Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 281 Farewell, World
On the brink of destruction, the two witnessed everything: a colossal, dark monster swallowed a star and devoured the earth.

But Hasegawa and Jerome could do nothing but fly over the shattered earth, debris flying everywhere, everything beneath them receding rapidly until they arrived at a private mansion. The mansion, which had once resembled an estate, was now leaning precariously, with some buildings even cracked open in large gaps.

"quick!"

Jerome urged him on, and Hasegawa, carrying the little girl in his arms, squeezed into the house. He rolled and jumped among the crooked furniture without stopping until the two of them arrived at a metal door.

"You unlock it."

Hasegawa looked at Jerome, indicating that Jerome should unlock it.

But Jerome went up and tried to operate it a few times, then turned pale.

"It seems to be stuck."

The earth shook violently just now, even tearing the ground apart. No matter how sturdy the houses built on the ground were inevitably impacted. It seems that something went wrong, and the doors can't be opened at all.

Hasegawa frowned, examined the basement door, then stretched out her hand, clenched it into a fist, and suddenly punched out.

"Oh!"

With a deafening roar, the special alloy door was dented, leaving a clear fist mark where the fist landed.

Hasegawa did not stop. Her other fist also landed, striking the fist mark precisely. Fist after fist, the fierce attack poured down like rain, and the continuous roar was like thunder.

A deafening clap of thunder shook the leaning house, causing the solid walls to sway.

"Be careful not to collapse the house."

Ignoring Jerome's panicked cries behind him, Hasegawa continued throwing punches, unleashing hundreds of blows in just a few breaths.

Finally, with a loud bang, the thunder stopped abruptly.

The sturdy door was forcibly punched through, leaving a large hole.

"Quick, get inside!"

Hasegawa urged.

They just wasted another precious minute, and now they are in imminent danger. They must escape RimWorld before it gets eaten.

The two hurriedly passed through the large hole, and what appeared before them was a small spaceship. The small spaceship was less than five meters long, only slightly larger than an airship. Such a spaceship had no interstellar travel capability; at most, it could only travel around outer space.

"Stars, perform a self-check!"

Jerome rushed forward and yelled at the spaceship's AI.

The AI ​​flashed a few times, then spoke in a synthesized voice.

"Self-inspection in progress... Hull structure... Integrity 100%... Engine testing... Integrity 100%, no faults..."

With the help of a series of voice prompts, Jerome's tense expression gradually eased, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"No malfunction. It seems the spaceship was unaffected by the recent tremors and is in good condition."

Upon hearing this, Hasegawa, who had been holding his breath, relaxed and nodded. He had been worried that the spaceship had just been affected, and then said...

"Okay, I..."

As he spoke, he was about to carry the unconscious girl onto the spaceship.

Just as he was about to take a step forward, a hand suddenly reached out and blocked his way.

It's Jerome.

The handsome young man looked strange at that moment. He lowered his head, remained silent, and simply reached out to stop his friend.

“Jerome.”

Hasegawa remained expressionless, as if she had already guessed all of this, and simply rebuked him.

Jerome didn't look up at him, but turned his head to look at the ground beside him and said softly.

"She cannot board this ship."

“She can sit.”

Hasegawa's voice was calm.

The young man suddenly turned his head, grabbed Hasegawa's collar tightly with both hands, and the force was so great that he had to take a few steps back. The young man stared at Hasegawa and said angrily.

"cannot!"

"This spaceship only has two hibernation pods, so only two people can survive!"

The young man pursed his lips, his angry face a complex struggle.

He was angry, angry at himself, angry at the world.

"Only two people can survive..."

His hands gripped his clothes tightly, almost tearing the special fiber fabric to shreds. This young man, who had once been cheerful but had ultimately become melancholic, was now caught in a deep contradiction.

But the next moment, a large hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.

"Crunch... crunch..."

He gripped the wrist tightly with his large hand, and then slowly pried the strong wrist off the clothes.

Seeing the young man's astonished gaze, Hasegawa's expression remained unchanged, indifferent as frost. "So?"

“TVIK-6395465 Sheriff Jerome, the ticket belongs to this citizen, and according to the emergency management regulations, she has a higher right to survival than we do.”

The young man gritted his teeth.

"The world is already destroyed, why are you still talking to me about regulations at this point?"

"According to estimates, the world is still 5 minutes away from destruction, so it is not yet considered the end of the world."

Hasegawa said indifferently.

The young man's face shifted between light and shadow, reflecting his inner turmoil.

But then, a faint voice rang out.

"elder sister……"

A faint child's voice rang out from Hasegawa's arms.

Upon hearing this voice, the handsome young man gritted his teeth, glanced at the girl who was muttering in her sleep, and helplessly lowered his hand.

"Take her to the hibernation pod, I'll be there shortly."

Pushing the young man's hand away, Hasegawa carried the unconscious girl into the spaceship and placed her in a hibernation pod. The unconscious girl lay in the pod, Hasegawa handling her with extreme care, as if she were a fragile porcelain doll.

The hatch was closed, and the hibernation pod quickly stopped the girl's physiological activities within milliseconds when it was shut down.

For this girl who is unaware of all this, her future is full of unknowns.

Perhaps she will be frozen into a corpse in space, perhaps she will be rescued, or perhaps she will never even make it out of space... Everything is full of unknowns.

Gazing at the porcelain doll in the hibernation pod, Hasegawa turned away.

He did not intend to survive.

The child before him deserved to live, and only one of him and Jerome was destined to enter the hibernation pod, and that person should not be him.

But before he had taken more than a few steps, he suddenly felt a tremor under his feet.

"The Starship's autopilot is in service. The spaceship is about to launch. Have a pleasant journey..."

"This is……"

Hearing the synthesized voice in her ear, Hasegawa realized something, suddenly turned her head, and quickly ran towards the transparent window behind her.

Outside the window, a handsome young man stood with his arms crossed, silent as a pine tree, gazing at the spaceship before him.

"Jerome, you motherfucker..."

Before he could say anything, the scene before him abruptly changed. The basement vanished, along with the young man, leaving only a ruined city and darkness that blotted out the sun. The spaceship flew through the air, dodging the flying debris.

At the edge of the sky, a vast and profound darkness is devouring the world.

……

Before the handsome young man, his friend's lips barely moved a few times before the spaceship made a short-range warp and disappeared from the spot.

Judging from his friend's lip movements, he was probably scolding himself.

The young man smiled.

He hadn't originally intended to save anyone; he was inherently cold and selfish, showing no interest in things he didn't care about. He had planned to run away with his friends during the apocalypse, hoping for one last chance to survive, but unexpectedly…

"This cold-faced man."

Her eyes flickered slightly, and she chuckled softly.

The young man chuckled at himself, realizing he still didn't truly understand his friend. He'd thought that even the most stubborn man would eventually give in in this apocalyptic world, but it seemed he was still stubborn at this very moment.

Hmph, so you just ran away with your porcelain doll.

As for me……

He closed his eyes, then opened them again, and it seemed as if he could see his ancestors from over two thousand generations right in front of him. He couldn't see their faces clearly, but he could almost feel their gaze.

For some inexplicable reason, he had a strange feeling that perhaps this was fate.

They were there as RimWorld was built, and their last descendants are there as RimWorld comes to an end.

"Buzzing..."

The earth was trembling, and the turmoil from afar still reached this ring of the world.

Since the tremors have already reached this area, it seems that time is running out.

In the final moments of his life, the young man meticulously tidied his clothes, smoothing out the tiny wrinkles and brushing off the dust. He cleaned himself up with unprecedented seriousness, not wanting to overlook any detail.

Then the young man raised his head and gave the world one last smile.

Farewell, world.

Suddenly, his footing gave way, and the smiling youth, along with the cracked earth beneath him, plummeted into the darkness...

(End of this chapter)