Several chat boxes popped up at once, nearly crashing Zhou Zhengde's communication device.
There was no choice; the advanced equipment was primarily supplied to the United Defense Army, and this kind of communicator shouldn’t even be in the Central City.
"My mom is forever young: Something happened to Wenying. Her pulse has disappeared. The last location from the life detection chip was on the 49th floor of the Lower City, but the area can't be pinpointed."
"An unimportant law enforcement officer from Upper City: There’s a riot at the Thirteenth Institute! More than thirty psychics have rushed out of the building and are heading for the elevators! Captain! Damn! The psychics from Fortress 76 are all coming out! There are thirty-eight of them!"
"Goddess Weina (former): The cleanup team on the 45th floor suddenly started moving! It seems they received orders and are heading down! I’ll go ask right away!"
Zhou Zhengde's mind buzzed; it felt like it was about to explode.
What was happening down there?
Just because An Qian was dead, the psychics stationed at Fortress 76 were all mobilized? Were there even a few Class C psychics involved?
Of course, Zhou Zhengde couldn’t see that a certain biological minister, who had just noticed his mother's pulse signal vanish, was currently raging in her office.
Zhou Zhengde thought for a moment and immediately began to reply.
To his ex-girlfriend Weina: "Immediately inform Mu Liang to leave the 49th floor! The psychics stationed in our fortress have all left!"
To a former teammate: "Hide yourself, delete the communication records on the server, thank you."
To Minister: "Why did Sister Ban go to the 49th floor?"
After waiting for a dozen seconds.
"An unimportant law enforcement officer from Upper City: Don’t worry about me! Boss! Everyone is waiting for your return! I’m hiding."
"My mom is forever young: She just told me she was going to the 45th floor to supervise, so she could take over the facilities of the Black Fire Gang. We can’t let your psychics destroy those expensive facilities anymore."
"Goddess Weina (former): The captain here said the orders came from the Upper City command center. The Black Fire Gang started fierce gunfire half an hour ago, resulting in large explosions, and many psychics from the Thirteenth Institute were killed."
"Goddess Weina (former): I’m going down with people from the Silver Party and have been trying to contact him. Are you sure his helmet’s receiver won’t get damaged in the fight? There’s been no response."
Zhou Zhengde immediately replied to Weina: "The receiver is located on his forehead. If that gets damaged, he probably won’t survive."
After thinking for a while, Zhou Zhengde replied to his minister mother:
"Mom, I know you have to plan for your faction and political stance, but I still think this is a bit too much."
After a while, two messages popped up again.
"My mom is forever young: I know what you’re disgusted by, kid, but you have to consider that if we can control the functional modules of the Black Fire Gang, can we effectively supervise their actions?"
"My mom is forever young: Ignoring the overall justice is not true justice. Remember what your grandfather said: It’s the fortress that fights against the blade beasts, and the hundreds of thousands of humans form a whole. For the survival of the whole, we can sacrifice some individuals."
Zhou Zhengde replied with a dark face:
"But grandfather also said that the whole is made up of every individual. If we don’t value each individual, this whole will quickly fall apart."
"My mom is forever young: So this needs a balance. The ecosystem of the fortress is currently the best balance, with each city performing its duties."
"Zhou Zhengde: But we haven’t given the people of Central City and Lower City enough choices! The basic human rights of the Lower City people can’t even be guaranteed!"
"My mom is forever young: I’m the Minister of Internal Affairs and have access to all the data inside the fortress. I can answer your question... we simply can’t afford it."
"Zhou Zhengde: Then why allow so many people to multiply in the Lower City!"
"My mom is forever young: Because individual humans are a kind of resource. Including you and me, we must sacrifice for the group when necessary. I have a self-destruct chip installed in my neck to prevent the mimicry blade beasts from stealing fortress data."
Zhou Zhengde threw the communicator onto the table, raised his hand to cover his forehead, and leaned back in his chair.
He felt powerless.
Every time he talked to his mother, he was filled with this sense of helplessness.
Yet, he couldn’t convince his mother; he could only make himself stick to the principles in political textbooks.
Even though Zhou Zhengde was sitting in the office of the security station on the thirteenth floor, he felt as if he could hear the sounds of the fortress cleanup team advancing.
...
"Attention... All teams, the battle plan has been distributed to each team’s command system. The target is to eliminate the Black Fire Gang and kill all armed individuals and mechanical entities that attack us. Team leaders, report."
"Received."
"Received."
"Received, Commander! The fast descent passage has been opened!"
"All teams, prepare for rapid descent according to the numbers... Tell these rookie soldiers not to look at the scenery of the Lower City! This is another world of the fortress, just like how we would feel disgusted if we saw human organs being dissected; this is the fortress's insides."
"Received, drone swarm has been activated, and mechanical vanguards are ready."
"Received, our team will descend first."
"Received."
"Our team is ready, starting rapid descent."
"Air support units, secure air superiority. Don’t let our soldiers sacrifice during internal operations."
"Air superiority has begun to be secured."
Suddenly.
"Mu Liang? Can you hear me? Withdraw quickly! The cleanup team is coming! They will kill all armed individuals in the designated area, so throw away your weapons first! I’m on my way to support you with hired troops! Mu Liang! Respond quickly! You’ve already taken down a Class D psychic and killed two to three hundred armed individuals! You can stop fighting now! Leave the rest to these ruthless regular troops! Mu Liang! Mu Liang!"
"Weina, this is the all-frequency command system; you connected to the wrong channel. Your helmet’s communication unit seems to be part of our equipment."
"Uh, sorry! Hey? Is that my ex-ex-ex-ex-boyfriend?"
Weina, riding a motorcycle down the winding road, quickly corrected herself:
"I was actually reminding everyone that we have someone down there who can’t stand what the gang is doing and is... eliminating evil."
Commander: "Continue the rapid descent, and stop chatting on the command channel! All team leaders switch to 99230! Weina! Tell your new boyfriend to get out of that area quickly if he doesn’t want to face my jealousy!"
"Okay, okay, good luck to you all."
On the motorcycle, behind her helmet, Weina’s face visibly turned red.
Not because she was shy; she hadn’t felt this girlish emotion in many years.
It was purely embarrassment over her amateurish behavior.
She continued to shout for Mu Liang on the channel, instinctively looking toward the middle of the 47th floor.
There was a huge noise coming from there.
Around her, the gang members were shouting:
"Look!"
"Damn! It’s cracking!"
"The fortress regular army! It's been over twenty years! We see them again! The cleanup team... it’s definitely the cleanup team! Woohoo!"
"The area in the middle can open? No wonder we weren’t allowed to touch it before!"
In the middle of the 46th, 47th, and 48th floors, corresponding to the central elevator shaft above the 45th floor, cracks appeared one after another, with giant fan blades misaligned and slowly rotating, eventually retracting into a twenty-meter diameter circular frame.
A vertical 'skylight' had appeared.
At the edge of the skylight, several high-strength ropes quickly descended.
Accompanied by a loud buzzing sound, a swarm of drones appeared in the center, each drone shaped like a sphere and equipped with short-barreled machine guns and mini-missiles.
Following them were sixteen three-meter-tall all-terrain combat robots, covered in gun barrels and cannons, descending vertically along the ropes.
Soldiers dressed in camouflage combat suits, wearing tactical helmets and carrying tactical backpacks, descended at a steady pace with the help of the rope system.
The drone swarm, combat robots, and fully armed soldiers...
The expressions of the gangsters suddenly became incredibly clear.
Weina couldn’t help but curse and hurriedly shouted: "Mu Liang! Mu Liang! Can you hear me! Is this communication system not working!"
Perhaps because a passage had opened up.
"Weina? Is that you?"
"This is the helmet’s built-in communication system! Mu Liang, run! Get out of the Black Fire Gang's range! The farther away from the Black Fire Gang, the better!"
Weina shouted quickly:
"The cleanup team suddenly moved! They won’t distinguish whether you are from the gang; if you have weapons and resist, you will be shot! Hurry up!"
"I see a lot of drones coming," Wang Jixuan's voice carried a bit of wind, "Help me contact the people from Wan Lijin’s side, let Captain Zhou come to do it. I owe Captain Zhou another favor; I need to take a dozen kids with me."
"A dozen?" Weina scolded, "So you have that many illegitimate children! And you were pretending to be innocent with me!"
"They are orphans; I think Central City should be able to help them."
Wang Jixuan reminded:
"Remember to contact Wan Lijin first. Don’t put yourself in danger while trying to save others.
"I can withdraw from here; later, I’ll blow up the escape route for the Black Fire Gang... I’m currently in their escape route, setting up some traps..."
"Okay, okay, you still don’t like hearing what others say; I’ll contact them! Who told you to be the boss."
Weina complained.
In the tunnel, Wang Jixuan let out a sigh of relief.
Was Weina implying that he was stubborn?
He quickly tossed down several mini grenades wrapped in thin strings.
There was no sound in the helmet anymore.
He reluctantly looked at the sniper rifle he was about to return, disassembled it, slung it over his shoulder, and sprinted with all his might.
A few minutes later.
Fire?
Wang Jixuan’s psychic sense suddenly detected rolling flames ahead.
He casually formed a hand sign, pointing his sword at his forehead, chanting:
"Heaven and earth, laws of nine chapters, golden light appears swiftly, protect my true self!"
A thin layer of golden film appeared around him.
Wang Jixuan sprinted, raising his hand to slap the edge of the corridor, his body seemed to fly as he dashed up the slanted stairs and crashed into a sea of fire.
Wang Jixuan froze for a moment.
The entire wooden house was engulfed in flames.
He immediately wanted to rush to the second floor but suddenly stopped.
He didn’t sense any living beings.
The beam in the middle of the wooden house was about to collapse.
Wang Jixuan dodged and jumped out of the window, landing steadily on the roof of a large shed, looking around.
Thomas's car was also burning, and the air was filled with the smell of burnt meat.
A white shadow appeared in Wang Jixuan's sight.
By the side of the bumpy concrete road, a girl sat quietly beside a hand-held suitcase, her white dress resembling a lotus blooming in the night.
"Yezi... Yezi!"
Wang Jixuan jumped over, raising his hand to take off his helmet.
Yezi, who had been dazed, looked up, and her once dull eyes sparkled with excitement as she shouted: "Brother Tian!"
Wang Jixuan landed and took two steps forward instinctively but suddenly froze, his pupils shrinking sharply.
Yezi laughed and opened her arms to him, but as she got closer, she noticed Wang Jixuan's face looked pale in the firelight, and she hesitated, slowing down her steps.
On her clean little face, there was a barely visible trace of blood.
"Welcome home, Brother Tian! I cleaned up the house; you really came back to pick me up! Yezi will also work hard to do housework from now on!"
"Where are your brother and sister?"
Wang Jixuan's voice trembled.
"They... they left." Yezi replied sweetly.
"Where are your brother and sister?!"
"They left!"
"What do you mean they left! Answer me! What does 'left' mean?!"
Wang Jixuan, holding his gun, pointed it at Yezi's forehead:
"Tell me! What does 'left' mean! Where did your killing intent come from! What did you do?! What did you do?!"
"Brother Tian..."
Bang!
A crater appeared at Yezi's feet.
Wang Jixuan’s breathing became erratic, his right hand holding the gun trembled uncontrollably, and he suddenly turned and ran into the darkness.
His eyes shattered slightly, and his heart trembled continuously.
"Brother Tian..."
Yezi's lips trembled, unable to hold back her tears, she slowly crouched down, covering her face.
"Can’t we just leave together? We can’t take care of them if we leave here... Yezi cleaned up for you, wasn’t that enough... Brother Tian... don’t you want Yezi anymore... Brother Tian... come back..."
In the distance, a handmade car exploded with a loud bang.
The wooden house collapsed with a series of crackling sounds.
The girl’s sobs gradually turned into light laughter.
The flames grew even fiercer.
(End of this chapter)