Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 431 - 388: Dead Dragon

Chapter 431: Chapter 388: Dead Dragon

Yidu City is an important city in Xingping South Road and the capital of the Ancient Silla Li Dynasty.

When they entered the city, they were on a large shuttle machine painted with black and white stripes. Through the window, 102 saw that there were more quasi-military personnel on the streets than there were civilians, donning hardened plastic riot helmets, cradling main battle rifles with impressive firepower, diligent in establishing scan stations and checkpoints to observe and regulate anomalous elements.

The crowd lacked vitality, walking with heads down, a demeaning sight to behold.

took out her phone and found that the network signal was also cut off. She received a text message from "Yidu City Supreme Command," informing everyone in Yidu City that they must obey the law, be wary of criminals infiltrating, and providing a link for outsiders to download software specially designed to connect to the network. 102 was somewhat frightened and chose not to download it.

The streets were extremely clean, and the housing was equally new and towering, generally exceeding 50 stories. Like Anjiu City, to facilitate travel, aerial bridges were constructed between the high-rise buildings. They were wide and sturdy enough to even be used for driving.

However, 102 did not see any private cars, only saw specialized "ferry vehicles," with bodies labeled, documenting their belonging to certain companies, transporting groups of well-dressed company people out of their dormitories to modular office sites.

Complex and large-scale monorails circled Yidu City. 102 liked monorails; she often sat 200 meters above the ground, looking through glass windows at the city bathed in sunlight or torrential rain, enjoying the feeling of rapid movement, swift as the wind and fast as lightning. But Yidu City was different, its monorails had been abandoned for a long time, and she saw no trains in operation.

When 102 asked about it, Song Chaoxun said it was to prevent infiltration and sabotage.

"Since the headquarters were destroyed, we have been in a state of emergency for 5 years now," Song Chaoxun said. "It’s a necessary measure to protect the safety of our citizens."

"But I don’t see any enemies," 102 observed the city’s defense facilities.

The towering laser turrets and anti-fortification cannons were inactive, with hardly any maintenance personnel, like lonely, sleeping metal giants.

"The enemy is everywhere," Song Chaoxun emphasized. "The enemy is in every corner outside, and we must unify our efforts to overcome the tough times. This is the common wish of the Silla people."

The shuttle machine also passed by the famous Modern Entertainment headquarters. From the outside, all that remained was the charred black concrete framework, with rubble and stones puncturing most of the floors, and protruding steel bars from the sectional view were bent, like withered fingers.

The building has not been repaired since it was burnt. It is said that it was penetrated by Moonfire, and there are still Phantom-like Moonfires flickering deep within the structure.

Modern Entertainment Company left it as a warning, to remind people that they too could be burnt to death by "October."

"October is already dead?" Spiritual Fire had to ask again.

As a Jade Automaton crafted by Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing, it needed to collect enough data to make a rational judgment.

"We killed him in the war conflict," Song Chaoxun said with a smile. "Now, we are heading to Litian Tower, the landmark building of Yidu City and our new headquarters. There, I will help you access the footage."

"Thank you," Spiritual Fire politely responded.

As the shuttle machine approached Litian Tower, 102 realized it was the most beautiful commercial structure she had seen, bathing in the morning glow, shimmering all over, like a work of art pointing straight to the sky, with a carefully designed curved facade, like a silver glass bottle covered in gold leaf, standing in the heart of the city’s commercial district.

There were many other tall commercial plazas and office buildings around it, but none could compare to Litian Tower, which, like the stars surrounding the moon, accentuated its lofty status as the pinnacle of the city.

Upon closer inspection, 102 realized there was no entrance at the base of the tower, not even a single window, leaving only a ground-breaking ascending foundation, cast-in-place, pitch black, without even a row of storefronts, supporting Litian Tower itself.

"It’s completely sealed below?" 102 exclaimed in surprise. "How do people and vehicles get in?"

"That’s how it’s designed," Song Chaoxun nodded.

looked back and saw that there were not many private shuttle machines in Yidu City after all, with only two high-speed sports shuttle machines racing in the sky, clearly playing, painted in flashy colors, ejecting pale blue flames, leaving behind dazzling trails that turned the sky into a canvas. She remembered that such shuttle machines were very expensive.

"Aren’t they afraid of the enemy?" 102 pointed at those rapidly advancing shuttle machines in the sky. "I heard the enemy is everywhere, right?"

"Stop asking, stop asking," Song Chaoxun urged repeatedly.

The striped shuttle machine stopped at the entrance to the waist of Litian Tower.

moved forward, took out the certification issued by Lila, and submitted a verification report to a tall security officer, stating that their security team came to Silla purely for business contracting and would not engage in destabilizing activities.

"Remove your helmets," the officer ordered.

"In clause 33, section 5 of the contract..." 101 tried to explain, not wanting to expose her appearance just yet.

"Hurry up!" the officer barked rudely.

shuddered involuntarily every time she heard such an imperious reprimand, which reminded her of the researchers at Black Fire Laboratory who treated the Children of Phantom Light just as harshly.

She looked towards Song Chaoxun, who was feigning ignorance. So 102 hurriedly turned to Spiritual Fire beside her, hoping it would help.

"Please, pretty big sister." 102 pleaded with Spiritual Fire, "Those people are being difficult over there."

This was the first time Spiritual Fire had been addressed so affectionately, which triggered many unnecessary reactions in its cognitive program. Plus, 102’s voice was very cute, enough to break through its decision-making mechanism.

It stepped forward and presented three documents to the officer.

The first was an 80th-level Special Protection Card certified by the Corporate Alliance; the second was a diplomatic communique signed by Lu Sizhou; the third was a full power of attorney from the diplomatic department of Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing.

Even a bullish officer could not afford to clash directly with the special envoy of a giant corporation from Xia District, risking his own livelihood. He just nodded his head, examined the files from Nestor Corporation back and forth twice, pointed out five issues with an air of weary superiority, demanded they be redone within a day, and then allowed them into Litian Tower.

"So annoying," 102 whispered.

"This is an oppressive city," said 101, "I never expected Silla to be like this."

Litian Tower was a multi-functional building with a total of 140 floors, reaching a height of 620 meters. The first 20 floors were an inaccessible foundation, while floors 21 to 50 housed offices and high-level company residences. From floor 51 upwards lay private properties including hotels, hospitals, financial exchanges, art galleries, and various luxury service facilities, most of which were only open to privileged individuals.

saw many fashionably dressed men and women who, in her eyes, seemed like deities, adorned in jewels and fine garments, passing through the glass corridors, laughing and talking loudly, completely ignoring the entire diplomatic corps and the mercenary forces.

They paid no heed to 102, and she didn’t care about them either. Just the lavish decorations here were too much for 102, who feared she might tread too heavily and crack the porcelain-fine floors with sofas, modern paintings, network access points, cushions, bars, pillars, sculptures, and chandeliers everywhere she looked.

"Mr. Li Gaoping, the chairman of Modern Entertainment Group, is the richest man in Silla, with assets totaling 850 billion," Song Chaoxun said as he led them toward the archive room, introducing the state of Silla. "Entrusted by the Corporate Alliance, Modern Entertainment Company has jurisdiction over the entire population of 100 million people in Silla, with main businesses including idols, pop music, film and television, machinery, electronic products, technology, and more."

Li financial conglomerate, 102 thought to herself. Sounds very impressive.

The deeper into the center of Litian Tower they went, the more claustrophobic 102 felt, as if they were too far from the fresh air outside. The colossal building itself was as big as several city blocks.

"How big is this place?" she asked Song Chaoxun.

"350,000 square meters," Song Chaoxun nodded, "Impressive, isn’t it? The largest and highest building in Silla, the pride of the Silla people."

They entered a large archive hall set up like a private cinema, where Song Chaoxun easily pulled up the records, for Modern Entertainment Company treated this matter as a legendary military achievement.

watched the screen intently. The record was dated January 3, 150 years ago, roughly 12 days earlier.

The rebels from Xingping North Road, who called themselves the Righteous Army, launched a full-scale assault on Xingping South Road, intending to unify the perpetually divided Silla in one fell swoop. However, they were met with heavy blows from the military forces of Modern Entertainment. Rockets screamed as they launched and zipped across the sky in a towering onslaught. Magic Power was unleashed, forming Magic Blades that divided the battlefield while numerous Battle Witches struck, their different colors of Magic Power whirling and weaving through the air, emitting ethereal sounds upon collision.

The battle was fierce, with Battle Witches regularly shot down from the sky and many warplanes turning into flaming fireballs. Both sides’ positions, made up of firepower fortresses, had long been fortified in the disputed territory, built to permanent fortification standards and difficult to take down in one go.

saw a white Dragon, which was really cool... very powerful! It had a pair of spiraling white horns and its body covered with hard, impenetrable scales. Flapping its wings, it swooped down from the clouds, set the battlefield ablaze, and destroyed large fortresses.

"It’s a trap," said Song Chaoxun with a smile.

Indeed, as 102 looked closely, she saw that the armies of Modern Entertainment had anticipated its appearance and immediately attacked it with gauss sniper rifles. After a volley of intense gunfire, the Dragon could not withstand the strikes of modern weaponry and, moaning pitifully, crashed to the ground, shaking the earth, clearly badly wounded.

As soon as it was felled, the morale of the Righteous Army plummeted. They scrambled to cover the Dragon’s escape, which looked extremely tragic with a copious amount of blood flowing from its neck. It vomited blood and crawled backward on the ground.

"Is this October?" Spiritual Fire inquired, "The rumors say that October’s true form is a Dragon; is it true?"

"Yes, it is a heartless monster..." Song Chaoxun said, "Two days ago, the rebels announced that October had died after rescue efforts failed, and they are currently holding a funeral. Their cities are flying white flags of mourning, grieving its demise. The Righteous Army is now being overseen by their Think Tank, Anberly."