Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 112: Luo Duan’s Plan

It was like stepping over a fence and crushing a group of ants with the sole of a shoe.

Luo Duan thought he would hesitate or feel a sense of satisfaction. In reality, he felt nothing at all. People gathered in fear not far away, but he couldn’t sense anything. He tried to imagine his fiancée’s face, but his mind was blank. His heart felt like it was encased in mud, hardened, and incapable of beating.

At this moment, there was only one thing on Luo Duan’s mind—he came to destroy this city, so he should give it his all to destroy this city.

Was he using Sigma, or had Sigma already assimilated him as part of an Erosion Swamp? Perhaps the “Luo Duan” as a human had long died, and he was just a corpse replaced by an Erosion Swamp.

But this question wasn’t important. The central square was right in front of them. As long as they killed everyone here, the three major families would lose their foundation and no longer have a reason to persist.

The biggest threat to him was Shu Jun, and Shu Jun was already severely injured. The second most threatening person might be Zhu Yanchen, but unfortunately, this person had hidden too well, and Luo Duan didn’t gather much information about him.

…It didn’t matter. In the face of the situation, even if Zhu Yanchen was a genius, he couldn’t save a dead city. Luo Duan just needed to take this final step steadily.

Sigma was very cautious. It didn’t rush forward immediately but instead avoided the purifiers surrounding the square and formed a circle with its massive body. It turned the side with long arms inward, restless just outside the purification circle.

Naturally, humans wouldn’t give up at this time. The soldiers protected the civilians on the outside and fiercely attacked those arms while the purifiers were still functioning. The combat was clean and neat, with the command likely coming from Marshal Zhu.

But it didn’t matter.

Luo Duan quietly commanded Sigma to disperse all non-combat abilities, utilizing the thick erosion around to create more Erosion Swamps with brains. These Erosion Swamps didn’t need to be highly combat-capable; they just needed to push forward and tear open a gap in the solid purification circle.

With that, Sigma’s brain became much smaller, deeply buried within its body, making it harder to find.

For a moment, the scene resembled a nightmare.

The once prosperous Y City was mostly destroyed, with the outer buildings completely devastated, transformed into desolate swamps under Sigma’s crushing force, leaving behind only some remnants of broken walls. The city center stood alone, firmly encircled by Sigma in its core, as if the entire city were a rat being strangled by a python.

More Erosion Swamps with brains rushed forward, each displaying peculiar abilities, sizzling and depleting the energy of the purifiers. Humans had no retreat, and this layer of defense was on the verge of being peeled open—

Suddenly, a missile flew from the direction of the command center.

It wasn’t large in size but packed a powerful punch, directly exploding on a part of Sigma’s body, reducing that small section of its form to erosion substance.

Luo Duan was hidden in the palm of Sigma’s hand. Through the enormous gaps between the black fingers, he gloomily looked outward—if it was just a random explosion, it wouldn’t be a problem. The surrounding erosion substance had piled up to a terrifying degree, and Sigma could repair the wounds at any time. But if its brain was hit by an explosion, things would become uncertain.

He made a gesture, and the erosion downpour in the city center intensified. The rain of death mercilessly fell, leaving gray spots on people’s skin with each impact.

While Shu Jun hadn’t recovered yet, speed and decisiveness were of the essence—currently, it seemed that humans hadn’t had their new weapons for long, and their stockpile of missiles wasn’t impressive.

Just as Luo Duan thought about this, another missile exploded. It didn’t blindly bombard but exploded near Sigma’s brain and got closer and closer to it.

…Who is it?

Another missile attacked, this time grazing Sigma’s brain, making Luo Duan’s heart tighten. Relying on his years of combat experience, he had a bad premonition.

“Hurry!” He ordered Sigma.

The humans inside the circle were still fighting desperately, whether with suppression weapons or purifiers, their energy wasn’t depleted. Sigma extended numerous arms, attempting to grab the people on the square. Its fingers barely touched the outer perimeter of the square before being scorched and swiftly retracted.

His plan was proceeding systematically but advancing carried risks. However, at this point, he couldn’t retreat anymore.

Luo Duan lowered his voice, instructing Sigma to shift the position of its brain while also requesting the repositioning of the surrounding Erosion Swamps with brains. The attack had to be accelerated; delaying in war never led to good results.

Sigma had no way to deal with the hot potato in front of it and could only obey Luo Duan’s advice. With the positions of the Erosion Swamps with brains changing, it threw the soldiers fighting against them into disarray. Sigma took the opportunity to shrink the encircling circle, bringing its body closer to the purification boundary. Finally, under the fierce assault of the Erosion Swamps with brains, signs of collapse began to appear on one side of the encirclement.

Excellent. Just a few more minutes, and he would hear the desperate cries of humans before their deaths.

Luo Duan tensed his nerves and whispered into Sigma’s ear without pause. But just as he focused on adjusting the formation, something unexpected happened.

A black wolf emerged from the surface of an Erosion Swamp, leaping from behind Sigma and pouncing fiercely with the wind.

It had condensed the erosion from the surrounding swamps, becoming larger than the previous black wolf. Its bite almost reached Sigma’s body, narrowly missing the brain. Sigma reacted violently, twisting its body as countless black hands reached out toward the black wolf.

However, the black wolf agilely dodged, leaping high and then lunging down for another bite. This time, the attack was accompanied by other actions—more vines sprouted from the ground, binding Sigma’s body in that area and slowing down its movements.

The binding speed was more than three times faster than before.

Luo Duan was momentarily stunned, unable to figure out how Shu Jun accomplished this. The black wolf’s movements were swift and smooth, full of energy, and didn’t resemble the actions of an injured creature at all.

A sense of foreboding grew stronger. Before he could utter the word “retreat”, the fourth missile exploded squarely hitting the edge of Sigma’s brain.

While Sigma’s attention was diverted, the soldiers on the square also took action. A group of people armed with suppression weapons rushed forward, fearlessly attacking Sigma’s body. Even if Sigma wanted to shift the position of its brain, with the nearby body constantly sustaining injuries, it couldn’t suppress its instinctive reaction to protect its brain and would once again expose its position.

Not to mention that Shu Jun was lurking nearby, ready to take a bite at Sigma at any moment. From the beginning, humans weren’t playing a defensive game. From Shu Jun’s “retreat” to leading Sigma to the square and exposing its body in front of the command center, everything had been calculated.

What a trap. Luo Duan held his breath. Whoever made the move—regardless of who they were—understood the Erosion Swamp as well as he did.

This couldn’t go on. Once Sigma’s brain suffered severe damage, its abilities would be dangerously hindered.

From a pessimistic perspective, they didn’t have much time left.

Sigma didn’t think so deeply. It was being attacked quite intensely, with numerous black hands flailing around it. A distorted humanoid form emerged from the palm of the black hand, urging Luo Duan with discontent.

“What should we do?” it asked stiffly and discontentedly. “What should we do?”

“It’s alright,” Luo Duan took a deep breath and reassured Sigma. “The abilities I asked you to prepare, are they ready?”

“They are ready,” it replied matter-of-factly. “Do you want me to use them?”

Luo Duan looked at the crooked-nosed and squinty-eyed humanoid figure with a complex expression and found himself unable to speak for a moment.

Sigma couldn’t grasp the deep meaning behind it and continued explaining, “Humans are really dangerous. I’m willing to use them.”

“…I know. Trust me. We will definitely not lose this battle. The plan remains the same; we’ll follow the previous agreement.”

Luo Duan stopped the torrential rain of erosion outside and signaled for Sigma to lift him up. The movements of the black wolf paused, and it didn’t attack him.

“Shu Jun,” Luo Duan said wearily, “I have something to say.”

Although the downpour had stopped, Sigma’s hands continued flailing, and the surroundings were still filled with rumbling noise. The black wolf stared at him emotionlessly, neither confirming nor denying.

“You can remotely control this wolf, right? However, when your original body is away, this wolf becomes very clumsy.” Luo Duan sighed. “Just now, you slipped away during our conversation, and then Sigma destroyed the wolf… It was all to make me believe that ‘you must control your erosion creation from within’. You deliberately revealed yourself inside the monster in front of the humans to make me believe that.”

The act began since the Synth-Human pretend war. Shu Jun knew he was watching, and it was intentional.

“You pretended to be defeated by me, assuming that I would misjudge the situation and think that you were using the ’empty city strategy’ to lure Sigma deeper. You knew very well that the central square was filled with humans, and driven by my revenge, I would choose to eliminate the people in front of me first before tormenting the three major families.”

“…You succeeded. Sigma and I were led here. In order to surround the crowd and press the human defenses, Sigma stretched its body and became the most easily analyzable ring shape. Next, your collaborator could launch missiles from the command center to analyze the position of Sigma’s brain. Once Sigma is eliminated, according to your abilities, you can slowly cleanse the surrounding erosion.”

The black wolf exhaled, narrowing its eyes. Shu Jun crouched down, assuming an attacking posture. “You understand it well. So, what’s your move? Are you ready to surrender?”

Luo Duan chuckled.

“Do you think I went through all this trouble talking to you because I wanted to surrender?”

The black wolf remained silent.

“When I was clear-headed, I never won against you, and now I wouldn’t dare to make any guarantees.” As Luo Duan spoke, his feet were caught in Sigma’s claws; his skin touching it, resembling a collapsed humanoid figure. “Since the moment I decided to attack, I’ve considered the possibility of losing.”

Sigma halted its digging motion. Its originally flat body showed signs of swelling.

Luo Duan stared at Shu Jun; his pupils devoid of any luster, resembling erosion substance. “Calculating the time, it should be about right.”

Without the noise from Sigma, their voices were clear, and the people on the square could hear them clearly.

“…What do you mean by ‘about right’?”

“There was once a powerful player who had a similar desire before his death—together with the destruction of the world, as death was too painful. Care to guess what ability he left behind?”

The fur on the black wolf instantly stood on end.

“If Sigma dissolves in place, you can take your time dealing with the erosion. But if Sigma ‘self-destructs’, there won’t be anything left of those purifiers as well as the command center… Oh, perhaps you may survive, but there won’t be anyone else. It’s a pity that now, it’s well-prepared, and the self-destruct ability has been successfully activated.”

“You—”

“That’s my plan.” Luo Duan spread his arms and raised his voice. “Now, let me reveal something that human researchers can’t possibly know—the Erosion Swamp is much more selfless than humans. It releases enough erosion with neural activity that even if it disappears, the next Sigma will emerge.”

The black wolf bared its teeth, anxiously tapping its paws. The people on the square seemed frozen, motionless.

“Your collaborator hasn’t fired yet. Is there only one missile left? You can stop this tragedy, if you want to… Just give up your humanoid form, take control of this massive Erosion Swamp, and become the new Sigma. Guess what? Will that final missile hit you?”

Luo Duan stood calmly in the palm of the black hand, overlooking the nearby crowd, and a hint of satisfaction finally appeared on his face.

The black wolf shook in place.

“Choose, Shu Jun,” Luo Duan said softly. “No matter how you choose this time, you won’t win.”

“I have only one question left. How do you guarantee that if I take over, I will be able to take over Sigma’s brain?”

Luo Duan clearly didn’t like this question, and his expression became complex. “Before the self-destruction begins, to avoid pain, Sigma’s existing brain will enter into a dormant state. It won’t compete with you, Shu Jun. Are you really going to do this for these humans?”

“I understand,” the black wolf interrupted, looking at the swelling Erosion Swamp, quickly and calmly answering. “Hmm, you don’t seem to be lying in this situation.”

He didn’t say anything more.

The giant wolf leaped high and plunged into the Erosion Swamp.

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