“Ye Shu! Ye Shu!!!”
Who is shouting…?
“Blood loss has reached forty percent, respiratory system is rapidly failing…”
“Marshal, his left arm is completely stuck; if we delay any longer… and we don’t have any time to wait…”
“No! We can’t amputate!!! Marshal, wait a bit longer, Ye Shu is…”
“What if we don’t amputate?! Do you want all of us to accompany him in waiting for his death???”
“….”
The noisy voices caused a dull pain in Ye Shu’s brain. Numerous scenes seemed to flash before his eyes, yet it was also like a chaotic flurry of snowflakes. Finally, all the clamor fell into a silence.
Ye Shu barely opened his eyes. In his blood-red field of vision, he saw the face of Marshal Huo Chao.
The man with black hair was wearing a blood-stained military uniform, his voice still calm and composed as if it had never changed. He touched Ye Shu’s head and said, “It’ll be fine, little leaf.”
“…”
No! Don’t!!!
At that time, the severely injured Ye Shu could no longer speak, but he believed the other party could understand his refusal. However, that day, Marshal Huo Chao was still merciless. With a swift motion, he severed Ye Shu’s left arm.
Ye Shu survived but forever lost the opportunity to pursue his dreams. He understood Huo Chao’s actions but couldn’t help but harbor a bit of resentment.
Why not wait a bit longer…
Why not wait for me a bit longer?
Wasn’t my arm injured for your sake?!!!
So, that was their last meeting. Later, Jiang Jinsheng fitted Ye Shu with a mechanical prosthesis. He flaunted it to almost everyone but never went to see Huo Chao. This was probably the biggest regret in Ye Shu’s life.
Why didn’t I go see him?
Why didn’t I go see him at that time?
Among countless human emotions, regret was probably the only thing more painful than anger and hatred. It would trap you in the most painful maze of memories, and you might never find a way out in your entire life.
Later, Ye Shu indeed became like that. He built an underground city on the Winter Day Planet, but for him, this city was just a place to store the Forbidden Abyss. Therefore, except for the Sunrise District, under his deliberate neglect, all other blocks became synonymous with chaos, filth, and even sin.
All because Ye Shu needed such a protective camouflage.
He didn’t have the powerful military strength and army prestige to inherit Huo Chao’s military power, nor did he possess outstanding political abilities like Pei Changyun, who could navigate among major forces, break free from the Church’s shackles, overthrow the Alliance, and ultimately establish a new Empire.
He couldn’t even compare to Jiang Jinsheng.
So, in the end, Ye Shu chose to become a tombkeeper. He established a chaotic, gray, and dark city that had no substantial military force but was involved with the interests of countless aristocrats—a city of shadows.
Because only in such a place could one safely survive between the cracks of the Empire and the Church, safely guarding… the last legacy of that person.
“Ye Shu! Wake up!!!”
Zhou Jiuya’s voice sounded anxious, and after a moment, he gave the command.
“Wan Jiang, administer some tranquilizers to him.”
“Alright.”
Mechanical tendrils extended from above the cockpit, injecting the cold tranquilizer into Ye Shu’s veins through a needle. A few minutes later, he finally struggled free from his chaotic dream.
A location, both unfamiliar and familiar, came into his eyes. Ye Shu was dazed for a moment before realizing that he was now inside Wan Jiang’s cockpit.
Wan Jiang, the first SS-grade mecha successfully developed by Jiang Jinsheng based on the core program of the Forbidden Abyss. At that time, both Ye Shu and Zhou Jiuya competed for the ownership of Wan Jiang. The result, of course, was Zhou Jiuya’s victory. Among the four of them, Huo Chao’s combat power undoubtedly ranked first, followed by Zhou Jiuya.
Therefore, before Huo Chao’s death, Ye Shu had never won against this annoying guy. And, after Huo Chao’s death, Zhou Jiuya never seriously sparred with him again.
Perhaps due to the recent brain attack, Ye Shu didn’t know why but today he kept thinking about those long-buried past events. He felt dizzy over and over again, weak all over his body, unable even to stand.
Seeing Ye Shu finally awake, Zhou Jiuya finally let out a small sigh of relief.
“I’ve called for medical support. You…”
“—Unnecessary!”
Ye Shu flatly refused. He had finally recovered a bit and started to focus on the current battlefield situation.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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This was not the first time they’d faced the Church. Perhaps only the few surviving old soldiers knew that when the First Legion was still under Marshal Huo Chao as the Dawn Legion, both sides had already forged a deep-seated hatred.
The benevolent and self-proclaimed savior, the Illusory God Church, finally revealed its bloody fangs for the first time.
At this moment, the curtain of war was fully raised and countless mechas collided in the continuous firelight of the sky.
Zhou Jiuya didn’t stay on the ground but took off. After all, this entire area was a barren desert, and standing here made Wan Jiang a living target.
There was a brief silence in the cockpit, then the two suddenly spoke without any warning,
“Where is the core of the Forbidden Abyss?!”
“What is your plan with Pei Changyun?!”
Zhou Jiuya and Ye Shu stared at each other for a few seconds, then closed their eyes and quickly explained,
“The situation on Earth is worse than imagined. There is a creature that can control the Zergs… We tentatively speculate that there is a 65% chance it’s the Zerg King.”
The Zergs were a race that transcended human understanding of extraterrestrial life. After a long period of exploration, humanity barely managed to understand their strict internal hierarchy: Zerg King, Chief, General, and ordinary soldiers.
The Zerg they encountered on Earth that day was only a General. A true Chief-level Zerg had a form close to that of a human. In the great war during Earth’s invasion, only Zhou Jiuya and Huo Chao could barely resist at that time.
However, no one had seen the Zerg King; they only knew of its existence.
“Therefore, the restart of the Forbidden Abyss must be prioritized. But, Ye Shu, you know that when Jiang Jinsheng tried to repair the core of Forbidden Abyss, he failed each time and because it couldn’t be repaired, you could take the core away. So now, we can only choose to cooperate with the Church.”
Although Yulia was despicable, she wasn’t entirely wrong. Originally, the Forbidden Abyss was indeed a precious asset of the Church.
Now, only the Church had the ability to repair the Forbidden Abyss core. Before the appearance of the Illusory God Church, technology within the Human Alliance was a major challenge, and most mechas were manually operated. The emergence of the Church brought almost a millennium of scientific and technological advancement to Earth.
This is why the Illusory God Church, with the fastest speed, took control of the political voice within the Alliance and, in a short period, gathered a large number of devout believers.
“What about now?”
Ye Shu wiped the dried blood from his cheek, coldly looking at the distant battlefield.
“Since we’ve chosen to cooperate with them, let them go down and directly take the core. Why bother giving attack orders again?”
“It’s not that simple,”
Zhou Jiuya shook his head. Despite him talking with Ye Shu, it did not affect his control and command of the battle situation at all. At this moment, the Legion Commander was swiftly adjusting the firepower deployment of the army.
Among the several generals under Marshal Huo Chao, Zhou Jiuya’s military talent was undoubtedly the highest, but he was more suitable as a general and a powerful warrior, not as a shrewd politician. This was also the main reason why Pei Changyun spared no effort to win him over.
Zhou Jiuya looked serious and continued,
“We do want the Church to repair the Forbidden Abyss, but the core must be in our hands.”
“…Such a shameless political rhetoric,”
Ye Shu rubbed his temples, mocking with a cold tone,
“Sounds like something Pei Changyun would say.”
Zhou Jiuya turned his head to look at him, saying nothing.
“…”
Tsk, how come I guessed it right again?
At this moment, the Church, entangled by the First Legion’s harassment tactics, finally lost patience. The white aircraft carrier repositioned itself, and its densely stacked side gunports unfolded—
In the next second, tens of thousands of interstellar missiles shot straight down from high altitude, and the thick ground seemed like a thin piece of paper, easily torn to pieces. Following that, the vast surface collapsed abruptly, revealing the huge city protected deep underground.
The entire underground city trembled violently, as if a magnitude 10 earthquake had occurred in this moment. At the onset of war, even the various criminals who usually roamed in the gray areas couldn’t help but reveal fearful and powerless expressions.
This round of missile attacks opened up a new phase of the war. The battlefield quickly shifted from the outer space of the Winter Day Planet to the ground, and then to the rapidly collapsing underground.
“Yulia——！！！”
Yulia piloted a beast-like mecha resembling a bird, swiftly traversing through the collapsed ground fissures and diving straight into the underground city. This time, she was ordered to bring such a massive combat legion but must not engange a war with the Empire. After all, the era of the Church’s uncontested influence during the Alliance period had passed. Only with the Earth fallen, the Alliance in shambles, and the Illusory God Church suffering unprecedented setbacks, could someone like Pei Changyun become the Emperor of the Empire.
Now that the Empire held the upper hand, the Church had to avoid its edge. The first step in breaking the deadlock was to reclaim the Forbidden Abyss.
Yulia squinted her eyes. This time, when restarting the Forbidden Abyss, they must undoubtedly be extremely cautious in selecting personnel. They could not afford another traitor like Huo Chao!
Ye Shu had been paying attention to whether anyone entered the underground and seeing Yulia entering, alarms screamed in his mind.
“Damn it!” He struggled to stand up, but his body seemed drained of strength, making even standing a difficult task. This was the main reason why Ye Shuo did not leave immediately after waking up.
In this state, it was challenging, if not impossible, for him to pilot a mecha and face the enemy. The City Lord clenched his fists, a frustrated expression showing on his face.
“Zhou Jiuya! Stop them! We cannot let them enter the underground city!” Ye Shuo gritted his teeth and finally spoke.
“The core of the Abyss is the artificial sun you saw earlier!” He revealed the information, deciding that it was better for Zhou Jiuya to handle it than the Church.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiuya deeply gazed at him, immediately issuing orders. “At all costs, we must stop the enemy and prevent them from entering the underground city!”
With that, Wan Jiang soared into the depths of the earth.
Despite the First Legion’s desperate resistance, dozens of Holy-colored mechas still managed to enter the underground. However, as the City Lord, Ye Shu’s armed forces in the underground city were not to be underestimated.
The moment they saw the intruder, they immediately intercepted them. Dozens of black mechas connected in the air, unleashing laser beams towards the frontmost Crimson-Gold bird-like mecha.
However, Yulia paid no attention to this low-level electromagnetic web interception. She coldly commanded, “Clear the way!”
Behind her, more than a dozen Holy-colored mechas immediately rushed forward, tearing open a gap for her. Yulia had no time to deal with these minions; her goal was to obtain the Forbidden Abyss’ core as quickly as possible. Otherwise, when Zhou Jiuya catches up…
“Yulia——!” A furious shout echoed, shaking the surroundings. Even before the woman could finish hearing it, a giant sword, accompanied by killing intent, swung down abruptly.
Yulia had no time to dodge and could only flip the mecha body, crossing its wings to resist. However, it was futile, and she was sent flying by the force of the blow.
Boom! The enormous beast-like mecha collapsed several blocks, sliding on the ground for a hundred meters before finally stopping. The attack was excessively powerful, considering that Yulia’s Crimson Bird was an S-level mecha.
The Church’s S-level mechas were different from the Empire’s production. In various aspects, their data was already close to the SS-class mechas. Yet, even so, Yulia had no chance to resist this overwhelming attack.
This unexpected display made Ye Shu glance at Zhou Jiuya with surprise. However, he did not know that, just now, the attack held a hint of personal grudge.
“Zhou Jiuya!” Yulia’s reproach came from a distance, accompanied by the sound of coughing up blood.
“Do you want to ruin the cooperation? Without our Illusory God Church, even if you give the Empire a hundred years, you will never be able to repair the Forbidden Abyss!”
“Oh? Wasn’t it you who initiated the attack, sabotaging the cooperation?” Zhou Jiuya intercepted Yulia’s path to the artificial sun, his face cold. “The Empire’s position has been clear from the start. You are responsible for the repair, but the entire process must be under our control.”
Yulia fell silent at that. Inside Wan Jiang’s cockpit, Ye Shu let out a cold sneer. “Heh, that Dog Pei’s parrot.”
Zhou Jiuya: “…”
It’s okay; this kind of mockery can no longer affect the Legion Commander.
After all, a few decades ago, he could only be pinned to the ground and be beaten by Ye Shu.
This level is already considered very gentle.
Yulia stood up, breathing heavily, and issued a command.
“Crimson Bird, transform.”
The mecha, originally in the form of a bird, transformed and assembled into a humanoid shape. Such avian-shaped mechas were generally more suitable for increasing speed. Now that she was intercepted, the best choice was to revert to a humanoid form for combat.
The previous agreement did state that the repair process must be under the strict surveillance of the Empire. However, the Church could not afford such a disadvantage, so they merely pretended to agree. Now that they had found the core’s location, Yulia was determined to get her hands on it.
However, Zhou Jiuya was too strong. In his youth, he accompanied Huo Chao in establishing the Dawn Legion. After Huo Chao’s death, he assisted the Emperor in forcefully conquering most of the Empire’s territories. In terms of personal combat prowess, few within the Empire could rival him.
But…
Yulia sneered,
——It’s only within the Empire.
“Zhou Jiuya, haven’t you always wanted to know why the Church suddenly ambushed the Dawn Legion years ago?” The woman’s pupils were icy.
“Because Huo Chao betrayed us!” This statement made both Ye Shuo and Zhou Jiuya in the cockpit stiffen.
Ye Shuo knew Huo Chao earlier than Zhou Jiuya, but back then, Huo Chao was already a Major in the Alliance military. No one knew why he had intricate connections with the Church and even possessed the Church’s most precious asset—the only SSS mecha in the universe, the Forbidden Abyss.
“Although our Illusory God Church disdains mentioning that traitor, today I will generously tell you,” Yulia said with a cold smile. “If that guy hadn’t chosen to betray us back then, he would not only be alive and well but might even…”
At this moment, a sudden change occurred!
The hair of Zhou Jiuya’s neck suddenly stood on its end, and he swiftly drew his sword to block.
Clash! The intense collision sound almost ruptured Ye Shuo’s eardrums. However, at this point, there was no time to pay attention. He looked in shock at the gigantic creature resembling a praying mantis in front of him and exclaimed, “Zerg?!”
But the next moment, Zhou Jiuya solemnly denied his judgment, “No, this is a bio-mecha made using the body of a Zerg!”
In terms of size and attack power, it was probably at the level of a General. However, being transformed into a mecha had almost doubled its combat effectiveness with someone commanding it from within!
“Oh?” Laughter echoed from inside the Zerg mecha. “You actually know?”
In the distance, Yulia covered her chest with one hand, bowing respectfully, “Lord Cruzi, he’s in your hands now.”
The latter lazily responded, “Hmm.”
Seeing Yulia’s respectful attitude, Zhou Jiuya immediately guessed the other’s rank within the Church.
—This guy is a Archbishop.
He had heard from Huo Chao about the strict hierarchy within the Divine Sect. The Pope’s status was supreme, followed by three Archbishops, then twelve Bishops, and finally the followers. The followers were then further divided into three groups of nine.
By now, Yulia’s mecha had transformed back into its avian form, swiftly flying towards the artificial sun in the distance.
Zhou Jiuya immediately swung his sword and forced Cruzi back, “Don’t even think about it!”
The next second, three barrels rotated and extended from Wan Jiang’s shoulder. Aimed at Yulia’s silhouette, they were about to launch projectiles. However, before the shells were fired, the sharp front limb of the bio-mecha approached like a scythe.
Crack! The giant sword collided with the front limb, sparking a series of flashes.
“Jiang Jinsheng once went to great lengths to learn the Church’s technology, but now it seems,” the man spoke with a husky and malicious tone, “it’s just superficial.”
With that, Cruzi grinned, and the other front limb approached.
Boom! The defense shield popped up just in time, but the terrifying force still forced Wan Jiang to retreat!
However, the opponent didn’t give Zhou Jiuya any breathing space, almost instantly entangling him.
A combination of a Zerg’s resistance and human combat tactics – this enemy was something Zhou Jiuya had never encountered before. But now, the most important task was not to defeat the opponent but to figure out how to break free from his entanglement and stop Yulia.
Bang, bang, bang!
At this moment, the battle was already beyond the capacity of a naked eye, as it was too fast and intense. The two sides engaged in rapid combat, exchanging blows dozens of times in just a few seconds. Crimson-gold sparks collided, and for a moment, it seemed difficult to determine who was the winner. But in the grand scheme of things, the Empire’s side was losing because Yulia was swiftly approaching the core of the Forbidden Abyss.
Her pupils enlarged with excitement.
The enormous avian creature opened its beak wide, ready to swallow the golden core in a second…
Boom——!!!
Suddenly, a tremendous force descended like thunderstrike from the sky. No one could see what colossal entity had fallen, but all that was known was that the colossal avian mecha couldn’t even let out a scream. The life signs from its cockpit had abruptly disappeared in the earth-shattering roar.
“……….”
The scene fell into complete silence.
Even the forces of the Empire and the Church, who had been fiercely battling just moments ago, stood still.
Swoosh—
The strong winds, carrying a pungent smell of gunpowder, dispersed the dust raised by the recent explosion, revealing a massive and familiar black and silver figure.
The enormous alloy giant squatted on top of the Crimson Bird, its posture incredibly casual, while the latter had now almost twisted into a flattened piece of scrap metal.
Click.
The skeletal mechanical fingers pulled out the heart of the Crimson Bird, and fragments of the cockpit, mixed with blood, slid down between the gaps in its fingers.
For the first time in three hundred years, Zhou Jiuya and Ye Shu’s expressions synchronized to an extreme, almost reaching a state of complete loss of reason.
“…….Forbidden Abyss?”
Or more accurately, describing it by its external appearance, it was still just wreckage.
—But it had come back to life.
Come back to life.
If not for a trace of sanity lingering in his mind, he would almost believe that he had traveled back to the past. In the midst of the Earth’s collapse war, Huo Chao did not die but, as in every major battle before…
He always managed to escape from desperate situations and return to them.
Ye Shu was completely stunned, not even aware of when tears had started rolling down his face.
“No!!!” Cruzi almost let out a horrified roar, “It can’t be…”
Boom—
Huo Xianfeng ignored him, raising his hand and firing a shot that instantly sent Cruzi flying three hundred meters away. With a casual wave of his hand, he remarked, “Yo, is everyone surprised?”
Zhou Jiuya: “……..”
At this moment, he couldn’t find any words. Only heavens knew how much effort he had exerted to hold back Ye Shu and prevent him from immediately running over to embrace the Forbidden Abyss and cry his heart out.
I am interested if his behaviour is the same as his predecessors?
Thank you for the chapter~
I AM SURPRISED. O MY GOSH THE AGONY I’VE FELT EVERY TIME I FINISHED READING A CHAPTER ༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽
Thank you for the chapter! (๑╹◡╹๑)ﾉ♬
Broski let that man go so he can get his heart out with the mecha/j 🙄
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
That was nail-biting and intense – way to go striking back against the Church!! 💪
Thanks for the chapter 💞
Wow! Love it! So exciting!!! Also totally ship ZJ and YS ੭ ᐕ)੭*⁾⁾
Why do i suspect that Huo Xianfeng is either Huo Chao, OR Huo Chao’s son with the former Zerg King/a Zerg chief…?
The politics have started to turn my brain into a mush… I don’t know and really have no idea which side did what anymore. Everyone is suspicious, including Huo Chao 😵 the most innocent one is actually Jiang Ci, I guess… He wasn’t even alive yet 300 years ago after all…
oh heck yeah! the scenes in this chapter are soooo *chef kiss
thanks for the chapter!
It sounds like the Church are not human but humanoid. Have developed superior technology and have a loose alliance with the humans (Emperors people).
there’s a race named ‘Sky Race’ whom the citizens follow religiously, there’s Archbishops and everything, and they have the absolute control over the higher technology, as in humans could produce mechas and warships but all those are insignificant in front of the Sky City’s technology. This is similar with the church here… They both also had similar hierarchy…
the super legendary mecha given by the religious organization. In AWECIGPM, humans were bestowed gigantic mythical mechas ‘Titans’ to protect their cities from the ‘aliens’ (zergs), the Titans were actually living beings but ‘mechanized’ so it could be piloted. But the Titans’ cockpits were actually their restraints and they would go berserk if the cockpit was destroyed, so idk if Forbidden Abyss also had the setting of being a ‘living being’ or something similar, in any case, they’re both given by the religious organizations but the religious organizations themselves appeared to be unable to produce another one (hinting that it actually wasn’t them who made it)
then the MC. AWECIGPM’s MC is also someone with ‘missing memories’, also an overpowered top pilot who actually was an important being for the ‘alien’ race, similar to Huo Xianfeng as the King of the Zergs. The difference was AWECIGPM’S MC woke up as an undercover secret agent clashing against the authorities. BUT BUT BUT, both MCs are somewhat ‘clones’ of an important person, which might or might not be themselves!
And then, this is from AWECIGPM’s plot so let’s just speculate whether the future plot will be similar or not 🤣 in AWECIGPM, the Sky People is an artificial intelligence race, the current ‘humans’ were descendants of the ‘aliens’ who destroyed Earth, and the current ‘aliens’ were ancient Earth humans who had mutated because of the aliens attack, the Titans were the true aliens technology, hence why only chosen people could pilot them (and MC, as the true alien ‘King’, obviously could pilot them with absolute ease), and then MC had to sacrifice himself to get rid of all the bad guys and prevent the true aliens from destroying the current humanity, in short, betraying his alien race…
Sooooo, idk if there’s some similar theories or conspiracies here, like whether Huo Chao was actually a Zerg King (or something similar) but he chose to perish with the Zergs to protect humanity before he was resurrected as Huo Xianfeng… 🤔🤔🤔 Thoughts, anyone?
And by the way, I recommend that novel very much if you like this kinda genre but okay with the lack of romance 🤣 (seriously, the MC is VERY HANDSOME when he pilots his mechas and Titans, like Huo Xianfeng! >////<)