Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 443 - 82. Waiting for tomorrow

Chapter 443: 82. Waiting for tomorrow

Not long after, Nikita sent a message: he had succeeded, about to reach the upper floors.

[Master of Metal and Gold]

The long sword emitted electromagnetic energy, instantly exposing Li Aozi’s figure. Kalmetz jerked his head up, but in his old age and exhaustion, he couldn’t react in time.

[Sequence 77: Calamity]

Li Aozi grasped the void, and the dilapidated ceiling above Kalmetz suddenly cracked. He hurriedly dodged to avoid being ambushed, crouching to grab a nearby laser pistol.

Whoosh!

Just as his hand was about to touch his beloved gun, the weapon that had accompanied him for years misfired, immediately piercing through Kalmetz’s palm.

"Damn it! Why now of all times—"

Had it been too long since he maintained his weapon, or was it just bad luck?

Initially, his movements were to avoid Li Aozi seizing the opportunity, but due to the unfortunate self-injury, his actions slowed down.

[Gravity Sensation]—Stack

[Spontaneous Combustion]—Stack

[Soul Engraving Swordsman - War Spectre]—Stack

"Trinity."

Li Aozi calmly swung his sword, and the phantom of the Battle Ghost behind him instantly slashed out a blade. The highly concentrated energy immediately engulfed Kalmetz. The surging red sword light combined with the true damage from [Master of Metal and Gold]. A Gamma rank had no chance against this burst of power.

Kalmetz didn’t even have time to counterattack before he was swallowed by flames and fell to the ground. Li Aozi instantly moved, raised a foot, and stomped on his chest, kicking him against the wall.

[Barbaric Trample]

—You can execute a trample on a target with less than 10% health points. If the execution is successful, surrounding targets will suffer a ’shock’ effect (90% sensory and movement speed reduction, ignoring dominator body effect) for 3 seconds;

This execution skill had never had an opportunity to be used by Li Aozi, but now, considering the other party’s conscience, he felt it necessary to swiftly end his suffering.

Kalmetz was executed and evaporated on the spot, leaving a deep, scorched human silhouette on the cracked wall behind him.

——————————

[Settlement Conditions Met]

B. "Spring of Yesterday"—You have successfully assassinated ’Kalmetz Dunhill.’

Reward: [Class Promotion Voucher] *1

[Reward Distributing...]

[You have acquired [Class Promotion Voucher] *1—Ignoring level and promotion task, forcibly promote one level of the Pathway class. But if your main profession level does not meet the promotion standard, you will not receive the class special effect.]

——————————

The Echo Force diffused everywhere, high temperatures continued to spread, triggering the fire alarm. Sprinklers promptly sprayed to cool down. Li Aozi turned and left, jumping and crossing through spacetime ripples, avoiding alerts while directly entering the residential area of the building.

In such high-rise buildings, the spacetime ripples of the [Echoer] had significant advantages. Li Aozi quickly located the residence of the eldest daughter, Flova Dunhill, who was still lying in a crib, hugging a doll, deeply asleep.

Li Aozi released a spherical nanny robot, letting it pick up Flova. Then he retrieved it into a spacetime rift and turned to find Frey Dunhill, who had innate psychic talents.

After a few consecutive jumps, Li Aozi found the nursery. He had preemptively fortified his mental barrier, sneaked past the strict security, and pushed the door open, slowly walking inside.

A cradle was slowly swaying. Peering inside, he found a baby who looked almost no different from a human, the target, Frey Dunhill.

Li Aozi walked up and expertly disarmed the alarm on the cradle, then opened the incubator and gently cradled the pink-skinned baby inside.

Perhaps due to the mental barrier’s protection, the baby neither cried nor fussed, quietly sleeping in Li Aozi’s arms. There was even some intimacy.

"What a situation...,"

He didn’t yet know he was being held by his father’s murderer—maybe he already did, but to his young self, he couldn’t understand what it meant.

Li Aozi picked up a baby toy, placed it beside him, and turned to leave.

There was little guilt in killing Kalmetz.

If Kalmetz didn’t die, Valenkov would fall into civil war, disintegrate, and eventually become Velazquez’s slaves.

If Kalmetz fled, like Gretto said, Valenkov would completely lose trust in the government, falling into an even more chaotic barbaric state. The societal order would completely collapse, leading to extinction.

If Li Aozi didn’t kill him or take away the children, it wouldn’t be long before rebels seized power, first detaining Kalmetz and then executing his family.

As for why it would lead to this, it was too complicated. Various factors contributed, including their ancestors, species issues, the curse of Starry Abyss, historical legacies, and beyond.

Players discussed ways to save Valenkov, such as humanitarian aid or forming a unified armed group to drive out Velazquez, etc.

In the end, players found no solution; the problem was unsolvable.

They even discovered that Valenkov itself wasn’t entirely clean either.

Valenkov’s main occupation was military service. Almost everyone was a soldier, with sixty percent being executioners and butchers, committing numerous war crimes.

The most reliable solution they could think of was to find a [society] to devour Valenkov’s civilization.

This way, the assimilated Valenkov people wouldn’t starve or continue suffering from the loss of freedom—without free will, how could there be a loss?

Besides this, there were no other solutions.

However, Li Aozi felt this idea was too idealistic.

Assimilating civilizations in this geographical location wasn’t pragmatic—this place faced the "Union Group’s" portal, with the "Empire of Heralds" enclave not far off, and behind King Gretto was the partnered civilization of the "Obliteration Sanctum."

If any [society] openly devoured civilization here—that would be great. The newly minted [society] citizens of Valenkov would directly face the combat power of narrative-level civilizations.

No matter how it was discussed, Valenkov would ultimately face war.

It was just a matter of who to fight against and what form it would take.

Among the six endings in the main storyline, there would be no genuinely good outcome. Even the ’Angel’ ending merely saved 300,000 Valenkov people, leading them to flee and escape the country, earning praise and medals from the Interstellar Alliance.

The day before yesterday was spring, but what about tomorrow?

Li Aozi ascended to the top of the building, informing Flana via communicator that she was stealthily piloting the special aircraft into the atmosphere, due to arrive in less than two minutes.

He handed the children and nanny to Nikita, turned back, and looked at this desolate city.

Valenkov had no tomorrow. Even the approaching end of winter no longer existed for them.

They would forever be at the cusp of autumn and winter, surviving under the purple dome, their rifles and lasers echoing a sorrowful melody, endlessly.