This Game Is Too Real-Chapter 751: LV61! The Seventh Stage of the Gene Sequence!
Chapter 751: Chapter 751: LV61! The Seventh Stage of the Gene Sequence!
"..."
At the southernmost peak of Ten Peaks Mountain, on the summit of Lai Mountain.
The "Human Emperor" stared expressionlessly toward the north, watching throughout the night, until the dawn’s early light slowly rose from the horizon; only then did a barely noticeable sneer twitch at the corner of his mouth.
It was at this moment that a figure appeared beside him.
The middle-aged man in a white robe was none other than the "Beast King," who had promised him not long ago to hold out on Ten Peaks Mountain for at least half a year.
"There has been a slight accident..."
As these words were spoken, the Beast King’s face showed a hint of disarray, his facial muscles twitching occasionally.
Especially where he had been punched twice before.
Even though he had abandoned that ragged body, he had not yet completely escaped from the intermittent phantom pain.
The Human Emperor watched him expressionlessly; his deep pupils were like black holes that devoured everything, causing the other to unconsciously shift his gaze downward by an inch.
It couldn’t be helped.
At this moment, he was unprecedentedly weak; despite ten thousand reluctances in his heart, he could only reluctantly bow his head.
Since the Holy Land relied on a physical body in the real world as a container for storing consciousness, it could be said that the strength of a Pioneer was proportional to the strength of the followers; the stronger the believers’ power, the greater the influence the Holy Land could exert on the Mortal World.
For example, if the believers with chips installed were just a few serfs, not to mention influencing the Mortal World, they would probably not even be able to leave the Slave Owner’s farm.
But if the installed chip’s follower was the Slave Owner himself, then merely with the Slave Owner’s authority, one could command an entire farm of survivors.
At this moment, his situation was akin to the former.
Until yesterday, he had been the uncrowned king of Ten Peaks Mountain, but now he had lost all his chips.
Not just that.
He had even lost Heaven in the Weifu Wilderness.
This was undoubtedly a devastating defeat, especially now, since the Lair on Blood Mountain had turned from an ally into a significant threat to the Heaven of Haiya Province...
The Human Emperor said nothing, just silently watched him until the latter felt a chilling unease, and then the former slowly spoke.
"Where is Kupo?"
The expression of the Beast King stiffened, and after a long time, he lowered his head and said,
"I’m sorry."
"Is it just a sorry?"
The Human Emperor gazed into his eyes, slightly lifting his chin.
"He was my Apostle; he must have asked you to immediately remove your dirty hands from his armor and to roll out. Yet, you completely ignored his request—and even his pleas and stubbornly continued your foolishness to the end."
"This was also for our plan..." Seeing the tone becoming heavier, the Beast King couldn’t help but defend himself, but he was interrupted before he could finish.
"Plan," the Human Emperor repeated the word, staring at him, "So is this situation also part of your so-called plan?"
The Beast King fell silent.
Observing this speechless man, a trace of disappointment appeared on the Human Emperor’s face; he sighed lightly and turned his gaze back to the north.
"I didn’t expect a backdoor to be implanted in the armor. Not just me, even the ’Saint Heir’ was furious when he found out. You have made an absolute error that should never have been made, and now everyone must pay for your foolishness, I hope you understand this—and don’t blame me."
Upon hearing these words, the Beast King was stunned for a moment and lifted his head sharply to look at him.
His gaze was so cold it seemed devoid of warmth, resembling the snow that capped the mountain.
A twinge of panic involuntarily rose in his heart, and he stared at his former comrade, unconsciously stepping back.
"What... are you going to do?!"
"This is the unanimous decision of the Hall Tribunal—"
Watching the Beast King’s complexion finally change completely, the Human Emperor continued with his usual demeanor, before announcing his fate.
"You have been expelled."
"Wait—"
Before his voice fell, that ethereal figure vanished into the howling cold wind like a suddenly stopped slide projector.
It seemed that the "surgery" had been completed.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get to hear that guy’s last words.
Silently mourning the old friend who would miss the new world, the Human Emperor slightly turned his head to glance behind.
A few men in exoskeletons were standing not far behind him, as if they had been there for a long time.
They were Executioners from the Tribunal, mainly responsible for executing some stubborn and tricky heretics, and dealing with problematic Pioneers.
Though Pioneers lacked a physical entity to walk the Mortal World, simply resetting the chip in the followers’ brains could eliminate them.
This backdoor was held by the Tribunal and had existed as a means to balance the Pioneers since the birth of the "Holy Land."
It was clear that these fellows had only recently arrived here, and it was not just a small squad that the Tribunal had dispatched.
Within moments of casual talk, they had already completed the surgery.
"... We have reset the chip belonging to the Beast King and completely erased his consciousness. According to the Saint Heir’s will, they now belong to you," said the leading Executioner, succinctly explaining the situation.
The Human Emperor slowly nodded in understanding.
"I see."
The Executioner did not elaborate further on the recent events but glanced at the distant Blood Mountain before returning his gaze to him.
"What do you plan to do?"
Without concealment, the Human Emperor spoke succinctly.
"This place is no longer defensible. I plan to abandon Ten Peaks Mountain and relocate the tribes of mutants from this area to Haiya Province. I will reorganize the defenses on my territory to withstand the onslaught from the Allied forces."
The Executioner nodded.
"A wise decision. I leave this in your hands now."
"Mm."
The Human Emperor replied distractedly, not keen on engaging in more conversation with these individuals.
The Executioners did not persist further and vanished from his sight.
This was not the activation of optical camouflage but rather an outright severance of the link to his sea of consciousness.
This was one of the "privileges" of an Executioner.
They could exempt themselves from the Pioneer’s scrutiny, move in areas beyond his gaze, and autonomously decide whether to establish a connection with a Pioneer.
This was also why the Beast King hadn’t noticed their involvement.
The Human Emperor ignored those who appeared and vanished unpredictably, focusing intently on the rugged mountains north of Lai Mountain.
On an adjacent battlefield, densely packed mutants and goblins were retreating down the serpentine mountain paths.
These noisy creatures carried bags and luggage, equipment for eating and fighting, as well as domesticated livestock and stored food.
Though leaving them on Ten Peaks Mountain as cannon fodder was a tempting idea, their lack of organization meant they would not last long against the trained soldiers of the Allied forces.
They were now his pawns.
Before sending them to the front lines as cannon fodder, he needed to perform some "quick and good" modifications on them.
"Chu Guang, is it..."
The Human Emperor squinted slightly, touching his cheek with his index finger. An unusual smile twisted on his otherwise expressionless face.
That punch really hurt.
It had been a long time since he’d encountered someone who could excite him like this...
...
A day had passed since the decisive battle on the Weifu wilderness.
After handling all the matters, Chu Guang had returned to the Steel Heart and slept for a full ten hours, easing the accumulated fatigue.
Shortly after waking up, he received the medical report sent by Heya.
To his surprise, in just the brief period of last night, he had leveled up, and the progress of his gene sequence development jumped from 60% to 61%.
[
ID: Chu Guang
Gene Sequence: Manager (Seventh Stage)
Level: LV.60→LV61
——Basic Attributes——
Strength: 79→80 (+1)
Agility: 60→63 (+3)
Constitution: 64→65 (+1)
Perception: 62→65 (+3)
Intelligence: 66→68 (+2)
]
"The data is just for reference, to be honest. The old attribute conversion formula seems outdated for you. A mere 80 points of strength is not sufficient to deliver such a powerful punch."
As Chu Guang pondered what exactly 80 points of strength entailed, he set down the medical report and looked at her curiously.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because it’s based on the standards of normal humans—an empirical formula—and your body, in terms of muscular structure and movement style, is already far from the standard human model. It’s not an exaggeration to say that your very existence could provide a wealth of samples for the Perfect Life Forms research project. I’m not sure if this is the future direction of human evolution, but... it’s certainly a possibility," Heya said, staring intently at him.
Chu Guang believed what she said, as she always had that strange expression when encountering precious research material.
Just like Yin Fang when he saw an unusual coffee machine.
"Perfect Life forms ...?" Chu Guang looked at his right hand, clenched his fist, feeling the surging power.
It was said to be the Holy Grail of the Prosperity Epoch biology and gene-editing technology, the lifelong pursuit of countless scholars and engineers, involving millions of research projects.
Unfortunately, until that grand era ended, this isolated singularity remained just a concept in imagination.
Perhaps the First Generation Manager of Shelter No. 404 was an expert in this field as well.
After all, there were an unusually high number of biologists in Qingquan City, adding one more wasn’t inconceivable.
"Do you feel like you’re growing further apart from your identity as a human?" Watching Chu Guang lost in thought, Heya teased, "I think you don’t need to worry. From what I can tell, you’re quite liked by everyone."
Chu Guang shook his head.
"I haven’t considered that. I was just wondering ... what will happen after the development progress reaches 100%."
"That, we will only know when the time comes. There are no relevant data in the shelter’s database to refer to, and even the previously effective empirical formulas are no longer working."
Heya paused, then shrugged her shoulders in a comforting tone.
"But don’t worry. No matter what happens to you, no matter what you become, even if you grow two heads and six arms, you will always be you, and always be the you in our hearts."
She wasn’t very good at comforting people, nor was she adept at reading others’ emotions, as she spent most of her time immersed in scientific research and stopped mid-sentence.
Chu Guang was slightly stunned at first, taking a couple of seconds before realizing she was actually trying to comfort him, and he laughed.
"What are you talking about? I’m not worried about that at all. Though, I was thinking ... it would be nice if I could grow a pair of wings."
But that was too fantastical.
Changing the bone structure and nerve distribution completely, it likely couldn’t be done without installing artificial limbs.
"Seems I was being over-sensitive ..." Heya blushed rarely, coughed forcefully trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Not at all," Chu Guang interrupted her, his face breaking into a hearty smile, sincerely adding, "Thank you, it feels pretty good to be cared for."
"You, when you don’t talk... it’s quite... quite normal."
Seeing Heya turning her head away rambling, and the hint of blush through the silvery light, Chu Guang looked surprised.
Weird.
Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?
...
[Yesterday, the Sticky Community Allied forces achieved a critical victory around Ten Peaks Mountain.
Nestled deeply in Blood Mountain, the Lair ultimately fell under the combined assault of the Alpha Special Mobile Force and the Death Legion, and the tumorous poison buried deep beneath the Weifu Wilderness was thoroughly excised.
Thus, the lands of Brocade River Province eroded by the cult have all been liberated!
Although the soil corrupted by the Nago mycelium is still being purified, completely eliminating the corruption left by the Torch Church is only a matter of time...
To prevent the seeds of chaos from sprouting again, the Managers announced the establishment of the seventh Survivor Settlement "Weifu City" on the Weifu Wilderness and an additional "Weifu City Station" on the Alliance railway line.
The Southern Construction Corps of the Alliance is currently responsible for the planning of this settlement, with more details to follow in subsequent reports.
On another note, under the initiative of Alliance Manager Chu Guang, the Sticky Community proposed the 6th Resolution, in which the attending parties will discuss the reparations for the families of soldiers killed in the war against the Torch Church.
The list of deceased soldiers is currently being compiled, but due to the varying levels of communication technology and limited administrative capabilities among the Survivor Forces, this task may take a considerable amount of time to complete.
Additionally, following the defeat of the ’Beast King,’ the Mutant tribes stationed on Ten Peaks Mountain have gradually migrated south.
Since over a century ago when the first Mutant tribe wandered and settled there, it is the first time Ten Peaks Mountain is completely free from the threat of Mutants.
The 100th Mountain Division 1st Brigade of the Corporation has already deployed to Lai Mountain.
Given the complex local circumstances in Haiya Province, the Army, the Corporation, and the Academy have all expressed intentions to send more reinforcements to the front lines.
However, due to constraints like the width of the front, logistical capacity, and various other factors, the maximum force the northern front can handle might not exceed 20 divisions.
Military analysts believe that the northern front has successfully opened a breakthrough, and the next turning point of the war might appear on the southern line.
Sammy, Chief, Reporter, and Editor of the Survivor’s Daily Potato Harbor branch, reporting for you!
]
On the southern shore of Baiyue Strait, at the military camp in Fried Dough Stick Port, inside a solitary wooden cabin, Ten Thousand Leader Yiselle of the Expeditionary Force of 30,000 was reading the newspaper in his hand.
Despite it being over 30 degrees, he felt a chill in his hands and feet.
The headline’s victory alert wasn’t what made him involuntarily hold his breath, but rather the casualty figures listed on page two from various parts of the Allied forces.
Excluding the clone counts from the Army, the Empire occupied the second position on the list, with a staggering 14,700 people killed in action!
Nearly three-quarters of them were dead...
He could hardly imagine, had he not boarded the wrong ship earlier, whether he would still be alive today.
Just then, hurried footsteps approached from outside.
Chu Guang walked through the threshold, his name known as Jin De.
He held a newspaper in his hand, fresh off the press and evidently from the same issue as his own.
It wasn’t beyond General Yiselle’s expectations that, upon entering, Jin De would quickly cut to the chase.
"Sir, General Babita’s forces have suffered heavy losses, and this is not good news for us... Ah, it seems you already know."
Mid-sentence, his gaze fell on the newspaper in Yiselle’s hand, and he tactfully stopped talking.
However, Yiselle had heard the first part and couldn’t help but frown slightly.
"What does this have to do with us? We are responsible for the southern front."
"Strictly speaking, that’s true, but General Babita is, after all, our immediate superior. Do you think, with his personality, he would honestly admit his own faults?"
"Is there any point in arguing?" Yiselle scoffed, "That man, who even covets the money in his subordinates’ meal cards, whether he admits it or not, can he really argue that the over ten thousand dead can be brought back to life?"
Since the "Survivor’s Daily" Potato Harbor division is run by the Moon Clan, and those Moon Clan girls always like to include their own interests in the newspaper, focusing only on reporting unpleasant news about the Empire’s Expeditionary Army and ignoring the clones of the Army.
At first, he despised those Moon people, but after working with the residents of the Alliance for a while, he slowly started to view General Babita as an idiot, and whoever appointed him as the commander of the Expeditionary Force as an idiot as well.
Although Yiselle disregarded him, Jin De still cautiously said,
"...It’s not surprising you think this way, in fact, I also despise that incompetent man, but it must be said, such men have their cunning ways when it comes to manipulation. For instance, he might shift the entire blame for this failure onto you for not reaching the front as planned, while his efforts salvaged two thousand troops from a doomed force of ten thousand—"
"What a joke!" Yiselle slammed the table vigorously, "Even if he says so, His Majesty would never believe such ludicrous stories!"
Jin De shook his head and spoke in a low voice.
"Turning black into white is a basic skill in manipulation, and in the palace, having a thick skin is more important than capability. Since he is your superior and closer to His Majesty, he is certainly more skilled in this respect..."
Seeing General Yiselle’s uneasy expression, he paused for a moment before continuing.
"Of course, even though the situation is quite unfavorable for us, we are not without opportunities..."
Over the past month, they had managed to turn Fried Dough Stick Port into something substantial, and the Alliance had paid them part of their wages as promised.
And it was not just the wages.
The Baiyue Strait is livelier than ever before, and although Fried Dough Stick Port’s development could not catch up to Potato Harbor, it benefited from the latter’s progress. Merchants from Silver Moon Bay, South Archipelago Alliance, and even great bosses from City of Dawn, all invested in industries in this region.
Managing plantations, helping on construction sites or docks, even warehousing and import-export businesses, their Expeditionary Force of 30,000 had ventured into all these activities.
Although nominally they were still part of the Expeditionary Army, in reality, they had transformed into a large labor agency.
After all, the Jungle Corps was too strong in combat, making it redundant for them to take the field.
In one month, they had accumulated at least five to six hundred thousand silver coins.
For the poor souls in Poluo Province, this sum was a significant bargaining chip.
Seeing a serious look cross General Yiselle’s face, Jin De continued,
"This matter weighs heavily on His Majesty’s mind, so we just need to be the first to deliver the battle report to Tiandu. Then, when His Majesty sees that General Babita’s incompetence has disgraced the Empire in front of the Army, he might propose splitting the Expeditionary Army into northern and southern fronts... I believe His Majesty would consider your recommendation."
After hearing his adjutant’s words, Yiselle was visibly moved, yet still hesitated.
"But... bypassing the chain of command is a serious breach."
Jin De patiently said.
"We can handle that, do you still remember Governor Nihak?"
Yiselle nodded.
"Of course, he is His Majesty’s confidant. Are you suggesting we exploit his connections? But isn’t he imprisoned in Jin Jalun Port?"
Due to Duke Garava’s refusal to sign, the Alliance and the Empire remained in ceasefire negotiations without a formal ceasefire agreement.
For this reason, whether it was prisoners from the Grey Wolf Army or Governor Nihak, they were now held in POW camps or prisons in Jin Galun Port.
He couldn’t see what use it could be to leverage a prisoner’s connections.
Seeing Yiselle’s puzzled look, Jin De patiently continued.
"...Times have changed. The Empire suffered heavy losses in the war against the Torch Church, and the Alliance adjusted its diplomatic strategy towards the Empire. Even out of pity for the weaker party, they would not demand the impossible anymore."
"Moreover, it’s turbulent within the Empire recently; the self-sufficient Black Panther Army and Tiger Army are becoming uncontrollable problems, and His Majesty also intends to mollify the relationship with the Alliance to free his hands to deal with the internal disorder. I believe that the ceasefire agreement, which hasn’t been signed for a month, is likely going to be signed soon."
Yiselle’s expression was visibly moved.
"Are you saying Governor Nihak will be released?!"
Jin De solemnly nodded.
"That is certain, including Prince Dilipu who is also imprisoned with him, I reckon it won’t be long before they are on a ship heading home."
His eyes slightly twinkling, he laid out his entire plan.
"...Directly bypassing isn’t feasible, but if it’s Governor Nihak or Prince Dilipu who delivers this letter, the problem naturally doesn’t exist."
-
(Thanks to "Book Friend 20230411005002872" for the chief patron reward!)
Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m fr𝒆ewebnove(l).com
