Chapter 964: Under the Ruins

This was a natural disaster, a painful past forever recorded in history.

Even Fang Liangye had read about this rare major earthquake in history books. Now, witnessing the disaster descending before his eyes, witnessing the city being torn into ruins in an instant, a sense of indescribable horror rose in his heart.

It's not that Chen Ling hadn't seen a living hell—the cold disaster in the Aurora Realm, the war in the Red Dust Realm—but these disasters had precursors and didn't appear abruptly... But here it was different. A second ago, it was peaceful and serene, children were laughing and playing in school, the elderly were dozing off at home, and young people were sweating for their future...

The next second, tens of millions of lives were buried under the ruins.

The harsh alarm sound still echoed among the ruins. Chen Ling came to his senses after a long time. He subconsciously wanted to do something, but his figure only passed through everything lightly, like a ghost that did not exist in this time.

"Damn it..." Chen Ling muttered to himself.

He had entered the past of that Nuo mask and could only move around it. The bright red opera robe fell toward the ruins step by step. As he approached, a painful groan sounded from among the ruins.

"So painful..."

This was Shen Nan's voice.

Heavy floor slabs and wall fragments were piled up in a mess, each weighing hundreds of pounds, like a heavy and dark tomb. At the very bottom of the ruins, a figure was stuck in the gap of the ground, and more than half of his body was pressed by the fallen stones, turning into a pool of blood and mud.

Shen Nan could basically not feel the existence of that half of his body. Only unprecedented severe pain stimulated his scalp. He struggled to push away the boulder, but no matter how hard he tried, the boulder remained motionless.

Dark, narrow. The dust permeating the air stimulated Shen Nan's nasal cavity, making him cough violently... He didn't know where he was now, nor did he know which direction to go to get out. The unknown fear and the disability of his body made him terrified and at a loss.

"Dad..." Shen Nan called out hoarsely, like a desperate person about to drown, calling for the last hope,

"Dad... is it you? Are you there?"

In the suffocating darkness, there was absolute silence.

Shen Nan could see nothing, but from Chen Ling’s perspective, a figure slightly above Shen Nan had been pierced through the lungs by a jagged piece of rebar. The man was struggling painfully to breathe, his mouth agape, coughing up scarlet blood from his throat.

He heard Shen Nan’s cries for help from beneath him, but despite using every ounce of his strength, he could not respond.

Even so, the sound of weak struggling was exceptionally clear in the dead silence. Shen Nan heard the movement from above and, while speaking, reached out a hand with great difficulty toward the source.

“Dad… are you okay?”

He fumbled with his fingertips to feel the surroundings, only to have his arm slashed by sharp fragments. He let out a soft cry, and blood began to trickle and flow in the darkness…

Shen Nan gritted his teeth and grabbed one of the fragments, discovering it wasn't glass, but a piece of a Nuo mask.

The earthquake had not only collapsed the house but had also crushed his father’s workshop. Hundreds of finished and unfinished Nuo masks had been reduced to countless shards, buried amidst the ruins.

“Dad… hold on, someone will come to save us soon.” The lower half of Shen Nan’s body, crushed under the debris, had lost all sensation. Slowly, his vision began to darken.

He knew it was nearly impossible for him to leave this place on his own, so he could only take the deepest breaths he could manage.

“Dad… our teacher said, don’t be afraid when an earthquake happens… find a way to make some noise. If there’s anyone nearby, they’ll come to save us right away.”

Shen Nan reached out, grabbed a piece of a Nuo mask, and gritted his teeth as he struck it against a giant rock nearby, creating a series of muffled thuds that echoed through the ruins.

Thud—thud—thud…

No one passed by, no one responded. The entire city had been reduced to ruins; who could possibly come to rescue them immediately?

But Shen Nan did not give up. He continued to strike, again and again. Blood pooled beneath him, and his arm felt heavier and heavier, as if his whole body were about to fall into a deep sleep.

“Dad… hold on a little longer… when I get out, I have something amazing to show you…”

“I can… I definitely can…”

Shen Nan’s face grew paler. With the massive blood loss, his consciousness gradually blurred until he finally lost consciousness completely.

In the darkness, the only sound left was the steady, rhythmic dripping of blood.

Chen Ling watched everything with a furrowed brow. He was merely a "spectator" and could not intervene, but judging by the current situation, Shen Nan and his father were surely doomed.

Just as Chen Ling wondered where a glimmer of hope could possibly come from, he seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up at the sky…

A purple star slowly began to shine.

“The Divine Star of the Shaman Path… is it here for Shen Nan?” Chen Ling muttered to himself, “No, that’s not right…”

Shen Nan already possessed the Theater God Path; even if his talent for the Shaman Path were high, he would not be favored by another divine path… so, the target of this divine star was…

Chen Ling’s gaze fell upon the man with the pierced lungs.

At the same time, the man also seemed to sense something. His dying eyes lifted slightly, and even though he was pinned under heavy rubble, he seemed to see the star approaching him.

Countless fragments of Nuo masks lay around him like thorns, and a faint purple light, like divine grace from the heavens, shrouded him and the masks in a layer of divinity.

The man’s expression shifted from surprise to bitterness, and finally to deep helplessness… He did not accept the favor of the Shaman Path, but instead turned his head with great difficulty toward Shen Nan, whose lower body was crushed beneath him.

Shen Nan’s breathing grew weaker; his life was like a candle in the wind, seemingly about to extinguish at any moment.

The man pressed his lips together, looked back at the star, his eyes filled with pleading…

He tremblingly reached out a hand and pointed at Shen Nan.

He didn't speak, nor did he make a sound, but his eyes and his finger made his intentions clear… he wanted to pass the Shaman Path to his son.

But a divine path is not a gift to be given away at will; it would not change its target because of his plea. In the end, the divine path chose the man, and the faint purple light poured into his body one after another.

“He has the Theater God Path, and now the Shaman Path…” Chen Ling narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, “So, the key part comes next…”

The next moment, to Chen Ling’s astonishment, the man who had just obtained the Shaman Path cut his own wrist without hesitation.

Blood flowed down his arm. He struggled to move his body, letting the rebar fragments slice through his internal organs, his fingertips reaching with great difficulty toward the corner of the ruins…

There, a grotesque Nuo mask lay quietly in the dust.