Chapter 395 - 393: Natural Influence

Chapter 395: Chapter 393: Natural Influence

While many things remained unclear, he was at least no longer completely in the dark about the Otherworld colliding with the Earth World.

The black insectoid monster had already laid out everything it knew.

Regardless of whether the other side was truly the legendary Kaslopa, at least the name was the same.

The world on the other side was not as orderly as Earth. It had no strategic planning or military command; they were just swarming over in a chaotic mob.

They were driven by a powerful yearning. The creatures able to breach the barrier of the Power of the World would constantly evolve as the contact between the worlds deepened.

Even the Black Beetle itself didn’t know how large Kaslopa was. Its own range of activity wasn’t very large, because the farther it traveled, the more dangerous it became.

But one thing was certain: before the collision with Earth, the beings on Kaslopa had somehow naturally learned that this contact was about to happen.

’It’s only been one day, and a Magic Controller like the Black Beetle has already barely managed to cross over. What will happen after some more time?’

Gou Junbao sighed helplessly.

When he and Xiao Lili went to pick up their relatives, they ran into a lot of trouble. They witnessed chaos caused by the Otherworld, but also chaos stemming from humanity itself.

Both families were skeptical when they learned of their identities as members of the Dawn Association. But after they proved it, their moods did a one-eighty, and they became ecstatic.

Especially after entering the Secret Realm, the unparalleled sense of security was so overwhelming that the families broke down in tears of relief.

This showed just how much psychological pressure the current changes were putting on ordinary people. Even with police and the military patrolling the relatively stable cities around the clock, it still wasn’t enough to dispel the fear in people’s hearts.

Coupled with the constant stream of civilians being evacuated from the surrounding "danger zones," everyone’s sense of unease was even greater.

However, the resistance from this world’s native beings, primarily humans, must have also come as a great shock to the invaders from the Otherworld.

"At this point, worrying is useless. It’s more practical to look up more information on Magic Patterns or go out and slay a few more Demons."

Qin Xiaoxia pointed at the pile of documents on the desk, gesturing for Gou Junbao to help him look up things related to Kaslopa.

"Even if it’s just some legends, we might find a key clue."

As a courtesy to Master Sage, the Magic Pattern files on Kaslopa were naturally dug up by people from the Archives Management Office and sent to headquarters.

He couldn’t just bury his head in them and keep reading; his research on the Magical Quantum Realm had to continue.

...

On February 16th, the fourth day after the worlds made contact, the World Alliance’s internal official data had been released.

After the Dawn Association received this incomplete official data, most members were still a bit dazed, even though they were mentally prepared.

Due to the short time frame and disrupted global communications, it was impossible to get exact figures. However, scholars within the World Alliance had begun to estimate a rough number by aggregating data from various known points and using analytical deduction.

They could arrive at a figure by taking the total population of the fallen cities and major settlements and subtracting the approximate number of successfully rescued people.

After the first day of contact, the final number of discoverable contact points reached nearly two thousand. This included sea regions and remote wilderness areas, while over nine hundred appeared directly in cities.

On the second day, more than two hundred more appeared, and on the third day, dozens more, showing an overall decreasing trend.

Over three days, the dozen or so member nations of the World Alliance accounted for over four hundred contact points. The five to six hundred points in other countries combined was an inaccurate figure, as some nations had lost all contact, and fly-by reconnaissance from spy planes couldn’t provide precise numbers.

The total number of casualties or missing persons in the dozen or so World Alliance nations was approximately two hundred million, and this was with the military generally reacting quickly.

As for countries outside the World Alliance, there was only a rough estimate. Even an optimistic projection put the casualties well above that number.

After about twelve hours, the depth of the contact at the contact points deepened, but the rate of increase dropped sharply.

Under these circumstances, traditional communication systems finally regained a sliver of stability.

The silver lining in this tragedy was that the invasion of viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens that scientists had worried about most had not yet been detected.

The thinking had been that the Dark Tide was unlike any previous abnormal event; the absence of plagues in the past didn’t guarantee they wouldn’t appear this time.

However, current research had led to a very strange discovery. The question was, did the Otherworld have microorganisms?

Yes!

But it seemed... in the microscopic realm, Earth’s native ones were quite a bit stronger.

In response, some biologists proposed a theory: evolution in the microscopic realm is far faster than commonly imagined. It would be the first and most significantly impacted by the changes in the world. As a result, the immune systems of Earth’s life forms might be stronger than we realize.

After all, considering the human body in terms of cell count alone, our own cells make up only 10% of the total. The other 90% is all bacteria and the like. The body is a terrifying, microscopic melting pot; foreign microorganisms would find it extremely difficult to survive without some serious power of their own.

...

The detailed data report was a full thirty A4 pages. Besides the copies circulated within the Dawn Association, Qin Xiaoxia also carefully read through every single word.

He felt rather grim after finishing it.

He could tell the statisticians at the World Alliance with great certainty that the true human casualty figures were much higher than their estimates.

The total number of Demons appearing from the randomly occurring "elastic rifts," while not as high as at the true contact points, was still significant. That scattered chaos was simply impossible to calculate.

This might still be relatively well-controlled within the World Alliance nations, especially the territory of the original six members, but it was not looking good for other countries.

In more severe cases, it could often create demographic ghost zones in entire regions.

The true global casualty rate could very well be double the estimate.

But there was no point in saying this out loud. The major powers wouldn’t send troops to deal with other countries’ problems at a time when they could barely manage their own. They couldn’t even spare a thought for their allies, let alone non-World Alliance treaty nations.

And the Dawn Association had so few people that they were already stretched thin just helping to stabilize a few core nations.

To be honest, and to put it cruelly, if a more severe crisis were to occur, the only real hope for humanity would be these World Alliance member states. Besides, most of the Dawn Association’s members came from these countries.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

As he was thinking, there was a knock on the door.

"Mentor? I’m coming in."

Su Su’s voice came from outside the door.

"Come in."

After hearing the reply, she pushed the door open and came in with a tray.

In the past few days, besides bringing her close friends and family into some Secret Realms, she also had to help Association members by divining the situation at mission locations at a moment’s notice. Sometimes, the militaries of the World Alliance nations would also have requests that required her skills.

It wasn’t until today, when conventional communications were somewhat restored, that she could come back and catch her breath.

"Mentor, this is beef brisket stew with tender peas that I made. I heard from Doudou that you haven’t been eating much these past few days."

"Mm, just put it here."

"Oh..."

Su Su was clearly a little disappointed. ’At least praise me a little!’

As if she suddenly thought of something, Sister Su spoke up.

"Mentor, let me show you something!"

As she spoke, without waiting for Qin Xiaoxia’s agreement, Su Su waved her hand and erased a patch of the Secret Realm Membrane in the tower room.

Then, she took out her Crystal Ball and stroked it.

As mist spread out, the image Su Su was seeing also appeared on that patch of membrane through her manipulation of the Power of the Secret Realm, acting like a projected screen.

"Hm?"

Qin Xiaoxia’s attention was immediately drawn from his desk to the screen.

What Su Su was showing wasn’t the tragic scenes from some battle zone, nor any particular Demon, but rather the changes she had seen the day before while traveling by plane and on the ground.

As the Dawn Association’s Witch, her perspective was naturally different from an ordinary person’s, and even more special than many other magical beings.

The image instead gave Qin Xiaoxia the feeling of a Holy Spirit’s perspective, because of the presence of a faint "light."

Su Su must have used her Magic Power for a simple divination at the time.

The image was mostly filled with vegetation, and this light also enveloped the vegetation most of all. In Su Su’s divinatory vision, some plants showed a kind of illusory change, as if one could see their rapid growth trajectory over time.

It wasn’t just growing fast; there was also a special kind of "vibrancy."

The vast expanse of plants in this somewhat unreal state reminded Qin Xiaoxia of the first time he saw Mumu cultivating vegetation. It also made him think of something else.

The joyous leap of the flames during the Flame Demon’s invasion.

"When did you notice this?"

"I noticed it by chance yesterday."

While watching Su Su use the Crystal Ball to replay more divinatory images from that time, Qin Xiaoxia’s peripheral vision also glanced at the few scrolls on his desk.

"Kaslopa... Medland..."