Voice of God

The instant Mo Ling heard Li Luo speak, he thought she had been possessed by something.

But Li Luo quickly added, "It's circling around in my mind, repeating one sentence over and over—change."

Li Luo hurriedly took out the electronic screen and wrote down what had happened to her.

Change?

What did that mean?

Mo Ling could not make sense of it no matter how hard he thought.

He quickly used the electronic screen to ask Li Luo, "What is the Voice of God? What does 'change' mean?"

Li Luo looked somewhat panicked as well. She immediately found some records and placed them before Mo Ling. "It's a Relic Phenomenon, an unknown Relic Phenomenon. It was famous during the Great Cataclysm."

Mo Ling looked over the record, his expression growing increasingly grave.

The Voice of God was a strange sound-based Relic Phenomenon of unknown origin. Its very first appearance had caused many deaths.

It first appeared in the West Bank during the Great Cataclysm, when all sorts of bizarre and supernatural things emerged every day.

The Voice of God was especially unusual. Without any warning, it suddenly appeared in the minds of everyone within the region one dawn.

Whether they were awake or asleep, the voice entered the depths of their minds.

The Voice of God spoke a single sentence: "Let there be light."

It was a strange voice of thought, not any known language, yet everyone could understand it.

Even deaf people could hear it.

Because of the region's religious beliefs, many people thought the Gods had revealed themselves. Everyone in the area who could hear the Voice of God fell into celebration.

But the celebration did not last long before disaster arrived.

Countless people and animals vanished into the darkness.

Only then did those who had not disappeared realize that they would not vanish as long as they remained beneath a source of light.

That strange voice was not some divine revelation.

It was an "announcement," or rather, an "order."

If someone did not stay under a light source, the Voice of God would tirelessly torment them, echoing through their mind until they suddenly disappeared.

Furthermore, the light could not be too dim. It had to be roughly as bright as an incandescent bulb. If the illumination was too weak, the voice would also ring out in their mind.

The disappearances caused panic, and the media began spreading methods for escaping the Gods' "punishment."

The survivors quickly began saving themselves, and the entire region became brightly lit. Fortunately, as long as they escaped the affected area, the Voice of God would disappear from their minds.

But most people did not leave. They had not expected what came next to be even more terrifying.

At dawn on the second day, the Voice of God vanished.

Just as people thought everything was over, the voice began a new declaration.

"Breathe."

When Mo Ling read this, a question immediately arose in his heart. What was this supposed to do?

Were there really people who could not breathe?

But Mo Ling suddenly realized something was wrong, because when he saw the words "breathe," he instinctively held his breath for a moment.

A chill ran through Mo Ling's heart, and he hurriedly continued reading.

Sure enough, that day's "punishment" was even harsher. As long as someone held their breath even briefly, they would disappear immediately.

They were given no time to react at all.

That day, the entire region was silent as death. Everyone focused completely on maintaining their breathing, and anything that broke their concentration could cause people to disappear.

And Mo Ling instantly thought of the most fatal problem—

No one could breathe while speaking!

After the people around them disappeared, those affected by the Voice of God also noticed this. Under immense pressure, everyone maintained their breathing and did not dare do anything at all.

At dawn on the third day, the Voice of God once again entered people's minds.

It said, "Have water."

By then, people no longer dared defy the will of the Gods. They hurriedly found the nearest water sources and frantically poured water into their mouths.

But at that moment, the tap water stopped.

The punishment of the third day did not come immediately, so everyone began searching madly for nearby water sources.

Those near rivers were fine, but city dwellers, left without tap water, could only flood into supermarkets and buy every kind of bottled water.

The supermarkets soon became packed with people. Some desperate people rushed straight to the shelves and began fighting over the supplies.

They had to drink water, keep drinking water, and never stop!

Beverage shops, tree sap, small pools, fetid ditches...

Once they had drunk everything in their homes, they went elsewhere to steal. If they could not steal any, there was one more option—

Blood.

Other people's blood.

That day, people not only had to endure the urging of the Voice of God, but also remain wary of their own kind watching them like hungry beasts.

At dawn on the fourth day, the Voice of God vanished with a muffled clap of thunder from the sky, and a long-overdue torrential rain descended upon the city.

Raindrops scattered everywhere washed over the city's wreckage. People instinctively raised their heads and caught in their mouths the water that had once been so precious.

The fourth day.

"Move."

Beneath the stars of the night, people wandered through the city like the living dead.

After several days of torment, those who remained now obeyed the Voice of God absolutely.

The few humans left did not think to use the chance to escape the area. They simply kept moving in accordance with the voice in their minds.

Moving without wavering.

There was only one thing left in their minds: obey the command. They had no thought left for anything else.

Seeing this, Mo Ling's heart filled with sorrow.

If he had experienced something like this himself, it seemed he would have had no choice but to go with the flow.

Mo Ling continued reading.

Then came the fifth day.

"Hide."

That day, enormous black shadows with indistinguishable bodies began appearing throughout the region. They brutally tore apart every human they encountered.

Where they appeared was completely random, and whether they could find those in hiding depended entirely on luck.

These black shadows roamed everywhere. Humans had no way to fight them except by hiding.

People outside the region could see these creatures as well and tried to attack them from afar with weapons, but it had no effect whatsoever.

Only hiding could preserve one's life.

The people within the region no longer had any other thoughts. Dully, they followed the instructions of the Voice of God.

They hid in wardrobes, beneath beds, in attics...

The smaller and more concealed the space, the less likely they were to be found by the black shadows.

The survivors remained hidden until dawn on the sixth day, when all the black shadows disappeared.

Numbly, they waited for the Gods' next voice.

But when that day's voice reached their minds, they all instinctively looked toward their loved ones beside them.

The sixth day.

"Beware humans."

The instant these survivors who heard the voice met their companions' eyes, they vanished from the world.

On the sixth day, seeing a human meant death.

Those who had formed groups to fight the crisis all vanished into thin air after hearing the voice, because they had seen the people beside them.

Not only that, if anyone saw themselves in a mirror or caught sight of their own reflection in anything reflective, they would disappear as well.

They themselves were human too.

Fortunately, because of the previous day's command, most people only needed to remain in their hiding places for one more day to survive the sixth day.

That day was not difficult.

But at dawn on the seventh day, when the Voice of God entered everyone's minds.

Despair descended.