"Click... clack."
A gun barrel was pointed at Ming’an.
A white-haired, blue-eyed youth with handso features erged from the thick vines. It appeared that he was the owner of this valley.
The young man seed underage, his eyes as clear as morning dew, evoking the image of a stream shimring in the forest under the setting sun. He was dressed in a simple white robe, untouched by any color or adornnt.
"Intruder," the youth raised the gun, "leave this place."
Seeing this, the corners of Ming’an’s mouth twitched into an extrely affable smile.
"Are you the owner here? The outside is swarming with the chanical Legion, and we have nowhere to go," Ming’an said, his tone sowhat aggrieved. "Please, take us in. If you drive us out, we will die."
Perhaps Ming’an’s charm value had an effect, or maybe the youth was just inherently kind-hearted. After a mont’s compassion, he chose to let them in.
"Fine, by the look of it, you don’t seem to be bad people," the youth spoke without any courtesy. "But if the chanical Legion leaves by tomorrow, you lot better scram."
A few people followed the youth inside.
This place was like a mortal paradise, with bamboo groves soaring into the clouds, lush and dripping with greenery, a stark contrast to the desolate desert scenery outside. Pink peach petals fluttered in the air, reminiscent of the legend of "Peach Blossom Spring."
Not far away, there were so wooden sheds and grape trellis with flowers of various seasons blooming concurrently. It felt surreal and dreamlike. A few doves perched on the wooden fra, watching the group entering the valley.
Several Hawk Hound mbers were dazzled, looking to and fro at the excessively beautiful scene.
Ming’an smiled, already formulating his plan.
...This place was excessively beautiful, overly strange, an anomaly must have a demon behind it.
Inside Caius Tower, such curious places were certainly key. If he could garner so information for his original body, nothing could be better.
As for the youth’s demand to "scram"... unfortunately, by the ti he figured out this place, it would be his. As for the youth, if he were the weaker party, he’d not be shown any courtesy.
After all, the victory in Caius Tower was for the "light" of this world’s future—therefore, for the "light" his original body could obtain, he would do anything.
This kind of place, very suitable as a backup safe haven for his original body. As for the favor owed to the youth... that could be reconsidered later.
Ming’an smiled warmly and radiantly, oblivious to the youth that the upstanding officer already had designs on taking over the territory.
"My na is Beili Sier. I live here alone, but I can control everything in this place," the youth said. "So, no wandering around, no taking anything, and if I find out any of you have ill intentions, I will send you to your deaths."
"Thank you," Ming’an smiled and expressed his gratitude with his teammates.
"Hmph," the youth snorted. "Co on, I’ll find you a few rooms."
...
"Click clack."
Luna lifted the stone slab, shielding from the wind and sand, carefully stepping down the stairs and huddling together with the people in the underground passageway.
By her side, a black-haired man wearing goggles and strapped with bottles and test tubes of chemicals was occupied with fixing his sniper rifle. He was Xia Sheng, the deputy lord of Beacon, skilled in biochemistry and sniping.
"We can’t stay shut in here forever; we must find a chance to break out," Xia Sheng looked up.
Around him were about ten mbers of Beacon, all looking exhausted.
"But the surface is swarming with the chanical Army, at least a thousand strong. They’re not killing us just to intentionally hold us here," Luna said. "Even if we force a breakout, it would only increase our casualties... We... are just bait for the chanical Army, to lure soone over."
She had been with this departing group the whole ti without encountering Su Ming’an or returning to Zone Eleven, only aware of scattered bits of information.
She suspected that Su Ming’an had stirred up major trouble again, causing soone to target his team.
"The air is getting worse; we can’t stay underground forever..." a mber whispered.
"We’re also running low on water," soone added.
"The chanical Army must have discovered us, just not exterminating us completely," soone sighed, "Once the people they’re waiting for arrive, we’re done for."
By Luna’s side, Rimu Sheng of the remote-controlled legion opened his eyes; by great luck, he had teleported next to her, starting off in the sa team.
His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, his expression stern.
"Luna, we can’t be trapped here, not knowing if Su Ming’an will co to rescue us," Rimu Sheng spoke coldly.
"He will co," Luna said.
"Is he really that human hero from thirty years ago, Acto?" Rimu Sheng lowered his voice, "Inside Caius Tower, we must consider the factor of the Players—if it’s really him, then the information that Su Ming’an is Acto cannot be hidden from the Players."
Luna didn’t say anything.
"Right, those parallel instances, the ones without Su Ming’an, Yasa Acto should be alive, shouldn’t he?" Rimu Sheng said.
"I... don’t know," Luna shook her head, "In the instances with Su Ming’an, the plot undergoes earth-shattering and bizarre changes..."
Rimu Sheng said, "That’s why, even if he abandons us, it would be within reason. The overall situation of Caius Tower is what’s most important; he is the key figure, so we can’t bla him."
Luna realized—in his usual silence, Rimu Sheng spoke so much, all to speak in favor of Su Ming’an. This way, even if Su Ming’an didn’t co to the rescue, the idle talk of the audience would be less.
"He doesn’t care at all..." Luna smiled, but her smile was interrupted by a loud explosion.
"Boom—!"
The ground echoed with a rumbling sound; people hastily supported themselves against the rocks nearby, feeling the world tremble.
"—Who’s here?" Xia Sheng stood up; his biggest fear was Sen arriving with the Beacon people, with over a thousand chanical Soldiers outside, coming here ant certain death.
Yet Luna was set on lifting the stone slab to go out.
"Hey, don’t!" soone tried to pull her back, but the stone slab had already been pushed open—
"Click."
What ca into sight was a scene akin to hell.
The once densely forest-like chanical Army was nowhere to be seen. They had been reduced to a thick layer of tal sheets spread out on the ground, neat and even as if devastated by a hydraulic press.
In the sky stood a figure on a wheelchair, his crimson cape billowing high behind him, his palm raised in front, with the reverberating remnants of vibration still hanging in the air.
Luna, covered in dust, crawled out of the tunnel just in ti to et his pure grey eyes.
"Su... Lewis!" she smiled.
...A sense of relief.
At the sight of him, a genuine sense of relief erged within her as if all dangers had blown away with the wind.
The majority of the chanical Army had been turned into chanical pancakes, with only two or three small cats raising their gun barrels at Su Ming’an.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" A few small-scale vibrations sounded, and these remaining chanic beings fell into scrap tal, Su Ming’an retracted his hand, slowly descending.
The Beacon people stared at him as if observing a monster.
"Don’t just stand there, scavenge the equipnt," Su Ming’an frowned.
His Scarlet Bird had circled in the sky several tis but had not seen a trace of Edward; he wondered what sche that guy was hatching.
However, this stint in Caius Tower really was a swift leveling-up journey; the chanical Army was running wild everywhere, and he gained a pile of experience with just a casual bombardnt. Since this was a war zone area, there was no experience decay, much more comfortable than when he was killing Sea Monsters in Pulaya.
He was already vaguely understanding the distribution of the world ga’s instances—task instances and experience instances alternated with each other.
In the Eighth World Do, his experience bar hardly ever moved; instead, he had gained a whole host of occupational advancents and passive skills. Entering this world, however, experience once again took center stage.
He estimated that the next world would probably be another non-experience-based instance.
Under his command, people began to dismantle the usable equipnt and tals from the chanical Army.
Xia Sheng ca over, hoping that Su Ming’an could help dig out the Beacon mbers buried underground. A previous missile attack from the chanical Army had left many trapped beneath the rocks.
Su Ming’an went underground and used the Sword of Yarman to pry open the rocks. With a crunching sound, the stones flew apart, revealing a crimson stream that nearly rged with the subterranean river.
A strange sll hit him in the face.
—That was blood.
Massive amounts of blood spread out from beneath the stones, turning the andering underground river a bright red. The red flowed and mixed with the water, forming a river composed of blood and shredded flesh.
The scene was appalling. Su Ming’an paused for a mont before continuing to lift the rocks.
"Doctor, no need to dig anymore; there are no life signs left there," Xike said softly.
"Not a single survivor?" Su Ming’an said.
"Yes."
Underground, there was eerie silence.
Xia Sheng looked at the stones obscuring the road, blocking the corpses of his companions, with only their blood flowing alongside the river.
"It’s my fault." Xia Sheng clenched his fists tight. "If we had returned sooner, we wouldn’t have been surrounded by the chanical Legion, and they wouldn’t have been crushed by the exploding rocks..."
Su Ming’an remained silent.
In fact, had it not been for him and Luna’s presence, Edward wouldn’t have ambushed this Beacon expedition team.
To say that these people died because of him wasn’t wrong.
He turned and walked towards the surface.
But suddenly, Xia Sheng threw himself at the huge rocks, frantically digging through them with his bare hands. The river of blood soaked his clothing, and his nails cracked and bled, mingling with the water.
With a crunch, his movent faltered as he pulled sothing round from between the rocks.
—It was a broken skull.
Dust and scrapes covered her face, and her neck was smashed open, revealing the stark whiteness of her throat bone. Her eyes were still open, signaling a recent death.
The mont Xia Sheng dug her out, she transford into a lingering white light that shattered and "Source" shimred in the air.
With empty hands, Xia Sheng walked to the surface, followed by several figures erging from below, each cradling so fragnt of clothing or rely clutching a single bullet.
"Are we to bring them back like this?" Luna asked, seeing this.
"We must bring them ho," Xia Sheng said. "Whatever it is, we need to take them back."
"Even if it’s just a part?"
"Even if it’s just a part."
"..." Luna watched the scene with a touch of sorrow.
The very companions who had acted together just yesterday were now separated by life and death due to the missile attack by the chanical Army.
"Everyone," Xia Sheng said softly, and the others gathered around.
The mbers, draped in blood-red cloaks, took off their hats with their left hands and placed them over their right shoulders, slowly bowing toward the rubble underground.
"May your souls find peace and no longer suffer invasion. May we et again in the new world after the dust has settled," Xia Sheng said softly, his gaze fixed on the bloodstained earth below.
People bowed their heads for a mont of silence. With ti pressing, this was the only way they could bid farewell to their companions.
Su Ming’an did not watch this scene; he looked up, surveying the situation in the distance.
"They’re here," Xike advised.
"Yeah," Su Ming’an responded.
The things Edward was capable of were limited. He had predicted what was coming.
"Lewis, thank you for coming to save us. You..." Xia Sheng walked over.
"Look at the sky," Su Ming’an said.
"!" Xia Sheng instantly looked up,
In his field of vision, a speck of light was growing larger, approaching. In the next instant, several burning specks flashed simultaneously, like falling stars—heading straight for their location.
The people were ashen-faced.
"Is that... missiles?" Luna’s eyes sharpened, speaking rapidly, "Knight’s Guard, Red Level, protect all units within a 60-yard radius of the center, 2000 points of defensive power, 5 seconds."
She imdiately reported her only defense skill information. In the crisis, her professionalism as a top-ranked player was fully revealed, even Rimu Sheng was slightly slower.
"Blade Return, it’s a passive skill, can block attacks, including physical and energy, but for missiles..." Rimu Sheng paused for a mont, then reported his skill as well.
Xia Sheng’s face was grim. The missiles’ coverage was too vast; there was no chance to run away.
"Everyone—raise your energy shields," Xia Sheng commanded. People raised their hands, their whole bodies trembling. Their energy shields were too inferior; they couldn’t block the missile barrage.
"Don’t panic,"
Su Ming’an said.
—Did Edward really think that by such ans, he could eliminate his wings?
Edward knew he had Teleport, and that missiles might not kill him, which is why he waited until he and Luna would gather before launching the missiles, forcing him to choose between staying and abandoning Luna and the others.
In the sky, there were at least a dozen missiles still falling.
For he had just used Spatial Vibration, clearing all chanical Army units; his mana was undoubtedly depleted, and he might not even be able to escape.
Unfortunately for Edward, his Lamb Barrier did not use Mana Points but Emotion Value. After killing Lin Guang, Su Ming’an had spurred the people’s emotions, gaining about 400 points of Emotion Value, enough to sustain the barrier.
He looked up, his gaze spanning the distance, tracing back Edward’s location through the missiles’ launch direction.
If Edward was in the direction the missiles ca from ...
"Swish!"
The Lamb Barrier rose instantly, enveloping everyone; its appearance was strikingly similar to that of the descent of Bai Shen.
Flas exploded, kicking up billowing sands, which could only clamor helplessly outside the barrier.
"Click, click-click—"
Seconds later, the Lamb Barrier stubbornly stood, the firelight outside growing fainter, its roar gradually diminishing—
...
...
[World Ga·Remaining Total Players: 920,928,387]
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