Chapter 788.2: The End Of The Road

Ignoring Tomiller’s explanation, Ample Time looked toward the researchers from North Island and said, “I understand the situation more or less. I’ll arrange for someone to send you home afterward.”

Looking at their delighted faces, he paused before continuing, “As for whether you were coerced, or whether you voluntarily joined this place for reasons of your own, we’ll also arrange for specialists to investigate. Rest assured, we won’t wrong a good person, but we also won’t let a bad person escape. I hope everyone understands that.”

Hearing this, everyone hurriedly declared.

“Please rest assured, we’ll fully cooperate with the investigation!”

“Our families can testify for us!”

“As long as you can get us out of this godforsaken place quickly... anything is fine!”

Ample Time nodded, arranged for personnel to register their identities, then instructed Tomiller to continue leading the group deeper into the shelter.

The New Alliance Scientific Expedition Team would take over here. There was no need for players like them to worry too much about it. Before leaving, however, he wanted to see exactly what kind of hell existed on the fifth underground level...

...

Inside the captain’s cabin aboard the Heart of Steel.

After waiting several hours, Chu Guang, who was overseeing operations from the Northern Front, finally received the good news from the south.

Within the pale-blue holographic projection, Old White reported to him with obvious excitement. “Respected Administrator, our forces have successfully taken control of the Death Coast and eliminated the mutant nests and strategic facilities controlled by the Torch Church along the coastline!”

“At present, the enemy’s defending forces have been destroyed by our mechanized units and air power. The remaining enemy remnants are retreating toward the Kingdom of Heaven farther inland.”

“Not only that, we have also established defensive positions and a temporary harbor at the Death Coast landing zone. Before long, this place will become our forward bridgehead for transferring military supplies and personnel from French Fry Harbor to the front!”

“Excellent!” Chu Guang nodded approvingly and continued, looking at Old White standing within the hologram. “Maintain the current tempo and continue expanding our advantage on the southern front! Do not give the enemy any opportunity to counterattack!”

Old White struck his right fist against his chest armor and replied with fervor, “Yes!”

At this stage of the war, everyone could already see the dawn of victory.

After the communication ended, Chu Guang extended an index finger and switched off the holographic display, then leaned back in his chair.

Seeing that Chu Guang was in a good mood, Little Seven, sitting on his pen holder, said happily, “Congratulations, Master. The Southern Front has finally made progress. If things continue developing like this, it feels like the war won’t last much longer.”

Hearing Little Seven’s voice, Chu Guang smiled faintly and picked up the teacup on the table for a sip before speaking. “I said a long time ago that from the moment the Torch Church chose to stand against the civilized world, its eventual defeat was already inevitable... The only question was when.”

It sounded a little pretentious when put that way, but the outcome of this war had never really been in doubt from the beginning. The only thing that had given him a headache for a while was how to deal with the aftermath.

And it wasn’t only him. Even the Academy had lacked a good solution. Researchers in the Wandering Swamp had even suggested burning everything.

Even Hyrja thought fire was the simplest and most direct answer.

But as his little players became increasingly active in places like the Baiyue Strait and the South Sea, these those unsolvable problems had gradually found new solutions.

Although the Torch Church had implanted into Na Fruit the aggressive genes possessed by the Clearspring City Hive, giving it the ability to consume other life, in the end it still could not resist being assimilated by the original strain.

At present, B strain had already been proven capable of suppressing the J strain commonly found in Na Fruit.

Little Feather, who had fused B strain with the Ten Peaks Mountain’s Hive, had even acquired the ability to graft and synthesize B strain together with its suppressive pheromones.

Breaking apart the Torch Church’s Kingdom of Heaven was now only a matter of time.

With the Torch Church itself, the current primary contradiction, no longer a major concern, the question of how to establish a new postwar order was gradually becoming the more urgent topic of discussion at meetings of the Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee.

Chu Guang could tell that it wasn’t only the Wislanders, who had benefited from Project Complete Human long ago. Even the Academy and the Enterprise were extremely interested in the biotechnology controlled by the Torch Church. If the spoils were divided unevenly, it might easily trigger another conflict.

However, allowing certain technologies to spread freely could cause enormous problems as well.

He might need to discuss the matter with the Academy’s senior leadership.

And besides balancing the postwar order, there was another issue. How to preserve the unity of the Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee and keep the survivor factions that had finally managed to come together moving forward as one would also be a significant challenge for the New Alliance.

While Chu Guang contemplated what move to make next, the Punishment Squad from the Judgment Panel that had retreated from Fortress Town finally withdrew back into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The thick gray fog provided natural concealment, while the Na Fruit permeating the soil was enough to halt the advance of the New Alliance’s landing forces.

Hunter, however, knew perfectly well that their defenses were not invincible.

If the New Alliance could use artificially improved Mutant Slime Mold on the northern front to erode the Kingdom of Heaven, there was no reason they couldn’t do the same thing on the Southern Front.

The New Alliance had established a temporary harbor on the southern coastline, and soldiers wearing exoskeletons would continue landing endlessly in their rear.

They were running out of time.

Leaving his subordinates at the logistics base, Hunter went alone to the shelter where the Chosen ONe was staying and reported that Arzu’s main body had been captured and Shelter 182 had fallen.

After hearing the report from his trusted subordinate, the Chosen One sitting in his chair remained silent for a while before slowly saying, “I understand. You may go.”

Hunter froze slightly. He had expected the Chosen One to assign him a new mission. He hadn’t expected that after everything, all he would receive was such a simple sentence.

He did not get up to leave. Unable to restrain himself, he asked, “You... don’t need me to do anything?”

He still had 22 brothers under his command, he could continue fighting!

And not just him. There were others in the Judgment Panel, as well as the other orders loyal to the church.

They were all still capable of fighting! The Torch Church had only lost a beach. They had not surrendered!

And yet, he could sense a trace of resignation in the Chosen One’s voice, as though the situation was already beyond saving, as though no one could preserve their Kingdom of Heaven any longer!

He had devoted his entire life to the ideal of bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into the mortal world. No matter what, he could not accept an ending like this!

Looking at the flames burning in Hunter’s eyes, the Chosen One understood what he was thinking and spoke gently. “My child, I know you can still fight. But now that the war has reached this stage, victory or defeat can no longer be reversed by the outcome of one or two battles. The Kingdom of Heaven in the Ocean Edge Province has a fatal flaw, and the remnants of the old era found a way to exploit it... That was indeed our mistake.”

“In theory, even after they extended their reach into the Baiyue Province and found Na Fruit’s original strain, as long as we had discovered a way to repair the flaws in Na Fruit’s genes before they did, we could have rendered the card in their hands useless. Unfortunately, in the end, we were one step too slow.”

Luo Qian, who had been conducting experiments around Brocade Lake Municipality, had once come remarkably close to victory.

Yet just before the Kingdom of Heaven fully descended upon Brocade Lake Municipality, the New Alliance suddenly intervened and disrupted their plans.

Even today, the Chosen One still found that incident unbelievable.

The most aggressive Hive on the wasteland had been sitting directly above those people’s heads. They hadn’t even solved the problem hanging over themselves, yet they still found the strength to send reinforcements to people they had never met.

He had to admit that the administrator of Shelter 404 was indeed a leader with foresight. At the very least, he possessed far more resolve than the administrator the Chosen One had known in the past.

Then again, if Seven Villard had truly been that kind of person, Shelter 117 might never have reached the point of falling apart.

Seeing that the Chosen One’s thoughts seemed to have drifted far away, Hunter couldn’t help speaking again. “Then, are we just going to sit here and wait for death?”

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, the Chosen One looked at him with interest and asked, “Why do you think we are waiting for death?”

Hunter lowered his head and sighed, “The Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee coalition is continuously compressing the space we have left to survive. If this continues, we have no chance of winning at all.”

That wasn’t merely his personal opinion. Many of the warriors under his command thought the same thing. They were traveling farther and farther down a road destined to end in defeat.

Looking at his trusted subordinate with his head lowered, the Chosen One considered for a moment before he continued, “If you mean the Kingdom of Heaven in Ocean Edge Province, then yes, its collapse is already difficult to prevent. But that does not mean we have lost. But if you mean our ideal, then it is far too early to speak of victory or defeat.”

The Kingdom of Heaven in Ocean Edge Province could only be considered one failed attempt. It did not prove that their ideal of ascending into a higher form of life was wrong.

Hunter suddenly raised his head and stared intensely at the Chosen One sitting before him. A glimmer of hope gradually appeared in his eyes. “You still have another trump card, don’t you?”

He knew it!

They couldn’t possibly lose this easily!

Looking at Hunter’s expression, like a drowning man who had suddenly spotted a lifeline, the Chosen One couldn’t help letting a faint amused smile tug at the corner of his mouth.

A trump card... Could that thing really be called a trump card?

At best, it was a road of no return, one he had never imagined they would actually need.

His gaze fell upon the clock hanging on the conference room wall and in that instant, countless memories surfaced in his mind, especially memories of the old acquaintances from Shelter 117.

The Pathfinders had already departed. It was nearly time for him to set off as well...

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