The Lost Continent Expedition

More than two months later, in late September 1995, autumn had settled over the Northern Hemisphere, while a small portion of Antarctica began transitioning into polar day. "Where are you off to this time? Every single day..." Ye Jian called out from behind, holding the very last reserved bottle of alcohol in the entire Subglacial City in his hand. At the doorway, Liu Shiheng paused and glanced back with righteous gravity, muttering under his breath, "Doesn't matter anyway. We're all gonna die soon." Overhead, the super traction field loomed with an immense silhouette. Liu Shiheng didn't know how Ne had pulled it off—perhaps through light and shadow refracting again and again—but in any case, he could see it growing day by day, drawing ever closer to completion and perfection. Thus, everything was rushing toward them at an accelerating pace, including the moment when they would have to face life and death. Judging by the current situation, when Qingzi and the others finally arrived here, Ne would in all likelihood force him to do something. If he refused, he might die before the battle even began, perhaps without even getting to see them. "If they end up surviving in the end, maybe they'll find my corpse and finally realize that all these years in enemy territory, I actually lived... pretty damn well." Young Master Shiheng smiled wryly, finding humor in his grim situation. In truth, he had been someone accustomed to running away his entire life. Just like back in Squad 1777, even with such a band of brothers by his side, he had still chosen to flee Azure. Yet he was also an utterly wretched, unlucky soul who could never break free from fate's vicious circle no matter what. Every time he went through hell and high water to escape a dangerous cage, he would immediately walk right into another, far more dangerous cage. This time, there was nowhere left to run from fate, and Young Master Shiheng no longer intended to run. "In a battlefield of super behemoths, what can a bug do?" Over the past two months, Liu Shiheng had pondered this question every single day. He was weak, yet had so many people to worry about—Alice, Qingzi, and the rest. He wanted to get Alice away from here, and he wanted to warn Qingzi and the others... "What are you thinking about?" The bookshelves in the library were exceptionally tall, casting an amusing contrast against the human figure standing below, as though demonstrating the vastness of knowledge. Alice raised her hand, and a book perched high above sprang out and dropped into her grasp... Tossing the book casually to Liu Shiheng, Alice said, "Maybe you'd be willing to learn a little German." This was the fourth book Alice had tossed to Young Master Shiheng today, and the only truly useful one among the four. Regrettably, it was in German. Because Nikola and Ne's mental probing could happen anywhere, anytime, completely unpreventable, and even the slightest thoughts could be easily seen through, Alice dared not make her actions too obvious. She could not even allow herself to display any nervousness or anticipation. This German book was about consciousness control—over oneself and over others. Alice had once studied it fanatically. If Liu Shiheng were willing to read it, and could understand and master some of the techniques, he might happen to wake Alice at a critical moment. *That way, maybe I could protect you one more time, and make one more effort for myself.* In their condition of three entities sharing a single life, Alice was without question the weakest of the three, both in martial prowess and consciousness. Thus, once true battle broke out, she would most likely vanish temporarily. When that happened, this body would be completely controlled by Nikola and Ne. Under those circumstances, she might even kill Young Master Shiheng with her own hands. Alice had previously been able to threaten Nikola and Ne with her own life not because she could resist in real time, but because she would eventually wake up and could retaliate afterward... But next time, if Nikola truly found a substitute and completed his resurrection, once she vanished, she would never return. Because she was far too weak, if their consciousnesses were separated again, the outcome for Alice would not be regaining independence, but utter shattering and fading away. If that happened, her leverage would naturally cease to exist. *Unless someone can suddenly wake me.* Alice glanced sideways at Liu Shiheng, doing her best not to harbor any hope. "You can't overestimate a man just because you fell in love with him, Miss Alice." Liu Shiheng chuckled self-deprecatingly as he placed all four books back onto the shelf. "German? I don't even know half the characters in Huaxian. If you want me to read, you'd better find me something with pictures." Alice: "..." *Dear God, I might have made a mistake.* "By the way, how come I can't find those pictorials lately?" Young Master Shiheng muttered as he craned his neck to look around. "I threw them away," Alice said coldly, glaring at the damned fool. ... In September, the human world was undergoing the grandest expedition in history. Azure had been preparing for this for a long time. They had even found the leisure to devise several names for this unprecedented offensive campaign—the Seventh Continent Expedition, the Final Reclamation Campaign, the Lost Continent Expedition, the Melting Snow Expedition, the Purge Expedition, and so on. Ultimately, the Council decided on the name that carried the greatest sense of history: the Lost Continent Expedition. Humanity's history of being invaded by the Great Spikes had lasted for nearly a century. Now, aside from Antarctica, almost a year had passed without a single Great Spike craft landing anywhere else. As long as Antarctica—this final continent—was reclaimed, the human world would, for the first time, break free from a century of subjugation and meet the impending clash of life and death as a unified whole. The Lost Continent Expedition differed greatly from Azure's past wars. One major difference was that it unfolded entirely after the world of source energy had been revealed to the public. Consequently, from preparations to departure, and on to the subsequent developments on the battlefield, the entire world would watch and bear witness. In the past, the warriors guarding this world had always been forced to march silently to mortal battlefields, to triumph in silence, and to die in silence. Now, the entire world was mobilizing in service of their expedition and seeing them off. Family members could finally stand beside the streets or outside train windows and wave; lovers could embrace through tears, pledging vows to wait, repeating countless parting reminders... Thus, the warriors defending human civilization began converging continuously from every country and corner of the world. The date arrived at September 23, 1995. Amid the roaring conviction of the world and countless tears of farewell, Azure officially announced the scale and lineup of the expeditionary force. In terms of scale, Azure deployed 1.8 million troops. This massive and staggering figure was comprised of veterans and recruits in a ratio of roughly two to one, meaning that their true overall combat strength had to be discounted to some extent. Yet this was a choice Azure had to make—sending the recruits to the battlefield. The current crop of recruits in Azure's hands, thanks to the immense expansion in recruitment, far exceeded any period in history in terms of scale, degree of fusion, and upper limit of combat strength. They fully deserved the highest expectations... However, they lacked a crucible in which to temper themselves. The vast majority of these recruits had been training for half a year or more. Under Azure's past regulations, they would now be graduating and deployed to local garrison squads to grow through real combat. Yet there were none left. Aside from Antarctica, not a single Great Spike remained in the entire world. Therefore, they would head to Antarctica and plunge directly into a massive campaign, making sacrifices and reaping experience amid blood, death, and brutal victories, ultimately growing into the true backbone that would safeguard humanity in the future. As for the lineup, Azure's command structure essentially retained the two mature configurations used in the Zenith War. Meanwhile, on the list of super combat powers that drew the most public concern... First, naturally missing was the Skybreaker Hammer, Admiral Bochen of the Mitli Front, who was still recovering from his injuries. Nor was there the Invincible on Earth, Corps Commander Chen Buer, whose physical condition was rumored to be in terrible decline. The absence of Azure's two strongest combat powers could not help but stir a measure of unease among the populace. Aside from them, the Star of the Mediterranean, General Christine, was indeed taking part. However, her performance in the Zenith War had already proven that despite her high ranking, the nature of her special characteristics made her ill-suited for this kind of direct, head-on large-scale warfare. Fortunately, the Great Spikes did not have a Daie this time either. Daie was already dead, fallen under Major Qing's blade during the Zenith War. Furthermore, reconnaissance results gathered by the Rejectors over the past year showed that there was no other Daie in Antarctica. With the apex combatants missing, Azure's expeditionary super lineup was mainly composed of two groups: The first group consisted of the core supers from each front. These super combatants' names were not on the Dome Leaderboard, and their fame might not shine as brightly, but in reality, they were the true foundation of Azure's high-end strength over the years. This time, Azure deployed its core forces in full; nearly all supers across the various fronts were taking the field. For example, the names most familiar to the public from the Huaxia Front over the years—Hua Bixuan, God Lü, and Shao Xuan—all appeared on the roster. In addition, the second major part of the super lineup comprised the rising stars who had begun making their names around the time of the Zenith War. For instance, Wolf. A recent rumor concerning this African prodigy claimed that he had just defeated Christine in a direct challenge. This meant that he might already possess the strength to vie for the top five among humanity. However, to save face for Europa, Azure had refrained from commenting on the rumor. Another example was Pegmont. Compared to the rumors surrounding Wolf, the recent combat record of Pink Pegmont was clearly documented. Just last month, in a life-or-death battle lasting five days and four nights, he had forced the Deep Sea ace Amugulang, a member of the Dome Leaderboard, to break and flee the battlefield first. Then there were Huang Dudu, Hilmang... As the wheels of history rolled forward, the newborn stars always seemed to inspire greater anticipation, whether from Azure or the general public. [Without a doubt, this is an era of brilliant constellations, but take note: it is, above all, a generation where new stars shine.] One media outlet had run this exact headline in their report. The extensive involvement of the media was another marked difference between the Lost Continent Expedition and previous campaigns. Their enthusiastic reporting and meddling made the entire world and the expedition itself far more topical and participatory. Yet amidst such a somewhat chaotic, impassioned, and even feverish atmosphere, people could not help but feel a sense of something missing beneath their excitement. They felt as though an essential piece was absent, leaving them anxious and unsettled. This collective public mood persisted until Azure's official document was authorized for publication, establishing a specific number—the 1.8 million troops mentioned in earlier announcements was refined in the official document to precisely 1,807,000. In truth, these extra seven thousand men did not undermine the accuracy of the 1.8 million figure, yet it was deliberately specified, even intentionally emphasized. Soon enough, everyone guessed why. The media swiftly printed a new front-page headline: [Seven Thousand of the Vanguard, Marching onto the Melting Snow.]