Apocalypse Forecast Chapter 84: Yesterday Delivery

"Damn it, this is bad luck."
The subway hall, left unfinished, was littered with corpses.
The ritual of fanaticism of the |People of Returning Purity| had taken place here, and after many humans and frontier species had been slaughtered.
During the large-scale sacrificial ritual, the man in the suit, wearing a pony Polly mask, sighed.
|Liu Dongli| checked the types of offerings and the marks on the altar repeatedly, arriving at an unpleasant conclusion.
"If I'm not mistaken, is this |Nine Phoenix|?"
Nine Phoenix is a |Stigmata| of the fourth stage of the |Dongxia| lineage, according to the records of the Astronomical Society. It cannot be called high-class compared to the third-stage Stigmata like |Nue| or |Ailai|.
However, the difference between the fourth and third stages was as vast as heaven and earth.
Once the third stage, Aether level, is reached, the fragile internal organs of the |Sublimator| transform into the legendary creatures represented by the Stigmata.
But the fourth stage, Antimony, is a complete, finished form.
It completely transcends the fragile human body and becomes the incarnation of the sacred thing that the Stigmata represents. Those who are particularly excellent can already be considered demigods who possess divinity and have the blood of gods flowing through them.
The appearance of the Nine Phoenix mark at the ritual of the People of Returning Purity indicates that there is a fourth-stage Sublimator behind the turmoil in Xinhai.
A real monster.
There is no branch related to Nine Phoenix in the path of sublimation currently mastered by the Social Security Bureau. This advancement route is incomplete, only going up to the third-stage Guhuoniao.
However, there is a legend that Nine Phoenix has eaten human souls since ancient times, so it was not surprising that it was favored by the Rancher.
So, what does Nine Phoenix intend to do here now?
Or rather, what can it do?
Sabotage? It is easy for a fourth-stage Sublimator to cause a commotion in the present realm.
But what is the point?
If it intends to attract the attention of the Social Security Bureau, a fourth-stage Nine Phoenix is not enough. Fighting alone is completely meaningless and not cost-effective. Though, gathering power would make the news.
Why have the People of Returning Purity been lurking in Xinhai for many years using a different account called the |Savior Society|?
If they just wanted to hunt for sacrificial victims, it would be easy to do so in a small country in the midst of a civil war, so why in Dongxia?
The purpose was clear.
——The Demon Capital.
After the last catastrophe in the frontier, the obsession of the People of Returning Purity with the Demon Capital grew day by day, and anything in the Demon Capital was important to them.
Therefore, they must open its entrance.
But how?
To cause such a major incident, at least a protagonist of the fifth stage or higher would be needed. If things go wrong, natural enemies will intervene, and various destructive elements will appear one after another.
No matter how strong a fourth-stage Sublimator is, they can only be a mob among the rest.
What qualifications does Nine Phoenix have?
Could it be...
"Advancement?"
Liu Dongli was startled, looked at the strange sacrificial site in front of him, and thought about the huge secret ritual covering Xinhai at this time. Once he grasped the core, the complex fog cleared in an instant, and an orderly path became visible.
Liu Dongli went to the workshop set up on the side of the subway tunnel and flipped through the construction plan. Then, he stared intently at the beautiful circle of the originally planned subway route map.
And he dipped his fingers in blood and began to mark it.
On the perfect circle, the color of blood intersected vertically and horizontally, creating two overlapping marks.
One was the mark of Nine Phoenix.
The other was the mark of gestation and transformation.
As expected, advancement!
The purpose of this ritual was clear.
By proliferating the mirror realm to cover the entire Xinhai subway, using the correspondence between the mirror image and the real thing, it cleverly avoided the suppression of the great secret ritual of Zarathustra.
Moreover, interference with the mirror image requires less source material than interference with the real thing, and by this method, they deepened the depth of the mirror image, created a hellish zone, and covered up their true identity.
The present realm remains the present realm, and it is possible to perform the advancement ritual within the deep hell.
What a brilliant plan!
Through the advancement of the same source, the moment the advancement is completed, it can respond to the root, create a path directly to the Rancher, and open the passage to the Demon Capital.
It is truly killing two birds with one stone.
To become a legendary incarnation, one must first create a legend. Just as to become a god, one must create a divine miracle.
With one action, accomplish two profound achievements. One is about advancement. The other is about a legendary feat. Isn't the result immeasurable?
When he realized this, Liu Dongli suddenly heard the sound of glass breaking.
Startled, he looked up and saw the broken glass. The name of the platform began to distort and became the name of a subway station he didn't know at all.
——|Pudong Avenue|?
Liu Dongli guessed. Is this a place name somewhere in the Demon Capital?
Liu Dongli scratched his wig as if he had a headache and looked at his wristwatch-type device. There was no change—the antenna on the screen was still at full strength. In other words, everything was under the surveillance of the Astronomical Society.
Several possibilities came to mind.
One is that the upper management knows everything but cannot provide any help. I have been abandoned and can only wait for death.
The other is, very wishfully—the upper management does not consider the incident important, and it can be solved with the current power of Xinhai.
So, do it boldly with peace of mind.
Either way, no support can be obtained from the upper management.
"Those idiots, they are never any help when it counts!"
Liu Dongli cursed, pacing around the subway station littered with corpses in frustration, but then he stopped, took his smartphone out of his pocket, and dialed the detective's number.
"Who is it?"
The detective on the other end of the phone sounded listless.
"The Astronomical Society? Are you going to withdraw? Where is my ride?"
"Don't be stupid. I'm not running away. Are you planning to run away alone?!"
Liu Dongli was angry.
"Liu Dongli, are you still alive?"
The detective was surprised.
"I thought you had met a heroic end..."
"Shut your crow's beak!"
Liu Dongli was even angrier.
"Anyway, stop talking nonsense. You're the person in charge of Xinhai for Yesterday Delivery, right?"
The detective said nothing, seemingly thinking about how to shift the responsibility. Liu Dongli snorted and asked with a glimmer of hope.
"Is it true that the best service of Yesterday Delivery is to deliver the goods before you buy them?"
"..."
The detective on the other end of the phone remained silent, but then spoke in a raspy voice.
"Five minutes ago, I received a call from the general manager of the Yesterday Delivery |Jinling| headquarters... saying that an item purchased by a customer had already been delivered near the destination in Xinhai, so please tell the recipient. The service fee this time is calculated at twice the maximum amount. The Jinling Social Security Bureau has already paid the full amount..."
Liu Dongli was stunned.
"What did you say?"
Before he could finish his sentence, his smartphone rang! A text message had arrived.
"Your package has been delivered. To improve our service, please help us evaluate our service. The method is..."
There was no need to continue the call.
Liu Dongli hung up the phone in a daze and looked around to see if there was any place to put the luggage.
After a while, Liu Dongli picked up a piece of rebar from the ground. There were no gaps to be found on the altar, which was covered in ornate carvings. Liu Dongli used his strength to pierce the outer wooden board and pried open the altar. Then he found a large, dusty iron box inside.
Since when?
He didn't know how long this altar had been here, but did the delivery person open the altar, put the luggage in, and then put it back as it was?
Or, from the beginning, when the altar was installed, did Yesterday Express put this inside?
He had no idea.
But the Yesterday Delivery mark on the luggage undoubtedly indicated the source of this package.
I take back what I said, the idiots in the upper management are useful sometimes. At least when it comes to payment.
Liu Dongli smashed the outer lock and opened the heavy, huge iron box.
And seeing the alchemy explosives packed inside, he wore a happy smile.
This mission might just work out.
※
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"Help!"
Amidst the constant gunfire, |Shen Yue| curled up in a corner and screamed, closing her eyes and pulling the trigger, but she didn't hit anything at all.
"You useless thing! Shut up!"
|Ai Qing| was angry, changed the magazine of her machine gun with practiced hands, and pulled the trigger at the encroaching things that were attacking.
"You're a third-stage Sublimator, aren't you? Why are you making me, a person with bad legs, fight alone? You fight too!"
"I'm terrible at fighting!"
Shen Yue shrank her neck and answered timidly.
"I just... |Jin Mu| did the fighting, and I only provided support..."
"Useless!"
Ai Qing stopped expecting anything from this coward.
Shen Yue took the last grenade off her jacket and threw it into the swarm of encroaching bodies. A roar echoed, sticky black liquid splattered, and a foul odor hit her nose.
The dozen or so frontier species that looked like wild dogs, ferocious and excited, calmed down with this blow. They kept their distance, walked around cautiously, and waited for an opportunity.
Like hunting dogs during a hunt, they were cunning.
The light of the flashlight Shen Yue was holding flickered.
In the "Abyssal Stagnation" where the concentration was gradually increasing, it was not just the flashlight that was eroded.
Ai Qing's face was pale and she was out of breath, but her expression remained calm, and she tapped the gun barrel with her fingertips while looking at the hungry monsters with cold eyes.
In an instant, the light went out.
In the darkness, a dozen pairs of red eyes emitted an excited light, and they attacked all at once with a howl!
Ai Qing pulled the trigger.
Amidst the intense gunfire, a shout suddenly rang out.
"Ai Qing, it's okay, I've come to save you!!!!!!"
The next moment, in the light of the flashlight that turned on again, a burning |Huaishi| appeared, breaking through the wall.
And stood there in a daze.
What happened?!

Translator's comment:
"Yesterday Delivery" is a company that has appeared here and there for a while, but I never expected them to have a service that "delivers packages to the past"... It wasn't just a pun after all!