Chapter 717: No difference

Li Qi, clad in his mech suit, stepped outside.

Outside was a scene of apocalypse.

The desolate streets no longer bustled with the cyberpunk urban prosperity.

Bodies lay strewn across the streets, and dried blood trails painted dark red paths.

There were no wild animals; the Advancement Alliance had never prioritized them, having mostly eliminated them. The streets bore many signs of destruction; what was once smoothly flowing traffic had turned into chaotic crashes, leaving behind a heap of wreckage from countless accidents.

However, corresponding to this desolate scene was the fresh wind blowing all around.

Li Qi closed his eyes.

The environment around him began to change.

This wasn't a real change; he was merely inferring the situation at the time based on what he saw.

The surrounding wind was filled with a腥气.

The city before him once had tens of millions of people bustling for their livelihoods, all ordinary citizens living ordinary days.

Then, from the sky, a world-class mothership suddenly descended.

Along with it came the apocalypse.

The deduction began to accelerate.

The attacks of killer mechs, the panic of the people, cars crashing chaotically, fire hydrants bursting, water splashing everywhere, white water columns adding to the chaos, exploding vehicles, flickering cables, collapsing buildings—

Then, everything returned to calm. Gangs and insectoids brought a new order. All civilians were forcibly taken to concentration camps. The streets became like a scene from 'after humans disappeared.'

Amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, only a few scavengers flew in from the wild, perched as if unaffected.

Then, Li Qi opened his eyes.

Before him was the tranquil ruin.

Mo Long stood beside him, quietly waiting for Li Qi.

"I've pretty much figured it out. Let's go. The concentration camp is over there." Li Qi pointed a direction. He could see the gathering of people there...

And Death Qi.

"How do you know?" Mo Long asked, surprised.

"A feeling, you know? A feeling you can't understand." Li Qi smiled. His 'Qi-gazing art' truly could only be described as a feeling, because for Mo Long, it was indeed something incomprehensible.

"Alright, let's go. Follow me, my stealth skills are better." Mo Long lowered his head and began to stealth.

Their conversation was silent, as it had already been converted into radio communication, making it impossible for the outside world to hear.

The two activated optical invisibility and then traveled by leaping between tall buildings, quickly arriving at the place Li Qi had indicated.

It was a massive, enclosed stadium, covering a very large area.

Li Qi and Mo Long stood at the very top of a tall building, looking down.

Mo Long said, "There are guards... but they're not those insectoids."

"They're your compatriots, the gangsters? But they don't look like it. Look, where are the gangsters?" Li Qi pointed below.

Mo Long looked closely and found that almost all the gangsters were dead. Their bodies lay nearby; their previous arrogance had not saved them from their insect masters.

The current guards seemed to be people selected from the concentration camp. They held crude weapons, wore no mech suits, but rather their original civilian clothes, and looked very hungry. Everyone had lost a lot of weight, but...

"They have Death Qi on them," Li Qi said.

"What? What is Death Qi?" Mo Long was confused.

"It means these people don't look alive right now, but it's not certain. Maybe it's just because they're about to die. How about it? Go down and see?" Li Qi asked.

"No need. Going down now would put ourselves in danger. Let's observe first. There's plenty of food in the shelter, and we have nutrient solutions in here too. Let's observe for a bit." Mo Long maintained his optical invisibility, lying prone on the tall building, blending into the sunlight, while simultaneously blocking various scans and cutting off communication with Li Qi.

After all, their wireless communication would also emit various waves.

Li Qi followed suit, found a spot to lie down, and waited for movement below.

According to Li Qi's perception of time, four hours passed.

Then, the people below began to 'change shifts.'

Another group of people came on duty, but they also appeared to be civilians.

"Li Qi, did you see Death Qi this time?" Mo Long asked then.

"Ah... huh? Oh! Wait a moment, let me see." Li Qi, lost in thought, was roused by Mo Long.

He hadn't even noticed... when exactly did he start zoning out?

Sigh, he needed to change. He wasn't like this before.

Thinking this, Li Qi looked inward again.

Then, he gave a definite reply: "There is Death Qi."

"This Death Qi you speak of, it only appears after a person dies, right?" Mo Long asked.

"After death, or when one is about to die, it will appear. This thing is essentially the call and mark of another world. The denser the Death Qi, the easier it is for envoys from the other world to find you and take you away," Li Qi explained.

But after he finished explaining, he saw Mo Long staring at him.

Although a helmet and mask covered his face, Mo Long's expression at that moment must have been very subtle.

A mark from another world... it sounded very unscientific.

Li Qi waved his hand: "That's pretty much the gist of it. You just need to know one thing: people with Death Qi either won't live much longer, or they've just come out of a pile of dead bodies. This has been practically verified, don't doubt it, it's definitely a fact."

"Okay, I understand. So that means... the situation in the stadium isn't very good right now, right?" Mo Long took a deep breath, then said.

"Right." Li Qi nodded.

He didn't know what was in the stadium, but it looked like it was either a concentration camp with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, or some other bizarre things.

"Then we can only go down and see. We probably won't find any clues from up here. You wait here, I'll go down and take a look." Mo Long immediately said.

Then, he entered the building, preparing to go down the stairs so as not to be easily discovered.

Li Qi also stayed there, waiting for Mo Long's instructions.

After all, he really didn't know what was happening below, but he could probably guess...

It should be parasitic.

This was probably their goal. They selected healthy lives, then parasitized them, which is why this state of life and death intermingling appeared.

This kind of patrolling now, should it be out of instinct?

But Li Qi couldn't be sure, after all, he really didn't know the situation below.

If there was a large mass grave below, then having this kind of Death Qi would be very normal, it would be the type that gets contaminated from staying in a place of Death Qi for too long.

Hmm... let's wait for Mo Long to find out.

Mo Long's concealment was very good; even when Li Qi watched from above, he couldn't see where he had gone.

But there was no need to search; he would come out on his own soon enough.

Sure enough, a few minutes later—

A battle suddenly erupted below!

Mo Long's figure appeared, and those people filled with Death Qi began to chase Mo Long!

Mo Long's mech was a Patrol Officer's seventh-grade mech specialized for humans, meaning that while its large-scale destructive power wasn't strong, it could engage with seventh-grade opponents and effectively wound them using the power of the Great Sun True Fire.

However, such a powerful seventh-grade mech was being chased by these ordinary people from before!

There was a reason Mo Long was unwilling to fight back, but their ability to capture Mo Long's figure, even to surround and intercept him, was already terrifying.

This indicated that these people had at least eighth-grade combat power or higher. What was going on?

"As expected, is it still parasitic?" Seeing this, Li Qi didn't hesitate too much and immediately jumped down.

He jumped straight down, using his body weight to plummet.

Then, just before landing, he reached out, grabbing the wall with one hand. Amidst intense sparks and friction, a layer of plaster was torn off, and after decelerating, he landed on the ground.

Then, Li Qi rushed over.

His body moved like a fish, swimming through the air, perfectly cutting through air resistance.

Without relying on a streamlined shape or any aerodynamic design, this mech itself wasn't designed for that. So, rapid movement relied on brute force, sucking in air, and then forcefully thrusting with vector nozzles.

However, this had nothing to do with the mech; this was Li Qi's own martial art, the Carp Current Intent body technique. Li Qi now used it with seamless ease, utilizing all fluids, whether people or wind, as his own aid.

A carp leaping over the Dragon Gate should not go against the current, as that would be seeking death. Instead, it should fully utilize its advantages, using the power of all water currents to help itself.

Just as a triangular sail can move forward whether with or against the wind, as long as the method is right, a headwind can sometimes provide forward momentum.

Without air resistance, and with the terrifying thrust of the vector nozzles, Li Qi instantly accelerated past the speed of sound, rushing to Mo Long's side.

Immediately after, he saw the group of civilians rushing towards them.

No, they were no longer civilians; they were parasites.

Mo Long couldn't bring himself to attack, but Li Qi didn't hesitate. He knew these people were beyond saving, or rather... they were already dead, controlled by other organisms within their bodies.

With his light blade extended, Li Qi cut through them like chopping vegetables, as thousands of people in a long line rushed towards him.

Li Qi, a lone figure, seemed like someone engulfed by the sea, as if he would be torn apart by thousands of eighth-grade beings in the next second.

However...

This human tide—at this moment, crashed against a reef.

In that instant, the fragility of life was exposed without a doubt!

In just one second, Li Qi's autocannon, light blade, and laser activated, combined with his own martial arts, like a reef—

Shell after shell struck deep into the thousands of people. Strong winds exploded ten meters above the ground, cutting down large swathes of people like grass with flying energy waves at optimal killing efficiency. One could even see rolling body fragments flying into the sky in the distance...

A torrential assault, death impacted these people with unprecedented force.

He was like a meat grinder, with layers of dead bodies beneath his feet, blood and minced flesh forming a puddle. One could even visibly see the area occupied by the long lines of people rapidly shrinking.

However, incredibly, even though there was absolutely no hope of defeating their opponent, these civilians still continued to charge madly.

Like a tide, wave after wave crashed against the reef, yet never stopped.

Clearly, they were already dead. Without even consciousness, they had no normal analytical or judgment abilities, and were completely controlled by some mysterious force, making them numb and indifferent to death.

But in front of Li Qi, such tenacity was meaningless.

Approximately one minute later, everything ended.

Li Qi shook his hand and looked at Mo Long.

"Ah, it's done. Although they became stronger, they're still within the Patrol Officer's mech's handling capacity. There's no need to keep running; it'll attract others," Li Qi said.

However, Mo Long opened his mech's visor, and the face beneath was filled with disbelief.

"You... they might still be saved!" Mo Long walked up to Li Qi: "We might be able to—"

"They're beyond saving." Li Qi, however, shook his head directly: "The people are all dead, so they're definitely beyond saving."

Li Qi meant that these people were already dead, and their corpses were merely parasitized, just a group of insectoids in human skin, so there was nothing to worry about.

However, in Mo Long's ears, these words sounded particularly harsh.

What did he mean, 'the people are all dead'?

Nonsense, of course they're dead! You were the one who did it, you personally beat these people into this state!

There were more corpses on the ground than he had seen in the concentration camp before!

"They still might have had a chance! I found their hive inside! The surgical bed might be able to remove the parasites from their bodies!" Mo Long walked up to Li Qi, grabbed his shoulder, and tried hard to suppress his tone.

He knew that what Li Qi did wasn't wrong, but there was clearly a chance to save these thousands of people!

It was possible, and people should always try!

"Oh, you misunderstood. I meant, they are definitely beyond saving, completely dead, their Spirit Souls are gone. They are just walking corpses." Li Qi shook his head, grabbing Mo Long's wrist: "Trust me, it's correct. I understand."

But Mo Long shook Li Qi's hand off: "You understand! You understand everything!" Mo Long stopped there, exhaled, and calmed himself down. He didn't continue to roar, but instead retorted: "Then why didn't you give them a chance? Just one chance."

"There was no chance at all. Their Spirit Souls have already reincarnated. You might not understand what a Spirit Soul is, since your tech tree hasn't developed that, but I can see it. I wouldn't lie, you know." Li Qi saw Mo Long calm down, so he began to explain his actions.

Mo Long just looked at the sky, then seemed to convince himself to calm down. After all... Li Qi had been with him for over half a year, and now they were comrades who had faced death together. At least Li Qi's words... could be trusted.

So, Mo Long asked, "Li Qi, you're an alien. In your eyes, is there a difference between us and them?"

Li Qi smiled and said, "Of course not." (End of Chapter)