“Look! Words have appeared on the sky screen!”
Everyone who had been checking their phones looked up again toward the sky. Sure enough, the strange symbols covering the heavens suddenly began to shift, coalescing into several prominent characters overhead. Though they were unfamiliar characters no one had ever seen before, for some reason, just one glance made their meaning clearly reflect in everyone’s minds.
—God-Forsaken Land Cleared
“What does ‘God-Forsaken Land’ mean? And what does ‘cleared’ mean?”
“Cleared? What do they want to clear? The humans on Blue Star?”
“What about the authorities? What are they doing? Why did so many warships suddenly appear?”
“Look! The F258 counterattack ship is taking off, huh… it’s… it’s falling!”
A distant rumbling sound echoed, like something crashing. The entire city reverberated with the noise. At the same time, the symbols in the sky flashed with a red light, instantly destroying the city’s power system. Streetlights, building screens, and even everyone’s phones began to flicker and glitch.
Fighter jets kept taking off, but those once-proud high-tech achievements of Blue Star, the moment they approached the sky screen, fell like dumplings dropping into a pot, one after another—let alone getting close to the alien warships above. Smoke and dust filled the entire city.
Shock, panic, and screams flooded the world. Blue Star was in chaos. In just over ten minutes, the world had fast-forwarded from peace and stability to a scene of apocalypse. Cries, wails, and desperate roars echoed everywhere.
Su Xi felt a sudden palpitation. Images from a video shown to her by a certain confident old man an hour ago flashed repeatedly in her mind, matching the scene before her one by one.
It’s real!
It’s really real!
That video was actually the future!
“Old man… Land God.” Her mind buzzed instantly. She tried to open her phone to replay the video but found it wouldn’t turn on after the red light earlier. Immediately, she turned around, hopped onto her electric scooter, and pedaled frantically toward the police station while trying to start it.
At the same time, a familiar broadcast crackled intermittently on the streets.
[Enemy attack will reach Blue Star’s surface in five minutes. All residents… take shelter… zzzz…]
Damn it! Su Xi wished she could slap herself. Pedal faster, you stupid legs! I have to make it, I have to make it!
Old man!
Lan Shen!
The streets were in complete chaos, filled with people screaming and running wildly. Su Xi no longer cared about traffic rules. After knocking over five or six small trees, seven or eight stalls, N billboards, and losing eight dogs, she rushed into the police station ahead within three minutes.
She had encountered that old man who claimed to be Blue Star’s Land God just a couple of streets away. If he had been detained, it could only be here. She barged into the police station. Fortunately, due to the chaos outside, most officers were out maintaining order, so no one stopped her.
Su Xi searched through the detention rooms one by one and finally found the shabbily dressed, despairing, and dejected little old man sitting in the last cell.
“Old… male god!” She was almost moved to tears and sprinted over.
The old man was stunned. Seeing her, his previously dull eyes instantly lit up with joy. “Little girl, you finally came!”
“Old man, you said… as long as I inherit the Divine Seat, I can save Blue Star, right?” she asked between gasps.
“Uh, just call me Lan Shen,” the old man corrected, then nodded. “That’s right. As long as you agree to inherit my Divine Seat, you can save Blue Star.”
“Alright, I agree!” At a time like this, if someone said eating shit could save the world, she’d have to taste it to see how salty it was.
“Good, good, good.” The old man’s expression grew even more delighted, the wrinkles on his face smoothing out as he smiled. “Quick, little one, give me your hand. I’ll pass it to you now!”
Su Xi immediately reached her hand through the iron bars. The old man grabbed her wrist, and in the next moment, she witnessed an incredibly fantastical scene.
The originally withered and thin old man suddenly began to glow all over. Countless golden runes burst forth from his body, swirling toward her and then all disappearing into the space between her eyebrows. At the same time, a voice that seemed to echo from ancient times resounded in her mind.
—I, Wo Qi, Land God of the Blue Star Domain, shall slumber eternally in the Void Return, presenting the divine path. Now, I pass my Divine Seat to you. May the Godhead be transferred to protect and bless Blue Star.
Instantly, Su Xi felt a strange energy surge into every part of her limbs and body, as if she had entered an indescribably wondrous state. It was as though she had transcended the shackles of her physical form, arriving in an incomprehensible world. Her forehead felt faintly warm, and a peculiar golden rune appeared there, only to fade away quickly.
Su Xi inexplicably felt that something had been added to her mind, and an itching sensation faintly emanated from the palm of her right hand. She instinctively wanted to ask.
“Why do I feel… Huh! What’s wrong with you?” She opened her eyes and saw the old man’s figure growing increasingly faint before her, as if he were about to vanish. He looked utterly exhausted. “Old man, you… don’t scare me!”
“My time has come…” The old man forced a faint smile, unconcerned. “I’ve left some words in your Consciousness Sea. Little one, from now on, Blue Star is… entrusted… to you. Remember to go to… the Star Domain and find… someone named Yuan Chen. He will teach you… how to activate…”
“Wait, old man, hold on a little longer, don’t go!” She tried to grab him but grasped only empty air. The old man had already turned into a shower of shimmering light, disappearing before her eyes, leaving behind only a distant sigh.
“This is fate’s decree. Do not grieve…”
“No! You haven’t told me how to save Blue Star yet! How exactly do I save it?” The most important thing hasn’t been explained!
“…”
Unfortunately, there was no further response from the surroundings.
Su Xi nearly burst into tears. She hesitated, wondering if she should rush out and fight directly. After all, she now possessed a Divine Seat—surely she could hold her own for a while, right?
In the next moment, a sharp pain shot through her forehead, followed by a surge of energy rising within her. Something inside her seemed to have been activated, and her entire body felt as if it were about to burst. Her bones and flesh ached as if they were being dissolved inch by inch. The pain was so intense that she crouched down.
It hurts, it hurts so much!
Outside, Blue Star’s five-minute countdown had entered its final moments. The entire city echoed with broadcast announcements, and the space warship above began glowing with a destructive blue light, clearly intending to destroy the planet before Blue Star’s self-detonation.
5
4
3
…
Suddenly, a vast surge of energy erupted from the center of C City. A pillar of white light shot skyward, piercing through the stars and instantly enveloping the entire city. A voice filled with boundless fury thundered across the skies of Blue Star.
“Begone!”
The crimson runes sealing the heavens vanished in an instant, and along with them, the countless starships that had filled the sky disappeared without a trace. The winds calmed, the skies cleared, and Blue Star returned to its former state in the blink of an eye, as if the cataclysmic alien invasion had never occurred.
“…”
For a moment, silence fell over the entire Blue Star.