Chapter 1634: The Collapsing Cake Tower

The sudden Calamity attack plunged the entire street into chaos.

The citizens who had been queuing up to wait for Mr. Han to treat their illnesses scattered in terror, fleeing madly in all directions, while the Dragon-Twisting Soldiers, who were originally responsible for maintaining order, became the vital force in resisting the Calamity.

The foxtail grass’s sudden attack was like a signal. Following it, a large number of Calamities crawled out from the soil all over the domain, turning the previously relatively calm domain upside down!

Terrified cries rose one after another, and chaotic footsteps flickered past in succession.

Scarlet blood flowed in a trickle from A-Qiang’s chest. He lay powerlessly in a pool of blood, one hand covering his chest, which he could not stop from bleeding. Those eyes, filled with emptiness and confusion, gradually dimmed and lost their luster...

He looked toward the direction of his home, which was falling into chaos, as if worried about something...

But in the end,

His neck went limp, and he breathed his last.

……

"At the Wangchun Terrace, the autumn wind bites, the heart’s fire is not yet extinguished! The dust of war fills the sky, but it will eventually scatter; the Forest Commander’s heroic posture will surely lead to a triumphant return! Do not say that before your eyes lies only a desolate and broken landscape; look instead, for the coming days will surely—"

"Ten thousand flowers bloom again in the bright sun, the spring breeze turns the old homeland green once more!!"

"When that time comes, you and I shall ride the dappled horses again..."

"Dressed in fine clothes, riding spirited horses, we are young once more!"

Zhao Ziqian’s hopeful voice echoed on the stage. In his words, one could almost imagine the beautiful, unrestrained scene of youth.

Li Muyun stood behind him, looking somewhat dazed...

He was moved by the beautiful future Zhao Ziqian described, but he couldn't help but wonder in his heart: will that day really come?

"Ziqian... my worthy brother! This peaceful scene, this promise of a spring outing..."

Li Muyun’s voice choked with emotion.

Kong Baosheng, in the first row of the audience, seemed completely intoxicated by the performance at this moment, utterly unaware of the outside world, and completely failing to notice that the "whispers" of the citizens behind him had begun to grow noisy.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough... when can we eat the cake?"

"I don't know... they said we could eat after the performance, but he isn't lying to us, is he?"

"Exactly, we've been waiting for so long!"

"I'm so hungry... I'm really hungry, I haven't eaten in three days... the cake... it smells so good! Is it really the smell of cake?!"

"Where is the cake??"

"What is this gibberish they're singing? Can you understand it?"

"I can't understand it. As soon as they open their mouths, I'm lost... Hey! We don't want to watch your lousy play, we want to eat cake! Bring the cake out now!!"

“……”

Even if Chen Ling and Li Qingshan performed brilliantly and struck straight to the heart, they could not move these starving and freezing people... They were already terminally ill, they were extremely hungry; who had the leisure to listen to a play?

They were already on the verge of death, thinking only of satisfying their hunger. At this moment, unable to wait any longer for the cake to appear, they had completely lost their patience.

Some had even stood up and started searching the theater themselves.

"Ahhhhhhh!!"

"Calamity!! Why are there Calamities appearing again!?"

Just then, bursts of chaotic screams rang out from the street outside the building, and vaguely, the shadows of massive monsters flashed past the door.

Immediately after, as if the monsters had caught a scent, the massive shadows slowly retreated back in front of the Jinghong Building...

Strands of crystalline saliva dripped from the corners of their mouths.

Just as the giant shadows were about to smash through the doors of the Jinghong Building, a cold snort rang out from the second floor of the theater, and a scimitar flashing with cold light descended from the sky, directly hacking off the monster’s head.

This scene left the audience stunned. This perilous "shadow play" undoubtedly shattered the defenses in their hearts. They huddled together in terror, not knowing whether to leave or stay, sitting trembling in their seats, listening to the melodious singing on stage.

Since the play had begun, it must not stop. This was a point that both Chen Ling and Li Qingshan understood and upheld. Even though there seemed to be unexpected chaos outside, they had no intention of stopping... Besides, Chen Ling believed that the Heart J and the others could handle these minor problems.

For some reason, more and more Calamities began to approach the Jinghong Building, and the speed at which the scimitar flashed became faster and faster. In the end, besides the Heart J, even the Diamond Q had joined the fray.

"What’s going on with these Calamities? Are they all throwing their lives away?"

The Heart J hacked off the roots of a Calamity with one strike, his gold ornaments jingling. He stood among the flesh and severed limbs, looking at the monsters constantly crawling out of the soil, and couldn't help but speak.

Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning swirled around the Diamond Q, his pale cyan hair flying silently. His gaze was also somewhat puzzled:

"These Calamities are indeed a bit strange... They aren't attacking with full force like last time, just occasionally crawling out of the ground one after another... It doesn't look like they are seriously attacking the Cangyun Domain; it looks more like they are trying to cause chaos?"

"Causing chaos is mostly to cover up something else." The voice of the Magician, the Club J, rang out eerily from the side. "It seems... the suppression of the Turbid Calamity isn't going that smoothly either."

Just as the area outside the Jinghong Building had turned into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, a sudden shout rang out from inside the building:

"Found it! Cake! It’s really cake!!"

The crowd, who had been trembling, froze and turned their heads toward the direction of the sound. They saw two sickly figures having found a massive cake from somewhere, and at the same time, an alluring aroma that stirred everyone’s appetite drifted into their nostrils.

The moment they smelled the cake, even the fear in their hearts was washed away. Not to mention that they had been starving and freezing for months; even in their best days, they had never seen such a fragrant cake...

A storm of blood and gore churned outside the theater,

Clear sounds of swallowing saliva rose from the crowd.

"So the cake was here... I’ll take a bite first!!"

"So fragrant... it’s really so fragrant!"

"Why did you grab it and eat it first!! I want some too! Everyone should have some!"

"Xiao Sheng, hurry, hurry, if you're slow, it'll all be eaten by others!"

"Get out of my way!! I must eat this piece of cake today!!"

“……”

The starving citizens could no longer sit still. They didn't care about rules or listening to the play; their eyes were fixed only on that gorgeous and delicious cake tower. They swarmed out of their seats, fearing that if they were late, there would be nothing left.

More and more figures rushed to the cake tower, their eyes glowing with greed as they frantically grabbed the cake with their hands. One figure after another pushed and shoved each other. In this chaotic noise...

The tottering cake tower was pushed by someone’s palm and collapsed with a crash!