EP3 Turbulence: Roaring Tides

How much are people willing to pay for a mere illusion?

FE204863 crossed his arms and stared at the dark computer screen. At this moment, he was completely offline, having left Extreme Bliss Space and returned to the Tindarros Hounds' staff dormitory.

The ending was already written the moment the seabirds took flight from the beach.

The 378,000 square kilometers of land, like the Red Star Hill scientific research station, has become a land of the dead.

Two fighters engage in their final duel on the cross-sea bridge.

Bare-handed against bare-handed, soul against soul.

Youth and old age, humanity and machines.

Starting from the artificial island in Haitang Bay, let's take a ride on a bird and look around. There, we see a reddish expanse of jagged mineral rocks, which, due to years of geological activity, have become dangerously layered mountains. And between these mountains, there is a magnificent and imposing bridge.

It connects the mainland of Honshu Island with Kanto City, heading northeast. The railway extends to Kitagawa, and in its most prosperous and flourishing era, it only took four hours for warriors to board the train from the front lines of the unknown territory and return to the Nine Realms.

On the bridge, the meteor and the gale have reached their final round.

What appears to be an incredibly simple binary opposition—red blood energy and azure lightning splitting into two streams of energy—contains a myriad of strange physical phenomena in their collision.

A dazzling sonic and optical phenomenon erupted between their fists, and powerful shockwaves repeatedly assaulted their senses.

In an empty square, engaging in a life-or-death battle with an old man—this seems to be the typical ending of many adventure games.

Players are always the winners; even if they suffer ten or a hundred defeats, they always have a reason not to lose.

Meteor's health bar is almost empty, and Gale's battery is critically low.

In just one hundred and twenty seconds, this extremely intense battle of soul power was already about to determine a victor.

--The same was true of the psionic duel between Jiang Xueming and Kang Que Johnny.

When a spirit's power reaches a certain critical point, enabling it to deliver a punch with an impact force of 1,800 pounds and to break the speed of sound during movement, the entire match will quickly enter its final stage.

At this point, the only factor determining victory or defeat is their individual will.

The difference between human and mechanical beings becomes insignificant in this terrifying clash of psionic powers.

Shimura Chidō had already been struck by a meteor-like punch, and the Brain Injury had pushed him to the Gate of Death.

After continuous high-pressure battles, Bu Liuxing was exhausted and could only rely on his passion to keep his body and soul afloat.

They didn't speak, didn't roar, or scream hysterically. The whole process was very quiet, with only the collision of spirits remaining.

What is Shimura Chidō really thinking?

Meteor doesn't care about these things; that's another story, a document left in the river of time, waiting for historians and researchers in the Arcane Library to excavate.

When Mr. Wei Meng and the psionic form of the ninja clashed and became entangled, the resulting mental pollution almost brought Meteor to tears.

He could sense how unwilling the elderly man with the gray beard before him was to accept this situation.

As Brother Xue Ming previously said, the clash between two Soul Powers is like two swordsmen with superb swordsmanship; when their blades collide, they may be able to understand each other's intentions.

Shimura Chidō's psychic characteristics are very distinct—it is so bitter that it makes Meteor feel cold in his mouth and nose.

Heaven knows just how sad and aggrieved this old man must have been for his soul power to possess such spiritual energy.

Perhaps without verification, a little thought and putting yourself in Qian Tang's shoes—who he really is, what his position and type of soldier are in the Fen Feng Legion —might reveal part of the reason.

According to the organization of Guangling Zhixi, this old man should be a special agent of the Fen Feng Legion, and together with the assault team led by Fen Feng and the rapid reaction force where Isoragi Meiku is located, they are considered the three sharp weapons of Shinto City to deal with the Madness Butterfly and the Disaster Beast.

Shimura Chidō has red blood flowing through his veins. He retains most of the essence of Homo sapiens, yet he constantly attacks and belittles Homo sapiens, like a loyal tomb keeper.

After the ascension process was executed, most of the life in the Shinto City went to live in the Extreme Bliss Space. Shimura Chidō is probably the only maintenance manager still alive in the human world. He has the highest level of authority and is Fen Feng's insurance left in the human world. If one day, Artificial Intelligence completely loses control and becomes a new race, becoming the Homo sapiens, Chido will still be useful.

But loneliness and vulnerability destroyed Shimura Chidō. Like Japan, which suddenly collapsed in 1991, it both hated its own weak humanity and longed for a beautiful deity to take it to true heaven.

In its eyes, its former comrades-in-arms have all died, living on in another form. It needs to continue living with this body containing an extremely high percentage of humans ( by Shinto City standards), constantly designing new scripts and arranging new stories for the birth of Hot Wind.

From 1984 to 2032, those 48 years, more than 17,500 days and nights, could transform a kind and brave human being into an evil and cowardly deity.

FE204863 left this enemy to Bu Liuxing because Sixty-Three believed he was no match for Shimura Chidō. He too was suffering from the torment of time, and without the help of the [Regret Pill], it would be extremely difficult for Xue Ming's physical body to defeat this enemy.

To put it simply and easily—this monster is too disgusting; Sixty-Three doesn't want to eat shit and go to jail, so he's changed his strategy.

--So let's go back to the final round of the meteor shower.

After four rounds of psychic and physical battles, the young man finally gained the upper hand.

Their movements grew slower and slower, and their injuries worsened, yet they still showed no intention of speaking.

This is a war between Homo sapiens and mechanical life. If they can't get it on the battlefield, they can't get it at the negotiating table either—they all understand this principle, so they don't waste any more words.

The final attack was launched by Shimura Chidō. The old man stepped forward, his movements distorted, seizing the moment when the spirits were weakened after the collision. He only took one Young Master Xing, trying to seize this tiny opportunity to turn the tide.

It thought to itself--

--This may be the only chance. Both sides in the duel are already at their limit. If they take another hit, when Liman model completely collapses, his body will be out of control, and calling upon his soul power will be wishful thinking.

We must race against time!

Be faster than this kid, knock him down faster! Defeat him before he's knocked down!

Only in this way can we win.

Faced with the menacing Shimura Chidō, Ryusei hesitated for a moment—

It's not that he's weak, but that his brain can't keep up with his body.

When one's mind is scattered, the hands can't keep up with the eyes, the eyes can't keep up with the brain, and the mind becomes sluggish. One step behind leads to another. This is why Shimura Chidō chose to attack first. In the final moments where victory or defeat can be decided at any time, the side that gains the first move will inevitably have a greater chance of winning.

The expected outcome did not occur. This duel between humans and mechanical life ended like a joke.

Dozens of skuas suddenly stormed into this crucial duel, fiercely and savagely ramming into the two dying fighters.

The meteor's body was shoved and jostled by these aerial bandits, leaving it dizzy and swaying precariously, but it did not completely fall.

Shimura Chidō looked utterly bewildered and incredulous. Most life forms around Shinto City were under strict control. Apart from some ornamental seabirds, such ferocious carnivorous birds wouldn't appear on the list of creatures.

Furthermore, there are bird deterrent devices along the Ginza-Kanto Bridge that use artificial magnetic fields to disrupt the magnetic field lines in birds' eyes, thus driving these birds away to other places and preventing them from colliding with high-speed trains and trams.

Is there something wrong with the bridge's electrical system? And where did these skuas come from?

I clearly issued the order, why hasn't the reinforcement from the Kyoraku Special Squad arrived yet!

Qian Tang couldn't figure it out, and there was no time to think about it anymore!

Its body was riddled with holes, and at this moment it could only watch helplessly as these ferocious birds wreaked havoc on its head.

Unlike a meteor, its brain and body are not rigidly connected. In order to better unleash its soul power, Gale's entire set of artificial bodies does not even have an artificial spine, so it does not even have the chance to become a dog with a broken spine.

Its soft flesh, still smelling of human flesh, was torn apart by sharp claws, its eyeballs pecked out, and it felt a sudden lightness in its body. The moment its skull left its body, the power went out—and that's how it died.

Where did these birds come from?

Let's rewind the timeline to round FE204863.

As the troop carrier passed the long bend of the cross-sea bridge, Sixty-Three deliberately startled a flock of water birds. These birds were landscape features left on the beach by Shinto City, and were docile domestic fowl that had been artificially selected.

When the broken sword fell off the bridge pier and struck a heavier metal mineral with even greater hardness, the temperature changed drastically due to the height difference of over 100 meters, causing it to fracture under stress and break into more than 30 fragments of varying sizes.

The rolled-up cloth and iron blocks were stained with human blood, and these waterbirds, after more than forty generations of evolution, had come to regard the smell of hematite oxide as food, and the rusty smell of human blood as feed in their feeder.

Starting from Red Star Hill in Niflheim, sixteen engineering vessels have been working here to eliminate chiral molecules in the sea, improve the environment, and transform the area into a new port.

Human activity drove skuas from the cold Northern Territory to the south, and these aerial predators were attracted by the carcasses of waterbirds that had died after accidentally ingesting iron.

This is Sixty-Three's solution method. As for how many times he tried, judging from Xue Ming's dwindling battery power, it was at least a hundred attempts and deductions.

The meteor plopped down on the ground and couldn't move anymore.

He watched the head fly further and further away, swatting at the skuas beside him, trying to drive away these bloodthirsty birds. But the birds and beasts of the underworld all had some blood of calamity beasts in them. They devoured and absorbed each other, and were excellent carnivores—they focused on the weak point of the meteor's right arm and attacked fiercely.

Seeing that the red scarf delivered by 3301 was about to be torn to shreds by these beasts, Meteor couldn't even muster the strength to roar.

At this moment, the Black Brother finally stood up for himself.

--The shameless big wolfhound jumped out and let out a low bark.

The skuas immediately scattered, leaving a trail of brownish-gray feathers on the ground.

The young hero couldn't utter a word. Looking at the headless corpse of the ninja who remained motionless, he felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. Only half of the agreed-upon fifteen minutes had passed, and he no longer had the strength to save himself. Ming Ge wouldn't wake up anytime soon either.

What should we do?

Ahei came in very handy at this moment. It dragged Jiang Xueming away from the wreckage of the troop carrier and, with practiced ease, licked out the Universal Elixir from Xue Ming's inner pocket—it knew that this was where the male owner hid things.

Without Meteor even lifting a finger, Ahei, with his sharp teeth, crushed the medicine bottle and then spat it all over Meteor's face. The scene was utterly comical, like being sprayed with a mouthful of salt water.

Meteor had completely lost consciousness. Black Brother grabbed the scarf on his right arm, trying to tear off the fibers that were hindering the wound's healing. But as soon as it started to bite, it realized that even though General of Tears was asleep, he was still holding onto the bright red cloth tightly and wouldn't let go.

Seeing that the scarf was about to grow into the meteor's flesh, Ahei became so anxious that he whimpered and licked his good brother's face repeatedly, but he couldn't wake him up no matter what he did.

Just then, the troop transport vehicles from Ginza finally arrived.

Black Brother became alert and fierce. It swore on its canine nature that if the enemy dared to draw their guns, it would immediately lead the two nameless men away.

The troop carrier looked dilapidated, as if it had been through artillery fire, and it was parked about twenty meters in front of the Black Brother.

--The car door opened, and out stepped a Daoist Master Ping'an also looked listless and had a gloomy face.

His phantom form had sixteen holes, all made of high-temperature vitrified carbon. After fighting countless rounds with these small fry, he finally redeemed himself and proved with his strength that he was indeed a bit weak.

"Walk."

Mr. Ping An spoke succinctly, and together with Black Brother and their dog, they carried Xue Ming and Liu Xing onto the troop transport vehicle, and then headed towards Kanto City.

Within minutes, Xue Ming woke up, right on the fifteen-minute deadline.

"Meteor!"

When he woke up, he was still on alert and immediately pulled out his weapon from his empty gun pocket.

Ping An: "We won!"

Seeing Luo Ping'an in the driver's seat and Bu Liuxing fast asleep, Xue Ming breathed a sigh of relief. He bent down to check Liuxing's right arm injury, took out medical supplies from his bag, and prepared to remove the red thread in his right arm.

While tending to his good brother's wounds, Xue Ming asked Ping An some questions.

"How do we get out of here, Brother Ping An?"

Luo Ping'an: "Leave it to me."

"You have a plan?" Xue Ming analyzed logically, "Getting out of Haofeng Ridge won't be that simple."

The relic of the Shinto City is built on the primordial essence of the Holy Beast. If Xue Ming and Ping An's speculation is correct, there is a mountain god waiting for them around Haofeng Ridge.

This mountain god is very likely a sacred beast transformed from the Pompeii worm after it underwent modification by the Original Seed.

The Lapis Lazuli wolf mother can deal with the Flash Butterfly. In the Mimir Hot Spring Market, Xue Ming saw a holy-level calamity beast, the Great Lion. These beings possess extremely outrageous supernatural powers and are very difficult to kill.

Luo Ping'an, at this very moment, claims to have a way to deal with this thing?

"I'm just relaxing and sightseeing for the whole game, while my main body is charging up in the back." Luo Ping'an frankly stated the current situation. "This clone still has about 49% of its spiritual energy reserves. Although it was beaten to a pulp by these unreasonable electronic androids, it should still be able to unleash one more powerful attack."

Xue Ming didn't understand. "Huh?"

As Luo Ping'an drove, he patted his chest and gave his assurances.

"Trust me, my name is Luo Ping'an, and I'll ensure your safety."

Xue Ming asked, "Do you need my help, Brother Ping An?"

"Yes! You have to do something for me, Ming Ge." Ping An, ever the smooth talker, used an intimate term of endearment with Xue Ming that seemed to come from a different generation. "I have a mold here that you can use with your soul power."

He saw a small black box being tossed into Xue Ming's arms. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the groove of the mold resembled a sword-shaped object about the length of a palm and the thickness of two fingers.

"What are they trying to do?" Xue Ming couldn't understand.

Without turning his head, Luo Ping'an pointed to two huge weapon crates inside the troop carrier. What were originally the Hayabusa MiniGun ammunition magazines had now been filled with iron sand by Luo Ping'an using his Soul Power. On the other side was a clay pot, three layers in total, with the circuitry of the troop carrier's MCFC fuel cell connected to it, turning it into a simple induction furnace.

Luo Ping'an initially appeared embarrassed with a playful smile.

"I left in a hurry and didn't bring many magical treasures, only a piece of Mingde's remains. I bumped into Meteor Boy, who was fully armed, when I got on the bus. I felt quite embarrassed, so I'd like to trouble you—"

He immediately changed his expression, his face turning cold and stern, and handed the two broken pieces of the ruler to Xue Ming.

"--Forge a sword for me."