The God of Malice is Watching the Land: Chapter 16 Isolated Island
The words spoken by the dying old man, weak and breathless, pinned down all the cowards who tried to abandon Lannister.
Even a large-scale teleportation array had extremely limited transport capacity in a short period. It couldn’t teleport more than fifty people at once, and there was a long cooldown after each teleportation.
The cooldown time also increased with the number of people and distance, meaning the number of people teleported within a fixed time was also fixed, and it became more difficult to teleport further distances.
A teleportation array directly to Noah, even carrying only two or three people, might not even be usable once a month.
It was far from enough to evacuate everyone in Lannister. Even nobles weren’t guaranteed a chance to teleport; it had to be those holding real power.
Real power didn’t mean status. A lower-level magistrate managing a district held more power than a wealthy noble, but the latter’s status in Lannister was far higher than the former’s.
If these people were given the chance to escape, what would happen?
The massive Lannister would lose most of its administrators, instantly falling into a state of anarchic chaos. Then, without even waiting for the Calamity Tide to arrive, Lannister would collapse first.
As the Chief Magistrate of the Council of Elders, the person who brought Lannister to its peak of glory, Norian wasn’t willing to see his life’s work sink in this undeserved disaster.
Therefore, Norian ordered the destruction of all external teleportation arrays in Lannister, even though he was the most qualified person to leave Lannister through them.
Not everyone possessed the conviction to burn their bridges, especially those in power, but Norian’s action wasn’t unexpected.
Amidst the cheers of the citizens and the cries of the nobles, Norian’s personal guards destroyed all teleportation arrays that could lead out of Lannister.
Of course, other places could still teleport to Lannister; teleportation arrays were mostly one-way, there were no two-way arrays.
As for leaving directly through the city gates?
Lannister wouldn’t stop them. If someone had the courage to cross the vast Endless Wasteland to reach another, safer mega-city, they wouldn’t be bothered about the destruction of the teleportation arrays.
Just like that, Lannister became an isolated island.
“…”
After Norian slowly explained the whole story, Hua Qingling and Qin Wen fell silent.
They could feel the resistance Norian faced when making these decisions, the courage he showed in resolutely executing them under pressure, and the heavy mood of the old man at this moment.
But the problem was…
“If that’s the case, we can only travel to… Noah on foot?”
A wry smile appeared on Hua Qingling’s face, and Qin Wen also looked quite troubled.
They respected Norian’s decision, but this way…
It made things inconvenient for them.
“I’m afraid that’s the only way. As far as I know, all the nearby teleportation arrays have been destroyed, probably imitating my actions.” Norian rubbed his nose and said, slightly embarrassed.
However, this imitation was truly just imitation. Besides Lannister’s large-scale teleportation array which could reach Noah directly, other teleportation arrays… would only send people into the Calamity Tide, no different from seeking death.
“I’m truly sorry for making you two come all this way for nothing,” Norian sighed softly. “If you two don’t mind, we still have some weapons here that might be useful, you might need them on the road.”
After saying that, Norian waved his hand, and several city guards brought over a heavy box.
With a “thud,” the box fell heavily onto the ground, and the lid was opened at the same time.
Hua Qingling originally wanted to refuse, but seeing the contents of the box, her scalp instantly tingled,
“Hiss…”
What were these…
“Two vacuum bombs, twenty-six pulse crystals, fifteen Philosopher’s Stones, and six thousand rounds of spiritual energy bullets.” Norian introduced them one by one. “The current Lannister has nothing left but these weapons.”
Almost all available resources were used to make city defense weapons, and what Norian took out was only a small part.
But for Hua Qingling, it was already shocking enough.
This equipment… was even more exaggerated than Yan City’s inventory, more than enough to equip ten elite squads.
Especially the vacuum bombs, practically the most powerful weapon below “Ice Coffin Weapons.” A slight carelessness, and even a “Peril” level being could perish under a vacuum bomb.
If they had a vacuum bomb during the Yan City war, Dawn wouldn’t have dared to advance so recklessly in the core area.
And the pulse crystals… although these crystals were mostly used for pulse spiritual energy cannons, they were high-density spiritual energy aggregates themselves.
The artillery regiment that fought fiercely in the Yan City war consumed less than ten pulse crystals in the end, but that already emptied Yan City’s inventory.
The value of Philosopher’s Stones and spiritual energy bullets also needn’t be elaborated. It turned out that Lannister wasn’t a declining upstart; this upstart had simply converted all its wealth into ferocious fangs.
“You really want us to walk to Noah…”
Hua Qingling said with a wry smile. The distance from Lannister to Noah wasn’t short. Back then, sending a delegation of fifty people to Noah in the most efficient way took several days.
And that was with teleportation arrays and Lifelines. Now that the teleportation arrays were destroyed and the Lifelines interrupted, relying on Hua Qingling’s “Wind Spirit Power” to reach Noah would take ages.
“Is there any other way?” Norian spread his hands. “I believe in your character, it’s unlikely you decided to go to Noah just to escape.
“If you have a mission in Noah that must be completed, under the current circumstances, you can only rely on yourselves to get there. Unfortunately, Lannister can barely protect itself and can’t provide you with more help.”
Hua Qingling sighed helplessly and rubbed her temples,
“Let me think about it…”
Qin Wen, on the other hand, was eager to try. She pulled Norian and asked excitedly if he had any extra meteorite iron.
Don’t forget, Qin Wen’s swordsmanship relied on consuming swords. Every time she used a Forbidden Technique, she would destroy a pile of swords.
Meteorite iron was the metal material most compatible with her “Seven Apertures Sword Heart,” in other words, its magnetic field was relatively stable and easy to control.
Norian readily agreed to Qin Wen’s request, promising to forge as many meteorite iron swords for her as possible.
Lannister’s smelting factories had been working day and night during this time, forging a few swords wasn’t a problem.
After chatting with Qin Wen for a while, Norian’s heavy mood finally eased a little, perhaps because it was rare to see energetic young people.
This disaster was gradually consuming Norian’s will, and even he had wavered a few times late at night.
Feeling a little better, seeing Hua Qingling still frowning over this matter, Norian said jokingly,
“Otherwise, you can also count on Miss Luo Yan. Her ‘Void Traversal’ can ignore distance and reach anywhere in the world.”
Unlike spatial teleportation, Void Traversal was a truly overpowered jump ability.
Spatial teleportation relied on the spatial rifts between the real world and the Void, having certain distance limitations. Even a “Destruction” level spatial ability user would find it difficult to travel directly from Lannister to Noah.
But Void Traversal was completely different. A spatial ability user with Void talent, as long as they were proficient, could achieve this even at “Calamity” level.
Luo Yan had directly jumped from Yan City to Noah when she was at “Calamity” level, although it was mostly because she got lost.
“I’m worried Miss Luo Yan will send me directly into the Endless Sea, and her ride… oh no, Void, is very nauseating…”
Hua Qingling immediately shivered. Miss Luo Yan’s lack of direction was obvious to all. Almost every teleportation went to the wrong place, and the few accurate ones were boasted about.
On the other hand, Void Traversal wasn’t something ordinary people could withstand…
After Miss Chris experienced it, she would get anxious whenever someone mentioned it. It was said that the flashback was on the same level as Miss Luo Yan’s cooking.
But speaking of which…
“Miss Luo Yan should still be on the peak of the Holy Mountain.” Hua Qingling smiled and shook her head, a hint of obscurity in her expression. “Even if I’m not afraid of flashbacks or being sent to the Endless Sea, I don’t have the chance.”
“It’s also possible that she has already returned,” Qin Wen suddenly interjected, “I have a premonition…”
“Your premonitions are never reliable. A few days ago, because of your premonition, we almost went the wrong way and nearly got caught in a Calamity Tide of at least ‘Destruction’ level.” Hua Qingling twitched the corner of her mouth.
It was better not to mention it, but now that it was brought up, she couldn’t help it.
“Perhaps because ‘Destruction’ level is beyond the range of my sixth sense.”
Qin Wen said, her expression extremely serious… and sincere.
Like hell!
Hua Qingling didn’t want to believe Qin Wen’s nonsense anymore, always feeling that nothing good would come of it.
“Once again, I apologize to you both. I still have many things to attend to,” Norian said at this time,
“If you two don’t mind, you can temporarily settle down in Lannister. Your strength is also quite important to the current Lannister.”
Neither Hua Qingling nor Qin Wen were ordinary “Peril” level ability users. Besides daily necessities, what Lannister lacked most now was high-level combat power.
No matter how many good weapons they had, they needed powerful users.
After Granny Zoya fell, Lannister’s situation became even more difficult.
Although the human united defense line treaty stipulated mutual assistance among major mega-cities, combat power at the “Destruction” level wasn’t included in the scope of mutual assistance.
Every “Destruction” level combatant was the foundation of their mega-city and wouldn’t be easily sent out to support other cities—even in the apocalypse, one had to prioritize their own situation.
Therefore, Norian also had the intention of keeping the two, which was why he took the time out of his busy schedule to receive them.
Of course, if Hua Qingling and Qin Wen insisted on leaving Lannister, Norian wouldn’t stop them; he wasn’t that narrow-minded.
These weapons, equivalent to several Yan City inventories, were truly given to them. The generous Lannister would never change, just the direction of its generosity was different.
“…Let’s rest first, shall we stay here for a while?”
Hua Qingling rubbed her temples. She was indeed a bit tired from the continuous travel.
Even if she really had to travel to Noah on her own later, she needed to rest well first…
Qin Wen didn’t feel tired. Young people having abundant energy was one thing, and on the other hand, while Hua Qingling was using “Wind Spirit Power” to travel, she was doing nothing…
There weren’t many crises along the way, and Qin Wen only acted a few times, not even enough for a warm-up.
As for the “Destruction” level Calamity they almost encountered… that wasn’t something to warm up with.
However, since Hua Qingling said to rest for a while, Qin Wen immediately pretended to be very tired and needed rest.
Hua Qingling: “…”
Why did this child feel so silly…
“We are very happy that you two have decided this way. Lannister isn’t lacking places to stay.” Norian twitched his mustache. “I’ll make the arrangements, please wait a moment.”
Norian saying he was busy wasn’t an excuse to run away; he was really busy. After giving instructions to his subordinate, he was helped away, limping.
Hua Qingling and Qin Wen looked at each other and exhaled heavily.
No matter what, this trip to Noah had to be temporarily abandoned.
……
Within the sealed Sanctuary, several “Destruction” level ability users gathered around, staring at a long stone block.
The small words carved on the stone block were uniquely ugly, but the words they formed made these human pillars fall silent.
They seemed to have touched upon something extraordinary…
“It seems the nine Saints probably knew something, which is why they so hastily asked us to retrieve this ‘Miss Luo Yan’.”
The old Sword Saint smiled wryly, “I didn’t expect the Saint to be the former Witch of Absolute Death…”
He inherited part of the knowledge possessed by Mister Five and knew very well about the Witch of Absolute Death’s betrayal of the Gods back then.
After some analysis, reaching this conclusion wasn’t surprising.
“And the name ‘Luo Yan’ on it definitely doesn’t refer to the Miss Luo Yan we know.”
Lin Qingfeng took a deep breath, his expression serious,
“The appearance of the Saint’s remains is identical to the ‘Holy Soul’ in the Dragon City Cenotaph. If there’s no mistake, the ‘Luo Yan’ here refers to the Holy Soul.”
“The same appearance as the past Witch of Absolute Death, the same name as the Holy Soul… what kind of existence is Miss Luo Yan exactly?”
Wu Jianming murmured softly. He hadn’t forgotten that during the Yan City war, this Miss Luo Yan could even control Mister One’s remains and had gained Mister Nine’s trust.
“We know… too little.”
Su Qinyin shook her head, looked up at the gradually calming contaminated Sanctuary, the battle between the two Witches seemed to have reached a temporary end.
“Now we no longer have the chance to return to the white temple, we can only choose to directly break through the Sanctuary’s seal.”
Lin Qingfeng put away the stone block. This was something he had risked his life to dig out, of course he couldn’t give it to others.
“We need some time to return to Noah and find the last Saint, ‘Shadow’… she should be able to answer all our questions.”
