At the southern pass of Lost Valley, a truck hurtled past.
Glancing out the window at the rolling, jagged peaks, Sisi leaned back against the driver's seat and finally breathed a sigh of relief before turning her focus back to the road ahead.
By this point, the nuclear warhead's destructive power would be halved at the very least.
*Just one final step left.*
Whispering the thought to herself, she slammed down on the accelerator, sending a few gnawers that had drifted to the roadside flying through the air. Following the rough road the Legion had carved out, she sped forward toward the heart of Lost Valley.
Ten minutes earlier.
She and Rou Rou had hauled the nuclear warhead onto the truck, and then she had driven off toward Lost Valley alone.
When their squad had infiltrated the valley earlier, they had confirmed that a bottomless crater hundreds of meters wide scarred the very center of Lost Valley.
It looked like an enormous quarry pit.
Some terrifying weapon from the previous era had caused the geological structure of this area to collapse outright, thrusting and tilting rock veins kilometers away upward. The battlefield of the old era had to be buried beneath that pit.
To explore deep into the shafts and haul out excavated earth, the Legion had cut a spiraling dirt road along the funnel-shaped slope, just wide enough for two vehicles to pass side by side.
Following this dirt track downward, Sisi was just about to reach the center of the pit when a jeep stalled on the shoulder of the road suddenly appeared in her sights.
Before she had time to wonder why a vehicle was down here, two heads popped up from behind the jeep, and a pistol and a submachine gun immediately snapped up to aim straight at her.
"Don't move!"
"Halt the vehicle! Hands behind your head!"
Tension and dread were written plain across both of their faces. By their uniforms, they were unmistakably Legion officers—and of no small standing, at that.
Sisi stepped on the brakes and brought the truck to a halt, but she made no move to obey their commands. She didn't even get out, merely letting out a faint smile as she rested her arm casually against the window frame and teased, "Care to guess what I've got loaded in the back?"
Getting it this far was close enough; she didn't necessarily have to dump it dead center. She wasn't worried in the slightest, sizing up the two men with keen amusement.
Seeing that this person didn't care about their guns at all and kept such a calm face, Maclen stared in surprise and instinctively asked, "...What's in there?"
Sisi didn't waste words. Pushing the door open, she climbed down.
Completely ignoring the two guns, she walked straight to the truck bed, and with an energetic grunt, dragged the nuclear warhead out of the back.
The grayish-black warhead was still ringed by an aluminum alloy bracket, its torn edges looking as though it had been ripped straight from an aircraft.
The instant they saw the warhead, General Maclen and the officer beside him turned pale as death.
Watching the expressions on their faces, Sisi felt a weight lift from her chest.
As expected, the things one worried about most were always the most likely to happen.
This damn thing really did have a self-destruct mechanism to prevent capture.
Otherwise, they would have had no reason to flee into this dead-end trench, let alone be terrified out of their wits the moment they laid eyes on it.
Maclen's lips trembled as he stared at her. "Are you... out of your mind?"
"Crazy? Far from it. I just saved over ten thousand lives, didn't I?" Sisi rolled her eyes and looked at the high-ranking officer. "By the way, I noticed a numeric keypad on the warhead. Must be for entering an abort code. Do you know the passcode?"
Maclen struggled to squeeze out the words. "...Only the pilot knows it."
"What a shame. He's already dead." Sisi shrugged, then added, "By the way, the battle outside is already over. Are you surrendering or what?"
Glancing at the warhead lying on the ground, Maclen gave a bitter laugh. "Does that even matter anymore?"
"Who knows? Might as well give it a shot," Sisi said with another shrug. "Though if you keep dragging your feet, you definitely won't have a prayer of making it out alive."
Seeing the nonchalant look on her face, Maclen gritted his teeth, but in the end, he could not muster the courage to face death.
He had no idea why this lunatic wasn't afraid to die.
Yet if there was even a chance to survive, he didn't want to die.
Lowering his gun, Maclen murmured, "Please take me away from here..."
Though he never actually choked out the word "surrender," his crestfallen look made it abundantly clear that he had abandoned all resistance.
The corners of Sisi's lips curled upward faintly. Climbing back into the driver's seat, she skillfully revved the engine.
"Get in."
***
Meanwhile, somewhere deep within the valley.
Watching the creeping tentacles draw closer and closer, Luo Yu was terrified out of his wits.
Standing not far behind him, White Dove smiled warmly and spoke in a soothing tone. "Don't be afraid. It won't eat you. It's just a little curious after going so many years without seeing a living person."
Curious about what?
Flavor or mouthfeel?
Hearing that explanation only ratcheted Luo Yu's anxiety higher. He couldn't help taking a step back, dodging a tentacle that was inching quietly toward his forehead.
"What... what's its deal? Is it in symbiosis too?"
"Not quite. It is the broodmother."
"The broodmother?!"
Looking at the utterly stunned Luo Yu, the man whose head resembled a block of rotting wood continued in that same gentle voice.
"Indeed. But you don't need to be so afraid. Even among humans, there are good people and bad people. Mutant slime mold has evolved a social division of labor into a 'social organism,' so naturally, the concepts of good and evil apply to them as well."
"Of course, that is merely phrased for your ease of understanding. To put it more rigorously: the arid environment of the desert makes survival extremely harsh for the slime mold here. They lack sufficient nutrients to breed massive hives or cultivate powerful evolved organisms to hunt for the colony, nor are there ample organisms around for them to prey upon. Consequently, over long ages, a portion of the mutant slime mold evolved specialized capabilities."
Luo Yu swallowed hard. "...Symbiosis?"
White Dove nodded warmly. "Precisely."
Luo Yu thought of Bucky.
That man encased in iron plate like a medieval knight.
He had once had the privilege of seeing that guy take off his armor—almost his entire body had been overrun, with the slime mold leaving behind only an intermittently functional brain.
According to Heya, without specialized drugs to suppress it, the man could turn into a puppet of the slime mold at any moment.
Shouldn't that be called parasitism?
Luo Yu asked anxiously, "I don't get it. Is there any difference between symbiosis and parasitism?"
White Dove answered in a cheery voice.
"Of course there is. One is non-invasive, while the other is invasive. One flourishes together with the host, while the other sucks every last drop of nutrient from the host before hopping to the next to repeat the exploitation."
"The slime mold that evolved within the ruins of Oasis No. 7 belongs to the former. It can grant you immunity to all diseases, bestow eternal life, and provide a formidable physique and capabilities—all without discarding your own genes. It is far safer than awakening."
"As a symbiote, it does not compromise the host's health; instead, it derives trace elements, organic matter, and moisture from the host's metabolic waste. You could understand it as a special kind of... vaccine! As long as you are inoculated with it, you gain a vastly stronger body!"
"So? Young man, care to give it a try?"
That persuasive voice sounded like the whisper of a demon. Giving consent felt as if it would seal a pact with some sinister power.
Luo Yu had to admit:
Becoming a tentacle monster sounded pretty enticing on paper.
How could operating an aircraft with two hands ever compare to micro-managing with ten tentacles?!
Yet fusing into one with a tentacle monster was an entirely different story.
Besides, looking at the horrifying state this guy had reduced himself to, Luo Yu found his pitch thoroughly unconvincing.
If the price of growing stronger was turning that grotesque, he'd rather just grind levels the honest way.
Still, out of sheer curiosity, he asked, "And what's the cost?"
White Dove smiled and continued, "The cost is—"
Before his words could finish.
Xiao Hong suddenly glanced around with unease. Yet before it could make any move, an earth-shattering tremor surged up from beneath their feet.
White Dove's expression twisted violently.
Before he could squeeze out a single syllable, a roaring deluge of sand, dust, and crushed rock swallowed everyone within the ruins in an instant...
At that exact moment, in another world.
Lying flat on his bed, Luo Yu snapped his eyes open.
Before him hung the "Connection Lost" prompt.
The respawn cooldown timer was already ticking away. His character was plainly dead as a doornail.
Ripping the helmet from his head, he sat on the bed dazed for a long moment before letting out an explosive curse like a man who had just recovered his soul.
"Holy fucking shit!"
What the hell was the cost?!
***
The nuclear warhead detonated after all.
And it did so not long after being unloaded from the truck and pushed down the steep slope.
A beam of light flared within the silent valley.
The searing fireball rose like a morning sun forced above the horizon twelve hours ahead of time, instantly illuminating the night sky that shrouded the valley.
Furious shockwaves and turbulent gusts crashed against the ridges burying the riverbanks like raging tidal waves, shaking the very earth in the grip of that terrifying power.
In the encampment outside the valley.
The Legion soldiers and officers had already abandoned resistance, holding their hands above their heads in surrender. When they saw that dazzling bloom of light, despair was painted across nearly every face.
The warhorses roaming through the camp shifted their hooves uneasily, their riders tugging tightly on the reins in an attempt to calm the beasts.
The captain of Sai En's personal guard stared in astonishment at the light that had erupted within Lost Valley. Bewilderment and dread churned in his eyes as he muttered ceaselessly under his breath.
"...The prophecy!"
That person truly was an emissary of the gods!
The prophecy of doom had come to pass after all!
Yet there was comfort to be found in that the light which consumed all had not ignited on the soil of civilization, but deep within the lost ruins.
***
At the same time, on the western front of the battlefield.
As the blinding white light surged, the gunfire echoing across the plains ground to an abrupt halt.
Staring at the sky illuminated by the nuclear blast and the dust towering toward the clouds, the combatants momentarily forgot the battle, looks of stunned shock stamped onto their faces.
It was as if someone had pressed pause on the world.
Nothing remained except the earth-trembling shudder and the rolling rumble of the explosion.
Like the roar of a deity.
"...By the Spirit of the Sand Sea."
A Falcon Kingdom soldier went pale, his shoulders trembling. His rifle slipped from his hands and his knees crumpled into the sand simultaneously.
His reaction was far from unique.
From decurions down through the frontline ranks, when they saw the brilliant flare of a nuclear detonation behind their lines, many lost whatever courage they had left to fight on.
Hundreds of meters away.
Below the reverse slope of a dune.
Sai En, who was bandaging a bullet wound, also saw the dazzling flare.
Several guards immediately stepped in front of him, but he waved his hand to dismiss them.
"Priest Prest once said that those who wither away in a curse cannot see the curse itself," Sai En said with a hearty laugh. "The fact that we can see that light proves we won't die."
"That is a curse cast upon the guilty! The gods are on our side!"
He raised his arm high and roared, rallying the warriors fighting beside him.
"Long live the Camel Hump Kingdom!"
The sudden nuclear detonation brought a momentary halt to the entire battlefield.
Facing the direction where the nuclear light had risen, devout believers knelt one after another upon the sand in prayer, while the rest lay flat or crouched in confusion, unable to decide whether they should keep fighting.
The blast's shockwave seemed to sweep across immense distances, but fortunately, it did not reach this far.
The "gods'" blessing seemed to have sheltered them once more...
Elsewhere.
After driving through to the airfield north of Lost Valley, the tank units of the Skeleton Corps did not linger. They pushed westward to reinforce their allies from Petra Fortress, who had sallied out to fight.
The outcome of the entire engagement was no longer in question; it was practically time to declare the battlefield mop-up underway.
The Legion encampment north of Lost Valley had already been secured by the Petra cavalry, and the Legion had lost nearly all of its armored forces in this sector.
The remaining infantry to the west had no reinforcements coming.
A few rounds of righteous 155s would be more than enough to persuade them to throw up their hands in surrender.
Just as the flare of the nuclear explosion blossomed, a Conqueror 5 light tank flying the Alliance flag rumbled unsteadily toward the eastern side of the airfield.
The hatch swung open.
Brother Mole, his head wrapped in bandages, poked his head out. Looking toward Lost Valley, his mouth fell open in utter disbelief.
"...Holy shit."
Hearing that dramatic exclamation, the driver inside yelled out, "What's happening outside? I can't see a thing from down here!"
"The nuke..." Brother Mole swallowed hard, then added, "Holy crap, I think that nuke just went off!"
Not counting the miniature one in the northern suburbs of Qingquan City, this was his very first time witnessing a nuclear detonation up close.
The overwhelming pressure crashing over the sky was truly no joke, though the power of this explosion seemed slightly smaller than he had envisioned.
Was this thing really a one-megaton warhead?
Or had the blast been dampened because it detonated deep inside the valley...?
"Holy shit?!"
Hearing that a nuke had gone off ahead, the tank came to an abrupt halt.
With a series of clattering bangs, the driver clumsily shoved his hatch open and scrambled up to see the spectacle, peering eagerly forward.
"Let me see!"
***
Meanwhile, along the perimeter of the nuclear blast zone, gut-wrenching shrieks tore through the air.
"Faster—!"
"Go faster!!"
"Aaaah! It's catching up!"
Sprawled in the truck bed, Maclen screamed in undignified terror, squeezing frantically toward the cab in a desperate bid to get as far from ground zero as possible.
His adjutant lay huddled on the other side of the bed, head clutched between his hands, eyes clamped shut, babbling prayers to whatever deity might listen.
Both of them were clad in anti-radiation suits.
Not only were they wearing protective masks, but they had also popped two anti-radiation pills each, yet none of that could ward off the suffocating threat of death or the bone-deep terror.
Sisi, sitting in the driver's seat, remained relatively composed, but seeing the harsh white glare reflected in her rearview mirror, a bead of cold sweat still rolled down her forehead.
The moment her truck cleared the northern pass of the valley, the blinding flash and the roar of the blast chased right behind her.
Not daring to look back.
Gritting her teeth, she kept her foot virtually welded to the accelerator, hitting over sixty on the rugged, rutted dirt road!
The searing shockwave carried a furious tide of dust, nearly billowing straight into the truck bed.
The mountain pass opening outward to the south had effectively acted as a vent for the shockwave, channeling dust and pulverized rock directly in her wake.
Fortunately, ground zero was deep below the surface.
Had it gone off on flat ground, none of them would have felt even a flash of pain before being vaporized alongside the truck into molten iron and slag...
North of the airfield.
Standing atop a sand dune, Tail held a pair of binoculars, gazing south toward the valley shrouded in night.
When that white brilliance erupted, she couldn't help letting out a gasp.
"Holy crap! The nuke really blew up!"
"Good thing they made it in time." Sesame Paste let out a breath, her tightly clenched right fist finally relaxing.
Tail suddenly turned to look at her in confusion. "Wait, why isn't there a mushroom cloud?"
"I think mushroom clouds only form during airbursts... probably?" Sesame Paste replied uncertainly.
Standing to one side, Rou Rou was still sighing with deep sorrow, looking utterly heartbroken over the ancient ruins down in the valley.
Just as Sesame Paste was about to offer some comfort, a truck burst through the billowing dust, speeding up from the north of Lost Valley toward the airfield.
The truck pulled to a halt.
The moment the squad converged around it, two figures rolled out from the truck bed.
Tearing off their protective masks, the pair collapsed onto their hands and knees before they could even stand, retching violently into the dirt.
Watching the two men heave their guts out, Sesame Paste halted in her tracks as she stepped forward to greet her teammate and asked in confusion, "Who are these two?"
"Maclen, and his adjutant..." Sisi said, hopping down from the driver's seat and glancing down at the men on the ground. "I only just found out myself."
Tail's eyes lit up. She looked excitedly at the middle-aged man struggling to climb to his feet.
"Oh! You're General Maclen?!"
Rou Rou pumped her bear paws and cheered, "Tail! We caught a big fish!"
"Whoa!!"
A pale Maclen froze for a moment. He didn't recognize this girl or the bear, and he had even less idea why the bear could talk.
Still, he possessed the awareness expected of a prisoner, knowing that cooperating would save him considerable grief. He asked cautiously, "I am Maclen... and you are?"
Tail: "Tail!"
Maclen: "...?"
Seeing his bewildered expression, Sisi's lips curled into a mischievous, scheming smile, and she mused aloud, "Come to think of it, back in Ruigu City, that balloon was Tail's doing."
Tail nodded excitedly. "Yup, yup! That's right! Sesame Paste and I worked super hard to launch that balloon up high!"
Sesame Paste smiled somewhat bashfully.
Yet Maclen didn't spare her a single glance.
The moment he heard the word "balloon," his eyes bulged as if pumped full of air.
Staring with murderous fury at the smug figure before him, he leveled a trembling index finger, his face flashing pale and livid.
"That balloon... was your doing?!"
Not caring in the slightest about the look that wished her strangled, Tail bobbed her head proudly.
"Yup, that's right! Don't mention it!"
Maclen nearly choked on a mouthful of blood, wanting nothing more than to lunge forward and wring her neck.
"Don't move."
Savoring his complete breakdown, Sisi waved the newly captured pistol in her hand and politely reminded him, "Don't forget you're a prisoner now. If you want to stay alive, behave yourself."
They had been chased so miserably back in Ruigu City.
Today, the debt had finally been settled.
***
West of Oasis No. 9.
At the Legion's command post.
A Sabre fighter touched down on the runway.
Seeing the pilot jump down from the cockpit, an officer rushed forward alongside the ground crew and asked frantically, "Where's the H-55 you were escorting?"
The pilot answered bluntly, "We were ambushed by enemy air units! The H-55 suffered damage to an engine during takeoff."
The officer's face turned white, and he pressed, "And the nuclear warhead?"
The pilot braced himself and reported truthfully, "Still on the plane..."
Even as the pilot was delivering his report, officers in the frontline command post had already received word of the situation through other channels.
Inside the command tent.
Griffin stood before the radio transceiver, remaining silent for a very long time.
After ten or so minutes had slipped past, he turned back to the plotting table, stared at the strategic map for a moment, and issued orders in a deep voice.
"Inform the Falcon Kingdom's 3rd Myriad... they are to hold the defensive line at all costs until reinforcements arrive!"
"The 2nd Myriad will end their rest period and deploy north of the 3rd Myriad to establish defenses."
Reinforcements from Enterprise and the Alliance were trickling into Luoxia Province.
With fire support from the Heart of Steel, holding Oasis No. 9 was out of the question. Falling back to Oasis No. 3 to organize a defense and overextend the enemy's supply lines was their best course of action.
He would petition the Grand Marshal for additional reinforcements.
Hearing General Griffin's orders, the officers gathered around the map table exchanged uncertain looks.
One officer could not resist speaking up: "The 2nd Myriad just participated in the assault on the City of Abundance days ago, suffering heavy casualties in personnel and equipment. Their combat effectiveness is below thirty percent. I fear—"
Griffin shot him a glance.
That cold gaze immediately silenced the officer, who dared not utter another word.
Turning back to the map, Griffin spoke concisely: "All other units will withdraw toward Oasis No. 3. Take whatever equipment and supplies can be carried; burn the rest on the spot."
The adjutant standing beside him asked, "What about Maclen?"
Griffin fell silent, a flicker of complex emotion showing in his icy eyes.
He had feuded with that arrogant bastard for nearly half his life.
Though he had wished nothing more than to see the man gone, having him bow out in such a manner still stirred an inevitable sense of shared sorrow.
He swore.
He would avenge this defeat!
Tossing his cap onto the map on the table, he turned and walked out of the tent.
"Lower the flag to half-mast for him."
Behind him, silence hung heavy inside the command tent.
After a long pause, someone led the way, and the officers took off their caps together, cradling them in their palms.
Flames burned in their eyes.
The seeds of hatred had been sown...
***
At the same time.
Directing the battle from the frontline, Chu Guang learned of the combat around the ruins of Oasis No. 7 via Xiao Qi and the official forums.
When he heard that the Falcon Kingdom's 11th Myriad garrisoned at the airfield was being commanded by Maclen, he froze for a couple of seconds.
Talk about a coincidence...
"Where is he now?"
Xiao Qi: "Your players have taken him into custody."
Chu Guang nodded.
As long as he was alive.
Before escalating into total war, all of this could serve as chips at the negotiating table.
Neither the Alliance nor Enterprise was going to advance ten thousand kilometers to the West Coast. That served neither party's interests, nor was it their objective in this war.
For the Alliance, the most optimistic outcome was extracting war reparations from the Legion or its vassals, followed by taking in a few subordinate factions in Luoxia Province.
Perhaps Enterprise would be willing to share the secrets of Vault 0 with him, but he wouldn't be terribly disappointed if they refused.
After all, he had never pinned his hopes on a legend.
"What about the nuke?" Chu Guang asked, turning to the matter he cared about most.
Xiao Qi said in a hushed tone, "The Legion detonated it... but your players hauled the warhead into the underground shafts of Lost Valley. It doesn't appear to have injured anyone."
Chu Guang's expression turned slightly bewildered.
It went off?
"What is it?"
Noticing the shift in Chu Guang's expression, Vannus cast an inquiring look his way.
Standing nearby, Finode also looked over nervously, desperate to know what stage the war had reached.
Regardless of who won, as long as the conflict entered ceasefire negotiations, he had hope of returning home.
Chu Guang did not speak, turning his gaze toward the floor-to-ceiling windows of the bridge to watch the sun sinking farther away along the horizon.
It would have been wonderful to secure that nuclear warhead.
Even holding onto it without using it would have kept the Legion on edge, hindering their freedom of movement on the battlefield.
But now...
Things were going to get somewhat complicated.
***
Great Rift Valley, Origin City.
Inside a spacious council chamber sat a long conference table carved from obsidian. Two figures sat at opposite ends.
The man seated at the head of the table appeared to be in his sixties. Frost touched his temples, and his face was carved with weary lines that resembled the cracks of a canyon.
His half-closed eyes suggested deep contemplation.
As if concerned he might fall asleep, the tall man seated at the other end of the long table remarked coldly, "They've even resorted to nuclear weapons."
He wore a silver-gray uniform of crisp fabric, pristine and free of wrinkles, gleaming like a mirror.
Hearing the word "nuclear," the old man's brow twitched faintly, but he offered little else in reaction.
"Mm."
"They are crossing the line further and further."
"Mm."
"Is that the only syllable you know?" A trace of displeasure crept into the tall man's voice.
The old man let out a soft sigh.
"I need time to think."
"Think? Does our signed contract no longer hold weight?"
The tall man chuckled coldly, his voice laced with mockery.
"Keep thinking, and we might find ourselves fighting another world war among the garbage heaps."
The old man seated in the chair sighed, finally opening his drooping eyelids.
Fixing his cloudy eyes upon the tall man across from him, he said in a calm, mild tone, "That is precisely where the complexity lies. Our civilization is already teetering on the brink of collapse. Any minor misstep could extinguish our final hope. Furthermore... do not always speak in that detached tone. Can your Academy truly claim zero responsibility for things turning out this way?"
"Certainly. We made a grave error—we chose to trust a band of fools who think with their fists. What was even more foolish was wasting five precious minutes of my life attempting to persuade an old man whose wits have slowed to a crawl." The tall man scoffed, lowering his crossed arms.
His figure gradually faded, turning into a phantom before dissolving into particles of light.
It had been a holographic projection.
Facing the empty table, the old man lapsed into a long silence.
Just then, the synthesized chime of an AI drifted into his ear.
"...Envoys from the south request an audience. They identify themselves as the Alliance and wish to discuss the Bugra Free State's covert support for the Legion."
The Alliance...
He seemed to recall hearing the name.
When was that again?
Pinching the bridge of his nose with a finger, the old man couldn't quite remember.
Ever since the curtain fell on the Prosperity Era, far too many bizarre spectacles had played out across this land.
From kingdom monarchs to tribal chieftains, along with all manner of eccentric organizations and ideologies... they were like matches struck in the dark, flaring up quickly and dying out just as fast. Their only real accomplishment was scorching the fingers that held them before anyone realized the pain.
Yet in the end, the old man decided to grant the younger generation an audience.
"Show them to the lounge. I will join them shortly."
The AI assistant replied in a gentle electronic voice, "Understood, Mr. Chief."
Chapter 445