In the end of the world, I become an immortal alone

#86 - Attack!

Wei Linzheng was feeling somewhat irritable.

The message he sent to Zhou Zhengde had vanished without a trace, and more than thirty minutes had passed without any response.

It clearly showed as 'read'!

The old man was quite impatient, but he quickly suppressed this emotion and began to think calmly.

Unlike ordinary B-level Espers, he was a member of the [Esper Management Association] of Esper City, and his underlying identity was that of a manager of Espers.

Although he was just an ordinary member.

The Esper Management Association has always been unknown to outsiders. It is the actual controlling organization of the Thirteen Institutes and Esper City. The threshold for joining is B-level Esper, and they must have made continuous contributions to Esper City for more than thirty years.

Of course, the stronger the strength, the lower the entry restrictions.

The top tier of the Esper Management Association is the six most powerful SS-level Espers, who are usually called Lord President internally, and sometimes referred to as Elders, Seniors, Controllers, and so on.

Apart from these six Lord Presidents, there are actually other SS-level Espers in Esper City, but the remaining SS-level Espers have no direct connection with the Esper Management Association and do not participate in the political activities of Esper City.

Wei Linzheng's level was not high enough to report directly to the top tier.

His immediate superior in the Esper Management Association was an S-level Esper, that guy was the Executive Director of the Esper Management Association.

'As a member of the Esper Management Association, what should I do now? Obviously, restore the influence of the Thirteen Institutes and prevent this matter from exploding.'

Wei Linzheng slowly got up and paced back and forth in front of the desk.

He had already confirmed several facts.

For example, Black Storm was an Esper created by the military, possessing combat power comparable to D-level, while the actual energy reaction was only E-level.

Or, the military in the D5 Comprehensive War Zone could turn against the Thirteen Institutes to protect him.

Also, that Zheng Shiduo's strength was very strong. He could directly resolve four Espers of the same level with the assistance of the Purge Squad, obviously hiding some of his abilities before.

Based on his identity as a member of the Esper Management Association, Wei Linzheng felt that he must consider the 'big picture', which was the complex relationship between the Thirteen Institutes and the D5 Comprehensive War Zone.

The Commander-in-Chief of the D5 Comprehensive War Zone, the Devil Commander-in-Chief Fu Jian, this old geezer's identity was too special.

Fu Jian was a true warrior, a hero who saved the human front. Similarly, Fu Jian now also represented the shackles that restricted Espers.

If the conflict continues to intensify, Fu Jian will really press that button, and a huge mushroom cloud will rise over Esper City.

Before being able to completely resolve Fu Jian, he must not offend Fu Jian to the death.

'He is in a hurry to promote the military's Esper experiment, does it prove that he is already in his final stage?'

Wei Linzheng thought carefully.

He recalled his secret mental attack on Black Storm, but the other party resolved it easily.

'Has the military's anti-mental interference technology developed to such an extent?'

— Wei Linzheng would not believe that an E/D-level Esper himself resolved this attack, just as he would not believe the absurd theory that [Espers can be upgraded].

All Espers have their abilities fixed from the day of infusion.

In fact, the initial Esper classification only had five basic levels: A/B/C/D/E.

The original A-level evaluation standard was [possessing the powerful ability to change the local battlefield].

Later, as the first batch of A-level Espers continued to develop their abilities, their actual combat power continued to increase, and a new level S appeared.

S-level Espers have one characteristic, that is… they all have titles.

SS represents the top Espers, possessing powerful abilities that cannot be replicated and are unimaginable by ordinary humans.

Theoretically, every A-level Esper has the opportunity to obtain a title and be rated as an S-level Esper as long as they continue to explore their abilities.

'But not every A-level Esper can become a member of the Esper Management Association.'

Wei Linzheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Zhou Zhengde did not give him any reply, he had already made a decision.

Wei Linzheng quickly walked back behind his desk, opened the Esper Management Association's exclusive communicator, and a small projection screen appeared on his wrist.

This skinny old man put on his reading glasses and began to type with two-finger typing.

[Black Storm, alias Mu Liang, Zhou Tiantian, threat level C, a military experimental product. Subsequently, we will try to win him over to our camp by offering heavy profits, in order to conduct moderate research on him to determine the development level of military infusion technology. Current estimate, the level is not high, the key technologies have not been overcome.]

Click send.

Wei Linzheng felt much more relaxed.

He glanced at the ordinary communicator that still had no messages and snorted lightly.

"Rude fellow."

Ding ding!

A dialog box popped up on the communicator. Wei Linzheng raised his eyebrows slightly, thinking that Zhou Zhengde should have been busy just now…

Oh, it was a wartime order from Dongfang Zhenghong.

[Our side will launch a campaign to annihilate the 'YW392' target. Now notify that during this campaign, the main internal defense of Fortress 76 will be your responsibility — Commander of the Fortress 76 Defense Command Center, Dongfang Zhenghong.]

Wei Linzheng narrowed his eyes slightly.

Very good, this is a great opportunity to rebuild the influence of Espers on the Zhonggu Basin Fortress 76.

Wei Linzheng pressed the button on the side of the table and said in a deep voice:

"Everyone, come to the conference room for a meeting to prepare to carry out the defense mission."

… …

[Distance from the Larval Queen Insect Annihilation War: 18 hours.]

At dusk, the camp in the outer C area was noisy. A large number of troops were gathering outside the C area, and armored clusters were continuously driving into the desert.

Wang Jixuan looked at the sand motorcycle assigned to him and smiled with satisfaction.

He took the initiative to propose to participate in this annihilation war.

One was to learn more about Blade Beasts.

He could only feel at ease after seeing the larval queen insect being taken down with his own eyes.

The second was for his own safety.

In order to ensure the victory of this encirclement and suppression war, Ling Tong, Shenhai, and Chishe, three half-human mechs, will drive their respective exclusive mechs to launch an attack on the larval queen insect.

Without the half-human mechs in the fortress, only two B-level old Espers remained…

Daoist Wang felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.

So he simply went to the battlefield with Wu Man!

As for his reason for going to the battlefield, it was too easy to find.

"I need to fight Blade Beasts in order to continuously improve the Demon-Breaking Dagger and this kind of greatsword. An excellent mechanic must not be separated from the front line."

Zhou Zhengde had no way to refute this, so he could only instruct the commander, Dongfang Zhenghong, to not send Black Storm to fight no matter what the situation, even if the encirclement and suppression war failed.

Just a dozen minutes ago, Zhou Zhengde thought about it again and again, and still used his privileges to get a vacant position as a staff officer in the headquarters, and went on the expedition together.

He was responsible for pulling Wang Zheng!

At the entrance of the supply station.

Zheng Shiduo greeted:

"Boss! Is there anything else to prepare?"

"Shouldn't be."

Wang Jixuan had just said a sentence when he thought of something, turned around and walked back to the supply station, and took out a backpack.

Inside were hundreds of green paper talismans he had stored, two bags of roasted Blade Beast meat that had been vacuum-sealed and locked with spiritual energy, and Black Storm's iconic black helmet.

Uncle Tai commanded two large mechanical dogs to take the first step, and Zheng Shiduo carried Wu Man to an armored vehicle.

Wang Jixuan jumped on his exclusive four-wheeled motorcycle, twisted the accelerator, and merged into the armored marching cluster, heading straight for the desert.

Somewhat scorching desert wind came head-on.

His Dao heart was rippling slightly.

The coming night is an important window for the main force of Fortress 76 to carry out firepower deployment and march forward.

This kind of encirclement and suppression war is not a battle that can be resolved by the army rushing up in a swarm.

Blade Beast groups usually travel in underground passages.

The advantages of underground marching are obvious. If humans want to take them down, they need a lot of drilling weapons, and most drilling weapons have very limited killing range underground. Soil and rock formations are the best barriers.

The disadvantages are also obvious — they are easy to get trapped.

In the past two days, after Ling Tong and Chi She took turns attacking, the underground passages of the Blade Beast group have been completely paralyzed.

All [Drilling Worms] that have been discovered have been pinpointed and eliminated.

In order to achieve this goal, the human side has also paid some price, and the vanguard troops cooperating with the combat girls have suffered relatively large casualties.

9 p.m.

Wang Jixuan was called to the command vehicle by Zhou Zhengde.

Dongfang Zhenghong's command vehicle was very large.

Its chassis adopted a spider-leg structure, and eight sets of huge wheels could be turned 360 degrees at any time. The upper part was a standard hexagonal command center that could accommodate more than thirty people.

The entire battlefield, including satellites in space, high-altitude reconnaissance drones, and data generated by various sensors of ground troops, converged on the command vehicle after a delay of two milliseconds, and was presented to Dongfang Zhenghong after being organized by the command support system.

In Fortress 76, the magistrate and several ministers, together with two old generals who retired and recuperated in the fortress, formed the second command center.

Wang Jixuan stared at the holographic sand table in the center for more than an hour, and finally understood most of the markings on it.

A total of 26,000 army soldiers, more than 600 armored vehicles of various types, a number of troop transport equipment, 200 self-propelled artillery pieces, and 30 medium and light mechs were mobilized for this ground operation.

Several nearby missile bases and long-range fire bases will provide fire support later.

Armored vehicles mostly carry unmanned equipment, such as multi-rotor drones, drilling spider bombing drones, and so on.

According to the past combat thinking of the Defense Forces, the subsequent general process is like this:

First, a large number of drones will gradually bomb downwards to open up a path. Then, cyborg mechs, led by psychics, will form assault squads to place high explosives or tactical nuclear weapons in the main gathering areas of the Blade Beasts, gradually advancing towards the core area.

However, in this battle, Dongfang Zhenghong decided to conduct a daring experiment.

The youth version of the S-class psychic, 'Beast Speaker' Wu Man, is his ultimate weapon!

As for Wang Jixuan... Dongfang Zhenghong really didn't dare to send him out.

Daoist Wang was also happy to be a loafer.

The best warrior has no glorious achievements.

11 PM.

Wang Jixuan closed his eyes and concentrated, meditating in a proper sitting posture. Zhou Zhengde was snoring loudly in the adjacent seat, while Wu Man was carefully reading a romance novel.

This was a romance novel that Wu Man had borrowed from Ling Tong.

Daoist Wang thought to himself:

'This child is showing a tendency to go astray. Yuan Yang is especially important for cultivators.'

'Oh right, he can't cultivate anyway.'

3 AM.

All units had arrived at their designated areas. The underground Blade Beast swarm was under close surveillance, and three cyborg mechs were resting at their respective front-line supply vehicles.

Daoist Wang wanted to find Ling Tong, but Zhou Zhengde stopped him.

The outer defense line was still engaged in fierce firefights, with the human forces frantically harvesting those Blade Beasts that recklessly charged the lines.

From the broad perspective of the D5 Integrated War Zone, the intensity and results of the current war had reached their peak in the last two years.

The war resource reserves of the D5 Integrated War Zone also impressed all major war zones.

Two of the three space fortresses had already appeared over the D5 Integrated War Zone, reinforcing the defense lines through aerial resource drops.

Dawn was approaching.

Dongfang Zhenghong began his pre-battle mobilization.

Wang Jixuan listened to Dongfang Zhenghong's impassioned speech, his face solemn.

He felt a faint but firm power of souls.

The soldiers were all prepared to dedicate everything they had for the future of humanity and the homeland behind them.

Zhou Zhengde was collecting information from various locations using a communicator, whispering:

"The battle lines are very stable, with no signs of loosening. Another all-terrain scan has been completed within the Middle Ancient Basin, and no new Blade Beast swarms have been found, only small groups of wandering Blade Beasts. The other fortresses have dispatched troops to hunt them down."

Wang Jixuan muttered softly: "There's still one problem that hasn't been accurately reported. Where did that small group of Blade Beasts that appeared in the mine earlier come from?"

"It's basically impossible to trace the origin of small groups of Blade Beasts."

Zhou Zhengde said:

"Our means of tracking small groups of Blade Beasts are limited. They burrow around in the shallow underground."

Wang Jixuan said: "I remember Ling Tong saying that that small group of Blade Beasts hadn't been tagged with marker elements."

Ling Tong's voice came from the earpiece: "There should be an incomplete nest in the Sarri Desert, the one that the young Queen Worm is building. Eliminating this young Queen Worm is the main task to find this nest, otherwise, the Blade Beasts inside will all become small groups of Blade Beasts, roaming in the shallow subsurface."

"That's how it is, she's the professional," Zhou Zhengde shrugged.

Wang Jixuan asked with a smile: "Commander, how are your preparations going?"

"Everything is going smoothly. You should also be careful later. When Wu Man starts giving commands to the Blade Beast swarm, it is very likely to provoke the young Queen Worm to counterattack at all costs. His position will be relatively dangerous."

Ling Tong instructed:

"I will provide support based on the situation."

Daoist Wang said with a smile: "No problem, the commander has also considered this issue."

Ling Tong said: "According to convention, my logistics team members should send me their blessings at this time."

Zhou Zhengde, never one to miss a good show, gave a high-quality answer using lip-reading:

"Come back... and... get married..."

Wang Jixuan glared at Zhou Zhengde and said calmly: "May your military prowess flourish, but the winds of war have not yet subsided."

Ling Tong was stunned: "What does that mean?"

"I saw it in a book," Daoist Wang said with a smile, "Focus on the battle."

"Oh."

9 AM.

The scorching sun could not wait to begin baking this desert.