LV61! Stage Seven of the Gene Sequence!

"…" At the southern tip of Ten Peaks Mountain, atop Mount Lai. Renhuang gazed impassively toward the north, having watched throughout the night. Only when the first glow of dawn slowly broke above the horizon did an almost imperceptible sneer twitch at the corner of his lips. Right then, a figure materialized beside him. The middle-aged man draped in a white robe was none other than the Beastmaster, who not long ago had promised him that he would hold Ten Peaks Mountain for at least half a year. "There was a slight accident…" As the Beastmaster spoke those words, a trace of embarrassment lingered on his face, and his facial muscles twitched involuntarily every now and then—especially in the spots where he had taken two punches earlier. Even though he had already abandoned that battered, ruined body, he had still not completely escaped the lingering phantom pain. Renhuang stared at him with an expressionless gaze. His deep pupils were like all-devouring black holes, causing the Beastmaster to instinctively lower his eyes an inch. He had no choice. At this moment, he was unprecedentedly weak. Even with ten thousand grievances in his heart, he could only grudgingly bow his head. Because the Sanctuary relied on physical bodies in the mortal realm as vessels to store consciousness, a Pioneer's strength was directly proportional to the strength of their believers. The stronger the believers, the greater the influence the Sanctuary could exert on the mortal world. For example, if the believers implanted with chips were merely a few serfs, let alone exerting any influence on the world, they probably wouldn't even be able to walk off their slavemaster's plantation. But if the implanted believer was the slavemaster himself, then by relying solely on his authority, one could dominate all the survivors on the entire plantation. At this moment, the Beastmaster's condition was very close to the former. Until yesterday, he had been the uncrowned king of Ten Peaks Mountain, but now he had gambled away every single chip in his hand. Not only that. He had even lost the Heaven on the Weifu Wasteland. This was indisputably a catastrophic defeat. Worse yet, the broodmother on Blood Mountain had turned from an ally into a colossal menace threatening the Heaven in Haiya Province… Renhuang said nothing, merely staring at him in silence until the Beastmaster felt a chill creep down his spine. Only then did Renhuang slowly speak. "Where is Kubo?" The Beastmaster's expression froze. After a long pause, he lowered his head. "My apologies." "Just an apology?" Renhuang looked into his eyes, his chin lifting slightly. "He was my apostle. He must have demanded that you take your filthy hands off him and get the hell out of his armor. Yet you turned a completely deaf ear to his requests—and even his pleas—and willfully carried your idiocy through to the bitter end." "That was also for the sake of our plan—" Sensing the deepening chill in Renhuang's tone, the Beastmaster could not resist trying to defend himself, but was cut off before he could finish. "The plan," Renhuang repeated, staring coldly at him. "So this present disaster is also part of your so-called plan?" The Beastmaster fell silent. Looking at the man struck speechless, a trace of disappointment surfaced on Renhuang's face. He let out a soft sigh and cast his gaze back toward the north. "Planting a backdoor in his armor was something I never expected. In fact, it wasn't just me—the Holy Son was furious upon learning of it. You committed an unforgivable blunder, and everyone has to pay for your stupidity. I hope you realize that what brought you to this end today isn't just your failure… And do not blame me." Hearing this, the Beastmaster froze, then jerked his head up to stare at him. Renhuang's gaze was as devoid of warmth as the snow covering the mountain peak. A wave of dread welled up inside the Beastmaster. He stared in disbelief at his former comrade and instinctively took a step back. "What… what are you doing?!" "This is the unanimous resolution of the Sanctuary Council—" Watching the Beastmaster's face drain of all color, Renhuang spoke with utter composure, pronouncing his end. "You have been expunged." "Wait—" Before the word had even fully left his lips, the illusory figure vanished into the howling cold wind like an abruptly cut slide projection. It seemed the "surgery" was already complete. A pity he couldn't hear the fellow's last words. After observing a second of silent mourning in his heart for this old comrade who would never reach the new world, Renhuang angled his face slightly and glanced behind him. A few men in exoskeletons stood not far behind, looking as though they had been waiting there for a long time. They were Executioners of the Tribunal, primarily tasked with executing stubborn, troublesome heretics and handling defective Pioneers. Although Pioneers had no physical bodies to walk the mortal world, resetting the chips in their believers' brains would erase them entirely. This backdoor was held in the hands of the Tribunal, having existed since the Sanctuary's inception as a check against the Pioneers. It was clear these men had arrived only recently, and the Tribunal had dispatched more than a single squad. In just the brief span of their conversation, they had already completed the procedure. "…We have reset the chips belonging to the Beastmaster and completely wiped his consciousness. By decree of the Holy Son, they now belong to you." The Executioner standing at the front of the squad looked at him and explained the situation succinctly. Renhuang gave a slow nod of understanding. "Understood." The Executioner said nothing more about what had just transpired. He merely glanced at Blood Mountain in the distance, then looked back at Renhuang. "What do you intend to do?" Without concealing anything, Renhuang replied tersely. "This place can no longer be held. I intend to abandon Ten Peaks Mountain, withdraw the mutant tribes from this region to Haiya Province, and reorganize our defense on my home ground to withstand the coalition's offensive." The Executioner nodded. "A wise decision. We leave this place in your hands." "Mm." Renhuang answered absently, having no desire to converse further with these people. The Executioners did not linger to bother him either, turning and vanishing from his line of sight. This was not the activation of optical camouflage, but rather a direct disconnection from his sea of consciousness. This was one of the Executioners' "privileges." When operating within the dioceses, they were immune to the scrutiny of Pioneers, could walk unseen in the Pioneers' blind spots, and had sole discretion over whether to establish a connection with a Pioneer. That was why the Beastmaster hadn't noticed their strike at all. Paying no heed to those elusive shadows, Renhuang simply kept his eyes fixed on the towering mountains north of Mount Lai. On the positions not far away, dense masses of mutants and goblins were retreating down the slopes along the winding mountain paths. They were a clamorous rabble, carrying heavy packs and bundles, utensils and weapons, along with penned livestock and stockpiled grain. While leaving them on Ten Peaks Mountain as cannon fodder was an option, with their nonexistent discipline and organization, they would hardly last long against the coalition's well-trained soldiers. They were now his pieces. Before sending them to the frontline to be spent as cannon fodder, he needed to give them a "swift and effective" modification. "Chu Guang, is it…" Renhuang narrowed his eyes slightly and gently touched his cheek with an index finger. A rare smile curled onto his normally placid face. That punch had truly hurt. It had been a very long time since he had encountered someone who excited him this much… *** A full day had passed since the curtain fell on the decisive battle of the Weifu Wasteland. After taking care of everything that needed handling, Chu Guang returned to the Heart of Steel and slept for a solid ten hours to shake off the accumulated exhaustion. Not long after waking, he received a medical report delivered by Heya. To his surprise, in the span of just that one evening, he had leveled up again, with his gene sequence development progress jumping from 60% to 61%. [ ID: Chu Guang Gene Sequence: Administrator (Stage Seven) Level: LV60 -> LV61 — Basic Attributes — Strength: 79 -> 80 (+1) Agility: 60 -> 63 (+3) Constitution: 64 -> 65 (+1) Perception: 62 -> 65 (+3) Intelligence: 66 -> 68 (+2) ] "The data is for reference only. To be frank, I feel the original attribute conversion formulas are already obsolete for you. A mere 80 points of Strength is simply not enough to unleash a punch of that magnitude." Still mentally calculating what an 80-point Strength stat actually represented, Chu Guang set down the report and looked up at her with curiosity. "Why do you say that?" "Because those were empirical formulas established based on normal human standards, whereas your body—both in muscular architecture and biomechanics—has already diverged drastically from ordinary human baselines. It's no exaggeration to say that your very existence provides ample research material for the Gestalt Lifeform research project. I'm not certain whether this is the future direction of human evolution, but… it is at least one possibility." Heya stared at him, her eyes bright. Chu Guang believed her words. After all, she always wore that strange, obsessive expression whenever she came across rare research material. Just like Yin Fang whenever he saw an unusual coffee machine. "A Gestalt Lifeform… is it?" Chu Guang looked at his right hand, clenched his fist, and felt the surging, turbulent power within. Supposedly, that was the holy grail of biotechnology and gene-tailoring in the Era of Prosperity, the lifelong pursuit of countless scholars and engineers, tied to millions of research initiatives. Unfortunately, right up until the curtain fell on that magnificent era, that Singularity lying beyond the event horizon had remained merely a hypothetical concept existing in theory. Perhaps the first-generation Administrator of Shelter 404 had also been an expert in this field. After all, Qingquan City had an unusually high number of biologists to begin with; one more wouldn't be out of the question. "Do you feel like you're drifting further and further from being human?" Seeing Chu Guang lost in thought, Heya teased, "I don't think you need to worry. From what I've observed, people still like you quite a bit." Chu Guang shook his head. "I haven't really thought about that. I was just wondering… what will happen once the development progress hits 100%." "We probably won't know until that day comes. Shelter 404's database doesn't have any relevant data to reference, and even the empirical formulas that once worked are starting to fail." Pausing, Heya shrugged lightly and added in a comforting tone, "Still, don't worry. No matter what happens to you when the time comes, no matter what you turn into—even if you grow two heads and six arms—you will always be you, and you will always be… I mean, the 'you' in all our hearts." She wasn't good at offering comfort, and even worse at reading other people's emotions. After all, she spent most of her time immersed in scientific research, so she faltered halfway through her words. Chu Guang was taken aback for a moment. It took him two seconds to realize that she was actually trying to console him, and he smiled. "What are you talking about? Why would I worry about something like that? Though I have been thinking… it would be pretty neat if I could grow a pair of wings." Of course, that sounded far too fantastical. Completely altering bone structure and nerve distribution probably wasn't feasible without installing cybernetics. "Seems I was flattering myself…" Blushing a rare, deep crimson, Heya coughed loudly, trying to cover her embarrassment. "Not at all," Chu Guang interrupted with a bright, sincere smile. "Thank you. It feels pretty nice to have someone care." "You… n-no, you're actually pretty… pretty normal when you don't speak." Watching Heya turn her head away in flustered incoherence, with a flush visibly spreading beneath her silver hair, Chu Guang looked surprised. Odd. Wasn't that supposed to be my line? *** [Yesterday, the SMRC Coalition's offensive in the Ten Peaks Mountain region achieved a decisive victory. The broodmother located deep within Blood Mountain has finally fallen under the joint assault of the Alpha Mobile Task Force and the Death Corps, completely excising the cancerous blight buried beneath the Weifu Wasteland. With this, all land in Jinchuan Province tainted by the cult has been liberated! Although the soil corrupted by the Na fruit mycelium is still being purified, the complete eradication of the corruption left behind by the Church of the Torch is only a matter of time… To prevent the seeds of chaos from sprouting anew, the Administrator has announced that the Alliance will establish its seventh survivor settlement, "Weifu City," on the Weifu Wasteland, and will add "Weifu City Station" to the Alliance's railway network. Currently, preparations for the new settlement are being handled by the Alliance's Southern Construction Corps. Please stay tuned for further reports. On the other hand, at the initiative of Alliance Administrator Chu Guang, the SMRC has tabled Resolution No. 6. Participating parties will convene to discuss pensions and compensation for the soldiers who perished in the war against the Church of the Torch and their families. The roster of fallen soldiers is currently being compiled. However, due to objective limitations such as the disparate communication technologies of various survivor factions and limited household registration management, this work will likely require considerable time to complete. Furthermore, following the defeat of the "Beastmaster," mutant tribes stationed on Ten Peaks Mountain have begun moving south one after another. For the first time since the first mutant tribe wandered into the region and settled over a century ago, Ten Peaks Mountain has completely shaken off the mutant threat. Currently, the 1st Regiment of the Enterprise's 100th Mountain Division has deployed to Mount Lai. In light of the complex situation in Haiya Province, the Legion, the Enterprise, and the Academy have all indicated they will dispatch more reinforcements to the front lines. However, constrained by frontline width, logistical capacity, and various other objective factors, the maximum troop deployment the northern front can sustain will likely not exceed twenty divisions. Military analysts believe that a breakthrough has successfully been opened on the northern front, and the next turning point of the entire war may appear on the southern front. Reported by Sami, Bureau Chief, Reporter, and Editor of the Port French Fries Bureau of the Survivor Daily!] *** On the south bank of the Baiyue Strait, inside a standalone log cabin at the Port Fritter barracks, Myriarch Isel of the Expeditionary Force's 3rd Myriad was reading the newspaper in his hands. Even though the temperature was well over thirty degrees Celsius, his hands and feet felt ice-cold. What made him hold his breath was naturally not the front-page victory announcement, but the casualty figures tallied on page two across the various coalition forces. Excluding the Legion's clone fodder, the Empire sat firmly in second place, with battle deaths alone reaching 14,700 men! Nearly three-quarters of their force was dead… He could hardly imagine how he would have survived to this day if he hadn't boarded the wrong ship back then. Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside. Stepping across the threshold was his adjutant, Jinde. The man held a newspaper in his hand, and from its fresh look, it was clearly the same issue. As Isel expected, Jinde got straight to the point upon entering. "My lord, General Babita's troops suffered catastrophic losses. This isn't good news for us… Er, looks like you already know." Halfway through his sentence, his eyes fell on the newspaper in Isel's hands, and he tactfully cut himself off. However, Isel had caught his opening remark and frowned slightly. "What does that have to do with us? We're responsible for the southern front." "Strictly speaking, that's true, but General Babita is our immediate superior after all. Knowing his character, do you think he'll honestly admit his own shortcomings?" "What is there to dispute?" Isel sneered. "A scoundrel like him schemes to pocket even the lunch money off his subordinates' meal cards. Even if he denies it, what can he do? Can he argue over ten thousand dead men back to life?" Because the Port French Fries bureau of the Survivor Daily was run by Moon Tribe folks, and those Moon Tribe girls loved smuggling personal agendas into their reporting, they didn't care about the Legion's clones and fixated solely on the Empire's Expeditionary Force, reporting only bad news and never good. At first, he had looked down on those Moon Tribe women, but after working with the Alliance's residents for a while, he had gradually come to see that General Babita was an absolute idiot, and whoever had appointed that fool as commander of the Expeditionary Force was an idiot as well. Yet despite Isel's contempt for the man, Jinde cautioned, "…It's not surprising you think that way. In fact, let alone you, even I despise that sack of straw. But one must admit that fellows like him have a knack for political intrigue. For instance, he could pin this defeat entirely on your failure to arrive at the front on schedule, while claiming that his own heroic efforts salvaged twenty percent of two myriads that should have been wiped out completely—" "What kind of joke is that!" Isel slammed the desk. "No matter what he claims, His Majesty would never believe such rubbish!" Jinde shook his head, lowering his voice. "Turning black into white is basic political maneuvering. In the imperial court, thick skin matters far more than competence. Since he's your superior and closer to His Majesty, he's certainly far more practiced at this than you…" Seeing General Isel's growing unease, Jinde paused before continuing. "Of course, even if the situation looks extremely unfavorable for us, we aren't without opportunities…" Over the past month, they had built Port Fritter into a proper, thriving settlement, and the Alliance had paid them part of their wages as promised. And it was far more than just wages. The Baiyue Strait was livelier than ever before. Although Port Fritter's development couldn't rival Port French Fries, it had benefited immensely from the spillover. Merchants from Silver Moon Bay, traders from the Southern Archipelago Alliance, and bigwigs from Dawn City had all purchased estates and businesses in the area. Managing plantations, providing labor for construction sites or docks, and even handling warehouse management and import-export operations—the Expeditionary Force's 3rd Myriad had a hand in all of it. While they were still nominally part of the Expeditionary Force, in practice they had transitioned from a military formation into a massive labor brokerage. After all, those ruthless fighters in the Jungle Corps were far too capable in combat; there was simply no need for them to take the field. In this one month of accumulation, they had saved up at least five to six hundred thousand silver coins. To the paupers back in Brahma Province, this sum alone was a massive bargaining chip. Seeing the earnest look on Isel's face, Jinde continued. "His Majesty's will is paramount in this matter. Therefore, as long as we deliver our battlefield report to Tiandu first, convince His Majesty that General Babita's incompetence brought immense shame upon the Empire in front of the Legion, and propose splitting the Expeditionary Force into northern and southern fronts… I believe His Majesty will consider your recommendation." After hearing his adjutant's proposal, Isel felt a flutter of temptation, yet hesitation remained on his face. "However… bypassing one's superior to report directly to the throne is a grave taboo." Jinde explained patiently, "That's easily handled. Do you still remember Governor Nihak?" Isel nodded. "Of course I remember. He's His Majesty's trusted confidant. You mean we should work through his connections? But isn't he locked up in Golden Gallon Port?" Because Duke Garava refused to sign, the Alliance and the Empire had remained in a ceasefire negotiation phase without signing a definitive truce agreement. For that very reason, both the Gray Wolf Army captives and Governor Nihak were still being held in the POW camps or prisons of Golden Gallon Port. He truly couldn't fathom what use there was in pulling strings with a prisoner. Seeing Isel's bewildered expression, Jinde patiently elaborated. "…Things are different now. The Empire suffered catastrophic losses in the war against the Church of the Torch, and the Alliance has adjusted its diplomatic approach toward us. If only out of pity for the weak, they won't continue making unreasonable demands. "Besides, things haven't been peaceful back in the Empire either. The Black Panther Army and the Tiger Army, puffed up with their own military strength, are becoming uncontrollable liabilities. His Majesty also desires to ease tensions with the Alliance so he can free his hands to deal with internal unrest, so he will surely make appropriate concessions… This ceasefire agreement, stalled for an entire month, is likely to be signed very soon." Isel couldn't hide his astonishment. "You're saying Governor Nihak is going to be released?!" Jinde nodded earnestly. "Most certainly. Along with Prince Dilip, who's imprisoned with him, I expect it won't be long before they board a ship home." His eyes flickered slightly as he laid out his entire plan. "…Bypassing superiors to report directly certainly won't do. But if that letter is handed up by Governor Nihak or Prince Dilip, that problem naturally ceases to exist."