Chapter 77: Out of Control

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

Xun Lili sprinted rapidly across the snow-covered mountainside, while the accumulated snow behind her was continuously struck by incoming bullets and missiles. Explosions sent rubble and soil flying, blossoming into dark bursts like fireworks.

Fortunately, Xun Lili was no ordinary human—otherwise, such intense attacks would have already torn her to shreds. However, she wasn’t faring well either. As a Semi-Purifier, the Deification Factor within her body was not abundant.

Short bursts of exertion were manageable, but in a prolonged battle, she found herself stretched thin. The sheer number of Mechanical Soldiers alone was enough to exhaust her to death.

Just as she dodged a volley of bullets, a sharp battle axe came swinging down toward Xun Lili’s head. She swiftly twisted her body, narrowly evading the oncoming axe at the last moment, and in a flash, moved behind the Mechanical Soldier in front of her.

Xun Lili proved herself to be an exceptional Martial Artist, with remarkable reflexes and adaptability on the battlefield. The moment she took cover behind the Mechanical Warrior, three Micro-Tracking Missiles exploded right in front of it.

The shockwaves had no effect on the Mechanical Soldier, but they dealt a significant blow to Xun Lili’s body. Of course, this was also part of her calculations. Using the force from the explosion, she leaped down the mountainside and landed at the entrance of a massive Airship.

Fighting these highly destructive robots, she couldn’t just keep running away while also preventing collateral damage to the survivors in Yushan. The best solution was to shift the battlefield to their territory.

Sure enough, the moment Xun Lili appeared at the Airship’s entrance, all the bullets and Micro-Tracking Missiles aimed at her ceased. Of course, this wasn’t the end—it was the beginning of a chaotic brawl. More Mechanical Soldiers, brandishing massive Electromagnetic Oscillation Battle Axes, began to surround her.

“Make those metal bastards stop now!”

Old Zhang shoved aside the officer restraining him and rushed desperately toward Xun Lili. All he could do was use his own body to block the robots—he had nothing else to offer.

The soldiers weren’t about to let Old Zhang succeed and immediately pinned him to the ground again. Half of his face slammed into a protruding rock, and the impact was so forceful that several of his teeth were knocked out.

But Old Zhang paid no attention to this. He struggled frantically to get up while screaming hysterically, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, adding to the tragic scene.

“Stop! Make them stop now!”

Old Zhang’s words were already slurred, a result of his missing teeth causing his speech to whistle. His entire face swelled rapidly, and Zhou Xiaoxiao, standing nearby, rushed over in distress, trying to pull the soldiers off him.

“Let him go! Aren’t you the people’s army? Why are you treating us like this!”

Another soldier stepped forward and yanked Zhou Xiaoxiao away, scolding her loudly, “Have you been brainwashed by the Alien Race? That’s an Alien Race—a merciless, killing Alien Race!”

“No! She’s my sister, our family!”

Zhou Xiaoxiao sobbed as she refuted, but how could the soldiers possibly believe her?Suddenly, with a deafening “boom,” a machine soldier was struck by an unexpected artillery shell, staggering from the impact. However, the explosive power of the shell was not substantial, and coupled with the fact that these machine warriors were constructed from high-strength alloy metal frames, the mechanical warrior sustained no significant damage.

As the robot steadied itself, a second shell followed in quick succession.

“Hostile artillery fire detected. Activating defensive combat mode!”

A cold, synthesized electronic voice rang out as the machine soldier turned toward the direction from which the shell had been fired—one of the two gun emplacements in the bunker.

Old Zhang and Zhou Xiaoxiao also witnessed the scene. Following the machine soldier’s line of sight, they peered through the firing port of the gun emplacement and saw Butcher’s face, twisted with rage.

In the next moment, the armor on the machine soldier’s shoulder flipped open, and a micro-tracking missile shot toward Butcher’s gun emplacement. Butcher, still roaring, continued to stomp on the firing pedal!

“Boom!” The tracking missile, with explosive force comparable to a 100mm mortar, detonated on the bunker’s gun emplacement. The Type 59 anti-aircraft gun was instantly reduced to a pile of scrap metal.

Even more terrifyingly, the explosion ignited the anti-aircraft ammunition stored at the emplacement, triggering a chain reaction of blasts. Violent explosions echoed incessantly within the bunker.

“You’re fucking killing people!”

Old Zhang screamed in despair at the officer beside him. He never could have imagined that what was meant to be a rescue mission had turned into a massacre!

Yes, this was a massacre! Steel warriors created by humans were now slaughtering humans. Why? They just wanted to live—they just wanted their families to survive! Why!?

The survivors from Yushan were all gathered in the bunker. How many had died in the recent explosion? Old Zhang couldn’t fathom it, and he dared not try.

“My child! Yi’an! Ah! Ye Rong, I’ll kill you!”

From the entrance of the fortress bunker, a woman with a soot-blackened face and disheveled hair rushed out. She screamed Yi’an’s name, brandishing a kitchen knife as she charged toward Ye Rong.

The woman was Su Yao. When the explosion had erupted moments before, she had only managed to shield her child behind her. Yet tragedy still struck—a shard had pierced her eldest daughter’s throat!

The shard severed the child’s carotid artery, and the horrific bleeding left Su Yao no chance to save her. In just a dozen breaths, Su Yao’s eldest daughter had stopped breathing.

Little Biscuit’s sister, Su Yao’s eldest daughter, was only eight years old. But this innocent, cheerful child had become a casualty on Ye Rong’s path of vengeance!

As a mother, witnessing her daughter die in her arms, how could Su Yao not be enraged? How could she not go mad?

Who was the culprit? It was Ye Rong! Kill her! Kill her!

Ye Rong heard the roar of a mother driven insane by grief. Shocked, she glanced toward the bunker entrance and saw Yi’an’s small, fragile body curled up on the cold ground. Blood mingled with the dust from the explosion, forming a dark, murky pool.

Beside Yi’an’s corpse, Little Biscuit wept uncontrollably. At just five years old, she had already endured far more suffering than any child her age should have to bear. Now, she would experience the pain of losing a loved one once again.

And the one responsible for all this was none other than Ye Rong herself!”Did I do something wrong? I just wanted revenge, did I really make a mistake?”

In that moment, Ye Rong began to doubt herself. Yi’an’s lifeless body; Little Biscuit’s heart-wrenching wails; and Su Yao, this normally gentle and virtuous woman, had turned into a mad avenger.

“Was all of this because of me? What have I done!?”

Ye Rong wept, shedding tears of remorse. Perhaps revenge wasn’t wrong in itself, but she couldn’t bear to see more people becoming sacrifices to hatred for the sake of revenge.

But it was too late now. The tragedy had already occurred, and it was all because of her.

With a “thud,” Ye Rong collapsed to her knees.

She cried out to Su Yao, who was charging madly toward her: “Sister Su, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

She didn’t want to dodge. Let Su Yao end her with a single saber strike—it would be her atonement for those innocent lives lost. Thinking this, Ye Rong slowly closed her eyes.

“Bang!”

A muffled gunshot rang out! It was the distinctive sound of the electromagnetic pulse guns recently issued by Kunlun Base. Ye Rong’s eyes snapped open in terror. Su Yao, who had been just two meters away from her, now had a glaring bloody hole in her chest!

Su Yao’s body trembled as she knelt to the ground. Her eyes showed no fear of death, only the bitterness of unfinished revenge.

“Ye Rong! You… won’t… die… well!”

After uttering these words, Su Yao’s body slowly collapsed before Ye Rong. Her blood flowed from the wound, staining the snow in front of Ye Rong crimson. That red was so glaring, so blinding that Ye Rong couldn’t bear to look at it!

“Bastards! What kind of soldiers are you! I’ll kill you! Kill you all!”

Old Zhang had completely lost his mind. He was the patriarch of Yushan, the commander everyone at the Fortress spoke of. It was he who had led these survivors through countless hardships to stay alive in this man-eating apocalypse.

They hadn’t died at the hands of zombies, nor by mutants, nor by Purifiers—yet they were dying at the hands of the military they trusted most!

What had they done wrong? Why were they being treated like this!? They were just ordinary people!

If you don’t want us to live, then let’s all die together!

Old Zhang turned and delivered a powerful kick between the officer’s legs. The tremendous force sent the officer flying into the air. This strike hit a vital spot, instantly rendering the officer immobile as he curled up in pain on the ground.

Freed from restraint and completely enraged, Old Zhang snatched the officer’s sidearm and aimed it at the soldier who had fired the shot!

But he discovered the gun wouldn’t fire. The latest weapons came with built-in recognition systems—unless the user was pre-registered in the program, the pulse pistol couldn’t be used.

Seeing the weapon was useless, Old Zhang threw the pulse pistol like a rock at the soldier. Of course, such a feeble attack was ineffective.

“Cease your foolish behavior immediately, or I will take measures against you!”

The soldier shouted, aiming his weapon at Old Zhang. But Old Zhang couldn’t care less—too many of his family had already died today, and he wouldn’t mind adding himself to that number.Old Zhang’s eyes burned with frenzied rage as he roared and pulled a hand grenade from his coat pocket!

This was Liu Pengyu’s keepsake, originally standard equipment issued to their special operations squad. Ever since Liu Pengyu’s sacrifice, Old Zhang had carried this hand grenade with him.

He had thought at the time: if he ever found himself in a hopeless situation, he would use Peng Yu’s keepsake to end his own life.

But he never imagined that today, this hand grenade would be used to perish together with a soldier!

Old Zhang pulled the grenade’s safety pin and charged toward the soldier who had killed Su Yao, roaring with unwavering determination!