Chapter 37: Judgment Day for America
Regardless of whether Hikigaya was being idle, philosophical, or just unnecessarily distressed by his own overthinking, the current situation for the United States of America could no longer be called a "problem."
It was facing a crisis severe enough to cause the collapse of the nation.
In this era, the speed of information transmission was astonishingly fast, especially in America.
If the lockdown of the West Coast had already led to rampant rumors nationwide, then the nuclear bomb detonating at the Missouri border truly triggered panic.
The prosperity of Hollywood lies in the fact that Americans dare to imagine anything, dare to film anything, and dare to release it for the public to see.
And the public showed that every single one of them was a big-budget director, particularly skilled at filming disaster movies daily in their minds.
Hikigaya swallowed the nuclear explosion and eliminated its potential impact on the surroundings, allowing the flow and transmission of information to remain unimpeded.
Most importantly, the commotion he made while swallowing the nuclear bomb was actually much greater than the nuclear explosion itself.
The skies over the entire eastern United States, from Florida to the Great Lakes, witnessed the terrifying sight of the ten suns in the sky, a scene from the myths created by the ancient people of China.
And an even more terrifying figure stood in the sky, gathering the ten suns into itself—the Three-Legged Golden Crow, the sun beast from ancient Chinese mythology predating the Qin Dynasty.
Its light illuminated even the Atlantic Ocean.
In that instant, the sky over America was burning. When Hikigaya's Setting Sun authority truly unfurled its might for the first time on foreign soil, the people living on this land did not fare any better than the ancient Eastern people thousands of years ago.
To be honest, they performed even worse.
The ancient Eastern people thousands of years ago at least dared to shoot at its mother with bows and arrows.
But in America, the strongest nation of the modern era, not only did no one pull a gun to shoot the sun, but they first followed the friendly guidance from the movies to loot supermarkets, not even sparing the "Chevy" items, stuffing bags full of them.
And soon, many people went a step further and discarded their decency.
For instance, shouting that Judgment Day was coming, then daring to drop their pants and kiss random girls on the street.
Initially, girls with good looks and figures would hide in churches after realizing that even their homes were unsafe. However, after a certain priest suddenly shouted, "Oh God! I can finally feel you!" and led the way in taking off his clothes, the church's last vestige of deterrence against the rioters vanished. The girls had nowhere left to hide.
Or, because there were too many wolves and not enough meat, men who were better looking than the girls were in even greater danger.
It was a total mess.
The civilian sector was like this, and the domestic military was not much better. Although the vast majority of people did not know that Washington had detonated a nuclear bomb, the fiery divine figure that swallowed half the American sky had already robbed them of their courage to resist.
As for the foreign troops who were unaware of this, they were powerless to stop the domestic turmoil. Even if they returned, they would be too late to avert disaster, even if they avoided the fate of their compatriots at home.
Most Americans now believed that Judgment Day was imminent.
America had been completely disarmed before Hikigaya, like a well-endowed woman whose top had been removed, ready to be ravaged however one pleased.
To this, Hikigaya simply commented, "What nonsense."
"What a mess," he said to Anne, who was walking beside him, looking at the chaos in front of the White House. "Why is this country more chaotic than in the movies?"
It was night now.
The main light sources illuminating the city were not lamps, but the fires lit by rioters.
Anne didn't speak. Perhaps for her, as long as Los Angeles wasn't chaotic, things were fine.
From this perspective, the West Coast, where Hikigaya had landed, was quite fortunate. As for Los Angeles, that was paradise.
As the political center of the country, the White House stood out like a white flower in a garden of chaos. The defense forces here were still intact, and for the time being, no rioters dared to storm the area—or rather, those who tried were lying on the street.
Hikigaya saw a helicopter flying in the distance.
"Better late than never," Hikigaya smiled. He flicked his finger, and the helicopter instantly turned into a fireball and crashed to the ground.
This time, Hikigaya did not concern himself with casualties.
After all, they used a nuclear bomb, so he didn't need to be too polite.
The best part was that these people even wanted to bomb Anne. Now, Anne was completely indifferent to the casualties of anyone related to Washington and didn't care how Hikigaya wanted to have his fun.
Hikigaya continued to advance. When he reached the iron fence on the perimeter of the White House grounds, the heat emanating from his body melted the bars into liquid iron, which flowed to both sides. Hikigaya and Anne walked straight ahead, stepping onto the lawn.
Then they were greeted by a rain of bullets.
But in the eyes of a God Slayer, these bullets were slow.
Wind formed a barrier around Hikigaya and Anne, and the bullets were shredded upon entry. The next moment, Hikigaya raised his hand and sliced down towards the White House.
The heads, limbs, and torsos of the gunmen separated. Amidst the splashing of blood, the ground cracked open beneath Hikigaya's feet, splitting the substantial main structure of the White House into two right down the middle, and all its ancillary buildings collapsed.
As for Hikigaya and Anne, they simply leaped over the chasm, then crashed through the right wall of the White House like a battering ram, penetrating all the way down.
They landed without even a speck of dust on them.
What lay before them now was the alloy door of the White House bunker.
It was said that this door was very sturdy and could not be opened from the outside no matter what.
So Hikigaya, trusting its reputation, simply touched it.
Perhaps it was too shy, but the door immediately turned red and melted, creating a large hole.
With a slight pout, Hikigaya walked in.
The first thing he saw was a burly man lunging at him with the enthusiasm of someone who had spotted a beautiful girl. Feeling his sight obstructed, Hikigaya reached out, grabbed him, and stuffed him into the adjacent wall.
He heard that this wall could withstand a nuclear blast?
He seemed to have heard too many things today, and none of them were reliable. With this shoddy quality, a squad of street dancing grandmas from the Celestial Empire could dance it down.
In any case, Hikigaya could finally see what he wanted to see.
Begging your pardon, he meant he could finally get a good look at the people.
Before him was a large table, surrounded by people, all of them white-skinned.
Some were wearing suits, others military uniforms, but without exception, they were all quite old.
Most people looked at Hikigaya with fear.
Only one person, an elderly gentleman who looked like an educator with great cultivation, did not have fear in his eyes. Instead, he was very calm, wearing an expression that seemed to say, "I have seen the light, old man. I shall now transmit the Northern Darkness Divine Skill to you."
Hikigaya had a recent habit: whenever he saw someone who looked very academic, regardless of age, he wanted to kidnap them to tutor Komachi.
Then he heard Anne's tenor voice.
"Best," Anne called out to the old man from the doorway.
"John," the old man responded calmly. "I truly didn't wish to reunite with you under these circumstances."
"It's alright. I've come to take you home."
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