Ethereal Clouds Disperse, the Ghost Wasteland World

Of the six from Laboratory 705, aside from Han Qin, who carried a Shotgun, and the bespectacled middle-aged woman, the other four were all somewhat advanced in years.

They were still where they had been earlier.

When they saw Qi Shanshan, Li Weiyi, and Gao Huan returning from the direction of the Nine-Story Ship Tower, Director Yang hurried over and said apologetically, "Thank heavens you're back. That's wonderful. I forgot to tell you earlier—there's an unpredictable danger at the Stern. Don't let curiosity get the better of you and run over there."

"This may very well be a Burial Ship!"

"The Ancient Garden at the Stern may not be the ship owner's living quarters. It could also be the ship owner's tomb dwelling."

He could forget something like that?

Li Weiyi and Gao Huan no longer had any favorable impression of Director Yang. They responded with perfunctory pleasantries.

Qi Shanshan, however, put on an entirely different face before Director Yang and said with a smile, "Thank you for the warning, Director! Even if these two boys had the urge, they wouldn't have the nerve. Just looking at those rows upon rows of Figurines in the Nine-Story Ship Tower is enough to send shivers down one's spine. Hey! Haven't all the Immortal Objects on those Bone Humans been taken away? Director, what are you still studying?"

Director Yang said, "Their causes of death! And I believe the most important treasures on them aren't those Immortal Objects at all, but these suits of armor and weapons. Unfortunately, they're too heavy. No one can lift them."

"They must be the legendary Heavenly Soldiers and Generals. Those armors and weapons are all Divine Weapons and Sharp Tools—how could mortals like us use them?" Qi Shanshan said.

Li Weiyi looked at the ancient spear on the ground, over three meters long and black as ink. Though its shaft was mottled with rust, its tip remained sharp, its cold gleam fully exposed.

If there had not been so many eyes around, he truly would have liked to lift it and test just what level of strength he had reached after cultivating extraordinary abilities.

He should be able to lift it.

After Qi Shanshan exchanged a few courtesies with Director Yang, the three headed back toward the Medical Tent at the Ship Bow.

Li Weiyi could not help asking, "Doctor Qi, what exactly are the Immortal Objects you mentioned?"

With both hands in her pockets, Qi Shanshan did not turn around. "They're accessories and clothing items found on those Bone Humans—Dragon Pattern Rings, Three-headed Snake Bracelets, Cross Pendants, Scripture Belts, Silver Thread Gloves, and so on. They have endured for thousands of years without decaying, so they're clearly no ordinary items."

"The moment the Bone Humans were discovered, everyone scrambled to take them all. After that, everybody hid their gains tightly away. No one knew how many good things the others had gotten."

"What I mentioned just now are only the few that have been discussed most often these past days, things many people have seen."

"It's said that when Xie Tianshu removed the Dragon Pattern Ring, a faint Dragon Roar sounded out. It was extremely uncanny. Others say that after Kong Fan obtained a pair of Silver Thread Gloves, the strength in his arms increased dramatically, and he could lift objects weighing three or four hundred jin."

Li Weiyi said, "Kong Fan? Chef Kong, the Head Chef? With his build, he can lift things weighing three or four hundred jin?"

Qi Shanshan nodded lightly. Her beautiful eyes held a trace of envy as she sighed softly. "Now you know why everyone is so desperate to find Buddha's Sarira, and why they're targeting you so fiercely, right? No matter how good those treasures are, they are still far inferior to Buddha's Sarira."

Slap!

Gao Huan smacked his thigh and cried out, "Ah! What did I miss? So many treasures that had survived for thousands of years, and I didn't get a single one. Li, we shouldn't have gotten hurt!"

Li Weiyi remained unruffled. "A common man is innocent, but he becomes guilty by possessing a jade. Who can say whether it will bring fortune or disaster?"

The Ghost Bear Emperor was still alive and could return at any moment.

The people on the Bronze Ship had lost their old sense of decency. They worried over the food and water that would soon run short, while coveting the treasures in one another's hands. The conflicts grew ever sharper.

Moreover, quite a few people believed Li Weiyi had swallowed Buddha's Sarira, and watched him like tigers eyeing prey.

This was the fifth day since they had fallen onto the Bronze Ship.

With every day that passed, the chance of conflict and danger arising increased by another degree.

Driven by survival, greed, jealousy, and desire, many people must have been gathering strength and plotting in secret. Li Weiyi had merely gone out for a walk, yet he could clearly sense the dangerous atmosphere.

All it needed was a fuse to set everything ablaze.

While maintaining the utmost vigilance, Li Weiyi mobilized the scorching current and did everything he could to nourish the injury in his left arm.

Two days later.

It was the seventh day since everyone had fallen onto the Bronze Ship.

At nine in the morning, waves of startled cries rose outside the Medical Tent. The place became a noisy uproar, with running footsteps everywhere.

"It's daylight! The Ethereal Clouds are gradually dispersing."

"Wonderful! Are we about to reach land?"

Everyone in the Medical Tent was jolted awake.

Li Weiyi was overjoyed as well. After making a few quick preparations, he got out of bed and hurried onto the Deck.

The outside was already packed with people.

The thick, pitch-black Ethereal Clouds in the sky had indeed thinned, drifting like gauze. Faint starlight could be seen above them.

"The sea! I can see seawater!"

A young Research Team Member lay over the Bulwark, pointing beneath the ship and cheering ecstatically.

When everyone gathered around, they indeed saw the sea more than a hundred meters below. Wave upon wave rolled across its surface. Yet because the Ethereal Clouds had not fully dispersed, they could only make out a blurry outline.

Even that was enough to excite them.

It was like a blind man regaining his sight, like dawn arriving after an eternal night, bringing boundless hope and longing.

"What's that? A treacherous mountain peak standing in the sea?"

Someone rushed to the foremost point of the Ship Bow and pointed into the distance.

"Not a mountain peak. It looks like a stone pillar... more like a stone stele, with words carved onto it."

"Oh, heavens! How could such an enormous square stone stele rise from the sea? The portion exposed above the water must exceed two thousand meters."

"How is that any different from a stone mountain?"

Li Weiyi followed the crowd toward the Ship Bow.

The Ethereal Clouds overhead were almost entirely gone.

The ocean was dark and heavy.

Dozens of kilometers ahead of the Bronze Ship, the stone stele rose straight from the ground and shot into the heavens like a majestic divine mountain. Even from so far away, its imposing presence could be felt.

Amid the boundless ocean, it looked extraordinarily lonely and abrupt. Yet that was precisely what made it even more magnificent and awe-inspiring.

Four strange, ancient characters were carved upon it, vigorous and forceful. They were cut deep into the stone, as clear as if carved by heavenly blades.

"What strange writing. Why does it look like some kind of symbol?"

"Is this still Earth? No sea region on Earth has ever been heard of to hold such a stone peak stele."

Many had still clung to the fantasy that once the Ethereal Clouds dispersed, they would see the familiar sea and then return to their homeland, their families, and their campuses.

When that fantasy shattered,

some Research Team Members who missed their families beyond measure began to weep hoarsely.

Cai Yutong stood at the edge of the crowd, looking up at the fully cleared sky. "Don't you think the Starry Sky is a little too low? And... why doesn't it look like the Milky Way, like the Starry Sky we know?"

The instant her words fell, something bizarre happened.

Whoosh!

Billions upon billions of light clusters fell from the Starry Sky, like dense rain, scattering down toward the boundless sea.

The nearby light clusters could be seen clearly. They appeared to be... humanoid.

Everyone was stunned by the sudden change. Unclear why, they could only feel their scalps go numb.

The Starry Sky was raining people!

"Come and look! What's in the sea?" Gao Huan waved with all his might, calling everyone over.

Now that the Ethereal Clouds had fully scattered, they could finally see the sea clearly.

Within the vast ocean, black and thick as ink, lay a horrifying sight—countless people swimming within it.

Not only before their eyes, but in the distance as well.

Too many to count.

Their bodies were translucent and emitted a faint glow. There were men and women, old and young, though the Old Man figures were the most numerous. Some floated on the surface, while others sank to the seabed.

They were not people of flesh and blood, but more like departed souls.

The overwhelming majority of the departed souls had vacant eyes and drifted in a muddle. Yet some were exceptionally active, darting through the sea to hunt.

Heh heh!

Roar!

One Old Man with long, disheveled hair and a shriveled face sensed the many gazes from the ship. He threw back his head and let out a savage, ear-piercing cry, then leaped from the sea toward the Deck more than a hundred meters above.

How could anyone have encountered such a bizarre thing before?

In their terror, they all retreated.

Some were so frightened their legs went weak, leaving them unable to move. They were shoved aside and trampled.

Screech!

The moment the vicious old soul drew near the Bronze Ship, still about three meters from the Deck, it was torn apart and burst by a mark that appeared from thin air, becoming a cloud of light particles.

It was as though a crack had appeared in space like a fracture in glass.

It appeared suddenly, then vanished suddenly.

The other vicious souls that had been eager to try all revealed fearful expressions. Letting out bursts of eerie cries, they moved away from the Bronze Ship.

"An unknown power is protecting the Bronze Ship. They can't get aboard." Li Weiyi urged everyone to calm down, then helped Cai Yutong support two elderly professors who had been trampled.

After the vicious old soul exploded into light particles and scattered toward the sea, it immediately sparked a frantic scramble among many departed souls that had been drifting muddleheadedly before. They fought to devour it, sending spray flying.

Not everyone could remain calm. At that moment, panic gripped every heart, and many were still shaken out of their wits.

Strange, bizarre, terrifying—what kind of world was this?

The joy they had felt at the dispersal of the Ethereal Clouds had vanished completely.

Director Yang could not help sighing toward the sky. "In the boundless black sea, the souls of billions of lives drift and swim. Beneath a sky full of stars, a ship of millennia sets sail into mystery. Where is the end? Where can we make landfall?"

Someone viciously pinched his own arm. Only after feeling the pain did he confirm that the scene before him was real.

"We are no longer in the Arctic, perhaps not even on Earth. We have come to the legendary Underworld Netherworld—or the Ghost Wasteland World." There was not the slightest trace of disappointment or sorrow in Xie Tianshu's eyes. Instead, they shone with excitement.

His gaze met those of several people within the crowd. He felt the time was ripe. There was no longer any need for restraint—they could make their move!

The Sea of Souls was boundless. They did not know where it led, nor where home lay.

Li Weiyi's feelings were incomparably complicated. "Is this where the souls of Earth's dead return? But there are surely more than hundreds of billions of souls in the sea. Where could Earth have so many dead?"

"The vast universe, the endless Star Sea—perhaps the dead from every planet return here as souls." Someone stared fixedly at the Starry Sky overhead and made that guess.

Whether in science or religion, most people firmly believed that Earth was absolutely not the only planet in the universe to harbor life.

The stars filled the sky in dense profusion, and amid the rain of light-cluster souls, they appeared dazzlingly brilliant.

Yet they were extremely close to the sea, nowhere near as unreachable as the deep reaches of space.

They did not resemble stars, but rather "Light Source Gates," "Soul Passages," and "Star Sea Wormholes."

The dense rain of light-cluster souls flew from those "stars," then scattered over the dark sea, transforming into one soul after another. All of it was visible to the naked eye.

It was precisely because of this that some people formed the bold conjecture: the dead of the universe all returned here as souls.