Chapter 400

Dawn City, No. 1 Dungeon, Vanguard Project Launch Hall.

Chu Zhaonan and a group of federal officials watched the launch of the 7 starships on the screen with solemn expressions. The launch hall was busy.

Not just here, the entire No. 1 Dungeon was empty at this moment. All federal staff in various positions, except for those of the Vanguard Project, had already left. The few who were still around him were only Xu Yan and Luo Ming, as well as the person in charge of the Vanguard Project, Su Jin.

"Report to Chairman Chu, a large number of aberration bodies have been detected pouring in from the underground network works."

An officer reported at this moment: "All entrances and exits of the city have been closed, and it is expected that they will rush in from under the dungeon in 30 minutes."

"I'll take people to hold them off," Luo Ming said to the officer: "Everyone, guard the launch center."

"Yes!"

Beside the Twin Star Tower, the Zhen Tian Ship had already arrived amidst the sky-filling artillery fire. Ye Lan stood on the main bridge at the bow of the ship, calmly watching the seven starships carrying the light of human civilization continuously ascending in the darkness.

At the same time, in Dawn City, the eyes of millions of survivors looked up toward the high sky.

"What is that, starships?" A child asked in the crowd.

"Yes, they are starships, our human starships," the mother replied.

"Then where are they going?"

"To a very far place..."

"Then will they come back?"

The mother's eyes turned red, stroking the child's hair.

"They will."

【Control Center: This is Dawn, confirming 'Screen-Breaker No. 1' has completed sequence launch, expected to enter vanguard sequence in 35 seconds.】

【Relay aircraft deployed, telemetry signal normal】

【'Civilization Vanguard', 'Nature Selection', 'Deep Blue', 'Star Shepherd', 'Star Cluster', 'Ocean', 'Ark' microwave protective shields successfully activated】

【In 20 seconds, all fleet main engines ignite, all personnel, fix positions, prepare to withstand lift acceleration.】

【Main engine thrust reached 75%, continuing to rise.】

【All-fleet notification, in 30 seconds, about to approach the height of the Sky Curtain Giant Screen, all fleets maintain impact sequence.】

Rumble!

At an altitude of 7,000 meters, the Gray Mist Messenger, with 8 ultra-heavy plasma thrusters, was already erupting with high-temperature ablation flames due to violent thrust, like an angel shining with scorching fire, flying at the very front of the 7 starships.

Powerful jet streams swept away the cloud layer, and the vanguard fleet was continuously accelerating.

【Reached 8,000 meters altitude】

【Reached 9,000 meters altitude】

The Gray Mist Messenger sprayed violent plasma tail currents and continued to rise.

Launch center control room, Chu Zhaonan watched the continuously ascending fleet, his expression remaining calm from beginning to end.

【9,500 meters】

【Approaching Sky Curtain Giant Screen height, notify all fleets, prepare for impact.】

Beep beep beep beep!

At this moment, alarms sounded continuously on the control consoles of each fleet and the launch center.

Su Jin, Xu Yan, and other former federal officials looked incomparably solemn at this moment. In the launch hall, the air seemed to stagnate.

【Screen-breaking device detected Sky Curtain Giant Screen energy fluctuation, prepare for impact!】

【Accelerate!】

Beep...

The next instant, the signals from the Gray Mist Messenger in the first sequence to the subsequent 7 starships all disappeared from the launch center's monitoring screen within 1 second, as if flickering.

"Report, relay aircraft crashed!"

"Report, sky observation station discovered large-scale aerial explosion phenomenon..."

"Unable to complete search, aerial monitoring ship landed!"

At this moment, the launch center hall was silent, the air incomparably heavy, as if everyone was holding their breath, even the sound of a needle falling to the ground becoming extremely sharp.

Regarding the situation before their eyes, everyone knew what had happened, because this was not the first time a screen-breaking test had been conducted.

For the staff at the launch center, they all understood why the relay aircraft crashed, but at this moment, no one dared to speak, the air filled with a taste of sorrow and despair.

Some people's faces were pale, some were sobbing softly. Xu Yan's old eyes were slightly unfocused, his clenched fists slowly loosening. He looked at Chu Zhaonan, who stood on the spot without any movement.

No one spoke, time passing second by second.

10 minutes passed.

20 minutes passed.

At this moment, from below the dungeon, huge explosion sounds and monster roars began to come from the empty dungeon skylight. More and more guards ran out with guns to support, while Chu Zhaonan remained unmoved, his eyes fixed firmly on the monitoring screen.

10:27, the sky had still not brightened, the roars of aberration bodies in the dungeon echoed continuously, beginning to invade upward from a thousand meters below.

Those once clean and bright office areas, those residential areas that required high prices to move into, those schools, hospitals, entertainment area streets, were all washed into ruins by aberration bodies.

It had clearly only been 20-plus minutes, yet it also seemed as if several hours had passed.

Just when the atmosphere in the launch hall was terrifyingly gloomy, a short-wave signal transmitted through high-power electromagnetic waves suddenly appeared on a computer in front of a staff member.

That staff member's expression changed, and he wiped his glasses in disbelief. On his computer, a string of binary code transmitted through electromagnetic pulse time intervals quickly appeared on the screen.

"Chairman!"

The staff member shouted, and everyone was startled by this voice.

At this moment, a large number of staff members gathered around.

"Binary code, start the compiler!"

"Translation result is out!"

"Project it onto the screen!"

Beep beep beep beep!

At this moment, Chu Zhaonan, Xu Yan, and others looked up at the big screen, and familiar characters appeared in their sight.

"Dawn, this is 【Nature Selection】 Zhang Beihai, returning information via solar gain reflection. The screen-breaking device successfully opened the Sky Curtain Giant Screen, but we were attacked by an unknown dark-side energy storm, causing a large number of crew members to mutate. The 【Civilization Vanguard】 separation supply ship propulsion system pushed us and 【Deep Blue】 away from the dark-side energy storm area. Captain Chu Jing has sacrificed himself. Now I have taken over as the leader captain of the Vanguard Project, and we are sailing away from the solar system according to the original plan. Goodbye, Blue Star!"

"Captain Zhang!? We... succeeded?!!" The person in charge of the launch center was moved to tears upon hearing this: "Two stellar-class ships escaped!!!"

For the Vanguard Project, with a formation of 7 starships, as long as one successfully escaped, it could be considered a success!

But just as he wanted to cheer, he discovered the complex expressions of the other staff members. He reacted and turned his head to look at Chu Zhaonan apologetically.

"Chairman Chu... I"

Chu Zhaonan had already understood everything. At this moment, he said to all the staff with gratification:

"It doesn't matter, it's all the same."

"Our mission has been completed. Now, everyone can leave. The Zhen Tian Ship will guide everyone to a safe place."

Xu Yan's gaze looked over. At this moment, it seemed as if a heavy burden of thousands of pounds had been lifted from Chu Zhaonan, and he seemed to have aged a lot all of a sudden.

The evacuation began. In the control hall, the last federal staff and armed personnel began to leave the dungeon.

"Activate the Eternal Skylight!"

Chu Zhaonan issued a final command with his fingerprint.

Empty!

Woo!

At the top of the No. 1 Dungeon, two giant, heavy steel gates, like the gates of heaven, slowly closed.

This was a permanent defense once built during the construction of the No. 1 Dungeon to prevent nuclear-level explosions. Now, it was used to stop the mutation and aberration body outbreak within the dungeon.

Luo Ming led the Seraphim team to cover the evacuation of a large number of guards and launch center staff. When Xu Yan left, he saw Chu Zhaonan still standing alone in the launch hall, and he immediately said:

"Chairman..."

"You go," Chu Zhaonan, in full military uniform, stood quietly in the empty hall and said calmly.

"As the last leader of human civilization, I must be responsible for the task of continuing human civilization, and at the same time, I must atone for the forgotten humans."

He stood in the center of the launch hall like a sharp sword, guarding this place that once symbolized the center of civilization and a survival fortress. The aberration tide, like a flood, continuously spread and surged from the dungeon, but it seemed unable to drown out this sentence.

Xu Yan's expression was slightly stunned, bitterness appearing in his eyes. Then he stood on the spot and nodded silently toward him, and those staff members who had left in a panic also stopped in twos and threes, looking back at that figure.

As Federal Chairman, he was waiting for everyone to leave.

As a father, he was waiting for a message to return.

Chu Zhaonan took a brilliant naval badge from his pocket, stroked it gently with his fingers, and said in a voice only he could hear:

"Well done."

Dong, the Eternal Skylight closed.

All aberration bodies that wanted to surge into the city from the underground works were blocked.

In the east and south of the city, the direction where the city wall was about to fall received support from the 83rd Iron Guard Brigade, holding the last high wall. 10:48.

Dawn had broken.

The night rain disappeared, and Dawn City welcomed dawn once again.

When the dark curtain retreated and sunlight shone on this magnificent city, smoke was rising everywhere.

Tat tat tat.

When the last string of gunfire ceased, the whole city quieted down.

On the city wall, the light of the sky shone on the faces of countless exhausted garrison troops fighting for their lives, and on the faces of survivors covered in blood. At this moment, everyone knew they had survived!

A garrison soldier, only 17 years old, carried his gun to the edge of the city wall. He looked out at the outer city area after the cruel battle last night, but what met his eyes was a hellish scene that made his pupils dilate.

Outside the city wall, the former outer city suburbs no longer existed.

Broken high-rises were like skeletons gnawed by giant beasts, concrete fragments and steel bars twisted together, the exposed cross-sections still emitting charred smoke. The streets were already unrecognizable, the asphalt road surface plowed into scorched earth by artillery fire, craters one after another, accumulating dark red blood, like countless open mouths. The wreckage of traffic lights hung upside down on utility poles, various monster limbs hanging on them, shattered glass reflecting the rising sun like scattered blood-colored diamonds.

Hundreds of thousands to millions of zombies and aberration bodies were piled up like mountains, rotting, charred, incomplete, layered upon layer, filling every street and every ruin. Some were blasted into fragments by heavy artillery, internal organs and severed limbs hanging on steel bars; some were burned into charcoal by flamethrowers. At the edge of the city wall, there were also large special-grade monster heads hanging. A small nuclear bomb explosion blasted half of its body from a street block several kilometers away onto the city wall, creating a large gap.

The situation inside the city was no better. High-rises were particularly tragic, with collapses and explosions caused by various flying aberration body attacks. Large areas of survivor vehicles were burned and destroyed, streets covered in various flying aberration body corpses and shell casings. Anti-aircraft gun barrels were still slightly hot, rocket tail fins inserted into the ruins of collapsed buildings like some kind of strange tombstone.

In each survivor block, countless survivors looked panicked and exhausted, their bodies and vehicles almost covered in sky-filling smoke and monster blood. Some began to shout in excitement.

"Dawn has broken, dawn has broken!!"

"Dawn has broken!"

Millions of survivors who had survived the nightmare of the night were filled with joy and the panic of surviving a disaster. Organized convoys immediately began rescue and medical work, reorganized assets, and counted numbers. Many fragmented small convoys and families were like ghosts, sitting alone in street corners crying. Some pried open rubble to find relatives, some ran around looking for water sources. The dust from the collapsed buildings had dyed everyone's hair gray.

"Dawn has broken, pack up your gear, leave Dawn City!"

"Head north, head north!"

"Head east, go east!!"

"Take all usable resources!!"

"The Phoenix Society is here, let's follow the Phoenix Society's troops and leave!"

In the streets of each city district, crying, screaming, shouting, cheering, all kinds of noisy sounds were endless.

Twin Star Tower, Zhen Tian Ship.

Xu Yan and a large number of federal officials were all here. Several transport ships flew over, one of which was Garrison Commander Lu Tianye, and the other two were Xu Zhenyue of the North American United Front and Huo Jiang, commander of the 83rd Iron Guard Brigade.

From then on, the Phoenix Society and the people of Dawn City converged together.

"The Vanguard Project was a success," Ye Lan looked at everyone: "This is worth our rejoicing. At least, two seeds of human civilization are sailing away from the solar system, which can also give some comfort to us who are now in despair."

After speaking, she looked at the scene after the fierce battle in the whole city and sighed:

"Now, we remaining people must consider how to survive the next long night."

Lin Xian was rescued back to the Star City Orbital Station by the Phoenix Society, along with Kiki, Shizhi, and the few remaining people from Qi Nuo's team.

On the orbital station platform, more than 60 body bags were laid out. Lin Xian saw this scene and sighed to Qi Nuo: "Operation Crescent Moon failed. If we want to obtain information about the darkness, the only way left is for us to personally kill an S-level."

Although he said so, Lin Xian also knew that this was almost an impossible task.

The Phoenix Society did not obtain relevant cells from the Black Thorn in the Clouds, so they understood that wanting to obtain the so-called 'action brain' of an S-level was not an easy task. Moreover, it had to be cultivated in the Star Abyss like the Deep Red World, and it also relied on sacrificing hundreds of people to conduct mycelium connection. Even if the Phoenix Society could do such a thing, they didn't have the time now.

"It should be impossible now. The Gray Mist launch breaking through the Sky Curtain Giant Screen must have caused changes in the Star Abyss again," Qi Nuo sat in a wheelchair and lit a cigarette, saying melancholily: "The current unmanned observation devices have not only observed one S-level in Star Abyss No. 7, but three. S-levels have been discovered approaching in Star Abysses 5, 7, and 8. And that's not all, reconnaissance troops are suspected to have discovered the Corpse Driver of Star Abyss No. 5 moving toward this side."

He spat and said in a deep voice: "I don't know if it's connecting to the Star Abyss or breaking through the Sky Curtain Giant Screen, but we have completely angered these monsters now. So the general direction of the Phoenix Society now is to evacuate."

Jiang Yun walked over at this moment: "Many large convoys have already begun to retreat as soon as dawn broke. The Phoenix Society should also be evacuating people in a short time."

Lin Xian looked at him: "Where is Jian Xuwei?"

"She and Jian Zeyang went out of the city to meet the Sky Infinity," Jiang Yun checked the time: "The mobile signal station has received the news, they should be entering the city soon."

Lin Xian nodded with a weary expression, watching the zipper of Seeing Chu Yan's corpse being slowly pulled up, his gaze somewhat heavy.

"Why did you tell me not to give up on you..."

"Why not give up on you..."

"Why would I give up on you?"

Operation Crescent Moon was a plan Seeing Chu Yan had to complete, but at the last moment, facing the choice between the present and the future, she resolutely chose the present, and together with Lin Xian, retrieved the Heart of the Galaxy, saving the whole city from an unprovoked disaster.

But Lin Xian didn't expect that Seeing Chu Yan would die just like that. At the last moment, Seeing Chu Yan told him that Julius would definitely not reveal information about the darkness, so she knew that as long as she launched a mental attack on Julius, the opponent would definitely kill that true controller.

For the Deep Red World, this actually didn't have any loss, because both people were clones, both were just puppets used to manage the Giant God Peak launch site, and they could also kill Seeing Chu Yan, a figure who was extremely threatening to them.

So Seeing Chu Yan had already anticipated that she would die. That was the only choice.

Shizhi walked over, reached out behind Lin Xian, and quietly released her ability to help Lin Xian recover some mental power.

Lin Xian felt a warmth, turned back to look at Shizhi, and managed a faint smile.

"Shizhi, you did very well."

Shizhi's face was still a bit dirty. At this moment, she said to Lin Xian: "I think we definitely still have hope."

She pointed to the sky as she said: "We can also fly up."

Lin Xian looked up at the sky. He had just learned the news that two starships of the Vanguard Project had successfully survived. He still remembered that when he infiltrated the starport, the first one he saw was the 【Nature Selection】. In Lin Xian's view, this news was filled with a bit of heartache amidst the gratification. Standing on the righteousness of civilization, human civilization might be able to bloom brilliantly again in the deep stars of the universe. Standing from his own perspective, the remaining survivors of Blue Star had a few months of journey left.

He didn't know if humans could use these few months to conduct more in-depth research on the Sky Curtain Giant Screen using this experience, but the unusual movement of the Star Abyss very likely indicated that the darkness had already realized what humans were doing, which might make their survival situation fall into an even more difficult degree.

Kiki, who had fought fiercely all night, was already asleep. Last night at the Star City Orbital Station, Fire Brother, Mo Nika, Jiang Yun, and others also fought all night before they could guard the Silver Star and the members and vehicles of the Infinity Alliance. After large-scale vehicle damage, the evacuation would certainly become even more difficult.

Rumble!

In the Dawn City, shrouded in sorrow and chaos, roaring sounds rang out in the airspace. In the north, a giant floating city covered the sky and sun as it came—that was Silent City, but the No. 2 city of Silent City had already separated.

In the west, a black interstellar giant structure train broke through the air like a giant starship. At the same time, on the star orbit, a joint train 15 kilometers long galloped and whistled, fully loaded with materials, equipment, materials, and all members of the Infinity Alliance moved from Jinhai and rushed into the city.

The Sky Train landed at the Star City Orbital Station. Because of the Dawn City wall, the Sky Train had to fly into the city.

Jian Xuwei, Shi Diyuan, Chen Sixuan, Shu Qin, Da Lou, Shasha, Xiang Xiang Ningjing, Qian Dele, Ding Junyi, and a group of old friends and backbone members converged one after another.

Chen Sixuan rushed into Lin Xian's arms. The battle in Dawn City last night made the people on the Infinity side worry endlessly. Fortunately, they didn't have any dark marks, and those aberration bodies surging in the darkness were all rushing toward Dawn City, so they were spared a fierce battle.

During this period, the latest standard hull of the Sky-level had been completed. Now the length of the Sky Train exceeded 4 kilometers, absolutely counting as a behemoth. Coupled with the reconfigured weapons, the Infinity Alliance's firepower was now comparable to an army.

In the orbital station hall, the backbone members of the original joint train, plus Jiang Yun, Jian Xuwei, Jian Zeyang, as well as Wang Hongyuan of the Hongyuan Business Alliance on the Windwalker Alliance side, Song Feng of the New Era Engineering Group, Liang Hao of the Iron Shield Convoy, and He Linqiu of the Burning Phoenix Convoy formed a large backbone group, all with Lin Xian as the leader, discussing the next arrangements.

"Lin Qingyu of the Dawn Watcher Alliance, Luo Heng of the Wind Whisperers, and Han Tiege of the All-Metal Frenzy—these convoys have already begun to retreat one after another. Yu Huaian, who is stationed at Chan Pass, is also preparing to lead the Wanderer Alliance to retreat toward Tianji. Now, most of the tens of thousands of large convoys in the city are leaving. It seems only Lei Zhen of the Joint Alliance, because too many convoys are seeking help from him, estimates he wants to help take some people away," Jiang Yun briefly described the situation in the city.

Jian Xuwei said: "If we leave the city now, we might be able to reach Pingcheng before dark, and reach Kangcheng tomorrow."

At this moment, a noisy sound rang out outside the orbital station. Lin Xian heard it and got up to walk out. Pushing the door to look, the square, streets, and corridors outside the orbital station were all crowded with people, at least tens of thousands of people crowded outside, noisy pleading sounds everywhere, blocked outside by the alliance's team members and iron fences.

"Captain! Please let us join your convoy!"

"We have materials, we don't have to eat, please take us..."

"Please... just take my daughter! The child is only 5 years old, very sensible, don't let her die..."

"I have skills! I was a train maintenance engineer before!!"

For a time, injured men, mothers kneeling and pleading, youths with desperate expressions, crying children, and small convoys dragging their families all rushed toward Lin Xian, the shouting filled with desperate tones. Lin Xian stood upstairs, looking at the endless crowd below. They reached out their hands—those hands—cracked, blood-stained, dirty, injured, elderly, young—were like wheat ears blown down by the wind, all facing the direction of the orbital station, as if clutching the last straw of hope.

"They must have all seen the Sky-level and the joint train enter the city, so they want to join and escape Dawn City," Jiang Yun walked over at this moment, saying with a complex expression.

Shi Diyuan stood beside Lin Xian with a frown, feeling quite heavy looking at this scene: "Brother Lin, can we take some people?"

Lin Xian nodded: "Adding up all the joint trains, we should be able to add a few thousand people."

"A few thousand people won't change anything," He Linqiu of the Burning Phoenix Convoy walked over to Lin Xian and said: "There are at least thirty or fifty thousand people here alone."

"Then how many people are in the city? 1 million?" Shi Diyuan said at this moment.

"At least 3 million!" Song Feng of the New Era Engineering Group said.

"3 million?!" Chen Sixuan said in surprise: "How can there be so many?"

Lu Xingchen stood aside with a solemn expression, silent. As the Fire God, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness at this moment.

Liang Hao of the Iron Shield Convoy said coldly: "Most are survivors from the outer city area who entered the city yesterday, plus more than 100,000 vehicles in the city were destroyed last night. At the very least, 3 million people cannot be transferred quickly."

"Yes," Wang Hongyuan of the Hongyuan Business Alliance also said: "Now many survivors have already taken advantage of the early time to walk out of the city, but walking speed cannot reach Qingbo before dark."

"Walking?... Then don't talk about encountering aberration bodies, encountering zombies is troublesome enough!" Shi Diyuan said.

"What are the Phoenix Society's plans?" Xiang Xiang Ningjing asked at this moment.

Lin Xian sighed: "I received news from Mochizuki Shinji here. Silent City is divided into two, preparing to cooperate with the Phoenix Society to transport 500,000 people to Jinhe."

"500,000? Then what will happen to so many people arriving at Jinhe? Still walking?" Chen Sixuan said.

Jian Xuwei shook her head: "Many people no longer plan to leave. Without vehicles, staying in Dawn City might allow them to live a few more days, at least it counts as having a place to stay."

Lin Xian looked at this scene, his mood heavy, and he gritted his teeth fiercely:

"This is the scene the Deep Red World wants to see. The people in the convoys have all left, and the remaining people can be abandoned..."

At this moment, the Crimson Phoenix Order rang. Lin Xian answered it, but what came from the other side was Qi Nuo, who had already returned to the Zhen Tian Ship.

"Team Leader Lin, if it's convenient, we need you to go to the Zhen Tian Ship immediately!"

(End of chapter)