Chapter 794: Look on the Bright Side, at Least There's Still a Brain Left

Chapter 794: Look on the Bright Side, at Least You Still Have a Brain

“You’d better calm down.”

Watching the powered armor take a step forward, the Saint showed no panic, only a faint smile as he spoke in a very soft voice.

“As a precaution, I’ve set up 1.5 tons of metallic hydrogen explosives in this warehouse… Any unidentified biological signature entering the recognition zone will trigger the detonation device.”

This madman…

Fang Chang stared at him in shock, halting his advance.

“Are you insane?”

The Saint spoke in a gentle tone.

“You might think so, but I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“Then you should know very well that this is just pointless resistance,” Fang Chang said, his eyes fixed on him. “Surrender—you’ve already lost.”

As he spoke, he sent a command to the team heading toward the security room, instructing them to implant the cracking program Xiao Qi had made into the shelter’s security system and locate the bombs.

As if hearing a very amusing joke, the Saint smiled faintly.

“The Heavenly Kingdom in Haiya Province has indeed reached its end, but saying we’ve already lost is still far too early.”

Before Fang Chang could speak, he continued.

“In fact, my soul is already 1.5 million kilometers away from here. The reason you can see me here is simply that I wanted to meet you one last time.”

“Meet us one last time?” Fang Chang frowned, staring intently at this pretentious figure.

What bothered him more was another piece of information revealed in the man’s words.

1.5 million kilometers…

The Lagrange point?

Had the high-ranking members of the Torch Church uploaded their minds to some satellite or space station at the Lagrange point?

Without intending to explain his words, the Saint merely smiled faintly.

“What else did you think? Without my tacit approval, how could a mere brain in a petri dish have slipped away right under my nose?”

“…So… only a brain remains…”

A faltering voice came through the communication channel. Clearly, Kailan was utterly devastated that her body was nothing but a lump of brain matter.

Fang Chang had no time to console her; he kept his eyes locked on the Saint standing behind rows of cultivation tanks.

“And now? Your curiosity should be satisfied.”

“Yes,” the Saint nodded, his voice crisp as he continued. “After meeting you, many of my doubts have been answered. You are a form of complete life in another sense—a possibility I had never envisioned before… In fact, we could have cooperated, and that was my greatest miscalculation regarding the situation on the wasteland.”

“Then you truly insult us,” Fang Chang laughed heartily, his gaze contemptuous. “We would never stoop to cooperating with scum like you.”

The Saint was not angered, only smiling faintly.

“I mean in a technical sense. You can’t deny that possibility existed… Of course, all this is hindsight now. I really shouldn’t have expected you remnants of the old world to understand our ideals.”

“Your ideals…” Fang Chang sighed. “To be honest, whether it’s you or Charas, you people talk a better game than you sing. You spin theories one after another, yet in the end, you can’t even step up to take responsibility or admit a mistake. What are you afraid of? If you’re so convinced of your righteousness, just stand in the judgment seat—maybe we’d be persuaded by you?”

The Saint stared at him in silence, as if at a loss for words, wanting to retort but finding nothing suitable.

“Say what you will. After all, you are the victors…”

Finally, he dropped that line, abruptly ending the topic.

But as if to salvage some dignity, the Saint paused briefly before continuing.

“But don’t celebrate too soon. Your victory is only temporary.”

“The ‘Celestials’ have returned.”

“And they returned long ago.”

“No one can resist the ultimate evolution! No one!”

Almost the moment his words fell, another voice from the team came through Fang Chang’s communication channel.

“Hacking program implanted! Biological identification device disabled! Self-destruct device neutralized!”

“Received.”

Fang Chang, who had paused for so long before the steps, took another step forward.

Seeing Fang Chang stride into the biological recognition zone as if nothing had happened, a flicker of surprise crossed the Saint’s face—but only for an instant.

“I see. It seems it’s time for me to exit—”

“You talk too much!”

Fang Chang quickly drew a tranquilizer gun, aimed at the Saint’s chest, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

But then, something no one expected happened.

The moment the pale blue tracer struck the Saint’s chest, his body swelled like a balloon pumped full of air.

His limbs and features twisted into a mess, as if he had been injected with some unstable genetic modification reagent.

“We will meet again—”

With those words, he exploded amidst a burst of arrogant laughter, spraying blood and flesh across the entire room.

All the players were stunned.

White-Give-Sniper swallowed hard.

“Damn… self-destruct?”

Tool-Master clicked his tongue.

“He didn’t even leave himself a whole corpse.”

That guy was ruthless…

Clearly, as the Saint had said, they had already uploaded their minds to some server 1.5 million kilometers away.

That was their escape route.

As for the flesh left in the “mortal world,” it was always dispensable to them.

Fang Chang didn’t know where that guy got the confidence to blabber on about “your victory is only temporary” even at death’s door.

But another clue caught his attention.

“…Celestials.”

What the hell was that?

“My body…” A sobbing voice came intermittently through the communication channel, interrupting his thoughts.

Clearly, not everyone considered the flesh a meaningless burden.

Looking at the heartbroken Kailan, Fang Chang offered a word of comfort.

“Look on the bright side—at least you still have a brain.”

Besides, with these people’s biotechnology, re-creating a body and reattaching the head shouldn’t be too hard, right?

He wasn't very knowledgeable about such specialized matters, but in theory it should be feasible, right?

"You don't understand... I dream of leaving this shelter. Those people... they promised me they would keep my body safe..."

Kaelen's voice gradually became incoherent.

Fang Chang glanced at the drone lying on the ground, then looked at the rows of cultivation tanks filled with brains, and spoke after a moment of thought.

"Alright, I really don't understand much... By the way, do you know someone named Heya?"

"...Who?"

Kaelen's voice carried a hint of bewilderment, as if hearing the name for the first time.

Just as I thought.

Having probably guessed the gist of the matter, Fang Chang let out a soft sigh.

"Nothing."

If his guess was correct, the Bluecoats of Vault 117 must have uploaded their consciousness to some server 1.5 million kilometers away much earlier...

...

At the same time Fang Chang's squad successfully subdued Vault 20, a long, shuttle-shaped research vessel sat quietly in the abandoned urban area not far from the vault entrance.

Beside the research vessel, a dozen or so surveyors in exoskeletons stood silently, exchanging only brief words over the comm channel.

"Didn't expect the Alliance to beat us to it," one surveyor said with a grave expression, seemingly at a loss for this unexpected turn.

The Vellantese weren't the only ones interested in the Complete Lifeform Project; they too were fascinated by this singularity-level research endeavor.

The Academy had obtained the coordinates of Vault 20 long ago, and they had come here to retrieve the technical data stored within.

But clearly, they were a step too late.

"What now?" a younger surveyor asked, looking at the highest-ranking member of the team.

"Nothing much... Are we going to snatch it from them?"

"Actually, it's not necessary. It just occurred to me that handing this headache over to the Alliance might not be a bad thing."

"Oh?"

"The Vellantese should have noticed the situation by now. A thousand-strong cohort is heading toward this area... Heh, let's hope they don't start fighting over the spoils."

"I don't think it'll come to that."

"Whether it does or not, we should withdraw."

There was no point in staying any longer. One by one, the dozen or so surveyors returned to the research vessel.

Pale blue plasma plumes shot from the engine nozzles, and the long, shuttle-shaped ship silently melted into the night, just as it had arrived without a sound.

At the same moment the Academy's research vessel withdrew from the battlefield, the fighting in the abandoned urban area reached its climax.

As if sensing the departure of the Saint, the Holy Light Knights, who had been maintaining a steady offensive, suddenly went berserk, launching a near-suicidal assault on the First Battalion led by Murder Dagger.

A paladin in power armor suddenly roared and charged out of cover.

Like a maddened beast, he ignored the hail of bullets aimed at his face, strode boldly right up to the players, and then used his solid, powerful shoulder armor to smash an entire concrete wall, startling the players leaning behind it.

"Long live the Saint!"

The paladin bellowed, his rifle roaring with a series of bangs, tracer rounds flying like lightning toward the players in exoskeletons around him.

But the players were no pushovers either, especially since these were all top-tier gamers from the Burning Legion.

Caught off guard, they quickly distanced themselves from the frenzied elite monster.

One player, crouched on the ground, deftly pulled out an RPG launcher and fired a HEAT round straight at the power armor's right shoulder!

The explosion's sparks and smoke jolted the power armor backward, but it didn't kill him—only knocked him to the ground.

Seeing the Alliance's line breached, the soldiers in exoskeletons also rushed out of cover, shouting garbled slogans as they surged toward the players' positions.

Though it was too dark to see how many there were, the gunfire alone suggested at least a platoon!

Another player nearby didn't hesitate; he pulled out an artillery beacon and tossed it out.

"Take cover!" he yelled, dropping to the ground first.

Just as the paladin in power armor struggled to his feet, a 155mm bunker buster slammed through the ceiling with a bang and exploded right at his feet.

"Boom!!!"

Not only the tottering power armor, but also the thirty or forty light infantry in exoskeletons charging behind him were all engulfed in the blast!

The scorching shockwave swept across the battlefield, blowing hot dust hundreds of meters away.

One by one, the players who had taken cover got up from the ground.

Staring at the battlefield still steaming with white smoke, many wore expressions of lingering fear.

"Holy shit..."

"Are these bastards insane?"

"They're not even trying to win..."

At first, everyone thought it was just an accident, but soon they realized it wasn't a fluke.

It wasn't just one apostle or one paladin that had gone mad—it was everyone on the battlefield!

They seemed to have concluded that, cornered with no way out, they couldn't win this war, so in despair they launched a reckless assault, seeking final release in death.

Murder Dagger could feel that the people standing before him were no longer fighting for some twisted faith or ideal—they were simply seeking an end.

Though his own forces had suffered heavy casualties, facing an enemy whose morale had already collapsed, there was still a chance to turn the tables!

After shooting down a Holy Light Knight soldier charging straight at him, Murder Dagger quickly reloaded his rifle and shouted into the comm channel.

"Hold the line!"

"Our enemy is on their last legs! They can't last much longer!"

Just as his words faded, another loud roar echoed from afar.

Hearing that sound, Murder Dagger's heart sank.

Mutants!

It was the roar of mutants!

The opponents they had been fighting had suddenly switched to these power-armored and exoskeleton-wearing freaks, so much so that he had almost forgotten this was mutant territory.

The furious roar seemed to assert the Flame Cave Clan's sovereignty over these ruins.

As if sensing that their allied reinforcements were about to lose, a group of green-skinned creatures, wielding large-caliber rifles, began to encircle their position once more.

The situation took a sharp turn for the worse!

Murder Dagger had already mentally prepared himself to spectate from the respawn screen for three days.

But just then, a voice like heavenly music came through the comm channel.

"...This is Old Bai. Vault 20 is under control."

"Sorry for the wait, brothers of the First Battalion!"