Even in the midst of his overwhelming workload, Huo Li was stunned by what he saw. He reluctantly allocated 0.3% of his mental capacity to respond to Xiao Yi. "You... You suspect way too many people! With your screening method, even if you go through all 2,000+ mission participants, you won't be able to rule out any savior."

The black-haired youth didn't see anything wrong with his approach. "Of course, they're all suspicious! How could I completely trust someone based on their abilities alone? Even after thousands of years of observation and analysis, you only trust three individuals: me, Xu Yun Cheng, and the Main System. And we both know at least a third of that judgment was already proven wrong."

Huo Li felt the sting of Xiao Yi's sarcasm and quickly changed the topic. "So, after all your analysis and assessment, you only trust yourself and me?"

The black-haired youth shook his head, replying through their mental link, "Of course not! Right now, I only trust myself. There are still too many unresolved doubts about you. For instance, how can you prove you and Xu Yun Cheng aren't secretly working together? Or that one day you won't lose faith in humanity and lead the Zerg to conquer the world? After all, your revival process has flaws. You need a new body shortly after your physical death. You require the Main System's transmission capabilities to transfer your soul back to the medical hall or rely on my ability to obtain a new body. How do I know you aren't just pretending to cooperate because of this vulnerability?"

Huo Li was stunned! Even the Guardian army he controlled faltered momentarily. A loose nut slipped from the fingers of a blue-clad Guardian, landing on the head of the light-headed Architect.

"Xiao Yi, so you've never truly trusted me…" Huo Li murmured as if deeply wounded. "But I was beaten badly in Xu Yun Cheng's space!"

The youth replied matter-of-factly, "So what? That couldn't have been a trick? After all, you relayed everything you experienced in that special space. Didn't you only trust me after thoroughly reading my memories? I don't have the same ability to verify you in return."

"But Xiao Yi," Huo Li began tentatively, his mental voice tinged with hope as if grasping for the last straw, "my name isn't on your list of suspects. Doesn't that mean, in your heart…"

Black-haired youth, "The only reason I didn't mark you with an 'O' or 'X' in my mind is because the Main System trusts you, and I trust its judgment."

Huo Li fell silent, crouching on the car roof with his wings drooping. He stared at the youth scrolling through his smart brain with an air of joy and couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy toward the Main System. (Why does Xiao Yi trust it instead of me?)

At that moment, a sharp alarm sounded from everyone's smart brain: "Beep! The solar explosion will start in 10 minutes. All mission participants, please prepare!"

C2001, whose nose was still bleeding from the earlier mishap, glanced toward the golden sunlight on the eastern horizon. He didn't even bother to wipe away the blood. Instead, he turned sharply and shouted at Xiao Yi:

“2d14! Instruct the Guardians to cease reinforcing the frames and sealing the gaps! Instead, they should concentrate all their efforts on covering the exposed holes in the demolished buildings with reflective panels. The solar explosion will start 20 minutes earlier than planned, and we still have one hemisphere of isolation layer left to finish!"

Even before his words faded, the Guardians, now moving like machines under Huo Li's control, began working at an even faster pace. Their 'rough construction' methods turned chaotic yet efficient, as though someone had hit the fast-forward button. At the same time, under the influence of C2001's ability, the materials from undemolished skyscrapers no longer fell in a neat, controlled manner. Instead, they crumbled violently as though explosives had been planted within them. Within seconds, dozens of empty gaps were exposed to the sunlight, only to be swiftly filled by swarming Guardians with insulation boards and reflective panels.

Within three minutes, the Guardians rapidly installed the last thousand or so insulation panels. Using a long-distance teleportation talisman, the construction team instantly moved to the western hemisphere. The newly completed city, now shielded by a reflective dome, sparkled like a giant flattened water droplet under sunlight.

A few seconds later, the group reappeared in another city, waiting for construction. Earth's material transport teams were already standing by, and the sun yet to rise from the east gave everyone a brief sense of relief. C2001 exhaled, and just as he was about to unscrew the cap of a stamina drink, the man in Beach Shorts shouted to everyone, "We need to finish three cities at this longitude—move faster!"

C2001 instinctively turned his dazed gaze to the nearest dozen buildings and activated his abilities to demolish them like an explosion. Meanwhile, the guardians—carrying stacks of panels—charged out of their trucks.

The black-haired boy muttered as he looked at C2001, still bleeding and fumbling with his bottle cap, "This is just too pitiful. Can't anyone help him?"

Huo Li, who was busy controlling the Guardians, spared 0.3% of his mental energy to wonder, (Is Xiao Yi going to help him?)

The black-haired youth continued, "Couldn't the Earthlings at least assign us with assistants at each site to wipe his nose and hand him some candy?" After looking at the pitiful C2001, the youth resumed playing with his smart brain.

.

At this moment, the domed K City, six time zones to the east, resembled the night scene. Since Huo Li had included large power plants within the dome's design, the electricity supply remained stable, and the streets were brightly lit with streetlights. However, the city was eerily empty, devoid of pedestrians.

Everyone had retreated to their homes, shut doors and windows, and waited for the apocalypse to arrive. Although the dome's insulating panel was a massive project, they weren't thick enough to block satellite signals. As long as the communication satellites remained functional, televisions and smartphones continued to work.

With two-thirds of families having lost their homes, most countries had implemented housing redistribution systems. At this moment, every household was crowded around television screens with groups of seven or eight people anxiously watching the live countdown on the news.

With only 20 seconds until the apocalypse, the solar flare had already exploded, and the beams of immense heat were hurtling toward Earth. It was exactly noon in K City. Although the hemisphere facing the flare had already fully reinforced its dome, the pitch-black scenery outside did not give the earthlings much sense of security.

Even without any sunlight, the climate in mid-June was still sweltering, with temperatures hovering around 31 to 32 degrees Celsius. The city was wrapped in heat-insulating panels, so there wasn't even a slight breeze to cool things down. With the heat making everyone uneasy, the citizens grew more on edge, filled with a sense of fear about what might happen next.

The Disaster Management Department assigned six strangers to stay with the elderly Mrs. Maggie in her home. Having lived alone for years while her children worked far away, Grandma Maggie actually welcomed the change. At the moment, a family of four and a young couple were crammed into her small living room, nervously watching television. Meanwhile, the old lady bustled about with a vase, filling it with water. Every container in her home—washbasins, buckets, even toothbrush mugs, and disposable cups—had been filled with water and placed in every corner of the house. It was remarkable how the 80-year-old woman managed to navigate her cluttered living room and kitchen without tripping.

"Grandma Maggie," the six- or seven-year-old girl from the family of four called softly from the sofa. "The TV said it many times—they won't cut the water supply. There are… um, 15 seconds left. Come watch with us!" Then, as if remembering something, the girl suddenly sat down properly, placed her feet on the ground, and added, "I'm sorry, Grandma Maggie. I dirtied your lace sofa cover again."

However, the usually tidy Maggie didn't scold her. Instead, she carefully walked over, carrying a large water basin with trembling hands.

"Three… two… one," Maggie counted along with the television. "The solar flare is here!"

Before anyone could even panic, a bucket of water splashed over their heads. Stunned, the six occupants turned to Maggie, only to see her heading off to fetch more water, muttering under her breath, "Cold water cools you down."

The four adults quickly rushed to reassure this kind but muddled old lady. Amid the chaos, it took two hours, countless spilled containers, and squelching footsteps throughout the house to convince Maggie to stop drenching everyone.

It wasn't until 2 p.m. that they realized the expected extreme heat hadn't materialized. The massive dome had indeed done its job! While temperatures outside the dome soared to a blistering 60 degrees Celsius, K City had only risen to 34 degrees.

With the heat alert lifted, the four adults prepared to leave for their mandatory work shifts. Since driving was prohibited to conserve energy, they walked to their assigned locations, leaving the two children with Maggie. Tasked with helping her clean up the spilled water, the children soon turned their chore into a water-fight extravaganza.

Meanwhile, the scene was utterly different at another dome construction site six time zones to the west.

"Faster! The sun is catching up to us!" the man in beach shorts shouted. His head was adorned with eight electrode patches as he stared intently at the smart brain display.

Every ability user on-site cursed internally. (No kidding! Don't you think we know that? We'd love to go faster, too!)

The eastern sun had already begun to creep above the horizon. Unlike the usual reddish-orange sunrise, this sun was blinding white from the start, forcing the guardians working on the dome to avoid looking eastward.

The man in beach shorts' next remark nearly drove everyone to despair: "Keep it up! Only three more cities to go at this longitude!"

At these words, the already frantic Architect demolished 20 buildings in one go. Clouds of dust erupted and exploded outward, forcing everyone into bouts of coughing, while the guardians flying into the dust clouds returned looking like earthen statues.

When the team reached the final city on this continent, it was already 10 a.m. local time (according to Xu Yun Cheng's time flow rate). The scorching white sunlight beamed down on the dome. Since this city had been operating under a leaking shell since sunrise, the temperature had climbed to a staggering 51 degrees Celsius. The entire city was under lockdown, and residents huddled indoors with their air conditioners on, anxiously awaiting the construction team's return.

Even so, the local material transport team, who couldn't evacuate, had already seen dozens of cases of heatstroke. Soldiers took turns on duty to manage the situation. This time, someone finally stepped forward to provide ice packs and cold water to the saviors. Architect gestured for a soldier to pour a cup of ice water over his head, then staggered back to demolishing buildings.

The black-haired boy sipped on a cold drink inside an air-conditioned vehicle, feeling almost no heat. Watching the exhausted C2001, who seemed on the verge of collapsing, Xiao Yi worried the man might demolish the dome in his daze. After observing for a while and confirming that C2001 was still creating clouds of debris with relative accuracy, Xiao Yi finally relaxed.

He then asked Huo Li telepathically, "Why did I design the guardians to be black? Is it too late to change their color now?"

Since the world had realized that life under the dome during the solar flair explosion didn't seem as dangerous as expected, the chaotic thoughts requiring Huo Li's correction were reduced by 90%. This allowed Huo Li to finally relax and join Xiao Yi in the cool interior of the car.

Huo Li, "According to how you described your ability, these Guardians are manifestations of spirit and faith, so they shouldn't fear heat. Changing their color like a chameleon… might not be a good idea."

The black-haired boy protested, "But it's 70 degrees Celsius! Right now, they're basically using human-like bodies. Five of them have already suffered heatstroke!"

Huo Li reassured him, "That's not heatstroke. Gods don't suffer from heatstroke. It's just that your mental energy temporarily faltered and couldn't sustain them. Didn't I already disassemble those five into fertilizer particles and disperse them into the air when they fell? It's just the natural end of guardians."

Black-haired boy, "..." (It turns out stupidity is really contagious!)

The boy stared blankly as the sixth guardian toppled headfirst from the dome and self-detonated into a black firework, vanishing into the air along with its uniform. Huo Li, as if on cue, rolled down the car window, and with a thought, the boy summoned a brand-new guardian, who climbed out of the window to resume work. A surge of hot air immediately rushed into the car.

The black-haired boy asked, "If they're gods, why is that one sweating?"

Huo Li replied, "Oh, I can control how much they sweat. However, they can't completely stop sweating. If a hundred Guardians were to overheat and fall all at once, their bodies could self-destruct, but the construction materials they're carrying might cause casualties on Earth."

The black-haired boy gazed at his manifestations of faith, each looking like a muddy figure, dusty and disheveled as they carried construction materials. He regretted it deeply. "Why did I make them look so much like me? Now the sky is full of sweaty, dizzy versions of me! If the temperature rises anymore, I'm afraid their wings might catch fire from the construction sparks…"

"Don't worry, Xiao Yi!" Huo Li said confidently. "I'll make sure they self-detonate before they catch fire. They won't burn."

A few minutes later, just as the army of Guardians began to show signs of falling like dumplings into a pot…

C2001 collapsed!

Seizing the opportunity, Huo Li quickly pulled back the batch of nearly 'cooked' guardians. He made them drop the heat insulation and reflective panels to the ground before gathering near the car.

The black-haired boy declared, "I'm taking a 20-second break!"

After announcing this, Xiao Yi recalled all the half-dead guardians into the system space. Moments later, he released 3,000 brand-new "Xiao Yi soldiers," each filled with sugar and water, charging back into the construction site with renewed vigor!

At this time, poor C2001, who had barely been unconscious for a minute, was jolted awake by the man in beach shorts who slapped ten electrode patches onto his head. With that, the construction resumed in full force!

Ten minutes later, spurred by Architect's brief collapse and zz2d14's sudden surge in determination, they finally completed the dome construction with the guardians and the barely conscious architect working in unison. At last, the team teleported to the other side of the ocean. When the ability users saw the city still blanketed in darkness, they finally let go of their burdens and collapsed onto the ground.

"We can't take it anymore, we need to rest! Rest... for 3 minutes!"