[Second Ring District · 13:02 PM]
[10 hours since the war began]
"City-State News, bringing you the latest updates."
"At 10:19 AM today, the Rebel Army breached the Core Area checkpoints and charged towards Central City. The Dawn System did not respond in ti..."
"Residents with combat power have spontaneously ford guardian squads, attempting to halt the progress of the Rebel Army. Waterlon Station will continue to bring you the latest developnts..."
"The city has fallen into a standstill. Councilman Kolby reiterates that all residents should remain calm. Perhaps humanity should contemplate whether the living space we provide for those with inferior personas has bolstered their burgeoning ambitions..."
In the tavern, the leader of the battle group, Che Kylstia, listened to the radio with furrowed brows.
"Leader, wasn’t our goal to break into Central City? Now, with a bunch of mages suddenly clearing the way for us, why aren’t we following right behind them?"
Beside Che, the battle group mber Doris expressed her confusion.
Inside the tavern, hundreds of battle group mbers sat quietly, waiting for their leader’s orders. You could hear a pin drop.
Che seed to want to smile, but he simply couldn’t.
...No one knew that he didn’t hate Acto; in fact, he’d even had heart-to-heart talks with Acto disguised as Lewis.
Che knew he wasn’t a qualified leader—he was too emotional, incapable of eting people’s expectations.
But he couldn’t show this emotion.
A battle group leader—how could he not hate Yasa Acto?
Wasn’t that what this whole group had gathered for?
"Well..." Che cleared his throat and quickly found an excuse, "I suspect the Dawn System has sothing up its sleeve."
"The leader makes sense," nodded Rui Ying, a player from the remote control army. Beside him were the Blademaster Rimu Sheng, Hacker Fang Yuan, Mage of the Angel Clan Windsor, and the Divination Mistress Qiuqiu.
Their squad hadn’t joined the Rebel Army. Rather than Edward, they believed Su Ming’an would be victorious.
"That City Lord is a person of splendid brilliance—how could he be so easily invaded in Central City? I suspect this is a case of luring the lord into the urn; the Dawn System deliberately let this war happen," said Windsor.
"We might as well... wait for the dust to settle."
Hearing Windsor describe Acto as "splendidly brilliant," so battle group mbers were displeased, but after all, this woman was the legendary mage.
The battle group decided on their plan—they would adopt a wait-and-see approach toward the Rebel Army.
Outside the tavern, a black-haired girl playing video gas with her head down t Rimu Sheng, the Blademaster who had stepped out for so air.
"I know who you are." Rimu Sheng, his deanor steady and carrying twin swords, was like an ancient swordsman.
Lu looked up.
Seeing Lu’s dark eyes, Rimu Sheng couldn’t help but feel moved; this girl was world-famous in the Main God World.
"You’re Yuanyuan, the companion of the Number One Player, an Observer," said Rimu Sheng.
He stared into her eyes, "I an you no harm. I am Rimu Sheng; in the Sea Monsters’ siege instance in Pulaya, I fought side by side with Su Ming’an, who had saved my squad. I support all of his actions."
Lu didn’t respond, just gazed back at Rimu Sheng. Her eyes were clean, crystal-clear like a spring, as if her long travels through the ages hadn’t brought her decay.
"Could you... tell what it takes to acquire a special status like yours? Many people envy the ability to traverse between worlds," Rimu Sheng asked. "If the conditions could be shared publicly..."
Lu put down her ga console and gently shook her head.
"I’m bound by the rules; I can’t tell," she said. "Rules... are a very important thing, no being can defy it... And besides, such things are not suitable for public disclosure. I’m just a selfish person who has given up her player’s identity."
She turned around, her black hair floating in the air, carrying the fragrance of gardenias.
"The Number One Player is now in Central City, and the Player army is closing in on him. Aren’t you worried about him?" Seeing Yuanyuan was about to leave, Rimu Sheng shouted,
"His mother has also awakened. He is at his most vulnerable now. The Fringe is too far from Central City. You are one of the few friends he can confide in. Don’t you want to be close to him and comfort him?"
"I..."
Ming’an began to speak softly.
There was a clear, icy quality in her eyes.
It seed she was reminiscing about sothing, and after a mont, she smiled.
"I believe in him."
"He is... the strongest person."
"I’ll go help him when he says he needs , but he hasn’t said so now, so I’ll wait."
"Ever since I was young, I knew that there was almost no difficulty that could defeat him. He always seed very insecure, but I knew that he was different from others."
"I’ve always believed that there is light within him."
...
"Prepare to retreat!!!"
Following a loud cry, the roar of explosives erupted, and iron fragnts splattered everywhere.
Edward looked up at the building in front of him, resembling a white cross.
They had worked overti and finally breached the periters of Central City. The Players were beginning to tire and casualties were widespread.
Not just the endless chanical Army, but also the City-State residents who spontaneously obstructed them, added quite a bit of trouble.
Moreover, many Players who admired the Number One Player, under the leadership of Lv Shu, voluntarily stood in their way.
Whether it was Yasa Acto or Su Ming’an himself, they were both beloved. There would always be people willing to protect them at any cost, without fear of death.
Fortunately, Edward’s Combat Power had reached 2500. The higher the Combat Power, the greater the disparity between Players beca exponential, and hundreds of Players were no match for his Ti Domain.
When his mana was almost depleted—Edward and his comrades finally arrived here, battered and bruised.
The Hawk Hound Army was dispersed, the obstructing residents died under the overwhelming artillery fire—now, it was finally ti to reap the rewards.
In front of them was the towering Central City building, a glittering pearl of the State of asurent, once standing like a shining Lighthouse in the darkness, with the Dawn System’s images projected in the night sky.
It was the political core, the research core of the City-State, housing the most advanced technology in chanics, biochemistry, and Artificial Intelligence. The City-State’s most elite researchers studied here, and the brilliant leader Acto was their common teacher.
Now, however, it had been sealed for a long ti, the building was covered with cobwebs and dust, as if it hadn’t been visited in ages.
"Boom—!!!"
A streak of light passed, and the explosive emitted a violent blast, the iron door of the building was so hard that the Rebel Army couldn’t blast it open.
"Quick! We need to be fast! There are people coming from behind, we can’t get trapped here!" Player Natalie commanded anxiously, as the supporting chanical Army had already arrived, with fighter planes appearing in the sky, threatening to encircle them.
"I’ll do it." Seeing this, Edward downed a Mana Recovery Potion.
He spread his arms, a deep blue clock appearing behind him. Light and shadow converged at this mont, forming a radiantly shining shockwave—
Blue light hamred the iron door, like a towering and surging tidal wave, a fierce Giant Dragon.
"Boom—!!!"
At the touch of the blue light, the iron door began to lt away rapidly, decay, and iron flakes scattered like a crumbling sandcastle, even the defensive firearms dissolved into shattered fragnts.
Looking upon the scene that seed like a deity stripping away ti itself, the rebels holding firearms revealed a look of envy—the door that cannon fire couldn’t break open had now been blasted open by a mage-like power.
Indeed, obeying "Ta Wei" was the right choice. Only strength from other worlds could help them build a more beautiful city-state...
With a loud roar, as if to vent all their dissatisfaction and anger, they took vigorous strides toward the iron door now gaping wide open, following a command from Edward...
In Edward’s live-streaming room, the bullet comnts were flying chaotically:
[He actually won! Edward has breached Central City!!!]
[Is Central City so desolate? There’s not a single person; the only prominent building is this cross-shaped structure?]
[It seems Central City is an underground city, built underground. Of course, we can’t see that from the surface.]
[This instance is so thrilling. We players are not just cannon fodder like before, we can really change the situation!! It feels so engaging!]
[This is all thanks to Edward. By himself, he overturned an entire chanical Army. He’s not crazy, who knows which guy made up that slander!]
[Always support Your Highness——!!]
[Eh, just dropping by, waiting for Su Ming’an to lay Edward out.]
[How can people still support Edward, are you only looking at his face?]
[...]
Edward had always looked forward to facing Su Ming’an in an instance that wasn’t at the pinnacle of competitive play.
He had suffered a crushing defeat before, but now that he’s been accepted by the organizers, he acquired a powerful special status.
Amidst the high shouts of the people, he stepped forward as their leader—the first step into this ruinous building—
In the building filled with fluff-like dust, the afternoon sunlight stread through a skylight in the sky, cascading down like a soft golden veil upon the corrugated iron.
The arc-shaped structure’s center featured a silent elevator, connected to the surrounding rooms by two bridges—a horizontal and a vertical one. People stood on the iron platforms, barely able to see the bottomless depths of the underground area through the gaps.
At the center of their gaze—sat a young man in a wheelchair.
The direct rays of light fell upon the shoulders of his white lab coat, adorning him with brilliance from the sun.
Amidst the firefly-like dust motes, the youth bathed in the light, serene and calm as if their arrival was no surprise. Around him, outside the circular halo of light, everything was engulfed in shadow.
Only his area dazzled with radiance.
"—Yasa Acto!!"
Angry shouts surged, and people’s gazes tightly locked on to the City Lord.
At this mont, in their eyes, the City Lord girded in light seed like an Evil Dragon nestled in the ruins, awaiting the challenge of the "heroes."
"Kada-da—" The sound of helicopter rotors ca from above; the news channel’s helicopter arrived on high, broadcasting the interior of the building through the skylight.
Through their lenses, Yasa Acto sat quietly in his wheelchair, lacking any powerful robotic guards, any bionic caregivers, not even a virtual form of an Artificial Intelligence by his side.
All of his sophisticated strengths that could’ve been at his command were absent. He sat in the ruins, alone with his chair and resigned.
This Central City, long sealed, did not have a single person in it except for his figure.
This bizarre scene like a boss battle montarily frightened everyone stunned.
But soon, soone broke the silence.
"—My whole life was controlled by that smart brain, living like a machine! It’s all your fault and your city-state system!"
This ca from a middle-aged man with fierce features.
"—I wanted to pursue art. Why must I be stuck with machine oil! This isn’t the life I wanted!"
This ca from a young man in a workshop uniform.
"—Why does my mother, just because she’s an inferior persona, have to do the lowest-level work all her life?"
This ca from a student who still had a youthful appearance.
As if to let out all their fury, the noisy words of the people overlapped, like the cries from nurous families.
But at this ti, no one fired a shot.
Facing this City Lord, who only appeared in legendary histories and television broadcasts, they began to hesitate.
...What’s their next step?
...Kill the City Lord?
And what after that? Where should they go?
...They had listened to the seductive whispering of "Ta Wei," which allowed them to strike Central City both from inside and out. But after that, did they really want to hand over the city-state entirely to "Ta Wei"?
...If they could maintain the safety of their own world while getting the aid of Ta Wei, that would be the best outco. Not to burn together with the State of asurent...
Amidst their focused stares, the young City Lord raised his head.
Those grey eyes belonging to a pure human being reflected a group of blood-stained black beetles.
Under the live television broadcast of the entire city, he smiled gently.
"I rember..." he said, "the city-state didn’t block your roads out of the city."
Facing this swarm of imposing black beetles, his gaze was serene:
"If you feel the system isn’t right, you can leave anyti to find the life you want.
I haven’t locked you up, forcing you to beco so-called slaves of the city-state."
The voices of condemnation faltered.
But quickly, an old lady spoke up:
"How can that be! Outside is the Danger Zone—we would be killed by strays!"
"Oh, is that so," Su Ming’an said.
His gaze slowly grew colder.
"So, to have a life free from risk and yet satisfying your desires, you co with a cause to subdue —the City Lord who established this Safe Zone where millions can survive.
Perhaps—"
Su Ming’an’s finger hushed everyone with a "shh," and a man in a suit next to him, pale-faced, shut his mouth.
"Perhaps you are more suited to live in Doomsday City, played like monkeys by ten cities, without the comfort of a full stomach like today.
So people simply aren’t worth saving."
Listened to Su Ming’an’s even tone, people’s faces flushed and paled by turns.
Seeing this, Edward stepped forward, scoffing, "Enough, Su Ming’an... no, Acto, you are rely a man who benefitted from the shadow of an era, what right do you have—"
Su Ming’an glanced at him.
"I wasn’t talking to a dog."
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