In fact, after Jiang Ci became an adult, Zhou Jiuya, as a parent, actually thought about what kind of alpha his child would marry in the future, but in most of his imaginations, the person Jiang Ci liked should be someone like his brother Jiang Jinsheng.
Gentle, humble and polite, making people feel friendly at first sight.
After all, when Jiang Ci was a child, she would only become a little softer when facing her biological father.
—Not someone like Huo Xianfeng!!!
Just a random word can choke someone to death.
Zhou Jiuya held it in for a long time before finally changing the subject.
"... Mingcheng is full of ruins now, where is the training ground?"
“That’s easy.”
Huo Xianfeng spoke in a very casual tone, and even glanced at Zhou Jiuya in surprise, as if wondering why he would ask such a stupid question.
"—wouldn't it be nice to just smash one out?"
Zhou Jiuya: “…”
Generally speaking, a mecha training ground requires a very large area, at least thousands of square meters, and the flatness of the ground is also required. Even if you build the roughest and simplest one, it will take several months.
This guy actually said he could smash one out so easily
At this moment, the boy suddenly stopped.
Zhou Jiuya didn't know why, so he also stopped. At that moment, he felt a chill behind him. At that moment, Zhou Jiuya saw that the surroundings were full of huge compound eyes.
Now, the legion commander came to his senses and found that he had been following Huo Xianfeng's steps. Unknowingly, he had left the area occupied by the First Legion and entered the Zerg territory.
Zhou Jiuya's whole body was tense. He knew that the other party would not attack, but his human instinct still made him feel creepy. He saw Huo Xianfeng say something casually, and then drew a circle.
That was insect language, so the legion commander couldn't understand it.
But soon, he knew what the other party was talking about.
Because at the moment Huo Xianfeng finished speaking, Zhou Jiuya's hair stood on end, and his dilated pupils reflected densely packed compound eyes. Countless Zergs crawled out from underground.
That scene was like a dense black tide gushing out from the ground.
This almost alarmed the entire First Legion. Most of them had fought against the Zerg before, and almost instantly, they were reminded of terrible psychological traumas.
"The Zerg are moving! They're flying!"
"What are they going to do?!"
"Are you going to attack?!"
"… "
Countless soldiers and officers immediately picked up their weapons, their nerves tensed to the extreme, and they were even ready to rush to the battlefield at any time. But the next second, the voice of the legion commander came from the public communication channel, and he ordered them to stay where they were and not to move.
Therefore, everyone at this time could only watch quietly and in horror, with expressions of shock and fear, because at this moment, countless huge and terrifying monsters received the king's order, and they flew into the sky one after another, lined up in neat rows, and their huge and hideous bodies almost covered the entire sky.
Although humans call these monster races Zerg, it is mainly because they look very similar to insects on Earth, and their species are as numerous as insects, so they are named Zerg.
But in fact, there are huge differences between the Zerg and the insects on Earth.
Depending on their different uses in the army, their external shapes are very different. Some are as huge as military mechas, responsible for front-line attacks, and some are as mini as tennis balls, responsible for reconnaissance and espionage. The cameras of the First Legion were originally eaten by these little guys. There are also giant star worms responsible for carrying soldiers. Their complete form is almost the same as the First Legion's aircraft carrier.
There are also various other ones, which are really weird.
But they also have something in common, such as uniform compound eyes, eerie mouthparts, vibrating peritoneum for sound, and antennae for receiving information. Because the main energy source of the Zerg is metal, their shells have a unique metallic luster. Generals like Osa, who are mainly responsible for attacking, look more like huge steel monsters.
Its sharp limbs looked like a strange metal skeleton, and the bony wings behind it were similar to the skeleton of a Western dragon, but the center was filled with a thin membrane similar to that of a cicada, which was densely covered with red blood vessels like tree roots.
In short, the ferocious and terrifying appearance of the lower Zerg almost perfectly fits all human imaginations of monsters and invaders. Even just one look at them will cause genetic instinct to produce fear and resistance.
However, the academicians inside the central temple did not notice what was happening outside. After more than 20 hours of hard work, they simply pieced together and repaired the collapsed and dismembered upper part of the temple.
A white-haired old man stroked the wall, the complexity and sigh in his eyes were simply indescribable.
"The architect who designed this temple is truly a genius. This structure is a bit like a mechanized mortise and tenon joint. It is usually indestructible and would be difficult to collapse even in a magnitude 10 earthquake. But when real danger comes, the temple will immediately activate the disintegration mechanism, splitting into countless small parts, and then deploying a defense shield to preserve the things and people inside as much as possible."
"It's a pity that it's ruined like this..."
However, due to its special structure, it is not particularly difficult to repair. So after arriving in Mingcheng, the academicians immediately repaired the core upper part of the temple, which was nearly 50 meters high after reconstruction.
The top floor of the temple is where the Forbidden Abyss was restored.
Jiang Ci is here, working with many academicians, separating Little X from the Forbidden Abyss central program chain, and continuing to repair the remaining 45 percent of damage to the Forbidden Abyss external machine.
In fact, they didn't know how to use many instruments at first, because the system framework and calculation model of the empire and the church were two completely different things.
—But Jin Yuan knew.
Therefore, although their progress was not extremely fast, they did not encounter any major obstacles.
"Aci!!!"
Bai Ze had been miserable for so many days, and for the first time he felt so excited.
“My outboard repair is complete!”
I have to say that the mecha repair laboratory on the top floor of the central temple is simply amazing. It is worthy of being the place to repair the 3S mecha Forbidden Abyss. The external machine part that Bai Ze had previously damaged by magma rays was completely repaired in less than five hours.
Even the charging speed reached 300%, and it was full in a flash.
"okay."
Jiang Ci was very busy, his expression was stern, he just responded without even raising his head.
The restoration of the Forbidden Abyss was done by a group of academicians. They gathered together, discussing something from time to time, and then bursts of exclamations.
Jiang Ci has already written the separation program settings on the other side.
On the control panel, the Forbidden Abyss Black Ring was suspended on the left, and on the right was Xiao X's mimic silver ring. In between them was a one-way blue data link, with dense data streams being stripped from the Forbidden Abyss and then transmitted back to Xiao X's mecha external machine.
Jiang Ci would definitely repair Xiao X, because he also wanted to know why there was a projection of his mother in it, and whether his father had left any key information in it.
The separation procedure is expected to take two or three days, so we can only wait.
The core brain of the temple has been turned on, and another group of people are using its signal connection with the Holy White Pagoda to track the latter's location. This happened much faster than Jiang Ci imagined, because the private signal channel between Mingcheng and the Holy White Pagoda was not closed.
Did you forget
Or was it intentional
Jiang Ci thought of the pink-haired woman. Although Huo Xianfeng was interrupted when he mentioned her because he revealed Pei Changyun and Huo Chao's shocking privacy, the young man still explained to him carefully about Cecilia later.
—That woman was his mother’s apostle.
It can probably be understood as a very close relationship, or even the existence of a confidant.
This also explains why Cecilia excitedly called for mercy when she saw him.
With this in mind, Jiang Ci could probably understand the woman's complex feelings towards him. She seemed to have an almost paranoid nostalgia for his mother, but more of it was hatred for his father.
—But Jiang Ci couldn’t understand why Cecilia opened a signal channel for Pei Changyun.
Is the other party on their side
Otherwise, why would he deliberately reveal the location of the Forbidden Abyss to him at that time
But this evidence is not sufficient. After all, people from the Illusion God Cult cannot use normal thinking to make inferences.
Phantom God Cult...
Now, whenever he mentioned these three words, Jiang Ci couldn't help but think of someone. He closed his eyes, feeling a little choked up in his heart.
—He Zhun.
·
At this moment, a beta youth in a white lab coat was standing in front of rows of basketball-sized petri dishes. He was holding an electronic version in his hand and carefully recording various new data.
There were golden stigmata inside the petri dish, which made them look like living tentacles or some kind of weird parasite.
He Zhun still looked the same, with a pair of frameless glasses on his nose, but this time, he wore a mask that covered his handsome face, leaving only a pair of amber eyes that were slightly drooped. Various professional terms, symbols and data were reflected in his pupils, making him look cold and calm.
Every detail about him seems to fit people's imagination of a scientific research genius.
However, He Zhun is not the only one in this cultivation laboratory. There are also many people wearing the same lab coats as him, who are busy recording daily data.
A few days ago, He Zhun caught the eye of Bernard, the head of the Stigmata experiment, with the paper he wrote using Badhua as the experimental subject, and successfully entered the Stigmata Research Institute inside the Stigmata White Tower.
Bernard found out his identity, He Qichu's son.
He Zhun admitted it frankly, and reiterated that the purpose of coming here was to avenge Pei Changyun. It was obvious that the other party did not believe him easily and only asked him to breed the lowest level of holy marks.
So at present, He Zhun is just an outermost and lowest-ranking data recorder.
But in fact, this situation was also expected by He Zhun, and he was not in a hurry, because Badhua's experimental subjects had given him a lot of key information, such as the stigmata also have levels. And the level of stigmata is related to the Zerg neural fluid that feeds them.
The color of ordinary believers is not actually golden, but rather dark yellow.
The bishop's color is light gold, the archbishop's color is a brighter gold, Elder Mandela's color is red gold, and as for Marshal Huo Chao, He Zhun heard from Leinsert before that his color seems to be black gold.
It is obvious that the Pope controls the entire Phantom God Cult through the stigmata, so what methods does the other party use
Does the Pope also perform stigmata injections
At this moment, the mask on his face suddenly moved.
He Zhun froze instantly. He clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, and tried to endure the disgusting and creepy feeling of being parasitized and crawling in his body.
Uncle Jiang...
This disgusting thing reminded He Zhun of the man on the verge of death.
Unlike Jiang Ci who completely missed the death of his father, He Zhun witnessed the entire process of Jiang Jinsheng's painful death.
At that time, Jiang Jinsheng was almost as thin as a skeleton. Golden holy marks extended from his heart and covered his body, looking hideous and terrifying.
The beautiful silver hair turned into an old white color, as if all the vitality in the whole person had been sucked out. Feili's eyes were dim, but even so, Jiang Jinsheng still had to force himself to show a weak and apologetic smile.
[Xiao... Xiaozhun, I'm sorry...]
[I must be scared when you see me like this...]
[… ]
He Zhun was indeed afraid, but it was not because of Jiang Jinsheng's weird and scary appearance at that time.
Rather, he is afraid of losing the other person.
Tap, tap, tap—
The sound of high heels made everyone stop what they were doing for a moment, and even He Zhun was startled, his thoughts suddenly interrupted.
In fact, you don’t need to look to know who it is. After all, in the entire Illusion God Cult, there is only one woman who can wear high heels in the Holy White Tower.
He Zhun turned around and saw the enchanting and charming figure in the distance as expected.
—It’s Cecilia.
She was talking to the person in charge, holding a small metal box in her left hand. Then, the person in charge turned around, pointed at He Zhun, and motioned him to come over immediately.
"… "
He Zhun knew the purpose of Cecilia's visit. It seemed that the latter had confirmed that Huo Xianfeng was not Huo Chao. He just didn't know whether the other party came to question him or for other matters.
However, the omega archbishop did not look as delicate as the last time they met. Her face was still beautiful, but the sides of her face were a little pink, the color of new flesh growing after a wound healed, and her expression looked a little tired.
—It seems that the archbishop’s task is not an easy one.
He Zhun had been staying in the Holy White Tower, cut off from the outside world, so he was unaware of the fall of Mingcheng.
"Lady Cecilia."
The young man walked over, bowed his head and looked respectful and obedient. They met and talked in public, so most of their content could be heard by people around them.
"Well, it's been a long time, Xiaojun~"
Cecilia's tone sounded very close to him, which made the people around him look at the young man differently. At this time, the woman suddenly came closer, stretched out her hand, and casually took off He Zhun's mask.
When the covering was removed, a dark golden holy mark was clearly printed on the young man's pale face.
But He Zhun did not hide, but let her watch. He had not yet fully adapted to the stigmata, so he could not control them as freely as those believers, and he usually concealed them perfectly.
"Wow, it seems that what Leinster said is true."
Although she learned it from Ace, she had to say it was Leinster in front of He Zhun.
Cecilia's tone was curious and exaggerated. She touched He Zhun's cheek, and her fingertips could clearly feel the subtle movement beneath his skin.
The young man's eyelashes trembled slightly, but his tone was calm.
"… Lady Cecilia, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"Well, I came to see Mr. Bernard about something, and I came to find trouble with you."
The woman smiled sweetly, not realizing she was saying anything threatening.
"That guy Leinster thought I was the one who injected you with the stigmata, and he fought with me fiercely. I just came back from Mingcheng. You don't even know that Huo Xianfeng is much more terrifying than Huo Chao. Even Leah and Elder Mandela combined can't beat him. I came back with so many scars and bruises, and he treated me like this because of you. Leah is so sad."
—Ming City has fallen!
This is obviously what the sentence means.
He Zhun's pupils trembled violently, but he did not show much emotion on the surface, he just apologized in a low voice.
"I'm so sorry, Lady Cecilia, is there anything I can do to calm your anger?"
"Well… "
She put the hand that was holding the small box on He Zhun's shoulder, and with the other hand she carelessly stroked the side of He Zhun's face, her fingertips slid down the young man's jaw, and finally touched the slightly protruding Adam's apple, and said in a very ambiguous tone,
"Well, Xiaozhun, come see me tonight at midnight,"
The charming omega tilted her head and winked at him.
"When the time comes, you will know how to make Leah happy."
"… "
He Zhun's Adam's apple moved slightly under the woman's fingertips. He lowered his eyes and responded obediently,
"Okay, Lady Cecilia, I will be there on time tonight."
As soon as these words were spoken, the vague glances from the surroundings suddenly became hot and complicated.
No one expected that He Zhun would hook up with Cecilia right after he broke up with Leinsert. No one knew what this ordinary beta was capable of, why one archbishop after another who usually had their eyes on the sky liked him.
At this moment, the person in charge behind him whispered,
"Lady Cecilia, Mr. Bernard is waiting for you inside."
—Bernard is the head of the Stigmata Institute.
"Okay, let's go."
Cecilia stood on tiptoe and rubbed He Zhun's head. This action was full of love for a pet, but if it was for a person, it would have a clear sense of contempt and insult. But He Zhun accepted it naturally.
Cecilia turned around and was led by the person in charge, slowly following him in high heels into the interior.
He Zhun stared at Cecilia's beautiful and charming back, guessing the other party's purpose for asking him out tonight.
He Zhun didn't think that the other party was as superficial as Leinsster, but was just attracted by his body. After all, He Zhun had some self-knowledge, and the other party must want to get something from him, or information.
Countless doubts flashed through He Zhun's mind, but he didn't have a definite answer now.
The young man closed his eyes, put on his mask, and returned to his workstation to continue his previous work. However, after talking with Cecilia, he clearly felt that the eyes of the people around him had changed.
At least, the exclusion and malice just now were quickly restrained.
He Zhun lowered his eyes, knowing very well that this was probably the olive branch Cecilia extended to him, which meant that for He Zhun, she would be a more suitable, safer, and more worthy tree to climb than Leinster.
After all, ever since Leinster failed in his mission on Tiandong Star and was sent to the Discipline Hall, the Pope has clearly relied more on Cecilia. It's just that I don't know what impact this incident in Mingcheng will have on her.
But at present, it seems that this omega archbishop is still highly trusted, otherwise she would not be qualified to enter here... But no matter how many guesses He Zhun has at this time, the final answer may only be known when he meets Cecilia tonight.
The young man recorded the data one by one with an expressionless face and made the final stroke on the electronic board.
despair-
His eyes were fixed on the time in the upper left corner.
There are still ten hours until midnight.
He Zhun thought of the box Cecilia had just carried.
—That's a box specifically designed to load and store genes.
And she had just returned from Mingcheng.
So this means that Cecilia got the genes of someone in Mingcheng.
Could it be Huo Xianfeng's? Or Jiang Ci's
After all, the former is the person the Pope cares about, suspected to be Marshal Huo Chao, and the latter is the child of Her Highness the Saint whom Cecilia has always been obsessed with.
And the point is, according to the information He Zhun has collected so far, no one has ever seen the holy marks on Saint Bai Min. But whether there are any, perhaps only Cecilia, the personal apostle of Her Highness the Saint, knows.
—So these two possibilities are the greatest.
If he could choose, He Zhun just hoped it wouldn't be Jiang Ci's.
·
"Major General Jiang Ci!"
At the same time, in Mingcheng, in the mecha repair room on the top floor of the central temple, a soldier hurried in with a terrified look on his face.
"Outside… "
Before he could finish his words, everyone heard a loud noise coming from outside.
boom!
boom!
boom!!!
The ground shook violently, and even the entire temple was shaking. It felt very much like an attack.
"Enemy attack?!"
"Quick, quick..."
Before Jiang Ci was thirteen years old, he entered the junior class affiliated with the Capital Academy of Sciences. In addition to his relationship with Jiang Jinsheng, it can be said that all the academicians behind him can be regarded as his teachers.
Therefore, when they were attacked by the enemy, the first reaction of the white-haired old men was to protect Jiang Ci. After all, in their eyes, Jiang Ci was an omega, a child in his twenties.
But at this time, Jiang Ci climbed over the fence with one hand, jumped down from the repair console more than ten meters high, and strode towards the door, his steps fast and steady, as if the shaking ground had no effect on him.
"What happened? Briefly report the key points. Were we attacked?"
"no no… "
Perhaps Jiang Ci's calm and composed appearance had an impact on him, and the soldier quickly calmed down a bit.
"It's the Zerg. The whole sky is full of them... but, they seem to be smashing the ground."
Jiang Ci: “… ?”
As soon as he heard it, he knew it was Huo Xianfeng again. He strode out, intending to see with his own eyes what this guy was doing. Behind him, a group of white-haired old researchers also followed him out.
The moment they went out, the academicians were almost instantly shocked by the scene before them and felt a little frightened. Although they were briefly told the truth, their fear of the Zerg still did not disappear.
It was just as the soldier said, the sky was densely packed with Zerg, but the huge crashing sound was gone. Because when they looked around, the place that was supposed to be a ruin had completely changed.
Those huge monsters smashed out a sunken semi-elliptical training ground, which was extremely vast and had a very smooth surface. Although it did not look particularly refined, in terms of quality, it could indeed be considered a qualified training ground.
Zhou Jiuya controlled Wan Jiang to stand in the center of the training ground. He looked up and saw Jiang Ci surrounded by a group of old scholars. This familiar scene seemed to have happened a long time ago.
Jiang Ci entered the junior class affiliated with the Capital Academy of Sciences at the age of twelve and showed unparalleled talent. Jiang Jinsheng was dead at that time, but Jiang Ci's appearance and talent made the old men in the Academy of Sciences treat him like a treasure.
But after turning thirteen, Jiang Ci suddenly decided to quit the junior class and prepare for the military academy entrance exam, and no one could persuade him to do so. Even the emperor was harassed by the academicians for several months.
Pei Changyun had a terrible headache and just asked Zhou Jiuya to block it.
The legion commander basically lived most of his life under orders, following the orders of the marshal and the emperor, and giving orders to officers. Of course, he was not very good at dealing with a group of old scholars, so he could only say,
[Jiang Ci is already preparing for the military academy entrance exam. I'll let him go through some hardships. If he finds it's not suitable, he'll come back.]
At this point, Zhou Jiuya felt that it would be hard to explain if Jiang Ci really passed the exam, so he added,
[Let’s take a step back and say that if he really passes the exam, you all know Jiang Ci’s personality. An omega won’t stay in an alpha group for long. He will always come back…]
But I didn't expect that before I finished speaking, it would instantly arouse public anger.
[Why should I suffer!!! Why should an underage omega suffer?!!!]
[Do you know how precious a good seedling is? Jiang Ci's talent is no less than his father's!!!]
[Zhou Jiuya, you are destroying him by doing this! ! ! ]
This was not the end. The corps commander, who was a powerful figure in the military, was completely surrounded by criticism and a group of old men surrounded him and scolded him.
[And what is Jiang Ci’s personality? What’s wrong with our little Jiang? ? ? ]
They all thought that Jiang Ci's personality was good enough, she just didn't like to talk and was a little introverted. This was completely normal for a genius!
[—What genius doesn’t have some quirks?]
They are a bunch of people with weird tempers.
This is normal!!!
Zhou Jiuya: …
Zhou Jiuya is crazy.
For the first time in his life, he encountered a situation where he could neither beat nor argue.
So later, the legion commander simply hid. He hid until Jiang Ci successfully entered the military academy, until that child began to stand out in major military academy competitions and mecha leagues, and until Jiang Ci gradually transformed from the genius of the Academy of Sciences Junior Class to the only omega major general in the First Legion of the Empire.
When that time comes, Zhou Jiuya will no longer hide.
Because no one thinks that Jiang Ci can't do it.
No one knew that on the day Jiang Ci was awarded the rank of major general, when countless people were cheering and arguing, a group of old men were beating their chests and crying bitterly at the Capital Academy of Sciences.
At this moment, when everyone was stunned, they saw Wan Jiang standing in the center of the training ground, with a huge Zerg monster almost as tall as him next to him.
At this moment, whether it was the soldiers of the First Legion or the old men on the top floor of the Central Temple, almost everyone's eyes were focused on the center of the training ground.
Jiang Ci saw Huo Xianfeng on Osa's head, and he had a bad feeling in his heart.
This guy, isn't he going to say anything naughty again
Thinking of this, Jiang Ci quickly dialed Huo Xianfeng's number. Because Xiao X was gone, he gave the other party a communicator. So now, the major general dialed the other party's number at the fastest speed in his life, and then lowered his voice and asked,
"Huo Xianfeng, what on earth are you doing?!"
The latter did not answer immediately, but slowly connected the communicator to the broadcast of the Central Temple. He waved at Jiang Ci and said,
"Aci, it's time to rest. Bring Bai Ze and come down to play—"
The next second, the radio faithfully conveyed this sentence.
"Come down and play—"
"Come and play—"
"Let's play—"
"Son..."
Jiang Ci: “…”
Zhou Jiuya: “…”
The moment he heard what Huo Xianfeng said, the legion commander standing on the ground felt like a fool.
—What a fool!!!
He turned down so many urgent military duties, and was provoked by Huo Xianfeng, so he rushed here in a frenzy... to play
play
And it happened in public, everyone saw it!!!
The veins on Zhou Jiuya's head were throbbing, and he quickly took a deep breath to avoid being angry to death.
Under countless burning gazes, the major general had a blank expression on his face, like a quiet and beautiful statue. Although he looked calm and composed, in fact, every cell in Jiang Ci's body felt the familiar embarrassment again.
He discovered that when the other party called him Aci, it was either in front of many elders or when they were being intimate.
Huo Xianfeng is simply unhappy if he doesn't do something every day! And every time he does it, it has to be such a big fuss!!!
But unfortunately, no one can cure him!
Jiang Ci silently looked at the flamboyant and confident boy below, and finally couldn't help but turn her head away and cover her face silently.
How should I put it? He now has a feeling of—
It’s like your boyfriend is standing downstairs of your house and shouting, “Let’s go out on a date.”
(End of this chapter)