socalfunplaces Chapter 1322 The Test of the Sacred Paradise
Chapter 1322 The Test of the Sacred Paradise
The main base of the Paradise of Reincarnation, the city wall.
Lin Yi stood on the city wall, his hands gripping the railing, his gaze fixed on the gray, desolate wilderness.
Hina Sorasaki stood behind Lin Yi, holding a tablet computer with real-time data from various areas of the fortress displayed on the screen.
"Teacher, President Rion sent a message saying that the third batch of ore has arrived. The grade of this batch of ore is higher than the previous two batches. The students in the engineering department said that they can use this batch of ore to produce a batch of higher quality alloy materials."
Lin Yi nodded without turning around.
"Thank you for your hard work. Let her rest after this shipment is finished. There's no need to rush."
Hina Soraki swiped a few times on the tablet, relaying Lin Yi's words to her. Then she put away the tablet, stood behind Lin Yi, and looked out at the open field.
The city wall was quiet, save for the buzzing of the searchlights and the sound of the wind. The wind blew from the open fields, carrying the scent of grass and the dampness of the earth.
“Teacher,” Hina Sorasaki said.
"Ah."
When will the alien species you mentioned arrive?
Lin Yi remained silent for a moment before speaking.
"It'll be soon, it'll probably appear tonight."
The main base of the Paradise of Reincarnation, the main cabin of the spaceship, the dining area.
The dean sat at the dining table with a map spread out in front of him.
The widow sat opposite him, a slender cigarette between her fingers, smoke rising from the tip and forming a pale blue wisp under the lamplight.
The mad doctor sat next to the dean, holding a cup of coffee that had gone completely cold.
Su Xiao leaned against the wall in the corner, eyes closed, with the Dragon Slayer Blade resting horizontally on his lap.
"Death Paradise has already sent the condensate over." Widow West flicked her cigarette against the edge of the ashtray, and the ash fell to the bottom.
"Cohen is a sensible man; he knows that going against us now will not do him any good."
Where is the stuff?
"They're with the doctor. There were three pieces in total, plus the two we found ourselves, so now we have five."
The dean nodded and pointed to the location of the crash zone on the map.
“Cohen sending the condensate over indicates that he has begun to shift his focus from the condensate to the core of the world. This is a signal that Death Paradise’s patience is running out. If the aliens don’t appear soon, Cohen will soon turn his attention to us.”
"What about the Holy Light Paradise?"
"They're still locked in a fierce battle with the cult." Widow west put a cigarette in her mouth, flipped through a few pages in a folder on the table, and pulled out a piece of paper containing records of the battle between Holy Light Paradise and Holy Domain Paradise over the past two days.
"Seven battles were fought. Holy Light Paradise won three, and the Order won four. Although the people of Holy Light Paradise were weaker in combat, they were driven by revenge and fought like madmen. Although the Order was fearless, they were outnumbered. The two sides were evenly matched."
"What about Apocalypse Paradise?"
“It shrank back.” The mad doctor picked up his coffee cup and took a sip. The coffee was completely cold and had a sour taste.
He put the cup back on the table and wiped his mouth with a tissue.
"The Nameless Saint has recalled everyone to the main camp and will not come out for the time being. He must have realized that coming out now would only be suicide, so it is better to wait until the situation becomes clearer before making a move."
The dean pointed his finger at the location of Apocalypse Paradise's headquarters on the map, then withdrew his hand and leaned back in his chair.
The widow stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray, and a wisp of smoke rose from the bottom of the ashtray.
Do you think the aliens will make their move today?
The dean's gaze fell on the fall zone in the center of the map. The gray-white area looked calm on the map, but he knew what was hidden beneath the calm.
"If I were the commander of the aliens, I would make my move today. On the third day, everyone has gotten used to the peace and the absence of enemies. Launching an attack now would be most effective."
Su Xiao opened her eyes, glanced at the dean, and then closed them again.
"Then let's wait."
The third day, 2 PM.
A gray-white crow circled above the headquarters of the Paradise of Reincarnation.
The crow is almost twice the size of an ordinary crow, with a wingspan of more than half a meter when its wings are spread.
Its feathers are not ordinary grayish-white, but a color between gray and white, with a dull silver sheen in the sunlight.
Its eyes are red, with vertically shaped pupils, like a snake's eyes.
The crow circled the fortress three times before swooping down to low altitude.
At a height of less than five meters above the ground, the crow's body began to change.
Feathers detached from the body, drifting slowly down and swirling in the air.
After the crow's feathers fall out, its body begins to swell and deform, its skeleton moves and reorganizes under its skin, its wings shrink into arms, and its claws spread out into fingers.
A few seconds later, the crow disappeared, and in its place appeared a woman.
Her skin was very white, almost transparent, and you could see the light blue veins underneath.
Her features were exquisite, but she gave off an unreal feeling, like a meticulously sculpted doll.
She stood outside the fortress gate, looking up at the eight-meter-high city wall, at the dark cannon muzzles on the wall, and at the Kivotos students who were patrolling.
Her expression remained unchanged, showing neither surprise nor fear, only a calmness, like someone examining something unrelated to themselves.
"Fellow members of the Paradise of Reincarnation." Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried far within the base.
"Let me introduce myself, I am the Shepherd's attendant. The Shepherd's will represents the Order, and I have no ill intentions in coming here."
The Kivotos students on the city wall held their guns, pointing them at her.
No one spoke, no one responded to her, and no one even glanced at her.
The patrolling students merely glanced at her before continuing on their way, as if to say, "Another one sent to his death."
The crow woman remained bowing for about ten seconds before straightening up.
Her gaze swept across the city wall, trying to find someone who looked like the person in charge.
But all she saw were indifferent faces, emotionless eyes, and girls holding guns.
"Shepherd? Never heard of him, I only know sheepdogs." A voice came from above the city wall, with a lazy and impatient tone.
"Spit it out already, stop dawdling." Another voice came from another direction, more direct and more aggressive.
The crow woman's lips twitched slightly, but she quickly regained her composure.
She took a deep breath, suppressing the surge of anger, and then spoke.
“I represent the Shepherd, so please allow me to speak with your leader.”
His tone remained polite, and his posture remained elegant and proper, like the condescending patience one would show when speaking to a group of rude barbarians.
There was silence on the city wall for a few seconds, then someone spoke.
"Who?"
"do not know."
"do not know."
"They're probably messengers sent by some amusement park."
"What are you here for?"
"Who knows?"
These words were spoken softly, but every word clearly reached the Crow Woman's ears.
She stood there, and finally, a change appeared in her expression. It wasn't anger, nor embarrassment, but an indescribable emotion, somewhere between helplessness and annoyance.
“You unreasonable people.” Her voice was half an octave higher than before.
The people on the city wall finally glanced at her.
A woman in dark leather armor leaned against the city wall, her arms crossed over her chest, tilting her head to look at the Crow Woman.
Her hair was tied into a ponytail that hung down her back, with a few stray strands falling out from the hairband.
She has a scar on her face that extends from the corner of her eyebrow to the corner of her mouth. The scar has been healed for a long time, but the skin around the edges is still slightly red.
“You little bitch, didn’t you want to talk to our leader? Go find him yourself.”
Her tone was casual, as if she were talking about something unimportant to someone she didn't know very well.
The Crow Woman slightly raised her chin and moved her lips, but did not utter a word.
She had imagined many possibilities before coming here.
She had imagined that the people from the Paradise of Reincarnation would take direct action, arrest and interrogate her, drive her away, or even shoot her dead before she could speak.
But she never imagined being ignored, as if she didn't exist, as if no one could hear what she was saying, as if she wasn't worth a second glance.
This feeling is even worse than being hit, scolded, or driven away.
If you get hit, you can fight back; if you get insulted, you can talk back; if you get kicked out, you can hold a grudge.
But you can't do anything when you're ignored, because the other person simply doesn't care what you do.
The Crow Woman took a deep breath and strode toward the fortress gate.
She passed through the fortress gates and entered the fortress.
The interior of the fortress was much larger and more complex than she had imagined.
The wide main road extends from the gate all the way to the spacecraft docking area. The road surface is flat and smooth, with drainage ditches and lighting on both sides.
The crow woman's gaze swept over the students, silently estimating their numbers.
What she saw from the city wall was only the tip of the iceberg; once she actually entered, she discovered that the number of people in the fortress far exceeded her expectations.
But she didn't have time to think about it, because she had already reached the vicinity of the spaceship's tail section.
The hatch of the spacecraft's tail compartment was open, and supplies were going in and out.
Several students in work uniforms were moving supply boxes. The boxes were taken out of the spaceship and piled on a flatbed cart next to the hatch. When the flatbed cart was full, it was pushed away, and when it was empty, it was pushed back, and the cycle continued.
The woman with the crow stopped at the tail hatch door, about to go inside, when a voice came from behind her.
"The Sacred Land of Paradise?"
She turned around and saw a man covered in bandages emerge from the shadows next to the tail section.
The man's body was wrapped in grayish-white bandages from his neck to his ankles, with only his eyes and mouth showing.
The bandage was old, with yellowed and blackened edges, and dark red stains visible in some places; it was unclear whether they were bloodstains or something else.
His eyes were dark brown with large pupils that almost filled the entire iris.
His lips were thin, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, revealing a smile.
That smile sent a chill down the Crow Woman's spine, like a puppet being pulled up by strings, her mouth tugged upwards, her face smiling but her eyes empty.
"Little crow, you are mine now. Say goodbye to your shepherd master."
As he spoke, the evil creature walked towards the crow woman, his steps neither fast nor slow, the bandages rubbing against his body making a rustling sound.
"Your thoughts are as ugly as your appearance."
The Crow Woman's body began to change; her body started to transform into feathers from the edges, and grayish-white feathers grew from her skin and drifted in the air.
This is her life-saving skill; in her transformed form, her body can dissipate into feathers at any time, while her true form reassembles in the Holy Land Paradise base camp, dozens of kilometers away.
As long as her original body remains, the death of this avatar will not have a significant impact on her.
Just as half of her body had turned into feathers, a layer of blood-red bubbles rose from the ground.
The bubbles enveloped the Crow Woman, and the drifting feathers stopped inside the bubbles, like butterflies frozen in the air.
The Crow Woman felt something grab her body.
It wasn't that I was captured by a person, but by the entire space.
The air inside the blood-red bubbles seemed many times heavier than the outside air, and each breath required immense effort.
At the Sanctuary Paradise headquarters, dozens of kilometers away, the Crow Woman's true form suddenly opened her eyes.
She lay in a dimly lit room, which was small, only a dozen square meters.
The walls were gray and undecorated, with only a closed door and a window.
The only light source in the room was an incense burner, inside which burned an unknown incense. The dark red flame flickered through the cracks in the burner, illuminating the room in an alternating light and shadow.
The Crow Woman's true form lay on the floor in the center of the room, wearing a white robe embroidered with gold patterns. Her body was more slender than her avatar, her skin paler, and she looked like a meticulously preserved corpse.
She sat up from the floor, her eyes wide open, her pupils filled with terror.
"Shepherd, save me!"
Her voice was soft and trembling, like a child lost in the dark calling for their parents.
At the other end of the room, a pair of eyes opened in the darkness.
Those were golden pupils, vertically slit-like, like the eyes of a snake. A golden light shone in the darkness, illuminating a corner of the room.
The person in the darkness leaned against the wall, wearing a dark robe with the hood pulled low, obscuring most of their face.
"I will remember your sacrifice."
The voice was cold, devoid of emotion or inflection, like someone reciting a passage of text unrelated to themselves.
The Crow Woman froze.
She looked into those golden eyes in the darkness, and the expression on her face changed from fear to despair.
“I, I have done so many things against God for you. You cannot abandon me, you cannot.”
Her voice was louder and trembling more violently than before.
But the person in the darkness did not speak again.
Those golden eyes closed, and the room fell into darkness once more.
The Crow Woman sat in the darkness, her mouth open as if she wanted to shout something, but only a broken, breathy sound came out of her throat.
Her body began to disintegrate.
The disintegration was rapid, reaching the waist within seconds, then the chest a few seconds later, and finally the head.
The room fell silent again, with only the flickering dark red flame in the incense burner and the hissing sound of the unknown incense burning.
The shepherd leaned against the wall, his face expressionless beneath his hood.
"Everything returns to nothingness, only that eternal existence reigns supreme over everything."
Inside the main camp of the Paradise of Reincarnation, the evil living creature looked at the bubble in its hand with some displeasure.
"It's dead, my little crow is dead."
The evil living creature's body was trembling. Seeing this, the nearby contractors all walked away. The evil living creature was going crazy.
The Raven Woman's seemingly inexplicable act of sacrificing herself was actually a trap. The cult had noticed the situation in the Fallen Zone and knew that the natives of this world would eventually attack. They wanted to use this as a pretext to form an alliance with the Paradise of Reincarnation, so that the two sides could work together to eliminate the Paradise of Death and the crippled Paradise of Holy Light.
The idea was beautiful, but reality was cruel. The little crow was killed by the evil living creature before it even met the dean. (End of Chapter)