Chapter 312: Forbidden Flower

Thud.

The coffin lid, flowing with aurora, was pushed slowly shut.

Under the gaze of everyone holding umbrellas, the Aurora Lord's figure was gradually obscured until the lid and the coffin were completely sealed... He had eternally fallen into slumber within.

As a blood-red slash streaked across the sky, the surging Forbidden Sea fell into a brief silence. Even the many Calamities that had been emitting strange hisses fell quiet at this moment, as if the world outside had stopped.

Chen Ling didn't know what had happened outside. When he turned to look, he only saw the long-haired figure holding the zanbato walking slowly toward them.

Scarlet blood dripped onto the ground along the blade, but Club K's suit was not stained with any filth, remaining straight and solemn.

She picked up her black umbrella from the ground and said calmly:

"How is it?"

"Recovery complete." Chu Muyun answered.

"Then let's go." Club K looked back at the city. "They are about to break through."

"Yes."

[10] carried the Aurora Lord's black coffin on his back. Without any lingering attachment, the group turned and walked toward the other side of the city...

Just then, Tan Xin, covered in blood, stood in the black snow and suddenly spoke:

"Wait."

The nine black umbrellas stopped.

"You had already ambushed so many people in Aurora City... why didn't you just storm the Aurora Base and take the Aurora Lord like you did in the Ruoshui Boundary?" Tan Xin looked at Club K, his voice a bit hoarse. "You clearly had the ability to infiltrate the Aurora Base and kill the Aurora Lord before he woke up; that shouldn't have been difficult."

Club K held her umbrella without turning back, answering calmly in the snow:

"Although we pursue 'restarting,' this does not mean we deny the explorations and attempts of others regarding the future of humanity."

"The Aurora Boundary is not the Ruoshui Boundary. Even when pushed to the brink, you did not give up, pursuing other possibilities along different paths, so..."

"We respect Aurora City's choice."

As her voice fell, she didn't linger at all, walking straight ahead...

The nine figures holding umbrellas gradually disappeared at the end of the black wind and snow.

Tan Xin watched their departing figures in silence, not stopping them. A long time later, he smiled bitterly and leaned slowly against the ruins to sit down.

Just then, he seemed to notice something and lifted his palm gently from the ground... Beneath his damp palm was a layer of sea water, almost zero thickness, spreading in from outside the city.

The Forbidden Sea... had invaded.

……

"The sea water has overflowed into the city."

Chen Ling walked through the street and found that the ground was already covered by a thin layer of water, his brow furrowing involuntarily.

"This is inevitable." Chu Muyun adjusted his glasses. "As Aurora City intersects with the Gray Realm, this empty city will become the territory of the Forbidden Sea. Humans cannot survive in the Gray Realm for long, but for the Calamities within, it is a free breeding ground..."

"Why didn't the Aurora Lord try to exterminate the Forbidden Sea? If, more than three hundred years ago, some thermal weapons could still be used and the Aurora Lord was still in his prime, he could have taken the initiative to attack the Forbidden Sea; there should have been some chance of winning, right? That way, even if the Aurora Lord's lifespan ran out, no one would be able to hurt Aurora City."

Chu Muyun shook his head.

"First, even in the Aurora Lord's prime, he couldn't have exterminated the Forbidden Sea... The Forbidden Sea we see now is only a small part that came to Earth during the Gray Realm intersection. The Calamities living in the true Forbidden Sea number in the millions.

Moreover, there is a 'World-Ender' level Calamity in the Forbidden Sea. Although both are Tier-9, fighting in the Gray Realm, it is almost impossible for a human Tier-9 to defeat a 'World-Ender'... In other words, on their home turf, they are invincible."

"Secondly, even if the Forbidden Sea were truly exterminated, Aurora City couldn't survive... The fundamental reason for a boundary's destruction is the Gray Realm intersection, not the invasion of Calamities."

Chen Ling was puzzled. "Is there a difference?"

"The Gray Realm and Earth are two completely different worlds. Everything on Earth, whether matter or living beings, cannot exist in the Gray Realm for long.

Even if there were no Calamities around the Aurora Boundary, as long as it is exposed to the Gray Realm, the people inside will gradually be polluted, suffering from organ failure, mental disorders, or even growing Calamity organs, eventually dying suddenly...

The same goes for objects. This is why 'Sacrificial Vessels' can be found in some places in the Gray Realm; they are objects that were exposed to Gray Realm conditions for a long time and accidentally developed strange characteristics.

As for Calamities, you can understand them as the indigenous people of the Gray Realm. Even if you kill all the indigenous people, you cannot stop the intersection and overlap of the two worlds."

So the root of the problem lies in the Gray Realm, not the Calamities... Chen Ling nodded thoughtfully.

If the opponent were Calamities, that would be easy to talk about, as they are things that can be seen and touched. But if it were the Gray Realm, it would be completely different—an unknown world that no one knows why it intersects with Earth. Unless the fundamental reason for the intersection is solved and the two are separated, even nuking the place every day would be useless.

What you can't see is the most terrifying.

Just as the two were talking, a few scattered incantations drifted into the city from the sea surface at their feet. Like a school of fish smelling blood, they drilled into the frozen corpses on the streets on both sides.

Immediately after, those corpses seemed to come back to life, trembling eerily. Their eyeballs were occupied by the incantations, as if something was gestating and growing beneath them...

Pop—

With a soft sound, their eyeballs all burst, and two blood-red, enchanting flowers slowly bloomed from their eye sockets.

Chen Ling froze in place.

"This is..."

"Forbidden Flower." Chu Muyun answered. "It is the way Calamities of the Forbidden Sea reproduce. They plant their seeds into flesh and blood, eating it empty bit by bit until the Calamity cub has swallowed enough energy, then it will burst out from the chest..."

"A city ruin with three million corpses is an excellent breeding ground for them. It seems the number of Calamities in the Forbidden Sea is about to see explosive growth." [10], carrying the black coffin, sighed deeply.

Chen Ling's brow gradually furrowed, because he saw several incantations heading toward the small building where the survivors of District 3 lived... Would their remains also become breeding grounds for Calamities?

"Since that's the case, why not just destroy them?"

"You mean these corpses? There are over three million people in this city, and they are widely distributed. Even if we wanted to destroy the bodies, it would be too late." Bai Ye shook his head. "And Club K's ability won't hold out much longer. Soon, a massive number of Calamities will break into the city, and we will be unable to move.

In short, it's not that we don't want to stop it, but that we can't. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless someone can destroy the corpses of these three million people in an instant."

Chen Ling suddenly stopped walking.