Chapter 22

The completely sealed dark Nest City.

A wide avenue, with dense side paths hanging among the towering factories on both sides.

Lights and flames intertwine.

The light shines on the walls, stretching and distorting countless silhouettes.

Following the silhouettes, one sees people packed together, endless Rebel Forces surging forward one after another, racing upward.

And on the high side paths, the same seemingly endless surging crowd.

A roar echoes from the top of the Nest City.

Flames blaze fiercely, countless debris and structures crash down, and the crowd below ripples like water broken by stones, then quickly returns to "calm".

After the explosion, the world still contains only boundless, densely packed rushing footsteps.

"How are these traitors not afraid of death?!"

Thump thump thump!

The bomb machine gun rams wildly at the crowd.

Each bomb detonates, blasting large chunks of flesh and blood in the packed crowd.

Bunoke's eyes redden, his index finger stays on the trigger without a moment's release.

He watches, regardless of how many he has killed, the Rebel Forces behind continue fearlessly, and even Bunoke cannot help but be shocked.

"Retreat! Keep retreating! The passage has been blown open."

From behind, soldiers shout; Bunoke empties his magazine, and with his now weakened, exaggerated arms, he hoists his beloved machine gun and retreats.

The remaining covering veterans quickly fire their magazines, creating a laser barrage, then toss dozens of grenades together.

Another explosion takes away hundreds of Rebel Forces.

When the Rebel Forces surge again, a blasted open gate appears, along with black‑uniformed soldiers retreating wildly toward the Nest City Tower Top.

In the forward passage.

A small bomb pierces the darkness, precisely blasting the head of a lurking sniper.

Soon more bombs rhythmically pierce the silence, one after another taking out hidden enemies in the dark.

Xisi holds a mortal‑compatible officer bomb pistol, advancing while continuously firing into the darkness.

Behind him follow veterans; whenever Xisi passes a sector, they immediately disperse, clearing enemies while searching for a route upward.

The veterans have long been convinced of Xisi's combat power, even fully accepting it.

Only the three Death Watchmen of Daiweiluo who truly fought alongside Xisi for the first time have utterly dazed faces.

Because if Xisi were not truly in a mortal body, this style of moving and firing, each shot precisely eliminating the greatest threat, could only be achieved by an Astart.

Daiweiluo watches Xisi, not knowing what he is thinking, but the two relatively new Astarts behind have already completely changed their view of Xisi.

At least when facing Xisi, they subconsciously place him on an equal footing.

The whole squad, confronting the new space, halts again; the greatly reduced soldiers surge wildly from the rear passage.

Without orders, the soldiers immediately begin searching for a new route.

Behind, Bunoke's bomb machine gun, which had just quieted, roars again.

Xisi temporarily lowers his weapon, not watching whether the surrounding soldiers have found a passage, merely turning his head back, his eyelids flickering.

Although Daiweiluo says nothing, seeing the almost abnormal fanatical fighting will of the Nest City Rebel Forces, Xisi feels a growing bad premonition.

"The passage is found, but the open‑door command is still incorrect."

Ana runs back under the protection of a dozen elite veterans, her face filled with uncontainable fury.

If the gate's close command may have been tampered with, or even issued incorrectly.

But nearly every door along the way has been impossible to open, so the Tower Top Noble must be at fault.

Daiweiluo does not display direct anger like Ana; he calmly signals a Death Watch, who deftly picks up a Thermal Melt Bomb and heads toward the gate.

"Since the middle and lower Nest are already fully fallen, why not let the Green Skin in, letting them kill each other on both sides."

"In the end, whichever side wins, the Nobility profits."

Xisi pulls his gaze back from Bunoke's direction, calmly voicing the thoughts in everyone's mind.

This Tower Top Noble doesn't care about any Death Watch, let alone Xisi and his Regiment.

He simply dozed off with a pillow, using Xisi and Daiweiluo to open the passage, allowing the Green Skin to enter the Nest City and purge the civilians who betrayed in the middle and lower Nest.

As for Xisi and Daiweiluo......

Anyway, Alert Star has long turned into a mess; losing tens of thousands of mortals and a handful of Astarts is no big deal!

Just didn't expect Daiweiluo would rather face the endless Rebel Forces alone, yet decisively choose to blow up the passage.

Even more unexpected that the soldiers under Xisi can calmly accept their fate, then alone face the endless Green Skin.

Daiweiluo does not respond to Xisi, even though Astarts do not regard mortal lives as anything.

But this performance, not only toward Xisi but also each mortal soldier under him, has almost all shown courage that makes Daiweiluo's three Death Watchmen take notice.

Regarding the needless casualties caused by the Nobility, Daiweiluo unusually cannot voice an opinion to Xisi.

Fortunately, a roar comes again from ahead; the passage is blown open by a Thermal Melt Bomb, and Daiweiluo and Xisi almost simultaneously raise their weapons and rush toward the passage.

Only this time, what meets them is not soldiers who rushed ahead, but the Astarts leading the way, engulfed in a barrage of bombs and heavy lasers in the narrow, inescapable passage.

Even Astarts clad in Taogang armor cannot survive this firepower.

The path‑clearing Death Watch falls instantly, but before hitting the ground, fires a row of bombs deep into the passage.

The "crisp" sound of flesh exploding follows the extinguished barrage.

From deep within, a Rebel Forces officer shouts in furious rage; at the vague end, several rebels are placed directly into the still blood‑splattered machine‑gun positions.

The Rebel officer's face shows delight; not only have they actually succeeded in taking down an Astart, but also because of this terrain, they doubted anyone could break through.

Only his rebel just took the firing position, and before he could fire again, lasers streaked across the air, instantly killing the rebels beside him.

The officer was bewildered, even doubtful, because this was not an Astartes bomb but a mortal laser.

He looked toward the passage, but around the passage, in just a few short seconds, over ten mortal soldiers had rushed in.

A laser precisely struck the officer's forehead.

Before his world fell into total darkness, the Rebel Forces still showed a final flicker of surprise in their eyes.

These mortals dare to keep charging even after the Astartes have fallen.

The officer's thought was not wrong, because although only over ten soldiers had rushed in on this side of the passage, on the other side were twenty-odd veterans turned to blood mud lying in the passage.

Daiweiluo dragged the fallen Astartes into the passage; although its front was almost smashed to pieces, its chest still rose and fell, and the breathing under its helmet was only slightly labored.

Compared to his own veterans who were smashed to pieces, the Astartes that bore the most firepower was merely seriously injured.

Having witnessed the Astartes' power up close for the first time, Xisi withdrew his gaze, then paid no attention to Daiweiluo's rescue of his slaughter brothers, and his whole attention looked forward.

Because according to the map, behind this door lay the still Empire-controlled Nest City Tower Top.

Also, only this door lacked an opening command, because according to the nobility, upon arriving here, they would open it.

Behind him, Bunoke's machine guns roared madly; around them, almost everyone was wounded, even an Astartes had fallen, making a grim squad.

Just when Ana was manipulating something behind the door, what Xisi saw was Ana furiously hammering the communications console.

Naturally withdrawing his gaze, Ana's voice came through the space, angry:

"These stupid pigs won't open the door!"