Chapter 646 - Bad News

A sudden call from Sun Qingnian interrupted him. Realizing that their group had likely just returned from the Heaven Stair Civilization, Han Wu happily picked up the call.

“Han Wu,” Sun Qingnian greeted lowly, without his usual enthusiasm.

Han Wu chuckled. “What’s wrong, Qingnian? Did your new girlfriend dump you?”

Normally, Sun Qingnian would’ve returned his banter, so his eerie quietness immediately tipped Han Wu off that something was wrong. “What happened? Tell me quickly.”

“Qin Shuang and Jing Jing are gone.”

Han Wu’s ears rang. It felt as though his head had been hammered in, leaving him disoriented. “Wait, what are you talking about? Where are you? Where are they? Tell me!”

“At the college plaza.”

Han Wu hastily left his divine realm and hurried over. Numerous coffins were lined up along the plaza, surrounded by crying parents. Scanning the area, he soon spotted Sun Qingnian standing before two coffins with a crestfallen expression. The man no longer looked like his charming self.

Han Wu’s heart clenched, but he forced himself to approach.

Two figures lay in the two coffins in front of Sun Qingnian. It was Qin Shuang and Jing Jing. The ringing in Han Wu’s ears intensified as he fell to his knees. His World rank did little to help him compose himself in the face of tragedy.

Sun Qingnian rushed to help Han Wu up, tears rolling down the former’s cheeks despite his attempts to maintain his composure. “A World life form on the forty-eighth floor attacked us. Their souls were dragged out of their bodies, along with most of the other students lying here.”

Han Wu gingerly touched Qin Shuang’s face with his trembling hands. Her skin was still smooth and soft to the touch, as if she were merely sleeping.

However, he could no longer sense her soul. Jing Jing was the same—a soulless sleeping beauty in a coffin.

“Their souls were dragged away? Then why don’t they go get them back?! Where are the God Kings? What are they doing?!”

Sun Qingnian feared Han Wu would offend the God Kings and quickly stopped him from speaking further. “Wait, don’t get hasty. I know how sad you are, but the God Kings already caught that World life form. However, that person killed themselves during the interrogation and ferried their own soul away using the same method that snatched the souls of Qin Shuang and Jing Jing. None of the God Kings could stop it.”

“FUCK!” Han Wu punched the floor, leaving a dent in the reinforced tile.

Qin Shuang’s family showed up not long after. Her parents’ eyes were red from crying, and their sobs only grew more grievous when they saw their child lying in the coffin.

“My poor daughter!” Qin Shuang’s mother wailed, unable to contain her grief as she carefully perched on the edge of Qin Shuang’s coffin.

Qin Shuang’s father was more stoic, but the tears in his eyes betrayed his anguish.

Unsure how to console them, Han Wu stood to the side. He couldn’t accept it either. They had been perfectly healthy and alive before this, but an unexpected attack had suddenly snatched them away. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Qin Shuang’s parents ended up taking her coffin with them. Before they left, Qin Hai came up to Han Wu and silently patted his shoulder. While Qin Hai knew casualties were inevitable in war, it was much harder to accept when that casualty was his daughter.

Han Wu saw them off, using the last of his strength to shout to their departing figures, “I swear I’ll bring her back. I will!”

The couple said nothing. Han Wu was undeniably strong, but he was vowing to achieve something that was beyond even the God Kings.

As the day went by, the other parents gradually left with the coffins of their children as well.

Soon, only Jing Jing was left. She didn’t have a family—or rather, Han Wu was her family.

Han Wu stood over her coffin for a long time before finally placing it into his divine realm and wiping his tears away. It was time to find the God King responsible for this case.

After inquiring with Xu Hai, he soon received an answer. The God King responsible for the case was the Harvest God King, Qiu Shao. With Xu Hai’s and Commerce’s aid, Han Wu managed to secure a meeting with Qiu Shao.

The two met at the station on the fifty-first floor of the Heaven Stair Civilization. Although Qiu Shao looked like a God King, the mediocrity of Divine Jurisdiction, Harvest, meant his true strength was actually average at best. He was only a regular World life form.

While Qiu Shao had known he was meeting an outstanding college student, he had not expected said student’s presence to be actually stronger than his. When he discovered this, he couldn’t help but start doubting his entire life.

Han Wu cut to the chase and asked about the World life form that had snatched the students’ souls, especially Qin Shuang’s and Jing Jing’s. Qiu Shao carefully explained everything under Han Wu’s intimidating pressure.

After investigating, Qiu Shao had confirmed that the World life form was a follower of a powerful evil God from another civilization. The method he used to snatch souls was called Reaper Seal.

This technique allowed him to steal the souls of others and seal them in the evil God’s body, effectively turning them into a potent energy source for the evil God. Those with weak souls were more susceptible to it.

Han Wu was surprised. Qin Shuang cultivated lightning, so it was understandable that her soul was on the weaker side. But Jing Jing was a skeleton. The strength of her soul was only second to her Osteomancy! So how had Jing Jing fallen for it too? Although not a true World life form yet, her soul couldn’t have been sealed so easily.

Han Wu pressed for more information, but that was all Qiu Shao had.

As he was preparing to return, Qiu Shao suddenly said, “By the way, I’m technically the Harvest God King. I have an abundance of food, so if you need meals urgently for your units, you can always contact me. I assure you that the price and quality will be just.”

“I will.” Han Wu nodded, knowing very well he would never need to.

While his Life Aspect wasn’t as efficient as Qiu Shao’s skills, it could still accelerate the growth and maturation of plants and fruits, making him more than capable of ensuring all of his units were well-fed.

Once back in his divine realm, he approached Jing Jing’s coffin and placed his palm onto her forehead to carefully inspect her soul.

A connection formed between him and a tiny sliver of soul. “God, is that you?”

Jing Jing’s consciousness was speaking to him!