The overturned vehicle was slowly righted by construction machinery, and the people trapped underneath struggled to crawl out.
"Cough, cough... cough—huff!"
The ard Mobile Squad captain, Wengska, struggled to arch his body while people nearby quickly patted his back to help expel the radiation-infused rainwater congesting his chest.
"Ugh—puah! Ptui, ptui, ptui... huff!"
His body convulsed rapidly, his muscles spasd, and he knelt on the ground until a doctor ca over and injected him with Alige; the power of the Void quickly took effect within him, his veins flushed with purple energy. For a mont, his body seed to be devoured by a purple light.
It took several tens of seconds for him to recover, his wounds healed, and the connective tissue nurtured by the Void reconnected his broken bones.
"Welco back from hell, Captain Wengska."
The doctor, wearing a bird beak mask, squatted down; his gear resembled more that of a fierce warrior. He looked at Wengska through his gas mask and said,
"All your teammates are dead, and the Blockade Bodies you were escorting are missing—tell , what exactly happened?"
"Knight Aiwens, cough, cough—"
Wengska spit out a mouthful of congealed blood, steadied himself, and said,
"It was a mutiny. We were suddenly attacked by a knight sent by the Kingdom Parliant. At the ti of the incident, the Substance Rain had already begun. In the confined space, we were no match for her; she took all of us down in just a few moves. Only I was lucky—hooked by a seatbelt, hanging upside down for a full three days... which kept from being consud and killed by the Substance Rain."
"Knights of the Kingdom Parliant never mutiny. They not only enjoy a very high salary but also hold prestigious status; there is no reason for them to betray."
Knight Aiwens shook his head, pressing further,
"Which knight betrayed and killed your team?"
"Sir, it was rid Fenny."
"rid Fenny—a woman?"
Aiwens repeated the na,
Wengska’s facial muscles were burned by radiation, his skin burst open, and every ti he spoke, he squinted his eyes, his voice as hoarse as a bellows:
"Yes, she has purple hair and purple eyes, tall and slim, with a frivolous deanor, seeming quite unprofessional. After defeating the Fermi Research Institute’s convoy, we should have imdiately returned, but as we passed through the forest, she suddenly turned on us and defeated us all."
"However."
Aiwens said,
"In the Kingdom Parliant, there’s no such knight."
"There’s no female knight nad rid Fenny, nor any knight nad rid Fenny."
——————————
"What the hell, what monster?"
Li Aozi was taken aback, instinctively letting go, causing the Shar Pei to imdiately fall to the ground. It humanly yelped, resentfully glaring at Li Aozi:
"You look quite handso, so why insult people with your words?"
"Bla , huh? You yourself look truly frightening..."
Li Aozi shrugged, paused, then reconsidered:
"... Insult ’people’?"
Li Aozi raised an eyebrow, looking at the small animals crowding around rid.
Sothing was off.
Not to ntion the phenonon of animals talking, which is actually quite common in the universe, but normal cats and dogs, no matter how close to humans, don’t usually look so much like humans.
These animals, with facial features closely resembling those of humans, included a gray hen that even sported a middle-parted hairstyle. Including the Shar Pei, these animals had far too many human-like traits and gestures, filled with human-like tilting of the head, excitent, and confusion.
Li Aozi couldn’t help but ask:
"rid, could these animals possibly be...?"
"Yes, they were humans."
rid spoke blandly, pulling out a bag of glucose solution from her bosom, pouring it into a porcelain bowl, whereupon several animals quickly gathered to feast.
Li Aozi moved closer to her, observing rid’s expression. She felt neither relief nor a hint of relaxation. Feeding these humans turned animals seed to have no emotional impact on her whatsoever.
"I know what you want to ask."
rid, supporting her chin, said calmly:
"This is a village near the occupied area, also known as the so-called Kingdom border. Being close to the Void zone, various Blockade Bodies have scattered about. Apart from Bounty Hunters eager to strike it rich, hardly anyone approaches."
"The Kingdom deliberately refrains from informing the people here to evacuate, letting them perish on their own to slow down the pace of the Void—only when purple patches erge on their bodies as the Void’s infection draws close do they flee in panic."
"Most adults dragged their families and fled, but most were annihilated by the Substance Rain on the way. Even those who miraculously survived had the Fermi Research Institute’s mobile units pick them out and contain the Infected—perchance in the na of protection, but realistically as guinea pigs for various drug trials to ’test out lifesaving drugs for humanity.’
The small animals ate carelessly, and the bowl of glucose was quickly emptied. rid unhurriedly retrieved bread, cereal, and ham from her backpack.
"Wow, this is so delicious!" "I never want to chew on bark again." "Without Sister rid, I really couldn’t survive a day."
Li Aozi watched the small animals scattered on the ground, and from their naive and tender statents, he understood their identities.
"Are these... all abandoned children?"
Li Aozi asked.
"There were so elderly as well, but, having turned into animals not long ago, their organ functions soon failed—it’s not hard to understand. The lifespan of animals is usually much shorter than that of humans; an 80-year-old person, transford into an 80-year-old animal, would have already deteriorated completely."
rid evenly distributed the food, then stood up.
"Follow ."
Saying this, she led Li Aozi down the main road of the village, up a small hill, across stone steps covered by fallen leaves to a small, quaint shrine that soon ca into view.
rid walked up and gently shook the rope bell, then put her left hand over her right wrist and bowed her head to pray silently for a while. Li Aozi faintly heard her whisper:
"Retain the thousand truths, break the illusion, and reveal the reality ... "
After a string of strange incantations, the tightly shut wooden doors of the shrine suddenly opened, revealing a dim hall inside.
Li Aozi stepped forward, his heart tensing as the part of his Super Gene Sequence related to "Sequence 9: Gravity" began to stir, seemingly struggling to break free from his body and move toward the inside.
[This is—]
Li Aozi held his body still, adjusting so Gene Fragnts to soothe the Super Gene Sequence within him, his expression solemn.
He knew what this ant.
[Gravity] not only served as one of the top ten in Sequential Arcane Energy, but it also belonged to another system, one that has a strong resonating response with certain Arcane Energies.
In an environnt like this, the only reason that could cause a strong resonance with [Gravity] was clear.
rid took off her shoes, stepped barefoot into the hall, and bent slightly forward to bow calmly, saying:
"I have brought the person over to you, Enrique."
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