Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 599 - 218. Never Retreat

Chapter 599: 218. Never Retreat

Plop.

Li Aozi knelt on one knee, his skin cracked, muscles spasming, and red-black streaks spreading along his veins.

"If this keeps up, I’m going to have a gene overload..."

Not being at full Zeta Rank and yet using Zeta Rank’s power, sustaining four consecutive sequences of Arcane Energy—gene breakdown was almost a given.

"Leoz!"

Zaniya quickly ran over, raised her hand to support him, but her hand passed right through Li Aozi.

"...Oh no!"

Zaniya bit her lower lip, her gaze filled with self-reproach:

"If I...If I just had more materials to restore my previous strength..."

"It’s not your fault, Zaniya."

Li Aozi took several deep breaths, his pupils dilating and contracting multiple times. He had to shut down all his Arcane Energy, gritting his teeth, and standing up with difficulty. He took one last glance at the flattened and crushed Watt Torque.

"...Leoz, we should run!"

Zaniya pleaded once more:

"Li Deweidens ran before, you’re also not an Omega Tier powerhouse, you’re not a deity, you’re not a resident of this planet. Let’s go, and we can take revenge later if we have to!"

"No."

Li Aozi’s tone was resolute:

"No one but me can solve this problem right now."

If he left now, everything they had accumulated would go to waste, and the players would be forced back to Azure Star.

Then it would all be for nothing.

Besides that, there were also the refugees taken in at Newbie Village, and Nikita’s family.

They had just started to rebuild their lives; he couldn’t let them continue to suffer.

"I won’t leave, nor should I."

Li Aozi straightened his back, his muscles convulsing violently. Every cell in his body defied his will, cheering, wandering freely, dividing and merging without notice, turning his internal ecosystem into chaos.

[Warning: Gene load approaching overload, recommend ceasing Arcane Energy usage...]

He really lacked the strength to completely eradicate the Zeta Rank senator.

Li Aozi crawled forward shakily, issued a task, and had a few players come to catch him. Shortly, a few Growth-armored Vanguards ran over to escort him away.

After instructing them to blow up the cave entrance, Li Aozi collapsed completely onto a stretcher, and the players carried him to a hidden location.

Upon arrival, the players quickly shed their Implant Gear, lying on the ground like molting lizards, groaning.

"Damn it, there’s too many enemies, we need a break."

Dragon Ground City slumped to the ground, while the [Doctor] swiftly removed the broken pieces from his chest to prevent subsequent infection and death, avoiding wasting a respawn opportunity.

"Even grinding can be exhausting. Your stamina is poor. I make 150 Point Tickets daily on Starry Abyss, about 5000 Point Tickets a month, equivalent to around 5000 Credit Points monthly in real life, or at least 30000 bucks. Despite being only 24, I’ve surpassed most people in Fiery Summer (including you). This is the pride capital Starry Abyss has given me," Ciox proudly claimed. "Learn from me. I can grind five second-tier gacha game events at once. Rounded up, I’ve already hit the pinnacle of life."

"Are you kidding? There are no barren lands, just exhausted farmers!" The Warhammer guy flopped to the ground, disbelieving the grind king, idly looking around, and curiously asked:

"Speaking of snails—where’s Caramel Snail? He’s Li Aozi’s most diehard fan with 450 Favorability. The main quest is in its second phase, yet he’s nowhere to be seen."

"They’re on their way. Without using Implant Gear, it’ll take at least four more hours."

"What mission are they on anyway, especially since they called everyone over?"

As waves of players retreated, setting up temporary respawn points and began organizing, someone soon noticed Li Aozi’s condition.

"Damn, my wife’s head is gone again!"

"Don’t worry, it’s a feature of the [Echoer], the second-tier occupation of the Sovereign Pathway—they headless."

"So cool? Doesn’t that mean they can’t be headshot by snipers?!"

"I have a bold idea..."

"Keep your idea to yourself! This is an all-ages healing game!"

Li Aozi trembled all over, red-black streaks spreading wildly across his skin. When others brought him water and food, he wordlessly summoned his main head, devoured everything in one go, chugged a bucket of beer, then retracted his main head, and said tiredly:

"I need rest. Be careful."

The players looked at each other, and Dragon Ground City asked tentatively:

"For how long?"

"At least three hours." Li Aozi glanced at his panel. "My Arcane Energy is too powerful, but my body can’t keep up... The load of sequential Arcane Energy on my genes, or rather, as Mandate, the impact on the soul and existence is too strong. Probably won’t be resolved until Omega Tier."

Having four sequential Arcane Energies at Layer Abyss stage was indeed a bit too much, whether for players or NPCs.

Three hours...

"That shouldn’t be a problem."

Dragon Ground City consulted with other players setting up the defenses and got a tool from an Azure Star [Spirit Medium], which allowed them to deploy many spirit units for scouting around.

As soon as the Mechanical World Society found out, they could quickly relocate.

"We can probably...hold for over an hour, right?"

This answer was overly optimistic. Without Li Aozi drawing fire, these Delta Rank Growth-armored Vanguards would quickly get sniped.

Li Aozi knew this too. He looked at the task members’ names and felt a sinking feeling.

Caramel Snail, Night Fighting Sword, Cumin Powder, Yutianxiao, Garidon—none had arrived at Ostro Mountain.

Relying on twenty people to hold out for an hour or three hours was indeed very optimistic.

But Li Aozi really had no choice.

The current situation didn’t allow him to summon reinforcements. The big shots of Baizhu Star had no clue about [Mechanical World Society]’s invasion. Even though he held on multiple times and released Gravity Wave Echoes—the messages were ignored.

[If Canyue is backed by Night Butterfly Federation, then among the Night Butterfly Man, there must be Kappa Rank powerhouses. Only then could they block my Echo.]

To win the war, colluding with [Society] was rare, but as long as they weren’t caught, they could say whatever.

"Now, it’s up to you."

Li Aozi’s voice was hoarse, and he logged his Implant Gear offline instantly to allow his highest efficient self-repair for a quicker recovery.

Just as Li Aozi went offline, the sky suddenly split open with a shocking rift.

"Look at the sky! What is that?!"

Gears interlocking, a large mechanical circular gate emerged slowly from the rift, slowly but surely nearing descent, likely not taking much longer.

Players looked up bewildered, witnessing the strange spectacle, and their systems suddenly showed messages:

[Mechanical World Society Mashigang—about to descend upon this planet.]

[Special Notice: If a player character dies from [Society]’s devouring, the current character will be deleted with all occupations, levels, skills, and items reset.]

["Miserable carbon units, come sing praises to the soul of steel!"—Mashigang.]

[You heard Mashigang’s whispers—perform a [Worldview] check, if the result is Idealism, permanently lose 20% of current maximum Will attribute.]

["Your civilization uses you as labor and livestock—join [Society]! I will bring you true liberation! You will become noble Society Citizens, with no need to struggle or worry about your achievements being usurped!"]

["Come, children, it’s time to forsake darkness for light! The moment has come to choose whom you serve!"]

All players felt their hearts clench, a dull feeling of blood rushing to their heads.

"Cough cough..."

A player felt a surge of emotion, his eyes glowing purple, instinctively murmuring:

"Mashigang, how is this bloated maggot still alive..."

"Hey, A Lei, you alright?"

The player next to him patted his shoulder, then got a glare:

"Mortal, I am not—uh, I was just momentarily distracted, sorry about that."

The oppressive feeling in their hearts lasted for a good while before subsiding, thanks to no [Spirit Medium] among the Baizhu Star players, avoiding any Idealist Worldview tendencies.

"So this is [Mechanical World Society]... I didn’t know [Society] was such a terrifying enemy! Just a few words and we’re forced to do checks."

"If we die from [Society]’s devouring or corruption, becoming Citizens—our character levels reset, items lost forever. Damn, the developers are insane!"

"This is scripted death! The officials can’t stand us wreaking havoc on an alien planet, so they’re using the plot to punish us!"

"Screw the KP—cough, I mean the devs! Qiqiao Network, I’m going to kill you!"

The players immediately erupted into complaints.

As professional players, they weren’t like regular gamers; their accounts were managed by guilds or clubs, with many character specialties and skills meticulously grinded, not easy to replicate.

If the characters got wiped, the cost would fall on each individual.

"Should we log out now?"

"No use. Our respawn point is set on Baizhu Star. No time at all to transfer, if it’s devoured, we’d respawn inside [Mechanical World Society] and be doomed anyway."

"Really no choice?"

"In our situation, even leaving Baizhu Star wouldn’t help. In the cosmic scale, we’re as fragile as ants at Alpha Stage, reliant on Li Aozi’s protection to make it this far."

"No room left for maneuver..."

The twenty players discussed, and Dragon Ground City summarized, ultimately making a tough decision:

"We have no choice. Logging out means death, fighting holds a slim chance with Li Aozi’s revival."

He looked at everyone, his voice solemn:

"Start the stream."

"This is Fiery Summer District, no, the entire Starry Abyss game’s first encounter with [Society] enemies, undoubtedly designed to counter us players."

"Though we might lose everything in this battle, if we’re going down anyway, let’s leave something for future players to avenge us with higher levels."

"Frankly, at Alpha Stage, we’re like Goblins or giant rats in the universe’s ecological hierarchy."

"So..."

Maybe it was the [Board Game Society] president in him; his occupational disease kicked in, and he rallied, slipping into character:

"Let these damn [Society] monsters see the spirit of us from Azure Star!"

"Even if we’re just a bunch of alpha-stage cosmic mice, facing Mashigang’s fangs, we’ll bite back, taking a chunk of its flesh!"

"For the vast Starry Abyss, we fight to the death!"