295: Chapter 295 The Zeroing Storm Arrives Ahead of Schedule! It's said to be ten times stronger than predicted.

Seventeen minutes after the contract was signed, the canopy of the tree of heavenly dao suddenly shook violently.

Lin Chen looked up.

The sky was splitting open.

It wasn't a crack, but a shattering—like glass struck by a heavy hammer, countless fragments peeled off from the firmament, revealing the grayish-white void behind. Those fragments turned to ash as they fell, and even the ashes were swallowed by some invisible force.

System prompts popped up frantically:

【Emergency Notice! The Zeroing Storm has arrived at the experimental area 12 hours early!】

【Storm Intensity: Ten times the predicted value!】

【Estimated Time of Arrival: 3 minutes!】

【Current Storm Center Coordinates: Moving toward the Dead Silence Star Domain!】

Lin Chen's pupils contracted sharply.

Ten times?

Ten times the predicted value meant that the tree of heavenly dao's shield, which could originally last 24 hours, could now only last 2.4 hours.

And the direction the storm was moving in was exactly the Dead Silence Star Domain.

He immediately opened the surveillance screen.

Inside the Dead Silence Star Domain, the beings who had just regained their emotions were still living normally, completely unaware of the impending disaster. The canopy of the tree of heavenly dao cast a faint golden light over their heads, which was the color of the protective layer.

But the protective layer was thinning.

On the data panel, the shield strength began to drop slowly from 100%: 99.7%, 99.3%, 98.8%...

Every 1% drop meant that the storm's erosion speed increased by a notch.

Arrogant Dragon rushed over: "Boss! What's going on?!"

Lin Chen ignored him and quickly switched to the surveillance of other star domains.

In the Icebound Star Domain, Morgana was standing on the icebound throne, her whole body emitting an icy blue light. Beneath her feet, the cracks on the icebound throne were increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The storm hadn't officially arrived yet, but the omens alone were already damaging her core.

“Lin Chen,” Morgana's voice came through the communication, still calm, “My star domain won't last long. Thirty minutes at most.”

In the Data Star Domain, Alpha had just recovered from the shock of the “employee contract” when he discovered that his Virtual Heaven was being eroded by the storm. Those light points storing countless pieces of civilization data were going out one by one.

“Boss,” Alpha's voice was low, “The defense of the Data Star Domain is only 23%. If the storm lasts more than thirty minutes, I will lose at least 40% of the civilization archives.”

The Spiritual Energy Star Domain was even worse—it was inherited from Qingyunzi, and its defense was almost zero. As soon as the storm's omens made contact, three cultivation civilizations were directly wiped out.

Lin Chen looked at the data and fell silent for three seconds.

Then he smiled.

That smile made a chill run down Arrogant Dragon's spine—although he didn't know what the boss was going to do, it was definitely going to be another flashy operation.

“Arrogant Dragon.”

“Here!”

“Go and send all the available manpower to the border line. They don't need to fight; they just need to keep an eye on the storm's movements and report every three minutes.”

Arrogant Dragon took the order and left.

Lin Chen opened the asset management system and brought up a list of all the assets under his name.

Dead Silence Star Domain, Spiritual Energy Star Domain, Icebound Star Domain (trusteeship), Data Star Domain (trusteeship), tree of heavenly dao, equity in the pre-established New Era Development company, Fireseed Governor authority...

Total valuation: approximately 970 trillion dimension points.

He selected them all.

Then he opened the loan interface of the Universe Bank and typed in a line:

「Apply for emergency credit: Using all assets under my name as collateral, loan 5,000 trillion.」

Three seconds later, Golden Abacus's communication urgently connected, his voice cracking:

“Lin Chen, are you crazy?! 5,000 trillion?! Do you know what that concept is?! That's the total GDP of the entire Narrative Layer for three years!”

“I know,” Lin Chen said, “So, are you approving it or not?”

Golden Abacus was silent for three seconds.

“Approved. But the interest rate is 80% daily, and if you're overdue by one day, all your assets will be seized immediately.”

“Deal.”

5,000 trillion arrived in his account.

Lin Chen's account balance instantly became: 5,037 trillion (including the previous small change).

He used this money to do three things.

First: Spent 3,000 trillion to purchase “Directional Zeroing Diversion Service” from the Universe Bank.

Service Description: Guide the storm's devouring energy from designated star domains to the lifeless void. For every 10% of storm energy diverted, a fee of 1,000 trillion is charged. The diversion effect lasts for 60 minutes.

Lin Chen clicked purchase.

Purchase targets: Dead Silence Star Domain, Spiritual Energy Star Domain, Icebound Star Domain, Data Star Domain.

Purchase ratio: 30% each.

Payment amount: 1,200 trillion (300 trillion for each of the four star domains).

Three seconds later, on the surveillance screen, the grayish-white storm that was originally surging frantically toward the four star domains suddenly stalled.

Then, one-third of the energy began to turn, flowing toward the nearby void.

The shield drop rate of the Dead Silence Star Domain slowed from 0.3% per second to 0.1% per second.

The expansion speed of the cracks in the Icebound Star Domain was halved.

The speed at which the light points in the Data Star Domain went out was also halved.

Second: Spent 2,000 trillion to purchase “Conceptual Reinforcement Service.”

Service Description: Reinforce the underlying laws of the designated star domains, increasing their ability to resist storm erosion by 50%. Effect lasts for 24 hours.

Lin Chen clicked purchase.

Purchase targets: All four star domains.

Payment amount: 2,000 trillion.

Instantly, the skies of the four star domains lit up with golden light at the same time. That light was like a thin film, covering the original protective layer and fiercely fighting against the grayish-white energy of the storm.

Third: Used the remaining 837 trillion to establish the “Storm Relief Fund.”

Fund Purpose: Compensate civilizations damaged in the storm, reward personnel who performed outstandingly in the rescue, and purchase emergency services that may be needed later.

Three seconds after the announcement of the fund's establishment was issued, the first applicant arrived—it was a small civilization in the Icebound Star Domain whose temple was destroyed by the storm and needed 5 billion for reconstruction.

Lin Chen approved it in a second.

Three minutes later, the real-time data of the four star domains began to stabilize.

【Dead Silence Star Domain】 Preservation Rate: 98% (Still slowly declining, but controllable)

【Spiritual Energy Star Domain】 Preservation Rate: 87% (30 percentage points higher than expected)

【Icebound Star Domain】 Preservation Rate: 79% (The cracks in Morgana's core stopped spreading)

【Data Star Domain】 Preservation Rate: 71% (Alpha's Virtual Heaven preserved most of its core data)

Lin Chen looked at the data and breathed a sigh of relief.

But just then, Zhang Hao's scream came through the communication:

“Boss! Over at the border—there seems to be something in the storm!”

Lin Chen immediately switched to the border surveillance.

In the screen, deep within the grayish-white storm, a giant outline could be vaguely seen. That outline was constantly writhing, like some kind of living creature, slowly approaching under the cover of the storm.

Lin Chen zoomed in on the image.

The outline gradually became clear.

It was a... hand.

A massive hand composed of countless grayish-white characters, reaching toward the Dead Silence Star Domain.

On each finger of the hand, a line of characters was engraved:

「Format」

「Delete」

「Clear」

「Reset」

「Zeroing」

Lin Chen stared at those lines of characters and fell silent for three seconds.

Then he smiled.

“So that's how it is.”

Arrogant Dragon leaned in: “Boss, what is 'how it is'?”

Lin Chen pointed at that hand:

“The storm is not a natural disaster. Someone is controlling it.”

“And the person controlling it...”

He paused and looked in the direction the hand was reaching from—there was the old site of the Epoch Administration Bureau.

“Is our old friend.”