Boom! Thunder exploded.

Above Dawn City, thunderclouds swirled, and heavy rain poured down, covering the entire city in a curtain of rain.

At the south city gate, the soldiers guarding the high walls all wore extremely tense expressions. In the apocalypse, everyone’s fear of the night became incredibly sensitive. There were no whispers or smiles—only faces filled with dread of the unknown.

The sky was terrifyingly dark. The commander of the B2 defense sector held an optical telescope, observing the crowded lines in the outer city district. He glanced at the time, his expression growing more anxious.

“There are still at least tens of thousands over here. Speed up the march!”

“The city is already packed. We have to coordinate the convoys;

otherwise, every area will be jammed!”

A shout came through the communicator.

“The Dawn Watch Alliance, Windrunner Alliance, and Common Alliance troops are already helping to direct the crowd, but there are just too many people.”

The officer in charge of guarding the passage shouted, “The main problem is too many vehicles—all big trucks and modified vehicles—blocking the streets. At this rate, the city’s main roads will be paralyzed. The convoys behind must abandon some of their vehicles!”

“Abandon the vehicles! People go on foot! Let the survivors enter the city first to stay overnight!”

Following the order, all city gates began enforcement. Suddenly, the survivors who had not yet entered the city all panicked. Their vehicles were their mobile shelters;

under such circumstances, few were willing to give up their vehicles voluntarily.

But as the dark sky thickened and the thunderstorm raged, some decisive survivors began abandoning their vehicles, taking their luggage, weapons, and family members, and started running on foot toward the city. This inspired many others who had been stuck in the traffic jams for a long time, and more and more vehicles were abandoned.

“How much longer until nightfall?” The commander on the city wall looked at the dark sky. The thick clouds and rain curtain made it impossible to distinguish day from night.

“Reporting, sir, about thirty minutes left!”

The commander frowned deeply upon hearing this. He seemed to hear some sound coming from below the city wall and immediately stepped forward. Below the wall was darkness as deep as an abyss;

it seemed that even the streets and houses of the original outer city district were invisible now.

“Searchlights.”

“A1A2 searchlights!”

At this moment, several guarding soldiers surrounded him with guns, but the searchlight beam swept across, revealing nothing.

The commander stepped back and reminded everyone, “The dark tide of the Star Abyss is abnormally expanding. The predicted timing may be unstable...”

Ah!!!

Before he could finish, a huge tentacle covered in black scales suddenly appeared behind him. The tip split into a maw full of sharp teeth, swallowing the commander’s upper body in one bite, tearing apart his power armor as well.

Rat-a-tat-tat!!

In an instant, all the automatic extinguishing guns on the city wall opened fire. The soldiers were drenched in cold sweat by this horrifying scene. Only the next second did they react.

“Abnormal entities!”

“Open fire!”

Bang! Smash! Boom!

For a moment, Dawn City’s city defense weapons rained down in firepower. The searchlight swept again to reveal countless strange limbs and bizarre entities crawling tens of meters like a tsunami above the city wall. Small sections of the inner city streets and buildings were covered. The white fog tide appeared like a natural barrier. Some people thought the white night tide would be delayed, but it was arriving far sooner.

The battle instantly ignited. Under the stormy sky, various flying monsters surged forth from the thunderclouds. At the city gates, amid heavy gunfire and the roar of the strange tide, many refugees abandoned their vehicles and scattered sparsely into the city. A distressed couple just got out of their car when a massive white centipede in the white darkness swallowed them whole.

The ground was covered with dragonflies, strange insects, humanoid monsters stitched together, and giant mist spiders swarming out. Screams, explosions, and thunderstorm sounds converged within just a few minutes. The survivors who had not yet left the city seemed like prey trapped by the white darkness, with a small number dying.

The white darkness surged like a tide. Tens of thousands of survivors sprinted wildly.

“Run, head for the city wall!!”

A man pulled his wife and daughter past an overturned truck. The daughter lost one of her little leather shoes, and her foot was badly cut by broken glass.

“Dad... I can’t run anymore.”

The man suddenly bent down and lifted her onto his shoulder, holding a gun, firing frantically behind them.

“Hold on!” The next second, a terrifying shadow pounced from the side—the wife suddenly pushed the father and daughter away but was dragged into the darkness, leaving behind a short cry, “Run—”

The defensive outposts in the outer city all fired at full power now. Many crowds scattered by the strange tide could only resist while moving closer to the guard outposts, like isolated islands in the darkness.

“Hurry, come this way!!” soldiers atop the watchtowers fired wildly, shouting to the scattered survivors.

“Come on, we’ve got enough bullets today!” A soldier wielding a large Vulcan Gatling gun growled fiercely.

Just as hundreds gathered near the defensive watchtower, a giant shadow dozens of meters wide suddenly swooped down from the sky.

Boom!

The entire watchtower area’s gunfire vanished instantly amid dark smoke and dust.

Buzz... buzz...

Inside Dawn City, dense attack drones struck the flying monsters entering the city. The pulse laser sky array formed a blue web firing continuously into the air. Each 210mm destructive grenade shell from the Great Wall base’s huge cannons could blast away a monster tide area half the size of a soccer field. Rotten insect limbs scattered. Countless Thunder Hammer electromagnetic railguns unleashed dazzling electric barrages suppressing the large abnormal entities in the darkness, restraining the rampaging tide.

“Sixteen defense sectors engaged, scale exceeds level 4.”

On the frontline city wall command tower, sector commanders reported the battle status to Lu Tianye.

“Early warning aircraft launching soon to scout for abnormal and S-class units. All city gates will close in five minutes!” Lu Tianye stared at the dark sky and gave the cold order.

“Report from the quarantine zone!”

Boom boom boom!

In the outer city quarantine zone, the heavily armored defense army’s 1st Combat Regiment was the first to endure the large-scale monster tide attack. However, thanks to prior defensive preparations, they were not caught off guard. The entire regiment relied on overwhelming firepower to hold the first wave of the black tide’s assault.

“Reporting, General, the quarantine zone here—”

The 1st Combat Regiment’s commander, Huo Bing, was directing the battle when suddenly the ground shook violently beneath the frontline defense camp. Buildings collapsed in clusters, streets caved in, and a giant abnormal entity covered in spines burst out of the ground. Its tens-of-meters-long body swept across, crushing and piercing a dozen soldiers and survivors into a pool of blood and gore.

“A large abnormal entity appeared, probably A-class. Request strategic weapon support!”

“3rd Battalion, drag that beast out of the block!”

“Coordinates!”

“Coordinates are—” Before Huo Bing could finish, giant figures slowly rose from the black fog beneath the defensive line.

“Fuck...” He sucked in a cold breath and cursed.

“Smell...”

In the next instant, the communicator crackled into static. Signals in the quarantine zone disappeared from the command center in large numbers.

Boom boom boom!

Dawn City was engaged on multiple fronts. Explosions lit the rain-darkened night sky with thousands of artillery fire, plasma rays, and electromagnetic railgun blasts. The inner city’s military fortresses launched large missiles that swiftly ascended, roaring supersonically.

For a moment, explosions and thunder blended together, shaking the very air.

At the Twin Star Tower, Lin Xian and Chu Yan’s squad watched this world-war-like scene with grim expressions.

“The dark night arrived much earlier?” Lin Xian glanced at the time;

it wasn’t even 6 p.m. yet.

“The Star Abyss anomaly means the original calculation for the dark tide no longer works,” Chu Yan said coldly. “Now, we can only defend passively.”

KIKI looked toward the distant extinguishing fires, her face tense. “What do we do, Lin Xian? The Infinite is still in Jinhai.”

Lin Xian’s face was serious. “We can only hope it’s safe there. The industrial zone has no dark marks, so theoretically it won’t encounter enemies actively.”

Although he said this, Lin Xian couldn’t help but worry. The polar night was developing too fast. So many of his teammates were over there now. All he could do was hope Ning Jing and Qian Dele could arrive safely.

Afterward, Lin Xian looked at Chu Yan. “Can you check the information on those large mechanical devices?”

According to Lin Xian’s speculation, if they could locate those mechanical devices, it might directly lead them to the base of the breakthrough device used for the deep red world’s brain resurrection and cooperation with Dawn City.

“I’m investigating, but don’t get your hopes up. If even Wen Hui and Zhou Mingyuan don’t know, then it means this project was likely directly intervened in by the deep red world. The underground strategic network information has been completely deleted by Zhou Jin and Qinuo’s Nightwalker Organization. The secrecy around Chu Zhaonan and the deep red world’s Vanguard Initiative is higher than expected.”

“Who is it?!”

At that moment, the members of Chu Yan’s squad suddenly raised their guns in unison.

Lin Xian, Chu Yan, and KIKI turned around and saw a man’s shadow silently appear on the rooftop.

“Lin Xian.”

The man looked at Lin Xian politely. “Chairman Chu Zhaonan wishes to speak with you.”

At these words, everyone’s expression changed drastically.

The Star City underground city was nearly empty on the way. Except for this guide with supernatural powers, Lin Xian saw almost no one. The vast underground city seemed to have been emptied in a short time. After the Federal Assembly disbanded, many senior residents became ordinary people, forced to hide in the overcrowded inner city.

Lin Xian never expected he would meet the Federal Chairman one day, especially under such circumstances.

In the Chairman’s office, empty except for a desk and a tea table in the distant corner, the scene was quiet and spacious. Outside, the city was engulfed in chaos, but here there was no sign of smoke or fire.

Lin Xian entered and immediately saw a middle-aged man in military uniform quietly standing by the window. Outside the window was a huge underground city courtyard, many times larger than the 9th underground city Lin Xian had visited before. The infrastructure was very complete, but only a few lights were on. Looking out, many residents were still evacuating.

“I’ve heard your name;

several people have mentioned you to me.” Chu Zhaonan’s voice was warm and firm, lacking any authoritarian air. His tone was serious and calm, as if having a quiet conversation with Lin Xian. “May I have a simple chat with you?”

Lin Xian glanced around cautiously amid the urgency. “About what?”

Chu Zhaonan turned and looked at Lin Xian. “Many things, such as dreams and responsibility.”

“Chairman Chu,” Lin Xian looked confused, “Outside the 1st city wall, tens of thousands are dying. Are you sure you want to discuss dreams and responsibility here?”

“From an individual perspective, survival is a dream;

securing survival for others is responsibility,” Chu Zhaonan said earnestly. “But the Vanguard Initiative is unrelated to dreams. It’s essentially the same as when you repeatedly tied fate to the collective to gamble for a slim chance.”

“Are you telling me that the humans fleeing in the Vanguard Initiative bear the responsibility for civilization’s survival, or that all our current efforts are meaningless?” Lin Xian responded.

Chu Zhaonan shook his head. “Every effort has meaning. Just now, the 1st Combat Regiment of the defense army sacrificed themselves entirely. Without their reckless defense of the quarantine zone, the chain reaction of the defense collapse might have caused multiple defense sectors in the south city to fall. Tens of thousands may have survived because of this effort, buying Dawn City more time and buffer. Including our conversation now, the Vanguard Initiative’s implementation, and whether we can see the dawn again.”

“That is the meaning of civilization. Civilization shines through communication, cooperation, and creation among individuals. Humanity has proliferated from the Stone Age to now. Our civilization is rapidly growing. Our use of planetary and stellar energy has reached a considerable scale. But such a civilization, after thousands of years, now faces extinction in less than a year. What does that mean? Is it a pity? But if I tell you that humans lose 3 to 9 million cells every second, and we magnify human civilization to the cosmic scale—more dazzling than ours—we are just one of those 9 million dying cells.”

Chu Zhaonan looked at Lin Xian with a calm yet helpless tone.

“From the universe’s vastness, perhaps civilization is the one thing it never lacks.”

Lin Xian was silent.

“I agree with Ye Lan Li’s peace ideology, support the Phoenix Society’s original intention, and respect and honor every sacrifice—including yours, Lin Xian,” Chu Zhaonan said. “In these efforts, your choices directly and indirectly impact the remaining humans in this world. Yu Beikong Airport—you made a choice. Zhang Dingzhong made a choice. Ri Shuang made a choice. Jian Xuwei made a choice. Xilan City, Zhao Yu, He Zhen, Wei Kexue, Sun Kai, the Phoenix Society, the human alliances, 70,000 people all made their own choices. Likewise, the European Storm Alliance, North America United Front, Dawn Center, Qingluan Sky City—all sacrificed much with great passion. Because of these choices, Dawn City has survived so far. In the darkness, we find more possibilities.”

“But while I respect possibilities, I cannot entrust human civilization to mere possibilities. Humanity needs a decisive choice,” Chu Zhaonan’s words sounded both like they were meant for Lin Xian and for himself.

Lin Xian pretended not to understand. “So you knew I sneaked into the starport but didn’t stop me, and even chose to talk with me. Is that because you want me to do something for you?”

“Join the Vanguard Initiative,” Chu Zhaonan said directly.

“You should understand your ability. Your mechanical supernatural power to create can quickly help interstellar colonization industrialize comprehensively. After escaping Blue Star, you can survive as a new human.”

“Why?” Lin Xian asked.

“Isn’t escaping the dark night and soaring into the clouds your wish?” Chu Zhaonan retorted.

Lin Xian hesitated. For some reason, hearing Chu Zhaonan’s words stirred something inside him. He was so tired. If he escaped this damn darkness recklessly, maybe he wouldn’t be so exhausted.

He struggled in his heart. Countless familiar faces flashed through his mind—Chen Sixuan, KIKI, Daluo, Shasha, Fire Bro, Shu Qin, Lü Chang, Miao Lu, Xiao Yuan, Old Mo, Li Yi, Luo Yang, Liang Lei, Shi Diyuan, Ning Jing...

And those who had died, those about to be forgotten—Zhang Dingzhong, Zhan Wei, Ma Xiaotang, Bai Shuang, Wei Kexue, Sun Kai, Zhou Wuer, Peng Peng, Chen Wei, Xiao He, Chen Xiao, Zhang Chengzhi, Wu Zhenhai, Liao Ming, Lu Yong...

Lin Xian stood there, his eyes inexplicably reddening. At this moment, he wished these people had never appeared, had never died, had never witnessed the ice and fire, blood and tears, or heard the Iron Guard Brigade’s song of courage. He wished he had quietly died in the shelter in Jiang City on the Day of Apocalypse and quietly decayed.

But how could he pretend he had never seen, never fought, never hoped for dawn...

They were all dead, yet they all still lived!

After a brief silence, Lin Xian suddenly laughed self-mockingly.

“1500 years—I won’t live that long.”

He then seriously said to Chu Zhaonan, “You know why I came here.”

“So I didn’t stop you because you wouldn’t sabotage the Vanguard Initiative or harm humanity. What you must do is obtain information linking to the dark and acquire the data on energy conversion of the Corrosion Cells used by humanity to resist the dark’s invasion. I support this.”

“Can you tell me where the No. 1 breakthrough device is located?” Lin Xian asked, then immediately felt this thought was too naive.

Since Chu Zhaonan chose to cooperate with the deep red world, he must be prepared to complete the Vanguard Initiative. In that case, how could he reveal information that might allow the Phoenix Society to sabotage it?

Even if Lin Xian and others were not planning sabotage, some matters were beyond Chu Zhaonan’s or Phoenix Society’s control, such as the deep red world.

So if Lin Xian were Chu Zhaonan, he wouldn’t reveal a single detail to ensure the Vanguard Initiative’s smooth launch.

Chu Zhaonan said nothing, confirming Lin Xian’s thoughts.

At this moment, Lin Xian felt a surge of blood rush to his head and couldn’t help but say directly,

“Even if you don’t expect this possibility, as humanity’s leader, can you at least leave some hope for us—the humans who have been abandoned?”

Chu Zhaonan quietly looked at Lin Xian. His expression, calm and unmoved by time, seemed to flicker slightly. Perhaps he detected Lin Xian’s refusal to join the Vanguard Initiative or was moved by Lin Xian’s phrase “us humans who have been abandoned.” His gaze shimmered briefly.

Then he stepped forward, took a small photon storage device from his inner pocket, and handed it to Lin Xian.

“What is this?” Lin Xian asked.

“The Galaxy Heart continuous control key of Dawn City.”

Chu Zhaonan explained, “During the Vanguard Initiative launch, it will connect to the Galaxy Heart for overall control. I considered that in this situation, the deep red world might exploit this, so I preset a disconnect protocol. When the Vanguard Initiative launches, the city’s entire neural network core and weapon systems will go offline for ten seconds. You can use this continuous control key to regain control of the Galaxy Heart.”

“So if the deep red world tries to invade the Galaxy Heart’s AI during this time, it can be paralyzed and captured directly!” Lin Xian was surprised.

“Ten seconds is enough time for you.”

Chu Zhaonan looked at Lin Xian. “Your mission is complete, Lin Xian. Good luck.”

Hearing this, Lin Xian knew their conversation was over.

He slowly clenched the continuous control key in his palm. As he prepared to leave, he suddenly asked,

“Chairman, do you think humanity still has a dawn?”

“When I was young, I was a mechanical engineer,” Chu Zhaonan said, changing the subject. He turned and looked toward the sky above the surface. “I remember the first time I entered Star City and saw the city ring. I thought humanity was truly great, able to create such a brilliant mechanical structure as a beautiful landmark that allows vehicles to travel through the air and send signals to planetary devices for orbital positioning. It’s a pity we’ll never see such a civilization project again.”

“Yes, human civilization is extremely dazzling.”

Lin Xian looked at Chu Zhaonan’s back and left the Chairman’s office.

At this moment, no guards or others stopped Lin Xian. He returned to the Twin Star Tower and told Chu Yan about the continuous control key.

Meanwhile, Zhou Jin and Qinuo’s people had gathered there. The No. 1 city wall had already become a battlefield. Countless survivors were dying. The Vanguard Initiative launch countdown was ticking closer by the second.

“Chu Zhaonan still left some chances for humanity,” Qinuo lit a cigarette in the rainy night. Behind him, four Nightwalker squads totaling over twenty people had been searching for five hours straight.

“But our key objective failed,” Zhou Jin looked at the continuous artillery fire. Some outer city blocks had already erupted, meaning some airborne abnormal entities might have broken through the defense line and entered the city or that fear mutations caused by the night invasion had broken out. He cursed bitterly, “This is fucking shit. Judging by the Star Abyss activity in three sectors, Dawn City has no way out.”

Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian. “Chu Zhaonan knows you infiltrated the starport base. Did he just talk to you?”

Lin Xian didn’t mention Chu Zhaonan’s invitation to join the Vanguard Initiative, only saying, “He talked about dreams, responsibility, civilization, stuff I didn’t really understand.”

Afterward, he said to Chu Yan, “By the way, your mental ability is pretty strong. Can you directly detect which people in the city belong to the deep red world?”

Chu Yan sighed. “If we could, would we need such trouble? Mind theft is extremely dangerous. Even if we capture the target, it has to be done while they’re unconscious. A conscious person’s mental power is very strong, especially now that humanity’s mental power is continuously increasing. The most I can do is give you a headache. Only in dreams is it my domain.”

Chu Yan then asked Lin Xian, “Speaking of which, your mechanical supernatural power is the real scanning ability. If it’s S-class large mechanical colonization equipment, it must need a huge launch field. Can’t you scan for it?”

Lin Xian laughed with a headache. “Come on, this is supernatural power, not magic. Scanning this entire building alone takes me hours and half my life. Dawn City is huge. Do you think I’m a radar?”

After saying this, Lin Xian suddenly looked at the towering city ring surrounding the Twin Star Tower in the rainy night. The huge architectural outline appeared like a flying machine suspended in midair under the darkness.

“Wait.”

“What’s wrong?”

Lin Xian pointed at the ruins of the city ring. “Is this originally the Moonwatch planetary ring and the Nantiangate’s orbital positioning device?”

“Yes,” KIKI said seriously, “Many people know this. When the Moonwatch planetary ring was built, its orbital ground positioning was centered on Star City.”

“So this itself is a super radar that can emit from S-band to high-energy pulses?”

“Something like that,” Qinuo said. “But if the deep red world is deep underground, radar can’t find them.”

“Not necessarily!”

Lin Xian immediately said to everyone, “I can control the radar and use this large-scale electromagnetic wave to enhance my mechanical scanning!”

KIKI raised her eyebrows. “You want to scan the whole city?”

“Chu Yan is right. S-class large mechanical colonization equipment must need a huge launch field,” Lin Xian said. “If underground, I don’t need fine scanning, just large-scale filtering of mechanical structures. Maybe I can find the breakthrough device’s launch field!”

“Is that possible?” Zhou Jin looked incredulous. “What if it’s far away?”

“How far?” Lin Xian asked.

Zhou Jin couldn’t answer. Then KIKI suddenly stepped forward holding a mobile terminal with a serious face.

“Simple. To establish a launch sequence and docking before breaking through the Sky Veil Barrier, you have to consider starship speed, launch timing, Blue Star’s curvature, and signal delay. Based on the acceleration of distant star-level starships, with our current planetary engine level, it can be done within 1,000 kilometers. But now, after launch, there’s no ground information transmission, and with the dark invasion’s impact, even with the starship’s very high-frequency transmitter calculating signal delay, the distance must be controlled within 50 kilometers. If more cautious, 30 kilometers is safer!”

Qinuo’s eyes brightened. “Smart! Indeed, the Vanguard Initiative is such an important plan, considering its special nature and technical limits, it definitely won’t be too far from the starport!”

Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian. “So what are you going to do now?”

Lin Xian immediately ran downstairs from the Twin Star Tower. Seeing this, all squads followed him and ran.

Soon, the group arrived at the city ring’s original signal control room. It resembled a rocket launch hall, once a key government area, now long abandoned.

Entering, Lin Xian immediately said,

“Team Zhou, Team Qinuo, take your people to check the city ring’s signal base cabinets and connecting cables. Report all damaged parts to me. I’ll manufacture repairs directly. KIKI, help coordinate personnel movement.”

“Chu Yan, have your people help clean the site. Also, when I conduct the full-city scan, it will take a lot of time and energy. The city ring’s energy might attract some airborne abnormal entities. I’ll need your team to protect the device until I find what I’m looking for.”

“Got it!” KIKI responded immediately.

Everyone exchanged looks and nodded in agreement.

“Understood.”

“Let’s start immediately.”

All present were elite squads, each with special skills. Following Lin Xian’s orders, they mobilized quickly. Combat teams began searching and setting up fire defense points. Information experts, supernatural users, and other mobile personnel all started assisting Lin Xian.

Meanwhile, Lin Xian activated the Black Star Forge, releasing Grace and hundreds of drones. These included drones he built and others obtained from Qin Feng’s fire exchange, all used for defense. Additionally, over a hundred construction drones began cooperating with team members to check and repair the city ring.

In a short time, this team of fewer than a hundred acted like an entire army—fast and efficient.

Outside, the cannon fire raged ceaselessly. Inside the city ring control hall, cables were connected and lights lit up. The city ring hundreds of meters high began inspection and repair under the guidance of several squad members and drones.

“First ring path, signal repeaters QSR-7 damaged, three in total.”

“Second ring path, main power cable fused, waveguide array shifted...”

“Third ring path, repeater flange rotating base completely jammed.”

“Fourth ring path, B-41 support beam has a 1.2-meter crack, main structure damaged. It’s best to reinforce it, or it may collapse under the next full power operation.”

“Fifth ring path, control tower phase modulator burned out.”

“Sixth ring path...”

“Seventh ring path...”

Lights of various sizes lit up all twelve ring paths of the city ring. Lin Xian used his mechanical supernatural power to scan and connect to the central control system. This was not Lin Xian’s first time enhancing his scanning with radar systems. He had used it before on the Infinite’s photoelectric radar. The main reason was that his mental power could not support the radar’s scan amplification due to overload.

But now, with the superstring reactor phase ring, and without needing fine scanning, just mechanical searching like when sensing the Prototype Unit or searching the underground control room in White City Research Institute, it was theoretically feasible.

“Can I help?” Shiori weakly asked amid the busy activity.

“You can help a lot!” Lin Xian immediately said. “My full-city search will consume a lot of energy and time, so I need your supernatural power to support me. Can you do that?”

Seeing Lin Xian’s trusting gaze, Shiori nodded seriously and firmly said, “Okay, I’ll do my best!”

Every second passed. Repair of the city ring progressed faster than expected. Lin Xian also received news from Jiang Yun.

At Star City Rail Station, Jiang Yun, Jian Xuwei, Fire Bro, and Monica led the Hongyuan Commerce Alliance, New Era Engineering Corps, Iron Shield Convoy, Burning Phoenix, and other original Windrunner Alliance members to take down a Night Patrol group that had no will to resist. They successfully recovered the Silver Star. Now, the Star City Rail Station stronghold gathered more than 20,000 people. Together with the original alliances’ defense lines and people brought in by Jian Xuwei’s Finger Group and Jian Zeyang in the outer city, the total exceeded 70,000.

“There’s still no news from Jinhai. We arranged several automatic drones for contact, but signals are all cut off,” Jiang Yun’s voice came through the communicator.

At this moment, Jian Xuwei’s voice sounded, “Lin Xian, after dawn, the Infinite and the Celestial-class will enter. We need to negotiate with the defense army. If that fails, we’ll evacuate through Qingbo directly.”

“Then leave it to Vice Commander Jian. I’m not sure we can handle it before dawn.” Lin Xian looked at the time. The Vanguard Initiative’s launch was scheduled for 10 a.m. the next day. According to the Star Abyss’s spread, it might still be dark then.

20:25, south and west of Dawn City, the battle intensified, with giant humanoid bodies beginning to climb the city walls.

Boom boom boom!

The sounds of cloud bombs, subatomic weapons, and giant air bombs shook the ground periodically. These were heavy weapons only used against A-class or abnormal entities.

Entities at these levels had defensive heat or ability fields or regeneration, requiring large-scale strategic weapons to suppress.

Finally, the city ring’s repair was complete. Squads began defending various Twin Star Tower areas and the city ring itself. Only Lin Xian, Chu Yan, and Shiori remained in the central control room.

Rumble rumble rumble!

At this moment, three energy phase rings lit up behind Lin Xian.

With a surge of massive energy, the control screen composed of 24 giant screens illuminated with the Dragon Nation Aerospace logo. A majestic voice sounded. Lin Xian sat in a dusty chair and began operating the central control system to activate the [City Ring High-Energy Pulse].

Buzz!

At this moment, high above Dawn City’s center, a giant ring of light like a floating beacon suddenly lit up. Strong beams completely illuminated the Twin Star Tower, like a “God’s Ring” suspended above the city.

This dazzling scene stirred millions of survivors in Dawn City, who all looked up in awe, exclaiming,

“Look! The city ring is lit!”

“What’s happening?”

“The Twin Star Tower is lit!!”

As the giant city ring lit up, the dark, abandoned city after the Federal Assembly’s dissolution seemed to regain vibrant life in that instant—a beacon of cyber-industrial light shining across the sky!

At this moment, the guards and survivors fiercely resisting on the outer city and city walls inexplicably lost some fear, their firepower growing fiercer.

“Kill! This is our human home city!”

“Our family and children are inside. Don’t let monsters breach the walls!”

“The defense army is fighting for us. Fight them!”

“Damn it, fight to the death!!!”

Meanwhile, Lin Xian at the Twin Star Tower was unaware that the city ring’s illumination had a subtle, inspiring effect on all humans in the city. He fully immersed his mechanical scanning intent in it.

With the high-energy pulse’s radiation, his mind became like the eye of God floating in the air. With a thunderous roar, the city ring emitted a powerful ionizing shockwave. His consciousness began rushing downward from the Twin Star Tower into the underground, spreading outward from there.

The moment his neural interface connected to the radar array, the world collapsed into a flood of data before his eyes. His mind cut through the steel bones of buildings like a blade. Glass curtain walls turned transparent in his consciousness, revealing internal stress frameworks. Bullet holes remained in elevator shafts. Cables hung like dying snakes.

Lin Xian fell along the data stream, passing through the B7 floor parking lot, crashing into the darkness of the underground transport tunnel. Countless maglev tracks sped by, transporting ammunition and equipment at high speed.

On the inner city’s No. 2 city wall, most weapons aimed skyward. Tracer bullets and pulse cameras bloomed like flowers, sending down blood rains of severed limbs from abnormal entities in the sky.

His consciousness reached the old city. Dense convoys and underground structures made Lin Xian’s head grow heavy. Millions fired into the sky. In basements, old people sheltered children in the middle, women built defenses with shopping carts, babies wailed, and wives wept.

As his range expanded, Lin Xian’s pressure multiplied exponentially. Shiori began exerting her supernatural power to fully support him, and Lin Xian felt his pressure ease slightly, gritting his teeth and continuing.

Time seemed to slow. He could no longer hear gunshots outside or Zhou Jin and Qinuo’s urgent shouts on the communicator.

Lin Xian could only focus on expanding the scan.

His consciousness finally reached the No. 1 city wall. Instantly, massive defensive weapons and underground pipelines appeared. Darkness, death, and thousands of corpses scattered everywhere. Blood mixed with rainwater flowed wildly into the sewers. Heart-wrenching screams filled the air. The sound of world-war-like artillery was deafening.

Beyond the No. 1 city wall, countless terrifying abnormal entities faced him. They hissed and charged madly, feasting on humans. Men, women, elderly, and children were mercilessly torn apart and devoured.

Lin Xian fully immersed himself underground. The original underground strategic works revealed multiple completely secret passages, apparently newly constructed after the Day of Apocalypse and absent from Zhou Jin’s confidential maps.

Following these passages, Lin Xian’s headache-inducing consciousness suddenly encountered a huge subterranean city.

But the city marked with a No. 2 plaque seemed only half-built before abandonment and was now converted into a sky-shaped underground base named the [Colossal God Peak Launch Site].

Lin Xian saw countless drones and many armed personnel, seemingly not from Dawn City.

Massive resources and equipment were transported here. Beneath the circular underground city, Lin Xian finally saw the S-class Gray Mist!

The Gray Mist envoy now stood upright like the A-class flesh-colonized abnormal entity in Jinhai underground. Giant hydraulic restraint towers fixed it in place.

This gray mist was fully equipped with mechanical armor similar to the Prototype Unit—like an old god forcibly dragged into the mortal realm. Its head was armored, and the back of the head had a set of oversized brain-machine control modules. Twenty-four EVA-style restraint locks, like twenty-four swords, neatly pierced along its spinal cord. Countless night-body conduits connected above, filled with yellow-brown fluid.

Its shattered tissue and bones were covered and connected by power components and armor. Dark red restraints wrapped its neck and joints. Those metal plates covered in warning signs were not to protect the entity but to defend the suppression modules and restraints.

A huge nuclear fusion turbine engine was installed in its chest to power this hundreds-of-meters-long device.

The most terrifying were the eight large plasma thrusters symmetrically mounted on its back. Each was over a hundred meters long, like eight sharp skyscrapers hanging from its body. This scale was more than three times larger than the Prototype Unit from the Emperor Project!

It resembled an eight-winged angel!

“Found it.”

Lin Xian exclaimed in horror. Looking at this massive S-class abnormal entity fused with human mechanical colonization armor in his consciousness, he immediately concluded this must be the breakthrough device they had been searching for!