Love, death, and false man

Chapter 39. Mercury Electricity
9/29—23:00
A standalone apartment building in the Binhai East District, a commercial area, on the 11th floor.

Fang Yan realized that he hadn't come to discuss anything with Xia Bing at all; he had simply listened to her explain the plan, and she had already orchestrated the entire killing spree.

Fortunately, it wasn't a troublesome and lengthy long-term protection mission; it was just about eliminating an ordinary person.

The human world, or society, has its own consciousness, the ability to recover from trauma and the ability to expand and grow; it can even be seen as a living spiritual matrix.

It's not that killing someone solves the problem once and for all. Often, important figures at historical junctures become symbols, rules of the matrix. Simply erasing their physical existence doesn't destroy the symbol through spiritual inheritance. Instead, it requires hunting down and containing "infected" individuals who carry these "symbols."

In the end, the puppet became the target, a substitute for the original, and also became a fashionable item in trendy culture. The symbol was completely dissolved, and the vaccine was injected into everyone's brain.

Time-coordinated operations are battles fought to simultaneously eliminate all "infected" individuals on the timeline and dissolve historical symbols, maximizing the chain reaction within the same timeframe.

And to achieve the world that one of the three—the Savior, the Gods, or the Soul-Sucker—desirs to see.

"I don't understand. Since the law of causality has failed and the changes in history have converged into a singularity, how can people in other timelines, in the future or in the past, perceive these changes?"

"This is something beyond our level of understanding. The singularity might be the real world, and we are a higher-dimensional concept. Everything we do, when projected into the singularity, would cause tremendous changes. It's also possible that it has already had an impact, but we can't perceive it, just like a character in a video game can't feel the lag in the game, or the various data correction updates and DLC supplements. It just thinks that's how it is."

The two are contradictory yet unified, and may coexist; the truth is a top secret.

But without a doubt, the Lord of Souls extracts energy from people's souls. As the axis of almost all distorted spacetime, he is the biggest beneficiary. All we need to do is continuously weaken him; don't try to understand him, just fight him to the very end.

Xia Bing tied her hair up and added, "Hurry up and pack your things. We have to leave Binhai before 12 o'clock. You have four days to learn how to operate a plane and parachute. Just answering questions and practicing on the spot is not the same as mastering the skills completely."

"Top Secret..."

Historical timeline, Fang Yan thought to himself. The room was already messy, and now, looking at the equipment scattered all over the floor—bulletproof vests, parachute backpacks, and structural diagrams of the Bombardier Globe 7500 aircraft—Fang Yan realized he was really in deep trouble.

The target is a giant energy company, one of the shareholders of Mercury Electric.

This is not a trial, this is an obliteration. Soldiers don't need background information to kill people, they only need orders. They don't need to know what kind of person the victim is, even if he is a humble, polite and upright guy, it is meaningless.

此人存在的唯一作用，只是必须在2030年10月4日的下午1点到2点内死去，若是能精确到1点20分20秒，再好不过，尽量往这个时间上靠。

According to information obtained from the liaison officer.

The target would be traveling by private plane from Yungang City to Tokyo at noon that day. Fang Yan didn't know how the Salvation Army's leadership divided the area. Was it because the plane happened to be passing through Binhai during the execution time that it was assigned to this location?

Since there were still a few days left, providing ample window of opportunity, Xia Bing offered a relatively safe solution.

Because it's impossible to kill the target in advance, kidnapping it beforehand would be even more troublesome. Shooting it down with anti-aircraft guns from a coastal military base would cause a severe Mandela Effect, and the target's priority isn't that high.

If Fang Yan and she went to Yungang City that day and boarded the plane with the target, it would be impossible. This is not a passenger plane where you can just buy a ticket and board. It would only lead to an earlier battle, and the target would be escorted to escape.

The target is flexible, but the vehicle is inanimate. This aircraft is a business jet from Mercury Electric Company and is not the target's own. This aircraft, which took off from Yungang City on the 4th, will stop in Sakaki City on the 3rd for routine maintenance.

"Be prepared to spend the night on a plane."

Xia Bing pointed to the structural diagram of the Global 7500. The mezzanine behind the cockpit, at the bottom of the fuselage, in the electronic equipment compartment, was where the two of them would be staying.

Considering its own characteristics and high destructive power, which could potentially damage the entire aircraft, it may be necessary to parachute after dealing with all the target's bodyguards and the target himself.

"This...is this pure suicide?"

Fang Yan looked at the genuine parachute backpack and bulletproof vest; this plan was too crazy.

"Feel free to offer any other suggestions. Friendly reminder: the danger of parachuting after the plane is destroyed is far less than being attacked by multiple charlatans. Besides, the plane might not even be destroyed. After killing them, we might even be able to travel to Tokyo for a while." Although the mission didn't specify any background information or the impact this person would have, based on Xia Bing's years of military experience, Mercury Electric was within the Vatican's sphere of influence.

Fang Yan believed that he relied entirely on firearms to kill Lu Cheng in the performance hall. If he hadn't prepared in advance, he would have been brutally killed by the monstrous Lu Cheng.

Indeed, Xia Bing made the decision with safety in mind. If she had just recklessly rushed in and started a mass killing spree, she would have only put herself in danger.

No matter how much preparation you do, you can only increase the survival rate to 50%.

"The electronic equipment compartment is indeed well-hidden, but what if the other side has more sophisticated detection methods?"

"We have no choice but to trust the Salvation Army's satellite base stations. In my experience, they've never made a mistake. No matter how advanced the technology, it will eventually become a struggle between people."

"I have no further objections."

Fang Yan helped Xia Bing pack up the equipment.

“Very good, let’s set off tonight. There’s still a lot of preparation to do when we get to Sakaki City. We need to scout out the location beforehand, and disguise ourselves as maintenance personnel. There might be a better hiding place than the electronic equipment compartment. Although the satellite base station is very powerful, it’s still beneficial to avoid giving ourselves away and to conserve more server computing power.”

"What would happen if...the mission failed?"

"It's hard to say. I haven't experienced it myself, because this question is meaningless. If you fail, you usually don't survive. Even if you do survive, there won't be any punishment. Highly qualified soldiers are rare and should be cherished. Most people... can't even carry out routine inspection missions more than a few times before they die, either from the psychological pressure that overwhelms them and they commit suicide, or they are killed by charlatans and sorcerers. It's hard to imagine that you were assigned to complete this kind of mission after only twenty days of enlistment. It's unbelievable. Are you really a college student?"

"Of course... I feel like everything is a dream, and I don't even know what I'm fighting for."

After packing up the last of his equipment, Fang Yan looked at the structural diagram of the Global 7500. Everything seemed like a roundabout word game. "It's strange how we dismantle the symbols in historical texts. Perhaps everyone is doing the same thing. The so-called refusal to be labeled is also a way of getting rid of symbols. Everyone is eager to break free from their own shackles."

Xia Bing is a veteran rock musician.

"Forget about all this useful and useless stuff. These people are just too pretentious. If they don't live as a symbol, they haven't truly lived, there's no evidence of their existence, right? So... whether it's saving the world or whatever, let's lead the trend. Before that, we need to kill the mothers of all these Mercury Electric people."

Xia Bing immediately regretted what she said, realizing she had been led astray by a high school student and developed a strange verbal tic. Even though she didn't care about her image, she should still be mindful of her manners.

"Then kill him."

After Fang Yan finished speaking, he followed Xia Bing into the elevator and carried the combat supplies to her private garage.

The garage was full of motorcycles, with only one SUV remaining.

Put the items into the trunk of the SUV.

"Have you ever driven a car? I don't mean a motorcycle, I mean a four-wheeled vehicle."

"I've driven trailer trucks, but I can't turn them."

"Regardless of where you drive the trailer, it means you have some basic skills. You drive it, I want to take a nap first."

"I don't understand traffic rules, all kinds of signs, and there's a big difference between having driven one and actually driving one."

"The only sign you need to care about is a living person. Just don't run them over. There's no better day to learn to drive than today. The navigation system has already set it up for you."

"I will try my best."

Fang Yan smoked a Hongtashan cigarette before opening the car door and sitting in the driver's seat. Anyway, No. 4 might die, and deserting is worse than dying, so he might as well drive and treat it as a life experience.

(End of this chapter)