365: Witness history and welcome a new era

Boom, boom.

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, rolling like a tide.

Rumbles of thunder exploded behind the clouds, as if a giant beast hidden within was roaring.

Looking down from the sky.

The hexagonal Shangjing City was completely enveloped in shadow.

If not for the setting sun's afterglow shining from Xishan.

This capital city of Jiuzhou would surely be plunged into complete darkness.

On the streets, gusts of demonic wind swept through, kicking up sand and dust.

Wailing and sharp air raid sirens echoed through every corner of the city.

Six long, three short.

This was the highest level of alert.

It signified an invasion by a Monarch, or even an Emperor Tier monster.

Since the founding of the Federation, an alarm of this magnitude had never been sounded.

"What's going on? This sounds like... an Emperor Tier monster invasion!?"

"No way! I've only seen invasions of this scale in textbooks!"

"Good heavens, I missed the cataclysm, I missed the civil war, but I've caught the end of the world?"

"No! I've been Awakened for less than a year, and I'm just getting ready to punch through the Eight Desolations and kick across the Four Seas... Can't you give me some time to develop?"

Hearing the alarm, the citizens of Shangjing City were all stunned.

They didn't even have time to feel fear or panic, only disbelief.

It was clearly a beautiful, peaceful morning.

How could it suddenly be the end?

"This feels a bit outrageous, is this an exercise?"

"Yeah, an invasion of this scale should have had precursors."

"It must be an exercise, I can't quite accept this."

On the streets, most people remained frozen in place.

It could only be said that Tianji Pavilion's pre-war preparations were too covert.

The citizens of Shangjing City couldn't detect the slightest hint of an impending storm.

They simply refused to believe that an Emperor Tier monster had truly descended.

Invasions of this scale had only appeared three times in historical records.

And the outcome of all three disasters was the fall of cities, the loss of life, and rivers of blood.

Just as everyone was unwilling to accept reality, Si Zhenfeng's voice rang out over the broadcast.

"Fellow compatriots."

"Shangjing City is facing a direct invasion."

"The scale of the invasion and the strength of the incoming opponents are unprecedented."

"Please, fellow compatriots, do not panic, and proceed in an orderly manner to the city's shelters."

"Tianji Pavilion has prepared ample supplies and food, fully capable of ensuring your survival."

"Furthermore, all soldiers within Shangjing City are prepared to fight to the death."

"We have the capability, the conditions, and the confidence to repel all invaders."

"The Hao Sun never sets, Shenzhou never perishes."

"Please, join me in witnessing history."

The broadcast played repeatedly.

But the streets and alleys of Shangjing City were silent.

Soon, however, a chorus of screams erupted.

"It's over, it's over! An Emperor Tier monster invasion is really happening!"

"How could there be no warning at all? I study space; if monsters are to invade on a large scale, the rift in space must be considerable, which would cause spatial tremors in advance. Didn't the Jiuzhou high-level officials notice this?"

"Stop showing off your knowledge! Are the high-level officials dumber than you? Hurry to the underground shelter! If an Emperor Tier monster arrives, even the aftershock of a single skill could kill us!"

Immediately, the streets descended into chaos.

Their illusions shattered, the citizens finally felt fear.

In the face of death, few could remain calm, all scrambling to the shelters in a panic.

Fortunately, Tianji Pavilion had long anticipated this.

The city defense forces, already in position, quickly occupied the streets and began to maintain order.

With their guidance, the chaotic situation quickly stabilized.

However, this did not dispel the fear in the hearts of the people.

Every monster invasion in history could be seen as a disaster.

Not to mention the slaughter of humans by monsters.

The problems of power outages and food shortages also caused fear.

In the recorded invasion archives, cases of entire cities starving to death were not uncommon.

"The monsters came so suddenly, this time there's truly no time to prepare!"

"Exactly! Without preparation time, how can they guarantee sufficient supplies?"

"I hope I die quickly when the time comes, I don't want to starve to death!"

With trepidation and anxiety, the citizens successively entered the shelters.

But upon actually arriving at the underground shelter, which was the size of a stadium, everyone discovered that it was already piled high with supplies.

Food, medicine, various magic crystals and other energy sources were all present, stacked like mountains.

"These... these supplies are new, all recent!"

"Could it be that the officials foresaw the invasion long ago?"

"Such a big event, yet not a single bit of information leaked out. Truly a traditional skill..."

"I knew it, the patriarchs of Jiuzhou wouldn't be dumber than us."

Seeing those supplies, people finally realized.

The high-level officials of Shangjing City had long prepared for a rainy day, getting everything ready.

Everyone settled down, their fear and anxiety beginning to dissipate.

The supplies in the shelter would surely sustain them for a long time.

As long as the monsters could be repelled, this disaster would not turn into a human tragedy.

But... could the city defense forces repel the monsters?

There hadn't been any successful cases of defending against an Emperor Rank monster siege, had there?

Thinking of this, the citizens became anxious once more.

But their worries were useless.

For now, they could only obey the arrangements and not cause trouble for the city defense.

After the citizens had settled in the shelter for a moment.

The display screens on the walls suddenly lit up.

The images shown were precisely the scenes of Shangjing City's various city walls.

Seeing this, some worldly people began to feel strange.

In a world of universal Professionals, martial Dao was highly revered.

Whether ordinary people or Professionals,

They were all very keen on watching combat footage.

Abroad, there were even variety shows themed around conquering Secret Realms,

Allowing ordinary people to ship the Professionals' CP and watch how the Professionals died on the show.

To put it simply, everyone enjoyed the sensory thrill of combat.

But the Jiuzhou officials had always been very cautious in this regard.

It was fine to learn relevant knowledge and summarize combat experience through video materials.

But if the images were too bloody, they would still be censored.

There were many reasons for doing so.

To prevent newly Awakened Professionals from being deterred.

To prevent Professionals from becoming overly bloodthirsty and brutal.

To preserve the last shred of dignity for fallen Professionals, and so on.

However... looking at the current setup, the officials seemed to be planning to live-stream the city defense battle?

City defense battles were far bloodier than conquering Secret Realms!

This was truly new for the Jiuzhou officials to do something like this!

Weren't they afraid that mentally fragile citizens would collapse directly after seeing the tragic battlefield?

"It seems the Jiuzhou officials are absolutely confident in winning this battle!"

In the crowd, someone's words enlightened everyone.

Jiuzhou people were always meticulous in their work; they would never do something they weren't confident about.

The fact that they dared to live-stream the battlefield showed that they were confident in fighting a glorious battle in front of everyone!

At this moment, a city defense soldier shouted loudly:

"Fellow compatriots, we are about to face a battle of the century."

"In this battle, we will see terrifying natural disasters and evil gods."

"But at the same time, we will also await the Holy Light of dawn and usher in a new era."

"We will witness history!"