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Chapter 239 The Cruelest Truth (Updated 15 times out of 2 words)

people?!!
An extremely strong intuition surged through Fang Qingyu's entire body like an electric current!

His gaze was fixed on the wolf-headed ghost kneeling on the ground, trembling.

Beneath its ferocious, bestial appearance, in that twisted wail.

Fang Qingyu clearly sensed something.
A fear, despair, and will to survive that only humans can perceive!
That was something no other ghost I had ever encountered before could possess.

Even the penal bone Buddhas and Vajra Buddhas, which possess wisdom and can speak, are filled with a bizarre aura of twisted Buddha-nature and demonic nature. Their core remains a cold, inhuman "life ghost."

And this corpse wolf.
Its fear was so "vivid" and so "humble".

Just like those ordinary people who instinctively cry out in agony when they are on the verge of death under the claws of fate.

Fang Qingyu could even "hear" its trembling as it was on the verge of collapse!
however.

The black title above his head.
【Corpse Wolf】.

At this moment, it is like the coldest brand, silently mocking this absurd perception.

A ghost is a ghost!

In his molten gold eyes, the ripple of surprise was instantly frozen, transforming back into the icy chill and vigilance of a deep pool.

hum!
Thunderclap Shadow Activated!

Purple and blue lightning crackled around the pale golden dragon shadow and vanished in a flash.

Fang Qingyu appeared beside Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss as if by teleportation.

With his right hand outstretched, he forcefully grasped the destructive lightning bolt that was hovering in mid-air and leaping wildly!
Zizzi——! ! !
The violent power of lightning surged wildly in Fang Qingyu's palm, producing a piercing explosion.

Purple-blue and dark red electric sparks coiled around his arm like living things, illuminating the bulging muscles and scorch marks on his bronze arm.

It also illuminated his face, which appeared particularly cold and expressionless under the lightning.

The cold gaze, looking down from above, was like a sword of judgment, nailing to the wolf's face, which was completely distorted by fear.

"Can you talk?"

Fang Qingyu's voice was not loud, but it carried a freezing chill, each word like an icicle falling.

The kneeling corpse wolf, Blood Kiss, trembled violently as if struck by an invisible giant hammer.

A fierce will to survive erupted from his eerie green vertical pupils.

The ferocious wolf head thumped wildly like a pestle, the movements so large they almost broke its scale-covered neck.

Yes! I can! I can speak!

Its voice was sharp and hoarse, like two rusty pieces of iron rubbing together, with a forced and awkward imitation of human language, yet it was incredibly clear and urgent: "Don't kill me! Please! Don't kill me!"

Fang Qingyu held Lei Ting's right hand without moving, the violent lightning dancing obediently in his palm.

"What's your name? Where do you want to go? What are you going to do?"

Three questions, like cold chains, instantly bound Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss.

It dared not hesitate for a moment, its jaws opening and closing, answering awkwardly but swiftly:

"Blood Kiss! My name is Blood Kiss!" It pointed to its scaly wolf head, then eagerly pointed to the dark, gloomy forest to the north. "To the north! I want to go to the north! To join my army!"

"An army?!"

These two words were like two heavy bombs, crashing heavily into Fang Qingyu's heart.

His pupils, like molten gold, suddenly contracted into dangerous vertical lines.

A chilling sensation instantly shot from my tailbone to the top of my head.

The demons of fate have actually amassed a "massive army" in this world?!

And he, as the captain of a special team under Project Hidden Dragon, a top combat force among the Federation's younger generation, was completely unaware of this?!
This information was like the sharpest ice pick, instantly piercing through all of Fang Qingyu's previous understanding of the situation!
A tremendous sense of horror swept over me like a tsunami!

But Fang Qingyu's powerful will forcefully suppressed his turbulent thoughts, and his voice became even colder and more resolute, carrying an undeniable sense of oppression:
"Where is your army?!"

He stared intently at the Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss's eerie green vertical pupils, not missing a single change in emotion within them.

however.

Upon hearing this question, Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss appeared on that ferocious wolf face.

In an instant, an extremely human expression appeared on his face, a mixture of astonishment, bewilderment, and even a hint of absurdity.

It was as if Fang Qingyu had asked the most foolish and unbelievable question.

Its wolf eyes widened, its eerie green pupils filled with disbelief, and it blurted out instinctively, its voice rising several octaves:
"In the Arctic!!" It even pointed instinctively to the far north night sky with its hand covered in grayish-white tree bark. "Humans...humans have been blocking our way there for hundreds of years! You...you didn't know?!"

boom! ! !
These words exploded like a thunderclap deep within my consciousness.

"A Century of Arctic Defense"

The sheer volume and cruelty of information contained in these words combined instantly exceeded Fang Qingyu's comprehension!

An indescribable, icy, suffocating feeling instantly gripped his heart!

He could even feel his right hand, which was holding Thunder, trembling slightly uncontrollably at the fingertips!

Om-! ! !
It's almost instinct!
The power of the World Patrolman within Fang Qingyu suddenly erupted!
A deep, cold, dark domain that seemed capable of swallowing all light instantly expanded wildly from him!
Like an overturned, giant black bowl, it instantly enveloped Fang Qingyu, Jiang Wei, and the kneeling corpse wolf Blood Kiss!
All sounds, light, and breath from the outside world were instantly cut off!
In this makeshift dark space, only the thick, deathly darkness of the Eternal Night Territory and the faint purple-blue flames emanating from the lightning leaping in Fang Qingyu's hand illuminated three faces with different expressions.

Fang Qingyu's expression was extremely solemn under the lightning.

Jiang Wei's small figure had silently appeared behind the Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss. ​​Her clear, molten gold eyes were now as cold as ice that had stood for millennia. Her small body exuded a terrifying aura that was faint yet powerful enough to incinerate space, completely locking down any possible movement of the Corpse Wolf.

“You are watching him.”

Fang Qingyu's voice rang out in the dark territory, carrying a cold, hard quality like the friction of metal.

Jiang Wei didn't speak, but nodded her head very slightly, her gaze like a solid ice spike, firmly fixed on the back of Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss.

The Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss was so terrified by the sudden absolute darkness and the chilling killing intent behind it that its scales bristled, and it let out a terrified "hoarse" sound in its throat. Its body trembled like a leaf in the wind, and it dared not move an inch.

Fang Qingyu stopped looking at it.

Instead, he took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the turbulent waves churning in his heart.

He pulled out the phone with the shattered screen, stained with black ash and blood.

My finger swiped quickly across the contacts list, landing precisely on the name "Old Man Hong from Chang'an Ancient Street".

Without the slightest hesitation, I dialed the number directly.

Beep. Beep. Beep.
The busy signal sounded particularly jarring in the deathly silence of the dark realm.

Time seemed to be stretched.

Every second felt like an eternity.

Fang Qingyu's eyes, as bright as molten gold, were fixed on the screen, his fingers gripping the phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Just when he thought no one would answer the phone.

Click.

The call was connected.

However, what reached his ears was not Hong Qitian's usual lazy or somewhat sarcastic voice.

The first thing to assault my ears was an extremely noisy and intense argument!
In the background, several voices, clearly in a state of extreme agitation, are roaring, like wounded wild beasts:

"What are you waiting for?! The contingency plan must be activated immediately! Today! Right now!!"

A hoarse, cracking male voice roared, with a desperate resolve, "All of humanity! You have the right to know the truth!!! We've kept this a secret for too long! If we keep it a secret any longer, it will be too late once they break free!!"

"Bullshit!!" Another, even more agitated voice immediately retorted, like a thunderclap, "Tell everyone now? Tell them what? Tell them there's a guillotine hanging over their heads? Tell them we can't hold out at all?! What good will it do besides plunging the world into panic and chaos prematurely, and causing the existing order to collapse completely?! What about resources? What about food? What about weapons? What will we use to supply the world in a state of war?! With our mouths?!"

"Do we have to wait until they break through the Arctic Circle! Until cities are reduced to ruins! Until hundreds of millions die in ignorance before we announce it?! That would be the real massacre!!" The first voice was even more agitated.

"Ignorance? At least ignorance allows you to live a few days in peace! By exposing this secret now, you're essentially lighting a powder keg! I see no hope other than sending everyone to hell prematurely!" The rebuttal was unwavering.

"Enough!! Shut up, all of you!!"

An aged yet authoritative voice abruptly silenced all the noise.

A brief moment of dead silence.

Then came heavy footsteps, as if someone was quickly moving away from the noisy battlefield with their phone in hand.

Ten seconds later.

The background arguing was finally blocked out by the heavy door, becoming extremely faint.

Only then did Hong Qitian's familiar voice come from the other end of the phone.

But this time, the voice lacked its usual laziness or harshness, leaving only a deep-seated weariness, as if crushed by an endless burden.

"Hey? Kid." His voice was terribly hoarse. "What is it? Speak quickly."

Fang Qingyu felt as if his heart was being gripped by an icy hand.

Take a deep breath, force yourself to keep your voice as calm as possible, and quickly and clearly recount everything that just happened, like the most accurate battle report.

From his and Jiang Wei's quiet return to the mountaintop to lie in wait, to how the Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss mysteriously broke through the force field barrier, how it displayed anthropomorphic vigilance and actions, how it was stopped by his thunder, how it begged for mercy and revealed its name, how it said "North," "the army will reunite," and finally to the most crucial line, "The Arctic! Humans have been blocking us there for hundreds of years! Don't you know?"

Fang Qingyu described every detail as accurately as possible, including the tone and expression of the Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss when it spoke.

On the other end of the phone.

A dead silence.

Only Hong Qitian's extremely suppressed, heavy breathing could be heard through the receiver.

It was as if he was carrying an invisible mountain, and every breath he took exhausted him.

The silence lasted for a full half minute.

The signal was so long that Fang Qingyu almost thought it had been cut off.

at last.

Hong Qitian's utterly exhausted voice, carrying a desolate air as if he had seen through the ways of the world, slowly rang out:
"Boy."

He paused, as if each word required immense effort.

"This world is really too big."

Fang Qingyu's hand gripping the phone tightened suddenly.

These words were like a cold key, instantly unlocking the door to the truth.

All the speculations, doubts, and confusion were completely confirmed at this moment!

Hong Qitian's deep, hoarse voice continued, each word like ice:
"Destiny demons seep out from the cracks in space, infiltrating everywhere and taking on countless forms. They cannot be eradicated, nor can they be completely stopped."

"Even with all our might, humanity can only barely plug the biggest 'holes' and slow down their large-scale arrival."

As for those scattered, isolated cases like the one you encountered—those that slipped through the net—

The old man's voice carried a deep sense of helplessness.

"We cannot, and do not have the power, to lay a global net and completely eradicate them in their infancy."

"so."

Hong Qitian's voice suddenly lowered, carrying an almost cruel determination.

"We can only drive them away! We must exploit their natural tendency to move towards certain spatial nodes, and utilize our pre-positioned inductive force fields and flesh-and-blood defenses."

"Herding them like sheep."

"Drive them all to the most desolate, coldest, most remote, and relatively 'thin' corner of the planet, within the Arctic Circle!"

"Then."

"There! Build a high wall! A Great Wall of flesh and blood, built with the blood, bones, and will of countless generations!"

"Keep them locked inside tightly."

"More than a hundred years have passed."

"This is all we can do."

the truth!

The truth is so cruel it's suffocating!

It was as if a basin of ice water mixed with steel needles had been poured down on Fang Qingyu's head, instantly piercing through his limbs and freezing his blood!
That's it!

It turns out that every ghost they experienced during the Ghost Festival in Heisong'ao, Qingjian City, and even the entire Anjiang Province and the entire Federation, was a testament to the power of the spirits they had slain.
They are just insignificant "fish that slipped through the net" that occasionally escape from the edge of that huge "cage"!
The real battlefield!
That silent, brutal war that concerned the survival of all human civilization!

It has been there for over a century in that eternally frozen wasteland of the Arctic!

Humanity is not fighting against infiltrated demons of fate.

Instead, it is against a “kingdom” that has been forcibly compressed into the far north for hundreds of years and is composed of countless terrifying ghosts!
A desperate strangulation and blockade is underway!
"Boy"

Hong Qitian's weary voice pulled Fang Qingyu back from the enormous shock.

"You'll find out about these things sooner or later. Every year, the special squads, after completing their Ghost Festival duty and proving their worth and loyalty..."

They will all be sent to the front lines in the Arctic Circle.

"Just know what you're doing now," the old man's voice carried an undeniable admonition.

"Don't tell anyone else."

The time is not yet ripe.

"Knowing the truth only adds an unbearable burden to them, distracting them in the meat grinder of Halloween. It does them no good at all."

“Beep. Beep.”

The call was hung up.

The busy signal echoed monotonously in the deathly silence of the eternal night.

Fang Qingyu slowly put down his phone.

The faint light from the screen illuminated his expressionless face.

Deep within those molten gold eyes lay a turbulent sea that had been forcibly suppressed after a period of tumultuous activity, eventually settling into a bottomless icy pool.

Fang Qingyu stood silently.

He was enveloped by the thick darkness of the Eternal Night Realm.

It isolated it from everything outside.

It also seemed as if time had been cut off.

In his mind, Hong Qitian's weary and desolate words and Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss's astonished "The Arctic, you don't know?" kept intertwining and colliding.

The Arctic Circle: A Permafrost Front, a Wall of Flesh and Blood. A Century
Every word carries immense weight.

It turns out that the light of human civilization has been able to continue only under the protection of such a silent and cruel dike.

Those who were slaying the few remaining ghosts in the rear were nothing more than worker ants occasionally swatting a few ants trying to burrow into the dam.

An indescribable heaviness, like a cold block of lead, pressed heavily on my heart.

This truth brings not fear, but a sense of powerlessness—the feeling of being as insignificant as dust in the face of the vastness of fate and cruel reality.

But then...
A colder, sharper thought, like a venomous snake, suddenly shot into my mind!
The three-layered space has not yet merged.
It would take humanity an immense amount of effort and a century of blood and tears to barely build a dam in the Arctic to block the ghosts of death.

Then
if!

What if those three spaces completely merge?!

What if that "mother nest," which has bred countless terrifying ghosts, and those truly horrific beings, were to descend upon this world like a tidal wave?

Humanity
Can you stop it?!
The chill brought on by this thought was more biting than the millennia-old ice caps of the Arctic.

It instantly froze his limbs and bones.

Fang Qingyu could even feel that the violent lightning in his right palm, which was holding the thunder, seemed to have become slightly disordered due to the shock to his mind!

Can't beat them?!

This thought, like the most vicious curse, had just taken root in my heart when it brought with it a suffocating despair.

however!
next second.

In the depths of Fang Qingyu's eyes, which were like molten gold, the flame that had been flickering with shock suddenly burst forth with an unprecedentedly intense light.

Like lava igniting in absolute darkness.

An indomitable fighting spirit and ferocity, forged from the depths of his bones and tempered in countless life-and-death battles, erupted like a dormant volcano!

If we can win, we should fight!
We can't beat them.
They absolutely must fight!!!
Taking a step back means the extinction of our race.

The lights of thousands of homes behind him have turned into a purgatory.

It was a rainy night in Qingjian City that witnessed the screams and heartbreak of the Shenguan Bureau team members, a scene that resonated in every corner of the world.

There is no way out!
Just fight!

The wavering and heaviness in his eyes were instantly burned away, leaving only a resolute and cold determination, like cutting through steel.

Fang Qingyu turned around abruptly.

The movement aggravated his still-healing wound, causing a tearing pain, which he completely ignored.

The Eternal Night's territory silently receded and dissipated.

The cool moonlight shone down again, illuminating the ruins on the mountaintop.

The light illuminated the blood-kissed corpse wolf, kneeling on the ground, trembling like a leaf.

It illuminated Jiang Wei, who stood behind it with eyes as cold as frost.

It also illuminated Fang Qingyu's face, which, under the moonlight, was filled with unquestionable decisiveness and ruthlessness.

Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss seemed to sense something, and its scale-covered wolf head suddenly rose up.

The last glimmer of hope in the eerie green vertical pupils was completely extinguished the moment it met Shang Qingyu's molten gold eyes!
All that remained was boundless fear and despair!
"No, no. You said... don't kill me. I've told you everything I know." It let out its last mournful cry, like a broken bellows.

Fang Qingyu remained expressionless.

I didn't even look at it.

But that right hand, which held the destructive lightning, was facing the wolf's head, which was prostrate on the ground.

Extremely casually.

Press down.

"Boom——!!!"

The long-accumulated purple-blue lightning and dark red tribulation fire, like a world-destroying dragon breaking free from its restraints, poured down in an instant!

The blinding lightning completely engulfed the desperate wolf face of Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss!

The violent energy instantly tore apart and disintegrated its body, which was covered with gray-white bark and dark blue scales.

He couldn't even let out a complete scream.

All that remained was a deep, charred crater.

On the scorched earth at the edge, a few wisps of smoke, crackling with tiny electric arcs, still lingered.

The air was thick with ozone and the acrid smell of burnt flesh.

The night of the 17th day of the seventh lunar month.

The last surviving ghost of the deserted village of Heisong'ao, Blood Kiss of the Corpse Wolf.

He died in a silent bolt of lightning.

The moonlight, like water, flowed quietly over this ravaged, scorched earth.

It was cold and desolate.

Fang Qingyu slowly withdrew his hand, and the embers of lightning and fire in his palm quietly extinguished.

He didn't even glance at the charred pit that was still emitting blue smoke.

His gaze shifted to the small Jiang Wei beside him.

The voice was soft, yet carried a calm that came after the dust had settled.
"Let's go."

Jiang Wei tilted her head up, her clear, molten gold eyes looking at him, then at the deep night sky to the north.

Finally, the little head nodded slightly.

The moonlight shone silently.

The two figures, one tall and one short, stretched very long across the scorched, desolate earth.

On the winding mountain road leading down from Heisong'ao, the engines of off-road vehicles roared in a deep rumble, their headlights slicing through the dark night like sharp swords.

The car was completely silent.

Fang Qingyu closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat, as if the silent, thunderous trial on the mountaintop had never happened.

Jiang Wei sat next to him, her little head nodding as she quietly sucked on her lollipop, only a fleeting, almost imperceptible glint of cold light occasionally flashing in her clear pupils.

Outside the car window, the mountain shadows were as dark as ink, rushing past.

Fang Qingyu's fingertips unconsciously tapped lightly on his knees. Hong Qitian's weary and desolate voice and the astonished "Arctic" from the Corpse Wolf Blood Kiss still echoed in his mind, intertwining to form a cold and grand apocalyptic scene.

"Captain Fang, have you found the item?"

Zhang Tiezhu, in the passenger seat, carefully observed Fang Qingyu's expression through the rearview mirror. His dark face showed undisguised concern and a hint of barely perceptible awe.

The terrifying pressure that suddenly descended from the mountaintop and then vanished in an instant.

And that deep, thunderous explosion was anything but ordinary.

"Hmm." Fang Qingyu didn't even lift his eyelids, his voice calm and expressionless, revealing no emotion whatsoever. "I left behind a small item, so I took care of it."

"That's fine, that's fine."

Zhang Tiezhu wisely stopped asking questions and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The young captain's trump cards and methods were far beyond his comprehension.

He turned to the soldier driving and said, "Drive steadily! Don't jolt them along!"

As the car rounded the last bend in the mountain road, the view suddenly opened up.

At the foot of the mountain, the An Giang Provincial Front Command Headquarters resembled a giant beehive tossed with boiling oil.

Blinding beams of searchlight swept wildly across the night sky, engines roared, the cries of the wounded pierced the air, the commander roared, and chaotic cries for help filled the communication channels.
Countless sounds mingled together, creating a suffocating ocean of noise.

The huge, makeshift field tents stretched out in an endless row, with soldiers hurrying in and out, their bodies covered in blood.

Transport vehicles, armored vehicles, and ambulances sped through the muddy roads, kicking up clouds of dust.

The air was thick with the smells of blood, gunpowder, disinfectant, and burning.

Tension! Chaos! Exhaustion!

Yet it still carries a sense of steely order!

Compared to the orderly scene when they left, the headquarters now resembles a battlefield that has just been thrown into a meat grinder!

"Damn! It's not over yet in other places!?"

Chu Kuanglan woke up at some point, peered out the car window, and gasped.

Lu Jiuyuan's sharp eyes swept over the severely wounded and exhausted faces that could be seen everywhere in the camp.

A hint of seriousness flashed across Wei Banmeng's usually cold face.

The convoy struggled through the chaotic camp and stopped at the temporary rest area designated for the Qianlong Special Operations Team.

As soon as the car door opened, Zhang Tiezhu jumped out and yelled at several soldiers who had just finished bandaging their wounds and were dozing on ammunition boxes not far away: "Stop sleeping, you bastards! Get up! Grab your weapons!"

The soldiers sprang to their feet instantly, their bloodshot eyes showing no hesitation, only unwavering obedience etched into their very bones.

"Company commander!" a scarred veteran cried hoarsely, "Where to?!"

"Where else can we go?!"

Zhang Tiezhu grabbed the keys to an armored personnel carrier that had just been filled with gas, his voice roaring like a wounded tiger, "Eagle Beak Cliff to the west! The brigade headquarters just reported that the pressure over there is almost unbearable! The brothers of the 2nd Company of the 3rd Battalion are almost wiped out! Tiger Company! Those who are still breathing! Hold the line with me!!"

"Yes!!!"

Without the slightest hesitation, without the slightest complaint.

The soldiers, who had just crawled out of the hellish Black Pine Pass, didn't even have time to drink a sip of water before they were wound up again, silently and swiftly rushing toward the mud-covered armored vehicle.

Zhang Tiezhu opened the driver's door, glanced back at Fang Qingyu and the others one last time, a grotesque smile tugging at his blood-stained face. He pounded his chest forcefully: "Captain Fang! Comrades! Get some rest! We'll need you guys for the rest of the way!"

With engines roaring and armored vehicles kicking up dust, they charged headlong into the chaotic lights of the camp, speeding toward another bloody grinder.

The elite class leader, "Eagle Eye," and his men gave Fang Qingyu and his group a solemn salute, then turned and disappeared into the flow of people supporting other directions without saying a word.

The relaxed atmosphere of surviving the ordeal was completely gone.

Before us lies an even more devastating and expansive battlefield.

"Damn it." Chu Kuanglan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva as he stared in the direction Zhang Tiezhu and the others had disappeared. His left hand, the only one that wasn't broken, clenched so tightly it cracked. "My bones can still hold up! Junior Sister Wei, Old Lu, Fang Shen, let's not just stand there! Let's ask the brigade headquarters which section is most short of manpower! Let's get them!"

Lu Jiuyuan's eyes sharpened, and he said in a deep voice, "That's exactly what I intend to do!"

Wei Banmeng nodded silently, her cool eyes sweeping over the brightly lit command center tent.

As Fang Qingyu gazed at the chaotic yet resilient battlefield before him, the flames suppressed by the truth of the Arctic rekindled within his molten gold-like eyes.

He was about to speak.

Om-!
The encrypted communicator in my pocket suddenly started vibrating violently.

Fang Qingyu quickly answered the call.

"Captain Fang!!" Zhou Zhenguo's hoarse, almost cracking voice burst out instantly, accompanied by deafening explosions, the buzzing of colliding energy, and countless shrill screams, as if he were in the eye of a storm. "How are you all?! Can you move?!"

"We are ready to provide support at any time!" Fang Qingyu's voice was firm and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

There was a moment of surprise on the other end of the communicator, followed by a near-ecstatic roar: "Great!! That's wonderful! Captain Fang! Qingjian City! Something's happened in Qingjian City!"

(End of this chapter)