Apocalypse Forecast

The taxi soon started to speed up and drive away.

Like a phantom, it merged into the thin fog and quickly moved forward.

In the empty space where the taxi had been, several grim figures gradually appeared.

"Did he see us?" the leader asked, frowning.

"Impossible," the Sublimator carrying a huge backpack said. "Our invisibility devices are Dark Gold Level items. Within the coverage of the Joyful Framework, it's impossible for anyone to detect us... It must just be sharp intuition."

"Are we sure it's him?"

"Absolutely! There's no mistake!"

A resentful female voice answered, "That face I will never forget... Now that I know his name and face, as long as he's in Xiematai, he can't escape the range of my Ability."

In the group, someone hesitated for a moment. "Didn't you see his performance last night? That guy is more troublesome than we originally thought."

"You were just overconfident, weren't you?"

The female voice scoffed, "That guy has at least four Border Relics and one Dark Gold Level item in his hands, and now he's got a Legion Contract from Paradise... If he weren't troublesome, how could a lone Sublimator be so strong?"

The leader was silent for a moment before speaking, "Miss Lin, we accepted your family's hiring not to come here for your revenge but to help you rank in the competition. If you insist on this, we might..."

"Keep all the items you get for yourselves," Miss Lin said indifferently, glancing at him. "I don't want a single one, and I can even give you another blueprint of the Spirit Coffin."

"..."

The team leader hesitated. Even if the Dark Gold Level items under the Joyful Framework couldn't be taken out, the Border Relics and Legion Contracts they acquired here were genuine. For their Border organization, this was an irresistible temptation. Besides, every piece of equipment on Huai Shi was a rare treasure...

After a long silence, the team leader looked at his subordinates, they exchanged glances, and finally reached a consensus.

"Deal..."

***

As the taxi drove quietly, Yuan Zhao lay on the back seat, fast asleep, but Huai Shi felt a persistent unease.

The warnings from his Death Perception kept nagging him, hinting that danger was slowly approaching, but he could never pinpoint the source of this crisis. He could only stay vigilant and secretly on guard.

In the silence, streams of Source Substance continually cycled back and forth between Huai Shi and Nibelungen. This caused the tiny darkness within the ring to constantly transform, with countless intricate internal structures continuously replacing one another.

When Huai Shi immersed his mind in it, he felt countless hubs, vast as mountains, colliding with each other, rising or falling with a roar, changing shapes.

Finally, under the Source Injection of the Mountain Ghost, the darkness surged, and a familiar aura emerged from within...

It seemed like... a Yin Soul?

He widened his eyes incredulously. It truly was a Yin Soul; even if it was just in its embryonic form, the essence, so familiar it felt ingrained in his bones, hadn't changed at all.

What the hell?

He frowned, pondering for a long time but gained no insight. Finally, he could only ask in the Book of Fate, "Hello? Are you there?"

No one responded.

"Not there?" Huai Shi frowned and rolled down the window, taking out the keychain Raven had given him from his pocket. "Then I'm going to throw this keychain away."

"Wait!"

A voice came online immediately. "Little brother, don't be in such a hurry. It's a token of someone's Intention; how can you just throw it away like that?"

"Intention?"

Huai Shi sneered, shaking the keychain forcefully and feeling the slosh of water inside—This thing is basically an ink bottle!

Considering Raven's current form was literally a blob of ink, how could Huai Shi be unaware of where she was? She must have been screen-peeking on me since the competition started.

"I won't ask why you sneakily came in here, but what exactly is this ring?"

"It's a Legion Contract, didn't you know?"

"..." Huai Shi was speechless.

Did I call you out just for you to tell me that?

"Alright, I'll forget you're a 24K pure newbie in this regard. Let me figure out how to enlighten you on this common Border knowledge."

Raven cleared her throat, and an image of a raven wearing a mortarboard and holding a pointer popped up on the page. She posed thoughtfully for a moment before speaking, "You know that whether it's Hell's expansion or Border development, a lot of manpower is needed, right? Lone Sublimators never amount to much. And without the aid of an organization and vast resources, let alone reaching the Fifth Stage, even breaking through from the Third Stage to the Fourth Stage is as hard as ascending to the heavens."

Great...

Huai Shi rolled his eyes. This woman was going to start being mysterious and padding out her word count again.

Even so, he nodded, just wanting to know what she was trying to say.

"But now the problem arises—maintaining the Current Circumstances, managing the Border, developing Hell—each place is a bottomless pit. But does the whole world really have that many people?"

Raven waved her hand, and a number appeared on the page. "Taking into account the Current Circumstances, the Border, and the various Hells, the total number of ascended souls doesn't exceed seven million. No, seven million is already a high estimate. To be honest, it's hard to say if there are even that many."

Seven million. It might sound like a lot, but in reality... scattered throughout the vast Current Circumstances, countless Borders, and the depths of Hell so wide one can't see the bottom, they are nothing but a drop in the ocean. All together, they don't even make up the permanent population of Jinling!

Huai Shi had a deep understanding of how difficult ascension was. Even for someone like him, who already had one foot through the door, he had been stuck for seven or eight years. What about those who couldn't even find where the door was?

"Currently, aside from the Sea of Silver controlled by the Astronomical Society, the only way to ensure one hundred percent ascension is through the Spirit Coffin," Raven explained. "But whether it's the quotas from the Astronomical Society or the Spirit Coffin, both are far more troublesome and difficult than ascending on one's own.

"With just over two hundred ascension spots available yearly, it's a classic case of too many wolves and not enough meat; people are booking spots decades in advance. And the Spirit Coffin can only be used once. Given the choice between elevating a blank-slate newcomer and resurrecting the soul of a master, which would you choose?

"For ordinary people, ascension is a miracle—an unpredictable and irreplicable adventure. Countless people yearn for such an opportunity but never get it. Even now, despite various Genealogies having their own unspoken experiments and plans, ascension remains uncontrollable.

"One just has to look at the Life Spring project undertaken by the Red Gloves to understand.

"Even with the chance of ascension in the different Borders being ten times higher than in the Current Circumstances, it is still a rare and elusive, precious opportunity.

"With human resources this scarce, you could say that successfully ascending means you could pick virtually any job and be set for life. Yet, a massive gap in the workforce still exists...

"Ordinary people can still carry out daily activities within the Border, sure. But forget about Hell development. Without a soul to maintain consciousness, just one hour of exposure will absolutely lead to being mutated by the remnants in the Abyss into some kind of erosive entity."

After confirming that Huai Shi fully understood this premise, Raven nodded and continued, "Therefore, after the founding of the Astronomical Society, the initial Sublimators and all the Creators around the world joined together. Following the discovery of the phenomenon known as Stigma, the next logical development was the 'Legion.'

"And the principle and prototype it draws from... you've seen it in these past days, haven't you?"

Saying this, Raven gave a meaningful look towards Little Cat Paradise, which was gradually disappearing among the high-rises. This caused Huai Shi to frown. "Are you saying... the Abyss Horde?"

"Yes, exactly." Raven waved her hand across the pages with a look of approval, as if finding him teachable. "After all these days, you have come to understand the powerful entities within Hell, right? Don't they remind you... of something in particular?"

"..."

After a long silence, Huai Shi answered with uncertainty, "Stig... Stigma?"

Raven laughed. "You don't think Stigmata are exclusively for Sublimators, do you? Don't forget about the existence of Stigmata Relics, Huai Shi... and remember where Stigmata ultimately originated from!"

Indeed, this power, crowned with a holy name, was originally a miraculous incarnation from the Abyss!

"Setting aside the subtle connections between the Source passed down by the major Genealogies and the Abyss, as well as those goddamn studies conducted by the Gods of old," Raven spoke calmly, "are the archaeological teams from various Genealogies not continually exploring deeper into Hell to fill the gaps in their own Genealogy and discover new paths to ascension?

"—The so-called power one seeks must indeed be found in such forbidden realms!

"In some massive versions of Hell, a single Abyss Horde can represent a complete path to ascension..."

Raven tossed out this information cheerfully, glancing sideways at Huai Shi. "With them as a reference, it shouldn't be hard for you to understand the essence of the Legion Contract, right?"

"So-called Legions are the transformation of a horde, your subordinates, your vassals, your kin, an extension of miracles, a tribe bearing Stigmata..."

Seeing Huai Shi's incredulous look, Raven whistled and dropped another bombshell: "If you still can't picture it, just replace the term 'Genealogy' with 'Legion,' and you'll understand what a Legion really looks like!"

Huai Shi's mind went blank.

Only now did he realize... every complete path to ascension, besides the progression itself, hid something else—each path was, in fact, an entire Legion.

From the bottom up.

From the lowest depths to the highest heights.

Countless Sublimators, connected by the paths of ascension, congregated in one place, forming a perfect Abyss Horde!

"This is the true foundation of the seven major Genealogies, Huai Shi," Raven said softly. "The reason why there are only seven major Genealogies in the whole world today is because only these seven possess the technology and capability to create Legions from their own Genealogy.

"This includes more than just Sublimators. Within each of the seven major Genealogies, behind every complete path of ascension, at least three Abyss Hordes are hidden!

"That is the unique heritage of a Great Genealogy."