Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 762 - 634 - : Sky-Cracking Shadow

Chapter 762: 634 Chapter: Sky-Cracking Shadow

After the disaster struck, the original social order became ineffective.

Before this, the supply of most resources relied on the boundless market under the capitalist system, allowing people to adopt an isolated stance in modern cities, without the need to affiliate with or establish small groups.

This aspect reduced the necessity for social interaction and made individuals appear particularly helpless when facing a gigantic society.

Since the onset of the harsh winter, the situation changed dramatically, and citizens tried to rebuild social relationships with their neighbors.

Some exchanged contact information and discussed ways out as a street, apartment, or community unit, while others formed associations based on occupation or identity, such as the Whaling Station Association, Youth Association, Teachers Association, Programmers Group, Survivalist Mutual Aid Society, Street Gangs... all of which were rapidly established within a few months.

They invariably chose to construct and join small communities because only by doing so could they improve their ability to withstand risks, exchanging goods and information when transportation was insufficient and commodities were scarce, compensating for the inadequacies of individual strength.

Located at the edge, the citizens had merely heard of the "Nestor Community" model on the main island and had not emulated it.

Now, Nestor Community on the main island had already become a system in itself, overcoming hardships together, and the residents of Yibei City were hastily following a similar model, with many shortcomings, now realizing the foresight of Nestor Corporation.

But there was still a large number of loners, who lived on virtual games and online entertainment and had never stepped out of their homes. Now, without Internet service, they were bored to death but had nowhere to go or anything to do.

Useless, homeless.

Many simply opened their doors and threw themselves into the heavy snow, and within a minute, they would be forgotten by the whole world.

The Internet service had not been restored, and for now, communication could only rely on radio broadcasts, some of which were years-old stock from electronics stores, many more were hand-cranked by electronics enthusiasts, providing real-time information for the citizens of Yibei City in the snowy wilderness.

"Monster attacks are approaching from the north, east, southeast, and other directions!"

"Do not leave the city! Do not leave the city!"

"A Frost Giant has been spotted on Highway 45!"

"An oversized creature flew across the sky!" Terrible news kept coming in, making people shiver in fear.

They could barely cope with the extreme cold, but monster attacks on the city were another matter.

Hearing these terrifying messages, many citizens, under the protection of working robots, donned their warmest clothes and left their apartments.

The scene in front of them was despairing; streets were piled with snow, covering the traffic signs completely, no vehicles could travel under these conditions, and the citizens’ household shuttle machines couldn’t rise into the harsh blizzards.

The mountains surrounding Yibei City were shrouded in frosty white mist, with gloomy clouds covering the sky.

They looked around with flashlights, only able to see the vague light and shadows in the hands of another group across the street. Beyond that, all sounds vanished in the strong wind, all objects blurred in the blizzard.

In extreme heat, people still want to move, but in extreme cold, they only want to shrink back into the buildings where they took refuge.

Many gathered together just to confirm that they still lived in a human society, keeping all the stoves on for 24 hours, continuously touching the heating pipes, grateful that Nestor’s Great Heat Tower in the center of Yibei City was still working.

Supplies were still scarce, batteries, fuel, firearms, and ammunition... were targets everyone strived to hoard, groups were at each other’s throats, and in dire situations, they could only attack each other to compete for survival resources.

"Wow..."

"So cold..."

"There’s less and less food."

"We got to figure something out..."

"The small apartment next door houses more than 300 people... Their stuff could last us for a long time."

At this moment, a group of young and strong individuals sat indoors, incessantly smoking, snorting stamps, organizing their firearms and knives, preparing to pull a job and modifying their armored prosthetics, reviewing combat archives.

They were originally gang members who had turned to gaming due to the popularity of online games.

Especially the new game "Paraiso" from "Kanako of Xisheng Company" had elevated their grand fantasies to new heights, and many of the underlings had switched to this new game.

But the boss was still into the online game "Eternal Dimension," enthusiastic about making his underlings conquer new territories for him in the game world.

With the network center damaged and communication services offline, the boss left the virtual cabin and pulled out his underlings who were enjoying life in the new game to join him in the real world.

These gang members were in dire straits, even lacking warm clothing, and their only option was to rob.

They pulled out a few old electric flight skateboards—light and portable; if used correctly, they could send them all across to the other side of the window to massacre the tenants inside.

"Let’s make a move."

"It’s been so long, can’t take it anymore."

"We have no other choice..."

Bullets were loaded into chambers.

——Just then, a faint hum, insignificant to the entire city, arose.

The gang leader looked down, and a new stream of information popped up on his phone.

Due to the long disconnection, there were as many as a hundred new push notifications, the mailbox also received numerous new messages, including ones that weren’t dealt with before, all visible at a glance.

"Wow!"

"The new 20.0 version went live!"

"Claim the rewards!"

"Resources exploded!"

"The enemy clans are attacking!"

"Boys, let’s go, go, go, go, go—" the boss shouted, leading everyone back to gaming, and the people dispersed.

Only one gang member was thrown outside, tasked with purchasing nutrient solution specifically for the virtual cabins.

"Pretty good... who the hell had the skills to fix the Internet?" he muttered to himself.

He donned thick clothes, armed himself with a hat, face mask, gloves, and multiple layers of garments, then shouldered a box of ammunition for trade and headed to the frosty snow-covered streets outside.

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He stared, dumbfounded, at everything before him.

Drones rose into the sky en masse; with the restoration of network communication services, the city’s stagnant transportation, logistics, defense, and other modules were coming back to life!

It was as if they were awakening from slumber and suffering—the giant robots took to the streets, old and cumbersome though they were. With centralized coordination, they diligently completed their tasks of clearing snow.

Many shuttles whisked through the air, repeatedly broadcasting the latest shelters, warehouses, and supply channels to the surrounding citizens.

Without robust network data and communication coverage, such efficient coordination would have been impossible, let alone getting those thousands of old robots in storage working properly.

"The internet’s back—"

"It’s finally fixed!"

"That’s great!" The citizens erupted in cheers and joy.

Fixing the network wasn’t difficult; at most, it required remote connectivity with Nestor Headquarters engineers. However, the teams that tried to repair the network center had set out and never returned, indicating extreme danger.

Now, someone had braved the peril and repaired the station. Whoever restored the network communication services deserved their wholehearted praise.

The network’s return gave them an extra chance at survival. They were no longer isolated groups of despair but could immediately access the information they needed through the network and seek assistance from Nestor Corporation.

"It’s finally fixed!"

"The Helis Sea System is up and running!"

"All aeroports are restarting service—we’re going into the city!"

"We finally got a message from inside the city!"

"Get down!"

The troops and transport crews from Nestor Corporation that had been wandering outside could finally approach Yibei City; every crew member was overjoyed.

Without a stable communication link, attempting to find a platform to land would only lead to countless troubles. Ground control had to tally the conditions of various landing sites and arrange the landing order for different crews.

They brought a significant amount of cheap supplies for trade, sufficient to free the most distressed citizens from the predicament of fighting among themselves—provided they could enter the city. Now that usable aeroports were sending out dispatch instructions, even the heaviest transport could find a suitable runway to land.

"Hurry to the city!"

"The monster’s here!"

"Get in on time! Set up defenses! All units be alert!"

The military, meanwhile, were building temporary shelters on the city’s outskirts, preparing to block a massive incursion of Frost Giants.

Pan Ruiyi patrolled the skies; she glanced at the setting sun, fading away. Although the sunlight wasn’t warming in this weather, without it, there was almost no hope, and she didn’t want to be left alone in the cold wind.

"Captain!" Zhang Yunxi, serving as Pan Ruiyi’s second in command, struggled to bring her Iron Wings up to Pan Ruiyi’s altitude.

Below them, about twelve other Battle Witches could only look up at Pan Ruiyi.

"Is that the major threat you were talking about?" Pan Ruiyi pointed into the distance.

"...Yes!" Zhang Yunxi reported loudly.

Their gazes collectively turned northward, where encased in a chilling mist, a colossal flying creature was closing in, on the verge of shredding Yibei City and turning the island into a bastion for birthing icy fiends.

"Fighting above the city will affect the civilians—let’s move!" Pan Ruiyi raised the Star-Chasing Spear and charged towards the target.

"Let’s go!"

"Stop it!"

Four "Military Attendant" class fighter jets cleared a path for the Battle Witches and provided electronic intelligence support. But as soon as the jets encountered the vast frosty mist ahead, they vanished, followed by a rapid descent due to icing on the wings and engine flameouts.

"It’s too fast!"

"What is that thing?" The pilots fought desperately to regain balance and quickly pulled away.

The moment they burst into the freezing mist, not only their machines but also the interiors of their cockpits were instantly chilled to the bone, nearly causing them to lose consciousness.

One of the fighters crashed vertically into the ground, disappearing into the snowy landscape.

"The range is too wide! A radius of at least 10 kilometers of extreme cold anomaly!" Zhang Yunxi swiftly scouted.

"I see it—" Pan Ruiyi frowned, her vision sharper than some electronic devices. Her heart pounded; if her hunch was right, that was the carcass of a dragon with a wingspan of over 60 meters flying their way.

Just the sight of it filled Pan Ruiyi with tension. She reported coordinates, hoping some missiles could penetrate the frost and hit it.

Then, she watched as the three surviving fighters launched surface-to-air missiles towards the target area. The missiles, trailing flames, sped forward but extinguished abruptly in the frigid domain, their engines ceasing to function, turning into harmless metal shells plummeting downwards.

Pan Ruiyi’s grip on the spear went numb. To defeat the formidable foe and protect the city, she plunged into the freezing mist.

Lady Farosa above, grant me some grace! Pan Ruiyi silently prayed, powering her wings and diving into the dragon’s realm of endless frost. The city was in jeopardy, and now only she could secure the victory.

By merely reciting Lady Farosa’s protection, Pan Ruiyi could be invincible. This was the grace granted by Lady Farosa to her leading knight.

The most esteemed Lady Farosa... protect me... save me from the bitter cold. Pan Ruiyi recited silently.

Lady Farosa... grant me your protection...

Please... as long as I can fly there... a bit of grace... a bit of Divine Power... help me through the bone-piercing frost...

Lady Farosa...

She flew forward, feeling an immense weight upon her, as if her armor were filled with an entire mountain. For a long time, she felt as though she wasn’t moving forward.

Then suddenly, her visor fogged up with white mist, ice crystals almost reflecting her own face, rendering her unable to think.

It’s so cold.

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