Chapter 257: An De Lu's Eternal Friend Ji Ming

Good news, they succeeded; whether it's Sun-Moon Star or Machine Moon, both still stand to this day.

Bad news, they failed; all of them, unwilling to be eliminated, were forced into a brutally extreme sawtooth war.

The Extinction Sub-machine continuously used lunar minerals to produce troops, then hurled the accumulated machine army toward Sun-Moon.

The world's will ceaselessly conducts civilizational interference, then, bearing the magically civilization forged by forced evolution, attempts a counterattack against Machine Moon.

This 'Dual Moon War' dragged on endlessly; the Sun-Moon Light Otherworld Savior forcibly conscripted 147 individuals, and the resulting planetary ecological changes only increased, never decreased.

And as the mortal enemy of such a frenzied will, despite its own shattered computational power being extremely limited, Machine Moon also carried out successive technological innovations on its existing technological level.

But the outcome of this arms race was not to fight until the planetary frontiers, becoming incarnations of limitless magic and limitless technological civilization that sweep across the multiverse.

Because, after clashing dozens of times at the peak of frenzy, sparing no expense, they simultaneously encountered a problem—there is a cost.

No matter how large the moon, it is merely a satellite of a living planet; its resources are indeed abundant, but the quantity is absolutely not 'infinity'.

After repeatedly hurling scrap iron at the heads of the seventy-third batch of indigenous people on Sun-Moon Star who were still baring their teeth at gorillas, Machine Moon suddenly realized its resources were insufficient.

Thereafter they lived a miserable existence in which steel was so scarce they wished they could split it in half to use, even building dedicated salvage ships to sneak onto Sun-Moon Star after battles to scavenge trash.

And Sun-Moon Star is not a toy you can fiddle with at will; you can't just input 'PANZER' to get a free tank to go head-to-head with.

Not only the major event of the first world's gamification, but Sun-Moon, believing the Savior's nonsense, made numerous alterations that have already driven this planet's fragile world laws to the brink of collapse.

Finally, after reacting, Sun-Moon had no choice but to quickly curb its desire to modify, learning to refuse the Savior, and even conducting investigations and negotiations regarding the Savior's identity before the summoning began.

But regardless, what has been wasted is wasted; no matter how much they regret it, it's of no avail.

Thus, the originally mere few-hundred-year gap in the Dual Moon War has been gradually lengthened; now it takes upwards of a thousand years, even several thousand, to fight a single round.

Moreover, just like two wrestlers who have exhausted too much strength early on but must determine a winner in this match, lying on the ground mutually strangling each other naked, they are also growing ever weaker.

If this continues, not to mention the opponent striking, there's a chance they might not even catch their breath and die right at home……

"So, anxious and burning, you came up with an extremely daring plan: go to high dimensions and borrow the energy of high-dimensional beings?"

【If we could obtain the aid of high-dimensional beings, even just some fragments would be enough for me to mount a desperate counterattack, after all the balance of power between us is truly fragile】

After hearing Sun-Moon's lengthy self-account, Ji Ming subconsciously wanted to look up at the sky again, but what he saw was the already gradually brightening daylight.

Unfortunately, I really wanted to see what a planet completely wrapped in silver-white machinery would look like.

After those matters are settled, let's leave the Black Forest Region and go elsewhere, and incidentally conduct an on-site inspection of what sort of freakish state the magical world, randomly altered over a hundred times by the foolish world's will, would be in.

However, it was precisely this act of looking up that he suddenly discovered a crucially important problem.

"Sun-Moon, it's normal for a swaddling-cloth civilization that can't even do extraterrestrial exploration to have no backing, but since they all have 'sub-machines,' how could there possibly be no big boss behind them?"

"You and the little Machine Moon have been fighting each other for tens of thousands of years; don't they have any aunts and uncles who would come to the kindergarten to pull your little brat's braid?"

Sun-Moon: "This description, which side are you actually on?"

【No, actually the 32nd Savior had already raised this question, but whether before or after, I have indeed never encountered any non-Machine Moon mechanical beings.】

So, what kind of situation could cause a parent who is extremely protective of their offspring to not come at lightspeed to support when their own children are fighting?

"You said their warships were all severely damaged when they first arrived, right? Could it be that during fierce combat they managed to fold-jump to the vicinity of Sun-Moon Star, but due to excessively heavy losses they lost the ability to contact their superiors, leaving them only able to rely on their own skills to deadlock with you?"

【You say it might be a disconnected intelligent AI? The 32nd Savior also mentioned this possibility.】

"What I mean is, if when you first met them, the allied forces hadn't become so excited as to send away every single one of their warships, perhaps they would have gritted their teeth and set sail to escape here, instead of being forced to hide on the moon and deadlock with you."

【???】

"You defend Sun-Moon Star because it's your home, while they invade Sun-Moon Star because if they didn't come here, they would inevitably die penniless on the moon."

【!!!】

This…… How did it end up sounding like it's my fault in the end?

Having just killed An De Lu, then learning the truth about Sun-Moon Star, Ji Ming's mood was great.

Unfortunately, borrowing a certain Churchill quote—this is not the end, nor even the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

Originally, the situation in Sunlight City had been gradually returning to balance, but it will inevitably become unbalanced again due to An De Lu's death, after which there will still be harsh events to occur.

Thus, after receiving the intelligence information sent by Greesen, Ji Ming immediately headed toward the underground city, preparing to teleport back to Sunlight City to carry out the next stage of operations.

After all, even now, in this vast dark forest there is still a frightened, pitiful creature.

"Damn, it's too terrifying; this group of Pioneers is truly too terrifying."

Teleporting and fleeing seemed carefree, but it's actually not that simple; so not long after Johnson escaped, he discovered he had accidentally gotten lost in the dense forest.

After wandering in circles all night until dawn, he then used the sun to regain his direction, dragging his utterly exhausted body to see Sunlight City on the horizon.

Finally able to set his mind at ease, he leaned against a tree to rest a moment; closing his eyes, he drew thoughts from his chaotic mind and began weighing the gains and losses of last night.

This round counts as an overperformance, in one fell swoop killing all the high-ranking members of the Mountain Folk Iron Hammer along with An De Lu, completely clearing away all obstacles.

Having achieved this, I should be able, with the help of adults, to successfully rise to become the manager of the mercenary band that Marquis must rely on.

"Interest is the eternal pursuit; cousin, this is what you taught me—I really did this, so don't blame me…"

He didn't tidy his already wrinkled, grass-and-dew-stained clothing; instead he rolled around on the ground a few more times.

He gathered before a stream that someone had once used as a makeup mirror, forcing out an expression of having eaten a huge lump and being in agony, unwilling to live.

Then he sprinted full speed, howling toward the gate of Sunlight City.

"Ahhhh, save me, save me!"

Coincidentally, today's city gate guards happened to be the batch that had the best relations with the Mountain Folk Mercenaries; seeing Johnson come over crying, the brothers all went dumbfounded.

Could it be that the legend of an invincible bull in the forest that loves muscular men is actually true……

As a result, they gathered around with strange expressions, questioned carefully, and after listening were completely dumbfounded.

"What? You followed Marquis An De Lu into the Dark Forest to conduct drills, and ended up encountering a group of monsters—all……all dead!!"

Before the trembling Johnson could even get back to Inner City by carriage, the news 'Mountain Folk Iron Hammer fell in the Dark Forest, thousands of mercenaries completely wiped out by an unknown force' swept through the entire Sunlight City.

Rumor and gossip, using the tavern as a information hub, circulated among the townsfolk and, through word of mouth, rapidly fermented into multiple versions.

"We're doomed; just as the frenzied beast event had barely rolled back, another unknown force appeared outside the city—how are we supposed to live like this?!"

"Think of the good side—An De Lu is dead."

Yeah, and it's possible that the so-called unknown force is just the frenzied creatures; our enemy is still just one.

Impossible! Absolutely impossible! I heard through the grapevine that the group that suppressed the Mountain Folk Iron Hammer mercenaries was a band of humans and beastmen; it's definitely not something uncanny.

That's great…… damn, what a load of crap!

But no matter what, thousands of people died out in the wilderness for no apparent reason, and regardless of their morality, people's faces and words were full of panic.

So when Johnson finally arrived at Andrew's manor, he saw that the townspeople had already gathered here, trying to find out what really happened.

……No.

Even if something big happened, this many people is just too many; you should know that gawking at a spectacle in Sunshine City isn't a good habit.

But his doubts were quickly cleared up, because he saw that the ones maintaining order in the crowd weren't the Iron Hammer mercenaries left behind, but the Windstorm mercenaries.

——Lord Fei En has arrived!

He rushed toward the manor's gate like a dog that smells its master, but just as he entered the office building under the mercenaries' escort, he saw an unexpected figure.

"Ji Ming, the Divine Chosen, what are you doing here?"

However, Ji Ming covered his face in pain, merely reaching out to pat his shoulder.

"Ah, Johnson, my friend, please accept my condolences……"

???

Johnson, who thought victory was in the bag and that all he needed was a safe return to the city to reap the rewards, didn't realize that someone else was vying with him for control of the narrative of this incident.

That was the well-known philanthropist of Sunshine City, the Orderly Good ordained by the Holy Light God, Andrew's old friend—Ji Ming.

Early this morning, Ji Ming the Divine Chosen took the church's carriage and sped to Andrew's manor; the first thing he said upon seeing the gate guards was:

"Hello, may I ask if Captain Andrew has sent back a letter?"

Upon receiving a negative reply, he immediately grew anxious, and without even getting off the carriage, he rushed to the nearby Windstorm Arena.

The so-called Windstorm Arena is actually a complex; it is the base of the Mountain Folk Windstorm mercenary band, and also the headquarters of the Mountain Folk mercenary alliance's chief, Fei En.

Although he had little acquaintance with Ji Ming, the latter was still a prominent local figure of good reputation.

I don't know when I might need him, but offering a smile and a cup of coffee is no problem.

However, Ji Ming didn't wait for the coffee to be served; he grabbed his own wrist, his words tinged with sorrow.

"Chief Fei En, Captain Andrew may have met with misfortune—don't believe me, look."

That gesture startled Fei En so much he almost crushed the armrest; he shook his fingers twice before taking the letter.

Taking a closer look, the contents were quite simple.

Andrew had instructed Ji Ming to come to the manor this morning to ask if there was any news of him; if not, it would mean something had happened to him, and he should immediately go find Fei En to take charge, open the underground warehouse for inspection, and prevent the mercenary band from falling into disorder.

As for the letter's authenticity, let's not even mention that the handwriting is definitely Andrew's, and it also bears his unique anti-forgery stroke—could the matter that Ji Ming the Divine Chosen personally came to report be false?

No matter how mercenaries may feud with each other, seeing to each other's aftermath is the most basic duty, even for mortal enemies, after all nobody wants to die in a foreign land with no one to bury them.

Thus, even the chief Fei En had to show up in person, bringing his finest mercenaries to Andrew's manor to begin checking and sealing the supplies in the warehouse one by one.

Fei En felt greedy, but as a veteran commander's last line of duty, he chose self-restraint and did not reach out with sinister hands.

"Take it easy—just grab a few crates at random when Ji Ming isn't looking!"

But after sealing every warehouse, Ji Ming still held an absurdly oversized key in his hand, and right before them stood a suspiciously extreme iron door.

Strangely, Fei En felt an inexplicable resistance rise in his heart.

He instinctively wanted to find an excuse to leave, but Ji Ming firmly said:

"Chief Fei En, Captain Andrew specifically stressed that everything must be inspected!"

"Uh, ah…… okay."

……

I regret it, I truly regret it!

Even though he was a military man, even though he had long been accustomed to death and had crawled out of piles of corpses, Fei En regretted making the decision to go inside.

"Good heavens……"

Those who followed him in were also veterans who had fought beside him from the Northern Border battlefield to now, but upon seeing what lay inside, countless of them vomited on the spot.

After all, the battlefield is merely an indifferent meat grinder of life, whereas this place is a horrifying purgatory forged to the limit by human subjective malice.

The various pieces of evidence inside show that only Andrew and a very few others knew of this place; at least the vast majority of the Iron Hammer mercenaries were completely unaware of it.

And on the deepest shelf, the black heart inside the transparent crystal jar, as well as the bizarre, twisted, sutured monstrosity locked on the shelf……

Could it be that the mastermind behind the frenzied creature incident is actually the captain of the Mountain Folk Iron Hammer mercenaries, Andrew?

... What about the Mountain Folk mercenaries he stirred up, wave after wave, to leave Sunshine City, after which they vanished without a trace?

The impact of this matter is really too great; previously, mere suspicion of an insider and inaction was enough to force Boris, that well‑reputed leopard, into a disgraceful retreat,

If this hammer lands squarely on Andrew, the shrapnel might even stain the Mountain Folk Windstorm mercenaries with scandal!

Fei En really wanted to suppress this news, but the one who brought them here was Ji Ming the Divine Chosen; if he lost even a single hair here, Fei En would be hunted by the Holy Light God's church all the way to the Beimosi Grassland.

Moreover, the commotion here has already attracted many people; outside the manor are filled with agents of various factions gathering information, waiting to hear something big so they can hype it into an inter‑city crisis and trade it for rewards.

Helpless, Fei En could only glare and order his subordinates to gather evidence, telling them that when they go out to brag, they must repeatedly stress that all of this was Andrew's doing, and that we Mountain Folk Windstorm mercenaries really had nothing to do with it!

Happy New Year, time to update—update.