Chapter 1358: Source of World-Ending

This was a handwritten work log.

"July 12: Deep Blue No. 3 is officially launched for the '?????' extermination mission. As the general manager of Deep Blue No. 3, I will have full command of this operation."

“……”

"July 13, early morning: Deep Blue No. 3 successfully dives to 600 meters. After continuous patrol and search of the target area, no signs of '?????' activity are found."

“……”

"July 13, afternoon: Deep Blue No. 3 receives orders to continue diving to 750 meters."

“……”

"Deep Blue No. 3 still finds no signs of deep-sea animal activity."

“……”

"Following a discussion at the Command Headquarters, it is decided to let Deep Blue No. 3 dive to 820 meters. This is the deep-dive limit for a military nuclear submarine. If there are still no signs of '?????', we will have to think of other ways."

“……”

"Deep Blue No. 3 has reached the target depth. After multiple probes, there are still no signs of '?????'... The Command Headquarters finally decides to let Deep Blue No. 3 surface temporarily and dispatch the special deep-sea submersible 'Wanderer' for deeper exploration. If possible, use the Wanderer to lure '?????' to a depth of about 750 meters and have Deep Blue No. 3 forcibly exterminate it with thermal weapons."

“……”

"Continuous deep-sea exploration missions have left everyone on Deep Blue No. 3 exhausted. Fortunately, as the Wanderer begins its descent, we have a chance to rest. The meal standards equipped on Deep Blue No. 3 this time are quite good; this might be our only solace in the deep sea."

“……”

"The Wanderer, as a world-class special deep-sea submersible, has a maximum diving depth of 10,700 meters. By the time we on Deep Blue No. 3 finished resting, it had already completed a dive of 5,500 meters, but strangely, it still hasn't found any traces of '?????'."

"How is this possible? According to the sighting reports, '?????' is extremely massive. A whale, if it were at a depth of 5,500 meters, would have been crushed into fragments by the water pressure, right??"

“……”

"The Wanderer has dived to 7,600 meters... Any deeper is the forbidden zone for vertebrate life. Do we really have to descend below 10,000 meters? But at that depth, there should only be microorganisms and a very small number of amphipod crustaceans, right?"

“……”

"Strange, communication with Command Headquarters is suddenly interrupted, and the Wanderer has also completely lost contact. It shouldn't be a problem with Deep Blue No. 3; is there a technical failure at Command Headquarters?"

“……”

"Something is wrong. All electronic equipment on Deep Blue No. 3 has also failed. Technical personnel checked, but found no problems... They just inexplicably stopped working. What is going on??"

“……”

"In deep-sea combat, losing electronic equipment is equivalent to being blind. I have decided to let Deep Blue No. 3 begin surfacing to re-establish contact with Command Headquarters first."

“……”

"We have now surfaced to the shallow water zone! But for some reason, the marine life in the entire sea area seems to have gone mad. I heard a loud noise, as if something fell into the sea... That definitely wasn't a shell. Was it a meteorite? Or something else??"

“……”

"Red... The sea area visible through the mechanical periscope has all turned red! Something is rising from the deep sea, heading toward that red! What on earth is..."

As the content of the work log went on, the handwriting became more and more scribbled. The final character "is" wasn't even finished, and everything came to an abrupt end.

Chen Ling’s brow furrowed tightly.

If Chen Ling had only been suspicious before, now, after seeing this work log, he could be almost certain that the Xitan Kingdom’s experimental subject here was the Calamity of Taboo... or rather, an early version of the Calamity of Taboo.

After the humans of this world put the Calamity of Taboo into the seabed, it seemed to have undergone some kind of change in the deep sea. Just as the humans were about to use a nuclear submarine to exterminate it, the Red Star descended.

From the fragments of information here, Chen Ling couldn't infer the full picture of the event, but if nothing went wrong, it must have been that the Red Star’s arrival caused all electronic equipment to fail, cutting off communication between Deep Blue No. 3 and Command Headquarters. Immediately after, the Red Star pierced through this candlelight world head-on.

Unlike the grazing pass in the human domain, under a head-on collision, the human civilization of this world collapsed almost instantly. And that meteorite that fell into the sea was, in all likelihood, a fragment split off after the Red Star pierced through the candlelight world...

One of the fragments fell into the ocean and was coincidentally swallowed by the Xitan Kingdom’s experimental subject, which created the Calamity of Taboo and the Sea of Taboo.

If one followed this logic, then the other World-Ending Calamities and Calamity Territories were also created by Red Star fragments?

Was he, too, a product of a Red Star fragment?

No wonder he could absorb Red Star wish-power from the Jiangtian Sect... If one compared the Calamity of Mockery to a monster born from nuclear radiation, then, having been influenced by nuclear radiation, it could naturally treat the radiation itself as nourishment. Theoretically, other World-Ending Calamities could do so as well, but they didn't often leave their territories. Most importantly, in their prime, they wouldn't care for such a tiny snack.

"The fragments split by the Red Star in the Gray Realm created the Six Great World-Endings; the fragments split when it passed over the Earth created the Nine Monarchs..."

"Just how terrifying is the main body of the Red Star??"

It was worthy of being an existence capable of piercing through a candlelight world...

At the same time, the young man’s figure entered unhurriedly through the opening of the submarine. Seeing Chen Ling holding a pile of documents and reading them carefully, he looked at him in surprise:

"You can understand these?"

Chen Ling was stunned, then nodded. "Yes."

“……”

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing... Did you find anything?"

Seeing the trace of curiosity in the young man’s eyes, Chen Ling realized that the young man before him wasn't uninterested in the birth of the Calamities... He truly couldn't read them.

Chen Ling briefly recounted his findings and speculations. After listening, the young man nodded slightly:

"Your speculation should be correct."

"If the prototype of the Calamity of Taboo was an experimental subject abused by humans... then what were the prototypes of the other World-Ending Calamities?" Chen Ling paused for a moment. "What was the prototype of the Calamity of Mockery?"

Although Chen Ling was curious about the prototypes of the other World-Ending Calamities, what he truly cared about and was concerned with was himself.

He couldn't imagine what kind of existence could evolve into a monster like the Calamity of Mockery, which split through internal strife.

The young man shook his head. "I am not omniscient or all-seeing. In fact, my understanding of your two worlds is far less than yours... Most of the time, I stay in the Embers of Civilization, so I cannot answer your question."