Chapter 1 An Arc of Lightning in the Boundless Deep Sea

A low rumble of wheel hubs churned through the seabed as a train with no end in sight traversed layers of haze.

Inside the carriage, millions of threads, like a spiderweb, were wrapped around a single person.

It was information pulsating billions of times per second, now layered upon layered, resembling a cocoon of light.

"The connection... is broken."

The woman encased in the cocoon spoke softly.

Chu Ling opened her eyes, and countless threads snapped in response. The carriage returned to its usual pristine state, spotless and dust-free.

Her eyes held shock, confusion, bewilderment, and heartache.

But none of these should have belonged to "Ai."

At this moment, the link between Gu Shen and her was completely severed. This was an unprecedented feeling. Previously, when Gu Shen went to a certain disaster zone that shielded the mind, she was only briefly unable to connect.

But this time, it showed... the end of the connection was completely lost.

This meant...

Gu Shen was dead?

After confirming the loss of Gu Shen's connection signal, [Source Code] abandoned interaction with the outside world. Everything became unimportant. Chu Ling began to forcibly retrieve the [Heaven's Eye] above the Sangzhou Cave. Even though these electronic surveillance devices controlled by the main server had been submerged by the ash of Mount Taan, she still forcibly extracted all the images above the Sangzhou Cave that were within the monitoring range.

Mountain fires erupted, and the sky was dark.

The originally dense number of [Heaven's Eye] had been reduced to less than one in ten due to the impact of mountain ash, the eruption of Mount Taan, and a series of other blows... The few remaining instruments were mostly distributed around the periphery of the Sangzhou Cave, but under the external force of the [Tide], all these [Heaven's Eye] could see were scenes of constantly stretching distant views.

"..."

Chu Ling stared blankly at this scene.

The reason her mental link with Gu Shen was broken was because he had entered the core area of Mount Taan...

And now...

Mount Taan erupted, and pillars of flame soared into the sky.

It was simply impossible for any living being to survive in such a large-scale disaster.

...

...

Qi Mo, who had locked himself in his room, was restless. He constantly looked at the projection on his wrist and then at the host screen.

How could [Source Code] suddenly disappear?

Wasn't it supposed to be... everywhere!

"Buzz..."

After several seconds of downtime, Qi Mo saw the familiar code. He breathed a slight sigh of relief, but before he could speak, he saw the first question Chu Ling asked: "Is Gu Shen back?"

Qi Mo was stunned.

He was a little dazed.

Because this really shouldn't be a question that [Source Code] would ask.

For Chu Ling, to know if Gu Shen had returned, she only needed to pull up the monitoring images of these ten source energy boats, and then she could get the answer in 0.01 seconds.

"Miss Chu, Mr. Gu hasn't returned yet."

After Qi Mo finished speaking, he suddenly froze. He suddenly realized something. "Hasn't returned" was a very ominous phrase, and especially since this question came from the mouth of [Source Code], the layer of gloom that enveloped his heart was magnified countless times at this moment.

After receiving this answer, the communication information of [Source Code] on the screen disappeared.

Chu Ling went offline.

...

...

"Where's Gu Shen?"

"Gu Shen hasn't returned yet?!"

Chen Li paced anxiously. The "Netherfire" in his heart sent an extremely urgent danger signal.

He had only just become an Apostle!

How could he encounter this kind of situation?

The little iron man couldn't calm down. He glanced at the Divine Infant sleeping in the nutrient solution, gritted his teeth, and dialed Chen Mo's communication, "Chen, hurry up and arrange a micro-boat. I want to go back."

"Are you crazy?"

Chen Mo's gloomy reply came from the communicator, "Didn't you see the mountain fire explosion just now? Go back and die? Also... I'm the person in charge of Da Du, not the Northern Continent! I don't have the authority to arrange a micro-boat!"

Because there was no news from Gu Shen for a long time, Chen Li was not the only one anxious.

After all the True Heart Society enforcers boarded the ship, they gradually felt at ease in their hearts. But when they sailed away from the Sangzhou Cave, they realized... there was still a crucial figure who had not boarded the ship!

Gu Shen!

The southern Sangzhou Cave mission had lasted for a long time. Every True Heart Society enforcer who had met Gu Shen was grateful to this Mr. Gu.

Gu Shen was usually gentle, approachable, and kind-hearted, willing to help the innocent.

Of course.

This was not the most important thing.

For them, the southern Sangzhou Cave mission was not a simple task. Without Gu Shen's standing up, the attacks of the beast tides alone would have caused a large number of casualties!

Gu Shen had really won a lot of benefits for the Eastern Continent, setting up poisonous miasma to pit and kill the beast tide, pulling the Church Legion of Yuan Shuo City to be a life-saving backstop for the enforcer brothers, and inciting the marchers in various urban areas to resist the upper echelons and disperse the energy of the eastern and western caves!

Without these operations, the brothers who could eventually return home safely would probably be only half of what they were now, or even less!

Moreover, the Source Tower and Light City suffered losses in the Sangzhou Cave incident... These things, put on the table, were considered unsolved mysteries.

But the True Heart Society brothers stationed in the urban areas, as long as they were not fools, could basically guess one or two things.

Mr. Gu stirred up the situation in this incident, strongly blocking the original plans of these two major forces!

"Now we're just waiting for Bai Shou's news."

Chen Mo pressed down his temper and spoke in a deep voice.

Actually, he was also anxious, but what was the use of being anxious?

Bai Shou had already set off. If Bai Shou couldn't bring people back... then there was no point in him going out.

"Bai Shou... Bai Shou..."

The little iron man stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window. Through the red and silver glass, he could already vaguely see the shadow of a ship breaking through the ice sea of the Northern Continent, and there were three people standing on it!

He wasn't the only one who saw this scene.

There was also Chen Mo.

"They're back... there are three people!"

At this moment, both of them were excited, but the next second, they were splashed with a bucket of cold water.

The micro-boat was extremely fast, and in an instant, it arrived in the fleet. Everyone waiting in the ice sea could see the figure of the third person on the micro-boat.

Lu Zhe, the captain of the first squad of the Investigation Corps.

Not Gu Shen.

Chen Li's face suddenly turned pale, and he fell to the ground.

Chen Mo's face also turned livid and extremely ugly.

The surrounding Su Cha, Wu Yong, and others, as well as several True Heart Society executives, fell silent when they saw this scene. Although they wanted to ask about the current situation, the atmosphere in the VIP room was suffocating, and the air seemed to have solidified.

No one dared to say a word, no one dared to make a sound.

This deathly silence spread throughout the Northern Continent fleet suspended above the ice sea, from the independent lounges to the huge main boat space filled with refugees, it was so quiet that a pin could be heard.

Seeing the micro-boat sailing into the ice sea range, it became slow.

Everyone seemed to realize that bad news was coming.

So everyone held their breath.

"Team Lu."

Fisher, who was in charge of this southern cave retrieval mission and stationed on the main boat, spoke first.

He first greeted Lu Zhe.

Fisher had already noticed that Bai Shou and Mu Wanqiu, who had been high-spirited and full of fighting spirit when they set off, were now looking gloomy and lifeless.

Having experienced hundreds of battles, he knew the ending of this mission at this moment.

But some things still had to be asked.

Fisher's voice was hoarse, "I'm glad to see you return in triumph, Team Lu. This return island mission... did you not see Gu Shen?"

The pillars of flame in the distant sky could be seen clearly even from the fleet suspended in the northern ice sea.

"..."

Lu Zhe opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

He didn't know what to say.

The micro-boat slowly cruised in the middle of ten medium-sized source energy boats. He saw one after another gaze penetrating the red and silver glass. Some were Northern Continent soldiers, some were Da Du enforcers, and more came from the local Sangzhou Cave refugees he didn't recognize and had never seen.

In these few days.

Everyone in Sangzhou Cave had remembered a name.

That name was Gu Shen.

The "Neutralist" organization decided to re-emerge because of his appearance. It was because the Neutralists lifted up the underground network that had been dormant for twenty years that there were these survivors who successfully escaped from Sangzhou Cave.

In this land of suffering, they had experienced countless times of despair.

And this time, the hope was given to them by Gu Shen.

So they would always remember this name.

At this moment, they wanted to see this young man, who was rumored to be very remarkable, with their own eyes.

But...

From that lonely micro-boat, many people had already seen the ending.

Commander Osmund arrived at the ice sea with the Northern Cave fleet. The two columns that had been dispersed were now merged, which meant that the Northern Continent rescue mission was only the final return voyage away from completion. All the difficulties had been cleared. This was a perfect execution.

It was just that Wei Cheng, who was in charge of the Northern Cave command mission, noticed the strange atmosphere in the fleet's central control channel.

This subordinate of Silver Fox quickly realized the reason.

Wei Cheng said in a low voice, "Your Excellency Fisher, forgive my presumption... I have often heard the generals in the Legion praise a young man named 'Gu Shen' in recent years. I was originally very much looking forward to meeting him on this mission. But at this moment, I don't seem to see his figure?"

Fisher said hoarsely, "He is not on the fleet."

"What does this mean? Gu Shen didn't board the ship?"

Commander Osmund frowned. He was very surprised by this news. In his impression, the biggest difficulty in this rescue mission was breaking through the mountain ash and rescuing a large number of refugees in a short period of time.

"... Hmm."

Fisher's response changed Osmund's face.

Gu Shen didn't board the ship?

This kind of sudden situation was not in the original plan at all!

The eruption of Mount Taan just now was simply devastating.

If he didn't board the ship and didn't leave...

Wei Cheng's forehead began to ooze cold sweat. He subconsciously murmured, "Could it be that he was delayed by something? Does he know that the fleet will meet in the ice sea? Should we wait a little longer?"

"There's no need to wait."

Lu Zhe's voice interrupted their conversation.

The captain of the first squad transmitted the image of the blazing fire he captured at the mouth of Mount Taan to the heart of these leaders through mental power. He ended this meaningless conversation.

"The fleet... can return."

...

...

With the recovery of the [Deep Sea] link.

The deathly silence on the ice sea fleet, spanning thousands of miles, was transmitted to the two continents of the Eastern Continent and the Northern Continent.

This Northern Continent Legion's extremely luxurious southern support essentially came from Gu Shen's joint. The confluence of the two continents had just begun, and it was in the most critical stage of integration... The wills of Central City and Nagano's high-level officials were fully connected. There were many large and small trivial matters here, which were able to be promoted because of "Gu Shen's" existence.

"Gu Shen lost the final link."

"According to the intelligence of Lu Zhe, the captain of the first squad of the Investigation Corps, Gu Shen was buried at the bottom of Mount Taan..."

"This is a situation we never anticipated..."

The five major families and three major institutions of Nagano held an emergency meeting in the conference room.

It was just that the position of the Tribunal was conspicuously vacant.

Zhou Jiren and Tentou had left, and Zhu Wanghan had been expelled. At this moment, Gu Shen had "fallen". The Tribunal, which was originally ranked first among the three major institutions, was showing a sign of withering... Several Tribunal officials who were still in other places but had a decent reputation and prestige participated in this highest-level secret meeting within Nagano.

The bigwigs who participated in this emergency meeting looked very heavy.

The head of the Mu family looked at the intelligence at this moment, repeatedly confirming it many times, but still couldn't believe it.

He had tried his best to tie the Mu family to the "confluence" ship, hoping to use Gu Shen's power to regain a high position, but he never expected that such bad news would come at this moment...

"Gu Shen... was buried at the bottom of Mount Taan?"

A clear, childish, and hoarse voice came from the conference table.

The voice also contained absurd laughter.

"Don't you know what kind of person this guy is? How could he die so easily!"

Li Qingsui stood up. She looked at the image returned by Lu Zhe, and her voice trembled even more, "A wisp of fire, what can it explain? I don't believe Gu Shen is dead... I don't believe it!"

Because of her sister's death.

She began to hate Gu Shen and began to devote all her time to the confluence mission. The Li and Mu families became the two families that contributed the most to the confluence plan...

In the very few free times, she would always involuntarily think of the scene on Mount Shrines.

High mountains, flowing water, blazing fire, black flowers.

She thought she really "hated" Gu Shen.

But she didn't expect that the most beautiful memory in her heart was the leisurely time she spent with her sister and Gu Shen on Mount Shrines, not asking about the world.

She didn't expect that time wouldn't wait for herself to "grow up" a little more.

She was ruthlessly "devastated" again.

She couldn't accept that Gu Shen would die like this... die in the eruption of Mount Taan. In her mind, Gu Shen should be the next Gu Changzhi, and even if he died, he should die heroically!

The conference room was very quiet.

Li Qingsui's words did not play a role in encouraging.

It wasn't because Li Qingsui was still young, just a child.

But the volcanic eruption scene that was transmitted back from Sangzhou Cave was too terrifying. Everyone present could distinguish the authenticity of this image and the meaning behind it.

"The [Deep Sea]'s simulation experiment shows... the power of the Mount Taan eruption is equivalent to eight times the power of a child detonating. If Gu Shen stays in the core area, then even if he has a 'Tier 6 Source Armor', it will be useless. He will be melted into ashes in 0.01 seconds."

Shan-sensei supported his chin with his hands.

His eyes were a little dazed, dazed by the scarlet fireworks that bloomed above the ice sea.

This level of natural disaster was too terrible to be resisted by human power.

Even a title like himself... had no hope of surviving.

What really shattered Li Qingsui's psychological defense was Old Man Gu, who was late and finally participated in the meeting. Gu Qilin was supported by Gu Nanfeng to enter the venue. This old man, who had white hair but had always been energetic, seemed to have aged ten years overnight. His mental state was very low.

He had never been so decadent when he was fighting fiercely with Gu Lushen a few years ago.

"Sorry everyone, I'm late..."

Gu Qilin laughed self-deprecatingly and said, "I know you are all concerned about Gu Shen's life and death. The reason why I was late is because of this. A few years ago, Gu Shen came to the Gu Clan Hall. Although he has no blood relationship with the Nagano Gu Clan, I found him particularly kind, so I left a drop of blood and carved it into a sealed object, which can be regarded as leaving a 'spiritual epitaph'."

The old man took out a blank wooden seal, his fingers trembling, and placed it on the table.

Everyone was stunned.

"Gu Shen's spiritual epitaph has dissipated."

Gu Nanfeng spoke for the old man. His voice was low and somber.

"In other words."

"Gu Shen... is dead."