Squelch!
The seemingly fragile Walking Stick plunged straight into [Withering]'s head. The gruesome sight made Ye Buyu's heart tremble.
Oh my god, if that landed on my head, wouldn't I die on the spot?
[Withering] reached out, his scrawny arm gripping the Walking Stick embedded in his head as blood streamed down to his feet like a waterfall.
He glanced at Ye Buyu with a chuckle, only to freeze for a second when he found her face contorted rather than filled with pleasure.
"It's my head that got stabbed. Why do you look like you're in excruciating pain?"
How strange. Calamities actually had something like empathy?
[Withering] pulled out the Walking Stick without expelling the stubborn insistence that had seeped into his body. He plopped onto the ground and touched the blood, coating his hand.
Then, covered in blood, he spoke.
"My birth... let me think. At the end of the Peak Epoch, before the Great Decline Epoch, a Calamity called [Sinful Karma] appeared out of nowhere and instantly destroyed the crowning achievement of the Civilization flourishing at the time.
The trading hub connecting the great Star Domains collapsed, and an entire system crumbled like rotten wood. The destruction spread far and wide.
The old trading system had collapsed, wiped out overnight by a mysterious power. Those who knew more were utterly terrified, while those who didn't know the details still believed the trading system could be rebuilt.
Unfortunately, that idea was far too naive."
[Withering]'s lips twitched, as though he had remembered something both laughable and tragic.
"The collapse of the trading system had severe consequences. Economies dependent on external trade crashed instantly, and in some places, people couldn't even afford food.
Like a castle in the air collapsing from above without warning, it crushed a vast swath of