Chapter 268

The surviving players are the ones who have struck gold. They possess bloodline skills and can level up using Bloodline Object, which is much simpler than the Defense Force's own training methods.

The key issue is that you can only have one bloodline skill at a time under normal circumstances. Should the upperclassmen use it?

Yuki began to make extravagant selections, and after obtaining the relevant information, the Psychic Warrior found themselves unsuited to them.

As the name suggests, Psychic Warrior are warriors who use soul energy. However, unlike Yuki who is burned as fuel, these warriors are trained in a more specialized way, such as using soul fields, telepathic communication, psychic blades, and physical Hollowfication.

To put it simply, they are a group of high-tech sorcerers. Soul energy is equivalent to magic, and the application of 'magic' will have different development directions. Of course, the most basic application is to use energy to penetrate the body to obtain stronger strength, speed and reaction.

"A mage, or rather a Jedi, it's a pity I can't acquire another bloodline skill." Yuki sighed. He had a lot of 'magic power', but lacked the skills to use it, making its utilization inefficient.

But thinking back, if I hadn't been Demon Possession, I wouldn't have been able to accumulate so much soul energy; it's a chicken-and-egg philosophical question.

"Forget it, we're not at the level of being picky yet. Hayasaka and I can't use it, but we'll improve the others as much as we can." Yuki chuckled self-deprecatingly. Even if the bloodline of the Psychic Warrior wasn't a perfect match, the most basic usage combined with the player's abilities was enough to get them into the Transcendental Grade level.

Below the Transcendental Grade, it's too difficult to survive in this instance.

The three did not object. Psychic Warrior naturally have different training directions, so there was no need to worry about their skills becoming homogenized.

All done. Now I just have to wait for the commander-in-chief to come find me.

Yuki stretched and paced around the room. The airship was flying so smoothly that he couldn't feel any turbulence.

Before he had taken more than a few steps, there was a knock on the door. When Yuki opened it, he discovered that it wasn't Chris had come to see him.

"Madam, are you alright?"

A blonde, silver-eyed mature woman stood at the door. Yuki noticed that her doll-like face was not only pale but also had some bulging veins.

"I've overdone it, and it'll be hard to recover in a short time, but don't worry, I still have more than 60% of my fighting strength left." Teresa was still smiling, which immediately made her slightly ferocious face much calmer.

Going too far with liberation? That could be really dangerous.

Yuki knew the true nature of these 'greatswords'; they were half-human, half-demon warriors who would turn into monsters if they overused their power. He vaguely remembered them being called 'Awakeners'?

"Liberation? Your bloodline skill?"

"I suppose so. Have you heard of Chimera?" The mature woman shrugged lightly, causing Yuki's eyes to narrow as he immediately understood her background.

The greatsword is fused with the flesh and blood of demons, while this player fused even more Transcendental Grade monster flesh and blood into his body, then released it proportionally—simple and brutal.

"That sounds dangerous." Yuki, uninterested in prying into the secret, lit a cigarette and asked intently, "Has the Silver Hand reacted?"

Teresa has been following this lead, using that 'chain' to overcome all communication barriers.

"You guessed right, no wonder the Captain speaks so highly of you." The mature woman had intended to chat casually to build rapport, but seeing that Yuki was uninterested in women, she dragged over a swivel chair and elegantly crossed her legs.

"Yes, he barely conquered the Sea of Data and found a lot of information. As you expected, the Defense Force have been concealing key issues."

With her blonde hair, silver eyes, and beautiful face, coupled with that greatsword, Teresa was quite alluring, but Yuki instinctively kept his distance from her, leaning against the wall.

How bad is the situation?

"It's worse than you think. I've compiled some data; take a look for yourself."

Yuki reached out and took it. After opening it, his brows furrowed instantly. This was the first time he had seen the entire Emerald Basin since entering the dungeon.

The Wall of Sighs encloses the interior, which contains approximately several dozen cities, and is teeming with dense, red swarms of insects.

Edge, interior, sky, ground.

The swarm is encroaching on the Wall of Sighs from all sides, and has evolved at least three ways to bypass it, with wormholes being just one of them.

The swarm of Bat Dragon flew in relentlessly, carrying spores in parabolic arcs. No wonder there wasn't much air force from the Defense Force; they were already exhausted from intercepting the swarm, and had no time to support the Marun on the ground.

A comprehensive, multi-dimensional, and relentless battle; more than a dozen pilots die each month from overdoses of stimulants...

Yuki's eye twitched; the string of casualty statistics jolted his nerves. He wasn't interested in topics like war and life, but even someone with intellectual disabilities understood the outcome:

"They can't hold on any longer; any mistake could cause the entire system to collapse."

Blocking wormholes is already a struggle, so how can other attacks be ignored? The Bat Dragon clears an area, and the dropped spores can quickly bring in thousands upon thousands of swarms of insects, which then scatter like fleas. How many troops are you prepared to expend to hunt them down?

Continue to ignore it? The Queen will then implement even more meticulous micromanagement; will those cities even be safe?

"If everything is prepared, then everything will be lacking..."

"What do you mean?" Teresa didn't quite understand, but she felt that this Yuki Sorajima was not only strong in combat, but also quite cultured.

"The problem is that if you defend every place, you end up protecting nothing. Passive defense is always the worst strategy." Yuki took a drag of his cigarette.

"That makes sense. You remind me of those 'War Orphans.'" The woman's eyes were full of admiration. Yuki, dressed in a crisp military uniform, was intelligent and powerful, and had a lot of masculine charm.

War Orphans? Oh, that powerful faction that runs an auction house.

"You know them?" Yuki was very interested in the gossip about the different factions and suddenly changed the subject.

"I've worked with one of the squads before. The captain was a very beautiful girl with the same hair color as me." Teresa suddenly found a way to build rapport. This Yuki Sorajima was powerful, yet ignorant.

Blonde hair, very beautiful, could it be Violet? That person, however, is a true War Orphans.

He quickly refocused his attention; there would be plenty of time to gossip later. He stomped out his cigarette.

In conclusion, they had no choice!

Chapter 32 Orochimaru? (5K)

Even a soldier of Captain Chris's caliber doesn't understand the situation in the Emerald Basin.

Fortunately, Johnny Silverhand hacked into the Central Database and figured out many of the issues.

This is bad news. With the Defense Force falling, the players on this side are in for a rough time.

This is also good news. Yuki's plan finally has a solid foundation. If humanity remains as stable as Mount Tai, what's the point of him, an undercover agent, doing the main quest?

It's very simple: the Fire Seed must be destroyed, and the swarm must be slaughtered. This path has already been clearly stated in the second main storyline of the 'Guardians':

Kill the Queen.

As for the theoretical basis outside the rules, Johnny Silverhand also found it in the Central Database.

Emerald Stone, indeed, this is the core ingredient.

Walking towards Area A, Yuki stared blankly at Chris's retreating figure. This time, there was no need to guess; by comparing the information in the Central Database with the clues he had found, he could uncover the whole story.

At the heart of it all lies the evolution of the swarm.

The database contains detailed historical data. The swarm appeared a long, long time ago. They initially resembled aliens, using human bodies as birthing beds. They were not powerful and would even kill each other. They were just a small episode in interstellar colonization.

Soon, humans invented gene-disintegrating agents and vaccinated every newborn.

Even if new humans are captured by the swarm, they cannot become birthing sites, effectively breaking the reproductive chain.

Having lost their ability to reproduce, the insect swarm was no match for humans and was repeatedly defeated. But things took a bizarre turn at this point.

The evolution of the swarm transcended the realm of biology, and the vaccine quickly became ineffective. Scientists studied it for many years, and through the extraordinary encounter of a Psychic Warrior, they discovered that the swarm's reproduction actually affected the human soul.

This thing directly rendered all biologists unemployed, as even the most powerful vaccines could not affect the soul. So they began to climb a new technological tree, and even Psychic Warrior themselves were a byproduct of this technological tree. Ultimately, humanity made great use of Emerald Stone.

Emerald Stone was originally just a source of energy, but scientists discovered that it can carry souls. The process of absorbing souls is called activation. This is bad news because the insect swarm has also discovered this.

Now, not only humans themselves, but also the engines of war machines are being collected to breed the Zerg. This period is also a time of great defeat for humanity.

The swarms of insects are endless, and any casualties or damage will aid the enemy, forcing the Defense Force to find alternative energy sources. However, this renders the war machines completely unusable, creating a vicious cycle.

In this critical moment, reinforcements finally arrived from outer space, and with their help, humanity developed a crucial technology:

Soul transfer.

The ultimate result of this technology is the 'Fire Seed', which has a simple function: to transfer the souls of all the dead humans away, allowing the activated Emerald Stone to return to inanimate objects.

'Unbelievable technology! I was wondering why I couldn't obtain souls from killing people; it turns out they were transferred away.'

Yuki muttered to himself, "History shows that humanity has racked its brains to break the reproductive chain, and wars have been full of twists and turns, with players playing a key role each time."

The players who assisted in developing the Fire Seed must have been masters in the realm of souls; they facilitated humanity's second great counterattack.

With Fire Seed, humanity had no more worries and once again routed the insect swarm, recovering 70% of its lost territory. Then another batch of reinforcements arrived.

Just when they thought the war was over, this reinforcement gave them a big surprise.

First, they assassinated the then-commander, leaving humanity leaderless. Second, at this crucial moment, the Zerg swarm underwent another evolution.

They used Emerald Stone directly as their birthplace, and their cannibalistic behavior disappeared. They truly became a unified entity, and it was during this period that humans discovered the existence of the 'Queen'.

Thousands of anatomical experiments point to a reality: all insects share the same soul frequency. Scientists have boldly proposed a hypothesis:

Soul Split.

Unlike human technology, the Queen used Emerald Stone as a vessel to split her own soul, leaving the swarm of insects, which were originally fighting each other, with only one consciousness. But that was not the worst of it.

Without the human host, the swarm essentially began to reproduce on its own, and the war spiraled out of control.

The ultimate purpose of the Fire Seed has become obsolete; the swarm has shifted from needing humanity to destroying it, thus answering one of Yuki's important questions.

"No wonder the Zerg swarm wants the Fire Seed. If the Queen gets her hands on this soul integrator, she'll probably be able to evolve to the next stage."

It was somewhat of a case of overreaching; in the eyes of the insect swarm, the value of the 'Fire Seed' had surpassed that of the planet, and they no longer needed humans.

So humans built the wall, and the subsequent battles, including the previous failed attempt to behead them, became mere side stories.

How tragic and lamentable!

Yuki's gaze held a hint of pity. This was a long epic, filled with countless sacrifices and desperate struggles. If it weren't for the deep-seated hatred, humanity would probably have given up the 'Fire Seed' in exchange for a chance to survive.

In a sense, humans are just a group of livestock. No matter how much they struggle, they just fatten themselves up and wait for the insects to come and eat them.

This is the end.

After years of wits and courage, the insect swarm has evolved to its Limit, and humanity can no longer create anything more advanced than Fire Seed. It's a fight to the death.

"The Lurkers' main questline is problematic. They don't care about the lives of humans, but they're not on the side of the Zerg either." Yuki discerned something amiss from the player's perspective.

The swarm's sole purpose is to devour the Fire Seed, and the player, who is clearly on their side, obviously has a main quest that contradicts this.

What's even stranger is that the Guardian players are clearly on the side of the humans, at least in the second main storyline.

Could it be that even Reincarnation Game dislike swarms of insects?

Yuki had an inconceivable idea, but the Reincarnation Game couldn't fathom it. Just then, Captain Chris in front of him stopped.

The steel corridor was filled with Psychic Warrior, their armor more ornate, their shoulders adorned with various self-identification symbols.

"Units directly under the Command Headquarters," Hayasaka Ai whispered from the side.

Oh, so it's the Imperial Guard. They're supposed to be quite powerful, at the level of Transcendental Grade II-III.

Before, Yuki would never have come under any circumstances, but now the last shred of danger is gone.

He saw General Reingor in power armor, with several soldiers with general's stars on their shoulders beside him; these were all high-ranking officers of the Defense Force.

The players' side was also fully assembled, with Yuuki seemingly leading the Yuki.

The plot unfolded quickly, and in that short time, the players faced the higher-ups directly. The ten players stood upright, showing no sign of tension whatsoever.

Now the natives are asking the players for help, so there's nothing to be nervous about.

"Major."

"Huh?" Yuki paused for a moment, then realized he was being addressed. He took two steps forward. "General, are you going to negotiate with us?"

"No, the commander-in-chief will speak with him personally." Reingor gave the other party a deep look. This time, the players took risks to go out of the wall for inspection, and the Psychic Warrior also suffered heavy losses, almost reaching the critical point.

We can't delay any longer. This person claims to have found the Queen of the Swarm; we have to believe it whether we like it or not.

"Come with me, everyone."

"No need to disarm?"

"No need. You all know what you need to know. It's better for everyone to be open and honest," the general said casually, then waved to Chris, who was about to leave, "Captain, you come along too."

No one paid any attention to the bewildered girl. The players exchanged glances, sensing that her words implied something.

As expected, the Defense Force knew we were up to something.

Yuki glanced at the Smiling Lady, who was also smiling bitterly. This had once been a conspiracy, but now it had become an open scheme, and was no longer of any importance.

Hiyori shook her head slightly; after a brief deduction, she also felt it wasn't a problem.

"Then let's go meet him, and be completely open and honest."

Entering a dedicated elevator, and under the watchful eyes of dozens of Psychic Warriors, the players stepped into Area A. Here, the monotonous and cold atmosphere had been replaced by a sense of historical weight.

Yuki saw many portraits and sculptures on the wall, some of whom he recognized from the records. They were heroes of this long war. He even paused briefly in front of one of the oil paintings.