I write obituaries for the gods

Almost simultaneously, Xileina heard the roar of thunder—

"Boom!"

Lightning struck the church tower with a deafening roar, yet it was as unremarkable as a tarot card cover in a room filled with the scent of mugwort.

The sky turned grayish-white, and a bizarre shriek rang in Xileina's ears.

Gradually, Xileina's consciousness began to crumble.

Before her consciousness completely faded, her mother's soft words drifted past her ears:

"tide Lena, prepare to say goodbye to the past."

.......

tide Leina had a dream.

She dreamt that she was lying in a tent, sunlight filtering through the colorful fabric and casting brilliant dappled light on her face.

Beside her, her mother was muttering to herself over the crystal ball, telling Xileina about the impending disasters one after another. Xileina was both frightened and eager to hear more.

She was very young then and loved to cling to her mother and have her tell stories. The future held countless possibilities for her.

What killed her future? Was it prejudice?

Or did she stubbornly move into another tent after leaving one?

But when the hurricane came, it tore down every single tent equally.

Standing in the wilderness, young Xileina raised her head and looked at the hurricane that had washed the sky clean.

She reached out and touched the sky, which was as clear as a mirror.

"Clap."

The mirror is broken.

......

When Xilena woke up, she was snuggling up with her brother.

After confirming that her brother still had a heartbeat, Xileina stood up unsteadily and looked up at the dawn on the horizon.

As far as the eye could see, the streets of New Orleans were submerged by floodwaters, rooftops became isolated islands, and colorful debris floated in the flood.

On the horizon, the Super Dome Stadium stood, its top partially rolled away, unlike what Xileina remembered, where it was completely swept into the sky.

The tide has gone out.

Was it a dream?

tide Lena knew that it was not a dream.

She walked to the edge of the roof and looked down at her reflection on the water.

Her eyes were gleaming with a deep blue light.

"ha..."

tide Lena let out a deep breath, stood up, and the scenes from last night flashed through her mind.

She was terrified and confused. She examined her body and was surprised to find that her skin was incredibly smooth.

At that time, she knew nothing: how could a young Rom girl understand what warp space was, or what ruins were?

Many years later, Xilena learned that she had saved all of New Orleans that night—the thing that was about to pull New Orleans into the subspace was trying to descend using her as an anchor point, and she had rebelled against it with her almost obsessive obsession.

Was it an obsession? Xileina recalled the lightning that struck the tower.

If that lightning bolt hadn't interrupted the descent, Xileina might not have been able to hold on.

Where did that lightning come from? Even many years later, Xileina never found out.

All she knew was that the lightning bolt that struck the tower had completely changed her fate.

At that time, she was filled with confusion: her home had been destroyed by floods brought by the hurricane, her relatives had perished in the hurricane, and only she and her brother remained of the Boswell family.

tide Lena raised her head and looked up at the pinkish-white sky.

The disaster seemed to be over, or perhaps the behemoth had simply fallen into a temporary slumber, awaiting its next awakening.

Suddenly, she heard the laughter of children.

Following the sound, Xileina looked towards the rooftop not far away: she saw children jumping into the murky water, climbing onto the swaying wooden boxes, and hopping and skipping among the floating objects.

The older children climbed to the higher rooftops to collect things that had been swept onto the roof by the hurricane, calling out to their companions below.

A pinkish-white sky, a scene of disaster, and laughing children.

A slight smile curved the corners of tide Leina's lips.

"Hey! Sister over there! Do you want some food?" a child shouted.

"Sister! The church is going to flood! Don't stay there, come to us!"

They were sincere and warm-hearted; the disaster left them battered and bruised, but something else vanished as the floodwaters receded.

tide Lena smiled faintly, then stretched out her hand and called out to the children.

At this moment, she seemed no different from anyone else in the world.

.......

Rainy City, Mingzhu Beach District.

Xileina woke up from a nightmare, dreaming once again of her past, the hurricane that changed everything.

The torrential rain pounded against the French windows, and the layers of water refracted the neon lights outside the window into an illusory blur, as if through a mysterious veil.

tide Lena picked up her phone and glanced at the time: 5:30 a.m.

"call..."

She reached for the water glass, but instead saw the group photo on the bedside table:

In the photo, tide Lena is smiling so brightly, and the man next to her is giving her a thumbs up. He was very young and handsome back then.

That's Jiang Zhengge.

tide Lena put on her pajamas, got up, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the skyline of the rainy city.

“The multi-eyed siren has appeared once again,” she murmured softly. “The fact that the Whale Nest was able to bring it into the real world means that ‘Katrina’ is still full of vitality.”

For so many years, she has been searching for that Alpha-class anomalous entity called "Katrina"—the culprit behind Hurricane Katrina, and more importantly, the one that took away Xilena's loved ones twice.

The first time was with my mother, her Roma family.

The second time...

tide Leina turned around and looked at the photo of her and Jiang Zhengge on the bedside table.

She pursed her lips slightly, picked up her phone, and dialed a number.

“Elder brother, let’s resume testing of Project Black Star tomorrow,” she said softly. “I’ve almost recovered.”

After she finished speaking, she hung up the phone and looked out the window.

Before we knew it, dawn broke through the dark clouds, and the light illuminated the outline of the rain-soaked city.

When she saw the sky, Xileina was slightly taken aback.

Today, the sky over the rainy city is pinkish-white.

...END...

Chapter 1 Heroes

"In the joint operation of Operation Whalers, we successfully thwarted the Foundation's plot and once again successfully protected Rain City from the anomaly."

"We lost many comrades in this operation. They fought bravely to the last moment and showed us what courage is."

"Let us observe ten seconds of silence in memory of these fallen heroes."

"As the saying goes, troubled times produce heroes. In this joint operation, the heroes of the Rapid Response Division rushed to the front line of the battlefield, and the best among them even personally killed an Alpha-level demigod."

"This is the first time in the history of the Bureau of Investigation that an Alpha-level demigod has been killed, which is a great encouragement to us—demigods are not immortal, even Alphas."

"Now, let's welcome Lin Chen, the war hero of this operation and representative of Section One, to speak."

Amidst the applause, Lin Chen saw the curtain split in two in front of him, and the light from the banquet hall shone on his face.

He slowly walked into the light, proceeded to the podium, and looked down at the banquet hall below.

"Does a place like the Bureau of Abnormal Investigations even have such a large banquet hall?" This was Lin Chen's first reaction.

He glanced around the audience and saw Li Zhanyi gently raise his glass to him, a slight smile playing on his lips.

“First of all, I am not a hero,” Lin Chen recalled the prepared speech, “or rather, the hero is not me, but everyone who participated in this operation.”

"..."

The girls from the logistics department looked at Lin Chen with shining eyes.

The young men from the Armed Forces Department remained calm. Although they couldn't help feeling jealous, they all had to admit that they couldn't compare to the men on stage.

At the round table, Louis looked at Lin Chen on the stage and sighed softly.

"Your brother Lin has really stolen the limelight..." he said.

“There’s nothing we can do. We would rather he didn’t expose himself like that,” Jiang Zhengge shook his head. “But Triton is too clever. That night, he directly asked reporters to block Lin Chen, shaking hands and taking pictures, putting Lin Chen directly in the spotlight.”

“This is a top-notch open conspiracy…” Li Zhanyi muttered. “Now Lin Chen will be too conspicuous wherever he goes, and it won’t be too easy for the Foundation to find out his whereabouts.”

“This just proves the Foundation is afraid of the magical little brother,” Lucy said nonchalantly. “Hey Jiang, how do you manage to pick up monsters into the first department every day?”

“He’s not a monster,” Li Zhanyi retorted instinctively, “He’s just…”

“Oh, little Zhanyi,” Lucy blinked repeatedly, “I’m sure I wasn’t saying he’s a bad monster, am I? It’s just a way of putting it, isn’t it? Why are you in such a hurry to defend him?”

"I..."

Li Zhanyi paused for a moment, then turned his head away, avoiding looking at Lucy:

"Lucy is a bad person."

"Hehehe, you silly girl," Lucy hugged Li Zhanyi tightly, "Tell your sister, how's it going?"

"Wh-what progress?"

"Oh, little darling, still pretending to be innocent," Lucy pinched Li Zhanyi's cheek, "Do you want me to give you some advice?"

"Give...you some advice?"

"Yes, come and listen to me..."

"..."

Amid the lively atmosphere, only Jiang Zhengge and Louis remained silent, both seemingly preoccupied with their own thoughts.

“I’m actually quite envious of him,” Louis suddenly said.

"Ha, who doesn't envy being in the limelight?" Jiang Zhengge laughed. "But I think you're quite reserved. Can you handle that kind of spotlight?"

“Seriously... I might not be able to stand it,” Louis shook his head, “but I still really want to climb up.”

“You’ve really done a good job on this whaler operation. Whether it was assisting us in the whale nest or helping the Second Rapid Response Division protect the city, you’ve proven your abilities,” Jiang Zhengge said. “If you’re looking to climb the ladder, you could try the director’s office, if you’re willing to start as a secretary.”

“Of course I would,” Louis said. “After all, I’m still young, and I think there are more possibilities.”

Jiang Zhengge stared at Louis for a while, and he saw eagerness and longing in the boy's eyes.

This usually quiet boy may want to climb higher than anyone else.

“Okay, I’ll put in a good word for you then.” Jiang Zhengge picked up his Coke cup.

.......

"That was a good speech. Did you see the looks in those girls' eyes?"

"I didn't look at it," Lin Chen said, scrolling through his phone. "I was too busy memorizing my script."

"You really didn't watch it?"

"I really didn't watch it, Miss."

In the back seat of the Porsche, Li Zhanyi leaned close to Lin Chen and looked at his phone:

"Why are you being so dismissive? What are you looking at?"