The Arrival of the Taotie

"No, I can't stay here any longer. Once the heavy cavalry charges over, it'll be all over." The slaughter not far away intensely stimulated Yuan's nerves.

He had originally intended to sneak away and hide, looking for an opportunity to escape amidst the chaos. However, reality slapped him hard.

He had initially guessed that even with cavalry in the distance, it wouldn't be so easy to deal with over ten thousand miners rioting in the mine.

He hadn't expected Harris to act so decisively, nor for there to be such a large number of heavy cavalry.

"Damn it, didn't Grandma's books say heavy cavalry requires a lot of resources? How can one mine have so many?

Those people in the Kingdom are all f***ing lunatics, idiots. Why would they put so many heavy cavalry in a broken mine?

With this much force, plus the Kingdom's other military strength, they could unify the continent. These damned nobles have no ambition."

The slaughter continued; it was too late even for miners who had put down their tools to surrender.

Once the heavy cavalry charged, they couldn't be stopped easily. Harris didn't care about the lives of these lowly people, so he simply charged all the way.

He'd kill to his heart's content first, and if there was a shortfall, he'd just squeeze them harder later, making them work overtime to make up the numbers.

There was no choice. Yuan could only turn his feet and walk into the mine.

"Let's go to the adjacent, already mined-out tunnels. We'll come out after they stop. Harris can't be crazy enough to kill them all, right? Who would dig then?"

With this thought, Yuan decisively hid in a mine tunnel with little ore left. This tunnel was some distance from the one at the bottom where the main support had collapsed.

For now, he was safe. He wasn't the only one; several other young people also took advantage of the chaos and hid inside.

They looked at each other, not knowing one another. The sounds of fighting outside made the atmosphere inside exceptionally quiet.

But sometimes, fate truly decreed that blessings don't come in pairs, and misfortunes never come alone.

"Crack!"

"Crack!"

Hearing this familiar sound, Yuan and the others, who had been resting on the ground, stiffened.

"No, it can't be?"

"No!"

Everyone prayed to the gods in their hearts, hoping they wouldn't encounter the worst-case scenario. Unfortunately, the gods they prayed to seemed to be on vacation.

"Heh, I'm f***ed. The outside collapsed while the inside is still standing. So they were chasing me? Forget it, let it collapse. I'll just go down early to wait for Grandma.

This dog-like world. If there's an afterlife, may the heavens bless me to be reborn as someone awesome."

As countless stones fell, the previously quiet abandoned pit instantly fell silent.

Outside, the slaughter also came to an end. With the collapse of the abandoned pit, it seemed to trigger a doomsday button.

A collective collapse occurred within the massive mine. Harris, who had stopped wielding his blood-red longsword, was stunned.

"Bastard, bastard, it's over, it's all over! They won't let me go. You damn lowly people, scum, all die! All die!"

Saying this, he continuously slashed with his longsword, swinging it around like a windmill, as if possessed.

After who knows how many days, the mine was completely cut off from the outside world, like a place isolated from everything. In the darkness, Yuan felt his entire body was about to explode.

He coughed up blood amidst the rubble. The viscous liquid mixed with tiny particles, he didn't know if they were his fragments or dust from the powder.

He tried to raise his hand to wipe his eyes but saw his festering palm stuck to small stone fragments emitting a faint glow.

He called it a glow, but it was so faint it was almost nonexistent. Yuan didn't know how he could see these things in the dark ruins.

However, he knew he seemed to have survived.

"Breathe... keep breathing..."

He murmured to the darkness. Each inhale felt like swallowing hot cinders, pain surging through every cell of his body.

Yuan endured, forcing himself to reduce the sound of his breathing. He concentrated all his attention on his ears, wanting to hear the sounds of mining within the cave.

If there were any, he would have a sliver of hope for rescue. Unfortunately, everything outside was deathly silent.

"It seems not only this abandoned mine, but the one at the bottom also collapsed. Even if the Kingdom doesn't abandon this place, they'll be powerless to continue in the short term."

Yuan seemed to accept his fate and gave up struggling. In the darkness, his face was calm and expressionless, as if he had long since resigned himself to life and death.

"Grandma, I really have to go down early to wait for you now. So tired, so much pain." Yuan, seemingly having lost his will, began to ramble incoherently.

"Child, what's wrong?"

"Grandma?"

Yuan suddenly startled awake. He thought he heard the voice of his grandmother. He widened his eyes, wanting to see her in this final moment of his life.

"Child, believe in life, believe in hope. Life itself is the greatest miracle in this world."

At the brink of death, Yuan seemed to see the old woman swaying in her rocking chair. His previously vacant eyes shone with a brilliance they had never possessed before.

Outside the planet, the Taotie, rushing as fast as possible, finally arrived at the barren star system. The battleship stopped outside Yuan's planet, and various equipment began to be assembled.

"Hurry up, start scanning the planet's situation."

"Taotie Civilization Seventh Vanguard Battleship · Abyss Eye detection array is performing a scan."

"Divine River Body's pre-core civilization, no super-soldiers discovered, no creations above the astronaut level."

"Remaining life signals less than one million, daily decay rate reaches 97.6% under non-war conditions, suspected to have encountered an extinction-level disaster."

"Warning! Warning! Gamma ray concentration: 5.7 × 10^4 μSv/h (497 times the Divine River Body's safety threshold)

Neutron radiation flow: 3.2 × 10^11 particles/cm² per second (can penetrate alloy armor)

High concentration radioactive material: High-level abnormal energy pulses detected (12 stable fluctuations per second)"

"Oh, for Death God Karl's sake, Commander Cole, we have a situation."

As the detection reports were released one by one, several Taotie soldiers lost control and shouted.

"Shut up, report the situation!"

"Sir, these Divine River Bodies have gone mad. They're detonating nuclear bombs on the planet's surface. They're destroying themselves." Hearing this, Cole's brow furrowed.

"What nonsense are you spouting? How could a backward, primitive civilization detonate nuclear bombs? Tell me, did you sneak into the VR room again?"

"It's true, sir, just look."

As he spoke, he swiped his right hand, and the screen, which was originally only a few inches in size, was enlarged to the command center.

Seeing the flashing warnings and red area markers on the screen, all the Taotie widened their eyes.

"With a population base of less than one hundred million, the abnormal decrease under non-war conditions is so rapid."

"Such a massive radiation range, have these Divine River Bodies truly gone mad?"

"Slap!"

Cole slapped his forehead, murmuring thoughtfully.

"The Beast Body lost the Form War unfairly back then. These Divine River Bodies are truly inhuman. Crazier than the Beast Body, with higher brain development, how could they not win?"

"Wuwu~"

"Wuwu~"

"Wuwu~ Warning! Warning!"

"Super-level energy detected, undergoing detection."

"Abnormal gravitational field fluctuations detected!"

"Massive dark energy fluctuations detected, Commander, please be on alert!"

"Warning!"