Huo Xianfeng had this dream of falling infinitely in an explosion many times. He had been pursuing this dream since the moment he woke up on Earth.
Huo Xianfeng rarely sleeps for a long time, because this dream always makes him feel sad, sorrowful, confused and painful. Huo Xianfeng always feels that there should have been someone, or many people, who reached out to him.
Now he knew that they were his parents who had tried desperately to save him, the countless tribesmen who sacrificed themselves for his rebirth, and his close friends who sacrificed themselves for his dreams and freedom.
At this moment, the background of the collapse and explosion and the terrible and noisy roar seemed to be infinitely far away, and the dream that once trapped him finally shattered like a mirror.
Amid the collapse of the sky and the crack of the earth, Huo Xianfeng only saw Jiang Ci trying hard to reach out to him in the strong wind.
At this moment, all the people in the dream turned into brilliant and colorful lights and shadows, like the wings behind Jiang Ci, and then disappeared with the wind. Then, Huo Xianfeng was hugged tightly by that person, as if he was hugging her into his heart.
He closed his eyes in the snowy light of the mecha's transformation. The hatred, pain, and confusion he had felt for a long time finally dissipated with the wind at this moment.
"fine… "
Huo Xianfeng hugged him back, clasped his arms tightly, and sighed softly,
"Luckily you caught me, A-ci."
His voice was very low, and the moment it came out of his mouth it was swallowed up by the earth-shaking explosion.
The Holy White Tower was a technological product of another advanced civilization, and its self-destruction energy was comparable to that of hundreds of nuclear bombs. So the so-called "absolute defense" barrier suddenly became a cage of the Illusionary God Cult, locking up such a huge amount of energy. So when the self-destruction program was activated, the entire Holy White Tower became an exploding star.
Such a dazzling light was enough to make the darkness before dawn seem as bright as day. In the chaotic and bloody battlefield, everyone's movements suddenly stopped, and they all turned back to look at the bright ball of light.
Zhou Jiuya's eyes suddenly widened and quickly became bloodshot, his ice-blue pupils appearing horribly bright.
"Aci!"
Jiang Ci and Huo Xianfeng are still inside!
"They're fine... zzzzzzz... stop... the explosion..."
Cheng Yue's news made Zhou Jiuya breathe a sigh of relief. At the same time, his years of combat experience and instinct also allowed him to make a quick judgment.
The barrier of the Holy White Tower can indeed be called "absolute defense", but the internal explosion will definitely destroy the barrier's activation device, so this defensive barrier will definitely break from the inside within a few seconds, and the huge aftermath of the explosion will directly sweep the entire capital.
The next second, the legion commander immediately issued an order
"Chang Meng! Block the source of the explosion!"
"Everyone open the energy shield and retreat immediately!"
All the imperial troops immediately obeyed the order to leave the battle and evacuate in all directions, centering on the explosion point, like exploding fireworks! At this moment, the legion commander controlled thousands of generals to rush forward against the countless retreating torrents.
Countless huge metal columns were launched from the Academy of Sciences, blinking around the White Tower like a group of meteorites.
Boom boom boom!!!
Nearly a thousand giant defense pillars formed a circle with a diameter of 500 meters with the exploded Holy Relic White Tower as the center. Not just one circle, but three circles surrounding each other, forming a total of three blockade lines.
At the moment when the defense pillars were in place, the defense barrier of the Holy White Tower suddenly exploded like a water balloon. Just like a meteorite falling into the sea, the explosive energy exploded in all directions like a tsunami!
At this time, not only Chengyue's external engine had begun to melt, but even Jinyuan's was already badly damaged. At this moment, Huo Xianfeng suddenly opened his eyes in Chengyue's cockpit.
The next second, at the moment the defensive barrier was broken, countless Zergs poured in from the sky above the imperial capital and rushed into the center of the explosion without hesitation. However, this time they no longer rolled into a ball and hid underground. Instead, they wrapped the two mechas in the center and quickly rushed out of the explosion range from the side.
Just as the Zerg and their mechas rushed out of the circle of countless defense columns, blue-gold light suddenly burst out from hundreds of columns and gathered together, just a second before the explosion energy wave arrived, condensing and combining to form three huge defense walls.
This time it is not a hemispherical defense shield like the previous one at the Saint Lu Star Military Base, but a circular defense wall, which can release the energy upwards and reduce the lateral impact on the ground.
But even so, the first defense shield only lasted for a short ten seconds.
Click!
The first tiny crack appeared on the defense column, and it shattered into dust in an instant before it even had time to spread. The second one was also quickly broken through within a minute. When the third defense wall was about to collapse, Zhou Jiuya controlled the Ten Thousand Generals to reach the outer layer.
When Pei Changyun knew that the palace had become a source of pollution, he immediately evacuated the people around it and quarantined it, so there were no people around. But if the aftermath of the explosion spread further, it would definitely cause the death of a large number of ordinary people.
Therefore, as the highest military leader of the empire, Zhou Jiuya's only mission is to protect the people of the empire behind him, just like the order Huo Chao gave him to evacuate the survivors.
[Then complete your task now, Xiaojiu.]
Huo Chao's mission is to go to a sacrifice, while Zhou Jiuya's mission is to protect more people.
At this moment, the legion commander's roar of command almost broke.
"Block the aftermath of the explosion!!!"
Behind him was Ye Shu and countless imperial troops that followed him, not just the First Legion, but all the armies affiliated with the empire. They were arranged in order of rank and defense strength, and then all the energy was output at the same time to merge into the final blockade line.
And behind them, many civilian mechas rushed out spontaneously and continuously.
boom!
The third blockade wall finally shattered with a wail.
The raging energy waves washed over everyone's vision. All images and sounds were swallowed up. The world seemed to have turned into a silent void, leaving only a bleak blank.
At this moment, the blood-red warning lights inside Wanjiang were flashing wildly.
Zhou Jiuya clenched his teeth, his eyes were bloodshot, and blood slowly flowed from the corners of his lips.
Mechas above level A are no longer manually controlled, but are connected through neural chains. The higher the mental power threshold of the driver, the higher the degree of empathy with the mecha.
Therefore, it was not just Zhou Jiuya. The mecha pilots standing at the front were all in great pain. Their eyes were red and their pupils were frighteningly bright. Blood flowed from their ears due to the huge explosion.
But no one let go, and no one backed down.
At this time, the wounded Zerg dispersed, revealing the damaged mecha inside. When it was only needed to perform defensive functions, the mecha would not unfold into its full form, but into an elliptical shape similar to a lifeboat. A few seconds later, the hatch bounced open in a puff of black smoke, making a shattering sound.
Huo Xianfeng's body was half covered in blood, and he walked out holding Jiang Ci's hand.
He witnessed the scene with his own eyes.
Countless people desperately held up the last wall of defense, and behind them, more of their compatriots were rushing towards them desperately, like countless streams rushing towards the sea and never looking back.
More energy continued to flow in, so this last line of defense finally withstood the terrifying energy frenzy. Blocked on all sides, the final energy aftermath could only rush straight up into the sky, breaking through the deepest darkest shadow before dawn.
Just as countless Zerg races risked their lives to run towards their beloved king, now countless humans are running towards the future and home they want to protect. This time, humans don't have to abandon their homes and flee into exile, and every one of them can become a guardian.
For the first time, Huo Xianfeng felt admiration and respect for this race that he had always thought of as weak.
Each race has its own rules and methods for self-reproduction, but when faced with a crisis that threatens the survival of the group, most lives will perform the same brave protective actions.
In the eyes of the Zerg, the king is the most important, and the king's survival is the best guarantee for the reproduction of the race. In the eyes of humans, their homeland and their countless compatriots are the future of the reproduction of the race.
So at this moment, all lives, regardless of race, performed the same protective behavior without fear of life or death.
Huo Xianfeng quietly watched the similar scene in front of him, and suddenly remembered what Huo Chao had said to him a long time ago.
[Xiaofeng, I admit that humans are not as strong as Zerg, and are indeed weaker, and there are many bad individuals. But do we want to make a bet?]
That person smiled as warmly as the sun. He did not feel inferior because of the weakness of himself and his race. Instead, he was calm.
[But one day, you will change your view of us, and you will find that even the dimmest star can shine.]
This is probably why Huo Chao is the only close friend that Wang Wei recognizes.
He really was just like what Pei Changyun thought, a collection of all the good things in human beings. He grew up in the mud of the Illusion God Cult, but he was still able to grow up in the cleanest and most brilliant appearance.
"Huo Xianfeng...?"
Perhaps because the look in his eyes was too special, Jiang Ci couldn't help but call him softly.
"nothing."
Huo Xianfeng lowered his eyes and replied,
"I just found out that I had a bet and it seems I lost it to some idiot."
"… "
Lost the bet
Jiang Ci was stunned for a moment.
Speaking of betting, Jiang Ci has never won a bet with Huo Xianfeng since he met him. Later, he learned his lesson and never bet with him again. But he didn't expect that this guy would lose sometimes.
Generally speaking, the word "lose" does not exist in Wang's dictionary. But at this moment, Huo Xianfeng said it so easily and casually, and there was even a smile in his eyes.
It seems that he was very happy to lose.
Jiang Ci actually knew who the word "a certain idiot" was referring to. There were tears in his eyes, but he just smiled and teased.
"Oh, there is actually someone in this world that you can lose a bet with?"
Huo Xianfeng chuckled and did not answer the question. He just looked up at the sky. The aftermath of the horrific explosion finally began to fade and gradually dissipate.
"Aci,"
"Um."
"You're awesome today."
Jiang Ci was startled. He turned to look at Huo Xianfeng, slightly moved, as if he wanted to say something. But before he could say anything, he saw Huo Xianfeng covering his face and hissing twice.
"It hurts so much."
“… Who made you lose your mind?”
Although Jiang Ci said this, he still moved closer to take a look, but at this moment, the tail wrapped around his waist again. Huo Xianfeng pinched his wife's chin with one hand, imitated the other's previous "domineering boss forced" posture, and lowered his head to kiss her.
"But marrying someone with my eggs... that's not okay."
"… Well."
On the other side, He Zhun also came out of Jinyuan's cockpit. Compared to Huo Xianfeng and Jiang Ci who were able to move freely, he was so exhausted that he could only crawl out.
Jinyuan did not unfold its full form, but remained in the same defensive form. However, when He Zhun came out of Jinyuan's cockpit, he found that the outside was not the ground, and he did not see the Zerg.
What He Zhun saw when he opened his eyes was the wreckage of the Prisoner Eagle's external aircraft.
The Prison Eagle is Leinsster's mecha.
"Doctor Xiao He, the prisoner eagle has been completely destroyed."
—This is the voice of Jinyuan.
Because the Prison Eagle was in its complete form, not in its defensive state like Cheng Yue and Jin Yuan. At the moment of the explosion, He Zhun was put into the cockpit by Jin Yuan, and the Prison Eagle behind him also automatically transformed and enveloped the outermost layer.
Jin Yuan couldn't understand.
"Strange. Logically speaking, in an explosion of this magnitude, the mecha's program should automatically transform into a defensive state."
"… "
He Zhun opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word because he had figured out the reason.
This was indeed Leinsster's protection, but that person knew that He Zhun would not accept his mecha Prison Eagle like Jiang Ci accepted Cheng Yue. So the Prison Eagle did not deploy a defensive form, but was destroyed in the explosion after completing the final protection mission.
He Zhun was covered in blood. He knelt on the ground, surrounded by the towering wreckage of the prisoner eagle. Only a broken hole above let in light. He stared at the sky in a daze. All he saw was a red glow, which was the faint light after the aftermath of the explosion dissipated.
He Zhun heard thunderous cheers, screams, and cries outside.
—This means they have won.
The hellish white cage finally collapsed and shattered, turning into ashes.
He Zhun stared blankly, never blinking, not even noticing when the tears started flowing down his face. His brows trembled slightly, and his blank face gradually showed some expression.
As if he finally realized the pain, he suddenly covered his chest and bent his body deeply.
"Ha ha ha ha… "
Jin Yuan heard the young man's hoarse and difficult laughter. Then, he saw the man's shoulders began to tremble violently. Jin Yuan didn't know whether it was crying or laughing, sadness or joy.
Afterwards, it didn't need to use the program to judge, because the next second, He Zhun, who had been calm and self-contained like a machine, finally broke down and cried like a child.
He doesn't have to suppress anything anymore. He doesn't have to worry about anything anymore.
He could finally... cry.
At the same time, in the secret medical room inside the Academy of Sciences, there was an outburst of tears of joy.
"It works! It works!"
“The extracted antibodies worked!!!”
Pei Changyun was lying on the snow-white hospital bed. His brows, which were furrowed in pain, finally relaxed slowly. His weak breathing gradually began to recover, and the various red-marked data next to him also began to gradually approach a safe value.
Countless doctors were so excited that they could hardly control themselves, and Secretary-General Zhao He, who was waiting outside the medical room, heard the cheers inside and finally couldn't help but lose his legs and fell to his knees.
"Your Majesty..."
"Your Majesty..."
The resolute and strong alpha secretary general covered his eyes and clenched his teeth tightly, but he still couldn't stop the tears of joy from overflowing from between his fingers, leaving water stains on the smooth ground.
At this moment, some people are cheering, some are crying, and some are kissing.
In the distance, countless Zergs also raised their huge bodies, vibrating their peritoneums, responding loudly and joyfully, and all kinds of sounds blended together. It was like a desolate elegy, but also like a triumphant song praising victory, and it reached the sky along with the whistling wind on the battlefield—
At this time, the night fell and the sun rose.
At the end of the sky, a cloud as fiery as fire rolled up.
—The dawn finally breaks at this moment.
(End of this chapter)