I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

Chapter 325 Darkness Falls, the Lighthouse's Beacon (4K)

"It has finally arrived."

Shi An stood on the outskirts of Baijiang Base City, where he couldn't see the sun gradually being swallowed by darkness. But as the countdown reached zero, suddenly—

Starting from the core of the wasteland, darkness spread and expanded at an unpredictable speed, covering the entire nightmare world in just a few dozen seconds.

The Dark Ages have arrived.

In Shi An's vision, the distant wilderness and forests fell into darkness in an instant. With his current eyesight, he could easily see scenes dozens of kilometers away in open areas, but at this moment, apart from the mere dozens of meters illuminated by the lights on the outer walls of Baijiang Base City, everything beyond that was pitch black.

He couldn't see anything; it was as if a black curtain was simply laid across the room.

"Not only that, these high-powered searchlights on the outer walls of the base were just installed. They used to be able to easily illuminate areas over a thousand meters away, but now—"

"and----"

Shi An looked in several other directions.

If his memory serves him right, there are several satellite camps not far from Baijiang Base City.

It includes experimental parks, mines, and large-scale plantations.

In the past 72 hours, these parks have naturally also upgraded and installed a lot of lighting equipment. In one of the more important parks, a small artificial sun was even installed.

In theory, this park is as bright as day, and its radiance can illuminate dozens of miles away.

However, when Shi An looked towards the industrial park, he couldn't see anything.

It was as if the entire Baijiang base city had become an isolated island, the last place where humanity could survive.

"Is this the horror of the Sun Devouring Disaster? The Sun Devouring Disaster is probably one of the most terrifying disasters among all world-ending calamities! Compared to it, the world-ending flood is utterly weak."

The true terror of the Sun-devouring Disaster has not yet manifested, but even now, with the arrival of the Dark Age, the various base cities, nightmare towns, and camps are already physically isolated.

The darkness was incredibly dangerous, and from the moment the disaster struck, all communication between cities was completely severed.

The initial civilization, which had been gradually growing stronger over time, suddenly fell into disarray.

Shi An quickly ordered his men to try it.

Sure enough, not to mention relying on mobile phones to communicate, even more traditional and stable methods such as using props to communicate and divination have almost become ineffective.

Only a few rare and costly methods of communication remain, which are still barely usable, but these methods can...

The information that was meant to be conveyed has become blurred.

"This is the first predicament of the calamity of swallowing the sun."

"The various forces and cities of the initial civilization need to unite under these circumstances, have sufficient understanding and means, and spend enough to rebuild the city network."

"No wonder it's said that resolving a cataclysmic disaster is very difficult. Even for peak initial civilizations, it often takes several months or even longer. You have to know that these peak initial civilizations may have been preparing for several years before the disaster strikes."

The calamity of the Sun Devouring Disaster is so severe that it renders many peak initial civilizations powerless.

The once-powerful Sunrise civilization was destroyed by the Sun-devouring catastrophe.

"Oh, the spatial passages in my safe zone are still usable without damage, and the situation of all major base cities and urban clusters has been gathered? Then there's nothing to worry about."

This is the place of revelation.

Two small teams of dozens of elite Dreamers were stationed here, as this area is quite special.

As darkness fell, the members stationed there quickly noticed, "This darkness actually stops at the border of the Land of Revelation? This place is indeed a bit special! You know, our lighting equipment here doesn't even cover the border area."

After all, there are few people here, and the mineral deposits in the surrounding areas have been basically mined out.

Therefore, the safe zone's defense of the Land of Revelation is concentrated in only two areas: the central core area, where the various wonders are located, and the depths of the Land of Revelation, where the Tower of Trials is situated.

The member reported the situation here.

Shi An pondered, "If it's a weaker trial civilization, they might have to rely on the Land of Revelation to build their final survival sphere."

The members were already aware of the impending catastrophe of the sun's devouring, and they were not alarmed by the sudden darkness that descended upon the world.

But at that moment, the wonder administrators in the Land of Revelation were suddenly startled.

Mo Chui and his group had limited range of activity, but they were, after all, the managers of the wonders and the experts of the Ascension Realm. Any major commotion within a radius of dozens of miles could not escape their notice.

They were among the first to notice when the strange forces attacked.

At this moment, someone exclaimed, "Wait, what's going on? Why is it completely dark outside the Land of Revelation? Even if the Nightmare Wasteland is dark, it shouldn't be this dark, right?"

Don't be alarmed.

The grocer's wife focused intently. "No, this isn't ordinary darkness, but the absolute darkness that can devour everything! There exists such a forbidden zone in the second layer of the nightmare world, an environment of absolute darkness. Even if a Dream Fallen One lights a torch, the torch will quickly go out, and without a light source, the Dream Fallen One will be swallowed by the darkness and disappear completely within a few breaths!"

"But how could such a dark environment appear here? Could it be a disaster? It can't be an apocalypse, can it?"

"No way?"

Granny Qing and the bartender both stepped out of the spectacle and looked out at the outside world.

It really does look like an apocalyptic disaster!

However, this is unreasonable.

They were not entirely sure of the exact time when the Blue Star civilization entered the Nightmare World, because the safe zone consciously controlled its own intelligence.

However, the administrators could all guess that the initial civilization of Blue Star had not been in the Nightmare World for very long, far from the ten-year period.

The arrival of the Earthlings is likely no more than six years away, considering they were only classified as a high-potential civilization more than half a year ago.

"How could such a civilization, at such a time, possibly bring about a cataclysmic disaster? We must be mistaken!"

Mo Chui murmured.

However, gazing into that deep and dark darkness, he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.

This darkness was terrifying.

"Darkness has fallen!"

Inside a certain experimental base, several researchers and security personnel remain on duty.

Over the past three days, they have moved a lot of valuable experimental equipment and sent various experimental data to the safe zone.

However, there are still many things in this experimental base that cannot be moved. They set up the experimental base here in the first place because they used local materials.

"If we withdraw and abandon this experimental base, the losses will be incalculable!"

They couldn't bear to part with it.

They stayed here.

In order to protect this experimental base, their team also installed countless lighting devices inside and outside the base.

It can be said that the entire base was armed to the teeth.

However, at this moment, "buzzing"

The surveillance footage shows that outside the base, the edge of darkness is gradually spreading, encroaching on every inch of the light.

The lights on the base's outer wall suddenly flickered intermittently, as if disturbed by something.

A few seconds later, one by one the lights went out.

The darkness spread even faster, and the surveillance footage disappeared completely with a "whoosh".

Dozens of seconds later, the lighting equipment in the brightly lit corridor of the base began to flicker, as if life was counting down.

"The surveillance footage in Zone C3 is malfunctioning!"

"The surveillance footage in area D2 is malfunctioning!"

"The light source in area C1 is becoming unstable!"

"Sector B, darkness has spread to Sector B! Chief, we can't stay here any longer, let's leave immediately!"

Several researchers tried to persuade him.

Director Wang glanced around; this was the culmination of several months of their hard work, but—

He looked again at the darkness spreading faster and faster.

Director Wang gritted his teeth. "Let's go!"

On the wall of the rest area in Zone A of the base, there is an old-fashioned door. This is the door that they activated using their membership cards before darkness fell.

Without further hesitation, the group rushed to the door, turned the doorknob, and pushed the door open to enter.

After stepping through the gate, Director Wang looked back.

The lights in the entire A area began to flicker, and then one by one they went out.

Darkness spread, as if some indescribable terror was about to be born in the darkness.

Director Wang slammed the door shut, then leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

A nightmare camp.

Some camp leaders were reluctant to leave their camp, but when they came to their senses and realized they should evacuate immediately, they found that the area where the safe zone gate was located had long been swallowed by darkness.

He had no choice but to venture into the darkness.

A few seconds later, a chilling scream rang out.

Meanwhile, in Baijiang base city.

This is one of the safest cities in the entire Blue Star civilization.

Above the base city, six enormous artificial suns are continuously radiating light.

On the outer wall of the base, lantern grasses climbed up one by one, stubbornly radiating light.

The darkness stopped a few dozen meters away from the outer wall of the base city. Although it showed signs of encroachment, it was not moving very fast.

However, at this moment, inside the base city, a light in the escape staircase of a certain building suddenly went out, and the blind spot of the escape staircase suddenly became dark.

This dark area is very cramped, but it is part of the same dark area outside the base city!

In this deathly darkness, something even greater terror is emerging.

The darkness seemed to come alive, wriggling and arching up little by little.

"The alarm beeped."

Within just a dozen seconds, a patrol team broke down the door.

"Quick! Light the lamps! Extinguish the darkness!"

Such scenes occur throughout the base cities, and within each large base city.

These base cities are very large, and even after three days of renovation, it is still difficult to cover all aspects. Some lighting equipment is even damaged due to various unexpected factors.

"And even a small patch of these dark, desolate areas could become anchor points for terrifying beings lurking in the shadows!"

In some base cities, a strange and extraordinary creature emerged from a small, dark area, causing numerous deaths and injuries.

This is just the beginning.

According to the think tank's analysis, as time goes by, the eerie things emerging from the dark area will become increasingly terrifying.

It might even attract some terrifying entity.

Let alone terrifying beings, Shi An wouldn't want to provoke even a single strange being at the Ascension Realm. This is within the city.

Even a random Ascending Realm expert can cause immense destruction within the department.

Two hours later, the situation in various regions gradually stabilized.

"Let me give you a report."

Shi An looked at Luo Susu.

Luo Susu, holding a small notebook, said, "Currently, the vast majority of small bases, industrial parks, nightmare camps, and even towns have been swallowed by darkness. According to the think tank's analysis, besides powerful light sources, population is also a crucial factor in resisting the darkness's encroachment. Therefore, small bases and camps basically have no ability to resist the darkness."

"Yes, besides the lighthouse wonder that you built yourself, shopkeeper."

A lighthouse has been built within each of the existing world bases.

In addition, the safe zone has built more than 20 lighthouse bases. Some of these lighthouse bases are very small, just a camp that can accommodate a maximum of one or two hundred people.

At this time, only a dozen or so elites were stationed inside the base.

Even so, even though the area illuminated by the lighthouse is reduced to a mere two hundred meters, the lighthouse's light can still stubbornly resist the encroachment of darkness.

It truly lives up to its reputation as a wonder specifically designed for darkness!

Even so, the situation remains far from optimistic.

The think tank also speculates that as time goes by, the darkness's erosion will become stronger and stronger until it reaches a certain critical point.

At that time, the Lighthouse Camp, as well as some Nightmare Towns and medium-to-large base cities that are still struggling to survive, may not be able to hold on.

Of course, at worst, we'll save people but lose territory.

In Shi An's eyes, people have always been the most important thing.

Luo Susu added, "The major worlds are currently relatively stable. The think tank also predicts that as long as our world bases are not destroyed, the worlds can continue to exist."

On the other hand, once these base cities, which stand guard at the boundary between nightmares and reality, are swallowed by darkness, the real-world cities will also fall into ruin in a very short time.

The importance of the present world is self-evident.

Shi An even suspected that in order to pass the initial world, the trial civilization must at least ensure that one place in the present world continues to exist.

"Of the eight regions I conquered previously, the most valuable loot was an epic defensive building, the Storm Dragon Tower," and an epic scroll, the Great Forest Hand. Unfortunately, these are not very useful right now.

"But surprisingly, the lighthouse spectacle is indeed the most effective weapon against darkness, and its effect is even greater than expected."

powerful."

"However, the lighthouse's grade is a bit low."

Rare buildings are essentially just ordinary wonders.

Shi An had previously considered upgrading the lighthouse, but he had to wait until darkness fell to see if the lighthouse's light was truly effective against the darkness.

Now that this has been verified, we can use the Wonder Fragments.

"Upgrade one of the lighthouses to make it the ultimate safeguard for Earth's civilization! Furthermore, each team can research the lighthouse's capabilities to develop various items designed to combat darkness!"

Shi An opened the panel.

Above, information about each lighthouse is listed.

These lighthouses were built in various regions and areas.

There is a lighthouse in Baijiang Base City, which serves as both an important source of light and an access point to the headquarters of the safe zone.

Shi An chose to upgrade the lighthouse within the Tiannan City defense perimeter.

The reason is simple: the entire Tiannan City urban area has a population of over 20 million, accounting for one-third of the current survivors of Blue Star civilization.

Store Manager Shi arrived in Tiannan City and stood in front of the small lighthouse that emitted a bright yellow halo but was inconspicuous within the entire defensive perimeter.

"Lighthouse, show me your limits!"