The Cities Surround the Countryside

In the air, Katharine burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, you might as well just surrender!"

Ke'er site's face turned ashen.

With the battle having progressed to this point, there was naturally no need to continue the conflict.

He suddenly turned his head and flew away towards the outer perimeter.

However, the realm of "purification silence" has not yet been closed.

The people below are of no use to me.

Only by continuing to suppress the two giant dragons, Gelie and Qingfeng, can he escape unscathed.

Otherwise, who would dare to compete with a dragon in the air for flying speed?

However, the intelligent driving system on the "Mighty" was drawn to Ke'er site's detachment.

In the ADSL6 code logic, Ke'er site attempts to escape at an abnormally high speed, and is identified as an extremely high-value target.

With its increased weight, Ke'er site thus climbed to the very top of the attack priority list.

All three "fierce" vehicles turned simultaneously.

All twelve cannons and machine guns were raised.

Distance, wind speed, wind direction, air pressure, temperature, elevation angle, planetary rotation, target movement parameters, prediction----

The CPU spins at full speed, completing this series of calculations in just a few milliseconds.

For human marksmen, this is a skill that requires countless hours of practice to hone.

However, from a mechanical perspective, it is simply code that can be copied.

They might not be the most accurate, but they've got plenty of shots!

In an instant, the "Meng-shi" combat mechs unleashed their firepower.

In just a second, four or five hundred rounds of ammunition roared out, weaving together a storm of steel!

Ke'er site saw a dense hail of bullets hurtling towards him at a single glance, and was instantly Soul·Scatter.

That's way too much!!!

He pushed his flight speed to the limit, making continuous sharp turns, zigzags, and changes of direction in the air, creating a chaotic trajectory that was difficult to track.

Such high-speed maneuvering did indeed help Ke'er site avoid the vast majority of munitions.

A small amount of ammunition splashed onto him.

The specialized anti-high-speed weapon amulet on his body was constantly being activated, flashing light repeatedly.

This ability to evade and withstand attacks further enhances the ADSL6's assessment of the threat level posed by enemies.

The system maximized the firing rate of all weapons, reaching 100 rounds per second.

In an instant, the 12 gun barrels and cannons spewed out flames at a rate of a thousand rounds per second.

The sounds of banging and crashing blended together, becoming indistinguishable.

Shell casings clattered and slammed against the ground around them like raindrops.

Ke'er site was suddenly forced to the point of being unable to breathe, and the shield around his body flashed wildly.

However, this raging chaos, just as abruptly as it began, came to an abrupt end the next moment.

It lasted only eight seconds.

The "fierce" attack, unleashed at full speed, emptied all its ammunition!

Ke'er site was covered in a cold sweat, his chest heaving violently.

This attack was absolutely terrifying!

If this level of firepower continues...

Given his combat role, which is neither adept at aerial maneuvering nor defense, and whose own skills are completely countered—

Could he become the first Saint Rank being to die at the hands of unmanned machines?

Ke'er site felt a chill run down his spine and was about to continue his escape when the hairs on his body stood on end.

Looking up, he met the four enormous dragon eyes of Gelie and Qingfeng.

And there were Katharine's slightly narrowed, smiling eyes beside her.

They all looked down at him with "kindness."

In order to avoid the hail of bullets, he had focused all his energy on flying and changing direction, so he naturally gave up maintaining the "purification silence"!

The next moment, blazing dragon breath and countless ice crystals fell simultaneously, engulfing the unfortunate cultivators.

****

Su Ming got up very early in the morning.

He didn't want to, but there were just too many things to do.

When the alarm clock rang, it woke up Zijin as well.

"You should rest more." Su Ming reached out and tidied the stray hairs on her cheek.

"No need, I've had enough sleep." Zijin sat up and stretched. "You're meeting with Xialike later, and Jielusi and I need to make security preparations."

"Safety, ready?"

"Xialike will definitely bring the Executioner Zhapulai along," Zijin explained, making a stabbing gesture. "What if Zhapulai suddenly attacks you—how do you defend against that?"

"Well, logically speaking, trading Zhapulai and Xialike's lives for mine is a huge loss, isn't it?"

"Whether they can do it or not is their business; prevention is our duty." Zijin threw back the covers and got out of bed, kissing Su Ming on the cheek. "Darling, what if you scratch such a handsome face?"

But in his hand, he casually took the cup of water that Su Ming had just filled and the toothpaste tube that he had just opened.

Then, naturally, it took over the sink.

Su Ming had no choice but to change out of her pajamas first.

"Is this Zhapulai difficult to deal with?"

"That guy's 'mind reading' ability is annoying; he'll trick Ruixiuli and Jielusi."

Zijin answered while brushing her teeth, her voice slightly muffled.

"I am immune to 'mind reading,' but at close range, my reaction time isn't as fast as his."

"----Then I'll leave it to you."

****

Su Ming arrived at the office and encountered Ainuobia, who had been on duty all night.

She immediately shared some good news with Su Ming: "Last night's raid and uprising in Dawn Territory was a great success!"

"The Regretful Monk Colster has been slain in battle!"

Her voice was full of joy.

"Great!" Su Ming said happily.

Actually, no one disturbed his rest last night, so this outcome was expected.

"Stacy also successfully entered the battlefield and used ' Desecration the Spiritual Pivot' to capture his soul!" Ainuobia continued to report.

Ke'er site's mental ability, "Purifying Silence," is extremely susceptible to corrupting guards, making him completely unsuitable for capture.

This was the only way to imprison them.

"Perfect!" Su Ming punched his fist hard against the secretary. "You should go and get some rest!"

"Mmm!" Ainuobia responded happily, handing the detailed battle report to Su Ming.

Then it skipped and hopped away.

Su Ming read it carefully.

A large number of mid- to high-ranking officers were captured in the Holy See's attack force.

Riding high on her victory, Katharine began advancing by both land and sea, heading towards the Northern Lands territories.

Although our newly recruited troops are not yet combat-ready.

However, the morale of the troops in the Northern Lands region was completely shattered.

The earlier Cultural Mudslide campaign shattered the illusion that ordinary soldiers and civilians held onto the high and mighty messengers of God.

The subsequent "Great Pill Dispute" and "War of the Pope's Illegitimate Daughter" incidents further demoralized the soldiers.

Finally, the Holy City fell.

The deaths of Augustus, Ke'er site, and other high-ranking members of the Council of Cardinals, who represented the strength of the group.

In this situation, everyone knows that the Holy See's power is waning.

Katharine issued a public proclamation: to surrender before her army arrived would be considered an uprising.

If you surrender only when the main army is at the city gates, you will only be considered a prisoner.

"Those who hesitate or waver don't count; those who are stubborn are welcome to test our blades!"

The original announcement stated the following.

****

The secretary who was taking over the shift also arrived at the office.

Su Ming completed a series of deployments and adjustments, and issued several reports.

Before long, senior management personnel began to arrive at the office.

Beianqi, who was on the other side of the mudflats, participated via video link.

The room was suddenly packed.

The office of the Elf Embassy was ultimately too small.

"Newman, set up an office space," Su Ming said. "As for personnel, prioritize other tasks; use whoever you can find."

Newman's little bone claws immediately gave him a "yes" sign.

"The most important thing today is to incorporate the surrounding areas."

Su Ming began assigning tasks.

"Yise, go and deal with the four Royal Guard infantry legions that came to the king's aid. Their encampment last night was less than a hundred kilometers from here."

These four legions, along with their auxiliary forces, totaled over 100,000 men, roughly a quarter of the entire Temple of Light's regular military strength.

"President, please believe me, it is definitely them who are panicking because they are too close." Yise said with a serious expression.

Upon hearing this, the rest of the attendees immediately burst into laughter.

"Just give me a Bone Machine Battalion to back me up," Yise proposed, "And I'll bring a Star Sand Squad. We'll have this all sorted before sunset today!"

"Second Battalion, you go." Su Ming immediately appointed the commander.

"Yes, sir!" The Second Battalion stood up and replied solemnly.

Over the years, Star Sand has accumulated extremely rich resources within the church's grassroots organizations.

Among many ordinary people, those outstanding individuals with active minds who are able to break free from traditional constraints are secretly absorbed and developed by them through the "New Divine Language".

When the time is right, these people will be the core members to develop the "underground Star Sand" group.

Currently, these underground members make up more than 10% of the target forces and are constantly spreading anti-traditional Holy See ideology, advocating freedom and equality of all beings, and promoting the Star Sand of special privileges for religious leaders.

This means that the time is ripe for large-scale defection and the "annihilation" campaign.

That's why Katharine's battle in the Northern Lands went so smoothly last night.

"The secret manual of 'Dragon Slaying Essentials' from my hometown is truly undeniable," Su Ming thought to himself.

"First Battalion, Third Battalion," he continued, assigning officers.

The two battalion commanders immediately stood up.

"Suppress the cities surrounding the Holy City one by one, and cooperate with the Star Sand underground organization to carry out the recapture and take over the administration of each city."

"Yes!"

Jielusi expressed her concern. "What about the safety of the Holy City?"

"The Feather Race will take over," Su Ming said. "General Feikasi, your task is very important. Not only are you responsible for maintaining order in the Holy City and managing and incorporating the prisoners, but you are also tasked with repairing the facilities damaged in yesterday's battle."

"Please rest assured, President Su!" Feikasi said solemnly, "In charging into battle, we are far less formidable than your army. If we cannot even do a good job of securing our rear, our entire Feather Race army will be utterly disgraced!"

Su Ming nodded.

"Yuya, I've assigned you the entire dragon army. Two or three people per dragon, and you can split up to visit different regions."

"Promote our policies throughout the entire Radiant Jurisdiction!"

Yuya immediately stood up and replied.

"Yes!"

At the same time, she suggested, "Our military strength is currently at its peak. Could we reactivate the underground organizations throughout Star Sand and turn them into open operations?"

Su Ming, "Okay!"

"There's a small problem," Hansite said, "The Dragon Forces didn't get any griffin meat last night."

Su Ming sighed.

Last night we were suddenly attacked by Augustus, and there was also a sacrifice by fanatics. The cleanup work is still not finished.

There's no time to spare to cook meat for them.

Su Ming quickly came up with a solution.

"Give each dragon a Wi-Fi card from an internet Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe."

"The card can be redeemed for five hours of flight time, or a full-meat meal."

He thought for a moment, then added.

"The card will be printed with a commemorative print of participation in the Radiant Holy City Battle."

This displeased Beianqi.

"Isn't it unfair that only dragons get the war commemorative card?"

Several battalion Bone Machine Battalion nodded in agreement.

"Alright, let Qiluo design a set of card seals, and all participating troops will have one," Su Ming said smoothly.

After discussing some details, Su Ming adjourned the meeting, and everyone left to go to their posts.

Thinking of the many hidden treasures and techniques in the "Dragon Slaying Manual" that have yet to be implemented.

Su Ming raised his hand and stopped one of them.

"Hansite, can the bards be hired and organized to help us with our propaganda work?"

"Why not?" Hansite grinned. "With the money in hand, everything's negotiable."

****

Later that evening, Su Ming attended another meeting.

Su Ming's first words were a complaint.

"The 'intelligent driving' system, even with its 'fierce' features, worked normally when fighting the ' Atonement Spikes ' battle group."

"Why do you become so stupid when you're facing the Ashen Repentance Friar?"

"Lock onto a single target and fire simultaneously."

"And the highest rate of fire, emptying all the bullets in one go."

"Crossfire, rotational suppression, networked firepower—where are your tactics?

Faced with Su Ming's questioning, Jisu began to explain.

"AI selects its strategy against adversaries through a weighted approach using matrix vectors and algorithms."

"However, the stats of the Ashen Repentance Friar are severely overpowered, exceeding the scope of the training data."

"This is why artificial intelligence has shown significant deviations in decision-making."

As he said this, a hint of helplessness crept into his voice.

"This is the most idiotic scenario ever with an AI system."

"Okay, so next we need to ring the Death Knell, what should we do?"

Su Ming brought up the question.

"She counters magic-based attacks, and we can't beat physical attacks—I need everyone to develop targeted and powerful enough war machines to effectively counter her!"

Fengshou then spoke.

"Ke'er site's energy intensity and combat skills are far superior to conventional units."

"This is what led to the problems that AI exposed."

"Without constant replication and a large amount of data input, an intelligent system simply cannot be trained."

"And each Saint Rank opponent we're about to face has completely different stats and styles."

"Let alone the vast differences between different Saint Rank, even within the same Saint Rank, a change in equipment and tactics, or the acquisition of new skills, can drastically alter the overall tactical style."

"This is not a scenario that artificial intelligence can handle!"

"I see."

Su Ming spoke.

"Automated combat machines can't handle this kind of high-level gameplay, right?"

Or to be more precise - this wasn't a high-level game.

This falls within the scope of the top-tier leagues in this dimension.

"Yes, ultimately, weapons still need to be controlled by humans," Fengshou said.

"Then we need a pilot who can navigate both the mechanical and magical realms and has sufficiently agile reflexes."

Miao Xin gave a soft snort, her tone revealing undisguised smugness.

"Just tell me your name!"

"OK, let's go in this direction," Su Ming said.

"Develop a special mecha piloted by Miss Qiu." Jisu and Fengshou quickly jotted it down in their notebooks.

"Is the tentative name 'Yinglong' for the mecha acceptable?" Jin Rongjia asked.

"Whatever," Su Ming said.

"I think we could add the character 'horse' to it, like the spirit of a dragon and a horse," Dodder interjected.

Jin Rongjia immediately glared at her.

"There's a problem," Jisu said. "During development, we need to continuously conduct real-world testing and correct any issues."

Whether a new system is useful and easy to use definitely needs to be thoroughly tested.

The test requires a character whose fighting style and skill level are similar to that of the character Death Knell.

It must be Saint Rank, and an agile melee fighter.

"Yeah, I need to practice my control too, and I need a hardworking target to practice on," Miao Xin chimed in. "And I can't guarantee I won't hurt them."

"Don't worry, I've already prepared." Su Ming smiled calmly. "Just be careful not to beat them into a cadaver."

"Oh?" Jin Rongjia was surprised. "You already have that?"

"A prisoner called the Trickster," Su Ming replied.

When Su Ming first captured this Saint Rank goblin, he deliberately spared his life, imprisoning him deep in Northern Ice Island and placing him under Lanmo's watchful eye.

That's exactly what we wanted to see today.

****

Next came the situation in Taya.

Miao Xin had already given a advance report on the recent battle situation and results.

The discussion revolved around how to take full control of the Temple of Light area and the subsequent ideological propaganda.

The team under the Dodder's command is responsible for this part of the political work, providing suggestions on program planning, implementation details, and effect evaluation.

This part was quite trivial, yet everyone discussed it with great interest.

Miao Xin, who was in attendance, was getting drowsy.

"Why don't you let me go play basketball?" she muttered.

After discussing the "soft" tactics, the topic returned to the hardware.

"Regarding the H-6 WZ, there's a shortage of twelve super-large propfan engines, which we can't fill," Fengshou said. "It has too many custom parts, and the supply chain is too long; it will probably take more than six months."

Su Ming waved his hand.

"No, we don't need it for now."

"This time, give me a standard model turbofan."

Miao Xin was overjoyed.

Wow, you finally decided to give up the high-altitude plane!

"Of course, I now have the capability to build airports in various parts of the other world," Su Ming said calmly.

Currently, land-based airports for aircraft to take off and land can be built in Northern Ice Island, Dragon Valley, Radiant Jurisdiction, and the Northern Continent Jurisdiction of Light, which will soon be under our control.

"Yay!" Miao Xin perked up immediately. "Fengshou, let's go pick out a powerful bomber!"

"No need, just the chubby girl," Su Ming stopped her.

"----Why is it still a transport plane!" Miao Xin immediately expressed her dissatisfaction.

"Nonsense, I need to haul goods!" Su Ming said irritably.

Once the rapid logistics between these four regions are established, the terrifying speed will be enough to shock the entire Taya Plane.

Miao Xin was so angry that her heart was pounding.

"A chubby girl isn't out of the question," she finally retorted, "But you'll have to give me a decent body."

"It's all prepared for you, I guarantee you'll be satisfied," Su Ming said with a smile. "I'll deal with Xialike Like first, then I'll finish the engraving for you."

"Hmph, that's more like it."