"Wasteland life has already begun to relocate, but at their speed, reaching the Great Western Continent will be extremely difficult. I'm afraid quite a few will die along the way."
In the study, Lin Tuo looked down over the Sandbox continent.
Dense black dots pouring out from the cities and forests gathered together, like pitch-black rivers, or perhaps arrows.
From different directions, they advanced straight toward the Great Western Continent.
"Mm, I still need to help them relocate."
Lin Tuo pondered silently. After a moment's thought, he turned and pulled a fresh sheet of printer paper from the desk. He then used a small knife to cut it into strips of suitable size, picked one up, and carefully placed it into the Sandbox.
Wasteland.
Upon the central Wilderness, a vast migration convoy of humans and animals intermingled was trudging across the frigid snowy plains. Flocks of birds swept through the sky above.
Compared to those beasts and Evolvers, the refugees in the convoy were having an especially difficult time.
They lacked enough clothing to ward off the cold, and food was even scarcer. Many were weak or crippled.
At first, they could barely keep up with the convoy, but gradually, they ran out of strength. Some even collapsed amid the procession.
"We're too far from the Great Western Continent. There's no way we can hold out until we get there." A portion of the Evolvers in the convoy had been less affected and still retained the ability to think normally.
At this moment, seeing the humans gradually falling behind, they could not help but worry.
"Ah! Look!" Someone in the convoy suddenly cried out.
As though they had seen something utterly unbelievable.
Everyone immediately raised their heads and looked ahead.
They saw clouds churning in the sky. Then, all at once, an incomparably enormous, strangely shaped continent descended from the heavens, landing steadily before the migration convoy and fitting perfectly against the frozen Wilderness.
"Is it the Celestial?"
"Could this be... the New Continent?"
Such thoughts arose in everyone's minds. Coupled with the "divine decree" that had covered the entire continent not long ago, this was clearly the work of a Deity.
Unlike humans, the less intelligent beasts gave it no further thought. Maintaining their running posture, they surged onto that "land" made of paper.
The humans, seeing this, did not dare delay either. One after another, they scrambled desperately onto that warm, rough, whitish, strange land.
Outside the Sandbox.
Lin Tuo waited for a while. Once he had confirmed that this migration convoy had completely climbed onto the paper, he pinched it up, held his hand steady, and slowly moved it toward the mountain range of the Great Western Continent.
Though the paper carried a great many lives, its weight remained within what he could bear.
The vibrations from rising immediately sent countless lives on the strip tumbling to the ground, their faces filled with terror as they instinctively cried out.
Some humans near the edge of the paper strip clung desperately to the uneven surface beneath their feet, eyes wide as they stared at the Wasteland shrinking farther and farther away.
Then they discovered that after rising to a certain height, the "land" beneath their feet stopped ascending and instead rapidly shifted westward. The mountains and rivers below were like phantoms, speeding backward.
"Look! That's Old Kyoto!"
"That's Great Mang Mountain!"
"Lightless City!"
With a perspective they had never experienced before, people gazed in amazement at the familiar yet unfamiliar buildings and landmarks upon the earth, as well as the ruined and barren Wasteland.
"So this is the world we live in."
Most of the humans in the convoy, especially the refugees, had never left the places where they lived. Their fantasies about distant lands existed only in the scattered words of Wasteland Hunters.
They knew this land was not good.
They knew this world was terrible.
They knew this was a Wasteland abandoned by the Deities.
Yet only at this moment, riding this land built from white paper and looking down upon the earth, did they finally clearly realize what the world they inhabited truly looked like.
"Many years ago, this world wasn't like this.
Back then, the four seasons were distinct. Unlike now, when winter took up most of the year... Back then, those ruins were still living, bustling cities.
Some citizens worked in factories, others worked at companies or government departments. Children studied in schools. When people fell ill or were injured, they went to hospitals and received treatment...
Young people chased fashion. The clothes worn by boys and girls in love were never the same from one day to the next..."
At the edge of the paper strip.
An old man who had lived from the Old Era until now sat crouched upon the "ground," his sparse gray-white hair trembling in the wind.
In truth, he was not yet fifty years old, but the Wasteland's harsh environment had aged him until he looked like a man of seventy.
He watched the world racing backward, thin tears flowing from his cloudy eyes.
"Back then, I was still an Imperial Pilot. Heh, that was a fine profession—bright prospects, and girls liked it a lot. Until the Cataclysm... everything was gone."
Beside him, a skin-and-bones child blankly looked at the earth, then at the old man, his face full of confusion.
As a refugee born in the Wasteland era, he could not understand the "Old Era" the old man spoke of at all. He only felt the young blood within his shriveled body surging.
It kept rushing into his mind, making him want only to shout, to cheer.
"Wah... ah..."
And so, at last, he cheered. More refugees joined him, shouting together. They did not even know why they were crying out, or why they were weeping.
Amid those cries, snowy-white peaks rose from the earth beneath their feet.
Those were the western mountains. They had arrived at the Great Western Continent.
Then, the "land" beneath their feet began to descend, slowly landing toward an enormous valley at the edge of the continent.
Humans and animals cried out in terror, clutching one another as they stared at the mountains and rivers drawing ever closer, as well as the Glazed Lamp that still shone brilliantly even beneath the dark clouds.
"Look!"
"God, what is that?"
"Scatter! Get out of the way!"
On the ground and atop the peaks, the Evolvers of Burning Fire Company, Gray Mountain Group, and Floating Apocalypse had only just barely recovered their senses when they saw that strange land descending from the sky.
They also saw the dense, endless mass of humans and beasts upon it.
The sight was so shocking that quite a few ferocious Evolvers rolled across the ground without a shred of composure, fleeing in panic.
But very soon, every living creature realized their fears had been unnecessary.
That invisible hand controlling the entire "land" was so gentle, so cautious, even so "warm," as it placed them in the valley.
"What are they shouting about?" Outside the Sandbox, in the study, Lin Tuo carefully placed this first batch of migrants amid the mountain range, then finally let out a breath.
Just now, he had been afraid his hand would shake, to the point that he had held his breath.
"Forget it, I won't worry about it for now." Shaking his head and casting aside the small doubt in his heart, Lin Tuo took another strip of paper from the table and fixed his gaze on another migration convoy. "You'll be the second wave... Tsk, looks like I've still got plenty to do."
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