Apocalypse Forecast

After seeing that signature, the old woman completely descended into madness, muttering something incoherently under her breath. A lot of what she said was earthy Russian Federation dialect, along with even more curses and abuse.

Quickly, she clutched the piece of paper tightly, her eyes bloodshot, and without paying any heed to Yin Yan and Huai Shi, she charged straight into the cabin.

In her hands, the chicken that had long been dead already had its neck wrung by her, and thick blood dripped all along the floor beneath her feet.

Yin Yan didn't dare to stay alone with Huai Shi, so he hurriedly followed. Huai Shi also followed from a distance, wanting to know what she was going to do, and why that name triggered such a strong reaction from the old woman.

Soon, he saw it. In the dining room, the madwoman was entangled with her poor brother, and her shrill voice could be heard even from a distance.

"You lied to me! You've always been lying to me!"

She seemed insane as she violently shook her brother, who seemed close to his last breath due to age, and screamed angrily, "You know about the curse, you know! You know what we're going to face, you liar! Why did you bring me here?!"

And the poor old man, originally sitting in his wheelchair, was just eating porridge with a spoon. Now, being jerked and shaken like this, he couldn't catch his breath, and he choked violently, his face turning purple.

Even oatmeal sprayed out of his nostrils.

Huai Shi watched from afar, completely unable to understand. What exactly is the deal with that name?

"That's the name of the White Crown King, Huai Shi."

In his mind, came Ai Qing's weary sigh. "That was a message personally written by the White Crown King, just like the letter you received... From the moment we boarded the ship, we had already fallen into the White Crown King's plan."

Huai Shi paused for a moment, then felt as though he had plummeted into an ice cave.

What had he done to deserve being targeted by such a prominent figure? Let alone being targeted, he would die just from such an important person glancing at him, and he wouldn't even have the chance to catch his breath. Why bother?

"I remember you carry alchemy tools with you, right?" Ai Qing suddenly asked. "Can you make an atomizer?"

That was simple; both Huai Shi and his Van Essen persona were capable of it. After all, it was a basic consumable needed for alchemy.

"Good, I need you to go back now, immediately, and follow my instructions to craft something..."

After hearing this, Huai Shi couldn't help but stand there dumbfounded. Is there really any necessity for such a thing?

"To verify a hypothesis, hurry, Huai Shi, hurry," Ai Qing murmured hoarsely. "We don't have much time left."

A quarter of an hour later, Huai Shi returned to the dining room.

Making the atomizer was quite simple; it didn't even require fire, just a simple mixing of several powders and liquids. If one didn't aim for the ultimate effect, even the proportions weren't too strict.

As soon as he entered, he saw Old Xiao and the others in the corner, watching their surroundings nervously. Seeing Huai Shi, they motioned for him to come over.

The dining room was nearly full at this point.

The noise of the crowd was deafening.

After all, following their initial panic, passengers instinctively sought the warmth of the group. They converged towards crowded areas, even if they couldn't trust each other, and aimlessly exchanged opinions and unreliable rumors.

Though they had lost all of the crew, fortunately, after an inspection, they discovered that there was an abundant supply of food, enough to sustain them for over half a year at sea. The only catch was that they would have to cook it themselves.

The ship, however, continued on its course.

As if it had entered an unmanned mode, it continued sailing towards its destination, even accelerating after the crew no longer had control.

Now, they were amidst the vast Pacific Ocean, with no way to retreat.

While passing through the crowd, Huai Shi saw Yin Yan, who was still keeping close to the old lady, showering her with flattery as if it didn't cost a thing—he seemed hell-bent on clinging to this somewhat dated 'Gold Thigh'.

But he did not see that girl named Hela; he did not know where she had gone.

Once seated, Huai Shi saw the complex expressions on Old Xiao's and Lei Feizhou's faces. He no longer concealed anything and straightforwardly revealed the intelligence: "All the crew members are Artificial Humans, and the captain had a manuscript to read from, signed by the White Crown King."

The amount of information was overwhelming; the shock of it was so sudden that Old Xiao and Lei Feizhou couldn't react.

While they were still stunned, a dull thud suddenly emanated from a corner of the dining room, as if a bottle in a bag had shattered. Immediately after, a wisp of silver mist sprayed out, wildly spreading in the wind that blew in from outside the window.

It was silver nitrate.

Huai Shi had used half of his stock for this. It was a silver-containing liquid potent enough to kill a vampire. As it dispersed with the atomizer's burst, the whole hall was covered. Yet, the concentration was diluted to the point that it was like just having tasted a spoonful of mustard.

Huai Shi did not know what Ai Qing ultimately wanted to do, but he chose to follow through regardless. Now, as the mist spread, severe coughing fits resounded continuously.

Huai Shi subconsciously pulled up his collar to cover his face—not to protect himself from the poisonous gas, but to safeguard against revealing his elongated canines stimulated by the silver poison.

But then, he saw...

Under that shroud of silver mist that would only irritate dark creatures, pair after pair of crimson eyes lit up throughout the dining room...

Everywhere he looked, he saw those ferocious red glows.

As the silver mist eroded away some of the more fragile disguises, cracks formed, leaking a vile stench, like that of blood plasma, and exuding a pure, dark presence.

In that instant, Huai Shi finally realized.

It wasn't just a few of them that were monsters hiding amongst the crowd.

The entire ship... every passenger, was a Dark Creature!

In an instant, those previously numb, aged, or dull faces became animated and malicious, and eyes that had been downcast or heavy with twilight now shot forth the cold light of Predators.

All the lies were torn apart in that instant, along with their disguises.

As if they had not anticipated such an outcome.

Everyone remained frozen in place.

Only Huai Shi heard Ai Qing's sigh. So it is indeed the case...

The moment KP mentioned the year 1620, she should have thought of it.

—1620, was precisely on the eve of the establishment of the American Genealogy!

By that time, the Morning Star—once the Vice King of Heavenly Kingdom and later the White Crown King—had already sailed across the ocean. He founded his own territory on the new continent, a paradise for the oddities.

Unfortunately, that paradise was just as empty and desolate as Hell and Heaven.

Huai Shi heard Ai Qing's hoarse whisper, "And on this ship, all the people… I'm afraid… were selected by him for the American Genealogy."

An instant of deathly silence.

Then, an even more tumultuous uproar swallowed everything.

Chaos arrived.

Originally, Huai Shi thought that this might be some dangerous scheme from Paracelsus. For example, using a ship full of people to create an artificial Philosopher's Stone. Yet, it never occurred to him that this had transcended a local gang leader's criminal plan, nor was it something that Van Essen—his current persona, a mere tool—could intervene in. Suddenly, it had escalated to an international level—and was even more wildly exaggerated than that!

For a moment, he had no idea what to do.

It couldn't be like this, could it? Even if you were recruiting for a club, it was just about setting up a table in the university square, then handing out some freebies asking the underclassmen to stop by. How did it suddenly turn into forceful recruiting? Simply boarding a ship and changing nationality—who can tolerate this! Moreover, I'm still undercover!

"Doesn't this bastard fear that he might recruit a 'second fifth,' who'll stab him in the back when the time comes?" Huai Shi asked in a low voice.

"Do not try to guess what such people might plan, Huai Shi, because there is no point. Their perspective is already different from us mere mortals. Even fate and time are but playthings to them."

"And yet he still gives boat tickets to a 'second fifth' like Van Essen?"

"It can only indicate one thing," said Ai Qing indifferently. "When he issued that ticket, he had already determined that Van Essen would become a part of the American Genealogy, genuinely following by his side..."

That instant, Huai Shi felt a chill run down his spine.

Was all this truly within the control of the White Crown King? If it included the feud between Van Essen and Paracelsus, then… did it also include himself, who had returned to this ship after four to five hundred years? Were those kings who transcended time coldly witnessing this farcical charade from the end of time?

While he pondered, the din and chaos in the dining room had already spread.

As everyone's true faces hidden beneath their exteriors were exposed, the resulting chaos evolved from initial shocked questioning to shoving and fighting.

Especially for dark creatures who inherently knew no concession or understanding, the situation grew increasingly intense…

Until a scream came from by the window.

Everyone turned around in shock.

They saw the glow of the sunrise.

So warm, so tender, shining on the blue sea, revealing the glittering waves, combined with the gentle sea breeze, it was simply a perfect start to the day.

But quickly, Huai Shi noticed something was off.

The light was rapidly dimming.

From the initial softness, it faded to the point of a flickering flame in the wind.

And what was even more terrifying, the slowly rising sun was now beginning to fall!

It was as if, remembering that today was a vehicle restriction day, the sun that had just left the house started reversing into the garage, gradually withdrawing its radiance from the world, until at last, it vanished beneath the horizon in an instant.

Time reversed.

The darkness before dawn arrived.

But this time, no daylight dawned anew.

The night enveloped everything.

The colossal cruise ship shuddered suddenly, and a booming noise erupted. It sailed in the darkness, racing upon the lightless sea, as if slowly sinking into the Abyss.

In the dining room, silence arrived.

The endless darkness did not offer a shred of comfort to these creatures that thrived in the dark; on the contrary, a deep-seated fear welled up in everyone's hearts.

What followed was a sudden realization—perhaps, because the redeeming sun had abandoned them.

This world was looking on indifferently at their struggling figures.

Laughing wickedly while awaiting death to descend upon their heads.