Chapter 308: Swift Fall and the

Deep underground of the old world city.

At least eight hundred meters below the surface, the dim, chilly, yet spacious channel echoed with the roar of engines.

A Thunder Transport Plane and two Viking fighters escorting it front and rear shuttled through, proceeding at a steady speed toward the gathering of tens of thousands of people in Eden City, which shares its name with the Garden of Eden in the Bible.

The maze-like, intricate routes and structures formed the first line of defense, and one couldn't help but marvel at how the people of the old world could construct such a vast underground system.

After the flight formation passed the corner one by one, descended to a deeper region, and flew for a while, it gradually slowed down, because ahead lay the second line of defense set up by Eden.

On the surface it appeared empty, but in fact the Edenites had secretly laid remotely controlled electromagnetic mines.

Having already detected the mines, and with prior warning, the pilots deliberately reduced speed.

Inside the Thunder Transport's cabin.

"I am the captain of the Abraham, Major Poliyeff, designation EDEN003369, calling Eden tower, requesting passage clearance."

Victor was wearing a wired earpiece, attempting to contact the Eden side.

Besides Victor, the apprehensive Mark and others sat in seats that were oversized and mismatched to normal human stature.

Sitting opposite them was Angelong, who had been using a holographic screen to handle various affairs, while six gladiators clad in Terminator power armor chose to stand.

"Sizzle... ~"

At that moment, the communication first returned a busy signal; Victor waited patiently for a few seconds, then heard a low, slightly aged voice inquiring:

"Major Poliyeff, I am General Fermini O'Karel; please explain why you are piloting an unknown-type warship, and why you have two fighters reminiscent of a bygone era."

General O'Karel?

Upon learning the other's identity, Victor's brow furrowed slightly, but without hesitation he immediately replied:

"General, the situation is somewhat special; the Abraham has been destroyed, while the transport I am aboard, as well as the two fighters, belong to an organization calling itself Umbrella; I and my crew were also rescued by Umbrella, and they further claimed they would help Eden completely resolve the threat posed by machines."

"Umbrella? Completely resolve machines?" General O'Karel blinked, then said: "Major, do you know what you're saying? This is the real world, not a virtual realm, nor a dream."

Therefore, major, your passage request cannot be approved; however, I will dispatch the Joshua and Samuel to your current location to disarm you, then escort you and the unknown-type transport and fighters back to Eden.

"Major Poliyeff, I hope you can understand this decision; I cannot allow Eden to fall into danger."

Upon hearing that,

Before Victor could reply, Angelong immediately cut into the communication using one of the holographic screens before him, interjecting in a kindly tone:

"General O'Karel, let me first introduce myself; I am Angelong, supreme commander of the Umbrella Eighth Legion, the Clearance Legion."

"For me, I naturally understand your decision; after all, thinking from your Eden perspective, this is the most correct decision."

"But we can only accept waiting here and accompanying the Joshua and Samuel to Eden; we cannot accept the option of disarmament, moreover…"

"Eden also lacks the strength to force us to disarm; the reason Major Poliyeff contacted you and requested passage was merely to express our goodwill."

Upon hearing Angelong's words, the communication fell into a brief silence.

But soon, General O'Karel's tone grew much heavier as he replied: "What if our side insists on the original decision?"

"How things turn out cannot be explained by words alone, but words can determine the outcome," Angelong replied with a faint smile.

Afterward, he kindly reminded: "General, you have fifteen seconds to consider."

Although Angelong's temperament is gentle and he is friendly, his intention is to hope for peaceful entry into Eden through negotiation, but that does not mean he will accept the "disarmament" proposal.

After all, sometimes giving the opponent too much "respect" will be seen as "weakness" by them.

Nevertheless, Angelong did give the Eden side "enough" thinking time; if those coming to negotiate were Leon, John, or Rus…

Hmm…

Those few brothers would not be as calm and composed as Angelong.

"You are threatening, Mr. Angelong!" General O'Karel's tone turned sharp.

"Ten seconds left." Angelong answered off-topic.

In contrast, Mark and the rest of the Abraham's crew sitting opposite showed nervous and solemn expressions to the extreme.

Yet this group of Edenites did not rashly try to dissuade Angelong, for they had personally witnessed the machine army preparing to invade Eden.

Such a scale was enough to cause Eden's downfall.

Yet Angelong told them he had completely destroyed that army.

If Eden were to launch an offensive, then before the entire fleet could reach the optimal position to release an electromagnetic pulse, they would be swallowed by endless sentinels.

Thus, Mark and the others, who could discern the strength disparity, naturally also realized that now was not a moment to casually interject or interfere.

As for Victor…

This major was quite composed, seemingly having anticipated from the start that the situation would develop into its current state.

Moreover, given Victor's understanding of Eden, once the military learns of Umbrella's true strength and shares the goal of "eliminating machines," misunderstandings and contradictions will be readily resolved; however, the council, especially the church…

will surely engage in various petty maneuvers.

Even with machines as this great enemy and an extremely harsh survival environment, humanity in this world remains divided into multiple factions, never ceasing to struggle for power and profit.

At this moment.

"Five seconds." Angelong reminded again.

"…" the communication remained silent.

After five seconds elapsed.

Confirming that the Eden military seemed to be sticking to its original decision, Angelong couldn't help but shake his head slightly, speaking with a tone of mild regret:

"Although I don't wish to cause misunderstanding, sometimes appropriately displaying strength also aids peaceful negotiations; then, General O'Karel, we'll meet later."

Having said that, Angelong directly cut off communication with Eden and then ordered all the pilots: "Proceed toward Eden as planned, leaving the threat to me to handle."

"Yes, sir."

"Mr. Angelong…" Upon hearing Angelong's order, Mark summoned courage to ask: "Will you launch an attack on Eden?"

Angelong's face softened into a smile again, without giving a direct answer, he said: "I despise humans slaughtering each other, although sometimes I must face…"

"Fortunately, based on my judgment of your Eden's overall strength, I should be able to talk with Eden's high-ranking officials in a calm and harmonious manner before any bloodshed occurs."

He said.

Outside the cabin.

Two Viking escort Thunder vessels sped forward, directly charging into the electromagnetic minefield laid by Eden's military.

As the formation swept past the minefield…

「Boom! Boom! 」

The electromagnetic mines were detonated one after another by hand, releasing an electromagnetic pulse strong enough to irradiate the entire area, completely engulfing the airborne formation.

———————

…

At the same time.

The uppermost layer of Eden.

The space here is extremely spacious, the overall structure forming a massive cylinder that extends downward; standing at the edge, one can even see the bottom layer a hundred meters below at a glance.

Between the upper and lower levels are aerial corridors of varying widths that cross each other, while the numerous gates installed at the lower level indicate that there is another world below.

At the top here is an arched dome equipped with alternative mirror-like lighting, providing illumination as bright as daylight for the entire area.

In addition, the uppermost area also contains extensive military-use fortifications, as well as parallel fixed gun emplacements mostly of 40mm and 60mm calibers.

On the platforms around, there are gates connecting different channels.

On the largest platform in this area, there are large facilities for the tower and command use, and at the platform's edge there are numerous docking ports for electromagnetic warships to moor.

Thus, this place is Eden's military fortress and port, constantly guarding against machine harassment and invasion.

The interior of that command facility.

"General!" said a clerical soldier wearing an old-style headset and a light-gray uniform, turning his head to report toward the rear: "44% of the mines have been successfully detonated!"

Here one sees a Command Center resembling Umbrella or a UNSC military base, but there is no holographic projection device; all the clerical personnel use old-style keyboards and monitors.

An officer stood in the center, wearing the same type of light-gray uniform, his face aged, with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze fixed on a large hanging screen.

This officer is General Fuminio Kar, who had previously failed in his first talk with Angelong.

"Very good." Upon hearing the soldier's report, General Kar nodded and said, "Put the dynamic detection display on the main screen."

"Yes."

Soon, the large screen switched its display.

In the screen, resembling a building blueprint, three red dots appeared in a line, continuing forward without slowing at all.

Immediately, another soldier reported: "General, the target is still moving, indicating that the enemy's vehicle has EMP (electromagnetic pulse) resistance capability."

"As expected." General Kar showed no great surprise and asked, "How much longer do Joshua and the Samuel need to reach the frontline position?"

"Estimated half a minute."

"Notify the captains of the two warships, order them to switch to jointly defending the frontline position under Lieutenant Colonel Hot, and shoot down those three unidentified craft on the spot," General Kar commanded.

"Yes."

"General!" At that moment, another communications officer suddenly said, "Priestess Lucis requests a call!"

"That meddling charlatan..." General Kar's face showed undisguised contempt.

But in the end he reluctantly compromised, muttering something under his breath, then turned and walked to the communications officer, saying, "Connect."

"All right, General."

Having received approval, the communications officer immediately operated the console, causing the control console's screen to display the priestess's figure.

General Kar gazed at the woman wearing ornate decorations, draped in a red robe, with heavy eye shadow and unknown symbols painted on her face, and spoke in a low voice:

"Esteemed Priestess Lucis, our military is currently engaged in an operation; may I ask what urgent matter you have?"

"General... I heard that Father Polye's lieutenant and a group of outsiders are attempting to approach Eden; is that true or not?"

The priestess named Lucis spoke slowly and calmly.

If General Kar was restraining himself from showing dislike and disgust, then Priestess Lucis directly displayed an attitude of lofty superiority and contempt for all beings.

Matching her attire…

She is essentially a charlatan.

Yet the fact that an elderly general would address her, who is under forty, with an honorific shows that Priestess Lucis wields considerable influence in this Eden city.

Upon hearing the question,

General Kar did not deny or conceal it, saying: "That's correct; if the priestess has no other business, please wait until our military finishes its handling, then we will…"

But before he could finish, a soldier suddenly shouted: "General! The target has broken through the frontline defenses! It is about to reach Gate 4!"

"What?!" General Kar exclaimed, somewhat losing his composure, and quickly turned his gaze to the large screen.

The dynamic detection display showed that the three red dots had "smoothly" passed through the frontline defenses jointly guarded by two warships, and were about to reach Gate 4 at the front of the command facility.

Seeing this, General Kar could not help but question: "What has become of Lieutenant Colonel Hot's troops?! And Joshua and the Samuel?! Even if a machine wave attacked, it couldn't possibly collapse immediately! What on earth is happening?!"

"We have already lost contact with Lieutenant Colonel Hot and the two warships..." The soldier who had previously interrupted General Kar's conversation with Priestess Lucis, likewise unable to believe the facts, ventured a guess:

"The troops deployed at the frontline... may have been completely wiped out, General."

"Three... only three of them..." General Kar's hands trembled uncontrollably, his voice shaking as he spoke.

Besides the two electromagnetic warships sent to reinforce, the frontline position had deployed over five thousand soldiers, equipped with large-caliber artillery and electromagnetic weapons, as well as forty APUs (Armored Personal Units / mechanized infantry units).

Despite such firepower, it nonetheless collapsed in an instant…

This shows that the strength gap between Eden and Umbrella is no longer on the same level.

"General!" The communications officer sitting beside General Kar, upon seeing the information transmitted from the auxiliary screen of the control console, exclaimed excitedly:

"The frontline base's communications have been restored! Lieutenant Colonel Hot also sent back the latest intelligence, saying that they had just prepared to engage the enemy when they were struck by an unknown means, causing splitting headaches, rendering them unable to act or think normally; they have now recovered."

Therefore, the lieutenant colonel is preparing to lead his troops to jointly flank those three targets with us.

??

Upon hearing the informant's report, Oukar was initially confused, but quickly understood Angelong's intention to "show mercy."

So the General composed himself and said to the messenger, "Tell Lieutenant Colonel Huo Te not to act recklessly, and also keep the Joshua and Samuel vessels stationed at the front‑line positions until further orders."

Speaking, Oukar scanned the assembled soldiers again and solemnly said, "Open Gate No. 4, await Major Boli Yefu and his men entering the harbor, then inform the guard company, and prepare to receive Mr. Angelong together with me."

"Yes, General."

(End of chapter)