Chapter 595.2: Broke the Record

Chapter 595.2: Broke the Record

“... Luo Qian?” Liu Youxiong looked blank.

He had never heard the name, though it seemed faintly familiar.

From the pastor, maybe, or the mayor?

Luo Qian didn’t mind. Patiently, he asked, “Why do you believe in the Torch Church?”

Liu Youxiong scratched his head in confusion. "I... I don’t know. Actually, I used to believe in the Great Stag God, but then the big shots in town told us that if we believed in this instead, the Mutant Humans wouldn’t bully us. So we believed."

Yes.

It was to avoid being bullied by the Mutant Humans.

He had almost forgotten!

A fire smoldered in Liu Youxiong’s chest.

He felt deceived, because things were nothing like what those people had promised.

Those green-skinned brutes never cared what they believed, or didn’t believe. And that lofty chosen Apostle had never cared about them either. Instead, he had used divine punishment to frighten them.

Who had betrayed whom first?

He was just a hunter, why did he have to go to some so-called heaven? Was it wrong to hope for a better life once he had strength? If the sky was blue and the clouds were white, was that wrong too?!

Luo Qian ignored his anger and calmly continued.

"Do you want to go to the heaven the chosen Apostle described?"

Having lost all goodwill toward the church, Liu Youxiong dared not curse aloud, but he couldn’t stop himself from sneering. "Heaven? Ha! You mean this stinking fog? If heaven is also shrouded in filth like this, I pity the poor souls living there!"

He waited a long time with no response, and unease stirred in his chest.

This Luo Qian...

Could he be an Apostle sent by the chosen one?

Would he report him?

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Liu Youxiong’s forehead in the silence.

Then, a soft sigh brushed his ear. "I understand."

So my cultivation is still lacking...

Luo Qian thought quietly to himself as he withdrew from his side.

"What do you understand?"

Startled by the unfinished words, Liu Youxiong looked around in confusion. But aside from the empty ruins, not a soul was in sight.

He was certain he wasn’t mad.

Someone had been with him. Yet, without his agreement, they seemed to leave disappointed, as if they had never come at all...

...

At the center of the battlefield.

Staring at the chainsaw lodged in his chest, Kuru slowly lifted his stiff neck to look at the monster of a man before him.

That man wasn’t in much better shape. After trading dozens of blows, his blood-soaked armor was dented and cracked, and Kuru’s chainsaw had come within a hair of cleaving him in two.

Yet, even that offered no comfort.

A warrior honored with a name from the chief, defeated by a human.

It was also in strength and courage, the things he prided himself on most.

That night, he would be the laughingstock of his people.

Kuru’s cracked lips curved into a cruel grin as he stared at the helmet with only a narrow slit, and rasped hoarsely, "What’s your name?"

"21..."

From the slit of the helmet, those merciless eyes glared coldly, the muffled answer drifting out.

Kuru didn’t understand what it meant, assuming it was a name.

He lowered his black-green head and muttered.

"21...?"

He would remember that name.

In the land of the dead, he would wait for that man, and they would fight again,

Next time, he would not lose.

Screeeee!

With a bone-grinding whine, flesh and bone were flung into the air by the spinning teeth.

Midnight Pubg suddenly jerked up the chainsaw welded to his left arm, cleaving Kuru from chest to shoulder in two.

The massive body slammed heavily into the ground, blood soaking swiftly into the muddy black soil.

Seeing their commander slain by a human, the remaining Mutant Humans could no longer hold back their terror.

As frenzied as their earlier charge, they fled headlong toward the center of Brocade Lake Municipality, battered and broken.

These are no humans!

They are devils!

Their thinking only sped up their collapse.

"Crush them!" Midnight Pubg roared, raising the 19mm Howler fused to his right arm, clearing a jammed feed and slotting in a high-explosive round.

Bang!

A Mutant Human was shot in the back as sparks tore out of his chest. It collapsed without a cry, smashed down by raw destructive force.

"Charge them!"

"Think you can run? No way!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Other blood-drenched players grabbed discarded grenade rifles, reloaded magazines, and raked fire across the fleeing Mutant Humans.

Tracer rounds streaked through the muddy field. The advancing players were like walking meat grinders.

Under the storm of fire, the last dozens of Mutant Humans fell one by one, soon none remained.

The battle was over and they began tallying casualties.

Of the 120 members of the Jungle Corps who had arrived, 97 remained. Only 23 brothers had died to mutant hands.

As for how many they killed, most couldn’t remember. Anyway, there were roughly 500 to 600 enemies.

Undoubtedly, it was a resounding victory!

They had not only crushed the swagger of those green-skins, but also proved to the survivors of this land that the beasts were not invincible.

Cheers of triumph thundered across the battlefield.

"HOLY SHIT! Midnight Pubg is badass!"

"Hahaha, that was insane!"

"Bro! Do we get to be in the promotional video?!"

"We’ll get at least one shot, no problem!"

"What the hell, I fought like crazy and only get one shot?!"

"Shut up! One shot isn’t enough for you?"

"Too many badasses on this server, a one minute video isn’t enough. Doggy dev... Ahem, let our amazing developers make it longer!"

Amid the victory cries, Midnight Pubg high-fived Piltover Paratrooper, Little Bookworm, Prone Model, and the rest.

Before he could catch his breath, Prone Model pressed eagerly, "How many, bro? What’s the count?"

He joined the forum betting pool himself. He put in 200 silver coins, betting Midnight Pubg would beat his old record.

Everyone knew that monster’s strength.

It had been a smooth fight. There were only about 100 Mutant Humans left for close to 100 players to split. However, Midnight Pubg never bothered with commanding. He simply charged ahead of everyone like a fool.

Breaking 16 kills was possible!

Glancing over the corpses, Midnight Pubg finally regained his calm and grinned sheepishly. He tapped his helmet with the chainsaw, and said, "Just broke the record."

Hehe, he even beat Garbage kun’s record.

Now he was really satisfied.

...

Heart of Steel, at the entrance to the infirmary.

Chu Guang stood outside in the corridor, gazing through a porthole at the gray-green haze below.

He couldn’t see the ground from up there, but every battle had badly wounded players who patched themselves back up.

Just a moment ago, through the official forum, he had already learned the battle’s outcome from their posts.

The players were his eyes.

They showed him what he could not see.

Behind him, Frost, who usually looked dim-witted, now lowered its head in uncharacteristic heaviness.

"Sorry... We tried our best."

Chu Guang, who had his back to it, sighed softly. "Don’t blame yourself... we did all we could."

When Yinyin was shot, the stationed players immediately called a Viper transport plane. With Chen Yutong accompanying her, they brought her onto the airship.

Though she wasn’t a New Alliance citizen, the players wished for her recovery. Chu Guang took it seriously, contacting the Enterprise’s medics on board for emergency treatment.

Sadly, she had already lost her heartbeat before she arrived. Even with a cybernetic organ transplant, she could not be revived.

He wasn’t a man to voice anger easily, nor did he pity the foolish farm owner.

Yet, seeing her bloodless face, he couldn’t stop himself from having Eclipse activate the chip in her head, just to curse out the bastard hiding in the Sanctuary.

Frost stood silent behind him, unusually speechless.

It still couldn’t comprehend what kind of plan required sacrificing tens of thousands of lives.

And when Chu Guang told it that number was only what they had seen, that countless more zeros could be added, it almost couldn’t believe what it was hearing.

Was it truly the conclusion humans reached after failing to find another way?

What they were facing wasn’t the same as ordinary war.

It could at least understand what the Army wanted. But those people insisted on a path she could never fathom.

For once, Frost felt lost.

On Chu Guang’s shoulder, Little Seven sat silently.

It could sense its master’s heavy mood, but didn’t know what to say, so it simply stayed quietly with him.

Then, the infirmary door opened.

Eclipse walked out with a blank expression.

Chu Guang turned, about to ask, but Eclipse spoke first. "She’s dead."

Hearing the decalaration, Chu Guang wasn’t surprised. He only sighed. "I know."

Frost’s face was stricken with sorrow.

Eclipse kept staring at Chu Guang, eyes flickering faintly. "But still alive."

Frost tilted its head to the side "?"

Little Seven’s legs stopped swinging. "???"

Chu Guang was also confused. "...?"

What?