After seeing the information on her second match opponent, Chu Ran crammed for a day on StarNet.
Night fell, and the residents of Old Street gathered as usual at Aunt Huang's shop to start their nightlife.
"It's really lively out there recently," Aunt Wang said, holding a wine bottle in one hand and meat in the other. "With that huge promotional screen and the seeded players, you'd think they were returning from a campaign."
"Why do you care about that?" the old man said, wiping his mouth. "They'll all be beaten flat when they get to Central Star anyway."
Aunt Wang slammed her wine bottle heavily onto the table. "Those guys in Central Star have taken up so many resources. Back in the day..."
Bang!
A huge explosion echoed through the city.
Aunt Huang swallowed the words she was about to retort and quickly looked out the window, her expression grave. "That cannon fire..."
"Fire! Fire!"
De Jianguo, the Seventh Sub-Star Legion Commander, jumped out of the off-road vehicle barefoot, still in his coat. In the sky not far away, a Space Rift had already expanded to three meters high, and an endless stream of Zerg Beasts crawled out, slamming heavily to the ground. The air was thick with a strong stench of blood.
The sounds of cannon fire, explosions, and the wails and screams of civilians rose higher and higher amidst the rolling black smoke. Tall buildings collapsed one after another, and the promotional light screen showing seeded players fell from the sky, shattering like dying fireworks.
No one expected that in just half a year, the Zerg would successfully invade the Seventh Sub-Star again.
This time, it wasn't the Garbage Dump but the busiest commercial center!
"No, Old De, we can't keep taking losses like this!" Gao Yuan, the second-in-command of the Seventh Sub-Star government, ran over anxiously. "The research institute says the shield won't be re-established for another three hours!"
"Three hours?!" De Jianguo snatched the emergency communicator and cursed, "Charlie An, are you fucking kidding me?! At the rate the Zerg Beasts are multiplying, in less than an hour, the Zerg will invade! Three hours from now, dozens of high-level Zerg could get in! Is the shield you repaired meant to cover the coffin for the Seventh Sub-Star?!"
In the communicator, Charlie An, director of the Seventh Sub-Star Research Institute, looked murderous. "What the hell do you want me to do?! You bunch of idiots let someone destroy the shield's energy tower! What do you want me to do?! Tell me!"
"The Spiritist Association's vice president turned out to be a Zerg spy! You goddamn idiots!!!"
A researcher's anxious voice came from far to near. "Director, Team Seven found an error in the calculation results while rebuilding the tower's data!"
"That's all I can say," Charlie An's voice turned cold. "At least two and a half hours. If you can't hold out, we all die together."
The communicator cut off, and Charlie An's figure disappeared into the air.
"How long can you hold out?" Gao Yuan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "These Zerg Beasts invaded the Seventh Sub-Star from the nearest abandoned satellite via space jump, beyond the maximum range of the antimatter orbital cannon. It'll take at least an hour for the starship to reach the abandoned satellite."
"How long can I hold out?" De Jianguo looked at the advancing battle lines in the distance, his heart aching. He gritted his molars and roared. "You should be asking how many people we can accept dying!"
The commercial center was dense with high-rise buildings and massive crowds. The Zerg Beasts could attack and destroy with impunity, while the military was severely constrained.
To avoid harming civilians hiding in the rubble when bombarding the Zerg Beasts, more soldiers abandoned long-range thermal weapons and chose to fight the Zerg Beasts hand-to-hand with creations. Their kill rate slowed, but the number of Zerg Beasts pouring out of the Space Rift did not decrease. In fact, as the rift widened, more and more Zerg Beasts crawled out at once.
"How much of the evacuation is complete?!" Gao Yuan roared into the communicator.
"Less than fifty percent! There are too many people today, and the Zerg Beasts are appearing too fast!" A government official grabbed a woman about to fall and shoved her into an underground shelter. "They've blocked almost a third of the escape routes!"
De Jianguo forced down his rage. "We can't go on like this. We have to shift the battlefield, or not many will survive today."
"I'll have them filter out the optimal space relocation zones," Gao Yuan said through gritted teeth, watching the bloody and brutal scenes on the monitor. "The Garbage Dump won't work—it's too far, heavy weapons can't be space-transported, and there are high-priority targets there now..."
De Jianguo closed his eyes. He could already see the outcome.
He took a deep breath and picked up the communicator. "How much longer are those high-level Spiritist Association officials going to dawdle?! If they don't get to the front line and kill Zerg Beasts right now, I'll shell the Spiritist Association building!"
"Waiting for the Zerg?! Go fuck yourselves!"
"Tell those fucking idiots that if they don't kill five hundred Zerg Beasts and ten Zerg today, I'll execute them along with that Zerg incubator!!!"
"The vice president is a spy! I have every reason to suspect all of you bastards are spies!!!"
De Jianguo roared, his eyes bloodshot, his fury like a demon god.
Gao Yuan stood beside him, looking at the screening results sent by his subordinates, and spoke with difficulty. "It's... Old Street."
Aunt Huang and the others stood in front of the shop for a long time.
Chu Ran stood beside them, holding the black long staff.
Gunfire lit up the night sky in the distance, and the faint echoes of piercing screams drifted on the wind.
"They're Zerg Beasts," Aunt Wang said, setting down the wine bottle she had been holding. "Soon, they'll be Zerg."
"That's the commercial center, right?" the old man asked, squinting. He hadn't been out in so long he couldn't remember the exact location.
Aunt Huang stared for a moment, then turned back into the house to find her Light Brain. Just as she picked it up, it chimed.
She looked down at the urgent messages and rubbed her eyes.
Outside the window, the light from inside the house illuminated Chu Ran's profile. She had put on a little weight lately and no longer looked so gaunt.
Aunt Huang walked out of the house and said calmly, "Wang Cuihua, drive Chu Ran over to see what's happening."
Aunt Wang didn't understand at first and looked at Aunt Huang in surprise. 'What the...' But then she saw Aunt Huang's expression and suddenly understood. She feigned nonchalance. "Alright, I'll take Xiaoran to broaden her horizons."
Chu Ran wasn't easily fooled. Her gaze shifted between the two. "Why are you suddenly sending me..."
She stopped mid-sentence, looking at the night sky dyed red in the distance.
How long could they hold out at the commercial center?
If they kept fighting at the commercial center, the outcome would be unacceptable to anyone, wouldn't it?
Old Street had many empty buildings, was neither too close nor too far from the commercial center, had few residents, mostly elderly with low Spiritual Power, and more importantly, these elderly could hold the line for a while.
But...
"Why should you be sacrificed?"
"Why should they be sacrificed?!" Chang Han roared, blood staining her hair. "Gao Yuan! Don't you fucking know who lives there?!"
Chu Zhi wiped the blood off his hands, swallowed a Spiritual Power supplement pill, and frowned. "Chang Han, calm down."
"Calm down?! How can I calm down?!" Chang Han's expression was nearly insane. "Chu Zhi, shut the fuck up! If it weren't for Aunt Huang back then, your old man would have ended up on Old Street too!"
"Who lives on Old Street?! They're soldiers who were forced to retire from the battlefield due to Spiritual Power Destruction! Heroes!!"
Chang Han stared intently at De Jianguo. "Commander! Don't you know?! You used to be one of Aunt Huang's subordinates!"
De Jianguo's facial muscles tightened.
"Why? Why?!" Chang He threw his creation longsword to the ground with a loud crash. "They gave everything for the Federation, and the Federation couldn't even restore their Spiritual Power! And now—no, all of us caused this mistake—but we want to squeeze every last drop of blood from them to fix it!"
"Is this fair to them?! You all know that not a single one of them will leave Old Street at a time like this!"
"They are people, not expendable resources in your hands!"
De Jianguo's communicator was forcibly connected. "Commander! Bad news! Suicide bombings are happening everywhere! They must be related to the Zerg!"
Silence fell around them.
De Jianguo's veins bulged, his eyes bloodshot to the point of bursting, his fists clenched so hard a drop of blood fell.
He lowered his head, as if bearing a thousand-pound burden on his shoulders, and spoke in a hoarse, desperate voice, pausing between each word. "Re... lo... cate... Old... Street!"