Tears and Light

Perhaps leaving the factory had been a mistake. When Ji Jue left the factory hoping to escape the crying, he found that amid the roar of the torrential rain, nothing remained to be heard except weeping and wails of agony. Surging muddy torrents howled through the slums, sweeping up immense quantities of debris as they converged into newly carved riverbeds, churning and churning without end. Tables and chairs, door planks, bricks and tiles, vegetation, even corpses... In the shrill whistle of the gale, debris was constantly hurled into the air through the raging curtain of rain, only to crash down again, slamming against Little Niuma's windows. Everything within sight was entirely submerged in the deluge. Pitch darkness reigned, without a single lamp in view. Only the dim, sporadic flickers of flashlights shone here and there, unable to illuminate anything more than a few meters away; all that met the eye was a blurred world distorted by sheets of rain. The sprawling expanse of shanties that once crowded outside the city had turned into a vast, watery abyss. In fact, no one knew how many shacks had been built directly over old dry riverbeds! When the dam collapsed, the floodwaters surged violently down those abandoned river channels. Countless crude shacks without even foundations were uprooted in an instant, carried away by the rushing waves. Once again, winding gullies were torn through the earth as murky mud surged and spread wildly in the tempest... Yet by the time he finally arrived at the place Elder Longge had described, it was already too late. Even though it sat on high ground above the riverbank, the rising waters were already pouring into the ramshackle factory building. In the gloom, only flames spread. Billowing smoke and fire engulfed the entire illicit drug lab. Corpses lay scattered everywhere... Bodies, all of them, mutilated and incomplete. It was as if a brutal storm had swept through, tearing apart every last defender. Spent casings cooled in the blood-tinted mud, the smell of gunpowder washed clean by the downpour. Ji Jue froze for a moment. He raised his head, looking deep inside the factory where the fire burned brightest, at a blurry figure walking out step by step. A bearded man, drenched in blood from head to toe, kicked open a glowing-red iron door and stepped out over the corpses of the drug lord's henchmen. In his arms and across his shoulders, he carried three dying victims. Catching sight of Ji Jue at the doorway, his steps abruptly halted. He stepped back. Upon that blood-stained face, a savage ferocity surfaced in his dark eyes, like a beast ready to tear someone apart. In the brief dead silence, Ji Jue did not speak. He merely took a step back. Then, raising a hand, he pressed it against the doorframe. Supporting the burning lintel that was on the verge of collapsing. "I'm looking for someone named Jiachukiya. His mother is waiting for him to come home. Have you seen him?" The man fell silent for a moment, seemingly in disbelief, but still said nothing. Ever vigilant, he merely whispered a question to the victim on his shoulder, and upon hearing the answer, shook his head. "Dead." "...I understand." Ji Jue nodded. Without pressing further, he stepped aside to clear the exit. As they brushed past each other, the man couldn't resist glancing at him once more. In the end, he said nothing, withdrawing his gaze. Soon, he disappeared into the curtain of rain with the victims. Gone. Not long after, amidst the spreading flames, the entire factory and the cluster of shacks around it collapsed into the floodwaters. Muddy waves surged. Boom! Lightning flashed, followed by a crack of thunder that tore across the sky, illuminating panic-stricken faces on rooftops—figures shivering and huddled in the rain. They no longer even had the strength to weep or wail. And yet, in the midst of such a storm, flares of fire ignited one after another; billowing smoke and blazing flames danced wildly and rose from burning houses. Little Niuma trudged through the mud, defying the torrent's impact with swift speed. Along the way, for who knew how many times, the mechanical beast's tail reached out, scooping up victims floating in the flood and lifting them onto rooftops or higher ground. Yet there were far too many to save. There simply wasn't time. Right before Ji Jue's eyes, another house crashed down into the rushing water with a resounding roar. The few boats he had brought were already handed out. Even if he exerted every ounce of his strength, how many could he actually save? Countless hands reached out to him, but his two hands couldn't grasp them all. He didn't even have time to choose. Even when he hauled them out of the mud one by one, there was little left he could do except tell them again and again: "Head to the Haian factory. In the northern industrial zone, where the lights are still on... at least no one will drive you away with gunfire there." Yet no matter how many times he repeated it, what greeted him were suspicious stares. Once the initial gratitude faded, only wariness remained. Instinctive defiance. They suspected he was merely an operative from some sweatshop who had come out on a whim to round up slaves. Countless people turned and bolted away; very few actually headed in the direction Ji Jue pointed out. Even when Ji Jue took out the church emblem and hung it on Little Niuma, they remained skeptical. Noticing Ji Jue's black hair and dark eyes, their resistance only deepened, turning into hatred and disgust. There had been too many disasters, too much grim news and bitter reality. Even with a path to survival right in front of them, who could entrust everything they had to ethereal kindness? So Ji Jue stopped speaking. He merely lifted every victim within reach to high ground in silence, moving forward without knowing where he should go. Everywhere was the same. Bang! A gunshot rang out. Behind the rain-battered ruins, a twisted face appeared, gripping a gun pointed right at Ji Jue's face as he roared: "Get the hell out of here, Federation bastard!" In the mud, Ji Jue turned his head and gave him a blank look. The hands holding the gun trembled. A crudely assembled, modified firearm, soaked through by rain, couldn't aim properly at all; with wet gunpowder, it might not even fire. Only the terror and deep-seated hatred in the man's eyes were impossible to conceal. "Jiakongzhu, he's here to save people," a disheveled woman whispered. "Save people? Since when are Federation dogs so kind!" Jiakongzhu's expression grew even more contorted as he snarled, "If not for you Federation dogs and Empire dogs, how would we have fallen to this state? Save people? "Aren't they the ones who shoved us into hell! "Get lost! "Get out! We don't need you here!" Ji Jue did not answer. He walked over in silence, tilted his head to dodge the bullet discharged from the barrel, then reached out and pressed his hand against the roof of the ruin. Material property reinforcement—applied and released in a flash. Just in the nick of time, it braced the collapsing crossbeam. He turned back for one last look at the man. Though the man's expression was still contorted, twitching as if he wanted to flee, his arms instinctively spread wide in front of Ji Jue, shielding the woman and child behind him. "Take your wife and child somewhere else," Ji Jue said. "This place is going to collapse." He tossed the last packet of medicine from his pocket into the man's chest. He turned and walked away. The roar rose once more. Amid the floodwaters, the incessant sounds of collapse and ruin echoed from the distance, spreading outward without end. Not far away, in the surging torrent, a massive pile of shacks gave way, collapsing down toward a dazed child trapped among the debris. Boom! The jagged beams, wooden planks, and masonry stopped dead in their tracks as Little Niuma, transformed into a beast, braced its frame firmly in front of the child, holding back the collapsing rubble with all its might. The child turned around blankly, staring at the monster right beside them, motionless. As if completely numb. Letting the dislodged bricks, stones, and fragments rain down upon their body. Even when Ji Jue reached out to pull, the child remained rooted to the spot, refusing to leave. Clutched in their small hand was a pale, waterlogged palm, completely devoid of warmth. Gripping tightly, unwilling to let go. "Mama..." Those hollow eyes turned to Ji Jue, dully repeating, "Mama is underneath..." Ji Jue fell silent. The arm the little girl was clutching had long since been severed. Beneath the collapsed ruins, there were no living people left. "..." Ji Jue opened his mouth to speak, but found no words. Lightning suddenly flashed across the sky. For a fleeting instant, it illuminated everything in the mud and flood: broken bricks and scattered tiles, the shattered white tower, streets reduced to rubble, and the raging waters rushing past. For a moment, in a daze, he seemed to hear the hallucinatory sound of a nursery rhyme. In the collapsed ruins, a mother embraced her curled-up child beneath the pouring rain, bowing her head and singing softly and gently, a tune so familiar. Yet right after, the ruins caved in. The singing vanished. Gone with the dying flash of lightning. Leaving only the belated clap of thunder ringing painfully in his ears. BOOM! Gunfire erupted once more, echoing from every direction. In the rising flood, victims drifting on broken wooden planks collided with one another, fighting viciously over whatever little food and valuables they had left. Like cornered beasts tearing at each other's throats. People scattered and fled aimlessly, stumbling forward in vain without knowing where to go. They walked on, staggered, fell into the churning water, and vanished. Groups of able-bodied men fiercely guarded the few rooftops and vantage points, clutching knives and glaring coldly at anyone who dared draw near. Yet before long, the roofs gave way beneath the flood. Chaos spread like a tangible plague. Amid pillage and butchery, numb wails and weeping echoed relentlessly, only to be swallowed up. The darkness was like an unseen maw, methodically chewing and swallowing everything in its grasp. Far off at the entrance to the inner city, following another sustained burst of gunfire, a loader equipped with a bucket slowly pushed forward. It shoved everything left on the ground—the dead, the living, the wailing, the pleading—straight down into the floodwaters below. Rain poured incessantly, washing away the last traces of crimson until nothing remained... Only within the roaring torrent did a startling shade of red begin to spread. What fell from the heavens were tears; what flowed across the earth was blood. Forward was a dead end; backward was oblivion. Hell was everywhere, and there was nowhere to run. "..." In the mud and flood, Ji Jue raised his head toward the heavens, once again catching sight of lightning streaking across the sky. Immediately after, thunder roared and rolled out in endless succession. Bolts of lightning descending from above flickered incessantly, tearing through the rain. Their fierce light was like a blade that failed to cleave the darkness, yet pierced far too many eyes. The calamity was stirring, growing ever more savage. He received an update from the weather satellite... Typhoon White Stag had accelerated once again. In just a few short hours, it had officially made landfall east of Tacheng! Looking down from outer space, that massive, grotesque cyclone, laden with unimaginable moisture, crawled like a rampant beast across the wilderness, inch by inch, wreaking havoc as it drove forward. From hundreds of miles away, it hurled destruction and death toward Tacheng in an endless barrage. Ji Jue held his breath. He heard the ferocious roar coming from the breach in the dam. As the gap widened step by step, lake water churning with massive mudslides cascaded downward. Overwhelming destruction was howling toward them. Yet immediately afterward, he froze where he stood. He held out his hand, reaching upward in disbelief. The wind had not intensified! And the water level beneath his feet had surprisingly stopped rising—no, far from rising, it was gradually leveling off, even showing signs of receding... Raging torrents still poured continuously from the dam's breach. Yet now, they had mysteriously altered course. As the earth rose and hardened, the water traced a colossal arc across the wilderness. Countless smaller tributaries branched off, but the surging main current bypassed the dense sprawl of slums on the outskirts, carving a massive circle that flowed toward the distant horizon. Amid the raging flood, figures caught in the current seemed snagged by invisible ropes, hauled up, yanked from the water, and flung toward higher ground, tumbling unceremoniously into the mud. They coughed and spluttered, looking around blankly in utter disbelief. Even the howling gales seemed to crash into an invisible barrier. Jarring, grating shrieks erupted from the air as invisible pillars materialized out of nowhere, their outlines visible only for a split second beneath the lashing rain. It did not recklessly pit itself against the full might of the typhoon; instead, it split the chaotic air currents down the middle as much as possible, causing the turbulent gusts to collide and wear one another down. Seamless guidance and masterly division dispersed the whole into parts, blunting the savage crests while letting the lingering ripples slip harmlessly through. The power of a single man, unleashed in full force, had erected a battered, perforated shield against the indiscriminate deluge of destruction! At this very moment, between dark heaven and earth, at the highest altitude beyond the reach of ordinary sight, beneath the rampaging tempest clouds, a streak of pure white quietly unfurled, spreading and coalescing into form. Like a torn page of a book, a tattered war pennant. Transcending the Regeneration form into the Transcendent Rank, fusing the essence of Supreme Goodness and embodying the dual principles of Tianyuan and Aether—Domain: Calamity Prevention Codex, deployed! Before the howling gale, the lashing rain, and the monstrous waves. Tong Shan, silent for so long, resolutely thrust out his hand... Standing suspended in midair, he ignored the sneering, indifferent, and mocking gazes directed his way. He stood firm as a mountain, going all out, no longer concealing the power he had kept suppressed for who knew how long. "That's our Shan-ge," Amid his astonishment, Ji Jue looked up at that distant silhouette and couldn't help but smile. He let out a cheer of praise. You could always count on Tong Shan! Yet unlike Ji Jue's admiration and acclaim, the gazes cast toward Tong Shan from within and outside Tacheng bore no goodwill—only a faint annoyance... When someone stepped forward heroically, those who did nothing were relegated to the realm of mediocrity. Once, twice, three, four, five, six times... A person who always led the charge eventually became an eyesore. Putting on a show again, is he? Even looking for death should have limits! Displaying the foundation of Tianyuan amidst the raging aura of the White Stag? Utterly foolish! The instant Tong Shan exerted his full strength, the storm raging outside grew abruptly more savage and frenzied, fully provoked by the diametrically opposed natures of Tianyuan and the White Stag! Sky, earth, wind, and rain—threads of malice converged from all around, swelling into a suffocating tide. It was as though he were pitting himself against the entire world. A single individual was far too insignificant compared to the howling typhoon, barely worthy of notice; at most, it was merely an innate reaction of rejection... BOOM! Savage lightning tore through the air, crashing into the invisible barrier and shattering instantly. Within the black cloud bank above the gale, amidst swirling arcs of faint lightning, eerie serpent-like silhouettes suddenly shot forth, swooping in with insatiable hunger. Yet right in midair, they abruptly stiffened, froze in place, and exploded into mist of blood, washed away an instant later by the torrential rain. Immediately following, however, came countless piercing screeches. Inside the clouds, a sea of dark shadows surged and darted forward. The pack of calamity beasts dwelling inside the thunderhead was enraged. The eerie serpent shapes mutated by the White Stag's aura surged like a tide, swallowing the tattered page and the solitary figure whole in the blink of an eye. Vanishing completely. In the darkness, the watching eyes remained indifferent to such a wretched sight. A hint of malice and schadenfreude surfaced amid their scorn. Then, they froze in shock. What they saw was a sharp, brilliant light abruptly erupting across the heavens. A wisp of dreamlike glimmer flashed like lightning. And then, the colossal swarm of calamity beasts that had nearly devoured Tong Shan whole disintegrated into a sky full of pale ash in the snap of a finger! "..." Suspended in midair, Tong Shan, his hand raised to counterattack, also paused in disbelief. He lowered his eyes to look at the strand of violet lightning hovering before him. The lightning flickered and darted like a living thing, circling closely around him without leaving his side. As though extending greetings to an old friend. Amidst his surprise, realization dawned upon Tong Shan, and he could no longer hold back a hearty laugh. Bursting with delight. "Let's do this, then—together!" Once more, he raised the pennant of his Domain. In his other hand, the sword Huihao was drawn, pointing straight at the boundless, surging tide of calamity. Casting all regard for his own safety aside, giving it his everything, holding nothing back— —Slash!