Chapter 205 - 204: Return

Chapter 205: Chapter 204: Return

Before Gu Su could even reach the gate of his courtyard, the sky suddenly flashed with pulsing patterns of dark red light. One after another, they were exceptionally harsh against the gray canopy, shattering the morning’s tranquility.

He instinctively stopped and tilted his head up, his gaze following the red light. A massive airship was slowly gliding across the sky. It flew so high that from a distance, it was just a blurry black shadow, with only the flashing red lights on its fuselage standing out.

A massive loudspeaker hung from the airship’s underside. Along with a mechanical, electronic tone, a clear and repetitive announcement pierced the air, echoing over this forgotten defense line.

"Attention, attention!

The beast tide has officially ended. All players stationed at the front lines are to immediately contact their respective garrisons and docking points and begin an orderly withdrawal!

Attention, attention..."

"Finally... it’s over!"

When the broadcast reached his ears, Gu Su froze for a moment. His pupils contracted, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

A moment later, the nerves that had been stretched taut for days on end finally loosened. He let out a long sigh, his shoulders slumping unconsciously as the cold sweat on his palms began to dry.

He had barely relaxed during this entire time, terrified that someone would snatch back the Dragon Blood, or that they would be abandoned. Now, hearing that the beast tide was over, a great weight was finally lifted from his shoulders.

He knew that once this announcement was broadcast, it meant his mission as a stopgap was officially a success.

Such were the rules of the battlefield: as long as you defended your sector and didn’t desert your post, any windfalls and spoils of war acquired in battle were considered the player’s private property.

This was an officially established rule that no one could refute. Nor could anyone accuse him of not pulling his weight anymore.

For that very reason, Gu Su could finally rest easy, a long-absent expression of relief gracing his face.

At the thought, the corners of Gu Su’s mouth couldn’t help but curl upward.

He quickly pulled the Signal Flare Lü You had given him from his coat, aimed it at the sky, and yanked the cord.

FWOOSH—POP!

The Signal Flare streaked into the sky, leaving a thin trail behind it, and burst into a tiny spark amidst the flashing red lights that filled the heavens.

Honestly, the spark was pitifully small, almost invisible against the backdrop of the ubiquitous red light.

But its effect was undeniable.

In the next instant, the Graveyard Demon beneath Gu Su’s feet trembled slightly.

Immediately after, an invisible force enveloped the entire Graveyard Demon, as if something were steadily towing it.

This was the first time Gu Su had witnessed the Graveyard Demon being moved by guidance. A soft, yet immensely powerful, golden light suddenly descended from the sky, shrouding the entire structure.

Faint spatial ripples appeared on the ground as a translucent portal slowly unfolded beneath the Graveyard Demon. The structure sank into the portal, enveloped in golden light, and was pulled through space by an unseen Power.

Light and shadow swirled within the portal, blurring the surrounding scenery. In just a few moments, the spatial fluctuations subsided, and the golden light faded away. When Gu Su looked up again, the scene before him had been completely transformed.

When Gu Su lifted his head again, the scene before him had changed completely.

What was once morning had become evening. The sunset dyed the clouds on the horizon orange-red. A thick layer of black ash covered the ground, and the air was filled with that familiar apocalyptic stench—a mixture of rust and rot.

Doomsday Plain.

He was back.

Only, the number of Mobile Cities docked on the Doomsday Plain was now significantly smaller than before. The simple, small-scale Mobile Castles, especially those cobbled together from RVs, were nowhere to be seen.

Only a few massive, heavily fortified Mobile Cities remained, parked forlornly on the plain.

Gu Su understood why after a moment’s thought.

This beast tide battle was extremely dangerous, far more violent than the previous small-scale assaults.

Those crude RVs and miniature Mobile Castles, with their weak Defense and lack of resources, were lucky to have survived even the first wave of the beast tide’s initial assault by the grunts and Lizardmen.

And that didn’t even account for the powerful monsters like giant lizards that came later. Under such devastating Attacks, few, if any, of the miniature Mobile Cities could have survived.

At this thought, Gu Su couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh, a flicker of sorrow in his eyes.

’Those players came looking for glory, but they ended up getting themselves buried instead.’

’It was their own choice. There was nothing I could do, and it wasn’t my place to judge.’

He brought the Graveyard Demon to a halt and was about to go down to check on things when he suddenly heard the roar of an engine in the distance.

The sound grew from a distant rumble to a roar, exceptionally clear in the empty docking area. Gu Su looked toward the noise and saw a Doomsday-style pickup truck approaching. Thick iron plates were welded to its body, and the windows were sealed tight, leaving only a narrow slit for the driver’s cabin.

The pickup stopped a short distance away. A man stood in the truck bed, waving vigorously in his direction.

The man yelled at the top of his lungs, "Hey, friend in the castle! Can you come out for a chat?"

Hearing this, Gu Su quickly scrambled atop the perimeter wall to look down at the player.

He saw the player standing in the truck bed, clad in a long, gray-black duster, its hem whipping in the wind that swept across the plain.

The duster was made of thick canvas and covered in patches. Some were crudely stitched with twine, while others were simply cinched together with iron wire. Its edges were frayed, revealing a yellowed lining underneath.

The duster hung open, leaving everything underneath clearly visible.

His chest cavity was empty. His ribs were exposed, each one gleaming with the ghastly white luster of bone.

Several ribs had clearly been grafted on later. They were of varying thickness, fixed to the original skeleton with black Metal clamps. Through the gaps in his ribcage, a mechanical spine could be seen slowly actuating. Each vertebra was a precision Metal component, with hydraulic tubes and drive shafts extending along both sides of the spinal column before disappearing into a leather harness at his waist.

His right arm was purely mechanical, composed of black Metal components from the shoulder joint down.

A circular servomotor was mounted where his shoulder blade should be, and a faint electric hum was audible when the arm hung at his side.

His left arm was still flesh and blood, but a row of Metal reinforcing bars was embedded along the outside of his forearm. The skin on the back of his hand had been worn away, exposing the white of his knuckles.

The leather belt at his waist was laden with items: a dagger carved from bone, a mechanical wrench, and a few spare hydraulic tubes.

The belt buckle was a menacing Metal skull. A thin iron chain was clenched in its teeth, draping down to connect with a holster on his outer thigh.

When the wind lifted the hem of his duster, his legs were revealed.

His left leg was a mechanical prosthesis from the knee down; a serial number was engraved on the Metal tibia, and his foot was an arched Metal plate. His right leg was still whole, but coils of iron wire were wrapped around the calf, securing several pieces of Armor.

He just stood there, his duster whipping in the wind, revealing a body woven from bone and machine—half death, half industry.

Seeing Gu Su appear, the man pulled out a parchment scroll and glanced at it before breaking into a wide grin.

"You must be Gu Su, the one Lü You mentioned. He said you’d definitely make it back!"