Falling into the Abyss

The nearest military base from the Seventh Space Station was only one light-year away. If the government decided to use a warp drive propulsion device, they might face extinction at any time. Ethan stood high up in the central building, looking down through the French windows at the dense crowd below him. They were like a group of ants crowding together at a loss, as if he could crush them to death easily.

Was that how the Gods of Disorder and Order felt when they looked at humans? That was what it was like when the people higher up looked at the people below, right? Was that how predators looked at their prey?

If he decided to give up on them this time, they would be powerless to resist him.

How many people could resist doing something cruel when they possessed such great power?

If the oppressed people were given rights, wouldn’t they become equally cruel?

After every cycle, the victims become the perpetrators, the oppressed become the oppressors, and those in power would be trampled under their feet, while those who stepped on them with a proud smile were the former ants. This was the order of humans, their history and their destiny.

Until one day, when certain superintelligences surpassing human beings, such as the descension of the God of Disorder, end this cycle.

Order was about to collapse, and the sleeping king was about to awaken.

Ethan ordered all the humanoid worms to gather on the basement floors in case they scared the humans who had not yet been infected. This central building was a city within the city and had accumulated many of the oldest residential areas and commercial streets. With the accumulation of years, layers of buildings had piled up, and the narrow corridor in the middle was filled with debris. In order to have more space, Ethan asked everyone to quickly throw the debris outside the central building. Tens of thousands of people who could not be evacuated moved at the same time and soon completed the cleaning work.

At the same time, the news arrived from the human soldiers that they had finished the preparations and the energy released by the nuclear reactor had been stored in the main body of the enormous spaceship, which had laid dormant for decades before being transformed into the central building. This huge monster, which was deeply buried in the building floor, was resurrected. A roaring sound came from beneath their feet, sending tremors through people’s bones. The cries of the children could be clearly heard, even from far above.

Ethan asked the private through the walkie-talkie, “How long will it take to take off?”

“Less than an hour. However, because there are so many buildings around us, I don’t know how much damage the ship will incur as the city collapses during the takeoff.” The other party’s voice was tense, and it was apparent he was very nervous.

Ethan said, “Just try your best.”

Ethan left the observation room high up and walked slowly through the crowd. When people saw him, they had a strange expression of fear and dependence. They all staggered back, trying to stay away from him. As he walked past, only a little girl with big eyes didn’t hide from his gaze. She looked up at him curiously, and Ethan squatted down to look at her with a faint smile.

“What’s your name?” His heart had softened, and his voice was very gentle.

When she saw him smile, she began to laugh, revealing the gap in her front teeth. However, before she could answer, a woman who was probably her mother rushed over, picking her up and apologizing to Ethan before she ran back into the crowd.

Ethan shrugged. He had gotten used to the feeling of being feared by others, others feeling disgusted by him, and others being dependent on him. He even felt some enjoyment from it.

Some knelt on the roadside to worship him, calling him the Great Evil God and praying for his forgiveness. These people were believers of the Lord Grace’s Association. Ethan didn’t like them at all and didn’t even spare a glance at them.

Ethan didn’t dodge and let the saliva stick to his cheek. He raised his hand, slowly wiped it off, and lowered his eyes, showing a somewhat lonely expression.

“You’re right.” Ethan looked at him with an apologetic expression, raised his hand, and looked at his black fingernails. “But I can’t die. I promised someone that I’d live well.”

He had to live to see the sunset. If they were lucky, they could probably go together.

Then, they could embrace, and everything in the universe would return to chaos and nothingness.

That was the most perfect ending he could imagine for himself.

“The spaceship will take off in ten minutes. Please prepare for the impact when the city collapses,” the voice of the private rang out from the broadcasting speakers in the central building, and the crowd immediately grew louder. People were worried and did not understand what the so-called impact of the city’s collapse was. Ethan yelled at everyone nearby who could hear him, “Grab anything solid you can find near you and lie on the ground!”

People were conversing with one another, and many people who were closer to Ethan took the lead in getting down. Ethan suddenly felt a sort of impending heat, one that felt deadly.

It seemed that the nuclear strike was approaching. He hoped that they would make it in time.

After all, he did not want to float alone in the dark universe. If that happened, he couldn’t return to Earth, and he couldn’t find the man in black.

Ethan, the only one standing in the middle of the crowd, suddenly shot out countless black tentacles of different shapes from his back. He turned the tentacles into a group of blooming black fireworks that seemed to be able to extend forever. Along with the sound of the wind, they instantly inserted themselves into the surrounding buildings belonging to the body of the spaceship, like a complex cobweb, while Ethan was the black spider in the center of the cobweb.

He was lifted into the air by the force of tentacles. The next moment, a huge roar and violent tremors that surpassed the most terrifying earthquake on Earth occurred. People on the ground were thrown around like balls due to the shockwave, and they were almost unable to stabilize their bodies.

Blue flames spurted out from all directions, and the monstrous buildings in the distance collapsed like building blocks in the face of the huge energy source. The smoke and dust gathered to form a rolling tsunami, quickly covering everything like a spring tide. However, in the central building, or the interior of the spacecraft, few buildings collapsed. They were caught in the net of tentacles. Ethan, who was in the center, was suffering from tearing pain. His face was slightly pale, and his forehead was sweating. Black blood bubbled out of his back and trickled down his ankles to the ground.

With the rampant injection of nuclear fuel, the spacecraft was gradually freed from the shackles of countless steel buildings. In the air, the city split up into pieces in an instant with a mighty roar. Without the support of an energy source, the atmosphere that originally enveloped the whole space station quickly dissipated, and the dark universe unfolded in front of everyone. Countless pieces of reinforced concrete were floating in the universe, hitting the shell of the central building. The hard shell made of ancient aerospace materials groaned in bursts, causing everyone to be alarmed.

The spaceship’s protective cover flickered a few times before it finally stabilized. Thereafter, the impact got smaller. However, the gravity system was so unstable that people would sometimes float up and sometimes fall heavily on the ground. The panicked cries for help mixed together messily. People had to hold onto the poles or columns beside them, or even Ethan’s tentacle that were firmly fixed between the buildings, so as not to float into the air and fall down again.

After about five minutes, the gravity field finally stabilized, and Ethan was finally relieved. There were many deep lacerations on his back that cut all the way to his bones, and blood had soaked his clothes. However, his super-healing ability kept him from suffering any life-threatening injuries. He slowly relaxed his tentacles, returned them into his body, and slowly returned to the ground.

Although many people had held onto his tentacles as tightly as they were grasping onto a life-saving straw in the panic just now, when he landed, people who had been lying near him quickly retreated like they were avoiding the god of pestilence.

Ethan didn’t mind that. He understood their fear. They feared that he would turn them into insects.

Maybe he had to wait until almost everyone in the Milky Way had turned into similar creatures for people to want to transform into insects themselves willingly. Ethan knew that day was not far away.

Less than eight hours after their spaceship left the original path of orbit, they saw a shocking flash in the distance. It was an explosion strong enough to destroy everything. If they hadn’t left right away, they would already have disintegrated.

People gathered in front of the nano glass that stood on each floor, staring at their disappearing home. Many people who weren’t mentally strong sobbed intermittently, and the silent despair spread in the crowd.

They were locked in a boat with a group of terrifying monsters, and their government had abandoned them.

Because there were too many people, they couldn’t fly in warp drive, so it would be easy for the pursuers sent by the government to catch up to them. They had to hide themselves. After the soldiers got together to discuss, they decided to turn off the mainframe and all communication functions and manually sail in the direction of Earth. It would be impossible for a spaceship to leave the solar system without the stealth function. Now that the plague was spreading on Earth, its small population was getting even smaller. The army had mostly withdrawn, so it would be better for them to take the chance to head to Earth.

However, Ethan wouldn’t go with them. He was still planning to head to the Fifth Space Station.

Even though he knew it was a trap, he still decided to go. The Fifth Space Station was his hometown. Although he heard that the whole station was isolated because of the plague, he still wanted to go back and see what his home had become.

Most importantly, he needed to see his father again. There were too many things he didn’t understand, and only his father could give him answers.

What was more, he should be able to divert the attention of the Earth Union from the spacecraft making up the Seventh Space Station. This was so that the ship full of strange insects and people could smoothly cross the barren sea of stars and approach Earth quietly.

He would take one of the few escape ships left in the escape capsule hidden in the spaceship to leave. Before leaving, he especially entered the “basement” where all the insects were living. In the dark underground floors of the central building, the black insects had occupied every crevice in the broad ground, walls, and ceiling. They lay crisscrossed, intertwined and wriggled as they mated and multiplied. Darkness didn’t make them feel afraid or sad. On the contrary, they liked the darkness the same way fish like water. They still held strong feelings of respect for Ethan, and it was the kind of emotion carved into the instincts of creations towards their creator. Ethan told them that during the voyage, they could dive into the upper floors to look for meat, but they could not hurt or infect humans unless they were asked to be infected.

The bugs were not satisfied with his orders, but none of them dared to question them.

Ethan also told them that the above orders were invalid if the human beings showed any aggressive behavior, and they could do anything to those people. However, the premise was that it must be human beings who unilaterally provoked and attempted to hurt them, not them deliberately provoking and intimidating human beings until they attacked them.

The insects coughed cheerfully, and their sticky bodies rubbed and twined with each other happily.

The escape ship shot out of the huge and ancient spaceship of the Seventh Space Station like a silent meteor. Ethan didn’t let anyone but the soldiers know that he had left. He sat in the narrow cockpit, surrounded by a vast, starry universe. He seemed to have returned to his mother’s womb, to his own existence. In this boundless universe, every planet became as small and meaningless as dust.

He felt very tired, like a piece of duckweed without roots. He didn’t know where he would float to in the end. In this deserted escape boat, he finally showed a trace of boredom. His head leaned against the headrest, and he closed his eyes.

He did not dare to fall asleep for fear that he would be found by the gods of Order after he fell asleep. However, the drowsiness hit him in layers, causing him to be unable to resist it.

Unconsciously, he found himself in a familiar place.

It was the green pool that was as flat as a mirror, with some wine red ring-shaped leaves floating on it. Shrubs grew around the pool, their translucent blue and purple leaves overlapping. There was a giant tree with rose-red heart-shaped leaves as big as a human hand forming the magnificent canopy. On this tree, many light white silk strings hung on its branches, fluttering with the breeze.

Dressed in black, Ethan stood in the middle of the pool. His bare feet were just slightly dipped in the water, and it seemed that the entirety of him was floating atop the pool.

Ethan blinked in bewilderment, and his heartbeat accelerated.

This was the dreamland created for him by Tanisiel previously. Whenever his consciousness entered a dangerous zone, the priest would place his mind in this beautiful dreamland. This was a safe harbor for Ethan.

He thought he would never return to this harbor.

The priest’s aura was still lingering in the wind, blowing towards him through the treetops and rippling in the water. The faint scent of bitter sandalwood made Ethan’s eyes sour, and he felt like crying.

Why, why was he back here?

Ethan looked around, his feet disturbing the calm surface of the pond. He ran through the water, and the water splashed around and wet his clothes. He approached the tree and looked around, but he could not find anyone.

“Tanisiel!!” he cried out, knowing that no one would answer him, but he still couldn’t help himself.

“Tanisiel!!! Come back! You come back!” he cried in vain, voice hoarse. He leaned against the thick old tree and sat down slowly with black tears on his face. He wanted to wipe his tears, but he saw his black claw-like nails and the winding black lines on the back of his hand. He closed his eyes, thinking of what he had become and whether Tanisiel could recognize him.

Would Tanisiel hope for him to become his current state? Or would he fear and dislike him like other human beings?

He had done so many things. If he still couldn’t find the only ray of sunshine that could save him in the end, what was the significance of all this?

He wiped away his black tears and raised his head. Through his blurred vision, he vaguely saw a white figure on the opposite side of the pond.

A touch of gold, shining in the beautiful light.

Ethan sucked in a breath of cold air and suddenly opened his eyes. He was stunned for a long time, staring at the dashboard in front of him. He reluctantly closed his eyes again and wanted to return to the dream, but the more anxious he was, the less sleepy he grew.

He opened his eyes angrily, smashing his hand on the dashboard, and bowed his head to utter a long series of curses. He scratched his hair and buried his head between his hands, trying to recall the short dream.

Who was the white shadow in the dream? Was that Tanisiel?

Ethan attentively tried to probe the broken soul bond, which still remained silent……

Therefore, he wasn’t sure whether it was his own subconscious or……did he really see the priest?