...

At the northernmost tip of the Xiazhou Federation's territory, in the Siberian Autonomous Region, north of Lake Baikal City.

Due to the impacts of global climate change, even in summer, the Lake Baikal Shore remains covered in snow, and a thin layer of ice blankets the entire surface of the lake, resembling a giant and clear glass mirror. The silver moonlight casts upon the mirror surface, rendering the entire scene dreamlike.

The time is approaching dusk, the sun has fully set below the horizon, painting half the sky with a hue of golden twilight while the other half resembles the texture of a sapphire.

"It's a pity it's summer now. If the leaders were visiting in winter, they would witness the beautiful aurora borealis." said the fisherman clad in professional mountaineering gear to a few similarly dressed middle-aged men following behind him.

This is a small team of about twenty people, currently ascending the southern slope of the Yabunonov Mountain Range— this is the northeast corner of the Federation Control Zone... the southwest corner, Shuzhou, is now shrouded under the ominous clouds of the Eternal Night, while this place, farthest on the Federation's map, has enjoyed several decades of peace.

Some say it's because Lake Baikal serves as a natural barrier, preventing the Mysterious Creatures wandering in Western Siberia from invading. Others say the souls of warriors who once sacrificed themselves on this frozen land protect their descendants... In any case, since its establishment, Lake Baikal City has almost never suffered an invasion of Mysterious Creatures... Even when they did manifest, the threat they posed to the city was less than that of a bank robber with a gun.

The area worst affected by Mysterious Creatures in the Siberian Autonomous Region is only the coastal areas of the Far East, but they are too distant from Lake Baikal City. Moreover, with over a dozen coastal defense divisions and a substantial number of Mysterious Creature Hunters stationed there, the creatures from the sea struggle to land, if they even manage to approach the coast.

"Yes, but summer has its own scenery as well." Another middle-aged man with clear Siberian characteristics said flatteringly, "Look at how beautiful Lake Baikal is."

Unexpectedly, as soon as he said this, the square-faced middle-aged man behind him showed a trace of displeasure in his expression.

He said sternly, "Mr. Sergei, to be honest, I don't like that name. I prefer to call it... the North Sea."

The middle-aged man referred to as Mr. Sergei froze, then quickly nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes... the North Sea, it should be called the North Sea."

The fisherman, witnessing the small episode unfold right before his eyes, couldn't help but roll his eyes at his direct superior in his mind.

What's this all about?

Could it be that, before attempting to flatter, the minister doesn't even do any preliminary homework?

As the saying goes in Xiazhou, isn't it called hitting the horse's hoof while trying to stroke the horse?

However, knowing the old chap's nature, once these leaders depart, he is likely to vent his temper on them...

Suka, how many more years until this old fellow retires?

Ever since returning from Nameless Island, the fisherman's position and benefits have been promoted three tiers, not only becoming one of the few graded Hunters in the Siberian Autonomous Region but also gaining leadership of a Hunter squad.

However, what hasn't changed is that he still doesn't receive any combat missions, too idle for the past half-month—besides routine patrols and training tasks, the only activity is hanging out at a bar in Lake Baikal City with his squad members, bonding over vodka.

Just yesterday, his superior, the same Mr. Sergei before him, unexpectedly sought him out, asking him to assemble all team members and prepare for an extremely important mission.

At the mention of a mission, the fisherman instantly perked up, thinking he was tasked to handle some formidable Mysterious Creature. He promptly asked Mr. Sergei what the target was, but Mr. Sergei merely cast a glare at him, sternly saying, "It's confidential, you'll know tomorrow!"

However, it wasn't until six hours later that the fisherman realized that Mr. Sergei's so-called "extremely important" "confidential mission" was actually to accompany the Federation's high-ranking officials from Chunming City on a tour around Lake Baikal's surroundings.

"Uh, let's continue discussing the aurora..." The fisherman, noticing his superior was about to steer the conversation into awkward territory, swiftly changed the subject, "After November, standing at a high place in Lake Baikal City and looking north, you can..."

Before the fisherman could finish, an entourage member suddenly pointed to the southern sky and asked, "Is that the aurora you're talking about?"

"Huh?" The fisherman was taken aback, turning his head southwards—toward Lake Baikal City.

There, several magnificent and beautiful light bands hovered in the sky, resembling ribbons left behind by deities, gently falling from the divine realm to the human world.

"It's really the aurora." The fisherman was dumbfounded, "No... no, this season shouldn't have an aurora. Plus, the direction is wrong; the aurora should appear in the north, how can it be in the south?"

"This aurora... why is it getting bigger?" someone else said.

"Yes, I thought it was my imagination... but in just these few seconds, they've indeed grown several times larger than before." Another Hunter from the fisherman's team echoed.

"Something's not right!" the fisherman shouted, "That's not a normal aurora! It's descending! It's rapidly descending toward Lake Baikal City!!"

"Sergei!!" the square-faced man also reacted, yanking the still stunned Mr. Sergei over, shouting at him, "Hurry and contact Lake Baikal City! Find out what exactly is happening!!"

"Ah?! Yes... yes! I'll have my people contact Lake Baikal City right away!"

It wasn't until then that Sergei seemed to wake from a dream and said, but during this time, the fisherman had already pulled out his phone, dialing the number for the Mysterious Creature Research Institute in Lake Baikal City.

"Communications are being interfered with, I can't get through!" On the other end of the line, he could only hear the repeated messages in Chinese and Russian: "Sorry, the user you are calling is temporarily unreachable"—The fisherman fixed his gaze on his phone, confirming his suspicion as the signal indicator on the top right corner of the screen showed zero bars, with even the constantly connecting satellite network losing its signal.

"It's the aurora; the aurora is affecting communications." the square-faced man muttered.

The essence of the aurora is the ionization phenomenon of the atmosphere caused by high-energy charged particle flows from the Earth's magnetosphere. In normal circumstances, the aurora doesn't affect communication devices simply because—it is too far away.

But now, these beautiful silk-like ribbons have almost reached the height of the highest structure in Lake Baikal City, the "Siberian TV Tower".

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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