Chapter 1223: The Last Victim

A rumbling roar echoed from behind the rift.

Having lost the forced support of the Turbid Calamity root, the gray rift suspended in the air repaired itself at a speed visible to the naked eye. The small roots clinging to the surface also began to retract rapidly, retreating toward the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest.

Even now, the horror in everyone’s eyes hadn't faded in the slightest.

Sun Bumian’s kick that had pierced through heaven and earth was like it had been branded into everyone’s minds, impossible to shake off...

It was the first time Chen Ling had seen Sun Bumian fight with such an invincible posture. But since he clearly had the strength to fight a world-ending calamity one-on-one, why had he never shown it in the Nine Monarchs era?

No, if one carefully compared the Sun Bumian of the two eras, they would find that the Sun Bumian of the Nine Monarchs era seemed much more timid, always saying, "If the calamity doesn't provoke me, I won't provoke the calamity..." When Chen Ling first met him, Sun Bumian would calculate where there was danger and stay far away, showing none of the fearlessness of the version of him in this era.

Sun Bumian in the air saw the rift about to heal and that the Turbid Calamity no longer had the ability to strike across the boundary. With a thought, the reincarnation power gathered around him dissipated rapidly...

His aura began to drop, and his face turned visibly pale.

For the first time, pain appeared in Sun Bumian’s eyes. He forced himself to take a deep breath, and his figure flickered and disappeared from the sky, staggering.

"We... survived?"

Fu Kun finally snapped back to reality, joy at surviving the disaster appearing in his eyes.

The Turbid Calamity didn't pursue, and the other calamities of the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest didn't follow either. They walked all the way toward the hillside hotel under the protection of the starlight. Whether it was the civilians or the inheritors escorting them, their hanging hearts finally settled.

However, the moment the rift was about to close completely, a sudden change occurred again!

Just as everyone was relaxing due to the Turbid Calamity’s retreat, a thin, long root whipped out like lightning from the rift that was about to heal. In an instant, it broke through the sky and flew precisely toward a direction in the crowd!

Its speed was too fast, like a vengeful and furious avenger. Even the air was instantly exploded. By the time Chen Ling and Ying Fu reacted, the root had already flown to the end of the line behind them...

"Damn it!!" Chen Ling’s heart sank.

At the same time,

Chu Changqing, who was being carried on Su Zhiwei’s shoulder and moving forward slowly, suddenly felt a chill rise from the back of his head. An unprecedented sense of life-and-death crisis surged into his heart!!

He had no time to think. The intuitive instinct brought to him by being a half-tree man made him react subconsciously.

"Look out!!"

Chu Changqing pushed hard, using his thick branch-like arms to shove Su Zhiwei directly. Su Zhiwei, already exhausted, was pushed away and stumbled, nearly falling to the ground...

She was stunned for a moment, then turned back with a furrowed brow.

The next moment, she saw the last root from the depths of the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest wrap around the fallen Chu Changqing like lightning, wrapping around his body and dragging him back toward the rift!

"Chu Changqing!!!" Su Zhiwei and Lu Xun shouted simultaneously!

But the root’s speed was too fast, and its strength was immense. Even with the half-tree man Chu Changqing in its grip, it didn't slow down in the slightest. Crossing several kilometers, it was about to swallow him back into the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest.

A figure in a bright red opera robe rushed out rapidly!

Chen Ling pushed his speed to the limit, chasing madly after the root, and countless questions surged directly into his mind.

He didn't understand... why, at this point, would the Turbid Calamity still attack Chu Changqing? And looking at this posture, the opponent wanted to capture Chu Changqing alive. What exactly did it want to do?

"Director Chen..."

Chu Changqing, wrapped in the root, looked through the narrow gap at Chen Ling chasing rapidly. The desire to survive flowed in his eyes, and he struggled to lift his branch-like arm, trying to reach out to Chen Ling.

Even if Chen Ling pushed his speed to the limit, he could barely keep up with the speed at which the root was retreating. He also raised his hand, trying hard to grab Chu Changqing’s figure...

But the next moment,

the root, clutching Chu Changqing’s figure, shrank directly back behind the rift.

The rift healed rapidly and finally dissipated without a trace. Chen Ling’s figure rushed past its position, but in the end, he only grasped at emptiness...

The bright red opera robe fluttered in the air, and Chen Ling stood frozen in place.

Chu Changqing, one of the Nine Monarchs...

Was taken away by the Turbid Calamity??

This was a situation Chen Ling had never anticipated. The situation that had been improving through Chen Ling’s efforts plummeted in an instant!

He had thought he had saved several of the Nine Monarchs and established good relationships with them, but now everything had changed. Chu Changqing had been taken away by the Turbid Calamity, and with his current self, there was absolutely no power to resist. Moreover, the intersection of the two worlds hadn't officially begun yet, so even if he wanted to save someone, there was no opportunity.

Heaven knows what Chu Changqing would experience in the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest during this time? Would he live or die??

Although Chen Ling had guessed that everything in the era archive was likely a predetermined past, he had no evidence. If it was truly his interference that caused Chu Changqing’s fate trajectory to change, or even led to the death of one of the Nine Monarchs, then he would truly become a sinner for the ages.

"Chu Changqing..."

Chen Ling looked at the emptiness before him and muttered to himself.

……

Underground project.

Figures were guided by staff and military personnel, rapidly descending deep underground along the expanded stairs.

In just over ten minutes, Sun Zhongliang had mobilized all the portable lighting equipment in the base to pave this staircase with light, making it convenient for all survivors to enter the shelter from here. The medical staff on the side were busy and overwhelmed, constantly screening the seriously injured in the crowd and dragging them down one after another for emergency treatment. The entry of batch after batch of survivors kept the entire underground project running at overcapacity.

Sun Zhongliang stood in the stone corridor, watching one survivor after another, covered in blood or with dazed expressions, being led into the underground project, his gaze incredibly complex...

"Is this all?"

"What?" The staff member beside him was stunned.

"Until now... are there only this many survivors?"

"...Yes, we only have this one emergency entrance."

"How many people have been taken in total?"

"So far, a total of over 24,000." The staff member paused. "The casualties outside are quite heavy, and during the retreat, some who were too seriously injured or unable to move on their own didn't make it here..."

Only twenty-something thousand so far...

This number was far less than Sun Zhongliang had anticipated. He could almost imagine what the outside looked like now—a purgatory. What kind of disaster must they have experienced to cause such terrifying casualties?

"...I want to go up and see," Sun Zhongliang suddenly said.