Chapter 153: System Reboot (Chapter 1, Requesting Monthly Votes)

"What?"

Upon hearing this, Ren Huiyan's expression changed instantly; Jiang Yun furrowed his brow. The group turned their gazes—and indeed, they saw something strange happening to Daliang.

Lou Shasha was on the verge of emotional collapse; hearing the words from behind her, her tears froze mid-fall. She sniffled, lifted her head—and saw her brother's entire body glowing with crimson light from his veins, utterly eerie.

"My brother… what's happening to him?"

Ren Huiyan yanked her back: "Careful—your brother's life force is surging."

"Then he won't die?"

"This is clearly an evolution of his ability!" Jiang Yun's face was grim. "Everyone, fall back."

"Why? Shouldn't we do something?" Shasha cried, frantic.

"There's nothing we can do."

Jiang Yun said, "Right now, he probably won't die—but we can't tell if he's evolving… or devolving."

"Yes," Lu Xingchen said with intense seriousness. He had seen this before.

Here, Jiang Yun and Lu Xingchen were both Evolution-grade ability users—the first true step in unlocking one's ability—and they could clearly sense the energy of abilities.

Right now, they distinctly felt a transformation occurring within Daliang: countless blood qi coalesced across his body, as if an endless vitality was sprouting.

Thump~ thump~

Daliang felt his heartbeat accelerating wildly; bloodlust surged through his mind like madness. The massive hole in his chest was healing at a visible pace; his bones and muscles were mutating simultaneously.

Beneath his already muscular skin, his muscles writhed like living things—deeply unnatural.

"Ha! Ha!"

He knelt and crawled on the ground, his spine trembling and humming; muscles along his ribs rolled and twisted, joints cracking with sharp, rhythmic pops.

Intense agony threatened to swallow his entire sanity.

Everyone around watched this scene and retreated in unease. Daliang's aura now looked terrifying—like a monster on the verge of transformation.

Many survivors had endured the Dark Invasion; they knew humans killed or wounded by the strange entities often turned into zombies or monsters, then attacked their own allies. Fearing this, no one dared to relax—several had already raised their guns, aiming at Daliang.

Seeing this, Shasha rushed out, standing before Daliang and shouting desperately at the crowd:

"No! He's my brother! Don't shoot him!!"

"Little girl, get out of the way—he's dangerous now!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Yes, step back! Be careful!"

Shasha cried through tears: "No! He's good! He's good! He's my brother—he'd never hurt anyone!"

Daliang, kneeling and crawling, clenched his fists from pain; his blood qi surged wildly. Deep in his consciousness, he heard Shasha's voice—and his reason slowly cleared.

"Sis…."

He slowly opened his eyes, staring at the small figure before him.

"From now on, you two siblings ride with me—we'll all survive together!" Lin Xian's words echoed suddenly in his ears.

"We'll all survive together…"

"I can't die!"

"I can't die!!!"

A fierce rage surged from his heart, instantly sweeping away the agony and suppression in his mind. Daliang drew a deep breath, closed his eyes—and in that instant, the surroundings became razor-sharp: the gazes of the crowd, Shasha before him, worried teammates, and… the beasts about to breach the high wall!

"Ahh!"

Daliang suddenly grunted—and shot upward from where he knelt. The ground beneath his feet cracked into a spiderweb of fissures. He snatched up his Blade of Severed Steel, becoming a massive crimson blood-shadow, launching like a cannonball straight up the high wall.

Ugh!

Atop the wall, a giant human skull suddenly emerged, preparing to use fire to slay its prey—but it had barely climbed out of the zombie horde when a blood-shadow hurtled straight toward it.

Shink!

The Blade of Severed Steel roared with violent vibration. Daliang charged head-on, blade glowing red, slicing horizontally—cleaving the crimson skull's head clean off, and shearing a massive gash through the metal railing atop the wall.

Boom!

Only then did the shockwave from his rapid strike explode outward, blasting several Taitiewei soldiers nearby backward.

"Brother!" Shasha screamed at once.

"Incredible speed!" Jiang Yun's gaze sharpened. With such power and that speed, Daliang's combat potential was staggering.

"Good! Good! Good! This is definitely an evolution!"

Lu Xingchen beamed with delight. The crowd around them stared in stunned silence—many had never seen an ability user evolve before. This powerful, eerie spectacle left a deep impression.

After Daliang instantly killed the strange entity, everyone exhaled in relief—some even felt a chill of post-event dread.

Such a powerful ability user—if he devolved into a monster, A-Zone would be lost for sure.

Huh~ huh!

Daliang panted heavily, his Blade of Severed Steel still humming. He slowly turned his head, gave a silent nod to his teammates, then looked at Shasha: "Sis… grab your gun. More monsters are coming."

"Yeah, okay!"

Shasha wiped her tears, nodded frantically, and without hesitation, dashed to the ground to pick up the grenade launchers and cram them into her backpack.

"Alright, I'm coming too!" Lu Xingchen's battle spirit flared—he charged forward immediately.

Jiang Yun and Ren Huiyan exchanged glances, both exhaling in relief, then returned to the fight…

【Mechanical scan complete. G3 land-based electromagnetic railgun blueprint acquired.】

【Detected mechanical failure in magnetic flux compression device and single-pole generator. Repair?】

Repair!

On the high platform, Lin Xian's expression was taut. He had just finished scanning. Now, watching the colossal skyborne object drawing ever closer, his heart tightened—he pushed his Mechanical Heart to its absolute limit.

Wu~

On the other side, the electromagnetic railgun's fire-control radar had detected something. The gun platform rotated rapidly, locking onto a target overhead.

Zzzt! Boom!

A blinding blue light erupted, illuminating a winged monster hurtling through the night—its grotesque fangs bared, shrieking.

Squeee!

"Kiki!" Lin Xian shouted.

Kiki reacted instantly. Her eyes flashed, her face stern as she stepped forward: "Finally!"

She reached out one hand into the air—the speeding monster suddenly halted as if hitting an invisible wall, letting out a thunderous crash.

Simultaneously, the two electromagnetic railguns below locked onto the stationary target. Two electromagnetic projectiles shot upward—Pfft! obliterating the monster into fragments midair.

!

"Well done."

Seeing this, Lin Xian exhaled in relief—then saw Kiki rush forward again, searching frantically through the floating debris for the strange blood essence.

"Little greedhead…"

He muttered under his breath. Meanwhile, as the fabrication center converted materials, the railgun's repair neared completion.

The black insects inside these winged monsters—no one knew what they were—but they could devour metal and trigger circuit failures. Their tactics kept evolving, making Lin Xian feel these strange beings were constantly adapting to counter humanity.

【Repair complete.】

Wu~

With the system repaired, the massive electromagnetic railgun blazed once more with brilliant blue light. Its base rotated, integrating into the system.

"Done!" Kiki now retrieved the blood pearl, beaming with satisfaction as she ran over.

Just then—CRASH!

The entire airport's lights suddenly dimmed. Everyone plunged into darkness.

"What happened?" Lin Xian asked.

"Power outage?"

Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt!!

But only seconds later, the airport's lights flared back on—and the hum of operating systems returned.

"Whoa! You scared me—I thought…"

"Wait."

Lin Xian frowned. He looked upward—the internal airport runway lights were on, and every anti-aircraft system on the skywalk's exterior had activated. Even the electromagnetic railgun before him had swung its barrel in a different direction.

"What's going on…"

"I don't know—but something's changed."

Lin Xian took a deep breath. He stared ahead—at the colossal Sky Mother, drawing ever closer. Yet none of the anti-aircraft weapons were targeting it. This was far too unusual.

…

"What's going on?"

"Did we just lose power?"

"Look—the AA guns and railguns aren't moving…"

In the airport square, the strange event made everyone sense something was wrong.

Taptaptap!!

On every frontline defense, pressure surged abruptly—seemingly because most anti-aircraft weapons inside the airport had stopped functioning.

"Watch out for the zombie horde!!"

On the frontlines, Taitiewei soldiers shouted. Countless zombies surged forward in frenzy. Because of this disruption, more and more soldiers and survivors fell dead.

"What's happening?!"

In the airport control tower, the emergency team was frantically busy. Bai Shuang paced in circles—the airport's system had suddenly rebooted, throwing the entire emergency team into chaos.

Technical Group Leader Wei Kexue was frantically operating his computer; reflections glinted off his glasses as data flashed rapidly, then suddenly his pupils froze and he shot up from his chair.

"White… Group Leader, our airport's main control system permissions have been revoked. The system is rebooting—all air defense weapons have received a new command…"

Bai Shuang frowned: "What command?!"

Wei Kexue stood up, staring wide-eyed toward the inner harbor, his voice filled with disbelief.

"All air defense systems are to escort the flight vessels within the inner harbor… withdraw."

(End of Chapter)