Farewell, Kin I Have Never Met

Right in the center of the nuclear bomb crater. The giant, retching maw had already withdrawn back into the earth, leaving behind only a bottomless pit and two men standing beside the opening. The two stared at each other until Lao Bai finally cleared his throat, unable to hold back any longer. "What now?" Fang Chang looked at him in confusion. "What now?" "Uh, I mean... what's the next step of the plan?" Seeing Fang Chang's "what are you even talking about" expression, Lao Bai scratched his helmet and rephrased the question. While he was the team leader, he had zero experience handling a situation that didn't exist in reality, which was usually when Brother Fang Chang's wild imagination came in handy. Yet judging by Fang Chang's indifferent expression, Lao Bai knew he had asked in vain. "There is no next step... If anything, this whole development was outside the plan to begin with." Fang Chang sighed, walked to the edge of the colossal pit, and peered downward. That deep, abyssal darkness looked capable of swallowing everything whole. In fact, it already had—it had nearly wiped out their entire squad in a single bite. Honestly speaking, if not for his status as a player, he would never have dared plunge into a place like this, let alone concoct such an insane scheme. Yet precisely because he was a player, he not only dared to accept this near-suicidal mission, but could also chuck a teammate into the crater without a second thought—and his teammate wouldn't hold a grudge either. Smart people inevitably overthought things. At times, he couldn't help experiencing a strange illusion: standing here, thinking these thoughts, and making these choices had perhaps been decided many years ago. Then again, that made sense. After all, this was a game. Players were like silver balls rolling across a pinball table, and a skilled game designer used clever mechanics to keep them from realizing it as much as possible. For instance, he was currently intensely curious about what Luo Yu would discover down there. He just hoped it wouldn't turn out to be nothing—or worse, a steaming pile of garbage. That would be downright embarrassing. "So... we just wait here?" Lao Bai asked from a short distance behind him. Fang Chang shrugged. "Looks like that's our only option for now." "I'm afraid that might be a problem." "A problem?" Hearing the strange nuance in Lao Bai's voice, Fang Chang froze by the edge of the pit, then instinctively glanced back. His jaw dropped. Surrounding the rim of the nuclear crater was a dense, suffocating ring of fruiting bodies. Among them were native fruiting bodies like Tyrants and Crawlers, as well as power armors corrupted by slime mold, armored vehicles, trucks, and a bizarre assortment of other monstrosities. When it came to scavenging and recycling junk, no one on the wasteland could match the slime mold. They didn't merely slap scrap together as armor; based on their own adaptations and leveraging their massive gene bank and evolutionary capabilities, they created units that defied reason. Those minibuses were prime examples, capable of launching self-destructing flying insects like mobile rocket launchers. "...We're screwed this time." Unhooking the Daybreak mechanical compound bow from his back, Fang Chang squeezed the words through his teeth, his scalp tingling. "Yeah," Lao Bai agreed with a helpless nod. "Guess we'll catch up on the forums in a bit." Two against ten thousand... perhaps even more. There wasn't a one-in-ten-thousand chance of surviving. Both braced themselves for combat. Yet something unexpected occurred. The fruiting bodies merely encircled them without swarming forward to drown them. Just as Lao Bai and Fang Chang wondered what the creatures were waiting for, the ground beneath their feet trembled faintly. Before either could react, pale-red vines surged out of the massive crater behind them, twisting and spiraling upward dozens of meters into the air like a tower. At the very summit, the tendrils wove together into an intricately shaped chair. The seat resembled a throne, and sitting cockily atop it was Luo Yu, who had been thrown into the pit earlier. Staring up at the pale-red fungal tower, the fruiting bodies surrounding the crater stirred in an uproar, issuing raspy, gibbering screeches. They shifted their weight as if eager to surge forward, yet held back in fear. They were bewildered, terrified, incapable of comprehending the scene before them, drifting in aimless confusion. Watching the tidal sea of fungal creatures, Luo Yu found himself entirely devoid of fear. He could perceive every single fruiting body here; he could clearly sense what was going through their minds. A vast ocean of consciousness flooded toward him. Feeling the yearning coursing through the spore cloud, he released his own ripple. For someone who now held dominion over the entire broodmother, doing so was as simple as drawing breath. "Do not panic." "It is already over—" "This war that lasted two centuries." As if feeling the ripple flowing through the spore cloud, the surging, agitated emotions were soothed in an instant. The fruiting bodies pacing back and forth along the rim finally ceased their hesitation. One after another, they stretched their limbs upward, cheering in their own unique fashion. That familiar ripple had come from the Mother! All earlier unease and dread melted away like ice in spring, swept clean alongside the dispersing spore cloud. Upon confirming that divine presence, it took them less than a second to accept their new sovereign. Watching the fruiting bodies' submissive response with satisfaction, Luo Yu couldn't help curling his lips into a smile. Is this what power feels like? It was intoxicating! Should he try shouting "Kneel" just for kicks? Just as Luo Yu was plotting how to show off, Fang Chang and Lao Bai, standing beneath the tangled pale-red vines, tilted their heads back in unison, staring up at him in utter disbelief. "...What's the situation?" "Brother... are you even human anymore?" Meeting the dumbfounded stares of Fang Chang and Lao Bai, Luo Yu felt a twinge of embarrassment and gave a light cough. "Of course I am! As for what happened, that's a long story. It starts on a planet called Gaia... It's not something I can explain in a few words, so I'll write a detailed post on the forum later." Fang Chang nodded blankly, thinking that made sense. A forum post was better anyway—sharing the joy beat keeping it to oneself, and it would keep the other brothers from remaining in the dark. Still, he couldn't wrap his head around how this involved a planet called Gaia. Moreover— "Fine... By the way, where's Ye Shi?" The moment the question left his lips, before Luo Yu could answer, a string of curses drifted up from beneath the throne. "I'm down here... Dammit, he didn't even bother making a chair for me!" Beneath the pale-red fungal tower, Ye Shi was clinging to one of the tendrils, clambering upward with great effort. Someone had finished striking his cool poses, while Ye Shi was still dangling from the tree. Hearing the complaint, Luo Yu's face flushed slightly in embarrassment. He hastily coughed and defended himself. "Holy crap, wasn't I rushing out here to save your lives? If I'd been a step later—" Ye Shi rolled his eyes in exhaustion, cutting through his excuses. "Hurry up and pull me up!" Luo Yu stopped stalling and called out immediately, "Yu." "Eewoo!" With a light, cheerful response, a pale-red tendril detached from the fungal tower, coiled around Ye Shi's ankle, and hauled him vigorously upward. Realizing something was wrong, Ye Shi's expression twisted. He opened his mouth to stop it, but was a second too late. An immense force yanked his feet, launching his entire body into the sky. Fortunately, Yu didn't simply fling him into the air and abandon him. The moment he cleared the crater, another tendril shot out and caught him squarely. After that wild ride, a battered, disheveled Ye Shi finally made it back to solid ground, clinging tightly to the vine. The second his feet touched the soft earth, he bared his teeth and barked a complaint. "Fuck! I'm practically a founding father of your empire, and you try to kill me?!" Assuming the man was greeting it, Yu chirped back excitedly, "Fuck!" Ye Shi: "#%@#!" *** Along the edge of the North Second Ring Road, the pungent stench of gunpowder hung over the streets. Mangled corpses and burning wreckage from explosions littered the ruined highway. Looking at the fallen power armor slumped nearby, Brother Edge leaned against a wall, panting heavily as he tossed aside a bent launcher tube. Not far from him, Construction Site Youth and Brick hung over a broken streetlamp, battered into a bloody mess with his intestines spilling out. Indebted Big Eye was in even worse shape—more than half his body was gone, leaving only a lone head attached to a shoulder lying on the ground. Yet that fellow bore no psychological burden. In his own words, three days from now he'd get to claim he was a virgin all over again. Brother Edge cracked a grin, but a tickle in his throat sent another mouthful of blood splattering across the pavement. The battle could only be described as brutal. They hadn't faced merely twenty-odd slime-mold-corrupted suits of power armor, but nearly half a company's worth! A total of forty-seven Corrupted Knights had charged out of the ruins, engaging them in savage hand-to-hand combat. To prevent them from entering the subway tunnel and reaching Thea, those evolved organisms had hurled themselves forward with reckless abandon, fighting like madmen. As the Alliance's most fearless corps, known for their aggressive tactics, the Death Corps naturally refused to back down. When their rocket launchers ran dry, they fired their rifles; when their ammo was spent, they fixed bayonets; when bayonets snapped, they fought with steel pipes, rebar, crowbars, loose bricks from the ground, or their bare fists... They poured every ounce of strength into inflicting as many casualties as possible before dying, no matter the cost! It proved that equipment wasn't everything; their sheer will to fight bridged the insurmountable gap. All forty-seven Corrupted Knights had been destroyed! Naturally, the casualties they suffered in return were catastrophic. Nearly twenty-five hundred players had fallen in battle, and most of the remaining five hundred were wounded to varying degrees. Faced with such an appalling casualty ratio, any conventional army would have routed. Only a corps comprised entirely of players could have held the line until now. A short distance ahead of Brother Edge, beside the collapsed elevated overpass, the fortress-like cubic armor still stood towering and motionless. It seemed unkillable. Even after taking nearly a hundred RPG shaped-charge warheads and over a dozen Pigeon missiles, its armor remained structurally sound, marred only by craters and scorch marks. Looking back at the few surviving brothers and the weapons clutched in their hands, the smile on Brother Edge's lips took on a bitter edge. It looked like they wouldn't be claiming this first kill. And yet— Even so, they had no reason to retreat. Death was merely the starting point of another cycle; three days later brought a fresh beginning. They were the truly immortal warriors! Pushing his arm off the wall, he steadied his footing on the ground. "Anyone who wants to log off and respawn can go ahead. You've done more than enough, and I won't blame you for not seeing it to the end... But our mission isn't finished yet. I intend to keep going." If they could find a way to scale that monster and cram explosives into its slime-filled cockpit, they might just bring it down! They weren't entirely out of chances! His Adam's apple bobbed. Brother Edge clamped the assault whistle hanging from his neck between his teeth, preparing to blow. Right then, the striding Titan suddenly hitched. It let out a low rumble, and amid the screech of grinding metal, its massive frame began to sink. Its six-story-tall bulk tilted forward like a collapsing tower, and its angular armor slammed into the pavement, kicking up billows of dust. Witnessing the scene, everyone froze in unison, bewildered by what had just occurred. It had been radiating murderous fury a second ago. Why had it suddenly dropped to its knees? Just then, the roar of tires grinding over asphalt echoed from a nearby corner. Several Type II-B tank destroyers mounting No. 60 railguns rolled into the battlefield, escorted by Chimera armored vehicles. "Open fire!" Standing halfway out of an armored vehicle's hatch, Brother Mole bellowed. A pale-blue electrical arc flickered in the night, and an orange-yellow tracer shot slammed violently into the kneeling Titan. As if taking a direct punch to the face, the Titan shuddered under the railgun round, sending a dull metallic boom reverberating through the surroundings. The dust cleared. Seeing the Titan remain motionless, Brother Mole paused, then prepared to order another salvo. He wanted to see just how many volleys of battleship-grade firepower this iron hunk could withstand! Before he could speak, Brother Edge shouted, waving his arms frantically to wave them off. "Hold on! Don't shoot! Cease fire!" Hearing Brother Edge's voice, Brother Mole swallowed the command perched on the tip of his tongue. Watching the man limp over, Brother Mole asked in complete confusion, "What's the deal? We're not fighting it?" "...It's already over." Brother Edge raised his arm, pointing at his VM screen. A pale-blue notification flashed across the display. [Congratulations to Death Corps for achieving the first kill of the evolved organism "Slime-Bitten Titan"!] Though the Titan was plainly still capable of fighting, the game system had already registered its defeat, and the machine had indeed ceased resisting. To indulge in a bit of self-flattery, perhaps the heroic spirits of the 111th Orbital Airborne Division's soldiers had recognized their courage during the battle? Regardless, since the game itself acknowledged their victory, this behemoth wouldn't be causing any more trouble. Assuming Brother Light didn't pull another unscripted stunt, that is. With the first-kill announcement and rewards secured, the brothers of the Death Corps were thrilled. Brother Mole, however, wore a look of pure misery. "Holy crap! It's already won?! Did I haul ass all this way for nothing?" Brother Edge smiled sheepishly, clearing his throat. "Can't help it, our strength speaks for itself... Oh right, we got so caught up fighting that we almost forgot the real objective. That Thea is still down below. We're completely out of ammo, so we'll leave the rest to you guys." Hearing that, Brother Mole's miserable scowl instantly vanished into a broad grin. "Heh, now that's music to my ears!" With that, he snatched up his megaphone and howled toward the rear. "Brothers! We missed the mini-boss, but the big boss is ours!" "The broodmother behind this Tide is right ahead! Charge with me and take it down!" MVP! Haha! It's definitely mine this time! Brother Mole's eyes gleamed with excitement. The Skeleton Corps had played second or third fiddle for who knew how long; this was finally their time to shine! Sharing his sentiment, the crowd erupted into eager roars. "Awoo!" Wheels ground forward. Players riding atop the armored vehicles and the rear decks of the tanks racked their bolts. Watching the armored column advance aggressively down the street, Roller Washing Machine, seated by the curb with his rifle in his arms, couldn't help muttering, "Going at that thing, huh? Brother's got some wild tastes..." *** The Tide retreating from the front line was several kilometers away from Thea. Traversing several kilometers of urban ruins was vastly more difficult than crossing open plains. Not to mention the city was in shambles, and the retreating swarms were taking a pounding under the joint encirclement of the Alliance army and air force. The vast majority of incubation chambers across Qingquan City were controlled by the central broodmother; Thea held sway only over those situated along the Tide's advance route. While fruiting bodies were produced quickly, they couldn't outpace the speeding vehicles of the Skeleton Corps. Reaching the entrance of the underground tunnel, armored grenadiers equipped with exoskeletons leaped down from their transports, grabbed their weapons, and charged into the pitch-black subway station. Fruiting bodies lurking in the dark swarmed forward, employing every tactic at their disposal to halt the players' advance. Yet with the fall of the central broodmother, the forces guarding Thea were running on fumes; this final stand amounted to nothing more than a death struggle. Sensing the savage organisms drawing nearer by the second, Thea, standing atop the crimson creep, finally felt a bone-deep terror. "Mother..." "What should I do?" The spores floating beside her were like the surface of a windless lake—still, without a single ripple, yielding no reply. That was only natural. After all, Mother had slipped into eternal slumber, taking her unfulfilled destiny with her. A wave of despair crested in Thea's heart. She was at a complete loss. Ever since her birth several months ago, she had listened faithfully to Mother's teachings. She had never imagined a day when Mother would depart this world before her. Still less had she imagined that this day would arrive so abruptly, leaving her utterly unprepared. Just as she stood helpless in terror, a faint ripple suddenly stirred through the silent void. "Surrender." A glimmer of hope had flared across Thea's face a second prior, but hearing those words plunged the emotions flowing through the spore cloud back into abyssal despair. "They will kill me! Just as they killed my children!" The ripple echoing through the spore cloud delivered a revelation, speaking in an unyielding tone. "As long as you submit to me, they will not." Thea: "Why?!" The voice continued, "They say the laws of nature cannot be reversed. Like the xenogeneics, we have already become part of this vast system. As long as a single slime mold cell survives, a new broodmother will be born from the old fruiting bodies." "Erasing us from this planet would be no easier than wiping away every speck of dust upon it. That path was a dead end from the start. And so they extended an invitation to me, hoping to explore the road ahead together." Thea: "...The future?" The voice resonated once more from the depths of her consciousness. "Yes. No one can return to two centuries ago, but everyone can decide how to live today and tomorrow." Thea: "Who on earth are you?!" The voice carried a note of cheerful delight. "You can call me Little Yu. That's the name they gave me, and I rather like it." The joy flowing through the spore cloud stirred a pang of envy in Thea. Throughout her brief, mayfly-like existence, only Mother's approval had ever made her feel that way. A long silence stretched between them. The gunfire in the tunnel was drawing closer; her time was running out. Just as Yu was about to press her, the spores drifting beside Thea suddenly rippled with a sigh. "Perhaps... you are right." Yu: "You agree?" Thea: "No." Yu: "...Why?!" Sensing the surprise rippling around her, Thea offered a gentle smile. Her restless soul grew remarkably calm. "...The purpose of my birth was to devour, to slaughter, to conquer—just as the purpose of your birth is to explore uncharted paths." "My mother once told me that death is merely the beginning of a cycle. We are born of the soil beneath our feet, and to that soil we must eventually return to sleep." "Thank you for allowing me to hear Mother's voice once more before I depart. I suddenly realize that embracing the end of destiny isn't so terrifying. Our deaths will be filled with meaning, and our footprints will remain upon this land." "You need not carry my burden forward. I will fulfill my destiny here and now, bringing this two-century war to a close with my death." "Perhaps the next time I open my eyes, my ripple will be reborn in a completely different world." "If that world truly exists, please take a look at it for me." "Farewell, my kin whom I have never met." Leaving behind that brief, final parting, she abruptly severed her connection with Yu. The crimson fungal mass writhed like boiling water. Her chest expanded several times over in an instant, her flared mantle spreading outward like plate armor. Twisted tendrils dragged her body forward like octopus arms. This was the strongest form she could envision—the absolute limit she could achieve as a broodmother! At this moment, she resembled a true demon straight out of hell. Having lost all her evolved organisms, she made herself the final one, charging at the players flooding into the subway tunnel. "Embrace the glorious evolution!" She shrieked, thrashing the tendrils beneath her mantle, impaling, tearing apart, and pulling the rushing players into her mass to devour them. The Skeleton Corps, which had been sweeping through the tunnel with unstoppable momentum, shuddered to a brief halt under Thea's sudden onslaught. Yet that hesitation lasted only an instant. Looking at the raging boss, no one showed panic or fear; instead, fierce combat lust ignited within them. The long-awaited boss fight had finally arrived! High-spirited roars echoed through the tunnel. "Frontline hold firm! Backline spread out! Farm the boss!" "Bros, start the raid!" "Awoo!"