Chapter 386: I Am Not a God. I Am Not a God

"Please, if only the 22nd-century celestial soldiers can save humanity, I'll do anything!"

"You emperor! Where is your dignity as humanity's lord?"

"What is dignity? I care only for all of humanity!"

The brown-haired boy gripped Zhou Yun's leg with one hand and clung desperately to the fourth-dimensional pocket, his face twisted into something nearly horrific,

"As long as humanity is saved, as long as every single human is saved."

The intense fixation slammed into Zhou Yun; the reed beds around him swayed violently as if in a storm, and the bronze-colored water surface churned with tides,

Everything around him surged toward Zhou Yun, pouring forth overwhelming fixation and longing,

As long as humanity is saved, sacrificing anything is acceptable.

He clearly perceived this fixation.

What lay before him was not real—it was merely a form of communication between the Emperor and Zhou Yun,

All that Zhou Yun saw: the brown-haired boy gripping the fourth-dimensional pocket, his mad words, the ever-shifting scenery around him—were all manifestations of the Emperor's desperate longing to save all humanity and his ten-thousand-year fixation,

Or rather, they were the collective yearning of all humanity for redemption,

Before this longing, everything could be sacrificed, everything discarded—so long as all humanity was saved.

The brown-haired boy gazed at Zhou Yun with eyes full of desperate longing,

Zhou Yun lowered his head and stared silently at him,

"No." Zhou Yun paused briefly, then spoke.

"Huh?" The brown-haired boy's grip loosened slightly on the fourth-dimensional pocket: "No?"

"Do you think I haven't tried?"

Zhou Yun couldn't help saying:

"I tried writing letters and selling them to the Future Department Store, sending messages to the other side of the fourth-dimensional pocket—all ended in failure."

Zhou Yun had attempted multiple times to establish contact with the world on the other side of the fourth-dimensional pocket, but he could not even confirm whether a 22nd century existed there at all,

Only the visions transmitted back by Xigaoqi's exalted avatar before the chain broke, and the lost souls of the Ling race, offered indirect proof of the 22nd century's existence,

But what was the true nature of that 22nd century? Was it the miraculous era from the Doraemon anime, or merely a peculiar subspace domain?

Zhou Yun could not confirm any of this; Xigaoqi had also tried tossing his exalted avatar into the fourth-dimensional pocket several times, yet gained no further information.

"If I were certain the other side was the 22nd century, do you think I'd still be stuck in your shit-stained galaxy?"

"If I had a choice, I'd rather go to Night City, or Metropolis, or even damn Kunxu than come here."

Hearing Zhou Yun's words, the brown-haired boy smoothly released Zhou Yun's leg and the fourth-dimensional pocket, stood up, and brushed the dirt off his knees.

"Turns out you're just a naturally evil raccoon brat—I trusted you too easily."

Both stared fixedly at each other,

But only half a second later, they both couldn't help sighing at the same time.

They sat back down together on the muddy riverbank,

"I know it's unlikely, but I still held a sliver of hope—that you might effortlessly save humanity."

The brown-haired boy washed the clay off his feet with clear river water, speaking sadly to Zhou Yun.

"I also hoped—you knew something about this fourth-dimensional pocket, knew how to save this galaxy." Zhou Yun shrugged.

Then Zhou Yun couldn't help sighing again: "How did this happen? I was supposed to be an ordinary 21st-century person—went to elementary school, then high school, followed the routine, got into a mediocre university, graduated, joined a company paying five thousand a month to be ruthlessly exploited for surplus value, spent free time chewing on Ke Ling apples while assembling models. Who stole my life? I must've been poisoned by Pinhaofan!"

"Then I ask the same: how did this happen? I was supposed to be the heir of a small tribe in Mesopotamia—my father wise, my brothers kind, my people diligent, wheat harvests bountiful every year, no bandits, no droughts or plagues, my uncle's sister braided my hair, and when my father grew old, I carved his eyes from seashells. Who stole my life? I must've been poisoned by forest mushrooms!"

"Why me?" "Why me?"

"I'm not a god." "I'm not a god."

They spoke almost simultaneously.

"Then why are you standing here? Give me the fourth-dimensional pocket—I'll arrange a paradise world for you as a noble, still a wealthy man—isn't that better?"

The brown-haired boy pointed to the river before him, shimmering with a bronze sheen, and said:

"I swear by the River Sakkaria: if you give me the fourth-dimensional pocket, I'll repay you with a paradise world—still a wealthy man."

Zhou Yun turned his East Asian face fully toward him, staring with dead-fish eyes at the brown-haired boy,

The brown-haired boy's proposal wasn't just insulting Zhou Yun's intelligence—it was an insult to his bloodline. When Zhou Yun was born, the credibility of such oaths had already been lost for nearly two thousand years.

"Even if I trusted you, I couldn't give it to you." Zhou Yun sighed. "I've tried—no one else can see the Future Department Store interface except me."

"Indeed… this pocket seems bound to your subspace essence." The brown-haired boy rubbed his chin, thinking.

"And don't just talk about me—I ask you, why are you the one standing here?" Zhou Yun glanced at the brown-haired boy.

"…Because no one else stepped forward." The brown-haired boy shook his head slightly.

"You've had it rough." Zhou Yun reached out and patted the brown-haired boy's back.

"You're unlucky too—suddenly dumped into this era." The brown-haired boy patted Zhou Yun's back in return.

"."

A silence fell between them, then the brown-haired boy broke it:

"Tell me more about your fourth-dimensional pocket—maybe we can find something?"

"I want to know the exact price of every item."

Nearly forty thousand years later, it once again set foot upon Terra's soil,

It was a great demon born of war and slaughter, a bloodthirsty monster forged in an ancient, brutal war upon Terra,

A battlefield choked with mud, trenches, corpses, artillery fire, and agony—a horrific meat grinder,

It was the Somme, it was one million two hundred thousand corpses, it was the endless war machine of slaughter, it was the darkness of rage, ever craving more death, obsessed only with the flow of blood,

It emerged from the domain of the Blood God, and alongside seven other great demons, earned the chance to lead eight demonic legions to ravage Terra,

Finally, after the long centuries since the cursed Star Torch was lit, the Somme had never again ravaged the land that birthed it,

Now, it could once again bring war to Terra.

But the demonic legions led by the Somme encountered resistance,

Mortals—a group of mortals wielding comical blades blocked the breach in the Eternal Wall,

Each of those mortals seemed a master of swordsmanship, holding only toy-like short swords yet holding their ground,

Not just the Somme—all seven other fronts were also blocked,

This frustrated the other seven great demons; they even descended personally to charge the mortals,

Yet even they, as great demons, fought to a stalemate with the mortals—until the Somme's bloodthirsty comrades could only drown their embarrassment with louder, fiercer roars,

But the Somme was different—the Somme observed and waited,

The Somme was born from a long, stagnant battle, where humans spilled tens of thousands, even millions of lives for mere meters of trench line,

The Somme had patience—immense patience. It launched seven assaults; all seven failed to break the mortals' line,

Finally, on the eighth, the Somme detected a flaw,

One mortal's toy sword lost its glow, turned gray, and the mortal hastily retreated, replaced instantly by another,

The Somme narrowed its eyes—it understood. It had found it.

The Somme entered the battle, its chainaxe, hung with countless skulls, slammed down upon the Imperial Guard,

They swung their glowing little swords to block the Somme,

But as the Somme predicted, the swords' power was nearly exhausted—one after another turned gray,

It bared its teeth in a monstrous grin, ready to begin its harvest—

BOOM!!!!

A powerful psychic hammer descended from the sky; the Somme spun like a top struck by a supersonic whip, rolling, tumbling, flying seventy or eighty meters before finally stopping.

It looked up, bewildered, at the woman in military uniform hovering in midair, her body wreathed in blazing psychic flame.

Lei Na gasped heavily—her psychic energy was draining rapidly,

The legendary blade. Dian Guang Wan had a finite power supply; now, all eight frontlines' Dian Guang Wan blades were nearly depleted,

But what stunned Lei Na was that even after holding out this long, some of the Imperial Guard on Terra still hadn't evacuated?!

What kind of training is this? Can you even call yourselves Imperial Guard if you can't march over a hundred kilometers in a day?!

Among the Hundred Elder Corps who once fought alongside the Emperor, many had long since rotted into uselessness,

In Cadia, Lei Na would drag each of them in circles around the planet's equator—any stragglers shot on the spot!

But now, Lei Na and the Cadia 184th Regiment were pinned down,

Other Imperial Guard units were retreating; the Astartes were too few to fill the massive front line—the Cadia 184th must hold the line, or retreat would become a rout,

Lei Na cursed the mothers of those wastes again,

She had to sprint frantically between frontlines—just moments ago, she'd torn off the head of a bloodthirsty demon,

Now, her psychic potential was nearly exhausted,

At that moment, Lei Na suddenly saw the sky burning—a meteor-like drop pod ignited the atmosphere and crashed directly into the demonic horde,

Reinforcements!?

Astartes?!

Which Chapter?!

The Chapters near Terra—the Imperial Fists had been crippled in the Battle of Cadia; their remaining forces were already on the battlefield,

Were there any other Astartes Chapters near Terra with such massive strength?!

At that moment, the steaming drop pods opened one by one on the battlefield,

Searing psychic lightning pierced the void, majestic chanting echoed endlessly, demons shrieked in agony,

Astartes clad in silver-gray power armor stepped out of the drop pods, like celestial wrath-forged from mercury—

Any demon that drew near them would be burned by their scorching spiritual energy.

Merely standing on the battlefield, they had erected a defensive line amid the demons' assault.

"Captain Leina, I've summoned the reinforcements."

The voice of Valerian, captain of the Imperial Guard Shield Company, crackled through the comm.

But Leina's corner of her eye twitched involuntarily.

(End of Chapter)