Book 4, Chapter 80 - Attacking Croton City

Love Code at the End of the World

He Lei and the other robots surrounded me. We were separated from the spirits in Croton City by a border wall. 

It was an interesting scene. Only a thin line was separating us from the enemy. They couldn’t come through and we couldn’t enter. We were like soldiers on both sides of the border. 

"Croton City used to be a military base,” Xing Chuan’s image appeared next to me among the robots. “The last general before the end of the day descended upon this world, was General Samuel. He was an activist in the war doctrine when he was alive. He believed that the development of humans was at its bottleneck and it needed a breakthrough…” 

Development of humans was at its bottleneck… This sounded really familiar to me. I suddenly recalled that I had read something similar in Professor Hagrid Jones’s notebook. 

“He believed that only war could expedite a more advanced civilization. So, Luo Bing…” Xing Chuan looked at me. "I don’t think they are willing for you to set them free.”  

“I can tell that as well.” As half a soldier myself, my gut feelings told me that they didn’t want to “die” either.

Soldiers had an extremely strong will and faith. They believed in obedience and were willing to sacrifice their own lives over things that they were assigned to protect. 

“So, the only way to obtain the armaments from here…” Harry became solemn as he looked at me, “...is to kill them.”

I felt my heart drop. I felt like I had stepped into an abyss and was in a trance.

To kill them…

Kill…

Them… 

“General Samuel would have carried out a military transformation if it wasn’t for the end of the world. He had already ordered to close down the military base in Croton City back then. It had caused the entire world to be in high tension…” Xing Chuan’s voice became vague as if his voice was being transmitted from sixty years ago. "All the other military bases were prepared for war. It would have been the end of the world if any war would have happened with the military technology they had back then.” 

“Were those people too free back then?” Jason mocked, “They didn’t enjoy living a good life but enjoyed the war? They’d rather have life like today? Damn it!” 

“Some people are belligerent. It’s in their blood.” Tom pointed at his head and said, “They had strange beliefs.”

“They better had a time machine back then,” joked Yu Wen as he continued, “So, that we can switch our places. Let them experience the life we are living now. The life where we don’t even have enough to eat but yet are afraid to head out. To top it off, we have to be worried about being preyed on and eaten by the others as well.” 

Lao Bai patted Yu Wen and said emotionally, "Any good life will be ruined by these people even if there wasn’t the end of the world. It’s not worthwhile to be affected by these dead people.” 

“They aren’t dead,” Joseph pointed at the people behind the border wall. “Luckily, they are trapped behind the border wall. They will be monsters if they are let out.” 

I slowly got back to reality as I heard this conversation. We couldn’t be wasting time.

I needed to set them free. That’s right. Perhaps, they wanted a relief deep down in their heart. 

I flung off my cloak and clenched my fists. 

“Lil Bing, it is too dangerous,” Harry stood up immediately. His huge build was like a building next to me.  

“But we can’t be wasting time like this. As long as I, I…” I clenched my fist tightly. 

“The rest will naturally be scared if Luo Bing were to kill one of them,” Xing Chuan said whatever I had in mind. I didn’t dare to mention the word nor did I want to admit that I was going to do that. 

“Kill? How is she going to kill them?” He Lei stood up curiously. 

"Nonsense! You people from Silver Moon City people should set a limit to your bullshit.” Yu Wen stood up too. “Those are spirits. How are you going to kill them?” 

Xing Chuan and Harry kept quiet. 

I walked towards the border wall alone. I was only one step away from the spirit who was closest to the border wall.

He was staring at me with anger and hatred. There was also rage and cruelty in his gaze. I could feel the strong murderous intent in him. They weren’t the eyes of a soldier but the eyes of an aggressive bloodthirsty murderer. 

Their gazes were similar to the Ghost Eclipsers. They were like desperate lunatics. They would pounce at anyone who tried to steal from them and tear them into pieces.

"We are just like all of you. We are soldiers too.” I was trying my luck when I talked to him again. “What we need are your weapons. We are trying to bring peace to this world. Don’t you wish for your descendants to live in a peaceful world?” 

The soldier looked at me and he seemed confused. Just as I thought he understood me, he suddenly opened his mouth and roared at me, “Ahhhhh!” That hoarse roar was like the sound of wind passing through a gap in the window in a mocking manner.

"It’s useless, Luo Bing. They are with Samuel. They are brainwashed by Samuel’s absurd theory.” Xing Chuan was monotonous as though the spirits inside were just another creature or dead corpses from sixty years ago.

“Ha!” The soldier ran and pounced at me. His bright long tail stroked past the border wall. Then, he licked the border wall and left a mark on it. Suddenly, he started sticking his tongue in and out of his transparent mouth, which looked extremely disgusting.

He, he was actually fantasizing me?! 

I had goosebumps all over me and I retched in disgust. 

Suddenly, Harry ran over and punched it. 

“I’ll take care of this myself.” I could not stand it anymore. I raised my hand and pierced the border wall. I seized his neck and the blue light was absorbed into my palms immediately.

I walked through the border wall step by step, choking him, while he struggled in my hands and roared,“Ahhh!”

All the other spirits looked at me simultaneously as I crushed him into ashes, and immediately stepped back.  

Harry entered behind me. His huge body blocked the sunlight behind me, just like a demon that had descended behind me, engulfing my world with his shadow. He was full of a murderous vibe. How dare the spirit fantasize about me in front of Harry?   

Ah!” Harry let out an angry roar next to me. The huge roaring sound from the huge robot shook the sky. He raised his fists and punched the ground brutally. 

“Bam!” I bounced off the ground and Harry held me with his huge hands. He once again punched the ground furiously and shook all the tree vines with weapons, crushing them into pieces. He was like a mad King Kong who had gone out of control and wanted to break the world into pieces. 

The spirits leaped from the tree vines and formed a long line to charge at us, similar to the spirits in Kro.  

I shouted loudly, "Harry!” 

Harry raised his palm before me and I jumped on it. As the spirits flew close to me, I pounced at them with my arms spread and caught the first spirit. 

“Ah!” The spirit roared and it broke into pieces, turned into ashes in the air.  

Suddenly, a ray of light burst out and a strong breeze started blowing. He Lei appeared next to us and braced the shield for us. He shielded us from the attack of the weapons controlled by the tree vines.

"He Lei, get rid of the tree vines. Don’t touch the spirits,” Harry told He Lei. 

“Understood,” He Lei pulled a huge lightsaber out of the robot and disappeared in mid-air. The huge body didn’t affect his performance at all.

The spirits quickly retreated to their base. I hopped off Harry’s huge palm into the dark base. He Lei chopped off the surrounding tree vines with the lightsaber. No one could even catch his shadow, but could only see the tree vines that were holding the weapons being chopped off.  

I raised my hands and placed them on a huge tree root. Blue light spots started emitting from the tree trunks and got absorbed into my arms. My arms instantly turned blue and the beautiful spirit flowers withered away. The spirits were forced out from the tree trunk one by one. Their bodies were bound to the tree trunk with the blue crystal energy. 

They crawled out of the tree trunk in pain but they turned into dust under my superpower. The huge tree trunk beneath my feet started to wither away. It finally broke apart and turned into dust. 

A breeze blew past me and a huge black hand caught me. It was He Lei. He nodded at me as I looked at him. I could see my smiling face reflected on his face shield. 

The light looked really bright above us. Everyone hopped down from above and entered the base. 

"General Samuel is not dead yet. You have to be careful.” Xing Chuan’s image appeared next to us as he descended alongside us. The small imaging device shot out a bright light and it lit up everything at the bottom of the base. 

We landed on the ground and there was a huge empty space in front of us. The tree vines on the wall were withering and breaking apart. I seemed to have absorbed all of their lives. I could still see spirits running away in the dark. 

“Head to the main control room. You can activate the base from there.” Xing Chuan waved and a map appeared in front of us. There was a bright spot on the map that showed us our position and Xing Chuan had also marked the spot where we needed to go.

"Stay close to me.” I looked at the robots while I stood on He Lei’s palm. “You will lose contact with the robots if the spirits attack you.” 

They nodded and surrounded me. 

The base was really huge. We saw many neatly arranged armored robots when we passed by an area that seemed to be a hangar. 

These robots looked less advanced when compared to the robots of Silver Moon City or even Noah City. Nonetheless, they were very important discoveries and valuable armaments at the end of this world.

No wonder the Ghost Eclipsers were also eyeing this place.

“Gosh! This place is really an armory.” Lao Bai ran towards the robots. “No wonder everyone wants to come to this ruin, as it turns out that this place really has a treasure.” 

Joseph suddenly shouted, "Lao Bai, watch out. The spirits are coming out!” 

Lao Bai was frightened and he immediately ran back to our group. "Don’t touch me!” 

“Hahaha,” everyone burst out into laughter.

Lao Bai looked behind his back but there wasn’t anything. They were just making fun of him. 

“You fooled me!” Lao Bai was stomping his feet angrily.  

He Lei said sternly, "Stop fooling around. I didn’t bring you here for fun.” 

Suddenly, a spirit appeared from the ground and pierced Lao Bai’s huge body. 

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