SWDnovel Chapter 358 The Last Hour
Chapter 358 The Last Hour
The shouts of vendors in the trading area had subsided; most people were simply quietly checking their gear, wiping their weapons again and again, adjusting their skill slots, and having final tactical discussions with their teammates.
The air was thick with the smell of tobacco, cheap alcohol, and a mixture of sweat and anxiety.
The refresh rate of the world channel miraculously slowed down.
The barrage of team-up and trading information has been replaced by scattered sentiments, blessings, or expressions of utter despair.
Brothers and sisters, best of luck.
"Damn it, my gear is fully repaired, I've brought enough medicine, this is it, it's all down to this!!!"
"Brother Lin Tian, if this happens in your region, please let me go..."
"Twelve hours left... each second feels like an eternity."
"Take a nap and get some rest."
"I can't sleep, I just can't sleep..."
The channel was filled with an almost suffocating atmosphere of waiting.
The scarlet countdown, like a cold heart, beat steadily and continuously at the edge of everyone's vision, each decrease of the number seeming to strike the soul.
In the brightly lit main city, players sat or stood, some alone, some huddled together with their companions.
They gazed at the night sky, at the darkness outside the city, and at the ever-shrinking numbers.
The expressions on their faces varied: bewilderment, fear, despair, numbness, madness... like a giant ukiyo-e painting depicting the various aspects of life in a post-apocalyptic world.
Power was frantically squeezed, exchanged, and concentrated in the final moments.
Human nature is distorted, amplified, and revealed under extreme pressure.
Ambition and fear, reason and madness, unity and betrayal, hope and despair... all of these fermented and boiled during this long night, awaiting the moment of zeroing out.
When the countdown reaches zero, this doomsday carnival sweeping across the continent will no longer be a time of preparation and clamor.
Seventy million votes, pent up for seven days and suppressed to the extreme, will burst through the dam and surge toward one hundred unknown, cruel stages destined to be stained with blood and war.
The night is still long.
But what dawn brings is not the light of day.
......
[The first stage of the preliminary rounds of the Battle of the Myriad Realms will begin in 01:00:00]
The last sixty minutes.
The crimson countdown hanging over the edge of every living being's vision on the continent, each tick of the numbers felt like a heavy hammer pounding on the tautest strings of their hearts.
The clamor, restlessness, scheming, and madness that had accumulated over the past seven days in cities like Sunset City, Blazing Sun City, Crimson Moon City, Iron Curtain City, and countless villages and towns on the edge of the continent, whether prosperous or simple, did not subside before the end. Instead, they brewed into a more viscous, almost suffocating, deathly silence.
People stopped their meaningless running and shouting.
In the main city square, on the streets and alleys, on the crenellations of the city walls, and even in safe spots where players temporarily set up camp in the wild, players were frozen in time in various poses.
Some people lean against the wall, close their eyes and murmur prayers, their fingers unconsciously twisting the corner of their clothes or the handle of their weapons;
Some people sat in a circle with their teammates, silently passing the last few bottles of medicine, their eyes exchanging a resolute glance that needed no words.
Some people stood alone, looking up at the string of bright red numbers, their pupils reflecting bewilderment and deep-seated fear.
The world chat channel miraculously slowed down, and there were no more massive team recruitments and resource sales.
Occasionally, a few messages would appear, each as brief as an epitaph.
"Gentlemen, may your military prowess be abundant!!!"
"Stop talking nonsense and get ready."
"Which region will Lin Tian be in?"
"Who knows... I hope it's not with me."
The conversation was deliberately hushed, the heavy breathing, the inevitable friction of metal armor plates, the crackling of burning grease in torches... these subtle sounds were amplified infinitely.
Sunset City, at the corner of the warehouse district.
The bespectacled female mage with ID Li Wei, with her back to the crowded throng, took one last look at her belongings.
Her movements were meticulous, her fingertips tracing each square: three sets of highly effective antidotes, two sets of potent cold-resistant rune patches, two bottles of underwater breathing potion (lasting half an hour), a small bundle of holy light scrolls to dispel low-level undead contamination, and even calming incense to combat mental fear.
She only carried two offensive reels, and a single random teleport reel for survival—a "luxury" she had acquired by spending half of her savings.
Her gaze was calm, and the rational light behind her glasses remained unwavering.
"Adapting to the environment is the top priority," she whispered to herself, and also to her slightly nervous companion beside her. "Unknown maps, unknown ongoing damage. Only by surviving can we talk about points and rankings."
Entrance to the Roaring Foothills dungeon in Sun City.
With a flash of light, five or six disheveled figures tumbled out.
Leading the group was the berserker Zhang Meng, who gripped a newly unearthed battle axe with a blade that gleamed like lava. His face was contorted with a mixture of ecstasy and extreme exhaustion.
"Hahahaha! The Blazing Battle Axe! I got it!" His laughter echoed through the mountainside, but quickly came to an abrupt end.
His gaze swept over his teammates behind him—Shield Guardian Qian Feng's shield was half cracked, and the Priestess was pale and her mana was depleted.
"Brother Meng... we're out of medicine, and our equipment durability is also..." Qian Feng's voice was hoarse.
Zhang Meng stared at the countdown, which had less than twenty minutes left, then glanced at the dazzling new weapon in his hand. His facial muscles twitched, before hardening into a more ruthless expression: "Repair! Go back to town immediately and find the highest-level NPC for repair! Buy medicine! Sell everything in the warehouse that can be exchanged for money! Quickly!"
Dragging their mangled bodies, they rushed toward the teleportation array at top speed for a final, costly resupply.
This axe might boost his damage output, but whether the sacrifice to his team's morale is worth it is anyone's guess.
In the central square of Scarlet Moon City, beside the magic fountain.
The shimmering water reflected the two people embracing.
Hunter Wang Ming held the priest Chen Yurou tightly, with such force that it seemed he wanted to meld her into his body.
Chen Yurou buried her face in his chest, her shoulders trembling slightly.
There were no extra words, only an almost greedy feeling of each other's presence and warmth.
Having traveled through time, they have become each other's guiding light in this strange and cruel world, but the impending separation and the unknown are more terrifying than any monster.
"Yu Rou," Wang Ming's voice was hoarse, "remember, the first thing you do after landing is to hide and observe. Forget about resource points, make sure you're safe first. I will... I will definitely find you. Use the team channel, use the marker we agreed on, no matter what."