Chapter 73: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind (Part 3)

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

Just as Medusa was about to lose control and attack her man’s former lover, a massive energy light screen enveloped all three people present, along with three Advanced Purifiers not far away. Higher in the sky, an ultra-futuristic giant battleship broke through the clouds, descending toward the ground.

The Kunlun Base rescue fleet had arrived!

“Reporting to Chief of Staff, the Energy Cage has been deployed. All high-Rank Alien Races have been contained.”

In the bridge control room of the massive Aerospace Carrier, dozens of male and female officers in form-fitting combat uniforms were intently watching the holographic projection before them. When they saw the Energy Cage successfully enveloping six high-Rank Alien Races, all officers present erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

Seated at the head of the control room was Hu Biao, Deputy Chief of Staff of Kunlun Base and overall commander of this Aerospace Carrier Fleet.

Chief of Staff Hu looked at the holographic projection and commanded his officers: “Take the high-Rank Alien Races to high altitude. Deploy the intelligent Mechanical Warrior battalion to help the fortress survivors clear the Corpse Horde. Order all special operations teams to prepare for combat and coordinate with the Titans to ensure these six high-Rank Alien Races are eliminated on the spot!”

The Aerospace Carrier was currently the most powerful Floating Battleship in Kunlun Base’s possession, and arguably among all human survivors. Not to mention the various Anti-Gravity Airships in its escort fleet, this single Anti-Gravity Aerospace Carrier alone could have completely eliminated all national military forces on Earth before the catastrophe.

Moreover, this carrier now carried three ‘Titans’ aboard.

The Titan was the most powerful combat weapon newly developed by Kunlun Base – the product of over a month of tireless work by tens of thousands of scientific researchers who pushed their wisdom and physical limits to the extreme.

This was a giant intelligent high-tech Mechanical Warrior standing 28 meters tall, 10 meters wide, and weighing a thousand tons. Although this behemoth, like ordinary Mechanical Warriors, fell under the category of artificial intelligence, it was immeasurably more powerful than those smaller intelligent Mechanical Warriors.

Starting with the control system, the Titan’s core processor was the latest optical computer. Unlike traditional computers, optical computers abandoned conventional circuits in favor of particle beams as the primary transmission medium. Compared to older circuit systems, optical systems were faster and more efficient, enabling the Titan’s reaction capabilities to rival those of humans.

As for the power system, while older intelligent Mechanical Warriors used micro nuclear fusion engines as their core power source, the Titan employed the newest antimatter engine as its power plant. The use of antimatter energy enabled the Titan to possess a specialized new defensive weapon – the antimatter energy shield.

This was a Sharp Weapon specifically designed to counter energy-based Advanced Purifiers. According to Kunlun records, these technologies were indeed developed by the previous era’s human civilization specifically to counter the Purifiers. Unfortunately, while Kunlun contained extensive documentation about Mutated Creatures, there were few technologies specifically designed to counter them.This undoubtedly created an extremely awkward situation for the surviving humans, as they still had no effective means to deal with Lord Level mutated infected bodies. Fortunately, while they couldn’t eliminate them, they could use Titans to contain these foes, giving them at least some combat capability against the Lords.

“Reload!”

The ammunition in Butcher’s Type 59 Anti-Aircraft Gun had been exhausted again. As he roared the reload command, he inwardly lamented the overwhelming size of the Corpse Horde. While firearms remained quite effective at killing these zombies, their sheer numbers made it impossible to eliminate them all.

Thankfully, though Yushan Fortress was an outdated military facility, it proved remarkably sturdy and reliable. The iron doors of the bunker, despite being covered in rust, weren’t easily breached by the zombies trying to force their way inside.

Just as Butcher finished reloading and turned to resume firing, a sleek mechanical soldier descended from above, its metal surface glaring under the sunlight. The moment it landed, it crushed several zombies beneath its feet. Immediately after, the multi-barrel 12.7mm autocannon mounted on its arm began spewing deadly fire snakes into the surrounding Corpse Horde.

Instantly, the terrifying high-caliber rounds mowed down the nearby zombies like harvested wheat. The powerful 12.7mm ammunition tore through the infected bodies, reducing them to scattered chunks of flesh. The assault continued as more mechanical warriors landed on the ground, coordinating their efforts to slaughter the Corpse Horde in front of the bunker.

In less than half a minute, the thousand-plus zombies crowding the open area before the bunker had been transformed into piles of multicolored gore under the concentrated barrage.

“This is pure hell!”

Butcher stared in shock at the scene outside, fighting hard to suppress the nausea rising in his stomach. The massive number of zombie corpses emitted a sickening stench of decay. Were it not for the pungent smell of gunpowder permeating the air, he would have likely vomited already.

Simultaneously with the mechanical warriors’ landing, Ye Rong’s communicator buzzed with an incoming transmission request. She promptly pressed the answer button and heard the voice of Chief of Staff Hu Biao.

“Lieutenant Ye Rong, how are the survivors in the fortress holding up?”

Though overwhelmed with emotion, Ye Rong maintained her military composure. She responded seriously, “Reporting, Sir! The fortress remains secure. The civilians are overjoyed now that they’ve realized rescue has arrived!”

“Excellent. Please convey my greetings to everyone there. Tell them to hold on just a little longer—once we’ve eliminated the advanced alien races, we’ll be able to bring everyone home!”

Ye Rong switched on her loudspeaker and broadcast Chief of Staff Hu’s message to all the survivors present. Everyone was greatly encouraged upon hearing that rescue was imminent.

However, three individuals wore grave expressions: Nie Chong, Old Zhang, and Zhou Xiaoxiao.

“Wait a minute! What do you mean by ‘eliminate all alien races’? Are you planning to kill An Sheng along with them?”Old Zhang was the first to react, rushing to Ye Rong’s side and shouting loudly. But he was still a step too late, because Ye Rong had already disabled the communicator’s voice function! On the other end of the communicator, Chief of Staff Hu was still speaking.

“Lieutenant Ye Rong, immediately shut down the high-frequency particle signal transmitter. This thing will attract more Purifiers and put us in a pincer attack. Our current objective is to deal with the immediate threat—there’s no need to invite additional disaster.”

Old Zhang realized his words hadn’t been heard at all. Grabbing Ye Rong by the collar, he roared, “Turn the communicator back on! I need to speak!”

“Commander Zhang, mind your attitude! And remember our current situation!”

Ye Rong knew exactly what Old Zhang intended to do, but she would absolutely not let him succeed. This hard-won chance for revenge couldn’t tolerate even the slightest mistake. Even if Old Zhang did report An Sheng’s situation to high command, they probably wouldn’t believe him anyway.

Zhou Xiaoxiao immediately panicked upon hearing An Sheng might be in danger. She rushed to Ye Rong’s side, pleading with her.

“Sister Ye Rong, I beg you—tell the rescue troops not to harm An Sheng. You have to understand, he’s the savior of all of us! He saved your life too!”

“Too late. This woman would never do that!”

Wu Hongyu’s voice suddenly cut through the tension. Everyone turned to see the wheelchair-bound mechanic emerging from the inner cave, glaring furiously at Ye Rong.

“Lieutenant Ye Rong, why did you send those fabricated videos!”

Though just a mechanic, Wu Hongyu was a man of strong convictions. He knew that even though An Sheng was from an Alien Race, he was also their lifesaver. While shutting down the particle signal amplifier earlier, he’d accidentally discovered the video files Ye Rong had transmitted to the base.

“Why? You ask me why? Because all Alien Race deserve to die! Because An Sheng is that Medusa’s man—the one who killed the National Security Lieutenant Colonel! He deserves to die!”

Ye Rong screamed hysterically, completely consumed by madness. Not a trace remained of a woman’s customary composure—she resembled nothing so much as a rabid bitch.

Old Zhang slapped Ye Rong across the face, sending the deranged woman sprawling to the ground.

“You ungrateful wretch! You’re the one responsible for the Fortress’s current predicament!”

Old Zhang wasn’t wrong—Ye Rong was indeed the primary cause of their current crisis. If she hadn’t insisted on repairing the particle signal transmitter, the Purifiers wouldn’t have tracked the signal to Yushan. Nie Chong wouldn’t have been injured, and Pighead Three, Skinny Monkey, along with all those retired veterans wouldn’t have died in battle.

Moreover, this woman had even transmitted slanderous intelligence about An Sheng, infuriating nearly everyone in the Fortress—especially the original residents from the Tube-Style Apartment Building.

For a long time now, without An Sheng, none of them would have survived. Old Zhang was the Fortress’s patriarch, but An Sheng was the guardian deity in the survivors’ hearts—an indispensable member of their family.Now, someone wanted to harm An Sheng—how could his family possibly agree to this? Moreover, this person was someone An Sheng himself had saved with his own hands, and to rescue her, they had even lost a Liu Pengyu!

If repairing the Particle Signal Transmitter and causing the current situation was Ye Rong’s unintentional mistake, then privately sending slanderous intelligence, defaming An Sheng, and putting him in grave danger was absolutely unforgivable!

“Miss Ye, I never thought you could be so malicious!”

Even Su Yao, who was always the gentlest and most serene, trembled slightly with anger upon learning the whole truth.

“Have you all gone mad? An Sheng is from the Alien Race!”

Ye Rong struggled to her feet, looking in disbelief at the Yushan survivors who were glaring at her with hatred. If looks could kill, she would have been torn to pieces a thousand times over. But she refused to give up; she had to make these people understand that the Alien Race was untrustworthy, that they all deserved to die.

“Open your eyes and see! The Alien Race has been slaughtering humans—our country, our cities, all destroyed! Who caused this? The Alien Race! Isn’t An Sheng one of them? Can you guarantee he won’t turn against humans in the future? Those who are not of our kind must have different hearts!”

“Bull#shit! What a load of crap!” Butcher cursed as he jumped down from his gun position, striding over to Ye Rong in just a few steps.

“Damn it! An Sheng is our family, our closest kin! What the hell are you? Even if he is from the Alien Race, he’s a thousand times—no, ten thousand times—better than you, you ungrateful bitch!”

Though Butcher often teased An Sheng in daily life, the two shared a deep bond in private. Despite being just a butcher and formerly one of society’s lowest, even he knew the meaning of gratitude!

Anyone with eyes could see how good An Sheng was to everyone. Even the blind could hear it! And even the deaf and blind could feel it. Yet Ye Rong chose to repay kindness with betrayal! Butcher loathed this wretched woman to the core!

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