Chapter 711: The end of the world

It had been a quarter of an hour since the massive World-class spaceship came face to face with them.

Fifteen minutes later, inside an underground shelter.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough…” Mo Long gasped like a broken bellows being forcibly pulled, accompanied by a lot of coughing. His whole body convulsed, almost beyond his control. Only the restraint suit prevented him from thrashing about like a fish thrown into a hot oil pan.

There was nothing he could do; his nervous System was severely damaged.

Just now, within fifteen minutes, he had fought five Seventh-rank assassins, killing two and driving away three.

Then, he finally reached this shelter. This was the Patrol Officers’ air-raid shelter, used to escape large-scale attacks, and all its defenses were built to the standards of a civilization-level war.

No one had expected such strategic reserves to actually be put to use.

This was just a small civilian shelter, similar to a civil defense facility. Everything was quite complete inside, including medicine, parts, food, some simple crafting tools, weapon equipment, and even a surgical bed.

Although they were all a bit old, they could still be used once unwrapped from their oil paper.

Currently, Li Qi was reading the instruction manual while operating the surgical bed, repairing Mo Long's neural circuits.

Fortunately, Li Qi's learning ability was very strong. Although he was reading the manual on the fly, his skill was still present.

Unfortunately, the external network had been cut off, so he couldn't understand the situation outside.

After more than an hour of surgery, Li Qi put down the equipment in his hand.

Mo Long still needed rest. He first closed the main door tightly. This place could block detection and was very hidden itself, so it shouldn't be found in a short time.

Li Qi knew that besides them, no one else would come.

It was impossible for civilians to escape that level of search. The purpose of these shelters was actually for the army to resist for some time after war broke out, giving civilians time to hide inside.

But for some reason, the resistance forces collapsed almost in the blink of an eye. Civilians, under the gaze of those assassin mechs, couldn't reach any shelter.

Thinking about these things, Li Qi first prepared some food, all of which were synthetic foods… However, the Advancement Alliance's taste was just like that; they believed the more refined and the higher the degree of artificial involvement, the better it tasted.

One couldn't really say it was wrong…

Potato chips were indeed tastier than potatoes, it was just that Li Qi preferred to gnaw on potatoes.

About two hours later, or roughly one and a half time rings, Mo Long woke up.

He gritted his teeth, trembling all over, his hands and feet numb. His nervous System still needed rest, but at least he was awake.

“Awake? I've already prepared the food. Eat something. I've put the medicine here, including neural inhibitors. Remember to take them after you eat.” Li Qi placed the pillbox and food on the bedside table.

“We're… in a shelter? Wait, these are surgical marks on me. Who performed the surgery? Are there other people in the shelter?” Mo Long struggled to sit up, looking around while picking up a spoon. He knew he had to eat quickly to replenish his energy.

“No, I did the surgery. Modern equipment is so convenient, it's idiot-proof.” Li Qi patted the medical equipment manual next to him.

“You… never mind.” Mo Long wanted to complain about something, but after thinking about it, he decided against it.

He was still alive, which was the best proof. Besides, he had witnessed Li Qi's self-learning ability over the past six months. Temporarily learning how to perform surgery with a piece of equipment didn't seem impossible.

Just now, he had even repaired his mech in a short amount of time. This was not something an ordinary repairman could do, but this Young Master, who had always had a wide range of interests, was truly impressive when it came to knowledge.

“Alright, don't worry about that for now. There's also a library here. I've already screened the characteristics, and our enemies are brand new; they don't seem to be in the records.” Li Qi flipped through the virtual reality in his hand. In his eyes, he held a book, which contained data he had just copied and extracted from the database.

“They are brand new enemies. I haven't learned about them in class. Honestly, I never thought I'd encounter something like this in my lifetime.” Mo Long shook his head, forcing a bitter smile.

“You don't look unhappy. What, is there going to be a war, and you can finally realize your ambitions? I've long seen that you, this good-for-nothing, have been feeling frustrated. Now that you have a chance, are you excited?” Li Qi chuckled.

However, Mo Long denied this, saying, “No matter what, war is never a good thing. If I could, I would rather continue to live in peace, just being a Patrol Officer.”

“But since it has already happened, we should stop it even more. Li Qi, your knowledge is vast; can you analyze anything?”

Mo Long directly got to the point.

“Hmm, I saw their ship, you should know about it, right? A giant ship that can navigate the endless Void Realm,” Li Qi said.

“I know, a World Mothership,” Mo Long said, using the Advancement Alliance's term.

“In my memory, there is a type of extraterrestrial inhabitant who doesn't have their own world, or has transformed their world into a giant ship, and then wanders in the Void Realm, searching for prey and plundering other worlds. It seems the Advancement Alliance also had such a period, didn't it?” Li Qi said.

“Indeed, the Alliance, from the very beginning, burned its own world and then slowly climbed its way here,” Mo Long nodded. “Now encountering the same kind of people seems only natural.”

“You're quite open-minded. A lot of people have died, that doesn't fit your good-for-nothing personality, does it?” Li Qi said.

Mo Long merely sighed, “There's nothing I can do; it wasn't my doing. Let's heal first. After that, we'll probably need to find a way to save people and organize resistance. This kind of plunder can't be completed in a year or half a year, and our location can't remain undiscovered forever. Everything needs to happen quickly.”

“Hmm, I can help you modify your equipment and improve your combat power,” Li Qi suggested.

Originally, Mo Long wanted to refuse. After all, equipment modifications usually required the slow adjustments of large company research teams. Top-tier professional warriors all had teams working together behind them. Who would dare hand over something essential for their life to a single person to handle?

However, Mo Long thought about it. Given the technology Li Qi had demonstrated earlier and their current situation, he seemed to have no choice but to say with a bitter smile, “Alright, but boss, my life is tied to this, so you can't be careless.”

“Don't worry, my skills are very solid. I've studied for a long time,” Li Qi waved his hand and said.

Indeed, a very long time. Since he got this set of armor, he had already studied it for four or five hours.

A Seventh-rank Spiritual Artifact set and its corresponding spell package—four or five hours were already enough for Li Qi to strip the thing bare. It was unlikely that anyone in the entire Advancement Alliance had a higher level of skill than Li Qi.

Seeing Li Qi say this, Mo Long, for some reason, gained a bit more confidence. He nodded and handed the mech over to Li Qi.

Mo Long took a few deep breaths. Although his brain still throbbed, his mood gradually began to calm down.

He was even… a little excited.

It was regrettable to encounter such a situation, but… everything he had learned could now be put to use.

On the other side, Li Qi, while tinkering with the mech, said, “Extraterrestrial travelers can be roughly divided into three types: World-class giant ships, those living on extraterrestrial celestial bodies, and individual travelers. All three actually rely on plundering worlds themselves, but I didn't expect anyone would dare to plunder a Fifth-rank world.”

“I know about the other two, but what are extraterrestrial celestial bodies?” Mo Long asked curiously.

“Hmm… After a world dies, its World Barrier will disappear, and then the matter inside will leak out. Some will dissipate, forming World Dead Zones, which are those extraterrestrial mining areas formed by countless accumulated dead matter—what those mining companies are now digging up every day. But if the world didn't completely die at the time and left behind an active core, then it might attract other matter through gravity and form dense celestial bodies.”

“Dense celestial bodies are like the sun and moon in the Void Realm, mainly depending on their nature. On smaller spherical masses of debris next to them, life can also develop,” Li Qi explained while prying open the mech.

“Life on these natural extraterrestrial celestial bodies is very difficult to be born, and survival is much harder than for you. No Heavenly Dao of a world will protect them. They have to face countless hardships and dangers in the Void Realm to grow up. Moreover, compared to life within worlds, their resources are scarcer. Many of them push their own planets to wander around in the Universe, plundering worlds for a living. I just saw their Mothership; it even has giant cannons modified from active volcanoes. So I guess this should be a plundering civilization born on a natural extraterrestrial celestial body, which transformed its world into a giant ship and has now arrived in the Illusion-Reality Domain.”

As Li Qi explained, Mo Long nodded slightly, clearly agreeing with this statement.

The two continued to chat, though they weren't exactly idle. They discussed useful things, such as how to allocate resources, estimating how long the shelter could last, and calculating how much food was enough for how many people.

After a day and a half of this, Li Qi finally finished repairing the mech.

Mo Long put on the brand-new mech, clenched his fist, and felt the information transmitted through the neural circuits.

“Overall output increased by 211%… Both cold fusion engines can perfectly adapt. You truly are a Genius, or rather? Is this an internal secret of your family's company that you've given me to use?” Mo Long looked at Li Qi.

“Hmm, how should I put it? I do have a business guild, but I haven't managed it for a long time. This is more like my personal creation,” Li Qi smiled.

Mo Long nodded, indicating he understood. Then, he walked to the door and actively opened the sealed entrance.

He was going out.

To save people, kill enemies, and find organizations. He believed the Advancement Alliance would not fall in the face of this sudden attack; there must still be resistance organizations. He had to find these organizations and formally participate in the resistance efforts.

He couldn't do it alone. This mech he was wearing was temporarily assembled by Li Qi using his own mech, Mo Long's mech, and some spare parts. Its durability was not enough, and it put a lot of pressure on his nerves, far inferior to those Sixth-rank advanced mechs.

If this one broke, everything would be over. Now, Li Qi's and his lives were tied to it.

Feeling Li Qi's gaze, Mo Long clenched his fists, mustering courage in his heart. Whether Li Qi and he lived depended entirely on him; they were all counting on him to go out this time.

Although he didn't want war, the thought that everything he had learned could be put to use, and even save many people at this moment, made him feel a little excited.

Stepping out of the shelter, outside was a hidden small passage, buried underground, leading straight out like a chimney.

He cautiously crawled out of this small passage and then opened the lid.

The lid felt heavy; something was pressing on it.

He exerted a little force, and the mech began to output power, easily flipping the lid over.

A strong foul odor came, making him activate the gas filter.

Foul smells usually indicated poisonous gas, but… this smell didn't seem to be poisonous gas.

It was the smell of decaying, rotting corpses.

Mo Long frowned deeply, pushing the area completely open. This was a corner of an underground parking lot.

He saw at least seventy or eighty corpses around him, with no wounds on their bodies, but their skin was red, and their bodies were almost bags of pus.

Clearly, they all knew about the existence of this shelter, but they couldn't reach it. They were killed remotely through walls by those mechs using some special area-of-effect method, possibly radiation or poison gas.

The bodies piled up here, pressing on the door, which ironically covered the door below, causing this place to remain undiscovered.

After all, usual scanning measures couldn't detect this place. It was coated with highly effective anti-reconnaissance paint, and even top-tier radar couldn't detect the existence of this door, unless the enemy deployed a large number of personnel for manual searching, then it might be found.

But in that case, the enemy would be dragged into the quagmire of urban warfare, which would not be a good thing.

Mo Long was very calm. He was no stranger to corpses. In fact, during his training, they had been required to go to execution sites to deal with those who had been executed.

This process included helping them with makeup, spending a night alone with them, and during that night, finding corresponding puzzle pieces from their brains or mouths, and finally assembling the puzzle and handing it over.

So Mo Long was already used to corpses, but… there were still quite a lot.

Dozens of fermented corpses, turned into bags of pus by radiation, were quite impactful both visually and in terms of smell.

He forced himself to maintain his composure despite the discomfort, carefully closed the door, and then piled the bodies over the basement entrance again, obscuring the view.

Immediately, he concealed himself in the darkness and cautiously walked towards the outside of the basement.

He had already heard people talking outside, using their voices.

And they were speaking the Advancement Alliance's language! (End of Chapter)