Invasion - Chapter 145

Chapter 145

The crimson gem, like a drop of fresh blood,

fell, filling the void.

The last groove on the Truth Box was finally filled with that blood-red color.

The small box lit up in Lin Yuan’s hand.

It had once been a dilapidated wooden box. To Lin Yuan, it had been a relic from her parents, a map guiding her way, a key to unlock secrets.

Until last time, when she had seen that vast mental universe in the box, only then did she realize that this small wooden box contained a power far greater than she had imagined.

Complete it.

Use this power to reach for that faint glimmer of hope.

Only, the price was a little steep. The ground covered with severed tentacles, a few broken limbs still writhing in pools of blood, the red blood slowly spreading.

Lin Yuan sat amidst the blood, a bright light shining in her hand.

That light, with her as the center, spread outwards, piercing the dark fog, beyond the bone-white tower.

The smoke and fire of battle still roared at the bottom of the White Tower.

And a dazzling light lit up from its top.

Almost everyone in the entire empire saw this scene.

The light that lit up from the top of the tower wasn’t the holy light of divinity, but more like the cold fluorescent light of human technology.

A white light spread from the spire, turning into a translucent virtual screen, slowly unfolding in mid-air, floating down, surrounding the pure white tower, the slowly descending virtual screen lit up, images appearing.

The scene looked very mysterious, but the images on the screen weren’t any fantasy.

Just ordinary human faces, real events that had happened.

One after another, soft virtual screens emerged from the white light at the top of the tower, floating down around the White Tower.

On the giant screens, the events that had taken place on this land played.

The real, unedited, true history of mankind.

The images that Lin Yuan had seen in the corridor of the City of Mantis, on the walls of the temple in the Land of No Eyes, on the stone walls in the underground lair of the Golden Tree, on the white gate of the No. 5 Contaminated Zone, they now appeared one by one, under the bright sun, around the White Tower, revealed to the world.

From when the human world was invaded, to the reasons for the appearance of Sentinels and Guides.

From how the White Tower was a product of humanity's surrender, to how the empire was a farm where monsters raised humans.

Frame by frame, telling the truth.

The officials of the empire, with their own hands, sending their compatriots to the bloody maws of monsters.

Those young lives tragically lost in the contaminated zones were just offerings from humans, praying to survive.

Every time a gem was embedded in the Truth Box, a miniature virtual scene would appear.

No one knew that after it was fully completed, it would, in such a spectacular fashion, show the blood-stained history of mankind.

One after another, the screens fell from the tall tower like snowflakes, randomly playing the hidden secrets of this empire’s history, secrets unknown to most.

Everyone looked up.

Whether it was the sentinels stationed in distant lands, the children running in the fishing villages, the pedestrians walking through the slums, everyone stopped.

Before screens large and small throughout the empire, more and more gazes gathered.

Even the sounds of gunfire and cannons on the battlefield paused for a moment.

The empire’s heir’s coronation ceremony that had been broadcast live on television…

Who knew who had hacked the cameras? But when the Revolutionary Army stormed the White Tower, the video broadcast didn’t stop.

Those who had gathered before their screens to watch the coronation ceremony saw the live broadcast of the attack on the White Tower.

Now, cameras outside the White Tower were pointed at those screens falling from it.

A massive amount of information, like an explosion, overturned the worldviews of countless people.

Confused minds, assaulted by the terrifying truth, every corner of the empire, everyone dumbfounded.

Before an old, dilapidated TV in the slums, an old man with a crippled leg reacted, his trembling finger pointing at a face frozen on the screen.

“That’s my child, my son!”

Everyone living here knew that Old Zhang once had an outstanding son who was a Sentinel, he had died in a contaminated zone a few years ago, Old Zhang had gone crazy after that, and even broken his leg.

On the screen, there was a bloodstain on the boy’s face. He looked back at something outside the camera, then turned and resolutely charged towards a Deviant.

This was a child who had grown up on this street, who had finally become a Sentinel. He was his father’s pride.

Turned out, he was just a sacrifice.

The boy was caught by the monster. On the TV, red blood splattered across the screen.

"No! Damn it!" Old Zhang frantically lunged forward, hugging the small, broken TV, shaking it. "Give me back my son! Give me back my child!"

In the dirty alley, the people who had gathered in front of the screen fell silent. Only the madman continued to shout.

In the distance, the sound of artillery fire came from the White Tower.

From this unremarkable alley, pairs of hateful eyes looked up at the tower.

It wasn't just this one old man who had shed tears of blood, almost everyone here had lost family members to the contaminated zones.

So, we were just sacrifices, poultry, to feed those few living extravagant lives inside the White Tower.

Destroy that tower!

Such voices, like a battle cry, started echoing from every corner of the empire.

Like waves, like a tsunami, spreading.

If at first, it was only a few warriors from the underground organizations who raised the banner of rebellion,

As those images revealed the truth, frame by frame, the fire of hatred ignited in the hearts of all the commoners in the empire.

In the White Tower, a Royal Guard captain pushed his subordinate, cursing loudly.

"Hurry up, what are you waiting for? Get more weapons! We have to hold this place, we can't retreat any further!"

The young warrior swayed, and turned his head blankly, pointing at the TV screen embedded in the wall,

"Captain, yo- you, have you seen that?"

Amidst the smoke and fire, the nearby TV screens were still on, unattended, they emitted a cold light.

On the screen, the huge royal airship was floating in the air. A young guide, riding the airship, secretly sent to the contaminated zone by an escort team.

"You idiot, that's just the enemy trying to deceive the citizens, you believe these tricks?" The captain raised his hand, firing several shots, destroying the screen showing such treason.

The lit screen shattered, and fragments fell to the ground.

"But I’ve seen that child before," the young warrior said hesitantly, "That time, it was me who sent her to the contaminated zone.”

“That Guide was very lovely, on the airship, she even gave me a mental guidance session.”

The captain hurriedly interrupted him. "Shut up, shut up, watch your words!”

But the usually obedient young soldier didn’t stop, he lowered his head, looking at his hand. "I've always felt it was strange. Why did you hide it from everyone, sending a defenseless guide there? You wouldn’t let me ask anything at that time.”

His voice, hesitant at first, gradually gained strength, he raised his head, and sneered, "So, this is what you’ve been doing!"

Around him, in the trenches, his companions, one after another, turned to look at him.

"Don't you forget, you're a noble!" the captain roared, his voice laced with the fury of being exposed, "You’re a Sentinel of the Royal Guard! Protecting the Tower is your duty!”

The young nobleman grabbed the badge on his shoulder and tore off the golden armband.

"What noble? What Royal Guard? I quit!"

He threw the golden badge to the ground at his feet, turned, and left the trench he was supposed to be guarding.

After a while, several glanced at their captain, then stood up and left with him.

The captain opened his mouth, wanting to shout, then his gaze fell on the fragments of the electronic screen.

He had broken the screens here, but he couldn’t erase the truth that had happened.

In the secret academy at the top of the White Tower, Lin Yuan placed the still-glowing Truth Box on the ground.

Her arm felt weak, she couldn’t even hold this small box.

The hand with the personal terminal hung limply at her side.

"Don't disconnect, Lin Yuan," Ni Ji’s voice came from the personal terminal.

She could still see Ni Ji’s face, on the screen, the sentinel’s brows tightly knitted together, his eyes purple, his expression grim, and the scene behind him moving quickly, the loud sounds of artillery fire, he was still very far away from her.

Lin Yuan looked at the Ni Ji on the virtual screen, a touch of longing.

Crying could be heard from the surrounding black fog, the queen's mental body disintegrated, turning into a black, viscous liquid, that black slime, emitting a fog, writhing, repeatedly trying to reform, failing again and again.

At first, it still let out curses that Lin Yuan could understand, gradually, those strange sounds becoming muddled, and Lin Yuan couldn’t understand them anymore.

Lin Yuan felt that it wasn’t truly her who had defeated the Queen.

Several times, at the most dangerous moments of their mental clash, the powerful Queen would suddenly freeze.

Or a child's arm would reach out, gripping her neck.

Or a sentinel's face would appear, interrupting her movements.

Undeniably, the Queen of the empire possessed an incredibly powerful mental body, she was a powerhouse of this world.

Lin Yuan even felt that, not only was she not a match for her, even the Mantis Queen from the flower sea, wouldn't necessarily be more powerful.

This queen, who had resided at the top of the tower for hundreds of years, was defeated by herself.

She craved power, had become a slave to it.

To obtain greater strength, she had devoured countless people, those unwilling, those angry wills, remaining within her, eventually tearing her apart.

At the very last moment, when Lin Yuan had almost run out of strength, golden branches had suddenly appeared by her feet.

Lin Yuan, having a foothold, stepping on her friend’s golden arm, at the moment when her strength was exhausted, had reached out and snatched that blood-red necklace.

Lin Yuan, falling back into the pile of tentacles, could barely get up. The queen on the altar, covered in smoke, also finally collapsed at that moment, her pale body shattering bit by bit, turning into broken white bones.

The shattered bones collapsed on the high platform.

The mental battle left both of them lying on the ground.

Lin Yuan, her arm trembling, struggled to sit up from the bloody, severed limbs, embedding the red gem into the Truth Box.

When she looked up again, the Queen's fragmented body was gone from the center of the altar.

Only half of a face, with painted red lips, like a mask, remained.

Like a broken mask lying on the altar. Its veil torn, those eyes beneath the white gauze, watching Lin Yuan.

The two stared at each other, silently.

One, her body collapsed, her mental body destroyed, scattered on the altar, the other, covered in blood, having severed countless of her tentacles, sitting in a pool of blood.

Having fought such a fierce battle, both equally wounded, both on the verge of death.

They stared at their enemy.

Finally, Lin Yuan heard a long sigh.

Crying could be heard from the thick, black fog, all kinds of souls weeping, from the black smoke all around.

Those mud-like black fogs no longer tried to gather themselves together, they flowed aimlessly, little by little seeping into the white stone bricks on the ground.

Everything around seemed to begin melting.

The ground was shaking, the tower trembling, the stone bricks falling.

A ray of sunlight shone in from above at some point, Lin Yuan looked up, only to see that the top of the White Tower had melted.

The outer wall of the spire, like a melting candle, the wax slowly dripping down. A hole in the wall, through which they could see the sun in the sky.

The children outside the academy all seemed to be running out. Lin Yuan, of course, also knew that she should leave this place immediately, it was about to collapse.

But she had no strength left, too many tentacles had been severed, each one cut off by her own hand, so they wouldn’t be polluted.

She didn't even have a single usable tentacle now.

Her body was in pain, her mental body, in even more.

Lin Yuan moved her body, finding a slightly more stable piece of stone wall to lean against.

Everything around her was falling, dissolving. She hoped she could fall a little slower.

"Hold on, wait for me, wait for me, okay?" Ni Ji’s voice came from the virtual screen, towards the end, his tone almost pleading, as if afraid she wouldn’t wait for him.

He was an incredibly perceptive person. He had already seen everything happening here.

"Okay, I'll wait for you," Lin Yuan looked at the Sentinel’s face on the screen. He looked so handsome as he ran and climbed, she wanted to keep watching.

Lin Yuan remembered she seemed to have said she would make him happy, she had even coaxed him, promised him, in their mental connection, even though those words hadn’t been spoken aloud.

But she didn't seem to have done a good job, she hadn’t made him truly happy.

The screen before her eyes suddenly went dark, the image covered by smoke and dust.

She didn’t know what this sentinel had done to be able to rush all the way up here to find her.

Lin Yuan raised her head, looking at the sky through the small hole above.

The sky today was incredibly clear, like a polished sapphire, only, strangely, the clouds were white.

It didn't matter, the white clouds looked beautiful.

As if, the same.

Lin Yuan felt very cold, and wanted something sweet to eat at a time like this.

At the bottom of the White Tower,

A warrior, charging ahead, was suddenly grabbed by the ankle by a white arm extending from the wall.

Hundreds of grotesque arms reached out from the wall, grabbing his feet, his waist, pulling him into the wall.

"It’s a Deviant!" Someone shouted.

The companions behind him, seeing this strange sight, immediately opened fire, wanting to destroy the suddenly appearing arms.

But it was too late, the grotesque tentacles, one after another, covered and wrapped the prey, forming a white cocoon.

Soon, red blood flowed from the gaps between the wriggling, white tentacles.

A holy brick from the White Tower fell.

The bone-white brick wriggled on the ground for a moment, transforming into a strange, eyeless Deviant. The monster, twisting its body, its sharp teeth bared, darted towards the crowd.

On the White Tower wall, at the spot where the brick had fallen, a hole appeared, the sunlight from outside shining in through that hole.

One brick fell, then another, and holes appeared on the White Tower, which had never been touched by sunlight before.

Sunlight streamed inside.

Those fallen holy bricks, turning into Deviants, one after another, rampaged within the White Tower.

The invading army, at this moment, encountered the most terrifying attack since entering.

Deviants everywhere.

All sorts of monsters with different forms, transformed from the White Tower’s bricks, wriggling as they crawled down from the walls.

From a higher place, a Royal Guard sentinel, hurriedly retreating, was caught from behind by a monster’s sharp claw.

The guards defending the White Tower, hurriedly, turned their guns, aiming at the White Tower’s walls.

It was true.

Those images on the videos really were real.

By now, no one denied it anymore.

The riddled tower, monsters going in and out. The White Tower, which had been protecting humanity for hundreds of years, was actually built from the bones of monsters.

A cannon roared.

The shell hit a giant monster, a warrior rolling out from the smoke and fire, unable to get up, thrown by the shockwave.

The next moment, an arm extended from behind a cover, pulling and dragging him into the shelter.

The two dust-covered warriors exchanged a look, one with a rebel’s black cloth covering his face, the other with a Royal Guard armband.

The Royal Guard sentinel was a little embarrassed for a moment.

But no matter how angry the noble officers above were, at this moment, he no longer wanted to point his gun at his own kind.

"This way, there’s a shelter down here, and ammunition.”

The invader in the black mask quickly ran over, following the guard with the golden armband, into the shelter.

Outside, the ugly faces of Deviants appeared.

At this moment, the muzzles of the guns turned, and the cannons were set up again.

No longer aiming at their own kind.

Outside the White Tower, a reporter’s eyes widened.

Risking his life, carrying his camera, he was hiding nearby, filming secretly. He had always been a brave photographer.

But he was also stunned speechless by the scene before him.

Before his lens, the giant, towering tower, starting from its spire, was slowly melting.

Holes appeared on the smooth exterior wall of the holy tower, like it was being eaten by insects. Ugly deviants slowly crawled out from those holes.

The holy tower, becoming riddled with holes.

"The tower… it’s melting," the reporter murmured, holding his camera, looking up, even the sky above the empire seemed to be losing its color, bit by bit, like a closing curtain.

And behind it, the real blue sky was revealed, with a bright sun, and white clouds.

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