Chapter 509: Chapter 458: Crimson (6K)

This doesn’t seem to be filming a movie…

The young men and women at the entrance of the nightclub saw the silhouette of a monster flickering in the storm clouds, and their alcohol-numbed brains finally cleared up a bit.

Someone let out a scream, and the group scrambled away, only to hit an invisible spatial confinement wall with a “thud” before they could reach the end of the street.

Mobius ignored the chaotic screams behind and calmly said to Li Cheng, “First of all, as the host, I must thank you for not choosing to destroy London City right away.”

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow, “Why do you say that?”

“Calculation, speculation.”

Mobius shrugged, “Judging from the anomalous fluctuation indices detected by various signal stations across Eurasia, and the atmospheric anomaly images provided by meteorological satellites, the ability you have shown involves high-speed linear movement over long distances.

The shortest single displacement is 400 kilometers, the longest 1400 kilometers. There is about a fifteen-second interval between two displacements.

It is notable that this is not direct light-speed flight—as per special relativity, once an object reaches light speed, its energy becomes nearly infinite, enough to ignite the gas molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere, forming a plasma fireball, or even tearing the Earth itself apart.

Therefore, the high-speed movement you manifest is likely not transforming yourself into light speed, but creating a curvature ‘bubble’ around yourself, distorting time and space to achieve the effect similar to the curvature engine in sci-fi literature.”

“You are correct.”

Li Cheng nodded, acknowledging that the other party, being from the Bell Tower’s upper ranks, had deduced several key pieces of information about the [Floating Engine] just from scraps of clues.

“Of course, even with the curvature engine, the potential for physical destruction is tremendous.”

Having received affirmation, Mobius continued, “The curvature engine works by distorting space ahead and behind. The larger the volume of the vessel, the greater the cross-sectional area affected by the distortion.

If you fly 30 meters above the ground, the residual waves of the curvature engine would spread out cylindrically, igniting the air and forming a detonation wave.

The detonation wave would shred buildings along its path, and partially hit the ground, reflecting back as an arc-shaped wave.

The reflected wave overlaps with the detonation wave, doubling the power, like two indestructible, invisible walls sweeping to the sides.

The first scenario, assuming you make four returns in the air above London City, results in the destruction of all buildings over 50 meters along the path, with a minimum direct death toll of 600,000 to 800,000.

Considering subsequent building collapses, fires, and healthcare system collapse, casualties would reach millions.

This is equivalent to eight dispersedly deployed airburst atomic bombs like the one dropped on Hiroshima.

And London, being one of the global financial centers, its prolonged paralysis would trigger a global financial crisis, indirectly leading to global economic recession and exacerbating world instability.”

Mobius raised his palm, lifting a three-dimensional map of London City, simulating the effects after Li Cheng flies through and returns four times above London in the air.

Within the direct kill radius of the curvature engine, skyscrapers collapse like dominoes, while low-rise buildings are wiped off the map.

Within the indirect kill radius of the curvature engine, the high-temperature, high-pressure blast wave rushes into building windows, reflecting and resonating in corridors, instantly incinerating and carbonizing London residents still in their slumber.

The blue dots symbolizing living people extinguish in droves,

and the entire city is permanently gouged with a massive, indelible “W” scar.

The faces of the Bell Tower Mage members behind Mobius turned very grim.

True, as members of the Bell Tower, their closest relatives were all placed in the underground bunker of the Greenwich Observatory, likely safe.

But before becoming Players, they were also ordinary people.

Childhood playmates, classmates from school, young lovers, friends on the internet.

The lady running the flower shop downstairs, the uncle selling hot dogs at the street stall, the strangers who greet you on the morning run…

All familiar, everyday occurrences were ruthlessly destroyed in the face of the city’s “W” scar.

Crimson warning,

This is, the Crimson.

Moist water vapor dampened the streetlamp’s glow, water trickled along the stone steps into the sewer.

“Heh,”

Under the hood of the transparent raincoat came Li Cheng’s light laugh, “If you’re trying to guide me, it isn’t necessary.

The Greenwich Observatory is under protective barriers.”

Before coming, he had already asked Zhangsun Yao, and learned that the Bell Tower had established a massive defensive barrier at its Greenwich Observatory headquarters.

If Li Cheng were to repeatedly bombard London with the curvature engine, the Mage Association stationed at the Bell Tower could easily seize the Floating Engine’s cooldown period and quietly expand the barrier’s perimeter.

By then, either Li Cheng would penetrate the barrier at high speed,

or crash to death into the barrier.

A 50% to 50% probability.

“There is indeed a barrier.”

Mobius responded calmly, “So, the second scenario is for you to attack other UK cities without the observatory’s defensive barrier.

Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham…

Skirt around London, cutting diagonally across the British Isles.”

The number of Players in a country depends on several factors: the country’s population, economic development level, infrastructure construction, social security, and the social status of Transcendents.

Similar to the effect of industrial agglomerations — the more Players in a region, the more it attracts subsequent Players.

The UK’s attraction to Transcendents is not low, but definitely cannot compare with the United States.

In major cities behind London, the number of Transcendents is even fewer. It’s even more impossible to seize the brief cooldown period of the Floating Engine to stop Li Cheng.