Chapter 1012 – Earth’s Reinforcements

After the Earth before her was pulled back from the brink, Mo Lan immediately locked onto another dim blue-green thread within the beacon.

As she saved more and more Earths, she grew increasingly proficient.

Even so, her speed still wasn’t enough.

Some Earths that had been in relatively stable condition deteriorated into destruction while she was busy saving others across different timelines.

Just moments ago, she had watched helplessly as a blue-green thread of light flickered violently, then like a candle flame snuffed out by the wind, went dark with a soft puff—extinguished completely.

This meant yet another Earth on yet another timeline had its boundary membrane completely shattered. Under the onslaught of cosmic energy, its fragile humanity was utterly annihilated, and that Earth’s world consciousness had dissipated.

“The twenty-first one…”

Mo Lan murmured the number.

This was the twenty-first Earth she had personally witnessed being destroyed since she began her rescue mission.

Each time she sensed a thread of light go out, her heart clenched as if squeezed by an invisible hand.

“I can’t stop. If I stop, there will be more.”

Mo Lan didn’t even have time to grieve.

The Starsea Skiff tore through spacetime once again, plunging into the streaming light of a wormhole.

The one hundred and eighth timeline’s Earth.

By the time Mo Lan arrived, the war initiated by the Technology Ghosts had already caused global population to plummet by forty percent.

Waves of Civilization Rot swept across the planet, and the world fell suddenly silent.

Mo Lan took a deep breath and with a wave of her hand, hundreds of millions of Card System Contract Cards rained down upon the planet’s surface like a shower of light.

She no longer had time to personally introduce the system to each world. She could only enhance the Card System Contract Cards with more comprehensive introductory functions, improving the survivors’ trust in the card system.

After confirming that the first batch of contractors had begun using the cards and the trend of boundary membrane collapse had been barely contained, she immediately turned the Starsea Skiff around and looked to the beacon.

Three more blue-green threads of light were simultaneously growing dim.

Which one should she choose? Which one could she save?

Even as a Tenth Rank Sorceress, even with the Book of Cards and massive reserves of disposable Mana, when faced with hundreds upon thousands of Earths simultaneously hurtling toward destruction, she still felt powerless.

“…Child.”

A weak but warm voice suddenly echoed in the depths of her consciousness—it was the world consciousness of the Earth from this very timeline.

It was so feeble that even its attempts at conscious communication came through fragmented and broken.

“You… have already… done… more than enough…”

Mo Lan shook her head. “It’s not enough! There are still so many Earths waiting!”

“It’s alright… we’ve found you some help…”

“Help?” Mo Lan froze.

The next moment, within the beacon in her mental sea, of the three blue-green threads that had dimmed to the point of requiring immediate rescue, two had stopped growing darker. One was even showing signs of gradually brightening.

“What is…”

“Ever since all of us across every timeline went down the path of pure technological development, we have been consciously strengthening the soul intensity of our children. And as destruction approached, we sent away those children whose souls were strong enough.”

“We sent out a call for help. Now, five children have already returned.”

“Child, we are now adding cross-spacetime communication to your beacons. As long as you are within an Earth’s boundary membrane, you will all be able to hear each other’s voices through the beacon. We hope this helps!”

The moment the world consciousness finished speaking, familiar Earth languages came through the beacon.

“I’m Chen Mu, from the now-destroyed Earth timeline β-742. I currently serve as Chief Mana-Tech Engineer in the Star Ring world. I’ve already assigned codenames to the endangered timeline Earths and am modifying the beacon’s light annotations!”

“I’m Lin Yuwei. I’ve been cultivating in the Psychic Star for over a thousand years and just broke through to Realm Lord rank. I’ve already arrived at an Earth on the verge of destruction—according to Chen Mu’s coordinates, it’s Earth γ-891. I’ve just blown up the near-orbit satellite AI that the Technology Ghosts were using as their host, and I’ve temporarily stabilized the boundary membrane.”

“My name’s Wang Tiezhu—ahem, it’s ‘Venerable Iron Star’ now. I’ve done pretty well for myself in the Mystic Heaven world. My specialty is crafting puppets. Whatever needs doing that requires extra hands, I’m your man!”

“I’m Sophia. The seven-dimensional world I come from has a divine artifact that can freeze time. I’ve already frozen δ-332’s time. Please, everyone, act quickly!”

“I’m Zhao Mingxuan, core designer of the super-intelligence ‘Morning Star.’ I’ve written a targeted elimination program specifically for Technology Ghosts. I just eradicated the Technology Ghosts on ε-015!”

Mo Lan stood frozen in the command center.

These five people came from a mana-tech world, a psychic world, a cultivation world, a magic world, and a pure technology world respectively—but just like her, each of them was a “strong-souled individual” who had been sent away by their world consciousness’s final desperate effort on the eve of their respective Earth’s destruction.

They had scattered across the universe, growing and becoming powerful in different worlds and civilizations, each building their own forces and strength.

And now, at the collective summons of the Earth consciousnesses, they had come home.

“Hello, everyone! I’m Moira, a Tenth Rank Sorceress from the Valen world. My Card Magic can—”

“Moira, this is Chen Mu. It’s thanks to you returning to Earth and giving the world consciousnesses hope for survival that they reached out to us!” A gentle male voice resonated through the beacon.

“You’ve worked so hard, Moira.” Another clear female voice followed—it was Lin Yuwei. “You held on alone for so long!”

“From here on out, leave it to us!” Venerable Iron Star’s voice boomed like rolling thunder, carrying the straightforward energy of a rough-and-ready man. “We’ve all made names for ourselves in our respective worlds. Saving the homeland—how could we let a young lady like you bear the brunt of it alone!”

The loneliness and weight that had been building inside Mo Lan for so long—so long that even she herself hadn’t noticed—suddenly found an outlet in this moment.

She wasn’t alone.

She never had been.

“Thank you…” she said softly, her voice slightly choked, but she quickly took a deep breath and her voice became clear and strong once more. “Chen Mu, could you add more detailed danger-level information to the timeline coordinates so everyone can make better judgments? Lin Yuwei, have the Technology Ghosts on your end been completely eliminated? Do you need backup? Venerable Iron Star, how many puppets can you control simultaneously at most? Sophia, how long can your time freeze last? Zhao Mingxuan, can you share your elimination program?”

“Great idea!” Chen Mu sprang into action immediately. Before long, clear danger ratings appeared beside the blue-green threads of the three currently endangered timelines—γ-891, δ-332, and ε-015.

Lin Yuwei spoke: “The near-orbit satellite AI on γ-891 has been physically destroyed by me, but the Technology Ghost’s consciousness has already scattered and infiltrated the global military network. It doesn’t dare launch another war for now, but I need backup to help hunt down the hidden Technology Ghosts!”

Sophia replied: “I can freeze δ-332 for one year! Once frozen, I don’t need to stay nearby to maintain it.”

Zhao Mingxuan answered: “I can share it, but it takes time to produce. I only have one copy of the Technology Ghost elimination program on hand right now.”