Foreign Races

“This is quite interesting.”

A slight ripple stirred in Irene's heart. She had already realized that this “dream” might not be so simple.

However, her former self, the young man named Chu Xia, was not nearly as calm.

Driven by curiosity, he went to ask around about this elf.

He learned from others in the shelter that this “person” had been found when they were out scavenging for supplies.

The stranger spoke some obscure language from an unknown nation, making communication impossible.

Nevertheless, in the spirit of humanitarianism, they had brought him back.

As for his pointed ears, the people in the shelter could only temporarily write it off as a congenital deformity.

Under Irene's watchful eye, the matter seemed to blow over just like that.

Until gradually, more and more bizarre species began to be discovered.

They were few in number, but incredibly diverse in variety.

At first, creatures like elves, dwarves, and halflings could still be categorized as congenital deformities.

But later, they found “mermaids” with human heads and fish bodies, “goblins” with pointed ears and long noses, and even “giant lizards” that had wings but couldn't fly.

Humanity finally realized that something was seriously wrong.

After exhausting all methods to communicate with these foreign species, they obtained a piece of news that shocked the world.

These creatures did not belong to this world.

They all came from another world.

That world was different from the universe Earth resided in.

It was a world of supernatural powers like magic and battle qi.

However, that world had faced an apocalyptic crisis, and they had been forced to flee to this newly discovered world.

In the past, such news would naturally have been hard to accept.

People probably would have thought that the “other world” they spoke of was just another planet, mislabeled due to a difference in perception.

But with the precedent of the global upheaval, the existence of another world did not seem so impossible to accept anymore.

After quickly accepting this fact, people initially understood that the world of these otherworldly visitors had undergone an even more unfathomable cataclysm than Earth's universe, forcing them to flee.

Once it was confirmed that these visitors could no longer use their so-called magic and battle qi due to the difference in worlds, posing no threat to humanity, most humans generously chose to accept them.

Because along with the global upheaval, humanity found that this “new world” was actually quite accommodating.

After the “flat” Earth merged with other planets to form a new continent, the environment surprisingly rapidly shifted to become suitable for human survival.

Such a supercontinent, countless times larger than Earth, undoubtedly meant a vast amount of resources ripe for development.

Humanity no longer needed to live as frugally as before.

Furthermore, natural disasters and wars had caused a drastic drop in population.

There was now a severe shortage of labor.

From humanity's perspective, accepting these otherworldly visitors as laborers could accelerate the rebuilding of their homes.

And things did indeed progress in the direction they envisioned.

In the ninth year of the global upheaval, Earth and the other planets had completely spliced together into a brand-new continent.

The natural disasters ceased, and the world returned to peace.

Seawater, seemingly generated out of thin air, surrounded the entire continent.

An invisible membrane enveloped the continent.

A new sun and moon appeared in the sky.

However, they were more like projections than physical bodies.

A brand-new world was thus formed.

Divided into countless new factions, humanity also began their long-planned reconstruction projects.

Naturally, this included the otherworldly visitors who had joined various human factions.

Everything seemed to be heading in a positive direction.

Until the eleventh year of the Great Upheaval.

Some observant individuals noticed that the otherworldly visitors would occasionally gather in groups of their own accord, seemingly conducting religious prayers in private.

But most people did not pay much attention.

They even found them to be incredibly foolish and ignorant.

A year later, this mindset would plunge them into endless regret.

The twelfth year of the global upheaval.

Amidst the prayers of those otherworldly visitors, some unknown change seemed to silently occur within the world.

This change was slow and continuous.

Just like boiling a frog in warm water.

Except at this moment, the frog was completely cooked.

An invisible tide finally swept across the entire world!

That night, the once-docile otherworldly visitors finally bared their long-hidden fangs.

They demanded humanity's submission, threatening to wipe out the entire human race otherwise.

At first, not many cared about such arrogant words.

Until the otherworldly visitors unleashed the legendary battle qi and magic.

Faced with this sudden turn of events, some radical factions among humanity decisively chose to strike.

Machine guns, artillery, tanks, airplanes...

They mobilized almost all of their military power.

Determined to eradicate these foreign races.

The results were promising.

Although they did not wipe out all the foreign races immediately, they managed to keep them in check.

According to humanity's projections, it would only be a matter of time before these creatures were completely wiped out.

However.

When night turned into day.

When glowing portals began appearing all over the world.

When tens of thousands of otherworldly visitors poured out of the portals.

Humanity finally understood.

It turned out that those they had been fighting were merely “scouts” from the other world.

Faced with an overwhelming wave of otherworldly invaders who could fly and tunnel through the earth like superheroes from anime and novels,

human civilization entered its most critical hour.

Under this immense pressure, humanity, which had split into countless new factions, united once again.

They formed an alliance.

Seeking to squeeze out every bit of human wisdom and strength to resist the invasion from the other world.

It was proven that human wisdom was indeed infinite.

In the war against the invaders from the other world, human technology began to advance at a breakneck pace.

Concepts that had only existed in theory before the Great Upheaval were realized one by one.

Although humanity remained at a disadvantage, given the speed of their technological climb, achieving ultimate victory was not entirely hopeless.

Aside from a few pessimists, the majority of people firmly believed that the future belonged to human civilization.

However, witnessing all of this within the dream, Irene did not share this belief.

Observing everything from an outsider's perspective, she had gradually come to understand it all.

And as it turned out, she was right.

Under her watchful gaze,

that day arrived.

The world membrane above the continent was dyed in indescribable colors by lights of every hue.

Amidst the praises and prayers of the invaders from the other world,

and the sheer bewilderment and helplessness of humanity,

indescribable, unspeakable entities descended!

They represented the supreme, the most beautiful, the most benevolent...

And also the most malevolent!

The otherworldly invaders called them...

Gods!