Chapter 319: Wish for the Aurora to Never Fade

The King of Clubs glanced back. "My master often said that to truly know a person, you shouldn't just look at what they say or how they look, but what they do... If it weren't for him, Aurora City would now be a breeding ground for disaster. You don't even know what kind of person he is, so why do you assume he'll definitely pose a threat to humanity?"

Hongxiu paused slightly, falling silent as she looked at the unconscious Chen Ling.

"And another thing," the King of Clubs said calmly. "The affairs of the Twilight Society are none of an outsider's business."

The King of Clubs left without looking back, his solemn black suit disappearing into the distance among the ruins.

Hongxiu stood still, raising her head for one last look at the sea of blue and green aurora, as if to engrave it forever in her memory, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile.

Among the ruins of Aurora City, a scorched body lay like a corpse on the ground, covered in freezing frost and snow, lifeless. But as the seemingly insubstantial seawater spread through the city, slowly seeping beneath him, black runes on his skin began to reactivate. The frost on his body melted, and faint breaths reappeared in the bitter cold.

"Where... am I...?" Zhao Yi's consciousness was hazy. Half-asleep and half-awake, he managed to open his eyes to a slit.

As the runes flickered across his vision, he could only see two figures slowly approaching in the distance across the scorched earth. Zhao Yi couldn't make out their faces and had lost the ability to think, feeling an unprecedented heaviness in his body.

An unfamiliar hand lifted his head. The next moment, a bright, flashlight-like beam of light shone out from the blurry darkness, as if someone was examining his eyes.

"This level of fusion... is it natural? No... I don't smell the scent of disaster; it seems to be artificial fusion..."

"Has Aurora Base also broken through the experimental bottleneck of artificial fusion?"

"Aurora Base's research on fusion shouldn't be as advanced as ours. And if they really mastered artificial fusion, they wouldn't have fallen to this state... I think this kid must be an accident."

"The most crucial thing is that I can't tell what kind of disaster he's fused with... It seems like he has a bit of every disaster from the Forbidden Sea? What even is this? You can't mix and match like this!"

"To be able to withstand this level of fusion without succumbing to mental instability, his willpower must be top-notch."

"We just came to collect some disaster corpses for research, but we found an unexpected bonus... Let's take him back. He's a promising individual with the potential to become a 'Saint Apostle'."

"So heavy... He doesn't look big, so why is he so heavy?"

"I told you, Aurora Base's fusion technology is too backward; it often leads to fusion abnormalities. Let's take him back, inject him with some new medicines, and teach him to control his power. He'll recover eventually... Oh, he seems to be waking up?"

Zhao Yi felt himself being carried on someone's shoulder, constantly jostled. In a daze, he opened his eyes a crack...

Someone patted his shoulder and grinned: "Comrade... welcome to the glorious evolution."

Aurora City Ruins, Underground.

Han Meng bit down on a bandage, slowly wrapping the treated wound on his knee, and let out a long sigh. With all the surface facilities flattened, Aurora Base had lost most of its power supply. The dark corridors were utterly silent, as if Han Meng was the only one left there. He leaned against the wall, looking at the elevator shaft sealed by rubble, his eyes filled with complexity.

Tap—tap—tap...

A faint sound came from the other end of the corridor. Han Meng paused, frowning as he looked.

The flickering light of a kerosene lamp dispelled the darkness at the end of the corridor. A figure, leaning on a cane and holding the lamp, slowly approached. It was a disheveled old man, exuding the weariness of old age. Only his eyes remained deep and mysterious, seemingly twinkling with the starlight of human destiny... He stopped beside Han Meng, slowly bent down, and placed the kerosene lamp on the ground.

"...I thought there was no one left in this base," Han Meng said in a deep voice.

"The top research scholars have already left on the inter-realm train. I also sent everyone else back to the surface; if nothing unexpected happened, they've all become auroras by now..." The old man's voice was remarkably calm. "Now, I am the only one left in this base."

"Is that so? You surrendered quite quickly then."

"That is the reality," the old man shook his head. "Hongxiu and Tanxin betrayed us simultaneously. Even all the Enforcers of Aurora City combined wouldn't be their match... Given that, preserving our scientific talent as much as possible was the most beneficial decision for humanity."

"Then why didn't you go to the surface? If you became an aurora, at least you'd have a chance to return."

The old man did not answer immediately. He stood silently, leaning on his cane with both hands, just outside the kerosene lamp's glow. After a long pause, he spoke in a hoarse voice: "I... grew up in this base since I was a child. Before I turned thirty, I dreamt of seeing the surface... By my forties or fifties, I was no longer curious about anything above ground. Then I lived in the darkroom for another thirty years... At eighty years old, I no longer have the courage to step onto the surface. My entire life has been dedicated to Aurora Base. Even if I die, I should die here."

Han Meng stared at him blankly, unsure what to say. Could someone truly live their entire life in this small underground base? Han Meng couldn't imagine how he had endured such a life, or what had sustained him all this way.

"Don't look at me like that," the old man closed his eyes. "Only by being confined underground, unable to see the glory above, can one completely discard emotions and humanity... Hundreds of thousands, millions of people, are just numbers to me. Only by simplifying and quantifying everything can one make decisions most beneficial to humanity, just like a machine. Every leader of Aurora Base has come to be this way."

Han Meng fell silent, withdrawing his gaze from the old man. He held no particular animosity towards the leader who initiated the "Reappearance" plan. Moreover, the centuries of prosperity in the Aurora Realm had been built by leaders like him.

Han Meng walked directly towards the elevator shaft sealed by rubble.

"What are you doing?" the old man asked.

"Going back to the surface." Han Meng crushed the coal in his hand, then motioned towards the distance. A pistol automatically flew from the warehouse into his palm. "I can still fight."

The old man shook his head. "The explosives have been detonated, and Aurora City is already in ruins... Everyone who could leave has left. Now, there are only disasters above ground. With your Fifth-Tier strength, you would only be going to your death."

"That's still better than waiting here to die."

"The Aurora Realm has vanished. There are very few Enforcers left in the world... Do you want to die a meaningless death in the Ash Realm, or wait for a day when you can become an Enforcer who protects humanity?"

Han Meng stopped. "What do you mean?"

The old man stretched out his hand, pointing to the base beneath their feet. "Although Aurora City is gone, Aurora Base still has enough supplies to support hundreds of people for a hundred years... You can stay here until your strength is sufficient to travel through the Ash Realm to the next realm, then leave."

Han Meng's eyes lit up slightly at these words, and he seemed to be seriously considering the question.

"Of course..." The old man smiled. "You could also keep this dying old man company, chat with me occasionally. I know many secrets about the Red Star... I've been hiding in the darkroom for thirty years; it's been a long time since I've spoken to anyone like this."

After a long period of contemplation, Han Meng took one last look at the sealed elevator shaft, as if having made up his mind, and took a deep breath...

"Alright," he nodded. "I will use my own strength to reach the next realm... That day won't be too far off."

Boom—!

In the freezing gray world, a train, entirely adorned with mysterious runes, roared past the surface of the Forbidden Sea. As the ancient script on the train and tracks glowed, no disaster creature dared to approach. Steaming smoke billowed from the locomotive as it carried the last flicker of Aurora City straight towards the next realm.

Inside the train carriage, a deathly silence reigned. Top research scholars from Aurora City and various political figures alike silently watched the desolate ruins recede outside the window, their hearts heavy with mixed emotions... They were the survivors of this realm, and witnesses to its demise. Only when the aurora faded did they truly realize that peace and prosperity in any realm were merely temporary illusions... The Aurora Realm was not the first to be destroyed, nor would it be the last. Even if they escaped this catastrophe, what about the next? In this gray, desolate world, where exactly did humanity's future lie?

Amidst this oppressive silence, a woman sitting by the window quietly opened a notebook in her hands.

The front of the notebook contained a journalist's daily records and analyses of various cases she had encountered. The latter half was a lengthy exposition of a certain plan. When she turned to the last page, she found an internal monologue-like text.

"...Yes, I don't know how far humanity can go in this disaster, but I believe we will never stop..."

"...Aurora City has failed, yet it has also succeeded. Our souls will accompany the aurora, forever lingering above the Aurora Realm, and our three hundred years of effort for humanity will become a torch in this grand relay, illuminating the path ahead..."

"Now, we will pass the torch..."

"The next realm, the realm after that... As long as the train still rumbles with steam, as long as the sun still rises in the east, as long as children's kites still fly in the sky... One day, we will endure the winter."

"Finally..."

"May the aurora never fade."

Volume One, *Player in the Play*, ends.

Next Volume: *Painting Rosy Cheeks*.