CH 103.2

Chapter 103.2 – Liszt and 0293

The low period was a time of leisure, and Alicia reached the age of 22. She should have been a grown-up, but the king’s pampering left her unchanged, still the carefree, pampered princess, unaware of what was going on outside her window.

The next peak period began, and the side effects of the fusion agent appeared.

The fusion soldiers fell into a frenzy and became the new enemy, the army snowballed into defeat, and the prestige of the royal family showed vague signs of collapse.

At this moment, the Gamma Abyss became restless.

Rodents infected by the “breeding frenzy” were all over the mountains and fields, and they had a tendency to come to the capital.

One day, the princess hummed a song, combed her hair, put on her favorite cat’s eye emerald necklace, and was stopped by the king as soon as she went out.

“Alicia, I have something to tell you.” The man stood in the shadows of the royal palace.

“What is it?” Alicia ran over, the dark golden anklet tinkling softly on her slender ankles, like a string of broken streams of light.

The king stood still: “…Alicia, I hope you can go to Adesi.”

The secret town of the princess is called “Adesi”, which meant “the undisputed pure land”. Alicia used to love to stay there very much.

Alicia’s eyes widened: “Why? Isn’t it good to stay in Elton?”

“Both Gamma and Delta Abyss are restless, and they are coming towards Elton.” The king said, “It’s not safe here anymore.”

“Ah, how could it be!” Alicia smiled, “Didn’t you say that Elton is the safest place in the world, and you will protect it.”

“…no, not anymore.” The king said, “There will be war around here soon, Alicia, I don’t want you to get hurt. Adesi also has the best defense, and your guards will follow. You can stay there for a while.”

The princess was suddenly silent. She studied her father’s expression for a long time, and only saw seriousness, earnestness, and exhaustion on his face that he tried his best to cover up.

She thought, he is serious.

Is Elton really…unsafe?

It all came so quickly, the once firmly believed and impregnable royal capital, which stood even under the rounds of bombardment of the Alliance, had actually fallen into the fire of war that day.

Alicia took a step back and looked at the king in horror. She suddenly realized that maybe she had grown taller, maybe the man was really old, and the stalwart figure of the past could no longer block all the wind and sun for her. Unknowingly, wrinkles crawled onto his forehead and the corners of his eyes.

“…I don’t want to go!” Alicia said suddenly, “I want to stay in Elton, not go there!”

“Alicia!” The king shouted in a low voice, “Don’t be capricious this time!”

“No, I don’t want to.” Alicia took a step back and shook her head desperately, “I’m not going!”

A huge panic overwhelmed her.

For the first time in her life, she desperately resisted one thing not because of petulance, but out of fear.

It was as if nothing would change if she didn’t leave the capital. The Empire was still that prosperous empire. The king was still mighty and always knew what to do to protect her and indulge her.

Alicia turned around and ran down the long corridor. At the corner, her pearl bracelet broke, and the white pearls “clattered” and scattered all over the floor.

——She finally compromised.

The king had never been so determined before, forcing her to get on the underground train to Adesi.

She said goodbye to her father in tears.

Major Liszt was responsible for protecting her safety.

He was a talented commander, who became famous at a young age, not many years older than the princess. He was very dull on weekdays. After arriving in Adesi, he commanded the army to guard the city, and checked the defensive measures of the secret town three times.

The situation was urgent, he shouldn’t have been here, but the king personally ordered that the safety of the princess was paramount, and he stayed here for three or four months.

There were castles, fountains, zoo, aquariums, and a sea of flowers in the town. It was extremely exquisite, but Alicia was tired of staying here day after day.

She turned her eyes and focused on Liszt.

She originally disliked Liszt very much, the man was dull and rigid, like a stuffy gourd, and he didn’t show a temper when he was deliberately embarrassed. However, this was a turbulent era, with explosions, blood, death, endless monsters… In the long war, companionship was precious.

Looking at it this way, Liszt was not so annoying anymore. Taking a closer look, he’s a bit cute, it’s worth teasing.

“Liszt—” she shouted like this every time, “What did you do today?”

At first, Liszt would report rigidly, where he had perfected his defenses today, and which military reports he had read. Now he knew that this was what the princess asked casually, but in fact, she didn’t care at all, so he didn’t answer much.

He replied simply: “Laying out the defenses.”

The princess curled her lips, not very satisfied: “The whole town was shaking this morning, which woke me up.”

Liszt: “It was a skirmish between the Southwest Defense Line and the Gamma Abyss Infection Group 150 kilometers away, using a large number of explosives.”

Alicia turned her beautiful blue eyes: “The monster is coming again. Major Liszt, will you protect me?”

Liszt saluted and said solemnly: “Always at your service, Your Royal Highness.”

“Gee, you’re such a wooden head, I’m not talking about that…” Alicia trailed off, “If you weren’t a major, would you still protect me?”

Liszt was taken aback suddenly. He looked at the princess. Alicia was extremely beautiful. Years of pampering and ignorance of the world had allowed her to retain her incompatible arrogance and squeamishness. Today, she wore a long blue-green silk dress, tied up her long hair with a jade hairpin, revealing a swan-like white neck, shiny golden earrings, and a broken diamond anklet, making people’s heart tempted.

She was shining.

He was stunned for a few seconds, his ears were hot, and he withdrew his gaze in a panic.

Alicia covered her mouth and burst out laughing.

How smart she was, she saw Liszt’s loss of concentration. She thought this young major general was so interesting that she would have fun in the future.

After Liszt hurriedly said goodbye, she shouted at his back: “Hey, Major, you kind of like me, right?”

Liszt did not answer, his steps became faster, and Alicia laughed for a long time.

If the story continued, the dull young officer and the charming royal princess might have been a good love story. But the reality was often cold, especially during wartime. Two months later, Liszt was ordered to return to the front line and take command.

There was no story and no good fate. Before everything happened, the two said goodbye.

Before leaving, Liszt reported to the princess for the last time.

Alicia held her head and said, “When will you be back?”

“It’s not clear for the time being.” Liszt stood upright, “I will do my best.”

“Okay,” Alicia lost interest and waved her hand lazily, “You can go.”

Liszt saluted, turned, and walked out. After taking a few steps, he paused again, turned his head, and said, “Your Royal Highness, I will try my best to get you home.”

Alicia was taken aback.

She smiled suddenly and bent her blue eyes.

Liszt left like this, and the princess’s life became boring again.

Six months later, she heard a rustling sound in her sleep. They approached so quickly that she couldn’t help frowning.

——Later she learned that it was the sound of moles.

They were coming.

…

“Boom—!”

A loud noise pulled everyone’s thoughts back.

The last boulder was cleaned up by the Blazing Sun, and they could now go underground.

“Let’s go.” Di Wen stood with her hunched back, “Now – now is not the time to finish listening to the story.”

She took the lead in opening the door of the store and walked into the rain curtain again. The mole people were dumbfounded when they heard the story, and they were stunned for a while before chasing after her.

Everyone came to the entrance, the elevator was long out of service, and they went down the long revolving staircase.

They didn’t know how long it took before they reached the bottom.

The surroundings were pitch black, flashlights shone over, and the streets were full of tall and gorgeous buildings.

Shi Yuan looked around. Unlike other abandoned cities, the buildings were quite intact and almost untouched. This was undoubtedly good news, it seemed that the monsters failed to invade this place.

Everyone was all in high spirits. They quickened their steps as they walked through the streets and headed for the central area of Elton.

It was a rather large city, just as magnificent as the main city of the Alliance. At this moment, the top floor of the communication center deep in the city was flashing with a faint light.

Someone was there.

“They are still there!” Chi Yongge said excitedly, “This can also be used as the city for the ‘Deep Dive’ program! We, we finally made it!”

However, the further they went to the central area, the more they felt that something was wrong.

Through the glass window, Shi Yuan saw several skeletons, all of them wearing military uniforms. There were traces of firearms, ammunition, and remaining bonfires on the streets, and there were also skeletons in the corner not far away.

“Hello!!! Is anyone there?!” Chi Yongge tentatively called a few times, “Is anyone there?!”

No one answered.

There was still red light in the communication center in the distance, it kept flashing, like a dim, strange lighthouse, tempting them to move forward.

“Is anyone there?! Is anyone there?!” Chi Yongge was still shouting.

Soon, he also gave up.

They arrived at the communication center and went all the way up to the top floor.

The topmost corridor was lit up, and several more skeletons were seen. They were about to meet people soon, and they couldn’t hide their excitement and nervousness, and they picked up the pace and pushed open the door of the first dispatch room in the deepest part.

A robot with a round head turned abruptly.

“Oh!” It said in a mechanical voice, “Visitors are not welcome in the dispatch room! Do you have a permit?”

“Where are the others?” Di Wen asked in a hoarse voice, “Where are they?!”

The robot turned around and said embarrassedly: “Sorry, I don’t understand what you mean. Do you have a permit?”

Lu Tinghan said, “We heard the coordinates in the channel. Take us to meet the person who sent the coordinates.”

“Oh!” The robot turned around again, “Sorry, there is no one else, I’m the one who’s been calling.”

It used the screen on its head to imitate a smiling face, “Hello, welcome to Elton! I patrol the city every day. The defense line here is very intact, the walls are not damaged, and the defense weapons can operate normally. You can live with confidence!”

It said again: “I am the Empire Correspondent 0293, nice to meet you!”

0293.

0293, the communicator they had followed for almost two years, was just a robot.

Everyone was speechless for a while.

Excitement, nervousness, sentiments, and sorrow blended together.

—Elton was intact.

They had found their future home and it was not a wasted trip.

Di Wen asked, “Where is General Liszt? Where did he go?”

As the words fell, her eyes fell on the corner of the room. There was a skeleton on the black chair there.

Di Wen’s pupils shrank suddenly, and she stepped forward a few steps. There was a bullet hole in the skull of the skeleton, he committed s**cide, and his epaulettes and blue armbands were so familiar——

She couldn’t help trembling.

This was Liszt.

“General Liszt died gloriously 12 years ago,” Robot 0293 replied, “His army fought the monsters and died of famine. He gave me the final instructions and asked me to broadcast the coordinates of the capital.” It showed a smiling face again, “Today, you are finally here!”

Di Wen’s hand was shaking.

In the end, Liszt fulfilled his duties as a general, guarding the royal capital and her home. She looked at the white skeleton and tried to imagine what he looked like. Liszt was a few years older than her, even 12 years ago, he should have been a gray-haired old man. But no matter how she recalled it, it was the young dull officer in her memory who would redden at the roots of his ears at the sight of her smile.

In the end, she stretched out her hand and brought out an old pocket watch in the pocket of the uniform.

The pocket watch had stopped after many years, the hands forever pointing to 12:03, a time that didn’t mean anything, the casing made of gold still shining.

“Oh,” she said, “I gave this to him.”