Chapter 1203
The Clean and Hygienic World of Abalus
Chapter 1203 The Clean and Hygienic World of Abalus
After Xia Xiu killed Isota with a single sword strike, the situation in the entire Karax plane had actually stabilized.
Although the ugly, remaining bits of flesh and white fluid continued to burn in the flames, for the entire world, the most deadly lesion had been forcibly removed.
And Forgrim did not waste this opportunity.
He first ordered a complete blockade of the still-burning area, centered on the Chongdu factory. No one was allowed to approach, no supplies were allowed to flow in without authorization, and anyone who tried to take advantage of the chaos after the disaster to loot again, split again, or seize power again would be executed.
On this point, the young phoenix did not hesitate for a moment.
He knew very well that the old order had been able to continue for so many years in Carax not because of its legitimacy, but because of the chaos itself. As soon as the situation eased up a little, those vested interests who depended on the ruins and famine would crawl out again like worms in the gutter.
Therefore, Forgrim did not give them a chance.
For the next few weeks, he hardly stopped.
On the one hand, he reorganized the administrative system of the entire medium plane with the Carax Fortress Factory as the core, bringing all the fortress factories that were originally isolated, mutually destructive, and wary of each other under unified command, and sorting out the mines, transportation lines, food synthesis factories, and defense forces one by one.
On the other hand, he personally eliminated those redundant institutions that had long been rigid and only relied on old rules to leech off others, and re-established a fairer and more efficient governance framework.
However, Carax did not immediately prosper because of one victory.
That's impossible.
This world has been rotten for too long, and many things have become rotten to the core. Even if Isotta dies, and even if all the city-states begin to obey unified command, true recovery will still take time.
But at least from that point on, the Carax stopped sinking.
In Forgrim's hands, this dying world began to show a glimmer of real life.
Xia Xiu has been staying here all this time.
He watched as the sea of fire that had burned for seven days and seven nights gradually died down, watched as the remains of Isota finally turned to ashes, and watched as Old Seven gradually molded this rotten plane back into a working state.
Once everything was over, he finally prepared to leave.
Further afield, there are other starchildren to be destroyed, other worlds awaiting their fate, and other children scattered far and wide, yet to be found.
Therefore, before setting off, Xia Xiu left one of the three colossi he brought with him—[Holy Judicator Tifuus]—in Karax.
This serves as both a deterrent to the world and a safeguard for Forgrim.
Today marks the day the old father embarks once again on his search for the Calabash Brothers.
On the main port platform of Carax, Forgrim personally came to see him off.
Before parting, Xia Xiu looked at Forgrim in front of him and didn't say anything too complicated. He simply praised him directly:
“You’ve done a good job. You’ve managed to rebuild the administrative system of Carax in such a short time. You’ve paved the way. As long as you continue in this direction, the world will eventually prosper under your leadership.”
After hearing this, Forgrim solemnly replied:
"If I have accomplished anything, it is only that I have taken a few more steps on the path you have paved. The one who has truly pulled this world out of the depths of decay has never been me alone."
"Without the help of the Heavenly Genealogy and the Eden Think Tank bestowed upon me by my father during this period, I alone, no matter how much energy I had, would have found it difficult to reassemble these tangled threads in such a short time."
"If you hadn't personally slain the evil spirits that corrupted the world, this world would have continued to rot in its filth, and all my so-called governance and reconstruction would have been nothing more than mending rags on a dying person."
As he said this, he looked up at Xia Xiu, his eyes still as bright as fire.
"So, the fact that this world can breathe again today is not my achievement alone, but because you first reclaimed the right to live for it, so that I could gradually lay order, skill and hope back on its land."
"I am merely standing on the shoulders of giants."
After listening, Xia Xiu smiled and didn't continue following the child's literary and artistic style. Instead, he naturally reached out and gently patted the other person's shoulder, thus bringing this farewell conversation to a close.
"Alright, enough with the pleasantries."
"Carax, you still have a lot to do. Administrative unification is only the first step. Resource allocation, production reconstruction, transportation repair, education and selection systems all need to be implemented one by one. Don't assume that the world has completely recovered just because the current situation has stabilized."
Forgrim nodded seriously, writing down every word he was told, and Xia Xiu, seeing this, didn't say anything more.
Some things, saying them once is enough.
The rest is up to the child to do.
So he turned and boarded the Sword-class frigate that was moored at the edge of the high-altitude platform. As the hatches closed, the engines warmed up, and the shields unfolded layer by layer, the ship quickly left the atmosphere of the Carax and, under the watchful eyes of Forgrim and the many Carax witnesses, slowly rose into the end of that gray-yellow sky.
The next moment, the space in front of the bow of the ship began to distort slightly.
The runes and energy nodes on the ship's surface lit up one after another, and a long and stable etheric rift was forcibly opened. The entire Sword-class frigate, without the slightest hesitation, swiftly and cleanly disappeared into the rift, like a sharp blade plunging into the water.
……
……
The etheric journey has begun anew.
Beyond the porthole, it was no longer the starry sky in the normal sense, but a stream of light that was constantly rolling, deforming, and merging with each other in color and structure. The distorted bands of color and floating shadows intertwined, sometimes like a coral forest in the deep sea, and sometimes like elongated blood vessels and nerves.
At the end of this bizarre and fantastical shipping route, six more intermediate-dimensional worlds float.
Each dimension seemed to be covered by a thin film of some huge, damp, and cold shadow. From a distance, it felt as if some indescribable mother was lying outside these worlds, slowly secreting while quietly waiting for what was inside to continue to mature.
Xia Xiu stood in front of the main position on the bridge, glanced at the six planes, and then chose the one closest to him.
It was a world completely submerged in green.
However, the green here is clearly not a positive word; it's a ghastly green.
As the ship drew closer, the outline of that intermediate plane became clearer and clearer. Its surface was covered with a large, unusually lush green layer, like moss, algae, or some kind of overgrown, completely out-of-control fungal carpet.
Even more bizarre is its sky, where the entire atmosphere presents an abnormal green haze. The clouds do not resemble the white and gray structure formed by normal water vapor condensation, but rather look more like a toxic gas curtain that has been rewritten by chemical pollution and biological activity.
Eden quickly analyzed the composition of that green gas.
It contains high concentrations of chlorine-based gases, as well as large amounts of sulfur-containing volatiles and ammonia-based toxic fumes. In some areas, it is even mixed with nitric oxide and unstable organic toxins.
This means that the air in that world is no longer suitable for normal life to breathe. Not to mention long-term residence, even if an ordinary person just stands there and takes a few breaths, their lungs and mucous membranes will suffer irreversible damage in a very short time.
The impact of these toxic atmospheres on the entire plane is also very direct. With the sky constantly covered by toxic smog, normal sunlight transmission is severely distorted, the food chain has most likely already been completely distorted, and surface water systems and soil are inevitably severely polluted.
The entire world, from top to bottom, is like a giant petri dish that has been poisoned, yet has grown entirely new and abnormal life structures in the toxic environment.
Xia Xiu looked at that world, rubbed his chin, and muttered something.
“Neg, one of the Four Lords, would probably like this kind of world, since it’s consistent with the style of his clean and hygienic garden worlds.”
That's it.
After making contact with the outer crystal wall of this plane, Xia Xiu, as always, issued orders for Eden to first penetrate the structure and make a concealed docking, without rushing to expose the ship directly to the target world's view.
So, the sword-class frigate cut along the weakest section of the crystal wall in that plane, and without disturbing a large-scale structural reaction, slowly tore open a crack that only allowed a single ship to pass through. Then, like a ghost, it disappeared into it and finally came to rest somewhere high in the sky on this green poisonous planet.
After the ship stabilized, Xia Xiu did not linger on the bridge.
He quickly disembarked.
The wind blowing from high above carried a distinctly abnormal chemical irritation. The green mist slowly churned in the lower atmosphere, shrouding the land below in a blurry and oppressive poisonous world. Before landing, Xia Xiu summoned the [Black Seal].
The moment that mark appeared, it immediately resonated subtly with something of the same origin in this plane.
The next moment, several sensory lines quickly spread out, as if constantly searching and comparing deep within this poisoned world, finally locking onto a relatively clear feedback point.
found it.
Although the exact state cannot be determined yet, the approximate location has been identified.
Xia Xiu glanced down at the area below, which was covered by layers of green poisonous mist, and then, without further delay, set off in the direction indicated by the [Black Seal], beginning his journey towards the place where the lost offspring of this plane resided.
……
……
Several hours later.
In the world of Abalus, there is a mid-altitude mountain city called Ash Slope.
The city is situated on a sloping black hillside. The walls are not high, but they are very thick. The outer layer is reinforced repeatedly with some kind of corrosion-resistant limestone and sintered bricks, and the gaps between the walls are filled with black resin and hardened medicinal mud.
Outside the city, there is a perpetual gray-green poisonous fog.
Within the city, it's not truly safe either.
The intermediate-dimensional world of Abalus is shrouded in a thick, corrosive, poisonous cloud from top to bottom, allowing almost no light to penetrate. The entire world remains perpetually shrouded in a dim twilight of gray and green.
Daylight is a rare sight here. Only on very rare occasions, when the poisonous clouds in the sky are briefly torn apart by the wind, will a small patch of pale light shine down. Most of the time, it seems as if the place is forever frozen in the most oppressive moment before dawn.
Along the way, Xia Xiu has already gathered a fairly comprehensive understanding of the basic information about this world, thanks to Eden and his own abilities.
The air here is mixed with a large amount of sulfides, neurotoxins, and some abnormal components that are intertwined with etheric energy. If ordinary people do not take any protection, they will die immediately, let alone walk too far from the safe zone. Even just standing at a mid-altitude area for a few more minutes to breathe will kill them.
For this reason, the most fundamental rule of this world is not national law or religious precepts, but rather—altitude.
In Abalus, altitude determines the environment, the environment determines survival, and survival determines power; the entire world order is built upon this principle.
In the lowest valleys, the poisonous fog is relatively thin. Although the land is barren and most of the things that can be grown have a bitter or medicinal taste, at least ordinary people can survive for a long time.
Therefore, that area is home to the vast majority of human villages and farmland, and it is the only place in the world that can barely be called a "human home".
Further up, you'll find mid-altitude mountains.
The concentration of toxic fog here suddenly rises, and the mountains are filled with rifts soaked in corrosive liquid, swamps churning with toxic mud, and deathly sacrificial sites. Ordinary people will soon collapse if they leave the protected area for too long.
Therefore, this place was never meant for human habitation, but rather for monsters, hunters, and outposts that served the ruling class.
As for the highest peaks and summits, they can no longer be simply described as dangerous.
That place is the true death zone of the world. The poisonous fog is so thick that it is almost impossible to dissipate. No matter how strong your body is, if you are exposed to it for a long time, you will eventually be gradually eroded away.
One counterintuitive point is that at the summit of every peak stands a fortress belonging to the ruler.
Those things are high above, looking down over the mountains through layers of poisonous clouds, cutting the whole world into pieces of territory for hunting and exploitation.
As for why the rulers were in high-altitude areas rather than low-altitude areas, it's because they weren't human.
The most abundant creatures in the world of Abalus are not actually humans or other intelligent races; the most abundant things here are actually—undead creations.
Skeleton soldiers, rotting beasts, armored corpse soldiers, translucent wandering spirits, and even some spliced monsters whose original forms are indistinguishable, constitute the most common and despairing military background of Abalus.
They are not born naturally, but are nurtured by the rulers above through sacrifice, necromancy, and poisonous fog. Therefore, for most people in this world, what is truly terrifying at night is never the darkness itself, but the things that emerge from it.
As for the upper echelons who rule this plane, they are not nobles or kings in the normal sense.
The core of power in Abalus is a group of undead overlords who reside atop the peaks.
Some of them were descendants of colonists from various worlds who fell to this world long ago. However, in the chaotic era and the pollution of poisonous fog, their spirituality and physical body gradually became distorted, and they eventually embarked on a path of sacrificing souls and manipulating the dead as the source of their power.
The group above them, however, are not human at all. They are like some kind of high-ranking alien beings living in a poisonous cloud, with ridiculously long lifespans, feeding on souls and fear.
Of course, they would fight among themselves, vying for territory, offerings, poisonous fog, and undead resources. But when faced with humans in the valley, they would quickly show an astonishing unity—that is, to confine humans and treat them as livestock that should not be exterminated, but also should never be allowed to become powerful.
Therefore, the humans of Abalus lived a life of extreme suffering.
The people here know from a young age that they cannot leave the firelight after sunset, that they must offer sacrifices every year, and that the youngest, strongest, and unluckiest people in the village may be dragged away by the rulers on the mountain at any time and never return.
What's more troublesome is that they are not only under external pressure, but also scattered internally.
There is little interaction between villages. They are wary of each other and even fight over water, food, and medicinal herbs. This has made the people of Abalus, despite their considerable numbers, live like scattered sand, with the rulers above them holding them by the neck until today.
Xia Xiu, dressed in a simple long robe, stood on the edge of a stone platform extending outward from Ash Slope City. His gaze traveled from the low, heavy rooftops, the slowly rising smoke, and the people carrying loads to the distant, layered gray-green mountain ridges and poisonous clouds.
"This world is really clean and hygienic."
If he had to use one label to describe this world, he would definitely choose it as—the land chosen by a benevolent father.