Free Web NovelChapter 360: Chapter 164: The Battle of Baichuan Begins!
Outside the Tower, Baichuan City.
The teachers in the school building had already seen the approaching army several days before. After turning into silkworms, they possessed the ability to observe the world.
The school building was not only a good place to trap enemies; it also had another very important function—reconnaissance.
A Perfect-level Mutation Entry, Peeping Eye.
Bai Wu once said that perhaps one day, those teachers will be questioned by the so-called prophets—the Jing Liu.
Using the super-telescopic abilities of these teachers, Bai Wu had been making arrangements since leaving the High Tower, thinking about how to utilize the battlefield to achieve a victory despite being outnumbered.
He had been expanding his territory, but with the disappearance of the regional restrictions... he began to feel a bad premonition.
Through the teachers in the school building, Bai Wu understood one thing: there were three attacking forces.
One from Huangquan Island, another from Black Gold Island.
It was certain that these forces would grow stronger as they approached Baichuan City.
As for the third force... it was just one person. But in the eyes of the observers, this was the greatest threat of all.
One person forming an army, Bai Wu could only think of one possibility: either the farm owner or the guardian of the Well.
Since the regional restrictions had vanished, he quickly deduced it was the latter.
The situation was more critical than Bai Wu had anticipated. Fortunately, the convicts from Shudu Prison who had reached the sanctuary decided to advance or retreat with the sanctuary after Bai Wu’s persuasion.
Even Qian Yixin, the type who would do anything for money, was no exception.
In the sanctuary, there was something that the Evil Fallen had not seen for a very long time—harmony and hope.
Under Bai Wu’s speech, everyone knew... the great battle was imminent.
Whether it was student Evil Fallen, Lin Rui and Jiang Yimi, or the convicts from the prison and the veterans from the Investigation Corps, they all knew they were facing fearsome enemies so powerful that victory seemed almost out of sight.
But no one was a coward.
If timing, location, and harmony of people were essential to seizing a glimmer of hope, Bai Wu thought that harmony was already half-achieved.
The other half... was in the High Tower.
With the disappearance of the area restrictions, Bai Wu also began discussing with the twelve connected Bai Can silkworms in the school building how to allocate personnel.
Having observed the world from this building for seven hundred years, they knew it like the back of their hand, especially Baichuan City. Although their information gathering was not as perverse as Prayle’s Eye, Bai Wu believed that the intelligence provided by these teachers would be very important for the upcoming battle.
Indeed, the teachers could see what was happening in at least sixty percent of the areas in Baichuan City.
They analyzed which areas should have what kind of rules. How to position forces in these places.
Bai Wu chose several areas with the highest confidence and focused on defense.
This task took Bai Wu an entire day. As dusk approached, he felt no change in the surrounding atmosphere... and looked toward the distance.
There was no High Tower in the distance.
Whether it was the direction of the High Tower was unclear to Bai Wu, but he believed... reinforcements would surely arrive.
On the fourth day, night fell.
Bai Wu continued to discuss with the teachers in the school building. Meanwhile, most of the students, the prison forces, and the veterans from the Investigation Corps set up their defenses according to Bai Wu’s previous orders.
Nie Chongshan and Liu Mu were responsible for defending Baichuan’s campus.
Both barely maintained a humanoid outline; they were both muscular beings.
Liu Mu leaned against the school gate, exuding the aura of a man who could hold his own.
"I remember you said before that you took the Traveler’s identity by force?"
"What, got your eye on your lord’s property?"
"Bai Wu mentioned that we might be facing the owner of the Traveler?"
"Hmph, so what? It’s just junk, and its owner must be nothing special either."
Liu Mu shook his head. Nie Chongshan was arrogant, which gave him a powerful presence, but sometimes it also made him oblivious to the actual situation.
After pondering, Liu Mu said:
"According to Bai Wu, we will face opponents far stronger than us. The campus will be the last point of defense, and you are one of the few powerhouses among us."
Despite his reluctance to mention this before, Liu Mu was acutely aware that Nie Chongshan had rarely used his full strength, whether it was against Zhong Xu or Wu Jiu.
"What are you trying to say? It doesn’t sound like you to kiss up to me," Nie Chongshan said, hearing Liu Mu praise him for the first time.
Liu Mu was straightforward:
"What I mean is, although I don’t like you, you arrogant idiot, if there’s an enemy you can’t handle, I’m willing to help you."
Nie Chongshan was momentarily taken aback.
He still remembered Liu Mu once saying, "I am Wu Jiu’s shield."
The two had fought side by side in many places, but there had always been a barrier between them. Nie Chongshan could understand why a man who had been a mid-level High Tower official would now find himself in such a monstrous predicament, half of which could be blamed on himself.
To be separated from his best friend, to submit to the enemy for the sake of his best friend.
Nie Chongshan actually liked Liu Mu’s character very much; of course, he would never admit it verbally and would only call him—stupid trash.
But now, this stupid trash was telling him, "I will also protect you." Although he didn’t directly state it, the intention was clear, which left Nie Chongshan somewhat speechless.
...
Commercial center of Baichuan City.
The former commercial center, its core building was a massive commercial tower with over sixty floors, a superstructure encompassing entertainment and shopping, standing out among the many buildings in Baichuan City.
The tower was divided into more than ten areas. These zones had not yet been cleared, the Doomsday Fragments not yet collected, but Lin Rui and Jiang Yimi had already arrived here.
In Bai Wu’s words, on any battlefield, the high ground is important. And Lin Rui’s task was to control this high ground, to possess an absolute vantage point with an unobstructed view.
Inside the commercial tower lurked countless Evil Fallen and twisted rules that Lin Rui and Jiang Yimi didn’t mind at all.
Two people, one possessing means to discard negative attributes, the other a Semi-Evil Fallen who wouldn’t be infected with negative attributes at all.
In this battle, Lin Rui’s greatest role was not to confront powerful enemies, but to "transfer."
With the power of time-space, he timely transferred people to a special building in the East School District.
At this very moment, Lin Rui stood at the top of this building, the closest place to the night sky in all of Baichuan City, watching the night skies.
The evening wind had already taken on a slightly cold and stern feel, and Jiang Yimi said,
"Are you scared, Lin Rui?"
"Eh? Are you very scared? Don’t be, I’ll protect you!"
These words were very familiar.
Bai Wu had said them, the First Generation Mask had said them, and now Lin Rui was saying them too.
Jiang Yimi said,
"The old man lied to me, he wasn’t really an old man..."
As a Semi-Evil Fallen who had lived for seven hundred years, upon learning the truth, Jiang Yimi felt weird calling a man much younger than herself "old man."
Lin Rui couldn’t continue this topic.
Jiang Yimi didn’t blame Bai Wu; she understood that at that time, Bai Wu was probably acting for self-preservation.
And the Masked Strange Person was her own emotional knot, a knot that could only be undone by the Masked Strange Person themselves.
However, after Lin Rui appeared, Jiang Yimi felt that Lin Rui’s aura resembled that of the "old man" much more than Bai Wu’s.
But in terms of temperament, Bai Wu and the "old man" were very close.
The more she interacted with Lin Rui, the more familiar she felt.
Seven hundred years of unforgettably familiar.
"Lin Rui, I’m nervous, can you tell me a story?"
"Me? I can’t..."
"Don’t you even know the story of the mask you’re wearing?"
"That, I do know! Let me tell you, I used to be the Masked Strange Person’s number one fan, hahaha..."
Lin Rui still remembered how he had once collected many comics about the Masked Strange Person and had even been teased by his classmates for it.
"Your power... was it given by the Masked Strange Person?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell me about him?"
Lin Rui had no reason to refuse.
Although that free-spirited, strange Masked Strange Person seemed very mysterious to Lin Rui, if anyone in the world understood the Masked Strange Person, it could only be him.
He quickly told Jiang Yimi everything.
Only then did Jiang Yimi realize that the mask... had tied the destinies of Bai Wu, Lin Rui, and the real old man together.
In the end, Jiang Yimi mustered the courage to ask the doubt in her heart,
"Did he... did he die?"
Even though Lin Rui was a boy with a generally cheerful disposition, the mood around them became somewhat heavy the moment this question was asked.
Lin Rui nodded and then shook his head.
Jiang Yimi didn’t ask for a detailed explanation; she just felt very sad...
But inside, she thought... if the old man knew about the existence of Lin Rui and Bai Wu, knew that these two were protecting humanity’s future, he must be very consoled, right?
Thinking this way made her feel a bit better.
"Why are you crying? Don’t cry... when he left, he did so very heroically."
Jiang Yimi shook her head, the cold wind chilling her tears. She wiped the tears off her face:
"Lin Rui, you mustn’t die! Otherwise, you’d be letting him down! And... letting me down, too!"
Strange logic, but Lin Rui patted his chest and said,
"Don’t worry, I am... wait, I can’t raise such a dangerous flag; anyway, don’t worry about me, I’m really strong, stronger than the senior, stronger than you all think!"
Jiang Yimi nodded vigorously.
...
In Baichuan City’s West City District, compared to the skyscrapers of the city center, the buildings here were more scattered and shorter.
This was a relatively poorer area of Baichuan City.
Gu Hailin and others were lying in ambush here; in the dark of night, the giant silhouette of the Hydra should have been very conspicuous.
But with the regional restrictions lifted, other giant Evil Fallen from the zoo or other suburban areas had also gathered, making it less noticeable.
People from the prison, the Twenty-Four Iron Cavalry, including himself, were all lurking among the surrounding Evil Fallen.
Most of these Evil Fallen came from different areas, and they did not dare to act rashly out of fear for some more powerful creatures.
So now Baichuan City was in chaos, with Evil Fallen everywhere, but everyone stayed in their own territory, with no one stirring up trouble.
"This peace will likely be broken with the arrival of the invaders... Bai Wu is really a smart person, having us hide among the Evil Fallen, as the invaders come, we may be able to rally a significant number of the Evil Fallen to join in," Yuan Ye said while standing on one of Gu Hailin’s serpent heads.
"Yes."
Gu Hailin lowered his voice, making Yuan Ye feel that this giant snake was quite gentle:
"You worried about disturbing me? With such a small voice, will you be able to lead everyone when the time comes? I have a loud voice, you know."
Yuan Ye’s Lion’s Roar was capable of distorting space with sound waves; it was not simply a matter of being loud.
Gu Hailin felt that due to his large size, he always suspected that speaking normally could blow the little girl away.
Although Yuan Ye was much older than Gu Hailin.
"You’ll know when the time comes,"
"Do you know why we so readily agreed to Bai Wu, to help you defend this place?"
Waiting was boring, and Yuan Ye actually wanted to banter with Gu Hailin about something.
"I don’t know."
"Partly it’s because of Bai Wu, we all owe him, and partly, it’s because of your enthusiasm, your initiative to volunteer for the frontlines. I like people with guts, although I don’t know how you turned into this ghastly figure, but I imagine when you were alive, you were no coward."
Gu Hailin was actually surprised that this lioness spoke with even more boldness than a man.
But it did not speak.
Thus, a lioness and a serpent fell into silence, silence like the cold wind tonight, like the vigil before dawn.
After a long time, Yuan Ye was aggravated by this somewhat awkward quietude:
"You snakehead, aren’t you bored? Why keep silent and not speak?"
Gu Hailin really didn’t know what to say because it had already come to terms with death.
It had a premonition that this battle, leading his subordinates in the charge, would likely end in a tragic conclusion.
So it slowly said:
"Why should a person about to die trouble others with remembrance?"
This sentence inexplicably struck a chord, and Yuan Ye’s expression softened somewhat. Gazing at the boundless night sky, she said:
"You think you’re going to die before the fight has even started? Isn’t that a bit too pessimistic?"
Of course, Gu Hailin wasn’t that negative; it’s just that Yuan Ye didn’t know that to him, death was not such a heavy matter.
To Gu Hailin, the significance of this battle was to allow someone who should have died ninety years ago to face his comrades below with a smile.
...
...
Baichuan Middle School, teaching building.
Yan Jiu couldn’t participate in the combat, but she had a special ability: in these days, using a miraculously fast speed and the standard memory prowess of the Investigation Corps, she sketched the entire Baichuan City.
The teaching building, serving as the overall command center for the battle and as a special site to trap the enemy, was the most important structure.
Yan Jiu, Bai Wu, and twelve teachers transformed into Bai Cans were all here. Once the battle began, Bai Wu was still going to leave this place.
He was now studying the map, thinking about whether he could further improve his set-up.
But at this moment, by virtue of the Peeping Eye, the Bai Cans had already seen something.
"They’ve come."
"Is it Black Gold Island?"
"Yes. Another force will arrive shortly."
Bai Wu put away the map drawn by Yan Jiu, and after a few seconds of silence, smiled and said:
"What’s meant to come will always come. This fight will make them understand our Baichuan City’s hospitality."
Yan Jiu was somewhat worried, but the twelve interconnected Bai Cans all appeared very calm.
They had lived through the Seven-Day Catastrophe several hundred years ago, and today’s situation was simply experiencing it all over again.
Only this time, it might be a catastrophe, or it might be the beginning of a miracle.
...
...
Outside the West City District of Baichuan City, in the night, it was impossible to determine the exact number of Evil Fallen, but as they gathered in large numbers and poured into Baichuan City’s border, one didn’t need to see with the naked eye to sense the number of these invaders through the complex essences.
Nearly a thousand powerful Evil Fallen finally stepped into the city, all of them brimming with excitement, while reminiscing in their minds the promise made by their leader.
The restrictions of the regions would eventually be lifted, and when that time came, they would be allocated to their preferred territories.
To wage a war, there always had to be some benefits.
Merchants and blacksmiths were duped just like that, as for whether the promises would be kept after the fight, that was none of their business.
The leader of the Evil Fallen was one of the six Slavers from Black Gold Island, the Centipede Beast. With a body as huge as a centipede, it was actually incredibly swift, possessing both speed and destructive power.
Along the way, it acted like a slavemaster, violently intimidating many Evil Fallen, forcing them to join the city-slaughtering squad.
The Centipede Beast sensed the presence of humans. Only a very few of them.
It still remembered what Lord Jing Wu had said, that the battle would be won by killing a certain human, and as for the Evil Fallen, there was no need to deliberately initiate conflict unless necessary.
Even though it was followed by the vast march of a thousand specters, the Centipede could still feel that... just within the West City District, there lay innumerable powerful Evil Fallen.
These Evil Fallen had no hostility, merely roaming in their own territories. There were also Evil Fallen more slender than humans, but extremely dangerous, and there were monsters even larger than itself—like in the shadows of night, it saw the silhouette of the Hydra.
"As long as we don’t provoke them... they should not attack us."
While it was possible to fight their way through, Centipede thought it would not be efficient to do so.
It believed its own force could intimidate these simpletons of Baichuan City.
Once Lord Jing Wu arrived, they would undoubtedly all submit, so there was no need for a fight.
The entire Baichuan City, apart from the school, was shrouded in twisted rules, and while Centipede was not careless, it still failed to fully understand this place.
"All forces, by order, slow your pace and follow me! Do not initiate attacks on non-human entities on your own!"
This message quickly spread among the Evil Fallen. Merchants and blacksmiths also became aware of it.
However, they did not intervene; to the merchants, Baichuan City was an area even larger than Mechanical City, so having thousands of Evil Fallen in a single West City District was quite normal, especially since the regional restrictions had been lifted.
These Evil Fallen might carry rare Mutation Entries; bringing them back to Black Gold Island would also be a fortune.
So when the round moon hung in the sky, the Evil Fallen armies began their march!
The merchant watched the Evil Fallens from Black Gold Island ready to invade the city, shaking with gleeful anticipation:
"Hahaha... Although the lord has become very serious, maybe we don’t need its intervention to shatter the humans’ unrealistic illusions."
The blacksmith remained silent. Baichuan City indeed had a very dangerous aura, but all of this aura came from the Evil Fallen.
The human’s sanctuary — could there possibly be Evil Fallen inside? That obviously was not realistic.
The reasons why the merchant and the blacksmith didn’t go themselves were simple. Although they believed this battle had a sure chance of victory, they still remembered the Mechanical City battle, and a few resilient humans.
They even remembered... a dwarf who had single-handedly killed Destruction.
They didn’t want to encounter such humans. It was better to let the armies overwhelm humanity.
...
...
Baichuan City, West City District.
Colt’s scope was aimed at the giant centipede.
Beside Colt were Lu Yan and Qian Yixin.
"Do we attack now?" asked Qian Yixin.
"Da! Dada da!"
"He says to wait a bit longer. You baldy..." Lu Yan immediately covered one mouth and with another mouth said:
"Let’s wait. The target is currently on the outskirts; the rules there aren’t twisted enough. Once they enter the industrial area, we’ll use the special rules there to open fire."
Qian Yixin was puzzled. Hadn’t Colt only made four sounds? How did that translate to such a long sentence? Were these two that in sync?
Damn, I’m so envious.
Qian Yixin felt lonely.
Colt was seriously locking onto the target.
Many twisted areas existed in Baichuan City’s West City District — some regions produced rules that caused mental chaos, others incited a desire for slaughter, some engendered resentment, and some even slowed people’s movements.
Likewise, in many areas explored by Bai Wu, each harbored some strange laws.
Though the regional restrictions had disappeared, these rules had not.
The key to ambush lay in when and where to strike. These questions had answers, once the connected Bai Can provided Bai Wu with the distorted rules of each area, allowing Bai Wu to formulate a plan.
The giant Centipede leading a vanguard squad of dozens of Evil Fallen kept pressing deeper.
They soon entered the first suitable combat ambush zone — an industrial area.
In Baichuan City’s industrial district, the workers, due to the advent of doomsday, had all gone on strike, to the fury of the big boss, who cursed them, wishing that workers could work tirelessly for him for a lifetime.
After the Seven-Day Catastrophe, the twisted rules took effect, and such an area indeed emerged.
The workers, insane with the need for work, became enraged if anyone interfered with their labor.
This region’s Evil Fallen was quite tragic, Bai Wu thought... If used in this battle... perhaps it could also be their release.
Most interestingly, once inside this area, one’s thoughts would be influenced. At first, it would be imperceptible, but staying longer than five minutes would cause an irresistible urge to work, and the factory facilities seemed addictive.
This effect was also valid for the invaders.
Colt said:
"Dada da!"
"Get ready, the target has appeared on the edge of the area!"
The Prison Heavy Firepower Headshot Team, lying in wait in the cover of night, saw the giant centipede heading towards the first trap of Baichuan City!
Bang!
A precise, powerful bullet shot out from Colt’s arm!
The bullet, as if ignoring air resistance and gravity, flew straight through the night!
This shot shattered the silence of the night!
This shot also signified that the battle between defenders and invaders — the defense of Baichuan City — had finally begun.
The bullet missed the centipede because it wasn’t aimed at the centipede. Its target was the main control hub that operated the factory’s production line.
The centipede sensed the distant gunshot, but after scanning the area and finding no one injured, it thought:
"A false alarm?"
Thinking thus, the Centipede Beast decided to keep moving forward.
Just then, from all directions in the industrial area, a swarm of uniformed blue-clad Evil Fallen emerged, wearing various factory logos.
Some carried wrenches, others wore construction helmets, and each Evil Fallen looked emaciated, as though they had been drained of flesh and blood long ago.
Yet, they howled like ghouls.
Just as bees from a disturbed hive seek the culprit, these hundreds of uniformed Evil Fallen workers also sought their target.
The target quickly appeared before them — the bewildered Centipede and its vanguard squad.
"Fuck, they’ve betrayed the working class!"
The worker Evil Fallen roared furiously, charging forward. The Centipede and the vanguard were caught off guard, reeling from the onslaught of the worker Evil Fallen.
Meanwhile, Colt, Qian Yixin, and Lu Yan’s firepower team began their barrage.
Inside the school building, Bai Can, using the Mutation Entries, reported the battle situation. freewebnσvel.cѳm
Bai Wu smiled brilliantly and softly spoke to the distant enemy:
"Welcome to Baichuan City."
