I'm fighting Kal'tsit? Really?

At the moment he disguised himself as Rusty Hammer and attacked the post station, many people hurriedly started their vehicles and fled. He had to get some people to turn around and evacuate from the direction of the epicenter before the natural disaster truly struck, so that they would be unprepared when the disaster actually came.

Angelina's Originium Arts might be able to help evacuate people, but when it comes to winning by speed, he's the one who has to do it.

Almost instantly, Gerald's figure turned into a blur and vanished from Angelina's sight, as if he had never existed.

The girl from Wolper froze for a moment, then suddenly came to her senses and shouted blankly, "Wait, wait a minute—! I—but I still don't know where the epicenter is!"

However, all that answered her was the gentle breeze and the receding figures of people.

She paused for a moment, then quickly turned her gaze back to the soldier in front of her: "Ah, right!"

Angelina's voice was filled with anxiety. She quickly pointed to the clouds above and asked rapidly, "Are you the messenger of natural disaster? Was that the signal flare you fired just now? Can you come with us to evacuate the people? There are still many people stuck near the post station, we must—"

"I am not a messenger of natural disasters."

"[Soldier]" she said briefly but firmly, removing the helmet from her face to reveal Felin's features.

A few freckles adorned the tip of her nose, and her unusually purple pupils were captivating. Her bone structure was soft, and her face, which should have been as gentle as a girl next door, was inexplicably cracked with a discordant fissure... That chilling aura shattered the facade of docility, giving her an air of contradiction, a sense of being torn apart that only death itself could knead.

But what's most striking isn't the hatred surging in her eyes, but rather the Originium fragment that almost looks like it's embedded in her right eye.

She was just infected.

“You’re infected too, you know how these scum treat us.”

"They isolated us, preventing us from passing through the post stations, forcing us to struggle for survival in the wilderness, ultimately becoming prey for the Rusthammer." The soldier gritted his teeth, suppressing the deep-seated hatred in his heart. "The Scourge Messenger? The Scourge Messenger is dead. My friend died at this man's hands."

"All of this is nothing more than what they call 'Colombian interests'."

Angelina didn't know when the other party activated their Originium Arts.

But when she found out, the target wasn't her—but the commander inside the power armor behind them.

The once-solid concrete floor began to crack at some point, and strands of emerald green vines burst forth from the soil, growing wildly in an instant. The plants twisted and climbed, as if they were living things, bypassing the shattered power armor and wrapping themselves around the commander's limbs and neck.

The plant vines tightened their grip, even ignoring the metal restraints on the power armor, and forcefully pulled him out of that heavy steel shell.

The sound of bones shattering was clearly audible in the air, accompanied by the horrifying sound of flesh being torn apart. His body was forced out of the narrow space of the power armor, like a puppet being skinned and dismembered.

This is terrible.

Angelina's stomach suddenly spasmed, and she instinctively took a step back, fighting off the nausea that was rising in her.

She shouldn't be here. She should be evacuating people and looking for clues about the source of the natural disaster... Why did she stop?

The epicenter...yes, the epicenter, we need to find out exactly where the epicenter is.

Angelina was about to speak when the scene before her changed once again.

Even under such cruel torture, the commander showed no sign of losing consciousness. He was like a wild beast that kept its eyes fixed on the hunter even on its deathbed. Even though he was on the verge of fainting, the vines that were piercing his body in excruciating pain still allowed him to maintain his last remaining consciousness.

He narrowed his bloodshot eyes, his gaze fixed on the [Soldier] who was activating an Originium Arts. Even with blood smeared from his mouth, he dragged his broken body and, with his last strength, spat fiercely at her.

Spit mixed with blood fell to the ground.

The woman in the film tilted her head slightly, easily avoiding the humiliating bite, but her face remained completely expressionless.

—The next moment, her fingers tightened again.

The plant roots, like wildly growing thorns, completely enveloped the commander, binding his body tightly as if to devour him entirely.

The Originium fragments on her face trembled slightly, their light growing even more intense, as if responding to the boiling rage within her.

“I’m laughing at your pathetic state…” The commander gasped for breath. His cheeks were festering from his injuries, and his beard and flesh were peeling away piece by piece with the blood. Even so, his expression still carried that repulsive indifference.

"Do you know why I hate you infected people?" He gave a vague smile, as if mocking, or perhaps judging from a superior position. "Do you know how many infected people in Colombia choose to commit suicide every year, trying to take revenge on society in this way?"

“Every time I see Colombia pass laws about infected people, I feel disgusted... as if the families who have been hurt by you people are not part of this country, as if the pain of losing a child for the victim’s parents can just end with time... It’s ridiculous.”

He coughed violently, seemingly trying to adjust to a more comfortable position, but the fractured spine prevented him from even the simplest movements.

"If I were you, I would end my own life without hesitation," the commander said viciously. "At least that way, I wouldn't be an obstacle to my loved ones, not a living bomb that could explode at any moment... I wouldn't selfishly die without considering the subsequent infected people who were indirectly killed by you!"

"--Shut up!"

The soldier's anger was instantly ignited. Her chest heaved violently, her fists clenched tightly, and the Originium fragment on her forehead glowed slightly with rage.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and then asked in a low voice, "Where is his body?!"

The commander licked the blood that had spilled from the corner of his mouth. His breath grew weaker, but he still maintained his unhurried attitude: "Underground in the main watchtower."

"He genuinely mistakenly thought this was just an ordinary inn... But think about it, in the Colombian wilderness, who would prefer a base that can remain safe most of the time and earn commissions?"

His expression gradually darkened, as if he genuinely felt a pang of regret.

"There are only arms dealers, the military, and private companies... so someone in higher up set a price and ordered people to pile up a large amount of Originium artifacts here, wanting to create a man-made natural disaster to overturn this table where we eat."

"This way, no traceable evidence will be left... except for the communications between the Cataclysmic Messenger and the authorities that were intercepted. If Blacksteel really comes looking for clues later, then it might actually be exposed in some places, so just in case, we must eliminate all possibilities."

His broken spine rendered him immobile, even the slightest tremor was incredibly difficult. Yet he still managed to open his eyes, looking directly into the soldier's eyes, a faint smile tinged with pity on his face.

"His job is to warn of natural disasters, while my job is to bring them here."

"So your friend died at my hands."

"He's a good man, an upright messenger of disaster, with conviction... but I won't apologize to you, Infected."

“A Colombian soldier is only truly valuable when he completes a mission and when he dies. My pension will find its proper place, along with my mission pay, so I can die without a care in the world and leave the money to someone else… But you can’t, right?”

"I wish you, all of you, would go to hell with me."

As a result, the violent plants grew twisted and contorted like living things.

They climbed up from the ground, frantically burrowing into his flesh. Sharp thorns mercilessly pierced his shoulder, locking him in his last struggle, and blood seeped from the wound, staining the fabric of his uniform with large patches of dark red.

His spine could no longer withstand such torment. With cracking sounds from his bones, his body was twisted and pulled by the vines in a way that defied common sense. His limbs gradually deviated from their normal shape, and even his internal organs were squeezed and deformed.

However, the vines that entangled him did not stop; they continued to tighten inward until finally—

puff.

A tear-like branch pierced through his back, carrying crimson blood and scattered fragments of internal organs, dripping onto the ground.

The commander's body twitched, and an indescribable sob escaped his throat. Then, his eyes gradually lost focus, his body completely relaxed, and he was suspended high in the air by the vines.

……

Angelina stared at the bloody and violent scene before her, feeling as if she were nailed to the ground, unable to utter a single word.

This is the end of everything.

She told herself that.

The school expelled her the day she became infected.

Syracuse no longer welcomed her, and to avoid implicating her parents, she fled Syracuse and her family, now facing their daily pursuit.

However, one day, a messenger helped her temporarily escape her pursuit and asked her to deliver a letter—in return, she received a handful of candy that day.

So she became a messenger, and she began to personally travel to every corner of this land, from Syracuse to Victoria, to Ursus, to Rhodes Island, to Letania... and then to Columbia.

She has traveled to many places and seen many smiling faces.

I've also met many people who hate her and those who are infected.

Just like in the city where she was born, she was boycotted and expelled.

But the messenger had never witnessed such clear malice before—so clear that even something as simple as murder would seem as ordinary as a breeze.

Under the banner of "Colombia," this antagonism and malice are growing exponentially. The more people are treated equally as tools for making money, the more those in power will transform conflict into divisions between different individuals. Ultimately, these divisions will widen into insurmountable chasms, tearing the community apart.

Infected and uninfected, capital and labor, military and civilians, pioneers and settlers... she is now facing malice from more than just two individuals.

She is witnessing malice from Colombia.

What should be said and what should be done? Should we fight against this man-made natural disaster? And then, after it's all over, will the Colombian authorities discover the traces she left behind in these events and secretly eliminate her to ensure there are no problems?

She silently watched the soldier's back as he walked slowly, step by step, toward the main watchtower.

……

……

……

Then she started to move.

Lighter than the wind, the girl instantly appeared beside the girl with her staff—and then, to the girl's almost surprised expression, she forcefully locked her from behind before soaring into the sky.

"What are you doing! Let me go!!"

The soldier never imagined she would be picked up from the ground. She struggled desperately, but soon realized that her body seemed to have become limp, and no amount of strength could shake the force coming from Angelina.

Her movements quickly stopped.

Because at that moment, her head was being held in someone's arms.

On the right eye, where vision was almost gone, a drop of water fell on the faintly warm Originium fragment, blooming into a crystal flower.

Chapter Sixty-Six: Under the Natural Disaster

The countdown to the impending natural disaster is about to end.

Even though less than five minutes had passed since the conversation between the commander and the soldiers, the natural disaster would not wait for those who still held onto their obsessions to achieve them. It would only arrive silently at everyone's feet, spreading its destructive majesty across the entire land in an instant when no one was prepared.

At the instant the crimson clouds split open, the earth's veins emitted a muffled sound similar to the breaking of a beast's ribcage.

A sound like the howl of a giant beast came from the other side of the horizon.

Angelina grabbed Philin's right hand, hovering dozens of meters in the air around her waist. She rushed towards the entrance of the station almost without hesitation, then quickly stopped and ran in another direction.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the death flowers blooming on the earth—starting from the southeast, countless eerie green crystal clusters were gushing outwards along the spiderweb-like fissures in the ground, about to spread to the earth beneath them. The alloy support structure of the post station was twisted into a bizarre sculpture by the rampant growth of the crystal clusters, and the shattered steel frame resembled a gaping maw, silently shouting towards the sky.

Hold my hand tightly!

As she finished speaking, she bit her staff between her teeth and tightened her arms, gripping the suddenly calm Felin firmly in her hands.

The storm roared in her ears, and the fear of natural disaster weighed heavily on her heart. Yet, before her tears could fall, they were torn apart by the raging wind.

Under extreme pressure, her body surpassed its original limits. Guided by the staff, the anti-gravity radiance suddenly erupted, and the faint light intertwined to form a flowing barrier, carrying them from the collapsing ground to a higher place.

As her internal energy gradually dissipated, Angelina's vision distorted and stretched, making it almost impossible for her to open her eyes, though she could still barely make out the scroll in front of her.

The earth undulated with visible force, the dormant rock layers were torn apart, and it trembled violently like a tablecloth being lifted up in an instant, with a fifty-meter-high limestone cliff rising from the ground.

Rows of military trucks rolled down the undulating ground like children's building blocks, igniting an explosion instantly. Flames shot into the sky, but the raging fire was quickly swallowed up by the rapidly growing crystal clusters. When the flames subsided, only the lingering active Originium dust remained in the air.

The borders of hell stretch across the land, and the shadow of death silently looms over the survivors.

But compared to the scene Anjie saw when she helped people evacuate from the rest station, the situation is undoubtedly much better now—because most of the people in the rest station have already been evacuated.

This was good news; during the flight, she no longer saw any people who hadn't managed to escape from the rest stops.

The man's act of invading as a Rusty Hammer soldier greatly relieved the pressure. Most of the pioneers who originally planned to enter the post station chose to leave early due to their fear of the Rusty Hammer, which obviously greatly alleviated the congestion at the post station exit.

Her gaze swept across the chaotic crowd and the collapsed earth, landing on the distant throngs of people evacuating the post station as instructed. The panicked crowds, some riding on camels, others clinging to carts, formed a dense, surging torrent fleeing into the distance.

Among them, two familiar figures were busily moving through the crowd, maintaining order and guiding the last group of people who had not yet left.

The vast majority of them were disheveled and bewildered travelers. Most of them were awakened by signal flares during their lunch break, and before they were even fully awake, they were pushed and shoved into an unknown place amidst the noise and chaos.

Some people had barely managed to put on their coats, not even buttoned up properly, when they were grabbed by the collar and dragged out of the room; others, without even putting on their shoes, stumbled and ran wildly out onto the dusty, gravelly ground; and a few, wrapped only in blankets, stared blankly at their surroundings, completely unaware of what was happening, until someone grabbed their wrists and pulled them back from the brink of danger.

But things continued to get worse.

Despite Provence and Serena's efforts to gather the people at the post station together and prepare for their escape, and the soldiers who had been scattered like a pile of sand now driving their own vehicles and picking up the people from the post station—it's hard to say whether they did so under duress or out of genuine kindness—the aura of natural disaster was still sweeping across the land at a terrifying speed, relentlessly pursuing them.

The ground trembled more violently, rubble rolled down, and cracks continued to spread, threatening to mercilessly devour those who were unsteady on their feet in the gaps between the fleeing crowd.

Two pioneers were clinging tightly to the roof of the vehicle, using the bumps to maintain their balance. However, a sudden, violent jolt caused one of them to slip, falling heavily from the roof and tumbling several times on the ground. His companion in another vehicle behind tried to grab him, but was also thrown off by the sudden impact, pulling down the ropes still attached to him and several other pioneers hanging at the rear of the vehicle.

The deafening roar sent dust and shattered rocks flying everywhere. In the midst of this sudden chaos, Angelina's figure accelerated abruptly, plunging towards the ground like a shooting star—such a reckless move even startled the filament she was holding.

A light shone on her staff as she desperately used her remaining strength to try and reverse gravity, hoping to lift those who had fallen to the ground.

However, her overexerted body was now on the verge of its limit. She felt an overwhelming fatigue rising from her limbs, as if a heavy weight was pressing on her chest, and a sweet, metallic taste wafted from deep within her nostrils.

Fresh blood slid down the corner of her lips.

Just as she was about to give up, the Felin soldier in her arms suddenly moved.

Several lush green vines sprouted wildly from the ground, wrapping around the fallen people. The vines supplely supported their bodies, preventing them from being swallowed by the impending fissure in the earth. They also attempted to lift them to a higher place, hoping to allow Angelina to unleash her Originium Arts at close range and affect their gravity.

But that's far from enough. The vines have limited load-bearing capacity and cannot completely carry these people away from the area affected by the natural disaster, nor can they drag their figures much closer into the air.

Angelina knew this all too well, and she was about to grit her teeth and activate Originium Arts again... Just as she was about to use her last bit of strength to take the others away, a light breeze suddenly swept up from behind her.