Chapter 597: Heaven Descends

Chapter 597: The Descent of the Kingdom of Heaven

As far back as she could remember, Yinyin had lived in her family’s garden.

She still recalled two years ago, when she was six years old, sitting on her father’s shoulders and glimpsing the world beyond the farm. Her father asked how she felt. She thought for a moment, then shook her head, saying that while the outside world was vast, it could not compare to the garden within the estate.

She remembered her father laughing heartily, then saying something more. The exact words had faded from memory, but she recalled the gist: soon, the forest beyond, the mountains, and the plains would all become part of the farm, and they would have an even larger estate.

And when that time came, she would transform from a farmer’s daughter into a princess of the kingdom.

At first, she did not understand her father’s thoughts, until later, when she learned the word “ambition” from her tutor.

Yet what still puzzled her was this: the idea did not sound bad at all, so why did everyone want to flee from here? So much so that her father had to take children her age as hostages—and one of them was her friend.

Of course, this was only one of many puzzles.

What baffled her even more was that, though the idea seemed harmless…

Why, after that day, did the land beyond the fence remain the same barren wasteland, while the land within the fence grew more and more like the outside world with each passing day?

When she opened her eyes again, she was greeted by a pure white space. Soft light fell upon her delicate lashes, yet she felt no sting of brightness.

She looked around in bewilderment.

She found herself in an expanse of pure white.

“I… where am I?”

A strange voice seemed to drift from far away.

“Welcome to the Main God Space.”

Yinyin was stunned. She stared at the stranger who had suddenly appeared in this space, momentarily at a loss.

“…What?”

“Ahem… sorry,” Chu Guang had intended to make a harmless joke to lighten the mood, but as the words left his mouth, he remembered that no one from this world would understand his references, so he cleared his throat softly.

Gazing into her confused eyes, he composed his expression and continued.

“This is the Sanctuary.”

Yinyin looked at him blankly.

“Sanctuary?”

Chu Guang nodded gently.

“Mm.”

Her confusion only deepened. She looked at him nervously and whispered cautiously,

“Then… who are you?”

Chu Guang spoke in a gentle tone.

“I am the Administrator of the Alliance.”

Administrator?

Confusion was written all over Yinyin’s face.

She had heard of the Alliance, and perhaps the word “Administrator” somewhere, but she had no idea what he actually did.

Come to think of it…

Wasn’t I dead?

The memories, veiled in mist, gradually cleared in her mind. She began to recall the last second before she closed her eyes.

To save her best friend, she had stood in front of the little lamb. A bullet struck her back and passed through her body.

The man walked up to her, ready to finish the job, when someone suddenly arrived and grappled with him. Together, they tumbled out the window.

And then…

There was no “then.”

“The little lamb—?”

Knowing what she wanted to ask, Chu Guang looked at her and said,

“Thanks to you, she is still alive. She is now under our protection.”

Yinyin let out a sigh of relief.

After a long silence, her lips trembled slightly, and she squeezed out a sentence in a very small voice.

“I… am I dead?”

Chu Guang was silent for a moment, weighing whether to tell her the truth, but in the end, he nodded gently.

“Mm.”

Yinyin’s face showed an expression of “I knew it.”

But to his surprise, she did not grieve. Instead, she relaxed her tense shoulders and smiled softly.

Though the smile was tinged with loneliness and strain.

“So this is what death feels like…”

She looked at her own hands, then raised her head to gaze at the pure white ceiling, speaking as if to herself with a laugh. “It doesn’t hurt as much as I imagined.”

Chu Guang did not know how to respond to that.

Memories of death—he had mostly only seen them in dreams. Perhaps his little players would have more to say on the matter.

After a pause, he decided to answer her earlier question.

“To return to your earlier question: though your body has died, your consciousness has been preserved in a bionic chip. Its name is the Sanctuary—the space beneath your feet. That is why we can speak face to face.”

The memories in her mind were now completely clear.

Yinyin nodded, half-understanding, and after a moment, lowered her head and said,

“The Sanctuary… is that where the Saint lives?”

Chu Guang nodded, then shook his head gently.

“The one who has been communicating with you all along is actually named Luo Qian. He may have told you he was the Saint, but in truth, the Saint is someone else.”

She did not grow angry at the deception. Instead, she seemed to have expected his words. She merely glanced around and asked with a hint of curiosity,

“Did he live in a place like this…”

“And he lived there for nearly twenty years,” Chu Guang said, nodding gently. He paused, then continued, “In the end, he gave this place to you.”

“Then where is he now?” Yinyin’s gaze searched the room, as if trying to find the person who had always spoken with her.

“I don’t know. That fellow might have been stung by something I said; he never responded to me. After doing everything, he vanished from this space.”

Chu Guang looked toward the center of the room, where an ordinary chair had once stood, and the old man had sat there.

He paused, then continued.

“There is no longer any data of his in this chip—not even the Apostle can sense his presence anymore. I am inclined to believe that he gave this world to you.”

“Gave it to me…”

"Mhm."

Yinyin looked at him with a dazed expression and asked.

"Why... did he do that?"

"No one knows. You might be the only person who ever communicated with him as a human. I thought perhaps you'd know the answer."

"How could I possibly know something like that..." Yinyin clutched her head, a trace of pain flickering across her face. "I have so many questions I wanted to ask him too. I said I would trust him, but why did he turn everyone into that? What kind of heaven requires such deeds to be realized? Can we... not go there?"

In her final moments, she had already understood everything.

Including why everyone had become like that, including how her father had died, including why those people had come to kill her friends... But in the end, she wasn't clever enough. By the time she figured it all out, it was too late.

If she had realized it sooner—realized who the true culprit was—she could have told the brothers and sisters who reached out to her about the secret she carried.

Perhaps those tragic events wouldn't have had to happen. Perhaps that big brother wouldn't have had to die saving her and the little lamb.

There was only one thing she was grateful for.

That she had been standing beside the little lamb at the time.

At least at the end of her life, she hadn't made a mistake she would regret forever—killing her dearest friend because of her blind trust.

"...Choice is something more precious than survival. Since the Alliance was born, we've been fighting for that right," Chu Guang said, unable to bear her sorrowful expression. He let out a soft sigh and spoke in a gentle tone. "We'll try to let you walk in the original world again, but it will take some time. For now, you might have to stay here for a while."

"If you remember anything, you can call my name."

He was about to leave this space.

Just then, Yinyin, who had been clutching her head, suddenly looked up and called out to him.

"Wait..."

Chu Guang stopped in his tracks and cast a questioning glance at her.

"What's wrong?"

"That fog..."

"Fog?" Chu Guang frowned slightly. "What did you think of?"

Yinyin nodded gently, her face pale.

"I think I remember... what that fog really is."

That person had told her before.

More than once—

She softly recited those words under her breath.

"...The eternal heaven shall descend upon the land of mortals when the gray mist rises. All living beings shrouded by heaven shall return to eternal peace and tranquility."

Chu Guang's pupils contracted slightly.

He seemed to have guessed something...

...

Jinhe City.

The cold, dead urban district.

Gazing at the gray-green haze gradually spreading over the abandoned buildings and the setting sun slowly being blocked in the distance, the hunched High Priest Gomo furrowed his brow slightly and murmured under his breath.

"Earlier than expected."

Standing beside him, Qi Ga'en said expressionlessly.

"Isn't it better to be early?"

Unlike Gomo,

His gaze had been fixed on the steel airship in the distance.

More than the Torch Church's plan, he wanted to know how to defeat that guy.

Even if heaven descended to earth and made the sheep in the pen more docile, if they wanted to expand their tribe, they would still have to achieve it through external war.

The north was undoubtedly the most ideal target.

He had heard that Boulder City had hundreds of thousands of people, surrounded by towering walls—a perfect natural pasture.

But the problem was, those guys possessed such terrifying weapons.

Just a few hours ago, that majestic steel beast had unleashed horrific firepower west of Pinecone Farm.

Even from over a dozen kilometers away, he could still feel the trembling of the earth and air.

Clearly—

That fierce barrage was aimed at his chiliarch, Kulu.

To be honest, Ga'en didn't like those zealots. After all, even though they promised many benefits, they were still old humans at heart.

But he had to admit that his tribe indeed needed the power of those zealots.

Compared to the old human civilizations that had accumulated thousands or even tens of thousands of years, the mutant civilization was still too young.

Only the wisdom of the old humans could counter that terrifying power.

Occasionally, he had to compromise with reality.

Gomo knew what the chieftain was anxious about and sighed softly.

"I didn't say it's bad. The sooner heaven descends to earth, the stronger our rule over this land... I'm just wondering if it's too hasty."

Ga'en turned to him and asked.

"What about that Luo Qian? Why don't you ask him?"

A troubled look crept across Gomo's aged face.

"...I can't reach him."

Ga'en frowned.

"Can't reach him?"

The final "ritual" was about to begin. The thick gray mist had already spread into Jinhe City's downtown area, and soon this region spanning dozens of kilometers would be swallowed up.

At such a critical moment, he couldn't reach that guy?

Gomo lowered his head, not daring to meet the chieftain's gaze, and whispered.

"It's actually fine... The plan is already set. As long as we execute it step by step, it's the same for us to perform the final ritual."

Ga'en clicked his tongue and glared hatefully at the distant sky.

"None of these two-legged livestock are trustworthy..."

He swore.

He would kill them all sooner or later!

...

The Jinhe City area was like boiling water, and so was the official forum of "Wasteland OL."

When the brothers of the Jungle Corps brought back the story of Brother Chicken-Slayer's triumph to the forum, a flood of '666' replies scrolled across the thread reporting the battle results.

Though there were plenty of heartbroken souls who'd lost at the gambling tables, there were even more spectators shouting "Pro move!" and "Awesome!"

Outlaw: "Brother Chicken is the GOAT!!! (voice cracking)"

Cut the Crap: "Twenty-one! That's insane!"

Maca Bazi: "Unlike that certain lizard—trash! (funny)"

Lvl99 Trash Picker: "%￥#@!"

Tail: "Wahhh, I'm crying with envy! Sigh! Tail wants to reclass as an Astartes too! QAQ"

Sisi: "Pat pat A-Tail, don't cry, don't cry. (´•ω•`。)"

Meat Mountain Bun: "Hiss... a tail two and a half meters tall with a shoulder width of one meter? I can't even imagine!"

Aww Sesame Paste: "Haha... Meat would get crushed to death. (*￣~￣*)"

Midnight Chicken Slayer: "Reclass NPC coordinates: Ibers of the Boulder Forge! No hype, no hate—it really works! (grinning)"

Lvl99 Trash Picker: "Damn, you guys formed a raid and didn't even call me! T.T"

Xiao Xiao Little Bookworm: "You're not in our raid, why would we call you?"

Lvl99 Trash Picker: "Screw it! That heartless?"

Pressuring Others: "Damn it, all the cool points went to this guy!"

Crawling Model: "Brother Rat, where are your minions? (funny)"

Pressuring Others: "Picked them up ages ago. My revive cooldown is just one day. (grinning)"

Crawling Model: "6666!"

Speaking of which, there was a little side story. Back when Pressuring Others turned into a beam of light and vanished on the battlefield, his minions didn't stray too far.

It wasn't out of loyalty to their boss, but mainly because rats aren't picky eaters—the leftovers from the mutated humans were enough to keep them fed for a long time.

So the rat minions mourned for only a few minutes before throwing a feast at the spot where their boss died, gorging themselves.

And just as the rats were enjoying their meal the next day, the Great Horned Rat they'd just gnawed clean suddenly returned.

This move of "resurrecting on the spot" completely stunned the rats, who squeaked and bowed down in worship.

Though he couldn't understand what the rats were chattering about, Pressuring Others could clearly sense that his image among the rat minions had become even more sacred and majestic.

I Want Some Peace: "But seriously, why hasn't this fog lifted yet?"

Night Ten: "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Quit Smoking: "What feeling?"

Night Ten: "According to standard RPG tropes, after clearing the minions, shouldn't there be a boss fight or something?"

Quit Smoking: "Holy crap?! You, of all people, don't jinx it!"

Irena: "Night Ten is perception-type. I trust Night Ten. (funny)"

Fang Chang: "Yeah, the possibility can't be ruled out. The Torch Church seems very sensitive about us researching antibodies to suppress Nago mycelium. If that mutated human squad was their final trump card, it seems a bit too hasty."

Mole on the Run: "And it's weird... The target was just the antibody carrier, right? Did they really need to send an entire mutated human squad?"

With such a high-profile operation, even if they reached Pinecone Farm, the Alliance would have had enough time to fly key personnel out, wouldn't they?

Better to just send a few assassins.

Fountain Commander: "Hmm... It feels more like the fog was covering for the mutated humans' march, rather than the other way around."

Night Ten: "What do you think it is?"

Fountain Commander: "How would I know... Anyway, you guys still alive should be careful."

...

As it turned out, though he died early, Night Ten's jinx seemed to have come true again.

According to reports from players stationed near Pinecone Farm, shortly after the fog rolled in, the local residents simultaneously fell into a trance-like state.

And this happened without any psychic interference device affecting them!

Thankfully, the players had already used that device to overwrite the brainwashing on Band 03, or else the disaster from last night might have repeated itself.

Thanks to prior preparations, most survivors stayed inside their homes, and even when they entered the trance, they just stood or sat motionless.

But unsettlingly, the fog, with a radius of over ten kilometers, was slowly spreading further, and by dusk, it had reached the edge of Jinhe City.

The fog was thinning, visibility was improving, but the area it covered was getting larger.

Not only that, the spore cloud was no longer confined to the surface—it was rising into the sky, even touching the edges of the clouds.

This was what was happening in Jinhe City at that moment.

"...It feels like a pebble dropped into a lake—the ripples are shrinking in height, but their rings spread from the center to the shore."

Aboard the Steel Heart.

After listening to the captain's explanation of the situation, Chief of Staff Vanus, who had rushed from the rear to the front line, pondered for a moment before voicing his thoughts.

The captain frowned slightly.

"What are those zealots trying to do?"

Chu Guang, who had been staring out the window without a word, suddenly spoke.

"I'm actually more curious about something else."

Vanus turned to him.

"What?"

Chu Guang continued.

"What exactly is that Eternal Heaven?"

Vanus fell into thought.

Just then, the bridge hatch opened, and Frost walked in from the doorway.

"...Our aviation unit sent reconnaissance drones south for a few hundred kilometers, and they captured these."

With that, he handed a tablet to Chu Guang.

Taking the tablet from Frost, Chu Guang's expression shifted to surprise the moment he looked at the screen.

Sprawling patches of gray-green thick fog blanketed the ground, with only occasional stretches of mountains and forest peeking through, not yet swallowed.

Further south, the dense gray fog stood like an airtight wall, as if freezing the entire space.

From the outside, it was impossible to see what lay within.

Frowning slightly, he looked at Frost.

"Where is this?"

"South of Jinchuan Province, in Haiya Province along the southern coast of the Central Continent. Our drone encountered signal jamming and electronic warfare when entering Haiya Province's airspace, but our AI tech gave us the edge, and it's now returning to base."

As he said this, Frost's expression carried a hint of pride.

Operating drones was her specialty, and electronic warfare was Eclipse’s true forte—a bunch of amateurs relying on half-baked skills to bring down the aircraft under its control were far from capable.

But Chu Guang wasn’t concerned with such trivial details; he had long since experienced the Torch Church’s technology firsthand.

What occupied his mind was something else entirely…

“When did it start becoming like this?” Staring at the screen with a bewildered expression, the captain standing beside him voiced the question that puzzled Chu Guang.

Yet Han Shuang clearly couldn’t know—it was merely an android—and shook its head with a troubled look.

Vanus, standing nearby, pondered for a long while before speaking.

“I’d estimate it’s been just these past few months, during our battles with the Legion; otherwise, for something this big, not a single whisper would have reached Dawn City.”

Chu Guang nodded.

“That’s what I think too.”

But this was merely a conjecture based on limited intelligence.

In truth, even if those zealots had completed their so-called plan long ago, they would have been fully capable of sealing the news within their own territory.

Judging by their modus operandi around Jinhe City, in the early stages they would promise local survivors certain benefits, only gradually baring their fangs once the survivors became utterly dependent on them.

Throughout this process, the Nago-corrupted flora and fauna had already spread across the entire land, and the pervasive hyphae had eroded nearly every inch of soil.

Add to that the influence of the mental interference device.

By the time the domain called Heaven fully unfolded over this land, the local survivors had long become captives of the Church.

That no news leaked out was only to be expected.

If not for the Alliance’s many merchants and mercenaries from Jinchuan Province, if not for the players who had already journeyed south, by the time Jinhe City had fully become part of “Heaven,” they would still have been kept in the dark, knowing nothing of what transpired here.

Chu Guang turned to Han Shuang.

“What’s the Council’s opinion?”

“The Council believes this is unquestionably an emergency, and…” Han Shuang trailed off, swallowing the words on its lips.

Chu Guang knew the unspoken second half of that sentence.

All the suffering here was inextricably linked to the conflict a century and a half ago.

Even if Ideal City wasn’t the direct cause of this disaster, as descendants of the Production Department, they still bore an undeniable responsibility for what was happening here.

But now was not the time to assign blame.

Chu Guang bypassed that heavy topic and continued.

“Our researchers believe that spore release is the third stage of the Nago fungal colony’s biological evolution. Based on existing experimental results, infected individuals shrouded in gray mist will enter a trance state within 12 to 72 hours.”

“Those who haven’t consumed Nago will also slowly be poisoned in that domain, until their immune systems collapse, eventually becoming part of it…”

“And that is the essence of ‘Heaven.’”

If initially swallowing the Nago was a voluntary choice for the survivors, then by the third stage of “Heaven’s Descent,” it had nothing to do with volition.

The once-gentle fungal colony would forcibly stuff its constantly secreted spores into every organism’s respiratory tract and mouth.

Whether the local survivors accepted it or not—

The eternal Heaven spoken of by the Torch Church would descend.

Organisms enveloped by Heaven would forever lose all suffering, but the price was losing themselves, living as seedbeds for Nago fungus propagation, manipulated by the mental interference device to perform simple tasks.

Apart from the more powerful mutants, the chosen Apostles, and the Gestalt lifeform they were designing, no creature could survive long in this domain.

Until the Gestalt lifeform technology was finally completed, this place was unquestionably hell.

Watching Han Shuang’s electronic pupils dilate slightly, Chu Guang continued.

“According to Heya’s research conclusions, this gene segment was ultimately excised from mutant slime mold DNA. Referencing the Hive in Qingquan City, the essence of spores is a medium for transmitting information, so it can be inferred that something akin to a Hive must exist in this area.”

The Sanctuary was a decentralized network without a core, but Heaven descending upon the earth was different… it was purely a pseudo-utopia built on biotechnology.

The Sanctuary, which did not exist on earth, was its spiritual core, while its physiological core must lie somewhere in this land.

It was the heart of everything—

It commanded all hyphae, sustaining this Heaven.

Han Shuang looked at him seriously and asked.

“Where do you think it is?”

Chu Guang turned to it and said.

“Most likely, the Champion Group’s biological research institute in Jinhe City… What do you plan to do?”

Han Shuang replied gravely.

“I will recommend the Council deploy strategic weapons to destroy it. The harm caused by this research project has far exceeded the scope of regional threats.”

Chu Guang seemed to have anticipated this response and sighed softly.

“The underground experimental facility there is at nuclear bunker level, like an unnumbered shelter. What weapon do you plan to use against it?”

This was what he had seen in the memories of that Apostle named Yule—the elevator was no ordinary depth; standing on it, one had to wait quite a while to reach the surface.

Han Shuang was taken aback.

“Ah…”

Before it could analyze an alternative plan, Chu Guang pressed on.

“We need that artificial Hive. Only by understanding it can we solve it. Our people will go to seize it, but the mutants there won’t let us have it easily. I need you to provide the necessary support.”

As if permission had already been obtained from somewhere.

Upon hearing this, Han Shuang nodded without any hesitation.

“No problem. We’ll provide all necessary support.”

“This is no longer just your threat.”

“It is ours as well.”