Glorious God Throne

Chapter 178

A thin layer of gray floated in the sky.

In the dim clouds, the morning sunlight resembled fish scales in water, refracting beautiful patterns between the layers of clouds.

The largest cathedral of the Sun Temple in the Holy Federation’s sacred city was bathed in the morning light. In the past, devotees who witnessed such a sight would invariably praise the grace of the Sun God.

As the crisis of Return to the Void approached, it should have been the time for divine miracles to manifest. Countless people needed spiritual solace to cope with the despair of the approaching catastrophe, which led to the rapid expansion of the Candlelight Society.

Thanks to the Dawn propaganda, the previously obscure White King gained numerous followers in just a few days.

As for the Sun Temple?

In this age of spiritual awakening where various extraordinaries were showing their might, a Sun God that existed only in the words of believers and religious propaganda, without showing any divine miracles, was no longer worthy of blind faith and worship.

The Sun Temple, once a dominant power in the empire, had been gradually abandoned since the spiritual awakening, with followers dispersing like clouds.

Fortunately, the Pope, who fundamentally didn’t believe in gods, made timely changes by training the last batch of devout followers into extraordinaries. He also compromised with the government, returning some rights to them in exchange for government support, allowing the Sun Temple to successfully transform in the new era into an official extraordinary organization alongside the Special Affairs Bureau, the Faithful Society, and the Haotian Temple.

Even so, the fact that the Sun God truly didn’t exist had dealt a significant blow to the Sun Temple.

The cathedral, which used to be crowded with daily prayer-seeking followers, had become quiet and desolate.

Today, however, this cathedral welcomed an important guest.

Wearing a robe and mask stained with what might have been blood or other substances, so dirty that the original color was indiscernible, this guest was completely shrouded except for their notably small stature.

She stood beneath the enormous holy symbol of the Sun God in the cathedral, slightly tilting her head upward. Her entire being exuded an icy stillness and deathlike quality, like ashes burned out in darkness, forming a stark contrast with the supremely sacred emblem.

The Pope of the Sun Temple quietly observed her from nearby.

This mysterious extraordinary who came from beyond, traveling with the dark wizard Palmer, was described by Palmer as the last survivor who destroyed a world – she stood quietly as if non-existent.

It was his first time seeing someone stand for hours before the Sun emblem and read through all the doctrines in one go.

…Her interest in the Sun Temple was unusually strong!

No wonder the White King had arranged for her to come to the Holy Federation.

Diego still remembered his shock when informed of this arrangement.

Since this extraordinary seemed rather reticent, the message conveyed through the Heavenly Master was: “You should have much in common. One worships the Sun God, one calls themselves the Chaser of the Sun. In the Sun Temple’s doctrine, the Sun God created the world and gave life to all beings, while in Miss Day’s world, the sun symbolized hope for salvation.”

“The person before you was once called the Child of the Sun, and also became the Black Day that ultimately burned a world to ashes.”

–With such attire and titles so closely matching your Sun Temple, who else could we entrust her to?

When Diego heard this, his heart nearly stopped beating: A terrorist who destroyed a world? How could he dare take charge of such a person!

Fortunately, the Heavenly Master wasn’t so inconsiderate and privately provided them with some basic information about her.

Thus, Diego and others heard a tragic story of #one who wanted to save the world but ended up destroying everything#.

While their impression of “Day” completely changed, they also experienced firsthand the terrifying nature of Return to the Void for the first time.

The two visitors from another world who unexpectedly arrived were incredibly powerful. One spoke of sacrificing countless lives to escape Return to the Void, while the other, despite giving everything, was crushed by hopeless fate and remained withdrawn.

If two such powerful extraordinaries couldn’t avert disaster, what chance did those far weaker have of survival? Even with the White King and others present, the prospects were grim.

For this reason, every potential source of help had to be pursued. For instance, this former Child of the Sun, a powerful extraordinary who was seen as salvation and hope by countless people in another world.

Though she now seemed dazed like a walking corpse, if they could awaken her and gain the attention of such a powerful extraordinary, it would at least give humanity more hope.

After learning about “Day’s” past experiences, her obsession with the sun, and her powerful talents and abilities, such thoughts kept emerging unstoppably from Diego’s mind.

Therefore, Diego didn’t treat this casually at all. After showing “Day” around the Sun Temple cathedral, he prepared to take her to see more of this nation that had been shaped by the Sun God’s faith for years – even though this faith had gradually faded, its imprint on the country remained.

Diego decided to fully execute the White King’s arrangements for this otherworld visitor, as conveyed through Qi Jiu, ensuring she thoroughly experienced and appreciated the sights of the Holy Federation.

The two, wearing similar-style robes, moved through the buildings rich with religious architecture.

Due to the impending apocalypse, people on the streets hurried by with anxiety etched on their brows, seemingly rushing to make all preparations. Occasionally, innocent children would pass by playing, the sunlight illuminating their naive, tender smiles like a dream.

Perhaps due to his age, Diego, typically cold and decisive, couldn’t help but soften his heart at this moment. Looking at the playing children, a smile appeared on his face, which then turned to melancholy. “…They’re so full of life.”

His gaze moved from the children to the flow of people on the street, to the ancient religious buildings, to the green tree shadows along the street, then up to the sky, where the sun gently radiated light through the clouds.

“It’s hard to imagine all this vibrant life will face destruction soon…”

The more beautiful everything was now, the more cruel and unacceptable the coming fate seemed.

The old man couldn’t help but sigh painfully and unwillingly:

“–Is this really humanity’s fate?”

“Day,” wrapped in her sullied robe and previously as unresponsive as a puppet, seemed suddenly awakened.

Diego heard her barely audible murmur.

“…No, it won’t be.”

Across the ocean, in another distant country.

In the morning sunlight, Bai Yi, with a cat perched on his shoulder and carrying his few belongings, stepped out cheerfully.

–He left home neat and tidy today, with no intention of returning. Instead, he was heading to the Seventh Hospital for an extended stay.

Because Return to the Void’s impact was too widespread, no country could build enough standard shelters to accommodate everyone in a short time. Therefore, the Pan-Human Alliance countries were converting schools, hospitals, shopping centers, and other large public facilities, as well as some well-constructed communities, into shelters by modifying existing buildings and facilities.

–This was the main construction project that various countries had been working on even before the truth about Return to the Void was revealed.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Although such “shelters” weren’t strictly up to standard, this was the only way to help everyone possible and ensure no one would be left waiting for death when disaster struck.

After all, no one knew how the disaster would manifest.

The Seventh Hospital in the suburbs of Yuanyang City was one of the selected shelter construction sites, and Bai Yi had received a call from the old hospital director days ago, asking him to return to the hospital to shelter with everyone.

As someone who appeared to be just an ordinary high school student, he naturally wouldn’t refuse. Besides, if he wanted to leave, a single illusion would be enough to fool everyone, and no one would know if he slipped out of the hospital.

So, Bai Yi set out with his only possession, Bai Xiaoxi.

Arriving downstairs, he noticed the first-floor door was tightly closed, the curtains drawn, and Xia Jiajia, who usually liked sunbathing at the entrance, was nowhere to be seen, making the place appear deserted.

Bai Yi suddenly remembered that Xia Jiajia had left two days ago, reportedly returning to her hometown to reunite with her parents and prepare to face the end times together.

In fact, most buildings in the old city district had been emptied in the past few days, and the already quiet streets were even more devoid of people. Bai Yi wanted to take a taxi to the hospital but couldn’t find one after waiting for a long time – after all, who would think about working when the world was ending?

He had no choice but to rent a shared bicycle by the roadside.

After leaving the old city district, pedestrians gradually appeared on the streets, but the crowds were mainly concentrated around supermarkets and shopping centers. Bai Yi saw several supermarkets packed with people, and amidst the crowd’s clamor, there were faint sounds of impatient arguments and children crying.

Police officers maintaining order on the street quickly stepped forward to separate the crowded people, and stern lectures replaced the previous arguments, floating into the passing youth’s ears on the wind.

Bai Yi rode the small bicycle at high speed.

Streets, crowds, continuous shrubs, and the increasingly desolate land towards the suburbs… all scenes flew past him, all sounds echoed in his ears, the perception of the Rhythm of All Things replaced his eyes and ears, like a continuously spreading ripple colliding with all the world’s vibrations.

Human heartbeats, distant arguments and the emotional fluctuations accompanying each argument, the sound of wheels rolling on the ground, the breathing of roadside trees and flowers, the flow of spiritual energy in the air, the direction of the wind, this planet’s slow and regular rotation…the world appeared completely transparent before his eyes, like an embryo growing robustly in the universe’s maternal body, emitting increasingly loud heartbeats, announcing its existence to this cosmic ocean, expressing its intense desire to live and cry for help.

And Bai Yi “heard” it all.

–He was born to save infinite worlds.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry!”

The youth, bearing the karma of infinite worlds, made a promise to this world as he rode his bicycle toward his destination. The cat that had somehow climbed onto his head raised its head and “meowed.”

“Although saving the world is kind of boring…”

“I guess trying it once isn’t so bad~”