In biology, there is an insect called the "mantis." During their mating, the physically larger female mantis will consu her mate.
However, so male mantises willingly beco such "sacrifices," facing the blade without resistance or flight. So zoologists believe this is because the male mantis is physically exhausted and unable to escape. Others think that once the mating process is over, the male mantis has fulfilled its sole lifelong mission—reproducing the next generation.
At this point, its survival has beco aningless. If it can provide sufficient nourishnt for the next generation, it can sacrifice itself and pass on its genes.
Despite skepticism about this theory, countless mantises indeed die in the process of reproduction, laying down their lives for the continuation of the next generation.
"Snap" the book closed, the white-haired young man rose, with endless soft tubes stretching behind him like blood vessels.
His pale fingers rested on "Insect Science for 4-Year-Olds" on the table, a book he found in so relics at the edge of the world, a piece of popular science literature from before the Century Catastrophe.
He slowly walked along the long table, where several bright red scrolls lay limp on the icy white chanical table, moving aside the heater, the red paper with dried ink revealed a couplet written in black ink.
Top scroll: "Wishing you happiness every day."
Bottom scroll: "And wishing myself happiness every day."
"Swoosh." Lin Guang picked up the couplet, recalling the ti he wrote those two lines.
He could not write; the script was taught to him stroke by stroke by a Dragon Country Player he had captured. When he wrote it, he thought it looked surprisingly good, perhaps he had a talent for it.
He had heard that today was "New Year’s Eve" in the world of Lewis, akin to their Fuyuan Festival here, a grand annual celebration where every household would write couplets and paste them on their doors.
The Ruined World had no such custom; he could only find a pair of red papers and write on his own. Unsure what to write, a captured Dragon Country Player told him, "Couplets are about hopes for the new year," so he wrote these.
He hoped that Lewis would be happy every day.
As mories gradually resurfaced on this day, he rembered many things.
...He felt as if he were very old, yet also very young.
The story seed as though it might end, yet also as if nothing had begun.
Those fragnted mories, those fleeting glimpses, every ti he recalled them, he felt as though he was suffocating... Why was the essence of this world like this? This world was thousands of tis more cruel than he was.
"Clack clack clack," he rolled up the couplet, walking down the desolate corridor, starlight falling through the floor-to-ceiling glass, the corridor in front seeming as deep and clear as a transparent ventilation duct, like a distant horizon.
The City of Gods was not as bustling and noisy as a gathering place, more so a sense of absurd ethereality. Within the vast city, he often felt as though part of him had stayed in so day, unable to extricate himself, continuously losing.
At this mont, he suddenly felt a bone-deep sorrow; Violet said this was called "loneliness." Because no one could hold his hand, no one could walk with him.
He tilted his head, the screen hanging on the wall still broadcasting the front-line battle situation, it was now nine o’clock in the evening, the screen filled with bursts of colorful halos.
At the forefront was an Elite Legion; their blood-red capes lifted by the wind. Heavy snow draped over them like gauze, deep blue defensive shields erected, they surged toward the city walls like a wave.
"Beacon orders—!"
Sen Kylstia was at the forefront, his cape billowing, just as it had sixteen years ago.
Only, beside him, there was no longer an Arbiter wearing goggles, Tretiya; no silent viceroy Xia Sheng; no Cheng Luohe carrying a crimson sniper rifle; no Yao Wen wearing a shell necklace.
Ti, like a wave, had washed away countless companions, eventually leaving only a few lonely survivors around.
"Boom—!"
The cannons roared, the entire ground seed to shudder violently, the deafening explosion reverberating across half the battlefield, as people raised their shields and emitted piercing shrieks in response to the attack.
Whenever soone fell, soone else imdiately took their place, forming a relentless and tight defense line. Sen, like a blood-colored sword, cleaved through the enemy’s ranks, unified with his soldiers.
Through Sen’s headset stread various channels of voices, these were the imdiate orders given by the twelve leaders overlooking the battlefield, at this mont, everyone seed to share one brain.
In the sky, the battle among high Combat Power individuals continued, Su Rin’s flas turned the night into golden red. The inevitable fall of the four outer cities was a given.
Lin Guang glanced indifferently at the screen displaying the unfavorable battlefield, and continued walking forward.
"Lord, [—you are the music, the firmant, the palace, the rivers, the angels, the deep roses shown before my blinded eyes, secretive and eternal]."
A lodious female voice rang out, Lin Guang paused in his steps.
Violet leaned against the wall, her posture seductive as she twirled her rose-colored curls, her floor-length red dress draped like petals, revealing her smooth long legs. She was a player, always serving under Lin Guang in the City of Gods, high in Emotional Intelligence and eloquent, which had kept her from being strangled by the volatile Lin Guang.
Yet, Lin Guang did not even spare her a glance, "click, click, click" walking past her.
Violet sighed softly.
"Lord, it’s snowing tonight..." she gazed out the window, now blackened by night. This central building, apart from the ice-white isolation walls, had floor-to-ceiling glass allowing an unobstructed view of the outside, completely transparent like a gigantic hexagonal diamond.
Now, all she had to do was look up to see the billowing goose feather-like snow, floating outside the glass like twinkling starlight, the buildings below already covered in a thin layer of soft snowlight.
"My mother loved snow; she was from Dragon Country. Whenever it snowed, she would sit all night in our Dragon Country-style garden, watching the snow settle on the branches, as if that allowed her to return to her holand..." Violet spoke softly.
Lin Guang still didn’t turn his head, continuing to walk forward.
"So, I know that the top and bottom lines of your couplet, at least, need to be symtrical in words." Violet’s voice drifted over.
Lin Guang stopped.
He imdiately looked at the couplet in his hands, realizing the two lines were indeed uneven in length.
For a mont, Violet’s gaze was mixed with pity and sympathy; she found Lin Guang to be truly pitiable, like an inevitable tragedy. She did not believe he would have a good ending.
"...The couplets need to be symtrical," Lin Guang said. "That Dragon Country player didn’t tell about this. I’m going to go down and kill him."
"If you kill another player, Lewis’s favor will decrease again," Violet said.
Only then did Lin Guang realize this point; his thoughts were always a little slow.
Violet turned her head, looking at the heavy snow outside. The transparent glass was incredibly clear, practically invisible to the naked eye, making the snow seem as if it was about to drift in through the glass.
The high skies were dark and chaotic, with only half of a cold moon floating among sparse frozen clouds. The City of Gods was absolutely silent, the snowflakes like blown dandelions, the white flakes whirling down steadily.
She suddenly found this scene beautiful—if one could not see the millions of lives perishing on the battlefield. If one were alone in such a quiet city enjoying the snow, the mood might be quite good. Yet this snowy night... might be the last night of the world...
The fire seed to be getting closer; perhaps it was an illusion; she seed to hear the approaching cries of battle and the sound of gunfire. Now, everyone was waiting for Judgnt, and it was as if a guillotine hung over the City of Gods.
"Lord Lin Guang, I would like to speak with you for a mont," she said. "At birth, people are divided into high and low, noble and humble. So people oppress the weak and kill at will, while others squeeze the lower classes and covet private desires. The launch of the Dawn War was a revolt against this ’injustice’ and discontent, with a longing that all people be treated equally and gain freedom and liberation. However, after you detonated the nuclear bomb and humans perished, everyone died in the sa way, and at the last mont of life, everyone achieved ’equality.’ Will what they received be punishnt or reward?"
Her words fell, and there was a long silence.
"..." Lin Guang stared at her blankly.
"You have yet to find happiness; you have yet to feel ’love,’" Violet said. "Those humans had already obtained enough happiness, so with nurous descendants, others holding hands with their loved ones at death, and so shedding their blood on the battlefield without despairing over the final outco, fighting until the last mont at six in the morning. If everyone dies at the sa ti, but you have yet to feel happiness, who would be the real loser? Are you not just another casualty of others?"
Lin Guang remained silent.
"Also, I rember..." Violet straightened her body, brushing her hair back over her shoulders, "The City of Gods is eternally spring-like, and it never snows."
Her eyes slowly shifted, looking toward Lin Guang. "Now, are you no longer able to control the warm weather?"
Lin Guang averted his gaze.
He no longer looked at Violet, instead walking deep into the corridor that stretched out like the horizon.
Violet seed to see the sadness of an entire world in him.
Justice is, after all, a concept defined by humans themselves, even the standards by which the value of everything is judged are set by humans. When such standards of value are concentrated in the hands of one person, unchecked selfishness... can lead to catastrophe and tragedy.
In Violet’s eyes, Lin Guang was an unrestrained tragedy.
...
"The Origin Stone Barrier has been raised; the Inner City will enter a full defensive period. We currently have ample survival resources, the Outer City defenses are ready, and the horde of Exotic Beasts thirty degrees northeast has been cleared. The Origin Stone Guardian brigade may now move out in that direction."
"Repeat, the city ergency defense is activated..."
Under the urgent live broadcast in Doomsday City, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuating, carrying large and small bags, and the lampposts cast unsettled shadows.
Barriers like white lightning rose in the air, emitting pure white Yuan Guang.
In the entire city, apart from the sounds of people’s footsteps and alerts, there was hardly any noise. Military armored vehicles occasionally swept through the roads, fully equipped soldiers in groups.
Doomsday City was located on the "Third Battlefield," compared to the underground Origin Stone battlefield of the "First Battlefield" and the million-strong assault of the "Second Battlefield," the "Third Battlefield" leaned towards conservatism. Should the first and second battlefields be lost, this place would beco the hope after a nuclear explosion.
Culture, arts, military, the techniques of the Three Domains, all human Wisdom was preserved here, assuming that if the external battlefields were indeed entirely lost, humanity would at least not lose the traces of its existence.
The city screens repeatedly played the evacuation regulations, and monts later, a "click" sounded, followed by an announcent:
"City alerts will be interrupted for one minute, now switching to the Guardian Departnt, Miss Luo Kylstia..."
The screen switched, and the face of a black-haired girl appeared on the live feed, her voice steady:
"After the civilians from the Inner City have evacuated, please remain calm. There are nine hours left until the final ti of the nuclear explosion. If the nuclear explosion cannot be stopped, we are prepared to survive the nuclear winter. Doomsday City is the largest main city of the Freedom Faction; humanity still has a spark left. Also, the warti Reconnaissance Departnt has detected significant movent traces from the southeast, please avoid that direction when leaving. I will go there with the Guardian Army to clear the enemy troops and prevent them from affecting the construction of the Nuclear Shield."
She wanted to say more, but a sharp shout ca from beside her, "—There’s no need to evacuate anymore!"
"Now returning to city alerts," Yuanyuan quickly said and disappeared from the live screen.
She turned around, in the humming room filled with giant computers, a middle-aged man wearing a military cap approached, his shoulder adorned with the Leader’s insignia. Now, Leaders Tretiya, Xia Sheng, Shi, and Noah were absent. This Junior Leader was the highest-ranking military officer remaining in the city.
Yuanyuan: "Leader Kolby. There’s no need to say such things when I am broadcasting information. It can throw the public into chaos."
"The affairs of the Military Departnt need not bother the Guardian Departnt," Kolby coldly said: "This city is beyond saving. The experintal group just tested it, and the Origin Stone Shield is not sufficient to stop a nuclear explosion of the scale of the City of Gods. It can only save four-digit numbers of Survivors, and the remaining radiation will kill 90% of the underground population. Moreover, do you understand what a nuclear winter entails?"
Yuanyuan: "It doesn’t matter, I want to save."
"Leader Kylstia, please evacuate with us imdiately," Kolby said: "Additionally, the twelve other Leaders have decided to head to the edge of the World, which won’t be covered by the nuclear explosion. Carrying technology and resources, we can still survive. Please co with us; we need your power to kill Exotic Beasts, and you are allowed to bring three family mbers or friends."
Yuanyuan: "You go ahead."
She stood upright, her hand resting on the hilt of her Light Saber: "If a race can’t even preserve a thousand people, then it is no different from extinction. You may go to the edge of the world and struggle to survive. But I promised him, I would hold down this city."
"Because of Yasa Acto?" Kolby said: "I admit that he was great. It is precisely because we cherish his deeds that we must take advantage of this buffer ti to escape—we are the last embers of civilization."
"Goodbye." Yuanyuan walked away without turning her head, her slender figure casting a long shadow in the light.
Her voice fell like pearls dropping onto jade:
"The embers need not include ."
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