Chapter 41: The Ever-Regenerating Cloud

Chapter 41: The Ever-Regenerating Cloud

The middle-aged man known as the leader glared at the young man and said, “Don’t talk nonsense; this might be an optical illusion.”

“Then what’s going on with the cloud? Should we send another Drone?”

“Of course! Also, what about the rainfall?”

“It’s getting less and less.”

“Is it finally clearing up?” the leader sighed with emotion.

He then added, “Keep watching closely and send me the video footage you just recorded.”

After saying that, he returned to his office and transmitted the footage to an agency.

He then made a phone call, and after the call connected, a woman’s voice came from the other end.

“Director Liu? Is it about the Thunderstorm Cloud? I’m sorry, we’re still figuring it out. We’ve formed the ‘Shanghai Thunderstorm Emergency Handling Group.’ Researchers from multiple fields are busy with this, and actually, we already have some solutions. It’s just that the necessary machines don’t exist yet; we need time to build them.”

Director Liu listened and couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

He had called a newly established national agency, ranked equally with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and directly under the State Council, called the “National Harmony Research Department,” abbreviated as “National Harmony Department” or “Harmony Department.”

Actually, he didn’t know what this department researched; its scope of authority was unknown. They only intervened suddenly when they felt they should, bringing State Council authorization to request local cooperation.

If it hadn’t been for Shanghai’s bizarre weather causing them to approach proactively, Director Liu wouldn’t have even known this department existed.

Of course, he didn’t think the department was meaningless. On the contrary, after vaguely learning about some of its personnel, he felt its research capabilities were extremely high, even the best in the nation.

Within the Harmony Department, there were top scholars from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, engineers from the military with vast experience in defense projects, and veteran members from intelligence agencies—essentially, elites from every field.

It could be said to be an institution that gathered the nation’s greatest research power, engineering power, and execution force.

The matter of Shanghai’s Thunderstorm Cloud had long been monitored by the Harmony Department, but no solution had been found yet…

It was something everyone was helpless against, yet it was inexplicably resolved now.

He was stunned by that figure wrapped in electric lightning. At the first moment, he thought of reporting this to the Harmony Department immediately.

“Team Leader Song Lan, um… the rain has stopped,” Director Liu said.

The woman’s voice on the phone exclaimed in surprise, “The rain has stopped? But we haven’t even acted yet!”

Director Liu hurriedly said, “Right, just a short while ago, the cloud layer underwent an unusual change…”

He quickly recounted the events, then reminded them to check the strange footage he had transmitted over.

After a while, Song Lan on the phone said, “Is the cloud completely gone now? Where is that person? Did you continue tracking him?”

Director Liu asked in surprise, “Was that really a person? How could a Human stand inside a cloud, with lightning at hundreds of millions of volts inside…”

Song Lan replied, “I’m not sure either. Keep dispatching Drones; now that the Thunderstorm Cloud is shrinking, you can observe it up close. But restrain your personnel.”

After hanging up, Director Liu rushed back to the main hall.

Meanwhile, most of Shanghai had cleared up.

The long-suffering residents of Shanghai finally saw the Sun.

Above the clouds, Bai Ge used electromagnetic fields and took four hours, consuming 30,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

However, the charged cloud layer itself provided over 40,000 kilowatt-hours.

Compared to that, it was still a net gain; actually, it was almost as efficient as a diesel generator unit.

“It’s finally sunny,” Bai Ge thought.

As the cloud layer gradually shrank, he stopped compressing water vapor with electromagnetic fields to avoid making it look too spectacular.

With the long-absent sunlight now shining down and visibility unobstructed, if countless people saw a person in the clouds, it would be huge news.

“Only a little bit left… huh?”

The dark cloud was now about 200 meters in diameter, almost just a small dark cloud floating over the suburbs.

But just as only this much remained, Bai Ge suddenly noticed an approaching Drone.

With so little cloud left, its charged particles were sparse, and the Drone could easily pass through it.

Watching the Drone fly straight at him, Bai Ge calmly raised his hand without a word.

The Drone seemed grabbed by an invisible force, spiraling as it flew toward Bai Ge.

He used electromagnetic fields to directly capture the Drone.

“It has a camera, and real-time video transmission…” Bai Ge held the Drone, very calm because the face he now had wasn’t his own.

His appearance was purely invented, with exquisite features.

Being exposed didn’t matter; any investigation would likely find no such person.

Of course, Bai Ge didn’t rule out the possibility that someone exactly like him existed in the world—if so, it was pure coincidence.

“It’s so well-made; these materials and parts couldn’t be produced without extremely precise machines,” Bai Ge thought to himself, then decisively stored it into his Brain Hole.

At the meteorological bureau, they saw a black screen with an instant communication loss and knew another expensive Drone was gone.

“He really is a Human… I saw his face! How can he fly?” the young observers exclaimed in shock.

If earlier blurry footage might have been an optical illusion, this close-up observation by the Drone was undeniable proof.

Everyone present stood up, and someone immediately pulled up the recording, watching the short clip of the Drone discovering him to being captured.

“The Tribulation Transcender just beckoned and grabbed the Drone!”

Firm believers in science, their worldview now shook. First was the strange Thunderstorm Cloud unaffected by strong winds; now, the Tribulation Transcender…

Suddenly, imaginative young minds filled with random thoughts and theories.

The eerie Thunderstorm Cloud had rained for over thirty days, rumbling with thunder and plunging Shanghai into gloom.

Then, a person appeared out of nowhere, able to stand on clouds amidst lightning strikes for four hours, eventually making the Thunderstorm Cloud vanish and bringing sunshine back—like he had transcended a tribulation!

“Could this be the Tribulation Clouds? No wonder this cloud existed alone, unaffected by winds or currents, stubbornly fixed over Shanghai…”

“Could it have been waiting for him to transcend the tribulation? Now that he’s done it, the cloud disappeared?”

Thinking that, some young folks even murmured inwardly, “The Thunderstorm Cloud covered Shanghai for over thirty days. Why did he come only now? Can Tribulation Transcenders be late?”

Director Liu was deeply troubled by the young people’s ideas.

He said urgently, “What are you all thinking? Focus on your tasks! You’re all state cadres; be scientific! The Capital’s research institute has delved into this and actually has solutions—they just haven’t told you yet. This is an unusual climate phenomenon; we’re in weather research, not myth studies!”

Though Director Liu spoke like that, and everyone quickly agreed, he knew such vague words wouldn’t stop wild speculations.

He therefore added, “No one is to spread this around. Everyone report to the conference room for a meeting soon!”

Director Liu sighed. He was only in charge of the meteorological bureau; such a bizarre event was beyond him. He hastily forwarded the Tribulation Transcender’s image to the Harmony Department.

…

Flying over a thousand meters high, people on the ground generally couldn’t see Bai Ge.

He chose a remote, rarely visited spot to land secretly.

With a whoosh, Bai Ge plummeted like a meteor into a football field.

After over a month of continuous rain, no open-air sports venue would have people.

He followed gravity’s pull, falling freely.

Just before hitting the ground, a massive electromagnetic field expanded violently, transferring the downward momentum to the spectator stands around the field.

Immediately, a ring of billboards collapsed, many seats tipped forward, and screws shot out.

Bai Ge’s initial descent was rapid, but through layers of counterforce weakening, he slowed down.

Eventually, he hovered steadily two meters above the green turf.

Then he canceled the electromagnetic field and landed lightly on the ground.

Bai Ge quickly left the football field and soon found a restaurant. He went in to eat while studying the Thunderstorm Cloud stored in his Brain Hole.

“This Thunderstorm Cloud’s vapor is truly self-generating from nothing,” Bai Ge thought, able to see its properties inside the Brain Hole Universe.

The entire cloud layer was unaffected by strong winds and currents, meaning it didn’t interact with Earth’s water cycle.

Since it was independent of Earth’s water cycle, and it rained for over thirty days without depleting, it needed no water vapor replenishment or airflows to transport water.

Now, in the Brain Hole Universe, the 14-kilometer-wide dark cloud still rained steadily.

The vapor in the cloud condensed into raindrops and fell to the ground.

This meant the cloud’s matter decreased gradually.

But in reality, after over a month of rain, the total matter in the cloud hadn’t decreased.

That was because every raindrop fallen led to “self-regeneration” by the cloud, making up for lost mass.

Thus, this cloud was entirely independent, truly adding matter wholesale to Earth and even to the entire Universe out of thin air.

In theory, it could be called “infinite rainfall.”

Due to this property, whether on Earth or in the Brain Hole Universe, it was the same; the environment mattered little, as it needed no water vapor input.

By bringing it to his Brain Hole, Bai Ge provided a source of infinite growth in real matter inside.

Yes, this cloud in the Brain Hole Universe brought Bai Ge real matter every moment!

Each raindrop was divine water beyond compare to Brainhole Creatures.

…