Mission① Staff, Part One

Foreword:

People become smarter after experiencing setbacks, but they don't become richer.

[Part 1: Poisonous Seeds and Poisonous Flowers]

In the remote suburbs of Eureka Volcano City.

The lights were dim, the houses were dilapidated, and the King of Cinder's grace would descend upon this land after ten o'clock.

In the last deep darkness before dawn, two unfortunate people squatted in front of an empty building.

There was a man and a woman. The man was a mercenary from the Arctic Fox Gang. To put it nicely, he was a mercenary; to put it bluntly, he was a barefoot laborer who did things for money.

The woman was a dancer at the Gypsy Nightclub, located at No. 113 Xiye Street. To put it nicely, she was a dancer; to put it bluntly, she was a prostitute who sang and drank with customers.

They agreed that once they had earned enough money, they would buy a house in Eureka and live together as a couple.

After living like this for thirty-three years, when the men became weak and powerless, and the women grew old and faded, they paid money to the Mercy Society and the Flower Chess Bank to purchase a happy little home.

But in the end, the building project was abandoned.

The man, optimistic and naive, squatted in front of the irrigation ditch of the unfinished building, shoulder to shoulder with the woman.

"Don't be discouraged, honey! I'll hand over my salary to the landlord as soon as the boss pays me!"

"I got a job and I got to live in the landlord's house! I got the best of both worlds! Isn't that brilliant?!"

When a woman is pessimistic and depressed, she leans on a man and holds his hand.

"I feel so lost. What's the point of working so hard to earn money by selling myself?"

"I don't understand, where did I go wrong?"

"Is this karma? But sometimes there aren't that many options."

"I come to see it every few months."

She held her lover's arm and pointed to the building that was not yet topped out.

"For money, I crawled on the ground and shook my ass; for money, I endured so much humiliation, but I couldn't help fantasizing that one day..."

Her fingernails were digging almost into her lover's arm, drawing blood.

"If it gets better someday, we'll decorate the house together. You can move the tables and chairs, and I'll fix the paper-cut window decorations—"

Immediately following was a barrage of vicious curses.

"--So many people have called me a rotten chicken! I hate it!"

This is just one of the countless ordinary people in Eureka Volcano City.

Unbeknownst to the star-crossed lovers, beneath the rising fireball in the city center, a dozen eerie, demonic stars began to dance. The Red Butterfly Avatar would slowly transform the city into a paradise for Madness Butterfly.

At that time, all injustice and unfairness, all kindness or evil, all beauty or ugliness, whether perpetrator or victim, prey or hunter, would become pure primordial matter, becoming rolling Red Sea.

The concentration of Spirit Calamity is rapidly increasing. From the direction of Blue Lake Development Zone in the southeast, in the lake surrounded by egrets in the wealthy villa area, an elevator rises up. This is the exit of the White Ape.

Wen Bucai frowned and pushed his heavy motorcycle out.

He was dressed in Flash Butterfly Armor, his guns and ammunition neatly arranged, and he carried a new club he had forged for himself. He looked towards the distant city, where the fiery red sky seemed to foreshadow the arrival of some extremely evil life form.

"Chef! What is that thing?"

The nameless people in the theater looked around blankly, and could see the blood-red stars falling from the domed palace.

Bu Liuxing's tone was urgent and anxious; he could sense the concentration of Spirit Calamity in the environment skyrocketing.

Jason Megan pulled out both paper reading notes and her cell phone from her backpack at the same time.

His Lapis Lazuli was glowing, and his extraordinary Inspiration allowed him to glimpse the edges of a colossal tower of flesh and blood. In the ravines of the Pompeii Sea, there seemed to be a great life that had never shown itself, echoing his vision!

"This is the incarnation of the Madness Butterfly!"

Before he could finish speaking, Jason felt a sharp pain in his eyes. He was hiding inside the blast wall of the outpost, about four kilometers away from the nearest Flash Butterfly. However, the psionic energy fluctuations emitted by the rapid transformation of these mythical units into human flesh were almost destroying Jason's fragile nerves!

He screamed and howled, then suddenly straightened up, his Flash Butterfly Armor popped off, revealing a terrified expression, and crimson blood flowed from his mouth and nose.

However, the anonymous man's colleagues were already used to it.

It's normal for this old guy to bleed from all seven orifices when he encounters a mythical unit.

Jason's waitress Katusha, reacted quickly, shutting down her employer's psionic Wi-Fi. Twenty-four Lapis Lazuli were ripped from Jason's wrist, and he immediately regained consciousness.

He covered his mouth and nose in a daze and vomited in front of everyone, scattering the delicacies from the White Ape canteen onto the street outside the theater, where they were evenly smeared on the bluestone bricks along with the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood.

Just ten seconds later, Jason immediately perked up, pulled down his helmet again, and turned on the radio to notify the various units.

Jason's hurried and tense explanation came from the azure helmet adorned with a blue-green wolf pattern.

"This is the incarnation of the Madness Butterfly! I don't know what medium Kang Que Johnny used to create it! I've seen this kind of malevolent spiritual pressure more than once."

"The Blessed Holy Blood requires a stable environment and a continuous supply of human flesh to maintain the host's powerful physique. Many degraded transit stations have lost their original names because these places are no longer habitable and need to be re-explored."

"These towns bear the marks of the Madness Butterfly Sect's previous rampage. They used various evil rituals and methods to perform [Reunification] sacrifices, giving the Madness Butterfly a large amount of primordial essence. The slightly better ones were simply turned into dead cities, becoming Red Flash Butterfly spreading the Vita Imprint."

"When the situation gets extremely bad, an [avatar] will appear --"

"--If the psionicist in the ritual refuses to [unify], they will become extremely powerful individuals. These mythical units are different from the calamity beasts; they have collected the primordial energy from the ritual, possessing immense destructive power and vitality. They can directly destroy the minds of Homo sapiens and transform flesh and blood into Madness Butterfly. They are messengers of the gods."

Jiang Xueming asked over the radio, "Are there any combat records?"

Jason Megan: "Very rare! So ancient! Only written records exist."

Jiang Xueming: "I want to know how to kill them. I can't find the term '[Flash Butterfly]' in <The Great Rift of All Things>."

Jason Megan: "Because it's not a calamity beast, it's a natural disaster! More like a climate phenomenon! An unstoppable natural disaster! The last people who encountered the [Flash Butterfly] in the Unknown Borderlands were the assault team from over a hundred years ago. The best way for them to deal with this was to run away, wait until the psionic tides in the region calmed down, and wait until the flesh and blood were completely transformed. Once these high-energy mythical life forms lost their food, they would return to the embrace of the Original Seed."

The brief silence lasted for a few seconds.

Mr. Jason was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. His reading notes were like a dictionary. His unique way of storing knowledge was to carry the catalog of the Arcane Library with him. As long as he saw the title of a book, he could roughly recall the specific content he needed to look up and immediately switch to his mobile phone to search for the electronic version.

"Yes! The reason it's a natural disaster is that the regions where [Flash Butterfly] appear will inevitably have Original Seed!"

Jason drew his dagger and began to paint along the long street of Theater Street.

"Whether it's an earthquake, a tsunami, or a cave collapse, demonic tentacles will extend from the depths of the earth, like branches of the World Tree, to welcome the messengers of the gods home."

[Part ②: Divine Messengers and Apostles]

Just now, he had a flash of Inspiration: in the deep trenches of the Pompeii Sea, there were enormous creatures similar to those in the Niflheim Ravine.

That's Mother Earth's hair, her organ for communicating with the outside world.

"All the various primordial polymers created by the Flash Butterfly, whether they are scattered little butterflies or [Apostles] that resemble flesh and blood inlays—in the end, they must all be returned to the Original Seed. She will personally come to inspect this batch of goods."

Jason finally finished drawing the high-speed photography in his mind.

--With four major ports counting past the seaside street as a backdrop, a Dashan rises from the Pompeii Sea, its golden spherical lightning bolts converging into eyes, like nerve synapses coming together.

It is almost thousands of meters high, with complex and intertwined ridges like the fur of a giant beast, and irregular, indescribable lumps of flesh swaying with the waves, trying to cover the entire sky.

Fifteen angels will lead countless Red Flash Butterfly slowly toward their mother's embrace.

On the beach facing the Pompeii Sea, there are nearly thousands of flesh-and-blood mutants of varying sizes. These [Apostles] are inferior creations of the Vita Imprint, chimeras derived from reverse genetic engineering in accordance with the reproductive logic of mammals.

At birth, every baby is connected to its mother by an umbilical cord and undergoes a period of chimerism.

With the advancement of genetic engineering testing technology in modern society, a very small number of mature chimeras have been discovered living around us. They possess two different DNAs—people who have undergone bone marrow transplants are artificial chimeras.

The "Apostles" Jason mentioned are the psychics who are still alive in Eureka Volcano City. If these psychics are attacked by the "Flash Butterfly," their essences will merge and become grotesque creatures with fused flesh and blood, similar to the "Thousand Heads," which are strange life forms created by the divine messengers.

A deathly silence enveloped the anonymous radio station.

Time was short, and everyone was waiting for Jason Megan to finish explaining the strategic intelligence.

They need to learn more, to understand the characteristics of these enemies, and to try to adapt to the powerful spiritual pressure of the seaside road.

"So, you mean we have to evacuate all the ordinary citizens here?" Hasben asked over the radio. "How much time do we have?"

Jason Megan replied, "I don't know! There's very little information available in the database!"

Tang Ning then asked, "How were those abandoned border transit stations built?"

Jason said, "There's no way around it. Once the Vita Imprint starts spreading, we'll need massive amounts of White Lady products to cure the infectious disease. Even with virus-blocking equipment, ordinary people would go crazy staying in a place like this for too long."

Jiang Xueming arrived at the drawing Jason had made.

"You mean we need to deal with the [Flash Butterfly] as soon as possible and eliminate these fifteen mythical units?"

Jason nodded, his tone serious.

"Leader."

This was the first time he had called Xue Ming his leader, and he only hoped it wouldn't be the last.

"According to the records and comprehensible descriptions found in the Arcane Library —they are not afraid of sunlight or iron; human warriors who dared to slash at them were instead wounded by their own swords. Their vitality is extremely strong; they can quickly find fresh primordial energy to repair their wounds, like cockroaches on Universal Elixir drip, constantly receiving injections. Perhaps only flowing flames, like water, poured into the bodies of these monsters can heal them."

Xue Ming: "Can I chop it up? Fry it into dozens of pieces? Or cut it in half?"

Jason nodded immediately. "Yes, yes! Yes, yes, yes! Yes! There's an example! In mythology, Vancleef's human companion, the broadsword ranger, once killed the [Flash Butterfly]. It was a huge blade as wide as a gate, heated to a golden-red in volcanic lava, cleaving the terrifying demon in two, sealing off all life before the wound could heal."

"Got it, fire enchantment." Xue Ming sat down next to Jason, not in a hurry at all, as if he were saying, "Sharpening the axe before chopping wood is never too late." "Any other characteristics?"

"We absolutely cannot lose!" Jason emphasized confidently. "We absolutely cannot lose! If the Original Seed climb ashore, not a single person will survive in this city—do you know how those hybrid monsters are created? Your bear-man students, the crow people, and the little shark from the White Ape."

"Their ancestors were all residents of the Dead City who had undergone sacrificial rituals. They survived the sacrificial activities of the Madness Butterfly. These cheap blood-giving units could not find food and could only eat wild animals. After the Blessed Holy Blood went out of control, they became patients with the Beast Transformation Disease. Some lucky ones were able to regain their sanity, receive treatment, and reintegrate into human society, leaving behind children of hybrid calamity beasts."

"They are witnesses to these tombstones. If we cannot defeat these Flash Butterfly, these Original Seed that emerge from the sea, from underground, and from the deepest crevices of the rocks, they will turn everyone into flowers of flesh and blood. The people in the surrounding areas may be lucky enough to survive, but they will never have a peaceful day again and will suffer the torment of mental anguish."

Bu Liuxing: "Then let's beat these bastards to a pulp!"

Jiang Xueming blew his whistle, which meant "to assemble."

--Shadows fell from all sides of the house, and two familiar faces squeezed in from the fleeing crowd outside the street corner. It was Tang Ning and Hasben returned.

Sporadic gunshots rang out in the distance, and swarms of blood-red butterflies could be seen rising from the sky above the community—time was running out for the nameless man.

"Meteor, you and I will swap equipment." Jiang Xueming handed Berloberg to his younger brother and brought out the Iron Knight.

Bu Liuxing picked up his greatsword, unaware of his elder brother's intentions.

Xue Ming was almost using both his hands and his mouth to issue orders to everyone present at the same time.

Fingers flew across the radio terminal's keyboard, while speech relayed other instructions via multiple lines.

"According to Jason Megan's archives, Meteor could severely Flash Butterfly with Berloberg. I believe you are no weaker than the legendary Claymore Ranger. We need to split up and contain the activity range of these mythical units one by one, using any explosives in the surrounding shops and houses, and the heavy firepower of the armory, to find a way to kill these freaks."

"The Flash Butterfly Armor Suit has a BR-4 level of protection, but it can only protect against bullets. It cannot defend against the Vita Imprint's erosion or psionic impacts. Therefore, Robert Tang Ning, I need you to leave this city immediately, find a way to contact the BOSS, and make the emergency Summoning Bell of the Nine Realms ring. We need reinforcements. Notify Mr. Wen Bucai to rush to the scene for disaster relief, and have the armored forces break the blockade of Eureka Canyon Pass."

"Everyone else—a terrain map has appeared on the multimedia panel of your Flash Butterfly Armor. This is a tactical map I drew, with most food stalls marked, allowing you to locate deadly fire sources, and red and blue lines indicating some electrical equipment, oil and gas stations, and gas pipelines."

"The armory is located in the southwest of the city. I used the Spirit Calamity Indicator to create a simple radar using triangulation, which can show the nearest Flash Butterfly. However, we can also locate them with the naked eye. They are either flying in the sky or hiding among the Madness Butterfly."

"They are not invincible. Although there is no combat record of modern firepower clashing with [Flash Butterfly], humanity cannot regress. The arsenal has Russian PG-7VRs and the entire RPG-7 family. Thermobaric rounds can definitely kill them, but there are only twelve in stock. The key is how to cut off their wings and make them obediently take the hits. Xiao Qi, you need to find a way to transport these things to your comrades so they can deliver the final blow. Don't touch the two Panther Tank in the Snow Owl arsenal. Those things can't cover the entire city and can't catch up with flying units. They might be stopped by nosy civilians, causing unnecessary casualties."

"Take action! Take action now!"

Xue Ming emphasized--

"--We are completely unfamiliar with both the Flash Butterfly and Apostle units, but there's no time to slowly search for their Gate of Death. This situation is dangerous."

The vehicles on site started moving, and no one spoke in the squad channel, all understanding the gunsmith's unspoken meaning.

The vehicles sped out of the alleyways of Theater Street and then raced through different parts of the city to find the Flash Butterfly and fight against the demon incarnation.

Xue Ming added over the radio.

"I hope to see you again alive, my comrades."