Chapter 40: The Association's Reward!

At the end of the day, this content is created specifically for the people of each respective civilization to view. If someone in a martial arts world were skeptical, Martial Arts Shen Yu could just as easily use this video to showcase the spectacle of a "Celestial Court." It would simply be a matter of changing the terminology during translation, perhaps calling it the "Hall of Tribulation Transcendence Immortals" or something similar. Adding such cognitive information to the video does not require much gray fog, yet it remains sufficiently mysterious.

As for the effectiveness, one only needs to look at the reactions of the people present. Setting aside the three assistants, the three representatives themselves are elites in high-ranking positions, possessing immense wisdom and insight. Yet, at this moment, each of them looks like a child who has just wandered into a magical world, their expressions filled with unconcealable shock and longing. What they are experiencing is simply too miraculous.

However, they are not children, after all. No matter how excited they are, they eventually manage to cool down under self-control. Qi Shichang, still focused on the priorities, hurriedly asked, "Consultant Shen, what exactly did you mean by 'incentives' earlier?"

"As you have sensed, many things from the Association are transmitted directly in the form of information," Shen Yu explained. "Yesterday, we signed a Mutual Assistance Covenant with the Hanyu member of the interstellar civilization and achieved concrete results. Following that, I personally received a reward from the Association. This reward is not without its costs; it is set up to encourage members to actively save their own worlds without violating the Association's principles—after all, not every Gray Fog Walker has the desire to save their civilization."

Everyone nodded repeatedly. This was easy to understand. People are diverse, and many who become such magical and powerful Gray Fog Walkers might not care at all about the survival of their own civilization. They could just go off to live freely in different worlds. But that clearly contradicts the original intent behind the founding of the Multidimensional Doomsday Civilization Mutual Assistance Association. Establishing such incentives is perfectly reasonable.

"It is our great fortune that the Gray Fog Walker born in our civilization is Consultant Shen," Qi Shichang remarked, offering a subtle compliment to Shen Yu.

"In short, there are multiple categories of rewards to choose from—some that strengthen oneself, others for different purposes. What I chose is the type I believe is most useful for the doomsday facing our civilization." Shen Yu raised a hand, and three turtle shells appeared on the table.

Everyone’s gaze was immediately drawn to them. These were rewards from the Association! After seeing the previous projection, they already had a certain level of understanding regarding the magic and power of the Association. No one would underestimate these rewards. Therefore, even though the three turtle shells looked ordinary, they focused their full attention on them, their hearts filled with anticipation. At the end of the day, no matter how magical what they saw earlier was, it was something only Shen Yu could enjoy. But as Shen Yu had stated, these rewards concerned their civilization—they concerned them!

"This thing, it looks a bit like something used for divination?" Qi Shichang seemed to have realized something.

"Correct," Shen Yu nodded. "The name of this item is the 'Fool-proof Crisis Divination Tool'."

"That name..." Qi Shichang’s mouth twitched.

"It’s just my own translation; the meaning is clear enough." Shen Yu’s expression turned slightly solemn. "Relevant spells have been solidified within it. Once used, it can reveal the time and location of the next large-scale human casualty event within the entire civilization."

Yes, this was what Shen Yu decided to bring out after much deliberation. Naturally, it was crafted using gray fog, and the cost was not insignificant. The doomsday of human civilization is fraught with potential dangers. Setting aside the next possible meteor strike, there are several other locations where meteorites are suspected to have fallen, yet nothing has happened there yet—these are all potential time bombs. Shen Yu does not want to wait until a crisis suddenly erupts to scramble for a solution. It is better to be prepared. Every extra person saved means more gray fog!

The reason he presented it this way was, of course, to give his home civilization a sense of participation while further proving the power and utility of the Association. At this moment, upon hearing Shen Yu’s words, the expressions of everyone present turned equally serious. One could even hear their breathing quicken. Clearly, these people understood the importance of such an item! What Shen Yu had said earlier was no exaggeration. This tool represents countless lives!

"It’s too miraculous, simply too miraculous," the Northern Alliance representative muttered to himself, repeating the phrase.

"I originally wanted to use it the moment I got my hands on it, because the sooner we know, the better," Shen Yu said, looking at the people before him. "But I felt it was necessary to use it with you all as witnesses. After all, saving our civilization is not my responsibility alone."

"Mr. Shen, this item is far too important; we should have more people witness this together..." Olinade clearly felt a certain pressure, and his professional instinct urged him to share some of that burden.

But Shen Yu refused. Ever since he had reviewed the data, he had been struggling to contain his urge to use the gray fog to predict the future, especially regarding those giant worms, which left him with a lingering sense of unease. Since the three parties were represented here, there was no need to delay. After all, these three nations essentially represented the majority of the civilization.

"Let’s use one first; there’s no need to drag this out."

He picked up one of the turtle shells and dropped it onto the floor. Yes, the activation process designed for the tool was that simple. Why else would it be called "fool-proof"?

The next moment, clear cracks appeared on the shell. As they gazed at these fissures, vague, ghostly images began to surface in everyone’s minds. It was dusk, and a massive, gray-white worm, trailing dust from the depths of the earth, roared out from the center of the city. It swallowed a hundred-meter-tall building whole! The ground shook violently as the worm writhed, countless skyscrapers collapsed, and people were plunged into desperate, agonizing screams.

The vision stopped abruptly. However, the most important information remained:

—Three hours and forty-three minutes from now!

"..."

Silence. Nothing but silence. Even Shen Yu had not expected this result. He was indeed worried about the existence of the giant worm. When such a creature devours humans, it clearly grows much faster. Even if it had been frightened into hiding underground by unconventional weapons, it was unlikely to stay hidden forever. Instinct would drive it to attack humans. But Shen Yu truly had not expected the time to be so imminent!

Less than four hours?! What could be done in that amount of time? Evacuate the masses? It was impossible! The Northern Alliance representative had turned pale, his fists clenched tightly, his entire body trembling slightly. They were not unprepared, but it was all too sudden. Yet, that is the nature of doomsday—no one guarantees that the outbreak of a disaster will give people time to prepare!