Chapter 870: Ruined Continent

A rustling sound filled the dark night sky.

Xu Zhi walked across the land, observing the conflicts in the ruins with a calm expression, as if viewing a distant imperial conference room. He was studying the reactions of this alien civilization in a real universe.

At that moment, he was slightly surprised. "This is indeed the best method, the optimal solution. It truly lives up to its reputation as a high-level cosmic civilization... but it's still completely ineffective."

"The Three Pillar Gods virus is extremely terrifying..."

He silently sensed his surroundings.

Medusa and Caroline were both traversing the war-torn ruins of Fuli Jieshi Continent, observing the rise and fall of this cosmic civilization. They were deeply hidden, undetectable to anyone. Neither could sense the other, which highlighted their extreme caution, as they naturally needed to guard against potentially co-existing beings of similar power.

At this moment, Medusa was the most astonished.

"What is this thing?" she wondered, walking across the land with a face full of disbelief. "Pillar God Tathagata? How terrifying! This virus is unimaginable... Perhaps I need to report this to Reinmansga. Maybe only ancient, terrifying cosmic entities like those dwelling in the Cosmic Garden can deal with such equally terrifying, unknown taboos!"

She originated from a very early era. She had not only never seen the world of the Three Pillar Gods or Caroline, nor witnessed their wars, but even Emperor Qi had never truly seen or recognized them. Her knowledge was still rooted in that primitive age, an era dominated by martial arts and physical training.

"It's too terrifying," she marveled. "Planets are shattering, one by one. That forbidden entity can actually destroy a super-civilization with several cosmic path-attainers... Indeed, the universe is vast and terrifying!" She was astonished by the horror, naturally struggling to fully imagine the scene.

Caroline, on the other hand, was much calmer. As she walked on the land, a hazy vision made her feel as though she was witnessing the zombie era that had once destroyed the Ishtar people — a scene strikingly similar to the Three Pillar Gods taking form before her eyes.

The next second, Caroline looked up. Space rippled silently as a giant warhead descended upon the earth. Endless light and heat enveloped everything, obscuring all sight.

"Cave Heaven and Blessed Land," some players murmured softly, as if recalling something from this stage of events. "Perhaps spiritual energy has truly returned."

The terrifying light vaporized everything. The explosion, sound waves, and temperature blurred into one indistinct force. Xu Zhi perceived an unprecedented, colossal and terrifying transformation: trillions of tons of soil and sand were blasted into the air, and the entire continent was instantly plunged into extinction and death.

After a while, the light gradually dissipated. Soil began to fall from the sky, and endless dust, mixed with radiation, rubble, rebar, and various debris, covered the land, permeating the air and obscuring all visibility.

Xu Zhi continued to walk calmly across the devastated land.

Several hours later, as the dust began to settle, survivors from the sub-spaces carefully emerged. Donning thin, anti-radiation space suits — convenient as bodysuits — they walked across the land. After all, space suits remained widely available in this interstellar age.

"We survived!"

"The Empire is absolutely ruthless! They want to kill us all, and we're an entire continent!"

"It's estimated that there's no virus here for a short time, but everyone still needs to be careful. If I'm not mistaken, some sub-spaces have already been compromised."

Indeed, at that moment, only beings within the sub-space regions had survived. However, it was inevitable that some beings in those regions were already infected, transforming entire areas into oceans of zombies. Yet, these zombies didn't know how to open inner spaces and lacked consciousness. Therefore, for now, it was safe. As for future safety... someone shivered again. The rate of evolution was terrifying; perhaps soon, these creatures would learn how to open inner spaces and break out?

"If it weren't for my aunt, a technical elite living in the wealthy district with a company-provided house, my dad wouldn't have decisively driven our entire family out, fighting our way with guns to find relatives for shelter and lodging. We would have been lost long ago..." After all, in this highly advanced technological civilization, major companies provided excellent benefits for their talent, equipping many technical professionals with both housing and vehicles.

"It's fortunate that seven years ago, my dad was persuaded by a real estate agent to take out a large loan for an apartment in the wealthy district. Our whole family called him foolish and cheated at the time, but as it turned out..."

"Alas, we were originally preparing for a war against gods, but we never expected it would be our own people who attacked us..."

"I wonder how many hundreds of millions of people survived this massive explosion?"

"There were 37 billion people... perhaps if over a billion survive, that would already be a good outcome!"

Someone sighed, sensing the profound uncertainty of the future. After all, hundreds of millions of people already resided in wealthy villa districts. In this emergency, some were able to quickly retreat into their inner spaces. However, with relatives and friends seeking refuge, and even armed groups forcefully entering communities, it seemed incredibly difficult for temporary refugees to crowd into nearby wealthy neighborhoods in just over half an hour.

"Regardless, let's establish communication first."

The wealthy districts were predominantly inhabited by elites. In fact, most elite factories and high-tech zones of international multinational corporations were situated within "sub-space regions," prioritizing concealment and safety. This massive explosion had not fundamentally damaged their technological supply chain, which was precisely why external civilizations found them so challenging to handle. If it had been a remote planet, rather than one of the core central worlds, dealing with it would have been infinitely simpler.

The internet was the primary communication medium of the information age. Their immediate reaction was to contact other survivor camps and high-tech production zones belonging to other large corporations.

With a swift motion, communication poles quickly rose from the ground. People began communicating, using portable computers to connect to distant base stations and the network, facilitating incredibly fast communication.

But soon, people sensed that something was amiss. Someone using a portable smart-brain for assimilation suddenly let out a beast-like roar and lunged at others. A nearby person was instantly tackled, and the rest were terrified.

"How is that possible?"

"We all underwent testing and isolation, and it was confirmed there was no virus. How did Bid get infected with this?"

"I... I don't know..."

*Dakka-dakka-dakka!*

The sound of gunfire echoed incessantly.

Suddenly, someone looked at the 8G signal base station Bid was establishing and the mobile phone he was using to test calls. "Could it be the signal base station?" they shouted. "A signal-borne virus?"

"Are you insane? An electronic computer virus? A signal virus?"

"That's completely mad!"

Someone fired wildly, cursing, "Only humans from primitive civilizations would believe a signal base station could infect people with a virus!"