Surrender? Did I Ever Declare War on Them?

Standing in the dense fog, the skyscraper slowly tilted and slammed flat onto the ruins like a block of tofu. Splashed gravel shot hundreds of meters into the air, and dust swept up by the air currents billowed more than a kilometer away... Staring blankly at the slowly tumbling skyscraper, disbelief flickered in Chi Mo's eyes before gradually giving way to horror. Only after a long while did he squeeze a word out through his clenched teeth. "Fuck..." The Champion Biology Institute... The Na fruit core in the underground research facility! Years of painstaking effort from the Church! Those ignorant wastelanders had actually blown it up! With the Na fruit fungus across the Jinhe City region losing its core heart, the collapse of the Heavenly Kingdom had become inevitable. They had no time to cultivate a new broodmother for this land—that was not a project that could be completed in the short term. Since the fall of the Heavenly Kingdom was now unavoidable, the Church had no choice but to abandon this parish and return when the time was ripe. Covered by the gray fog, the bio-soldiers deployed within the urban area were retreating toward the south, including Goliaths and some surviving bat-winged mutants. Most were mindless monstrosities synthesized and induced from mutant cubs—creatures deformed from head to toe, albeit deformed in just the right ways. Aside from assisting with experiments, the other major use of the Qi Tribe to the Church was providing newborns that could serve as raw material. Now, however, they had lost even that final use. Even equipped with the Church's cybernetic prosthetics, the Qi Tribe had still failed to hold off the Alliance's advance. Nearly all able-bodied warriors had perished on the front lines, leaving only the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled hiding in Jinhe City's underground transit network. Whether as soldiers or breeding tools, they were hardly suitable choices, not to mention that many among them clung stubbornly to the old ways as the Progenitor Faction. Although losing this nearly perfect pastoral range was regrettable, the present Qi Tribe had lost every shred of value. Yet Chi Mo's heart burned with unwilling resentment. Not out of sympathy for allies—he had never liked those ugly green-skinned beasts in the slightest, viewing them only as "inconvenient yet temporarily irreplaceable" tools. What truly fueled his resentment was the sheer number of lives both the Church and the Tribunal had sacrificed for the eternal Heavenly Kingdom to descend upon this land. And in the end, this was what they got in return... He could not accept it! That traitor... If that Luo Qian hadn't vanished right before the descent of the Heavenly Kingdom, they would never have lost so miserably! If Luo Qian had attacked that airship the moment the Heavenly Kingdom descended, the Alliance wouldn't have stood a chance of holding out this long! The more he thought about it, the more furious Chi Mo became, his teeth grinding almost to powder. Just as his emotions approached their boiling point, a voice he had heard somewhere before drifted over from nearby. "Do you think this is my fault?" "Who's there?!" Chi Mo whipped around, only to see an elderly man radiating a faint golden light standing barely two paces behind him. His fierce eyes instantly narrowed into slits. "...Luo Qian!" Luo Qian looked at him placidly. His hollow gaze seemed to pass straight through Chi Mo's body, staring directly at the collapsed high-rise in the distance. After pondering for a long while, he spoke slowly, as if to himself. "Sometimes I too wonder if perhaps a slight rift formed between ideal and reality... In order to realize the ultimate plan, we truly did make some mistakes." "Perhaps we should have had a proper discussion with our followers, sought their opinions, or at least asked whether they were truly willing to go to the Heavenly Kingdom we envisioned. Otherwise, even if we reach the end of the sea of suffering, they will still unite and do everything they can to bring us down." Watching Chi Mo raise his gun, Luo Qian suddenly chuckled. His voice carried a trace of self-deprecation as he continued in a light tone: "Go ahead and shoot." "If you have a way to kill me, that might not be a bad thing after all." Come to think of it, that Administrator truly was extraordinary. At first glance, he had seen right through what Luo Qian actually was. Yet ironically, these servants loyal to the Sanctuary knew nothing about it... even though they were the beings closest to the Sanctuary. Chi Mo glared at him with contempt, spat a mouthful of saliva, and kept his muzzle rock-steady. "Cut the damn crap! The Sanctuary is nothing more than a chip planted in people's brains! Don't think I don't know! As long as—" "As long as you wipe out everyone implanted with a chip, as long as you dig out every single chip and crush it, the person known as 'Luo Qian' will vanish from this world... That's what you think, isn't it?" Luo Qian looked at him with pity and continued: "Unfortunately, even I cannot remember how many copies of myself I have buried across this wasteland. And the real me died twenty years ago." All the Pioneers who entered the Sanctuary were already dead. That was the prerequisite for entering the Sanctuary. In order to carry out the will of the Torch steadfastly and unswervingly, they had sacrificed themselves before sacrificing everyone else. Looking at Chi Mo's stunned expression, Luo Qian left behind a deeply meaningful sentence. "Every one of me is me, and yet none of me is me. I tore the soul granted to me by the Creator into countless fragments in exchange for time that did not belong to me, and the price is never being able to close my eyes. Perhaps this is the Creator's punishment for me." "Fortunately, though, at least in the end I did one thing right." Chi Mo stared unblinkingly at him. "...What thing?" However, Luo Qian had no intention of telling him. He merely turned his back. "You don't need to know. It has nothing to do with you." "My mission is complete. I can no longer walk with you along this path to the new world. Relay that to the other Pioneers for me." "We will not meet again." "Wait! Stop right there!!" Seeing the figure about to fade away, Chi Mo roared at the back of his head. The old man paid him no heed at all. His figure was growing faint, and his aura was vanishing along with it. The look in Chi Mo's eyes twisted into madness. His index finger trembled, and he finally pulled the trigger. Bang—! The piercing gunshot echoed down the street. Yet the one who fell was not the old man fading into a phantom, but his partner Tang He—the sniper with a sparse crew cut and a cybernetic left eye. The 9mm bullet entered through his right eye and tore out the back of his skull, taking a spray of blood and brain matter with it, splashing across a shattered storefront window along the street. With an expression of shock and delirium, the man crashed heavily to the ground, as though he had never imagined being held at gunpoint by a partner he had worked alongside for years—much less that his partner would actually pull the trigger. Once having had the left side of his head blown off by wastelanders, the right side of his brain was now blown apart by his own teammate's bullet. This time, nothing was left. Looking at Tang He lying motionless in a pool of blood, Chi Mo's expression turned from shock to blank numbness, then from numbness to pure horror. "No..." "Tang He?!" "Something... something must have gone wrong! Yes! I remember now, that Luo Qian took over your body... I, I just wanted to help you drive him out." His lips trembling, he took a step back. His facial muscles twisted into a knot, and he clutched his head with both hands, letting out a heart-wrenching shriek. "Aaaaargh!!" He suddenly remembered. The Sanctuary had never existed on earth; only the chosen could see it. In other words, that guy hadn't possessed his partner's body—he was inside Chi Mo's own head! In a daze, he caught sight of his reflection in the blood-stained display window nearby. Yet the face in the glass wasn't his own; it was Luo Qian, who had just vanished. "I'll kill you!!!" he bellowed hysterically, pressing the gun barrel beneath his chin, his breathing growing ragged. His face flushed the color of pig liver. Finally steeling his resolve, he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. Bang! The gunshot nearly shattered his jaw, but the bullet didn't pierce his chin; it grazed his cheek and flew into the sky. "Heh... Hahahaha!" He laughed maniacally, pointing his gun at the sky and firing into the air, his hollow eyes brimming with madness and distortion. The gunfire drew the attention of those nearby. At the end of the street, he saw an armored vehicle mounting an autocannon rolling forward, flanked by a squad of fully armed soldiers. Helmets obscured most of their faces, but he could tell—every face hidden beneath those helmets was Luo Qian. "Heh..." An eerie laugh escaped his mouth. He raised his handgun toward the group at the end of the street. The instant he pulled the trigger, he seemed to glimpse a flash of muzzle fire. And then— His consciousness plunged into a bottomless abyss... ... "Found another cyberpsycho." Sitting in the armored vehicle's turret, Mole stared at the mangled corpse sprawled in the middle of the street, speaking tersely into his headset. "Old Na, go check it out." "Copy that." Rising from beside the vehicle wheels, Elaina walked forward with her rifle raised. Earlier, when that guy in the middle of the street started firing into the sky, they had thought someone here needed help. Yet as soon as they walked over, the bastard pointed his gun right at them, only to be cut down in a hail of concentrated fire. Looking at the bloody mess embedded in the exoskeleton, Elaina clicked her tongue, crouched down to examine the personal effects, and soon felt a bloodstained silver dog tag. Engraved on it were two inverted triangles—the symbol of the Torch. On the reverse was the insignia of the Tribunal. "An Executioner. The one beside him probably is too... They've got Tribunal insignia and dog tags with names and blood types. Gear includes exoskeletons with optical camo modules, one sniper rifle, one assault rifle, two pistols, some ammunition, EMP grenades, and so forth... No disguised explosives found." Rising from beside the other guy whose head had been blown off, Elaina continued over the comm channel: "Looks like infighting. That fellow named Chi Mo shot his comrade first, then tried to commit suicide but botched it... At least, that's my guess." Elven King Fugui clicked his tongue. "Bizarre." Suddenly recalling yesterday's events, a player walking beside them spoke up. "Say, isn't this the sniper we ran into earlier?" Another player scratched the back of his head. "Probably. Heard the boys in Burning Corps took a nasty hit from them... But it's really strange." "Strange?" "Where are the Goliaths? Those big bruisers... In terms of combat capability, they're way tougher than those winged freaks." Listening to the chatter on the comms, Mole thought for a moment and said: "Probably gave up." Elven King Fugui chuckled. "Gave up just like that?" "Yeah. The broodmother is destroyed after all. This gray fog will probably disperse before long." Mole glanced up overhead, seeing a sliver of sunlight stretched thin by the gray mist pierce through the thick cloud layer and bathe the ruins. "Aside from the Qi Tribe... the Church has no reason to stick around." Pausing for a beat, he looked ahead at Old Na, who was still looting corpses, and hollered: "Drag the bodies onto the vehicle first. We can loot them when we get back. We've still got work ahead!" The mutants at the Champion Biology Institute had all been eliminated, and the Church of the Torch had pulled out of the area. Now it was time for those bastards hiding in the subway... ... On the flight deck of the Heart of Steel. Trailing a faint blue plasma plume, a Viper transport touched down smoothly. Two ground-crew members wearing exoskeletons jumped out of the cabin carrying a square metal frame, carefully setting it onto a trolley. Secured in the center of the frame was an approximately spherical container, shaped like a teardrop and roughly the size of a gas cylinder. Inside, however, was no ordinary gas, but helium-3 in a superfluid state! Though differing by only a single neutron, the technological prowess required for this substance was far beyond standard liquid helium superfluids. As was widely known, shortly after humanity successfully prepared liquid helium, superfluids of liquid helium were discovered. Its isotope, however, enjoyed no such easy treatment. Because helium-3 lacked a neutron, it behaved as a fermion, subject to the Pauli exclusion principle that prevented them from condensing together. Precisely because of this, whether helium-3 in a superfluid state could exist remained an unsolved puzzle in physics for a long time. Only later was it discovered that at sufficiently low temperatures, helium-3 could also form Cooper pairs through nuclear spin interactions. This discovery led to the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics—David Lee, Douglas Osheroff, Robert Richardson, and their peers finally achieved helium-3 superfluity in the laboratory at an extreme temperature merely two-thousandths of a degree above absolute zero. Though it was unclear why these nuclear fuels were stored in a superfluid state, the immense technological reserve of this world was indeed astonishing compared to the world where the players came from. To store a liter of helium-3 superfluid required only a "gas cylinder" container with a volume of thirty to forty liters. Two people could even carry it by hand. Without exaggeration, the "helium-3 storage technology" embedded in this cylinder alone was an astounding harvest for the fledgling Alliance. Not to mention the staggering quantity of nuclear fuel itself. There were a million such containers in the underground research facility's warehouse, all preserved in containerized racks, totaling a reserve of one thousand cubic meters! Before the skyscraper collapsed, this nuclear fuel had already been relocated to a safe location. Although it was unknown why the Torch had not transferred this fuel cache to Haiya Province, whatever scheme they harbored, the cache had now fallen into the hands of the Alliance. For a long time to come, the Alliance would not have to worry about energy problems! In addition to nuclear fuel, what the players recovered from the Champion Biology Institute included a batch of cybernetic prosthetics and modification equipment. Much of this was legacy hardware from the Reconstruction Committee. Just like Boulder Armament inherited by Boulder City, the "Champion" Biopharmaceutical Research Institute—originally under the wartime research bureau of the Central People's Federation—was also part of the legacy left by the Reconstruction Committee to Singularity City. Unfortunately, they had failed to use the facility properly, ultimately treading down the path of self-destruction. Ibers was keenly interested in this equipment, which would be packaged and sent to Boulder Armament for dismantling and reverse-engineering. Although it was regrettable that they hadn't captured the Torch researchers, Boulder City had seasoned technical workers and engineers who were more than capable of unraveling the secrets hidden within the machinery... While bustling activity unfolded across the deck of the Heart of Steel, the bridge—functioning as the command tower of the entire vessel—was equally occupied. Vannus and a retinue of officers were directing ground operations. Chu Guang remained standing in his usual unobtrusive spot, watching the faint blue holographic window before him as he listened to Heya report the latest research progress from the Alliance Biology Institute. "...The Church's biological technology has exceeded my initial expectations. The technology they wield wasn't entirely taken from Shelter 117. For instance, parts of the DNA fragments in that biomass armor share similarities with mutant slime mold." Hearing Heya's statement, Chu Guang frowned slightly. "I remember the Na fruit is the same." "Yes," Heya nodded gently and continued. "Including that mutant with bat wings, and the giant mutant known as Goliath... A large number of DNA fragments related to mutant slime mold can be found in their chromosomes. Not to mention the Na fruit you brought up. From the Na fruit core to the mycelium network and the spores it releases, the entire Na fruit system is modeled after mutant slime mold." At this point, Heya paused, continuing in an uncertain tone: "It's hard to imagine they completed all this research in just twenty years... Do you think it's possible that somewhere in an ancient battlefield or ruin in the south, they obtained leftover technology from the Three-Year War?" Chu Guang's heart stirred. "You mean... biological technology from the colonial rebels?" Heya nodded with a grave expression. "That's my thinking... though it's merely a conjecture." Chu Guang fell into thought. Indeed, such a possibility could not be ruled out. In fact, not only the mutant slime mold-related Na fruit, but also the psychic interference technology wielded by the Church of the Torch followed this pattern. The version they employed was not the one from Shelter 401, but seemed more like an upgraded model with greater power and wider coverage. If he remembered correctly, the psychic interference device was a joint research project between the Third Ecological Park of Qingquan City—located above Shelter 401—and colonial research institutions, aimed at creating an "alternative to infrasonic fence installations." Due to the scandal that erupted later, research into psychic interference devices was halted by review agencies in 2113. Yet the records left behind in Shelter 401 made no mention of whether the project had been completely terminated, or if research had merely ceased on the home planet while the colonies continued seeking an "efficient alternative to infrasonic fences" free from regulatory oversight. If it was the latter... Such psychic interference devices might well have already been deployed for military purposes. Could it even be that the mutant slime mold broodmother—used as a biological weapon—was itself a hive-mind organism born of a psychic interference field? The more Chu Guang thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. "...The origins of the Church of the Torch's technology are worth digging deeper into. I'll have my subordinates keep an eye out. If you uncover new leads on your end, let me know immediately." "Got it, leave it to me... Oh, right." Just as she was about to hang up, Heya suddenly remembered something and added, "What's the story with that person you sent to Vault 79?" Hearing her ask about You'er, Chu Guang replied offhandedly after a brief thought: "That guy is a former researcher from the Champion Biopharmaceutical Research Institute. He was involved in the development of anti-radiation drugs and rad-clearing agents." The Great Horned Deer God would probably be interested in him; after all, even the coffee and biscuits in Vault 79 were Champion brand. A good number of people there were likely fans of the Champion Group, so it might enjoy chatting with him about the past. Heya blinked, staring at him in disbelief. "You even managed to scavenge a talent like that?" Chu Guang gave a faint smile. "To be precise, a war criminal. Unless he makes a major contribution, he'll spend the rest of his life in Vault 79. I'll have to trouble you to keep an eye on him going forward." Heya nodded seriously. "I will." After the transmission ended, Chu Guang switched off the holographic projector and looked out through the floor-to-ceiling window at the mist-shrouded land below. With the fall of the pseudo-broodmother, the battle for Jinhe City had drawn to a close. What remained was clearing the battlefield, cleaning up the aftermath, and contemplating how to handle Haiya Province, which had already entered Phase Four. Before that, however, the Alliance had an impending Tide to face. Tomorrow, he planned to pilot the Heart of Steel back to Dawn City. As for Jinhe City... Leaving it to Frost and the Kangmao Group backing him shouldn't be much of an issue. Chu Guang's demands of them were low: as long as they could hold the line for a period until the Alliance freed its hands from domestic affairs, that would suffice. Just then, the sound of an opening door and approaching footsteps came from behind. An officer marched up behind him, snapped to attention, and saluted with his right fist pressed to his left breast. "Report!" Turning around, Chu Guang looked at him. "What is it?" "A mutant claiming to be a priest of the Qi Tribe wishes to negotiate surrender with you. It claims they are willing to offer their loyalty to the Alliance." "Surrender?" Chewing on the word with mild amusement, Chu Guang glanced indifferently at the officer. "Did I ever declare war on them?" Though those creatures were natural laborers, after witnessing that "pasture," he had lost all interest in reforming them. The mere fact that such abominations were still drawing breath was an error. He did not care whether the remaining mutants were warmongers or pacifists; eradicating them entirely would be better for both the Alliance and this world. The officer blinked in slight surprise, then immediately grasped the meaning in the Administrator's eyes. Snapping to attention, he saluted crisply. "Yes, sir!"