Calamity of Tomorrow

Zhou Bai listened to everything Christina said, then asked in a low voice, “Who are you?”

A burly man with a great beard poked his head out. “We’re from Paradise Rescue Team. We’re currently taking you to our closest fort. Don’t worry. You guys are safe now.”

“You guys?” Zhou Bai went blank for a second. “There are other survivors besides myself?”

“Yeah, a little girl,” the bearded man furrowed his brows. “But her condition doesn’t look too optimistic. Your primordial spirit power has awakened, so you’re taking it a little better. That little girl’s body was infected by polluted Spark, and she demonized. She’s in a rather dangerous condition.”

He didn’t expect anyone besides himself to have survived. Zhou Bai asked excitedly, “Can I go see her?”

“Don’t be impatient. After we reach the fort, you’ll have plenty of chances to see each other.” The man consoled Zhou Bai, but there were some things that he refrained from telling him. “Less than 10% of people who go through demonization can survive healthily. It’s even harder for them to retain a sane mind in addition to being healthy. Whether that little girl can live, that’s up to fate.”

“Polluted Spark…” Zhou Bai saw the man was only wearing a t-shirt, yet dared to stay outside, and he seemed to be unscathed. He asked hastily, “Can you guys avoid being infected by polluted Spark?”

The bearded man knew exactly what Zhou Bai was thinking. He explained, “We’re different from you. Before we were born, we’ve gone through primordial spirit adjustment using Taoist technology. After birth, we were given rune vaccines. That’s why we can move about freely in the outside world.”

“But even so, there are still dangers when we practice. It’s best to practice in locations that have large formations, and we can’t stay outside for too long.”

‘Primordial spirit adjustment…rune vaccines…then why did Professor Zhuang…?’ Zhou Bai shook his head, trying his best to understand what the man’s words meant. “Then, can we go through primordial spirit adjustment and get rune vaccines?”

The bearded man said, “Primordial spirit adjustment can only be performed before birth. As for rune vaccines, you’ll get them as soon as you return. Rest assured, flying cars are very fast, we’ll be there in a jiffy. You’re not severely infected, and you’re wearing an anti-infection suit. With your primordial spirit power, you’ll probably be fine.”

Zhou Bai became a little more assured. The other man in the car looked at him with intrigue, and he asked, “Were you guys attacked by a Mara?”

Hearing the word “Mara,” Zhou Bai’s expression changed slightly. He remembered what happened back then again, his face becoming overcast.

He nodded. “Our teacher self-exploded his primordial spirit and killed the Mara, saving us.”

The bearded man went blank at this, then shook his head. “I respect your teacher very much, but to be honest, Mara cannot be killed.”

Noticing Zhou Bai’s perplexion, the bearded man continued. “The nature of Mara’s life is unique. It doesn’t belong to any form of life that we currently know of. It is said that as long as the Mara Empress lives, then no matter how many times they die, they will be reborn in the Mara Pond.”

Thinking about the fact that the snake monster Mara still lives, Zhou Bai clenched his fists. He asked, “How is that possible?”

“In these times…even the Heavenly Tao can be distorted, what else is impossible?” The bearded man shrugged. He saw Zhou Bai clenching his teeth and asked, “What’s wrong? Are you angry? This is how this world is now. Paradise has been fighting against Mara for centuries, but the situation only gets worse and worse.”

Zhou Bai said, “Then I’ll kill the Mara Empress, and overturn that Mara Pond.”

“Huh?” The bearded man looked at Zhou Bai and said with a smile. “That’s youth…others have tried that in the past, but they only managed to turn Earth into Doomsday. The fact that we’re even still alive now our fortune. As for killing them…”

The bearded man shook his head, an indescribable sorrow in his eyes. “You don’t know the horror of Mara at all.”

“I will kill them all.” Zhou Bai clenched his fists, remembering the rivers of blood in the base. Then he looked at the auxiliary system in his mind, thinking to himself, “Mara…let me lie around a few more years, and then I’ll annihilate you.”

The bearded man rolled his eyes, not taking Zhou Bai’s words to heart at all. He looked at the scenery outside, and said, “We’re here, get ready to step off.”

After Zhou Bai got off the car, he found that the “flying car” he was sitting on was a bronze vehicle. The bronze horse pulling the vehicle stomped, and the entire car rose one meter off the ground and hovered into the distance.

‘What kind of black technology is this?’ Zhou Bai watched this scene in shock. ‘A magnetic suspension wagon?’ Looking at the wagon before him, he didn’t know whether it was advanced or backward.

Elsa was carried down on a stretcher from the other wagon. Her entire body was covered in golden fur. Many rectangular charms covered the outside of her fur as if binding her like a layer of chains.

“Elsa!”

Seeing Zhou Bai was about to run up, the bearded man stopped him and said, “Rest assured, we’ll try our best to save her. If you run up now, you’ll only impede them from doing their job. Once she’s well, I’ll take you to see her.”

Zhou Bai repressed his agitation and nodded, following the bearded man’s arrangement.

Zhou Bai followed the bearded man into a base. He saw rows of white bungalows with white walls. Everything looked very minimalistic.

What followed was a series of examinations, inquiry, vaccination, and treatment.

When an elder injected the rune vaccine into Zhou Bai’s forehead with his primordial spirit power, Zhou Bai immediately felt a fine, smooth power enter his mind. It quickly multiplied and replicated until it finally became countless runes, forming chains that enveloped his cognitive sea.

Christina was deep in thought as she looked at this rune vaccine. She said, “They are indeed protective runes. They should be able to protect you from being infected by polluted Spark in the outside world.”

The elder who injected the vaccine into Zhou Bai looked at him and said, “Remember, vaccines aren’t invincible. The longer you stay outside, the more it depletes the power of the runes, and the higher your chances of infection. Usually, in at most seven days, you must return to the safe zone to rest, and let the rune vaccine rest.”

Zhou Bai nodded. Then he was pushed out to receive treatment.

If it were in the modern society of the past, his injuries would probably take months to heal.

But in this world where you can practice and have supernatural powers such as sorcery, runes, and formations, Zhou Bai’s injuries were stabilized after only taking a few elixirs. He only needed to rest for a week or two before he can fully recover.

After repeatedly confirming Zhou Bai was okay, he was assigned a room and got his clothes back.

The entire examination-vaccine-treatment procedure was very quick and simple. There were a few unnecessary procedures. Zhou Bai found that this seemed to be a characteristic of this society: everything is as fast, simple, and efficient as possible. There’s no unnecessary waste of either time or material resources.

Zhou Bai thought to himself, ‘Is it the long period of war that brought about this style of putting efficiency first?’

‘But such a massive human force, did Professor Zhuang not know of their existence? Why did he keep calling us the last humans?’