Apocalypse Forecast

"Sorry, not interested, no time, thank you."

At the pier, Ai Qing coldly refused the man beside her who was like a chatterbox, insisting on treating her to a meal, and pushed her wheelchair across the cordon.

The man who followed was stopped by the police guarding the explosion site, embarrassed and returned empty-handed.

"Wow, you really have a heart of stone."

Liu Dongli leaned against the wall and sighed, "Don't always be so ruthless, Miss Ai. In my opinion, it wouldn't hurt to keep a spare tire."

Ai Qing's wheelchair stopped beside him.

The girl looked at him expressionlessly, and kept looking until he felt uncomfortable and looked away. She then slowly said, "If I have even a little self-awareness of my situation, I should understand one thing: no one will genuinely fall in love with a rich female cripple."

"Uh..."

Liu Dongli was stunned for a long time, and forced a smile, "Don't say that, you are so beautiful, and besides, love is always unreasonable."

"Yes, that's why I don't bother with it."

Ai Qing looked at him, "And I have money. I pay you to work, and you are currently under review by the Astronomical Society. It's best not to tell your review officer about your prostitution experience."

Liu Dongli shrugged helplessly, stopped talking, and obediently followed behind her, doing the job of a thug and bodyguard, which was not very promising.

After a night of heavy rain, the scene at the pier was unrecognizable, and the clues had become a mess due to the foolish actions of certain people.

The explosion site was a collapsed warehouse, half of it in ruins, with mud everywhere. Seven or eight containers had been burned into a pile of scrap metal, and some coal ash mixed with blood was randomly smeared on the ground...

"Well done."

Ai Qing nodded in praise.

"...Is that sarcasm?" Liu Dongli asked.

"No, it's a genuine compliment."

Ai Qing raised her eyebrows, unusually pleased, "These malignant events involving border relics are always strange and difficult to handle. Who knows where there might be any clues. If it can't be solved, it will become a stain on my assessment. Now that someone has stepped forward to take the blame, I don't need to take any responsibility. When the supervisory bureau comes to investigate, let those self-righteous fools take the blame."

"...,"

Liu Dongli's eye twitched, not knowing what to say. Compared to the secret struggles in this quagmire, even a prostitute like himself seemed pure and angelic.

At this moment, Ai Qing's phone vibrated.

There was a message.She looked down and stared at her phone for a moment, as if pondering something.

After a while, she turned off the screen.

"What's wrong?" Liu Dongli asked.

"I found a few more bodies, all socially idle people with a history of drug addiction." Ai Qing deftly spun her phone with her fingers, sneering and sighing, "I don't know how long they were interrogated before they died. Tsk tsk, their deaths were truly gruesome."

"Are you going to the morgue again?"

Liu Dongli sighed helplessly at her words and rubbed his face. "Going to the morgue all the time isn't good for your skin."

"Why would I go there for no reason?" Ai Qing calmly adjusted her wheelchair and said, "Since we've already finished investigating the scene, let's go our separate ways. When they're at their wits' end, I'll come to the rescue."

Liu Dongli was taken aback.

"...Have you already found a lead?"

"Coming here was just part of the process. The important things can be understood by simply looking at the scene and the forensic report. The cargo in the container was electronic products bound for Europe, and the company that filed the customs declaration is a shell company. If we continue to investigate, we won't find anything except for a scapegoat."

"Just by looking at the traces at the scene, we know that a group of people who profited from border relics were fighting in the warehouse...The specific reason was probably uneven distribution of the spoils. What happened afterwards was the reason why we took over the case..."

These were all things that could be understood by just glancing at the report. What really caught my attention was this..."

Ai Qing reached out and pulled out a small bag of powder from the wheelchair's grip.

"What is this?"

Liu Dongli had already adapted perfectly to his role as a sidekick.

"It's a new type of hallucinogenic drug found at the scene. The results of the drug test from the technical department have come out, and it contains source material...which means..."

"Was it made from the box-shaped border relic?!"

Liu Dongli felt a chill. If it could have such a terrible impact, the severity of the incident was likely to escalate.

Ai Qing said softly, "If I report this news after a while, those old guys who have been secretly sabotaging me will have a very interesting outcome, won't they?"

"Wait a minute!"

Liu Dongli suddenly felt a chill at the back of his head. "Are you telling me this so easily? Aren't you afraid I'll tell someone? Are you going to silence me?"

"I'm telling you so you'll tell someone," Ai Qing replied.Ai Qing casually swayed the small bag at her fingertips and said lightly, "Aren't you always proud of your communication skills? Then go tell them: their lives are in my hands. If they want to continue living like happy parasites, they better come beg me for mercy..."

Damn it!

Liu Dongli couldn't help but want to give himself a couple of slaps. Why did he have to ask so many questions with his big mouth? No, why did he have to look at her joke just now?

And now, he got himself into a trap in less than ten minutes.

This woman's revengeful heart was too strong, wasn't it?

After a long period of shock and regret, Liu Dongli keenly discovered the biggest problem, "But even if they are willing to bow down, don't you need to have the confidence to solve the situation?"

"Who said I don't?"

Ai Qing turned around, although she didn't smile, her eyes were full of mockery, "But do you really want to know?"

Sorry, I don't want to know at all!

Liu Dongli's expression twitched, and he suppressed the last bit of his probing thoughts. This woman was really unbearable...

"I want it!"

On the other end, in Huai Shi's house, facing Crow's question, the young man nodded and answered without hesitation.

Do you desire to have a soul?

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

In the face of this sudden question and the scene that was like a devil's temptation, ordinary people might hesitate for a moment, but he didn't even pause.

After experiencing the fantastic events of the past few days and understanding his own situation, he became a little more courageous: anyway, he would die if he couldn't pass this level, so what was there to be afraid of?

Although he didn't know what a soul was, it didn't prevent Huai Shi from desiring to have one. Not only that, he also desired money, power, and NAI. But then again, shouldn't everyone have a soul?

Crow asked back, "In fairy tales, everyone still has a happy ending, do you really believe that?"

She was a little unhappy that she didn't get to enjoy the expected scene of hesitation, so she became less enthusiastic in her explanation, "The boundary between ordinary people and sublimators is the existence of a soul. In this era, there is a creation called the 'Silver Sea', or rather, a natural and huge source spring, also known as a miracle like a perpetual motion machine, which is one of the sources that created this vast world today. And its true core is the Silver Sea, which is formed by the projection of all human source materials. It is said that this invisible ocean is so vast that all human intelligence is just a branch that flows out of it.""And stepping onto the path of sublimation, allowing one's iron-like nature to cross the Silver Sea and become a golden soul - this is the original goal of alchemy.

Only then can one possess a soul and be called a 'sublimator.'

Otherwise, one's cognition and consciousness can only rely on the sparks that float in the synaptic gaps of the brain and nerves, unable to cope with the darkness and storms beyond the realm..."

"You always talk about the realm and the border, is there another world?" Huai Shi interrupted.

"To some extent, yes, and not just one, but thousands..." Crow grinned. "But that's not something you should be concerned about right now. First, think about how to awaken your soul."

"..." Huai Shi could only listen attentively.

"Nowadays, the Astronomy Society is responsible for guarding the Silver Sea. Based on the precipitation speed of the source material of all humanity, there are about three to four hundred spots available each year. But it's not your turn this time. Before you come out, the various branches of the Governing Bureau will divide up the spots, and the list is already reserved for ten years from now... In fact, most sublimators don't rely on the Astronomy Society's special permission, but awaken their souls autonomously like illegal immigrants. That's the path you have to take."

Huai Shi swallowed his saliva and nodded seriously. "And then?"

"For others, this process is naturally extremely difficult. It's more dangerous for a modern person to leave the city and survive in the wilderness. It's like taking a rocket with few reserves and flying out of the atmosphere - not only do you have to break free from the gravitational pull of the Silver Sea, but you also have to face various unexpected challenges. No one knows what awaits them.

To succeed, strength and luck may be indispensable, but even if both are present, it's still difficult to be fully prepared.

Not only do you need abundant source material, strong stimulation, and appropriate opportunities, but you also need some luck... It's often like winning the lottery, difficult to replicate. Fortunately, with such a large population, there will always be one or two successful ones."

"What about the failures?" Huai Shi asked.

Crow seemed to smile but didn't say anything, and Huai Shi felt a chill in his heart.

"But don't worry, you don't need to worry about this problem," she said, lifting her wings and patting Huai Shi's shoulder. "You have unique advantages, young man. With the Book of Fate in hand, it's like having a road to heaven at your feet.

Others are Icarus, but you climb the ladder, very stable!"

"So... what should I do?"

"It's simple," Crow said. "Just go kill people.""If it's you who do it, the records in the Book of Fate will be more specific, won't they? Not only that, if you kill one person, you can obtain their skills, and if you kill ten, you can become an undisputed genius. With it, the more people you kill, Huai Shi, the stronger you will become."

She whispered softly in the boy's ear, "So many people look down on you, don't they? You must hate them to death, not just your classmates and teachers, but also your parents who abandoned you... This world is not good to you, why be kind to it?"

Huai Shi was stunned.

Ah, he must have been scared, right?

For a moment, Crow felt a sense of pleasure, but when Huai Shi looked up, she felt a hint of... surprise in those eyes?

"Really?" Huai Shi couldn't believe it. "Just by killing people?"

"..."

"Then let's start with Li Wuyang."

Huai Shi pointed his finger and said, "He always brags about his good dad and uncle, but they're heartless and wealthy! And that woman who flirts with him, they might have been together for a long time... The English teacher is the third one, always making sarcastic comments about me in class... Oh, and that fat guy who accused me of stealing his money, his brother is not a good person either, always fighting in school. I'm just getting rid of the evil for the people, right? That damn agent, Lao Yang, deserves to die too. I work hard to earn money, but he takes a 20% cut just by opening his mouth..."

As he spoke, Huai Shi looked up and stared at her expressionlessly.

"They all deserve to die because they have offended me, right?"