The Ultimate Evolution

The sky was engulfed in darkness. Lightning would flash below the airships from time to time, illuminating the ruined land thousands of meters underneath. The higher grounds were tenaciously resisting the erosion of the violent sea water, but with little success. Large lumps of volcanic ash floated high in the troposphere like poisonous tumours. Even lightning flashes could hardly penetrate through them. Such a bizarre but magnificent view could hardly be seen once in a person’s lifetime normally.

In the topmost cabin of a giant airship, a group of people sat together under a bright light. A high-powered communication device was making rustling noises. The communication satellite launched into space before this was still functioning faithfully.

With a feeling of trepidation, a staff member tuned the high-powered communication device to the band agreed on before the apocalypse… It was a dead silence, only the noises made by the storm could be heard.

The black staff member’s thick lips closed and parted. He spoke into the microphone with tremendous anxiety and pressure.

“This is Air Force One. This is Air Force One. We have forty-three thousand survivors. They are all in good condition, with their own beds and access to hot food. If anyone can hear me, please respond. If you have any difficulties, we will try our best to help you.”

There was still no reply. Only the echoes of his hoarse, tired voice could be heard. All of them waited quietly, despair slowly rising in their hearts like the tide.

Suddenly, a calm voice broke the uncomfortable silence.

“This is Noah’s Ark D. I’m Captain Stephen. I beg your pardon, but….Air Force One should already be submerged under the water in Cho Ming Valley right now. Please reveal your true identity.”

Sally, the President’s secretary, bent down and said solemnly into the microphone, “This is Sally, the President’s chief secretary. You’re putting the cart before the horse, Captain Stephen! Only an aircraft carrying the President of the United States is fit to be called Air Force One! The Boeing 747 S7M3B does not deserve this honourable title if it has no President on it!”

The man on the other end was taken aback. His tone became much more polite.

“Did a miracle really happen? We lost all contact with the White House after the devastating earthquake hit Washington.”

Another voice suddenly joined in the conversation.

“This is Lieutenant General Agil from Secret Base B in Alaska. The base is submerged under the water but we’re all safe. The earthquake has fortunately avoided us. I’m also reporting on behalf of Secret Base D and Secret Base E, who cannot establish communication because their communication devices were destroyed. We have 160,000 survivors on our side. Finally, I’d like to know if President Wilson is really alive still?”

The moment the report from Alaska finished, another voice interjected.

“This is Team Tuna. I repeat, this is Team Tuna.”

Team Tuna was an emergency organisation formed by the United States after it learned of China’s replica ark operation, for similar purposes. It was also the government’s greatest hope. Hearing Team Tuna reporting in, everyone held their breath. To put it bluntly, the future revival of the United States’ glory and their global status would all rely upon the success of Team Tuna.

“Our casualty rate is 23.1%. The plan can be considered a success! Again, the question from before, is Mr. President really okay?”

All of them erupted in joy upon hearing the news, because it meant that millions of Americans had survived. More and more news transmitted over the encrypted channel, both official and private ones. All of them enquired about the President.

Ever since President Wilson announced his determination to stay together with the people, his prestige had risen to a level that was almost comparable to the first president in American history. Such a strong, charismatic personality had made his stature soar high in the hearts of all American citizens.

President Wilson sat down at the table and slowly said in a hoarse, tired voice, “This is Wilson. I’m sailing 12 kilometers above the ground with the last 43,000 American survivors from Washington. I’ve never hated destiny so strongly, for it almost made this great and proud race that is mankind extinct. And I’ve also never been so grateful at destiny, for even in such a difficult circumstance, it still gives us a glimmer of hope at life. Long live the United States of America!”

***

“Hmm?” What’s this?” As President Wilson’s tired but resolute voice died away, a strange list of data appeared in Party Ace’s visions.

[ China: Number of people rescued directly or indirectly: 54,771,109. ]

[ The United States: Number of people rescued directly or indirectly: 9,817,211. ]

[ Your party has won the gratitude of Jackson Curtis. ]

[ Your party has won the gratitude of Dr. Gordon Silberman. ]

[ Your party has won the friendship of Mr. G, a global leader. ]

[ Your party has won the friendship of President Wilson, a global leader. ]

[ Calculation in progress… ]

[ ….. ]

[ ….. ]

[ ….. ]

[ Congratulations Party Ace, you have accomplished a Glorious Feat: ‘Saviour’! In the midst of the apocalyptic world of 2012, you succeeded in saving the lives of at least five million people who should have died! ]

[ The completion rating of your Glorious Feat: B. The reward: + 10 achievement points for all party members. ]

[ A Glorious Feat is the ultimate secret hidden in every world. Each Glorious Feat is unique and is extremely hard to discover. Once a contestant achieves the Glorious Feat in a certain world, other contestants will no longer be able to do so. ]

[ You have triggered the relevant conditions. All of you receives the bonus reward of Legend Level + 1, but if you choose to accept this, you will no longer be able to receive the reward for completing your main mission. ]

[ Would you like to receive this reward? ( Yes / No ) ]

[ Outside of combat, Legend Level can enhance your reputation among storyline characters in any Nightmare World. 1 point of Legend Level will decrease the required reputation point to raise your reputation with any faction by 10%, and let you enjoy a 10% discount when you trade with all storyline characters. It will also grant you the right to speak directly with certain storyline characters of high statuses. ]

[ In combat, 1 point of Legend Level will increase your dodge rate and hit rate by 5%. ]

[ Legend Level will also raise your evaluation rating when you complete a mission! ]

Everyone was stunned. Never could they have thought that they would get such a powerful reward for sticking to Sheyan’s rescue policy. Legend Level!

Although Sheyan’s Legend Level had not made much of an appearance lately, a lot of that had to do with the fact that after Sheyan became a Growth Hunter, the difficulties of the worlds he experienced were too high. But even then, the only function of Legend Level that had not been showing much of an effect was the last one, “Legend Level will also raise your evaluation rating when you complete a mission”. (TL: Probably because all his main missions lately have been crazy hard so he could only aim for low evaluation ratings.)

The other functions of Legend Level had been quietly in play in the background.

In truth, the other members of Party Ace had been enviously eyeing Sheyan’s single point of Legend Level for a long time. How could the reward of the main mission compare to that? Moreover, if they could migrate Melody’s entire race out of the Lord of the Rings world, they would get another point of Legend Level, and that was something that would definitely happen soon. Good things really do come in pairs.

Following that, Party Ace received the notifications that they had completed the main mission with a very low evaluation rating, and the reward was only 5,000 utility points. It could be seen from the reward how hard they were slacking on the main mission.

After that, they were given an hour of preparation time before they had to return to the Realm. Sheyan had no plan to do anything big in this one hour. He only intended to hand over the responsibilities in his hands to President Wilson before he left.

***

“…And that’s it. This is the layout plan of the mothership showing all the food storage areas. The airships will probably have stay afloat for about fifteen days. Considering that there will certainly be some passengers who will show irrational emotions and reactions, I suggest you to form a temporary armed force to maintain order.”

“I see.” Although the President’s deep-sunken eyes showed that he was already really tired, he still tried his best to take in Sheyan’s every word. He was even jotting them down in a notebook lest he forget.

“What’s your opinion on mutants and vampires who don’t actively attack humans, Mr. President?” Sheyan asked tentatively.

“We welcome all forces who have kind intentions. We tried to give them the respect and treatment they deserve even when we were at our strongest, let alone now.”

Sheyan nodded in satisfaction upon hearing the President’s reply. In his opinion, Professor X had no experience in politics at all. His specialty lay in soothing the people’s hearts. Sheyan felt that the post-disaster rebuild should be left to President Wilson, who had a lot more experience in these matters. Professor X might just make things worse if he took over rashly.

The most suitable field for Professor X was actually religion. He could unreservedly use his mental touch to comfort the people’s hearts, like a Pope. A governing system which had both church and state, but separate from each other, should be the most suitable one for the post-apocalyptic period.