Chapter 101: Spiritual Heart
The narrow alley was deep and gloomy, as if it had no end.
Grayish-white daylight leaked down from overhead, illuminating the stone-paved ground and the small figure curled up on it.
The girl in the dusty gray dress lay sprawled on the ground, wailing loudly, her small body trembling with sobs.
Her knees were scraped raw, beads of blood mixed with dust smeared over them. Her voice was already hoarse from crying, but she still shouted with all her might.
"Mommy... I want my mommy..."
Every few meters along the alley stood a guard. Their clothes were varied, and their only common trait was the several strings of dark red beads around their necks.
At this moment, all the guards turned a deaf ear to the girl's cries. No one intended to pay this child any mind.
They all kept their heads lowered, hands folded in front of them, lips faintly moving, as if silently reciting something.
[Cry, cry.
Remember this despair. Remember the fragility and baseness of your own nature.]
Gradually, in the quiet alleyway, a vague murmuring was carried on the wind.
It didn't sound like a human voice; instead, it was more like the clamor of countless bubbles bursting in a viscous liquid—fine, drawn-out, yet seemingly everywhere.
[Only a god can grant you a way to live.
Offer your loyalty to the god, beg the god for mercy—this is the only correct thing you can do.]
Slowly, the girl's crying quieted a little, and her gaze began to go vacant.
But the next second, an increasingly clear "buzzing" sound abruptly poured down from above the alley.
The guards frowned slightly, a fierce glint flashing in their eyes, and in unison they snapped their heads up.
But the moment they saw the sky, all of them, who had been about to move, froze in place.
It was a huge swath of pitch-black shadow surging in from the sky at the mouth of the alley, blotting out the sunlight.
Countless drones, sleekly futuristic and gleaming with metallic luster, covered the entire sky above their heads in the blink of an eye, like a clamorous swarm of bees.
The airflow churned up by the propellers mussed their hair and pressed down the girl's cries.
The visual impact of this scene nearly made everyone present's brain short-circuit for an instant.
At the same time, on the outskirts of .
The convoy led by was bringing the last batch of "cargo"—swarm drones—into the camp.
" , is it... is it really okay for us to do this?" A team member sidled up, looking at the "dark cloud" that had converged in the distant sky, his heart pounding.
"What could be the problem?" spat out the cigarette butt from his mouth, grinding it out with his toe, but his eyes stayed fixed on the direction the drone swarm had gone. "They dare to keep my people, so I dare to flip their table!"
He paused, then lowered his voice further, carrying a fierce edge.
"Listen up. The moment we get out, we withdraw immediately! We're not staying in this godforsaken place!"
As an "old muddlehead" who had spent most of his life surviving in this garbage world, 's entire life could actually be summed up in two words.
The first was pride—even if it meant death, he would never learn even a shred from the garbage he looked down on.
The second was courage—anyone who dared to mess with him, even if it killed him, he would give them something big.
He understood a simple truth: in a world without rules, to make it on the streets, you had to rely on a spirit of living and dying together.
Otherwise, did anyone really believe a bunch of spineless cowards and backstabbing dogs could hold a crew together?
Besides, the "authority" behind those drones had stated its terms very clearly—it would cooperate in rescuing , as long as they helped bring the drones in.
After this was over, 's " " could choose to join the , or take supplies and then go on their own way.
After this, at worst, they would head south or north. The world was wide, and there was always hope.
And if the force behind those drones was truly reliable, then his deeds today could count as a pledge of allegiance. Either way, it was worth a shot.
***
felt quite melancholy right now. Really.
He couldn't figure it out.
Really couldn't figure it out.
Who could tell him what it meant that, because the east side of City looked too terrifying, survivors from the east didn't dare keep running toward , and in the end either stayed in Linwu or continued south or north?
His side sent people all over looking for survivors, snatching one after another from under the zombies' jaws, and yet the daily population growth was just that little bit—still not past five thousand.
And this cult nest, which was wrong in every way you looked at it, could just sit at home and have people come flocking from all directions, effortlessly gathering 7,312 people?
No, what gave it the right?
What does my offer? What does offer?
Complete laws, ample electricity, leading technology, plenty of food and drink, and an industrial production line being gradually rebuilt.
In what way is that worse than this godforsaken place that grabs little kids to be its damn "Holy Sons"?
This feeling of having been quietly played made feel ten parts, even nine, annoyed.
So this time, his strategy was just a tiny bit more aggressive.
Investigate slowly, deal with them insincerely, finally uncover the secret of this area, and learn a shocking truth.
Then, at the end, have a blood-pumping, real-life brawl with the final Boss, full of justice and hope, friendship and bonds?
That was the mindset of a weak and powerless investigator, not of a .
For , there were actually only two steps—
Have the drones do a full sweep first to determine where needed to be bombed, then bomb it.
Seeing that the drone swarm was already in position, bringing the city's main heavy firepower points—including those Type 96 main battle tanks—under monitoring and strike range.
And after the main routes between the inner and outer city were placed under complete control, no longer hesitated.
The next second, the loudspeakers on drones deployed throughout the city simultaneously issued a cold announcement.
[This is the of " ," the official reconstruction body of !]
[All of is now under our military coverage. Survivors who are not core members of the " " should immediately put down their weapons and evacuate along the main roads to the city's outskirts.]
[Deadline: one hour.]
[Anyone who has not evacuated by then will be treated as an accomplice to a terrorist organization.]
As the announcement rang out, every corner of the city where survivors were sheltering erupted.
Thousands of ordinary survivors poured out of the buildings, some bewildered, some terrified.
And after confirming that the sky-obscuring drone swarm above them was real, many more unhesitatingly tossed away the red bead strings around their necks and surged toward the outer gates.
They didn't know whether the ones behind those drones really were the authorities, but they figured the crowd in the inner city couldn't possibly handle drones of this magnitude.
After confirming that the outer area had begun to scatter and flee, 's attention focused entirely on the center of the inner city.
The drone's camera pierced through the thick fog and finally fixed on an open plaza.
In the middle of the plaza, a dozen or so people stood in a circle. At their head was a white-haired old man.
He wore a meticulously tailored dark gray suit, his hair combed with meticulous neatness, his face gaunt and refined, even carrying a scholarly air.
If he weren't standing in a place like this, he could easily pass for a respected retired professor at a university.
But the drone's thermal imaging showed that this man's body temperature was as high as 59.7 degrees.
And at the center of the circle these people surrounded— 's "gaze" moved upward.
There, suspended in midair, was a giant heart.
That wasn't a metaphor; it was literally a malformed heart, magnified a thousand times over. Its surface was covered in twisted blood vessels and pulsating fascia.
Countless blood vessels as thick as fingers extended from its surface, plunging into the gaps between the stone slabs in the ground, spreading outward in all directions like tree roots.
At both the top and bottom of the heart was an opening the size of a bowl mouth. Dark red mist continuously poured out from one side, then was sucked back into the heart from the other.
With every contraction, the faint wisps of mist in the surrounding air were drawn in; with every expansion, new, denser mist surged out.
The eerie red fog that shrouded the entire city seemed to be circulating like blood, pumped by this heart.
At the moment the drones appeared, the old man seemed about to do something.
The next second, the laser emitters of hundreds of drones lit up with red lock-on dots simultaneously, densely cast upon his body and the surface of the giant heart.
"Buzz—"
The next second, a " " tore through the sky, diving from high altitude. A high-energy laser beam carved a fiery red scorch mark across the ground, no more than three meters from where the old man stood.
[Don't move, now!]
's voice came from the nearest drone, his tone flat. [These are all suicide drones around here. If you move recklessly, I'd guess this big heart of yours is quite precious, isn't it?]
Facing this sudden thunderbolt-like show of force, the old man's hand stopped in midair, still wearing a gentle smile.
The cult members beside him, meanwhile, had long gone pale. Some had even knelt down.
A few seconds later, he slowly lowered his hand, clasped both hands behind his back, raised his head to gaze at the black swarm of machines filling the sky, and spoke as if catching up with an old acquaintance.
"Hello, wayward one," his voice was clear and calm. "I think we might be able to talk."
"Talk about what?" sneered.
"About the future of humanity."
"Look at this world," he spread his arms, his tone carrying a deep compassion. "What do you think this disaster is?"
[A disaster is just a disaster, nothing more.]
"Wrong! Disaster is the god's correction—a guide and an enlightenment for all the beings who have gone astray."
"We all lived in the world before the disaster. What were humans doing then?
"Civil war, depletion, self-destruction.
"We were obsessed with creating ever more dangerous weapons, then pointing them at our own kind with our own hands.
"The brilliance of civilization is nothing more than a thin layer of sugar coating. Wrapped within is hundreds of millions of years of unchanging ignorance and stupidity.
"Because we are merely soulless shells. Without a god's guidance, we are destined only to lose everything on a path of error."
The old man extended a hand, pointing at the giant heart that was pulsating.
"I have seen a mind that truly transcends reality. That kind of serenity, that kind of... clarity—it is a realm that humans can never hope to reach on their own.
"It was only after seeing Him that I realized how absurd my past life had been.
"Now, a dark age is about to descend. I am sowing the god's mind into the world, letting all beings know their own ignorance. This is the first step toward saving the world."
"And you, my friend—though you wield formidable power," he looked at the drone swarm in the sky, his gaze holding no fear, only something like regret, "this is nothing but a savage's club. Brute force can win for a moment, but it cannot win forever.
"If you cannot learn to abandon brute force and embrace a higher wisdom, then when the true darkness descends—"
[Well said.]
cut him off.
[But I'm not listening.]
[Also, isn't it a bit too jarring for some old coot who's lived who knows how long to be putting on airs as a human, carrying on about the nation and the people?
You parasites' acting is just too shabby.]
Hearing this, the old man's smile froze for a moment.
Then, he shook his head.
"Oh, you misunderstand."
His smile carried a hint of undisguised, profound disgust.
"I am not one of those disgusting parasites that cling to the god's flesh and try to turn away from divinity."
[Oh?]
"I am merely an ordinary person who was fortunate enough to receive the god's favor during an incidental archaeological study." The old man adjusted his tie, his posture elegant, his expression open and candid.
"My name is . If you truly do represent the authorities, then you should be able to find some records of me 'before I died.'"
"As for now..."
He smiled, giving a slight bow toward the drones filling the sky, his gaze carrying a regret that bordered on kindliness.
"I am merely a that has attained perfection."
The instant the words fell, 's entire body suddenly burst apart into a dense cloud of blood mist, which was abruptly absorbed by the giant heart behind him!
The next second, the giant heart gave a violent contraction, then began to swell rapidly.
The muscle tissue on its surface squirmed madly. Blood vessels thickened and stretched at a visible rate, and new vessels split off from them, plunging into deeper ground.
The entire heart began to twist and deform, swelling an entire size larger in just a few seconds.
At the same time—
's voice came through the , his tone urgent:
" ! The fog is suddenly starting to spread outside the city!
"And the monitor's reading has suddenly spiked to Level 2-90—and it's still climbing!"
Outside the city, at the staging point where was receiving survivors, the red tide of fog came surging head-on.