The Fourth District was littered with corpses.
The streets, roadsides, and even shops and residences on both sides were littered with corpses, lying haphazardly in a scene of utter chaos.
Overturned wagons, cargo trailers, garbage cans, rags, bloodstains...
The air raid sirens wailed in my ears.
Bombers flew back and forth overhead, dropping bombs continuously.
The deafening roars and piercing gunfire were almost constant.
Ahead of Gilan, Federation troops moved constantly in and out of the buildings.
With a blank expression, he took out his Demon-Hunting Axe and, while avoiding the soldiers, quickly headed towards the dental clinic.
As they passed through an alley, two Federation soldiers ran quickly past the entrance. They glanced to the side and saw a dark figure flash by.
The next second, I felt a sharp pain in my neck.
His vision began to spin and fly.
Gilan, carrying an axe, swept past two soldiers, leaving a trail of blood. Behind him, two headless corpses suddenly collapsed to the ground.
He continued forward.
He would casually kill any soldiers who were alone or in small groups.
Until Gilan entered through the back door of the clinic.
The scene inside left him stunned on the spot.
The clinic is gone.
The physical aspects are gone.
Most of the front wall, glass, signboard, and clinic door were destroyed by heavy machine gun fire from fighter jets, leaving only broken bricks, stones, and dust covering the reclining chairs and equipment inside.
The bright sunlight shone directly in.
The light shone on the figures of a man and a woman.
They were buried under the rubble and were no longer moving.
" Mr. Oystercatcher, Miss Seagull?"
Gilan strode forward and flipped the bricks over with her bare hands.
All that could be seen were two mangled corpses.
He had initially held onto a sliver of hope that the two men weren't members of the Assembly, but when he turned them over, what was revealed before him were faces he knew all too well.
Mr. Oystercatcher's eyes widened, his mouth and nose covered in blood.
Miss Seagull's eyes were tightly closed, and her once delicate face was deathly pale, devoid of life and color.
"You..."
Gilan's already suppressed heart sank suddenly.
He suddenly felt short of breath, and the air around him seemed incredibly heavy.
Thump!
Gilan planted the axe in his hand on the ground.
He lowered his head and gasped for breath.
The past month since I transmigrated is still vivid in my mind; the unprecedented beauty has suddenly shattered before my eyes.
Unable to contain his emotions, he let out a few low growls.
That unstable spirit began to fluctuate violently.
Gilan felt her vision distort, and an indescribable emptiness rushed to her head—the air raid sirens, bombings, gunshots, and screams all seemed to be fading away, and the surroundings seemed to fall into a peaceful silence.
The Oystercatcher and the Seagull emitted colorful light once again.
Like two thin lines of a rainbow.
Twisted and blurred, it crashed into Gilan's eyes.
He took a step back, and his chaotic thoughts suddenly grasped at a glimmer of hope.
" Miss Sparrow..."
Gilan rushed forward, threw himself onto the ruins, ignoring the rubble and dust, and found the code-named gold coin on the two members of the Assembly, clutching it tightly in his hand.
Immediately, he carefully put it into his alchemy leather pouch, placing it together with Mr. Stork's.
"There's no time..."
Gilan muttered to herself, her eyes filled with pain.
"I don't have time! I'm sorry!"
He abandoned the two bodies, had no time to bury them, picked up an axe, and rushed out of the clinic.
Federation troops are still rampaging through the streets, killing people indiscriminately.
Before disappearing into the alley, Gilan glanced back.
In the distance, the group of Federation soldiers appeared to be surrounding a middle-aged officer.
The officer had light eyebrows and narrow eyes, was hunched over and thin, wore a brown military overcoat with a colonel's rank insignia on his right shoulder, wore a short-brimmed beret, and leaned on a black cane.
He watched all of this with an indifferent expression.
Gilan remembered that face vividly.
*
*
*
He ran at full speed without stopping.
Along the way, I saw more than one corpse that had died a violent death. Some were intact, some were incomplete, some were completely dead, and some were still groaning and struggling.
Life was as worthless as grass, the tragedy was utterly devastating.
After the initial fear and tension, Gilan's heart was now filled with only deathly silence.
He only had one thing on his mind—
That is to save Miss Sparrow!
Aside from Gilan herself, she might be the only member of the Record Society still alive!
But the Horst Fifth District was already engulfed in flames.
This place suffered the most devastating bombing!
The buildings that were originally standing one by one were almost all destroyed, collapsing and turning into ruins. As far as the eye could see, there was only a vast expanse of wreckage and raging fire.
There wasn't even a single Federation soldier in sight.
They must have known that this was a bombing zone.
Ignoring the raging fires around her, Gilan headed straight for the location of the Laurie Apartments, which she remembered.
"There's still time! There's still time! There's definitely still time!"
He kept muttering to himself, which eventually turned into a roar.
He arrived quickly.
Directly in front, the once magnificent and elegant detached apartment building has now been reduced to ruins and a sea of fire.
The air was filled with the smell of burning, and the high temperature was intense.
Only deathly silence and ruin remain.
Just as Gilan's breath hitched and her eyes dimmed, she suddenly heard a faint, hysterical scream amidst the crackling sounds.
His eyes flickered, and he suddenly darted out!
Ignoring the sea of fire and the suffocating feeling, they rushed in.
Gilan leaped across the ruins and, beneath a collapsed wall, discovered a thick wooden plank leading to the basement. The plank was broken and burning.
He put on leather gloves, expressionlessly lifted the wooden plank, held his breath, and jumped down.
Snap!
Amidst the thick smoke, a slender body could be seen curled up on the ground, trembling and writhing, with flames still burning on its body.
" Miss Sparrow!"
Gilan acted decisively, flashing in front of the other person and, without caring about anything else, directly stripped off all the burning clothes from her body.
At the same time, he quickly took out the last dose of Bitter Throat Medicine and poured it into the other person's mouth.
The Bitter Throat Medicine is effective in treating internal and external injuries and burns, and also has a strong analgesic effect. After drinking the medicine, Miss Sparrow's painful reaction was immediately relieved.
He looked at the dying girl in his arms, his Adam's apple bobbing, and for a moment he felt something stuck in his throat.
The once playful and beautiful Miss Sparrow was now burned beyond recognition. Her delicate, fair skin had turned charred black, and was even left with patches of bloody, whitish scars.
That smooth, beautiful blond hair was gone, replaced by a hideous bald patch.
Her eyes were tightly closed, and tears streamed down her face.
His chapped lips parted slightly, but he could only let out hoarse, incomprehensible wails, which made Gilan's heart tremble.
" Miss Sparrow, don't be afraid, it's me... Snowy Owl."
Gilan said in a deep voice.
You'll get better! Hang in there!
Comforting her, he took out the only two rolls of Magic Potion Gauze he had left in his alchemy leather pouch and carefully wrapped them around the girl's body.
Finally, he took off his trench coat and wrapped it around her.
Gilan carried the unconscious Miss Sparrow back the way they came, then quickly fled the wealthy district, heading towards the southern exit of Black City.
Fortunately, they encountered relatively few Federation troops along the way, and with Gilan deliberately avoiding them, they managed to leave Black City after spending a little more time.
It was already afternoon.
Gilan carried the girl across the desolate bridge.
The roar of the city behind us continued.
At this moment.
He suddenly realized that the sky had become gloomy, and all the colors in sight had taken on a cold, gray hue, as if it were the end of the world.
A black vintage car was parked behind a large tree.
Gilan walked over quickly.
Charles, a middle-aged man in a tuxedo, also stepped out from behind the tree at the opportune moment, his face still showing lingering fear as he approached.
"Young Master, you've finally arrived!"
Charles said nervously.
"I never expected... I never expected the Federation to act so quickly! Those giant airships and bombers dropped shells on the city, and everything was blown to smithereens!"
Gilan remained silent, gently placing Miss Sparrow on the back seat of the car before turning to look at Charles.
He said in a hoarse voice:
"If I'm not back before dark, you drive her away."
"Young Master?!"
Old Charles's expression changed drastically.
What are you planning to do? You absolutely mustn't go back!
Rumble!!
Thunder rumbled across the gloomy, dark sky.
Gilan said nothing, turned around, picked up his axe, and walked away into the city.