Xyrin Empire
Chapter 542: Racing Against Doomsday

Chapter 542: Chapter 542: Racing Against Doomsday

After decades of intense preparation, numerous leaks and speculations on forums across Maya, Ancient Egypt, Eastern Europe, and the official release of a beta version two months prior, which involved over a billion players collectively participating in the "Resident Evil level gameplay" event, we have finally arrived at this much-anticipated day. "Catastrophe 2012 - Civilization Nirvana V2.0" officially launched on Earth, and on the first day of the server’s opening, it greeted a full house of 7 billion users! The European server’s instance "Tsunami Madness" and Australia’s "Magma Rush" have already seen their first clears, and the Asia region’s official event "Crust Clash" has also entered the intense shaking phase. The users participating in this grand public test have expressed—

They were thoroughly deceived by His Majesty the Emperor.

Okay, the above was just gibberish, now for the main text.

Leaving aside the two female officers who were still in relatively good shape, there were now thirty-seven refugees around us, all in poor condition.

Malnutrition, physical weakness, excessive energy expenditure, these were minor issues. What’s more critical was that due to not knowing when they might suddenly turn into dead bodies or when those around them might become monsters, everyone was in a state of hysteria. The extreme fear had nearly snapped their nerves, and if it weren’t for the gun in Minami Rika’s hands keeping them in check, these mere thirty-seven people might have collapsed without any external attack.

Moreover, some of them had developed severe gastrointestinal diseases due to not eating regularly for a long time; they were completely debilitated, yet oddly enough, they carried food with them...

"A few of them suddenly believed that the food contained the dead body virus, and therefore didn’t dare to eat anything. They even tried to stop us from eating," Minami Rika shook her head, "If we hadn’t forcibly stuffed food into their mouths, they would have starved to death by now. In fact, they spit out the food every time..."

"Psychological issues, eh," I scratched my head, "Too bad that scammer girl is still going crazy in Otherworld. But no matter, if worst comes to worst, we’ll just remove these paranoiacs’ brains and soak them in the preservation tanks. They won’t die anyway."

Upon hearing these words, everyone was horrified.

"Hey, did you all hear that?" I poked at the few refugees who were refusing to eat, "In three hours, we will perform a live brain extraction on you if you still don’t cooperate."

"You really are..." Du Dao Kazuko shook her head with a headache, sighing continuously.

I chuckled mischievously: "Learned it from Lilina... Uh, it looks like you’ll have to wait a bit longer to eat, they’re coming."

Suddenly, the sharp whistling noise from the high sky drew everyone’s attention, and involuntarily, everyone looked up towards the direction of the sound. Through the thick clouds, a patch of orange-red light was rapidly brightening.

"They sure are quick, coming fifteen minutes early—Officer Rika, bother you to get ready and get these refugees aboard."

"My surname is Minami, not Rika Minami... never mind," the tall and mature female officer muttered, but she still focused on the words "aboard the ship," "That is?"

"Spaceship, I told you we have a lot of spaceships docked in outer space. We can’t stay on this planet anymore, let the survivors board the ship..."

Minami Rika didn’t catch the end of my sentence because a tremendous roar had already drowned out all other sounds.

Enveloped in a great ball of fiery flames, a miles-long spaceship tore through the high-altitude cloud layer, casting an enormous shadow on the ground below. It was one of the first ships to enter the atmosphere on assignment: the Gemini New Eden Federation Battlecruiser.

"Heavens... I’m not dreaming, am I!?" Despite hearing about spaceships from us more than once, when a miles-long "Giant Battleship" really broke through the atmosphere and hovered overhead with a deafening roar, the shock was indescribable in just a few words.

Even those refugees who had been lying on the ground half-dead, completely like walking dead, now sat up one by one, startled, with mouths agape like fish out of water, looking up at the Gemini’s splendidly flaming chrysanthemum.

This scene was far more arresting than any 3D sci-fi movie screen could ever be. I’d bet that not a single sci-fi master could imagine every screw in a space warship so precisely. Yet this spaceship was absolutely the real deal.

"The Gemini is hereby ordered to proceed. Great Emperor, all fleets have landed at the predetermined locations, and the refugee resettlement operation has commenced."

"I think those idiots should have turned down the volume first," I knocked on my ears forcefully and dug around ruthlessly with my little finger before turning to Minami Rika, "These are the landing transporters. Refugees should board in sequence, and each person can receive a ’definitely’ safe food ration and twenty-plus safety guarantees. After staying for a while, you will be transferred to the Mother Ship in outer space—erm, Mercury Lamp, help me clean out my ears."

A certain doll immediately conjured up a delicate sword at least half a meter long and went for a fatal strike in my ear—snap, the sword broke.

That’s pretty much just the normal interaction between me and Mercury Lamp.

"Hey! Back to life!" Seeing that Minami Rika was still in a trance, staring dumbly at the spaceship in the sky, I couldn’t help but slap her on the shoulder forcefully, "Didn’t you see the medical transporters coming down? Hurry up and get the refugees on board. Are you paying for the fuel?"

"Um, ah!" Minami Rika finally snapped out of it then frantically directed the refugees who were almost in complete disarray, "Everyone, stay calm. These... these are rescue spaceships, don’t ask why! Just know that you’ll be safe once you board. The elderly and children first, gather under that white transporter. Officer Nakaoka, stop standing there like an idiot..."

"To be honest, did you... plan on taking these refugees away from the very beginning?" Once Officer Nakaoka was helping to guide the refugees, Minami Rika suddenly focused her gaze on me, "Why does it seem like you were already prepared, directly deploying rescue transporters all over the world?"

"Well, kinda. We came here to rescue people, after all. Did you think we only brought the medical team?" I answered a bit awkwardly. Should I outright say that we came here intending to turn the whole Earth into glass and that there was never really a treatment plan to begin with?

"So what exactly was I wasting my feelings for when I was begging you to take away the refugees earlier..."

The Lady Officer immediately looked disheartened, "You’re not making fun of me, are you?"

I would definitely never admit that there’s a certain thrill to having a strong lady officer humbly beg you for help.

"Let’s head back to the Mother Ship," only then did I say what I had wanted to say since early on, of course, to Kazuo Komuro... and the girls beside him. You gotta understand, in times like these, big men should stand strong on their own. Someone like Kazuo Komuro, he’s not within my scope of concern, "It looks like we need to adjust our initial plan. Let’s have the medical team put things on hold for the moment. The pressing priority is to deploy more small squads to search globally for surviving humans."

This was by no means an easy task. According to the information provided by Minami Rika, human habitats had already become dead cities without exception, and surviving refugees had formed into roaming groups of no more than fifty. They all dodged into deep mountains and dense forests, and even with life-detection devices to assist us, how many could we ultimately find?

But we had to save as many as possible, just like Minami Rika said, this was the last seed of humanity on this planet. The people we saved now would directly influence the total population of the new human epoch... Speaking of which, should I recruit a few officers from Earth who specialize in surrounding and ambushing to come aboard?

Facing my decision to "return to the Mother Ship," the Academy’s Little Strongs just looked at each other for a moment, then silently nodded.

Sorry, I should never have let you harbor any beautiful illusions from the beginning.

The Gemini Battlecruiser needed to stay on the surface, temporarily acting as the ultimate refuge; its onboard Marine Corps Soldiers and countless Transporters swarmed out from the belly of this several-kilometers-long alloy Monster like Worker Bees, rapidly spreading to the largest area they could cover, starting the search for any possible survivors. Thanks to the Kepulu Insects that had honed Humanity for so long, these Marines, who spent most of their lives dealing with such scenarios, were very adept at similar rescue operations. Moreover, many of the Kepulu Human’s technologies had evolved towards defense and mobility, leading to... our having an astonishing number of medical Transporters and various search and rescue vehicles at our disposal.

Of course, due to the "airborne infection from Dead Bodies" issue mentioned by Minami Rika, these vast squads of rescuers were all equipped with Ghost Energy Shields. Although neither Humans nor Star Spirits had yet mastered the Ghost Energy Shield technology of the Xyrin People, equipping every servant of our Servant Army with an "eggshell" wasn’t too costly. Whatever was causing humans on this Planet to turn into Dead Bodies out of thin air, the Ghost Energy Shields should provide some resistance—unless the Dead Body "Virus" was a Void-level energy body.

Putting that aside, some fifteen minutes later, near Earth’s Synchronous Orbit.

Because of a connection with Ju Chuan Jingxiang, Minami Rika was also half-forced onto a Shuttle heading toward the Mother Ship. The moment she saw the grandiose, massive gold Cross in the distant outer space, the mature female Officer let out an involuntary gasp.

"My God... is that... the... the Mother Ship!?"

"How big is it... exactly?"

"Not very big; the Interstellar Coalition Flagship is a small Flagship that has enhanced command capabilities. Compared to its brethren specialized in charging into battle, it’s quite small," I said, shaking my head and boasting somewhat proudly—even after all, I did design... one percent of the Ship’s exterior appearance. "Those ships of a different style behind the Flagship are the Starships of the Protos Clan; their Aircraft Carriers and Holy Mother Ships are equipped with space expanders, offering even more astonishing payloads capable of carrying more Human Refugees. However, the living conditions aboard might not be suitable for humans, so I’ve assigned them as a reserve force."

There was one more thing I didn’t say. If everything were as Lin Xue expected, then probably... the entire world’s remaining population combined wouldn’t even need these reserve refugee vessels, they couldn’t even fill the ecological spheres of the Imperial Admiral.

"My God..." Minami Rika murmured to herself, looking through the Shuttle’s porthole at those majestic starships arrayed in the distant space, which, like ancient space monuments, reflected shimmering radiance in the slanted sunlight. Large Spaceships continually broke away from the formation, surging toward the Earth—a sign of newly discovered Human settlements, Transporters sent on the rescue mission. At the same time, numerous small and medium-sized Spaceships rushed from Earth to deliver the Refugees they carried to their respective Mother Ships.

A synchronized global operation was underway.

"If only you could have come earlier..."

After her shock at the vast Alien Fleet, Minami Rika inevitably fell into sorrow. "Maybe we could have preserved Human Civilization."

Civilization extinction... Such a distant term that even I, facing all this now, can’t comprehend what it feels like. But it’s happening right here, right now, and the female Officer next to me and the few young men and women who have been with me for more than a month are the very people involved in this catastrophe. I don’t know what expression I should have at this moment, but if anyone says a smile is enough, I’d stuff their head into the fiery rear of the Gemini Ship!

Miyamoto Reiko was still curled up in Kazuo Komuro’s embrace; she still couldn’t believe everything she had been through. It’s true that months ago, she had already experienced the collapse of the human world, but this time human society had disintegrated to a point where not even ashes were left. The scale of destruction was not even comparable: The global population, according to our recent estimates, was about thirty thousand.

Seven billion to three hundred thousand. Humanity’s runaway population over tens of thousands of years finally ceased to be a crisis. With this number, Human Civilization could be said to have utterly crumbled. There’s a mathematical model, I wonder how many have heard of it, developed by a group of bored sociologists, which describes how many people are needed to sustain the various layers of human civilization, including necessary scientists, artisans, artists, educators, laborers, producers... all these foundational practitioners on which civilization relies. I’ve forgotten the exact numbers, but I’m sure that three hundred thousand wouldn’t even suffice for a steam civilization.

"At least Humanity isn’t extinct, right?" I felt it was time to comfort the others, "Three hundred thousand might not be able to carry on the achievements of human civilization from the past, but I’ve always had confidence in human reproductive abilities..."

Du Dao Kazuko: "I think it’s better if you don’t speak at all."

Mercury Lamp tapped on my head, "You hormone-filled idiot human!"

Huh? Since when did Mercury Lamp, who couldn’t even write, know about hormones? Which bastard gave her this targeted education?

After shuttling through the vast interstellar fleet for a while—in truth, just cavorting about in the empty outer space, due to the peculiarities of space warfare, the ships normally maintained a distance that a civil airline could fly until it ran out of fuel—we returned to the Imperial Admiral. Apart from the indifferent Mercury Lamp who was still heartlessly asking to go out for another flight, everyone’s spirits weren’t that high, including Officer Rika who had just been amazed by the "Space Cross" and some military otaku who wished they could f*** guns and ammo to death.

"Emperor, the Radiant Battlecruiser reports to you; this is Major General Loren from the New Eden Federation," once back on the flagship’s bridge, we received intelligence from the second batch of landing troops on Earth. "We’ve landed in the American Region. There’s just been a powerful earthquake, and fractures in Earth’s crust. We’ve discovered abnormal energy reactions in the breakage zones and request support from Imperial Soldiers!"

"Alright, I’ll send down a group of Xyrin Agents. You stay away from these breakage zones; I have a bad feeling about this. Your ships probably can’t withstand any potential dangers."

"Chen, why do I feel like you’ve been preparing for the worst from the get-go?" Kazuo Komuro looked at me with doubt, "I was only a bit suspicious at first, but now... you’ve delayed sending so-called medical personnel and have been ready with refugee rescue ships from the start."

"That’s right," I let out a long breath, "From the beginning, I had considered the worst-case scenario... At first, I did hold some hope, but now it seems wiser to bring a fleet of refugee rescue ships instead of a medical team that wouldn’t be of any use."

We left the topic there; I had no mood to discuss it further, and Kazuo Komuro had no leisure to study humanity’s ongoing extinction. Our attention returned to the latest survivor reports and the real-time scenes being transmitted from various refugee rescue ships displayed on the bridge’s holographic projection.

"People in the back, stop pushing. Everyone will be able to board; we have plenty of food and space, but not enough patience!"

"Prioritize protecting the young and children, scholars, and scientists. Listen, your civilization is at a critical juncture of life and death. We’ve initiated the civilization preservation process; please follow our instructions... Don’t bring personal belongings, leave the spare weight allowance for your books and other documented literature..."

"Connect the collected data recorders to the battlecruiser’s central computer, upload it to the Imperial Mother Ship. The reconstruction of human civilization needs them."

"Listen up, citizens, I know you’re full of confusion, but we won’t offer any explanations. We’ve come from another world to save the flickering fire seed of your civilization. Now please board quickly. If you still have the energy to protest to the military, please use that physical strength to help your own wife; she’s almost at her limit... What? You say you don’t know her? Oh, then you can disembark. Sorry, but we have limited beds, and someone like you would only hinder civilization’s recovery—guards, throw this man overboard!"

"Everyone assemble in Zone K; the spaceship is about to take off. Refugees who haven’t boarded head to the metallic platform there; the energy shield on its surface will protect you from the threat of the walking dead..."

"This is the Protos fighter squadron; we’ve left the thunderstorm area and are uploading the collected intelligence to the flagship..."

Message after message converged on the bridge, sparking a new round of precise orders. It was like a race between the rapidly dimming light of human civilization and the approaching doomsday. I didn’t know why I felt this way, but... it seemed like something was about to happen.

Because vaguely, my spiritual power had already touched the interior of that blue planet in my sight, its restless energy pulsing like a dark heart. At first, I really wondered if it could be the Death Wing making a cameo to cause trouble, but that could only be wishful thinking. If the trouble I had to fix was just a minor Death Wing, that would’ve been a relief—unfortunately, intuition told me that fate wouldn’t let it be that easy.

Lin Xue, oh Lin Xue, what on Earth did you see in this world! (To be continued. For the continuation of this story, please visit www.qidian.com. There are more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)