Chapter 270

"Hey, where did those two girls go?"

"Kaguya and Hiyori went for a walk with Captain Chris."

"Taking a walk? Oh, you two get along quite well, how should I put it..." Silver Hand thought for a long time before saying, "Just like students in a prestigious school, chattering away, always having endless topics to discuss."

Because we really are students.

Mai Sakurajima was both amused and exasperated, finding it all quite magical after their relationship deepened and they shared their past experiences.

Mr. Silver Hand and Miss Rebecca Chambers are self-proclaimed knights-errant in a certain sinful city, Smiling Lady is said to be a hunter, and Mr. Levi Ackerman and that Reiner Braun seem to be from the same world, being soldiers.

Even Aslan, who is about the same age as him, is said to have suddenly entered the Reincarnation Game during an Interstellar War.

"I always feel like we're such ordinary people. Before entering the Reincarnation Game, we were just enjoying our daily lives," Hayasaka Ai muttered to herself. "Look at the other players, they never have a peaceful day."

"Yes, I suddenly feel happy." Mai Sakurajima smiled bitterly. She was afraid of comparisons. Many people don't have the quality of happiness; they've just moved from one adventure to another.

At this moment, Hiyori and Kaguya returned, with Chris by their side. The captain was carrying two sets of clothes, which were the school uniforms of Shuchiin and Advanced Nurturing High School.

"What are you doing...?" The Smiling Lady glanced at the clothes, unfamiliar with their style.

"A gift, because I said I wanted to try on the clothes in the magazine after the battle." Before the captain could finish speaking, several hands covered her mouth.

"Chris, you can't say things like that right now."

"Yes, there are some things you absolutely, positively must not say before the battle."

The girl looked at the faces. These visitors from afar didn't treat her like an outsider. Some were familiar, some were strangers, but their eyes were full of concern.

There were no courses on dealing with this kind of situation in the training of Psychic Warrior. She stared blankly, a stiff yet warm smile on her face.

"Um."

This commander-in-chief is being overly enthusiastic.

Inside the hall, Yuki painfully raised his head and saw a circle of people lying around him. There was no Banquet Hall or dancers here; everyone was drinking while watching the bloody war.

He was quite open-minded and carefree; Yuki drank an unknown number of cups before finally disconnecting.

This Emerald Star wine looks greenish, and it's way too strong.

Yuki thought to himself that he had been too careless. Although he was sure that these people would not harm him, what if he accidentally let something slip while drunk? But looking around, he couldn't help but shake his head.

Everyone else was sleeping even more soundly than him. The commander-in-chief and several generals were slumped on the steps. Levi Ackerman fell asleep immediately. Yuki felt a slight numbness in his arm; it turned out that Reiner Braun had sat on his hand.

That damned emperor, where does he even sit?

Having finally managed to free his hand, Yuki simply sat on Reiner Braun's chest to catch his breath, glanced at the door behind the 'throne', and quickly looked away.

'I can cut off the protective device and remove the Fire Seed for you.'

Johnny Silverhand's voice suddenly rang out, startling Yuki. He had transformed into a digital life form, which was indeed almost like a ghost.

'Have you usurped command of this ship?'

"You've acquired 40% access, right? This is definitely a warship with a lot of heavy firepower. Are you going to take it or not? The bio-detector confirms everyone's asleep."

"I'm a decent person, and a smart one at that. Don't try to test me." Yuki snorted. He knew Johnny Silverhand's personality all too well.

A fighter dedicated to opposing tyranny would never stoop to such a despicable act of betraying his allies; he simply doesn't understand how he came back alive and harbors lingering doubts.

But so what? Players and humans alike still have to rely on their own strength.

'Having said we'd kill the Queen, we must kill her.'

'The Queen is not easy to kill; she knows that humanity's only chance to turn the tide is to kill her.' Silver Hand is not stupid; he has already found several battle plans in the database, some of which have already failed.

'The last group of players arrived, and the Defense Force almost succeeded, but unfortunately, they failed at the last step.'

'Because of a player's betrayal?' Yuki immediately realized.

Johnny Silverhand, just as Hiyori had said, playing guessing games with Yuki was no fun.

"That's right, the betrayal of a Guardian player allowed the Zerg to surge in power, extinguishing humanity's last hope. The Zerg revered him as a saint, while humanity harbored deep hatred and desperately tried to erase all traces of his existence. Do you remember those Psychic Warrior whose memories of their childhood were hazy?"

Yuki nodded. Such a big commotion as going out of the wall to kill the Insect King couldn't be kept secret, but from Captain Chris down, no one remembered this incident and everyone thought it was the first time he had gone out of the wall.

'To erase all traces of his existence, all of humanity was brainwashed, forced to forget the great war that sealed humanity's Destiny.'

Directly altering the course of the dungeon—that's an epic achievement, right? Which powerful player dared to transcend the boundaries of 'monsters'?

'Do you have any information about this player?'

All data was deleted, leaving only one photo.

Yuki turned his head and saw the projector flickering, displaying a photograph of a man in a white military uniform, whose rank was even higher than Yuki's.

A player who has reached this level of reputation has already reached the pinnacle. He has an honest and handsome appearance, but his eyes are filled with an arrogant air of looking down on everything.

Yuki's pupils dilated, and his eyes twitched involuntarily. He was both shocked and puzzled.

It was him, Sōsuke Aizen.

No player can identify someone based on a single photograph, but Yuki can't forget that face; he's considered one of the top boss-type characters in the entire anime world.

In terms of combat power, he's definitely not as strong as a Super Saiyan or anything like that, but how should I put it, the Reincarnation Game doesn't care about your original strength at all.

There are countless paths here to make you stronger, to help you regain your former power, and to take you even further. Most importantly, there is talent—the talent for survival.

'You know him?' Johnny Silverhand saw Yuki's shocked expression. Apart from admitting that the man in the photo was somewhat handsome, he felt nothing else.

I know him, but I don't know him.

"Are you fucking playing a guessing game with me? What do you mean by 'knowing but not knowing'?!"

I want to say I recognize this face, but who knows what Aizen will become? He pursues infinite power; he probably won't simply 'take it back'.

Yuki didn't know how to explain to Johnny Silverhand, and just then, a giant hand pressed down on his shoulder.

"Oh, so you've dug him out, my nightmare and mortal enemy." The commander-in-chief's square face appeared next to Yuki's face, waving his hand to tell Johnny Silverhand not to run away.

"I usually sober up quickly, I didn't mean to arrest you on purpose."

Yuki and Gintoki were quite embarrassed, feeling like they'd been causing trouble in someone's house and been caught red-handed by the homeowner. Fortunately, the homeowner was very magnanimous and didn't bother to pursue the matter further, simply telling them a story.

Years ago, the Defense Force executed Thunder Plan, deploying a large force to launch a counterattack. The entire plan was very simple: use the main force in conjunction with heavy firepower to overwhelm the enemy head-on, attract the swarm of insects, and then organize a thousand-strong elite commando team to assassinate the king under the leadership of the former commander-in-chief.

The plan went smoothly; they ran into the Queen rushing to her aid, General Bug out the remaining three of her guards, and it seemed this long war was about to end.

"Then he betrayed us. The reinforcements who were least likely to betray us killed the commander-in-chief, and together with the Zerg swarm, wiped out the entire assault team. At the same time, the main force was thrown into chaos and surrounded by the ambushed Zerg swarm. Of those who returned to the walls, less than one in ten survived."

"I later learned that the whole plan was a conspiracy. That person had been in cahoots with the Zerg swarm all along. I still can't figure out what he was after. The Defense Force treated him like an honored guest, providing him with all the resources they could need, and were even willing to give him Fire Seed!"

The commander-in-chief's eyes were practically spitting fire, and his whole body began to tremble with rage. This deep-seated hatred could not be hidden, nor did he bother to conceal it.

His arm truly wields despair when others see hope.

Yuki sighed, feeling both embarrassed and pitying. As for what Aizen was after, he already understood: someone as rational as Aizen would only calculate the maximum benefit.

He chose epic achievement over mere Fire Seed, and then created an epic of despair—it was that simple.

"Now that you've already stumbled once, aren't you afraid of stumbling a second time?" Yuki couldn't help but ask, frankly speaking, he was far less reliable than Aizen had shown.

"I'm afraid, but I have no right to hesitate. Over the years, I've been like a gambler, constantly winning, but with fewer and fewer chips in my hand." The commander-in-chief made no attempt to hide his gaze, staring intently at Yuki, a pressure that was hard to look directly at.

"If you're lying to me, I'll accept my fate. We're all going to die anyway, so I might as well take you with me. But if you're not lying, then let's join forces and have a big, decisive battle. Even if we fail in the end, we'll all accept our fate, okay?"

This commander-in-chief is quite shrewd. Rather than suffocating in silence, he'd rather take a gamble and exchange sincerity for sincerity. As for whether Yuki will be like that bastard, that's beyond his control.

"I did lie to you about some things," Yuki suddenly said, causing a moment of tension, but he quickly laughed again.

"However, I am serious about killing the Queen."

"That's enough!!" The Commander-in-Chief slapped Yuki's shoulder hard. For no apparent reason, he just felt that this Yuki Sorajima was much more trustworthy than the previous Aizen.

It lacks that kind of power, but possesses a similar mystery. However, compared to that calm and collected demeanor of having everything under control, Yuki Sorajima has an extra feeling.

It evokes the ruthlessness of a desperate criminal who would tear a piece of flesh from his opponent even in death.

He turned around and kicked the generals, including Reingor, awake one by one. In fact, they had been awake for a while, including Levi Ackerman, but they were all smart enough to pretend to be asleep so as not to disturb the two men's heart-to-heart talk.

"It seems he trusts you completely," Levi Ackerman said coldly.

"He has to believe me, and I am worthy of your trust. I have many flaws, but I will never go back on my word. If I say I will kill the Queen, I will do everything in my power." Yuki smiled silently. Captain Levi should know all too well what kind of person he is.

"Hmph, I'll be keeping an eye on you."

Arrogant and haughty.

Yuki ignored him, but then heard a voice, strained with utter helplessness, rise from beneath him.

"Mr. Yuki, next time you try to show off, could you please get off me first?"

Reiner Braun was so uncomfortable sitting there that he thought to himself, "I'm not a bench."

"Sorry, sorry, it's all your fault for talking too much nonsense, Captain Levi." Yuki quickly stood up and reached out to help the Armored Titan up.

Empty bottles were scattered all over the floor, and no one bothered to clean them up. Every minute they delayed meant a smaller chance of winning. When Hiyori and the others were called over, they stood in a circle around a giant map.

The massive wall was dotted with dozens of red battle lights flashing intermittently. Outside the wall, the previously explored areas had been marked, with the densest concentration outside the Western Unfallen Fortress.

The situation was clear: most of the Defense Force had been spread out, Unfallen Fortress.

After the players returned from their exploration, the Defense Force did not turn a blind eye. A large number of troops were rushing towards the fortress, and this troop movement could not escape the Reconnaissance of the Puppet Bug.

"Are you provoking them to launch a full-scale attack?" Yuki looked up and saw right through him.

"No reaction after receiving intelligence, this is too fake." The square-faced man smiled slyly, pointing to dozens of moving blue dots. "I've been preparing all these years. Even though the Interior Ministry dug up the Puppet Bug, I Net Closure. I've been waiting for today to use them."

"Some of these units are just nominally in place; even the actual reinforcements are mainly Marines."

Machine gunners can manage crouching in bunkers firing away, but for a real raid from outside the walls, we have to rely on Psychic Warrior. At this point, Hiyori's expression changed slightly, as she recalled that a large number of Psychic Warrior had recently been transferred back to Command Headquarters for defense.

It's normal to mobilize elite troops to reinforce headquarters after it's been attacked.

"You wouldn't...?"

"That's right." The commander-in-chief raised his head, a cunning glint in his eyes. "I knew Suvimendi was suspicious all along. That surprise attack was deliberately orchestrated to let the Zerg swarm succeed!"

Generous, decisive, ruthless, and cunning.

This commander-in-chief is a remarkable figure.

Yuki felt no aversion; on the contrary, he was full of agreement. He had long suspected that there was something wrong with that encounter, and now he had the answer.

The commander-in-chief deliberately exposed a weakness to lure the insect swarm to attack, thus both resolving the internal infiltration and allowing him to legitimately mobilize his forces.

But he didn't expect the swarm to be just as cunning. Their real intention was to steal the Fire Seed, not to steal the Central Database. If the whole plan were exposed, all the preparations he had made over the years would have been for nothing.

So the commander-in-chief was in a hurry at the time, but fortunately Yuki intervened in time and made a great contribution.

"From this perspective, the swarm isn't so easily fooled, and your plan might not be able to deceive them," Mai Sakurajima said cautiously. She had ventured deep into the swarm's nest, where a massive force was concentrated.

"The way of war is to do our best and then respond to each move as it comes," the commander-in-chief replied in the tone of an elder, drawing agreement from the players.

"We have to brave any danger, at least the swarm can't be sure of our plans right now, and they'll most likely attack the fortress." Levi Ackerman nodded slightly, then pointed to the moving blue dots:

"The fact that Bat Dragon have already intercepted them proves that a general offensive is imminent. Are you sure the Unfallen Fortress can hold out?"

"We can't hold them off, but the flesh and blood of our warriors will hold them back." The commander-in-chief said expressionlessly, looking at a general. "Lieutenant General Motta, the battle plan is hereby issued to you. Even if we all die, we must hold back the swarm."

Damn, are they going to use Marines as cannon fodder? Defending the fortress is hard enough. If the Zerg swarm retreats, they'll even have to leave their fortified positions. How many people will die then?

Motta glanced at the crowd and nodded slightly. "Alright, I will lead the charge and fight to the last man."

The kind of boldness that's either not gambling at all or betting everything is quite appealing.

Yuki, who had been observing coldly, moved his lips slightly and couldn't help but ask, "We're launching an attack when the fortress defense battle begins?"

"Yes, take this Command Headquarters directly to the coordinates you provided." The commander-in-chief snapped his fingers decisively and looked at Johnny Silverhand: "Mr. Silverhand, please retrieve CXZG152 File; that's the plan for the final operation."

How the hell did I end up as an AI assistant?

Johnny Silverhand sensed something was amiss. He was far more intelligent than the original digital life in the Central Database, so he searched the Sea of Data and retrieved it in just two seconds.

This was a garbled document, and even he would need a lot of time to decipher it. The commander-in-chief had obviously taken precautions. After the identification card was inserted, a battle plan of hundreds of thousands of words was unlocked.

"Fire-Chasing Plan." Yuki glanced at it.

"Yes, humanity's final plan, to put it bluntly, is to assassinate the Queen, causing the Zerg swarm to lose control and turn on each other."

Yuki silent. The plan was very detailed and took into account all sorts of unexpected events, but as a person with severe anxiety disorder, he liked to consider the worst-case scenario.

"The key is to use 'Fire Seed' to lure out the Queen, but what if the Queen is a defensive character and you have to wait for the main force to return to reinforce her?"