When the Viper transport returned once more, it was already two in the morning.\n\nArriving aboard this flight, in addition to Kuang Feng, Killing Dagger, and their group of twelve, was Ms. Chen Yutong, an active researcher with the Scientific Expedition.\n\nSeeing Chen Yutong hop down from the cabin, Lao Bai looked a bit surprised. Stepping forward, he asked, "What are you doing here?"\n\n"Didn't the psychic interference device here malfunction? The Administrator entrusted me to come and restore it to normal..."\n\nGlancing around at the bloody wreckage, Chen Yutong felt her stomach churn. Tearing her gaze away from the mountain of corpses and sea of bones, she looked at Lao Bai, checking him up and down with concern. "Are you hurt?"\n\nLao Bai chuckled wryly. "What could happen to me? There were only about twenty of them in total."\n\nThat so-called Executioner squad had decent gear, but to be frank, their combat prowess wasn't all that remarkable. They relied far too heavily on equipment, so getting farmed for loot was only natural.\n\nWhat Lao Bai didn't know was that it wasn't that the Executioners were weak; rather, the players' own combat strength was well above the norm. Earning the recognition of the Wilante took far more than mere brute force.\n\nWith that squad's capabilities, they might not be able to defeat the Legion's Youth Army in a head-on clash, but infiltration, sabotage, subversion, and poisoning were everyday routines for them, and assassinating the high-ranking leadership of a settlement was second nature.\n\nThe Church of the Torch had conquered such vast territory and turned countless survivor settlements across its parish into its puppets—at least half the credit belonged to the Inquisition.\n\nThen again, the Executioner squad had never expected their optical camouflage to fail, which was why they hadn't bothered using it at all in the later fighting.\n\nTo the very end, they probably suspected the Alliance possessed some technology capable of seeing through optical cloaking. Otherwise, there was simply no explaining why both ambushes had ended in failure.\n\nChen Yutong eyed Lao Bai suspiciously from head to toe, confirming he wasn't just putting on a brave face and was truly unhurt. Reassured, she let out a sigh of relief and smiled slightly. "I'm relieved you're okay."\n\nLao Bai sighed. "I'm definitely fine, but you might not be. This is a warzone, not a playground."\n\nChen Yutong blinked. "You'll protect me, won't you?"\n\nLao Bai paused, then nodded. "Of course. I'll do my absolute best..."\n\nSeeing that she had no intention whatsoever of leaving, he couldn't help asking, "By the way, wasn't your field of research na fruit? As I recall, your specialty is biology."\n\nChen Yutong smiled. "That's true, but I've dabbled in research on psychic interference devices as well. Did you forget? Earlier, I had you accompany me on a survey in the eastern suburbs of Qingquan City."\n\n"I thought you were just taking a look out of curiosity."\n\n"At the time, it really was just a casual visit. But afterward, I grew personally interested, so I leveraged the Scientific Expedition's resources to get a basic understanding of it."\n\nAt that, the corners of her lips curved up in modest pride.\n\nThe subject really hadn't been difficult for her.\n\nHer learning aptitude was quite strong, especially in fields related to her specialty. Furthermore, her age placed her right in the prime years for scientific research. If the stage at the Academy hadn't been so crowded, there was no way she would still be a mere Grade E.\n\n*A basic understanding, she says...*\n\nLao Bai felt sweat drip down his neck. Being poor at academics was the greatest regret of his life, and in this lifetime, he probably wouldn't get the chance to make up for it.\n\nSeeing Lao Bai still standing there frozen, Chen Yutong urged, "All right, let's not waste time here. It's too late to call in someone else, so hurry up and take me there."\n\nLao Bai sighed and nodded. "Follow me."\n\nPassing through the stairwell, the two arrived in the Annex's basement.\n\nAs they walked past the collapsed door, Chen Yutong saw the little girl tied up like a dumpling, as well as another girl keeping watch beside her.\n\nWhile she looked at Xiaoyang, Xiaoyang was also sneaking peeks at her.\n\nChen Yutong stopped in front of her, propped her hands on her knees, and leaned down. "Is this little sister your friend?"\n\nXiaoyang nodded and whispered, "...It's Sister Yinyin. She's two years older than me."\n\n"Yinyin, is it? That's a lovely name." Chen Yutong patted Xiaoyang's head, the corners of her mouth curving up. "And what about you?"\n\nXiaoyang whispered shyly, "I'm... Xiaoyang."\n\n*Xiaoyang... Little Sheep.*\n\nOn the wasteland, the most common names came from mountains, rivers, and the four seasons, followed by plants, bugs, birds, tables, and chairs. Even in farming settlements where cattle and horses were used as names, sheep were quite rare.\n\nChen Yutong fell silent for a moment before speaking softly. "Your friend will get better."\n\nHearing those words, the tension on Xiaoyang's face eased noticeably, replaced by delight.\n\nShe didn't know why she instinctively trusted this unfamiliar older sister, but she felt this sister knew a great deal, just like a doctor.\n\n"Then... what about the people outside?"\n\n"They'll get better too."\n\nThough they likely could never return to how they were before.\n\nMemories made while brainwashed did not vanish, nor could the dead be brought back to life. Even if it had lasted only a brief while, those mad thoughts would remain after regaining sanity.\n\nThe survivors of this settlement would likely spend a long time mired in terror and remorse.\n\nAfter all, those who had truly died under the guns of Alliance soldiers probably didn't even account for half.\n\nLooking at the happy expression on Xiaoyang's face and the squirming, struggling Yinyin, Chen Yutong sighed quietly in her heart, then followed Lao Bai toward the laboratory at the rear of the basement.\n\nWhen she saw the experimental equipment in the partition along the corridor, surprise flashed across her face.\n\n"...This is."\n\nNoticing her astonishment, Lao Bai stopped and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"\n\n"Nothing..."\n\nFor a biology lab, the equipment here was remarkably comprehensive.\n\nBasic instruments like constant-temperature incubators, clean benches, and biosafety cabinets went without saying; more advanced devices such as protein analyzers, cell synthesizers, DNA synthesizers, and EEG monitors were all present and accounted for.\n\nThese fundamental laboratory tools weren't cutting-edge technology during the Era of Prosperity; they could be salvaged from ruins of biological labs or pharmaceutical factories.\n\nYet what puzzled her was that several machines had clearly not been recovered from pre-war ruins, but rather manufactured after the Wasteland Era began.\n\nAs for how she knew...\n\nThose particular models were practically standard issue for the Academy's Institute of Biology.\n\nShe knew them like the back of her hand...\n\n***\n\nHe Anshui was the proprietor of the Green Pine Hotel.\n\nThe inn he ran sat right beside the main gate of Pinecone Farm. Its location was unmistakable and easy to remember, as it was the only inn for dozens of li around.\n\nHis daily routine consisted mainly of receiving traveling merchants and mercenaries, while also gathering wasteland intelligence for his master, Old Master Zhao.\n\nNo settlement could achieve prosperity on farming alone; there were always goods they couldn't produce that needed to be traded with outsiders.\n\nAgricultural plantations were even more dependent on this.\n\nOld Master Zhao knew very well that Pinecone Farm needed those traveling merchants, but he harbored immense distrust toward those cunning foxes. Even though the settlement had plenty of empty houses, he refused to let outsiders stay inside.\n\nUnless the merchant was appointed by him personally.\n\nThanks to this arrangement, He Anshui, who ran the only inn at Pinecone Farm, had made a modest fortune through his exclusive concession.\n\nAlthough the lion's share of the revenue had to be turned over to the master, running this business still allowed him to accumulate a tidy sum of savings.\n\nMoreover, he didn't need to travel far away to scrape a living like Yang He, nor did he have to send his family to the estate's Annex as hostages. The master was very at ease with him, because he was right on the edge of the settlement.\n\nBoth his person and his property were within easy grasp.\n\nHe Anshui was a man without ambition, harboring no extraneous thoughts. He only wanted to live his life in peace. In all his years running the inn, he had seen far too many wastelanders missing arms and legs.\n\nThose folks might not have had masters, but that was all they had going for them. Turn out their pockets and you'd find nothing; if they died, nobody cared. Compared to an existence where you never knew if you'd eat your next meal, he preferred guaranteed security.\n\nPerhaps that was why his old man had named him "Anshui"—hoping he would be as calm and steady as the water in the backyard well.\n\nSpeaking of which, that fellow Wu Wenzhou had returned, bringing news from the north. He claimed the wastelanders up there had reached their limit with marauder harassment and finally decided to unite.\n\nWatching Wu Wenzhou talk animatedly about this Alliance, He Anshui had known the man was most likely entertaining notions of leaving. But He Anshui had simply scoffed and paid it no mind.\n\nTreating news from the outside as amusing tavern gossip was fine, but God only knew how dangerous it was to actually go there.\n\nAnd so what if corn was 0.9 silver coins a kilogram?\n\nNo matter how cheap their meat was, could it beat the prices here?\n\nHere, whether you had gold or silver coin, a single coin could fetch an entire basketful of food. Whatever life was like for the other serfs, he at least was living comfortably.\n\nEating hearty portions of meat, drinking deep draughts of wine, putting on fat before he even realized it.\n\nThe most peaceful place on the wasteland was, without question, Pinecone Farm...\n\nHe had no idea how much time had passed.\n\nThe persistent buzzing in his ears finally faded, and his blurred vision slowly sharpened. He Anshui shook his head and slapped his old cheek with his right hand.\n\n*Splat—*\n\nThe sticky, viscous sensation made him slightly uncomfortable.\n\nNo matter how much he disliked washing his face, it shouldn't have been oily enough to pull threads. His mouth felt the same, as if filled with rust, his throat sticky and choked.\n\n"Did I... fall asleep..."\n\nHe mumbled incoherently. The moment he opened his mouth, something tumbled out, landing with a wet splat on the ground into a puddle of thick crimson.\n\nTomato... paste?\n\nStaring at the crimson smear before his knees, he froze. His gaze slowly traveled upward until he saw the mangled "thing" lying in a pool of blood, unrecognizable as human, and the familiar faces kneeling all around it.\n\nAmong them were the inn's cook, the waiters, the nearby serfs... twenty to thirty people in total, cramming the narrow guest room to bursting.\n\nLike him, they were all kneeling on the floor, staring blankly and helplessly at the mutilated "thing" before them.\n\nHazy memories began to resurface.\n\nHe Anshui recognized the room. This was the guest room of his old friend Wu Wenzhou, who frequently traveled far afield.\n\nAt noon, he had even wondered why that fellow hadn't gone home upon reaching the doorstep, choosing instead to hang around here with the mercenaries.\n\nHe had already guessed who that shredded body was...\n\nIn truth, there was no need to guess.\n\nHe remembered everything.\n\n"O-Old... Old Wu..."\n\nHe Anshui's lips began to tremble. The color drained from his face. Jerking backward as if jolted by electricity, he slumped to the floor, kicking his legs frantically to scramble back toward the wall.\n\nHis soaked trousers dragged a shocking trail of blood across the floorboards.\n\n*What did I do?*\n\n*No...*\n\n*Why?*\n\nAs if a basin of sulfuric acid had been poured into his stomach, He Anshui retched violently, curling up amid the filth and vomit, convulsing in spasms.\n\n"Ah... khh..."\n\nHe couldn't form words, nor did he know what to say.\n\nHe wanted to ask why.\n\nWhy had it turned out like this?\n\nEverything had been fine just moments ago... Why?\n\nHe had a stomach full of questions, but had no idea whom to ask.\n\nThe people kneeling beside Old Wu were just like him, gradually coming to their senses, only to be overtaken by dread and despair. They vomited violently, tears and bile squeezing out of their bodies all at once...\n\nPeople knelt on the floor repenting, or howled in agonizing release, or smashed their heads against the walls in an attempt to end this horrific nightmare, using pain to numb their nerves.\n\nPinecone Farm was once again filled with rising waves of weeping and wailing.\n\nAnd this time, it sounded even more tragic than the first half of the night...\n\n***\n\nA room of pure white.\n\nOne miserable scene after another was captured across palm-sized screens, pieced together into a curved wall.\n\nSitting in the center of the room, the old man quietly watched the living hell playing out before him. His calm, unrippled face ultimately gave way to a lingering sigh.\n\nEven knowing this was a necessary sacrifice on the road to Utopia.\n\nEven knowing those creatures were merely domesticated livestock.\n\nSeeing such misery still brought forth a sliver of pity.\n\nEven a psychic interference device could not achieve one hundred percent brainwashing. Even na fruit had immune individuals, let alone a technology still in its infancy.\n\nBand 03 would cause ninety-nine percent of people to devour the one percent. If that ninety-nine percent of test subjects were allowed to wake up, more than half would be destroyed by their own memories.\n\nThat was why he had requested the mutants to come and purge the area.\n\nThe purpose was to grant those test subjects a painless death after the experiment concluded.\n\nThis was his greatest mercy toward the subjects who gave their lives for the glorious evolution.\n\nYet he never expected that those ruthless interlopers, devoid of even a shred of compassion and willing to resort to any means, would actually alter the frequency of the psychic interference device.\n\nThis was an atrocity far crueler than simply slaughtering them.\n\n"Indeed, I still need more cultivation..."\n\nSensing the fleeting flash of wrath within himself, Luo Qian lowered his eyes and murmured softly.\n\nEarlier, when he used Zhao Tiangan's body to meet those youths, seeing the astonishment on their faces had made him unable to resist toying with them.\n\nHe truly shouldn't have.\n\nAmong the many bishops of the Church of the Torch, he was one of the senior figures, having entered the Sanctuary over a decade ago. Yet his cultivation remained the shallowest.\n\nThe so-called cultivation here did not refer to martial techniques or chanting scripture, but rather the attunement and sublimation of one's own state of mind.\n\nHumans could not evolve on their own. It was like trying to step on one's left foot with the right foot to fly into the sky—it had nothing to do with what shoes one wore.\n\nEven if technology gave humans wings, it could not make them think like birds born with them.\n\nWithout question, humans at the top of the food chain were higher beings than birds; there was no need for humans to become birds. But when the development of civilization hit a bottleneck and human feet left the soil upon which they depended for survival, the inherent limitations of humanity gradually showed themselves.\n\nPerhaps this species was only fit to possess a civilization contained within a light-year.\n\nHuman nature, running deeper than methods and institutions, formed the foundational logic of human civilization.\n\nIt was not a prerequisite tech for warp drives, nor could it solve any problem in the physical world, but it would compel humanity to surrender everything it had no right to possess.\n\nOtherwise, how could one explain why the People's Federation, having ended all internal conflict and moved from discord to unity upon venturing into the stars, lost everything in a mere three years after a long era of prosperity?\n\nProject Torch offered one explanation.\n\nThe collapse of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee offered another.\n\nThis species would forever live in insecurity. The moment they judged themselves threatened, they would inevitably seek to strike first.\n\nOnly by an infinitesimally small probability would they luckily gamble on a bright future... and throughout the history of the People's Federation, such events were usually crowned with titles like "greatness" or "miracle."\n\nBecause they were rare.\n\nEven if they truly occurred and exerted a massive impact on the course of history.\n\nThe Church, born of inspiration from the Torch, provided a solution.\n\nTo allow this frail species of humanity to ascend to an entirely new dimension, one had to think from an elevation above humanity. Becoming a "Gestalt Lifeform" was merely a crude explanation; what they truly needed to do was become gods.\n\nHumans could not adapt to life in the heavens.\n\nBut gods could!\n\nTo that end, the bishops of the Church of the Torch had to sever all attributes of being human, looking down upon humanity from a vantage point outside of it. This was the fundamental reason why every bishop entered the Sanctuary.\n\nOnly by entering the Sanctuary, far removed from the shackles of gravity, could one attain true divinity!\n\nIf they failed to do so, they would sooner or later end up like the earliest mutants—already transformed into another species, yet still clinging to a human perspective, thinking as humans.\n\nThe final outcome had been plain to see.\n\nThe mutant tribes born on that foundation inherited nothing of human civilization; instead, it was as if they had restarted the journey humans had walked, beginning anew from primitive society.\n\nAs for the originators, they were either killed or went mad.\n\nLuo Qian often lamented that despite having discarded his flesh, he still found it difficult to make a clean break from humanity.\n\nPerhaps because he had already been too old when entering the Sanctuary. Antiquated notions were like growths on his decaying flesh, etched into circuit boards along with the electric currents.\n\nHe often envied that child.\n\nThe Holy Son they had chosen.\n\nThat one was like a blank sheet of paper, the most perfect supreme god imaginable.\n\n"Forgive us, the Executioner squad has failed... Alliance forces have occupied our research facility and transmitted Band 05 through the psychic interference device."\n\n"The interference we imposed on the test subjects... has been lifted."\n\nA voice drifting into his ear interrupted Luo Qian's reverie.\n\nWith a slight flick of his index finger, a pale blue floating window drifted before him. In the darkness, an Apostle clad in robes knelt on one knee, bowing to him.\n\nThe background of the feed was the basement of the Pinecone Farm chapel.\n\nThe shadow of the cowl concealed the person's face.\n\nThough Luo Qian could not see the Apostle's eyes, he could sense the shame and remorse buried beneath the brim of the hood.\n\nIn truth, right up until the Executioner squad intervened, their experiment had gone quite smoothly. It was just that their opponents possessed an excess of combat experience on the battlefield.\n\nAll in all, the experiment was still a success.\n\nIt simply couldn't be called perfect.\n\nNot wishing to see these loyal children blame themselves, he offered comfort in a gentle voice.\n\n"It does not matter, my children. A minor mishap means nothing to us, especially since we have already obtained the required data."\n\n"The experiment at Pinecone Farm is over. Take the data and evacuate through the tunnel beneath your feet. Someone will rendezvous with you at the other end."\n\n"The cleanup will be handled by the Chi Tribe on our behalf."\n\nThe Apostle kept his head lowered, replying respectfully, "Yes! Bishop."\n\nA pleased smile appeared on Luo Qian's face.\n\nYet at that moment, his brow knitted slightly, sensing a faint abnormality.\n\n*Bishop...*\n\nThat was indeed his title, but generally only secular personnel or peripheral Apostles addressed him that way.\n\nA more formal honorific would be Harbinger or Pioneer.\n\nEven though some Apostles close to the core of the Church of the Torch used the titles of Bishop and Priest in private, that rarely occurred in formal superior-subordinate communications.\n\nOf course, such a trivial matter was not enough to displease him; it merely sparked a twinge of curiosity.\n\nTo resolve the doubt in his mind, he looked down at the Apostle and said, "My child, raise your head."\n\n"Let me look into your eyes."\n\nThe Apostle paused visibly, clearly not understanding his intent, but obediently complied. Slowly raising his head, he met Luo Qian's gaze.\n\nThere was nothing abnormal about those eyes.\n\nThey held the confusion and incomprehension any ordinary person would show.\n\nIf there was a single flaw—\n\nIt was perhaps that it felt slightly too performative.\n\nThose did not look like the eyes of a person.\n\nRather, they seemed like an "object" draped in human skin...\n\nIn that instant, Luo Qian finally realized where the subtle incongruity stemmed from.\n\nThe moment he saw through the clumsy performance, a hint of murderous intent crept into his cloudy pupils. He reached out a withered finger toward the screen in front of him.\n\nHe would rip this creature to shreds!\n\nJust as he reached out, the paper cutout hiding within the screen seemed to sense the danger, leaping backward abruptly as if trying to put distance between them.\n\nThe feed on the screen shook violently, as though an earthquake had struck. The figure fled desperately into the underground tunnel, yet no matter how far he ran, he remained trapped within that paper-thin display.\n\nLuo Qian didn't know how this fellow had slipped into his memory partition, but if it thought it could leave here alive, it was being far too naive.\n\nWatching the clever fool who had walked into a cage, a cruel smile gradually curled at the corners of Luo Qian's mouth.\n\n"You cannot escape."\n\nYet right at that moment, an unexpected turn occurred.\n\nAlmost as soon as his words fell, the screen inches away vanished with a snap.\n\nHis right hand closed on empty air. His expression instantly froze, and irritation surged in his clouded eyes.\n\n"Tch..."\n\nHe had been played...\n\nOnce Zhao Tiangan died, he hadn't bothered with the useless corpse. Who could have imagined that the abandoned port in that fellow's head would be repurposed by the other side?\n\nTo actually recover that man's corpse under such circumstances... he had underestimated those vermin.\n\nTapping the communications interface with his index finger, Luo Qian prepared to notify the four Apostles remaining in the settlement about the intelligence leak. However, a disconnected icon hung prominently beside all four names.\n\nHis expression shifted from shock to gravity.\n\nAfter capturing the psychic interference device, the enemy hadn't shut it down; instead, they had increased its output power, expanding the interference perimeter beyond the estate.\n\nNo wonder they had neutralized Band 03's interference on the survivors so quickly...\n\nNow, no one could contact the four Apostles in the settlement. He could only pray they were sharp enough to pull out the moment they realized things were going south.\n\nThe only silver lining was that if he couldn't reach the four Apostles, the Alliance probably couldn't reach their soldiers in the settlement either.\n\nFor a time at least, those children should be safe.\n\nEven so, Luo Qian could not feel optimistic.\n\nClosing his cloudy eyes, lost in thought, he sighed softly and murmured to himself, "This has become troublesome..."\n\n***\n\nOn the bridge of the Heart of Steel.\n\nZhao Tiangan's corpse lay on a stretcher, having grown cold quite some time ago.\n\nWhen that Viper transport had flown back earlier, it had brought the body to the Alliance's military base at the provincial border. Later, under Chu Guang's orders, another Viper had transferred it here.\n\nAt this moment, an expressionless android knelt beside him, its index finger inserted into his nostril, pale blue data streams flickering in its pupils.\n\nSuddenly, its body swayed slightly, and its eyes closed. At the exact same time, a thin wisp of blue smoke drifted out of the corpse's nostril.\n\nIt was as if something had burned out.\n\nEclipse's eyes opened once more. The stream of pale blue data had vanished, and it drew its index finger out of the corpse's nostril.\n\nHaving waited alongside for quite a while, Frost stepped forward more anxiously than anyone upon seeing a result. "How did it go?"\n\nEclipse glanced at Frost, then turned toward Chu Guang, who stood nearby, and spoke in an even, unruffled tone. "In the chapel basement... there is a passage leading outside. Those Apostles should be there."\n\n"Thank you, good work!"\n\nChu Guang nodded in appreciation, then instructed Xiao Qi to update the new intelligence and quest onto the players' terminals.\n\nAlthough signals around the estate were jammed by the psychic interference device, the official website forum in the other world remained completely unaffected.\n\nHis clever brothers, masters at exploiting game bugs, had arranged for someone to remain offline and keep watch specifically so they could receive first-hand intelligence even when communications were cut.\n\nPlaying games with smart people was truly a delightful experience.\n\n"You're welcome! Serving you is our honor," Frost said with a bright, charming smile, cutting in ahead of Eclipse. "If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask!"\n\nEclipse said nothing, merely staring in silence at its right hand, its eyes filled with incomprehension.\n\n"Strange..." it murmured to itself.\n\nHow had that fellow figured it out?
Chapter 582