Chapter 612: Will Disperse All Gloom

Chapter 612: The Haze That Shall Be Dispelled

“No retreat! Hold them back!”

“Those two-legged beasts, frail and worthless! One punch and they fall! Do you want to be defeated by such things?!”

At the main entrance of the Champion Biopharmaceutical Research Institute.

A three-meter-tall mutant centurion roared in fury, like a dog with its hackles raised, urging his underlings forward.

His name was Hogg, a warrior personally named by Gaen, and the most loyal and valiant warrior under that lord’s command.

In the Qi tribe, where the strong were revered, Gaen had groomed him as the successor to the chieftain, and thus entrusted him with the vital task of guarding this institute.

It was the bond that held the alliance between the Qi tribe and the Torch Church, and also the center of the tribe’s cybernetic modifications.

Gaen ordered him to lead over a thousand men to defend this place to the death.

He had sworn solemnly to Gaen that no matter what, he would not let this institute fall into the hands of the Alliance!

If only they could hold out for two more weeks…

The Eternal Heaven would be forever anchored to this land!

Hogg gritted his teeth and roared.

“…Charge! Eat their flesh, drink their blood, chop them into mincemeat! Make them into sofas!”

The roar was full of vigor, and it indeed ignited the blood of many mutant soldiers, sending a horde of green-skinned brutes howling forward.

Yet against the storm-like assault, all their struggles were utterly futile.

The main entrance had become a bloody meat grinder; the lives of the frontline mutant soldiers were measured in seconds as they turned into flying flesh and blood.

Under the cover of armored vehicles, the Alliance’s offensive was like an unstoppable spearhead, tearing through the defenses at the institute’s gate with devastating force.

A Chimera armored vehicle that climbed the stairs crashed straight through the hall’s wall, its dark gun barrel thrust inside and opened fire with a series of bangs.

Sandbags piled in the corridors and stairwells were blasted away, along with the mutant soldiers hiding behind them, crushed into pulp by tracer rounds as thick as pythons.

Following close behind were iron lumps wielding chainsaws.

The howling blades were like gnashing hounds, their green paint stained red with blood and gore.

They looked like demons crawling out of hell.

The moment their eyes met those murderous humanoid armors, the green faces were instantly filled with terror, and the automatic rifles and shotguns in their hands trembled uncontrollably.

For a moment, they couldn’t tell—

Who was more beastly!

“Haha! Madness! Utter madness!!”

Charging headlong into the mutant lines, Midnight Chicken Killer swung his chainsaw in wild excitement, his eyes bloodshot.

This steel body suited him perfectly!

The only downside was the locked sequence level and experience, sometimes making him unable to stop when he went berserk… but those were minor issues.

This was a war between humans and mutants.

A war between civilization and barbarism.

There were no prisoners in this war.

Naturally, there was no need for mercy!

Watching the Jungle Corps carve the mutants into pieces, the players of the Skeleton Corps found themselves with no chance to act, one by one clicking off their safeties and lowering their muzzles.

Mainly because they couldn’t.

In the cramped indoor terrain, Brother Chicken alone occupied two-thirds of the corridor, and the strength-build brutes in heavy exoskeletons blocked the path forward entirely.

If they opened fire now, over eighty percent of the shots would hit allies.

Leaning against the armored vehicle, Yelena watched the chainsaw-wielding iron lump with an amused expression and teased.

“Brother Chicken’s gone berserk.”

The comm channel quickly came back with Brother Fortune’s mocking voice.

“What a cyberpsycho.”

Yelena: “Haha.”

“Let him rage…” Mole poked his head out of the turret and chuckled, “He’s not sane that often anyway.”

The battle was going smoothly.

Even smoother than he had expected.

Earlier, these mutants, with vehicle support and unexpected cybernetic modifications, could trade blows with the Alliance’s frontline forces. But as their vehicles were destroyed by Chimera armor and the cybernetic mutants fell one by one, the remaining mutants couldn’t even mount a proper resistance.

In truth, they had little strength left to struggle. In the previous rounds of assault, their effective forces had been nearly exhausted, while the Alliance’s troops seemed almost endless.

Suddenly remembering a promise made on the forum to Brother Mosquito, Yelena looked at Elf King Fortune.

“Speaking of which, we promised Mosquito we’d help him find his lost cybernetic parts.”

“Let’s go after the fight.”

“Hope it ends before dark.”

“Dark?” Brother Fortune smirked. “With these beasts, can they last till noon?”

As they spoke, a strength-build player in K10 “Iron Wall” exoskeleton approached from a distance and unsealed his helmet’s visor.

Seeing the obviously idle Old Na and Old Wang, Piltover Paratrooper raised a hand in greeting.

“Hey, you guys free?”

Yelena smiled and asked.

“What’s up? Need help?”

Piltover Paratrooper nodded helplessly.

“The elevator to the underground lab was wrecked by those beasts. They seem dead set on fighting to the end. We tried going down the fire escape, but it’s too narrow—our guys are stuck.”

The underground lab had a nuclear bunker nature; the fire escape and elevator didn’t connect to the above-ground structure—you had to enter from the first-floor lobby.

The Jungle Corps had secured all exits on the above-ground floors and were systematically clearing the remaining mutants, but the assault on the underground wasn’t going well.

The mutants had blown up the elevators and freight lifts, and set up numerous traps and barricades in the only fire escape.

Hearing someone was stuck, Elf King Fortune burst out laughing.

“Damn, who’s that embarrassing?”

Piltover Paratrooper: “Prostrate Model Worker told me not to tell anyone.”

“Pfft—”

“Hahaha!”

Watching Old Na and Old Wang doubled over with laughter, Mole held back his own grin and cleared his throat.

“You two go help them out.”

Irena made an OK gesture, smiling as she rechambered a round into the rifle slung across her chest.

"Okay!"

...

At the entrance to the power room in the underground research zone of the Champion Biology Institute, Hogg stood guard with his most loyal followers.

Listening to the gunfire and explosions drawing ever closer, his green, scarred face finally betrayed a flicker of fear.

It wasn't death he dreaded.

It was the hopelessness of the situation—not a single glimmer of turning the tide.

Was their tribe truly finished here?

If even the second mightiest warrior of the Lianqi tribe felt this way, the others were beyond consolation. The entire squad's morale had plummeted to rock bottom.

Though their leader had strictly forbidden whispering, the mutants crouched behind cover couldn't help murmuring among themselves.

"Where are our allies..."

"I heard they launched an attack on the Alliance last night... That cannon fire was theirs."

"Quite a racket."

"Did they win?"

"Do you even need to ask... That airship is still there."

"I heard our chieftain was there last night too!"

"Could the chieftain already be..."

As the murmurs grew louder, Hogg, already seething with anxiety, erupted in fury, bellowing at those whispering among themselves.

"Shut up! Cowards! The chieftain is fine, no need for your concern! Keep your eyes on your sectors! If I hear anyone gossiping about Lord Gahn again, I'll rip their tongue out!"

At the sight of Hogg's raging outburst, the green-skinned brutes fell silent, trembling, daring not to whisper another word.

Yet, though Hogg silenced their tongues, he couldn't stop their minds from wandering.

At this point, even a pig could guess that their leader was likely dead, and their allies had probably abandoned them long ago.

They were marching to their deaths.

This resistance was utterly meaningless!

At that thought, their green faces grew even more despairing.

Just then, a deafening explosion roared from the direction of the fire escape.

A burst of crackling gunfire followed, then the grinding screech of a saw tearing through bone and a series of bloodcurdling screams.

Every mutant's heart leaped into their throat; their eyes, hidden in the shadows, were filled with terror and panic.

As if to dispel the fear in his chest, Hogg hoisted the fist-thick iron gun in his hands and chambered a round with a sharp click.

"Prepare for battle!!"

Hearing his booming voice, the mutants gritted their teeth and let out roars.

"Ooh!!"

...

At the entrance to the fire escape of the underground research zone, dozens of corpses lay scattered in disarray.

Most were mutants, easily recognizable by their green skin, while a few were players' remains, mostly embedded in the wreckage of exoskeletons.

War propaganda posters were plastered on the alloy walls, some cut from magazines or newspapers, mostly about frontline victories.

Ironically, the Three-Year War had spanned several light-years, yet this underground bunker had never been touched by its flames.

Now, over two centuries later, the dust-covered alloy walls were riddled with dense bullet holes, and the blood filling the corridor nearly submerged the soles of boots.

"...The power room is just ahead!" A Piltovan paratrooper in heavy exoskeleton, leading the way, called back to his brothers as he checked the map on his VM. "Detecting life signs! This is the last room!"

Irena glanced at her task list.

"The remaining mutants are probably all here. I recall the pseudo-hive should be in the power room... The nuclear fuel is stored in the backup warehouse."

"Let's give them a quick end!"

With a sinister grin, the Piltovan paratrooper revved the chainsaw in his hand, the air in the corridor growing hot and tense.

Just as the paratrooper was about to move forward, Elf King Fugui suddenly called out to him.

"Hold on."

The paratrooper stopped and turned to look at him.

"What?"

Elf King Fugui grinned slyly, pulling out a big toy and hoisting it onto his shoulder, his face beaming.

"Try this thing!"

The paratrooper raised an eyebrow.

Holy crap!

An RPG?

"You brought this thing down here?"

"Heh, and with a new warhead!"

As he spoke, Elf King Fugui was already inserting a rocket, nearly as thick as a thigh, into the launcher tube.

Curious about the peculiar shape, the paratrooper leaned in for a closer look and switched off his chainsaw.

"...What the hell is that?"

Shouldering the loaded launcher, Elf King Fugui beamed.

"A thermobaric warhead!"

"Holy shit!?"

The moment they heard "thermobaric warhead," the surrounding players were instantly stunned. Whether it was real or not, they all scrambled back—except for Old Na, who remained calm.

"Fabricated after the TBG-7V thermobaric warhead... Don't freak out. But that Mosquito guy is insane, managing to replicate this thing in here!"

As he spoke, Elf King Fugui couldn't help but marvel.

This goblin tech was getting more and more criminal.

Unlike fragmentation grenades, this thermobaric warhead had no pre-formed fragments, relying entirely on shockwaves and high temperatures to kill targets.

Its effect on open-area targets was mediocre, but against enclosed structures, its lethality was absurd.

The fewer windows, the stronger the damage!

The instant creation of a 10-to-15-atmosphere thermobaric environment was enough to blast any known carbon-based lifeform into dust!

"Enough talk, get on with it." Too lazy to listen to his bragging, Irena had already moved to the sliding door and grabbed the handle.

Old Fugui chuckled, aiming the launcher at the door.

“I’ll count to three, and you mind the door, eh.”

Upon hearing this, Old Na dared not play that high-difficulty timing game with him, and immediately slid the hatch open.

Bullets whizzed out of the room, startling Brother Fugui, who reflexively squeezed the trigger.

A plume of white smoke shot from the launcher, its wobbling tail flame plunging into the open hatch.

Luckily, the rocket flew inside.

Otherwise, everyone in the corridor would have been roasted alive.

Meanwhile, in the power room, seeing the rocket that had slipped through the door, the vigilant Hog was startled.

He had steeled himself for a final showdown with the Alliance, never expecting these bastards to be so dishonorable as to blast them with a rocket launcher.

“Get down!!”

He bellowed, dropping flat to the ground, but soon realized how superfluous the gesture was.

The roar of the explosion and a dozenfold pressure slammed into his eardrums; he lost his hearing before he could even scream.

Not just hearing.

Scorching heat instantly parched every fluid in his body, then carbonized his skin, and next the sinews and flesh beneath.

“Aaaah!!!”

Blinded, Hog let out a heartrending cry, now only hoping his foe would grant him a quick end.

His wish was soon fulfilled.

That piercing agony did not torment him long; soon, like the other mutants, he was charred into a bloody, unrecognizable cinder in this inferno.

The screams and wails in the power room finally ceased. Players, their helmets coated with dust, poked their heads in from the doorway.

No living thing remained in the entire power room—only charred or shattered corpses.

The air was as scorching as an oven at its limit; even standing at the door would burn you, impossible to enter.

They waited until the heat dissipated before cautiously stepping into the power room.

Gazing at the wreckage, Elf King Fugui couldn’t help but click his tongue.

“Damn… this weapon is too inhumane.”

When he got back to the forum, he’d have to give it a proper critique!

Piltovan Paratrooper grinned.

“What humanity do you talk about with beasts?”

Though he didn’t get his final thrill, this death wasn’t too easy on those animals.

“True enough.” Elf King Fugui strode forward and kicked open the half-hanging door at the end of the power room.

A foul stench wafted from beyond.

He switched on his flashlight and found a ring-shaped device inside, somewhat resembling the reactor in the shelter.

What shocked him wasn’t the reactor, but the horrifying chunks of flesh growing on it.

An ominous dark green filled every corner of the machine.

This was the core of the Naguo!

The culprit behind the spore clouds blanketing the entire Jinhe City area!

The pseudo-hive synthesized by biotechnology!

“So this is what the hive looks like?”

Irena, stepping to the door, glanced at the hive, thinking it looked both like a pulsating heart and an oversized Naguo.

She wondered what it tasted like.

“Scientific name: Naguo Core… wonder if the one in Qingquan City looks the same,” said Elf King Fugui, glancing at Old Na with a strange expression. “You’re not thinking of tasting it, are you?”

Irena rolled her eyes.

“Do I look like that kind of person?”

That thing was green and obviously inedible.

Besides, it was so huge—even if she wanted to eat it, she wouldn’t know where to start.

But the other players standing nearby didn’t believe her, all wearing expressions that said, “Oh, really?”

Ignoring those bastards, Irena took out the explosives she carried, set them near the pseudo-hive, and then urged everyone to evacuate the power room.

Just then, a message came through the comms from a teammate. After listening, Piltovan Paratrooper turned to the others and said,

“The freight elevator’s power is restored. Nuclear fuel and other loot are packed and sent to the surface… time for us to pull out too.”

They boarded the elevator to the surface. Before the doors closed, Irena pressed the detonator in her hand.

The bomb began its countdown.

Taking one last look at the bloodied corridor, facing the closing elevator doors, Elf King Fugui’s face still held a hint of lingering excitement.

“This mission… is it over?”

He’d heard the Burning Legion brothers had a thrilling fight on the deck last night, but they’d barely faced any real resistance here.

It felt like it ended before they’d had their fill.

Irena said with a subtle expression,

“Pretty much… the outcome was decided last night. The rest is probably just cleanup.”

The elevator arrived quickly.

Almost the moment they stepped out, a distant tremor shook from under their feet, rattling the entire building.

Brother Fugui, just exiting the elevator, stumbled and nearly fell, catching himself against the wall.

“Holy crap, how many seconds did you set the fuse for?”

Clearly not expecting such a puny bomb to have such devastating power, Irena was equally stunned, staring at the gradually tilting ceiling.

“I figured half a minute should be enough.”

Could that thing be a damn nuke?

Then it hit him—the Burning Legion brothers had apparently seized a batch of tactical nuclear weapons at Boulder City.

The smallest model was only fist-sized, yet packed enough punch to blow up an entire street.

Maybe…

It really was that.

Piltovan Paratrooper’s scalp tingled.

“Half a minute is enough, sure, but why do I have this ominous feeling…”

Watching the chain reaction from the explosion show no sign of stopping, the mole sitting in the armored vehicle’s turret gradually changed color.

He kicked the driver hard and shouted down into the turret.

"Reverse! Quick!"

Fortunately, the battle upstairs had already ended.

Almost at the same moment the players scrambled to evacuate the institute, the building that had stood for over two centuries finally began to collapse slowly...

...

The bridge of the Steel Heart.

Chu Guang stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, quietly gazing toward Singularity City, watching the great tower slowly topple into the ruins behind it.

Though the mist outside the window had not yet dissipated, the clever and considerate Xiao Qi had thoughtfully projected the drone’s aerial footage onto the glass.

This was still the best seat in the house.

Yur, strapped into his wheelchair, sat beside Chu Guang, staring at the billowing dust with absent eyes.

That was where it all began.

And it had become where it all ended.

After a long moment, his Adam’s apple bobbed.

"...Is it over?"

Chu Guang glanced at him and spoke slowly.

"Far from it. The evil you committed in your arrogance will likely take decades to mend. The suffering on this land may not truly end for a very long time."

Yur gave a bitter smile, closed his eyes, and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.

Watching the apostle shut his eyes, Chu Guang continued.

"But objectively speaking, the anti-radiation agents and radiation-removal agents you researched did help many people."

Yur shook his head.

"That wasn’t my achievement alone."

"I know. I never said it was," Chu Guang said succinctly. "Just like the building you see now—it wasn’t toppled by any single person. It was the result of everyone’s shared resolve. That’s how our history moves forward."

Yur fell silent. The expression on his face seemed both like repentance and pure anguish.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, then looked at Chu Guang standing beside him and spoke slowly.

"What are you going to do with me?"

Chu Guang replied casually.

"That depends on how you intend to atone."

Yur looked at him with some surprise.

"...Do I have a choice?"

"Of course you do. For example... you could go to Vault 79. It’s now the Alliance’s biological research base, with a team of biology experts and a lizard that’s outlived everyone. We still have mountains of problems to solve. There, you can use your knowledge and the rest of your life to help those who survived."

He paused, then looked at Yur and continued.

"Alternatively, you could say goodbye to this world with a 9mm bullet. That’s the quickest and most painless way."

Yur gave a bitter laugh.

"The latter sounds easier."

Chu Guang glanced at Lü Bei.

The loyal young man immediately understood, stepped forward to loosen Yur’s right hand, then drew his own pistol, chambered a round, removed the magazine, and handed it to him.

Yur stared at the pistol in his hand for a long silence, sighed, and clicked the safety back on.

"...I choose the former."

Perhaps death was the easier choice, but he suddenly thought of Yin Yin... the little girl he had wanted to let go but ultimately failed to save.

Chu Guang stared into his eyes for a moment, then a flicker of curiosity appeared in his own.

"Are you Yur now, or Luo Qian?"

He had seen it during the earlier interrogation.

The two personalities, Yur and Luo Qian, coexisted in this man—one stored in his brain, the other in the bionic chip.

Strictly speaking, everyone who had been implanted with a chip was the same, whether it was Yur before him or Yin Yin lying in the cryo-chamber.

Each of them was Luo Qian.

That ghost had split himself into countless fragments, hiding each in a vessel he deemed suitable. And that vessel was the ideal state in people’s hearts—the so-called Sanctuary.

Perhaps having recognized himself, Yur’s answer this time was not as hesitant as before. With a voice tinged with certainty, he said,

"Both."

He slowly looked at Chu Guang and continued.

"Can I... ask you a question too?"

Chu Guang said bluntly.

"Go ahead."

Yur stared into his eyes.

"How can you be sure... that the path ahead of you is any different from the one I once chose, and not another kind of hell?"

He didn’t know where this road led; he only wanted to know why this Vault administrator was so confident.

But Chu Guang’s answer completely surprised him.

"I can’t be sure."

Looking at the stunned Yur, Chu Guang paused and continued matter-of-factly.

"I’m just an ordinary man, not a savior, and I don’t have the power to foresee. The only thing I can guarantee is that I won’t betray the trust people have in me, and I’ll do everything I can. As for whether I’ll fall into a pit tomorrow—I don’t know that either."

"But I’ll discuss it with them, face common problems—or bugs—together, and explore how to move forward. Even if their opinions are sometimes immature, even a little naive, that’s fine. Our Alliance wasn’t built in a day."

"If what awaits us ahead is hell, then it’s a hell we chose together. But I believe that even if one day we stand with both feet in hell, our unity will let us walk out of there shoulder to shoulder."

Yur sighed and slowly lowered his head.

"If only I had met you twenty years earlier..."

If the gears of fate hadn’t taken that small wrong turn, if he had never met that man named Luo Qian twenty years ago...

Perhaps the fate of him and all the survivors on this land would have been different.