Mana consequences and hope

The reason why Lilith felt a little sad about Bai Zemin's situation was because she had decided to trust and believe in him since she currently had her own problems.

However, it could not be said that Lilith felt pain for seeing him like this. They had only known each other for about two or three hours and the amount of interaction they had with each other was not much either... Besides, Lilith had seen many things worse than the loss of a family during her lifetime; to her, even the fall of an entire race where tears of blood were shed was not such a strange sight either.

Now, she could only hope that his family was safe and had not experienced any accidents. Otherwise, if he fell and did not get up again, his death was a matter of time; this was something Lilith hoped would not happen.

Unfortunately, people's fate sometimes turned out to be extremely cruel.

"The number you wish to reach is out of service or out of battery. Please try again-"

Bang!

Bai Zemin didn't even wait for the message to end when he smashed the cell phone against the wall in front of him, completely destroying it with no way of salvation.

Without even waiting for all the parts of his phone to fall to the ground, Bai Zemin grabbed the chair he was sitting on and slammed it with all his might against the floor. The wood broke into countless pieces and splinters flew everywhere.

As if he had gone mad, Bai Zemin grabbed everything near him and destroyed it without caring about the quantity of noise he was making or if his attitude could scare the people outside the cafeteria.

Now that he could not contact any of his three family members, he had assumed the worst. How could he care about other people's fear at this point?

After destroying more than twenty chairs and several tables, Bai Zemin's stamina began to drop rapidly due to the misuse of his strength, exhausting him faster than usual. He slumped on the floor, leaning his back against the wall, and covered his face with one hand.

Lilith looked at him silently and waited for him to vent all the frustration, sadness, anger, and pain he felt.

The cafeteria fell silent and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of thunder coming from outside. The faint distant light that acted as illumination, could barely provide a scarce source of heat practically nonexistent in the midst of such a gloomy environment.

Bai Zemin did not cry. After venting in an illogical but realistic manner, he simply became silent and motionless.

He had once been betrayed by people he trusted from the bottom of his heart in the past. At that time, he had felt as if his world had collapsed before his eyes and he no longer felt like doing anything; even leaving his room was a challenge every day... In the midst of all that sadness, pain, and desolation, his family was there for him; just as they had always been but he hadn't noticed.

From that moment on, Bai Zemin had changed drastically. He stopped going out with friends, didn't spend time worrying about having a relationship with a woman, and devoted all his time to studying and working hard to give his family a better life.

However, in about three hours, everything he had been fighting for many years was gone. His family, the only source of warmth that made him feel comfortable, had probably died.

Every time he imagined his father, his mother, or his adopted younger sister crying and asking for help before they died, his blood boiled furiously as if a volcano was about to burst.

Twenty minutes later, Lilith finally spoke, "Bai Zemin, your family is probably still alive."

His body shuddered softly, but he did not respond. He stayed silent, longing to hear her next words. Although Bai Zemin did not know how strong Lilith was, even after becoming much more powerful than he was in the past, he felt that a snap of her fingers was more than enough to erase his existence if she really wanted it. Therefore, her words at this moment were very important to him.

"When the Soul Record arrives in a new world, the mana that was always in that world but was inactive finally begins to move... Now, imagine you spend twenty years in bed and suddenly you abruptly get up and start running at full speed, what do you think will happen?"

Bai Zemin raised his head softly and looked at her. In a slightly hoarse voice, he replied, "Everything would collapse... The muscles can't support the weight of the body, the ligaments can't withstand the pressure, and the heart can't pump enough blood after beating so smoothly for so long."

"Right. It would all come crashing down." Lilith nodded softly and continued, "That is precisely what is happening now. After countless years of silence and tranquility, the mana of this world finally began to move everywhere, causing the world order to fall into a mess."

As Lilith explained, Bai Zemin struggled to stand up and looked for a healthy chair to sit on. He kept his senses focused on her, not daring to miss a single word.

"Humans have a weak body by nature, so most of them failed to withstand the shock of the mana wave, turning into those mutated creatures; stronger and with unlimited stamina fueled by the world's mana, but without any intelligence. On the other hand, animals possessing a more resilient body and plants with superior life expectancy are much more likely to adapt to the mana, evolving and growing to become terrifying creatures."

Bai Zemin finally understood many things after listening to Lilith's explanation. From the initial function of this strange entity called Soul Record to the reason why so many humans turned into zombies and why previously harmless insects and animals had suddenly changed so much.

At this moment, however, he couldn't care less about all of that.

"So, what about my family?" he asked in an apathetic voice.

Although Bai Zemin's voice was practically impassive, Lilith, who had seen countless lives throughout her wandering, could notice the waver in his gaze when he asked that question. Obviously, although he was trying to act calm, his heart was in chaos as he tried to cling to any hope.

"In addition to living beings, there is also the possibility that electronic objects will suffer from the mana wave... Then, it's not impossible that the communication devices would be damaged or the distance reached by the signal would have been infinitely shortened." Lilith pointed out.

Bai Zemin's eyes glinted as he listened to her explanation. Indeed, Lilith's words made quite a bit of sense if one carefully observed the illogical world outside the window.

Seeing the change in his expression and his eyes regaining their color, Lilith quickly added, "Besides, don't forget that during the chaos your family might have also lost their cell phones or simply didn't have time to pick it up."

Bai Zemin finally couldn't help but stand up. His previously dull gaze had flared up once again, burning with hope.

Previously, he had been too overwhelmed with emotions, unable to think of even something as small as what Lilith had just mentioned. In fact, it was very plausible that his family simply hadn't had time to pick up their cell phones or they simply broke during their escape.

Even if it was all a fleeting hope, Bai Zemin was not willing to let it slip away.

He advanced with a big step to the chair where Lilith was sitting and hugged her gently as he said softly, "Thank you..."

Unconsciously, he couldn't help but be amazed at the exquisite scent of roses that Lilith's body exuded. Her soft dark hair lightly caressed his face as if it were his lover's caress.

After experiencing hell and then being ascended back to the heavens, even his First Order Blood Manipulation could do nothing to calm his heart. With unstable emotions, he simply wasn't thinking with complete rationality.

Lilith knew this perfectly well, so she didn't bother to push him away. To her, Bai Zemin was a little boy. On the contrary, she joked, "If you really want to thank me, how about taking me right here~?"

As if he had received an electro-shock, Bai Zemin quickly backed away from her and looked at her suspiciously as he said, "You can forget about it."

In fact, if it wasn't for the heat of the moment and the emotions clouding his judgment, Bai Zemin would definitely not dare to approach Lilith; her whole being was too charming and every action of hers was brimming with seductiveness. Even he, who was usually quite calm, didn't have the slightest confidence in resisting if she really wanted to.

"Oh come oooon~ Don't be a spoilsport!" Lilith pouted extremely cute, which was a great counter to her seductive body. "With this cold weather, I'm sure if we hug each other affectionately our bodies will be happy!"

Bai Zemin rolled his eyes and was about to respond when the metal door was knocked softly.