Chapter 738: Chen Xiaolian's Command

Chapter 738 Chen Xiaolian’s Command 

Chen Xiaolian had quickly instructed Zero City to teleport him out from Room Zero, but by the time he arrived, all he could see was a landscape filled with corpses.

The heavy number of casualties he saw was something that could only be seen in a war. Blood and fire raged through Zero City.

The Awakened ones within the vicinity were all frantically pouring all their firepower at Bai Qi. Sentinel mechs… Thunderstorm Tanks… beams and missiles pierced through the sky to the point where it nearly obscured the sky.

And yet, Bai Qi appeared utterly unaffected. Calmly, he continued to step forward while casually swinging his sword.

Every time his sword swung down, a number of corpses would fall to the ground.

“Damn it! Bai Qi, have you gone mad?!”

Chen Xiaolian’s eyes nearly cracked as his right hand pulled out the Sword in the Stone. Next, he charged towards Bai Qi.

The sword hacked down mightily. Next, a golden-coloured silhouette containing the thundering force of a landslide descended down from the sky.

The silhouette descended with lightning-like speed, but Bai Qi simply raised his head to watch leisurely as the gigantic sword silhouette descended upon him.

He shook his head.

He casually raised the sword in his hand to greet the incoming giant sword silhouette.

The gigantic sword silhouette, formed through the condensation of golden light, was tens of metres long. And yet, when it met the tip of Bai Qi’s sword, it became like a balloon that had been punctured with a needle. It disappeared with a soft crashing sound.

“What are you doing?”

Bai Qi’s brows were slightly furrowed as he looked at Chen Xiaolian. The expression on his face was similar to one who had just witnessed an incomprehensible behaviour from Chen Xiaolian.

“I am stopping you!” Chen Xiaolian was clenching his teeth so hard, it was practically on the verge of cracking. Once again, he swung his sword at Bai Qi.

This time, Bai Qi did not use his sword to respond. Instead, he simply extended out his left hand to flick at Chen Xiaolian’s direction.

A power suddenly descended upon Chen Xiaolian, locking him in place. It felt as though a gigantic boulder weighing over 10,000 jins was weighing down on his body. He could not move in the slightest (1 jin = 0.605 kg).

“Why?” Bai Qi took a step forward. When his foot descended, his figure appeared before Chen Xiaolian. Then, he crouched down and looked at Chen Xiaolian. There was a confused look on his face. “I do not understand. Why do you care if they live or die?”

“Then why are you killing them?!” Chen Xiaolian panted as he furiously attempted to get up. However, no matter how hard he tried, he was incapable of getting up.

I have already gained Skyblade’s power and entered the realm of quasi [S] class. So, why… … can’t I defeat Bai Qi?

Indeed, the power that Bai Qi had displayed back in Epang Palace was terrifyingly strong. By Chen Xiaolian’s estimate, it was at least [S] class.

However, after becoming Chen Xiaolian’s War Soul, his strength had decreased considerably.

Although Chen Xiaolian knew that Bai Qi could absorb the life force of the living and the power of undead souls to slowly recover his strength, he did not know how long it would take before Bai Qi regain the strength he had displayed in Epang Palace.

Chen Xiaolian was aware. In a fight against Bai Qi from Epang Palace, even with Skyblade’s power, he would still lose in the long run. However, Skyblade’s power should still be effective for a short period of time. At the very least, he should not have instantly lost to Bai Qi. He should have been able to exchange a few moves with him.

However, the attack he unleashed earlier, an attack with all his strength behind it, had utterly failed to harm Bai Qi. Instead, it was easily deflected.

After that, Bai Qi had simply flicked his finger from a distance to immobilize him completely.

Bai Qi… … there was certainly something wrong about him.

“Too weak.” Bai Qi looked at Chen Xiaolian before slowly shaking his head. “Not to mention, that weak power is not even yours. It cannot even be compared with those four. I do not understand; how did you get the authority?”

“Which four?”

Bai Qi pulled Chen Xiaolian up by his collars, allowing him to take note of the four corpses nearby.

Although Chen Xiaolian was not too familiar with the others, he had seen the Guild Leader of Rodriar Guild, Juncker, back during the Blood Verdict.

One of the leading figures of Zero City’s resident guilds, an [S] class expert.

If so, the other three…

“Listen up. You possess the authority. Killing you would inconvenience me. So, be obedient and just stay right here.” Bai Qi calmly regarded Chen Xiaolian. “You do not have to wait long. The exit passageways for this city are already sealed. It will not take me more than an hour to kill them all.”

“Just what is it you are planning? Bai Qi! What kind of resentment is there between you and them?” Chen Xiaolian stared at Bai Qi and shouted out hoarsely.

“How could these things be qualified to hold a resentment against me?” Bai Qi stood up. He calmly continued, “They are merely rice straws awaiting harvest.”

“You are called Bai Qi, right?”

Bluesea’s voice rang out from the distance.

There were nearly a hundred Awakened ones in Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild uniforms standing behind him. All of them were lined up in an orderly manner.

There were no vanguards or supporting artillery in their formation. For the members of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild who came from the military, this was an unbelievable sight.

They were instead arranged in a simplistic formation to form a narrow rectangle within the street.

After the members were all assembled, Bluesea had not assigned any of the members anywhere.

He had only said a few words.

“The enemy is unbelievably strong. The leaders of four other resident guilds have already fallen to him while the exits are all sealed. Zero City will certainly fall. Likewise, our Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild is of no exception.

“There are only two choices here for you all. To either die here as warriors or run and die as cowards. This is the final choice that you must make for yourselves.”

After that, Bluesea turned around and pulled out the war blade from his waist.

“Those who choose to die as warriors, form a line behind me and charge.”

“Mr Bluesea!”

Chen Xiaolian watched as Bluesea rushed forward. The other members from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild followed suit behind him, bellowing their lungs out as they charged forward.

Next, Chen Xiaolian watched as Bai Qi slowly stood up to meet the incoming charge.

Slash!

He did not even bother answering Bluesea’s question.

Everything before Chen Xiaolian seemingly became slow.

“Blood Mountain Flame Sea Guild!”

The row of Awakened ones charged at Bai Qi, bellowing out those words in unison.

With the first slash, Bluesea’s body was abruptly cleaved into two before falling down on the ground.

The second slash. The third slash.

Corpses fell one after another, not a single one of them managed to reach Bai Qi.

Before falling, they would all shout out the same words.

“Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild!”

Chen Xiaolian’s eyes were filled with tears.

However, there was nothing he could do. Who knows what kind of restraints Bai Qi had placed upon him. In comparison, the [S] class power that Skyblade left within Chen Xiaolian’s body was like an infant who was being held tightly by a muscular strong man.

Zero City was finished, absolutely finished.

The thousands of Awakened ones, the vast number of high-grade equipment, the [S] class Guild Leaders. There was nothing any of them could do against Bai Qi. 

Chen Xiaolian’s heart had fallen into utter despair.

In less than a minute, with the exception of Bai Qi, Chen Xiaolian could see no other living person within the street.

The ground was stained with blood and all the corpses piled up like a small hill.

“These straws have courage.” Bai Qi gave the corpses a glance. And yet, despite the praise in his words, his face retained a look of coldness. There was no extolling look on his face at all.

Next, he raised his left arm forward. Instantly, countless metal spheres flew up from the bloody mountain of corpses to land upon his palm.

Chen Xiaolian felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck his mind. He finally understood what Bai Qi was up to.

The metal sphere, an object that would drop out from either a dead Awakened or Player, an object that could transform a regular human into an Irregularity.

Bai Qi was killing them in order to collect those spheres.

“Bai Qi, what do you want those metal spheres for?” Chen Xiaolian shouted at Bai Qi.

However, Bai Qi did not turn around. Instead, he simply continued walking towards the other end of the street.

Seeing Bai Qi’s figure disappear from sight, Chen Xiaolian’s mind raced.

He remembered the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon that he had just gone through.

When the instance dungeon was ending, his own War Soul Bai Qi had devoured the instance dungeon BOSS Bai Qi.

Before Bai Qi returned to Chen Xiaolian’s personal system, he had said…

“I will need to enter a deep sleep for a time. When I wake up, maybe… … everything will be different.”

Is this the difference that Bai Qi meant?

“Zero City!”

Chen Xiaolian shouted out like a madman.

“Yes?” Zero City’s mechanical and monotonous voice rang out from beside Chen Xiaolian’s ear.

“What happened in the instance dungeon that I just went

through? What did you do to Bai Qi? How did he become a devil-like existence?”

“It wasn’t anything I did. I had simply inserted you back into that time so that you may re-enter the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon. The things that happened during that time are beyond my control.”

“You are not involved in Bai Qi’s change?”

“No.”

“If so, what is up with him leaving Room Zero?” Assuming Chen Xiaolian could move, assuming Zero City appeared before him that very moment, Chen Xiaolian would beat the living daylights out of it.

“When you obtained the authority, Bai Qi too, by relying on you, managed to obtain the authority. As I said before, in some aspects, his degree of compatibility is even higher than yours. After obtaining the authority, he left Room Zero. That is the freedom afforded to authority holders. I have neither a reason nor qualification to stop him. Additionally, you too, did not ask me about it. Thus, I simply followed the established protocols without informing you about it.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be very intelligent? Shouldn’t you be able to think like a human?! Damn it!” Chen Xiaolian roared. “Because I did not ask you about it, you chose to remain silent? He is killing people outside! He wants to kill off everyone in the city! Can’t you see that?”

“According to the established protocols, before an authority holder exerts his or her authority over me, I will be in regular operation mode. In that mode, I will, to a certain extent, endeavour to satisfy the needs of the current occupants. However, the moment an authority holder appears, regular operation mode will be shut down. I no longer have any obligation towards the occupants. I also do not need to protect them,” Zero City replied in a monotonous tone. “As one of the two authority holders in this city, he is free to do whatever he wishes towards the previous occupants of this city.”

“Free my ass! Those are human lives! Thousands of lives!” Chen Xiaolian swore. “Earlier, you said that he is relying on me for the authority, right? Fine! I order you to abolish his authority!”

“The command cannot be executed.” Zero City coldly refused Chen Xiaolian. “At present, Bai Qi holds the same authority as you.”

“Nonsense! You were the one who said he is relying on me for it! Since I am the master and he is the subordinate, why can’t I abolish his authority?” Chen Xiaolian gnashed his teeth.

“Because there is a paradox.” Although Zero City’s voice maintained its mechanical monotony, Chen Xiaolian felt as though there was a trace of ridicule within it. “The template in your possession is incomplete. Likewise, the same is true for Bai Qi. Coincidentally, your two templates could patch up each other’s shortcomings. Thus, only by putting the two of you together could you two obtain the authority. The moment Bai Qi’s authority is abolished, your authority too, will be abolished. If your authority is abolished, you will have no authority to abolish Bai Qi’s authority. Do you understand?”

“I understand! Your explanation is so damned detail, I bloody understand it!” Chen Xiaolian shouted. “If so, be direct with me. Do you have any ability to stop him from his act of slaughter? Or do you have any way to release this restraining power on me so that I can go stop him?”

“Sorry, I do not have any ability to stop Bai Qi from doing that. Likewise, I do not believe you possess such an ability either.” There was no sense of empathy in Zero City’s voice at all. “Regarding the restraining power on you, I do not possess the power to undo it. However…”

“However, what?” Chen Xiaolian was like a drowning person who had just caught a life-saving straw.

“Earlier, Bai Qi had asked me to shut off Zero City’s exit passageways. It would appear that he is concerned about his ability to kill off everyone within the city. Naturally, as the regular operation mode had been shut down earlier, the exit passageways and power supply systems for the city are down as well. If you are willing to re-activate the power supply systems to power the exit passageways, with any luck, some of them might be able to escape.”

“Hurry up and activate it! Why are you muttering nonsense now!” Chen Xiaolian shouted his lungs out.

“I have to remind you. At present, Bai Qi possesses the same authority as you. Even if you do open up the exit passageways, he can instruct me to close them off again. As I am just an administrative program, I have no ability to resist both of your commands,” said Zero City coolly. “If you give me this order, the most likely scenario would be of you two giving me two opposing commands. Under those commands, the exit passageways would simply open and close non-stop.”

It paused for a moment before adding. “Consider this as two opposing chess pieces in a stalemate situation. The two would continue to make the same move, unwilling to accept any peaceful resolution. I have to say, this is a very stupid scenario.”

“In that case, just open it all! Make it so it cannot be closed!” Chen Xiaolian’s eyes were blood-red. “Tell me I have the authority to do so!”

“You do.” Zero City finally gave Chen Xiaolian a positive answer. “You can command me to open up all the exit passageways and make it an irrevocable command. However, I have to remind you. Once the exit passageways are fully open, the system outside will be able to find Zero City. This will most definitely lead to the invasion of Electronic Guardians and Players.”

“If they want to invade, just bloody let them!” Chen Xiaolian panted. “If you don’t open the exits, everyone will die! Would an enemy invasion even matter at that point?”

“You will lose me and all the resources I am capable of providing, including the equipment produced from the factories.”

“That is my business! There is no need for you to worry about it!” Chen Xiaolian shouted again. “Now, I don’t want to hear anymore nonsense! Open up the exit passageways and make it an irrevocable command! This is an order!”

Zero City paused for a brief moment before replying in a low tone, “Very well, as you command.”