Closed-5

An hour later, the church was already packed.

Elderly men and women from all the surrounding towns called one another fellow believers, chatting cheerfully about their sons and daughters working away from home and the eggs they had bought yesterday.

Free sunflower seeds and fruit were being handed out, and everyone received three yellow cakes and several bottles of mineral water.

Amid the noisy clamor, the curtain over the stage remained lowered.

Backstage, preparations were in full swing. The Gospel Class preparing for the variety performance was finalizing the program, while in a corner, a young man lay sprawled on the floor like a dead dog.

Huai Shi's face was deathly pale. He was nearly vomiting, shivering in wave after wave.

Piercing cold and an invisible burden pressed relentlessly onto his spine.

For the first time, he felt such a terrifying weight of death... He did not dare imagine what kind of horror could create such a heavy premonition.

"Bleurgh!"

He bent over a bucket and vomited up all the white steamed buns and braised pork he had just crammed into his stomach, nearly bringing up tears and snot along with it.

He was starting to hate this weird skill of his.

Clearly, he was about to die, yet Huai Shi surprisingly did not feel afraid. He only felt wave after wave of nausea, as though he had eaten something bad.

His stomach was bloated beyond belief.

Wiping away his tears, he grabbed the old man playing the pipa. "Sir, if I die backstage, does that count as a workplace injury...?"

The old man leaped several steps away in complete alarm.

"Young man, don't try to scam people! You were fine before you ate... This old man has seen the world, you know. A few years back, you and I might've met near some train station! If you try anything, believe me, I'll lie down right now and accuse you of beating me!"

"Exactly, exactly!" The old man playing the suona beside him chimed in. "I'll testify. I saw it clearly—you young people start throwing punches whenever you disagree..."

Huai Shi was utterly defeated.

Where had this pack of old men, skilled in every vice, come from? They were even this practiced at staging accidents!

"Alright, alright, get ready!" Another foreman came over from the front, shouting as he pointed at Huai Shi. "Can you still play? If you can't play, we're not paying you! Young people these days have no conscience at all."

"I can play, I can."

Tearfully, Huai Shi picked up his erhu. "Where's the sheet music?"

"What do you need sheet music for? We don't have enough time, so our opera got canceled. You're accompanying the Gospel Errenzhuan now. Just follow the tune and make it sound festive."

The old man waved his hand and muttered, "Forty yuan is a real loss. Should've offered twenty."

Huai Shi had nothing to say.

He had barely taken a seat at the front with the old men when someone began announcing from the stage. "Next, fellow believers, please enjoy the Gospel Yangge brought to you by the Old Pond Town Cultural Society!"

The audience burst into enthusiastic applause.

Only Huai Shi could not help grumbling inwardly: What the hell was that lunatic Wang Hai up to? He was holding a sermon like it was a comedy show, complete with warm-up acts. Why put on such a ridiculous show? Why not go be some pretty boy idol instead?

Before he had time to think any further, a row of elderly women in festive floral clothes came onstage from backstage, crowding around someone as they chattered incoherently about square-dancing poses and techniques.

"Ladies, remember, the rhythm here isn't boom-cha-cha. It's boom-cha—cha." The leader smiled and flamboyantly brushed back his hair, turning with a bewitching smile—then froze stiffly in place.

He was looking at Huai Shi.

Huai Shi was looking at him too.

Both were dumbfounded.

Damn it, why is it you?!

Huai Shi had just been wondering how to find this guy and make contact. Yet before they had even connected, the Gospel Errenzhuan was already performing, with gigolo Liu Dongli leading the dance and traitor Huai Shi playing the erhu.

A joyous double bloom of folk arts.

Amid their complicated stare-down, Huai Shi silently mouthed, "Where's my orange tree?"

"Still haven't bought it."

"Have you eaten?"

"No..."

"I have."

Huai Shi patted his stomach. "White steamed buns and braised pork. Jealous?"

Damn it!

Liu Dongli suddenly wanted to curse, but the stage curtain had already opened. He could only force out an enthusiastic smile and sway along with the old men's rustic disco.

Right in front of Liu Dongli, the older sister he had first struck up a conversation with twisted her floral handkerchief and began singing, "Enter God's home, sit beside the Lord, this sweetness beats even our own mothers, hallelujah, up to heaven..."

Pfft.

Huai Shi could not hold back a laugh.

Beep.

The phone in his pocket vibrated as a text message arrived. Stealing a moment amid the chaos, he pulled out his phone with one hand. Ai Qing's number was displayed prominently on the screen.

Along with the message.

"—Retreat immediately! [Closed—5]"

At that instant, an aura of death far beyond anything before came surging in, nearly drowning Huai Shi.

Ten minutes earlier, Ai Qing's expression was grim in the temporary command center.

"The Soul Radiation record has been completed. Normal."

"Depth index 0.17. Normal."

"Border erosion level 0.03 percent. Normal."

"Normal."

"Normal."

"Normal."

All observation data was completely normal.

Yet for some reason, her expression became increasingly ugly, until finally a trace of ashen pallor showed through.

"What is it?" the middle-aged man asked.

"Something's wrong." Ai Qing's slender fingers clenched around the wheelchair's armrest, her gaze dark. "Something is definitely wrong!"

Amid everyone's stunned looks—

She reached into the side pouch of her wheelchair, took out her phone, directly removed the back cover, and pulled out a crimson plug resembling a SIM card.

In the silence, the middle-aged man stared wide-eyed and rose instinctively. "Are you insane?!"

Every inspector's phone was a special model provided by the Astronomical Society. Its powerful signal and battery aside, its internal apps and data were only natural. Most important of all was the red highest-level alarm on the back of the phone.

It was a function only an inspector could activate after confirming that a matter exceeded their capabilities and would bring about Border danger of Class B or above.

Whether it was called a beacon fire or a lifesaving talisman, few inspectors ever chose to use it.

Once this function was activated, the signal directly connected to the special circumstances response office of the Unified Bureau—the Astronomical Society's direct governing body under the United Nations.

To put it dramatically, it was no different from reporting directly to the highest authority.

If the situation was serious enough, it might even alarm the Committee of Ten.

If Ai Qing had been a full inspector, she could even have deployed a Holy Remains of Class A or above in a short time, or directly mobilized all Ascender personnel across the East Sea region...

Such extraordinary authority naturally came at a price.

If anyone discovered she was crying wolf, the consequences went without saying—but for those present, what mattered most was that once the Astronomical Society was informed, every deal and guarantee made to keep this matter under wraps would naturally fall apart.

Flipping the table when victory was within reach?

What exactly was this woman trying to do?

Had she really gone mad?

This was clearly just a minor matter involving a Border Relic. Why report it directly to the Unified Bureau?

It was like two county officials trying to outdo each other, then directly calling the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Wasn't that making a mountain out of a molehill?

Besides, there was no evidence or sign at all. Nothing even hinted that something was wrong.

"Ah, perhaps it is an overreaction. But compared to an unforeseen situation, I'd rather take the gamble."

Ai Qing spun her phone in her hand. Once she had made her decision, her expression calmed again, without any trace of agitation.

Even if those above questioned her competence, she would accept it.

That intense, maddening sense of unease from just now seemed like an illusion as it swiftly vanished. Only the cold sweat beneath her clothes, slowly drying, revealed how fiercely she had struggled before making this absurd decision.

Studying the phone screen, a mocking smile surfaced on her lips.

She was laughing at herself.

She only needed two more months to become a full inspector. Now, that was probably uncertain, wasn't it? If this proved to be a false alarm caused by overreaction, even having her inspector status revoked would be considered lenient punishment.

After all, with the special circumstances response office increasingly short on manpower, it would never tolerate such waste of Astronomical Society resources.

Just seconds later, the phone screen lit up.

There was no need to connect the call. A faint light projected from the screen, weaving into an illusory figure in the air: a man in a stiff suit, dressed like an operator. His expression held neither confusion nor urgency as he calmly examined the girl before him.

"Designation T9631, trainee inspector stationed in New Sea, East Xia branch of the Unified Bureau."

He spoke. "No depth alarm detected. No Border erosion traces detected. No signs of high-level Stigmata activity detected... Please submit your report and application."

"In accordance with the provisions of the Twelve Tables, as a trainee inspector, I request assistance under Border Countermeasure Regulation Article 9, as well as a physical lockdown of the area within ten kilometers around Old Pond Town, under Xin Hai City, East Xia Republic, Asia. Execute immediately."

"Application confirmation in progress—"

The printer beside the suited man rapidly spat out a long string of documents. After scanning them once, he picked up the stamp beside him and pressed down its seal.

"Application approved."

"Satellite orbital adjustment commencing. Expected to be in position in three minutes. Old Pond Town lockdown order has been issued. Awaiting processing—loading entries recorded under Border Countermeasure Regulation Article 9."

After completing every procedure with mechanical rigidity, the suited man designated 0075 gave a final nod.

"Everything for the world."

The communication ended.

In the stunned silence of the crowd, a roar like the earth itself was shaking came from the distance.

Above the Sky Dome, within the black Primordial Darkness of the Universe, a vast satellite array floating in orbital space vented gas and slowly, precisely adjusted its angle, reflecting the clouds, earth, cities, and every insignificant speck of dust below.

Old London, Greenwich Observatory. On the sixth underground level, a colossal differential engine rumbled as it slowly spat out a strip of tinfoil tape punched full of holes.

After carefully cutting it free, the secretary waiting nearby rolled it onto a spindle, made an image backup during the process, then loaded it into an empty cylinder and sent it into the vacuum mail tube beside it.

Drawn by the vacuum, the coded cylinder shot thousands of meters underground and landed in a corner of a busy hall.

A smoker sat in a chair listening to music. One hand opened the cylinder while the other deftly shook out the scroll. He stamped his foot on the floor, tossed the cigarette butt aside, and walked toward the center of the hall.

People bustled through the unimaginably vast hall, yet the floor was uneven, with many places even filled with standing water.

But viewed from above, its true nature became clear—it was an enormous three-dimensional map, vast enough to record every terrain in the world.

The smoker walked past his working colleagues, followed the code to its indicated location, pulled out a row of markers from his pocket, and selected the silver-gray one.

He drew a circle.

"Closed circle Designation C987778762 completed. Filed."

And so, on another continent millions of miles away, separated by mountains and seas, dragons and serpents rose from the earth.

Under the light of the setting sun and moon, the soil outside Old Pond Town churned as though boiling. Amid the thunderous screech of iron grinding against stone, scorching fire surged forth, turning countless clods of earth into lava.

Then, a metallic gleam emerged from the lava.

It multiplied.

Like a growing tree, steel rose inch by inch, extending along the path traced by an invisible pen. Its rapidly cooling surface gleamed with black iron, while countless sharp metal plates like scales blossomed across it.

In ten seconds, all of Old Pond Town was enclosed within an iron barrier hundreds of meters high.

Then the colors of the sky shifted from murky twilight to black.

Reality Stripping began.

At that instant, a sigh rang out.

A slender, fair hand reached out from the church.

It clenched heaven and earth.

A violent explosion sounded in the distance.

Come on, come on, let the immortals fight! Please recommend and bookmark~

(By the way, after being stuck for a week, I happily discovered that I'm almost out of saved chapters...)