"What?!!"
"How?!!"
"Why?!!"
These desperate questions gnawed at Li Shen's mind, like a constant itch that he couldn't scratch. Instead of the comforting sounds and smells of the earth, all his eyes could see were shattered pieces, like a broken mirror reflecting a distorted reality.
Li Shen's return to Earth was nothing short of a nightmare. As he descended through the remnants of a sky once blue and vibrant, the desolation below greeted him with an eerie silence.
The air was thick with a metallic stench, mingling with the charred aroma of destruction. Li Shen's return to Earth was met with an apocalyptic tableau that seemed to stretch endlessly before him.
The once-bustling city he had known was now a graveyard of crumbling skyscrapers and twisted metal. Dust and ash floated lazily through the air, settling like a mournful shroud over the ruins.
Every structure seemed to scream its collapse, their skeletal remains jutting skyward as if in desperate protest against the devastation.
*Thud*
He landed softly in what used to be a bustling urban area, now an overgrown wasteland littered with the wreckage of broken buildings and abandoned vehicles.
His keen eyes scanned the area, picking out the skeletal remains of what had once been a vibrant human society. His heart, hardened by years of battle in the Murim world, felt a pang of unfamiliar empathy.
His robes, now torn and stained from countless battles, fluttered slightly as he surveyed the devastation. His once formidable presence, now marred by blood and grime, was a stark contrast to the lifeless ruins around him.
Amidst this desolate silence, he discovered chaos in a narrow alleyway, as two figures hurdled themselves, their presence barely discernible against the backdrop of ruin. The woman, disheveled and gaunt, clutched a small child to her chest.
The child's face was pressed into her mother's tattered coat, their breaths shallow and rapid, the image of fear and desperation etched onto their innocent faces.
The woman's eyes were tightly shut, her lips moving in silent prayer, clutching onto the fragile hope that a miracle might come their way.
"Please, someone... anyone, save us."
Li Shen approached them with a calm determination. His eyes, glowing with a cold, otherworldly light, took in the scene. The void powers he had mastered were now to be wielded for their salvation.
Li Shen, now a master of cosmic and spatial powers, extended his hand. With a subtle gesture, a shimmering barrier of void energy enveloped the woman and child.
The translucent shield pulsed with an otherworldly glow, its surface rippling like liquid glass as it absorbed the relentless barrage of debris and stray zombies that lurched toward them.
The woman, named Lin Mei looked up, her eyes widening with a mix of hope and confusion.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"Are you... are you here to save us?"
Li Shen's gaze softened, though his expression remained stoic.
"I will protect you for now," he replied.
The child, a girl of no more than five named Xiao Ling, clung to her mother, her wide eyes reflecting the same fear Li Shen had witnessed in countless battles.
The woman's face was lined with exhaustion and desperation, as she clutched Xiao Ling closer. The atmosphere around them was filled with a palpable dread, punctuated only by the distant groans of the undead and the occasional tremor from the crumbling structures.
Seconds later, the proximity of these undead creatures revealed itself to Li Shen. Zombies, drawn by the faint scent of life, began to close in on the barrier.
His eyes, cold and calculating, swept across the desolate scene. A flick of his wrist was all it took; the cosmic energy surged from his fingertips, a mere ripple in the void that swept through the immediate area.
Zombies fell to the ground, their decayed forms disintegrating into nothingness. It was as if the universe itself had decided to erase their existence.
"What—what are you?" Lin Mei's voice was a mixture of awe and fear. She clutched Xiao Ling tighter, her eyes darting between Li Shen and the remnants of the undead.
"I wield powers beyond your comprehension," Li Shen said, his tone unyielding. "But it is imperative that you tell me how this world came to be like this."
Yet, amidst the silence that followed, the distant crack of a sniper rifle shattered the stillness. Li Shen's gaze shot toward the source—a derelict building two blocks away. His eyes, as frigid and piercing as a winter storm, locked onto the sniper's position.
With a languid but deliberate motion, he made a hand gesture. To the untrained eye, it seemed slow, almost theatrical. But within moments, the silencer of the sniper's rifle split cleanly in half, the broken pieces clattering to the ground below.
The sniper's silhouette in the window vanished in panic and fear, leaving only the echo of his presence via the broken rifle.
Li Shen's attention returned to the woman and child. He approached them, his dark eyes glinting ominously as he surveyed the scene. His clothes were torn and stained, remnants of battles fought in far-off realms. The sight of him, bloodied and battered, was both formidable and unsettling.
"Now, tell me, who did this? Why has Earth, once teeming with life and beauty, been reduced to nothing but dust and the crumbling remains of buildings?" Li Shen's voice was a cold, emotionless monotone.
The woman, her fear heightened by his sudden and intimidating presence, looked up at him with tear-streaked cheeks. Her eyes, once filled with hope, now reflected sheer terror.
Lin Mei's breath hitched as she tried to compose herself.