A New Record!

Li Jinrong was completely dumbfounded. Xiao Yue, lying prone beside him, was just as stunned. The thick smog had cleared considerably. Both men gripped their binoculars, staring unblinkingly at the battlefield that had just been carpeted in artillery fire. If the previous barrage had merely shocked him with the sheer firepower of the Heart of Steel, this clash on the front lines had shattered his very understanding of humanity. Those guys... Were they really still human? He had never seen human soldiers who could trade blows toe-to-toe with mutants in close-quarters melee. And right now, he watched with his own eyes as a man clad in a heavy exoskeleton cleaved a two-meter-tall cybernetic mutant in half with a chainsaw, then smoothly drew a looted shotgun and blew another greenskin's head to pieces. Even more unbelievable to him— Those beasts had actually begun to feel fear. Yes. Expressions of terror clearly showed on the faces of those demons. He could hardly believe his eyes—those savages, who worshipped death and slaughter, were scared out of their wits by a group of men who valued their lives even less. The sun had truly risen from the west today! "...Looks like Chicken Bro has wrapped things up over there," Fang Chang said calmly, stowing his binoculars as he stood not far beside them. The battle itself was no longer in question. Earlier, Chicken Bro had held off a thousand-strong regiment with just over twenty men. Now, with a hundred and twenty fully equipped heavy infantry pitted against a bunch of battered survivors, if they still managed to blow it, they might as well delete their accounts and start over. Even if these mutants were far tougher than the ones before. At the end of the day, beasts were still beasts. Even armed with human weapons and drilled in human tactics, they could never purge the savagery deep in their bones. The only remaining suspense was just how many heads Chicken Bro had taken. Those bored folks on the official forum had set up a betting pool and even asked him to act as referee. Unfortunately, visibility was poor from here, and only rough outlines were visible. When the time came, he would just have to ask Chicken Bro himself how many he had slaughtered. Xiao Yue swallowed hard and pushed himself up from the ground. Looking at Fang Chang, he couldn't resist asking, "Um... are those men from the Burning Corps?" If it were them... He wouldn't find it surprising that they could capture a monster like the Heart of Steel. Fang Chang blinked, scratched the back of his head, and chuckled. "You mean them? ...Those guys are brothers from the Jungle Corps. Though, yeah, they're a ruthless bunch too." The Jungle Corps? Li Jinrong and Xiao Yue looked at each other, trading blank expressions before shock gradually crept onto their faces. He vaguely recalled hearing northern merchants say that the Alliance's ace corps fighting the Legion in Sunset Province included the Burning Corps, Storm, Death, Skeleton, and a few others—yet he had never heard of the Jungle Corps. For an obscure corps to possess such terrifying combat prowess... Just how monstrous must the legendary Burning Corps be? Come to think of it, the man standing right before them belonged to that very corps. Perhaps remembering this, the way the two NPCs looked at Fang Chang changed completely. Xiao Yue shot Li Jinrong an excited look. 'Haiya Province is saved!' Li Jinrong nodded with equal fervor. 'Mm!' With an ally this powerful, how could they fail to reclaim Haiya Province? The grand dream of driving those wicked cultists from their homeland... He finally saw hope of making it reality! *** Elsewhere, beside an abandoned water tank, the hunter from Hope Town stared dumbfounded at the settling battlefield. This spot stood on higher ground with a clearer view, allowing him to see the very center of the battlefield that Fang Chang and his companions could not. There, the snarling, thrashing green monster had been impaled through the chest by a massive chainsaw. Chunks of flesh and blood were flung meters into the air by the spinning teeth. Sunlight pierced the thinning gray-green haze, casting a faint, colorful arc across the drifting mist of blood. Standing before the green beast, the ruthless warrior with his raised left arm was drenched in blood, which blended seamlessly into his crimson-smeared steel armor. Liu Youxiong stared slack-jawed, unable to shut his mouth or believe his eyes. Only after a long while did he squeeze a few words from his frozen throat. "...They won?" A human—granting the man was still human—had actually killed a cybernetic mutant in single combat! And from the looks of it, the one slain had been a mutant centurion or even a millurion chieftain. Gradually, the disbelief carved into his eyes shifted into awe. Just then, an aged voice sounded by his ear. "Do you envy him?" Liu Youxiong jumped, hurriedly looking around, but the space beside the rusted guardrail was completely empty. The voice seemed to echo inside his head. He swallowed and answered honestly, "I... I really do." The air hung silent for a moment. Just as he embarrassedly thought he had been hallucinating, the voice returned unexpectedly. "Pitiable child..." A trace of pity colored the voice, but Liu Youxiong felt no comfort whatsoever. He lowered his head and muttered, "You don't need to tell me that. I damn well know." What Hope Town lacked most was hope. Being born there was absolute rotten luck—no one needed to tell him that. A bear had eaten his father, so his mother had named him Youxiong, telling him to always stay wary of wild bears in the forest. Yet when he slung a hunting rifle over his back and stepped beyond the village, he realized that a few wild bears were nothing. Far more terrifying monsters roamed every corner of the wasteland. Still, he had no choice but to go out. All his father had left him was that misfiring rifle. He had no other skills; if he didn't hunt, he starved. The voice went quiet for a moment, seemingly in thought. After a pause, the aged voice spoke again. "If you had that power, what would you do?" Liu Youxiong answered without hesitation, "Make a ton of money!" He had heard mercenaries earned fortunes—whether in gold coins or colorful paper bills, it bought plenty of things his game never could. He didn't know how to fight, nor did he possess fine weapons. If he had such immense strength... He could surely be like those mercenaries sitting in the Grizzly & Lamppost Tavern, tearing into roast meat and drinking fine liquor to his heart's content. To him, that was what living like a human meant. The voice did not mock his dream, only asking calmly, "And then?" Liu Youxiong paused. "Then... buy some land?" "And after that?" Liu Youxiong grew slightly annoyed. If this guy could pop right into his head out of nowhere, why didn't he pry his brain open and see for himself? "How many 'after thats' can there be?..." He had no desire to keep playing along with this pretentious phantom, but unfortunately, he couldn't find an off button for the voice. Ignoring his irritation, the voice continued musing to itself. "The strong devour the weak, yet the moment the weak gain strength, they never think of ending this wasteland—only of becoming the next man-eater... I have studied your past, and I have studied Boulder City's past. Everywhere we go, we search for that nearly impossible glimmer of hope, but all we find is ugliness surpassing that of beasts. Men who should have lived as humans turned themselves and everyone else into animals of the wild." Unable to follow where the man was going, Liu Youxiong swallowed hard. "Who the hell are you..." "I..." The voice paused, hesitating over whether to give a name, before answering frankly. "Am Luo Qian." In the past, he would have told mortals he was the Holy Son, and told the apostles he was the Pioneer, sparing unnecessary and tedious explanations. Without realizing it, he had slipped into the role of a deity, letting divinity eclipse humanity in every thought. Yet now, he had changed his mind. Relying on technology left from the Human Alliance era, they had built a near-flawless system for that magnificent design, sacrificing themselves before sacrificing others to purchase eternal time and ensure the plan unfolded step-by-step. The bitter irony was that he—the one who should never have wavered—felt a tremor in his heart at the very end. To catch a rat that slipped into the house, was it truly necessary to tear down the entire building? What shook his resolve wasn't the Alliance Administrator's mockery; he looked down from the bottom of his heart on those pragmatic band-aid fixers. They appeared to solve each problem in turn, yet never touched the core of the issue. The Alliance Administrator wouldn't be any greater than Boulder City's first-generation manager, and look what that settlement had become. Was Singularity City any different? At some point, the noble ideal of saving everyone—that relying on heaven or earth was worse than relying on oneself—had compromised with reality into a grotesque parody. Those people were even worse than the nobles of Boulder City; at least those respectable-looking aristocrats didn't boil humans in stewpots. The Church of the Torch's methods might be extreme, but Luo Qian felt they were far more merciful than the true Project Torch devised by the pre-war elites. At least they had no intention of wiping out all life on this planet just to construct a pristine paradise. They genuinely sought to save everyone, elevate humanity into a higher existence, and erase the wasteland entirely. Luo Qian never doubted that his cause was righteous, nor did he care about the sneers of those who understood nothing. Yet just as he was about to extinguish that voice himself, he thought of the little girl lying in a pool of blood. He had left many chips across this diocese, but only hers was special to him. He had fragmented his divinity across this land, preserving his only remaining shred of humanity for her. When that chip bearing memories of death reactivated and the partitioned data flowed back into him, his soul trembled uncontrollably after all. A lingering voice echoed in his ears, interrogating him again and again. Across these twenty years of methodical mass sacrifice, who had consumed more lives—them, or the monsters of the wasteland? In that instant, Luo Qian realized with a start that on the path toward Utopia, he had become part of this very wasteland. It was a crushing weight that defied measurement... Only one final link remained before the arrival of the kingdom of heaven. The Alliance did not seem to understand what this mist signified. Yet at the very end, he found he could not bring himself to do it. He wanted to ask an ordinary person's opinion as Luo Qian. As a human being, not a god. It had been a very long time since he had done so. "...Luo Qian?" Liu Youxiong looked blank upon hearing the name. He had never heard it before, though it sounded faintly familiar. Had it come from the priest, or the mayor? Luo Qian didn't mind, asking patiently, "Why do you believe in Torch?" Liu Youxiong scratched his head, perplexed. "I... I don't know. Actually, I used to believe in the Great Horned Deer God. But the big shots in town told us believing in this was good, that the mutants wouldn't bully us anymore, so we believed." Right. It was so the mutants wouldn't bully them. He had almost forgotten! A burst of anger flared in Liu Youxiong's chest. He felt cheated, because things hadn't turned out the way those people claimed at all. Those greenskins didn't give a damn about what anyone believed, and the high-and-mighty Holy Son cared even less, threatening them with divine wrath instead. Who had cheated whom first? He was just a hunter. Why did he have to go to some kingdom of heaven? What was wrong with wanting a better life once he had power? If the sky was blue and clouds were white, was that a sin too? Luo Qian ignored his anger and continued evenly, "Then do you wish to go to the kingdom of heaven described by the Holy Son?" Having lost every shred of goodwill toward the Holy Son, Liu Youxiong didn't dare openly curse, but he couldn't help sneering mockingly. "Kingdom of heaven? Ha! You mean this rotting, stinking mist? If that place is full of clouds and mist like this, I sure pity anyone living there!" He waited a long time without hearing a reply, and a flicker of panic rose in his chest. That Luo Qian... Could he be an apostle sent by the Holy Son? Would he report him? Fretting in the heavy silence, a bead of cold sweat rolled down Liu Youxiong's forehead. Just then, a soft sigh drifted into his ear. "I see." *It seems my cultivation is still lacking...* Luo Qian thought silently to himself and took his leave. "You see what?" Hearing the cryptic remark, Liu Youxiong glanced around in bewilderment, but saw nothing except empty ruins. He was certain he hadn't gone mad. Someone had truly been here, yet finding no agreement, had departed in disappointment. As though he had never been there at all... *** At the center of the battlefield. Staring at the chainsaw wedged in his chest, Kuru slowly tilted his stiff neck to look at the iron lump before him. The other combatant was hardly in great shape either. After trading dozens of blows, his blood-soaked armor was covered in dents and fractures, and his own chainsaw had come within an inch of cleaving the warrior in two. Yet that offered him no comfort. As a warrior named by the chieftain himself, he had lost to a human. And lost in the very strength and courage he took pride in. Tonight, he would likely become the laughingstock of his entire clan. A cruel smirk curved Kuru's lips. Gazing at the helmet that revealed only a narrow slit, he rasped, "What is your name?" "Twenty-one." The eyes behind the visor stared back coldly, and a muffled answer drifted from the slit. Kuru didn't understand, assuming the warrior was introducing himself. Dropping his dark green head, he mumbled, "Twenty-one... is it?" He would remember that name. When he reached the realm of the dead, he would wait for this bastard to arrive, and then fight him properly all over again... Next time, he wouldn't lose. *Screeech—!* Accompanied by a tooth-grinding crunch, bone and flesh were flung into the air by the spinning teeth. A man of few words, Midnight Chicken Slayer violently hoisted the chainsaw welded to his left arm, sawing Kuru completely in two from chest to shoulder. The towering, burly frame crashed heavily to the ground, and the pouring blood quickly soaked into the muddy, blackened soil. Seeing their millurion fall to that human, the remaining mutants finally broke under their mounting panic. Just as they had charged forward howling, battered and broken, they now fled for their lives toward Jinhe City's urban district. These people weren't human— They were devils! And their flight only hastened their demise! "Crush them!" Midnight Chicken Slayer bellowed, raising the 19 mm barrel on his right arm, clearing a jammed feed mechanism, and slotting in an explosive round. *Bang—!* A mutant soldier was shot from behind. Blinding sparks burst from its chest; before it could even scream, the savage kinetic force slammed it face-first into the dirt. "Charge them!" "Think you can run? Not a chance!" "Awoooo!" Other blood-soaked players retrieved discarded bolters, slammed in fresh magazines, and opened fire on the routing mutants. Tracers danced across the muddy battlefield as the advancing players mowed forward like mechanized meat grinders. Under that baptism of fire, the last dozens of mutant soldiers were picked off one by one until not a single one remained. The battle was over. The players began tallying casualties. A hundred and twenty had arrived; ninety-seven remained. Only twenty-three unlucky brothers had fallen to the mutants. As for how many they had killed, most players had lost count, offering only a rough estimate of five to six hundred. Without a doubt, it was a sweeping victory! Not only had they shattered the arrogant momentum of those greenskins, but they had also proved to the survivors of this land that those brutes were not invincible! Triumphant cheers echoed across the field. "Chicken Bro is a god!" "Hahaha, that felt so damn good!" "Bro! Think we'll make the promo trailer?" "At least one shot for sure!" "What the hell, I was so badass and only get one shot?!" "Damn it, you're still complaining about one shot?" "It's just that there are too many badasses on this server! A one-minute trailer isn't enough to go around. Let's make that dog—ahem, that venerable planner make the video longer!" Watching the brothers celebrate their victory, Midnight Chicken Slayer high-fived Piltover Paratrooper, Little Bookworm, Model Prone Crawler, and the others as they walked up. Before he could catch his breath, Model Prone Crawler asked excitedly, "How'd it go, bro? How many?" He had also joined the betting pool on the forum, putting down two hundred silver coins on Chicken Bro breaking his previous record. Everyone had witnessed Chicken Bro's prowess. Even though this had been a cleanup job where the remaining kills weren't enough to divide among over a hundred brothers, this guy never bothered directing; he just charged faster than anyone else. Breaking the sixteen-kill record was well within reach! Looking across the field of corpses, Midnight Chicken Slayer regained his composure, smiled sheepishly, and used the shut-off chainsaw to scratch his helmet. "Just broke the record." In fact, he had even broken Scavenger's record. This time, he had truly had a blast! *** Outside the infirmary of the Heart of Steel. Standing in the corridor, Chu Guang looked past the porthole, gazing down at the gray-green smog in the distance. Though ground conditions weren't clear from here, every battle had critically wounded players who finished themselves off rather than suffer the hassle. Just moments ago, he had learned the outcome of the battle in advance from players' posts on the official forum. Those players were his eyes. They could see places his gaze could not reach. Walking up behind him, Frost, who usually appeared somewhat slow-witted, now kept her head bowed with a heavy expression. "I'm sorry... we did everything we could." With his back turned, Chu Guang sighed softly. "No need to blame yourself... we did all that could be done." After Yinyin was shot, the local players had immediately called for a Viper transport, escorting her to the airship alongside Chen Yutong. Though the girl was not an Alliance citizen, the players had wished for her recovery, and Chu Guang had taken the matter very seriously, promptly contacting the Enterprise medical staff aboard to attempt resuscitation. Regrettably, her heart had already stopped by the time she was carried off the transport. Even emergency replacement of bionic organs couldn't save her. He wasn't one to express fury with words, nor did he feel pity for the farmer who brought ruin upon himself. Yet upon seeing that bloodless little face, he still couldn't resist having Eclipse activate the chip in her head so he could give the coward hiding in the Sanctuary a thorough lashing. Frost stood quietly facing Chu Guang's back, unusually at a loss for words. She still could not fathom what sort of plan required the sacrifice of tens of thousands of lives. And when Chu Guang told her that this figure was merely what they had witnessed—with countless more zeros likely hidden from sight—she could hardly believe what he said. Was this the conclusion humanity reached after exhausting their contemplation? This was different from mere war. Even if she couldn't agree, she could at least understand what the Legion wanted, whereas these people were stubbornly pursuing something she could not comprehend no matter how hard she tried. Frost felt momentarily lost. Perched on Chu Guang's shoulder, Xiao Qi remained quiet. It could sense that its master was in foul spirits, but not knowing what to say, it simply stayed by his side. Just then, the infirmary door clicked open, and an expressionless Eclipse stepped into the corridor. Chu Guang looked over, about to ask for an update, but Eclipse spoke first as it approached. "She's dead." Hearing the pronouncement of death, Chu Guang showed no surprise, merely letting out a gentle sigh. "I understand." Frost's face filled with sorrow. Eclipse continued looking at Chu Guang without expression, its pupils flickering faintly. "However, she is also alive." Frost: "?" Xiao Qi: "???" Chu Guang: "..." What?