Chapter 00061: Global Crisis
# Global Crisis
Chapter 61
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 61: Global Crisis
During the assessment period of the Ten Great Academies of Blue Star, too many events had occurred.
The sudden malfunction of the Seru Gene Potion, the complete massacre of the Gene Alliance's headquarters, and the discovery of a Daoist cultivation site in the Kunlun Mountains...
Before these events could even be fully resolved, another terrifying piece of news emerged.
A high-speed train traveling from Luo River to Puhai had been swallowed by a beast tide.
This wasn't the first time.
Two months before the Ten Great Academies' assessment, the same train route had been intercepted by a beast tide.
Back then, the gene beast tide had been repelled by the military.
But now, just a few months later, the beast tide had struck again.
This time, however, the beast tide was far more terrifying.
Rumors spread that no one on that train had survived, and the military sent to intercept the beasts had also vanished without a trace.
This incident not only shocked China but the entire world.
As if by some prearranged agreement, before anyone could fully address this crisis, gene beasts erupted across the globe.
One city after another was annihilated under the onslaught of the beast tides.
Even entire nations were swallowed by the waves of beasts.
This horrifying trend left everyone in a state of panic.
...
In the main conference hall of the Puhai Security Bureau, Director Zong Han spoke slowly, "The high-speed train from Luo River to Puhai was intercepted by a gene beast tide, and no one survived. Before this incident, do you all remember the events in Lujiang City? This means that gene beasts are no longer targeting just rural towns and small cities in the suburbs. They’ve shifted their focus to densely populated cities and major transportation routes..."
The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy.
The gene beasts were growing more ferocious with each passing year, and the pressure on the Security Bureau was increasing daily.
Now, even the high-speed trains near Puhai were under attack.
It was only a matter of time before a major city like Puhai faced the threat of these beasts.
"Relying solely on the Security Bureau, or even the military, won’t be enough to curb this global environmental catastrophe..."
Zong Han's tone grew increasingly grave.
This wasn’t like a world war, where conflicts of interest could be resolved through negotiation.
The rampage of gene beasts seemed endless, with no clear resolution in sight—unless humanity itself were to be wiped out.
"If it weren’t for the selfish actions of the Gene Alliance, we could at least unite..." a dissatisfied voice echoed in the hall.
Zong Han's gaze fell on the speaker, his tone slightly stern, "He Hu, you’re the head of our Security Bureau’s criminal division. You shouldn’t be making statements that undermine unity."
After reprimanding He Hu, Zong Han addressed the room, "From now on, no one should make such remarks. Whether it’s the Gene Alliance or the Martial Arts Alliance, we’re all on the same side now. We all represent humanity’s strength. Only by uniting can we..."
At that moment, the phone in the conference room rang.
Wang Qiusheng, the head of the operations team sitting next to Zong Han, quickly answered it.
A commanding voice came through, "Is Zong Han in a meeting?"
"Yes, Director Dou," Wang Qiusheng replied, his tone instantly serious.
Hearing Wang Qiusheng address the caller as "Director Dou," the entire room fell silent.
This was undoubtedly Dou Qingzhi, the Director-General of the National Security Bureau.
For him to personally call the conference room meant this was no small matter.
"Put the call on speaker," Dou Qingzhi's voice came through again.
"Yes," Wang Qiusheng complied, switching the call to speaker mode before returning to his seat.
In an era where gene beasts roamed freely, video calls often suffered from network disruptions.
Sometimes, the most primitive form of communication—voice calls—was the most reliable.
Dou Qingzhi's heavy voice came through the speaker, "Everyone, not only has China’s transportation and some cities been impacted by gene beasts, but other countries have suffered even more. Based on reliable intelligence, it seems a top-tier gene beast has emerged on Earth—one that surpasses even the Martial Arts Innate level..."
Hearing that a gene beast stronger than the Martial Arts Innate level had appeared, everyone in the room was shocked.
On Earth, the Martial Arts Innate level was considered the pinnacle of strength.
While some had chosen to pursue gene cultivation, it had only been around for a little over twenty years, far behind the centuries-old traditions of martial arts.
"If it were just one gene beast surpassing the Innate level, it wouldn’t be too terrifying. What’s truly frightening is that this gene beast possesses extremely high intelligence. It seems to be coordinating with gene beasts across the entire planet..."
Even He Hu, who was known for his fearlessness, couldn’t help but gasp at this news.
Dou Qingzhi's tone grew even more grave, "The recent gene beast uprisings in China, the beast tide that swallowed the Puhai train, and the fall of Lujiang—all of these are likely connected to this gene beast. Based on the recent movements of these beasts and our analysis, these incidents are merely probes. In the future, gene beasts across the globe may unite under this powerful gene beast to form a terrifying collective. If that happens, they’ll sweep through cities, nations, and eventually the entire Earth..."
He didn’t need to finish his sentence.
Everyone understood the implications.
This was about uniting gene beasts worldwide to flatten human nations and turn Earth into a haven for gene beasts.
This wasn’t a distant possibility—it was already happening in South America and Africa.
"This powerful gene beast originated in the Andes Mountains and has now taken over all of South America. All nations across the globe, along with the Ten Great Academies of Blue Star, the Gene Alliance, and the Martial Arts Alliance, have decided to establish a defensive line to prevent the gene beasts from spreading beyond South America. This line will be built in Dakar and will be known as the Human Corridor Defense Line. We will also deploy troops and experts to assist in its defense. The Security Bureau will naturally take the lead. Zong Han, compile a list of volunteers willing to go."
"Yes," Zong Han stood up and acknowledged the order.
The call ended, and the room fell into silence.
If this had happened decades ago, they wouldn’t have been as concerned, as North America would have been the first to suffer.
But over twenty years ago, a catastrophic tectonic shift had caused the deaths of tens of millions and created a narrow land bridge in the middle of the Atlantic—the famous Seabed Highway.
This highway connected South America to Dakar in Africa.
From one perspective, although the disaster had claimed many lives, the Seabed Highway had brought significant convenience to transportation.
However, it also allowed gene beasts to travel unimpeded from South America to Africa.
Africa, already a hotbed for gene beasts, became even more perilous with the influx of beasts from South America.
If these gene beasts were to be led by a commanding beast king, the extinction of humanity wasn’t out of the question.
North America, on the other hand, had been severed from South America by the tectonic shift, with some islands and nations disappearing entirely.
The ocean now served as a protective barrier for North America against the gene beasts of South America.
"I’ll lead the team myself. Who’s willing to join me?" After several minutes of silence, Zong Han made his decision.
"I’ll go with you," He Hu stood up.
If they didn’t block the Seabed Highway, and if that intelligent, powerful gene beast managed to unite the gene beasts of the world, Earth would truly face annihilation.
...
Ding Huan woke from his cultivation, feeling the robust flow of true essence within his body.
He stepped out of his tent.
He had been cultivating here for nearly two months.
What pleased him most wasn’t the fact that he was on the verge of becoming a third-level gene cultivator, but his remarkable recovery ability.
In just two months, his injured right eye had fully healed.
If his cultivation level were higher, he might have recovered in just a week or two.
Ding Huan stood up, deciding to head to the central pond to catch some fish.
As a second-level gene cultivator, he hadn’t yet reached the stage where he could abstain from food.
Although practicing the Luo Shi Scripture reduced his need for sustenance, he still needed to eat.
Standing by the pond, Ding Huan didn’t even use any tools.
With a simple wave of his hand, a foot-long fish flew out of the water and landed in his grasp.
This was a technique he had developed himself—using internal energy to grab objects from a distance.
As a second-level gene cultivator, he could only do this up close.
Once he reached the third level, he wouldn’t even need to be near the pond to catch fish.
As Ding Huan caught the fish, he noticed something unusual in the water—a shadow.
But it was quickly dispersed by the waterfall cascading from above.
Ding Huan tossed the fish aside and peered more closely into the pond.
This time, he saw it clearly.
There was indeed a shadow, but it wasn’t from the pond’s bottom.
It was a reflection from above.
Having spent two months here primarily to heal his eye, Ding Huan hadn’t paid much attention to his surroundings.
Now, as he looked up, he saw that the waterfall flowed from a crevice in the rocks above.
The water flow was intermittent, likely due to insufficient rainfall.
Several beams of light filtered down through the cracks, and in one of those crevices, he spotted a monkey-like creature.
Ding Huan estimated the height from the ground to where the monkey was perched—about sixty to seventy meters.
With his current abilities, using the Wind Riding Technique to reach that height would be a stretch.
But he wasn’t in a hurry.
He decided to focus on advancing to the third level of gene cultivation and improving his Wind Riding Technique before attempting to investigate further.
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(End of Chapter)