The Deathly Silence of Shrek City

You look terrible.

Really? Maybe. I think I've accomplished a lot.

[You could have asked me for help back then, but you didn't. Why?]

Hmm... I do want to save Shrek, but I can't be sure that fate won't play a trick on me.

[The false Plane Master and the Life Core cannot stop me.]

I know you hold a very high position, and they could never be your match, but... this is my own home.

[Do you think asking me for help means you're not protecting yourself?]

Maybe I'm stupid?

[In a sense, yes.]

What are your plans now?

How to do it?

Yun Jingheng looked up and sent his Divine Power through the thick steel plate.

Dead silence.

There were no insects chirping, no wind blowing, and nothing alive.

His Divine Power Divine Power continued to spread outwards, creating a huge pit, ridiculously large, whose exact size he hadn't yet been able to determine.

The lake water was completely evaporated. The combined power of the nuclear bomb and the God-Slaying Level- Fixed Soul Guidance Cannonball caused the heat and pressure emitted to even crystallize the entire bottom of the pit.

You underestimated its power.

"What?" Yun Jingheng looked a little confused.

[You have severely underestimated the destructive power of that so-called God-Slaying Level missile versus your nuclear warhead.]

"I... I don't quite understand what you mean..."

[You created this weapon, so you should understand its destructive power. Let me tell you this: excluding your location, extending over 700 kilometers outwards from you, there is absolutely no trace of life.]

"What?!" Yun Jingheng suddenly sat up straight, then bent over in a grimace.

"How is this possible? How could a collision and airburst between two bombs cause such a result?"

[I was observing at the time. The two shells collided at low altitude. Also, you launched another missile, which missed its target but was detonated by the explosion from the collision.]

From my perspective, the city you're in has been reduced to ashes; there's nothing left.

Yun Jingheng looked somewhat dazed, as if all his strength had been drained away. He leaned against the cabin wall, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something but couldn't utter a single word.

His fingers remained clenched, his knuckles white, and his fingernails had dug several shallow crescent-shaped blood marks into his palm.

More than 700 kilometers, without any life.

The number echoed repeatedly in his mind, like a dull knife sawing at his spine.

He closed his eyes, preparing to bear this sin, when the voice of the Lunar Primordial Sovereign rang out once more, interrupting the Regret that hadn't yet welled up in his eyes.

[Don't be too upset yet. You didn't kill any civilians; in fact, you helped them take revenge in a roundabout way.]

"Um?"

[When your city was attacked, the outer city was also attacked. In fact, before the two missiles collided, your city was the only place with any survivors; the outer city had already been massacred.]

You have eliminated thousands of enemies.

Yun Jingheng remained silent.

The Good Corpse suddenly sat up straight.

The movement was quite sudden and violent.

Ya Li, who had fallen asleep on its shoulder, was startled awake by the movement and almost fell over. She instinctively reached out to hold onto the wall next to her.

"What's wrong?!"

Ya Li's voice was still hoarse from being pulled out of a light sleep, but her hand had already instinctively gripped the Good Corpse's sleeve.

This action was exactly the same as the way she grabbed Yun Jingheng's little hand when he woke up from Nightmare as a child, except that what was being grabbed now was the clone that had been separated from her son.

The Good Corpse did not answer.

It simply stood there, its body trembling slightly.

Shock, lingering fear—it was an emotional shock that came from the deepest part of my consciousness and was shared with my very being.

Just now, it synchronized the conversation between Lunar Primordial Sovereign and its main body through the Divine Power network.

More than 700 kilometers, without a single living being—when it heard these words, its entire consciousness space felt as if it had been violently struck by something.

It almost knelt down to repent for the sins it had borne.

Then the voice of Lunar Primordial Sovereign rang out again: You did not kill any civilians.

The outer city had long been slaughtered.

You have eliminated thousands of enemies.

The transformation from killer to avenger was accomplished in just a few words, so quickly that it couldn't even process it.

Yun Ming noticed the abnormality of the Good Corpse.

Since it appeared, it has quietly stayed by Ya Li's side, saying little and moving little.

This was the first time he had ever seen it like this, so he quickly walked over and stood in front of it.

"What happened? What about Jing Heng? Where is he?"

Yun Ming's voice was very low, but every word was like a nail polished with sandpaper, carrying the unique pressure of Level 99 Limit Douluo and the anxiety of a father.

Zhuo Shi and Long Yeyue stood up at the same time. Cai Yue'er raised her head from among the wounded, Feng Wuyu silently took a step forward.

The atmosphere in the entire shelter tightened instantly, and everyone looked at the Good Corpse, waiting for it to speak.

The Good Corpse's lips twitched, as if it were trying to organize its thoughts, but ultimately realized that no matter how it was phrased, it wouldn't become easier to accept, so it simply gave up on trying to embellish it.

"The main body is still alive. The nuclear missile successfully intercepted the God-Slaying Level. The second nuclear missile missed the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters; it was detonated at low altitude by the shockwave from the collision of the two missiles. The surface of Shrek City was completely destroyed, and there are no signs of life within a radius of hundreds of kilometers."

It paused, then looked into Yun Ming's eyes and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"But judging from the satellite transmission images..."

(Note the single quotes here. As part of oneself, the dialogue between God and oneself is obviously not something that can be spoken. If it affects the reading experience, I will delete this paragraph and put it in the author's notes.)

"The civilians in the outer city were all killed long before the nuclear collision. The nuclear bomb itself didn't kill any civilians; it killed the executioners who were preparing to retreat after the massacre. Not a single one of the thousands of enemies survived."

Yun Ming clenched his fists tightly at his sides, his knuckles cracking.

The pressure of Level 99 Limit Douluo overflowed uncontrollably for a moment, but he forcefully suppressed it back.

Zhuo Shi, who was standing behind him, suddenly turned around, his shoulders trembling slightly. It was an old man who had experienced too much, and when he heard the words "massacre of the city," a deep-seated hatred for certain people welled up from the very marrow of his bones.

Long Yeyue closed her eyes, her lips moved, and she silently uttered something, as if bidding farewell to the strangers who had passed away in the outer city.

Cai Yue'er sighed softly.

Feng Wuyu remained silent, as silent as a volcano that could erupt at any moment.

Zang Xin leaned against the wall next to him, his bloodshot eyes staring at the ceiling, his lips pressed into a thin line. He didn't say anything, but his hands were trembling slightly.

Tang Wulin leaned against the wall, his head down, his expression unreadable, but his breathing was much heavier than usual.

He remembered the vendors selling baked buns at the college gate, the dented iron pot belonging to the cafeteria lady, and the faces of those in the outer city whose names he didn't know but whom he would nod and greet every day.

Gu Yuena stood beside him, her silver pupils reflecting the soft Moonlight emanating from the Good Corpse, her fingers gently curling inside her sleeves.

She couldn't sense Yun Jingheng's presence, but she could see the Good Corpse still standing there.

Ye Xinglan stood up.

Her movements were steady, exactly the same as when she stood up and drew her sword in training, without hesitation or trembling.

She walked through the crowd, stood before the Good Corpse, and looked up at it.

Her eyes were very bright.

"When will the surface radiation dissipate? I'm going to dig."

Her voice was calm, as if she were asking what time tomorrow's training session would start.

The Good Corpse looked at her; the Moonlight blurred its features, but it could see that her fingers gripping the sword sheath were turning white at the knuckles.

It remained silent for a long time, then slowly shook its head.

"The sealed rooms of the Launch Shaft were not designed with any external opening mechanism in mind."

"The shockwave from the nuclear collision completely collapsed the rock strata at the entrance, leaving behind tens of meters of radioactive lava and crystallized ruins."

"Based on the analysis, he can't get out in a short time, and we can't get in either. Any external force that forcibly digs into the Launch Shaft could trigger a secondary self-locking mechanism, or worse, cause a collapse that crushes his only safe space."

"His current Soul Power reserves don't allow him to leave that place; his Soul Power shield can't withstand the radiation. They're currently trying to dig a tunnel to obtain oxygen."

"The oxygen storage facility there... can probably provide him with enough for three days."