After the brief interlude came the women's main objective for this outing!
Lin Tian: 'Why do I suddenly have an ominous premonition?'
"Um, Little Tian..."
"Hm?"
Seeing Mitsuri Kanroji leaning close to him, Lin Tian looked at her with confusion.
"Since things here are wrapped up, should we go look around?"
Hearing Mitsuri Kanroji's words and seeing the expectant gazes of the others, Lin Tian finally understood where that bad feeling came from.
He wanted to refuse, but looking at Mitsuri Kanroji's eyes full of anticipation, he couldn't bear to say no.
Besides, letting them go alone probably wasn't feasible anyway.
"Does everyone want to go?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"
"..."
"Alright then. Yueyan, do you know of any stores nearby that specialize in shopping? Like clothes, jewelry, and such. The world has changed too much; a lot of the surrounding scenery is different from before."
Upon hearing Lin Tian's inquiry, Liu Yueyan nodded and took out her phone.
Although she often came to this province to play, a "Domain Anomaly" had appeared a while back, so this vicinity had actually suffered destruction once.
Although it was quickly suppressed, it still caused over ten thousand casualties.
And who knows what kind of madness that Anomaly possessed—it specifically chased after buildings to gnaw on them. The casualties were mostly people who didn't react in time or couldn't evacuate before being caught in the aftermath.
Precisely because of this, the sky collapsed for most people burdened with mortgages and car loans. Fortunately, the government took action in time, constructing a large number of residential buildings within a single day and issuing a strict order: no fees of any kind were to be collected within one year.
This was unavoidable. Even before the full Resurgence of Terror began, people were already dying constantly. After the Resurgence fully started, the death toll increased drastically.
It was only because China had Lin Tian's support that it looked peaceful. If one were to go abroad and take a look?
Even their closest ally, Russia, now had to rely on China's aid. As for those with poor relations, like the US, they were stuck in a dilemma—neither advancing nor retreating. They didn't want to lower their pride to beg China, but they also coveted China's weapons that emitted strange flowing lights.
A month ago, right before the island nation was about to sink, the US dropped over a hundred mushroom clouds on it, just to test the effect of nuclear weapons on the Anomalies.
A few were even launched toward China's coast, but fortunately, they were intercepted in time; otherwise, they might have caused significant damage.
China didn't say anything afterward. They simply released a video. The content featured a middle-aged man wearing strange, glowing diamond armor, holding a similarly glowing diamond sword. First, he decapitated a "Nation-Destroying Rank" Anomaly captured from the island nation with a single strike. Then, he demonstrated a series of terrifying feats, such as catching missiles with his bare hands and tearing apart tanks.
With the release of this video, every nation still existing in the world that saw it fell silent. Immediately following this was a massive wave of public opinion and a flood of applications from foreigners wanting to enter the country.
To this, China only released a single word: "NO." This indicated that the current China did not allow any foreigners to enter, even Chinese nationals who hadn't returned yet.
When the Anomalies first started erupting, the government had already shouted out to the international community, hoping for nationals to return—not to help resist the Anomalies, but simply to come back.
Now that they had revealed their strength, they were sorry, but return was no longer permitted. Foreign planes would be attacked immediately upon detection.
However, people inside the country were allowed to leave; they just needed to verify their identity. Of course, whether they could come back or not was up to fate.
At the time, this incident triggered a series of chain reactions, with some even saying that China was starting to walk the old path of closing the country to the outside world.
But closing the country? Who exactly was being locked out was still up for debate!
Having said all that, it's time to talk specifically about the impact of nuclear weapons on the Anomalies.
Actually, it was just as expected. As the crystallization of current human wisdom, they definitely had an effect on the Anomalies, even if the entities were immune to most thermal weapons.
Through satellite surveillance, people all over the world saw the scene of the island nation after the bombing. Since the people on it had either been eaten by demons or had emigrated, there were no humans left.
All that could be seen were massive craters. Aside from that, there were no other living things.
It wasn't until the view shifted to areas not reached by the blast waves that figures of Anomalies finally appeared. However, these Anomalies looked extremely hideous, as if their bodies had been crushed and then randomly assembled together.
But that was the extent of it. The limitations of nuclear weapons were still too great; they could only be used as a final resort.
...
Having said so much, it seems a bit off-topic. Weren't they discussing which store to go shopping in?
"What choice did I have? March kept asking me. Anyway, we have some time; explaining while heading to the destination works just the same."
Liu Yueyan looked at her phone, muttering the information her father, Liu Yantian, had told her previously, while walking toward the location on the navigation.
Along the way, passersby kept stopping to look at this lineup. Women envied the looks of Shinobu Kocho and the others, while men envied Lin Tian for being surrounded by so many beauties.
However, although they attracted a lot of attention, no one with a brain chewed up by dogs came forward blindly. As long as one wasn't stupid, they could tell that this group was extraordinary and not something ordinary people could mess with.
The journey was peaceful. Soon, the group arrived outside a large shopping mall.
"Everyone, we've arrived. This mall is the most prosperous one since the reconstruction. It not only includes entertainment, leisure, e-sports, dining, and clothing, but there are even a few official government shops specializing in selling talismans and magical artifacts for exorcising evil and curing diseases."
"However, they are limited to 10 items per day, and opening hours are only at 12:00 AM every night. They stay open for one hour during that period and close automatically if the time passes."
As Liu Yueyan read the information about the mall displayed on her phone, she was also a bit surprised. She hadn't expected the officials to start selling ordinary exorcism tools to common people. However, acquiring them relied on one's face and luck.
Although there were explicit regulations against robbing others of the artifacts they obtained, there were always some who would take the risk. After all, in this peaceful yet unpeaceful era, anything could happen.
"Let's go, let's head inside and take a look."
Lin Tian gathered his spirits and led the women into the mall.
Just as they entered the mall's interior, the group saw a crowd gathered in the center of the plaza.
"Is that... Doraemon inside?"