Apocalypse Forecast

A moment later, the sweeping snake tail snapped in two another pouncing erosive entity right at its center, its momentum undiminished.

Immediately, the python was flung behind, screaming in fury, unable to keep up with the chase.

Inside the vehicle, the two were thoroughly drenched in foul-smelling blood. Before Shen Yue could even scream, he heard Huai Shi's excited shout.

"What the hell are you happy about!" Shen Yue cried, tears of anger nearly bursting from his eyes.

"Doesn't this, doesn't this feel like playing an arcade shooting game!" Excitedly, Huai Shi turned back and asked, "You know, the kind that costs three coins per play in the arcade... I've never played one before! I didn't expect it to be this thrilling!"

"Enough is enough!" Shen Yue screamed. "Stop playing, okay? If we can really get back, I'll buy you a home console; you can play whatever you want!"

"Alright, it's a deal then!" The moment Huai Shi heard about a free gaming console, his eyes lit up like headlights. "Just remember to be a bit more cautious later. Let me handle anything that comes up, and be sure not to die..."

"Is this really the time to discuss this!" Shen Yue moaned in despair. "There's more coming up ahead!"

Gazing at the group of mutated creatures scrambling to pounce, Huai Shi shook his head and sighed, "Doesn't this mean... we've found the right place?"

In the depths of darkness, a flute-like sound suddenly arose. It was impossible to tell if it was a willow flute or some other strange instrument. The sound was neither melodious nor sharp; rather, it resembled the sound of chewing, making one wonder how they even made such an association.

Yet, amidst the bizarre, low sound, the smaller mutated creatures began to tremble violently before suddenly bursting open. Before Huai Shi and the others could feel any relief, they saw black, seemingly sentient blood gush from the creatures' bodies. This blood seeped into the carapaces of the larger monsters nearby, stimulating the growth of even more mutated organs and making them appear increasingly ferocious.

That ghastly substance was reminiscent of the erosive entities that parasitized corpses. More importantly, in a flash of insight, the image of the black liquid Qi Yuan had drunk appeared before Huai Shi's eyes. It was as translucent as black crystal, exuding a chilling aura.

"So that's what it was?" he murmured, patting Shen Yue on the shoulder. "Faster! We need to hurry!"

Shen Yue, panting, roared painfully, "You do it if you're so capable!"

"HAHAHA." Huai Shi swiftly reloaded the magazine and aimed forward. "Isn't it because I have more important... work to do!"

At that instant, the horde of beasts collided with the railcar.

Amidst the violent tremors and roaring gunfire, it was hard to imagine progressing this way—it was like riding over tracks made of flesh and blood. In the frenzied shaking, Shen Yue squeezed his eyes shut in terror, screaming as he pedaled the railcar with all his might.

Immediately after, he smelled the stench of plasma and the rising, vile odor of gunpowder smoke. Viscous liquid splashed onto his body, and explosions boomed continuously from the front and rear. And the pull of the trigger was followed by a continuous, thunderous roar.

The erosive entities madly pounced, one after another, clambering onto the railcar. However, they were immediately pulverized by sweeping gunfire and cleaving blades and axes, then dragged beneath the wheels to be ground into mincemeat.

Cries of agony and shrieks echoed continuously.

Thanks to the Old Q's House, thanks to He Luo, thanks to the Theravada Tantra Dual Sword Technique.

Empowered by the Whetstone, thunder radiated from Huai Shi's arms out to his sides as his blade slashed, cutting the malformed lizard that had climbed onto the railcar in two. Not giving its severed head a chance to fly up and bite, Huai Shi kicked the lizard's body into the pile of rats behind him. Then, he casually wedged his axe into the head of a frenzied wild dog, listening to the satisfying crunch of its skull shattering.

Just like cracking a golden egg.

Huai Shi roared, exerting all his might, swinging the weapon in his hand and slashing again at the enemies charging from the front.

In a daze, the innumerable beasts seemed to transform into a veritable ocean. A torrent swept over them, with creatures constantly trying to leap onto the railcar like a surging tide. The acrid plasma became crashing waves, and bones turned into treacherous reefs and obstacles.

The small railcar seemed to have turned into a little sampan.

They were traveling on the sea of death.

But everything became very simple. Since it was a sea, they would sail forward. Since there were waves, he would cut through them. If there were reefs, he would ferociously tear them apart with thunder. He didn't even need to step forward; they were already plummeting straight into the dark Abyss. All he had to do was destroy the ghastly things that came before his eyes. Using his most adept methods, the ones he had experienced countless times...

Thus, the raging Yin Soul roared, the Stigma on its chest blazing with fierce light, as it slashed forward with its axe and sword, both saturated with Thunder and heart-poison. It was that simple.

In the midst of slaughter, the young man grinned, laughing heartily.

Shen Yue thought he must have gone mad. Instead of taking the opportunity to retreat, he had followed this lunatic into a dead end. Jin Mu was already dead, and he, a civilian worker who couldn't even fight, was actually trying to resolve this.

Now, as he frantically pedaled the railcar like a dog, feeling he would die from exhaustion on this wretched contraption if not bitten to death by the oncoming monsters, he heard the lunatic actually start to sing with joy.

"Hey! Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh!"

Amid the mad charge forward, viscous plasma rained down.

The gaunt figure, shrouded in flames, stood at the front of the car. Listening to the screeches and bathed in blood, he was as exuberant as if on a spring outing, singing, "O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way!"

"DING DING DANG!"

"DING DING DANG!"

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!"

Amidst the piercing shriek of the thunder cleave, he hoarsely cheered, "Hey! What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight!"

And so, red blood fell from the sky as if it would never end.

During that hellishly long minute, Shen Yue thought several times that he was dead. But soon, he would despairingly realize he wasn't, only to feel that a more miserable death awaited him.

This continued until the battered railcar finally smashed through the blockade of countless erosive entities, carving a straight, bloody path out of the fray and breaking free from the encirclement.

When he looked back, the monsters were gradually receding into the distance. But when he looked ahead to the end of the road, he couldn't help but fall into despair again, yelling, "Stop freaking singing, there's a door ahead!"

"Isn't that even better?" Huai Shi wiped the blood off his face, gripped the handrail tightly, and shouted, "We have no brakes anyway, smash through it!"

And so, amidst Shen Yue's screams, a deafening crash erupted. The half-ruined wall obstructing the tracks ahead, along with the heavy steel door mounted on it, burst open from the railcar's final, desperate impact. Losing all balance, the railcar flew off the tracks, spinning in midair. It scattered still-wet blood and the fragments of flesh and bone caught in its wheels in all directions.

The two tumbled into the dust, feeling as if every bone in their bodies was broken. The railcar finally slammed to the ground, crashing headlong into the platform and shattering into pieces. Countless broken parts clattered against the stone, like the pleasant chimes of a radio announcement.

Even at the very last moment, it remained faithful to its duty, using its mangled frame to remind them:

—We've arrived.

Shen Yue scrambled up from the ground, battered and bruised on his face and hands. He looked down at the teenager beside him, who couldn't get up, and felt an overwhelming urge to strangle this menace then and there.

"Are you *really* a First Stage Sublimator?" he yelled, angrily grabbing Huai Shi's collar. "What makes you so damn reckless? Do you have any idea how many times we almost died back there?"

"It's just death. You'll get used to it," Huai Shi said, waving a dismissive hand as Shen Yue hauled him up. "Besides, didn't we make it through? Relax, relax... standard procedure."

"Standard my ass!" Shen Yue glared at him. "What the hell are you trying to pull? Even if you have a death wish, don't drag me down with you!"

Meeting Shen Yue's gaze, which was a mixture of terror and concern, Huai Shi paused, then couldn't help but laugh. "You know, when I first received my Stigma, someone asked me what I wanted to do after gaining power..." He thought for a moment and said earnestly, "For an instant, I thought I could become a hero."

"Most heroes are dead!"

"Then the goal is not to die, right?" Huai Shi stretched out his hand to pry open Shen Yue's fingers. He supported himself against the wall, struggling to maintain his balance, looking as if he might fall at any moment.

BOOM!

In the silence, a faint rumbling sounded from above their heads. Immediately after, the space around them seemed to tremble, and faint cracks appeared.

The Mirror World covering Current Circumstances was in turmoil.

Shen Yue paused for a moment, then quickly raised his wrist. He stared intently at his phone's shattered screen, his eyes widening in elation at the message displayed there.

"The strike team from the Social Security Bureau has arrived!" He practically danced with joy, counting the illuminated green dots on the map. "Seven, eight, nine... twelve Sublimators! I knew they wouldn't abandon us!"

"Where are they?" Huai Shi asked, sounding even more anxious than Shen Yue.

"They'll be here soon!" Shen Yue was overjoyed. "They're splitting up to take them down one by one! They'll reach us in half an hour!"

"UHH..." Huai Shi glanced awkwardly at the platform behind them. "Old Shen, in half an hour, we'll probably be stone-cold dead..." He paused, swallowing. "But at least now I know why Jin Mu ended up in the clutches of those erosive entities."

In the dim light of the phone, a gigantic shadow on the platform was illuminated, along with a pair of blood-red eyes as large as car headlights.

Sprawled on the stairs leading to the upper level lay a behemoth the size of a truck. It was impossible to tell if it was a wolf, a lion, or a tiger, as it possessed too many mutated organs and features. Though the fur on its body had fallen out, revealing enormous pustules underneath, its head was covered in scales. Its massive jaws, constantly opening and closing, revealed a chaotic array of teeth that glinted like iron.

Between its teeth, Huai Shi saw Jin Mu's mutilated arm. The grotesque creature was rolling it around on its tongue, gnawing on it like a chew toy.

As the Giant Wolf caught their astonished gazes, a hint of mockery flashed in its eyes. The amusement of watching a show faded, replaced by hunger and ferocity.

Huai Shi felt they were doomed.