Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 476 - 424: Volcanic Energy

Chapter 476: Chapter 424: Volcanic Energy

The crisis with the Crystal People seemed already so distant. Pan Ruiyi slept by the poolside and had a dream composed of thick, coagulated blood. The flesh and blood mess in Zero Hub had left a psychological shadow on Pan Ruiyi—not that she feared the writhing tentacles, but rather, it brought back a memory from when she was ten years old.

She vividly remembered the scene from that day, sixteen years ago, when she threw a shot put fifteen meters in the military camp while Instructor Wang Qi’an measured the distance. As the shot put flew far, a military shuttle approached, casting a huge shadow over the entire camp. The area was under martial law—apparently, they had found a Battle Witch "with severe problems in her thoughts."

Medic drones and military police burst into the barracks, and after a while, young Pan Ruiyi saw them take an entire, intact human brain out of the barracks.

"What does the company want with the brain?" young Pan Ruiyi asked.

"To extract the consciousness and create a personality matrix," Instructor Wang Qi’an told young Pan Ruiyi. "Without personality and emotions, put into machines, and continue to serve."

"Oh." Young Pan Ruiyi pretended to understand.

"Loyalty is your first principle," Wang Qi’an said icily. "The force needs us to be utterly faithful. Every soldier in Kyushu High Pavilion is clear on this. When our Iron Wings appear in the sky, we’re bound to win the battle, and the company’s properties will be protected."

"We live just to protect the company’s property?"

"Don’t ask questions."

The young Pan Ruiyi, troubled, hugged her arms, afraid that her brain might be dug out as well.

Nine-year-old Qing Yao walked past Pan Ruiyi and threw another shot put thirteen meters.

"You two will become the backbone of the new generation of Battle Witches," Wang Qi’an ordered Qing Yao to practice combat with Pan Ruiyi. Qing Yao made Pan Ruiyi’s punches very slow, but even Pan Ruiyi’s slowest punch hit Qing Yao on the face, which Qing Yao found incredible. However, Pan Ruiyi was distracted all day; she couldn’t forget the vivid brain that had been extracted, placed in a transparent jar, immersed in solution, still moving.

Even to this day, Pan Ruiyi felt uneasy. Indeed, since then, she had changed from a fearless Little Witch into a coward skilled at pretense, fearing that mysterious power that could change a person’s fate with a single command, a force more worthy of manipulating reality than any magic power.

She slept all day, then asked Xu Yang to take her out for a drive. As a meritorious hero who had quelled the Crystal People’s upheaval, she felt that she deserved some enjoyment, to sweep away her unhappiness.

"You’re powerful and strong now; everyone is praising you," Xu Yang turned on the smart screen aboard the Purple Wind, where the news was broadcasting the resolution of the Crystal People incident.

After removing all sensitive footage, Nestor Corporation provided the media with some exciting clips of fighting the Crystal People and flesh monsters for publicity.

The ratings were high; people were extremely curious about the strange events occurring beneath them, never having imagined such terrifying beings lived just a kilometer under their chairs.

Correspondingly, the media was also interviewing opinions from various circles.

"Witches who fight monsters are so cool," a passerby said. "It would be nice if there were themed merchandise for sale."

"If those Crystal People had caused trouble for another week, Shangjing’s economic development would have seen an unprecedented downturn," a financial analyst pointed out. "This would have been a huge misfortune for the entire city. Of course, since we’ve now excluded unemployment rates from the statistical scope, we all know that won’t affect anything."

"Nestor Corporation is growing strongly on all fronts," a strategy analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, explained. "Its financial reports are unimpressive, but its military force is making a leap forward, relying on its strong Battle Witches and military Synthetic Humans, triggering a new round of arms race in the Northern Archipelago. We can only hope that Mrs. Lila Nestor is a defender-style security contractor aiming to build a second Intercontinental United Special Service Company, not a second Black Fire Innovation and war profiteer."

"The development of every renowned enterprise benefits from its deep ties and alliances with capital," the New Xisheng Think Tank released a public report. "Intercontinental capital’s large-scale procurement and acquisition activities have built all the mega-corporations to date, but Nestor Corporation’s related investments are extremely limited. This is a dangerous sign; our side earnestly invites Nestor Corporation to join this vibrant economic market, lest it goes against the world’s major trends."

"According to public information, Nestor Corporation’s Battle Witches ’Prajna,’ ’Snow Maiden,’ ’Ox Demon,’ and ’Ghost Face’ all participated in this cleansing operation," a female reporter named Setsuki from Jiaodu Media happily reported to the public, conveying first-hand information, "Now let’s take a look at Nestor Corporation’s official promotional video!"

The scene shifted, and powerful heavy metal music started playing, showing Battle Witch 102 dressed for battle, holding a Short Spear and charging towards a horde of robots appearing on the horizon at sunset. She effortlessly swept the battlefield; robots were beaten and scattered in disarray, with impeccable scene transitions, checkpoints, and sound effects.

"When was this filmed?" Pan Ruiyi, wearing a pitch-black bikini, reclined on the leather seats of the shuttle machine, sporting white stiletto boots, a fisherman’s hat, and purple sunglasses, accessories beautifully fitted on her tall and unique Witch’s physique.

"Long ago," said Xu Yang.

"This is so stupid, they have no idea what kind of witches we are."

"They don’t need to know," Xu Yang shrugged his shoulders, "after all, we won’t let them down."

"She can’t even use the Iron Wings," Pan Ruiyi turned over, pressing the chair until it creaked.

"It used to be easy to get them, but now supplies have been cut off," Xu Yang turned his head, "after all, there’s a war..."

He saw Pan Ruiyi’s strong and beautiful body, a sight so perfect.

"You corporate fool," Pan Ruiyi licked her lips, "what are you waiting for? Come, take off my boots."

Xu Yang did as she asked, and then they further felt each other, capturing once more that soul-melting experience, tender affection, and unrestrained joy.

What could be more comfortable than this? Body weight, sweat, smell, and stickiness were secondary, Xu Yang could accept that.

The wild beast needed a long time to accumulate the strength needed for hunting, and the same went for Pan Ruiyi; after crazy and intense battles, she would instinctively seek an endless vacation, a day’s bloody combat required a year’s long sleep to replenish, thus maintaining the mechanical condition of her entire body. Skillful warriors needed more time to rest than others, but the company didn’t need skillful warriors, they required plug-and-play hardware, only Nestor Corporation could tolerate her.

She gave out the volcanic energy in her body, in exchange for seeds sown into her soil; Pan Ruiyi’s tense body could finally relax in that moment.

Hazily, Pan Ruiyi thought of Qing Yao still in the company, that day in Silla, when she beat up 102, 101 and Wei Shiyue with her bare hands, leaving them unable to raise their heads. If they fought again, could Pan Ruiyi still beat Qing Yao like she did when she was younger?

Humans calculated that witches were a species that reincarnated time and again, perhaps this also explained why witches’ thoughts were steeped in memories. Pan Ruiyi thought of the many warriors she had seen, Xu Yang included; his martial arts were reflected in the skill of "do," and she was content with that.

Several hours passed, and neither of them had the strength anymore.

The shuttle machine was set to automatic cruise mode, aimlessly circling in the high skies, through the glass windows the sound of the wind could still be heard whistling, the earth looked like a vast miniature sandbox, filled with exquisite buildings neatly arranged along the coastline, as if finely stitched with needle and thread. The distant sea looked greasy as paint, while the other end of the city’s Garbage Hill resembled a swelling snow ridge.

Pan Ruiyi slept soundly, and Xu Yang also felt exhausted, as if he had used up two or three days’ worth of seeds.

He slept slumped in the seat while Digital Mind played soft music inside his skull.

Faint, rhythmic explosions came from the extreme distance; Xu Yang rose to look into the distance, on the edge of the visible horizon, a series of stealth drones were being shot down, seemingly with space weapons, pale blue lasers hung down from the sky.

The war had erupted.

Xu Yang had Purple Wind reduce altitude. As he expected, ten minutes later, all media began to announce the official outbreak of the great war in the Eastern Hemisphere; after building up momentum for half a year, Black Fire Innovation launched its main attack.

There is a vast ocean between Taiya Archipelago and Xia, with the islands in between becoming a point of contention.

Black Fire Innovation, Kyushu High Pavilion, and Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing, three giant conglomerates, committed at least eight space motherships, sparking the largest scale warship conflict in history, with more than six million military personnel involved.

Xu Yang silently combed through intelligence about the war; news spread rapidly on both the public net and deep anonymous networks, with professionals recording the progress and displaying to people the largest corporate war of this generation.

Black Fire Innovation’s Roberto had collided with Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing’s Tianxuan in a roundabout battle. Both motherships exchanged fire for twenty minutes, severely damaged, and both withdrew from the war.

The encounter between the two ships exposed the main force locations of both sides. After calculations and reconnaissance, the large fleet clusters closed in on each other, both eager to take the initiative to strike. Within thirty minutes, both sides lost at least nine air squadrons in bloody combat—a total of over two hundred of the latest fighters were shot down, a horrific number that most predictions failed to anticipate, signifying a hundred billion worth of war machines turned to scrap in the flames.