Spiritual Realm Salvation

Preface

In 2035, the breath of doomsday spread silently, enveloping the entire world like the irresistible fall of night. The sky was no longer the azure blue of yesteryear, but an eternal haze, like a heavy chain locking away the last ray of light on Earth. The sun's radiance, penetrating this dense layer of clouds, became dim and weak, like an elderly person at life's end, heralding the finale of existence. The Earth had lost its former vitality; the polar ice caps were all but gone, and the oceans had swallowed almost all coastal cities on the planet. Once glorious metropolises had become silent tombs in the deep sea.

The sea surged relentlessly, washing over once-bustling streets, submerging the world's heartbeat. New York, London, Shanghai - once symbols of human civilization - now had only a few broken skyscrapers struggling above the water's surface, like relics not yet sunken in death. These buildings, once magnificent, now stood like soulless ghosts, silently narrating their past while being battered by waves.

As water levels rose, life sank. The polar ice caps were no longer towering white miracles, but a melancholic song gradually liquefied by the Earth's overheating. These white barriers that once supported global climate balance had now turned into floods, inundating human habitats. Hundreds of millions of coastal residents were forced to migrate inland, yet on this ravaged land, the survivors' nightmares were far from over.

The collapse of Earth's climate brought another unavoidable disaster - a food crisis. Global temperatures soared, making dry summers even more extreme, with scorching air currents ravaging every field. Crops couldn't withstand such high temperatures, withering and rotting en masse. Once bountiful fields were now just scorched earth. On cracked riverbeds, the once clear flowing waters no longer existed, and wind-blown sand danced in the air, carrying the last laments.

Famine spread like a plague, sweeping every corner. Billions wailed in hunger, their emaciated bodies like withered branches, their hollow eyes reflecting endless despair. Food prices skyrocketed, and inflation, like an invisible tidal wave, destroyed the last line of defense of the global economy. Paper currency became less valuable than waste paper, while gold and jewels became the chips people scrambled to exchange, all for a small amount of food. Yet, even wealth couldn't buy survival.

In this global catastrophe, hunger became the most terrifying enemy. People no longer fought for glory, but for a piece of bread or a bottle of water. Once stable social orders completely collapsed, with riots and crimes sweeping the streets of every city. Armed militia groups and desperate mobs fought each other, city centers became battlefields, and streets were filled with shattered glass and burning ruins.

The global economy had long plunged into an abyss. Once powerful financial markets collapsed like fallen castles overnight. Countries' monetary systems lost stability, stock markets crashed, banks failed, and the entire world fell into economic silence. Trade was disrupted, energy prices soared, and gasoline became more precious than diamonds. Countless people lost their jobs, businesses shut down, hundreds of millions became displaced, and the last bastions of civilization began to crumble.

Those countries that once relied on fossil fuels now became victims in the resource war. The technological civilization humans had grown accustomed to suddenly disintegrated. Electricity supply became a rarity, and cities fell into endless darkness. Street lights no longer lit up, once-flickering advertisement screens turned pitch black, and even basic water supply systems couldn't be maintained. People pumped water by hand and lit candles to illuminate the night, as if the entire world had regressed to the primitive era of hundreds of years ago.

However, the most lethal threat was yet to come. As resources rapidly depleted, tensions between world powers intensified. The international system that once relied on diplomacy and trade to resolve conflicts now existed in name only. Disputes between countries had never been so naked, with violence becoming the only language. Africa's mineral resources, the Middle East's last oil reserves, South America's forests and rare metals - all became targets of contention among nations.