Chapter 67: Fearless

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

“An Sheng!”

“Boss!”

Pighead Three and Xun Lili shouted in unison. Watching An Sheng get pierced by the lightning spear, both Pighead Three and Xun Lili on the ground grew frantic. Xun Lili rushed toward An Sheng’s position to check his injuries, while Pighead Three swiftly stepped between Fang Yi and An Sheng.

Although Pighead Three and An Sheng had initially been adversaries, ever since submitting to An Sheng, this fellow had lived quite well. Neither An Sheng nor the humans of the Fortress treated him as an Alien Race, but rather as a member of the Fortress. Perhaps his low intelligence prevented him from understanding why he had established a relationship of trust with what should have been his food, but so what? As long as he was happy, wasn’t that enough?

What was family? Pighead Three didn’t understand, but he knew that if anyone tried to harm these people in the Fortress, they would be his enemy.

“Filthy stupid pig! Do you dare oppose the Heavenly God as well?” Fang Yi looked down condescendingly at Pighead Three on the ground, her face full of disdain.

If only Pighead Three could fly, he would have long since taken to the air to battle this damned Purifier. Instead, he chose to attack in his own way. Picking up scattered stones from the ground, he began throwing them at Fang Yi in the air. However, such attacks posed no threat to her whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Xun Lili finally found An Sheng amidst the dust, barely clinging to life. Having already pushed beyond his limits with the Hell Transformation, his defensive capabilities were greatly diminished. Now, directly hit by an Advanced Purifier’s attack Move, An Sheng was in a pitiful state.

Every inch of his skin was charred, occasionally emitting the scent of roasted meat. A bowl-sized hole in his abdomen revealed the scene behind him. Had he not timely exited the Hell Transformation state, he would likely be dead by now. Yet this moment revealed the power of An Sheng’s Talent Ability. Although his recovery speed had slowed due to overexertion, the regeneration of his muscles and skin tissue was still visible to the naked eye.

Time! An Sheng needed time, but even if given the chance to recover to his peak state, it would be futile. He was no match for Fang Yi, who had reached the Rank of Advanced Purifier. Even if he tried again, the outcome would be the same. What to do? What could he possibly do!?

Fang Yi condensed another lightning spear in her hand, having lost her patience. Everything here needed to be purified. These filthy, lowly insects had actually killed two Purifiers—an unforgivable crime.

As a Mutant, Pighead Three possessed the same crisis perception ability as An Sheng. He could clearly sense the threat from the woman in the air, but he didn’t retreat a single step. Instead, he roared and unleashed all his power, preparing to block the impending attack. Because his boss still lay behind him. But could he truly withstand the powerful assault of an Advanced Purifier? The answer, of course, was no.The lightning spear pierced Pighead Three’s massive body without any surprise. The damage caused by the tremendous electrical current was irreversible; the area where he was struck was charred black, just like An Sheng. Had it not been for his enormous size and thick, rugged hide, he would likely have collapsed on the ground like An Sheng. Even so, his injuries were severe. Yet, despite this, Pighead Three stubbornly refused to retreat even a step, standing firmly in front of An Sheng.

“Third Brother~~ Run, damn it!”

Though critically wounded, An Sheng remained fully conscious. The scene before him made his eyes burn with fury, but there was nothing he could do. Pighead Three did not run; his only response to An Sheng was a furious roar and his stubbornly unwavering back.

Xun Lili wept, perhaps out of helplessness, or perhaps due to her own powerlessness. It might have been because she was moved by Pighead Three’s stubbornness, or likely a combination of all these reasons. Faced with an unbeatable opponent, they were like fish on a chopping block, without even the slightest chance to resist.

Suddenly, a blue-and-white energy beam struck Fang Yi in mid-air. A massive explosion, accompanied by a powerful blast, swept through everything around. Everyone followed the direction of the energy beam and saw the All-Terrain Intelligent Mechanical Warrior standing at the entrance of the Fortress Bunker, faint white smoke still rising from its chest. Behind the Mechanical Warrior stood all the surviving fortress defenders, armed with weapons.

The Mechanical Warrior’s system had been rewritten by Skinny Monkey and no longer regarded An Sheng and Pighead Three as enemies. Its attack was not over yet. While the Particle Cannon was charging, the Multi-Barrel Rapid-Fire Machine Gun on its arm and the Micro-Tracking Missiles on its shoulder fired simultaneously, targeting the Purifier Fang Yi in mid-air. Joining the assault were the survivors who had emerged from the bunker, along with all the firepower points within the bunker.

“Third Brother, Lili, we’ll cover you! Quickly, drag An Sheng and the Captain back!” Skinny Monkey stood at the forefront, holding his Type 95, firing at the Purifier in the sky while shouting at Xun Lili to evacuate An Sheng and Nie Chong.

However, they would soon realize that these attacks were futile, for they were not facing an ordinary Purifier but an Advanced Purifier who had undergone Physical Energization. Not to mention conventional firearms, even powerful particle energy weapons inflicted minimal damage on an energy-transformed Purifier.

Amid the smoke rising from the mid-air explosion, thunder roared and lightning flashed! Xun Lili only had time to scream, “Run!” Before the next moment, dozens of lightning bolts as thick as bowls swept across the open ground in front of the bunker. The violent explosions caused by the lightning strikes completely engulfed all the survivors in front of the bunker. If even An Sheng could not withstand Fang Yi’s lightning, how could the mere mortal bodies of the Yushan Fortress survivors possibly endure it?

In the blink of an eye, everyone who had rushed out of the bunker perished on the spot under the overwhelming lightning attacks, including the All-Terrain Intelligent Robot, which temporarily shut down due to the explosions and lightning strikes, collapsing to the ground alongside the bodies charred by electricity. The firepower points inside the bunker also fell silent all at once!

“Beast!”Butcher remained inside the bunker to operate the anti-aircraft gun, giving him a clear view of everything happening at the entrance. Seventeen or eighteen fortress survivors had rushed out – mostly veterans along with the three active soldiers from Nie Chong’s Special Forces Team. In the blink of an eye, the comrades and family members who had just been chatting and joking with him had become charred corpses. How could he not be enraged!

The ammunition for Butcher’s anti-aircraft gun had been exhausted. He violently stomped on the firing pedal twice before turning to shout at the loader behind him: “Reload! I’m going to kill this mutated bitch!”

Old Zhang’s delayed exit from the bunker had temporarily spared his life, but watching his family members die one by one, he – as the fortress patriarch – could not and would not cowardly survive!

“Those unafraid of death, follow me!” Old Zhang roared without hesitation, charging out of the bunker with his rifle.

An Sheng witnessed everything at the bunker entrance with growing desperation. Severely injured and completely immobilized, he could only watch as family members were killed by the Purifier and more people rushed out to their deaths, mustering all his strength to scream:

“Go back! All of you go back! Don’t come out to die!”

Yet such shouts were futile. Even if these people remained hidden, once the Purifier in the sky finished off him, Pighead Three, and Xun Lili, the remaining fortress survivors would still face certain death.

“Faint fireflies daring to compete with the blazing sun? All you sinful humans, perish!”

From within the still-dissipating dust clouds above came the icy, merciless voice of Purifier Fang Yi, followed immediately by thunder and lightning as a second thunderstorm prepared to strike.

Not everyone could bravely face life and death. Seeing the numerous charred bodies at the bunker entrance, only a handful followed Old Zhang out. Yet even this provoked Fang Yi’s wrath. While she could tolerate resistance from these special insects with some abilities, how dare these weak ordinary humans stand up against god-like Purifiers like themselves? This was nothing but insult!

As lightning flashed within the airborne dust clouds, dozens of thicker bolts shot toward the fortress entrance.

“No!”

An Sheng, Nie Chong, and Xun Lili shouted simultaneously, their voices filled with despair and helplessness.

Seeing the approaching thunderstorm, Old Zhang and the others knew their fate. But having chosen to charge out, he and the few survivors behind him had already disregarded their lives. Their faces showed no fear, only rage and determination to die honorably!

Yet the next moment, the lightning suddenly vanished behind a massive dark shadow. Before Old Zhang’s group could react, the explosive shockwave sent them flying backward. At the critical moment, Pighead Three had rushed before them, using his enormous body to block the entire thunderstorm!Pighead Three, a man-eating Advanced Mutant with low intelligence but massive size and tremendous strength. He had once attacked the convoy when Fortress survivors were migrating to Yushan. Later defeated by An Sheng, he became his subordinate and joined the Yushan community.

Since joining Yushan, this man-eating Mutant Creature’s diet no longer included what he called “fresh meat” – living humans – replaced instead by unpalatable zombies and other mutated creatures. Though he had harbored complaints and dissatisfaction, fear of An Sheng kept him from ever voicing them.

Gradually, he began to experience goodwill from these humans. From them, Pighead Three sensed a feeling both familiar and strange. He remembered the human called Xun Lili telling him this feeling was called kinship, a uniquely human emotional expression. She said that before becoming a Mutant, he too had been human. Though mutated, fragments of human memory remained in his brain, making this feeling simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar.

With his low intelligence, Pighead Three didn’t fully understand Xun Lili’s explanation. But in his simple mind, he knew what liking was, what happiness was.

He liked the soup cooked by the woman called Su Yao, though there was never enough. He liked the flower wreaths woven by the children, though he didn’t understand why they put plants on their heads. He liked the drafty Warehouse, because the bed made of straw and cotton quilts inside was warm. He liked everything here, and because he liked it, he was happy…

Pighead Three’s body was brutally ravaged by powerful thunderbolts, his entire form charred and smoking. His thick, powerful legs could no longer support his massive body as he slowly collapsed before Old Zhang and the others.

“Run… run…”

Pighead Three’s small eyes were already glazing over. Unlike An Sheng with his Heaven-Defying Talent Ability, taking one lightning spear had already severely damaged his internal organs. Now, having blocked dozens of powerful thunderbolts for Old Zhang’s group, he was clearly at death’s door. Yet in his final moments, he still worried about those Yushan survivors who had given him warmth and happiness. In his simple mind, there was only one thought – let these people who brought him happiness live!

“Pighead!”

“Pighead” was what Xun Lili called Pighead Three, while others preferred to call him “Old Third.” If anyone in the Fortress had the closest relationship with Pighead Three, Xun Lili ranked second to none – not even Pighead Three’s boss An Sheng could compare. In Xun Lili’s eyes, Pighead Three was more like a kindred spirit, not only training Martial Skills with her but also patiently listening to her chatter about things others wouldn’t bother with.

But now her friend, that not-handsome but simple-minded, adorable Pighead was dying!

Pighead Three’s original form came from the Pig-Faced Butcher. Originally, Fatty just wanted this monster to cause some trouble for An Sheng back then. But as the story developed, he unexpectedly became An Sheng’s ally.

Farewell, simple-minded Old Third. In this little fatty’s heart, you have already become a hero!