Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 170

Chapter 170 – A Battle of No Return

The world seemed to have flipped and turned over countless times these last two decades.

The bustling First Galaxy filled with vitality turned into a hellish living nightmare within the blink of an eye, while the no-man’s zone of the Heart of the Rose transformed into a refuge site.

The sacred throne of the Union’s Guardian collapsed; former foes and sworn enemies that had fought in bloody battles stood side by side in solidarity.

Former comrades dropped their old allegiances, former enemies shook hands in a newfound truce.

Inside the newly repaired communication channel was filled only with static noise. The AUS was the next largest group of mad terrorists after the Freedom Corps, the innocent death counts on their hands unparalleled even amongst pirates.

In the eyes of the alliance, this run-down fleet of small mechs before them was like a wolf with a broken leg, wagging its tail before its human prey to win their trust, fresh blood still dripping from its mouth.

“My real name is Alexander Harris,” Hope responded earnestly, “the current Great Prophet of the AUS who represents the peaceful faction of the organization. The ones that raised the violent flags of war against the Union in the past were the pro-war faction of the group. Thanks to Commander Lin, the pro-war faction suffered fatal damage back during the Seventh and Eighth Galaxy battle, which finally allowed me to regain my position in the organization.”

Lu Bixing’s back stiffened up.

He’d had many friends of opposing morals and ideals; Hope was among those with morals that clashed directly with his own, but was also one of the very few friends he truly appreciated.

Lu Bixing’s people-pleasing nature drew him to these ‘harmless’ rural folks. To give credit where it was due, this person had also saved his life once–they had put on an act together before the AUS headquarters and successfully brought back the vaccine for the mutated Rainbow Virus.

Yet even with all of these memories, the first thing that consumed his mind the moment he saw Hope was the most painful memory of his lifetime.

Hope had fled and Lin Jingheng’s existence was exposed. Woolf borrowed the butcher knife from the AUS and had used the entire Seventh Galaxy as bait to create that…despite how long it had been since the incident, Lu Bixing still couldn’t muster up the courage to recall the details of that bloodied tragedy.

Just then, Lin Jingheng’s cold voice rang out beside him: “Oh, that was part of my job anyway, you’re welcome.”

Hope: “….”

Lu Bixing: “….”

A single aloof line from the Marshal ruthlessly shattered the nightmare, retracting the cold sweat gathering in Lu Bixing’s hands. The young Prime Minister let out a small chuckle in defeat: “I figured as much, since I imagined lower-ranking followers wouldn’t know how to speak the language of the Prophet. Now I’m going to make another wild guess: the data you deleted from the AUS database back then was all information relating to Woolf, correct?”

“I thought he truly understood the spirit of the White Tower and was someone who sincerely wished to protect the world.” Hope let out a sigh. “The pro-war faction was enchanted by power and began dreaming of ruling the world. I was sternly anti-war and ended up souring my relationship with some of the pro-war members, to which they responded by locking me up and finally exiling me. Thankfully, I had followers who saved me from the mess as I managed to escape. That’s when I had the fortune to meet you on planet Qiming, Headmaster Lu. Regardless if you believe me or not, I will confess that while I left without a word back then due to circumstances at the time, I have never exposed any information about the Eighth Galaxy to anyone. During the seventeen years where I finally managed to retrieve my position as the Great Prophet back, I still stood firmly on my position of anti-warfare even to this day.”

Lu Bixing fell silent for a few moments before responding to everyone’s surprise: “That I will believe of you.”

While everyone else–barely recovered from the news about Woolf–remained utterly confused, as one of the few who had been in the loop since the beginning, Lu Bixing remained calm.

The Seventh and Eighth Galaxies were not the only players that suffered a great loss during that battle: the AUS fleets within the two galaxies were also hit hard by Lin Jingheng despite their successful ambush. Since then, they no longer had the power to get back on their feet and naturally stepped off the stage.

As long as they still had their brains intact, the AUS would also realize that they were being used as pawns by Woolf. They couldn’t possibly sit alongside that crazy old man after that.

Yet all these years had passed; Woolf not only avoided chasing them down and destroying the entire organization, but the AUS also cooperated by keeping silent about Woolf’s identity and plot.

Their decision to keep quiet about everything in order to maintain peace was almost Lin Jingheng-like.

Harris took in a deep breath; his aged face trembled slightly with indescribable emotions. After moments of silence, he finally managed to give words of thanks: “Your single line saying that you believe me really is…”

“But Mister Hope–would you mind if I continue calling you by this name?” Lu Bixing interrupted the older man. “Whether or not it was your intention in the first place, we’ve still walked down different paths over the last decade. The Union will never forget what the AUS has done, and the Eighth Galaxy will especially engrave it into its heart. There’s no way we can simply forgive the AUS like that. Is there anything else you’d like from us now that you’ve chosen to approach us directly?”

“I know,” Harris responded in a low tone, “we’re also at our wit’s end, so I’m here to seek a temporary alliance.”

Under the ubiquitous rule of the super AI and the forces of superhumans from the Freedom Corps threatening the remaining survivors, all humans in the First Galaxy were finally forced to stand together regardless of their differences.

Harris: “To show my sincerity for the alliance request, I am willing to share some additional information regarding this super AI.”

In the Second Galaxy, the Second Polytechnic University.

Both students and staff were woken up in the middle of the night and asked to gather on the sports grounds.

On both sides of the grounds were lines of biochip humans dutifully carrying out their missions like robots. The now unfamiliar Director Zhao stood on the podium as he continued giving his brainwashing speeches; though in all fairness, the Director was still an educated man with a gift in public speaking, making it still worthwhile to listen to his words.

Yet, clearly, most people were not in the mood to sit down and listen to the speech with guns pointed at their heads.

The grounds were filled with young faces clouded by anxiety and fear. All the underaged students were dragged out of their dorms without time to change out of their pajamas like a crowd of lost baby chicks following behind the dorm supervisor. The supervisor was a kind middle-aged lady who looked to be about 200 years old. She was doing her best to ease the anxious hearts of all her students at the moment: “Keep quiet, shh…my children, follow behind these people quietly, don’t do anything out of line.”

A young boy who had been watching the Principal’s speech earlier couldn’t help but speak up timidly: “Miss Alyssa, where’s the principal? Did those people already…”

The dorm manager lifted her lips in a smile to the best of her abilities: “Don’t worry, the principal is someone who had escaped from the old campus, he’s experienced.”

“Will we also be injected with the biochip?”

“They said that people who get injected with the chip will lose their–”

“Quiet!” Out of the corner of her eye, the dorm supervisor noticed a few biochip carriers walk over and sternly cut off the words of the students.

A biochip soldier approached the group. With their powerful hearing, they clearly overheard the discussion among the students earlier. The whole crowd of students froze under that intimidating gaze; the young boy who had spoken up earlier lowered his head skittishly as fear consumed his mind.

“They’ll lose their what?” A soldier asked.

The dorm supervisor Alyssa took half a step forward, standing between the students and the soldiers as she gave a pitiful smile that looked even more disheartening than a frown: “It’s just silly words from kids, sir, please…”

“Move!” The biochip soldier shoved her aside.

The students began screaming in panic.

Yet the next moment, all of the biochip soldiers on the sports grounds froze on the spot; even Director Zhao stopped his speech abruptly at the podium. The same bewildered expression took over their faces as all the biochip humans lifted their heads up simultaneously–these chip carriers had no idea why they decided to do this and only felt as if something inside them had suddenly vanished.

Soon after, the sound of a gunshot pierced through the night sky. Lady Alyssa, who was still on the ground, witnessed the biochip soldier before her fall facedown onto the floor. A laser gun shot drilled through his nape; fresh blood from the soldier splattered all over the dorm supervisor. She felt her heartbeat drum violently in extreme shock, unable to even let a scream out of her throat.

Sounds of footsteps came from behind them as the newcomers announced their identities: “We’re the stationed troops of the Second Galaxy’s Central Militia!”

Alyssa’s eyes widened; the next moment, she felt her vision blur as a disheveled soldier pulled her up from the ground. The supervisor saw the face of the soldier–despite being under the darkness of the night, her heart almost stopped at the sight. The soldier no longer had a face: it was as if his entire face had been burnt off by raging fire, bloodied flesh and burnt skin jumbled up his features. Only his left eye that still glistened under the moonlight proved that it was once the face of a person.

The self-proclaimed ‘Central Militia troops of the Second Galaxy’ was no more than a small team of soldiers that had been hastily put together. Behind them was the campus security, who didn’t even carry any useful weapons in their hands. Compared to the orderly Freedom Corps pirates, these soldiers looked as if they were civilian volunteers.

“Run, miss,” that soldier with only one eye left said hoarsely, “the children can only give up freedom and their future when the last one of us is dead—now go!”

Alyssa turned her head abruptly and called out to the students behind her: “Follow me!”

The soldiers from the military barged into the school like fearsome beasts struggling until their very last breath even while carrying severe wounds. They charged towards all the biochip humans and helped evacuate all the students and staff that had been forced to gather on the open field, turning the sports grounds into another chaotic battleground.

Alyssa ordered the students to evacuate through the back valley of the campus and subconsciously turned her gaze back–

The soldier that had pulled her up earlier had already blended into the night sky. She could only hear cries of anger and screams from behind them. Strangely, those terrifying biochip humans suddenly didn’t seem as scary as she imagined them to be; they were still panicking in the face of these desperate human soldiers.

Director Zhao was the leader of the biochip forces who had taken over the Second Polytechnic University. As a generation two chip carrier, despite his gift at persuasion, he clearly lacked experience in commanding his followers. After witnessing this sudden attack, fear overtook him as he almost tripped while running off the podium.

A generation two dropped the ball, so the first generation clearly couldn’t do any better.

Despite having superhuman strength and enhanced physical attributes, the majority of these biochip humans were frightened by this sudden counterattack by the military, dropped their guns, and fled the scene.

Didn’t they say these biochip humans fought like machines and were fearless souls that wouldn’t hesitate to give their lives in battle? Didn’t they say that they didn’t even need commands and could carry out their leader’s orders like their commander’s own limbs?

Was it all simply a rumor fabricated by others to instill fear among people?

Alyssa didn’t have time to think in depth and quickly led the students out of the battlefield.

People born in the cradle of Eden never would have thought that they were encircled by a massive and intricate web of lies. As long as nobody went out of their way to expose the cruel truth, humanity could forever live comfortably in this lucid dream while occasionally questioning whether modern technology infringed on individual freedom–as if they weren’t victims themselves.

Yet as soon as these people were let out of their cage and finally tasted the sweetness of freedom, no matter how harsh the storm was outside, they could no longer allow themselves to be locked back inside that dark cage.

The military forces of the government that had been severely hit by the pirates now led civilians and volunteers on a counterattack against their enemies.

Voices of rebellion grew louder as time passed; people quickly discovered that these biochip humans weren’t as invincible as they were said to be, and some even went as far as to say that the biochips had completely broken down.

Of course, the biochip hadn’t actually broken, it was simply that the chip carriers had suddenly lost connection with their superiors.

Due to the rapid spread of the biochips, most of the carriers had been average citizens before they joined this organization. The chips had modified their bodies and granted them unparalleled physical and mental power, allowing a completely inexperienced individual to gain enough mental strength to match up to an elite galactic soldier. In addition, the hierarchical oppression from the higher-ups could let them fulfill their duties without hesitation and forget the fear of death; a team of these biochip humans was an extremely terrifying opponent.

But the rapid growth came at the price of instability.

The First Galaxy was now an isolated land that trapped Lin Jingshu and the majority of the generation five chip carriers inside. Generation fours were completely at a loss, generations threes were even more puzzled…the communication cut-off created a domino effect that knocked down the pirates from top to bottom. In just a short while, that unbreakable ‘order’ within the Freedom Corps collapsed; first generation chip carriers began to panic and cry in fear, turning into a group of lost lambs in the blink of an eye.

No matter how powerful an individual was, a disorganized group of headless chickens was no match against proper military. A gorilla might have unparalleled raw power against an adult human, but billions of years had passed and humans as a species still remained at the top of the food chain.

The Second Galaxy, Third Galaxy…everywhere, from school campuses to the streets, was filled with rebelling civilians.

Twenty years ago, mankind woke up from the long dream of Eden and witnessed how their own homes and the heavens fell; many saw how the galaxies collapsed and had fallen into despair, helplessly begging for mood control medication or commited suicide to run away from this world.

Yet after this vicious wave tore through the galaxies over these shattered rocks, remnants still remained on the shore. The survivors fought to stay alive and struggled to adapt to this new world outside of Eden.

Now, the same people that once cried in anguish over the loss of Eden picked up their weapons and faced their own nightmares courageously.

The First Galaxy.

The newly formed Human Alliance troops gathered in the Heart of the Rose. Harris generously gave the safe and activator he’d dug up in the City of Angels to the Silver Third Squadron. At the same time, Lu Bixing sent a message through the wormhole back to the Eighth Galaxy and summarized the situation, asking Turan to prepare to receive the refugees and stay on standby to send in backup forces at any time.

The alliance stationed at the Heart of the Rose; behind them was the last paradise in the universe, before them was the hub of demons and devils. With nowhere to escape, they had no choice but to prepare for this final battle of no return.