The roar of helicopters echoed in my ears.
Zhang Shouquan sat on the helicopter and watched the scene passing quickly below without saying a word for a long time.
It can be clearly seen that batches of troops have quickly assembled and set up a series of defense lines along the way, ready to decide whether to carry out fire bombing or other tasks according to the instructions from their superiors.
On the same helicopter with him were ten professionals also wearing chemical protective suits. They also made up their minds to explore the unknown place.
This is necessary investigation.
No one knows what will happen.
But looking at the black cracks that are devouring it without stopping, you can understand that there are actually too many hidden dangers and unknowns in this matter.
Therefore, they all left their last words before leaving to avoid misfortunes such as sacrifice.
"The previous incident of axe-cutting the valley could be hidden from the outside world, but now the black cracks in Mount Tai may not be hidden at all."
Zhang Shouquan murmured in a low voice.
Even while riding in a helicopter on the way to the black rift, he couldn't help but think about the possible impacts of this incident from the perspective of the director of the Day Search Bureau and the National Security Bureau.
The first is the eye from heaven.
The noise of their use of the army is so loud that satellites from various countries that are paying attention to them should basically pay attention. By then, it will be impossible to hide the black crack in Mount Tai.
Secondly, the possible evacuation of the people needs to be considered. If the spread of the black crack cannot be stopped, then the next step will be the question of the survival of the surrounding cities and even the entire planet.
After pondering, the helicopter stopped in mid-air.
It is 1.8 kilometers away from the black crack, and it will take half an hour to spread at the speed of the black crack.
Zhang Shouquan stopped to think, and ordered some people to start rappelling in the name of the captain.
After some people landed with their equipment.
They began to control the equipment and conduct a series of data monitoring at this distance.
The helicopter took the remaining people and continued to move forward until it was level with the black crack.
Seeing it with your own eyes and arriving in person gives you a completely different feeling.
Zhang Shouquan stared at the black crack and could feel the endless malice approaching. This feeling was stronger than when he just looked at the photos before.
It seemed like there was a whole dark and evil world coveting on the other side of the black crack.
Nothing could be seen clearly in the black cracks, and those things that were swallowed up seemed to have entered another world.
The black crack has no suction, and anything that touches it will collapse and merge into the black crack.
Trees will turn into debris at the moment of contact, and earth and rocks will turn into dust at the moment of contact. Everything seemed to have gone through countless years at the moment it touched the black crack.
Fortunately, the pilot of this helicopter is relatively experienced, and the people in the team are all solid elites with tenacious will.
They were in a daze for a moment amid the endless malice, and then they all came back to their senses immediately.
After shaking for a moment, the helicopter returned to normal.
It took a plane of people across the dark cracks and headed towards the center of the spread, trying to find something.
Malice is shrouded here, and everyone will feel full of pressure every extra second they stay, but everyone is gritting their teeth and persevering.
Until you reach the center of the black crack.
There is definitely something different here.
It is surrounded by dark, bottomless cracks, but in the center is a piece of land that remains intact.
Trees cut in half vertically stand at the edge of this intact land, and a piece of fresh green grass and moist soil is located in it.
Although this intact place only has a space of about ten square meters, it is as dazzling as the only island in an endless ocean of darkness.
While full of life, it is incompatible with the endless darkness of the outside world.
"Report to the headquarters. There is a special place here that is not shown in the satellite monitoring. It is located in the center of the dark crack but has not been affected in any way."
"Requesting instructions."
Zhang Shouquan immediately reported.
However, there was only rustling in the communication channel, and they were disconnected from the command room.
Obviously not long ago, the communication channel they reported regularly every minute was normal, but now it suddenly has no effect.
After pondering, Zhang Shouquan started to prepare for the descent.
Everyone around was stunned when they saw this: "Captain, don't you have to wait for instructions from the command room?"
"Time waits for no one, I'll go down and take a look first."
After Zhang Shouquan finished speaking, he decisively jumped down the rope.
It can be seen from his skillful movements that he has obviously not been idle in these years, and he will practice his body and basic skills from time to time.
The random vice-captain said nothing when he saw this, but silently stopped other members who wanted to follow.
Although the area below seems to be easier to access than the area where the black cracks spread, it is not certain whether it is safe.
Moreover, half of the area of less than ten square meters is occupied by trees. For the time being, only one person is required to rappel down.
If captain Zhang Shouquan takes the lead in everything, then he, the deputy captain, must make calm decisions.
They stayed above, took out their instruments for detection, and were ready to support Zhang Shouquan at any time. This was the best decision.
…
After coming down, Zhang Shouquan skillfully took out his pistol and inspected the area of less than ten square meters repeatedly.
A piece of moist soil and fresh grass, half a tree stuck on the edge of this intact land.
Everything here is unobstructed.
Zhang Shouquan did not relax his vigilance, but looked around from time to time, squatted down and put on gloves, then collected some soil and grass and put them into a bag.
Then, he put away the bag and came to the half tree.
If there is something special and eye-catching in this place, it must be the tree cut in half vertically in front of us.
After holding the pistol and looking at it for a while, Zhang Shouquan took out a new bag and prepared to continue collecting some of the material from the tree.
But the sudden sound behind him caused his movements to pause.
"You and I are completely different, but in a way we are the same."
A gentle male voice echoed in my ears.
Zhang Shouquan's eyes suddenly widened.
He slowly turned around and pointed his gun at the man who made the sound, his face very serious.
The man in front of him had silver hair and his clothes were not gorgeous, but they gave him an unexpected sense of nobility.
On the man's chest, there was a mark that impressed Zhang Shouquan deeply.
That familiar sun pattern!
It’s Yongzhi!
Zhang Shouquan quickly raised his head, only to see that the helicopter in the sky had stopped at some point, and the rotating propeller was motionless.
The expressions on everyone's faces were frozen. He didn't know if his time had accelerated or if everyone else's time had been suspended.
But in short, the support he expected would not come.
After almost being frightened for a moment, Zhang Shouquan slowly withdrew his gaze.
Looking at the man with the eternal sun pattern in front of him, there was no surprise on his face, only endless warmth and tenderness.
He understood that the world around him seemed to be at a standstill because of this man.
Therefore, he decisively put down the meaningless muzzle and followed the man's previous words: "Are I completely different from you?"
Seeing Zhang Shouquan's reply, the man slowly began to respond.
"I'm a realist and a pessimist."
“Once you’re in a difficult situation, you have the bad habit of retreating.”
"Preserve your strength and retreat again and again. The organization's strength is preserved because of me, but human beings have suffered pain and suffering because of me."
The man said and shook his head.
His face was full of emotion and sadness.
"But you are different."
Then, the man looked at Zhang Shouquan with relief, his eyes full of appreciation.
Hearing this, Zhang Shouquan was silent for a long time.
He probably understood what the man meant by being different.
If it were him, although he would assess the situation, he would not retreat again and again.
He can't think completely rationally about whether the survival of mankind is more important than anything else. He will only do what he thinks he should do.
Seeing Zhang Shouquan's silence, the man slowly approached.
While Zhang Shouquan's muscles tensed up on guard, the man slowly passed by him.
The man looked up at the half tree.
"But fortunately, I still remember why I joined the organization in the first place."
"I asked why the organization never fired or punished me for always retreating again and again."
“It turns out the organization knows me better than I do.”
The man's words were unclear, and Zhang Shouquan frowned, obviously not understanding: "What do you mean?"
The man heard this and said without looking back: "That day, an abyss crack reached its limit, forming an ever-expanding entrance to the abyss."
"I thought I would still quit."
"But this time, I didn't choose to quit."
"After all, if we retreat this time, we really have no choice but to retreat."
"I used the power of nothingness that I just realized to turn the fact that the entrance to the abyss appeared into nothingness."
"The price is that I myself also fall into nothingness."
The man's tone was understatement.
But Zhang Shouquan's pupils widened, shocked by the large amount of information he suddenly learned.
Abyssal rift? The entrance to the abyss?
Are the monsters Yong Zhou has been fighting coming from the so-called abyss?
Will the entrance to the abyss continue to expand? Isn't that the black crack that appears now?
What is the power of nothing? Is it a proxy for some kind of extraordinary power?
Too many doubts flashed through his mind. Zhang Shouquan had too many things to ask at this moment, but he didn't know how to talk to this man.
There really is a mysterious, ancient, extraordinary salvation organization that has been hiding in obscurity and dedicating itself behind the history of mankind!
a long time.
Zhang Shouquan said in silence: "Excuse me, will Yongzhou end..."
"Tell me, what is the meaning of life?"
The man changed from standing facing half a tree to looking back at Zhang Shouquan, interrupting what Zhang Shouquan was about to ask.
Zhang Shouquan was stunned, not knowing what to say.
This question has been discussed by too many people throughout the ages, and there are too many answers.
So he didn't know what to say at this moment.
He wanted to ask more about Yong Zhou.
"I think the meaning of life is existence."
"As long as it still exists, it must have a meaning for its existence."
"So, I don't want this world that has been guarded by Yongzhi for thousands of years to disappear."
The man said, looking away, raising a hand and pressing it on half of the tree in front of him.
In a daze, Zhang Shouquan noticed that the man's figure seemed to have become transparent at some point.
This kind of transparency has been like this since it appeared, but because of some mysterious influence, he never noticed it.
"Although I don't know why my dead soul, who has been in nothingness for thousands of years, has returned, but..."
"I didn't hesitate last time and I won't do it this time. This is a choice I have no regrets about."
"The time has come to say goodbye!"
The man's firm words fell slowly.
The next moment, even though Zhang Shouquan had no spiritual perception, he could still detect a gentle and silent force that moisturized things slowly radiating out.
This is the power of nothing.
You can deny facts you don't want to admit.
In order to erase the entrance to the abyss that was taking shape for some reason, he abandoned all his existence just like he did thousands of years ago.
He once abandoned his body, life, creations, achievements, great deeds, and even the traces and memories he left in history, and reached the "nothing" that humans have never reached.
Now, he abandons the broken body that somehow returned from the void, and throws himself into the void with the entrance to the abyss that also returned with it for some unknown reason.
The scene in front of him suddenly changed.
The half of the tree grew out of the other half almost instantly, and the vitality spread out from this intact land.
The surrounding cracks were so dark that they couldn't be seen clearly, and they were covered by the spread of tender grass and soil, as if they were there originally.
The blackened land began to regain its vitality in large areas.
The island-like existence in the dark cracks is spreading out at this moment.
Swallowing the spreading waves of darkness, this vibrant color quickly caught up.
Everything is restored to its original state at this moment, just like it was thousands of years ago.
Everything seems to be just a dream.
This great dream of the entrance to the abyss taking shape was denied by the man.
Birds are singing, flowers are fragrant, and the wind is calm.
Everyone who had resumed operations in the outside world stared blankly at the large dark crack that disappeared instantly and fell into deep thought, not knowing what happened.
Zhang Shouquan stood in front of the complete tree, stroking its rough and dry skin, feeling sadness well up in his heart again.
This sadness surged into the hearts of everyone around him as always.
Others don't know what's going on.
But Zhang Shouquan, who vaguely understood what Wu Zhili meant, knew it.
This is the last thing left by that man in this world.
Human sadness is seeing someone off.
Everything else is constantly passing and disappearing.
As the only witness, Zhang Shouquan was eager to leave some traces.
But the information input into the device was like the memory in his mind, constantly blurring with the passage of time.
Zhang Shouquan pressed his fingers on the keyboard, and the input speed gradually slowed down until it stopped.
He forgot what he was doing.
Looking at the blank screen, he was a little confused.
Everything about that man who was like a passer-by.
It is gradually falling into nothingness, a "nothing" zone that humans have never reached.
Not long after, Zhang Shouquan raised his head and stared blankly at the helicopter that was slowly landing to pick him up.
Touching the tears at the corners of his eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
Why……
Did he cry?
(End of chapter)
