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Chapter 248. The Massacre of the City in the Dark (2)

The night was as dark as ink, and countless shadows surged in from all directions.

Jiang Jianxin didn't have time to think it through. With his left hand, he pulled Zuo Siquan into his arms, while his right hand drew a sharp arc with his long sword.

"Clang—crackling and popping—"

Before the lingering echo of the sword's tremor had faded, a streak of white sword energy shot out from the sky.

In an instant, the entire window shattered, and countless fragments scattered in the moonlight, like a sudden downpour.

Sharp shards of glass refracted the cold moonlight, drawing hundreds of fleeting silver streaks in the air.

The sword energy, carrying shards of glass, whistled past, but the moment it touched the darkness outside the window, it was swallowed up as if by an invisible giant maw, failing to even elicit the slightest echo.

Jiang Jianxin lightly touched the ground with his toes, and carrying Zuo Siquan, he flew out of the window on his sword.

Just then, the darkness above suddenly cracked open, and a beam of starlight poured down, illuminating the figure suspended in the air.

"Sage?"

The familiar voice sent a jolt through Jiang Jianxin.

She looked up and saw Shen Ye standing in mid-air, shrouded in deep darkness, as if wrapped in an invisible curtain.

Jiang Jianxin urged his sword energy and sped toward the crack. Wherever he passed, the darkness receded like a tide.

When she finally broke free from the darkness, Shen Ye's astonished face came into clear view.

"Why are you here?"

Jiang Jianxin took a deep breath:

"...I haven't even asked you why you're here, and you're already asking me."

Shen Ye was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and trousers. He blinked and obediently explained the reason for his arrival:
“I followed Elder Xia Qizhen on your orders. He sent me to slaughter the mechanical followers in the Chaoyang Base Hospital.”

Jiang Jianxin was stunned for a moment, but quickly realized that this must be the meaning of the prophet.

—But what is a mechanical companion?
She thought this, and so she asked it aloud:

"What do you mean by the mechanical familiars at Chaoyang Base?"

Shen Ye explained:
"Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals can mentally corrupt normal people through medical devices and mechanical prosthetics. Elder Xia collectively refers to all those corrupted as 'Mechanical Favorites.' They are puppets of Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals and are completely obedient to them."

"Elder Xia calculated that Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals would join forces with the Furong Army tonight to attack the Chaoyang Base from within and without, so he transported away the uncontaminated gifted individuals in advance and sent me to slaughter the followers in the hospital."

As the two were talking in hushed tones, a deafening battle cry suddenly erupted from afar, followed by a cacophony of footsteps that surged closer and closer like a tide.

Jiang Jianxin looked in the direction of the sound.

Outside the Chaoyang base, under the dim starlight, the shadowy figures of the Furong Army advanced under the moonlight.

The girl in the orange fisherman's hat, who was at the head of the group, was floating in mid-air. She had changed into a brand new white mask with a cold sheen, which was obviously of higher quality than the previous one.

Shen Ye merely glanced at the approaching army, his tone calm:

"You can go first, I need to finish these things first."

Jiang Jianxin reminded him:

"Lord Orange is very strong, be careful."

Shen Ye nodded and said:
"I can't beat the Orange Emperor, but I don't necessarily have to. It's late at night now, and it's [Night]'s time to shine. I can stall for a bit."

Jiang Jianxin nodded, then picked up Zuo Siquan and flew out of the base on his sword.

After flying a certain distance, she turned around and looked back.

The darkness that had enveloped the hospital seemed to shrink away as if it were alive, the pitch-black sky like a wet cloth being gripped tightly by an invisible giant hand, tightening around the entire building layer by layer.

Like squeezing water out of a sponge, there was no sound, no wailing.

The night is shrinking, it is squeezing.

Each window became a bleeding wound, with dark red, viscous liquid gushing from the cracks and converging into a winding river of blood around the building.

The blood seeped into the soil, turning the earth blood red.

Jiang Jianxin seemed to hear the sound of gushing blood.

This was the first time she had witnessed Shen Ye carrying out a large-scale massacre.

I once read some fragmented comments on the forum that mentioned the Black King of the mental hospital had a strong killing ability and could silently slaughter a city. But words are ultimately pale. Only after seeing it with my own eyes did I understand that he really did have a talent for killing, like he was performing a pantomime.

There were no flashy lights or special effects, only an endless, dark night.

—In the pitch black, no one survived.

In the distance, the girl in the orange fisherman's hat seemed to have noticed something amiss at the base.

With a slight lift of her finger, a massive, fantastical golden ring suddenly appeared behind her with a "hum." The ring shone with dazzling light, carrying with it a flurry of willow catkins, and crashed into the thick, inky night like the breaking of dawn.

"Om————"

The golden ring trembled for a long time as it collided with the darkness.

A dazzling light of fantasy tore through the misty night, but Shen Ye's figure had already vanished without a trace.

The fluttering willow catkins drifted slowly down from the illusory golden ring that enveloped the hospital, gently covering the blood river at the foot of the hospital, like a pale funeral.

"kill----!"

The shouts of the veterans echoed in the empty base.

The fortifications were easily breached, yet not a single defender was seen.

Orange floated in mid-air, her brows furrowed slightly beneath her fisherman's hat. Her gaze swept over the eerie, deserted city before she looked thoughtfully into the darkness in the distance behind her.

In the shadows further away, the eyes of the Restoration Army's strategist and the Black-Eyed Pharmaceutical expert pierced the night, taking in the entire strange siege battle—

An undefended base, a victory without an opponent, and the ruins of a hospital shrouded in blood and willow catkins.

……

【Wait, what's going on?】

Jiang Jianxin carried Zuo Siquan as they flew at high speed through the night, asking her intuition.

From the moment the Furong Army launched its night raid on the Chaoyang base, every twist and turn in the events was something she hadn't anticipated.

Is this how normal warfare is fought? Isn't it usually just two armies charging into battle, ending when one side can't hold its ground?

Jiang Jianxin asked.

What's going on tonight?

Intuitively, I answered:
What you're describing is way too simplistic.

Tonight's events are not simple; they represent a contest of strength between two wise men.

Jiang Jianxin didn't understand.

Intuition continued to explain:
The Restoration Army rose to power by receiving Genius Potions airdropped from Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals, which also provided it with considerable weaponry. While ostensibly a civilian uprising, it was essentially a semi-mercenary army under Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals.

[Their sudden change of course to Chaoyang Base was on the orders of the strategist (conspirator) at Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals—the first attack was originally successful, but you suddenly interfered.]

However, Guangming had a backup plan, and tonight's incident at the hospital was one of his plans.

Jiang Jianxin was reminded by her intuition, and belatedly realized something. She suddenly understood:

[I understand. Even if the first attack fails, a large number of severely injured gifted individuals will enter the hospital. Those people, contaminated by the medical equipment, can become its new manpower.]

So after a brief respite, it launched a second attack, coordinated from within and without, and captured the Chaoyang base?

Intuition replied:
Yes, that schemer's plan was brilliant. This situation has two layers of protection; it's a complete dead end. Whether you come or not, Chaoyang Base will fall.

It paused, then added:
However, the one from the Dream Weaver Pavilion is no simple character. If she hesitated even slightly in this deadly situation, the Dream Weaver Pavilion would suffer heavy losses.

[But she didn't hesitate at all, sacrificing the pawns to save the king, taking away the uncorrupted gifted individuals, looting the remaining resources, leaving only an empty shell, and even killing off the newly born followers in the end.]

Thus, although the schemer at Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals succeeded in his plan, he didn't gain much benefit.

Jiang Jianxin was both surprised and impressed:
[Impressive... The game of light is terrifying indeed.]

She rode her sword through the cool night breeze, looking somewhat bewildered as she gazed at the pale clouds sinking into the darkness below.
Where should I go now? Should I take her back to Dawn Base, or back to Haidu?

Don't go to Dawn Base.

Intuition said slowly:

[The fact that the Dream Pavilion sent people to massacre the followers of the Chaoyang Base beforehand is undoubtedly a message to Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals that their clever tricks in the medical devices have been discovered.]

Therefore, their best course of action is to quickly mobilize the followers from the other two bases to launch an armed conflict—before Shen Ye returns.

It serves as a reminder:

Don't get involved. Wait a bit longer; the situation is about to change.

[The Parallel Craftsman at Dream Pavilion is cautious, afraid you'll disrupt things, so he's trying to block you. The Schemer at Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals doesn't operate this way.]

Putting everything else aside, you might have a chance to switch jobs.

I modified the bonus chapter for the older brother, changing the original image to a video animation. I will not modify the bonus chapter for Jiang Jianxin, because the AI ​​used for her image is the only paid image-making AI. All the others were generated for free by Doubao.

The schemer's animated video will also be included in the bonus chapters featuring his appearance.

All the animated videos of the characters were generated by Doubao based on the descriptions in the book and are for reference only. You can also create your own character images and submit them to the bonus chapter. I will select one that I think is suitable and display it in the latest chapter.

The above applies only to the starting point, as other sites do not have this feature.