Apocalyptic Disaster: I Hoard Billions in Supplies and Kill the Saint

186: Chapter 186 The Embryo of Civilization03:17 AM.

In the core control room of the East China Theater Defense Command, all the large screens suddenly changed color—

The satellite monitoring signals, which had been running normally, suddenly lost connection completely at the ’Tianlang Mountain coordinate.’

It wasn’t a delay.

It was ’the entire information structure disappearing from the source.’

’—The signal is gone.’ The technician’s face turned pale, and his voice tightened.

’It’s not silent mode, nor is it a power outage...’

’It’s a loss of integrity! It’s like—like the entire area has been erased!’

The supervisor immediately stood up: ’Retrieve the high-altitude multi-frequency fluctuation images!’

’Hurry!!’

In the images returned by the satellite, a faint layer of red-gold ripples covered the sky above Tianlang Mountain, like a sea of fire floating, but the energy index was stable and harmless.

Yet at the same time, it blocked all spectral layer heat source refraction, radio probe scanning, and micro-magnetic positioning feedback.

In other words—

The outside world was completely ’unable to see’ Tianlang Mountain.

As if it had been deleted from the map.

The deputy intelligence team leader stood in front of the combat console, gritting his teeth, his tone icy:

’...This is not a normal defense mechanism.’

’It’s not active fire prevention, nor is it tactical camouflage.’

’This is—an energy field constructed by a ’semi-living spiritual entity’.’

’It is—using its consciousness to protect Tianlang Mountain.’

The chief technician paused, then spoke the conclusion in a low voice:

’In other words, inside Tianlang Mountain, a ’non-system life form’ has already been born.’

’And it has chosen to stand on the side of humanity.’

The entire combat command room fell into dead silence.

Duan Lanzhou, the deputy commander of the General Administration and the person in charge of the reconstruction of order in the Third Catastrophe Zone, stared at the static heat source image, remaining silent for a long time.

He was one of the guardians of the old world order and the actual operator of the ’core reorganization of the post-disaster system.’

He knew very well what this meant.

—A base that is not connected to the system.

—An awakened one with extraordinary space-type abilities.

—Now, another semi-intelligent life form that ’can independently support a spiritual domain’ has been born.

This is not a problem.

This is—another ’embryo of a new world’ outside the system.

He finally spoke slowly, his voice pressed extremely low:

’They... are no longer just a ’civilian base’.’

’Tianlang Mountain already possesses the ’possibility of self-civilization evolution’.’

He looked at the chief of staff, his tone cold and heavy:

’Once a life form of this level fully awakens, it will directly shake our system’s cognition—’

’It is not an enemy.’

’But... a new species.’

The whole room was shocked.

On the main combat screen, the three characters ’Tianlang Mountain’ flickered quietly with a red-gold shielding icon, like a heart independent of the old order, beginning to beat.

[Risk level updating...]

[Target: Tianlang Mountain]

[Identity level: Class A]

[Threat level: Upgraded from B2 to A0 (Special potential independent system risk)]

[Disposal suggestion: Strategic level observation, suspend contact, close monitoring, avoid direct conflict]

He looked at the flickering screen and slowly said one sentence:

’It is not that the system cannot tolerate them.’

’It is that we... can no longer control that mountain.’

Tianlang Mountain, Inner Court Central Zone.

Dawn had arrived.

But because of Flame Born’s spiritual domain shielding barrier, the scorching external sunlight was refracted layer by layer, and now the entire base seemed to be covered by a thin golden cloud curtain.

The temperature was controlled below 38 degrees—in the current Apocalypse, it could be called ’paradise.’

Flame Born stepped barefoot onto the small plaza in the base’s central courtyard.

The temperature of the floor tiles was adjusted just right by the spiritual domain; there was still heat in the wind, but it was no longer scorching.

He watched all of this.

Around him were the security team doing morning training, the water group workers carrying pipes, the volunteer group distributing supplies, and a group of children running back and forth at the entrance of the air-raid shelter, chasing a small jumping patrol robot.

These people were not afraid of him.

They would only occasionally glance at him secretly, then whisper and laugh: ’The Fire Kid is here.’

For the first time, Flame Born learned—to blink.

Then, he also slowly learned:

’To nod.’

’To chuckle.’

’To put away his fire.’

Shen Qingyan brought him into the kitchen.

’If you want to ’be human’... then you have to start by recognizing the things that humans eat.’

She threw a new type of heat-resistant noodle into the pot and opened a bottle of purified water: ’This is not the spiritual spring of your Fire Domain; it’s something humans created, ’good enough to use’.’

Flame Born tilted his head, looked at the pot, and asked softly:

’Can this be eaten too?’

Shen Qingyan didn’t look up: ’It can be eaten, but it’s not delicious.’

’That’s why humans add seasoning, chop scallions, stir-fry until fragrant... striving to ’live like a human’.’

Flame Born listened carefully, then looked at the bubbling gray noodle soup in the pot.

He gently raised his hand, and a tiny thread of fire fell—

The pot of soup suddenly shimmered with a pale golden light.

The whole pot overflowed with fragrance.

Shen Qingyan was stunned.

Flame Born smiled slightly:

’I can learn.’

’And I... want to learn.’

In the evening, Ye Nanxing came to the library area.

She saw Flame Born sitting at a desk, flipping through ’A Brief History of Earth’ and ’Basic Language Expression Training’ page by page.

He sat upright, with ’heat-resistant paper’ specially made by Zhou Cheng in front of him.

His fingertips were still emitting heat, but they no longer ignited the paper.

And in his eyes... there was a kind of ’human-like’ stillness.

’Sister Nanxing.’

’I didn’t burn anything today.’

’I also learned—to express ’thank you’ and ’sorry’.’

Ye Nanxing smiled.

She walked over and gently ruffled his hair, which was not yet stable:

’Very good.’

Lanyan Shelter, Technical Room.

Inside the Lanyan Shelter Technical Room, a new piece of data was uploaded to the government’s central database:

[Abnormal high-energy reaction. Coordinates: Tianlang Mountain direction]

[Video playback: Humanoid energy body suspected of having self-awareness / heat source distorting environment stability domain]

[Tag suggestion: Suspected ’Super S-Class Spiritual Entity’ / non-human mimic entity]

General Administration personnel immediately followed up:

’What did you say? That’s not a projection?!’

’He can speak?’

’He said—’Home cannot be burned’?’

The technician nodded, looking shocked:

’We read the complete audio from the residual images.’

’He refers to himself as—’Flame Born’.’

At this moment, a report titled ’Observation Report on the Non-Human Mimic Entity of Tianlang Mountain’ was being sent to the [Central Observation Hall].

At the bottom of the report—

Stamped with a red seal were four words:

’Possesses the embryo of civilization’

Five o’clock in the morning, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

On the main peak platform of Tianlang Mountain, the wind whipped up the gray-red morning light; the high temperature had not yet fully risen, but there was already a sense of fire writhing on the distant mountain ridge.

Ye Nanxing stood alone by the viewing platform, behind her were Shen Qingyan, Lin Xiao, and other core members standing in silence.

Standing beside her was Flame Born—

He was a youth who looked about fifteen, draped in a thin flame robe condensed from spiritual fire, with red flames floating under his feet, not touching the dust.

His eyes were new—

In his eyes were curiosity, awe, and also an unhideable ’throb.’

For the first time, he stepped out of that quiet world between the Fire Domain and the Cold Domain, facing the real heat waves of the world.

He said softly:

’This... is not the kind of fire in the space.’

’It’s hot, but it’s not killing.’

’It’s living people, trying hard to breathe.’