Original and most updated translations are from volare. Please don't read elsewhere and stop supporting theft.
TL: Zhao
Editing: Krisaia
Liu Meng's being Ying Mei's main target, her unsuccessful attempt at taking Wu Jia's life didn't affect her in the slightest.
"This fire…" Liu Meng frowned, deciding to leave questioning Li Yiming to later.
"Do you feel good? Li Yiming, how do you feel, watching your loved one suffer for your sake?" Ying Mei laughed out loud, but the weakness in her voice suggested that the curse had a significant toll on her.
"Do you know what it means to attack me with fire?" Liu Meng asked arrogantly in spite of her predicament.
"I love to see fish drown…" Ying Mei laughed again.
"Since you seem to want to give it to me so badly, I'll gladly take your gift." Liu Meng snorted and a clone emerged from her body. Even Li Yiming, when he stared into the eyes of the clone, felt a chill run down his spine.
"What are you doing?" Li Yiming asked.
"You'll see." The clone, which had been the one that had been subject to Heaven's Punishment back in the empty space, opened her mouth and absorbed all the flame which bound Liu Meng.
"You! Impossible!" Ying Mei shrieked.
"Thank you," Liu Meng said coldly before extinguishing the flames on her body.
"Flames of the Sun!" The clone suddenly emitted a long shriek. A giant ball of fire shot out from her body, burning through the clouds and letting through a pillar of sunlight. The clone was then immediately ignited and the entire sky was lit ablaze.
"Put away your toys. Come down here or don't, I don't care which," Liu Meng said with a glacial tone as her attack evaporated most of the golden apparitions. Despite her best efforts in reigning in her anger, Ying Mei had provoked her beyond what she could take. The golden apparitions returned to a place beyond the clouds, and the fire came back into Liu Meng's body.
"Are you okay?" Li Yiming rushed to check on Liu Meng.
"Let's talk about the girl that you're hiding" Liu Meng was visibly annoyed.
* * *
"What happened?" Pan Junwei rushed into Wu Jia's tent.
"It's nothing. Here, I think that the soldiers deserve it." Bai Ze pointed at the golden sculpture standing on the ground.
"Is it over?" Pan Junwei glanced went from Bai Ze to the golden claw. He looked at the receding curtain of fire in the sky.
"She doesn't get it, does she..." Bai Ze shook her head as she stared at the flames Liu Meng created.
"How are we going to deal with this one?" Pan Junwei did not quite understand what Bai Ze meant, but he knew that dealing with the deity floating above their head was a priority.
"I wonder… Do you think that these things are really made of gold?" Bai Ze suddenly smiled as she looked at the giant deity above their heads, who strangely did not attack them.
"What are you up to?" Pan Junwei asked as he had learned to respect Bai Ze's intelligence.
"Where's the president? I want to see him."
"Now?"
"Yes, bring me to the old geezer, I need to see him." Bai Ze nodded.
"Come, I'll make the arrangements." Pan Junwei walked out of the tent.
A few minutes later, a jet took off from the military camp. It was not long before the two arrived at an office building which was packed with command and logistics personnel, with the president in his own suite.
"Is everything under control?" The president asked for confirmation from Pan Junwei himself, despite having received news before.
"We could say that. Bai Ze wants to see you." Pan Junwei nodded and took a step to the side.
"I need your help." Bai Ze climbed up the chair and then directly onto the president's desk.
"I need some privacy." Despite Bai Ze's apparent lack of respect, the president cooperated and ordered to his helpers in the room, understand that Bai Ze was not who she seemed to be.
"Actually, I need your people to listen to me," Bai Ze said.
"I want to ask you a few questions." Bai Ze approached the president, all the way until her face was nearly touching his nose.
"First of all, you know what these things are, don't you?" Bai Ze pointed at the monitor, which showed many apparitions throughout the country and the crowd praying to them.
"Do you know what they're up to?" Bai Ze asked, and the president nodded again, having seen for himself what the apparition did to the people in Shangbei.
"Good, that'll spare me some trouble." Bai Ze looked at the masses on the screen with contempt.
"Do you have a way to get rid of them quickly?" The president asked.
"Not for getting rid of them, but we could find a way to weaken them."
"Is a fight inevitable?" The president asked. With the deities still hiding their true intentions, he thought the best solution would be to negotiate his way out instead of a fight.
"Do you want me to take back my compliment? If a fly came into your house and asked you to stop cleaning your garbage so you two could coexist in peace, would you agree?" Bai Ze scolded.
"What do you need then?" The president sighed after a long silence, as he had heard the same argument from Pan Junwei.
"The set-up for a concert," Bai Ze said as she turned around to face the rest of the room.
"What?"
"Yes. I want it broadcasted to the entire world," Bai Ze said with a confident smile.
It was not long before all of the cell phone users in the country received a text message on their phone; they were to evacuate their cities with emergency supplies and to keep their broadcasting devices, such as radio, television, and computer opened.
The public initially thought that the cell phone service providers were going mad, only to receive a message from the president urging everyone to do the exact same thing. At this point, everyone thought that even the president had gone crazy.
However, video footage of the chaos that happened in Shangbei was soon released by the military. Widespread panic ensued upon witnessing the golden deity apparition smashing down at the crowd with its giant hand. Even the religious leaders of the world joined in and stated that the godlike figures were here to purge the world rather than save it.
For the few religious people, it was a long-awaited apocalypse that was predicted in their religious texts. For the rest, it was simply the impending doomsday. There was no place left safe on the planet for people to hide themselves from Heaven's onslaught.
"If we attack first…" The president hesitated again, as he knew just how much was at stake.
"You've seen the power of these things. If you wait for them to attack, we'll have to redraw all of this." Bai Ze interrupted and pointed at a giant map hanging on the wall.
The president let out a long sigh — the presence of the deities was akin to a nuclear bomb hanging above every city in the world.
"Where is the final battle set to be?" The president asked.
"Hangzhou."
"Why?" The president and his strategists wondered what was so important about that city.
"My tea shop is over there. I'll be worried if I can't keep an eye on it."