11: Heavenly Changes

The editor's sharp alarm blared like steel needles, piercing Lin Mo's mind. Coupled with the sudden, heart-pounding oppressive feeling from outside the window, attacking him from both sides, it made his hair stand on end instantly!

Not a thunderstorm! Absolutely not!

He dashed to the window and yanked open the heavy curtains. The sky, which had just been overcast, was now completely covered by deep, dark purple clouds that seemed to absorb all light. The clouds churned and surged like boiling ink, and instead of silver-white lightning, a bizarre, dark red lightning, like congealed blood, streaked through them! The lightning exploded silently, illuminating the entire city with an eerie glow. The air was thick with a strange smell of sulfur mixed with ozone, and a mountain-heavy pressure made breathing difficult.

The streets instantly descended into chaos! The screeching brakes and twisting metal of uncontrolled colliding vehicles, the terrified screams of pedestrians, and the sounds of unexplained explosions from afar, all melded into a symphony of doomsday. The city's electrical system seemed severely disrupted; lights flickered wildly, then large areas plunged into darkness, with only the dark red sky, emergency lights, and car headlights outlining the chaotic city.

"Warning! Ultra-high intensity unknown energy field has formed! Coverage: entire city!"

"Energy field continuously strengthening... Analyzing properties... Analysis obstructed! Energy structure beyond cognitive scope!"

"Detecting large-scale reality stability fluctuations! Physical constants showing minor shifts (temporary)! Gravity, electromagnetism locally chaotic!"

"Warning! This phenomenon is not naturally formed! Suspected high-dimensional interference or super-standard reality editing result!"

High-dimensional interference? Super-standard reality editing?!

Lin Mo's heart felt as if it were gripped by a cold hand, almost stopping. He instantly thought of many things: Had the Blood Moon Cult summoned an even more terrifying existence? Had the Anomaly Investigation Bureau used some forbidden weapon? Or... other "editors"?

Whatever it was, this was not a power he could contend with now! This level of power far surpassed any existence he had encountered before, like the difference between a bright moon and a firefly!

The instinct for survival overrode all thought! He had to find shelter immediately! The "Order Stability" domain of the Antique Shop had long since vanished, and this small shop was as fragile as paper in the face of such divine might.

Go home? The rental apartment was equally unsafe!

The library? Too large, too many people, definitely not a good choice.

In a flash, a location crossed his mind—the underground rare book archive of the City Library! To preserve precious documents, it had a constant temperature, constant humidity, shockproof, and anti-theft system built to the highest standards. Its structure was solid, relatively enclosed, and usually sparsely populated!

That was the place!

He no longer hesitated, not even bothering to lock the shop door. He grabbed the black jade slip from the table and a few potentially useful small items, stuffing them into his pocket. Like an arrow shot from a bow, he rushed out of the Antique Shop, merging into the chaotic crowd outside.

The street was already a mess. Stalled cars blocked the road, panicked crowds ran and screamed like headless chickens, building glass shattered, and debris rained down. Even more terrifying, gravity seemed unstable; some suddenly felt their bodies lighten, almost floating, then the next moment felt their weight double, collapsing to the ground. Circuits on streetlights and signs crackled, sparks flying.

Lin Mo pushed the editor's microscopic deduction function to its limit. Although energy consumption surged, it allowed him to anticipate danger a few tenths of a second in advance: dodging out-of-control cars, avoiding falling billboards, and bypassing transformers that exploded due to electromagnetic chaos. He moved like a fish, navigating the turbulent currents with difficulty yet precision. The invisible "energy entanglement entity" also seemed suppressed by this greater cosmic anomaly, its misfortune drowned in the widespread disaster.

A journey that usually took twenty minutes on foot was shortened to less than ten minutes in this desperate sprint. When he saw the familiar outline of the City Library, his heart settled slightly, but the scene before him made his heart sink.

The main library building also had multiple broken windows, and many panicked citizens gathered at the entrance, trying to surge into the seemingly sturdy building for shelter. Staff members were desperately trying to maintain order, but with little success.

Lin Mo did not use the main entrance. He went around to an inconspicuous staff entrance on the side of the library. This was a shortcut to the underground book storage, requiring a special key card. Fortunately, as an administrator, he had access.

With trembling hands, he swiped the electronic lock, slipped into the passage, and then firmly closed the heavy fire door behind him, cutting off most of the chaos outside. The emergency lights in the passage were already on, providing dim illumination. He quickly ran down the cold concrete stairs.

The underground ancient book archive was on the second basement level, requiring another identity verification. When he finally opened the heavy metal sealed door and stepped into the archive, a constant stream of cold air, carrying the scent of books and insect repellent, rushed towards him. The archive was brightly lit, with the backup power system functioning normally. Rows of tall, dense shelves of ancient books stood like silent giants in the quiet space.

Here, he was temporarily safe.

He slid down to the floor, leaning against the cold metal door, gasping for air, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst from his chest. The editor's alarm continued to blare, but its intensity seemed to have weakened somewhat due to the deep underground location and the archive's own shielding effect.

"Entered a relatively shielded environment. External energy field interference reduced by 35%."

"Continuous monitoring... Energy field peak not yet reached... Reality stability fluctuations intensifying... Detecting spatial folding phenomenon..."

Spatial folding? Lin Mo's scalp tingled. This meant space itself was being distorted!

He struggled to his feet and walked to a workstation in the archive equipped with an internal communication phone and a monitoring screen. The monitor showed that the ground floor of the library was in disarray, with crowds pushing and constant cries. And through the only terminal connected to the external network, strictly shielded, he saw even more desperate news—

The network was almost paralyzed, with only fragmented information leaking out: extreme anomalous celestial phenomena appeared city-wide, accompanied by strong electromagnetic pulses, leading to widespread power outages, communication disruptions, and traffic paralysis. Multiple unexplained explosions and fires occurred. Witnesses claimed to have seen "the sky tearing open" or "huge shadows moving in the clouds." The official government had issued the highest level of emergency status, requesting all citizens to find sturdy shelters, but rescue efforts were difficult to deploy effectively due to the chaos.

Panic was spreading exponentially. This city was plummeting into an unknown abyss.

Lin Mo forced himself to calm down. Fear solved nothing. He had to figure out what was happening, and... what he could do? Or rather, how to survive this catastrophe?

He tried to use the editor for deduction, but as soon as the target was set to "analyze the source of the external energy field," his energy reserves poured out like a floodgate, instantly dropping by 0.5 units, yet the deduction yielded only chaos and a "permission denied" warning.

No! Can't force it!

He changed his approach, focusing the deduction target on his own and the underground archive's short-term safety.

"Deduction: Within the next 12 hours, the safety of this underground archive and potential direct threats."

The deduction screen was still heavily interfered with, blurry and indistinct, but it vaguely showed that the archive's structure itself was strong enough to withstand the current level of physical impact and energy radiation. The main threats came from outside: possibly structural damage due to severe damage to the surface building, or... "things" mutated by the energy field attempting to break in? The screen flashed with fragments of distorted, unrecognizable shadows impacting the archive door.

Must fortify this place!

He looked around. The ancient book archive, for fire and moisture protection, was itself a relatively independent, sealed space. The only entrance was that heavy metal door. He needed to find a way to seal it even tighter!

He remembered some spare materials stacked in a corner of the archive: metal brackets used to secure bookshelves, heavy moisture-proof canvas, and some tools. He immediately set to work, using the metal brackets and all the heavy objects he could find to construct a makeshift barrier behind the door. He then covered the door seams with the moisture-proof canvas, isolating the internal and external air and energy flow as much as possible.

After doing all this, he breathed a slight sigh of relief, but the heaviness in his heart remained undiminished. How much good could such physical reinforcement do against the mighty power that could stir the heavens?

He slumped into the chair at the workstation, his gaze unconsciously sweeping over the ancient books around him, bearing thousands of years of human wisdom and history. These fragile papers seemed so insignificant in the face of true cosmic power.

Suddenly, the black jade slip he kept close to him inexplicably began to heat up! At the same time, the editor's interface flickered violently, displaying a message he had never seen before:

"Detecting diffusion of homologous high-dimensional pheromones... Analyzing... Resonating with the permission carrier (jade slip)!"

"Information stream decrypting..."

"Deciphered fragment: #...%&... Era... Firewall... Damaged...%&... Penetration...%&... Cleanup protocol...%&... Error...%&...'They'... Woke up...%&... Flee..."

The information was intermittent, full of garbled text and incomprehensible words, but it revealed chilling information! Era? Firewall damaged? Cleanup protocol? Error? "They" woke up?

This jade slip... this editor... and this cosmic anomaly before him, were they directly related?! Could this disaster not be accidental, but some kind of... "cleanup" program? Or, was there a loophole in some "firewall" maintaining balance, causing "things" that shouldn't exist at this level to infiltrate?

Lin Mo felt a chill shoot from his feet to the top of his head! If his guess was true, then the world he was in, and the crisis it faced, was far more terrifying and grand than he had imagined! This was no longer a simple urban supernatural struggle, but a terrifying truth involving the survival of the world and the changing of eras!

Just then—

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

A dull, much closer roar, far louder than any previous sound, came from above! The entire underground archive shook violently, the ceiling lights flickered wildly, and dust fell in a fine shower! It was as if something incredibly heavy had crashed onto the library's main building!

Immediately after, from outside the archive's heavy metal door, came a teeth-grindingly sharp sound, like metal fingernails scraping against the door panel! One scrape, then another, slow and continuous, full of malice and... hunger?

The shadows from the deduction... had arrived!

Lin Mo sprang from the chair, his heart once again in his throat. He stared intently at the metal door from which the scraping sounds emanated, tightly clutching the increasingly hot jade slip in his hand.

On the editor's interface, energy reserves had been significantly depleted during the previous deduction and fortification, leaving only 0.3 units.

Outside, the world was tearing apart, unknown presences lurked beyond the door, and the power he relied on was almost exhausted.

True despair had descended.