Chapter 18 Closed—5_1

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An hour later, the church was filled to capacity.

Old men and women from various townships addressed each other as brothers and sisters in faith, chatting merrily about their children working away from home and the eggs they had bought yesterday in an atmosphere brimming with joy.

There were also free seeds and fruit for the taking, with everyone receiving three yellow cakes and several bottles of mineral water.

Amidst the boisterous crowd, the curtain on stage still hung, undisturbed.

Backstage, preparations were in full swing: The Gospel Class was finalizing its performance lineup, while in a corner, a young boy lay sprawled on the ground like a dead dog.

Huai Shi's face was ashen, nearly vomiting, his body trembling in waves.

Piercing cold and invisible burdens weighed incessantly on his spine.

It was his first time experiencing such a terrifying weight of death…he didn't dare to imagine what kind of dreadful death could give rise to such a heavy premonition.

"Bleurgh!"

He leaned over a bucket and threw up everything he had just forced into his stomach—plain steamed buns and braised pork. Tears and snot threatened to follow.

He was close to despising his strange ability.

Yet, even though he felt as if he were dying, Huai Shi felt unexpectedly unafraid; he just felt nauseous in waves, as if he had eaten something bad.

His stomach was painfully bloated.

Wiping away tears, he grabbed an old man who was plucking a pipa, "Sir, if I die backstage, can it be considered a work-related injury…"

The old man leapt back several feet with full wariness.

"Young man, don't try to scam me. You were fine before the meal… I've been around, you know. In earlier years, we might have crossed paths near the head of a train. If you make trouble, would you believe that I would lie down right here and frame you for assault?"

"Exactly, exactly!" chimed in another old man who was playing the suona: "I'll testify, I saw it all clear as day. You youngsters start throwing punches at the slightest disagreement…"

Huai Shi was nearly at his wit's end.

Where the hell did this group of treacherous old men come from, so adept at scamming!

"Alright, alright, let's get ready!" Another group leader walked over, yelling, and pointing at Huai Shi he shouted, "Can you still play? If you can't play, you won't get paid, got it? Young people these days, absolutely devoid of conscience."

"I can play, I can play."

Tearfully, Huai Shi picked up the erhu: "Where's the score? Where is it?"

"What do you need a score for when there's no time? Our act's been canceled, now you're just playing background music for the Gospel duo, just follow the tune and play something cheerful."

As the old man waved his hands aside, he muttered, "Forty bucks is a loss, should have offered twenty."

Huai Shi was speechless.

No sooner had he just sat down with the group of old men at the front than he heard someone make the announcement: "Up next, dear brethren, please enjoy the Gospel Yangge brought to you by Laotang Town Cultural Association!"

Warm applause erupted from the audience.

Only Huai Shi couldn't help muttering to himself: What the hell was that nutjob King Ocean doing? Holding a sermon like the Moral Cloud Society, needing a warm-up act, such grandstanding. Why doesn't he just become an idol?

Before he could continue his thoughts, a row of old ladies dressed in festive costumes took to the stage, clustering around someone, chaotically discussing the movements and techniques of square dance.

"Sisters, remember, at this part the rhythm isn't 'dong qia qia,' it's 'dong qia—qia,'" the leader smiled and even vainly smoothed his hair, turning back with an alluring smile before freezing in place.

Staring at Huai Shi.

Huai Shi was also staring at him.

Dumbfounded.

—Damn it, why is it you!

Huai Shi had just been contemplating how to find this guy to meet up, and before he could even start, the Gospel duo performance, led by Cowherd Liu DongLi, and accompanied by the 'second fifth' Huai Shi on the erhu, had already begun.

A double celebration of welcome and entertainment.

During their complicated exchange of looks, Huai Shi mouthed silently, "Where's my orange tree?"

"Haven't bought it yet."

"Have you eaten?"

"Not yet…"

"I have."

Huai Shi patted his belly, "Steamed buns and braised pork, jealous?"

Damn!

Liu DongLi suddenly felt the urge to curse, but since the stage curtain had already been drawn, he could only manage to force a beaming smile and began to sway to the local disco rhythm of the elders.

Right in front of Liu DongLi, the elder sister he had initially struck up a conversation with twirled her handkerchief and began to sing, "In God's house, by the Lord's side, the sweetness tastes better than dear mother so fine. Hallelujah, bound for Heaven…"

Chuckle.

Huai Shi couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Beep, his pocketed phone vibrated. He sneakily pulled it out amidst the hustle, and on the screen flashed Ai Qing's number.

And the text.

"—Retreat, immediately! [Closed—5]"

In that instant, a deathly aura far beyond the usual surged towards him, nearly engulfing Huai Shi.

.

.

Ten minutes earlier, in the temporary command center, Ai Qing's expression was grim.

"Soul Radiation record completed, normal."

"Depth index 0.17, normal."

"Border Erosion rate 0.03%, normal."

"Normal."

"Normal."

"Normal."

All observational data were normal.

Yet for some reason, her expression grew increasingly unpleasant, until it turned steely.

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"What's wrong?" the middle-aged man asked.

"Something's not right," Ai Qing tightened her slender fingers around the armrest of the wheelchair, her expression grim, "There's definitely something off!"

In the midst of everyone's astonishment.

She reached out, took her mobile phone from the pocket of the wheelchair, and directly removed the back cover, pulling out what looked like a phone card's crimson jack.

In the silence, the middle-aged man stared dumbfounded, subconsciously standing up, "Are you insane?!"

Every Inspector's phone is a special model provided by the Astronomical Society, with not only strong signals and battery power but also built-in apps and data, which is quite normal. The most crucial and important feature, though, is the red high alert card on the back of the phone.

This function can only be activated by an Inspector who has confirmed that a situation is beyond their capabilities and may bring about a Border hazard of B level or above.

To some extent, it's like a beacon or a lifesaver, seldom chosen by Inspectors.

Once activated, the signal would directly connect to the United Nations Astronomical Society's direct authority governing body—the Jurisdiction Bureau's special circumstance strategy department.

To exaggerate a bit, it was as if alerting Heaven itself.

If the situation were serious, it could even startle the Ten-Member Committee.

If Ai Qing were a full-fledged Inspector, she would be able to use an A-level or higher Holy Remains or directly mobilize all the Sublimators' manpower in the entire East Sea region within a short time...

Such exaggeration naturally comes with a price.

If someone found out this was a false alarm, the consequences would go without saying—but the most important thing for those present is that once the report to the Astronomical Society is made, all previous transactions and assurances made to keep a lid on things would go down the drain.

Overturn the table just before victory?

What exactly was this woman trying to do?

She must be crazy, right?

It was merely a minor incident involving Border Relics, so why report directly to the Jurisdiction Bureau?

It's like calling the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection directly after two county leaders start disagreeing with each other, a bit too much for such a trivial matter, right?

Moreover, there were no signs or evidence of anything amiss.

"Ah, perhaps it's making a mountain out of a molehill, but I'd rather wager on something unexpected than the opposite," she said.

Ai Qing twirled her phone in her hand, and once she made her decision, her expression calmed again, with no sign of anxiety.

She would accept even if her abilities were doubted by her superiors.

The intense unease that almost drove her mad just moments ago vanished as quickly as it had appeared, as if it was all an illusion. Only the slowly drying sweat underneath her clothes showed the intense struggle she had gone through to make this absurd decision.

Observing the phone screen, a mocking cold smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

Mocking herself.

She was just two months shy of becoming a regular, and now, it was questionable if that would happen. If this was proven to be an overreaction, abolishing her status as an Inspector would be considered lenient.

After all, given the increasingly tight manpower of the special strategy department, they would absolutely not tolerate such waste of the Astronomical Society's resources.

A few seconds passed, and the phone screen lit up.

There was no need to connect, as the screen projected a faint light, interweaving into an illusory phantom in the air—an emotionless man in a suit, reminiscent of an operator, looked over the young girl with a detached calmness.

"Identification T9631, inspector-in-training assigned to the Dongxia Branch of the Jurisdiction Bureau in Xin Hai City."

He began, "No deep alerts detected, no traces of Border erosion found, no signs of high-level Stigma activity... Please submit your report and request."

"In accordance with the 'Twelve Bronze Statutes,' as an apprentice inspector, I request the assistance of Border Policy Article Nine and the physical blockade of a ten-kilometer radius around Old Pond Town, subordinate to Xin Hai City in the Dongxia Republic of Asia. Please execute immediately."

"Request is being confirmed——"

The printer beside the man in the suit rapidly ejected a long string of documents. After scanning it, he picked up the seal beside him and stamped the documents.

"Request approved."

"Satellite orbital adjustments have begun and are expected to be in position in three minutes. The blockade implementation order for Old Pond Town is below, awaiting processing——Loading of items recorded under Border Policy Article Nine has started."

After completing all the processes as mechanically as possible, Suit 0075 finally gave a nod:

"All for the world."

Communication was cut off.

In the stunned silence of the onlookers, a roaring akin to the earth trembling and mountains shaking came from afar.

And tens of thousands of miles above in the dark void of cosmic origins, a massive satellite array suspended in orbit emitted gas, slowly and precisely adjusting its angle, reflecting the insignificant trifles such as the clouds, the land, the city, and the dust below in its mirror-like surfaces.

In Old London, Greenwich Observatory, deep within the sixth subterranean level, a colossal difference engine roared, slowly emitting a tin foil tape riddled with voids.

The waiting secretary carefully cut it off, rolled it around a spindle, backed it up with an image during the process, and finally placed it in an empty tube, which was then sent into the adjacent vacuum mail delivery chute.

Under the pull of the vacuum, the coded tube plunged thousands of kilometers underground and landed in the corner of a busy hall.

A man smoking a cigarette sat in his chair listening to music; he opened the cylinder with one hand and expertly flicked out the scroll with the other. He tapped his foot on the floor, flicking away his cigarette butt, and walked toward the center of the hall.

The hall, so huge it was unbelievable, was bustling with people, though the floor was uneven with many areas filled with water.

However, looking down from above, one could grasp its true form—it was a massive three-dimensional map capable of recording all the terrains of the world within it.

The smoking man passed his working colleagues, found the indicated location by following the code, and took out a set of marker pens from his pocket, selecting the silver-grey one.

He drew a circle.

"Closure circle number C987778762 is complete, file archived."

Hence, a thousand miles away, across mountains and seas, on another continent, the dragon and snake rose from the ground.

In the twilight, illuminated by the sun and the moon, the soil outside Old Pond Town churned as if boiling, and amidst the rumble of stone and iron, a fiery glow emerged from within, turning the soil into molten lava.

But then, from within the lava, the light of iron appeared.

It proliferated.

Just as if trees were growing, steel inched upward, extending along the invisible brushstrokes and rapidly cooling on its surface, revealing a black iron sheen with numerous, scale-like sharp iron pieces unfolding from it.

In ten seconds, the entire Old Pond Town was enclosed within these several-hundred-meter-high iron barriers.

Subsequently, the color of the sky turned to pitch black from its original dull mottled state.

Realty peeling, begins.

In that instant, a sigh was heard.

A slender and delicate hand stretched out from the church.

It held tight to the heaven and earth.

Loud explosions were heard in the distance.