Chapter 399

Several days ago, Silent City.

"I am currently deconstructing the principles of that set of flesh-and-blood colonization gear from the Deep Red World by combining it with their assembly data. Coupled with the information they are researching at the White City Research Institute, I will synchronize it all for you later," Mochizuki Shinji said indifferently.

"Uh... okay." Lin Xian asked with a straight face: "Is it... a bit abrupt for me to do this?"

"It couldn't be more abrupt."

Lin Xian:...

"It seems that all the powerful ability users have been targeted by the Deep Red World."

Before leaving, Lin Xian mentioned this to Mochizuki Shinji: "However, you probably shouldn't be worried, since you aren't an ability user yourself."

"I'm afraid you're mistaken." Mochizuki Shinji looked at Lin Xian with a calm expression: "Judging from the initial research subjects obtained, a large portion of them are ordinary people, or rather, people who have not awakened any abilities. Clearly, the Deep Red World's research on individuals follows different paths."

"What do you mean?"

"Is this hard to understand?" Mochizuki Shinji said: "Ability users are used for the development of abilities, as well as for human-aberration and colonization systems. But what the Deep Red World truly wants to master is the process of why humans awaken abilities in the first place."

Lin Xian had always remembered Mochizuki Shinji's words. After seeing the massive group of clones in the hall, it reminded him of what Chu Yan had once told him—that the Deep Red World had obtained her DNA for human cloning, aiming to reproduce the bug-level Star Abyss survival ability of mental-type powers, but all these attempts had failed.

Therefore, after communicating with Chu Zhaonan last night and discussing the fanatical logic of the Deep Red World with Chu Yan on the way here just now, Lin Xian had been pondering a question.

That is, why did the Deep Red World cooperate with Chu Zhaonan so easily, providing mycelium brain-machine technology, suppressors, and constraint array technology? Judging from the failed A-level colonization unit beneath Jinhai, Lin Xian once thought their goal was to obtain this S-level corpse for experiments. But now that this corpse had been turned into a screen-breaking device about to be launched, then after Chu Zhaonan dissolved the Federal Council and handed power over to the Phoenix Society, what could the Deep Red World take away from here when facing the Dawn City garrison, the Phoenix Society's Iron Guard Brigade, and the millions of survivors in the city?

It was impossible that they did all this just to silence their own people and then run away in a panic after being used by Dawn City.

Impossible. Logically speaking, Chu Zhaonan wanted to use the Deep Red World, and the Deep Red World must also have had intentions to use Chu Zhaonan.

And Chu Zhaonan's warning to Lin Xian last night, coupled with Julius's words just now, made him even more certain of this.

Giant God Peak Launch Site, White Hall.

Julius's face turned completely gloomy at this moment, his eyes narrowed as he stared at Lin Xian, and then he laughed with a sense of sinister glee.

"Chu Zhaonan is a person whose meticulousness is almost flawless. Dealing with him is far more troublesome than dealing with politicians like Zhou Mingyuan. He even made me believe for a time that he could disregard the destruction of the world for the sake of the Vanguard Project. Unfortunately... the fact that you were able to come here shows that his principles were shaken after all..."

"I guess the control of the Heart of the Galaxy is now in the hands of your Phoenix Society. Sigh, the slow development of human civilization is precisely because of the rigidity of thought and reason, which is why there are weaknesses. Unfortunately, I have also made some preparations."

At this moment, a hiss sounded from the ground, a floor gate opened, and behind Julius, a row of large cryogenic pods rose. Each cryogenic pod was several meters high, and inside were all kinds of red human-aberrations.

There were both huge ones and those the size of ordinary humans, ten in total. Each one radiated violent dark invasive energy, their spiritual-oscillation values fluctuating intensely. They were connected by various restraints and suppression pipelines. The moment they appeared, the intense infection fluctuations caused the lights in the entire hall to flicker abnormally. Meanwhile, the 'Julius' clones that had been sleeping were directly affected, undergoing large-scale zombie mutations. While still in the water, they began to struggle and roar frantically, their blood vessels turning black, blood and filth bursting out and polluting the area, and they extended sharp claws to scratch at the cabin walls.

Julius raised his hands, his tone filled with a hint of regret as he said to Lin Xian: "You originally had a chance to lead most people away after dawn. After all, this replication experiment was meant to comprehensively observe how those weaklings in despair, those ordinary people, mutate in fear, and how they evolve and awaken abilities. But now I've changed my mind. I think if those large weapons and drones on the city walls were aimed at the 7 million survivors in the city, it would certainly be a very interesting picture. However, please rest assured, for the sake of the experiment, we will certainly choose to... leave a portion of them behind."

"In your dreams!" Lin Xian responded coldly.

Julius smiled and shrugged: "Goodbye. Later, I will come to collect your corpses. After all, they also have a certain research value!"

After speaking, he turned and prepared to leave.

Beep!

A sharp siren sounded. Instantly, the ten cryogenic pods were activated simultaneously. The suppressors on the red human-aberrations inside stopped working, their heartbeats sounded like beating drums, and ten pairs of blood-red eyes looked toward Lin Xian's side.

"Kiki!"

Lin Xian immediately shouted to Kiki, and Kiki understood immediately, directly using her telekinesis to prepare to grab Julius.

Who would have thought that at this moment, a sheet of black water suddenly overflowed from the ground, splashing out over a large area. The water droplets shot toward everyone like sharp swords. Kiki's expression changed, and she reflexively unleashed a telekinetic shield to dodge!

Boom!

Like a tsunami crashing, large sheets of water arrows sprayed onto Kiki's telekinetic shield.

Argh!!

At this moment, those 10 red human-aberrations had already launched their attack. A huge butcher among them roared, tore off the cables connecting its body, and opened its mouth to spray a monstrous flame toward Lin Xian's side!

Fire-type ability!

"Retreat quickly!"

Kiki reacted first, stepping forward and blocking it with a telekinetic wave. The flames immediately exploded in all directions. The massive fire instantly shattered most of the cryogenic pods in the hall, plunging these 'Julius' clones into a sea of fire. Some of them, already mutated, ran out of the fire roaring frantically, while others were burned alive directly.

"Don't let him run!"

As soon as the words fell, several terrifying human-aberration figures suddenly appeared in the sea of fire on the left and right, attacking Lin Xian's squad.

Clang!

After Zhou Jin emptied a magazine of bullets, facing a shadow breaking through the wind, he immediately stepped forward, his body turning into silver-black metallic skin, and he slammed into it with an Iron Mountain Lean. In an instant, a huge shockwave erupted, and the ground under Zhou Jin's feet cracked into ripples. Looking up, he discovered it was a black man in heavy armor, whose skin had almost grown together with the metal armor, his scarlet eyes glowing with dark light. The next moment, a booming counter-shock force actually sent him flying back directly.

"Hmph!"

Zhou Jin let out a muffled grunt and quickly transmitted: "Xiao Yan, Li Su, protect Team Leader Lin!"

Xiao Yan held two electric blades, the arc light flickering. Having just nimbly leaped out of a joint attack by two human-aberrations, she arrived directly beside Lin Xian: "Team Leader Lin, I'll cover you!"

Lin Xian at this moment opened his AT field shield, simultaneously activating mechanical ability control and devouring, rapidly shredding the armor and weapon devices on the body of a tall human-aberration in front. Mechanical energy cannons blasted two bloody holes in its body, but it did not cause much damage.

Kiki rushed over, raised her hand, and used telekinesis to grab a small human-aberration attacking from the air, pushing Lin Xian and Shizhi toward the rear passage.

Buzz buzz buzz, Lin Xian's drone legion was frantically bombarding the entire White Hall at this moment, various laser beams and magnetic storm oscillations suppressing the red human-aberrations and the Julius clones that had mutated into zombies.

"Grace!"

【I am here!】

Bang bang!

Grace, who was mounted on top of a human-aberration's head and tearing its brain armor open with her five fingers, heard Lin Xian's order and immediately leaped, landing to cover Lin Xian as he rushed into the rear passage.

Just as he came out of the research institute passage, Lin Xian immediately located the direction of the main control room.

Boom!

At this moment, a rapid impact instantly struck from above the floor. Lin Xian reacted quickly, grabbing Shizhi and pulling back. Kiki on the other side also used her telekinetic ability to retreat quickly. Only to see a boom, a black object like a meteorite smashed through the floor where Lin Xian had just been standing and then went all the way down, smashing a large hole. That seemed to be a red human-aberration covered in iron armor!

The floor shattering suddenly caused a chain reaction, including the position where everyone was standing, which began to break and collapse. Lin Xian, caught off guard, immediately activated his power armor jet device, grabbed Shizhi, turned in the falling air, and jumped onto a platform.

"Lin Xian!"

Kiki leaped over, and as soon as Lin Xian landed, he turned around and fired a mechanical energy cannon!

Pfft!

A sky-blue beam pierced through, hitting a black shadow approaching Kiki head-on. Then he raised his hand to summon four "Iron Curtains" to protect Shizhi underneath. With a thought, his body's energy erupted, and a magnetic storm oscillation with a diameter of over 10 meters exploded from Lin Xian's center. Scorching white plasma sparks suddenly exploded, forcibly shaking away a fist shadow that was about to smash into his back!

Triple attack!

Toot!! One wave after another, amidst the smoke and dust, a barrage of violent bullets swept directly across the positions of Lin Xian and Kiki. Lin Xian propped up his AT field and flashed out in an instant.

"There are ability users, Angel-level!"

Before the words fell, a man in power armor had already appeared in front of Lin Xian like a ghost, raising his hand with a red flash, preparing to slash at Lin Xian's face.

Crack!

The next instant, his power armor joints were locked. This slashing action directly caused him to shatter his own arm's power armor. After Lin Xian blocked such a fast move, the man was clearly a bit surprised. Just as he was preparing his next move, he immediately withdrew his hand. An electric blade flashing with arc light broke through the air, and the man retreated violently, disappearing as a red flash.

Xiao Yan rushed out at this moment, retracted her electric blade, and was immediately knocked flying by another human-aberration. At this time, Li Su arrived and fired several pulse cannon shots in retaliation, bang bang bang!

"Team Leader Lin, watch out!"

Lin Xian retreated on the spot, only to see a shockwave erupting from the smoke and dust just now. A woman in black tights was blasted out directly by Kiki using telekinesis. Zhou Jin, who was fighting on the upper level, jumped down two levels while raising his gun, blasted a female human-aberration open with a straight steel punch, and with his back facing the artillery shells poured by the red human-aberrations, he grabbed a giant concrete boulder and smashed it directly at the woman in tights. This woman was not wearing power armor, but facing the boulder, her whole body splashed in the air like black water mist, and then quickly condensed in another place.

Boom! The concrete smashed and cracked a wall, making a ringing sound.

"Water-type ability?" Kiki looked surprised. She had seen Han Jun's water-type ability control the sky-filling rain, but she hadn't expected that a person could actually become elemental. Even Fire Brother couldn't do this. Could it be that abilities undergo a qualitative change after reaching the Angel-level?

Lin Xian's face sank at this moment. He picked up Shizhi, who was still continuously restoring his mental power, and carried her on his shoulder. Currently facing a formidable enemy, his mechanical ability scanned them. The two people just now had no brain-machine devices on them, meaning they were not clones grafted through mycelium brain-machines like Qin Feng, but individuals with true independent thinking!

"Attention, two of them are ability users, not human-aberrations!"

Just as Lin Xian finished speaking, his mechanical ability immediately scanned something, and he immediately activated his jet system to jump on the spot. But at this moment, the floor under his feet suddenly broke open, and the giant shadow that had smashed down like a meteorite just now extended a hand and grabbed one of Lin Xian's feet, trying to pull him down.

"You dare!"

Kiki reacted instantly, her eyes erupting with powerful ability brilliance. Tens of thousands of tons of telekinetic force directly grabbed that black hand, instantly squeezing and twisting it into a state 1/3 smaller than the original. Metal screeching erupted, and Lin Xian directly lit up three superstring reactor phase rainbow rings in the air. Muffled ionization sounds exploded, and he reached back downward, his mechanical decomposition layer by layer disintegrating the black hand's mechanical device. In the blink of an eye, a bloody, mangled monster hand appeared before his eyes.

Just as Lin Xian was preparing to strip its entire body, the owner of this black hand seemed to realize the crisis and suddenly launched a powerful explosion. Red ripples oscillated, instantly causing the floor of several levels of the dungeon streets to shake violently. Smoke and dust filled the sky, and then four full levels of flooring collapsed with a boom. Kiki propped up her telekinetic shield, reached back to grab several people, and blew away a patch of smoke all the way up, only then rescuing Lin Xian and Shizhi from the floor.

10 red human-aberrations plus two ability users at least at the Angel-level—neither Lin Xian nor Zhou Jin had expected that the Deep Red World would hide such formidable combat power here.

"Lin Xian!"

At this moment, Chu Yan's voice came through the communicator: "I'll go chase Julius, you solve the Heart of the Galaxy. You cannot let the Deep Red World control Dawn City!"

"Okay!"

Lin Xian, carrying Shizhi, activated his jetpack and flew up from the broken floor of the dungeon. Who would have thought that in the air, a red flash would erupt. Lin Xian's eyes were like sharp electricity. While summoning his AT field, 50 Iron Rain drones circled in groups of 10 at hypersonic speed, descending from the sky and swooshing past Lin Xian's side. The man hadn't expected Lin Xian to control the drones so precisely, and while attacking at high speed, he was hit by an Iron Rain drone, rolling and flying out of the air.

Lin Xian took this opportunity to have 200 Thunder Falcon drones charge in the air, and immediately fired 200 pulse rays.

Swish swish!

The ultra-high-temperature rays instantly cut and separated an entire floor. The black-armored human-aberration in front suddenly rushed over and attacked Lin Xian's face with a punch. Clang! At this moment, Grace appeared, accurately pointing a foot at the fist in the air. But although Grace's toe seemed small, the formidable material directly and forcibly pierced and exploded the black-armored human-aberration's fist armor, metal fragments bursting out.

Lin Xian immediately controlled two Iron Rain drones to use the force to fly back to the main control level, discovering that Kiki was being suppressed to death by that woman in tights plus three human-aberrations. Zhou Jin, Li Su, and Xiao Yan were simply overwhelmed. And on his side, besides that speed-force ability user with the red flash and an incomparably formidable black-armored human-aberration, other human-aberrations were also pouncing on him.

Only to see a red light flash, and dozens of drones were destroyed and fell to the ground, coming straight at him. Lin Xian used a flash to dodge. The instantaneous speed made the man who had missed his target exclaim in surprise. He looked at Lin Xian with a hint of madness in his eyes and said in a very low voice:

"Does mechanical ability actually have such strong individual combat capability?"

"Then you've seen the world today!" Lin Xian pointed his finger and fired a mechanical energy cannon.

The man gave a weird smile and disappeared from the spot instantly. The next instant, he was already behind Lin Xian. Lin Xian's power armor instantly activated its thrusters, but he was grabbed by the shoulder armor.

"Too slow, evolution is too slow!" After the man finished speaking, he immediately bundled his hands into a blade, red ability flickering, preparing to pierce directly through his armor.

Boom!

A powerful impact, electric arcs flashed, and the smile on the man's face suddenly froze. A hexagonal transparent barrier appeared behind Lin Xian, completely blocking his hand blade. And the next moment, 8 mechanical chains appeared out of thin air like spirit snakes, about to entangle him.

The man reacted and immediately used his ability to retreat violently, sneering: "Creative, but still too..."

Boom!

Before the word "slow" could even be spoken, a train carriage strangely appeared above his head and fell vertically, directly smashing through him and the floor, smashing him down toward the ground.

The man never expected that a train would appear out of thin air in this dungeon and crash into him.

Lin Xian reached back and put away the Black Star Forge, carried Shizhi, and rushed into the main control room, only to find that the internal network terminal here had been completely destroyed. His expression changed, and he immediately checked the time. There were less than 6 minutes left!

He immediately summoned all manufacturing and maintenance drones, and at the same time let Grace take over.

"Grace, check for damage!"

【Scanning complete, currently performing internal network terminal equipment repair.】

【Detected internal network cable breakage.】

Lin Xian frowned: "Can you locate the position?"

【Yes, but it is relatively time-consuming, and if it was cut manually, it is uncertain how many places are broken.】

Hearing this, Lin Xian felt a chill in his heart, and he was stunned for a few seconds. His eyes kept flickering. At this moment, looking at the huge Gray Mist Messenger outside the window, he immediately reacted.

"It must have been cut manually. The Gray Mist Messenger launch must be connected to the Heart of the Galaxy. This channel cannot be broken. We can connect from here!"

"Lin Xian!"

After a huge shockwave, Kiki's voice came from the communicator: "There is another problem. This is the root server configuration point for the internal network. If Julius deliberately destroyed the terminal equipment and cables, he likely also set some kind of key!"

"F*ck his mother!"

Whoosh!

Just at this moment, a surge of water rushed into the main control room, directly sweeping Lin Xian along with dozens of drones out. An arm extended from the black water and grabbed Lin Xian's neck, and countless water currents began to try to seep into the gaps of Lin Xian's mecha.

At the same time, the man flashing with red light walked out of the shadows and said in a low voice.

"There is no chance left, give up, mechanical ability user, perhaps you can join us..."

Beep beep beep beep!

Lin Xian, looking at the alarm information on the mecha's holographic panel, directly used a magnetic storm oscillation. In an instant, scorching white electric arcs exploded, instantly evaporating a large amount of water vapor. Just as Lin Xian broke free, the black-armored human-aberration descended from the sky again, attacking Lin Xian's chest with a punch.

Who would have thought that at this moment, a particle shockwave would crash in, sending the black-armored human-aberration flying and pinning it against the wall, making even the building structure vibrate.

At the same time, several ability fluctuations erupted everywhere, and a bullet storm swept in, instantly reducing the pressure on Lin Xian, Kiki, Zhou Jin, Li Su, and Xiao Yan. The man with the red flash quickly fled at this time.

Lin Xian looked up and discovered that it was Qi Nuo's squad that had finally arrived to support them.

"Sorry for being late!"

Qi Nuo jumped down from the floor, punched out a row of resonance waves to blast a fire-breathing human-aberration away, and said to Lin Xian: "How is the situation now?"

"No time to explain! Help me block these human-aberrations, I'll go connect the cables first. Be careful, they have two Angel-level ability users!"

Lin Xian didn't say another word, directly activated his power armor's propulsion system, and flew toward the Gray Mist Messenger opposite with Shizhi.

At this moment, countless black rains shot toward Lin Xian like bullets, but just before hitting Lin Xian, a strong updraft swallowed them all. Kiki stood in the air and said to Lin Xian: "You go quickly, leave this to us!"

In the passage of the upper floor, more and more of the previous red human-aberrations began to run down the corridor to the lower levels. In the main control room passage, Zhou Jin's squad was also fighting a bloody battle. Outside, in the dungeon's multi-level corridor blocks, Kiki, Grace, the drone legion, and the Nightwalker Qi Nuo's detachment were fighting a tragic battle against those two ability users and numerous colonized human-aberrations.

Lin Xian arrived at the Gray Mist Messenger's berth launch rack at this moment. Mechanical scanning quickly scanned the information connection terminal, and then he manufactured a repeater and began to reconnect the cables from the main control room side.

The closer he got to this giant S-level colonization unit, the more Lin Xian felt a strong dark invasive force constantly torturing his reason. Shizhi looked terrified, using all her might to operate her ability to help Lin Xian suppress it.

Buzz buzz buzz!

And Lin Xian at this moment even directly unfolded his superstring reactor phase rainbow rings to boost his ability peak, his mechanical heart running frantically.

Empty~

At this moment, Lin Xian suddenly heard a strange, unusual sound coming from below the dungeon, as if countless dark creatures were stirring, not knowing if it was purely because of the darkness or because of the power resonance produced by the S-level gray mist.

"There seem to be many monsters down here, blocked by something."

"Valves."

Lin Xian remembered that when they first entered the city, Ke Zai led them into the already sealed dungeon traffic rail system. Those were all sealed off, but down here, it seemed to be connected to somewhere.

He immediately opened the terrain map of the underground works that Zhou Jin had given him earlier and discovered that several ports were outside the No. 1 city wall. Once opened, billions of aberration bodies would drill in from these underground works, and the city would directly fall into hell!

Shizhi also reacted at this moment, her small face terrified: "If those monsters drill into the city from here, where will they lead?"

"No. 1 Dungeon!"

Lin Xian's gaze was cold: "The very center of Dawn City! The Deep Red World wants to turn the No. 1 Dungeon into a monster fountain. By then, night will descend, the whole city will be in panic, attacked from inside and outside, and Dawn City will become their massive testing ground. Millions of people will all be their observational test subjects..."

"This... this is too terrifying!" Shizhi said.

At this moment, on the other side, Chu Yan and the members of her squad were fighting a bloody battle against several red human-aberrations, chasing Julius, the battle situation intense.

Giant God Peak launch site well passage, a bloody path, several red human-aberrations were killed, and the young lives of Chu Yan's squad members were left along the way. On a platform at the edge of the launch site, a small transport ship was docked at this moment.

At this time, the remaining members were still fighting with two human-aberrations, while Chu Yan had chased to the transport ship's platform.

Julius stood at the boarding gate. Who would have thought that at this moment, another Julius in a suit walked down from the transport ship.

Chu Yan saw this scene, her expression changing slightly.

"Surprised?" That Julius looked at the corpses along the way indifferently, his expression calm: "It's thanks to you. In order to deal with your mental power squad, I had to consider a few more things."

Two Juliuses looked at Chu Yan with smiles on their faces, one on the left and one on the right.

Swish!

Instantly, a red flash attacked. Chu Yan used mental power oscillation, her mechanical body tumbling to barely avoid this strike.

"Know why I'm waiting for you here?" One of the Juliuses laughed mockingly: "Because I'm very curious, do the people of the Phoenix Society really know what despair is?"

Chu Yan's exquisite face was covered in bloodstains at this moment. She looked at the two Juliuses, while also being vigilant against the speed-force man with the red flash.

The opponent's speed was too fast. Although it was difficult for the opponent to get close to her within her mental power field, it was also difficult for her to focus and defeat him.

Julius sneered: "Mental-type ability, you can kill just by having a thought, what a perfect ability, comparable to God. Hehe, the ace of the North American United Front, why are you hesitating now?"

"Oh, because you can't kill me. You still want to obtain information about the Dark World from me intact. Ye Lan must have told you that this is perhaps the last chance for humans to gain the initiative."

Chu Yan did not respond, at this moment being vigilant while contacting Lin Xian through the communicator.

"Lin Xian, how is it on your side, can you ensure you take down the Heart of the Galaxy?"

"It's not that simple..." Lin Xian was covered in sweat, all manufacturing sequences of the Black Star Forge cleared to manufacture cables and internal network terminal equipment.

When he used the repeater to connect this internal network cable, he indeed discovered, as Kiki said, that this entire Giant God Peak launch site had been set with a strict authentication key. His expression changed immediately, and he said to Chu Yan: "There is a problem now. To connect to the internal network for central control, Julius's iris authentication is required."

Chu Yan frowned: "Can it be forcibly broken?"

"Root server iris key dual encryption, not enough time, must have him in person!"

"I have a situation on my side too." Chu Yan looked at the two Juliuses in front and synchronized the situation to Lin Xian.

Hearing this, Lin Xian frowned and said: "Do you know which one is him in person?"

"I can scan the differences in mental power fluctuations between individuals. Clones will have differences due to time and training, but these two seem to have undergone the same training, or rather, neither is Julius himself."

"So cunning, then what should we do?!"

If neither was Julius himself, then they couldn't be sure who was the one who connected to the Dark World.

Chu Yan naturally realized this point too.

Bang bang!

On Chu Yan's side, ability erupted, another fierce battle. The members behind her killed a red human-aberration and came to support, but facing that red-flashing man, they were somewhat unable to cope. At this time, the remaining two teammates were both injured.

Chu Yan took the opportunity to retreat and said to Lin Xian:

"Now we can only solve the Heart of the Galaxy problem first. The Zhen Tian Ship and the 83rd Iron Guard Brigade have already arrived to support. I don't know how long until dawn. If the weapon system is seized at this time, both inside and outside the city will be finished!"

"I know!" Lin Xian was covered in sweat at this moment, frantically operating the repair project, and shouted: "And the Deep Red World tampered with the underground network works. Those aberration bodies can directly enter the city from the launch site or other channels. They just want to conduct full-city experimental observation in this situation of total fear!"

Hearing this, Chu Yan's eyes flickered, and she said to Lin Xian: "Regardless of whether these two are the real Julius, I can be sure of one thing!" "What?!"

"If authentication is needed, the activation of the Gray Mist Messenger is also included, so the one who can perform iris verification must be among them!"

Lin Xian reacted: "Makes sense. With Julius's caution, he must ensure that Deep Red No. 3 completes the takeover of the city's hub, otherwise their long-prepared plan will all be in vain."

Lin Xian's thoughts raced at this moment, and he said: "Chu Yan, don't let Julius run away, I'll come find you immediately, I have a way to solve this problem remotely!"

Chu Yan wiped the blood from her face and said in a low voice:

"Okay!"

Beep, beep, beep!

At this moment, inside the Giant God Peak launch site, a loud alarm sounded.

【Launch plan is about to start, launch silo is opening.】

In a suburban area far outside Dawn City, street buildings shook violently, the ground cracked, and giant gates hundreds of meters wide slowly opened.

In an instant, a large amount of ruins and rubble, accompanied by countless aberration bodies sprinting in the dark night, fell from the sky like rain.

Boom!

Muffled thunder exploded, echoing throughout the launch site. Heavy rain drifted down from above the Giant God Peak launch site, splashing onto the Gray Mist Messenger and various engineering scaffolds.

Seeing this scene, Lin Xian installed the repeater and suddenly handed a photonic storage device to Shizhi: "Shizhi, I'll be done here soon. Later, you will be responsible for plugging in this continuation key."

"Ah?!" Hearing this, Shizhi's face turned pale, and she was so nervous she became incoherent: "I... I..."

"Listen!"

Lin Xian grabbed her shoulders, checked the time, and said to her with extreme solemnity: "There are 3 minutes left now. As soon as 10 o'clock connects, the Heart of the Galaxy will open its ports because of the activation of the screen-breaking device. The Deep Red World certainly plans to use this opportunity to control the Heart of the Galaxy. Although Julius set a key on the server here, he doesn't know that Chu Zhaonan deliberately left a 10-second offline state, because it takes 10 seconds for Deep Red No. 3's computing power to take over the whole city, so we will have 10 seconds to regain control of the hub!"

"But..." Shizhi looked nervous, not expecting Lin Xian to give her such an important task.

Lin Xian kept panting, lowered his voice in Shizhi's ear, and said: "Don't be afraid, I believe you can do it."

"I... I..." Looking at Lin Xian's firm gaze, Shizhi's small face flushed red, and then she nodded seriously:

"I understand."

Lin Xian handed the continuation key to Shizhi because she was the only one here besides Chu Yan who was not much affected by the dark invasion.

Originally, he considered letting Grace execute this task, but now Grace needed to deal with the red human-aberrations while simultaneously manipulating drones to repair the terminal. Only Shizhi had the spare capacity to complete this matter here.

Subsequently, Lin Xian completed the cable connection and took Shizhi through the thrusters to fly back to the floor where the main control room was located. Here, the large-scale street floor had already collapsed, and the entire command post was beginning to totter.

"Zhou Jin, Qi Nuo, protect the main control room and Shizhi!"

"Understood!"

Boom, on the other side, Kiki was suppressed by that seemingly invincible black water until she couldn't breathe. Her telekinesis felt as if it were hitting the ocean and the air, making her somewhat exhausted in dealing with it.

That black water would transform into rain mist one moment and flow in the air the next, looking incomparably flexible.

Lin Xian saw this scene and immediately reacted: "She has a main body! These waters are just controlled and deformed by her!"

"Grace! Find the ability user's main body!"

"Grace!"

【Grace understands!】

Whoosh whoosh! Hundreds of drones rotated and scanned like a storm. Sure enough, a black shadow was found on a higher floor. In an instant, countless drones fired at its main body, and the black water flew away and fled quickly.

Kiki took the opportunity to suppress it, and both sides began to bombard each other with abilities.

Lin Xian took the opportunity to enter the main control room, summoning Iron Curtain drones and construction drones to surround the entire control room.

"Team Leader Lin!" Zhou Jin leaned over with his iron skin: "There are more and more of those human-aberrations!"

"You guard this main control room!"

"Okay!"

Instantly, all squad members fought while retreating, all beginning to gather toward the main control center. Lin Xian operated the power armor jet system and several drones to fly toward the top of the launch site.

Seeming to realize Lin Xian's move, the building structure suddenly shot out countless black water arrows densely, like a sky-filling rainstorm trying to stop Lin Xian.

Boom! A telekinetic wave crashed in. Kiki arrived quickly, her silver teeth clenched, exerting her full ability wave to form a protective shield to block for Lin Xian, a large amount of nosebleed flowing down.

Lin Xian saw this scene and wanted to make a move, but Kiki didn't even look back, exerting a telekinetic force to lift him to a higher place:

"Don't worry about me, you go quickly!"

Two minutes left!!

Lin Xian didn't have time to think too much. Borrowing this telekinetic force from Kiki, plus his propulsion system, he rushed straight up through the rainstorm and finally broke out of the surface.

And at this moment, between heaven and earth, the outline of the night could not be distinguished at all. Far outside the No. 1 high wall of Dawn City, dense bombing and artillery barrages were like a violent storm. A tide of aberration bodies like a tidal wave seemed endless. Large-sized aberration bodies climbed and bombarded the city walls. The city walls made of reinforced concrete plus metal armor had already appeared with gaps of various sizes.

In the sky inside the city, millions of survivors were fighting against the sky and the mutated crowd. The smoke of war rose into the sky like dark clouds. Even from more than ten kilometers away, Lin Xian could smell the bloody and scorched scent from the rain curtain.

Main control room direction.

Zhou Jin saw the continuation key in Shizhi's hand and immediately understood their mission. At this moment, that black-armored human-aberration rushed over with a boom. He gritted his teeth fiercely, roared, and stood fearless, attacking head-on!

"Li Su, Xiao Yan, guard this place for me to the death!"

"Received!"

"Old Qi, don't f*cking destroy the command post, separate the battlefield!"

"I know!" Qi Nuo, covered in blood, had his hands shaking at this moment. His four small detachments had fought from last night to the underground works passage, and then to now. Of the 40-plus people, fewer than 20 remained.

The fire-breathing red human-aberration rushed out of the passage, and Qi Nuo rushed forward with two teammates.

"Wei Chen, Zhang Xufei, block its mouth for me!"

"Okay!"

Boom!

Inside the main control room, countless drones were rapidly repairing the terminal equipment, and fierce battles were taking place at both ends of the main control room. In the passage, Li Su, Xiao Yan, and several Nightwalker organization detachments were fighting desperately. Outside the main control room, there was a battle across several levels of the building, a tragic scene.

Shizhi stood in front of the cabinet with the continuation key in her hand, her eyes fixed on the time. Through the window, in her eyes, that giant S-level colonization unit outside was radiating terrifying world-destroying black energy.

One minute left!

Under the automatic equipment, the fuel tower cables began to detach, and the hydraulic support towers slowly separated.

Toot! Toot!

A yellow alarm sounded throughout the Giant God Peak launch tower, each sound like a heavy hammer!

In the passage, Xiao Yan, whose chest was directly pierced by sharp claws, roared before dying, inserting two electric blades into the red human-aberration's lower jaw, directly piercing its skull!

Li Su, who had only one arm left, detonated the explosives placed in the passage, burying himself and the subsequent human-aberrations alive, completely blocking the passage on the hall side.

Outside the main control room, the Nightwalker organization's squad had been suppressed to outside the main control room by countless human-aberrations, their numbers reduced to less than 10. Zhou Jin, covered in steel bones, grabbed that black-armored human-aberration and smashed through several concrete walls. That black-armored human-aberration's strength was shockingly large, actually snapping the wrist joints of Zhou Jin, who had metallic skin all over. Zhou Jin's blood surged, and he bit down on its neck, tearing off a piece along with the breathing tube and lower jaw.

Bloody battle!

On the other side, as soon as Lin Xian flew out of the launch silo, his line of sight immediately saw Chu Yan, who was fighting her final battle outside the small transport ship at the edge of the platform, as well as two 'Juliuses'!

"Watch out!"

Before he could even speak, Chu Yan's voice had already come from the communicator first.

Woo! The sound of breaking wind arrived in an instant. Lin Xian was still in the air when a red flash swept over at high speed. He subconsciously propped up his AT field shield, but his whole body had already been blasted by this huge force, smashing onto the ground like a cannonball. Before he could get up, another red human-aberration had already raised its fists and aimed them at him.

Boom, at the critical moment, a female member of Chu Yan's squad rushed over quickly, using a type of air blade to cut off half of the red human-aberration's arm, then blew Lin Xian away, while she herself was hit in the back by another punch, her whole body instantly spraying blood wildly.

Lin Xian, who had dodged, pulled the female member out from under the fist, reached back and attached a Destroyer drone, immediately activated the Black Hawk armor's back propulsion system to take the female member and flip in the air, then smashed an electric hammer punch onto the red human-aberration's head in the air, making it pounce face-first onto the Destroyer drone.

Boom!

A booming explosion ignited instantly. In the blink of an eye, Lin Xian had already unfolded his superstring reactor phase rainbow rings, releasing a large AT field shield for protection. The huge shockwave directly sent both of them flying dozens of meters.

The smoke cleared, rubble flew everywhere. Lin Xian at this moment seemed to only be able to hear the breathing in his mask. The violent explosion made him feel as if his whole skeleton was about to fall apart.

The power armor holographic screen kept flickering, time passing second by second.

He wiped the smoke and dust off his power armor mask and looked at the female member beside him, not knowing if she was dead or alive. He staggered to his feet, preparing to walk toward Chu Yan, only to find that the man with the red flash had disappeared.

Lin Xian became vigilant immediately, and at this moment, Chu Yan's voice in the communicator finally became clear.

"Lin Xian... Lin Xian, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you."

"It's about to launch, has the internal network equipment been repaired?"

Lin Xian looked at the progress information sent by Grace on the holographic interface.

98%.

"Absolutely," Lin Xian said in a deep voice: "There is a person in here who can unlock the iris, perhaps this person also knows the information about the darkness..."

Julius looked at Lin Xian, who was struggling to crawl up from the rubble, with a disdainful smile.

"Chu Zhaonan proved the theory that 'humans must fail' with practical actions. He broke his principles, but he also taught your Phoenix Society a lesson."

Julius checked the time and then held up his watch to the two.

"Oh, you seem to be out of time."

Lin Xian and Chu Yan looked over. The time on it had just jumped from 9:59 to 10 o'clock!

【Launch program started, thruster ignition countdown!】

Boom!

A ground-shaking tremor came from the Giant God Peak launch site. Accompanied by mechanical sounds, the alarm stopped completely.

At the same time, on the No. 1 city wall far away, the sounds of massive weapons and automatic artillery stopped abruptly!

And at this moment, dawn had not yet broken. Under the dark night rain curtain, a violent aberration tide arrived with a boom.

The garrison troops and millions of survivors who were fighting to the death on the city walls only felt that the world seemed to have quieted down a lot in an instant. Suddenly, extreme fear sprouted from the bottom of everyone's hearts.

"The weapons have stopped!"

"Are we out of ammo?!!"

The garrison on the city wall shouted, the commander covered in cold sweat: "Individual weapons return fire! All mecha detachments get on the city wall!"

When all automatic weapon systems stopped, the entire Dawn City's defensive firepower seemed to have decreased by 2/3 in one go. For a time, a large number of aberration bodies surged onto the city walls, giant bodies began to collide with the city wall areas that had already developed gaps. In the sky, dense flying creatures poured out of their nests, and Dawn City was filled with despair and screams.

On the Giant God Peak launch silo side, mechanical sounds began to announce the launch countdown.

【Launch sequence countdown started, 10】

【9】

"Lin Xian!" At this moment, Chu Yan's expression gathered, and she shouted to Lin Xian without hesitation: "Listen to me, I'll control Julius in a moment, you scan his iris immediately, then..."

【8】

Julius looked at the weapon shutdown across the field, a smile finally relaxing on his gloomy face: "Look at this spectacular scene. I won't kill you, after all, you two are still the test subjects I value the most."

"Now, let the Phoenix Society receive this mess, hurry up and run away from my testing ground. Perhaps your remaining vehicles can still take away one or two million. Hehe, but it doesn't really matter. Anyway, for you, taking those old, weak, sick, disabled, and children is of no use to you. Those large convoys, those evolved high-level strong ones, should all be wishing for fewer of these burdens. So we, the Deep Red World, actually solved the trouble for you, didn't we?"

"I'll solve your mother!" Lin Xian said to Chu Yan at this moment: "If it's a dead person, can you still use mental ability to steal dreams?"

"Even if his brain is dead, brain cells won't lose activity immediately. The micro-electrical signals of all neurons are completely severed, and all 'thinking', 'memory', 'judgment', and 'organ perception' will remain for a few minutes..." Chu Yan replied.

Lin Xian looked at the repair progress of the internal network terminal, 98%!

"Then slaughter him!"

【7】

Julius heard this, but his expression was calm: "Truly naive, do you really think that this body of mine holds information about the Dark World, and then I'd just place it here for your mental power squad to seize?"

"I won't fall for the same trick twice."

After speaking, both Juliuses immediately prepared to board the transport ship.

【6】

Chu Yan shouted at this moment: "Lin Xian, grab him!"

"Don't even think about running, any of you!!" Lin Xian shouted, mechanical ability activated, instantly manipulating the boarding ladder of the transport ship behind him to deform into two hinges to bind both Juliuses together.

【5】

Julius frowned immediately because he saw that on the other side, Chu Yan's eyes were already unleashing mental ability.

Boom!

In an instant, both Juliuses had blood seeping from their eyes, their heads blank, clearly forcibly controlled by mental power ability.

【4】

Just at this moment, the man with the red flash suddenly appeared, but he did not attack Lin Xian and Chu Yan, but instead inserted a dagger directly into the temple of the Julius on the right.

"Sorry, I guessed your trick long ago. If a mental-type ability user dies in the target's consciousness, they will die themselves."

The red-flashing man smiled weirdly.

But at this moment, he didn't see shock on Lin Xian's face, but instead saw Lin Xian extend a finger toward him.

【3】

His expression changed shockingly. In an instant, he wanted to retreat, but while flickering, the space behind him suddenly distorted, and a small black hole instantly captured the red light on his body along with his flesh and blood. The man looked incomparably terrified at this moment because he discovered that his speed force actually couldn't escape!

"Impossible?!"

Lin Xian gritted his teeth and roared, right hand gravity lens, left hand directly summoning the Black Star Forge.

【2】

Buzz buzz!

In mid-air, a huge thundercloud appeared, and a terrifying mechanical gate slowly opened. Inside, a complete set of root server network and internal network terminal equipment, along with cables, wound out like black pythons. The very front condensed into a terminal iris recognition device, directly pouncing in front of the Julius who had a dagger inserted into his temple!

This scene was like a mechanical wonder!

At the same time, on Lin Xian's holographic panel, the internal network terminal repair finally reached 100% at this moment.

Network data flickered, cables like spirit snakes, the recognition light screen scanned across Julius's face, and with a beep, it emitted a green light!

This sound was extremely small, but at this moment it was like a loud bell, making the Julius on the left suddenly wake up from mental control.

【1】

Boom!!

Under Giant God Peak, the 8 ultra-heavy plasma thrusters of the Gray Mist Messenger ignited with a boom. The powerful thrust made the ground within a radius of several kilometers vibrate. Huge airflow violently rushed into the sky from under the launch silo, washing away all the rain curtains, monstrous heat constantly melting all launch racks and support devices.

At this moment, this ultra-large S-level colonization unit hundreds of meters high slowly ascended!

"What did you do!?" Julius asked angrily at this moment. Before Lin Xian could respond, on the city wall of Dawn City in the distance, all automated weapons suddenly ignited, erupting with powerful firepower again. And the muzzles of these weapons were not aimed at survivors and garrison troops, but were still aimed at the dark monster tide, violently releasing the full-metal storm of human industrial civilization!!!

"How is this possible!!!!" Looking at this scene, Julius's expression changed drastically: "Deep Red No. 3 clearly had already taken over Dawn City!!"

Crack!

A mechanical motor sound rang out. Lin Xian stood opposite him, pointing his mechanical energy cannon at this Julius's brow, and said coldly:

"Clearly, you... don't understand being human that well."

Julius was furious, sneering: "Lin, I swear, you will definitely..."

Boom!

The mechanical energy cannon pierced through his brow with one shot, and this cloned Julius fell to the ground before his words could even finish.

Lin Xian immediately rushed over to help Chu Yan up. At this moment, bright red blood was flowing from Chu Yan's eyes, nostrils, and corners of her mouth. She tried to open her eyes but kept trembling, her head twitching constantly, and the mechanical devices on her body frantically issued alarms.

【Heart rate overload, heart rate overload...】

【Detected vital signs about to disappear, automatically enabling AED system】

Woo~ Zzz!

On Chu Yan's body, the AED system started automatically, a burst of ionization sounds trembling. Chu Yan seemed to regain some consciousness, still closing her eyes and trembling all over, trying to speak.

Lin Xian looked at this scene and hurriedly leaned his ear over.

"This is... the only... choice... Lin... don't... give up on me..."

The panting stopped gradually. Lin Xian slowly raised his head. The woman before him had already lost her breath, that bright red blood blooming like a flower on her beautiful face.

Lin Xian stood up, and Kiki's voice came through his earpiece.

"Lin Xian... we successfully retrieved the Heart of the Galaxy."

Inside the main control room, that continuation key was successfully inserted into the control panel by Shizhi at the last moment. Deep Red No. 3's consciousness core was captured by Grace before it could completely control the Heart of the Galaxy.

The smell of blood permeated the surroundings. At the entrance, Zhou Jin, whose chest was completely torn open, died together with the black-armored human-aberration. Qi Nuo had half a lower leg broken, leaned in the corner, and lit a cigarette for himself. Shizhi, who was already full of tears, was trying to give him treatment.

Qi Nuo's gaze swept over, everywhere were his former teammates and partners.

Except for a few construction drones, most of Lin Xian's drones had been destroyed in battle. Grace rescued Kiki, who was exhausted, from the ruins and brought her to the passage outside the main control room.

Rumble!

At this moment, the few remaining people looked at the steaming heat and smoke filling the entire launch silo after the Gray Mist Messenger launch, feeling as if it were a lifetime ago.

Lin Xian stood at the giant launch silo entrance, looking up under the fire of war on all sides at the giant Gray Mist Messenger slowly ascending against the dark night rain. At the same time, at the starport of Dawn City, 7 giant starships, under the cover of countless anti-aircraft weapons and air combat vessels, brought up a string of brilliant arcs and went toward the sky together.

Those arcs were like the last torch before the human night, illuminating the night sky while also seeming to take away the last radiance of Dawn City.

Listening to the news that the Heart of the Galaxy had been retrieved, an indescribable complexity surged in Lin Xian's heart. He knew they had survived this night, but he also knew that the remaining humans perhaps only had the last lingering escape left.

(End of chapter)