Making Up for a Mistake

The canyon was thick with the smell of gunpowder and blood, along with the panicked, blustering cries of wounded soldiers from Jian City who could no longer move. Wei Keng, meanwhile, had to deal with overturned cars, injured Dragon Horses, and Mechanical War Beasts that needed finishing off.

Faced with equipment scattered across the ground, Wei Keng picked up a captured Assault Rifle. Following the tutorial provided by the system, he disassembled and reassembled it, then chose a prominent boulder two hundred meters away as his target and fired a Calibration Shot.

After firing a few bursts, Wei Keng still held to his earlier opinion: if used properly, this weapon could cause him enormous casualties. It was just that the force sent to punish him had no combat cohesion at all. Their machine gunner had been sniped, and no one even took his place!

Throughout the battle after the White-Bearded Commander's vehicle overturned, no more than eight people in the unit had fired effectively at Wei Keng—that is, shouldered their guns and aimed at him with the sights aligned.

Besides, Wei Keng had a cheat of his own. When those eight men aimed at him, the system highlighted their threatening trajectories in his field of vision ahead of time. The snipers killed them a fraction of a second before they could fire.

The infantry from Jian City lay flat on the ground, while mortar shells rained down from the sky. The other armored cars became obstacles with no purpose. Their drivers had probably spent so long fighting easy battles from the safety of their steel shells that they had no understanding of a battlefield. When they encountered artillery capable of destroying them, they either whipped around or tried to go up the nearby slope and find another way around.

The cars that turned around crashed into other horse carriages. In their attempts to flee, they floored the accelerator and crushed their Dragon Horses to death.

The cars that tried to take the slope clearly lacked the skill. As the vehicles tilted with the hillside, their wheels jolted against a large rock and they lost their balance completely, rolling straight down the slope until all four tires pointed skyward.

They were so hopeless that Wei Keng simply had the machine guns join in the suppression.

The Wei Keng Brigade had originally intended to use Guerrilla Warfare, flanking the enemy and harassing them. Now they were heading down the mountain, bent over with Submachine Guns in hand.

It should have been a stretch of ground soaked in blood. Wei Keng ran from three hundred meters to eighty in a full minute, yet encountered no incoming fire along the way.

Only five Wei Kengs were hit in the battle. Since they wore Kevlar Helmets and Bulletproof Vests with Ceramic Plates from the first batch of supplies, the bullets generally failed to penetrate their armor. One Wei Keng was unlucky enough to take a shot to the shoulder, the only casualty.

Once Wei Keng had deployed the Infantry Squad at the front, the Submachine Guns, with their high-capacity magazines, raked the enemy at close range. The men scattered in panic, fleeing through an opening Wei Keng had left for them. They left behind 78 wounded and 14 corpses.

Fifteen minutes after the battle ended, far behind the battlefield.

At the main Production Base, Wei Keng received the system's battle report and went over to Fang Hong and Zeng He. He asked somewhat tactfully, "Um, do you know Kaomu, the white-haired old man?"

Fang Hong furrowed his brow. "He belongs to the Military Faction in the council. He's always called for more military spending in the city."

Zeng He asked, "What's wrong? Was he the Commander-in-Chief of the force sent to punish you?"

Wei Keng nodded. "Are you two familiar with him?"

Zeng He shook her head. "Not really. That old man is extremely stubborn." She thought Wei Keng wanted her to help open a dialogue, so she immediately turned down the task. The thought of that old man's cruel, contemptuous face when speaking to her after she had been taken prisoner made her feel awful.

Fang Hong, on the other hand, was kind enough to offer to speak on Wei Keng's behalf, apparently wanting to help him. But Zeng He stopped him and shook her head, telling him to stay out of it.

Wei Keng paused, then said, "Um, I just had an Encounter Battle with him."

Zeng He froze and hurried to ask him what had happened. Fang Hong stopped her this time, looking at Wei Keng and signaling for him to explain.

Wei Keng took a deep breath. "The battle ended in a draw. He and I earned each other's respect, so the issue is resolved. I think you can go home tomorrow. Do you need any local specialties? Small Chili, Native Ginger, or Peanut Oil?" Peanut Oil was pressed from plants with peanut genes.

Fang Hong and Zeng He stared at each other, bewildered.

Wei Keng had asked each of the prisoners about Kaomu. None of them knew him well. It seemed that the stubborn old man wasn't very popular. Wei Keng thought, No one's coming after me for revenge.

After the Wei Keng Consciousness Cluster realized the matter had been completely settled and felt utterly relieved, a sudden wave of anxiety and pain swept through the entire cluster. This intense Consciousness Warning Pain seemed to mean—maybe?—that the Wei Kengs did not want to admit that one of their own had died.

And now something like this was happening in the northwest.

In the forest, a Liquid Mass three meters in diameter was digesting Wei Keng.

This Wei Keng belonged to the Reconnaissance Team. While the Wei Keng Collective had focused most of its attention on the Human Forces of Jian City to the east, the Wei Kengs stationed in the northwest had only been organized into Standard Squads of ten. As a result, when the situation suddenly deteriorated, the Collective's attention was spread far too thin.

If Wei Keng had not made an enemy of Jian City—or if the two sides had reached a Peace Agreement sooner—his plan would have sent a Hundred-Person Level force to conduct a Sweep Exploration of the mountains and forests, eliminating this threat in advance. But who could have predicted what would happen?

The trapped Wei Keng was convulsing violently. Nerves inside the bubble wormed into his ears, nose, and mouth, trying to connect with his consciousness.

This individual Wei Keng had fallen into a beautiful illusion where everything was perfect. The palace was pure gold, not one flower had wilted, and the water in the pond was sweet. A captivating woman chatted with him, gently asking him question after question. But warnings from his consciousness constantly reminded him that he was under the influence of Truth Serum.

The bliss lasted only a short while. After he resisted stubbornly, he suddenly plunged into an abyss. Thunder, Electric Current, and the sensation of his body crumbling inch by inch crashed down on him. A colossal figure loomed over him, demanding his submission. That condescending attempt to lecture him seemed to strike a nerve in the Wei Keng who had been captured.

Half an hour later,

the Large Droplet stopped its interrogation.

It spat out Wei Keng, who was half-melted, with his head shrunk by a third. Something contracted inside its body, and several black, blade-like limbs sprang out, giving it the appearance of a spider.

A face gradually surfaced on the flowing body of the spider-like Large Droplet. Beside it, a figure with a dark green body and eyes protruding like snail tentacles approached. The two exchanged information through neurons that touched and connected.

They had learned very little about these Wei Kengs, only a few scraps of imagery: tall buildings, subways, and other ways of traveling quickly through the world of civilization as it had once been.

The spider and the one with snail-like eyes were known by the Scientific Name Fused Humans in this world.

Before the Pandora Era, humans had been the only species whose brains could produce Complex Consciousness, and their population had reached eight billion. As a result, groups in different regions had acquired this excellent human genetic type. Whenever a group needed individuals with High Intelligence and logical reasoning ability, they used human genes to create Fused Humans, who looked extremely strange to Natural Humans.

But most humans themselves did not understand consciousness, thought, or intelligence. Before the Great Cataclysm, Global Public Opinion served a small number of rulers, and the prevailing trends encouraged human desires to make the masses easier to control.

As long as society had not reached a Spiritual Realm where people were no longer swayed by lowly interests in their consumption and planning, most conscious humans would still act according to their animal instincts.

So after the Pandora Field collectivized humanity's accumulated resources and created Fused Humans, they had not really surpassed this limit either.

They had captured a Wei Keng and tried, as they had before, to control him by manipulating his External Senses through his nerves. For the first time, it had failed to produce the desired effect.

The two Fused Humans were at a loss.

Meanwhile, Wei Keng, twitching beneath the ground, could no longer tell day from night or whether he was still trapped in the illusion. He kept struggling, holding on with his last ounce of strength.

To the east, the Wei Keng Brigade, fresh from fighting Jian City, was on a Forced March. To find the best route and ensure there were no ambushes ahead, the Wei Keng headquarters had also sent out numerous small detachments to penetrate the Route Nodes one by one and scout the way for the main force.

The Wei Keng Collective had to save those versions of itself, but it absolutely would not repeat the mistake it had made at Jian City. The route had to be explored.

Wei Keng had set himself a goal: he had to Forced March one hundred kilometers within a day and night.

The Forced March record in the Main World was 72.5 kilometers of mountain road in fourteen hours.

Wei Keng was racing to save a life, and he pushed himself to close the distance. Still, he had some confidence. The soldiers who had set that record certainly weren't in as good shape as he was. He was uniformly 1.9 meters tall, with longer strides. And he was traveling light, carrying only a rifle. The Grenade Launchers, Mortars, and Heavy Machine Guns would follow with the Second Wave.

After bandaging himself up, Wei Keng began running as hard as he could. After seven kilometers, the soles of his feet had swollen. Blisters had formed, and the pain felt like flesh being scraped with a dull knife. At the same time, his calves ached as if countless ants were crawling through his veins.

After twenty kilometers, the pain in his feet had faded into numbness and his legs had begun to ache. At thirty kilometers, his legs were trembling with soreness. By forty kilometers, his legs were moving mechanically, and some of his other selves were beginning to hurt.

The weapons trembled faintly against their bodies, rattling softly in time with the marching column. No other sound broke the silence. As the suffering Wei Keng sent back more indescribable pain through their consciousness, and the temptation to give in grew stronger with each approach to their limits, their desire to survive forced them to keep running. Faced with the choice between enduring torture and pushing through exhaustion, the Wei Keng Group chose the latter.

After a full day and night, something seemed to change. The exhaustion had spread through their bodies and built to its peak. Then, suddenly, something seemed to activate. The flesh of their abdomen and thighs appeared to turn into Liquid Cells and flow toward their muscles.

After a System Analysis, they received good news: they had once again activated Superhuman Life Activity.

After reading the information, Wei Keng sighed. "The physical laws here aren't the same as in the Main World. There's Life Radiation here, so my Forced March can't really be compared to one in the Main World."

Bai Linglu was busy again. This case would be enough for her to write several high-value research papers.

In this world, if a Gene Colony had a sufficiently powerful will, it was very difficult to kill it simply by exhausting it. Once some tissues fell below a certain threshold, other cells would supply them through the Unified Life Radiation Field. All Higher Animals in Life Radiation now had the Restoration Power of an amoeba.

Wei Keng's abdominal and thigh fat cells were rapidly consuming Organic Matter. The sugars and Lipids produced by the breakdown traveled through his bodily fluids to the muscle cells, repairing them rapidly under the effects of the Life Radiation Field. This Forced March would cost him only seven or eight pounds of fat.

By the twenty-eighth hour of the march, the ache had returned to his thighs, and the soles of his feet hurt again. But now he had an inexhaustible well of energy.

When all endurance was close to its limit, what kept someone going wasn't the hope that the one inflicting the pain would become merciful. It was the certainty that they had more and more strength to resist. That was why people could push their limits higher, layer by layer, surpassing their previous thresholds.

By the thirty-sixth hour, they had covered a hundred and fifty kilometers. Wei Keng's pain gradually faded. This time it wasn't numbness; it was the itchy sensation of flesh healing. Thick calluses must have formed on the soles of his feet, almost like a pair of shoes.

When they were only sixty kilometers away, the Wei Kengs could clearly sense the one who had been captured, still alive. It felt as if he were at the end of his strength and could vanish at any moment. The marching Wei Kengs said nothing and tried to pick up the pace. Their breathing grew deeper, though they dared not open their mouths, or they would lose water.

Meanwhile, the Symbiotic Group had crossed two hills and stopped beside a lake. The Supply Beasts that had come along tore down one tree after another, then sprayed them with foul-smelling gastric juices and wrapped them in leaves like silkworm cocoons.

Two hours later, the Wood Fiber inside the cocoons would break down, allowing the beasts to swallow it in great gulps. Once full, they would bring themselves before the stronger members of the group, offering them a chance to insert a tube and draw blood.

Compared to Wei Keng's flying Long-Distance Raid, this Southern Gene Colony was practically out on a leisurely stroll. It had moved only ten kilometers in the past two days.

And in the middle of that group, the captured Wei Keng survivor was being wrapped by the spider for the eighth time.

Because his own Collective was drawing nearer, this battered Wei Keng had sensed its approach. But now, under torture, he was no longer like he had been at first, desperately hoping that rescue would come soon and clinging to hope.

After all these days, he had accepted reality. There was no more wishful thinking. When his Collective drew close, the enemy would certainly kill him.

Even so, the battered Wei Keng was still holding on. But why was he holding on now?

Feeling the nerve tendrils reaching toward him again inside the bubble, Wei Keng, already blind and deaf, snarled, "You've tortured me for so many days. I want to see you give up in frustration and admit defeat like a bunch of cowards."