The Ultimate Evolution

Party Ace could pretty much confirm that Bind had f*cked off by now, or at the very least, he could only watch without interfering like a vegetative patient. Otherwise, he could have easily wiped them out, especially when they almost fell into the fissure a moment ago. A well aimed volcanic bomb or a light mechanical failure at that instant would have been enough to send them to their graves.

With the abnormal ability that he had, Party Ace would have been in deep trouble back then!

At the moment, looking down from the helicopter, the scenery on the ground was magnificently tragic, especially at the seaside. An area of land almost half the size of a city had swelled upwards and burst open, as if a powerful underground creature were pushing the land up. All the high-rise buildings and cars, the symbols of human achievement in technology and architecture, were either tilted, collapsed, or destroyed.

In another fissure on the plate, red magma surged. The half-flame, half-ocean phenomenon painted a magnificent but bizarre picture!

Seeing the destruction on the land, the children covered their mouths and sobbed in a low voice. Gradually, the eyes of the adults were filled with tears too. Facing such a disaster, countries, political parties and professions did not matter any longer. The only thing of importance was the survival of the human race.

After flying for hundreds of kilometers, they could see that the flat plains had it worst in the earthquake. Mountainous areas fared relatively better because they had thicker crust below them, but only relatively. After all, the earthquake in mountainous areas had also reached magnitude 8. The destructive power of landslides and mudslides were astonishing too!

Zi had been tuning the radio all this while. Suddenly, a hoarse cry came from the radio. Their attention was immediately attracted to it.

This voice was totally unfamiliar to the storyline characters.

But Party Ace, who had done their homework before, knew who it was. The person was another key storyline character, Charlie Frost, and this was his live radio broadcast. Charlie Frost was a paranoid radio host and scientist who had somehow found out about the end of the world. It was from him that the protagonist, Jackson Curtis, had acquired the map to the arks in Tibet in the original plot.

When the government began to loosen their tight grip, Charlie launched a radio program to report on the news of the end of the world. He even tried to explain the cause and effect of the apocalypse to the public using animation. In the original plot, he would witness the eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera and, of course, die there.

“…”

“I saw the earth crumble with my own eyes.”

“The ashes from this unbelievably violent volcanic eruption will first enshroud over Las Vegas, then St. Louis, and then Chicago.”

“And finally!”

“The lights will go out in Washington too!”

Charlie delivered his speech in a hoarse voice. Suddenly, an exclamation of surprise came from the radio.

“Huh? Who are you guys? What are you guys doing here?”

“AAAAAAHHH….”

Following that was nothing but static. Sheyan and Zi exchanged glances and said in unison, “Someone’s trying to rescue storyline characters that will die? They’re also trying to change the plot!”

Charlie, who was on live broadcast a moment ago, had obviously been taken away, and those who rescued him had to be contestants too.

“Why did they save Charlie?” Zi could not help wondering.

Sheyan shook his head. “I don’t know. Is there anything special with this storyline character?”

“Logically speaking, all the other contestants have chosen the Destruction side. It’s weird that they would actually save someone,” replied Reef while appearing to be deep in thought.

They still wished to continue discussing this topic, but at that moment, Zi finally found the frequency for the encrypted channel. After keying in the relevant signal, the communication was established.

“This is Future 3. I repeat, this is Future 3. Calling The Brain.”

“The Future” was the nickname given to their organisation by the legendary figures in the base, and “The Brain” was, without a doubt, Professor X’s nickname.

A reply soon came from the “Stonehenge”, the airship formation under Professor X’s control.

“Glad to know that you’re alright, my friends. What’s your situation now?”

Sheyan smiled bitterly. “We’re in a terrible situation. I’m sitting in a hijacked Black Hawk helicopter – the Pentagon will probably never forgive me for a whole series of violent acts I committed – but more importantly, our helicopter’s landing gear is bent worse than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There’s no way it can support the helicopter’s weight when we land.”

“The Leaning Tower of Pisa is no more, my friend. Even the statue of “Christ the Redeemer” on the Corcovado Mountain in Brazil, 2,330 feet above sea level, has collapsed,” Professor X’s peaceful voice came through the communicator.

“The situation of the area you’re in is quite bad. I believe the Pentagon won’t have the time to investigate the small issue of a missing Black Hawk helicopter. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“What’s your current location?” asked Sheyan seriously.

“We’re still in New York,” answered Professor X.

“What? You’re still in New York?” Sheyan frowned. “Be careful of the storm that will come together with the tsunami. The airships should rise to the top of the troposphere to avoid them before then.”

Professor X replied with a wry smile, “We have no choice, Mr. Seaman, we can only take the risk. The time of the start of the apocalypse you gave us was a little early, and we’ve sustained some losses, so we can only spend some time in New York now to take in some people.”

When Sheyan heard that, he could immediately imagine the embarrassing situation Professor X was in previously when he was accused of being a liar. Sheyan could only say apologetically, “It’s regrettable that there were some minor mistakes. You guys must be careful. Mind the time; don’t lose everything for small gains.”

Professor X assured Sheyan, “When it comes to major incidents like the end of the world, a bit of time error is inconsequential. As for the problem of storms, we have Storm with us. She can sense storms ahead of time. We plan to stay in New York for two more hours. Are you coming to join us now?”

Sheyan refused. “No, there’s still enough fuel on the chopper. By the way, Mr. Jackson Curtis, the person I sent back, is he all right?”

“According to you, this unsuccessful writer is an important node in the future, so we’re carefully protecting him. But he’s not in New York currently; he’s in Washington,” said Professor X.

“Did something happen?” asked Sheyan.

“The helicopter he took was attacked by some unidentified people. Fortunately, we sent a Vampire Duke to bring him back, and the Duke beat the assailants back. After that, the apocalypse arrived. Just to be safe, and to avoid fights as much as possible, they went to Washington instead.”

“Then I’ll go to Washington too,” Sheyan declared decisively.

“There’s a branch airship factory in Washington which we’ve worked together with the government to set up. They should be there right now. Mystique is in charge there, we can ask her to hand over command to you,” said Professor X.

***

Probably because the Black Hawk helicopter had taken in a large amount of volcanic ash, Zi did not dare to raise its flying speed to the maximum. When she tried, the helicopter engine would make noises like the sound of an old man who had smoked for sixty years coughing. Therefore, they took shockingly long to arrived in Washington. Fortunately, they still arrived in time.

Jackson Curtis was no doubt exhilarated to see that his ex-wife, son and daughter were all safe. He waved a flare from below excitedly to send a signal to them. However, the helicopter’s landing gear was broken, so Zi could only let it hover in mid-air about a meter off the ground, and let the others down first.

Jackson gave his daughter and son a fierce hug, but he looked a bit embarrassed in front of his ex-wife, Kate. But when Gordon, who was equally embarrassed, jumped off the plane with the sexy-looking lady, Brooke, on his back, Jackson rushed up to Kate and hugged her tightly. Kate burst into tears in his arms.

Zi then steered the helicopter far away before Reef pulled her out of the cockpit with ‘Holy Grasp’. In this way, though the helicopter soon crashed and turned into a big ball of fire, all its passengers landed safely.

At this time, amidst Jackson Curtis’ happy family reunion, Party Ace received a string of notifications.

[ Congratulations on completing the emergency mission ‘Jackson Curtis’ Request’, Silver Party: Party Ace. ]

[ Jackson Curtis’ ex-wife Kate, his son Noah, and his daughter Lilly have all survived the end of the world. ]

[ You have also saved the key storyline character Gordon and his girlfriend Brooke. Your mission completion rate has increased. ]

[ Each of you received…. ]

[ Data disorder, calculation in progress…. ]

[ Each of you received the reward of 1 utility point. ]

Everyone immediately started cursing when they saw the reward, but soon, they received a notification from Noah Realm C:

[ As compensation for completing this emergency mission, I will now give you your reward…. I will grant you two wishes. Of course, the wishes must be within a reasonable scope, and they cannot be something beyond my jurisdiction. You better think carefully before you make a wish, because once you do, even if I can’t fulfil it, the wish would be gone. ]

Sheyan pondered for a while, then spoke in the party channel, “Can you guys let me decide the two wishes?”

The others had no objection. This was Sheyan’s privilege. He quickly decided.

“My first wish is….”