Xyrin Empire
Chapter 343 - Chapter 343 Chapter 343 The Center of Attention

Chapter 343: Chapter 343: The Center of Attention Chapter 343: Chapter 343: The Center of Attention “Visca loves destruction!”

The loli with cat-like eyes carried a dangerously excited expression on her face as she gazed far into the skyline of the city that appeared somewhat blurry to the human eye, then she gently licked her lips.

At the same moment as the little girl’s words dropped, unrestrained spatial energy began to surge wildly around us. Visca’s body was gradually covered by the crackling sparks of electricity, and after a severe burn of black flames, the little girl’s beautiful dress had transformed into a black cloak adorned with blood-red trimming.

Black cloaks, oh black cloaks, what a regretful existence you are to me!

The transformation inevitably drew everyone’s attention. The survivors gathered together, enjoying the hard-earned moments of peace, all cast their uncertain glances towards the location emitting a terrifying and oppressive aura. There, a small figure completely covered by a black cloak was gradually lifting off the ground, slowly floating mid-air with black lightning crawling over the silhouette, occasionally striking towards the sky and then rippling out transparent, water-like waves near the target point.

“This girl still loses control so easily,” I muttered, massaging my temples and conjuring a pan-energy barrier to protect the hundred-odd refugees behind me, “When it comes to destruction, she goes full Sparta.”

“Though she’s an enthusiastic child,” Sandora said, her tone mixed with the teasing and helplessness of an older sister mentioning her thoughtless younger sibling, “she’s just a bit simple-minded. Even Pandora is stronger than this lass.”

Right now, the ecstatic Visca was completely enveloped by layers of erupting black lightning and flames. Behind her, half of the sky was occupied by the undulating transparent waves, like a watery barrier reaching from earth to heaven, bubbling with ripples. Such a full-power display was something only the Xyrin Apostle, with Pandora series machines, could achieve, and in the Xyrin language, the words for Pandora also mean “one-man group army”–a monstrously apt description indeed!

“TD-Mourner, Spatial Internal Bomb matrix!”

As the words fell, nearly invisible ripples in the air materialized into substance. Metallic spherical gates, each with a radius of several meters, emerged from the waves and started to extend outward, revealing their alloy barrels behind. A blood-hued light flow pulsed on the surface of these barrels, causing the edges of the metallic gates to gradually light up with an ominous red glow. Hundreds of such missile silos blocked out the sky, covering half the sky behind us with this launch array.

Just to destroy a single city, even down to the molecular level, did it really need to be this excessive…

But before I had the chance to complain, Visca had already launched the attack. Amid the piercing shrieks and thunderous roars, hundreds of metallic spheres opened at once, and the odd-shaped missiles carrying powerful Spatial Internal Bombs burst forth from their silos like a swarm of bees, viciously diving towards the distant silhouette of the city.

Amidst the explosive ascent of light, the entire city was completely engulfed by an incandescently huge lightball. The sphere expanded rapidly to twice the size of the city itself, and then, maintaining its form for no more than two seconds, it rapidly disintegrated, vanishing abruptly into the sky.

Along with the city, everything silently disappeared within that collapsing lightball, leaving behind nothing but an enormous crater roughly the size of two city areas.

Truly magnificent, even the very space itself must have been reset–certainly achieving the requirement of destruction at the molecular level…

“Visca, don’t you think that was a bit wasteful?”

When the little girl slowly descended back to the ground, I asked with a troubled face.

The latter’s face was lit with the joy of satisfaction, and before my eyes, the regrettable black cloak transformed back into a beautiful princess dress. The delighted little girl said, “I don’t think so, it’s not often we get a chance like this~~”

This kid, she had truly carried out a wholly unplanned attack, should I actually say she’s really Pandora’s sister?

After the energy-radiating missile silos finally retreated back to their spatial fissures, I dismantled the surrounding Pan-Energy Shield and turned back to call out, “Alright, the pollution source has been eradicated. Now, everyone prepare, and then we’ll head straight to the nearest Human Refuge without rest. According to the detector’s information, it should be less than a four-hour drive from here–we can reach it by this afternoon… Uh, is there a problem…”

It looks like Visca scared those survivors…

I mean, how often do ordinary people get to see a missile salvo launch, much less in such a mystic fashion. After Visca’s barrage performance ended, we had over a hundred petrified statues behind us…

But that was just a minor episode that actually had its benefits. Due to this shock, the previously somewhat unruly refugees immediately became utterly compliant. It seemed they had finally realized what we meant by “coming to solve the problems of this world.”

The closest Human Refuge to us was a small town to the east of the city, nestled at the foot of a mountain. Originally an inconspicuous little town, which was both economically and geographically disadvantaged with no renown, yet post-zombie virus outbreak, it became the only place nearby that hadn’t been attacked, thanks to its natural barriers. To minimize wasteful losses, some of the citizens who evacuated from the city were settled here. Besides the local armed forces, including special police and soldiers who were already stationed here, the town’s size nearly doubled within a few days, due to the influx of a large population. Now, there were tents and makeshift huts for the temporary settlement of refugees everywhere, practically covering every inch of land in the valley.

Since zombies could potentially wander into the wilderness, even the mountain-enclosed refuge had been fortified with multiple defensive lines, manned by fully armed soldiers.

Despite the existence of such checkpoints, they were virtually nonexistent for us. Sandora easily manipulated the sentries to believe that they had already conducted a thorough check on us, and then our magical private vehicle, carrying over a hundred people, rolled comfortably into this temporary refuge town.

Initially, I thought that suddenly adding over a hundred living souls would draw considerable attention from the town’s managers, but once inside, I realized my concerns were unnecessary. The disaster had struck without warning, overwhelming the government’s emergency measures before they could even take effect, leading to a loss of manpower to enforce them. This hastily expanded town was now bursting with refugees, housing not just the initially settled but many who continued to trickle in. A substantial number hadn’t even registered or received relief supplies yet. Facing this rapid population surge, the local police and soldiers stationed here were clearly short-staffed. More critically, the government departments, with zero experience in handling such bizarre disasters, had not yet established a temporary management structure suitable for the situation. The town was in chaos, and it was miraculous that the managers were still maintaining basic social order and finding space for new refugees.

However, this state of affairs wouldn’t last long. A thorough management protocol and access system would likely be established within days. The current disorder was the result of this unprecedented and sudden catastrophe. It was improbable that the Refuge managers would allow their jurisdiction to be destroyed by the chaos, but that was a concern for a few days later. For now, we were relieved to arrive while the Refuge was still disorganized, making it easier to settle the hundred-plus survivors.

Under the subtle influence of Sandora’s Mind Interference, we successfully integrated the hundred-plus people from the vehicle into the crowd of refugees waiting to register and receive aid. In such dire circumstances, even if someone noticed unfamiliar faces, they would hardly have the leisure to be curious.

The Zhao Leisong family was the last to be settled. As the survivors who first came into contact with us, they had voluntarily taken on the role of our assistants, saving us a great deal of trouble. After all, whether it was Sandora, Visca, me, or some deity with their own share of chaos, we weren’t adept at organizing refugees. Having their family mediate among the survivors made our job much easier.

“You can stay here and wait in peace; everything should be sorted out within half a month.”

I promised the Zhao Leisong family thus, not as an empty boast. With just a few more samples to collect, with Bubbles’ processing speed and the zealous scientists’ research capabilities, mass-producing a gene weapon against the zombie virus in a few days was entirely plausible. The only time-consuming part would be distributing this genetic weapon throughout the entire atmosphere and waiting for it to take effect. The half-month timeframe even accounted for maximum contingencies.

“You guys…” The tall man in front of us had a complex expression on his face, then he let out a relieved smile, “Anyway, it must be something I can’t understand. To be honest, I never believed in all that divine babble before, but now… I can only say thank God for sending us a savior.”

I smiled slightly and surreptitiously stuffed Dingdang back into my pocket, “Facing such a disaster, praying to the gods is actually a way out. Some things you can’t fully trust but you also can’t completely disbelieve… Oh, right, if you do become religious later on, don’t forget to tell God what your name is after you’ve finished praying…”

Zhao Leisong’s face suddenly looked astonished.

I didn’t offer further explanation but instead, I bent down and tousled Zhao Xiaoxiao’s hair. She was a strong girl; I had never even seen her cry once. I guess kids who survive that kind of ordeal are all tough like her.

Even Lian Shandora had given this girl high praise.

After a bit of thought, I took out a small Crystal Cross and handed it to Zhao Leisong, “Keep this as a souvenir.”

After once again using Mind Interference to leave the Refuge, we drove into the Wilderness.

“So, what next?” Sandora asked, leisurely squinting her eyes in the gentle autumn breeze, “Ah Jun, what are we going to do these next few days? Wait for Bubbles to finish the research on the Genetic Antibody? That would be so boring.”

“Of course, we can’t just sit around waiting,” I said, settling myself on the hood of the car, looking down as Dingdang joyfully planted Divine Artifact-grade flowers and plants all around the seven trillion area, “After all, it’s their own world. We should let the natives here stretch their muscles, right?”

Visca immediately hopped over to me, “Yeah, I’ll go tie up the leaders of various countries right now…”

Me: “…Don’t learn from your sister!”

By this time, Sandora had already laid out a picnic blanket on the grass and was busily stacking layer upon layer of cake on it, and she looked up at me, “How do you plan to connect with the government here? If it’s just local leaders, they might not be very effective in this kind of situation unless you can get those top-level guys to actively seek us out… Hmm, seems like it wouldn’t be difficult.”

“Of course, it’s not difficult.” I smirked then raised my hand to summon a Loli… Let’s not dwell on the details.

Accompanied by a ripple in space, a little girl who looked exactly like Little Baobao appeared beside us. Unlike the latter, who always had an impish, energetic demeanor, this little girl’s face bore a vacant expression, her eyes unfocused as if looking into the distance. If it weren’t for the fact that she bowed to us as soon as she appeared, you might mistake her for a Doll.

Mass-produced Bubbles, Copy Body Xyrin Host–as the base in Shadow City continued to improve, we now had a stockpile of at least several dozen such pure logic hosts. They usually serve as core computers in various functional buildings of Shadow City. Since the target world was detected as a low-threat, low-magic, and low-energy world, Bubbles, who had been a shut-in for millenia, naturally didn’t want to waste time by coming along. So, she gave me this copy for any unexpected needs, and now it’s really coming in handy.

“I refuse to believe we can set up a nuclear base here and nobody will care!”

Sandora rolled her eyes, “Such a profligate spender…”

Profligate though it may be, even Sandora had to admit that using such a method to get the world’s government agencies to take the initiative to approach them was indeed a good idea.

I patted the knockoff Bubbles on the head and pointed grandly at the vast wilderness in front of us. “Girl, let’s build an Imperial Outpost right here! We don’t need any special features–just make it as large and as menacing as possible. The weirder the atmosphere around it is, the better. Ideally, we should create a permanent lightning cloud layer above the base. I want this base to look like a 25-person dungeon instance at first glance, where even a falling brick reeks of heroism battling a evil dragon!”

The Copy Body was wide-eyed and looked at me, filled with confusion.

Off to the side, Sandora’s rolling eyes spoke volumes. “Are you trying to attract heads of state or are you planning on having all of humanity lay siege to us?”

Me: “…Then just let this girl follow the procedure…”

The work efficiency of the Xyrin Host was astonishing, especially this type of Copy Body that eliminated all unrelated functions, retaining only construction and computing abilities. Speaking of which, if we were only to consider building capabilities, not even the original Bubbles could necessarily outpace the Copy Body. After all, the primary advantage of the Mother Machine was its creative power and evolvability, while the sole purpose of the Copy Body was to work, and the focus of their respective tasks was clear to see.

In almost one night, an embryonic Xyrin Station began to take shape on the wasteland. The knockoff Bubbles finally understood my construction requirements. Although it couldn’t comprehend the need for such a wasteful building plan, the weakly-thinking Copy Body still chose to obey orders. With a pure black Xyrin Nest at its center, the newly established Station was surrounded by menacing, imposing Storm Towers and Guard Towers, with enormous Ghost Energy Coils enveloping the entire base under a nearly saturated ionization cloud. The base’s massive holographic projection on the external barrier continuously played Pandora’s meticulously edited Xyrin recruitment advertisement, where every screw you saw smelled of iron-blooded resolve–naturally, this ad, pungent with seditious and political zeal, was decisively pulled by me after not even two minutes, lest we really invite the Human Alliance over…

Anyway, we truly did build a 25-person dungeon instance…

Sandora commented on this as if it had been a normal outpost, forced to resemble Evil Castle.

This move had a very obvious effect. In just two days, the base’s anti-detection radar detected at least dozens of observations from unidentified sources, some of which were from outer space satellites. Despite the outbreak of the Zombie Virus, it was unlikely that the social structure of the human world would collapse immediately. I reckoned that the global leaders’ attention was already captivated by this mysterious construction that emerged overnight on Earth, and a tense atmosphere gradually permeated human society–well, they were already tense before this.

“Well, first there was the Zombie Virus outbreak, and now it’s the suspected arrival of alien invaders. Truly, humanity’s world is riddled with disasters…”

In the command center, Sandora leaned back comfortably in the large chair, sighing as she watched the intercepted information. The holographic screens beside her were still scrolling with similar intelligence, all of which we captured from the atmosphere. After excluding irrelevant signals, apart from tracking the latest movements of Zombies, they were also discussing the mysterious construction. At the moment, the theory of “alien invasion” was overwhelmingly predominant…

After rolling around in her chair for quite some time, Sandora sprang to her feet. “I think it’s more likely we’ll see the Human Alliance troops rather than the heads of states.”

I responded noncommittally, “In any case, our goal of getting their attention has been achieved. Next, we just need to send a message requesting… uh, requesting an official meeting.”

“An official meeting, huh…” A knowing smile appeared on Sandora’s face, and she cuddled up like a kitten. “I’ve done this kind of thing often… Alright, alright, Ah Jun, I got it. This isn’t an invasion war; I won’t take the opportunity to kill off the world leaders.”

(To be continued. For more details, please visit www.NovelFire.net. More chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)