EDEH Chapter 85

(recommendation – keep tissues with you while reading this chapter :DD)

 

The brutal fighting continued for three days, more terrifying than the District 7 incident. Countless people shed blood on the battlefield, and one-sixth of the main city’s area was reduced to ruins.

 

Most painfully, because there were no more supervisors, many deviant mercenaries didn’t die at the hands of monsters, but because they couldn’t bring themselves to act, they were pounced upon by comrades who had lost their reason.

 

The military was relatively better off. When Huo Yanji went to the underground city this time, he didn’t take all the supervisor soldiers with him, leaving some in the city.

 

They still upheld their former responsibilities, responsible for killing infected soldiers.

 

Simply put, only civilian supervisors were dissolved, while the military still needed such ‘executioners’ to do what needed to be done at the right time.

 

Some were responsible for fighting, some for killing.

 

They were all using their own methods to defend this city, to defend humanity’s last line of safety.

 

Sang Jue and Yang Chen had to take on the supervisors’ responsibilities.

 

The reason was simple: among these deviant mercenaries, very few had good marksmanship, and using methods meant for killing monsters to kill comrades was too cruel.

 

Sang Jue volunteered, partly because the antlions were really too large, making it inconvenient for him to use some of his own methods to kill monsters—like changing back into an evil dragon.

 

On the other hand, quite a few people expressed sentiments like “if only the Supreme Executive were here,” feeling that at least with his orders, people could die more peacefully.

 

The supervisors who were once hated had become the existence everyone most hoped to see.

 

Since that was the case, the little evil dragon was willing to help out—just once.

 

At first, no one believed he had good marksmanship, but after he demonstrated once, someone immediately handed him a gun.

 

Humans were really strange.

 

A few days ago, they were like punctured balloons, sparing no effort to hurt all those around them who protected them, not believing any surface information, as if relaxing even slightly would make them explode, dragging everyone around them to their doom.

 

But when crisis came, they could be the first to stand up, defending a homeland they might never have another chance to live in, entrusting their backs to a stranger they’d just met, letting that person decide their life and death.

 

Small, despicable, yet great.

 

Sang Jue suddenly remembered that a few days before leaving his home planet, the doctor had said to others in a tone both sad and calm: “The most foolish thing about those in high positions is that they’re accustomed to self-righteously examining all beings, treating themselves as gods who grasp the whole situation and have seen through everyone, standing from a high perspective to mock the people below who don’t know the truth and shout with the wind, saying ‘Look how stupid they are.’”

 

“Those in high positions always think that the people they need are the seeds of fire that human civilization needs, and that without benefits, humans are unwilling to sacrifice.”

 

The doctor said this because the person conversing with her asked: “Are we really going to do this?”

 

The doctor retorted: “Humanity’s most beautiful parts have been discarded like worn-out shoes, leaving only the worst dregs. What’s the point anymore?”

 

Sang Jue didn’t have a deep impression of that scene at the time, nor did he particularly remember who was conversing with the doctor. But because the doctor seemed somewhat different from usual, he had some recollection.

 

Now, these phrases that were obscure to him appropriately surfaced in his mind, precisely corresponding to the situation of human survivors on this planet.

 

The council were the foolish high-positioned ones.

 

The people were the grass that didn’t know the truth and swayed with the wind.

 

Perhaps they weren’t born despicable, just that they hadn’t encountered good winds.

 

A bottle of water was thrown at him. Sang Jue caught it, saying politely: “Thank you.”

 

A rare moment of rest – another wave of mercenaries had replaced them, giving them less than three hours of break.

 

Sleep, eating, and physiological needs all had to be addressed during this time.

 

No one approached Sang Jue. After these few days together, everyone felt an inexplicable fear of him.

 

Every shot he fired was extremely precise and calm, as if he was only shooting at targets, not living human heads.

 

When everyone was excited by stirring oaths, he remained calm, watching everyone with some curiosity, like a disinterested observer. When people grieved for heavy casualties and the destruction of their homeland, his eyes remained purely clear and transparent, without any ripples.

 

Like a tranquil deity who couldn’t be saddened by worldly disasters, possessing pure and peaceful divinity.

 

—Yang Chen withdrew her gaze, laughing at the inappropriate thoughts in her mind.

 

If Sang Jue was a deity, he probably wouldn’t fit popular aesthetics.

 

In most people’s minds, deities were either wise elders or possessed perfect, flawless physiques, indifferent and lofty, looking down on everyone equally.

 

Speaking of the latter, Huo Yanji better fit that image.

 

After casually eating some dry rations, everyone who had retreated within the isolation wall rested on the spot.

 

Their ‘militia’ team had started with over seven hundred people, but now less than half remained. The casualties were extremely tragic.

 

Everyone felt bitter. Someone couldn’t help complaining: “Didn’t Huo Yanji propose the engineering plan to insert steel plates under the city walls several years ago? How come after all these years, several districts still haven’t finished?”

 

“The project’s too big, right? After all, underground development is much more difficult than surface work. Inserting dozens of meters deep – how can it be completed just like that?”

 

“My brother had a friend in the military before, under Huo Yanji’s command. I heard the people above never really liked him.

 

“Thinking about it now, on one hand it’s because he opposed the Dawn Plan… on the other hand, many of his proposals were truly costly – like that wilderness aid station? Wasn’t that proposed for several years and kept getting rejected?”

 

“But these things are really useful… If the steel plate engineering had been completed, these contaminants could at most make noise outside the city walls. How would it have reached this situation?”

 

“Damn council!”

 

“But I heard that wilderness aid station thing started construction two months ago.”

 

“Really?”

 

“I don’t know, I also heard it from a friend. A while ago he told me it seemed to be completed.”

 

“Which friend of yours has such good information channels?” Someone didn’t believe it, laughing loudly. “Don’t tell me you’re making it up!”

 

“He’s dead. Died yesterday.”

 

“…”

 

Without proper conditions, everyone could only sleep with arms crossed against walls or leaning against pillars, barely replenishing some strength through brief sleep.

 

Even so, they would still be awakened by occasional rumbling sounds, eyes startling open for a second before falling back into deep sleep.

 

Under the apocalypse, everyone suffered.

 

…

 

Ling Gen, with dark circles under his eyes, entered the command room, his body still stained with antlion blood and mucus.

 

“The battle situation has eased considerably. The underground antlion corpses have slowed the speed of subsequent antlion groups. At least other districts can hold out until General Huo returns.”

 

Huo Jiangmian looked at the footage shot by helicopters, saying hoarsely: “General Huo won’t return.”

 

Ling Gen’s face changed slightly: “Why? Wasn’t it said that his troops have already—”

 

His voice stopped abruptly, suddenly understanding something.

 

Beside him, Lin Shuyi, who hadn’t been seen for a long time, said gravely: “Something big really happened to the underground city, but General Huo hasn’t specified the details yet. Also, for some reason he took a small team to the nearby Thousand Wolf Mountain Range and encountered a mountain fire.”

 

Ling Gen was stunned: “…Are you joking?”

 

Lin Shuyi rubbed his temples: “Not joking. General Huo has been out of contact for two days. Before the incident, he only issued one order – for the main force to return for support. They should arrive tonight.”

 

Ling Gen said: “No matter what, we have to find Huo Yanji first!”

 

Huo Jiangmian said calmly: “His plan went very smoothly. The underground city was controlled in less than a day, and the council didn’t stir up much trouble. According to the Supervisory Office’s report, they’re now working with the partial military forces Huo Yanji left behind to conduct a full search and rescue.”

 

“—Damn!” Ling Gen clenched his fist against his lips, his face extremely ugly. He paced back and forth, anxiously saying: “Huo Yanji can’t die. The younger generation hasn’t produced many excellent generals to begin with. We old ones won’t live much longer either. With the Dawn Plan exposed, who knows how many will be willing to ‘evolve’ in the future. If Huo Yanji is finished… the survivors really won’t have a leader.”

 

Lin Shuyi tugged at his collar: “I estimate I have about half a year left.”

 

Ling Gen whipped around to look at him.

 

Lin Shuyi said flatly: “My genetic test results are becoming increasingly unstable. Based on experience, it could be as short as two months or as long as half a year.”

 

Ling Gen punched the table: “…Damn!”

 

The only one present who might live a bit longer was Huo Jiangmian. He said: “So after this battle ends, you need to promote more juniors.”

 

Lin Shuyi shook his head helplessly: “At this rate, the age threshold for generals is getting lower and lower.”

 

But there was no choice – there were fewer and fewer people.

 

You have to know that the casualties from just one medium-scale battle between safe zones and contaminants would require at least ten years of population to recover.

 

And how many more decades could human civilization survive?

 

Ling Gen suddenly realized: “You just said something really serious happened to the underground city, but didn’t General Huo already control the council? What else could go wrong?”

 

“The following is just my speculation.” Lin Shuyi said: “General Huo controlled the underground city, but didn’t immediately return with the troops to support us. Instead, he went to the nearby Thousand Wolf Mountain Range… and there’s something very important to the underground city on Thousand Wolf Mountain Range.”

 

Ling Gen blurted out: “The solar base station!?”

 

Humans, like most natural creatures, cannot live without sunlight. Moreover, the underground city is located nearly a thousand meters underground, so besides the essential oxygen problem, there’s also light refraction.

 

The ancestors who built the underground city naturally thought of this – so they created a dome for the underground city, an artificial ‘sun.’

 

Lin Shuyi’s expression was grave: “You remember, right? Six or seven years ago, we experienced a solar storm that caused all safe zone power systems to completely shut down.”

 

Solar storms had become extremely frequent after the collapse, and survivors had grown accustomed to them.

 

Although troublesome, the magnetic storms they caused weren’t usually fatal, except for that one six or seven years ago which was large enough in scale, lasting a full seven days with devastating losses.

 

For an underground city that operated on massive artificial magnetic fields, magnetic storms were undoubtedly the most deadly disaster, especially for that artificial sun.

 

Lin Shuyi frowned deeply: “I suspect the magnetic storm from several years ago wasn’t successfully weathered as the council claimed. It may have appeared undamaged on the surface, but the actual situation was probably quite bad—”

 

“Stop talking!!” Ling Gen raised his hand to stop him, feeling dizzy and disoriented. He said with difficulty: “My brain is about to explode. Let me get through this crisis first… then think about the underground city.”

 

Huo Jiangmian, who had been staring at the screen watching the frontline battle conditions transmitted by helicopters, suddenly darkened his expression and said coldly: “The antlion swarm has changed direction toward the forestry farm!”

 

“The forestry farm?” Ling Gen hurriedly looked at the map, his already furrowed brows deepening: “…That’s eleven kilometers away. Without obstacles, at their speed it would only take an hour, and five kilometers of that belongs to the nearly fallen District J—”

 

His voice suddenly stopped, and Lin Shuyi walked beside him: “What’s wrong?”

 

Ling Gen said slowly: “General Huo’s manor is on that path.”

 

Huo Jiangmian’s eyes flickered, and he immediately dialed the military communications: “Leon, take your team to guard the District Z isolation wall! Minimize casualties as the priority, delay as long as possible!”

 

“Yes!”

 

Ling Gen paused: “What do you mean?”

 

Huo Jiangmian said gravely: “I’ll trouble Commander Lin to lead a team to Yanji’s manor to set up defenses. The city walls there are no weaker than those in the safe zone outer districts, and steel plates have already been buried underground. It’s the most suitable position for defensive warfare on this route.”

 

This didn’t sound like a manor – it was more like a military base.

 

Meanwhile, Sang Jue and the others, who were closest to the manor, were completely unaware and caught in dangerous fighting.

 

Their defense line retreated again and again, with only about two hundred people remaining, gradually merging with two other survivor teams. Among them were several people Sang Jue had seen before.

 

Bao Cang shouted as he exchanged information: “There’s a wave of antlions to the west!”

 

“Same to the south!”

 

“The north has completely fallen—”

 

Everyone gathered helplessly. A mercenary gritted his teeth: “If there’s no choice, let’s just go up and fight! Kill one and we break even, kill two and we’re ahead, kill three and we’re making a profit!”

 

“Let’s fucking do it!!”

 

Bao Cang looked at the building behind him and shouted: “Retreat another hundred meters!! If this building collapses, it will definitely slow them down, then we’ll attack!!”

 

People were hesitant – some didn’t want to retreat anymore, preferring to fight to the death. They were already at District J’s border – how much further could they retreat?

 

But most mercenaries trusted Bao Cang more and quickly followed the evacuation.

 

Sang Jue mixed in with the crowd, reloading his gun while being careful not to separate from the group.

 

It turned out that Bao Cang’s decision was correct.

 

Three waves of antlion swarms converged together, surging forward with an unstoppable momentum. The street that had been intact just a moment ago instantly fell apart, turning into ruins. Less than three minutes after everyone left, the buildings behind them collapsed one after another, raising clouds of dust.

 

More than ten mercenaries were a step too slow and were directly buried under the broken walls falling from above.

 

A deviant not far away turned back with bloodshot eyes and roared: “Fourth Brother!!”

 

Except for the “rumbling” sound of collapsing buildings, no one responded.

 

He rushed over furiously, his beast-transformed arms swinging thick steel rebar, directly thrusting it into the nearest bulging soil. The ground shook, and the pierced antlion struggled for over ten seconds before finally stopping.

 

He panted heavily: “Engage!!”

 

The collapse of the buildings did indeed slow the antlion swarm’s attack. As long as enough corpses of their kind were buried in front, the creatures accustomed to crawling underground would have no space to advance.

 

But the battle situation didn’t develop as they had imagined – they had too few people, already exhausted after several days of fighting, sometimes even needing two people to kill a single antlion together.

 

“Retreat first!!!” Bao Cang roared: “Even if we all die here, we can’t stop them!!”

 

This few people weren’t even enough to fill the gaps between the antlion swarm’s teeth.

 

Sang Jue fired a shot toward the diagonal southeast direction, hitting right in the head of a deviant who was about to lose control. The moment he fell, Sang Jue had already thrown a steel bar with his other hand, following the parabolic trajectory to hit an antlion that had emerged!

 

The massive body was pinned in the soil. It struggled desperately, but was firmly locked in place by the steel bar.

 

Sang Jue grabbed a berserk deviant and rushed toward the main force—

 

The antlion swarm had already reached beneath their feet.

 

People were constantly being swallowed into the underground by the whirlpools created by antlions. Sang Jue dragged the person along, nimbly avoiding all traps, reaching the final defense line.

 

This was a wall not as high as the safe zone city walls, but equally solid.

 

Bao Cang said: “Quick, get inside! There might be rock formations underground, the antlions seem unable to pass through, they’re blocked here!!”

 

The soil beneath the wall kept cracking and churning, even making dull impact sounds, but the antlion swarm couldn’t advance any further!

 

“Where is this!?”

 

“Don’t know, looks like a military district—let’s get inside first!!”

 

“Isn’t this the fucking Supreme Executive’s manor!?” Someone suddenly realized, “I passed by here two years ago!”

 

“Will we get arrested for trespassing on the general’s manor?”

 

“Stop talking nonsense and retreat quickly, getting arrested is better than dying!!”

 

The gate was tightly closed, Bao Cang and others used all their strength trying to break it open. Just as they hit it for the third time, the door suddenly opened from inside. Everyone tumbled in one after another, piling on top of each other.

 

“Damn, crushing me to death!!”

 

“Get up quickly!”

 

“Thank you.” Sang Jue said quietly to 007, squeezing in from the side.

 

There was no one in the manor, not a single soldier, but opening the gate required authorization, so Sang Jue could only ask 007 for help in breaking it. Fortunately, 007 was truly powerful, opening it in less than half a minute.

 

However, the scene that greeted them left everyone stunned in place.

 

This manor was the reward Huo Yanji had requested when he was promoted to major general for his great achievements.

 

Most people might have asked for mines, resources, or manpower to support their subordinate soldiers—only that year’s Huo Yanji had asked for a piece of land less than ten acres.

 

This was also the original source of rumors about Huo Yanji’s extravagant nature.

 

The first thing Huo Yanji did after getting the land was to build walls around it.

 

So many years had passed, and no one knew what Huo Yanji wanted such a large piece of land for. Rumors became more and more outrageous over time. Some said he was purely extravagant, using gold and gems to build himself a manor. Others said he was raising private soldiers in the manor. Still others said he had actually hollowed out the underground of the manor, conducting human experiments, or digging tunnels to secretly communicate with rebels outside the city…

 

There were all kinds of stories.

 

Sang Jue finally understood why Huo Yanji’s manor wasn’t suitable for hosting an evil dragon either.

 

Although it was large, it was crowded.

 

Because this piece of land, less than ten acres, carried nearly a million souls.

 

This wasn’t a private manor, but a public cemetery.

 

From the entrance, it was filled with densely packed columbarium walls, row after row, stretching as far as the eye could see.

 

Each columbarium wall was divided into rectangular compartments, each representing a sacrificed soul. Although there were no ashes, the name of each sacrifice was clearly engraved.

 

There were deviants and ordinary people.

 

They were either supervisors who died in certain missions, or mercenaries who had voluntarily joined recruitment teams to support other safe zones, or soldiers who had died in battles of the past…

 

A narrow wall, front and back, contained hundreds of souls.

 

They lived crowded together, but surely wouldn’t mind.

 

Because they all sacrificed for the same ideal, and most importantly, beneath the despicable lies and conspiracies, someone had silently remembered their names and left a place for their lost souls to rest.

 

“This…”

 

The people who had rashly intruded were too shocked to speak.

 

Sang Jue also stared at everything in a daze. Before him was a narrow corridor that seemed to stretch endlessly.

 

And every time Huo Yanji came home, he had to pass through this path surrounded by the souls of the sacrificed before he could rest for a moment.

 

So the Supreme Executive’s heart wasn’t made of steel, it was just a wasteland.

 

He lived in a cemetery, and his heart also contained only a cemetery.

 

The cemetery was engraved with names that had already disappeared, and he had to visit the cemetery every day, pulling out the newly grown grass.

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