreover, the black mist now had no interest in the Two-headed Scale People or the Fifth Apostle whatsoever!

"So that’s how it is. It was like this all along!" The Big Orange Cat seemed to have figured something out, a bitter look appearing on its feline face. "So when that guy said, ’The one chosen by me... might be the one to orchestrate the prelude to the collapse of order,’ he was talking about me! You bastard, couldn’t you have been a little more specific, meow..."

"?!" Chu Bamboo’s pupils contracted. He vaguely guessed that "that guy" the Big Orange Cat was talking about was God.

Because of this, Chu Bamboo worked backward and inexplicably recalled the scene from last time when he had said, "I am the one chosen by God," only for the Big Orange Cat to kill him without hesitation!

’Wait a minute... Chosen! Does that mean...’

Chu Bamboo figured it out. Perhaps that God possessed a prophecy-type Divine Technique? Or maybe it was a so-called omniscience Divine Technique? That’s how He saw a part of the future... and left behind a prophecy. The Big Orange Cat must have acted on that prophecy, decisively killing him after he said those words!

’This... Does that mean I was completely asking for it that time?!’

’But... when God mentioned ’the one related to Him,’ He was referring to this Big Orange Cat... Isn’t that a total screw-job?’ For some reason, Chu Bamboo’s mental image of this remnant from a former civilization underwent a subtle change. While he had always considered the guy a charlatan... now he had successfully been upgraded to an *irresponsible* charlatan!

But then, a furious and savage expression appeared on the Big Orange Cat’s face. She let out a sharp screech. "Get away!"

"Who do you think I am? ****, my human said this world is my playground, not yours!!!"

The Big Orange Cat began to radiate a brilliant white light. Her form gradually distorted, as if transforming into a great sun.

The Fifth Apostle’s body trembled violently. As if he understood something in that moment, he fell silent, then reached up and removed his mask, revealing Hu Kaikang’s old face. He let out a soft sigh. "So I’m actually... This is truly... something I never would have expected."

He didn’t look at the orange cat that was transforming into a white sun. After a moment’s thought, he made his decision. He reached out and abruptly grabbed. In the distance, the Two-headed Scale People, bleeding from its heads, ears, nostrils, and mouths, suddenly shuddered. The chains on its body were torn apart by an unseen force, and it flew through the air into his grasp.

Then, white chains shot out from Fifth’s body, instantly binding Eleven, who was collapsed on the ground, and Chu Bamboo. He pulled them over and tied them all to himself.

Gritting his teeth, the Fifth Apostle transformed into a flash of white light. The void twisted violently, and then... his figure vanished from the spot.

Inside the vast, empty nuclear facility, the white sun was gradually stained black by the mist, and the sound of sharp, furious cat screeches echoed endlessly.

...

「Third District.」

「The Church.」

Deep exhaustion filled Zhang Hai’s eyes. Semi-translucent feathers were sprouting from his skin, and a pair of illusory white wings beat faintly on his back.

"...Master." Zhang Xu’s lips trembled, his eyes filled with apprehension, fear, and worry. He glanced at the refugees huddled in the church, where Priests and nuns were providing them with hot water. But the Priests and nuns were only pretending to be calm... Zhang Xu knew very well that they were just as terrified.

It couldn’t be helped!

Outside the church, the black mist swirled, blotting out the sky and sun.

Amidst the endless darkness, only the church emanated a faint glow!

It was as if the apocalypse had arrived, and the church had become the last bastion of purity.

The problem was, the church was far from indestructible; it trembled from time to time... You’d have to be a ghost not to panic in this situation!!

"It’s fine. I can still hold on!" Zhang Hai’s voice was perfectly steady, his back ramrod straight. He could feel the stabbing pain in his brain and the itchiness of his skin where the feathers were growing—an itch so intense he wanted to tear his own skin off, but he endured it all.

He had broken through! In that moment of desperation, his conviction to save everyone had allowed him to glimpse his own Celestial Mandate... and thus break through to the Fourth Realm!

Because of this, he had also awakened his own Angel Extraordinary Form, something everyone who reaches the Fourth Realm awakens!

However, the very instant he broke through, he had pushed himself into overload, merging perfectly with the church’s Array of Shelter... giving himself no chance to recover. This went completely against the recovery protocols the God Worship Sect had established from past experience for those who had just broken through!

Combined with the bizarre and oppressive nature of the outside world, his contamination levels were now soaring.

’...Damn it!’ Though calm on the surface, Zhang Hai was agitated and panicked inside. ’Where is Bishop Hu Kaikang right now? Is Mr. Zhu okay...? And what is going on outside? Is everyone dead? What about the Daqian officials? What is the situation... I’ve heard rumors about the apocalypse... but weren’t those just rumors! Even if the end was really coming... shouldn’t I have at least gotten an official internal warning!’

’This all happened out of nowhere... What the hell is going on?!’

Compared to Chu Bamboo, who had gone through this again and again, from Zhang Hai’s perspective, the world had been perfectly fine one moment, and then, out of the blue... it all went to hell! There was no buffer in between at all...

However, in the next instant, the void twisted.

Several figures crashed to the ground beside him.

"???" Zhang Hai froze for a second, so startled that he almost thought the church’s protection had failed.

But when he got a clear look... he sucked in a sharp breath.

"...Bishop??? Mr. Zhu??? And..."

Zhang Hai was dumbfounded. ’Am I dreaming? Why else would these people just drop out of the sky in front of me the moment I thought about them? Wait... Don’t tell me I’m losing control and hallucinating!’

Hu Kaikang gasped for a couple of breaths, struggled to his feet, and scanned his surroundings. His eyes landed on Zhang Hai, and he sneered, "You brat! You were just talking smack about me, weren’t you?!"

Zhang Hai: "!!!"

"But... you’ve done a decent job!" Hu Kaikang’s tone suddenly shifted. He let out a breath, his expression complicated.

Originally, his Destiny Divine Techniques weren’t developed to the point where he could sense it the moment someone mentioned his name and instantly appear before them... But just now, he had been right next to his ’main body’ and was able to borrow some of its power.

Plus, the black mist was focused entirely on dealing with his main body and paid him no mind... so the spatial lock that had trapped his main body didn’t trap him! This allowed him to escape with everyone using a ’Leap of Destiny’...

"Impossible... Absolutely impossible!" Eleven sat there, his expression dazed. He was clearly still processing the events that had just unfolded, as if his entire worldview had just shattered. He clutched the Inverted Cross Medal on his chest, muttering over and over, "That is our Lord... No, that is not our Lord... Then what is that... I don’t believe it, I refuse to believe it..."