Age of Evolution

Chapter 468: 468: The Collapse of the World Stone

The dwarf was still leading the way, but after entering the underground temple, Lin Zhen had already seen the huge Cosmic Crystal hanging in the air.

“This is the core of the world, the source that stabilizes the World Stone.”

Looking at the enormous thing in the sky, Lin Zhen sighed in amazement.

If this massive Cosmic Crystal were to be destroyed, the world would collapse, and no one could stop these people at this moment.

On the ground, nearly ten thousand people gathered, and from time to time, someone leaped high and tried their best to get a bit of debris.

Even just a little bit would be thousands or tens of thousands, and some powerful ones could even get several hundred thousand!

“Let’s go over there too.”

Lin Zhen and Ni Ke joined the crowd.

The dwarf also wanted to jump up and get some Cosmic Crystal, but Lin Zhen grabbed him.

“Don’t move yet; let’s see how things change. I feel the calm here will soon be broken.”

The dwarf stopped.

After a while, a martial artist leaped up and directly cut a basin-sized piece of Cosmic Crystal from the air!

Along with the big piece falling down, there were also some small pieces and debris caught by the martial artist. Although his strength was depleted when he landed, he laughed excitedly!

“This piece is worth more than a million; I’m rich now! Even if I can’t make it out of the World Stone, I can return home and buy an entire legion and be a local emperor in our small asteroid system!”

His wild laughter abruptly stopped after less than three seconds!

A sword pierced through his heart from behind, completely silencing his laughter!

He didn’t even have the chance to turn around and see who killed him before he died!

Unable to resist due to his exhaustion from harvesting the Cosmic Crystal and fighting against the gravity, he simply died like that.

Upon his death, his Space Ring fell into the hands of another martial artist.

This martial artist expressionlessly pocketed the Space Ring, with glints of light in his eyes, waiting for the next opportunity to appear.

Such incidents didn’t only happen in this place; the same was happening in other areas, with martial artists continuously falling to other people’s schemes.

Most of the murderers couldn’t soar into the sky and were unable to obtain the Cosmic Crystal. Unwilling to see others reap huge rewards, they killed others when they had landed and were exhausted.

One or two incidents were manageable, but when this happened hundreds of times in a row, chaos erupted!

It started somewhere, spreading everywhere, and fights broke out!

First were the unaffiliated martial artists who trusted no one and attacked anyone who approached them. The battles continued to spread, involving even some smaller forces.

Even the organized major forces were affected and had to form a defensive formation, temporarily stopping the collection of Cosmic Crystals.

This was a massive reduction in the number of participants. By killing others, they would obtain more rewards and be safer.

Except for those who were cleverly hiding or those who arrived late, no one was spared.

The frenzied battle lasted for over forty minutes, and by the time the fighting gradually subsided, the number of people present had significantly decreased. From nearly ten thousand people, there were now less than three thousand left!

Among them, the Four Major Gangs had over a thousand people, the Dimensional Universe Company had more than a hundred, and the rest were mostly unaffiliated individuals.

Just when the fighting was about to subside, the lurking Lin Zhen leaped up, with the Yin-Yang Spear in his hand drawing a path in the air.

Withstanding the tremendous gravity, several fist-sized Cosmic Crystals were scraped down.

As he collected the crystals, Chris calculated the numbers.

“Master, this time you’ve gained seventy-nine thousand Cosmic Crystals!”

As Lin Zhen landed, his spear suddenly shook, and through several lightning-fast assassination attempts, he brought down three people who had malicious intentions towards him!

The high-altitude gravity was roughly twenty-five thousand times, similar to the ninety-eighth level of the Judgment Platform. Lin Zhen had now advanced to Satellite Level 7 and could withstand the gravity. Although it was still difficult for him to jump, he wouldn’t be as exhausted as the others.

After getting rid of the three ambushers, Lin Zhen gained another million Cosmic Crystals from their rings.

Seeing Lin Zhen’s formidable strength, the surrounding martial artists quietly kept a distance from him.

The crazy killing had calmed people down to some extent, and now there were only over two thousand people left, the scene was less crowded, and there were fewer fights.

However, fewer didn’t mean none; disputes over territories, conflicts between forces, and clashes between individuals still occurred.

On the first day, the Qing Luan Society fought two battles with the Dragon Totem and Heavenly Tower. Due to Xuanzhu’s and Apollo’s deaths, these two gangs were somewhat leaderless and successively defeated by the Qing Luan Society.

The four female warriors – green, blue, red, and yellow – led their army to launch several successful surprise attacks, making the two major alliances collapse in disarray.

Originally, the two major leagues had seven or eight hundred people combined. After consecutive battles, there were just over a hundred left, and they were scattered throughout the crowd.

Qing Luan Society also lost more than a hundred people, but they had firmly occupied the northern area of the Cosmic Crystal, allowing them to collect them without disturbance.

Independent martial artists occupied the southern area where there were the most people, with over a thousand of them. Battles happened frequently, and Lin Zhen was also in this area.

Meanwhile, the Earth Core Jade Tower, another major gang, occupied the eastern area. They hadn’t actively participated in the fights, so their strength remained relatively intact.

Dimensional Universe Corporation occupied the western area. They didn’t fight with the others, and others didn’t dare to disturb them. They were able to collect the Cosmic Crystals in peace.

To reach the No Return Path, one must pass through the Dimensional Universe Corporation’s territory.

However, the Dimensional Universe Corporation had already made their stance clear: they didn’t compete for the top twenty positions; they came here solely to earn Cosmic Crystals. Anyone who obtained Cosmic Crystals could exchange them for anything with them.

With all of the parties combined, there were less than two thousand people left, and two days remaining before the World Stone was finished. Despite this, no one was willing to leave voluntarily.

With so few competitors left, it would be a shame not to take advantage of this rare opportunity to gather more Cosmic Crystals.

“Brother Tianci, the Heavenly Tower’s and Dragon Totem’s teams have been defeated. Without Xuanzhu and Apollo, they are no match for Qing Luan Society. Why didn’t we help them at the time?”

Tianci sneered, “Why would I join forces with them? Xuanzhu and Apollo, two wastes, were actually killed by a rookie named Lin Zhen. All their subordinates are good-for-nothings, and it would be humiliating to cooperate with them. Moreover, isn’t it better for them to fight to the death with each other? It fits perfectly with the interests of our Earth Core Jade Tower.”

“What about our plan to eliminate the Qing Luan Society…?”

“Let’s put the plan aside for now. The Cosmic Crystal is the most critical thing. We have two days left to get more of them. As for the plan… it won’t be delayed. Believe me, nobody will want to leave until the very last moment.”

Tianci looked at the crowd still striving to seize Cosmic Crystals, sweeping his gaze over the members of the Qing Luan Society, and then over the large group of independent martial artists.

He saw the man who killed Xuanzhu and Apollo: Lin Zhen.

This man’s strength was somewhat unclear to Tianci. It seemed he was at Satellite Level 7, but could a Satellite Level 7 kill two Late Black Hole Stage?

“Lin Zhen, Lin Zhen, no matter what hidden strength you have, you’d better not mess with me. I’m not a waste like Xuanzhu and Apollo. No matter if you’re at the Satellite Stage or the Black Hole Stage, you’re definitely no match for me!”

The martial artists were on guard, attacking each other as time slowly passed.

The Cosmic Crystal boulder in the air was gradually eroded, becoming pitted and rough.

As the boulder got smaller, fewer people were left on the ground. On the last day, there were only a thousand martial artists left in the World Stone!

Among them, the most were from Earth Core Jade Tower with over three hundred people. There were over two hundred from Qing Luan Society, dozens from Dimensional Universe Corporation, and over three hundred independent martial artists.

Lin Zhen leaped up again, landing as he cut off a large chunk of Cosmic Crystal worth millions.

He waved his somewhat sore arm; the task of ascending under the force of gravity was laborious, even for Lin Zhen.

Moreover, he never used his full strength. Over the past two days, he had seen too many people get killed because they put too much effort into cutting Cosmic Crystals and hadn’t left enough energy for combat. He always reserved fighting power at each attempt.

After cutting down this piece of Cosmic Crystal, he immediately went to the Dimensional Universe Corporation to exchange it for Fine Gold.

He had accumulated six billion Cosmic Crystals during this time and exchanged them for Fine Gold. With the three purchases of Fine Gold combined, he had enough to support his advancement to Planet Level 4.

It was now the morning of the third day, the last day of their third month inside the Cosmic Crystal.

Although there were fewer and fewer people, those remaining few hundred still refused to leave, continuing to cut out more of the Cosmic Crystal.

“Beep beep beep~~!!!”

As a martial artist landed, almost everyone’s intelligent beings began to sound out.

“Attention, please! The world you are in is on the verge of collapse due to the loss of a large amount of its core.”

“Please leave the World Stone as soon as possible. At present, there are twenty minutes left until the countdown to collapse!”

Then, everyone’s intelligent lifeforms displayed a countdown.

When it appeared, there were only nineteen minutes and fifty-nine seconds left!

“Let’s go! We’ve dug up too much of this Cosmic Crystal boulder, and the world is about to collapse. If we don’t leave, we might not ever be able to.”

Many martial artists stood up. Over the past few days, they had earned far too much. It was finally time to leave.

People reluctantly looked at the ragged boulder one last time. As the countdown progressed, it became easier to obtain Cosmic Crystals, with large chunks frequently coming off. It was truly hard to leave.

“Crack!”

The Cosmic Crystal boulder in the air suddenly cracked, with a long fissure appearing on its side.

A huge chunk of Cosmic Crystal, taller than a person, fell from the sky!

As the world began to shake violently, the people who had initially planned to leave rushed over, hoping to take advantage of the final moments and make a fortune!