Chapter 1838 - 1837: Don’t Look Up

Main World·Beidu

Bright sunlight shone on the bustling streets as He Ao raised his hand to rub the back of his neck.

It was already past noon, and Wen Jie had arranged for the entire street to be blocked off. The Research Institute had also brought out some sealed items that could counteract the pollution and began to explore those ruins, searching for undiscovered Order cultists in the vicinity.

The whole incident started quickly and ended just as swiftly.

The streets were still bustling with people coming and going.

No one knew if it was because the ritual was disrupted or because it was past noon, but the morning’s pain had eased somewhat.

There were far fewer people rubbing their necks on the streets.

He Ao walked along the street, quietly watching the people come and go. Today seemed to be a cloudy day, with the daylight much dimmer than before.

In his thoughts, he raised his hand slightly and rubbed his brow. He always felt that something seemed off.

Buzz——

Just then, his phone rang.

It was Ye Yun, the person in charge of Nandu.

He answered the call.

"Dean He," Ye Yun’s voice quickly came from the other side of the phone, "Based on the information you provided, I conducted an investigation and found that many people in Nandu are indeed experiencing neck pain, and as time goes by, more and more people are affected."

"Have you found an organization similar to the Order God Sect?" He Ao asked in a low voice.

"I looked for that too, but I haven’t found anything yet," Ye Yun seemed puzzled on the other end of the line. "According to the data from Beidu, we also investigated the people with neck pain here and found that they haven’t been to any fixed places. Instead, they are spread across various areas in Nandu."

"You mean you can’t determine the source of their neck pain?" He Ao spoke slowly.

"That’s correct," Ye Yun replied, "We are still investigating. If there’s someone causing trouble, they’ll probably slip up sooner or later."

"Mm." He Ao nodded slightly, "Forward the information to headquarters as well. They will gather the data collected from all locations and process it."

"Okay." Ye Yun nodded slightly.

"Brother, who are you on the phone with?" At that moment, a slightly weak voice came from the side.

"It’s Dean He." Ye Yun quickly replied.

"Is Ye Ying feeling unwell?" He Ao raised his eyebrows slightly and quickly asked.

"Yes," Ye Yun seemed to have put the call on speaker, and Ye Ying’s voice came from the other end, "I seem to have caught a cold. I’m feeling dizzy, nauseous, and really uncomfortable."

"You caught a cold?" Ye Yun sounded puzzled on the other end of the line, "You hardly ever catch a cold, and Transcendents aren’t that easy to get sick. Did you get injured or come into contact with pollutants?"

"No," Ye Ying said slowly, "Sir was with me in the morning. After we parted, I came straight to you. Sir can vouch for me."

"Ye Ying was indeed with me in the morning," He Ao said slowly, then asked, "When did you start feeling unwell?"

"Actually, I felt a little unwell while you were with me in the morning, sir," Ye Ying pondered. "After you left, it got worse, and it’s been worsening since."

"You need to see a doctor. Let me find a therapist for you." Ye Yun quickly said from the other end of the phone.

"It’s just a cold, it’ll get better soon, it’s not that serious. Brother, you’re a bit too tense," Ye Ying laughed, "Colds are incurable; you can only wait for them to heal on their own. Medicine just alleviates the pain and accelerates the healing."

"You should still see a doctor." He Ao spoke slowly.

Ye Ying was silent for a moment, then reluctantly said, "Alright then."

The two seemed to leave the office, and He Ao hung up the call.

He raised his head and looked at the people coming and going on the street.

The people with erect postures naturally reached out to rub their shoulders and necks as they walked.

Regardless of age or gender.

He Ao also instinctively raised his hand to rub his own neck.

It seemed that he had been looking down for quite a while.

——

In the Center of the Desert

"Dean He." A staff member raised their head and looked at He Ao, who had just gotten off the train, and quickly walked over.

"Have the isolation procedures been completed?" He Ao asked casually as he walked forward.

"All done," the staff member raised their head, following He Ao’s steps. They asked curiously, "Dean He, what brings you here this time...?"

"I’m going to take a look at that stele." He Ao stopped in front of the isolation zone, walked through the security check, and looked out into the depths of the desert.

"Shall I take you there?" The staff member asked tentatively.

"No need," He Ao shook his head and walked briskly forward, "Extend the isolation zone further. Don’t let anyone near that stele. As for the colleagues who have previously touched the stele, try to fully isolate them, use the highest isolation procedures, and ensure all allowances are disbursed according to the highest isolation program."

"Yes!" The staff member nodded quickly, then asked softly, "Can we contact our family to assure them of our safety?"

"Apart from communication with the Research Institute and the headquarters of the sect, do not contact anyone," He Ao looked at the staff member and spoke slowly, "Everyone is working hard, but now is a dangerous time, and our actions may affect the lives of tens of thousands."

"Yes!" The staff member immediately straightened their body, standing outside the yellow inner isolation line.

"Thank you for your hard work." He Ao withdrew his gaze and stepped over the yellow isolation line, walking into the depths of the desert where solid ice had formed.

"Boss," a young man walked over, somewhat puzzled as he watched the figure disappear from view, "why can’t Dean He just take the train inside? Why go through all this at the door?"

"First, to say these words to me, and second, to show respect for our work," the staff member shook their head, "If he just bypasses us and walks in, then what’s the point of him having us do the lockdown?"

Saying this, they turned their gaze back beside the young man, "Let’s go, I sense things might escalate, we need to protect ourselves."

As the staff rejoined the crowd, He Ao’s figure delved deeper into the ice and snow, standing once again before the towering stele.

[Sky Ship Docked to the Firmament]

[Signs of the End Appear on Earth.]

[Eternal Greatness Descends from the Starry Sky,]

[The Interrupted Fate Returns to the Original Starting Point.]

Those four lines remain engraved on the stele.

He Ao had previously guessed about this prophecy. The first prophecy should be without any issue, referring to the Navigator’s advent event, something that had already passed.

For the second sentence, He Ao previously guessed that the signs of the end referred to anomalies in the Main World and the resulting natural disasters caused by these anomalies.

Now he had a new guess.

This sentence might not just refer to the situation in the Main World, but rather a ’comprehensive’ overview of a wider scope.

It points to a series of mutations and disasters.

Among them is the incident involving the Order God cultists that He Ao just encountered.

These disasters might not be purely natural phenomena but rather some kind of ’man-made,’ deliberately triggered disasters.

The purpose lies in the third line of the prophecy, ’The eternal greatness descends from the starry sky.’

These ’apocalyptic signs’ are all preludes to this eternal greatness descending.

It is also the source of Ye Ying’s ’severe cold.’

From a mysticism perspective, as someone chosen by the fate of the Main World, Ye Ying’s cold inevitably represents a certain symbol, a certain ’state’ and ’warning’ of the Main World.

As the Martial Arts Angel of the Main World, He Ao also has this ’cold’ symptom, which is the uncontrollable anxiety that has always entangled him.

This feeling of unease did not disappear after he destroyed the ritual of the God of Order; instead, it grew even stronger.

It’s as if the Main World ’sensed’ something and is frantically sending signals to him.

He Ao speculates that this thing is also related to the neck pain situations he constantly witnesses.

He Ao reached out his hand to rub his neck, but he never found the source of this uneasy feeling.

This proves that the power of the being causing this unease far exceeds him.

He is like a frog living in warm water; an existence far exceeding his comprehension is continuously heating this tank of water. He only feels uneasy from the rising temperature but cannot find the source of this unease.

Of course, this is not the first time He Ao has encountered such a situation. He already has rich experience in handling it.

The best way to deal with an invincible bully is to bring in another bully.

This is very dangerous, but indeed the only way.

Especially after the second bully has shown an intention to ’participate.’

He Ao raised his head, gazing at the stele before him, and calmly spoke, "I know you are waiting for me, won’t you say something?"

The tall stele still stood there without any change, only the lines of prophetic texts continued to flicker.

The bright sunlight shone on the stele, casting its shadow on the smooth ice surface, stretching out into a slender shadow.

This ice surface is the power extended from the Historical World, caused by Kela’s out-of-control power. Even though the passage with the Historical World has been closed, these powers still linger here.

He Ao gazed at the slender shadow, and countless thoughts flashed through his mind quickly.

The shadow stretches very long. Given the solar angle at this point, the shadow shouldn’t be elongated; it should actually be shorter than the object’s actual height.

In this light, the reappearing stele should be incredibly tall, much taller than before.

At that moment, He Ao suddenly realized he had never seen the entire stele before. His gaze always stopped at the writing on the stele. The upper part of the stele and even its top, he had never seen.

But this is unreasonable. Walking over from a distance, even if he kept his eyes level, he should roughly see the whole picture of the stele.

What went wrong?

He Ao quickly reviewed his own memory for an instant, confirming that he had no memory of the stele’s full view.

Under the influence of Super Memory Strength, the memories generated, if not tampered with, are generally flawless.

He Ao meticulously revisited the images of the stele in his memory, but for the moment detected nothing different.

Since the top of the stele wasn’t visible, there must be some limitation. Just look up, and that’ll do it.

He Ao paused slightly, then slowly raised his gaze, tilting his neck upwards.

And at that moment, he discovered his view was stuck at a position, stuck at the top of the prophecy text, unable to see the top of the stele.

Was the top of the stele too high, obscured?

Or some other influence.

He Ao reached out to touch his neck and tried to raise his gaze again but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see a higher area.

What’s going on?

He Ao lowered his head, looking at the stele before him, frowning slightly.

What went wrong?

——

Martial Arts World

He Ao’s main body surfaced from the depths of the world, and then he withdrew his gaze as the surrounding scenes swiftly changed.

An endless expanse of the Gobi Desert appeared within his field of vision.

After leaving the basement of the Order God Sect, he did not return to Antarctica, but instead found a large Gobi near Central Earth and entered the Martial Arts World.

This Gobi isn’t far from the desert where the prophetic stele is located.

He Ao reached up to touch his neck, his feet pressing against the ground.

He sensed the power of the Main World, a massive tremor generated under his feet. The earth below his feet was squeezed together, a segment of the ground was pushed out from beneath.

A dried-up mountain composed entirely of massive rocks rapidly emerged from the ground before him, shooting up into the sky like bamboo after a rainstorm.

And He Ao’s gaze also rose upward as this mountain ascended from the ground.

Yet, when his gaze reached a certain height, his view completely froze. Even though the rocky mountain was still being compressed by the earth and continued to rise, He Ao’s gaze couldn’t see any higher places.

It was as if his body reached its limit, unable to see anything beyond what was already visible.

Overall, it seemed his view was only slightly higher than the horizon, forming an angle of about a dozen degrees.

This is not reasonable.

A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

The constant unease that ensnared him grew even stronger.

But for the moment, he couldn’t figure out what was unreasonable.

He even began to gradually accept that this situation was indeed rational.

The power and position of the existence affecting him far exceeded him, leaving him unaware of any issues.

He lowered his head, gazing at the wooden leaf in his hand, and gently grasped this leaf.

Barrier Wood’s ability, no matter how strong, needs a specific target to take effect. He Ao right now does not know who or what the power affecting him is, or where it originates from.

Thinking this, He Ao used his fingers to pin down the Barrier Wood.

A faint glow extended from the wooden leaf, this time not rushing towards a specific target but towards He Ao himself.

Since he cannot determine where the target is, and since the effect is on himself, he attempts to hide himself, severing all his mysticism connections with the outside world.

At that moment, he even completely lost the perception of his clone.

And at that moment, he finally ’raised his head.’

Above the firmament, the vast blue sky was now entirely covered by a gray-white planet.

That planet was so close to this piece of land, so close that He Ao extended his hand, seemingly able to touch it.

Ruins.