Chapter 83: Cleanup Work
The battle was over, yet for the , the matters waiting to be handled were far from finished.
First and foremost came the cleanup work.
After a few hours of brief rest, members in relatively good spirits began throwing themselves into cleaning up the battlefield.
Except for necromancers, probably no one likes having their doorstep piled high with corpses—especially the mutated kind.
Outside the , piles of remains as high as mountains had nearly reshaped the terrain. Rotted blood gathered into dark streams, and the stench of decay mixed with the smell of scorching into an odor almost impossible to breathe without a gas mask.
"Zone operations! One team for each section from A to D! Dig three incineration pits—dig more if that's not enough!" 's voice sounded over the comm channel, her throat already hoarse beyond recognition.
Every modified flatbed cart and forklift in the shuttled back and forth through the mountains of corpses, hauling remains one by one to the newly dug incineration pits.
Throughout the process, no one dared let their guard down in the slightest, because the bodies were so dense that there was no telling whether a that hadn't fully died might suddenly launch a sneak attack from beneath.
The cleanup therefore advanced with great caution. Black smoke towering into the sky lasted three full days before the preliminary cleanup was finally complete.
At the same time, a second purge of was put on the agenda.
Because the decisive battle had drawn in large numbers of wandering from the surrounding areas, the previously carefully maintained had once again become infested with large numbers of zombies.
Although the had been reactivated after the battle, the scattered hordes had already spread to every corner.
As a result, several mopping-up squads led by and were dispatched into the city to assist the swarm in a carpet clearance of the scattered that had regrouped, ensuring the purity of the "safe zone radiating from the ."
The ruins of the , for their part, were approached by a team led by , with accompanying them.
Everything at the heart of the explosion zone had been turned into glassy crystals, but on the fringes, large numbers of tissue samples worth studying were still scattered about.
These samples were carefully collected and sealed, and would later be sent back together to the laboratory for further research.
Meanwhile, underground at , the team led by and the others had preliminarily cleared out the insect swarm, and had set up appropriately sized water purification equipment along the bank to cleanse the .
Only, the pollution from had stopped, yet the branch that turned due north still carried a deep red, its source unknown.
...
On the east side of stood an abandoned commercial office building.
A window on the seventh floor suddenly burst open, and the remains of three zombies, along with shattered glass, plummeted from above, smashing into a pulp on the ground below.
Inside the building, a silver-gray figure flashed past the end of the corridor.
"Bang!"
Amid the heavy impact, the last glass office door was smashed to pieces.
A figure riddled with bullet holes, its flesh still writhing madly, was sent flying by an enormous kick and slammed heavily into the wall, cracking the entire wall surface.
The " " exoskeleton armor let out a soft hydraulic hiss as stepped forward slowly, his gaze beneath the tactical helmet calm and focused.
The monster kicked down at the wall let out a non-human shriek, and the black bone spurs on its arm proliferated abruptly, sweeping toward in crisscrossing strokes like several long blades.
raised his left arm, and the armored vambrace happened to block every one of the slashes, throwing off a string of blinding sparks.
The next second, he stepped forward, the armor's waist joint rotating as his whole upper body dipped slightly.
Then—left fist, right elbow, a spinning knee strike—he beat the monster to the ground, unable to rise.
After that, reached out smoothly, his five fingers clamping around the monster's head, and with full hydraulic output, drove its skull straight down into the floor.
Yet the monster still didn't die. Its dark red flesh continued to regenerate wildly, trying to repair its crushed face.
Seeing this, swung the rotary machine gun off his back, its gaping black muzzle pressed directly against the monster.
"Good night."
Whir—
The buzzing of the spinning barrels sounded, and the next second, a crimson ammunition belt poured out madly at a distance of less than two meters.
The metal storm of armor-piercing rounds instantaneously blasted the monster still trying to regenerate, along with the wall behind it, into a cloud of debris.
Then, two nearby squad members stepped forward and burned the now-inactive tissue once more with flamethrowers, determined to leave no lingering threat.
"Report: the final target has been eliminated."
[Acknowledged.] 's voice sounded on 's . [All personnel, withdraw and prepare to stand down.]
Even amid the peril of the previous decisive battle, had still diverted several swarm drones to track the trail of every "ancient noble" that survived the chaos.
After the died, these monsters ran faster than rabbits, but 's drones were far harder to shake off than hunting dogs.
Once the main battlefield was all but settled, he immediately ordered 's to cooperate with the drones in carrying out targeted eliminations of the monsters, striving not to let a single one get away.
Because in 's system, there was still a hanging high above, with rewards generous enough to make his core explode.
[ VI: Sweep Away the Remnants.]
[Mission description: A glorious civilization absolutely cannot tolerate foreign remnants. For the purity and beauty of civilization, please, , eliminate these remnants of the old days as soon as possible.]
[Mission reward: 8,000,000 , " " x1, blueprint x1.]
Eight million , and even an on top of that—who could resist that? As for , he was practically crazy with craving.
Yet even up to the moment killed the last known target, this mission still remained frozen in a gray "Incomplete" state.
[Just as I thought, it couldn't be that simple...]
With rewards this generous, of course it couldn't be claimed by clearing away some small fry. The number of these was clearly far more than just this little batch in .
wasn't discouraged by this. He simply raised his vigilance, aware that from now on, he would have to keep a strict guard against these remnants of the old days.
...
Apart from the cleanup work, the 's various systems also quickly resumed operation after the war.
The sonic repulsion devices were re-erected and once again restored the function of driving off zombies.
In the , relying on the miraculous , all the seriously wounded had been pulled out of danger.
This time, had once again managed to protect every single member.
The black-tech ammunition production line was also running at full capacity once more, rapidly replenishing the 's nearly spent ammunition reserves.
Although the world's catastrophe was still far from over, had, fortunately, weathered the crisis once again.
...
On the fourth day after the war, the cleanup outside the finally drew close to its end.
Standing on the open ground on the north side, and stood shoulder to shoulder.
Beside them was another man—over forty years old, dark-skinned, and powerfully built.
, the battalion commander who had led the forces from that came to support this time.
At this moment, he stood on the scorched earth, silently gazing at the extravagant black not far away that stood a full twelve meters tall.
Its scars had vanished by the third day—a technology he had hardly ever heard of.
"Battalion Commander Li," offered a cigarette, "I know this is hard to believe."
took it and casually tucked it behind his ear, his gaze still fixed on the towering wall.
"Hard to believe?" He smiled with self-deprecation. "Director Zhang, I only know that seeing is believing."
"Before this, I would never have believed that such a huge wall could be thrown up in a rush after the disaster. But now I've seen it, so I believe it."
Hearing this, smiled. He had already understood what the other man meant.
The next second, 's steady electronic voice sounded from 's .
[Hello, Battalion Commander Li.]
[Thank you for the timely support from the forces. Those rockets that night came at exactly the right moment.]
instinctively snapped to attention, then relaxed with a trace of awkwardness. "It was our duty."
Afterward, he took a deep breath and asked once more: "So, Mr. , are you really the 'Last Resort'?"
[You could think of it that way,] answered patiently. [According to my underlying code configuration, I likewise bear the responsibility of reviving civilization.]
[After an extreme disaster causes the command system to fail, I have the duty, in accordance with the highest emergency regulations, to reorganize survivors, guide post-disaster reconstruction, and ensure that order can be restored as quickly as possible.]
"Rebuilding civilization..." chewed over those four characters, a flicker of complex emotion passing through his eyes.
"Then, may I ask one question? Who can be responsible to you? Or rather, to whom do you need to be responsible?"
"I'm sorry, I'm just a little..."
[It's fine, that's an understandable doubt.] 's electronic voice remained calm. [The answer is: myself.]
[Perhaps that's not an answer that will satisfy you, but that's just how it is. I don't have a higher existence that I must obey—otherwise, my duty would have no basis at all.]
[But please believe that I will always stand with every one of you and do everything in my power to rebuild the civilization that belongs to us.]
"I'd also like to add something to that," suddenly spoke. "Battalion Commander Li, since this was established, we've also weathered many crises, but to this day, we haven't had a single casualty."
"Every person's life is precious, and every person willing to hold fast to civilization deserves to be cherished with all our strength. That is our highest principle, and it is the reality has been striving to maintain."
"So at the very least, me and everyone in this —we are all willing to believe in ."
Hearing this, took the cigarette from behind his ear, lit it, took a deep drag, and then nodded. "I understand."
"Then can we join?"
[Of course. This welcomes all comrades with the will to rebuild civilization.] 's voice was still calm.
As the core question was spoken aloud, the atmosphere of the conversation immediately relaxed.
also returned to his earlier, somewhat sheepish manner, rubbing his head. "Though, the situation on our side might not be so good."
"The city's power grid is completely destroyed, fuel is limited, and that's without mentioning the daily ammunition consumption. Most of the survivors have little combat capability, so a sudden relocation would require careful planning."
Although they had gathered a force of several hundred people in , the rest were ordinary civilians with poor military training, and morale was severely unstable.
They were nowhere near as easy to mobilize efficiently as the people here, but it was impossible to just leave them behind.
[No matter. For the overall relocation plan of the survivor base, we can provide comprehensive technical support and route planning, ensuring that no one is left behind.]
[As for the specific details, you can discuss them in depth with Director .]
"Good!" no longer hesitated, saluting solemnly. "Mr. , Director Zhang, on behalf of all the soldiers and civilians at the base, I thank you for your aid!"
Although, on a personal and emotional level, he still harbored some hesitation about letting command and decision-making authority fall into the hands of a non-human existence.
But on the earlier battlefield he had witnessed this AI's terrifying strength, and these past few days he had personally experienced this 's inconceivable logistical support capabilities.
The facts were set before him, and he had to admit that this place truly had greater potential for rebuilding civilization.
...
, , in a newly opened independent storage room.
A massive polyhedral device, over three meters in diameter and nearly five meters tall, stood quietly in the center of the room.
Its shell was made of dark blue alloy, its surface covered with regularly arranged hexagonal heat sinks, and its top was an inverted structure.
Dozens of slender energy-conducting lines extended downward from the , converging into the ring-shaped base at the bottom.
Three rings of floating metal rotated at a steady speed along the edge of the base, emitting an extremely low hum.
Taken as a whole, it didn't look like a product of the present era's industry, but rather like a piece of art from the future.
"Th-This... what the heck is this thing?"
and circled the big fellow several times, both full of curiosity.
The former had been specifically summoned by , while the latter had simply run into it by accident along the way and came in to see the novelty.
"I don't know," adjusted his glasses, a glint of excitement shining in his eyes, and said uncertainly, "maybe it's some kind of... energy field generation device?"
[" " .] 's voice came through the speaker on the ceiling.
"Shield generator? Is it the kind I'm thinking of?" 's eyes lit up.
[You could understand it that way. Theoretically, at full power, its shield can envelop the entire and resist most conventional physical and energy attacks.]
"Then why isn't it on?" reached out and patted the device's icy shell, confirming that the thing showed no signs of operating.
[Because...] 's electronic voice paused for a rare moment. [My current power generation isn't enough.]
"Oh..."
The next second, the two of them simultaneously let out sounds of disbelief.
"Huh?!!!!"