Chapter 527: Lighting the Path Ahead

“Hey, are you seriously wasting a near-Earth asteroid defense weapon like this? There are no engineers to maintain it—if it breaks down, you’ve lost a major weapon, and what if the train convoy gets hit by accident in that direction?”

On the moving train, Kiki heard Lin Xian’s plan and spoke up immediately.

Lin Xian, upon hearing this, remained calm and replied softly: “We were all wrong before—we thought this was a strategic deterrent weapon. But now the Tower People’s actions have fully begun, the whole world is on the brink of collapse. Not using this weapon now is a colossal waste. We should use it while we still can—each use is a gain. Especially for S-class targets: kill one, you break even; kill two, you profit.”

Kiki nodded, somewhat convinced: “Hmm… you’ve got a point there.”

“And that’s not all I’m aiming for.” Lin Xian’s gaze grew thoughtful: “In the Tower People’s civilization game, those [Angels] gain information and abilities by devouring each other until they evolve into perfect lifeforms. Now I think about it—the black mist released when we kill the anomalies sinks into the ground, perhaps being absorbed by higher-level S-class entities, which are then devoured by the Abyssal Beasts in the Star Abyss, and finally by the World-Class ones…”

“Step by step… doesn’t this look just like playing Snake?”

Kiki’s eyebrows lifted: “Oh~ I get it. That giant ocean god on Haiyan Island… so your goal is to disrupt the World-Class entities’ path toward merging and devouring?”

Lin Xian nodded: The S-class “Giant Ocean God” has appeared; the S-class “Floating Colossal Corpse” is moving; the S-class “Chaos” has surfaced in the Colorado Canyon; the S-class “Heaven Serpent” has devoured Asia-Pacific; and there’s the dormant, colossal crustal parasite in Siberia—S-class “01”!

Each of these monsters possesses apocalyptic energy; each one appearing before humanity would be enough to plunge the world into despair. Lin Xian couldn’t imagine how terrifying it would be if these beings merged into what they call the [Angels].

“Of course, whether I can disrupt their merging is pure speculation,” Lin Xian said grimly. “But at the very least, I can inflict serious damage on them. They’ve already taken 90% of Blue Planet. If we don’t strike back now, we’ll never get another chance.”

“Also, the power released by the Southern Heavenly Gate might cause collateral damage—but if there are still troops holding out there, it’s also a signal.”

“You’re trying to tell the survivors in that region that Phoenix Association hasn’t abandoned them—to give them hope?” Kiki’s eyes lit up as she stared at Lin Xian in surprise. “Wow, you really thought this through.”

Lin Xian turned to Kiki: “Phoenix Association is currently breaking through the application of dark energy to convert nuclear degeneracy into thermonuclear effects. If they succeed, I wonder whether the Tower People can withstand a single 90-million-ton-yield ‘Wrath of the Republic.’”

Kiki nodded: “I told you—the discovery of dark energy’s synchronous frequency is absolutely a key turning point. Phoenix Association must have inherited a good portion of the Federation’s nuclear arsenal, right?”

“How would I know?” Lin Xian shook his head. “It’s meaningless to worry about it now…”

At that moment, Grace’s voice came through.

[Orbital alignment complete. Second firing confirmed.]

Lin Xian immediately opened the global crimson map, pinpointing Grace’s coordinates. As he stared at the intense crimson region, his expression hardened.

…

North America, Redstone Canyon

Aerial combat had reached a fever pitch. The Thunder Air Fleet’s floating battle suits had ignited the crimson sky with their fire trails. Thousands of meters above, countless tentacles descended from the massive crimson clouds, strangling the ground. Dozens of Lightning fighter jets formed multiple aerial squadrons, darting at high speed beneath the curtain of descending tentacles.

“Snake Squadron, penetrate and attack! Alternate cover!”

Squadron leader Chen Feng’s voice exploded over the comms. At the top of the clouds, twelve fighters tore through the crimson sky like silver shuttles. Their underbelly missile racks opened, releasing swarms of missiles that left white trails as they bit into the fleshy tentacles hanging from the clouds.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The missiles struck precisely, severing two of the tentacles. The broken ends, like colossal severed chains, howled as they plummeted toward the ground.

“Crossfire network!”

Chen Feng’s fighter rolled into the gaps between the tentacles, his fire-control radar locking on again. Two more missiles fired in rapid succession. With a thunderous explosion, debris rained down like a storm, revealing the crimson muscle fibers within the cloud’s fissures.

“Captain! 7 o’clock! Bat-type aberrations approaching us!!”

“Split and maneuver! Create distance first!”

WHIRRR!

The sonic boom shattered as the fighters darted through the air. The sky above suddenly collapsed—tens of thousands of bat-ray-like flying aberrations poured down like an asphalt waterfall, a black tide descending upon them. The creature in the clouds seemed enraged; countless tentacles whipped like rabid dogs. In an instant, three fighters were destroyed.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

“Units 2, 5, and 6—lost connection!”

“Unit 7—loss of maneuverability!”

“Withdraw from the tentacle airspace!” Chen Feng watched the squadron signals on his screen go dark one by one. He gritted his teeth and shouted: “Pull the stick hard—avoid the sweeping tentacles!” He added: “We can’t penetrate the clouds—launch all remaining missiles! Prioritize the nearest tentacles!”

As they sped through, another fighter was slammed by the flying horde—a black tide that engulfed it before it could even explode, disintegrating midair.

“Break out!”

“Watch out—there’s another one ahead!”

The wingman’s scream erupted over the comms: “Captain! Your tail’s on fire!”

Chen Feng glanced at his instrument panel—alarm lights blazed everywhere. His expression hardened. He abruptly shut off the automatic fire suppression system, armed the last two missiles, and locked onto a tentacle above: “Unit 3, assume command. Slow down—I’ll clear the path for you.”

“Wait—Captain!”

BOOM!

Unit 1 suddenly accelerated upward, firing both missiles directly at the massive tentacle swinging down. Simultaneously, its burning fuselage smashed into three more tentacles, carving a passage for the formation.

“No!”

Unit 3, breaking out behind, watched Unit 1 become a fireball streaking across the sky. With a roar, it immediately led the remaining fighters through the encirclement.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

From within the clouds, a terrifying dark energy surge rippled outward. The ground and sky erupted into crimson hurricanes. Roaring, blood-red storms blotted out the sun. Inside the flagship’s bridge, alarms blared incessantly.

“What’s going on?!”

“The monster just activated some ability—it’s generating hurricanes,” a subordinate reported.

“Report! Something’s falling from the sky!”

“No—it’s being thrown down!”

Wu Xiangqun’s face darkened. He looked up at the radar display projected by the information officer: thousands of dark specks blanketed the sky.

“Is that S-class hurling monsters down from the clouds?!”

On the ground, Shu Qin and the others looked up—seeing it as if a rainstorm had flooded the heavens. A tidal wave of aberrations poured from the sky, cascading toward the fleet and the ground defense lines below.

“Does this thing give birth? How many are there?!” Lu Chang stared, dumbfounded. The air grew suffocating as the monstrous tide descended.

At that moment, a violent wind surged from the ground, lifting dust and crimson gales into a colossal, rolling cloud that shot upward.

“What is that?!”

Shu Qin and the crew of Wuxianhao turned back just as they prepared to retreat. A figure stood above Redstone Canyon, his silhouette dancing wildly in the wind.

“Hold the line!”

Behind the swirling cloud, Jiang Yun appeared as a mere speck of dust—but he controlled the entire roiling mass, directing the thundering air currents straight upward.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Meanwhile, across the plains cleared by the storm, the United Alliance’s convoy roared with artillery fire, carving a bloody path through the aberration tide.

“Finally made it,” Lei Zhen leaned forward in his vehicle, peering out the window. He cursed: “Damn, perfect timing.”

“Huh? What do you mean, perfect timing, boss?” his subordinate cried in panic.

“Perfect timing to die!” Lei Zhen roared. “Don’t save bullets—hold the line!”

High above, the Tienqiong Train’s deck was overrun by flying aberrations. The 1130 had long since exhausted its ammunition. Electromagnetic railguns and pulse arrays continued firing into the sky. On the deck, Ningjing, Qian Dele, Mo Nika, and Long Zhijie unleashed everything. The aberrations surrounded Ningjing in a tight circle—then, in an instant, violet light exploded. A sonic punch, like a heavy artillery shell, obliterated several approaching anomalies into bloody mist. Her body rapidly expanded, massive dark energy waves vibrating around her, her nanoweave battle armor adapting instantly to her growing form.

“Too many—we can’t kill them all. We need to eliminate the S-class inside the clouds.”

WHIRR!

A golden beam pierced through. Qian Dele flashed between the ship towers, shouting: “This monster’s like the mother-nest we encountered on Haiyan Island—it can spawn so many little ones. This is bad.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Mo Nika walked down the center of the cloud bridge, firing sonic blades in all directions. She’d been fighting for over five hours; her face was pale. Without Shizhi’s support, all of them would have collapsed long ago.

“Shizhi, we’re about to break here—prepare to retreat to the inner cabin,” Mo Nika called to Shizhi behind her.

Shizhi nodded, her green energy waves undiminished. Inside her power armor, sweat dripped from her thin face, but she gritted her teeth and held on.

KONG! KONG!

Outside the ship’s hull, streams of black metal surged backward. Long Zhijie stood at the bow, facing the torrent of aberrations. He gathered the metal streams midair, forging them into eight massive metal grinding discs, each over a hundred meters in diameter, spinning like colossal aerial saws. The discs sliced through the flying horde, black blood cascading like waterfalls, holding back the largest cluster of aberrations.

“We can’t hold much longer—many fighters from the fleet have already crashed.”

Inside the flagship’s bridge, Sha Sha’s fingers flew across her console, her face ashen: “Damn! The Orbital Star-Shatter Cannon is overheating—we need to cool it down!”

“Wait a little longer…”

Chen Sixuan clenched her fists. Below, the swirling clouds had risen into the sky, the violent storm obscuring all visibility. The heavens were black with aberrations. On the deck, Mo Nika and the others could only see the tidal wave of monsters rushing toward them—no breathing room.

Just as the monstrous tide was about to swallow the fleet, a white-hot pillar pierced heaven and earth!

“Divine—Heaven-Scorching Flame!”

The black sky ignited instantly. The white-hot pillar ignited a fire spanning tens of thousands of meters, engulfing the entire airspace. The heatwave collided with Jiang Yun’s tornado. The hurricane wrapped the fire tornado and roared skyward, scattering the black tide. Countless aberrations burned as they fell, like a meteor shower of fire.