176 Killing Spire (Part 1)

The people in the city are all zombies.

Not everyone is satisfied with college life. For example, Luther, a country boy from Blue Chrysanthemum Village, is not used to living in a dormitory room with four other people. With the money he has earned from working for the past two months, he moved out of the dormitory and rented a house in the Workshop Industrial Park in Trivella City.

As an engineering student, this is not a bad choice. Although he did not enter a top university, the college he attended was still a university in the capital, which is much better than those in other places. His studies were not particularly busy, and he could do part-time jobs to earn some extra money. This kind of life was free and easy, which was not bad. It was just that day after day, it became more and more boring.

Adults always say that people who go to big cities will become cogs in a factory. Luther disagrees. He feels that he is different from others. After all, among so many test takers and test-takers, he has gone through many trials and stood out. In any case, he is unique.

It wasn't until he was busy running around the city streets, living a monotonous life between his home, school, and workplace, that he completely lost his initial confidence.

The busy and monotonous daily life and high prices made him sell his dreams for money. Dina was never enough to live on. No matter how much money he earned, he could not change his inner anxiety and troubles. The material comparisons of the people around him made him feel increasingly inferior and then he became numb. His classmates always talked about academic qualifications and taking the postgraduate entrance examination. One case after another came to him, and Luther, a boy from the countryside, heard about the concept of 'devaluation of academic qualifications' for the first time.

The pressure and competition emptied Luther's soul. His once proud uniqueness seemed insignificant and laughable in the face of the mass-produced interstellar metropolis.

The people in the city are all zombies.

Early in the morning, Luther pushed open the apartment door and saw his neighbor's headless corpse rolling down the stairs without him noticing.

He walked through the street with his head down, like a zombie, his eyes vacant and numb. He was dizzy from working on a report all night. So much so that he didn't even notice when a tall, strong, Implant Equipment Vanguard ripped him in half at the waist, tearing his intestines and lumbar vertebrae apart, right in front of him.

None of the four members of the research group did any work, but today he is going to give a presentation.

As Luther walked, he activated the magical projection, repeatedly revising and confirming that his model and tables were correct despite his dark circles. The cold numbers and magical radiation stung his eyes, but he had no choice but to continue writing.

A round head landed at Luther's feet. Without thinking, he kicked it away and, without looking up, habitually shouted, "Little Jack, this is the forty-seventh time! No playing ball in the street!"

Perhaps because he was too exhausted, he did not notice that Little Jack's body was hanging on the street lamp, burned to a crisp.

The light is white now, please proceed.

The blood-stained traffic lights began to flash. Luther carried the projector across the road. The streets on both sides were piled with wrecked and burning cars and the corpses of vehicles. Crows circled overhead, and flies and ghouls were scrambling to lift a woman's long skirt—or perhaps this wasn't a shameful act of harassment, since the woman only had her lower body.

Luther walked along the street and skillfully entered the cheap convenience store, pulled open the refrigerator door at the entrance, and took out a fried egg sandwich and a lemon soda.

He temporarily switched the Information Rune to the payment page, completed the self-checkout, picked up his things with his head down, and politely greeted the physically open proprietress at the door with, "Good morning, Aunt Anna."

He burst into the empty subway station, jogged down the escalator littered with corpses, and waited for a dozen seconds with his toes touching the ground. A Implant Equipment Vanguard pulled his forearm out of a citizen's chest, turned his head, and his three eyes quickly focused and locked onto Luther's figure.

Buzz—

The train pulled into the station, the doors opened, and Luther boarded the train in a daze. He skillfully found a seat and sat down. He was very familiar with this train; he took it every day. In particular, there was always a young, fashionable female mage wearing black stockings sitting next to the rightmost armrest of this row of seats.

Over time, Luther became familiar with the female mage. His gaze shifted slightly downwards, and he saw her beautifully shaped legs encased in black stockings, neatly tucked into high heels. He immediately felt a sense of comfort.

"It's great to see you again, Miss Ruth. You must be quite busy today too?"

As Luther revised the report, he chatted and laughed with the woman next to him.

"I have to go on stage later, and this is the only outfit I can wear—sigh, I really want to graduate soon so I can earn money to buy a decent outfit to wear in front of people."

He tore open the sandwich, wolfed it down, and finished it off in no time, chugging a drink in one hand and typing furiously with the other.

The female mage beside him seemed to be in a bad mood today. She didn't say a word and sat quietly to the side like a corpse. Luther glanced at her: she had her hands on her legs and was staring calmly ahead, as if she was contemplating her loss.

But that's normal; everyone has their own troubles and worries in the city.

crackling and popping—

The virtual keyboard flew across the keys, the train stepped onto the ground, and passed through the blood-red city on the viaduct. Explosions and smoke rose all around. The Implant Equipment Vanguard climbed the walls of buildings like spiders or cockroaches, smashed glass, and dug out living people with their suction cup-like tentacles.

[The train is approaching: Bigred Gate Station] "Alright! Finally done, no more problems!"

Luther excitedly put away the projection, breathed a sigh of relief, and glanced at the beautiful mage next to him. She was still so serene and beautiful, sitting there quietly, her gaze fixed ahead, her face exquisite, like a statue, without a single flaw.

"Miss Ruth, you must be very busy today, so I won't bother you any longer..."

Miss Ruth sat there quietly, her eyes clear, her makeup exquisite, living like a sophisticated urban woman, a social elite.

Luther blushed and pretended to drink his empty soda, avoiding eye contact, afraid of being caught peeking at the other's embarrassed state.

People from my hometown say that everyone in the city is a zombie.

He spoke softly, as if afraid the other person would hear him, yet also afraid they wouldn't:

"But you are not, Miss Ruth. You are very special—"

Click, click, click!

A piercing sound suddenly blared from the loudspeaker:

"Urgent Notice! Urgent Notice: A group of terrorists, carrying Implant Equipment Vanguard troops, has launched a terrorist attack on our city! All citizens, please stay home immediately and do not go out. Please await rescue by the military and police!"

In the train's driver's cab, the Implant Equipment Vanguard slowly raised his head from the desiccated corpse of the train commander.

"The terrorist's identity has been confirmed as the notorious criminal from the Abyss—Remnant Moon!"

The Implant Equipment Vanguard raised his hand and tore open his chest, revealing the blue crescent moon mark on his heart.

"To reiterate: all citizens, please stay home immediately and do not go out. Wait for military and police rescue!"

[Dimensional Bomb Confirmed to be Activated]

"Don't go out! Don't go out! Don't—"

Squeak!

The front half of the carriage disappeared instantly, the train suddenly braked, and Luther's body flew out instantly. Miss Ruth, who was next to him, also fell on top of him and into his arms.

"Holy crap! What the hell is this?!"

A moment later, Luther came to his senses. He stood up from the wrecked carriage and helped Miss Ruth to her feet.

"Did you hear the news just now? There might be terrorists around here, Miss Ruth, we need to get out of here right away..."

He suddenly realized something was wrong. Although it wasn't the first time he had put his arm around a girl's waist, he felt that the touch was a bit strange. His fingertips, which were embedded in Miss Ruth's slender waist, were sticky and wet. If he touched them carefully, he could feel the soft, sticky tubes coming off his fingertips.

Tick-tock, tick-tock...

Luther stiffly turned his head to look at Miss Ruth's face: she remained serene and beautiful, as elegant and noble as a marble sculpture of Goddess.

Unfortunately, the statue is only half complete, cut symmetrically in half along the center of the forehead.

People say that you shouldn't like a girl's appearance, but rather her inner qualities.

Luther clearly saw what lay beneath Miss Ruth's beautiful exterior: a tangled mess of intestines, half a lung, and a steaming kidney. His fingertips weren't just around her waist; they were directly on her kidneys.

At that moment, Luther understood that liking a girl was indeed not easy.

He put Miss Ruth down—or rather, Miss 'Ruth'.

Luther turned his head, and the sounds of magic and destruction echoed throughout the city. The squelching sounds of the Implant Equipment Vanguard ' flesh were somewhat comical and cute, and coupled with their monotonous and pure gaze, they looked a bit naive from a distance.

But when they take to the streets and use blood clotting guns to tear living people apart piece by piece into mincemeat, their innocent and pure eyes no longer seem so endearing.

In particular, they set their sights on Luther.

The Night Butterfly Federation's 'Light' class warship activated its stealth mode, passed through the sea of clouds, and hovered in the air.

The crescent moon, like a monarch, sat in the shadows, leisurely perched atop the clouds, with the entire Trivella beneath his feet. His Implant Equipment Vanguard wreaked havoc in the streets and city, the gurgling sounds of muscles churning and the screams and cries of the crowd creating a cacophony.

Human pleasures are nothing more than watching chaos grow, observing slaughter expand, admiring blood flowing like a sea, and seeing corpses piled up like mountains.

"Now, Trivella is completely under our control, Dad!"

Mo Zilan said excitedly:

"An Interstellar Civilization, actually allowed to be invaded in its backyard by a scattered gang like us, ha, it's simply unbelievable."

"What do you mean by 'scattered bandits'?" Crescent Moon sneered. "The days of space pirates are over. From now on, we are warlords."

After years of painstaking effort and infiltration, a total of 30,000 Implant Equipment Vanguard were deployed in Trivella, and the sunk costs involved are incalculable.

But as long as they obtain the fragments of the Eye of Discernment, that Forbidden Knowledge will definitely allow them to recoup their costs.