328: Chapter 328 The Gate of Light Piercing Heaven and Earth

Zhang Lei followed the crowd toward the assembly ground.

The assembly ground was a flat concrete area capable of holding tens of thousands of people.

He walked to the position for Group 17, Section A, and stood ready, glancing left and right.

The assembly ground was densely packed with people.

Everyone was dressed in the same dark green training uniforms, standing in square formations.

Zhang Lei estimated the number of people—there were over ten thousand within his line of sight alone, and people were still pouring in from the other end of the assembly ground.

He had been a soldier and had seen large-scale gatherings before.

But back then, it was all soldiers, standing straight and following orders strictly.

It was different here.

Most of the people here were ordinary civilians.

Some stood slouched, some were talking to the person next to them, some were stomping their feet to keep warm, and some were craning their necks to look toward the perimeter wall.

But even so, when a hundred thousand people stood on the same field, that density itself created a sense of oppression.

People were shoulder to shoulder, square formations connected to square formations, stretching all the way to the edge of the assembly ground.

Six-thirty.

The hundred thousand people began to move on foot.

The line was very long; the people at the front had already left while those at the back hadn't moved yet. Zhang Lei's group was roughly in the front-middle position. He followed the person ahead, passing through the main corridor of the barracks area and through the gate in the perimeter wall.

After passing the wall, the scenery on both sides of the road changed.

The prefabricated houses were gone, replaced by the large buildings he had seen from a distance earlier; now they were right beside the road, within arm's reach.

Seeing them up close was even more shocking.

Signs and serial numbers he didn't understand were embedded in the walls of those buildings. Some buildings had their doors open, revealing corridors and equipment inside, with people in white coats walking back and forth.

The road was very wide, enough for at least twenty people to walk abreast.

The road surface wasn't ordinary asphalt or concrete—Zhang Lei glanced down and saw it was a light gray material. It felt slightly elastic when stepped on, a very strange sensation underfoot.

The procession walked for about twenty minutes.

Then it stopped.

The people in front stopped moving.

Zhang Lei looked forward through the gaps in the crowd.

The line had stopped at a massive plaza.

At the end of the plaza was an arc-shaped building with a full glass curtain wall on the front, brightly lit inside.

But no one was looking at that building.

Everyone was looking at the objects in the very center of the plaza.

Four massive portals of light.

They were blue, red, black, and gold, respectively.

Rising vertically from the ground, they were about thirty meters in diameter and at least sixty meters high.

Zhang Lei's pores were opening.

The hair all over his body stood on end.

“What on earth are these things? Projections? Lights? Drones? But they don't look like any of those!”

The hundred thousand people on the plaza fell silent.

No one spoke.

And certainly, no one moved about aimlessly.

Everyone stood in place, heads tilted back, staring at those four light portals that pierced through heaven and earth.

Zhang Lei didn't know how long he stood there.

It might have been three minutes, or perhaps ten.

His neck grew sore from looking up before he realized he had been staring at those four light portals the whole time.

The people around him were much the same, all looking as if they had been frozen in place.

Until the broadcast rang out.

“Will all groups please follow the guides' instructions and proceed to your corresponding lecture halls in an orderly manner.”

The broadcast repeated three times.

Only then did the crowd begin to move slowly, like a pot of water that had just come to a boil—first a few scattered bubbles, then a full churning surge.

Guides stood at the edge of the plaza holding numbered signs; Zhang Lei followed the sign for Section A.

He glanced back—those four light portals were still there, standing quietly in the center of the plaza as if they had always been there.

The lecture hall could seat five thousand people.

The hundred thousand people were divided into twenty-four batches, with each batch staying in the lecture hall for forty minutes.

Zhang Lei was in the first batch.

He sat in a middle-rear position in the lecture hall. In front of him was a massive curved screen that bent from one end of the wall to the other, almost wrapping around the entire front wall.

A middle-aged man in military uniform stood on the stage, with shoulder straps pinned with two bars and four stars.

A Senior Colonel.

Zhang Lei recognized this Rank.

The Senior Colonel didn't waste words.

“Every one of you has signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement. From this moment on, all information you are told is classified as Top Secret. Leaking any content, whether intentional or not, will result in prosecution under the maximum terms of the State Secrets Law.”

He paused for two seconds, scanning the audience below.

“The visual Materials being played now are real. They are not special effects, not animations, and not simulations, but events that actually happened.”

The screen lit up.

The first segment of footage was aerial.

The camera looked down from a high altitude. Below was a grayish-yellow wasteland, the horizon was curved, and the sky was leaden gray.

Things were moving on the wasteland.

Many things.

Densely packed gray humanoid figures, in the thousands and tens of thousands, moved from one end of the frame to the other without end.

The way they walked was wrong—stiff, swaying, as if they were forcing themselves to move despite broken joints.

“Zombie World,” the Senior Colonel’s voice came through the speakers, devoid of any emotion. “Connected via the first portal. A Forward Base has currently been established in that world, and the zombie threat is basically under control.”

The screen switched.

The second segment was from a ground perspective.

A wide street, flanked by the ruins of smashed buildings.

At the end of the street, a massive humanoid creature was slowly walking past.

Its height was estimated to be over sixty meters.

Its face was a human face with all the features, but the proportions were wrong—the eyes were too large, the curve of the mouth was too deep, and the entire face looked like a mask that had been pulled out of shape.

With every step it took, the ground shook.

In the footage, the camera could be seen trembling slightly.

“Giant World. The second portal. The threat in this world has been eliminated.”

The third segment of footage was even shorter.

A dark underground tunnel. A flashlight beam swept across the cave walls, which were densely covered with fist-sized black beetles.

Then the camera turned forward. Deep in the tunnel was a writhing mass—an insect at least ten meters long, its body divided into many segments, each with sharp limbs.

Someone in the lecture hall gasped.

“Zerg World. The third portal. This world currently has a low level of development.”

The screen went dark for a second.

Then the image that lit up was completely different.

A forest.

A massive, lush green forest where the tree canopies merged into one. Sunlight spilled through the gaps, and golden specks of light floated in the air—not dust, but something finer, particles with a faint glow.

“Yaowu World. The fourth portal.”

The Senior Colonel’s tone changed slightly—not becoming excited, but becoming more solemn.

“In this world, there exists an energy called ‘Spiritual Qi.’ By Cultivating Spiritual Qi through specific methods, humans can significantly enhance their physical fitness, sensory abilities, and combat power. The reason you were selected is that your bodies possess a special Innate condition—the Root Bone. Your Root Bone Rank determines your efficiency in absorbing and utilizing Spiritual Qi. Everyone present has a Root Bone Rank of B-level or higher.”

The screen switched to a chart.

The horizontal axis of the chart was Root Bone Rank, from E to SSS.

The vertical axis was the multiplier for Cultivation efficiency.

A number was marked at the B-level position: 15 times that of an ordinary person.

A-level: 25 times.

S-level: 60 times.

“You will enter the Yaowu World and undergo systematic Cultivation studies in a base named ‘Dawn City.’ The training period is a minimum of one month, adjusted based on individual progress. During your Cultivation, your room and board will be fully guaranteed by the state, and your families will enjoy corresponding allowances and preferential policies.”

The Senior Colonel put his hands behind his back.

“There are two things you need to be clear about. First, the Yaowu World is not safe. There are a large number of dangerous wild creatures there, ranging from Rank One to Rank Five. The combat power of high-Rank Yao Beasts far exceeds your current level. However, your activity area will be inside Dawn City and the surrounding safe zones, which have a complete defense System, so there is no need for excessive worry.”

“Second, Cultivation itself carries risks. Accidents may occur during the process of Spiritual Qi impacting the Meridians. Although the probability is very low, it is not zero.”