Night.
Six fighter jets emanating a streak of flaming tail soared through the dark sky.
Their communicators rang out all at once.
[Ziâ]
[Fox One, Fox Two, please proceed from the Southeast direction]
[Fox Four, Fox Five, you will proceed from the Northwest direction of the city]
[Fox Six, Fox Seven, perform a U-turn, be ready for your orders!]
[Attention, wait for your exact orders, this strike must be conducted in unison]
[Do you copy?]
The six pilots answered at once: âCopy!â
The six fighter jets scattered in the air in different directions.
...
At the same time.
The surrounded city.
The hole in the middle.
Ye Ru Xi looked around.
Everyoneââ-
All of her comrades who had been fighting by her sides were displaying distant expressions.
âI... simply wanted to save...â
She muttered with difficulty.
Li Da Jun laid on the ground, staring closely into the void of space, then suddenly grinned.
His mouth and nose were full of blood as he declared with a cruel expression: âGeneral Ye, so long as you are alive, they will never stop bombarding this place. If you truly want to save this world, quickly go ahead and dieâ
Bam!
Gu Qing Shan used the side of his sword to hit him above his neck and knocked him unconscious.
Ye Ru Xi slowly turned towards her other comrades.
âColonel Zhang, what do you think?â
She asked with a calm voice.
Hearing that, a certain male officer displayed a complicated expression.
âRu Xi, you should knowâ he tried his best to pick his words, then slowly replied, âIâm actually a carrier of [Order] as well, and you are currently everyoneâs priority target, you must dieâ
âBut I canât kill you, nor do I want to fight to death with you, so quickly leave alreadyâ
His officer turned his face away, then muttered: âIf you remain, everyone here will truly lose their livesâ
Ye Ru Xi fell silent.
That final statement was the most important one.
She suddenly turned to Gu Qing Shanâs trio and asked: âWhy did you help me just now?â
Zhang Ying Hao was currently drinking a canned drink when he answered: âWhen you see injusticeâ
Ye Fei Li was also drinking and followed up as he raised his can: âYou help in whatever way you canâ
Gu Qing Shan replied in a solemn tone: âIf you want to leave, you had better do it quickly. After a while, the radioactive fallout will rain down together with dust, it would be hard to escape even if you wanted to by that pointâ
Saying so, he also gulped down the second canned drink in his hand.
His spirit energy was recovering rapidly.
Ye Fei Liâs ability is truly excellent, no wonder even Boss wanted to remain with us.
Ye Ru Xi observed the three strangers in front of her, then her old comrades, as if wanting to keep this scene forever in mind.
âIâll be going, farewellâ
She leapt straight to the sky and disappeared into the grey fog above.
âFei Li, give chaseâ Gu Qing Shan said.
âGot itâ
Ye Fei Li caught the other two with his hands, spread his bright-red wings wide and carried them with him.
...
âWhy did you follow me?â
Ye Ru Xi was quickly flying in front of them and asked without turning around.
Gu Qing Shanâs trio was closely following her.
âGeneral Ye, youâre powerful, if you can cooperate with us, weâd make a considerable forceââ in the end, our goal is simply to survive, I hope youâll understandâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
Survive.
Ye Ru Xi was surprised and didnât answer him for now.
On the way.
The four of them continued forward.
The ground was completely scorched, countless charred corpses filled the entire zone.
Ruined buildings were still burning with smoke and fire, the city seemed like it had just been plunged into a sea of flames, leaving behind only the purgatory aftermath.
Ye Ru Xiâs gaze passed through these corpses.
She wiped the corner of her eyes.
âIs this all my fault? Is my very existence wrong?â he questioned herself.
Gu Qing Shan sighed.
I didnât think that [Order] would be willing to cause such mass destruction simply to erase this unawakened Deity of [Chaos].
Then what difference would they have from the Apocalypse?
Gu Qing Shan answered her: âItâs not that youâre at fault, but rather humanity itself has always had many faults. This is simply an eternal truth, thereâs no need for you to blame yourselfâ
Ye Ru Xi asked: âCan we win against these faults?â
Gu Qing Shan replied: âIt would be very difficult, humanity had always been this way, there is no such thing as an endâ
Ye Ru Xi dejectedly asked: âIf there is no chance of success from the very start, what meaning is there for our actions in the first place?â
Gu Qing Shan stated: âThe ultimate outcome is irrelevant, and so is the hearsay of million othersâ
Ye Ru Xi remained silent, then sorrowfully laughed:
âWho wouldâve thought, the one who would accompany me on my path would actually be a strangerâ
She continued heading forward but did not fly as quickly as earlier.
Gu Qing Shan sensed the direction of the wind, then said: âThis is currently our best chance to escape. We should fly perpendicular to the direction of the wind; this would make sure that we avoid most of the radioactive falloutâ
Ye Ru Xi paused.
The four of them changed directions and continued heading forward.
âHey, Qing Shan, I have a questionâ Ye Fei Li said.
âGo headâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âYing Haoâs shot clearly hit the nuclear bomb, but when something like that is damaged, it shouldnât be able to detonateââ- thatâs how Iâve always seen it in the moviesâ
âThose movies you watch only showed unarmed nuclear bombsâ Zhang Ying Hao replied.
âIs there a difference?â Ye Fei Li asked.
Zhang Ying Hao answered: âKeep this in mind, you can never underestimate the cruelty of the human mindâ
Gu Qing Shan explained: âFrom what Iâve seen of history, in-flight nuclear warheads are always programmed with a certain function when it gets within a certain range of its targetâ
Zhang Ying Hao continued: âWhen the casing of the nuclear warhead endures a certain amount of kinetic energy â like how it was shot earlier, or if it touches the ground â that function would trigger within 0.01s of the impact and detonate the nuclear bomb â bang!â
Gu Qing Shan followed up: âThis is called better safe than sorryâ
âAlso known as massacring a city to not release a single personâ Zhang Ying Hao added.
Ye Fei Li seriously pondered this, then couldnât help himself from shivering.
Gu Qing Shan abruptly stopped.
He saw a large number of military vehicles and devices that had been knocked over on the side of the road.
âWait a momentâ
He ran towards them.
Zhang Ying Hao shouted from behind: âTheyâre probably useless nowâ
Gu Qing Shan entered the car, searched around for a bit to find a map.
He took the map back to Ye Ru Xi.
âWhere are we now?â
Ye Ru Xi examined the map and pointed at a certain point.
Gu Qing Shan observed it a bit and muttered: âAlthough the monsters have surrounded the city, thereâs a large river not too far away from usâ
âWe wonât be able to crossâ Ye Ru Xi replied, âThere are powerful aquatic monsters in the waterâ
âIs that soâ Gu Qing Shan said.
Ye Ru Xi said: âIf we want to break through the encirclement, it would be better to do so on land. This way we would be able to use our powers. If we enter the water, weâd be restrained by it and be killed more easily insteadâ
Gu Qing Shan suddenly stopped.
âWhatâs the matter?â Zhang Ying Hao asked.
âNothingâ Gu Qing Shan smiled.
Zhang Ying Hao looked at him, then at his arm.
His hairs stood on their ends again.
âWhat the fuck... Old Gu, take a look at thisâ Zhang Ying Hao muttered.
âWait a momentâ
Gu Qing Shan replied, then gazed at the void of space.
Lines of glowing text appeared from the void of space:
[Worlds Apocalypse Online: Living Beings Order is attempting to reinforce itself on you]
[Due to the War God UIâs prevention, reinforcement had failed]
[The Order had requested a telepathic connection; would you like to connect?]
Gu Qing Shan hesitated for a moment before replying: âAllow itâ
Right away, a voice filled with holy presence resounded in Gu Qing Shanâs ears:
[Entity of unknown background, listen]
[You definitely cannot allow the Deity of Chaos: Ye Ru Xi to awaken, you must kill her, immediately! Immediately!]
Gu Qing Shan questioned in a heavy voice: âWhat would happen if she awakened? If you are the [Living Beings Order], why did you massacre millions of living beings in this world?â
[I had no other choice!]
The voice suddenly raised up high and replied with a solemn tone: [If they were any other Deity of Chaos, Under this current apocalyptic situation, the Order would not have acted that way. This Orderâs number one priority is the survival of living beings]
[But not her, she definitely must not awaken!]
âWhy?â Gu Qing Shan couldnât help but question.
[Because among all the seeds of Chaos, she is one of decisive importance]
[She is the Deity of Chaos summoning that not even the Reality Gate can stop]
[To eradicate the Apocalypse, she would summon entities to destroy all living beings in existence]
[When there are no longer any living beings, so there would no longer be any Apocalypse]
[To destroy it all, this is the meaning of her existence]
[You must not allow her to awaken!]
When Gu Qing Shan was about to speak, Ye Fei Li caught his hand.
âNot good!â
Ye Fei Li hurriedly explained: âThat noise from earlierââ the noise of nuclear warheads! Six of them in total!â