Nuclear Strike

The sunlight was dazzling. Ten-Mile Silver Beach should have been a magnificent seaside view, but there were not many people here at the moment.

East Xia’s real estate market had weakened over the past two years. Most of the investors who had once swarmed in had suffered a crushing defeat at Ten-Mile Silver Beach, under Weihai City’s jurisdiction.

Now, aside from a few young people living here in retirement, the place had become sparsely populated. During certain seasons, some residential compounds no longer showed much sign of life at all.

At that moment, beneath a lone beach umbrella, a man with messy hair hanging down his back lay on a lounge chair with his hands behind his head, dark sunglasses covering his face as he drank fresh coconut juice.

Quite a few white grains had crystallized on his skin. He had probably soaked in the sea for a long time earlier, and they were the residue left behind after the seawater dried in the sun.

"Zhiyuan, why are you out here sunbathing again…"

The old man picking up trash on the beach looked at the dispirited fellow, his tone somewhat helpless.

These days, aside from young people lying flat, this city was populated by old people like him who did not want to leave their hometowns.

He usually picked up trash along this beach, both to maintain the city’s appearance and to exercise.

But that was him—a sixty-eight-year-old man with little left to pursue in life. An Zhiyuan, meanwhile, was only in his thirties or forties, yet he was so listless that the old man could not stand to watch it.

An Zhiyuan rolled over, unwilling to listen to the old man’s nagging. He merely said,

"Uncle Mo, don’t worry about this beach for the next few days. Go stay with your son at the provincial capital for a while. I could use some peace and quiet too."

Old Man Mo knew the other man found him annoying, but when one got old, one somehow ended up with a great deal of nowhere-to-put "good intentions." He walked beneath An Zhiyuan’s beach umbrella and continued trying to lecture him.

But the next moment, a low sonic boom exploded overhead.

The source was extremely high in the sky, yet the air still carried a sound like it had been torn apart.

Old Man Mo shielded his eyes from the sun and looked up. He saw something like a comet streaking rapidly through the azure sky, its contrail nearly carving a massive tail across the blue heavens.

"Kid An, what is that?!"

At his age, Old Man Mo had truly never seen anything like it before.

An Zhiyuan sighed. He knew that the state of the world had reached its worst point.

Reincarnators and national-level military forces had finally begun their first true clash.

This was unlike the minor scuffles caused by those so-called high-risk reincarnators in the past, and unlike the punishments of countries merely placing people on entry-ban lists.

This was an attack truly intended to test whether the other side could be eliminated.

"Uncle Mo, you’re sleepy. Go to sleep first."

Old Man Mo had not heard the answer he wanted. He was baffled; he felt perfectly energetic.

"I’m not… sleepy…"

As he spoke the final word, an overwhelming drowsiness surged into his mind, and he fell into a deep sleep.

An Zhiyuan placed the old man on his own chair, thoughtfully putting his sunglasses on him as well. Then, with a single step, he arrived in the sky.

Standing above the sea of clouds, he watched the intercontinental missile carrying a nuclear warhead tear through the heavens with a roar, flying across tens of thousands of kilometers to strike the South Pacific.

Silver-white light flowed through his eyes, as though massive streams of data were constantly appearing, processing, and calculating.

This battle would drastically alter the future global order. Even he could not remain uninvolved.

At this very moment, he could see large numbers of reincarnators waiting for the result through all manner of channels.

"One after another… you really never stop causing trouble."

An Zhiyuan watched the supersonic intercontinental missile and suddenly raised his hand, pointing distantly at it.

"This really doesn’t sound like you, Old Salted Fish~"

A bright voice rang out. A man in floral shorts and flip-flops, his lean bronze muscles fully exposed, also broke through the sea of clouds and arrived here.

Though the move had been extremely subtle, he had still sensed it. An Zhiyuan had manipulated probability and affected reality.

An Zhiyuan did not need to turn around to know who had appeared. Too lazy to explain, he simply said,

"You three possess the power to stop everything, yet you are just standing by and watching it all happen. That truly brings shame upon Azure Sky."

"Hey, hey. A rotten salted fish who quit the gathering halfway through has no right to say that."

The two were clearly old acquaintances, speaking with easy familiarity.

Cao Qi, the founder of Azure Sky, was one of the most mysterious top reincarnators in the space. Though he did not bear the title of Supreme Expert, he had repeatedly coordinated conflicts among Supreme Experts with the leaders of Destiny and the Throne of Illusion and Reality.

An Zhiyuan turned around. Behind him, the boundless sea of clouds churned wildly, while the sun stood at his back. At that moment, An Zhiyuan looked especially dazzling. Cao Qi raised a hand as if to block the blinding sunlight, but he was actually concealing the nostalgia in his eyes.

Only at times like this could he see traces of the man An Zhiyuan had once been.

"The world always changes, doesn’t it?"

Cao Qi stood above the sea of clouds, his words carrying a deeper meaning.

"Even if we stopped the Great Sun of Finality, Life of Silence would do the same. Even if we stopped Life of Silence, perhaps Tumi Flower Blooms would embark on this path."

"The rise of reincarnators cannot be stopped, and the world’s order cannot be maintained forever. I am merely… following the course of destiny."

He seemed to be explaining himself, yet he also seemed to be describing an inevitable trend.

Upon hearing his words, the emotion on An Zhiyuan’s face vanished as well.

Many times, those who glimpsed destiny made people lose all motivation—whether the motivation to live or even to speak.

Fatalism was both boring and disgusting.

An Zhiyuan gave his old friend one final look. He did not try to do anything more. He merely ensured that this missile would truly hit its target. That was all.

"Cao Qi, I hope you won’t regret this…"

Cao Qi watched An Zhiyuan leave without stopping him. Those who walked different paths could not make plans together. The two had long ceased to be on the same side. Besides…

He shook his head with a bitter smile.

"You really think too highly of me. How could I possibly see every possibility in an event of this scale? Even the slightest change can lead to a completely different final outcome."

Reincarnators were an extremely difficult group to measure. Among them were too many oddballs and lunatics who could not be judged by common sense.

Some people cast terrifying cursed objects and memes into the real world merely because it was "interesting."

Others, simply to "support their families," wore what felt like seven or eight different identities until they could no longer distinguish their own faction.

Still others were pure perverts who took pleasure in tormenting the weak.

But some, empowered by great strength, developed loftier and stricter moral ideals, becoming heroes and knights in the darkness who defended the weak against the strong.

With so many reincarnators, anyone could potentially alter the direction of this battle’s outcome.

At this very moment, quite a few teams might already be plotting something in secret.

Cao Qi simply sat down upon the sea of clouds. The rolling clouds beneath him changed shape into a massive sailing ship. He sat at its bow and waved a hand, and the cloud-made ship began sailing across the sea of clouds.

"My lord, the USS Kennedy Carrier Strike Group has appeared in the South Pacific."

A gigantic artificial island spanning more than one hundred thousand square kilometers sat in the South Pacific, formed into a perfectly regular circle that could almost never occur in nature.

The ground was entirely black. It had not yet been developed, but all kinds of buildings had already risen across it, and the land had been fully planned out.

A massive barrier glowed around the island’s perimeter.

This was the Finality Empire.

At the center of this artificial territory stood a massive palace built in a Western architectural style.

The Great Sun of Finality stood on a second-floor terrace, while people beside him continuously compiled information from all directions.

The Great Sun of Finality stared unwaveringly at the embryonic empire he had forged, showing no surprise at the carrier’s arrival.

"Send Char out. Let humanity witness the technology of the future. Aircraft carriers… should exit the stage of history."

A moment later, a massive Mecha emerged from the edge of the island.

The 76.2-meter-tall, 1,850-ton Eureka Striker stepped into the sea and advanced toward the carrier fleet.

On the other side, a reincarnator clad in a black robe suddenly showed alarm and reported,

"My lord, the island’s Cognitive Interference appears to have been affected. An intercontinental missile is heading toward us and is expected to strike the Empire’s homeland in one minute and forty-two seconds."

The Great Sun of Finality raised his head, black light gleaming in his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was low.

"It doesn’t matter. Unless we let that thing hit us once, those countries will never despair…"

The others exchanged glances, then lowered their heads in acknowledgment and swiftly began deploying personnel. Against a nuclear attack, the energy impact was only one concern. The troublesome radiation required special measures; otherwise, this land would likely lose its ability to grow food.

Yet they felt no fear. Instead, they were exceedingly excited. They would very likely become the first team of reincarnators of this generation to face a nuclear strike in the real world.