Xin Kou Street Café.
Xu Nan and Zhang Yingluo sat together as she explained the origins of the Thousand Rays Society to him for the first time.
Since everyone had gone to watch the commotion at Lü Junyi's hospital, only one bored employee remained in the café. The two of them sat far apart, so they did not have to worry about being overheard.
According to Zhang Yingluo, the Thousand Rays Society was actually an organization still in preparation, though it had already begun operating in practice.
Rumors of another world descending upon Earth had not only become widespread recently. They had started a year ago.
And the government's response had been much faster than Xu Nan had imagined.
A year ago, special forces soldiers had infiltrated the other world and successfully brought back firsthand information. From that point on, the authorities had begun preparing specifically for how to deal with the arrival of the other world.
In fact, starting a year ago, leaders from countries around the world had secretly held many meetings, and conflicts across the globe had decreased considerably.
Once it was confirmed that another world was eyeing Earth covetously, as long as it could be proven that all this was real, anyone who was not an idiot would understand that reducing internal conflict was the top priority.
China was not the only one. Other countries also had various intelligence organizations that had slipped into the other world through accidental or inevitable cracks in space-time.
The intelligence currently confirmed was that the other world's counterintelligence capabilities... still left much to be desired.
Of course, all this was based on the assumption that the gods of the other world had not intervened in mortal affairs. Even those mages and seers mostly turned a blind eye to it.
Otherwise, in the Pro World, where divination was so powerful, so many invaders would certainly have been discovered long ago.
The reason they turned a blind eye was probably simply disdain.
Back to the point.
Although many people had been lost during the exploration of the other world, China had also successfully established an intelligence system targeting it.
Throughout that process, the Thousand Rays Society, an organization hidden in the shadows, had played a very important role.
And recently, the leadership had decided that it was time to make everything public.
The Thousand Rays Society would also move from behind the scenes into the spotlight.
This was a crisis for the entire Earth, not some narrow crisis belonging to a particular region or ethnicity. It could only be overcome if all humanity worked together.
At least, the major powers had ostensibly reached that consensus for now.
As for whether certain countries would go back on their word after the other world descended, that was difficult to say. After all, this was an entirely new world. The laws of the world were about to undergo earth-shattering changes, and the rules of the game for the entire world would be different. Naturally, it was hard to say how things would play out.
According to Zhang Yingluo, China was at least still very united internally. After all, the invading Pro World leaned toward Western culture. Chinese people were not keen on faith and religion, and some even rejected and resented them. It was unlike certain Western countries, where there might be a tendency to defect to the enemy.
"As the two worlds merge, there will definitely be more and more professionals."
"There are currently two strategies for handling professionals. The first is a registration system, which falls under the Thousand Rays Society's jurisdiction."
Zhang Yingluo said quietly, "Most professionals only need to complete basic registration and provide the relevant information at the Thousand Rays Society. Like the registration form you're filling out now, we need to know your home address, contact information... and some basic details, such as your profession and abilities. But you can choose not to fill out anything too private. The Thousand Rays Society is only responsible for recordkeeping and managing civilian professionals."
"You can also choose to join the Thousand Rays Society, but that requires a series of tests and assessments. I came into contact with the Thousand Rays Society half a year ago, but I'm still a reserve member."
Xu Nan nodded. He trusted Zhang Yingluo's explanation quite a bit. Government agencies were certainly far more sensitive to matters like this than ordinary people. It was only natural that they had prepared in advance.
The other management strategy was the military.
If Earth's physical laws changed, exactly how many visitors from another world modern weapons could handle was still unknown. According to the intelligence collected so far, professionals were the main force in warfare in the other world.
If professionals were willing to join the military and submit to a certain degree of management, the leadership would offer extremely generous treatment and resource allocations.
After all, most professions required massive resource investments to cultivate before someone could possibly grow into a superpowered expert.
The Pro World had set its sights on Earth because this virgin land, untouched by magic and divine power, might contain abundant resources.
In short, there were two paths. Choose for yourself. That was the leadership's current policy toward professionals.
Of course Xu Nan did not want to enlist. As a Ron Sorcerer, he could only level up by doing shameful things. What shameful things could he do in the military... Pah! Even if he could, he was too easygoing by nature and was not cut out to be a soldier!
"I'll fill out the form."
Xu Nan agreed readily.
Zhang Yingluo was slightly surprised. Before coming here, she had prepared a whole series of arguments to persuade Xu Nan to fill out the form, but she had not expected him to agree so readily.
Xu Nan has a strong sense of civic duty. Back then, it took my dad half a month of ideological work before I came around to it myself, Zhang Yingluo mused.
What she did not know was that while Xu Nan filled out the form expressionlessly, he was silently sighing to himself.
This form was really only a token measure for the transitional period.
For his profession, he wrote Bard. As for his primary instrument, he casually put down piano. Though it was absurd, before his mother passed away, Xu Nan had loved the piano very much and had even passed the Level Ten examination. He had simply let it gradually fall by the wayside afterward.
A piano was not suitable for combat, and it would also make it easier to conceal his identity.
Besides, the Ron Sorcerer bloodline was special. An ordinary spellcaster's Appraisal Technique could not see through his profession at all. Xu Nan was more than happy to continue muddling along as a Bard.
After all, what came next would be the descent of a chaotic age, perhaps even the apocalypse!
All sorts of ruthless figures would emerge into the world. He did not want to catch the attention of some terrifying character too early. Keeping a low profile was most important.
Liking Zhang Yingluo was one thing, but protecting himself and his loved ones was more important to Xu Nan.
"The Thousand Rays Society never existed in the future I saw."
"So, if everything I saw is real, this organization will soon vanish into thin air."
"The best outcome would probably be for it to fizzle out without a trace."
Xu Nan handed the completed form to Zhang Yingluo, then paid the bill and left.
He recalled the prophetic visions hidden within his bloodline.
The prophecies were in the Decameron.
Those were ten days destined by fate.
Every day, Earth would undergo earth-shattering changes. Xu Nan remembered that on the seventh day, the entire Earth would be spread apart and turned into floating continents. The laws of the universe where Earth existed would be completely altered—at least, the Solar System would be.
There would be no more rotation or revolution, no more satellites. Everything would seem to return to the primordial age when the heavens were round and the earth was square.
China would also change drastically then. Lofty mountains, vast seas of sand, endless forests, and towering snowfields would rise from the ground. The entire world would no longer resemble its former self.
Large numbers of races from another world would enter Earth—or rather, the two worlds would come infinitely close to merging.
And on the tenth day, the gods of the Pro World would descend. That would be the true beginning of the disaster. This descent was led by the new generation of Pro gods—the original multiversal worlds could no longer satisfy their demand for harvesting Faith Power. The planes had begun to wither and decline, and the only solution was to keep capturing other worlds and merging them in, using powerful laws to change everything.
In the bloodline memories of the Ron Sorcerers, this was not the first time the Pro Gods had done such a thing. Over tens of thousands of years of history, they had merged at least dozens of civilizations. Although some civilizations had fought desperately, they had ultimately been unable to withstand the power of the laws.
But this time was different.
Earth was the first world they had merged that possessed such an enormous population, which was why they had used the main plane for the fusion. Seven billion people—more than the combined population of all the divine kingdoms of the Pro Gods!
And Earthlings had advanced, pioneering ways of thinking.
Xu Nan felt that this time, perhaps things would be different.
Perhaps Earthlings would suffer some losses during the merging of the two worlds, but in the end, those gods who sat high above might not necessarily be the victors.
But all that depended on whether his memories were correct.
"Then I'll wait and see." Xu Nan selected a date on his phone's calendar and circled it.
November 29, 2019.
This was the First Day of the Decameron. It was also the day the Pro gods would release the first batch of monsters onto Earth.
One more week.
"Many people might die, but I still have to do everything I can to become stronger and protect as many people I care about as possible."
After returning home, Xu Nan looked at the upstairs room where the light was still on and silently made up his mind.
He went to the garage to check on the giant panda. She was as carefree as ever, enjoying the air conditioning and watching television on an enormous screen. When she saw Xu Nan return, she merely gave him a flirtatious nod.
After confirming that she was fine, Xu Nan turned to leave, only to suddenly spin around the next second!
"Where did you get the air conditioner and television?" Xu Nan was stunned.
Xiao Xiao picked her teeth with bamboo. "I took them from the mall. I walked in openly, took them out openly, and nobody stopped me. That doesn't count as stealing, does it?"
"Besides, can a national treasure stealing something be called stealing?"
Xu Nan's eyes widened.
At some point, several new lines had appeared under the magic pet section—
Additional Shame Points +1 Additional Shame Points +1
The corners of Xu Nan's mouth twitched slightly. "This girl really never disappoints."
He asked for the mall's address, intending to return the items later.
Only then did he return to his room, exhausted in body and mind, and open his workbench.
But at that moment, his backpack began to tremble.
It was that portal.
Xu Nan held the gray sphere the portal had transformed into in his palm. Suddenly, a dripping wet bottle popped out of the portal!
Inside the bottle was a neatly rolled piece of parchment.
"Huh? A message in a bottle?"
Xu Nan examined the bottle. There was even a label on it, signed: Caesar.
Before you continue