Madness

Twisted steel burned across the muddy fields, while shattered, mangled corpses lay buried along the rain-washed riverbanks. Once the pontoon bridge was erected, five thousand Glorious Army soldiers carrying Ripper rifles launched the initial charge, followed immediately by another five thousand. Like unchained hyenas, the clones threw themselves ferociously against the skirmish positions held by the Alliance and the Army of the State of Brahma. The brutal clash turned the entire forest into a horrific meat grinder, wave after wave of clones fed into it like rolling lumps of flesh. The other side suffered just as grievously. Under that near-fanatical assault, they endured catastrophic casualties. Yet even so, the charge of over ten thousand clone soldiers failed to shatter the positions anchored on the eastern bank of the river. Those defenders seemed immortal. After ten consecutive waves of charges and shellfire, sporadic, piercing gunshots still rang out from time to time. The bloody nightmare made every watching Wilante soldier swallow hard. Only now did they truly begin to understand what their brothers in the 36th Myriad had endured. Before they could even feel relieved that the dead were merely expendable clone cannon fodder, their commander's thunderous roar erupted. "Our Glorious Army has dismantled the enemy's defensive line! Now! Check your gear! Prepare to assault!" The clone infantry of the Glorious Army was not limitless. Just like artillery shells from the support teams, once the barrage ceased, regular troops had to make the push in the end. More importantly, those clones were poorly suited for fighting skirmishers; uncontrollable and impossible to communicate with, behaving like rabid dogs, they were good only for frontal charges against fortified lines. The lead millennium assembled quickly at the bridgehead. Combat boots trampled past bloody, mangled corpses. Eyes wide, clad in exoskeletons and ballistic armor, Wilante soldiers glared into the withered woods, venting fear and courage alike in a roaring battle cry. "Ooooh!" Under cover of armored vehicles and tanks, they surged across the riverbank perimeter, plunging into fierce combat with the allied forces concealed within the forests and hills. A grueling slaughter officially began. The battle raged from dawn until dusk, torrential blood dyeing the earth, the woods, the river, and the sun a brilliant crimson. The Death Corps was wiped out entirely! The players holding the line emptied virtually every last round, even burning through the weapons they had scavenged from the dead. The Goblin Corps' rocket artillery positions met the same fate. Twelve "Tempest" rocket launchers were completely destroyed by the Clarion, leaving only a scattering of 155mm field guns dispersed throughout the mountains to survive. The Army of the State of Brahma suffered immense casualties as well. The 50th, 51st, and 52nd Myriads, newly thrust onto the front line before they could even acclimate to local conditions, were forced into a desperate, brutal brawl, suffering heavy losses in short order. Yet the Southern Legion gained no easy victory either. Leaving aside the ten thousand Glorious Army troops, casualties among the regulars exceeded four thousand, and more than three hundred vehicles were written off! What was more, this occurred despite airship support, and after the Alliance's Burning Corps and the 1st Mechanized Infantry Division of Golden Gallon Port had already pulled back to defend Tiandu. Beyond their ground losses, the Legion suffered heavily in the air as well. Of their five airships, three had lost propulsion. Even with replacement wings available at West Sail Port, repairing all three would take at least a week or two. Staring out at the devastated riverbank, Myriad Commander Ryan clenched his fists tight inside his command vehicle, grinding his teeth with an audible creak. After a long pause, a curse squeezed past his lips. "...A bunch of useless trash!" Though they had won the engagement, he felt not the slightest shred of joy. According to his original plan, they were supposed to crush those vermin on the eastern bank like grasshoppers underfoot, restoring the honor and morale lost by the 36th Myriad. Instead, that grasshopper had ripped out a chunk of their flesh. No one would cheer for a victory bought at so steep a price. He even saw lingering terror and panic etched across his soldiers' faces—emotions that had no place on the countenance of a Wilante. Seeing their commanding officer fuming, the adjutants and staff officers nearby shifted uneasily, not daring to utter a single word. Just then, a communication request flashed across the holographic display. Seeing the incoming ping, Ryan's heart involuntarily skipped a beat. Only when he saw John's face did he breathe a sigh of relief and press the accept button. Glaring at the face on the holographic screen, Ryan asked coldly, "What is it?" Sensing that Ryan was in foul temper, John did not mock the ground forces for fighting another clumsy slugfest as he usually would. Instead, he maintained a strictly businesslike tone. "...That blue mole rat General Gulion assigned to my airship wants us to supply him with some bodies. Preferably ones that died of poison." Ryan snapped impatiently, "With so many corpses lying around, where the hell am I supposed to find ones that died of poison?" Before the words had finished leaving his mouth, an obnoxious, pug-nosed face shoved itself onto the holographic screen. "Give me an engineering team! And a medical team! I can build a frontline laboratory myself!" Hearing that demand, Ryan sneered inwardly. An engineering team plus a medical team... He certainly had nerve! "And what benefit is there in this for me?" The blue mole rat let out a harsh, rasping cackle. "Plenty! Once my project is completed, you'll receive a virus that affects only the people of Brahma... In fact, not just Brahma. We can customize the recipient RNA so that the 'Death Agent' matches recipients with specific DNA profiles according to our needs!" Not understanding a word of the nonsense the creature spouted, Ryan offered a noncommittal grunt. "And?" Martin said softly, "It means... you can make any race you dislike vanish from this planet." Ryan's eyes narrowed slightly, and a faint smirk crept onto the corners of his mouth. "...Interesting." He did not believe the creature possessed such miraculous capability, but letting him experiment would do no harm. If it actually worked, this war might end overnight. They had no need to slaughter every single Brahma native. Killing a portion would suffice to plunge the remainder into sheer terror. Martin chuckled slyly. "Then... you agree?" Ryan pondered for a moment before answering, "An engineering team is fine, but medical resources are strained on the front line; I have no spare hands for you... Would a century be acceptable in place of a medical team?" A troubled expression crossed Martin's face. "A century... you mean your soldiers? I don't doubt their bravery, but having them determine causes of death among corpses might prove a little difficult—" Ryan waved a hand dismissively. "Then use living subjects." Clones of the Glorious Army could be expended without care. If those hastily produced specimens proved inadequate, they could always round up some locals. So long as it reduced Wilante casualties, any trifling cost was worthwhile. Martin froze in disbelief, but moments later his face contorted in ecstasy and manic excitement. "Oh, oh, oh... marvelous! Respected General! Thank you for your support in ending the wasteland—ahem, I mean, thank you for supporting science!" Ryan chuckled dryly. "Save your thanks. I want to see results." "Of course! My lord!" Martin bowed deeply. "I will never disappoint you!" *** Meanwhile, in northern Akale County, two stealthy figures peered toward the Wilante troops cleaning up the battlefield along the riverbanks. Looking at the rows of corpses, Ye Shi could not help clicking his tongue. "Holy crap... that was goddamned brutal." Back in the real world, a patch of land no larger than a fingernail on a map would take a month or two of grinding to reach a verdict. Only a wasteland that treated human life like dirt could support slaughter at such scale. Because the Legion had parked five airships overhead and was running extensive radar sweeps, neither dared deploy drones for aerial reconnaissance, forced instead to lie flat in ghillie suits. Kuang Feng checked the time on his VM screen, glanced toward the distant airship, and remarked calmly, "Judging by the level of damage, buying a week shouldn't be an issue... By the way, how long does your Academy friend need?" Ye Shi thought it over and replied, "About a week should be enough..." Kuang Feng nodded without speaking, his brow furrowing slightly as he watched a distant truck piled high with dead bodies. The Southern Legion soldiers loaded the corpses of Brahma natives onto a separate truck, drove along the winding riverbank down to a gentle slope, hoisted the bed, and tipped truckload after truckload of bodies directly into the Everflowing River. Noticing the activity along the river, Ye Shi frowned as well. "What are they trying to do?" After a moment's thought, Kuang Feng said, "Perhaps they hope having those corpses wash downstream to Tiandu will break the will to resist among the survivors of the State of Brahma." Pausing, he added, "Or perhaps they're poisoning the water." Aside from combat casualties, a considerable number of Brahma soldiers had died of poison gas. According to Brother Edge, the gas shells deployed by the Southern Legion were not simple synthetic toxins, but viruses capable of self-replication. That sort of thing was far more terrifying than nuclear radiation. Yet that was precisely what puzzled Kuang Feng the most. If the Southern Legion's objective was to conquer this land and its population, he could not fathom why they would resort to such measures. Unless— They were conducting an experiment. And the viruses deployed onto the battlefield were merely transitional byproducts, or an "incomplete iteration" of some final creation. Looked at that way, everything fell into place... *** News of Akale County's fall had not yet reached Tiandu, but it had already spread across the official forums following In Debt God's death. While players were chattering and playing armchair generals after the fact, in a secluded corner of the Heavenly Palace, a group of researchers in white lab coats bustled about with tablet computers in hand. All were Academy researchers, roughly a hundred in number, ranging from Grade E at the lowest to Grade B at the highest. Ever since the war between the Southern Legion and the realms of Brahma Province erupted, the Academy had leased sections of the Heavenly Palace from Absaik to establish an expedition outpost. Although the State of Brahma lacked formal diplomatic ties with the Academy, once Absaik heard that the Academy could assist against the Legion, he agreed without hesitation, even sending along the quack doctors, scribes, and ceremonial officials whom Wutuo had left behind in his haste to help out. Superficially they were there to assist, but in truth Absaik wanted them to learn something from the outsiders. Naturally, the Academy looked down on their competence, ignoring Absaik's little schemes and relegating those locals to menial tasks like fetching tea and running errands. For any chores touching actual research, they trusted only their own prospectors and apprentices. At the entrance to the expedition outpost, Fang Chang presented his encoded identification card to the bionic soldier on sentry duty, leading several exoskeleton-clad players as they wheeled a cart laden with body bags past the checkpoint. Jiang Xuezhou's mentor, Yang Kai, happened to be standing beside a barrack, directing several Grade E researchers operating a boxy terminal unit. Curiosity in his eyes, Fang Chang leaned in for a closer look and asked, "What's this?" Yang Kai did not keep him in suspense, explaining succinctly, "A control terminal we redesigned and fabricated for this starship. Through this device, we can interface with the starship's control servers without entering the vessel itself, allowing us to regulate reactor output, obtain connection authorization, and so forth..." "In short, it sounds simple enough, but executing it is anything but. The locals piled far too much useless junk on the starship's outer hull, practically sealing off every corridor leading inside." Fang Chang asked curiously, "Can't this thing be repaired?" Yang Kai chuckled, quipping, "We might be lazy at times, but we aren't blind. If this hulk could be repaired, we wouldn't have abandoned it here for over a century." The reasoning was so sound that Fang Chang found himself momentarily at a loss for words. Pausing, Yang Kai continued in a bantering tone, "The sheer mass the locals heaped onto this ship is staggering; even the anti-gravity engines are buckling under the strain... Based on reactor performance metrics, even without this recent mess, this palace could hover for thirty or forty years at best. With all our tinkering, it probably has ten or twenty years left. You'd better give that chief—Ab-something—a heads-up so they don't try pinning the blame on us later." Fang Chang nodded. "I'll let him know, though I don't think he's the petty sort." Yang Kai laughed, remarking casually, "You never know." As a Grade B researcher, he had climbed the ladder step by step from the bottom ranks, dealing with countless wasteland survivors in his youth. He knew all too well how their minds worked... Just then, Yang Kai finally noticed the handcart beside Fang Chang and the body bags piled high on top of it. His brows lifted slightly as realization struck. "These... are the victims infected with that 'Death Agent' you mentioned?" Seeing the topic shift to the body bags, Fang Chang dropped his casual expression and nodded gravely. "Yes. They were frontline soldiers killed in action. We found an unidentified virus on their corpses, and its genetic material appears engineered. The Alliance Institute of Biological Research is currently analyzing samples... The Administrator wants us to share some specimens with you for study; perhaps you'll uncover clues we missed." Yang Kai rubbed his chin, his expression turning serious. "Understood. Leave the bodies here." Viral weapons were far more hazardous than nuclear warheads. No matter how devastating the latter were, they wiped out only a localized area, whereas the former posed an existential threat to an entire biosphere. With that, he tapped twice on his personal terminal with his index finger. Soon, a young man in a white lab coat hurried over. The youth looked very young, barely past eighteen, yet carried himself with the poised air of a professional. His gleaming forehead in particular inspired immediate confidence. Facing Yang Kai, the young man said respectfully, "Professor, did you call for me?" "Qin Yuanxing, was it... Yes, I have a task for you." Seeming not to recall having this student, Yang Kai glanced at the nametag on the boy's chest before matching the face with the ID number in the system, then continued succinctly, "Our old friends delivered some viral samples. I recall your research includes virology. Run an RNA and pathology analysis, cross-reference the results with our database, and see if you can formulate a cost-effective countermeasure." Hearing that his specialization was needed, the young man's eyes lit up instantly, and he replied with boundless enthusiasm, "Leave it to me, sir!" The Academy never lacked researchers; what they lacked was the chance to stand out. His abilities were no lesser than those of his Grade D seniors; he remained a Grade E merely because his resume lacked the requisite seniority. Watching the young man scurry off, Fang Chang felt a twinge of envy. While the Alliance was not short on researchers either, they certainly did not have so deep a bench that they could pluck someone at random to head a major project. When it came to research talent reserves, the Academy possessed immense depth. If only he could poach those Grade E researchers for the Alliance! At that moment, Yang Kai had no idea that through his casual display of institutional muscle, someone had already begun coveting his talent. Pulling his gaze back from where the figure had vanished, Fang Chang recalled something and turned back to Yang Kai. "Right, according to our latest reports from the front, our forces noticed the Wilante dumping infected bodies into the river. We're concerned the virus might contaminate the waters of the Everflowing River." Yang Kai's brow furrowed, and he pondered for a moment before saying, "Mm, your concern is justified. You should advise the local chief to warn his survivors about hygiene—for instance, avoid using river water for washing clothes, and boil drinking water thoroughly." Dumping poison into the Everflowing River... Those big-noses were utterly ruthless. The virus would not remain confined to the Everflowing River; sooner or later the current would wash it into the ocean, and heaven only knew where fish migrations and ocean currents would carry it. Fortunately, this "Death Agent" carried an exceptionally high mortality rate; from a pathological standpoint, it was hardly a perfect virus, and its spread would likely remain limited. Yet clearly, those blood-crazed fanatics would never rest content with an unfinished product. They would surely find ways to refine the existing samples, ensuring that along with catastrophic lethality, it acquired greater transmissibility and vector efficiency. Using high technology to commit atrocities was far easier than building something up...