Above The Sky
Chapter 580 - 580 549 City of Death 23

580: Chapter 549: City of Death (2/3) 580: Chapter 549: City of Death (2/3) Memories and thoughts surged out, transmuted into something ineffable.

If it were robust adults, or perhaps children with few memories, they might have endured the process.

But how could an elderly person withstand it?

Aunt Lydia merely mustered her last bit of sanity to stand upright and, with her still sturdy arms, took her unconscious husband from her son’s hands, a balding old man.

There was a vast wound on his head, and he clutched a bloodstained kitchen knife tightly in his hand, obviously having fought alongside his son before escaping.

“What about Lika?”

Cradling her husband, the old lady’s voice trembled as she asked for news of her daughter, only to be met with good news, “Have you forgotten?

Didn’t your brother-in-law say he had a surprise for Lika the day before yesterday?

That lad bought a new carriage in Axle Town, and this morning, he took the family to see Baron Dandelion’s flowers.”

The man’s voice was also filled with relief, “At least they’re safe.

Hurry, let’s find the Guard Squad…”

They ultimately couldn’t make it out.

When another survivor from the apartment building, Miles, a son who had practiced swordsmanship from a young age, carved a bloody path, carrying his unconscious mother out of the blood-drenched, hellish building,

he saw a man’s mangled corpse on a nearby street.

The young man recognized the victim; he was Aunt Lydia’s son, Da’an, a hearty carpenter.

Uncle Da’an used to help people in the building fix small furniture for free and charged very reasonable fees if at all.

Miles had always felt deeply grateful to him, even taking up sword practice because Uncle Da’an had given him a wooden sword when he was a boy.

He had always aspired to Uncle Da’an’s stature, capable of supporting his family and caring for his parents and, due to the lack of fatherly love, he had secretly hoped to have a father like Uncle Da’an.

If not, he wanted to become a good father, a good son, and a good husband like Uncle Da’an.

But now, he lay dead here.

Though several crazed individuals’ bodies lay fallen around him, his carpenter’s knife was ill-suited for battle, with his upper body covered in blurred scars of flesh and blood and bite marks.

Behind him rested two elderly figures, their fate unknown, propped against the wall—they had clearly fought, their bodies marked with wounds, but unknown dizziness and strange stupor ultimately robbed them of their ability to fight and caused them to fall.

“Aunt Lydia?!

And Grandpa Leisen!”

If it weren’t for his mother still on his back, Miles would have dashed over to check on them.

For now, he could only cautiously survey the surroundings, then approached the bodies with a somewhat slow gait.

To his despair and relief, Aunt Lydia among the two elders was still alive.

But she already had a vacant gaze, evidently on the brink of death.

“Miles?

And Ruishe… you’re alive… good… that’s good…”

The elderly woman struggled to cough up a mouthful of blood, then with a trembling hand grasped Miles’s outstretched, comforting hand, “Don’t bother with me, I’m dying… Miles, I’m sorry, but even at this moment, I must ask you to look after Cynthia…”

The old woman shifted her body, revealing a little girl who was biting her own arm, trying to be as silent as possible, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked up.

“Miles…” Aunt Lydia’s voice grew ever fainter, “Miles… protect…”

“Protect your mother… she’s suffered too much, and she hasn’t had the chance to enjoy life… and Cynthia, take care of them…”

“I will, I promise I will…”

The young man with purple hair felt the grip in his palm fading swiftly, and he hadn’t the chance to say anything—whether it be the thanks for all the years of help or the familial affection that he had long harbored, which was now almost like admiration.

He couldn’t express it in time.

In front of him, Aunt Lydia stopped breathing and closed her eyes.

“Damn it, why?!”

Staring dully at this scene, Miles felt an icy chill in his heart, but a surge of hot blood rushed straight to his head.

His worst imaginings of the future didn’t come close to one ten-thousandth of the horrors of today.

Even if the entire Grand Duchy of the West had become a buffer zone for conflict between The Empire and the Fiery Flame Land, it shouldn’t have mattered much to those in the rearmost positions like them.

Although prices had gone up a bit, the most expensive were some sublimation materials; the food of ordinary people hadn’t been much affected.

He had believed that his future would gradually improve, that he would make a name for himself and provide a better life for his mother, repaying the kindness of those who had helped him bit by bit…

This was what he had thought, what he had hoped for.

But hope is the easiest thing to shatter.

“Why?

They were all good people, but why do such good people have to die…

What on earth has happened in the city?!”

The man gripped his sword tightly as he surveyed Azure City.

He could hear the growing chaos of screams and roars, as well as the faint howls coming from the other end of the street — the insane frenzy just now was merely the prelude, the real turmoil was about to start.

At this moment, Miles’s state wasn’t great either.

Seeing Aunt Lydia’s family, to whom he felt deep gratitude and who were like real grandparents to him, die before his eyes, his vision began to blaze with bursts of crimson, his expression growing increasingly fierce and mad.

It was just like those crazed maniacs earlier…

only far more terrifying.

“Grandpa?

Grandma…

Dad…

Wuuu…

Mom…

”

“What…

what happened to me just now?”

At that moment, the crying of the little girl Cynthia pulled Miles out of his aberrant state — he regained consciousness and found the pain and despair that had surged in his heart to be unbelievable…

Although he was indeed heartbroken, he had not reached the point where he wanted to destroy the world.

It felt as if the emotions of someone else were spilling out from nihility and infecting him.

“Someone’s coming!

Cynthia, don’t cry, and if you can’t help it, at least be quiet.

Let’s get out of here first!”

Hearing the noisy footsteps in the streets nearby, the man didn’t have time to care about anything else; carrying his mother on his back and holding the little girl by the hand, he quickly ducked into the usually deserted alleyways.

…

The year of 773 in the Era of Tara, September 18th, late night.

Sertar Empire, Duke Sorin’s Domain, Avak Viscounty.

Azure City.

Azure City was so named because the sky here was an expanse of azure — The Second Generation Viscount Avak had named the city after the endless blue sky he saw when he established it and developed the deep veins in the hills.

After the mines ran dry, the city gradually transformed into a light industrial town populated by small workshops.

Many of the baskets and furniture within Duke Sorin’s Domain were processed and produced here.

It wasn’t wealthy and it didn’t have much fame, but the people’s sense of life stability was high.

This recognition of a peaceful life, however, was used as a shield to deceive the public by important figures.

When the motorcade arrived at the edge of Azure City, Ian, who was keeping an eye on the city through a drone, was already frowning deeply.

“This place…

has completely turned into a city of the dead.”

He whispered to himself, and everyone else watching the drone footage nodded in agreement.

At this moment, under the hazy moonlight, the city was devoid of any lights, streets were filled with corpses and bloodstains, various fragmented belongings, and the wreckage of overturned carriages and dead horses.

The buildings alongside the road had their windows and shutters smashed.

Even most of the street lamps had been vandalized, either bent or knocked down, and the air was filled with a strange white mist, clouding the view, forcing the drone to fly closer to see the state of the streets.

And that wasn’t all.

Ian could even see vague, humanoid figures swaying in the distance on the city’s deeper streets — and those silhouettes, without a doubt, were the ‘Undead’ of Terra World.

To be precise, they were the relatively intact human corpses that were taken over by corrupting fungi, thus forming fungal organisms.

The once peaceful and quiet Azure City had now become a gathering place for the dead.