"What's going on? What's going on? Look at the sky..."
"Shit, nobody said there'd be any astronomical phenomena today."
"Ten suns, three moons, and all those sights-is this for real? Is it some kind of technological projection?"
"It's getting dark? That makes no scientific sense. Ten suns, and it isn't hot at all. Damn, if Hou Yi knew, would he even bother doing anything?"
"The moons seem to be giving off a faint red glow. How bizarre. This is a once-in-a-lifetime sight. Those stars look so, so close to us!"
"Interesting. I never thought I'd encounter something like this right before graduation. Are heaven and earth celebrating this emperor's emergence?"
"You're still in the mood to joke? Don't you feel oppressed? Aren't you scared? Why am I not in the mood to joke at all? We're doomed, we're doomed! What they said online was true. There are mysteries in this world we know nothing about. This world is full of real horrors."
"Doomed, my ass. Stop making a fuss. I go online too. This is obviously the revival of spiritual energy. A new opportunity has arrived for us losers. Heh, the reshuffling of social classes and the reversal of our fortunes start right now."
"Spiritual energy revival, my ass! This oppressive crimson, those eerie sights-this is the end of the world! The Tui Bei Tu prophesied that a demon king would come from beyond the heavens, overturn the world, and wipe out humanity!"
"Heh, wipe out humanity? Have you forgotten what happened in '99? Such mortal wisdom. Didn't they suppress it back then?"
"All right, enough joking. Something just feels wrong. I'm going back to my dorm for secluded cultivation, to await my body's evolution and the dawn of a new world."
"Huff, huff, huff. Deep breaths, deep breaths. Don't be scared. It's nothing!"
Many people saw the changes in the sky and felt uneasy, able only to vent their panic through discussion.
This unprecedented spectacle went beyond their understanding of mirages.
An inexplicable, indescribable discomfort arose within them.
It felt as though something momentous was happening between heaven and earth, yet they had no way of knowing what.
The blue had vanished from the sky.
Only gloom and crimson remained.
The original sun seemed to have produced refracted images. Ten suns stood side by side high in the darkened sky, their light seemingly shrouded by layer upon layer of concealment, leaving only orange to scatter across heaven and earth.
The moon, which should not have appeared at all, occupied another part of the sky. It too had produced phantom images. Three moons hung aloft, seemingly both illusory and real, their red silhouettes radiating an eerie, ominous presence!
And then there was the sky itself.
It was daytime.
Yet countless stars stood out, like innumerable eyes watching the earth.
Mirages also appeared faintly in the murky red sky.
Among them were vast, boundless realms bearing down from above, eerie and unfathomable regions perched on high, and lingering visions of chaos, desolation, strangeness, sanctity, and terror...
In short.
The sky seemed to have become an intricate curtain, with countless eerie, supernatural sights appearing in succession against its dark crimson backdrop.
Everyone felt oppressed and terrified.
It was as though something invisible had abruptly appeared.
As though an unseen wind had swept through heaven and earth, passing through flesh and brushing over everything, tangible and intangible.
Gu Zhe watched the scene.
His expression was stunned as well.
Even though his profession was now uncanny and his abilities supernatural.
He had yet to master any means of shaking heaven and earth. At present, he could not roam the void freely, overturn rivers and seas, or command the land.
So the changes in heaven and earth shocked him too.
What exactly happened?
Thinking of the world's silent transformation, he knew this could not possibly be as simple as a mirage or some astronomical spectacle.
Was there some special significance to all this?
Moreover.
Gu Zhe could sense that, just now, his connection with the Paper Figures concealed inside his clothes and trouser legs had grown stronger.
He instinctively knew that controlling them again would consume less mental energy. They seemed more active, their strength had increased somewhat, and their range had expanded a little.
Had the changes in heaven and earth accelerated?
Were some subtle rules changing?
Had the world's transformation crossed a threshold, causing these supernatural phenomena to manifest?
Was this also why the government had stopped moderating online comments?
What were those illusions in the sky?
Only the Netherworld? Or were there other supernatural realms?
Compared with the exclaiming crowds, Gu Zhe had far more questions and far more thoughts.
At that thought, Gu Zhe took out his phone.
He kept scrolling through the news.
His expression grew even more serious.
It turned out this was not limited to Yuzhou, where he was.
Across the country and throughout the world.
The same thing had happened everywhere.
This completely defied scientific principles.
Earth was a sphere.
It orbited the sun, and because the angles differed, some places experienced day while others experienced night. The positions of the stars people saw also differed.
Yet.
Online.
People everywhere were in an uproar, and everyone's photographs looked much the same.
In other words, at this moment, everyone was seeing the same scene.
This had already transcended ordinary physical logic. Perhaps...
Gu Zhe's expression shifted slightly.
Perhaps this was the influence of phenomena from different dimensions.
Those eerie, vast scenes might have come from other dimensions.
He opened the mystery forum he frequently visited.
His gaze sharpened:
[Holy shit, I'm in the United States, and the guns in my house just stopped working. I don't know what's going on. This makes no scientific sense, none at all. Seems it's the same for other people too.]
[Yes, I'm in Maple Leaf. The town's descended into chaos, and everyone's freaking out. Firearms have lost their power. What's happening? What's happening? Has the apocalypse really arrived? Have the rules changed?]
[No way. The more I think about it, the scarier it gets. Have some rules changed? This sort of thing happens in novels.]
[The sky's crimson, the sun and moon have changed, and guns don't work. I need to rush out and buy melee weapons.]
[Heh, keep pretending. Go on. Why can you still post, then?]
[Exactly. Does heaven and earth have a consciousness that just happened to ban weapons? Hilarious.jpg.]
[You above, stop playing cute. There's an advanced technology research institute near me. An explosion just happened there.]
[Help! I'm a miserable doctoral student in theoretical physics, about to graduate, and I've just discovered that loads of advanced equipment won't work. What's going on? More than the apocalypse, I'm scared of graduating straight into unemployment.]
[Shit, this gets scarier the more you think about it. I'm in astrophysics, and I've found irregularities in some astronomical parameters. What's happened to Earth? Or to the solar system? Surely the entire universe hasn't changed.]
[Sigh, I wasn't going to say anything, but seeing you all make such a fuss, I can't resist. Worship my Great Sun Ultraman Bodhisattva, and everything will go your way. Pfft, damn it, you lot almost had me believing you. Unfortunately, TVs and phones still work normally. Even electricity works. Begone, all evil! Hehehe.]
[Practical advice, read now. These changes in heaven and earth aren't happening for no reason. Stockpile food first, then blades. Find your family and stick together.]
[I have a family heirloom manual of the Pure Yang Art, which I'll give everyone for free. Martial arts have changed now, and supernatural powers are strong. Those who know, know. If you don't, now that I've said it, you do. If you still don't, just know that things are complicated...]
[Heh, a bunch of Dragon Country trash. You think the world only started changing now? My dad immigrated to France with a massive fortune, and recently paid a high price to get into the Knights' Order. Our captain is of the Ninth Knight Sequence, brave and powerful enough to snap trees and shatter stone. He could already take on handguns head-on before. Now that firearms have failed, heh, heh... Once I've finished training and come back, you'll all be groveling at my feet.]
[You little shit above. I was going to keep quiet and lurk, but now I can't hold back. A measly knight of the ninth sequence, and it isn't even you. What the hell are you so cocky about? I'm an Executioner by hereditary profession. I sever heads and souls alike. Hehe, you used to look down on me, but now I'm far beyond your reach. Knights? They aren't worth shit.]
[No way. You two foul-mouthed big shots above, please tell me you're just joking. As a mere mortal, I'm trembling.]
[Exactly, this isn't scientific. Does this world really have some kind of Inner World? Don't scare me. I don't want to be an ant.]
[Melee professions, nothing but brute courage. What are you showing off for? Heh...]
Perhaps most people felt panicked by this sudden transformation of the heavens.
They needed to talk to others and vent.
So there were especially many posts today.
Even some lurkers had started speaking up.
Posts kept appearing one after another.
Some were true and some false, a dizzying stream, but certain details still slipped out, allowing sharp-eyed people to glimpse fragments of the truth.
Or perhaps...
Gu Zhe's eyes flickered.
Or perhaps firearms really had failed, freeing some people of certain concerns and emboldening them to post.
Many people were like that. Their sense of security in their surroundings determined how freely they indulged themselves.
That was why the government had regulated steel melee weapons ahead of time, and why the Jinyiwei's Third Bureau had been established.
Gu Zhe looked toward Ming Xuan, who was still watching the changes in the sky.
His words carried a pointed implication.
"Xuan, apparently firearms have completely stopped working!"
Ming Xuan answered instinctively.
"No way. Their effectiveness only decreased."
The next moment, she was utterly stunned.
"What? Completely stopped working?"
Even with her attention drawn to the changes in heaven and earth, she knew how enormous the consequences would be if this news was true.
Firearms had always been humanity's greatest reliance, and the greatest deterrent maintaining social order.
She was just about to take out her phone to confirm the news.
"Boom, creeeak!!"
Another tremendous noise erupted.
It sounded like the earth splitting during an earthquake.
The tremendous noise did not come from physical reality. The buildings around them had not changed.
Instead, it came from somewhere deep within their minds.
It was as though some instinct sensed a collision occurring in the emptiness between heaven and earth. Like a hallucination, it felt as if something enormous had drawn too close, its minor protrusions and edges scraping and colliding.
They instinctively looked up at the sky.
Apart from the deepening crimson and the greater darkness between heaven and earth, nothing else seemed unusual.
After instinctively pausing to look up, Ming Xuan.
Lowered her head again to verify something.
Her boss had taken an interest, so naturally, as his assistant, she needed to demonstrate her competence.
No matter how panicked these changes in heaven and earth made her feel, she still had to do her job. The world had not ended on the spot.
She also felt a certain relief.
Her phone still worked!
At least everyone had not been stranded in informational isolation, as happened in apocalyptic films and novels.
Still, doubts lingered in her heart.
What exactly happened? That rumbling shouldn't mean anything bad, right?
Hopefully, everything would be all right!