Book 3 Chapter 45 – Dead-end

　　Rain had started to fall in the city of Shangbei. It was not long before the entire city was showered by droplets of liquid jade.

　　The rain that cascaded onto the city looked like a beautiful green waterfall that turned both the sky and the city into a single realm of lush greenness. The humidity in the air carried a fascinating scent. Wine from the heavens had come down to Earth, and the smell of it alone was enough to make one want to go out and have a long drink.

　　The citizens of Shangbei stood in awe at this miracle, and most of them rushed outside to be showered by the rain… Until nothing was left…

　　The rain disintegrated everything that it touched. It eroded the pillars of concrete and destroyed the steel beams that supported the skysc.r.a.pers. The buildings, the bridges, nothing was left. The metropolis that had the highest population density, one of the greatest cities in the world, had melted away in this sublime downpour.

　　Li Yiming entered the third nuclear underground shelter of Shangbei and looked at the few refugees that were hiding there. The shelter was a location found by Eyegla.s.ses and it was one of the few left in the city that escaped the destruction that came from the sky. Barely two hundred people were there when they arrived, and no one had come in ever since then.

　　"Thirty million people in the city… and they're the only ones left?" Li Yiming put his head on Liu Meng's shoulders, sunken into a low mood.

　　"Don't think too much about it. There are only two days left. It'll all be over in two days." Li Yiming brushed Li Yiming's hair gently. She was trying her best to repress a sob.

　　The fear of death overshadowed the minds of all those who stayed in the shelter. The occasional sob that echoed through the hall reminded the survivors that even those who were physically unharmed had endured some kind of emotional trauma. Some were praying while others were cursing, but most of them were simply numb. To them, it was all real, and this was the end of the world.

　　Eyegla.s.ses tried to use the cameras outside of the shelter, but all he could see were snowflakes. He switched the input feed, but to no avail. They had the choice to go out and have a look, since they could very easily resist the corrosion of the rain for a short while, but the rain was not the only danger outside; there was also a frenzied camouflager waiting for them. The will of the domain was survival, yet a guardian had kill everything that lived, so it was no surprise that the camouflager would become infuriated.

　　'What about the punishment? The rules were clear: the law of the jungle, but the jungle itself was not to be touched. Yet everything has been razed down, what about the punishment for that? Was is the rain?' Eyegla.s.ses' worry grew.

　　Qing Qiaoqiao was down on the ground in the middle of the group, with her legs crossed. Although her expression was serene, the thin layer of sweat that covered her face indicated that she had been making an effort for quite a while already. The focus barrier she had created would have been broken a long time ago if it was not for Li Yiming's ki-recovering pills.

　　Qing Linglong could not bear looking at her sister overexerting herself. The barrier was to stop Duan Mu from finding out about them. Although its size was small and did not require a great amount of focus to maintain it, Qing Qiaoqiao had gone sleepless for several nights already.

　　"If you really can't keep going, it's okay to stop. Even if the camouflager does find us, we still have a chance at winning against him. It's not worth it to overexert yourself right now." Big Beard looked at Qing Qiaoqiao, who stabilized her breath. 'Who would have thought that such a little girl could endure this burden for so long? I wonder what's keeping her going…'

　　'The rain has stopped,' Bai Ze said.

　　"I think the rain stopped," Eyegla.s.ses said immediately after Bai Ze.

　　Whispering and chattering spread throughout the crowd of survivors when they heard Eyegla.s.ses. Some seemed hopeful while others doubted the veracity of Eyegla.s.ses' a.s.sertion, but above all, most were lost at what to even do about the newly found freedom. They would go out to a barren wasteland instead of the places they called home not so long ago.

　　"My friend confirmed it. The rain has stopped, but I suggest that you wait for two more days. It'll be safer outside after two more days, I'm sure. Everything's going to be fine, trust me." Li Yiming saw the reactions from the survivors and knew that it was his time to step up; the survivors in the shelters needed hope, and he would give it to them. 'Just two more days, two days. After two days, all of this will be over.'