Three days later…
[Average Global Outdoor Temperature: -27°C]
By now, the overwhelming majority of regions across the world had been struck by severe cold.
Fortunately, governments had issued early warnings before the full force of the Cold Wave arrived and had implemented as many targeted emergency measures as they could.
There was also another reason, one known only to a very small number of people.
Aponia.
Because of her influence, many major powers that had once been at each other's throats had, for the first time, formed an almost completely united front, with barely any visible signs of internal conflict.
As a result, within the newly designated Base City zones, anyone who successfully reached the evacuation areas could at least count on basic food and shelter.
Of course, the important words were still "successfully reached" and "basic."
No matter how early the warning came, those two points could not be ignored.
There was simply no helping it.
In the end, people still had to rely on themselves.
Faced with a disaster on this scale, even the most efficiently functioning governments could not possibly take care of everyone.
Aponia possessed the power of "Discipline," and she was a devout believer who offered her prayers to God.
But she was not actually a God.
Even at the absolute limit of her ability, all she could do was compel the upper levels of human civilization to remain "united."
That alone had created what those in the know privately called a "Pseudo-Miracle Situation."
On the surface, humanity had formed a unified front.
Beneath that surface, countless hidden dangers remained.
Even so, they had no better alternative.
At lower levels of society, conflicts between individuals over matters both large and small were impossible to completely prevent.
Naturally, there were also plenty of people who refused to cooperate.
Some continued shouting about "freedom" even with disaster already at their doorstep.
Others stubbornly insisted:
"This is my hometown. I'm not going anywhere."
And then there were the especially unreasonable ones, who resorted to hysterical moral blackmail and shouted things like:
"Isn't dealing with this exactly what you people are supposed to do?!"
Those people eventually paid a bitter price for their decisions.
In some cases, the price was their lives.
Worse still, some dragged their friends and families down with them.
As for those who were comparatively sensible, the ones who understood that this was not a time to be willful…
They survived.
Barely.
But survival did not mean life had become easy.
The sudden mass evacuations had begun with coastal cities.
Even setting aside the sheer scale and difficulty of relocating so many people, there was another problem.
The abrupt transition from their old lives to the austerity of emergency shelters was difficult for anyone to accept.
For ordinary people, the contrast was already harsh.
For those who had previously lived in comfort or luxury, it was even worse.
That enormous sense of loss inevitably gave rise to depression, confusion, panic, and irritability.
And under such immense pressure, the various governments could not even offer people a clear answer.
No one knew how long this sudden Cold Wave would last.
Would they ever return to the comfortable lives they once had?
Would they even survive long enough to see that day?
As time passed, the fear and uncertainty only continued to accumulate.
Well…
If Ling Ke, the "Grand Player of Doomsday," were asked to describe the situation, he would probably put it this way:
"It's basically Frostpunk."
"Hope is plummeting, while Discontent is shooting through the roof."
Come to think of it, wasn't the current Earth in the Honkai Impact 3rd world basically a real-life version of Frostpunk?
Except this "game" could not be paused.
There were no save files to reload either.
At least, the Newborn World Serpent, currently occupying the role of the Captain, or rather, the player, had no such privileges.
And when it came to difficulty…
"Frostpunk doesn't have roaming boss monsters called 'Herrschers' wandering around and randomly deleting cities."
Inside the comfortably climate-controlled Stellaron Train, Ling Ke glanced sideways at Sirin, who was diligently cleaning alongside Train Master Pam.
A faint smile touched the corner of his lips.
He still had not reactivated the Trailblazer, Caelus, template.
For the moment, he was maintaining only the Stellaron Train and the existence associated with it.
After everything that had happened, the Caelus identity could no longer provide him with that particular "special perspective."
Ling Ke did not mind.
He had anticipated that possibility long ago.
And he had plenty of other "identities" available.
For example…
Nero.
He had recently been quite active throughout Europe, defeating several Honkai Beasts.
He possessed a multifunctional mechanical prosthetic right arm, drove a practically indestructible Type B RV, and wandered from place to place with a few companions.
He hated the smell of cigarettes.
And whenever his temper flared, he had a habit of raising his middle finger toward the sky and shouting:
"FAQ!"
Then there was the North American continent.
A survival group had formed there, with its members huddling together against the cold.
Among them were…
Lara.
Jonah.
Nathan.
Sam.
Leon.
Ada.
And more than a dozen others.
Some members of the group were ordinary local residents who had failed to evacuate in time.
The rest were "ordinary people" drawn from the Tomb Raider reboot series, the Uncharted series, and the Resident Evil series.
Naturally, their individual backgrounds were anything but dull.
Some had taken part in polar expeditions aboard icebreakers.
Some had worked as salvage divers.
Others had even served as direct agents under the current President.
Every now and then, Ling Ke would exercise his supreme authority within the Imaginary Tree's domain in an absurd display of overkill, modifying or adding new backgrounds and identities for these "Puppets of Dominance" based on various game-character templates.
Then, whenever he had free time, he would open an "Omniscience" screen and watch their experiences unfold like a movie or livestream.
Sometimes, when one of those game characters was about to make a move, perhaps in the middle of a battle, Ling Ke would remotely project his primary consciousness into that body and temporarily take control.
Restricted to the character's own abilities and physical limits, he would then enjoy himself for a while.
It was not all that different from playing a VRMMO like Sword Art Online.
These little activities served as entertainment whenever nothing particularly important was happening.
Of course, over the past three days, Ling Ke had also been occasionally checking in on Big Pardo.
Or more precisely, Pardofelis's Sim.
This fifty-thousand-year-old catgirl (?) had recently been opening ultra-long-distance portals all over the world.
Using them, she helped people who had missed the evacuation reach designated safe zones, greatly improving their chances of survival.
No wonder the Aeon of Harmony had taken an interest in her.
After all, a Path was closely tied to the hearts and intentions of intelligent life.
Take the neighboring parallel universe as an example.
Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction, looked down on the Annihilation Gang despite the fact that its members constantly spread destruction.
The situation here followed much the same principle.
On a cosmic scale, what Pardo was doing was insignificant.
But she had no hidden agenda.
She was not trying to earn recognition.
She was not attempting to prove anything.
She simply wanted to help, so she did.
Whenever she saw someone weaker than herself struggling to survive, she used what strength she had to lend them a hand.
In that sense, she was remarkably close to the essence of Harmony.
To be honest…
"If Pardo were a Grand Player of Deliverance, she'd probably have earned quite a few points over the past few days."
Ling Ke offered the comment in his usual style.
Appropriate or not was another matter.
Speaking of which…
It was only because the past few days had been relatively uneventful that Ling Ke had spent so much time watching the game characters' "livestreams" while occasionally following Big Pardo's movements.
And through them, he had gained a rough understanding of just how difficult life had become for ordinary people in this disaster-stricken world.
Take Nathan from the Uncharted series.
His background, compared to many others, was not particularly supernatural.
Even so, as a game protagonist, he still possessed convenient traits such as seemingly limitless stamina.
If even a "little Superman" like him could not guarantee his own survival…
What hope did truly ordinary people have?
"How much longer do we have to endure before we finally see some real hope?"
Countless people were asking themselves the same question.
No one could give them a definite answer.
Until…
"Doctor, the self-destruct unit has finished assembling."
"More than three thousand spare Omnic bodies have also been placed in storage."
At the Newborn World Serpent Headquarters, MEI was carrying out the final calibration of the Key of Blankness when Prometheus's main unit delivered its report.
For a moment…
"I understand."
MEI answered calmly.
Several high-precision robotic arms moved around her.
Under her control, three Herrscher Cores, one blue, one orange, and one purple, were carefully embedded into three slots built into the chest armor of the Key of Blankness.
By now, MEI had already confirmed the limit of what her current body could endure while keeping the side effects within an acceptable range.
One Herrscher Authority at a time.
No more.
Elysia, as a natural-born Herrscher, could withstand considerably more.
Unfortunately…
She was not "smart" enough.
And trying to force an enormous amount of advanced scientific knowledge into her head at this point was obviously unrealistic.
So, for this improved version of the Key of Blankness, MEI had no choice but to settle for the next best solution.
A switching mechanism.
The three Cores could all be installed, but only one Authority would be active at any given time.
Time passed.
The final procedures were completed one by one.
No accidents occurred.
"Hah…"
When the readings displayed on the virtual screen beside her remained within normal parameters, MEI finally released a long breath.
Then she turned toward the girl-shaped doll standing behind her.
"Notify Kevin and the others, Prometheus."
MEI's expression became serious.
"Everything on my end is ready."
"We can officially begin the Herrscher Crusade."
"Yes."
Meanwhile…
Boom!
On the Mu Continent, a prototype Base City that was still under construction was reduced to ruins in an instant.
Crimson lightning swallowed everything.
Within the area it swept across, not a single person survived.
High above the devastated city…
"Not bad, Herrscher of Thunder."
A purple-haired girl hovered in midair.
Around her neck, the Bloody Little Snake spoke in a human voice.
"You're gradually learning how to make better use of your Authority."
"Give yourself a little more time to master the 'trump card' I prepared for you, and then we can…"
The snake's voice carried a faint trace of anticipation.
"…bring down the final curtain on this era of civilization."
And so, just as humanity was beginning to recover from the initial shock of the disaster…
The two Herrschers who had remained hidden for several days were finally preparing to move.
This time…
They intended to wage an all-out war.