The End Is Here, and You're Still Waiting

"Is our world... really going to be destroyed?"

This thought rose uncontrollably in the hearts of countless people, and the entire mountain range fell into an indescribable silence.

At this moment, whether Evolvers or refugees, all of them felt emotions beyond measure.

There was reluctance, and there was anticipation.

In the days gone by, the vast majority of them had deeply hated this land.

Radiation had ruined most people's health, while the harsh environment forced every living thing to struggle with all its might just to survive.

Yet now, as they watched the sky shatter and endless rain pour down in reverse, as though it would drown the entire world, they felt reluctant to part with it.

At the end of the day, this was still their homeland.

On the other hand, the "Celestial" had reappeared and promised to take them to the New Continent. That was undoubtedly what most people longed for.

"Rumble..."

Rain crashed against the earth. Countless buildings were washed away and submerged, snow on the Wilderness melted, trees toppled, and thunder rolled through the sky amid flashes of lightning.

The last traces of civilization in this land were swallowed beneath the water.

Heaven and earth overturned, presenting a scene of apocalypse.

All humans and Mutant Beasts trembled in terror before such heavenly might. Their fear deepened until they could no longer muster even the thought of resistance.

"Splash..."

No one knew how long had passed. The entire continent had been submerged, leaving only a few higher mountain peaks still standing above the waterline.

The Western Mountains were one such place.

At Lishan Martial Arts School, Lin Tuo returned the bucket to the courtyard, then subconsciously wiped the nonexistent sweat from his forehead and slowly exhaled.

"Mm, that should be intimidating enough."

Flooding the land was meant, on one hand, to reduce social complexity. On the other, it was to display "heavenly might," making it easier to manage these lives later.

"Next comes the transfer." After some thought, Lin Tuo finally picked up the large Potted Plant, briefly placed it inside the Isolation Shield, then took it back out.

"Rustle..." Amid an extremely faint sound, some small insects in the Potted Plant died beneath the Isolation Shield's "disinfection" effect, while the tree itself remained unaffected.

Then, Lin Tuo placed the Potted Plant at one corner of the long table holding the Sandbox continent.

The Sandbox did not fill the entire table. Some space had been left around its edges. Lin Tuo had placed it there because he wanted to borrow the Evolution Sandbox's power to avoid certain problems.

In fact, through his observations and experiments over this period, he had discovered that around the entire Sandbox, apart from the Isolation Shield clinging tightly to the Sandbox's boundaries,

there was also an invisible "barrier" some distance farther out, beyond the long table itself.

It had existed ever since Lin Tuo first activated the Evolution Sandbox, isolating the Sandbox from the outside according to some incomprehensibly complex Rules.

On one hand, it blocked insects and particles that might accidentally enter. On the other, it did not obstruct objects Lin Tuo deliberately placed within.

That was also why Lin Tuo had to get close when speaking into the Sandbox. Once he left that invisible barrier, any sound he made would no longer interfere with the Sandbox's internal operation.

Furthermore, it seemed that this barrier was precisely why only Lin Tuo, the "host," could see the Sandbox and affect it.

Neither other people nor cameras could see the Evolution Sandbox at all, much less interfere with it.

"To avoid any possible trouble, it's safer to keep the Potted Plant inside the barrier. This position won't interfere with the Sandbox either."

After silently setting down the Potted Plant, Lin Tuo turned and picked up several wooden chopsticks and a spoon he had just found in the kitchen.

"Whew. Let's start by transferring the animals, while the hypnosis hasn't worn off yet."

Lin Tuo muttered to himself, extending the spoon in his hand toward the Western Mountains.

Wasteland, within the Western mountain range.

The torrential rain in the sky had stopped, but the ground had already become a vast ocean.

The change in climate brought even fiercer winds, forcing the humans on the mountaintops to huddle together and lie flat on the ground to keep from being blown off.

"The New Continent has not yet opened. The living beings of this world shall first proceed to the Transit Hub."

A thunderous, supremely majestic voice descended from the sky once more. At the same time, a strange Flying Boat fell from above.

No one knew what material it was made of. It crashed down with a roar, brimming with oppressive force and radiating an aura of destruction.

The humans were all right. Knowing this was the Deity's power, they remained fairly calm.

But the Mutant Beasts that could not understand speech were thrown into panic. Yet they did not dare resist at all, their limbs going limp as they collapsed in heaps.

Earlier, as living beings from across the continent had gathered here, the various races had already divided themselves once.

Just as humans instinctively sought out their own kind in the face of great disaster, the other Mutant Beasts had also separated under instinct's guidance. This greatly facilitated Lin Tuo's task.

The people saw the strange Flying Boat slowly descend between distant mountains. The beasts Lin Tuo could hypnotize might not have possessed human intelligence, but they had already become dimly enlightened by the standards of the natural world.

With the earlier "drill" on the White Paper Continent, Lin Tuo did not even need to force them along. Some leaders among them crawled into the spoon first, and then their entire groups followed after them.

"Up."

Lin Tuo carefully lifted the spoon, took it out of the Sandbox, and placed it into the nearby Potted Plant.

"Mm... To prevent fights later, carnivores and herbivores need to be separated too." Lin Tuo muttered to himself and laid one of the wooden chopsticks across the Flower Tray, artificially dividing the space.

Then, by switching consciousness, he used his Avatar to determine the different categories of fierce beasts.

Thus, the humans in the Wasteland saw that mysterious Flying Boat appear from time to time, carrying away a portion of the living beings before returning again after a while.

Through careful adjustments, Lin Tuo divided the flowerpot into several areas. For example, all herbivores were placed in one area, while humans were assigned a separate one.

Carnivores, meanwhile, were divided repeatedly according to predator-prey relationships. Thanks to the Mutant Beasts he had hunted in the Wasteland these past few days, as well as his conversations with Hua Xi, Lin Tuo handled classification as easily as turning his hand over.

"Mm, this arrangement should work. Every area has its own water source... At least for a short while, they should remain safe and sound."

This was only a Transit Hub, after all. Lin Tuo figured he would keep them penned up for a few days at most before transferring them away.

"Then the last ones to transfer are the humans."

Having settled the Mutant Beasts, Lin Tuo breathed a sigh of relief. Compared with them, intelligent humans were much easier to manage.

When the Flying Boat descended once more, the densely packed humans atop the mountains had already formed lines under the organization of the Three Major Powers... warming Lin Tuo's heart somewhat.

"They're so well-behaved..."

Amid his sigh, more than a hundred thousand humans from the Wasteland were successfully transferred into the Transit Hub.

"Th-this is the Transit Hub the Deity spoke of?"

When the Wasteland's humans stepped out of the Flying Boat and onto this strange land, similar thoughts arose in everyone's minds as they raised their heads and curiously surveyed this world.

"The sky here... is so strange..."

Near the front of the crowd, an executive from Burning Fire Company blankly looked up, sensing the lofty, indescribable sky and the light shining from some unknown place. His heart was filled with astonishment.

Compared with a house, the Potted Plant was ultimately far too small, much less for people of their size.

Thus, even at their utmost, they could not make out the scene inside the study.

Just as humans on Earth could not perceive Earth's curvature with the naked eye alone,

they could sense the light but could not see the sun. To them, the edge of the Flower Tray was already a distant horizon.

Not to mention the details of the house.

"Boss! Look! There's an enormous tree ahead!" Among Floating Apocalypse's ranks, a rather powerful Evolver stared ahead in dumbstruck shock and cried out.

Beside him, the middle-aged woman who controlled the entire organization wore the same stunned expression.

Before them, between heaven and earth, stood a giant tree taller than the mountains. It blotted out the sky and covered the sun, its spreading branches blocking nearly half the heavens.

"Beyond the Boundary, beneath Jianmu Tree, at noon there is no shadow; when one calls, there is no echo. It lies at the center of heaven and earth..."

Gazing at the towering tree whose end was nearly impossible to see, this veteran Evolver could not help reciting the legends recorded in ancient texts.

"Could this be beyond the Boundary? The place where Deities reside?"

Similar thoughts surfaced in the minds of the other humans as well.

After all, even in the Wasteland era, they had retained a basic understanding of the world.

They knew clearly that the land beneath their feet was not the world they knew. Combined with historical legends regarding the Boundary and the Divine Realm,

such deductions could not have been more reasonable.

"So this is... the land where we'll stay for the time being?"

At the edge of a wooden chopstick, the man at the helm of Gray Mountain Group slowly crouched down, reached out, grabbed a handful of warm yellow sand, and let it flow through his fingers.

As an Evolver with highly developed senses, he clearly realized that this land had no Corruption.

His body trembling slightly, the middle-aged man rose to his feet and looked into the distance. In his line of sight appeared a shimmering lake beneath that "giant tree."

By then, some nearby humans had already run to the great lake, fallen to their knees on the dry sand, and carefully scooped up a little water to drink. Their eyes immediately lit up as they stood and shouted:

"This is Grade One water! No, it's even purer than Grade One water!"

One had to know that most water sources in the Wasteland carried varying degrees of Corruption. They tasted terrible and were rich in toxins, while Grade One water refined through repeated distillation was something only a tiny fraction of humans could afford.

Yet here, there was an entire lake filled to the brim.

Hearing that shout, countless refugees ran to the lakeshore and let out cheers from the depths of their lungs.

The sound was so tremendous that even Lin Tuo could not ignore it.

"What are they shouting about now..." Shaking his head, Lin Tuo withdrew his gaze, inspected the Potted Plant, confirmed that no trouble had arisen, and silently noted the time.

Once he finished dealing with these matters, he would arrange to feed them.

Whatever he fed them, it would probably be enough to last them a long time...

"Mm, they should all be transferred by now, right?" Lin Tuo shifted his gaze and bent down to inspect the Western Mountains, confirming that everyone had been moved.

In the desolate mountain range, only the Glazed Lamp still lay quietly upside down on the ground.

Lin Tuo casually removed the Glazed Lamp. Just as he was about to withdraw his Avatar, he suddenly froze.

"Seems like there's still one person missing..."

Consciousness Switch.

The next second, the eyes of Lin Tuo's Avatar, which remained in the mountains, regained their light. He looked around and saw only an empty expanse of snow-covered mountains, the entire world silent and still.

Turning toward the solitary peak, Lin Tuo quickly returned to the entrance of that laboratory.

The wind and snow here had not melted.

Beneath the dark sky, outside the cold metal doors, there was only a small figure sitting quietly and alone in the snow, clutching a rifle in her arms.

Looking out at the deathly silent world, she let out soft sobs.

Hua Xi...

Lin Tuo froze for a moment, then hurriedly climbed over and came to stand behind the little girl. The sobbing immediately became clearer.

"Why are you crying?" Hua Xi was grieving as she hugged her arms and wiped away her tears when a familiar, gentle voice suddenly came from behind her.

She froze, her small body shuddering. Then she spun around, her tear-filled eyes widening.

"You... I... I thought you'd abandoned me..."

Lin Tuo fell silent. He walked over, slowly crouched down, and reached out to wipe away the tears on the little girl's face, which were about to freeze.

"Why didn't you leave just now? The Glazed Lamp didn't completely seal this place. There were huge gaps all around."

"Sniff..." Hua Xi sucked in her nose hard, then suppressed her grievance and said, "You... you said I should wait... wait for you here."

"..."

Lin Tuo remained silent. After a moment, he smiled helplessly, rubbed the little girl's messy hair, and said with a smile:

"Yes, so I came back."

Only one update today... but I'll shamelessly ask for recommendation votes anyway...