STB Chapter 157: Lighthouse

Atop the pitch black sea, the sound of motors gradually stopped.

The night breeze blew cold wind into everyone’s hearts.

Everyone is within the submarines’ torpedo range. Once a conflict broke out, wouldn’t they only have wreckage of ships? Not to mention being hit by a torpedo, they wouldn’t be able to hold anything during the waves that followed the explosion.

The submarine of each nation faced each other. No one dared to take the lead in picking up the people from their own country. They should be frantically communicating with their leaders and waiting for the latest instructions from their homeland.

The radio on the tour boat made a noise. Someone went over to see it and found it was damaged.

“Check the life jacket.” Colonel Lu whispered.

There was silence on the boat. They knew it’s hard to survive with their close proximity with the submarines’ target range but still fulfilled the order quickly and effectively.

“Obviously, everyone got the news from all kinds of channels and made the same choice.”

With things so obvious, everyone looked up in unison.

They can’t see the moon tonight. The night sky was overcast, and the military satellites wouldn’t specifically search in this area of the sea, so they couldn’t find each other. It’s a pity that God’s plans supersede our own. Their secret retreat plan made them run into each other, and soon, there’ll be many eyes looking over here.

“Don’t worry, the stalemate would continue for some time. The countries would play games……”

“Boom!”

The sea raged as the powerful explosion drew a line in the sea, and went straight to their boat.

The “field” of high order ability holders can block bullets. After testing, stacking three S-class fields can temporarily hold tank shells, but they had never tried a torpedo. This is usually used in a naval battle against a steel warship, and Johnson is not on that boat.

Li Fei suddenly raised his hand. Flames quickly surrounded the boat, and several rounds exploded on the side. The thrust generated caused the ship to tilt dozens of meters to the right.

“Watch the rear!” A Red Dragon member hurriedly shouted.

The torpedo could track the target, so this level of avoidance is far from enough!

The dark sea is illuminated by the flames. Jian Hua sweated with his eyes closed. Their ability fields had merged, and he felt tremendous pressure as if there was a colossal mouth trying to bite this ship.

Many people’s mind went blank. Colonel Lu’s face was swollen. He just said that the submarines would be in a stalemate, but the torpedo came. And even directed at them……who fired ah? Do they think that after killing people from other countries, they would be able to cover things up, then successfully pick up the people from their own country?

Isn’t that stupid? If a submarine launched a torpedo, the other subs would follow and enter a state of war. Would the Chinese submarine watch this tour boat be turned into ashes and withdraw without doing anything? When the two countries’ submarine exchanged fire, would the other subs just watch? They won’t be affected? They won’t help their ally? How’s that possible!

There are no nuclear bombs, but everyone would still be buried in the ocean floor, ah!

In fact, there was also confusion in the submarine that launched the torpedo. It’s an act without a direct order, so the naval commander is mad. He ordered them to retreat and defend while trying to shift the responsibility.

“False shooting, there’s a program error, it’s a mistake!”

This excuse had not been sent out yet when the torpedo hit the target.

The flames rose hundreds of meters high, and the sea became a pool of fire. The other boats burned, and angry shouts were everywhere as they crested over the surging waves.

Colonel Lu was thrown into the water, as well as everyone else. They were like tennis balls and was met by the distant racket, the mushroom caps.

The flames received the attack, layers, and layers stacked together rising and falling with the waves. A giant mushroom cap rose and fell along with it. The explosive energy after the torpedo hit continued to destroy the giant mushroom’s shape. The mushroom’s stem broke, and the cap was like a wooden beam gnawed on by termites, disappearing into pieces and falling down one by one.

This giant mushroom’s height reached hundreds of meters, like a monster born from the flames and it could even absorb the flame ability. The scattered mycelium twisted into dozens of strands and flew along with the explosion. It puffed upward, and some mycelium on the edge was swept along the sea, like long snakes traveling through the waves.

Looking from afar, the giant mushroom is like the mythical Medusa, the fiery serpentine long hair is incomparably sinister.

“It’s the Devourer!”

“Sure enough, the Devourer is among the people from China!”

The submarine that accidentally shot the torpedo, this time can’t wait to shoot another one to completely destroy Jian Hua, the anti-social anti-humanity boss that bothered the heads of states.

“Not good, the sonar device failed.”

“Communication equipment and navigation system are malfunctioning!”

A flashing red light blinked on the instruments and the rapid alarm sound echoed in the compartment, making people nervous.

Two S-class ability holders unreservedly released their abilities. In the original work, a city was razed to the ground. Now that these powerful energies collided with each other, it’s normal for it to interfere with electromagnetic waves.

After that, the flames rapidly shrunk like a volcano ready to erupt again. Large amounts of seawater evaporated, and water vapor rose everywhere. The sea was suddenly enveloped by a thick fog.

Jian Hua’s arms trembled, almost unable to stand.

After supplying endless amounts of energy, the explosion that was wrapped in a giant mushroom was like a knock on his mind. Jian Hua is dizzy and unable to stay awake. He instinctively searched for areas with unstable space, wanting to open a way to the void world.

***

Push the time up to three days ago, American Space Research Institute.

“No, this cannot be done! We haven’t tested it yet.”

“You already have the ability wavelength data and a system that could cover the whole world. Now that the XX party went insane and with the Pentagon secretly approving the request to use a nuclear bomb, all life on that island would be erased within four days.”

If the energy director is successful, they can counter their political opponents who wanted to secretly use nuclear weapons to kill those attending the meeting. After all, among those people are their own compatriots. The best result after exposure is they’d step down. If it’s serious, it’s possible to go on trial!

With that in mind, politicians secretly went to the Institute and pressured them for the sake of righteousness.

A lot of people were touched, but the Institute still hesitated. It’s simply because the energy director’s retrofit plan had only just started, and no calculations had been verified. Forcing the whole system to open is a waste of resources!

“There’s no time to notify other countries.” They still argued.

“No need, don’t we have enough satellites?”

“It’s barely enough since it was already being studied. The satellite orbits are also compatible……”

“Well, then that’s it. Anyway, we have to put on airs and launch it in advance! It’s important to see the effect. The second time it’s implemented, the other countries would take the initiative to cooperate!”

This statement moved some of the Institute’s staff. Although some people are determined not to cooperate, they were forcibly taken away and imprisoned.

So the nuclear launch plan went underway, but the Institute had not been idle.

After several submarines met, all national satellites have turned to this area. The head of the Space Research Institute revealed the startup instructions for the energy director in a sweaty manner.

The flames that sprang up in the sea suddenly twisted a bit. The complete form of the giant mushroom also began to appear as a precursor to its disintegration. It was forced to stretch like a dough and turned into a weird shape.

There was a shadow in front of everyone. They rubbed their eyes in horror, reconfirming that an overlapping space slowly emerged. The furnishings in the area is precisely the same as the real world, just that there’s no sense of “being their own”, but more of a monster’s hideous appearance.

The horror effect spooked people all around the world.

“Abandoned World?”

The ability holders panicked as they felt a force pulling them. They pushed their abilities to resist, but it increased the loss of their power.

It felt like watching the stock market crashing where half of their possessions evaporated in half a minute and turned them into a member of the public. Such psychological gap made some ability holders can’t accept and have a mental breakdown on the spot.

The book transmigrators are even worse.

After losing their ability and seeing the scene in front of them, the quick-witted book transmigrators immediately thought this was the energy director that put Abandoned World away. They regretted and felt that they had no time to do anything. Some people began to curse.

Huo Wei hid in a disaster shelter. He looked up. After a period of reluctance and anger, he slowly disappeared along with his ability. He sighed. No matter what, he’d lived a life. If he didn’t cross over, he’d still die……

“Ahhhhhh!”

There was a piercing scream east of the shelter.

Huo Wei is puzzled, but then he felt a terrible pain in his head. It’s like someone stripping his flesh and blood, stimulating every nerve. He heard himself issue the same scream.

The soul of the book transmigrators did not belong to this world, so they also belong to the volatile energy category.

This is nothing, but these souls are contaminated with traces of energy when they crossed over, the wavelength of the void world so that every transmigrator would get an ability. They resonated with this foreign energy and just now, trouble is coming……

In a hospital in the East Coast of the United States, an Italian man with wrinkles on the corner of his eyes, whose handsome profile could still be seen after many years, had his serious and rigid face turn anxious. Those in the room cowered with frightful eyes from his momentum.

People pressed down the groaning and trembling Federico on the hospital bed.

Federico’s situation is much better than others. When Dr. Mad died, he was at the scene, so he got ten times his own energy. Although he couldn’t increase his ability’s class, it came in handy this time——when Huo Wei’s soul is ejected, Federico has surplus energy to truly “transfer”.

Although this advantage would not last long. Once he ran out of energy, he would be the same as all the book transmigrators.

This “field” made by the energy director covered the entire planet, and the results are surprisingly effective. Even the people from the Institute can’t believe it’s so smooth. It can only be attributed to the “ability” which is too unstable. It’s too different from the local energy of Earth, so it’s natural to filter it out.

All countries paid close attention to the waters around the island.

The flames dispersed, and the sky twisted, there was an obvious narrow crack、

This crack is not the void since there are no giant worms. It led to the Abandoned World as the mycelium, and the flames scrambled in. It’s the most intuitive picture of the global loss of ability.

Jian Hua hurriedly discarded the mycelium, but he was still uncontrollably pulled to the crack.

Someone grabbed his wrist, trying to stop this invisible pull.

The dazed Jian Hua subconsciously touched the veins and muscles bulging out of those arms. He knew who the owner of this hand is.

Li Fei hugged Jian Hua, going against that invisible energy. A trail of blood flowed down his arms.

Corgi is not on the list of participants, and it’s useless even if it’s there. Li Fei personally felt the end of his “field” and found that the energy director didn’t so much as filter out the different wavelengths. It’s better to say that it triggered the Abandoned World to regain its energy.

Like how an apple fall due to gravity and something flying out due to inertia, to stop this trend is totally impossible.

Because even if the corgi’s own ability is expulsion, it will still lose it at the same time.

Li Fei didn’t want to let go. He couldn’t fight the impact of energy, and black spots appeared in his vision. His chest felt like being vigorously beaten, but he still held on. The bones on his arms and ribs are about to break, and then his inner organs would be traumatized. He’d die on the spot.

Jian Hua regretted. He shouldn’t have promised Li Fei he’d be with him.

Because for them……they can’t fall to the Abandoned World together.

The mushrooms in the real world lost its ability, but there are too many mushrooms in the Abandoned World. What kind of personal wish would be fulfilled when this energy is involved? Only Jian Hua is affected, so Li Fei won’t be able to go either.

He still did not let go. Even if he followed Jian Hua, there’d only be one body, so Jian Hua would naturally back out.

“I’ll be fine.”

“……”

“In the Abandoned World, I’ll figure it out.”

“……”

Li Fei didn’t want to answer. At this moment, he lost his reason. He just wanted to destroy that energy director.

At this time, the “field” that covered the entire Earth suddenly collapsed.

The hasty energy director failed. Some ground stations stopped working because the operating data is too large. The unit overheated and emitted black smoke.

Yet the trajectory of Abandoned World “sucking back” its energy has stabilized, so they can’t get it back.

Jian Hua felt that some of the power in him had disappeared. His senses cleared, and he regained his strength. He raised his hand to Li Fei’s neck, then followed the mycelium and disappeared into the crack.

On this day, covered with mycelium, the hidden Devourer was dragged to the Abandoned World in full view of the public. This image was recorded and became conclusive evidence.

Fire Demon fell into the sea and was rescued by the Red Dragon ability holders.

***

May 3, Abandoned World completely disappeared after five minutes.

The location of the disappearing black crack atop Ganzhou Highway suddenly became abnormal when the space around it expanded. Having received a secret order, the Red Dragon crew who had been squatting here as early as a month ago immediately climbed up.

“Situation!”

The skinny Zhao Wen just felt his ability disappear and can guess what happened. He picked up the telescope and looked at the abnormal area.

“Quick, drive over there and get ready to respond.”

While the others tried to remain calm, their curious and nervous emotions were written all over their faces.

That thin crack expanded and the situation became even more exaggerated, like a slowly growing tumor.

“The energy director filtered abnormal fluctuations, so it should return to normal……quickly look, the energy is getting higher and higher!” The pointer is going to reach its limit soon.

“Be careful to protect yourselves, and get in the armored car!”

Zhao Wen gave the order as the Red Dragon members deftly turned the energy detector off.

If the instrument explodes, they can’t apply for funding now.

The airflow formed a vortex around the expanded area, then a deep crack opened in the sky. Countless mycelium laid on the crack’s edges, making a decorative brush along the edges.

A person fell from the middle of the brush. The mycelium reluctantly “retained” him several times and delayed the process of falling. That person is also very skilled and knew how to slow down the force of falling to reduce the damage when landing. He rolled five or six meters on the road and finally didn’t move.

The drooping mycelium retreated at a rate visible to the naked eye, and only those brushes at the edge of the crack are left.

Now Abandoned World no longer overlapped so maintaining such crack consumed a lot of energy. It reluctantly gave up. The crack only existed for ten seconds then became flat in the blink of an eye. The sky and sand on Ganzhou Highway returned to normal.

“Quick!”

The armored car drove to the person who fell. Zhao Wen pushed the car door and rushed out. With a glance, he knew it was Jian Hua.

He was relieved at first but then became nervous again. What about Li Fei? What happened on Colonel Lu’s side?

The second one who came is a Red Dragon member carrying a first aid kit. After a simple first aid, Jian Hua woke up. His first reaction was to grab the things around him. He was relieved to see Zhao Wen and let the crowd lift him up.

“The shock is too large. You broke your right leg, but there is no other surface trauma. Let’s first go to the hospital!”

Jian Hua was dazed for a while, still thinking of Li Fei. He weakly asked Zhao Wen if he could contact Colonel Lu’s satellite phone.

Of course, they have satellite phones, but they couldn’t connect to Colonel Lu’s side.

Jian Hua didn’t speak after knowing that and just looked at the roof with his eyes wide open. His quietness felt eerie in Zhao Wen’s opinion. Clearly, everyone lost their abilities, so how can Jian Hua still have that dangerous atmosphere?

They were in a hurry, and it was already the next morning.

Abandoned World disappeared, this is a significant event. The heads of the countries waited for the news, the smile on their faces getting bigger and bigger.

Suddenly, the death of many powerful ability holders popped up, and there are also some who are unconscious. One example is in the military hospital where Jian Hua is located.

“Good news, the patient woke up but with no memory from November to the present!”

The bodies of the deceased that the book transmigrators used undoubtedly can’t live after they disappeared. The person who is occupied by them for no reason blankly looked at the confusion all around them, not knowing what happened at all.

Jian Hua is not interested in this news. He remembered the situation at sea. The ship was destroyed, and Li Fei is wearing a life jacket. Red Dragon people would definitely rescue him……under the influence of the Abandoned World disappearing, those submarines shouldn’t fight again, but what if? Li Fei is not good at swimming, how is the weather in that sea?

He didn’t speak and just thought in his heart. Even the nurses dare not say a word to him.

“Is it depression?”

“Don’t talk nonsense.” Zhao Wen smacked the Red Dragon member next to him, “It’s lack of medicine.”

When Colonel Lu finally called, Zhao Wen was excited, the medicine is coming!

After a brief report to Colonel Lu, Zhao Wen heard Colonel Lu relax and smile. Things have finally ended. The other half of Zhao Wen’s heart also fell back to his chest, then he felt funny. He’s still single, why does he mind other people’s business!

“Come, take this medicine to the ward.”

“Medicine?” The young military man looked at the satellite phone.

“Just send it, why’s there so much nonsense!”

“……”

Zhao Wen patted his clothes, then thought about it and followed. When he walked to the door of Jian Hua’s ward, he caught the young man who “delivered the medicine” just coming out. The other party tried to salute, but Zhao Wen quickly stopped him and even shushed him.

The young Red Dragon member is at first stunned, then watched with black lines on his forehead as Zhao Wen stuck to the door and began to eavesdrop.

***

“……no, I’m very well, where are you?”

“Another island. After a half hour, the submarine would sail to the South China Sea. Wait for me for ten days.” Li Fei lowered his voice. He wanted to say a lot of words, but the situation didn’t allow it.

“Are you hurt?”

“No, it’s lighter than yours.”

Next to him is Colonel Lu, who looked at the black and blue bruises on Li Fei’s back with a faint smile.

“Really?” Jian Hua isn’t at ease either. At that time, he only thought about saving Li Fei, so now listening to his voice made him calm down.

“There’s no problem here, apart from several people who have been injured by the shipwreck and needed treatment.”

Strictly speaking, Li Fei and Jian Hua saved all the people on that boat with their ability, so of course, everyone’s attitude toward Li Fei is certainly not bad. Colonel Lu even let Li Fei use his phone to privately contact Jian Hua but said it’s only for a few minutes.

Li Fei didn’t want to ask anything now. When he heard Jian Hua’s voice, his whole person went quiet.

They didn’t talk and just listened to each other’s breathing.

The eavesdropping Zhao Wen didn’t hear anything and was a bit puzzled. Colonel Lu coughed to remind them, “One minute, we’re about to set off.”

“Your ability disappeared?”

“Nn.”

“The mushrooms……how did it send you back?” Li Fei still wanted to determine Jian Hua’s safety.

“I told it my last command with my mind, then let it eat by itself. Wherever it wanted to go, I’d no longer care about it. It just dropped me and ran away.” Jian Hua softly laughed.

Zhao Wen outside the door: ……

“Let them go, I’m tired of not getting a pillow when I sleep, and only seeing mushrooms.” Li Fei saw the time and hung up. He couldn’t help but repeat it one last time. “Wait for me to come back.”

“Nn, I’ll always wait for you.”

I’d be able to find you, no matter how far apart.

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The author has something to say:

For Jian Hua who was searching for his world, he could probably find Li Fei no matter where he is. Li Fei would point to the road back like a lighthouse (⊙v⊙)

The End, followed by side chapters.

————

PS: Federico did not die, he’s got extra energy to slowly consume, so he’s still not dead. The energy director malfunctioned so as a book transmigrator lucky enough to stay, there’d be a special chapter where I’ll write how he went to China.

—————

Extras update on August 8, this author is dying in the hot South, and need to travel abroad to survive【yi!】

Who told me that the North is not hot? It’s 39 degrees in the North ah!

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Translator’s Notes:

That was a shock…

I was surprised that it was double the size of the regular chapters. I didn’t realize that this was the ending. I mean, I only read up to what I translate. I was expecting the ending at chapter 170s or something. Wow, the side chapters are many (c158-c175) and it’s even as long as a regular chapter.

Sorry, the edits on this one might be poor since it’s so long. I was deliberating on cutting it in two but what the heck, it’s the ending. Also, since I knew the rest are just side chapters, I might procrastinate in posting. Consider yourself warned.