Chapter 360: Who Approves? Who Opposes?

One day later.

Starfall World, New Cassini.

Wei Shan hovered high in the sky, looking down upon the ruined city below.

This city was one of the more densely populated areas he had found while exploring minor worlds so far.

Yet the entire city was built atop ruins.

The reason was not hard to understand.

When reviewing data related to the Starfall World, he learned that this city had once suffered an invasion by external forces.

Subsequently, the Virtual Rune Legion, which mastered the rules of ascension, repelled the invading forces.

At this moment, Wei Shan dove toward the city below, deciding to make this city his first test target.

Nightfall enveloped the city.

The invasion by the Endless Dharma Clan half a year ago had turned "New Cassini" into ruins.

The entire city was shrouded in a haze of despair.

Everyone believed this catastrophic invasion would completely destroy the civilization they had created.

They never expected divine soldiers to descend from the heavens; an unknown force suddenly appeared and completely drove the alien power they deemed invincible out of their homeland.

But the rifts torn open by the invasion still spread through the city's fabric.

The energy transmission pipelines that once connected east and west had now become natural barriers dividing the urban districts.

The northern district still retained half of the city dome, originally used to defend against enemies, with relatively minor damage, while the southern district had completely fallen into ruins and slums, where gang forces multiplied like wild dogs amid the broken walls and rubble.

The aerial traffic network, once flowing smoothly, had also completely collapsed.

Countless civilian aircraft were piled up within the city, forming mountains of metal.

The demise of the rule of law proved far more enduring than the impact caused by the Endless Dharma Clan's invasion.

The law enforcement system's database was destroyed during the invasion, and those statutes that once constrained behavior were now scoffed at.

Nowadays, territories were not divided by administrative maps, but by flags planted on ruins after gang wars.

The Wild Wolf Gang's blood-red wolf-head flag fluttered in the central plaza district, while the Iron Hand Party's mechanical claw emblem was nailed onto the wreckage of the energy station... the struggle for resources had become the main theme of this city.

Water purification plants, combat-type mechas, technical engineers, food breeding bases... whoever could control these resources possessed the power of life and death.

Currently, various districts of the city were partitioned by different gangs, and even residents moving simply within the city had to pay tolls.

The corpses of resisters were hung on warning lights along different streets, swaying in the wind, becoming markers more conspicuous than any road sign.

The surviving residents were like insects parasitizing the city's ruins, breeding twisted survival wisdom in this chaotic environment.

They had learned to identify gang symbols amidst gunshots and understood how to use their bodies and other means to exchange for temporary safety.

Public facilities that once symbolized civilization had also been transformed into black market trading hubs.

Hospitals had become workshops for illegally modifying weapons.

The clock tower, capable of overlooking the entire city, had now become a neutral ground for negotiations among the major gangs.

Heavy rain mixed with sewage washed over the city's wounds, yet it could not cleanse the despair permeating the air.

New Cassini was no longer one of this world's transportation hubs; it resembled more like a wound slowly festering.

It testified to how civilization twistedly grew upon ruins after the collapse of order.

At this moment, atop the clock tower in the city center.

Rust-covered hands were stuck at 3:17 AM.

The leaders of the eight major gangs occupying New Cassini sat around inside what was once an astronomical observatory, conducting negotiations on territorial division.

The dome’s glass had shattered long ago during the Endless Dharma Clan’s invasion; now it was barely patched together with transparent industrial plastic sheets. Rain pounding against it created a crackling sound, mingling with sporadic gunshots from the distant slums, forming the ambient backdrop for this negotiation.

The leader of the Iron Hand Party took a deep breath and slammed his mechanical prosthetic heavily onto the table; the collision made the oil lamp on the table flicker unsteadily, and under the dim yellow light, he grinned, revealing a neck crafted from metal:

"I have only one demand: the water purification station in the East District must belong to us."

His voice, processed by a throat speaker, carried a static current:

"The engineer who repaired the water pump last month was a member of the Iron Hand Party; do you intend to reap the benefits without effort?"

Opposite him, the leader of the Wild Wolf Gang licked the scar left on the corner of his mouth during the firefight, revealing yellowed teeth; behind him stood two bare-chested burly men, their skin tattooed with fluorescent wolf heads:

"Some time ago, when outside gangs forcibly broke in, don't forget who guarded the water purification pipelines in the east."

Saying this, he spat a mouthful of saliva onto the floor riddled with bullet holes:

"If we are talking about contributions, we of the Wild Wolf Gang deserve a share of this purification plant too."

At this moment, a faint sound of gears turning came from the shadows in the southeast corner; the leader of the Gear Gang, whose body was mostly transformed into machinery, sat up, revealing the contours of his Iron Face from the shadows:

"Regardless of what you have done, we of the Gear Gang must also have a share of the purification plant; there are only a few water purification plants in the entire city; if you occupy them all, what shall we drink?"

Regarding the distribution of the water purification plant, the eight major gangs refused to yield to one another.

Outside the clock tower, amidst the heavy rain, the flags of various gangs shook violently upon the ruins, seemingly cheering for the imminent gang war.

The night in New Cassini was about to commence in a bloody carnival.

Just as the leaders of the major gangs prepared to grab their weapons and start fighting, they suddenly heard the sound of dripping water.

The sound was very light, yet it rang clearly beside their ears.

Gradually, the sound of dripping water became heavier and heavier.

It was like the saliva of some creature falling onto a metal surface, viscous and slow.

The mechanical prosthetic of the Iron Hand Party leader suddenly twitched, and the hydraulic pipes emitted an unnatural "creak."

He abruptly lowered his head and discovered that the oil lamp on the table had somehow turned dark red; curled within the flame was a black shadow resembling the evil god "Aluci."

"What is this..."

Before he could finish speaking, a dull "thud" came from outside the clock tower.

It was as if some heavy object had smashed onto the ground.

The Wild Wolf Gang leader suddenly raised his head; through the mottled plastic sheet, he saw that a blood moon had somehow torn through the cloud layer.

Moonlight seeped in like pus and blood, painting everyone's faces scarlet.

Even more terrifying was that countless human faces floated within the moonlight; every single Iron Face was extremely familiar to him—all traitors, enemies, and innocents he had personally executed.

"Playing tricks with ghosts and gods!"

The Gear Gang leader slammed the table and rose, yet he heard a "click."

His mechanical arm suddenly flipped 180 degrees out of control, and its alloy knuckles clamped onto his own throat.

The gears slowly meshed, and black blood immediately seeped out from the mechanical cracks.

This sudden, bizarre change completely panicked the eight major gang leaders present.

The bronze bell, long gone from the clock tower, suddenly clashed at this moment, while the rusted hands spun backward frantically.

The changes surrounding them seemed as if a rewind button had been pressed; time appeared to have been turned back to the moment of the Endless Dharma Clan's invasion.

On their retinas replayed that massacre of civilization which had once brought them extreme terror.

Rust instantly spread across the entire city like a spiderweb, while the firepower and small aircraft of the Endless Dharma Clan’s warships ran rampant through the city.

A large number of compatriots vaporized under this irresistible force.

When they tried to leave the clock tower and flee, they discovered that the world outside had also turned into a living hell.

When the Wild Wolf Gang leader smashed open the tottering plastic sheet, the scene of the plaza that greeted his eyes made the blood in his entire body instantly freeze.

Those valiant and battle-hardened gang members under his command were now twisted into inhuman forms.

The knotted muscles on their backs tore open, extending three pairs of barbed jointed limbs; their facial bones protruded exaggeratedly forward, fangs piercing through their lips, and the fluorescent wolf-head tattoos on their skin actually transformed into living creatures, writhing and biting amidst flesh and blood.

The youngest gang leader, that of the Poison Scorpion Gang, followed immediately after.

Upon seeing the scene outside, he immediately let out a heart-rending scream.

Trembling, he pointed his finger at the plaza below the clock tower; in his eyes, the plaza was crawling with creatures that were half-human, half-snake.

The upper bodies of those creatures resembled members of the Poison Scorpion Gang, yet their skin was covered in dark purple scales; when the snake tails of their lower bodies crushed against the ground, they left trails of venom emitting white smoke.

One of the snake-men raised its head, revealing the Iron Face of his own younger brother.

His eyes had turned into vertical pupils, and when he opened his mouth, he revealed pale green teeth.

"It's... it's Ah Lang."

Seeing his younger brother, who had died miserably in a gang war last week, reborn in the form of a snake-man, the Poison Scorpion Gang leader collapsed to the ground, his fingers constantly digging into the bullet holes on the floor due to nervousness, until blood seeped from under his fingernails.

Even more horrifying scenes spread in the distance.

Members of the Iron Hand Gang had transformed into headless mechanical puppets, with exposed wires connected at their necks.

In the direction of the slums east of the clock tower, a patch of black mist rose, from which came wails rising and falling one after another.

Occasionally, figures rushed out from the mist, yet they were deformed monsters growing multiple arms.

Various monsters ran rampant; the world seemed to have turned into an Asura hell in an instant.

Many evil spirits from mythological stories, as well as the Endless Dharma Clan that had once brought them extreme terror, all revived at this moment.

The leader of the Iron Hand Party attempted to activate the combat system of his exoskeleton armor, yet he discovered that metal scales suddenly rose from his body, and his own physique began to mutate.

Black mist dissipating from his pores formed human faces in the air, wailing and roaring at him, vibrating his ears with a buzzing hum.