Chapter 612.1: Surrender? Did I Declare War On Them?

The skyscraper looming in the thick fog collapsed slowly, like a block of tofu smashing into rubble. Stones flew hundreds of meters into the air, dust carried by currents billowed a kilometer away.

Chimo stared dumbly at the tilting tower, disbelief flashing in his eyes. However, the look soon shifted into dread.

It took him a long while before he squeezed out words between clenched teeth. “Fuck...”

Champion Biopharmaceutical Research Institute.

The Na Fruit Core was there in the underground lab!

That represented years of the Torch Church’s work!

Those ignorant wastelanders actually blew it up?!

Without its beating heart, the Na Fruit network across Brocade River Province would collapse. The fall of the Kingdom of Heaven was inevitable. They didn’t have the time to build another Hive on the land since it wasn’t a project that could be completed quickly.

Since the fall of the Kingdom of Heaven couldn’t be stopped, the Torch Church had no choice but to abandon the parish and return when the time was right.

Their biologically modified soldiers, or rather, the Mutant Humans, deployed in the city were retreating south under the fog. Goliaths and some surviving winged monsters were running away.

Most of them were witless monsters synthesized from infant Mutant Humans, and all of them were malformed from head to toe, though they were malformed in just the right way...

The Qi Tribe’s second purpose to the Torch Church, besides assisting in experiments, was to provide newborns as raw materials.

Now, they couldn’t even be used as that.

Even with Torch Church-supplied prosthetics, the Qi Tribe couldn’t stop the New Alliance’s advance. Nearly all their warriors lay dead. Only the old, weak, and sick hid in the subway networks in the Brocade River Province.

They were unfit as soldiers, unfit as breeding stock, and burdened further by traditional thoughts of the Old Humans.

It was regretful to lose such a perfect pasture, but the Qi Tribe had no remaining value.

Still, Chimo seethed with reluctance.

It was not out of sympathy. He despised those ugly green-skinned beasts. They would always be tools for them. It was inconvenient but unavoidable. What he couldn’t accept was how much blood had already been spilled by the Torch Church and the Judgement Panel to bring about the descent of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the end... That was the result?!

Unacceptable!

That traitor...

If not for Luo Qian vanishing at the last moment, they wouldn’t have lost so miserably!

Had Luo Qian struck the airship the instant the Kingdom of Heaven descended, the New Alliance would never have lasted so long!

Grinding harder at the thought, Chimo nearly broke his teeth.

Then a voice, familiar from somewhere, echoed nearby. “You think this is my fault?”

“Who?!” Chimo spun around. A faintly glowing old man stood two steps behind. Chimo’s eyes narrowed viciously. “... Luo Qian!”

Luo Qian looked at him calmly.

His hollow gaze seemed to pierce Chimo, fixed on the collapsed tower beyond.

After a long silence, he murmured, “Sometimes I too wonder... perhaps ideals and reality did diverge. For the plan’s sake, we did do something wrong.”

“Perhaps we should have spoken with our followers, asked if they truly wished to enter our heaven. Otherwise, even if we stood at the end of suffering, they would unite to strike us down.”

As Chimo raised his weapon, Luo Qian smiled faintly, voice tinged with self-mockery. “Shoot. If you can kill me, maybe it’s for the best.”

Indeed, the administrator was no simple man. He had seen through Luo Qian at first glance.

Ironically, those servants of the Sanctuary and were the closest to it, knew nothing.

Chimo sneered, spat, gun unwavering. “Quit pretending! The Sanctuary is just a chip in the brain. Don’t think I don’t know! All I need to...”

“All you need is to kill every chip-bearer, smash every chip, and then ‘Luo Qian’ disappears... that’s what you think?” Luo Qian gazed at him with a look of pity.

“Too bad, even I’ve lost track of how many of me I left buried. The real me died 20 years ago.”

Every Pathfinder of the Sanctuary was already dead.

It was the entry condition.

Before sacrificing everyone, they sacrificed themselves, so the Torch Church’s will could burn unwavering.

Seeing Chimo’s shocked expression, Luo Qian left him a final, cryptic remark.

“Each me is me, and each me is not me. I broke apart the Creator’s gift of a soul, traded it for stolen time. The price is never to close my eyes. Perhaps that’s my punishment.”

“But at least... in the end, I did one right thing.”

Chimo’s eyes locked on him. “... What?”

But Luo Qian didn’t answer. He turned with his back facing Chimo. “You don’t need to know. My mission is done. I won’t walk this path to a new world with you. Tell the others for me.”

“We won’t meet again.”

“Wait! Stop!!” Chimo roared at his retreating back.

But the old man ignored him, his form fading, his presence vanishing.

Madness twisted Chimo’s eyes. His finger trembled, then he pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The shot cracked the street. However, the one who fell wasn’t the fading phantom. It was Tang He, his partner with the electronic left eye.

The 9mm bullet pierced his right eye and burst from the back of his skull, spattering blood and brain onto shattered shop glass.

Shock and madness froze on his face as he collapsed. He had never thought his comrade of years would point a gun at him, let alone fire.

The wastelanders had blown out the left half of his head before. Now, his partner blew out the right.

This time, nothing remained.

Staring at Tang He’s corpse in the pool of blood, Chimo’s face shifted from stunned, to blank, to horrified.

“No...”

“Tang He?!”

“There... There has to be a mistake! Yes! Luo Qian took over your body... I-I was just trying to free you from him.”

His lips trembled. He stepped back with his muscles twitching. He held his head and shrieked. “AAAHHH!”

He suddenly remembered.

The Sanctuary could never be physical. Only the chosen could see it. Which meant, that man wasn’t in his partner’s body. He was in his mind.

In a daze, he saw his reflection in a blood-stained shop window. The only thing was, the face staring back wasn’t his.

It was Luo Qian.

“I’ll kill you!” he roared, jamming the gun under his chin as he heaved with ragged breaths.

His face turned purple, and at last, he squeezed his eyes shut and fired.

The blast nearly tore his jaw apart. The bullet grazed his cheek and flew skyward.

“Heh... hahahaha!” He howled with laughter, firing wildly at the sky. His eyes gleamed with madness and distortion.

Naturally, his gunfire drew attention.

At the end of the street, a Chimera with its turret raised rolled forward, surrounded by armed soldiers.

Helmets hid their faces, but to him, every one of those faces beneath was Luo Qian.

“Heh...” Chimo let out a chilling laugh, raising his pistol at them. As he pulled the trigger, he thought he saw a flash of light.

The next moment... His mind plunged into endless darkness.

...

“Another cyber-lunatic.”

From the turret hatch, Escaping Mole watched the mangled body sprawled in the street and spoke crisply into his comms.

“Irene, check it out.”

“Got it.” Irene rose from beside the wheel, rifle in hand, walking forward.

The guy had been firing at the sky, so they thought someone needed help.

But when they got close, he aimed at them, only to be shredded by a storm of bullets.