The Ultimate Evolution

“WHAT! Are you serious! Thousands of arks, that’s impossible, impossible!!! China have so many duplicate arks in the world of 2012?! Even if they’re just duplicates, this is nothing short of a miracle!”

“I exchanged for this piece of information with a dark gold accessory. The trade was overseen by the Realm, so it must be true. Don’t forget, this country’s population accounts for nearly one sixth of the world population. Although population is no longer a deciding factor in war in this era, it’s still a deciding factor in manufacturing, especially in the manufacturing of arks, which requires the strength of the whole nation!!”

“My God, at least a thousand arks… Although each ark is only designed to carry 10,000 people, that’s only in the case where the standard cabins are all 35 square meters in size (two-person cabin plus a separate bathroom). If the carrying capacity is pushed to the limit, each ark can hold at least 100,000 people! In fact, every ark carried 100,000 people in the original movie plot and ended up safe and sound.”

“That means, even if only half the duplicate arks survive in the end, China will have 50 million survivors…while all the other nations combined will only have 400,000 people.”

“Can you imagine what will happen? Humans are social creatures, and a group of 400,000 people blending into a group of 50 million people is like a pinch of salt thrown into the sea! In less than fifty years, the Chinese will become the rulers of Earth without shedding a drop of blood!”

“If we can get our hands on convincing evidence and make it public, can you imagine what will happen to the whole world? World War 3 might break out before the apocalypse! Think about it, what an amazing change in the plot that would be! As people who cause this change, can you imagine the astonishing rewards we will reap?”

“So you think the ark construction site is here in Chengdu?”

“No, I think it’s in Tibet too, but the construction of the arks will certainly be put under the control of the army. According to the Chinese military system, the whole country is divided into seven military regions. Tibet is in the Southwest Military Region, and the main station of the Southwest Military Region is in Chengdu. That’s why we’re here. We must move very carefully here in order to find a clue.”

“Look, it’s the main mission.”

“To hell with the main mission. Don’t we have an item that can exempt us from mission failure penalties?”

***

Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City.

A muscular man stared at the holy Vatican Palace in the distance. He then took a deep breath and exclaimed with excitement, “Is this the air of a planet that’s about to end? Why does it feel so fresh to me?”

He was wearing a flowery shirt with a low neckline which fully exposed the bright red, crescent-shaped scar on his chest.

That drew some laughter from a guy next to him, whose hair was tied in a ponytail behind his head, looking a little like Robert from King of Fighters.

( TL: https://snk.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Garcia )

“I’m so glad we didn’t hear the notification of our main mission failing as soon as we enter this world. That group of monsters from the last world was so irritating.”

The man with the scar shrugged. “I’m sorry to say this, Carlos, but we’ll probably fail our main mission this time too.”

“Why?!”

“Because I can already smell that thing… Yes, it seems that the Lance of Longinus really is kept here in St. Peter’s Basilica. The lance has been worshipped here for thousands of years by pious believers. The body has already decayed, but it’s good enough to be the soul of my weapon!”

“Considering how strict the security of St. Peter’s Basilica is and how long the Holy Church has been here, where hundreds of millions of people have been focusing their worship and prayers for centuries, even the powerful contestants couldn’t go up against them normally.”

“Under normal circumstances, we’d be powerless too. But now that the global cataclysm is coming, even the famous Mona Lisa painting has been evacuated; the Vatican will definitely send someone to transfer the sacred object away too! They won’t let the lance be buried under the sea forever! This’ll be a great opportunity for us to rob it!”

The Lance of Longinus was the second of the Six Sacred Vessels of the Holy Church, and the fourth of the Thirteen Sacred Objects!

Legend has it that with the lance in hand, every enemy within 120 feet would submit to you. The person who held the lance would decide the fate of the world, but a person who lost it would instantly die. In the ancient Roman Empire, the lance was a symbol of authority. Many successful monarchs had won countless battles with this lance in hand.

Legend also has it that Hitler once had the weapon, and he died 60 minutes after the holy lance fell into the hands of the U.S. Army.

The man with a scar actually wanted to make the Lance of Longinus the soul of his weapon. This could only mean two things. One, the strength of this guy was likely shocking. Two, his weapon was probably so strong that it was something on par with the Lance of Longinus!

“But the main mission this time doesn’t look very hard. We only need to place top ten on the leaderboard to complete the mission….”

“Let’s see. Cause chaos by assassinating the leader of various nations. Each kill gives 30 points.”

“Assassinate the following key storyline characters: Jackson Curtis (author) – 30 points, Dr. Adrian Helmsley (chief science advisor to the U.S. President) – 30 points.”

“Charlie Frost(radio host and conspiracy theorist in possession of a map with the arks’ location) – 20 points, Carl Anheuser (White House Chief of Staff, the fat man who will later become the acting commander-in-chief) – 20 points.”

“Obtaining an Ark ticket – 10 points, destroying an ark – 1000 points, destroying a non-official survival vehicle – 100 points!”

“Wow, look at that. There are actually people who chose the Salvation side. Killing a contestant on the opposite side – 30 points!”

“I truly believe that we can have the best of both worlds, boss. Considering the strength of our party, we’ll probably still get first place even if we split up into two groups. Think about it. Transporting the Lance of Longinus must be done in secret, so there’s no way the Pope could do it himself. At most, he’ll send his most trusted Cardinals. I think you’re strong enough to handle them by yourself, boss. With Razor and Steel File helping you, there’ll definitely be no problem.”

“Let me think, Carlos….”

***

The city of Virginia, Nevada, U.S.A.

It was nighttime. A heavy rain covered the whole city in water. The occasional noise made by the engines of the vehicles passing by sounded like the city’s groan.

A sudden flash of lightning pierced through the sky, illuminating the rooftop of a building. No one was there a second ago, but now, there were suddenly four people.

Four people, each with different figures.

“What the hell! How did the sky change from a bright sunset to a rainy night in the blink of an eye?” yelled a short, fat man, who was visibly annoyed at being drenched by the cold rain.

“I believe the world has moved forward by seventy-two hours in just a few seconds,” said a small, thin person.

“How can something like this happen, KD?” A one-eyed person quickly walked towards a nearby cover while shouting curses, “Damn it, I hate being wet.”

(TL: The one-eyed person is just blind in one eye, probably wearing an eyepatch like a pirate. He doesn’t actually have only one eye. )

“It should be a special privilege given to the party that chose the Salvation route, in order to compensate for their strategic disadvantage,” KD, the thin, short man, guessed.

This guy was wearing something that looked like both a pair of glasses and a pair of binoculars. It made him look weird, like a twentieth century pilot. When the raindrops fell on the lens, they actually splashed away like they had hit a high-speed rotating propeller. It was very strange.

The short, fat man cried out again. It seemed like he was a nervous man.

“The main mission has been refreshed. Oh, it doesn’t look too hard…”

“Forget about the damn main mission,” said KD coldly, “We mustn’t get sidetracked before our lord’s will is implemented! Don’t forget, the lord’s power is omnipotent!”

KD’s words immediately silenced all of them. For a while, only the sound of wind, rain and thunder could be heard on the roof of the building.

After a long while, KD said unhurriedly, “Since the opponents had three days of preparation time, they’ve definitely used the apocalypse as a bargaining chip to form alliances with legendary figures in this world, build relationships with them, and even provide them with the necessary information to help them build survival vehicles. Their interests are now intertwined, so it’s impractical for us to face the opponents head on.”

“However, even if the Realms have given them some advantage because they’re the weaker side, there must be a limit to how much they can expand! The number of legendary figures the opponents can form alliances with will definitely be limited to a certain amount. There’s no way they can have every legendary figure on their side.”

“The governments in this world are already building arks, so they must have controlled the necessary rare metals. This will certainly lead to a competition for resources among the private manufacturing factions. The essence behind this competition is a struggle for survival, so it’ll definitely be intense with no possibility of reconciliation. Therefore, our best chance is to ambush them while they’re in conflict. They may be powerful, but with the help of our lord’s will, we can certainly win. That’s my opinion.”

This time, the final person, a tall, burly man, finally spoke. The man had bulging muscles all over his body, but not the bodybuilder kind – more like those of NBA athletes and sprinters, filled with explosive force.

He said unhurriedly, “According to the latest intel, our lord has sent three teams to deal with those guys. We’re only one of those teams, and only one team can get the final reward! Let’s do our best! Move out!”