Chapter 145: Life Explosion

With a shift of his thought, a silver armor could instantly materialize over a specific area of his body, granting him extremely high defense—so strong that even the Dragon Rhino Sword would struggle to cut through it. The only drawback was that the effect lasted for a very short duration, only an instant. This required Su Li to practice and master it perfectly, activating it precisely the moment an enemy attacked his body. Being too early or too late would render it ineffective.

This placed high demands on the user’s precision.

The Purple Wind Building now housed four Level 6 Wielders, six Level 5 Wielders, and twenty-two Level 4 Wielders. Overall, their collective strength had increased significantly.

Finally, everyone was physically spent and exhausted. They retreated from the floating island to rest, concluding the night’s hunt.

Jin Sixing, Ling Tian, and Wang Xiaofei, the three who had just broken through to Level 5, were also moved up to the 36th floor to reside. This was the right and honor they earned with their strength.

The next day, after breakfast, Su Li gathered Ding Longyun, Gong Xiao, and Xu Xuehui. He decided it was time to travel to the 32-story building where they used to live to retrieve the supplies left there.

Qi Mengyu wanted to join them. Her main reason was to see the place where Su Li used to live and to get out and clear her head. She had been trapped in the Purple Wind Building for days. Now that she was a Level 4 Spiritual Source Wielder and would be traveling with Su Li and the others, the trip would be very safe, and she was eager to go.

Su Li saw the pleading look on her face and agreed.

The five boarded the gigantic raft that Bai Wenwei and the others had built and left the Purple Wind Building, setting off for the target three kilometers away.

The giant raft was constructed by joining several ordinary rafts together. It was five meters wide and ten meters long, covering a total area of 50 square meters. The raft was made of two layers of wooden doors and numerous wooden planks, securely bound with ropes and iron wire. It was extremely sturdy. Su Li nodded in approval, realizing that Bai Wenwei had put genuine effort into building the raft.

A raft this large was sufficient for loading supplies and had high capacity. However, maneuvering and controlling such a colossal raft was not easy.

Ding Longyun, still swimming, positioned himself behind the raft, gently pushing it.

Su Li, Gong Xiao, and Qi Mengyu took the paddles. Su Li stood on the right, and the two women stood on the left. The three paddled together, finally getting the raft to move.

Once the raft got going, its speed was decent. Everyone was busy, except for Xu Xuehui, who was cracking sunflower seeds leisurely.

After the heavy rain yesterday, the temperature had noticeably dropped. A cool breeze blew across the water surface, but Ding Longyun, swimming in the water, felt completely unaffected. In fact, he felt increasingly energized.

Having advanced to Level 6 this time, he had enhanced his lungs again. His maximum breath-holding time had reached an astonishing 25 minutes. Due to the lung enhancement, the power of his “Air Missile” had also increased. Combined with the boost from leveling up, the missile’s explosive force was now 50% more powerful than before.

“If I keep evolving like this, I feel like I could actually live completely in the water,” Ding Longyun laughed heartily.

Gong Xiao smiled. “I think it’s possible that a new race of humans who live in the water will evolve.”

“This flood might be another kind of ‘Life Explosion,'” Qi Mengyu, who had advanced to Level 4 and gained improved vision, interjected. She no longer needed to wear her glasses, but she still instinctively reached to adjust them as she spoke, only to realize they weren’t there.

“What is the Life Explosion?” Ding Longyun asked curiously.

Qi Mengyu explained, “The Life Explosion is a great mystery in paleontology and geology—the Cambrian Explosion. Based on fossil evidence, life mainly existed as single cells before the Cambrian period. But in the Cambrian period, life suddenly evolved from single-celled to multi-celled forms. The forms and types of organisms underwent a massive leap in that short period. A large number of multi-celled organisms, including the ancestors of nearly all existing animal groups, suddenly appeared. This explosive event of biological evolution is called the Life Explosion, and there is still no rational explanation for it.”

As a former middle school teacher, she was very knowledgeable. Su Li knew a little about the topic but hadn’t studied it in detail.

Ding Longyun had clearly never heard of this before and looked surprised. “Something like that happened? That’s bizarre! And it sounds like the situation now, doesn’t it? A sudden great flood appears, and then countless types of bizarre monsters emerge, and no one knows where they came from.”

Qi Mengyu nodded. She continued, “The discovery of the Cambrian Explosion widely challenged Darwin’s theory of evolution, which posits that species evolve through gradual change. However, the Cambrian Explosion was sudden, as if tens of thousands of species appeared overnight. Because of this, the Cambrian Explosion is widely used to support the creationist theory of life. The current molecular biology cannot fully explain this phenomenon. It bears a strong resemblance to everything we are experiencing now.”

Su Li added, “So, are you suggesting that something similar to what is happening now occurred on Earth in the distant past? Countless species appeared overnight? Hearing you say that, I’m reminded of an article I read once about the ancient Great Flood. Many nations worldwide share similar legends of a world-ending flood. This has led some to speculate that a global flood may have happened in ancient times, which is why those flood legends were passed down in various cultures.”

Ding Longyun said, “You’re right, that does sound strange. The suddenness of this flood and the emergence of all these Spiritual Source Beasts truly defy any normal explanation…”

He was interrupted by Xu Xuehui, who was cracking sunflower seeds. She suddenly cried out, “People!”

“Where are the people?” Ding Longyun quickly looked at her.

Xu Xuehui pointed forward. “At the place we used to live. Several people. They are moving supplies.”

The group exchanged stunned glances. Su Li asked, “Xuehui, you mean there are people at the building we used to live in? And they are moving our supplies?”

Xu Xuehui nodded, then added, “Two rafts.”

Ding Longyun understood and was immediately enraged. “Damn it! Who has the guts to move our belongings?”

Gong Xiao gave him a look. “We’ve been gone for two days. It’s normal for people from elsewhere to assume the building is abandoned and try to move the supplies.”

Although Gong Xiao’s explanation was logical, Ding Longyun was still furious. He felt that the supplies in that building were his hard-earned collection, and he couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else touching them. Now, learning that people were moving them, he couldn’t control his anger.

He immediately accelerated his swimming, kicking his feet forcefully to push the raft faster toward the distant 32-story building.

“Xuehui, count how many people there are.” Su Li could only vaguely see the three floors exposed above the water but couldn’t make out any people yet.

“Three, four, five… a total of seven people,” Xu Xuehui counted and reported the total number.

“Seven people.” Su Li nodded, saying nothing.

Gong Xiao looked at Ding Longyun. “Brother Ding, calm down. Let’s assess the situation first. It’s best if we can resolve this peacefully.”

Qi Mengyu interjected, “Yes. They have seven people. We need to be careful.”

Ding Longyun snorted. “If they are willing to talk and return our supplies, I won’t cause trouble for them. But if they are difficult and refuse to return them…”

He looked at Su Li and Gong Xiao. “What do we do then?”

Su Li said nothing. Gong Xiao hesitated, then took a breath and said, “We’ll decide when we get there.”

Su Li, Ding Longyun, and Gong Xiao were all Level 6. With Su Li on their side, the group was not afraid despite the seven opponents. They preferred a peaceful solution but were ready for a confrontation if necessary.

As the raft rapidly approached the building, they could finally see two rafts moored next to the building’s water edge. One raft was already fully loaded with supplies, and the other was half-loaded. Several people were busy moving the last of the supplies up and down the stairs.

Ding Longyun’s eyes widened. He saw that the supplies were indeed the ones he had painstakingly collected. A feeling of anger surged up, but he forcefully suppressed it. He conceded that Gong Xiao was right. They had been gone for two days. It was understandable for others to assume the supplies were abandoned and move them.

Two people stood on the already loaded raft, smoking and talking. They had spotted Su Li’s group approaching.

Su Li’s group, on their huge raft, was quite conspicuous. It was hard for them not to be noticed.

One man was standing on the 31st floor balcony. He looked to be in his twenties, wearing a denim suit, an afro, and a thick gold chain the size of his little finger. He had a flippant demeanor and was chewing on a toothpick. He was observing the five people on the approaching raft.

“Interesting. Three of the five people are women. These two men are certainly lucky to have so many beautiful women, bah!” he muttered to himself, spitting out the toothpick.

“But women are useless in a fight. The only ones who can really fight are the two men. Even if they are both Level 6, we still outnumber them.” He shook his head, a look of nonchalance on his face.

“Brother Xue, we’ve almost finished moving the supplies. Should we leave now, or wait for these people?” A short man, less than 1.6 meters tall, walked up to him, his face eager to please.

(End of Chapter)