Making an Escape

An eerie light flashed within the headquarters conference room.

The high-level executive who had launched an attack on Yue Shi instantly froze in place, an expression of rage still etched on his face. Then, inch by inch, his body was twisted into a pretzel.

“Elder!”

A group of people cried out in horror, then turned their terrified gazes toward Yue Shi.

“How terrifying. He must have mastered more than one authority,” one executive said, shocked.

Another executive rolled his eyes at him. At a time like this, what was the point of spouting such meaningless platitudes that everyone could already see?

“We must take him down!” the executive continued.

“Then go ahead and do it. I’ll be right here supporting you in spirit.”

“Can we stop with the empty talk for a second?”

“You’re right. How about we form a task force first and elect a leader?”

“Stop with the bad jokes...”

Several executives chattered away, seemingly driven mad by the immense psychological pressure.

Yue Shi pointed a finger at them, and streaks of spatial turbulence swept toward them.

“Block it, quick!” someone shouted as various powers and techniques were unleashed.

The spatial turbulence easily broke through their defenses.

The headquarters' highest conference room, a place that symbolized authority, was being trampled upon with impunity.

The turbulence continued to spread, causing indiscriminate destruction.

The few executives were still standing there, bickering.

“Has the leader of the task force been chosen yet? Though it doesn't seem to matter anymore.”

“At this critical moment of life and death, we must join forces to stop the enemy.”

“Bring out all your trump cards. No one can hold back now.”

The figures of the several executives were caught in the turbulence and shredded to pieces.

In the next second, those same executives reappeared in another corner of the conference room, continuing their chatter.

Yue Shi actually spared a moment to take a closer look at these few individuals.

The Minister finally stepped forward and walked up to Yue Shi.

“You cannot kill them. They are the special high-level executives of the headquarters, the 【Meaningless Platitudes】.”

“The world is collapsing outside, and yet you insist on launching a terrorist attack right now just to cause trouble for the headquarters?”

Yue Shi nodded solemnly. “I’m the type who loves to kick people when they’re down and throw stones at those in the well.”

The Minister frowned, unable to understand. “What benefit does this bring you?”

“Hahahaha!” Yue Shi laughed.

There were benefits, of course.

But sometimes, his actions didn't need to be driven by profit. Sometimes, he committed evil simply for the sake of it, to annoy others and make everyone unhappy.

...

The sky was truly bizarre, and everything in the world had become a chaotic mess of colors.

“What on earth is happening?!” someone screamed in terror on the street.

Even those hiding in safe places instinctively felt a fatal sense of crisis, as if they would die in the next second.

Crack! A massive sound of splintering echoed, terrifying the survivors even further.

“Help!”

“It’s an earthquake! Run!”

The entire world was shaking and crumbling.

However, at this moment, Amber City remained calm and peaceful.

Most of the ordinary residents thought it was just a normal night and had fallen into a deep sleep.

Inside the local Investigation Bureau office.

A screen was broadcasting the scene from the headquarters conference room.

“This guy can actually go toe-to-toe with the Minister. He’s a tough one,” Mountain Ghost, Tang Zhuhe’s student, said in shock.

“Teacher, he used to be your subordinate. Why didn’t you keep him?”

“He couldn't be kept. And why would I want to keep a source of trouble?” Tang Zhuhe said indifferently.

“Trouble?” Mountain Ghost didn't quite understand. Seeing that his teacher didn't explain further, he asked again, “Between the Minister and that guy, who do you think will win?”

Tang Zhuhe thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know who will win, but I know Yue Shi definitely won't die.”

Mountain Ghost looked at his teacher in confusion.

“He is the present-tense protagonist,” Tang Zhuhe said with certainty.

Mountain Ghost: “???”

“I didn't expect you to believe in that kind of thing, Teacher.”

Tang Zhuhe nodded. “Because I was the protagonist of the past. When destiny was on my side, no matter how much I messed around, I wouldn't die.”

...

The headquarters carried by the Cloud Whale had been reduced to ruins.

Yue Shi and the Minister had failed to reach an agreement and had started fighting.

To be precise, the Minister had been making his move from the moment he started speaking.

The other executives weren't pushovers either. After two rounds of elimination, those who were still breathing basically had life-saving trump cards.

“The world is about to be destroyed, and you’re still insisting on internal strife?” the Minister growled through gritted teeth.

Yue Shi flipped the roof off the conference room. “I don’t care if the world is destroyed or not. If you’re willing to stand there and let me hack you to death, I promise that after you’re all dead, I’ll try to save the world.”

The Minister shot back immediately, “Bullshit! Even if we stood here and let you kill us, you’d definitely hunt down every last member of the headquarters once we were dead.”

“Oh, since you already know, why bother with all the nonsense?” Yue Shi said sarcastically.

“Despicable and shameless!” another executive cursed.

“Not only despicable and shameless, but he also takes pride in it. He’s truly a heartless piece of trash.”

Yue Shi casually slapped him across the face. “We’re all cut from the same cloth.”

“You’re peddling poisoned apples and I’m selling crinkle-cut potatoes—we’re both street-level trash, so stop acting like you're high-end goods.”

Crack!

A thunderous sound echoed, and everyone stopped what they were doing.

The sound wasn't an explosion, but a deeper, more ear-piercing screech, as if the very foundations of the world were being ripped apart.

The sound was extremely piercing, striking the hearts of everyone at the headquarters.

This was followed by even more violent and strange noises.

Aside from Yue Shi, who was an outsider, everyone else felt an inexplicable sensation.

It felt as if... heaven and earth were roaring in anger?

“Stop! Stop fighting!”

The Minister blocked Yue Shi’s attempt at a sneak attack, and the two of them grappled, moving from the top of the conference room to the outside.

The rest of the survivors followed close behind.

Then, they witnessed a truly fantastical scene.

Even though they had already anticipated an apocalyptic scenario, what they saw before them exceeded the limits of their imagination.

The sky was still a chaotic mess of colors, and the earth was splitting apart. But what captured their full attention was the horizon to the southeast.

There, against the backdrop of the churning and crumbling earth, cities were rising from the ground!

Those cities were slowly and steadily detaching from the earth, floating toward the sky beyond.

They seemed to possess their own stabilizing shields, maintaining their complete urban forms even amidst the chaotic apocalypse.

It was possible to identify Amber City, which the headquarters had tried and failed to contact, as well as Rust City and several other core cities occupied by Black Guanyin.

These cities seemed to be running away.

But the escape process was not smooth.

From the depths of the bottomless pits left behind by the cities, countless thick lines extended.

These lines were not physical; they were semi-transparent and dark gold, their surfaces flowing with a strange luster.

They tightly entwined and dragged the ascending cities, like chains anchored deep within the earth, refusing to let go.

The sound of snapping was constant.

One by one, the dark gold lines snapped under the strain of the ascending cities, their fragments dissipating into specks of light.

But more lines remained stubbornly taut, trying to pull these rebellious cities back into the dying mother body.

“It’s Black Guanyin’s territory!” an executive cried out, his face full of disbelief.

The Minister stared intently at the thrilling tug-of-war in the distance, his expression grim and dark.

Faced with this sudden and incomprehensible apocalypse, he had thought everyone could only wait for death in despair.

But Tang Zhuhe—she was actually trying to escape?

No, she wasn't just running away herself; she was taking her core territory with her!

How did she do it?

How could those cities remain stable while ascending in this apocalyptic environment?

And what were those lines stretching out from the ground?

“What on earth is she trying to do?” another executive murmured beside him, voicing the question on everyone’s mind.

Clearly, this was no spur-of-the-moment decision; this was a long-planned escape.

Just as the ascending cities were being dragged by more and more gold lines, their speed noticeably slowing—some even beginning to sink slightly, about to be pulled back to the earth—black figures suddenly appeared beneath the cities.

They were Guanyin statues.

The pitch-black Guanyin statues varied in size; some were hundreds of meters tall, while others were the size of a normal person. All of them had lowered eyes and serene, dignified expressions.

The compassionate Guanyin statues did not hesitate for a second, charging straight toward the areas where the gold lines were densest.

The statues didn't use any abilities; they simply crashed into the lines with their very existence.

Then, the impact points erupted.

It wasn't an explosion, but a purer form of annihilation.

The moment the black Guanyin statues touched the gold lines, they dissolved rapidly like wax statues thrown into a fire, and the sections of the gold lines they hit turned to ash along with them.

Countless black Guanyin statues followed one after another, sacrificing themselves to snap one line after another.

With every line lost, the ascending cities were noticeably unburdened, and their speed of ascent quickened.

Finally, after an unknown number of Guanyin statues had self-destructed, the last few thickest dark gold giant lines snapped with a roar.

Free from all restraints, the cities clustered together and suddenly accelerated, turning into a streak of light and racing toward the sky beyond without looking back.

From a distance, the clustered cities looked like a complete bubble, like a newborn mini-world.

Inside, the busy traffic of the cities could be faintly seen, and the sky within seemed to have already brightened, welcoming the dawn.

They were completely severed from the crumbling and dying apocalyptic world below.

“She actually... really ran away!”

The Minister looked at the bubble rapidly disappearing into the depths of the sky, both shocked and enlightened, with a hint of uncontrollable anger.

He remembered many things.

Years ago, when Tang Zhuhe was young, she had been so spirited and flamboyant, acting with such variety and stirring up storms throughout the world.

Back then, she had inexhaustible energy and an infinite desire for power, the unknown, and challenge.

But starting from some unknown year, she had suddenly become quiet.

Not only had she learned to compromise, but she had also taken the initiative to guard a forbidden zone. She became low-profile, living in seclusion and rarely participating in power struggles.

No one knew why she had undergone such a transformation. They all thought she still loved this world, which was why she was willing to compromise with the headquarters on many matters.

Now, everything made sense.

Keeping a low profile was to avoid drawing attention while quietly managing her basic foundation.

Living in seclusion was to have more time and energy to plan.

Those cities she occupied had refused entry and exit not long ago—not for defense, but as final preparations for today’s “ascension”!

To make several cities form a mini-world and completely detach from this world—how much engineering was required?

How many resources were needed, and over how long a period?

This was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment idea, let alone a life-saving measure hastily prepared after the apocalypse arrived.

Clearly, long ago, Tang Zhuhe must have known something, which was why she had made such thorough preparations.

The Minister felt a chill run down his spine.

“Could it be that she... knew the apocalypse was coming all along?”

...

“Teacher, we succeeded!” Mountain Ghost’s face was filled with the joy of a survivor.

Tang Zhuhe, however, was deathly pale and gasping for breath. This was her most pathetic moment.

“Success my foot. We just ran away.”

“We are now completely reduced to homeless dogs.”

Mountain Ghost was confused. “Teacher, these cities we took with us should slowly turn into a new world, right? This will be our new home.”

Tang Zhuhe shook her head. “If you had given me a few more years to prepare, I really could have built a complete mini-world.”

“But there wasn't enough time. Many things aren't perfected. Taking these cities with us now can only be called a secret realm at most. We must find a complete world to attach ourselves to as soon as possible, or it won't be long before this collapses.”

“Huh?” Mountain Ghost was shocked. “Teacher, that’s not what you said before.”

“Plans can't keep up with changes. I wanted to save the world once, but since I couldn't, I had to make an escape,” Tang Zhuhe said dismissively.

She once had many plans to save the world.

For example, the director of Qingshan Sanatorium could set rules. She had thought about nurturing the director to the level of a divine ghost, allowing him to set new rules worldwide to restrain the supernatural.

She had also thought about making everyone in the world her believer and merging them with herself.

Cities like Amber City and Rust City were just backups she had kept. Originally, she had intended to turn these cities into her Western Pure Land.

But the situation had changed too quickly. The Western Pure Land could only take advantage of the moment the world collapsed to break free and become a wandering planet.

Having dealt with the Tree of Truth for so many years, Tang Zhuhe knew many secrets. The Tree of Truth’s words couldn't be fully trusted, but they could serve as a reference.

There was no point in saving this world.

The apocalypse had indeed arrived.

Tang Zhuhe caught her breath for a moment, stood up, and walked outside.

“Teacher, aren't you going to rest a bit longer?” Mountain Ghost asked with concern.

Tang Zhuhe replied, “Where is the time for rest? This mini-world has no sun. I have to hang myself in the sky to act as the light source.”

“Don't you just stand there idle, either. Manage the material cycle well. Plant all those exotic flowers and plants I brought back from the Mysterious Garden; they can temporarily create something from nothing, producing food, water, and oxygen. Some varieties can even be used to generate electricity.”

“There are so many ordinary people living here. We can't let them die. Humanity is what’s most important...”