Chapter 170: Chapter 169: Dead End
For an ordinary human, using only their own strength and crude, scavenged weapons, to defeat the clusters of Construction Machines, break through endless blockades, and reach the very top of the Gray Tide World was essentially a pipe dream.
It was not much different from a fight between a colony of ants and a group of humans.
Flesh and blood, after all, could not contend with machines.
The only path left for humanity was infiltration.
And while the creator’s descendant possessed the necessary permissions, no one knew how to trigger or use them.
For human civilization, this descendant of the creator was far too precious. He was the key to obtaining the control core, so nothing could be allowed to go wrong.
So, the safest method was to have the vast majority of people stage a feint attack. This would lure in the greatest number of Construction Machines and draw their attention, allowing a small, separate squad to secretly escort the creator’s descendant past all obstacles to the highest level of the mega-structure, where they would search for the legendary control core.
Otherwise, a single failure resulting in the death of the creator’s descendant would mean the complete annihilation of human civilization.
The main army, serving as the feint, consisted of more than eighty thousand people.
From the 2,000th floor to the legendary 10,000th floor and above was a distance of eight thousand floors. Just climbing the stairs would take one or two in-game months.
But at this moment, these people had not a single complaint.
After being trapped in this dark, enclosed environment for so long, everyone had only one thought in their minds: to see the sky, to see blue skies and white clouds, and to feel the breeze under the sun!
This yearning even surpassed their fear of death, driving them to press upward at all costs.
At the very front of the entire force were over a thousand Holy Sanctuary People, driven forward as human shields, along with warriors dressed in the orange-red jackets of the Holy Sanctuary People.
In their hands, they all held crude Electromagnetic Pulse Guns made from old cameras and coils.
They were also the most crucial force for fending off the Construction Machines.
Behind them were several thousand people carrying fuel on their backs, holding Burning Bottles made from the last of their reserves.
In theory, the advance of a Nanomechanical Cluster would be slowed by extreme heat. While it couldn’t destroy them, it could buy time for the others.
As for the rest, every person had a tin whistle.
Theoretically, if everyone blew these tin whistles, it might trigger a resonance within the Nanomechanical Cluster, slowing its movements.
Of course, finding their exact resonant frequency was about as likely as winning the lottery.
Still, having something was better than nothing. It was a small comfort.
Most people didn’t even have a decent weapon, just rusty metal rods or scraps of iron.
However, the surface of everyone’s clothing was covered in the remains of dead Nanomechanical Clusters from the Gray Tide Graveyard.
These Nanomechanical Clusters had all been destroyed by powerful electromagnetic pulses in the past, and now people had fashioned them into a kind of clothing.
According to the legends of the Gray Tide apocalypse, these Nanomechanical Robots never attacked one another. Therefore, a garment made from the "corpses" of Nanomechanical Robots might offer some small protection...
Beyond that, their only remaining weapons were their teeth and nails.
The long death march began. Through the first thousand floors of the structure, all the way to the 3,000th, they encountered no danger. This boosted everyone’s confidence, making them think it would be a smooth journey all the way up.
But starting from the 3,000th floor, Construction Machines began to appear.
At first, there were only one or two at a time. Relying on their crude EMP devices and human-wave tactics, with the Holy Sanctuary People acting as shields, they managed to defeat these Nanomechanical Robots without suffering any casualties.
Then, as they pushed higher, more and more Construction Machines began to appear.
Casualties followed.
If fewer than twenty Construction Machines appeared at once, they could still manage. But once the number exceeded twenty, heavy casualties became likely.
In particular, after some people were bitten or scratched, they would rapidly begin to transform into Construction Machines, becoming the enemy!
Later on, with some players taking the lead, a new rule was established for players and NPCs alike. As soon as someone was scratched or bitten and the assimilation process began, they would immediately ignite the fuel on their backs. They would turn themselves into a human fireball to temporarily trap the Construction Machines, while also preventing their own bodies from becoming raw material for them.
The higher they climbed, the more brutal the fighting became.
Relying on this desperate resolve, the force of over eighty thousand people actually managed to endure.
Players who died would immediately log back in, climb thousands of floors again, and rejoin the group.
One in-game month later, they had actually reached the 8,999th floor, just a stone’s throw from the 9,000th.
According to legend, the 9,000th floor was the "Celestial Prison"—the main stronghold of the Construction Machines.
"Mother Fucker..."
Staring at the pitch-black entrance to the floor above, Nick spat and swore viciously.
He couldn’t even remember how many times he had died in the Gray Tide apocalypse.
Twenty times?
Thirty times?
The pain was utterly real every time: limbs torn apart, organs ripped out, flesh slowly devoured.
The fucking developers were too damn cruel. They didn’t reduce the pain sensitivity at all, just let them be tortured half to death by this mental agony.
But the players didn’t complain much.
After all, this was their choice.
Every person chosen to be here was someone of great perseverance.
And after the initial agony of death, they gradually adapted to the pain, their spirits growing much tougher.
Some players had originally brought with them bad habits from a life of comfort and privilege, but those were now starting to fade away.
The players themselves could feel that this trial was also greatly beneficial for many of their decisions in the real world.
Perhaps this was one of the reasons the Commander was torturing them like this...
Of the more than eighty thousand people, including all the players, only thirty thousand now remained.
Most of the NPCs had been expended.
But over the days of fighting together, the emotions and intelligence displayed by these NPCs often made the players forget they were just NPCs, and genuine bonds had formed.
There were quite a few AI experts among the players, and their shock over the past few days was beyond words.
Any single one of these NPCs could wipe the floor with the most advanced AI programs in the world today.
And in this game, they were nothing but cannon fodder...
The thirty thousand survivors quickly moved up the stairs to the 9,000th floor and entered the level above.
It was a vast, empty platform. The ceiling was high, with pillars as dense as a forest, and the surroundings were so dark they couldn’t see a thing.
Just then, a dense sound of footsteps, like the beating of steel drums, echoed from the darkness ahead. Everyone turned to look and saw hundreds of thousands of Construction Machines, a tide of metal surging toward them.
Each of these Construction Machines looked exactly like a human, but their faces were all expressionless. After appearing, they didn’t rush to attack. Instead, they completely surrounded the thirty thousand people.
It was like a mockery from the created to their creators.
The players’ hearts all sank to rock bottom.
’There are so many Construction Machines on the 9,000th floor!’
The surrounding lights grew even dimmer, and a graceful aria suddenly began to play in the game world.
The song was mournful and plaintive, as if lamenting the fate of human civilization and these warriors.
It was "Path to Heaven."
A sense of tragic heroism welled up in everyone’s hearts, and some instinctively looked toward the northwest.
’I hope they succeed...’
The Legion Commander glared at the surrounding Construction Machines and roared:
"Salvation Army, charge!"
Under the dim lights, the thirty thousand remaining warriors, holding their crude weapons, launched a suicidal charge against the hundreds of thousands of Construction Machines!
The clash of metal, the shrill blast of whistles, the rumble of drums, the explosions of Burning Bottles, the crisp snap of breaking limbs, and the final cries of the dying merged into a torrent of sound that spread throughout the entire mega-structure.
Over ten kilometers away, beside a courtyard on the 9,999th floor, Li Tongchen stopped, frowning.
"Did you... hear something?"
Satoshi listened for a moment, a sorrowful look on his face, and said:
"It’s the sound of battle. This must be the final stand..."
’After the final battle, they will all be annihilated.’
Even though it was just a virtual game, all the sensations and emotions were real.
Their comrades-in-arms had bought their safety with their own sacrifice.
Just over a hundred people remained in this special squad. They had also encountered a small number of Construction Machines along the way, and just as they had thought, the creator’s descendant was able to control the Construction Machines within a very small radius, stopping them from attacking.
After suffering heavy losses, they had finally reached the exit under the cover of the main force.
Through an exit above, they would enter the 10,000th floor and leave the mega-structure!
Without further hesitation, they filed out of the exit.
They were met with sunlight and a gentle breeze, blue skies and white clouds, and beautiful country fields. It was as if everything was the same as the original world, with no changes at all.
They could even see the figures of people working in the fields, carrying water.
Seeing this, many of the players broke into joyful expressions.
’Is this the end of it all?’
’Is this world still running normally?’
But many others wore expressions of doubt, feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
Satoshi plopped down on the grass, but then his brow furrowed. He grabbed a flower and tried to pull it out.
It didn’t budge an inch.
The others noticed the oddity as well.
The ground, the grass, the trees—they were all metallic!
Li Tongchen gave a bitter laugh. Looking at his surroundings, he murmured:
"Commander, does this mean... that this was all a joke? Including our struggle... that humanity can never truly escape the Gray Tide apocalypse...?"
’Even after climbing ten thousand floors, we’re still inside the Gray Tide.’
As for the so-called control core, no one had any idea where to find it.
’Perhaps such a thing never existed in the first place.’
"No... Since the Commander gave us this mission, there must be an end to it. Reaching the 10,000th floor has to be one of the conditions, otherwise none of this would have any meaning..." Satoshi said, his mind racing. Then, after a moment’s thought, he walked up to the so-called "creator’s descendant" NPC and said, "Forgive me."
The next instant, he plunged the metal dagger in his hand through the NPC’s eye socket!
No blood flowed from the NPC’s eye, only a burst of electric arcs!
This wasn’t a human NPC. It was a Construction Machine!
The players present were stunned for a moment as the truth behind it all dawned on them.
’From start to finish, our entire "struggle" was just a game—a game run by some hidden entity behind the Gray Tide apocalypse!’
’And they, the participants in this game, including all the human survivors, were nothing but puppets of that mastermind.’
The next instant, the "creator’s descendant" melted and flowed like mercury. At the same time, the flowers, grass, trees, and soil on the ground all turned the color of the Gray Tide, churning and surging, rapidly converging!
The entire world seemed to transform into an ocean of Gray Tide!
Then, from within the rising mass of the Gray Tide, thousands of Hibernation Pods ascended.
The Hibernation Pods opened one by one, and the players who had just been wiped out and revived stepped out, their faces blank with confusion.
Li Tongchen looked toward the crest of the Gray Tide and said, his voice trembling with a hint of excitement:
"Commander, he’s here."
There, a humanoid figure of a hooded youth was gradually taking shape.
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