September 9th, 2025, 11:00 PM sharp.
One hour until the crossing.
Blue Star, this azure planet supporting tens of billions of humans, travels quietly along its orbit around the sun at the center of the star system, as it has for the past four billion years.
But...
In the silent expanse of space, a strip-shaped cosmic body roughly forty kiloters long is roaring closer.
It drags a long tail of light behind it, resembling a cot, yet it’s not a cot.
In the naming of Blue Star humans, it’s called "Oumuamua".
Outer space above Blue Star.
Inside the International Space Station.
Several astronauts stared through the porthole in bewildernt at this visitor from beyond.
Zi——
Zizizi——!
Inside the space station, bursts of piercing electrical noise started to sound.
"Warning!"
"Warning!!"
Various monitoring instrunts began to give frequent error reports.
"Ah——!"
The stunned expressions on the faces of the international astronauts remained frozen, but pain-stricken screams uncontrollably erupted from their throats.
Wisps of black mist leaked out from their eyes, noses, mouths, and ears.
It took only a few seconds.
Their eyes lost all shine, skin turned pitch black.
"Ugh ugh..."
Grotesque, unpleasant sobs rose from their throats.
At the sa ti.
The electrical noise everywhere in the station grew sharper and more chaotic.
Then.
Boom——
Rumble——!
The massive space station, under so influence of Oumuamua, suddenly broke away from low-Earth orbit and plumted toward Blue Star’s atmosphere.
Falling alongside it.
Were the countless man-made satellites circling outer space above Blue Star.
...
...
"Mom!"
"It’s a shooting star!"
Daxia.
A naive child pointed excitedly at the radiant teor in the night sky, shouting.
The child’s mother, wiping tears and crouching down, forced a gentle smile.
"Sweetheart..."
"If one day you suddenly can’t see mommy anymore, don’t be afraid, don’t cry."
"Okay?"
Just monts ago.
All communications in Daxia failed.
TVs that had been broadcasting "Wasteland World Survival Guide" all switched to snowy static screens.
Countless people, panicked, rushed to balconies or outdoors just like this mother and child.
And then...
They witnessed a "teor shower" that would haunt them for life.
The children cried out in delight.
But the adults knew—
Those weren’t teors, but satellites.
Countless people had barely co to terms with the possibility of being selected for the crossing, only to realize that what’s approaching is not just the crossing, but an unprecedented apocalypse.
Yes.
The adults weren’t stupid.
Even though Yin Shanhai had never ntioned "Oumuamua", all signs suggested that this so-called "crossing" wasn’t as calm and simple as imagined.
"Mom!"
"Why isn’t the moon bright anymore?"
The chubby little girl’s finger pointed up at the sky.
The young mother looked up...
In her eyes, fear and bewildernt deepened.
Today, according to the lunar calendar, it should be mid-July—the night when the moon is fullest and brightest.
But instead...
She watched in disbelief as the moon seed to be "devoured", slowly turning from brightness to pitch black.
Darker than the night itself.
Just in a short while.
The bright moon vanished, and the black moon hung overhead.
anwhile.
Swoosh——
In an instant.
The city, once ablaze with lights, plunged into darkness.
People pulled out their phones and turned on flashlights, acting as their illumination.
After the communication collapse, energy followed suit, totally paralyzed.
Only...
A handful of facilities that had preemptively switched to backup power barely remained operational.
But...
Backup energy didn’t last long either.
At eleven thirty, half an hour before the crossing.
Backup systems also fell to Oumuamua, forced into paralysis.
Countless people holding up their phones for light watched as one by one, their screens went dark.
Not because their batteries died, but...
Under countless dumbfounded gazes, the phones "wilted and decayed" like plants, transforming into useless bricks in a matter of seconds.
Daxia and Blue Star were shrouded in darkness.
Unending panic swept across all billions of people.
...
...
Daxia, Yanjing.
Yin Yao in the courtyard looked up, her beautiful eyes full of confusion.
"How could it be like this..."
In her past life.
She crossed over completely unknowingly, asleep.
She had no idea what happened on Blue Star at that very mont.
But now?
Everything in front of her seed to warn her that what’s happening at midnight is far more than a re crossing...
"Yaoyao."
"This is the choice made by your parents and grandfather."
"Go to the wasteland bravely and try your best to survive!"
"Don’t worry about us..."
The noblewoman walked to Yin Yao’s side and gently hugged her daughter.
The possible disaster Oumuamua could bring to Blue Star had always been kept from Yin Yao by her family.
Because...
They knew all too well that with Yin Yao’s personality, she’d insist on them wearing helts, ensuring a one-hundred-percent chance of crossing.
"In the position, fulfill the duty."
"Sacrifice is inevitable..."
The square-faced man stepped forward and patted Yin Yao’s shoulder.
"But—"
Yin Yao started to speak, but seeing her parents’ determined eyes, she didn’t say anything further.
...
...
Daxia, Northwest Base.
Dou Qingfeng, along with experts and staff, walked out of the base.
They stood atop the desolate Gobi, staring blankly at the sky.
teor showers, black moon...
And even the now visible long tail of "Oumuamua".
It’s ironic.
On the pitch-black Gobi Desert, so dark you can’t see your own hand, the only source of light was the cot-bright tail of Oumuamua itself.
"The end is coming."
Dou Qingfeng sighed, his tone calm but filled with despair.
A mont ago.
When communication just failed, but energy hadn’t collapsed, he worried for Yu Jin underground, thinking about hauling him up with the shaft platform.
But...
Looking at it now.
Whether he cos up or not makes little difference.
"Seeing it this way..."
"Crossing into the wasteland is the only hope left."
Dou Qingfeng muttered, bitterness on his face.
On the other side.
Beneath everyone’s feet.
A thousand ters underground.
"Crack——!"
Yu Jin was still munching on crystals.
"Almost there, almost there..."
"I’m very close to Tier Nine!"
Yu Jin was frantic.
His purification of the nuclear waste sped up, devouring crystals faster.
At the sa ti...
Each successive wave of intense dizziness pushed him to punch himself harder and harder.
"Ah——!"
Another scream.
Yu Jin’s forehead was speckled with cold sweat.
This pain...
Even as a Tier Eight, he couldn’t withstand it.
"Faster, faster, must be faster!"
Yu Jin was racing against ti.
Even buried a thousand ters down, he could sense Oumuamua looming closer in space above.
Because...
With Oumuamua nearing, the suppressed feeling Yu Jin had felt since awakening began gradually dissolving.
11:55 PM.
Five minutes left until the crossing.
Yu Jin devoured the final piece of Tier Eight Crystal.
[Your tier has risen!]
[You have beco a Tier Nine Evolver!]
...
This ti.
Yu Jin didn’t punch again.
Whoosh——!
He stood up.
Boom——!
Rumble——!
A fierce thunderous light burst from Yu Jin’s body unlike anything before.
He must...
In these last monts before the crossing, purify Oumuamua!
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