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Chapter 742 - Seven Hundred Thirty-Nine: "Beneath the Ice and Snow.

Chapter 742: Chapter Seven Hundred Thirty-Nine: "Beneath the Ice and Snow.

Amidst the downpour, reflections of neon signs flickered in puddles, with hues of blue and purple overlapping in every corner of the city-state.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" As if guided by an invisible hand, the gates of the city-state fell shut one by one, sectioning off the city into smaller battlefields.

From a high vantage point, each road in the city-state resembled black streams, filled with surging crowds. The first wave of combat personnel had already taken control of certain areas, with the second and third waves landing closely behind, providing the former with weapons and resources. Following them, more people continuously poured out from underground like ants moving house.

In people’s eyes, the blue gleam of forums shone—this was information support from hacker "Mu Team," binding everyone into an airtight defensive battle line.

...

[Assault Squad Four Captain · Rimu Sheng (21:07): Eastern City District Three needs support.]

[Assault Squad Five Vice-Captain · Zhang Xiaoqi (21:08): Dungeons 08 to 13 have been breached; we have many wounded here, is there a medical team?]

[Roaming Squad Three Captain · Violet (21:08): Hold for five minutes, Medical Team Three will reach your location from the southeast.]

[Balunli (21:08): Who exactly is Mu Team? So impressive, they’ve managed to set up an exclusive forum under the information suppression of Doomsday City.]

[Ya Heng (21:08): This is so thrilling, it feels like I’m playing in a massive online game battlefield.]

[Hua Xiaofa (21:09): Indeed. The rewards for this combat mission are so high, I want to be Su Ming’an’s dog.]

[Xiao Lin (21:10): Woof woof woof, woof woof woof woof!]

[Forum administrator has muted all personnel below the rank of "vice-captain"].

[Third Regiment Captain · Lu (21:10): Irrelevant people stop talking crap in the war channel. If players want to chat, I’ll join you after it’s over.]

...

In an instant, the players charged forward as if injected with a shot of adrenaline. They were too eager to be seen in the livestreams of top-ranked players.

"—Charge! Damn it all!"

"—I want to be Su Ming’an’s dog! I want to be Noel’s dog!!"

"—I want to slay a deity! All invaders must die! I must protect this city! Aaaaaah—"

Some were so moved by the ordeal of the torrential battle that they couldn’t help but immerse themselves in it. This city had given them too many feelings similar to their hometowns, and they felt an innate disgust towards the invaders.

People surged forth en masse, and whenever someone fell, another quickly filled the gap, picking up weapons to continue the fight. It was as though a pair of God’s eyes were watching the battle, precisely moving soldiers into specific positions.

Although the players were generally afraid to die, the NPCs, however, charged fearlessly forward, almost as if they were throwing their lives away, and the fresh blood mixed with the heavy rain, tainting it with an enduring scent of blood.

"—I’m going to sabotage the Mechanical Army’s base, you all keep pushing forward!!"

"—There are too many, too many Mechanical Army units!!"

"—Don’t be afraid, keep moving forward!!"

A soldier, embracing explosives, leaped from a building, pulling the fuse in midair, and with a thunderous "boom—" the Finance Building, which had stood tall in Doomsday City for so long, collapsed in the night, crumbling like a sandcastle, its stones piling up and burying a host of Mechanical Army units beneath them.

A soldier, flooring the accelerator, drove a nearly-broken truck towards the city gates, and with an expression of wild excitement on his face, his body shattered together with the truck’s onboard explosive device following a ground-shaking blast, cracking the city gates. Countless others managed to breach through.

A soldier, carrying explosive traps, departed to prevent the traps from harming more comrades. Ten seconds later, intense light flared in the distance, and he perished along with the traps amid the brilliant sparks.

They were merely "a soldier," as no one could make out the face of the sacrifice in the depths of the heavy night.

People raised their iron-grey firearms, dispelling the gloom brought by death. Sword blades glittered amidst the torrential rain, like their bright eyes.

—Countless people moved toward the flames, seizing the dawn amidst the fire.

...

At 9:12 p.m., in Doomsday City, the clock tower.

— The clock tower of Doomsday City is one of the iconic buildings of the city. Years ago, over a hundred red-eyed individuals had leapt from it, performing a tragic scene.

Now, a golden-haired youth stood atop the clock tower, encircled by a crimson bird above his head. The Scarlet Bird periodically spat out dazzling pillars of fire, the terrifying heat melting the mechanical bodies of the Mechanical Army.

"A Purple Grade pet..." Noel glanced at the sky where the Scarlet Bird soared—this Purple Grade pet of Su Ming’an was notably vicious, although it lacked wide-range mass attacks, it was adept at assassination of leaders.

...

[Flame Strike: Releases a flame strike, causing 300 points of True Damage and a lasting burn effect, which cannot be immediately healed. The attack range can reach up to 5000 meters (Flame Strike energy value: 5/5 uses)]

...

In the span of just an hour, each flame pillar from the Scarlet Bird took the life of a Ta Wei Army leader with pinpoint accuracy. This was an assassination across five kilometers.

Gazing down at the city-state, Noel’s brain worked like a running program, imprinting the movements of every squad in his sight. In this plan, Noel’s role was "salvage"—if something happened to Su Ming’an, he would be the first to "eliminate" the threat.

This was a secret plan unique between him and Su Ming’an.

"Swoosh!"

Suddenly, amidst the heavy night rain, a virtual image flickered above the city-state, its surface gleaming with a blue-purple halo, vibrant neon lights swirling around its contours.

— That was the image of Yasa Acto.

The Deity had started a city-wide broadcast.

Those holding weapons looked up to see this image.

"You have chosen the most erroneous way," the image spoke, "Cease your invasion of the city-state immediately, and I will overlook your mistakes."

"— Get out of the city-state! Get out of the city-state!"

"— Return the original City Lord to us!!"

The people were relentless, no one submitted to him, and some even threw Molotov cocktails at the image. "Crash, bang" went the breaking glass, and flames reddened one side of Acto’s face. The blazing fire burned fiercely, reflecting in his deep grey eyes the scarlet patterns within.

"Foolish people, if one day, you find that everything about you has been arranged by others, that your ending is already pre-determined..." the image coldly said, "Stop your futile acts."

"Swoosh!"

A golden arrow shot through the rain, Lu nocked and shot a sharp metallic arrow that pierced the image, hitting right between the brows of the image, declaring an unceasing declaration of war.

"— Su Ming’an is still with you now, we can’t possibly surrender to you," Lu’s fierce voice pierced through the night rain, transmitting into the receiver.

"...Hmph," seeing this, the image chuckled lowly, "Then continue, you will regret it sooner or later."

The frame flashed, the image disappeared, and only the torrential rain continued to fall densely, enclosing the city-state’s light within the cold.

...

Acto turned off the image, pushed open the door, and saw the "Su Ming’an" lying on the bed.

"A bit of trouble delayed me, let’s continue," Acto sat on the bed’s edge, unaware that the real Su Ming’an had already slipped away.

Cloning Ming’an narrowed his eyes and suddenly smiled: "It’s more than just a ’bit’ of trouble. It looks like the invasion from the outer city is giving you a tough time."

After all, it was a counter-offensive plan that amalgamated the insights from Su Xiaobi, Noel, Lu, Su Ming’an, and others, with the help of the top hacker "Mu Team" and the cutting-edge AI Yeah, plus a whole bunch of players who went all out by any means necessary, even a Deity would find it troublesome.

After gaining the "Quest Assignment Authority", Su Ming’an issued tasks to the players, who exerted their utmost effort and continuously killed members of the Mechanical Army without rest.

Acto merely smiled, "It doesn’t matter, as long as I have your body, the troubles of the outside world are trivial to me. Besides, Su Ming’an, you seem to have not understood your importance—the entire Ruined World only holds value for you and me."

Cloning Ming’an’s eyes flickered, he did not understand the riddle the deity was speaking.

As Acto was about to activate the Emotional Resonance device, Cloning Ming’an spoke up, "By the way, I have explosives implanted in every part of my body. If you try to disassemble me by force, I’ll detonate them immediately and die. If you continue to force your Emotional Resonance device on me, I will also take my own life."

Acto’s expression changed, staring at him for several seconds, seemingly judging his resolve. Cloning Ming’an just smiled.

"You seem... different from just now," said Acto.

"Is that so?"

Acto stood up and paced the room for a while. A faint scent of pine wandered through the air, and deep impatience surged in his eyes.

"For a city-state that isn’t even yours, would you go to such lengths?" Acto said, "Despite having no relation to you, you’re prepared to die for them? Can’t you see their despicableness? Six years ago, so many wished for you to leap off the edge of the world..."

His voice was slow, tinged with a genuine sadness as if he truly felt sorry for Su Ming’an. Yet his face revealed complex emotions, as if he were speaking to someone who didn’t exist:

"You’re just tired. This is too much for you. It’s alright that you ran away..."

Cloning Ming’an watched the other go mad, reporting the situation here to his original self.

Receiving the information, Su Ming’an didn’t pay it much attention; his target was the Dawn System. Due to the Spatial Concealment Domain, he had already approached the most central area.

"Ding dong!"

[You have entered the area where the Dawn System is located.]

...

Before he could take control of this place, Su Ming’an needed cooperation from Noah’s side to suppress the information system; otherwise, once the alarm was raised, he would have no escape.

"I’ve arrived, what’s the situation with Noah?" Su Ming’an typed to inquire of Captain Mu.

There was no immediate response from Captain Mu.

In the icy white control room, the vivid red Dawn System glowed at its center, like a fervent heart.

Thump, thump.

As Su Ming’an approached it, he seemed to hear countless voices.

...

Nine thirteen in the evening, Border City.

Lin Guang lifted his head, raindrops falling on his pale face. He trod over the thick ice beneath him, moving forward step by step.

He was en route to Doomsday City, encrusted in a layer of frost. He played his flute, the melody "Lost", which he had revised more than a hundred times, striving to make it the finest.

"Woo—"

The flute’s sound was melodious, like a crystal clear stream flowing.

"Your tune... it’s really, beautiful..."

Suddenly, a voice came through.

Lin Guang looked down to see a man lying on the ice, half of his body encased in ice. The man appeared to be a soldier, his supply box still strapped to his back.

Along the way, Lin Guang had seen too many corpses; this was the first living person.

"Who are you?" asked Lin Guang.

"I am... a soldier stationed at Doomsday City. I had planned to... leave with a batch of resources, but then, the chariot froze halfway, and all of our team... froze to death..." the soldier said, "Could you... bring our supply boxes back?"

As Doomsday City was amidst war, to preserve the remnant resources of humanity, some soldiers were planned to leave the city with scarce resources. Casualties were inevitable.

"I can’t." Lin Guang was indifferent, knowing the soldier didn’t have much time left. He was about to walk away when the soldier spoke again:

"Your tune just now... if the former city lord had heard, they would’ve definitely... liked it a lot."

"Really?" Lin Guang paused briefly: "Would they like it?"

"I have some things in my bag that... might be of help to you." The soldier took a breath, "I hope the city-states of the future will have universities that offer music classes... with young people like you who enjoy instruments..."

"If so, then our fight is... worthwhile..."

"..."

The ice was silent.

Lin Guang stood still for a moment.

He crouched down, pushed aside the soldier’s body, and shook open the frozen backpack.

"Shh-rustle—"

Sheets of staff and simplified music notation fluttered out like autumn leaves from the backpack, twirling in the wind, carrying the soul of the deceased to the distance.

On the music sheet, dense words and annotations were written. The soldier, in life, held a profound love for instruments. The pages contained his self-composed music, collected flute pieces from before the Century Catastrophe, and a few simple sketches.

On the simplified notation sketches, a matchstick girl and an adult matchstick figure were holding hands; the adult had a long flute in their hand, and behind them, the sun radiated five straight lines.

...

[After the war ends, I hope to play the flute for Emily; she’s three years old now.]

...

These words were written in the corner.

Lin Guang gazed at the music scores for a while before placing them into his backpack. As he moved away, he realized under the ice where the soldier lay, dozens of bodies were frozen. The soldiers had died in various postures, each with a hefty supply box on their back, never let go until death.

The entire team was here.

Perhaps each had different dreams in their hearts—some might have loved drawing, cooking, or instruments...

But to posterity, they were just a group of corpses under the ice, a few dozen heartless numbers in the death toll of war.

Lin Guang gazed into the distance at the heavy ice layers, as if through this small patch of ice, he saw countless similar scenes.

He placed his hand on his neck, near the blue-purple strangulation mark, his Adam’s apple moving slightly.

"...Love?"

So this was also love.

The mountains stretched on, resembling prostrate snow dragons, with the layers of ice desolate and silent. The soldiers’ faces bore faint smiles, as if they had seen some warm memory before freezing to death.

They were buried under snow and ice,

Just hoping the sun would rise each day as usual.

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