Chapter 1396: Chapter 1397: At All Costs

The New District Government City is a city where the number of Mechanical Beings far exceeds the population. Fully automated cars, aircrafts, repair machines, and even trash bins save manpower to the maximum extent, not to mention the large factories, all of which are operated by Mechanical Beings working continuously twenty-four hours a day.

With such a large disparity in numbers and the residents living fairly sparsely, once a bombing starts, it feels as if the entire city is left with only Mechanical Beings. Since they normally move on foot, a slow slaughter spreads in every corner of the city. Once Players intervene, the Mechanical Beings will swarm and conduct bombings, and in an unbeatable situation, they will carry out suicide bombings.

Of course, Players in the New District Government City are not entirely helpless. After realizing that regaining control over the Mechanical Beings was ineffective, Players began to lure the Mechanical Beings to open areas for elimination. Hence, now the explosions coming from all over the city are mostly the sounds of Mechanical Beings being destroyed.

Besides these riotous Mechanical Beings, some external Players are looting within the city. Players of the New District Government City are too lazy to manage them since they need to deal with the Mechanical Beings and also have to allocate some people to search for the singing Player hidden somewhere.

The aircraft is still hovering over the city, broadcasting a song with tremendous lethality. Government Players have conducted a carpet search of every unbombed or unburned place in the city but have not found any trace of the suspected singing Player. Excluding residential areas, only those factories tightly guarded by Mechanical Beings remain.

The government Players finally set their sights on a biopharmaceutical factory, as it stores a considerable amount of Poisons and pollutants, and so far, no Player has dared to attack it. The detectors installed by the government on the Mechanical Beings to protect the factory have ironically become a powerful restriction on them. Neither using the Invisibility Prop nor the Interference Device could guarantee that government Players wouldn’t be detected. Thus, although a large number of Players surrounded the pharmaceutical factory, none succeeded in infiltrating it.

The sounds of explosions from the city behind were incessant, occasionally accompanied by one or two screams or wails, but this was no longer the concern for government Players at the moment.

Due to the sudden loss of control over the Mechanical Beings, many government officials who held the right to speak were assassinated. Only a few, accompanied by Advanced Players or saved by chance, managed to escape from Zone 023. Those who remained had no choice but to shoulder responsibilities.

“Mayor, issue a strong attack order,” a Player wearing a black uniform with a Golden Badge on his chest said to an elder man protected at the rear, who seemed to be around fifty or sixty years old.

In general, Evolvers experience a slowdown in aging after consuming Potions, so this person might be older than fifty or sixty. Compared to others in the same group, the elder not only had no injuries but even wore clean clothes. He looked towards the factory and said in a deep voice: “If the factory is destroyed, years of effort will go up in smoke.”

“How is the evacuation situation at the laboratory?”

“Proceeding quickly,” the Golden Badge said, “To prevent experimental data from being stolen, we initially only placed Mechanical Beings around the periphery of the laboratory. After losing control, the laboratory instead became a relatively safe place.”

“That’s good.” The elder nodded, his gaze fixed on the factory, turning grim, “Once all Rank-A experimental subjects are evacuated, attack the factory at all costs!”

“Yes!” The Golden Badge saluted, turned, and took a few steps forward, making two special hand gestures. The gathered Players quickly adjusted their combat positions, and the Defensive Barrier outside the factory was increased from one layer to three layers. As the machines became ineffective, Players occupied the ground and mid-air, forming a humanoid barrier outside the Defensive Barrier.

Only a few Players were left within the barrier, all holding Props, waiting for the elder’s command.

There was no movement within the factory—naturally, for Players, it’s quite easy to leave a district. Even if the factory explodes and Poisons and pollutants are released, as long as they react quickly, escaping safely is not difficult. The Players’ current actions in the New District Government City seemed more like helpless catharsis or forcing people to leave.

“Can you believe there’s only one person in the factory!” Qiu Ming, hiding in another unremarked maternity product factory, said in utter shock to Cao Qinglin beside him: “Just one Player nearly wiped out the entire New District Government!”

“That’s not surprising,” Cao Qinglin, looking much better from her injuries, said calmly, “Actually, the main force in massacring the city is the Mechanical Beings. The New District Government overly relies on machines, which left them unprepared when the Mechanical Beings turned guns on them. The attacking Player surely had prior knowledge of the situation here and used a specific Interference Device. However, such high-level Interference Devices can’t be found on the market.”

“As for the sound wave attack, it was just a means of interfering with Players — it won’t fool someone twice.”

Cao Qinglin paused and added, “I just find it odd. If really only one Player came, it’s impossible for them to deal a fatal blow to the New District Government. Compared to human lives, the District Government clearly cares more about what’s in the laboratory. If it was targeted, it should have been to destroy the laboratory, not to kill.”

“Maybe the person is just a psychopath who came specifically to kill,” Qiu Ming brushed it off, “who can understand the mind of a lunatic.”

Cao Qinglin pondered, “There are no actions without reason in the world, unless that Player holds a grudge against the New District Government.”

“Could they be from the Ya Clan?” Qiu Ming suddenly speculated.

“If the Ya Clan could get such a good Interference Device, or have such strong Players, they wouldn’t be in their current situation,” Cao Qinglin said. “Did you notice quite a few people looting the laboratory on your way here?”

“Of course, I did, some seem like external Players,” Qiu Ming nodded.

“Aside from external Players, there should also be some who took advantage of the chaos to come in from the Ya Clan,” Cao Qinglin said. “Their main goal is to destroy the laboratory, which indicates that the singing Player is not aligned with the Ya Clan either.”

“Although the New District Government might not act humanely, some Potions are indeed quite valuable. Fortunately, I grabbed a few boxes just in time,” Qiu Ming said. “Coming to Zone 023 wasn’t a total loss in the end…”

“What Potions did you manage to grab?” Xu Huo approached them from behind, motioned for the startled two to remain calm, then turned to the other side of the factory and said, “Friends behind the cargo boxes, don’t hide, come out and chat with us.”