Chapter 685: Chapter 598: The Zealot’s Demise (2)

"What did you say..."

Cervantes suddenly bit off the soldier’s ear, blood splattered everywhere. Ignoring the soldier’s painful screams and the astonishment of the soldiers beside him, he grabbed a piece of metal debris from the ground and stabbed it directly through the jaw of the person in front of him, piercing all the way to the skull.

Then, he leapt forward to avoid the line of fire, picked up a gun from the ground, shot the weapon out of the hand of the soldier on the right, and fired two more shots to break the soldier’s legs. Raising the gun while the latter wailed bitterly, he aimed at his head.

Cervantes gasped heavily, footsteps sounded from behind, and facing the endless terror in the soldier’s gaze, he suddenly turned the gun to his own forehead and pulled the trigger, but only a clicking sound was heard.

"Damn, damn!"

Cervantes’ expression contorted slightly, then he stuck the barrel of the gun in his mouth, frantically pulling the trigger until the soldier reacted and rushed forward to snatch the gun and violently slammed it into his leg.

Nearby soldiers heard the commotion and quickly gathered, surrounding Cervantes in the center.

"Roar!"

At this moment, a roar came from behind the wall. In less than the blink of an eye, the wall was smashed apart, and a monstrous creature with a savage expression burst through, grabbing a Firefly Soldier and crushing him in its grip.

"This guy is Siphaun! How is it here!?"

Cervantes stood stunned in place, his eyes reflecting the furious figure of the monster. The injuries on Siphaun’s massive body could only be described as brutal, muscles hanging like tattered cloth from its frame, a missile lodged in its chest, unexploded, with torn clothing meant to restrain its power, an empty right eye socket, and the left eye burning with intense anger and madness.

The leather mask that covered its face was gone, revealing a burned visage, roaring while tearing the soldier in its hands in two.

His fighting spirit grew increasingly stronger, movements became more vigorous, but the pump device on his back moved with increasing slowness, the crimson liquid stopped flowing.

Cervantes suddenly felt an overwhelming sadness.

Even though he had changed bodies and looked very different from before, Siphaun still recognized him accurately and fought his way in from the outside...

Siphaun’s hands swung wildly in a frenzy, tirelessly thrashing and roaring, burning in the fire.

All the Firefly Soldiers attempting to approach were torn apart, those reddened eyes floated in the darkness, its heavy breathing struck fear into the hearts of every soldier, the same fear striking Cervantes’ heart.

He was very clear.

Neither he nor Siphaun.

None of them could escape anymore.

He couldn’t tolerate crawling like a dog on the ground, sneaking through the legs of two soldiers to survive.

Choosing dignity meant giving up the right to live.

At least, he fulfilled his promise.

He would burn his life like kindling in this war and die with dignity.

Siphaun roared to the sky, seemingly shouting ’Run’, urging Cervantes to run at all costs and never look back.

And the missile lodged in his chest exploded, completely blowing up half of his ravaged form, the soaring flames engulfing his fierce face until the last moment of life, Cervantes saw the glistening shine in the corner of his eye.

Right.

Cervantes remembered.

Before the transformation, Siphaun, like that young soldier, admired him. This transformation required not only enduring physical pain but also withstanding the mental torment brought by a non-human appearance. Cervantes had once promised him that when bionics had dignity, he would personally remove the mask for him.

To let him die like a human, upright and with dignity.

But none of that mattered anymore.

The Firefly Soldiers surrounded Cervantes.

"Kill me," Cervantes said.

Staring at the muzzle pressed against his forehead, his dry, cracked lips parted again to repeat.

"Kill me."

The anticipated gunshot never came; Cervantes opened his eyes and saw the leading Firefly Soldier seemingly communicating with someone, nodding occasionally while glancing at him. Then he felt the butt of the gun strike the back of his head, falling unconscious to the ground.

Half-dream, half-awake, Cervantes had a dream, a dream of returning to a long time ago, dreaming of a face he didn’t recognize, a woman holding his young self hiding in a wardrobe, covering her mouth in fear, not daring to make a sound. And when his young hand touched her face, her tears rolled down onto his cheeks like pearls.

Then the wardrobe door was smashed open aggressively, the woman was dragged away, and he never saw her again in the rest of his life.

He dreamed of the first time he overlooked this city, inexplicably feeling that the flow of cars and people below resembled ants on the ground. The towering skyscrapers like branches he placed on the ground stood there, and those ants maneuvered around them, and when the ground was filled with standing branches, the ants were trapped in a maze, circling in place, endlessly turning.

His nominal father, the male guardian, stood behind him at the time.

He had asked him this question, descriptively detailing his thoughts.

He still remembered that answer vividly.

"What’s the difference between us and ants?" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"The biggest difference between us and ants is that the branches that trap ants are placed by the God above, but these skyscrapers are built by us."

"What was built for us must eventually be overturned by us."

"No matter the predicament you face in the future, remember, these hardships are born of us, not divine trials. Do not pray to God; only we can lead ourselves out of this predicament."

"Dignity is bestowed by us."

Those questions were too profound for him at the time, so he merely remembered, and then asked about the woman he wondered about.

This time, the man chose silence, offering no answer.

In a daze, Cervantes felt himself being dragged down from a vehicle, detained on the ground, his body touched the cold snow.

He dreamed of Jiulong Street, recalling the conversation he had with Sancho.

"This era will be ours."

Cervantes blurredly regained clarity of the young figure, remembering the confusion on his face at that time, much like the first time they saw the starry sky in the workshop, eyes full of puzzlement and yearning.

"Sancho..."

In the waking moments of the daydream, Cervantes softly uttered the name of the young man. He completely saw the person before him, his eyes momentarily unfocused before gathering.

"Sancho?"

His body was under the control of the Firefly Soldiers, coupled with severe damage to all modules across his body; he couldn’t move a step closer to Sancho.

The red-haired youth lay right before him, a pair of long boots blocking Cervantes’ view.

Were they on the Skyline now?

Bright white lights cast down harshly, rows upon rows of military vehicles encircled the area, and hundreds of soldiers stood silently in the snow like shadowy figures.

"You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, there’s a mess waiting for me to clean up."

The fatigued black-haired girl brushed the bangs away from her forehead, looked down at Cervantes, snowflakes resting on the shoulders of her white military uniform.

"Who are you?" Cervantes asked, lost in thought.

"Who I am isn’t important, what’s important is, you should look at who this is."

Ying Huo elevated her tone, moved aside after speaking.

A blonde-haired girl walked out of the snow, while Ying Huo slightly bowed, kissing the back of the girl’s hand in a formal hand-kissing ceremony.

Cervantes raised his head, his pupils slowly contracting, his breath becoming rapid.

She had dazzling golden long hair, a magnificent gown cascading down. In the bright light, every strand of her hair flowed like gold, and her face seemed permanently graced with a gentle, polite smile, standing out prominently.

An unprecedented fury rose, Cervantes could no longer control his emotions; all previous humiliation, oppression, despair erupted at this moment.

Briefly freeing himself from the soldiers, he roared nearly, shouting the girl’s name.

"Princess!!"