Chapter 382: Touching Kaslopa

“Heave-ho… Heave-ho…”

The sound of this work chant filled a vast stretch of grassland.

It was the dead of winter, yet most of the folks weren’t wearing much. Many had their sleeves rolled up as they worked, wielding iron rakes and shovels.

Some of the weeds were past their ankles, while the more overgrown patches reached their waists. Clearing a patch of open land was proving more troublesome than the actual planting.

The existing farmland, having been cultivated for years, was in much better condition and had already been sown with seeds.

The new types of crops didn’t require germination; they just needed to be pressed into the shallow soil.

As part of the massive reserve plan, this process took just over a week. The people’s explosive work ethic seemed to be a direct challenge to the apocalyptic crisis.

But finishing the existing farmland wasn’t enough. No one, from the government down to the common people, was satisfied. They were determined to plant every last piece of arable land.

The forests and trees were spreading, reclaiming the land that once belonged to nature. But at this moment, humanity also had to think of its future. Even the most ardent environmentalists were fighting with all their might.

Moving giant trees was naturally out of the question, but any area overgrown with weeds would be cleared and planted by the people.

As long as the crops were planted, there would absolutely be a harvest, thanks to their tenacious Life Force—even if large trees were to spring up from the ground later.

With a severe shortage of agricultural machinery, and since many of these areas also contained thick saplings, manual labor became the primary force.

“Here, lend a hand.”

“We’ve dug through the topsoil… Need two people over here.”

“On it!”

“One, two… heave! One, two… heave!~”

A Soldier with his sleeves rolled up worked alongside several farmers to pull out a sapling as thick as an arm, its roots exposed after they had dug away the topsoil.

“It’s loose! It’s loose! All right!”

After a few more hard pulls, the sapling was torn out by its roots. This patch of grassland was finally almost cleared.

At the far edge of their vision, a tall, verdant forest stood. They weren’t far from the tree line now, and according to the planting plan, they wouldn’t push any further.

“Everyone, pick up the pace! Let’s get this corn planted!”

The seeds of various grains and cereals were buried in the soil, and they would sprout into seedlings within days—a speed that far surpassed anything from the past, shattering the lifelong experience of any old farmer.

This scene was playing out in many places. Aside from the sentries and rapid-response Soldiers posted to watch for external dangers and wild beasts, the military, police, and civilians all toiled together.

Among the figures bent over and swinging iron rakes, military uniforms were mixed with farmers’ work clothes.

Even though more than a dozen countries had now joined the World Alliance, Hua Country still stood out in many ways. Only here did Soldiers work side-by-side with the people. In other nations, the troops, even if their garrisons were well-staffed, would only stand guard with their guns at the ready.

A biting wind swept through, and everyone instinctively tightened their clothing.

On a four-to-five-meter-high wooden watchtower near the tree line, the two Soldiers on duty suddenly grew tense.

A large number of birds had taken flight from within the forest.

“What’s with all these birds? Is there danger?”

One Soldier looked through his binoculars and saw that birds were appearing in the sky above all the surrounding forests.

“I don’t know. It looks like they’re just flying around chaotically!”

If there were danger in a specific spot, the birds would flee away from it toward the edges. This clearly wasn’t that kind of reaction, especially since startled birds were taking flight from nearly everywhere in sight.

Soon, the crowd of workers below also noticed something was amiss. The sky filled with the cacophony of chirping birds.

“Whimper… whimper…”

Several military dogs paced back and forth uneasily beside their handlers. It wasn’t the reaction they’d have to a nearby predator, nor did they seem physically ill, but they were clearly agitated.

In countless towns, villages, and even a good number of cities, the same scene of birds taking to the sky in alarm was unfolding.

…

On a high plateau, a monk calmly reciting scriptures felt the teacup beside him begin to vibrate.

In the distance, a vast, white expanse of a snow-capped mountain began to collapse. There was no earthquake, yet deposits of snow and ice that had survived previous tremors were now tumbling down.

Yaks, Tibetan antelopes, and even snow leopards scattered in every direction, all without a clear destination.

…

On a coastal lighthouse on a remote island off the coast of England, panicked gulls shrieked as they circled the island.

The attendant on duty, high up in the tower, watched the sea with binoculars. A cold sweat soon broke out on his brow.

“Oh, my God, oh! Quick! Sound the tsunami alarm! Quick!!!”

A white line had appeared on the distant horizon, perfectly clear through the binoculars.

It was unclear if the tsunami would threaten the mainland, but their island was about to be devastated!

“Damn it! It wasn’t there a moment ago!”

He pulled out his phone to make a call, but the signal kept cutting in and out. Every number he dialed just gave a busy tone.

The sky began to darken as a storm brewed over the sea. The faint flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder were already closing in.

And it wasn’t just this lighthouse; many coastal cities across the globe were sensing the impending crisis of the storm.

Newspapers and plastic bags danced on the wind under a gloomy, thunder-riven sky.

…

At the Dawn Association headquarters, Qin Xiaoxia suddenly awoke from his sleep. Pulled by the power of the Secret Realm, he was instantly transported outside the building, where he looked up at the sky.

Although he didn’t possess the same Visual Sense as the Holy Spirit, he could feel a violent fluctuation in the Power of the World.

He released the restrictions of the Secret Realm, and the wind and air from the outside world carried a sense of undulating flux, the kind of feeling that would easily make wild animals inexplicably agitated and uneasy.

HUMMM… HUMMM… HUMMM…

The dense thicket of Sound Transmission Flowers all around him began to gather their petals, emitting a glow and sending out warning soundwaves as they vibrated.

The messages came from the Dawn Association’s various global branches and Secret Realms, as well as from World Alliance allies and a few other special, informed groups.

With a single thought, a multitude of flowers began to speak at once.

A cacophony of expressive voices rang out, each accompanied by the “body language” of moving stems and petals.

Almost all of them were inquiries from different locations.

Though the noise was overwhelming, it didn’t prevent Qin Xiaoxia from hearing every single word. But he felt just as anxious as they did.

One of the voices was unique; it came from the Holy Spirit.

“Master Sage! They’re here! It’s like they’ve suddenly cut their parachute… They’re moving incredibly fast, too fast!!!”

The Holy Spirit, whose emotions rarely fluctuated, now had a voice laced with anxiety and a hint of panic.

It was not on any high mountain peak, but merely on the rooftop of the Dawn Archives Management Office in De Yi Country.

It stared at the sky through the parted Secret Realm Wall on the top floor, its luminescence fluctuating violently, like a person trembling slightly.

Two beams of pure white light stretched out from its luminous eyes, one to the left and one to the right, extending into the distance.

In its field of vision, the sky overhead was already a blanket of dark red, occupying everything as far as the eye could see.

Hearing the Holy Spirit’s voice, Qin Xiaoxia stood motionless, his gaze fixed on the sky.

In that moment, it was as if he had achieved some kind of spiritual communion with the world’s consciousness. Though the sky before him still appeared normal, his mind could perceive the Star of the Dark—an object that blotted out the sun, many times larger than Earth itself.

Dark currents of energy surged and boiled within it. He had no idea what kind of beings resided upon it, nor what those beings were doing at that moment.

But for every living being on Earth, one thing was certain: the Dark Tide… had truly arrived!

…

The Hua Country Special Security Team, the United States’ 19th Department, Russia’s Guardian forces, France’s Supernatural Research and Response Department…

These critical departments were all thrown into a state of frantic activity.

Inquiries and requests for instructions poured in from every region of every country. The reactions of both wild animals and household pets were bizarre, and even some psychically-sensitive people were deeply unsettled.

Although there were no earthquakes yet, a few places were already experiencing drastic meteorological phenomena.

What was worse, communications were frequently failing. Calls were often cut off mid-conversation or couldn’t connect at all.

Besides trying every possible way to gather more information from external and grassroots sources, they all, without exception, sent inquiries to Dawn. The Sound Transmission Flowers were clearly far more reliable.

In the tactical hall of the Special Security Team, Tao Xingzhi was chain-smoking, lighting one cigarette after another.

According to the standards of the World Alliance nations, he was an Evolver. His use of Magic Potions was equivalent to a second type of stimulated evolution. A bona fide workaholic, he hadn’t rested for over a week.

BEEEEEP—

An operator suddenly received a video connection request accompanied by a piercing alert tone. The verification code identified the sender as Dawn, but the source signal was untraceable.

“Chief, we have a video signal requesting connection! It’s likely from Dawn!”

“Patch it through immediately!”

Tao Xingzhi gave the order without a moment’s hesitation.

The image of the Dawn Sage appeared directly on the screen. He was looking up at the sky, and standing beside him was the Holy Spirit, one of Dawn’s more well-known members within the World Alliance.

His image appeared, and he wasted no time on pleasantries.

“A message to all allies in the fight against the Dark Tide! The tide is here!”

The screen’s view shifted to the Secret Realm Wall above them, upon which the Holy Spirit’s Magic Power projected the image of the sky-blotting dark red.

“When? How much longer?”

Tao Xingzhi, as well as others watching the video from various locations across Earth, all asked a similar question.

Qin Xiaoxia’s robes fluttered, his silver and black hair dancing in the wind. He turned his head to face the screen, as if meeting the eyes of those who had asked.

“Right… now!”

As his words fell, a momentary silence descended upon everyone who heard them. That silence was immediately shattered by a violent external shock.

RUMMMMMBLE…

A powerful tremor struck, and everyone in the Special Security Team’s tactical hall struggled to stay on their feet.

And across the entire world—from lowlands to mountains, from continents to rivers, from the surface of the oceans to the deepest trenches—violent tremors erupted without exception.

This was no longer the slight shaking of the magnitude three or four quakes from before; this was powerful enough to make people lose their balance and fall.

Some poorly constructed houses cracked open immediately, and more than a few condemned buildings collapsed from the earthquake.

The sky seemed to fill with rolling clouds of smoke and dust, and the light of the sun flickered, visible one moment and gone the next.

In many particularly unique locations, the cataclysm reached a level of raging tsunamis and collapsing mountains.

Across a significant portion of the globe, conventional communication methods were either disrupted or cut off completely.

…

In the Fallen World Caslopa, there was the same vibration and clamor, the same world-spanning frenzy.

RUMBLE…

Cracks appeared in parts of the sky.

A heavy object was dragged into this world through a caved-in, shattered section of the sky, falling as a streak of fire.

BOOM!

A shallow crater formed at the feet of a giant beast. Fragments of solar panels and integrated circuits lay scattered everywhere. It was an Artificial Satellite.

Amid the tremors, countless beings, tall and short alike, raised their heads to the sky.

Unlike the beings on Earth, they could all see it: a world of azure and verdant green. That alluring palette stood in stark contrast to the barren, impoverished, and filthy environment of Caslopa.

“ROOOOAR!”

“Niyou Mogalons!!”

As if they had received some kind of signal, countless beings began to converge on specific locations within Caslopa—be they mountain peaks or swamps. In those places, the strange, glass-like fractures in reality were constantly expanding.