All the water and ice ability users unleashed various water streams and ice spikes, directing them toward the dozens of blindingly bright, dust-filled debris. However, before their attacks could even land, the projectiles vaporized into clouds of mist under the intense light. Although they couldn't completely suppress the dust, they managed to create a temporary misty barrier between the sun and the rubbles.

Yet, the moment the ability users slowed down even slightly, the dense mist vanished in less than half a second, leaving no trace behind.

At that critical moment, a sharp, frantic cry suddenly echoed in the youth's mind: "Ahhhhh! Master Host!"

The sudden cry startled the youth. "What's wrong?"

"Everything in the system store is fifty percent off right now!" shouted 2d14 excitedly.

With a dark expression, Xiao Yi listened to the foolish system's enthusiastic chatter about this incredible sale while keeping an eye on the desperate battle between the ability users and the dust.

Fortunately, within a few dozen seconds, just as everyone's abilities were on the verge of exhaustion, the sunlight finally dimmed from a glaring white-hot radiance to a more manageable platinum glow. A few minutes later, under the unified efforts of the task force, the rubbles were thoroughly drenched, eliminating a potentially devastating and huge disaster.

The water and ice ability users, having pushed themselves to their limits, either collapsed on the spot or bent over with their hands on their knees as they gasped for breath. The only exception was Long Tai, who stood among them, looking around shiftily. Obviously, he had taken advantage of the 'helping' effort to secretly absorb a considerable amount of water and ice abilities.

The youth, finally succumbing to 2d14's ridiculous antics, inexplicably spent five billion points to buy an all-element ability gift pack! Only after making the purchase did he manage to wrench his attention away from the system store and refocus on the catastrophic scene before him.

The white light, which lasted barely over forty seconds, caused burns to more than a dozen ability users and nearly a hundred Earthlings. Tragically, two of the critically injured succumbed to their wounds. Now that the immediate danger had passed, there was finally time to treat the injured, which threw the site into another wave of frantic activity. Responding to calls for help, ambulances arrived in record time but were forced to stop at the outskirts of the construction zone. After the earlier terror, no one dared to drive vehicles through the glowing patches that could turn deadly at any moment.

In response, the temporarily idle Guardians spontaneously took over the task of transporting the injured Earthlings. Two Guardians, one at each end of a stretcher, could fly for a kilometer in under a minute, delivering patients directly to the ambulances. However, the Earthlings' reaction truly left Xiao Yi speechless. Moments ago, they had been wailing in pain from their burns, but as soon as they saw the Guardians carrying the stretchers, their despair transformed into excitement. One after another, they eagerly pulled out their phones, snapping close-up selfies with the flying Guardians.

Xiao Yi asked, "Is this some kind of custom? Worshipping a God?"

Huo Li immediately extinguished the small spark of hope in the youth's heart. "Not at all. If Earthlings saw something like a mouse chasing a cat or a pig climbing a tree, they'd take even more photos. Right now, there are already hundreds of people posing with the Guardians. By tomorrow, the Guardians will lose all their mystique once these photos flood the internet."

Xiao Yi: "..." He couldn't shake the feeling that something must've squeezed Huo Li's brain today.

Hearing this disheartening conclusion through their smart brains, everyone's expressions turned grim. If such widespread fires were left unchecked, it wouldn't take long for the land outside the domes to turn into a barren wasteland.

Only Long Tai seemed delighted by the unpredictability of the flash intervals. Slapping his thigh, he exclaimed enthusiastically to his smart brain, "So that means we don't need to bother putting out fires, right? If stepping outside the dome is a guaranteed death sentence, with flickers happening dozens of times a day, we're bound to get hit eventually. All we need to do is finish repairing this dome, and the mission's done, right?"

Xiao Yi glared at Long Tai, who leaned against his car, gleefully spouting nonsense. The frustration built up from Huo Li earlier finally found an outlet. He opened the smart brain's group communication channel and scolded,

"Are you stupid? While we can't go outside on this sunlit side of Earth right now, let's not forget that there’s another side! That hemisphere is currently in darkness. We need to organize teams to clear isolation zones around the domes that are surrounded by forests before sunrise. Then, when this side of the Earth enters nighttime, we can return to extinguish the fire under the cover of darkness."

Long Tai had already started to deflate halfway through Xiao Yi's explanation, but when he heard they had to rush back later to extinguish more fires, he turned abruptly to stare at the black-haired youth sitting in the car. His expression looked as if he'd just swallowed a fly. Clearly, he hadn't realized until now that the solar flashes didn't grant him a chance to slack off—they brought several times the workload instead!

"2d14 is right," C2001's calm voice came through the smart brain. "Everyone, pick up the pace. We need to complete the construction of this dome within ten minutes. Afterward, we'll immediately use the long-range teleportation talismans to transfer to the other side of Earth."

With that, Architect was the first to activate his abilities and resume the demolition. The Guardians quickly followed, fearlessly transporting construction materials up to the dome. Exposed to the sunlight, they began hammering away as they installed the reflective panels. Seeing this, the other workers, though utterly exhausted, reluctantly joined in. In particular, the water and ice ability users hurried to douse the newly formed debris to prevent further combustible risks.

Long Tai let out a mournful groan before begrudgingly assisting to sprinkle water.

While everyone was busy, Programmer seized the opportunity to brief them on the global situation. "The recent solar flash caused fires across one-third of Earth's continents. Fortunately, since most regions are in early summer, the forests are lush and full of moisture. The majority of the fires have occurred in abandoned cities outside the domes, as well as in relatively dry grasslands and wastelands."

Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Beach Shorts added, "Based on my calculations, if the high temperatures persist for another three to five days, forests in hot and water-scarce regions will inevitably ignite during one of the solar flashes. Therefore, my plan is for everyone to work with Earthlings to develop wide isolation zones around the domes located in high-risk areas. We also need to reduce the combustible material in areas likely to catch fire by over 80%."

Long Tai immediately expressed his disdain for the hard, unrewarding work, which didn't yield any abilities for him to collect. "That's just a plan, right? What if we work ourselves to death and still can't finish? Architect have the ability to manipulate inorganic materials, which is why the domes were built so quickly. But grass, trees, and all that—they're organic. Are we supposed to clear them one by one?"

The other ability users couldn't help but look at Long Tai with disdain. Although his stingy and self-serving nature had allowed him to save up enough points to rise to the rank of SSS-level tasker, when it came to earning people's respect, he was not as prestigious as other diligent A-level or S-level saviors.

Programmer responded with cold objectivity: "Based on my calculations, if we fail to complete the first task, 90% of city residents without isolation zones will die from the extreme heat within a week. If we fail to complete the second task, 40% of the residents in the 5 to 10 domes near the uncleared areas will die within the next month from heatstroke and related illnesses."

Even the taskers who had just been looking down on Long Tai now gained a clear understanding of their own miserable fate for the next one or two months. They couldn't help but wail silently in their hearts. (Ahhh! This kind of grueling, limit-pushing work was supposed to last seven days, but now it's turning into two months! If I had known, I would've delayed advancing to SSS-level by a few years—or even a few decades!)

Xiao Yi was uncertain whether the main system's extremely demanding workload and endless overtime would lead to yet another wave of betrayers. Fifteen minutes later, the team was divided into smaller groups and used teleportation talismans to appear under the moonlit sky on the night side of Earth.

When it came to clearing the isolation zones and combustible materials, several high-level ability users suggested clumsy solutions like burning the materials or transporting them by vehicle, but these ideas were all rejected. Ultimately, the well-funded main system issued a remote command, granting each savior temporary access to 100,000 cubic meters of system space. With this access, saviors could store the combustible materials one load at a time, use reimbursable long-range teleportation talismans to dump them into the ocean, and then repeat the process. This approach made it feasible to complete the task.

Because Xiao Yi was a top-tier savior capable of managing tasks that would typically require 3,000 competent saviors, his team consisted solely of him. When he arrived at the outskirts of a dome in the city, tens of thousands of Earthling volunteers had already gathered for an emergency assembly. They chatted among themselves, eagerly anticipating his arrival. Under the unusually bright moonlight, the massive crowd didn't need flashlights; the silver glow illuminated everything clearly.

A tall, middle-aged man with gray hair stepped forward as soon as he saw the youth, and the Huo Li version of the Guardian appeared out of thin air. "Hello, I'm the mayor of Wright City. These people are volunteers we've urgently gathered from the younger and middle-aged citizens. Is the situation really as dire as the savior who contacted me claimed? After all, every citizen has their assigned duties, and pulling them away like this leaves many tasks in the city unattended..."

Obviously, the Salvation Alliance's credibility plummeted seven days ago due to the saviors' collective refugee-like appearance. This gray-haired politician clearly had deep doubts about everything related to the Savior Alliance.

However, the composed mayor didn't even finish his sentence before he was interrupted by a flash of light that streaked across the night sky. Tens of thousands of people looked to the sky in horror, only to discover it wasn't a bolt of lightning. Instead, the moon suddenly grew dazzlingly bright, transforming from a disk into a glowing white miniature sun that illuminated the thousands of people and the surrounding wilderness and farmland in stark clarity. Like a burst of brilliant fireworks, the light lasted nearly twenty seconds before the moon dimmed and returned to its original form.

A burst of panic and uproar erupted from the crowd.

Xiao Yi had to purchase a 'Super Megaphone' from the system store to address the frightened people. "Everyone, don't worry. That was just a reflection of the moon. This mission is completely safe because we will withdraw to the dome at least half an hour before sunrise."

Turning away from the megaphone, the boy lowered his voice to speak to the gray-haired mayor. "Given the solar flashes, what everyone should really be worried about is whether the area around the dome will turn into a sea of flames after sunrise, don't you agree?"

The gray-haired mayor was speechless.

The boy was not interested in further entanglement, so he ordered all the volunteers to clear the farmland and wasteland within a 10-kilometer radius. He instructed them to bundle the combustible materials into piles along the route. Then, with a wave of his hand, he retrieved 4,000 brand-new Guardians from his system space. Under Huo Li's command, the Guardians soared through the silent night sky like massive black eagles, heading toward the distant forest.

The moment the Guardian army appeared, the gray-haired mayor and his aides were so stunned by the breathtaking sight that they instinctively took several steps back. Their wide-open eyes revealed their realization: the blue-clad builders responsible for constructing the domes were, in fact, creations of the young man standing before them!

Trying to cover up the earlier awkwardness, the gray-haired mayor's hook-nosed secretary stepped forward to fill the silence. Forcing a smile, he offered, "We will send a convoy to escort you to the forest..."

"There's no need. Just let the forestry experts follow along," the youth replied. Then, he soared into the air, disappearing into the distant night sky alongside the Guardians.

While the citizens were busy pulling weeds, they couldn't help but look up at the winged figures flying through the sky. They stood there, completely mesmerized, struggling to take in the incredible sight of the majestic Guardians.

.

Three hours later, the black-haired boy glided slowly over the forest. Whenever he spotted a rare tree marked with a red ribbon by the forestry experts, he would reach out and uproot it entirely to store in his system space. Since Xiao Yi's system space was nearly filled with black threads, he purchased an additional 100,000 cubic meters specifically for preserving rare plants.

Meanwhile, the 4,000 Guardians, each equipped with chainsaws, repeated the task of cutting trees. For the sixth time, the youth teleported to the ocean, dumping the trees into the water. Under the silvery moonlight, the sea's surface became covered with floating brown trunks and dark green crowns, creating a desolate and tragically beautiful scene in the silent night.

The youth curiously looked at Huo Li, who had been unusually quiet since they left the plateau construction site. He couldn't understand why Huo Li was following him, teleporting back and forth without saying a word. After a few moments, Xiao Yi decided to ignore him and teleported back to the forest. Half a second later, Huo Li, wearing his silver mask, appeared behind Xiao Yi, flapping his wings stupidly in mid-air.

Xiao Yi continued flying toward the next large tree marked with a red ribbon. At the same time, Huo Li followed closely behind, resembling a helium balloon on a leash.

In fact, Huo Li's heart was in turmoil. Ever since he learned that Xiao Yi had never truly trusted him—and then acted out his frustration with some immature tantrums, even mocking Xiao Yi's Guardians as less entertaining than a mouse chasing a cat—Huo Li had been regretting his behavior.

He could hardly believe that the one throwing tantrums like a three-year-old was himself—a 3,000-year-old being! (It's all because of my abilities.) Huo Li thought gloomily. (After thousands of years, I've still failed to earn the trust of a single human...)

And Xiao Yi really was just like a three-year-old child. Expecting him to trust someone completely right away was simply too much. At the very least, Huo Li thought he should wait until Xiao Yi was older and could make a more mature judgment.

All he could do now was follow quietly behind the youth, hoping to find a way to break the silence and express his apology and goodwill. But what should he say?

(Xiao Yi, there are no visible enemies around us now, so your guardians can stop pretending to be dumb.) That sounds sarcastic—definitely a bad choice. Pass!

(Xiao Yi, look at how round the moon is tonight.) What did that even have to do with anything?

Hours passed, and Huo Li still couldn't find a suitable topic to talk about. Just as he resigned himself to silently follow the boy like a giant helium balloon, he suddenly sensed something. His eyes lit up as he found a perfect opportunity to speak:

"Xiao Yi, your three Guardians just got stuffed into sacks and carried off!" Huo Li's voice was filled with barely irrepressible joy.