Chapter 844

Zero City?

Yang Yi was utterly dumbfounded. He felt his whole body going numb from shock and excitement.

In the days following his escape from Zero City, he had received news that a small group of people from Zero City did manage to escape. However, no one knew where they went.

During those long days, Yang Yi and Tina, who had been searching hopefully, gradually turned dubious and confused. In the end… they chose not to think about it at all.

But now, unexpectedly, they would hear the name once more, a name that had been engraved into their very bones.

Yang Yi peered through the fog to look at the Sentinel mechs that were up in the sky. The crest painted on the mechs were indeed that of Zero City.

More accurately, it was from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild.

Moreover, all those Sentinel mechs were the top-end versions that had been installed with all the special parts and additional weapons. They were certainly not the kind that guilds outside of Zero City could easily get their hands on.

His heart started beating wildly.

A figure dove down from the sky. With a flash of green light, a hammerhead shark merfolk that had just gotten up from the explosion was cleaved into two and its two parts fell to the ground like wooden poles.

The Ion Pulse Sword!

Yang Yi was certain that his eyes were not mistaken. That was the energy-based melee weapon of the Floating Angel.

As for the figure that swooped down earlier, it had stopped and was standing still.

The figure’s delicate and voluptuous body was indeed wearing the Floater mech armour, which shone with a silvery white brilliance.

“You guys…”

Yang Yi opened his mouth. He wanted to say something only to suddenly find out that he had choked up. No matter how hard he tried, he could not form a proper syllable.

The Sentinel mechs and the Floating Angel seemingly ignored Yang Yi. They also showed no signs of attacking him. All they did was aim at all the merfolk on the ground and bombard them non-stop with their firepower.

Additionally, they were also being super excessive on unloading their firepower upon the merfolk.

Even the solitary merfolk that had separated from its group would be incinerated into charcoal by tens of beams of light or ripped into mincemeat by several miniguns.

Their frost crossbow arrows, melee weapons or even the sharp wind blades shooting out from the swing of their fins were all incapable of breaking through the energy shields of the Sentinel mechs.

In but two short minutes, not a single one of the merfolk within the shanty town was left intact. The same was true for the buildings there.

Throughout it all, though, not once did the Sentinel mechs and Floating Angel, who claimed to be from Zero City, opened fire at Yang Yi.

It wasn’t until all of the enemies had been cleared did Yang Yi see the Floating Angel slowly walk forward to stand before the Misty Ocean Tee. Retrieving the injection device for the high-energy radioactive particles, she then pressed it against the trunk of the Misty Ocean Tree.

Immediately, a thick needle protruded out from the front part of the injection device before piercing the trunk. The mechanical injection device automatically started working and the purple liquid was injected into the tree.

Immediately, the tall Misty Ocean Tree began withering at a pace that was visible to the naked eye. Its branches that had been spraying out white mist non-stop stopped its actions before bending down, hanging limply.

“Point tree has been dealt with.” The Floating Angel turned around and reported in a hushed tone. Gesturing at the Sentinel mechs, she said, “The next location.”

“Wait!”

Seeing them about to leave, Yang Yi finally woke up from his extreme state of shock. He let out a heart-rending shout, “You guys… are you guys really from Zero City?”

The Floating Angel gave Yang Yi a glance before replying coolly, “We’re not accepting visitor applications while inside this instance dungeon. After this instance dungeon is over, we will issue out a notice.”

“You are… from the Angel Corps? And you guys…” Yang Yi took a few steps forward, his gaze turning towards the Sentinel mechs behind the Floating Angel. “You guys are… Blade… Blade…”

“We’re from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild. Looks like you are very familiar with Zero City.” The voice of the frontmost Sentinel mech’s pilot rang out.

Yang Yi silently regarded the Sentinel mech. Slowly, he raised his hand and took off the helmet of his exoskeleton suit. After that, he released his grip, letting the helmet fall and roll on the ground.

Instantly, a gasp of surprise came from all the Sentinel mechs.

The hatch of the frontmost Sentinel mech abruptly popped open and a figure jumped out, rushing towards Yang Yi.

It was Guan Shan.

“Guan Shan… as expected, you guys… you’re actually still alive!”

Looking at the familiar face, Yang Yi’s mind seemingly returned to the day Zero City fell, where they had fought side by side in the deadly battle.

“Yes, many have died, but we are still alive.”

Guan Shan embraced Yang Yi’s shoulders tightly. He too almost could not stop himself from crying.

“So, about what you said earlier…” Yang Yi’s voice was still trembling uncontrollably. “Zero City, is it true that it has been rebuilt?”

“Of course, it’s true. Brother, it is… true!”

Yang Yi nodded. Suddenly, he extricated himself from Guan Shan’s grip. Then, taking two steps back, he straightened himself. Putting all his strength into it, he then executed a solemn military salute.

“Reporting! Team Leader Yang Yi from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s Team Thunderstrike has returned!”

…

“Just like this… it’s over?”

When Yang Yi heard the countdown for the instance dungeon’s completion, he could hardly believe his ears.

After returning to the guild, Yang Yi followed Guan Shan’s team, acting alongside them. He watched as they cleared one Misty Ocean Tree after another like trampling on withered twigs.

There wasn’t a single casualty.

“For us, this is how things should be when completing instance dungeons.” Guan Shan stood beside him and looked at the last Misty Ocean Tree that had just been dealt with and the battered corpses of the merfolk strewn across the ground before him.

“It’s just that we have been sinking for too long. We have forgotten the glorious bygone days when we stood at the pinnacle of the Awakened world.”

“Yes…” Yang Yi sighed softly. “It has indeed been too long.”

Although he was a veteran, Yang Yi, whose development route was technology-oriented, relied more on various equipment. By leaving Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild and the infinite supplies from Zero City, it was only inevitable for his strength to fall greatly.

“Don’t worry. That’s already over.” Guan Shan lightly patted Yang Yi’s shoulder. “We did not enter this instance dungeon together. So, we’ll not be able to exit at the same location. No matter. After you leave, use this and you’ll be able to return to Zero City.”

Yang Yi looked down at his palm. Guan Shan had handed him a card. Nodding, he said, “Right now… just how’s the situation in Zero City?”

Guan Shan smiled. “Do you still remember Chen Xiaolian?”

“The one who helped us win the Blood Verdict…” Naturally, Yang Yi would not forget the young man who had substituted for Blue Sea in the fight, helping Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild so as to not be purged from the resident guilds of Zero City. Moreover, they had also fought side by side on the day Zero City fell.

“He’s the one… who rebuilt Zero City. As for the details, we’ll talk about it after you return.” Guan Shan smiled. The countdown was almost over. Even if he wanted to, there wasn’t time for him to explain matters to Yang Yi. It’d be better to wait for Yang Yi to return to Zero City – formally returning to their guild – and letting him personally see the current Zero City with his own eyes.

Yang Yi nodded. A curtain of light descended. When the refresh process ended, Guan Shan and the others were no longer standing before him.

Rio de Janeiro, which had been destroyed and reduced to ruins, reappeared. All the buildings, vehicles and passers-by on the street there had returned to their original state.

Yang Yi exchanged looks with Tina. At the same time, he gripped the card in his palm.

“Come, we’re going home.”

…

“The instance dungeon was completed smoothly. There wasn’t a single casualty.”

Inside the great hall of Zero City’s main control room, Aderick was standing before Chen Xiaolian while giving him a report. “Additionally, we also happen to meet two former members of Zero City’s resident guilds. Thus, we had them return.”

“Very good.” Chen Xiaolian nodded satisfactorily. “What about the other participants?”

“We made direct contact with a total of 32 Awakened ones. Following your command, with the exception of the two former members from our resident guilds, we did not give the rest access permits. However, the information that very first day next month will be the day Zero City opens has been spread out through them.”

“Hmm.” Chen Xiaolian did not feel too dissatisfied with the number.

Generally speaking, the number of instance dungeon participants would not be high. The most important part here was that, after receiving news that Zero City had been rebuilt, those 32 fellows would surely be quick to spread the news. Soon enough, this explosive piece of news would resound throughout the entire Awakened world.

During Zero City’s opening day next month, Awakened ones would choose to enter, explore and find out what was going on. Even by their lowest estimate, there’d be no less than 500 of those Awakened ones.

Moreover, this number would multiply after the first opening day.

“But… at present, we have a problem.” Aderick hesitated for a moment. “We are currently lacking in manpower.”

“Lacking in manpower?” Chen Xiaolian frowned, not understanding. “You currently have a few hundred men on hand. What other manpower do you need?”

At present, the GM was the one taking care of all the control and production systems of Zero City. Strictly speaking, there should be no need for any support staff.

The several hundred men under Aderick were the surviving remnants of Zero City. When compared to the original Zero City, that was but a fraction of what they had. Even so, this number was already highly sufficient to serve as combat personnel.

“If we only want to use Zero City as a base of operations, this is indeed enough. But a city… far from it.” Aderick shook his head.

“Although the necessary operations are already up and running, things like hotels, restaurants and others of the like will require a great deal of manpower to maintain. Without those, there’s no way we can give the other Awakened ones the confidence to believe that Zero City has been fully revived. Thus… we may need to recruit new members from the other Awakened ones and expand the number of peripheral guilds.”

“Makes sense.” Aderick’s words served as a reminder to Chen Xiaolian.

Without those facilities, this Zero City could only be considered as a large base of operations and not a ‘city’ where people can live.

Additionally, if they wanted to do the same thing as the original Zero City, accommodate a high number of people from peripheral guilds and receive up to tens of thousands of guests during certain opening days, the current number of men they have on hand was truly far from sufficient.

“What’s the recruitment models that you guys usually use?” Chen Xiaolian asked after a moment’s consideration.

“Every guild has their own rules,” Aderick responded. “Our Knights of Darkness Guild will accept applications from everyone. As long as they can pass our guild’s tests, they will be allowed to join. Rodriar Guild will only invite those that they want to join their guild. There’s also Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild. It seems they would only allow those who had served in the Chinese military before to join them. Strength wise, though, there are no restrictions.”

“Then, I’ll leave it all to you guys.” After pondering for a moment, Chen Xiaolian continued, “This can be considered as your internal affairs. I will not interfere.”

Seeing Chen Xiaolian’s generous attitude, Aderick could not stop himself from feeling shocked.

This new Zero City was something that Chen Xiaolian built by himself. For him to allow them – the remnants of the resident guilds from the previous Zero City – to enter was already something unbelievable for Aderick. And now, this action of his was the equivalent of handing over all the authority for accessing Zero City to Aderick.

“This is nothing to be surprised about.” Looking at the expression on Aderick’s face, Chen Xiaolian smiled. “Like I said before, we are partners here.”

“Thank you.” Aderick thought about it for a moment. Given Chen Xiaolian’s current level of strength, there was no longer any need for him to worry about his authority being stepped upon. Thus, Aderick simply thanked him.

“Alright. If there’s nothing else, then let’s end it here.” Chen Xiaolian waved Aderick off.

“By the way, I still have one question.” Aderick, who had already turned to leave, suddenly turned his head. “When the day arrives and all the Awakened ones have been united, what do you plan to do?”

“When the day comes, I’ll let you know.” Chen Xiaolian winked.

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