Re: Evolution Online-Novel

After drinking the first mouthful, Liam did not dare to waste the liquid so carelessly. The effects of the puddle water were too good, almost as good as the pond water back in the Milky way galaxy. 

Unfortunately, unlike that pond, this was just a small puddle, barely 2 liters in total volume, so he started scooping it up and storing it in one of the empty bottles he carried in the spatial artifact.

For now, this was all that he could do. However, the question still remained. What the heck was this water, and how did it get here?

Just as Liam was thinking about this, something suddenly caught his attention. A drop of water trickled from the crevice in the ground above him and dropped into the same space as the puddle.

Huh? His gaze looked up to that spot, and he immediately tried to examine the ground more closely when he observed something strange. Or rather, nothing strange.

The water that was trickling down seemed to be just the plain old groundwater seepage through the multiple layers of the earth. In fact, it was not even that. 

When Liam climbed up to take a look, he noticed that the source was actually a leaking burst pipe from the building ruins that were once standing above the surface. 

Surely, this couldn't be valuable. On a hunch, he collected some water from another puddle that had formed and drank it, and he was indeed correct. 

This one was just plain old water, dirtied with sand at best. 

Cough. Cough. Liam spat it out and went back to the same spot where he had collected the first sample. Perhaps the soil here was magical?

He took a long look at the soil and, in the end, collected that as well and stored it in the spatial artifact.

Since nothing else was left, he then started jumping back up to leave the spot. Luna was already outside, searching for any other potential treasure in the area, but she also did not come up with anything.

So the two of them prepared to get the hell out of there. Liam took one last look at the splattered paste of the vampire lord and sighed. In the end, he did not even have to use the special item he had selected for this guy.

Liam had gained a lot from this trip, but more importantly, he also now knew that his assumptions were correct. 

These 'vampire lords' who had popped out of nowhere and were going crazy on their world were, in fact, using something that did not belong to them.

Or rather, someone else was exploiting them, treating them as if they were 'use and throw' vessels of power.

Only this could explain what was happening. 

Earth had only now started to evolve along with the human beings inhabiting the planet. Then how could these vampire lords have a strength and power capable of matching him, a level 80 being?

They were clearly using some sort of taboo method, and shortcuts like these always had a cost. Except that here Liam had a feeling that these 'vampire lords' were unwillingly paying the price for their power.

Even though human nature is to be greedy, there is always a bottom line, and this bottom line is mostly their self-safety. No human being in their right mind would choose eternal death for just 1 minute of extraordinary power.

It just did not make sense. The only explanation was that these so-called vampire lords were puppets, and there was a puppet master behind all of this. 

However, the question was… why were they doing this? 

Why are they here now when in his last life, nothing of this sort had happened?

At first, Liam assumed that this was the work of the divine temple priestess. She probably had the power and the ability to do something like this.

However, weirdly enough, these 'vampire lords' didn't seem to be targeting him. Instead, he was the one hunting them down. The only connection between the two of them seemed to be their proximity. 

Other than the fact that this was all going down in territory 6, they were really not focused on Liam or Luna or even Crimson Abyss, for that matter. 

So it was highly unlikely that the divine temple was behind this, but then again, the fact that this event did not happen in his last life and was happening now couldn't be ignored.

As far as this apocalypse was concerned, Liam was the only thing that had changed between the two timelines. So he refused to believe that this had nothing to do with him.

No, perhaps he was correct in the first place. 

When things are far too complicated, sometimes the simplest explanation is also the correct explanation.

The divine temple must be somehow behind this. 

Liam did not know how or why, but perhaps because they couldn't siphon a lot of souls from the tutorial game, they were trying something else now?!

Hmmm… Liam silently clenched his fists as he thought about everything that had happened in the last parts of the game. He had almost lost everything. There was no way he was going to let that happen again.

This time if they showed up, he would be ready for them.

Liam let out a deep breath and snapped out of his thoughts. The divine temple can wait. For now, he had more pressing matters. 

He needed to find out if there were more 'vampire lords' around running amok in his territory. However, he had no idea where to start searching for them.

The next wave of apocalypse would also be starting soon, in a little over a week. So he had to hurry up and, if possible, finish this vampire business before then.

Liam then remembered the military base and what that genius guy had told him about. He was still quite close to the base. Perhaps he needed to pay a visit to them before leaving? 

It would be a good idea to see just how much of the leadership was corrupt. If it was just the top one or three, then the whole thing was still salvageable. 

If he just took out the head, then maybe a better, more reasonable head could substitute, and the entire base could be easily straightened out. 

In any case, it was worth checking out before heading out to scour the vast lands for the next vampire lords.

"Luna, let's go back to that base." 

The duo quickly arrived at the spot in just a few minutes, and to Liam's surprise, he saw something shocking and unexpected.

The entire damn base was missing for some reason!