Chapter 274: Imperial Ranking War: No Calamity?

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Time passed quietly.

For the Heavenly Bronze Team, the final days of the Nuclear Fallout Calamity were almost uneventful. Ren continued monitoring the outside world while everybody else simply waited for the calamity to reach its conclusion.

The decision to stop hunting had proven to be the correct one.

The outside world had become far too dangerous during the final stage. Even with the temporary runic formations, there was no reason to expose themselves to that kind of environment when they already had enough resources to wait things out.

And so they waited.

They trained.

They rested.

They ate.

They spent time together.

It was almost peaceful.

Almost.

They knew exactly when the calamity would end based on the previous two calamities; it should happen at the end of the month. The only uncertainty was whether the world would actually reset this time.

That was something everybody had been wondering about ever since the Extreme Pollution Calamity ended without the expected reset.

It had been strange.

The system had always been consistent.

It had never lied to them.

When a calamity ended, the system announced it.

When a new calamity was coming, it announced that too.

And after the extreme cold and extreme heat, the realm had been completely restored to its original state.

The Extreme Pollution Calamity was supposed to be the same.

But it wasn’t.

Instead, the pollution remained.

Then the nuclear fallout calamity arrived.

That alone had been enough to make everybody cautious about what would happen this time.

Still, there wasn’t anything they could do about it.

They could only wait.

And eventually, the final day arrived.

The nuclear fallout calamity was nearing its end.

There were only a few hours left before the month officially ended when the familiar voice of the World System suddenly echoed throughout the secret realm.

[Attention, participants.]

Everyone inside the Rock immediately stopped what they were doing.

They had heard that voice countless times since entering the secret realm.

There was no mistaking it.

[The Nuclear Fallout Calamity will reach its conclusion by the end of the day.]

The announcement alone caused a wave of relief throughout the Rock.

Then came the next part.

[The secret realm will undergo a complete reset afterwards.]

[All environmental changes caused by the calamity will be reverted.]

[The secret realm will return to its original state.]

Silence filled the base.

For a moment, nobody said anything.

Then the reactions came.

"So it really is resetting this time."

"Finally."

"I was starting to think we’d have to live with that smell forever."

Someone laughed.

Another person sighed in relief.

Even those who weren’t particularly worried couldn’t hide their excitement. They had spent an entire month trapped inside the Rock while the world outside became increasingly hostile.

Now they could finally leave.

The pollution would disappear.

The radiation would disappear.

The mutated environment would return to normal.

The monsters should return to their original state as well.

Everything would be restored.

Just like it had been after the previous calamities.

There was only one thing missing.

The announcement that usually followed.

Everyone waited.

Normally, the world system would reveal the next calamity immediately after announcing the conclusion of the current one.

That didn’t happen this time.

The system simply went silent.

A few seconds passed.

Then a minute.

Nothing.

People began looking at one another.

"That’s strange."

"Maybe it’s delayed?"

"Perhaps it’s going to announce it later."

"Maybe we’re getting less preparation time again."

That last possibility immediately made the atmosphere slightly more serious.

The World System had already shown that it could be unpredictable.

After the Extreme Pollution Calamity failed to reset the realm, nobody was willing to assume that everything would proceed according to the previous pattern.

Some thought the system was deliberately delaying the announcement.

Perhaps it was being devious again.

Perhaps the next calamity would only be revealed when they had barely enough time to prepare.

Nobody knew.

Except Ren.

He remained quiet.

He had been expecting this.

The canon had been correct so far.

The order of the calamities had been correct.

The events surrounding them had been correct.

Even the strange failure of the Extreme Pollution Calamity to reset the realm was something Ren had already known would happen. He knew the story, and the timeline had been faithful to itself so far.

And because he knew the story, he also knew what came next.

Nothing.

At least, not for the fifth month.

There wouldn’t be another calamity.

This was the World System’s way of giving everyone a brief period of peace before the next major event.

The system, however, wouldn’t let them feel comfortable. It’s as if comforting the subjects it’s supposed to torture will cause its operational systems to crash. But it also wouldn’t go out of its way to deliberately scare them. It’s just indifferent, that’s all.

It wasn’t mercy.

It was preparation.

The next stage wasn’t going to be another natural calamity.

It was going to be a confrontation.

Ren knew that.

He also knew that telling everybody about it right now wouldn’t accomplish much. It wouldn’t change much either.

There was no need to create unnecessary tension when they had only just been told that the nuclear fallout was over.

Let them enjoy the moment.

Ren stood quietly among the others while everyone continued speculating about the missing announcement.

He didn’t correct them.

He didn’t tell them that there wouldn’t be a calamity.

He simply waited.

Eventually, the system gave them one final message.

[The reset will commence shortly.]

And then it happened.

The world changed.

There was no violent explosion.

No great shockwave.

No enormous phenomenon that shook the heavens.

It simply began to revert.

The dark sky gradually cleared.

The oppressive radiation that had filled the atmosphere disappeared.

The twisted trees began returning to their original forms.

The polluted soil cleansed itself.

The strange growths covering the landscape vanished.

The dead vegetation recovered.

The rivers, and all water sources, became clear again.

Even the terrible smell that had covered the entire realm for months disappeared.

It was almost surreal.

One moment, the world outside was a contaminated wasteland.

The next, it was as if none of it had ever happened.

The forest returned to normal.

The grass became green.

The flowers bloomed.

The air became fresh.

The sunlight finally returned.

For the first time in what felt like forever, the world outside the Rock looked peaceful.

People gathered near the walls just to stare.

Nobody needed to say anything.

They had all been waiting for this.

Ren finally relaxed slightly.

The formations around the rock were still functioning, but there was no longer any need for them to work so hard. The environment had returned to normal, meaning the filters and decontamination systems could finally be placed on standby.

"Is it really safe?"

Someone asked.

Ren checked the surroundings with his sensory network.

There was no radiation.

No pollution.

No abnormal energy.

Nothing dangerous.

"It’s safe."

That was all it took.

The gates opened.

People immediately started leaving.

Some walked.

Others ran.

A few simply stood outside and looked toward the sky.

The sunlight felt different.

Not because it actually was, but because they hadn’t felt it directly for so long.

Some people sat on the grass.

Others wandered into the forest.

A group started preparing food outside simply because they could.

Even the members who had spent most of their time training inside the Rock took the opportunity to stretch their legs.

The Heavenly Bronze Team had been trapped inside for a long time.

Now, they could finally breathe fresh air again.

There was laughter everywhere.

People were celebrating.

Some were already discussing where they wanted to explore now that the realm had returned to normal.

The calamity was over.

The world had reset.

Everything was peaceful again.

For most people, that was enough.

For Ren, it wasn’t.

He stood at the edge of the Rock and looked toward the distant horizon.

The others were enjoying the sunlight.

Ren was thinking.

The absence of a fifth-month calamity wasn’t an accident.

It was preparation.

Something was coming.

He knew what it was.

The Imperial Ranking War wasn’t going to remain a simple competition where teams fought over points and survived calamities.

The next phase would force the participants to confront something far more important.

Ren had no intention of being caught unprepared.

He had already spent the past several months preparing for disasters.

Now, he needed to prepare for what came after them.

The world outside was peaceful again.

The forest was green.

The sky was clear.

The river flowed quietly around the rock.

It was almost impossible to believe that this same place had been a polluted, irradiated wasteland only hours ago.

But Ren knew better.

Peace didn’t mean that the danger was gone.

It only meant that the next danger hadn’t arrived yet.

Ren turned away from the scenery and returned toward the base.

Everyone else could enjoy their peaceful month.

They had earned it.

As for him, there was still work to do.

He had a month.

And Ren intended to use every second of it.