Chapter 580 558: Lost Contact with Hometown

Gu Ming scrolled to the post at eleven o'clock at night.

The cold light of his phone screen illuminated his face, revealing a pair of eyes that were gradually losing focus.

His fingertip hovered over the screen, poised to swipe up, but it wouldn't move any further.

On the screen was the latest official bulletin of cities that had lost contact. The list ran from Area A to Area Z, each name followed by a glaring red marker.

His gaze was fixed on a single line of text.

Lanqi City, time of lost contact: 22:47.

His heart first skipped a beat, then began to pound violently against his ribs.

A more primal, suffocating sensation, as if some force had suddenly seized his heart, clogged his throat.

He could hear his own heartbeat thumping in the quiet room, like someone hammering on a locked door with their fists.

「A few hours earlier.」

Just a few hours ago, he had been on the phone with his parents.

The moment the war broke out, Gu Ming had called home almost as soon as he heard the news.

His mother's voice came through the receiver, saying only that there were some minor disturbances and that his dad had just been helping to suppress them.

He had been standing in the research institute's hallway, the dark sky in the direction of the Cloud Country and the intermittent afterglow of explosions behind him.

He had said into the phone:

"I'm safe here. Teacher Tang is with me. You two have to be careful, just like I told you before.

"People who practice the old version of the Spiritual Technique might undergo Demonization. Be on the lookout."

His mother had chuckled and said they had switched over long ago.

If they were still using the old Spiritual Technique, wouldn't that mean they didn't trust their own son?

Then his father took the phone, and they chatted briefly about his life, his research, and Cyan Treasure's Evolution.

When his father heard that Cyan Treasure was already a Four-star Flood Dragon, he was silent for a second before saying, "Good!"

He could still remember the slightly rising intonation in his father's voice as he said that word.

In the hours that followed, his parents sent him text messages every so often.

Sometimes it was a photo.

Defensive fortifications set up on the streets, a few on-duty Pet Beasts napping on a corner; other times it was a single line of text.

"We're safe." "Don't worry." "Eating now." "Your mom made braised pork belly."

He read every message over and over again.

When the last message arrived, he was with Teacher Tang, conducting an injection-based semi-Evolution experiment on their second One-star hamster.

'Braised pork belly,' he thought. He hadn't had a chance to reply.

He never imagined that would be their last message, at least for now.

Gu Ming looked up from his phone. The room was so quiet that only the faint roar from the distant front lines could be heard.

He could feel his fingers trembling slightly.

He picked up his phone again and hit redial.

Beep... beep... beep...

Each beep was like a rubber band being stretched taut around his neck, tightening with every ring.

Beep... beep... beep...

It didn't connect.

He hung up and dialed again.

In just a few moments, his call log was a neat column of red "call failed" notifications.

Then he took a deep breath, looked up, and glanced at Lu You in the other corner of the room.

Lu You was sitting on the sofa in the lounge area.

She had been scrolling through her phone for the past half hour, her posture growing more slumped until she was curled up on the armrest, looking a third smaller than usual.

Her phone screen was reflected in her pupils, its light dimming just like the color of her eyes. Her fingers slid unconsciously back and forth along the edge of the screen.

"I can't get through," Lu You said weakly.

Lu You's parents didn't treat her well, and she had rarely contacted them since starting university.

But now that she couldn't get through, she still wondered, 'What are they doing? Have they found a place to hide?'

The air was silent for a moment.

A muffled explosion sounded from the direction of the distant battlefield. The research lab had an Array to filter outside noise, and they could have made the room completely silent if they wished, but neither of them had set it that way.

An explosion of this magnitude meant the intensity of the fighting at the border had escalated another level.

Gu Ming didn't hesitate for long.

He scrolled through his contacts, stopped on a name, and pressed the call button.

Elder Huo.

The communication network in the Capital of Great Zhou was still active. Elder Huo was a leading figure at Wenquxing University and one of the most important mentors for both him and Lu You on their research paths.

The call connected after two rings. Elder Huo's slightly weary voice came from the other end. "Gu Ming? Is something wrong over there?"

"Lanqi City has lost contact. My parents are there, and so are Lu You's. Teacher Huo, can you help gather intelligence on the situation? Please let me know if you hear anything."

Elder Huo was silent on the other end for about three seconds.

During those three seconds, Gu Ming could hear background noise from the other side of the call.

Someone was giving a rapid report, and someone else was shouting, "The Array in the eastern district needs someone to take charge!"

'Even the university can't focus on research now. Elder Huo is the head of the Ancient Array Association. If there's a problem with an Array, he'd definitely be involved and incredibly busy.'

"I've made a note of it," Elder Huo finally said. "I'll have someone on my end gather intelligence on Lanqi City.

"But you need to be mentally prepared. The list of cities that have lost contact has been growing all day.

"Your parents are both Five-star Beastmasters. It's not like they can't protect themselves. Don't scare yourself before you have to."

"I know," Gu Ming said.

After the call ended, he didn't put his phone down. Instead, he dialed another number.

It was his contact for the Ruan Family's intelligence network.

During the war, the Ruan Family had taken on some of the responsibility for relaying civilian intelligence, especially in consolidating disaster information from small and medium-sized cities. In some respects, they were even faster than official channels.

He wanted to get the last piece of intelligence from the Ruan Family from before Lanqi City lost contact to find out what had really happened.

Soon, the Ruan Family sent over the final intelligence brief from before Lanqi City lost contact.

Gu Ming opened the file and read it word for word.

Lanqi City's City Defense Array had never collapsed.

This was the strangest part of the entire brief.

The Array was operating normally, its energy supply was sufficient, and outside forces had never breached its defenses.

But starting five hours ago, incidents of spontaneous Demonization within the city began to increase exponentially.

At first, there were only a few isolated cases, but then they began appearing in droves.

Multiple groups of Demonized Pet Beasts and Beastmasters launched coordinated attacks in a very short time, targeting the city's power hub, Array nodes, communication towers, and the main Pet Beast granary.

Each surprise attack was carried out regardless of the cost, leaving the Beastmasters exhausted.

That was the last of the information. After that, Lanqi City went completely dark.

The two of them marked the attack locations on a map, trying to analyze the data.

After a moment of thought, Gu Ming went to find Teacher Tang.

Tang Tianyi had already been conscripted by the local authorities and was preparing to deploy.

But when he saw the anxious look on Gu Ming's face, he stopped in his tracks.

He took the phone and read the brief, going over it twice from start to finish.

Then he looked at the various attack locations Gu Ming had marked on the phone.

His lips moved slightly, as if he were engaged in a silent, whispered conversation with the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul inside him. Then, his brow slowly furrowed.