Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 253 - 074. Vasha Bahamut

Chapter 253: 074. Vasha Bahamut

Dark red lightning, like a network, exchanged hundreds of quintillions of information streams every second, layering intricate thought data repeatedly, gradually collapsing human history into a singularity.

Black hole.

Endless information converged to ultimately form a black hole, storing every piece of information it devoured.

If the essence of all things is information, is the universe merely a diorama?

If the entire universe remains unchanged, then what is death?

If the world is just a game, a few lines of code, some poems, and stories, does life and destruction truly not exist?

The universe had never lived.

’Yawen... Yawen...’

Desca kept calling, waking Yawen from her profound dream instantly. Her body was entangled by parachute cords, frozen stiff by the cold wind of the Outer World. Had she not been a "Spirit Medium" with a strong resistance to cold, she might have frozen to death here.

She struggled to lift her hand, drew her paratrooper knife, cut the cords, and with her gear pack, slowly got up from the ground. Her standard-issue rifle was drenched in ice, snow, and sand. When Yawen noticed them, a layer of mysterious rust immediately appeared on the carbon fiber material of the gun cover.

She pressed the trigger, trying to pull the bolt.

Crack!

The half-length of the rifle barrel broke off crisply, just like a snack, and smashed into the frosty white sand of the Outer World. Along with the howling wind, the remnants were gradually weathered away.

Suddenly, Yawen felt an extremely strong discomfort. She dropped the now-useless standard-issue rifle, kneeled on the ground, and retched, coughing viciously:

"Err—cough cough cough!"

She continuously patted her chest and spat a puddle of dark red fluid on the ground. Yawen couldn’t tell whether it was blood or something else; only seeing shapes that resembled organ tissues among the few residues.

She opened her military canteen, rinsed her mouth, wiped the frosty snow off her eyelashes with the back of her hand, then lifting her portable combat system on her arm, using the reflection on the glass, she saw her originally golden green eyes now scattered with red and black spots.

"...Ersha."

Yawen murmured softly, then immediately fell into silence.

She retrieved her favorite dual guns from the holster under her armpit, but even these weapons, which had been with her for a long time, were completely corroded away by an invisible force. No matter how she pulled the trigger, the weapons could no longer function.

"Yawen? What’s wrong with you—since you were swept into that red and black cloud by the plane’s explosion, I feel like you’ve become strange."

Yawen said nothing, dropped her arms, disregarding Desca’s words, pushed her wide-brimmed hat down, and slowly walked towards the south.

"Hey—ah, you really are hopeless, I guess I’ll just have to go with you."

She was already infected. Next, she must quickly find a professional.

Only then could she avoid turning into a deformed monster and be able to die with her human identity.

Hum——————

The red and black clouds in the sky churned; Yawen looked up as what appeared to be a striking red meteor streaked across the sky.

Then, she lowered her head and continued forward.

The red and black spots spread in her eyes, reflecting the red and black curtain of the sky, never dissipating.

Leoz’s silhouette tore through the red-and-black horizon. This operation had made the Frost Plated People fiercely defensive, but it was the reaction of the Frost Plated Air Force that pleased him the most.

Madeleine differed from David Lyn; she wasn’t a military person but a pure politician, skilled in beguiling voters but a fool when it came to war, utterly lacking credibility among the soldiers.

The people of the Four Nations harbored intense fantasies about authority and leaders, believing that ’someone in such a position must think more than I do.’ However, in reality, as long as the heads of the Four Nations are still human, they too can make human errors.

Sometimes, even more bizarre occurrences arise.

For instance, Leoz had heard an actual event where the leader of Zhengxu decided to revive Zhengxu’s heavy industry because he dreamed one day that the Red Arrow Empire would abandon their trade cooperation with Zhengxu and initiate a free trade zone with Galun currency settlement. The president woke up from the dream, called for a meeting overnight to discuss the probability of this incident. Economists analyzed everything elegantly, assuring the president such a thing would never happen.

However, absurdly, it wasn’t even half a month later when people were astonished to find that the Red Arrow Empire indeed initiated an experimental free trade zone targeting their vassal states because Crown Prince Rudolf felt that Galun’s influence was declining.

No matter how preposterous you think it is, reality is always more bizarre than you can imagine.

"Following this incident, whether the air force or the civilians, I predict that Madeleine’s credibility will further collapse."

This was a good sign because David Lyn, coming from a military background, held great prestige in the armed forces. Although Madeleine considered herself ’invincible’ and completely loyal to the Law of Third Rule—in reality, the Third Rule was only loyal to the nation of Frost Plated.

Personally engaging the Fourth Rule agents in the battlefield, in the view of the Frost Plated soldiers, was a display of the president’s distrust. Along with the sight of their air force brothers being brutally attacked, this dramatic protest was already burgeoning.

If David Lyn were released, Leoz believed that he would quickly garner support from the military, and once in power, David Lyn would earn the loyalty of the entire Agency of Third Rule.

"Let’s take it slow, at least for the next six months, there’s nothing to worry about from the Frost Plated side."

As for whether Madeleine would harbor a grudge, scheming for revenge—Leoz considered for a moment. If Madeleine sought to harm him, then it could only be by leveraging the power of the Third Rule in the Sky Ring, perhaps arranging some assassination or the like.

Then, Leoz would really be amused.

Grante had only brought 50 soldier players to experience the battlefield, but at Sky Ring, there were as many as 2809 professional players, clubs, and large guilds stationed!

Come on, who’s afraid of whom?

Everyone is standing on my side; what do you have to fight me with?

Li Aozi watched with anticipation.

He landed at the outskirts of the Sulut Palace’s air defense bunker. People had no time to repair the nation’s top administrative residence, so he directly descended into Xi Silong’s office. When the interim President looked utterly bewildered, Li Aozi immediately took out two large boxes of Arcane Awakening Elixir and placed them on the desk.

"Mr. Leoz, this is..."

"Arcane Awakening Elixir, it has a chance to awaken Arcane energy," Li Aozi explained, "The army at the front lines and the Fourth Rule’s combat personnel differ too much in quality. Without adding some Arcane Users, we can’t enhance the frontal combat strength."

Xi Silong picked up a brownish-yellow elixir and furrowed his brow.

Even though he was not well-educated about this substance, he knew the potential of Arcane energy was horrifying, but Xi Silong’s expression remained calm. He set the elixir back down and asked in a deep voice,

"These items, they must be worth a fortune... possibly several million Derby, right?"

"It wouldn’t go that far," Li Aozi truthfully said, "The cost might only be about 7000 to 9000 Derby, retail might be a bit expensive, around thirteen thousand or so. Mainly I don’t do any quality control, just make do with these, and later on, just grab some local specialties, grain, wine, and slowly offset the debt, no rush in repaying, whenever you remember."

After all, his enhanced elixirs wouldn’t kill people like the Mingji Humanity’s Ersha Drug Trial—the Mingji’s drugs were like opening blind boxes, using massive amounts of information from Ersha to forcefully fit human genes.

Needless to say, without precise deployment, the chances of awakening Arcane energy are like filling in the blanks, and most cases would only result in deformed patients and monsters, and even death was very normal.

However, Li Aozi’s elixir didn’t have this issue; he used Ersha as a ’Mutation Inducer’. In simple terms, even if there was no Ersha, using nuclear radiation to shatter genes had the same effect.

The main issue was because Li Aozi hadn’t studied pharmacodynamics, the speed at which it took effect was similar to a file service without a subscription; additionally, the quality of the awakened Arcane energy was rather low. Li Aozi had successfully injected three doses, yet none had a chance of awakening Omega Level Arcane energy.

Only Li Aozi’s elixir could truly create "Mutants."

However, a country didn’t actually need too many "Mutants." Since this profession doesn’t benefit much from smelting gold, it mainly relies on personal efforts and the right choices. The uncertainty in training "Mutants" by the state is too high, a loss outweighing the gain. It is more cost-effective to nurture Kings of Academia and "Martial Artists."

But Xi Silong didn’t think so: Now that the Frost Plated Forces had attacked, the people of Grante had realized that modern wars required not just strong firearms and information technology. The individual quality of troops also lagged far behind.

If they could awaken several hundred Arcane Users, they could greatly compensate for the insufficient single combat strength of the people of Grante, and most importantly, enhance the soldiers’ survival rates and morale so they wouldn’t be utterly slaughtered and lose their courage to fight.

How much are these items worth? Regardless of their value, Xi Silong now realized they certainly couldn’t afford to pay. The Duke’s family assets were all in the hands of the Frost Plated, and the national treasury was barren, barely maintaining the normal life of the civilians and the war effort.

A foreigner helping them gain dignity and freedom, during a time of powerful invasion, not only took the initiative to step forward and obliterate the Frost Plated Dowager’s Air Force, sparing civilians from worrying about bombs, but Li Aozi also generously provided Grante people with the ability to step into the supernatural during this time.

What was he after, the Grante wheat and farmland?

Or was it for fame—going so far as to sever ties with his own ancestral country for a small nation?

Xi Silong had also heard that Li Aozi had the fallen airplanes smashed into a valley, helping the local farmers dismantle everything and exchange it for money.

The fallen airplanes which could have been directly exchanged for cash, if kept in good condition, could still have traded with the Frost Plated, but Li Aozi did not hold onto them, giving them all to civilians who suffered from the war.

These actions were seen by the people of Grante, as well as the warriors of Bemudes.

Li Aozi delivering these two large boxes of Arcane Awakening Elixirs to him greatly moved Xi Silong.

"These items, we from Grante will definitely repay them someday," Xi Silong earnestly said, "We will definitely repay them, Mr. Leoz, you are the savior of the Grante people, truly a Bahamut."

[Favorability with the Grante Republic +307]

[Current Favorability: 874 (Respect)]

[You have gained a new title: Vasha Bahamut (Old Grante Language: Hero of the Sky)]

[Title Effect: You enjoy a tax exemption in the Grante region for 100 years. The people of Grante will, without affecting their principles, prioritize joining your organization.]

A 100-year tax exemption was indeed enviable. This essentially meant that Li Aozi could become a real financial magnate in this area.

But Li Aozi wasn’t after that.

He had his hands in his pockets, looking toward the horizon filled with ruins bombarded by the Frost Plated fighter jets.

"The students no longer have a place to study,"

Li Aozi said.

"Can’t help it, now for our country, regardless of men, women, elderly, or disabled, every person from Grante must go to the battlefield. Students, being educated, are primarily the main force," Xi Silong said helplessly.

"I remember Grante doesn’t have many universities." Li Aozi turned and suggested, "After this war, let’s build a university."

Xi Silong nodded, "Of course, we can. How about naming it after you?"

"I’d rather not," Li Aozi paused and said, "Autumn Rui."

"Hmm?"

"Let’s call it, Autumn Rui University."