Chapter 855: Chapter 855

"Rotation speed... Current location... Detector retrofitting..."

In a brightly lit office, He Ao was controlling a ’Hao Yi’ clone to flip through the documents that had just been sent over from the Central Earth Space Agency.

They were lucky that Central Earth was planning a lunar mission, and the equipment was almost fully assembled and ready, needing only some urgent modifications for use.

However, the equipment was still somewhat crude for taking ordinary people so high into space and required extensive calibration.

But for a few B-levels, as long as they had oxygen supply and the pressure difference wasn’t too drastic, they could adapt.

After all, they didn’t have much time left.

He Ao put down the documents and looked across the conference table.

There, sat a ’young girl’ in a pristine white hooded long coat.

She appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen, youthful, with shoulder-length pure white hair, flawless skin. Her hands were clasped together on the table, and her silver-white pupils calmly watched He Ao.

Only in those eyes did it seem one could see maturity far beyond the ’rebellious teenager’ facade.

This was another elder of the World Tree, Goya.

Strictly speaking, she was the creator of the World Tree, and Rudel was just a partner she pulled in later.

Usually, she didn’t manage affairs, nor did she make public appearances, with many matters handled by Rudel.

According to her, her abilities were related to medical treatment and life, and this ’youthful’ appearance was also due to some accidents during her promotion to B-level.

After her promotion to B-level, her appearance was permanently fixed in this state, although her actual age was twice that of her appearance.

If one looked closely, they could also notice that she always emitted a faint white glow, which was seemingly another ’consequence’ of her flawed promotion.

Of course, according to He Ao’s understanding of mysticism, the issues with her were likely not just superficial, which was why she seldom made appearances.

This time, because the crisis occurred in the Western Lands, she took the initiative to come out.

However, according to Jie An, her combat ability was actually not weak, and her medical skills made her an important support for the team.

So, the final resolution of the meeting was for the Three Major Organizations to each send a B-level: the Research Institute sent Li Cheng, Moonlight sent Jie An, World Tree sent Goya, and together with He Ao, they formed a four-person squad to try ’landing’ on that transparent planet.

This was also due to the limited carrying capacity of the prepared landing equipment; accommodating four people was already at the limit.

It was also in consideration of the worst-case scenario, where if none of them returned, with the arrival of Blood Day unstoppable, there would still be people capable of preserving humanity’s spark of life in the approaching darkness.

"Is there anything else?"

He Ao watched Goya, who had been looking at him for a long while.

Goya seemed unprepared for ’Hao Yi’ to initiate conversation with her, momentarily caught off guard, then softly opened her mouth after a pause, "there is a certain ’welcoming’ feeling."

Her voice was somewhat hoarse yet held a distinct sharpness unique to young girls, as if she seldom spoke.

"Perhaps I’m just naturally approachable,"

He Ao set down the documents, responded gently, then, looking at Goya, asked, "Actually, I’ve had a question for a while now. Where does the name ’World Tree’ come from?"

He had seen ’World Tree’ not only in the Main World but also in the Copy World.

"I saw a tree emblem in the ruins,"

Goya slowly replied, "It was beautiful. I named it ’World Tree.’ When establishing the organization, I thought it was a good name, so I used it."

’World Tree’ was the emblem of the Life Goddess.

He Ao glanced at Goya’s white hair.

So, had Goya likely seen the emblem of the Life Goddess, or something similar, in the past?

Recording this information, He Ao gathered his thoughts and gently nodded. "That is indeed a nice name."

Honestly, among the Three Major Organizations, only the name ’Research Institute’ seemed ordinary, more like a scientific institution than an Extraordinary Organization.

However, the Research Institute was essentially a research organization studying the extraordinary, incidentally staffed with some Transcendents.

Hearing He Ao’s comment, Goya slowly nodded, then lowered her head and slightly squinted her eyes.

The conference room fell silent once again.

He Ao picked up the documents and resumed reading.

He glanced at the time on his phone.

Some time had passed since Li Cheng and Rudel had gone to the adjacent conference room.

After determining the candidates for the space mission, everyone had also settled some other arrangements.

For instance, after Jie An left, there were no B-levels left in Moonlight, so He Ao had Liu Zhengyun move close to the Tia Empire’s Newland City-State to look after Moonlight’s territory under unforeseen circumstances.

Additionally, the Three Major Organizations simultaneously established an investigation team responsible for probing the surface ’Blood Day’ events.

Such a formidable Transcendent event, before its Advent, was unlikely to have manifested without any signs.

The team was led by the World Tree, since most of the regions enveloped by Blood Day comprised World Tree members. However, the person finally chosen to head the team was...

Ruodan Kingdom, Enke City

He Ao’s real body sat in front of a computer at the Enke City branch of the Research Institute, watching Li Cheng, Rudel, and Jie An sitting together, helplessly shrugging his shoulders.

He knew this matter would eventually fall to him.

After all, the World Tree people were proving to be utterly incompetent.

However, it wasn’t Li Cheng who recommended him as the head—it was Moonlight’s Jie An.

Strictly speaking, Jie An didn’t like ’He Ao.’ His involvement was notable in the recent collapses of several Moonlight branches, leading to Moonlight losing events in both the Ruodan Kingdom and Newland City-State.

But on the other hand, he highly regarded He Ao’s capabilities.

Of course, the final decision still rested with He Ao.

He Ao wasn’t particularly averse to this leadership role.

From what he observed in Enke City, the ’Dead Caller’ incidents had likely occurred before the Blood Day’s Advent, indicating there was probably a prelude to this event. Understanding these precursors would help him grasp the full scope of the situation.

To achieve this, he needed access to the World Tree’s organization within the Blood Day regions and to review the World Tree’s database records before Blood Day began.

Without this leadership role, considering the World Tree’s wariness towards the Research Institute, gaining access to this information would have been much more problematic and complex.

Furthermore, this role would also facilitate some other plans he had.

Of course, he would not readily accept this role; doing so directly would likely leave him with no real power.

"I can take on this leadership role,"

he said calmly to the three B-levels on the screen, speaking softly, "but I have three conditions that need cooperation from the World Tree side."

Rudel nodded slowly, speaking up.

"Firstly, I would generally not be responsible for any specific tasks. At most, I would assign people to convey orders, but the overall direction and when needed, they must listen to me,"

He Ao stated directly.

"That’s not a problem, that’s proper."

That was about commanding authority.

He Ao continued speaking without pause, "Secondly, I want the authority to execute any World Tree member in the Blood Day region if they disobey orders or if I suspect they are colluding with the Evil God. I can also decide on the assignment of any personnel within the Blood Day region without notifying anyone."

That was about personnel rearrangement and the authority to promote or sanction.

Rudel’s expression slightly froze; promising this could mean that if He Ao arbitrarily killed someone in the Blood Day region or arranged for his confidants, the World Tree’s governance structure there would likely collapse.

but He Ao didn’t wait for him to respond and added, "I need access to all World Tree databases. If I deem any information related to Blood Day, I can directly retrieve it."

Having said that, he looked up, watching Rudel calmly.

This last condition was quite subjective, practically giving He Ao the right to access all World Tree information.

Commanding power, personnel authority, and database access rights.

Agreeing to these three conditions would practically make He Ao the third elder of the World Tree within the Blood Day region.

Moreover, due to internal divisions within the World Tree, even Rudel didn’t have firm control over personnel and commanding authority.

"These three demands are a bit..."

After a brief silence, Rudel slowly spoke.

"If these three conditions cannot be met,"

He Ao slightly shook his head, "I am unable to accept this position."

The internal chaos within the World Tree was well-known; without these assurances, he would be hindered at every turn during his tenure—it would be easier to conduct the investigation on his own.

With these words out, the words Rudel had intended to say next were caught in his throat, and he eventually slowly closed his mouth.

Silent stillness spread within the office.

Li Cheng and Jie An both remained silent—it involved the World Tree, and it was best left to the people of the World Tree to decide.

They had reached their limit by recommending He Ao to take charge of the entire event.

After a long while, Rudel took a deep breath and nodded.

He Ao nodded, "Please first give me an account that can access the database."

"I’ll get it for you right away,"

Now that the decision was made, Rudel no longer hesitated. He nodded, "I’ll have Li Cheng send it to you in a bit."

He Ao nodded and shut down the computer.

He turned his head to look out the window.

The sky was still pitch black, only the edges revealing a slight arc of light affirming the sun’s presence.

After a moment, the office door was pushed open and Jemis entered, holding a stack of documents, "Here are all the past ’Dead Caller’ missing case files."

He Ao reached out to take the documents and casually asked, "How is the evacuation going?"

"The population of Enke City is not large, and with support from nearby cities, the evacuation is nearly complete."

Jemis answered quickly.

"How frequently are the ’Dead Callers’ occurring?"

He Ao opened the documents.

"Since the sky turned dark and the Blood Day disappeared, the frequency of Dead Callers has been very low,"

Jemis said slowly, "But since just a little while ago, the frequency seems to have ’increased’ slightly."

Hearing this, He Ao looked up once again at the ’sun’ in the sky.

That ’Angel’ was trying to ’revive’.

"I remember Enke City is a tourist city, do they have helicopters?"

He withdrew his gaze, flipping through the documents, continuing to ask.

"There is one sightseeing helicopter."

Jemis replied, seeming somewhat perplexed as to why He Ao would suddenly ask this.

"How far can it fly if it’s fully fueled?"

"Fully fueled, it can fly about seven to eight hundred kilometers."

Jemis quickly answered.

"Prepare the helicopter. I am going immediately to Mote City, the capital of the Yika Republic,"

He Ao gathered the documents, his tone calm, "You leave with the last batch of evacuees."

At that moment, Jemis stared at He Ao, slightly opening his mouth.

He Ao looked up at him. "What is it?"

Jemis swallowed slightly, "I might be able to help you."

"That place is the center of the entire Blood Day Area, it’s very dangerous,"

He Ao gave him a glance, "Are you sure?"

"If you need manpower,"

Jemis’s emotions stabilized, firmly saying, "I can help you."

From their brief encounter, it was clear Jemis was capable. All he lacked was an opportunity.

Risk was also an opportunity after all.

He Ao looked at the man before him, his gaze filled with hope and concern, and nodded slightly, "Alright, make arrangements for the evacuation quickly. I won’t wait for you for long."

Jemis immediately straightened up and responded loudly.

Meanwhile, while the original was arranging to go to Mote City, ’Hao Yi,’ on the Velora, was standing in front of a ’coffin’.

Li Cheng, Jie An, and Goya had gone back to pack their things. Li Cheng and Jie An were quite far, so He Ao had sent them part of the way.

At this moment, He Ao had already returned to Newland City-State.

To be precise, he was now more than one hundred kilometers above Newland City-State.

This was the farthest distance from the planetary surface that Velora could reach via the ’tunnel’.

A bit higher up from this position, one could touch some of the very low-orbit satellites.

Of course, Velora could continue upward, into the cosmos, but then it couldn’t traverse quickly through the ’tunnel’.

Velora’s normal cruising speed on atmospheric planets was approximately 300 kilometers per hour; it was faster in space, reaching up to 1000 kilometers per hour.

However, for a ’transparent planet’ 110,000 kilometers away from earth, this was still too slow. By the time it got there, dishes served cold would be the norm.

Though Velora was slow, it also had fast components.

He stared at the coffin in front of him.

The coffin lid slowly opened, revealing an absolutely beautiful doll inside, dressed in gothic maid attire, with alabaster skin and ash-golden long hair.

This was the ’doll’ he had created last time after the ’Underground Palace incident’, by blending an Angel Designation artifact with Feiya’s Talent Sequence.

This ’doll’ could fly.

At full power, ignoring energy consumption, the doll’s maximum flight speed could reach Mach 4.

Plus, since she wasn’t human, she wouldn’t suffer from oxygen deprivation and could traverse space.

Once in space, with no atmospheric drag and Earth’s gravity decreasing, flying would consume less energy; mostly, she could rely on inertia to move forward, just requiring real-time trajectory corrections.

The only problem was.

He Ao’s hand rested on the coffin lid.

This doll couldn’t stray too far from the coffin.

Accompanied by a roaring blast, the dark coffin streaked through the thin atmosphere, carrying overlapping Mach rings, and flew up into the sky.

Tia Empire·Some Airline Company

An employee looking at the screen in front of him suddenly stood up, knocking over the stool under him.

His boss, not far behind, walked over.

The young employee pointed tremblingly at the screen, "The image sent back by the satellite, look, there’s a coffin flying in the sky!"

"That’s probably debris from a defunct satellite, maybe it just looks like a coffin?"

The boss carefully examined the blurry photo, turned to the young employee, "Did your myopia get worse?"

The black metal coffin, like a fish leaping out of the water, burst into the profound void carrying traces of atmospheric smoke.

A shining sun emerged from behind the enormous blue planet, its intense sunlight hitting the hard angles of the coffin.

Accompanied by a slight vibration, the coffin’s metal lid slowly opened.

The doll girl emerged from the coffin, opened her eyes, and her amber pupils looked towards the fierce sun and the surrounding dark deep space.

Her ash-gold hair reflected a brilliant light under the sun.

Quickly, she locked onto her target, closed her eyes, and sank back into the coffin.

The metal coffin lid closed once again, and like a streak of light, it surged towards the dark depths of space.