Chapter 397: Eight-Winged Angel! (10,000)

Thunder cracked open the sky.

Over Shuguang City, storm clouds churned, rain poured in torrents, drowning the entire city in a curtain of water.

At the southern city gate, garrison soldiers atop the high walls wore faces tight with dread; under the apocalypse, everyone's fear of night had become hypersensitive—no whispers, no smiles, only terror of the unknown etched on every face.

The sky was terrifyingly black; the B2 Defense Sector commander raised his optical scope, watching the packed queues in the outer district, then checked the time—his expression grew even tenser.

"There are still tens of thousands here—speed up the flow!"

"The city's already packed to bursting—get those convoys to coordinate, or every sector will choke!" came a shout over the comm.

"The Dawn Watchers Alliance, Windwalkers Alliance, and Common Alliance convoys are already helping to clear crowds, but there are just too many people."

The officer in charge of the passage shouted: "It's the vehicles—too many big rigs, modified trucks, clogging the streets. If this continues, the main arteries inside will collapse—we need those rear convoys to abandon some vehicles!"

"Abandon vehicles, let people in—let survivors enter the city to spend the night!"

The order went out—every city gate began enforcing it. Instantly, survivors still outside panicked; their vehicles were their mobile shelters, and few were willing to give them up.

But as the sky darkened further, thunder rolled, some decisive survivors began abandoning their vehicles, grabbing luggage, weapons, and family, and sprinting into the city on foot—this spurred others long stuck in traffic, and more and more vehicles were left behind.

"How long until nightfall?" The commander on the wall stared at the black sky—the clouds and rain had erased all distinction between day and night.

"Report, sir—about thirty minutes!"

The commander frowned deeply; he thought he heard something below the wall. He stepped forward—the darkness beneath was like an abyss, as if even the streets and buildings of the outer district had vanished.

"Searchlights."

"A1A2 searchlights!"

Several garrison soldiers surrounded him with rifles raised—but the beams swept over empty space.

The commander stepped back and warned the group: "The Star Abyss's night tide is expanding abnormally—the predicted timing may be unreliable…"

Ssschhh!

Before he finished speaking, a massive tentacle, covered in black scales, erupted from behind—its front split into a maw of fangs and swallowed the commander's torso mid-body, shredding his powered armor along with it.

Taptaptap!

Instantly, every automated cannon on the wall opened fire; soldiers, frozen by horror, drenched in sweat, only reacted a second later.

"Anomaly!"

"Fire!"

Boom boom boom!

Ooooh~

In moments, Shuguang City's defensive weapons unleashed a torrent of fire; searchlights swept again—below the wall, dozens of meters of grotesque limbs and anomalies had swarmed upward like a tsunami, covering vast stretches of outer district streets and buildings; the black mist surged like a natural barrier—no one had expected the night tide to arrive so early.

The battle ignited instantly. Above, flying monsters swarmed thickly beneath the storm clouds; at the gates, under the roar of artillery and the shrieks of the tide, countless refugees abandoned their vehicles and stampeded toward the city's interior—a couple barely stepped from their car when a colossal black centipede from the darkness swallowed them whole.

Grounds teemed with millipedes, grotesque insects, human anomalies, stitched-together humanoid monsters, giant mist spiders—all pouring forth. Screams, gunfire, thunder, and rain merged in those few minutes; survivors still outside became prey trapped by darkness, dying in droves.

Darkness surged like a tide, tens of thousands of survivors sprinting.

"Run! Head for the wall!!"

The man shoved his wife and daughter through a tipped-over truck; the girl lost one small leather shoe, her bare foot cut and bloody from shattered glass.

"Dad… I can't run anymore…"

The man suddenly bent, hoisted her onto his shoulders, and fired wildly behind him.

"Hold on!" The next second, a terrifying shadow lunged from the side—his wife shoved the father and daughter away, then was dragged into darkness, leaving only a brief cry: "Run—!"

All outer district defense outposts were now firing at full capacity; scattered crowds could only fight back while inching toward garrison outposts, like islands in the dark.

"Hurry! This way!!" Soldiers on the watchtowers fired furiously, shouting at the scattered survivors.

"Come on—today's ammo's unlimited!" A soldier manning a massive Vulcan minigun snarled as he raked the darkness.

Just as a hundred survivors clustered near the defense tower, a massive shadow, wings spanning dozens of meters, dove from the sky.

Boom!

The entire watchtower area vanished in darkness and smoke.

Vvvvvv.

Inside Shuguang City, dense attack drones bombarded the skies, resisting monsters that breached the walls; pulse laser arrays formed blue celestial nets, firing constantly upward; the Great Wall's base cannons launched 210mm high-explosive shells, each blast obliterating half a soccer field's worth of anomalies—flesh and insect limbs scattered; countless Thunder Hammer electromagnetic railguns fired dazzling electromagnetic barrages into the dark, suppressing the furious tide.

"Sixteen defense sectors engaged—scale exceeds Level 4."

On the frontline wall command tower, sector commanders reported to Lu Tianye.

"Alert aircraft deploy immediately—locate Spec-Class and S-Class entities. All city gates close in five minutes!" Lu Tianye ordered coldly, staring at the dark sky.

"Report from the quarantine zone!"

Boom boom boom!

In the outer district quarantine zone, Garrison Combat Unit 1 bore the first brunt of the massive anomaly tide—but thanks to prior preparation, they weren't caught off guard; the entire unit held firm against the initial black tide with overwhelming firepower.

"General, the quarantine zone—"

Unit 1 commander Huo Bing was directing combat when suddenly, beneath the frontline camp, the ground shook violently—buildings collapsed, streets sank—and a colossal anomaly, armored in spiny scales, erupted from underground; its dozens-of-meters-long body swept once, crushing and impaling over a dozen soldiers and survivors into a pulp of blood.

"Large anomaly detected—likely Class A! Request strategic weapon support!"

"3rd Battalion, drag that beast out of the streets!"

"Coordinates!"

"Coordinates are…" Before Huo Bing could finish, several colossal shapes slowly rose from the black mist beneath the defense line.

"Fuck…" He drew a sharp breath, eyes wide in curses.

Ssschhh…

The next instant, the comm's voice turned to static—signals from the quarantine zone vanished en masse from command center.

Boom boom boom.

Multiple sectors of Shuguang City were engaged; fire lit the sky—thousands of artillery rounds, plasma beams, electromagnetic railguns illuminated the rainy night; inside the city, military fortresses launched large missiles rapidly, screaming past at supersonic speeds.

Explosions and thunder merged, as if the air itself trembled.

On the Twin Stars Tower, Lin Xian and Chu Yan's squad watched the scene—like a world war—faces grim.

"Night came this early?" Lin Xian checked the time—it was still before 18: 0.

"The Star Abyss is stirring—the old method of calculating the night tide no longer works," Chu Yan said coldly. "We can only defend passively now."

Kiki stared at the distant fire, tense: "What do we do, Lin Xian? The Infinite is still in Jinhai."

Lin Xian's face was grave: "We can only hope they're safe—the industrial zone has no dark markers; logically, it shouldn't attract enemies."

Even so, Lin Xian couldn't help worrying—the polar night was advancing too fast. So many of his team were there; all he could hope for was that Ningjing and Qian Dele reached them safely.

He turned to Chu Yan: "Can you track down information on those large mechanical devices?"

According to Lin Xian's deduction, if they could locate those machines, they might directly find the base behind the Crimson World's brain-revival project and its curtain-piercing device cooperating with Shuguang City.

"Searching—but don't expect much. If even Wen Hui and Zhou Mingyuan don't know, then this project was likely directly handled by the Crimson World. The underground strategic network's data has already been purged by Zhou Jin and Qi Nuo's Nightwalkers. The secrecy level of the Vanguard Plan regarding Chu Zhaonan and the Crimson World exceeds our estimates."

Cchhh.

"Who's there?!"

At that moment, Chu Yan's squad members all raised their rifles in unison.

Lin Xian, Chu Yan, Kiki, and others turned—suddenly, a man stood silently on the rooftop, emerging from shadow as if he'd always been there.

"Lin Xian."

The man stared directly at Lin Xian, speaking politely: "Chairman Chu Zhaonan wishes to speak with you."

At these words, all of them paled.

In the underground city of Xingcheng, along the way, apart from the telepath guiding them, Lin Xian saw almost no one—the vast underground city seemed emptied in mere moments; after the Federation Council dissolved, countless high-ranking residents became ordinary people, forced to hide in the crowded inner districts.

Lin Xian never imagined he'd meet the Federation Chairman—and never imagined it would be under these circumstances.

The chairman's office was empty except for a single desk and a small tea table in the far corner.

Outside, the city burned; inside, silence and emptiness—no smoke visible. As Lin Xian entered, he saw a middle-aged man in military uniform standing quietly by the window; outside, a massive underground atrium stretched far beyond anything he'd seen—even larger than No. 9 Underground City by several times, its infrastructure clearly advanced, yet now only scattered lights glowed; as far as the eye could see, masses of residents were still evacuating.

"I've heard your name. Several people have mentioned you to me," Chu Zhaonan's voice was warm and steady, lacking the usual aura of authority—serious, deliberate, as if speaking calmly to Lin Xian: "May I have a brief word with you?"

Lin Xian glanced around, tense and wary: "About what?"

Chu Zhaonan turned, facing Lin Xian: "Many things—dreams, perhaps, or responsibility."

"Chairman Chu," Lin Xian frowned, confused: "Tens of thousands are dying outside Wall One—do you really want to discuss dreams and responsibility here?"

"From a personal standpoint, survival is a dream; securing survival for others is responsibility," Chu Zhaonan said seriously. "But the Vanguard Plan isn't about dreams—it's fundamentally the same as your repeated choices to bind fate with the collective for a sliver of hope."

"Are you telling me the humans fleeing under the Vanguard Plan bear the responsibility of preserving civilization—or that all our efforts are meaningless?" Lin Xian replied.

Chu Zhaonan shook his head: "Every effort has meaning. Just now, Garrison Combat Unit 1 was annihilated—but had they not held the quarantine zone at all costs, the collapse would have triggered a chain reaction, possibly shattering multiple defense sectors in the south, costing tens of thousands of lives. Because of their sacrifice, Shuguang City gained more time and breathing room—even this conversation, the implementation of the Vanguard Plan, the chance to see tomorrow's dawn—all of it."

"This is the meaning of civilization: brilliance arises from individual interaction, collaboration, and co-creation. Since the Stone Age, our civilization has grown rapidly—we now harness planetary and stellar energy on a massive scale. Yet this civilization, having endured ten thousand years, is on the verge of extinction in less than a year. What does that mean? Is it tragic? But if I told you that every second, 3 to 9 million human cells die in each of us—then, scaled to the cosmic level, civilizations far more brilliant than ours are countless—we are but one among those 9 million dying cells."

Chu Zhaonan looked at Lin Xian, his tone calm yet tinged with resignation:

"From the vastness of the universe, perhaps the one thing in least shortage is civilization."

Lin Xian fell silent.

"I accept Ye Lanli's ideals of peace, honor the Phoenix Society's original intent, and respect and pay tribute to every sacrifice—yours included, Lin Xian."

Chu Zhaonan looked at him: "In these efforts, your choices have directly and indirectly affected every living human. At Yubei Airport, you chose; Zhang Dingzhong chose; Bai Shuang chose; Jian Xuxi chose. At Xilan City, Zhao Yu, He Zhen, Wei Kexue, Sun Kai, the Phoenix Society, all human alliances—70, 00 made their choices. Likewise, the European Storm Alliance, the North American United Front, the Dawn Center, the Qingluan Sky City—too many sacrifices, too much passion. Because of these choices, Shuguang City has survived until now; in darkness, we find more possibilities."

"Yet while I respect possibility, I cannot entrust human civilization to mere possibilities. Humanity needs a decisive choice," Chu Zhaonan said—as if to Lin Xian, as if to himself.

Lin Xian feigned misunderstanding: "So you knew I infiltrated Xinggang, didn't stop me, and specifically sought me out—what exactly do you want me to do for you?"

"Join the Vanguard Plan," Chu Zhaonan said directly.

"You know your own ability—your mechanical anomaly's creation power can rapidly industrialize interstellar colonization, allowing you to survive as a new human after leaving Blue Star."

"Why?" Lin Xian was stunned.

"Isn't fleeing the night, soaring into the clouds, your own wish?" Chu Zhaonan countered.

Lin Xian froze, unsure why, but hearing Chu Zhaonan's words, he felt a strange pull—he was so tired. If he abandoned everything and fled this damned darkness, maybe he wouldn't have to be so exhausted anymore.

He struggled internally; for a moment, countless familiar faces surfaced in his mind: Chen Sixuan, Kiki, Daliang, Shasha, Huoge, Shu Qin, Lu Chang, Miao Lu, Xiao Yuan, Lao Mo, Li Yi, Luo Yang, Liang Lei, Shi Diyuan, Ningjing…

And those who had died, soon to be forgotten: Zhang Dingzhong, Zhan Wei, Ma Xiaotang, Bai Shuang, Wei Kexue, Sun Kai, Zhou Wuer, Peng Peng, Chen Wei, Xiao He, Chen Xiao, Zhang Chengzhi, Wu Zhenhai, Liao Ming, Lu Yong…

Lin Xian stood there, his eyes inexplicably reddening. At that moment, he wished with all his heart these people had never existed, never died, never witnessed ice and fire, blood and tears, never heard the hymns of courage sung by the Taitiewei, and that he himself had already died quietly in a shelter in Jiangshi on the Day of Revelation, rotting in silence.

But how could he pretend he had never seen, never fought, never longed for dawn?

They are all dead. They are all still alive.

After a brief silence, Lin Xian let out a self-deprecating laugh.

"1500 years? I can't live that long."

He then turned serious and said to Chu Zhaonan: "You know why I came here."

"So I didn't stop you, because you won't sabotage the Vanguard Plan, you won't harm humanity. Your task is to obtain information linking to the Darkness, and acquire the data on dark-erosion cell energy conversion for human resistance. I support that."

"Then can you tell me where the No. Breakthrough Device is?" Lin Xian asked, then immediately realized how childish his question sounded.

Chu Zhaonan had chosen to cooperate with the Crimson World—he was fully prepared to complete the Vanguard Plan. Under these circumstances, why would he voluntarily reveal anything, letting the Phoenix Society sabotage it?

Even if Lin Xian and his group weren't there to sabotage, some things were beyond Chu Zhaonan's control—and beyond the Phoenix Society's too, like the Crimson World. So if Lin Xian were Chu Zhaonan, he certainly wouldn't reveal a single detail, to ensure the Vanguard Plan launched smoothly.

Chu Zhaonan said nothing, confirming Lin Xian's thoughts.

But at this moment, Lin Xian felt a surge of blood in his chest and couldn't help blurting out:

"Even if you don't expect this possibility, as humanity's leader, could you at least leave a glimmer of hope for us, the humans who've been abandoned?"

Chu Zhaonan gazed quietly at Lin Xian. His impassive face seemed to flicker with faint emotion—perhaps because he sensed Lin Xian had refused the invitation to join the Vanguard Plan, or perhaps because of Lin Xian's words: "us, the humans who've been abandoned." Chu Zhaonan's gaze flickered slightly.

Then he stepped forward, reached into his inner pocket, and pulled out a small photonic storage device, handing it to Lin Xian.

"What is this?" Lin Xian asked.

"The Continuation Key for the Galaxy Heart of Dawn City."

Chu Zhaonan said: "When the Vanguard Plan launches, it will connect to the Galaxy Heart for central control. I anticipated that this would give the Crimson World an opening, so I pre-set a disconnection protocol: at launch, the city's neural network core and weapon systems will go offline for ten seconds. With this continuation key, you can regain control of the Galaxy Heart. So…"

"So if the Crimson World tries to hack the Galaxy Heart during those ten seconds, you can directly cripple and capture it!" Lin Xian's expression turned startled.

"Ten seconds is enough."

Chu Zhaonan looked at Lin Xian: "Your mission is complete, Lin Xian. Good luck."

Hearing Chu Zhaonan's words, Lin Xian knew their conversation was over.

Lin Xian slowly clenched the continuation key in his palm. As he prepared to leave, he suddenly asked:

"Chairman, do you believe humanity still has a dawn?"

"When I was young, I was a mechanical engineer," Chu Zhaonan replied, shifting the subject. He turned away, as if gazing at the sky above the surface: "I remember my first time entering Star City, seeing the City Ring—I thought humanity was truly great, capable of building such a magnificent mechanical structure. As a beautiful landmark, it not only allowed aerial vehicles to fly, but also transmitted signals to planetary devices for orbital positioning. Too bad we'll never see such a civilization's engineering again."

"Yes, human civilization was incredibly brilliant."

Lin Xian glanced at Chu Zhaonan's back, then left the Chairman's office.

At this moment, no Garrison Commander or other members blocked Lin Xian. He returned to the Twin Star Tower and told Chu Yan about the continuation key.

Meanwhile, Zhou Jin and Qi Nuo's teams had all gathered here. The No. Wall had turned into a battlefield; countless survivors were dying, and the countdown to the Vanguard Plan's launch ticked away second by second.

"Chu Zhaonan still left humanity some chances," Qi Nuo said, lighting a cigarette in the rain-soaked night. Behind him, the Nightwalkers' four squads—over twenty people—had been searching for five straight hours.

"But our key objective still failed," Zhou Jin said, staring at the relentless artillery fire. Even some outer-district streets had erupted in combat—indicating airborne anomalies might have breached the defenses, or fear-induced mutations had taken hold. He spat: "Fucking hell. With the Star Abyss's activity, Dawn City won't last more than a few days."

Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian: "Did Chu Zhaonan know you infiltrated the Star Port Base? Did he just talk to you?"

Lin Xian didn't mention Chu Zhaonan's invitation to join the Vanguard Plan. He said: "He talked about dreams, responsibility, civilization… I didn't really understand."

Then he turned to Chu Yan: "By the way, your mental ability is powerful—can't you directly scan this city to find who belongs to the Crimson World?"

Chu Yan sighed: "If we could do that, would we be going through all this trouble? Stealing thoughts is extremely dangerous. Even if we catch a target, we must do it while they're unconscious. A conscious person's mental strength is formidable—let alone now, when human mental power keeps growing. All I can do is give you a headache. My domain is only in dreams."

Chu Yan turned the question back: "Speaking of which, your mechanical ability is the real one capable of scanning. If it's an S-class mechanical exosuit, it must need a massive launch site—can't you scan for it?"

Lin Xian chuckled, rubbing his temples: "Come on, this is an ability, not magic. Scanning this building alone takes me hours and nearly kills me. How big is Dawn City? You really think I'm a radar?"

As he spoke, his smile froze. He suddenly stared at the towering, massive City Ring encircling the Twin Star Tower in the rain-soaked night, its colossal silhouette glowing faintly, like a flying vessel suspended in midair.

"Wait."

"What?"

Lin Xian pointed to the ruins of the City Ring: "Wasn't this originally the Moon-Watching Planetary Ring and the Southern Heavenly Gate's orbital star locator?"

"Yes," Kiki said seriously. "Everyone knows that. The Moon-Watching Ring's initial ground-based orbital alignment was centered on Star City."

"So it's essentially a super-radar capable of emitting signals from S-band to high-energy pulses, right?"

"Roughly," Qi Nuo said. "But if the Crimson World is deep underground, radar won't find them."

"Not necessarily!"

Lin Xian immediately addressed everyone: "I can control the radar. I can use its wide-area electromagnetic waves to amplify my mechanical scanning!"

Kiki frowned: "You're going to scan the whole city?"

"Chu Yan's right," Lin Xian said. "An S-class mechanical exosuit needs a massive launch site. If it's underground, I don't need fine detail—I just need to filter large-scale mechanical structures. Maybe I can find the Breakthrough Device's launch site!"

Zhou Jin looked incredulous: "What if it's far away?"

"How far?" Lin Xian asked.

Zhou Jin couldn't answer. Then Kiki stepped forward, holding a mobile terminal with a serious expression: "Simple. To establish a launch sequence alignment before breaking the Veil, you must account for the starship's speed, launch timing, Earth's curvature, and signal delay. Using the acceleration of a Far-Star-class starship and our current planetary engine technology, it's feasible within 1, 00 kilometers. But once launched, without ground signal transmission and under Darkness's interference—even with the starship's UHF transmitters calculating delay—the distance must be kept under 50 kilometers. For safety, 30 kilometers is better."

Qi Nuo's eyes lit up: "Brilliant! Indeed, the Vanguard Plan is too critical. Given its uniqueness and technical limits, it won't be far from Star Port!"

Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian: "So what are you going to do now?"

Lin Xian immediately sprinted down the Twin Star Tower. Seeing his move, all squads followed in a run.

Soon, they reached the old signal control room of the City Ring. It resembled a rocket launch hall—once a key government zone, now abandoned and empty.

As soon as they entered, Lin Xian spoke:

"Zhou, Qi—take your teams and check the City Ring's signal cabinets and connecting cables. Report all damaged parts to me—I'll fabricate repairs. Kiki, handle personnel mobility."

"Chu Yan, your people help me clear the area. Also, when I run the full-city scan, it'll drain me heavily. The City Ring's energy may attract airborne anomalies. I need you to protect the equipment until I find it."

"Got it!" Kiki replied immediately.

Chu Yan and the others exchanged glances, then nodded in unison.

"Understood."

"Begin operations now."

Everyone present was elite. Each had unique skills. Following Lin Xian's orders, they mobilized instantly. Combat teams set up defensive firing positions; information specialists, psychics, and mobile personnel all assisted Lin Xian.

Meanwhile, Lin Xian opened the Black Star Forge, releasing Grace and hundreds of drones. Among them were his own creations and others seized from Qin Feng's forces—all deployed for defense. Over a hundred construction drones began coordinating with squads to inspect and repair the City Ring.

In moments, this group of fewer than a hundred people operated with the efficiency of an entire army.

Outside, artillery thundered. Inside the City Ring's control hall, cables glowed brightly. Hundreds of meters above, the City Ring began inspection and repair under the guidance of drone teams.

"First Ring: Signal repeater QSR-7 damaged. Three units."

"Second Ring: Main power cable fused. Waveguide array misaligned…"

"Third Ring: Repeater flange rotation base completely jammed."

"Fourth Ring: B-41 support beam has a 1. -meter crack—major structural damage. Reinforce it, or it may collapse during next full-power operation."

"Fifth Ring: Control tower phase modulator burned out."

"Sixth Ring…"

"Seventh Ring…"

All twelve rings of the City Ring now glowed with lights of varying intensity. Lin Xian had already used his mechanical ability to scan and connect to the central control system. This wasn't his first time enhancing his scan with radar—he'd done it before on the Infinite's electro-optical radar. The main limitation had always been his mental stamina, unable to sustain the power surge from radar amplification.

But now he had the Superstring Reactor Phase Rainbow Ring. And he didn't need fine scanning—just like when he sensed the No. Machine or searched the underground control room in Baicheng Research Institute. Mechanically scanning for large structures was theoretically feasible.

"Can I help?" Shizhi spoke softly as everyone worked.

"You can help immensely!" Lin Xian said at once. "The full-city scan will drain me heavily and take time. I need your ability to support me. Can you do that?"

Seeing Lin Xian's earnest gaze, Shizhi nodded firmly: "Yes. I'll do my best!"

Time passed minute by minute. Repairing the City Ring progressed faster than expected. Lin Xian received news from Jiang Yun.

At Star City Orbital Station, Jiang Yun, Jian Xuxi, and Huoge with Mo Nika had forcefully taken control of the Night Patrol group—whose resistance was minimal—and successfully reclaimed the Silver Star. Over twenty thousand people now gathered at the orbital station. Combined with the original Alliance's defense lines and the people Jian Xuxi's Fenger Group and Jian Zeyang brought from the outer districts, the total exceeded seventy thousand.

"We still have no word from Jinhai," Jiang Yun's voice came over the comm. "We sent several autonomous drones to establish contact, but all signals are dead."

Jian Xuxi's voice followed: "Lin Xian, after dawn, the Infinite and the Sky-Dome will enter. We need to negotiate with the Garrison Command. If they refuse, we'll leave the city and relocate Qingbo."

"Leave it to Vice Commander Jian," Lin Xian said, glancing at the time. The Vanguard Plan's launch was set for tomorrow at 10: 0. Given the Star Abyss's spread, dawn might not come by then.

20: 5. The southern and western fronts of Dawn City intensified. Giant humanoid forms began climbing the walls.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Cloud-burst bombs, sub-nuclear weapons, and massive aerial bombs detonated every few moments, shaking the earth—weapons only deployed against A-class or Special-class anomalies.

These anomalies possessed defensive fields or regeneration abilities against thermal or energy weapons, requiring strategic-scale firepower to suppress.

Finally, the City Ring's repairs were complete. Each squad took positions defending the Twin Star Tower towers and the City Ring. Only Lin Xian, Chu Yan, and Shizhi remained in the central control room.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

Three Phase Rainbow Rings ignited behind Lin Xian.

With a surge of immense energy, the massive control screen—composed of twenty-four giant displays—lit up with the emblem of China's Aerospace Administration. A majestic voice echoed. Lin Xian sat in a dusty chair and initiated the 【City Ring High-Energy Pulse】.

HUM!

At the center of Dawn City's sky, a ring of light—like a celestial lantern—suddenly blazed to life. Intense beams illuminated the entire Twin Star Tower, forming a "Ring of God" hovering above the city.

This dazzling sight stunned millions of Dawn City survivors. Countless heads lifted toward the night sky, gasping in awe.

"Look! The City Ring is lit!"

"What's happening?!"

"The Twin Star Tower is glowing!!"

As the Ring of the Mega-City lit up, after the dissolution of the Federal Council, this dark, abandoned city seemed to regain its vibrant life at once—a beacon of cyber-industrial light blazed across the sky!

At that moment, the Garrison Commanders and survivors resisting fiercely in the outer districts and along the walls suddenly felt less fear—their firepower grew fiercer with every battle!

"Kill them! This is our human capital city!!"

"Our families and children are inside—don't let the monsters breach the walls!!"

"The Garrison is fighting for us—fight them!"

"Fuck it—let's go!"

At that moment, Lin Xian in the Twin Star Tower had no idea that the activation of the City Ring had subtly inspired the entire population with a surge of civilizational resolve. He plunged his mechanical scanning intent deep into the system; as high-energy pulses radiated outward, his consciousness soared like the Eye of God—and with a thunderous crash, the City Ring erupted in a powerful ionizing shockwave. His awareness surged from the Twin Star Tower straight into the earth's depths, radiating outward from that center.

The instant his neural interface connected to the Radar Array, the world collapsed before his eyes into a flood of data. His intent sliced like a blade through the steel skeletons of skyscrapers; glass facades turned transparent in his mind, revealing the intricate stress frameworks within. Bullet holes lingered in elevator shafts; cables hung like dying serpents. Lin Xian plummeted along the data stream, passing through the B7 parking level, crashing into the darkness of the underground transit tunnels—hundreds of magnetic levitation tracks now sped relentlessly, transporting ammunition and equipment.

On the Second City Wall in the Inner District, most weapon arrays faced the sky—tracer rounds and pulse cameras bloomed like flowers, raining down the severed limbs and blood of the strange entities overhead. His consciousness reached the Old District, where dense fleets of vehicles and subterranean structures weighed heavily on his mind. Millions fired upward; in basements, elders shielded children, women built barricades from shopping carts, infants wailed, and wives wept.

As the scan range expanded, Lin Xian's pressure multiplied exponentially. Beside him, Shi Zhi unleashed her ability to its full extent, pouring support into Lin Xian. At that moment, the pressure eased slightly—he gritted his teeth and pressed on.

Time seemed to slow. He heard neither the gunfire outside nor the frantic battle shouts of Zhou Jin, Qino, and others over the comms.

Lin Xian focused entirely on expanding his scan. His consciousness finally reached the First City Wall—in an instant, vast defensive weaponry and underground pipeline networks erupted into view. Darkness, death, thousands upon thousands of corpses littered the scene; blood mixed with rain, flooding freely into sewers. Heart-wrenching screams filled the air, deafening like the artillery of a world war.

Beyond the First City Wall, countless horrifying faces of strange entities surged toward him—they shrieked, charged madly, feasting on human flesh. Men, women, elders, children—all torn apart and devoured without mercy.

Lin Xian plunged fully underground. The original underground strategic facilities revealed multiple completely hidden tunnels—newly constructed after Revelation Day, absent from Zhou Jin's classified maps. Through these tunnels, amid his splitting headache, his consciousness suddenly breached into a vast, monumental underground city.

The underground city marked with Plate No. 2 appeared only half-built and abandoned—now repurposed as a massive underground base: 【Giant God Peak Launch Site】.

Lin Xian saw countless drones and numerous armed personnel—none of them from Dawn City.

Vast quantities of resources and equipment had been transported here. Beneath the circular underground city, Lin Xian finally saw the S-Class Gray Mist.

The Gray Mist Emissary now stood upright, just like the A-Class strange entity in Jinhai that had been flesh-ridden. Massive hydraulic restraint towers held it in place. Its entire body was encased in mechanical armor resembling Unit-01—a once-divine being forcibly dragged into the mortal world. Its head was fused with armored plating; at the back of its skull, a colossal brain-machine interface module pulsed. Twenty-four EVA-style restraint locks, like twenty-four swords, were neatly inserted along its spine. Countless liquid pipelines connected to it, filled with yellow-brown fluid.

Its shattered tissues and bones were covered and connected by power components and armor. Its neck and joints were bound in dark red restraints. The metal armor, inscribed with warning symbols, was not meant to protect the strange entity—it was designed to contain and suppress the modulation and restraint systems. A massive nuclear fusion turbine engine was mounted on its chest, powering the entire multi-hundred-meter apparatus.

Most terrifying of all: eight massive plasma thrusters were symmetrically mounted on its back—each one over a hundred meters long, like eight towering skyscrapers inverted upon its frame. This scale exceeded Unit-01 of the Emperor Project by more than threefold!

Like a being with eight angelic wings!

"Found it."

Lin Xian gasped in horror, staring at the colossal apparatus—the S-Class strange entity's corpse fused with human mechanical augmentation. He immediately concluded: this was surely the Breakthrough Device they had been seeking.

(End of Chapter)