Chapter 690: Survivors from the Third Defense Zone (4)

Xiaoya distributed the mush while keeping an eye on the conversation here.

After the number of survivors here thinned out a little, she leaned close to Afudao and Dekashi, lowering her voice with an excitement and pride as if sharing a secret.

"Sister Xiumini is amazing! She was rescued by the Emperor's Angels, those 'Salamander' warriors wearing green Power Armor! I heard Lord Vulkan led the team himself and destroyed the Orc Nest in the Seventh Defense Zone! The Emperor has not abandoned a single Human!"

"The Emperor... Angels... Lord Vulkan?"

Hearing Xiaoya speak of the Emperor's Angels, Afudao couldn't help but recall Huokan and the others who had rescued them; they seemed to be warriors from the "Salamanders," but he had never heard of the Lord Vulkan this girl spoke of.

"That's right!"

Xiaoya nodded vigorously, her eyes shining, and she continued without slowing the movements of her hands.

"It's said that when the Emperor descended upon the Fourth Defense Zone, it was miserable here too! The Orcs had turned this place into a slaughterhouse! It was the Emperor! He alone hacked through the Orc army! Those Green Skin monsters were harvested like wheat stalks before him!"

"Then the Emperor's heirs, the giant warriors like Lord Angron and Lord Vulkan! They led the Human Alliance armies and completely cleared the Orcs out of the Fourth Defense Zone!"

She pointed to the school building in the distance that was being roofed, then pointed to the solid concrete ground beneath their feet.

"Look! These were all brought by the Emperor! He not only drove away the Aliens, but also brought the power and hope for reconstruction! The Workers Association, the missionaries, and those powerful warriors... they were all arranged by the Emperor! He told us that Humanity will not perish, and we will take back everything we have lost!"

Afudao and Dekashi looked in the direction of Xiaoya's finger.

The silhouette of the towering defensive fortifications in the distance appeared indestructible in the morning light, the hammering sounds from the nearby construction site were full of strength, and although the pedestrians on the street were in a hurry, there was no despair deep in their bones like in the Third Defense Zone, but rather a kind of... sense of purpose?

Listening to Xiaoya's passionate, even somewhat exaggerated narrative, combined with the tangible scene of reconstruction before their eyes, and the two god-like Emperor's heirs they had just seen with their own eyes, an unprecedented sense of impact swept over them.

"Alone... hacked through the Orc army?"

Dekashi muttered; this sounded like a tall tale.

"It's true!"

An elderly local worker from the Fourth Defense Zone who was queuing for a blanket nearby interjected, his tone categorical and filled with the certainty of someone who had experienced it.

"I saw it with my own eyes! Those soldiers appeared behind the Emperor and sent those Orcs scurrying in terror! If it weren't for the Emperor, we would have long since become Orc dung!"

Afudao listened in silence, his rough hands unconsciously stroking the thick, warm blanket he had just received. He recalled the hellish scene when the Third Defense Zone fell, and remembered the defensive fortifications and soldiers that were as fragile as paper in front of the insect swarms.

Then he looked at this place: solid high walls, disciplined soldiers, efficient organization, and those two Emperor's heirs whose mere presence was enough to awe the heart... and, the woman before him who had been rescued from the Orc hell and could still calmly help others—Xiumini.

"The Emperor... the Emperor..."

Afudao repeated the title in a low voice, and the solid ice in his heart, frozen by the destruction of his home and the scattering of his kin, seemed to be struck by an invisible, powerful warm current, cracking open a seam.

No longer a vague concept of a "powerful leader," but a heroic image of a savior who turned the tide.

Accompanied by the vibrant scene of the Fourth Defense Zone and the excited words of Xiaoya and the old worker, it began to clearly outline itself in his heart.

An indescribable emotion, mixed with awe, gratitude, and a tiny glimmer of hope, sprouted quietly like a seedling breaking through the soil in the hearts of Afudao, Dekashi, and the other new survivors who heard these words.

If the Emperor could save and rebuild the Fourth Defense Zone, and could rescue people like Xiumini from the hands of the Orcs... then, could the Emperor also lead them, these broken bodies that had crawled out of the Insect Hive, to truly survive, and even... one day, exact a blood debt from those Aliens?

They looked at the mountain-like figure of Angron in the distance as he inspected the resettlement work, and then toward the other side of the square, at the young Sanguinius, who was bathed in the morning light and seemed like the incarnation of an Angel; a hazy, near-religious sense of worship quietly germinated in the embers of blood and despair.

Dekashi gripped the cold identification tag in his hand, and he said to Afudao in a low voice.

"Afudao... this place... really seems different."

For the first time, his voice carried a trace of faint expectation.

Afudao gave a heavy "Mm," his gaze sweeping over the busy Xiumini, the enthusiastic Xiaoya, the resolute soldiers, and the two inhuman figures in the distance, finally landing on that thick registration roster.

He straightened his back, which had become somewhat hunched from long periods of curling up underground, and said in a deep voice to the next survivor in line.

"Next, come over to register, state your name."

His voice had a bit more strength than when he first arrived.

Ninth Defense Zone Military Region.

Horus was reviewing the battle reports of the various Legions in his office when Lu Zhenda spoke up from a seat to the side.

"Horus, it has been almost a month since the war with the Demons began, hasn't it? According to the front-line situation, Vulkan's side is the closest to the Second Defense Zone, about 300 kilometers away, but because the area occupied by the Demons is shrouded in Black Fog, we can only roughly estimate this distance."

After placing a document on Horus's desk, Lu Zhenda spoke to Horus, who was reviewing the battle reports on the desk.

Horus stopped his work, thought for a few seconds, and said.

"Father is fine-tuning the routes for all the Legions on the entire Demon front at the 6th Military Base, leaving me to decide the tempo of the offensive against the Demon Aliens myself.

Vulkan mentioned in his latest battle report that he found two recently deceased Human survivors in a camp where the Demons were holding some kind of ritual; Vulkan speculates that there should still be some survivors in the Second Defense Zone occupied by the Demons."