Chapter 1338: At Any Cost

Capital Military Region.

Perpetually shrouded in mist, the once noisy city with nearly a hundred million survivors now resembled a dead city.

The collapsed building complex resembled a withered old tree, snapped at the waist.

In the ruins, large numbers of naked, gnawed human corpses lay discarded like trash, their eyes vacant as they stared at the sky.

Just as people skin and defeather animals before eating them,

the alien species also meticulously remove their clothing before feeding.

Although orders forbade it and they tried to keep humans as reserves, in the utter lack of need for concealment, the alien species hunting fleeing humans still found it hard to suppress their craving for flesh and blood.

A foul wind blew through the dead city, as if mixed with inescapable weeping and wailing.

If this mist could be dispelled, one's eyes could see through stone.

Perhaps then one would see large numbers of humans and troops, now piled like food in several huge underground structures.

Underground City, Bronze Gate.

A strong smell of blood assailed the nostrils; in the dim underground space, a streak of red like a river flowed.

Before the gate, several soldiers in biological armor silently gazed at the door; behind them stood a hastily erected massive altar.

"Sir! Have you seen the war zone channel?!"

"Those damned bugs are broadcasting information!"

"Now everyone knows what we've done! The several major military regions that originally approached us are now fleeing!"

Hurrying over, a low‑level alien species reported in a low voice, furious, about the outside situation.

An hour ago, led by Long An, three major military regions and several people claiming to have escaped the capital were continuously issuing warnings and recordings.

In the recordings, their actions were clearly documented. Moreover, many clips simply showed former high‑level officials sprouting snake heads from their heads, instantly turning humans into monsters.

Amid the testimonies of countless survivors, the entire Huaxia war zone instantly fell into immense shock and panic.

Some human factions that had previously leaned toward them, having been deceived, now also hurriedly severed ties.

In an instant, all previous slander and defamation against Lin An became ineffective.

Amid the region's panic‑stricken emotions, Lin An, who had just reached the Fourth Stage, instantly became everyone's pillar once more, and public opinion reversed in a flash.

If nothing unexpected happens, soon all human gathering areas around the capital will do everything possible to flee the capital region and directly gravitate toward Long An.

This is completely unlike their original plan.

"Don't worry about it..."

He glanced sideways slightly; as the highest‑level alien species descended from Qing Ya, he seemed utterly indifferent to the current situation.

All that could be seen was him shaking his head, his eyes still fixed on the other side of the bronze gate.

That opened gap was now considerably larger than before.

"Sir! Shouldn't we intervene? There's still hope to muddy the waters—someone will believe us! If this continues, we'll have to capture humans ourselves later, and that's not good for our future plans!"

He could not understand.

As one of the earliest alien species to infiltrate the military, he knew well that humans were actually a fragile and strange creature.

Often, all it takes is a sufficient excuse or a false lie, and these humans will fight desperately for it.

They need hosts, they need many hosts.

There are too many of their kin behind the door..

Without human bodies to serve as protection, they cannot evade the system's detection, or rather reduce the system's penalty for their escape!

They simply cannot escape that world!

Therefore, rather than controlling humans by violence, they prefer to use disguise, slowly consuming them in a way these bugs can accept.

Otherwise, once these bugs clearly realize they and humans are two different species, mortal enemies, they will fight to the death, causing massive unnecessary losses.

"It's meaningless."

Ignoring his subordinates' anxiety, the high‑level alien species merely shook his head, his eyes fixed only on the gate.

"All we need to do now is swiftly usher the high ones down for the descent!"

"We must kill Lin An! We must kill him!"

"If we don't kill him, all our efforts will be wasted! Once he's dead, we have ten thousand ways to erase this record!"

"These bugs are forgetful and ignorant."

"As long as Lin An dies, they will pose no further threat to us!"

"Pass on my orders! Initiate the descent ritual!"

Taking a deep breath, the middle‑aged man suddenly turned his head and waved his hand.

Behind him stood a massive altar built entirely from the flesh of Third‑Level Awakened Ones, now constantly writhing.

If one looked closely, it would be evident that in this flesh‑made altar, those Third‑Level Awakened Ones had not died at all.

They had merely had their limbs chopped off and their eyes, ears, mouth, and nose gouged out, like meatworms continually accumulating despair as they assembled this huge altar.

At the altar's summit, meanwhile, were several Third‑Level humans under control.

Like a conduit, vast amounts of painful emotion within the flesh altar surged frenziedly into the awakened beings at the top.

Twisting, wailing, screaming.

Under the onslaught of immense fear and despair, these highest‑rank military awakened ones had their thoughts utterly shattered—like bodies subjected to violent brain‑washing, awaiting occupation by the high‑level alien species.

"Pfft, pfft"

At the command of the leading alien species, a long dragon‑like convoy of human awakened ones was also sent to the lower end of the altar.

A force of nearly ten thousand, each individual a Second‑Level to Third‑Level Awakened One.

But under the alien species' control, they could only behave like livestock, powerless to resist.

"You monsters! You will surely die!"

"I hate it! I hate it!"

"I'm waiting for you in hell! Humans will not fail!"

"He shouted curses."

"Pushed to the front, the third-rank Awakened Ones who knew their own fate had bloodshot eyes, and, hoarse from shouting, they angrily cursed at these alien species."

"If possible, he would rather self-destruct and die together with this group of monsters!"

"How hateful that they were deceived by these monsters back then!!"

"However, as the sacrifice began, the alien species executing the ritual before the altar merely looked at them as if they were pigs and dogs."

"\"Hell? \""

"\"No.. we won't go to hell.. \""

"\"We, we came from hell.. \""

"\"Crack! \""

"The alien species carrying out the execution gave a cruel smile, and in the next second swiftly twisted off the head of this third-rank Awakened One."

"Like dissecting an animal, he expertly clenched the other's body starting from the calf, then squeezed from bottom to top, extracting the other's blood like milk."

"They need high-ranking Awakened Ones to bear their high-status alien species."

"In order to boost the carriers' strength in the shortest time, they chose the simplest, yet also most cruel, method to enhance these carriers' strength."

"Every Awakened One's body contains the purest spiritual energy."

"Through massive slaughter, the gathered spiritual energy is enough to infuse a batch of carriers bearing the fourth stage."

"In a sense, one could say that Awakened Ones also possess 'experience'."

"Although this method is wasteful, from their perspective, wasting carriers in this way essentially also loses a great deal of third-rank combat power."

"But like Lin An, they no longer care about these."

"For victory, every sacrifice is worthwhile."

"Even if it consumes everyone here, it is still worthwhile."

"\"Sixty-eight Fourth Stage Overlords have descended... \""

"\"Six Kings, and... the great Sovereign... \""

"\"Lin An... \""

"\"You should feel honored.. \""

"He murmured softly, as if bearing immense pain."

"Upon opening the Descent ritual, this highest-ranking alien species in the capital then boldly peeled back its own scalp, exposing its skull."

"To usher in the Sovereign, they need their lives."

"This is a great sacrifice."