Chapter 674: Chapter 671: "I’ve heard that today is New Year’s Eve.
"Beep—Agent number 029, authorized to enter. Please, come in."
The person with beige hair, Tretiya, walked into the central control room of the City of Gods.
Since revealing the secret in Doomsday City that "Acto has become a bionic body," she had disappeared for a long time. When she showed up again, it was surprisingly in the City of Gods.
She pursed her bright red lips and walked to the front of the control console, where various colored buttons lay quietly between the white panels, like pebbles jutting out of a lake. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, entering passwords as the cursor blinked, and complex data flashed on the screen.
Ten minutes later, she had erased her own figure from the surveillance footage and was exiting the door when she suddenly heard a noise, like the slithering sound of a python dragging across the ground.
She held her breath and crouched in the corner, trying to avoid being detected by Lin Guang. "Energy" disappeared at her fingertips, and she infiltrated a small surveillance device—this was the ability of her "Energy," to penetrate machinery.
She monitored Lin Guang’s movements as he approached a door.
Today, Lin Guang was not in a loose white robe or an ornate Western suit; instead, he wore a tight suit clearly meant for combat. Golden patterns flowed down his raised arms, across his waist, the special texture of his top shimmering with a breathing luster, and the creases looked like lasers. His cuffs and metal belt were fitted with hidden bomb clasps, and a silver pistol hung at his waist; today, he was shrouded with intentions to kill around every corner.
"Snap," a crisp sound echoed as Lin Guang raised his hand and affixed the spring couplet.
While attaching the spring couplet, he felt a joy rush into his heart, perhaps what Violet had described as "happiness."
"Happy Fuyuan Festival, no, Happy New Year’s Eve, Lewis," Lin Guang said. "The next time we meet, I’ll bring you a red lace called the Dragon Country Knot, which you can hang up... Also, the strawberries in the eastern plantation should be ready in a month. As for chocolate, I didn’t have time to travel around the world for cocoa beans, so I included it in a follow-up program."
He paused, wanting to push open the door, but eventually didn’t, and just stood quietly at the doorway for ten minutes.
"I don’t know what else you like, I’m trying to replicate games from before the Century Catastrophe. I heard you like white hair, so I had the stationed robots all dyed white..."
Lin Guang stood there for a while longer before he turned and left.
—Inside the room, Su Ming’an was also staring straight at the direction of the door, holding onto a spatial vibration device.
After Lin Guang left, Su Ming’an let out a slight sigh of relief.
Now his faction contribution points had nearly reached 16,000; after this war ended, they should surpass 20,000.
Ever since he made the Civilization Gambling Pact with the deity, the deity had continuously taught him how to secure victory in the war. Every movement of Su Ming’an’s bionic personnel, legion defenses, and war commands were the best strategies, making the enemy faction suspect that the commander-in-chief of the Freedom Faction must be some extraordinary immortal.
Even the battlefield’s twelve generals, who seemed divinely powerful, were all Su Ming’an’s aliases, issuing commands as if from the same brain, creating a tremendous shock, with many wanting to record this battle in history for future generations to study.
"Everything is going smoothly, your AI, Yeah, has almost an 80% infiltration rate, and I predict someone will come to save you in an hour," the deity’s voice came from beside his ear.
Su Ming’an blinked his bloodshot eyes and said nothing to avoid being detected by the twelve cameras in the room.
"Your previous action of infuriating Lin Guang was good; Lin Guang’s emotional fluctuations are severe, which will make your actions in an hour go smoothly," the deity said.
Su Ming’an remained silent.
His previous provocation of Lin Guang was not out of an overwhelming anger towards Lin Guang’s actions. If he detested someone immensely, he wouldn’t bother speaking extra words to them. However, since the deity had said that "inflaming Lin Guang was necessary for him to enter something called the Rehabilitation Pod for sleep," that was why he had done so.
It was said that Lin Guang would enter the Rehabilitation Pod once a year, and if Lin Guang were in it now, the obstacles coming from Lin Guang would be greatly reduced.
Although the cost was that he was beaten up and choked by Lin Guang, the result was correct, and that was enough.
"In this next hour, you can continue to observe the strategic situation through the bionic body, or you can choose to rest. From now until six in the morning is a critical period that cannot afford any mistakes," the Deity added before lowering His voice.
Su Ming’an blinked.
...This Deity from Ta Wei seemed like a cheat activated with tips. Whatever Su Ming’an did, there was always a voice telling him what he should do. He seemed to possess the wisdom of foresight.
Whether it was the war situation and strategy, the functions and locations of the Origin Stones, AI Yeah’s most efficient infiltration routes, or how to avoid triggering the City of Gods’ program defenses... this "Deity" knew it all. He even knew that someone would come to save Su Ming’an in an hour.
The route to Perfect Pass was steadily progressing with the guidance of the Deity—everything was going too smoothly. In such a desperate situation, Su Ming’an actually saw the possibility of turning the tables.
If "omniscient and omnipotent" could define a Deity, this gentle male voice might indeed be worthy of the title "Deity." It was like everything was His Chess Piece, and He watched over everything in the World from on high, merely suggesting to Su Ming’an through words could invert the destiny of the entire World.
Suddenly, Su Ming’an understood why so many people liked to follow the Whispering from Ta Wei. If one had such a voice guiding them to the path of success, few would refuse.
If it wasn’t for knowing that the Deity definitely harbored ulterior motives, Su Ming’an might not even want the Deity to leave, always helping him achieve a Perfect Pass.
Considering the situations of Su Rin and Keke, it wasn’t impossible for him to deceive another one...
...Wait a moment.
His expression faltered slightly.
If everyone who listened to the Whispering from Ta Wei had been invaded, then he...
"Ding ding."
A light alert sound rang out, and he turned his head to look at the Value on his wrist. AI Yeah’s infiltration level had reached 90%, it would become the turning point in the situation.
He didn’t rest but continued to control the bionic body to issue commands, earning Faction Contribution Points.
An hour later, the time approached ten at night.
Su Ming’an was lying in bed when he suddenly heard a loud boom—
"Boom—!!"
Massive currents, like tidal waves, swept from outside the door into the room. He immediately summoned his wheelchair to deploy the Defensive Barrier. The electric light grazed over the Defensive Barrier, making a crackling thunderous noise.
All twelve indoor cameras clicked simultaneously, the red lights in the screens dimmed as if snuffed out in an instant, and the omnipresent surveillance was forcibly interrupted at that moment.
Someone had come to rescue him, and the operation had begun.
At the same moment, the well-prepared AI Yeah instantly took over the alarm control.
This City of Gods was originally bestowed by the Deity, but after Lin Guang became the supreme Ruler, he chose to break off from following the Deity’s commands.
Now, the City of Gods had long been controlled by Lin Guang and had separated from the Deity’s control. AI Yeah wasn’t capable of taking over the City of Gods completely; it could only force most of the Mechanical Army into sleep mode and prevent Lin Guang from being awoken.
Moreover, Su Ming’an speculated that there might be more than one Deity... They must also be in conflict with each other.
"Whoosh!"
The next instant, electricity crackled and flashed as a figure burst in, her black hair lifting with the current, her turquoise eyes as resplendent as gemstones. Her face was the most beautiful he had ever seen, crafted by the hand of God.
— She was the one who the Deity had said would come to rescue him in "one hour."
Bi: "I’m here to rescue you, Lewis."
"It’s you," Su Ming’an hadn’t expected Bi; he thought it might be Yamada Machiichi.
Bi swiftly inserted a syringe into his arm, "Lin Guang had injected you with an anesthetic earlier, recovery will take some time, I will support you."
"Why do you want to rescue me?"
"A person named Tretiya offered me enough benefits to help you," Bi said. "Although I am also an Agent of the Deity, I don’t want a madman to ruin the human world. Lin Guang’s governing is so perverse that being universally condemned comes as no surprise."
...Tretiya.
Su Ming’an remembered this Arbiter who called him "teacher," her passion as crazy as her actions, her lips red as blood, her emotions fiery. At times she was vivacious like a carefree young girl, other times as cold as ice. She had even publicized his bionic identity to persecute him, her moods as unpredictable as the wind.
"Listen, Lin Guang is not omnipotent. If we use your advanced AI to block the alarm system in the corridor, you need to go to the control console on the rooftop to disrupt the nuclear controls, this is the only chance for humanity to strike back," Bi said. "Lin Guang is not a man of his word. If the outside military forces really did conquer the four cities and approach the City of Gods, he would launch the nuclear weapons immediately. He’s such an unreasonable old trickster and won’t wait until six in the morning."
"I understand," Su Ming’an knew he could not depend on the enemy’s mercy.
The blood-red warning lights revolved continuously, flashing madly, painting Su Ming’an’s vision in a crimson tide of blood, as if melting in a red cold tide.
Feeling his hands slightly able to move, he climbed into the wheelchair, the rest of his body still temporarily paralyzed.
"Clattering—" The white tassels by the bed made a slight noise, but Su Ming’an glanced at them and had no intention of taking them along.
As he left the room, he saw a bright red Chinese couplet.
— "Wishing you happiness every day".
No need for the system to translate, the six crude characters from Dragon Country struck him like worms squeezed together, not only ugly but also nauseating to anyone with trypophobia.
Su Ming’an immediately averted his gaze, the couplet bore a sanity-losing mental contamination, akin to the tentacles of an Evil God.
Through the transparent floor-to-ceiling glass along the corridor, he could see the massive snow covering the Ruined World, like myriad white night-blooming cereuses frozen in the night, with soft white halos bleeding into the streets, distant flames shooting into the sky.
Tonight was New Year’s Eve.
He zoned out for a moment, quickly looked away. That distant glimpse nearly made him close his eyes and pass out.
Bi pushed his wheelchair, the long corridor stretching out like a skywalk.
Deep in the corridor, countless mechanical wrecks lay on the ground, accompanied by the thick smell of charred metal. Faintly, a young figure wielding a sword cleared the path ahead.
— That was Yamada Machiichi.
This perfectly timed inside-and-outside coordination, Yamada Machiichi had been infiltrating the City of Gods for a long time, seizing the ideal opportunity as well.
"Su Ming’an, come here! I’ll clear the path for you!" Yamada Machiichi shouted, his voice no longer sharp and fearful as before. In a Lolita dress, he seemed like a timid girl, quiet and uncommunicative, but now back in men’s clothes, he displayed a resolute independence.
Perhaps Yamada Machiichi himself knew there wasn’t anyone left by Su Ming’an’s side.
Noel, Lv Shu, Luna... one by one they had left, and Yamada knew, Su Ming’an was almost entirely alone.
"Let’s go," Bi immediately pushed Su Ming’an’s wheelchair, heading toward Yamada Machiichi.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—" Energy hung in the air like embers, Yamada Machiichi’s hands wielding swords, sweeping aside the dormant mechanical beings blocking the path.
For a moment, gray-black and ice-white mixed together like floating night snow, burnt metal scraps and gears scattered on the ground, remnants of numerous mechanical beings shattered.
The snow outside grew more intense, like a pouring rain blanket of white. Just a wall away, the indoor temperature kept dropping by the minute, and Su Ming’an once again felt the cold, seemingly originating from within his body.
"Where is Lin Guang now?" he asked.
"Lin Guang is in the Rehabilitation Pod. He enters it every year, and you should consider yourself lucky. Your AI has cut off the surveillance, so he can’t find us for now," Bi said. "Our safest route is to exit through the main door, climb vertically along the outer glass for a hundred and thirty-two floors like a spider to reach the rooftop. We cannot take the elevator or fly. When the time comes, I will carry you."
... The situation was exactly as the Deity had described it.
Not one detail was off.
Su Ming’an furrowed his brows tightly, then quickly relaxed them.
"Whoosh—!" Up ahead, the path-clearing Yamada Machiichi suddenly stopped.
At the end of the glistening white road under the night snow, by the gate stood a person.
Someone was intercepting them.
A sharp white light dissected the person’s body, piercing from the forehead as if a ray of sunlight shot straight through, intersecting with the person’s figure. Su Ming’an stared at the person’s eyes, a pair blood-red as blood.
—Su Ming’an had never imagined that at this critical moment, the person standing in his way would be him.
The blond youth slightly raised his head, the white line of light, as if puppet threads piercing him, his expression hidden in backlight, hardly visible, only the fluttering snow kissing his shoulders.
"I heard today is New Year’s Eve? What a pity, last year I couldn’t accompany you," Noel raised his hand, his gaze bright, his face smeared with fresh blood.
His eyes, blood-red, harbored deep shadows.
The blade in his fingers pointed at Su Ming’an.
"Stay, Su Ming’an. At six in the morning, watch a century-destroying fireworks show with me."
...
[(TE1) Perfect Completion Progress: 92%]