074. Vasha Bahamut

  Red and bck lightning iwined like a work, exging hundreds of quadrillions of streams of information per sed. The plex itive data overpped and pressed, gradually colpsing human history into a singurity.

  Bck hole.

  The vergence of endless information ultimately forms a bck hole, st all the information it has ed.

  If the essence of everything is information, then is the universe merely a garden in a box?

  If the entire universe remains unging, then what is death?

  If the world is just a game, a few lines of code, a few lines of poetry and stories, does life aru even truly exist?

  The universe has never lived.

  "Yavanna... Yavanna..."

  Daisy called out tinuously, pulling Yavanna's thoughts from deep within a heavy dream. Her body was entangled in parachute cords, frozen stiff from the external cold winds. If she weren't a 【Medium】, with her stroao cold, she would have already frozen to death here.

  She struggled to lift her hand, drew out her paratrooper knife, and cut the cords. Slowly, she crawled up from the ground with her supply pack. Her standard rifle had been soaked through with id sand, and when Yavanna noticed it, a strange yer of rust immediately appeared on the carbon fiber gun case.

  She pulled the trigger and attempted to rack the bolt.

  Crack!

  Half of the barrel snapped off ly, like a brittle pastry, and fell into the frost-covered white sand, gradually weathering away in the howling wind.

  Yavanna suddenly felt an intense wave of disfort. She discarded the broken standard rifle, dropped to her knees, and her lungs ed with a rotten, rusty stench. She dry-heaved and coughed violently:

  "Ugh—cough, cough, cough!"

  She repeatedly patted her chest, spitting out a mouthful of red-bck liquid. Yavanna couldn't tell if it was blood or something else. Among the debris, she could see what seemed to be an tissue.

  She opened her military teen, rinsed her mouth, and wiped the frost off her eyeshes with the back of her hand. Lifting her arm, she used the refle of her tactical system to see that her once green eyes were now mottled with red-bck blotches.

  "Camity..."

  Yavanna murmured softly, then immediately fell silent.

  She pulled out her ary dual pistols from her underarm holster, but the two ons that had apanied her for so long had been pletely corroded and disied by some invisible foro matter how many times she pulled the trigger, the ons would no longer fun.

  "Yavanna? What’s wrong with you—since you got caught in that red and bck cloud after the pne explosion, you’ve been ag strange."

  Yavanna said nothing. She lowered her arms, ignored Daisy’s ent, pressed her peaked cap down tightly, and slowly walked south.

  "Hey—ugh, you're impossible. I guess I'll just have to walk with you."

  She had already been ied. , she o find a professional as soon as possible.

  Only then would she avoid being a deformed monster and be able to die as a human.

  Buzz——————

  The red and bck clouds above ed, and Yavanna raised her head, where it seemed a spicuous red meteor streaked through the sky.

  Then, she lowered her head again and tinued walking.

  The red-bck blotches spread across her eyes, refleg the red and bck sky, never fading.

  Li Aozi’s figure cut through the red and bck skylihis operation severely disrupted the Frost-Pted forces, but it was the rea of the Frost-Pted Air Force that pleased him most.

  Mai Dewei was different from David Lin. She wasn't a soldier; she urely a politi. Her skill y in deceiving voters, but in war, she was an idiot, with no respect among the military.

  The people of the Four Kingdoms had a strong obsession with authority and leaders, believing that 'someo that level must know more than I do.’ However, as long as the leaders of the Four Kingdoms remained human, they would make the same mistakes humans do.

  Sometimes, things would even bee dht absurd.

  For instance, Li Aozi had heard a true story: The leader of Zhengxu once decided to restore heavy industry because he dreamt that the Red Arrow Empire would abandon its trade cooperation with Zhengxu and create a free trade zone using the Garon currency. The president woke up in shod immediately vened a meeting in the middle of the night to discuss the possibility. Eists gave a detailed analysis and assured the president that such a thing would never happen.

  The result was absurd: withihan half a month, people were shocked to discover that the Red Arrow Empire had indeed created a free trade experimental zone for its vassal states. The reason? Prince Rudolf felt that Garon's influence was waning.

  No matter how absurd you think it is, reality is always more absurd.

  "After this i, both the Air Ford civilians are likely to lose even more faith in Mai Dewei."

  This was a good sign because David Lin, being from the military, had signifit prestige within the armed forces. Although Mai Dewei believed that the so-called 'invincible' Law III was absolutely loyal to her—iy, Law III was only loyal to the Frost-Pted Republic.

  Deploying agents from Law IV onto the battlefield was seen by the military as a sign that the president didn't trust them. Watg their Air Forrades get obliterated, the military was already on the verge of rebellion.

  If David Lin were released from prison, Li Aozi believed that he would quickly gain the support of the military. And on power, David Lin would gain the loyalty of the entire Law III agency.

  "Take it slow. At least for the six months, we won't o worry about Frost-Pted matters."

  As for whether Mai Dewei would gnash her teeth in hatred and seek revenge—Li Aozi thought for a moment. If she wao take a against him, she’d likely rely on Law III's influen Tianhuan for some assassination attempt.

  That would amuse Li Aozi.

  Only 50 military pyers had e from the Granter side to experiehe battlefield, but from Tianhuan, there were as many as 2,809 professional pyers, clubs, and rge guilds stationed!

  Bring it on, who's afraid?

  Everyone's on my side, so what are you going to fight me with?

  Li Aozi looked forward to it.

  He desded into the outer air-raid shelter of Sulut Pace. People hadn't had time to repair the try's highest administrative office. He directly nded in Xislong’s office, who, looking bewildered, saw Li Aozi pce twe crates of Omega Energy awakening potions on his desk.

  "Mr. Li Aozi, this is..."

  "Omega Energy awakening potions. They have a ce to awaken Omega Energy." Li Aozi expined, "The front-liroops are too outmatched by Law IV's bat personnel. Without increasing the number of Omega Energy users, it's impossible to boost our frontline bat power."

  Xislong picked up one of the brown-yellow potions and frowned.

  Even with limited knowledge of such things, he knew how terrifying the potential of Omega Energy was. But Xislong remained calm, putting dowion and asking in a steady voice:

  "These things... they must be worth millions of Derbis, right?"

  "Not that much," Li Aozi replied holy. "The produ cost is around 7,000 to 9,000 Derbis. The retail price might be a bit steep, about 13,000. Besides, I don't really enforce quality trol, so make do with what you have. Later, you pay me ba special goods, food, or wine—no rush. Whenever you feel like it, pay me back then."

  After all, his modified potions wouldn't kill people like the Abyss Humanitarian's Camity experimental potions did—they were like opening blind boxes, using the vast information within Camity to forcibly fuse with human genes.

  Naturally, without precise targeting, the ce of awakening Omega Energy was akin to filling in the bnks. Most of the time, it would only produce deformed patients and monsters, or eveo death, which was normal.

  But Li Aozi’s potions didn’t have this problem. He used Camity as a 'mutation inducer.' Simply put, without Camity, using nuclear radiation to shatter genes would have a simir effect.

  The main drawback was that Li Aozi hadn’t studied 'pharmaetics,' so the activation speed was like a slow file download without premium membership. Also, the quality of awakened Omega Energy was retively low. Even after iing three successful doses, there was no ce of reag Omega-level power.

  Only Li Aozi’s potions could create true 【Mutants】.

  However, a try didn’t actually oo many 【Mutants】. The profession wasn’t ohat could be sustained by microtransas. It primarily relied on individual effort and wise choices. The uainty of cultivating 【Mutants】 made it cost-iive. It was much more practical to i in exam kings and 【Warriors】.

  But Xislong didn’t see it that way: now that the Frost-Pted forces had ihe Granter people realized that war wasn’t just about strong firearms and advanced information teology—they were still g in individual soldier quality.

  Awakening a few hundred Omega Energy users could help make up for the deficies in Granter’s individual bat power. Most importantly, it could improve soldiers’ survival rates and morale, preventing them from being massacred and losing the will to fight.

  How much were these things worth? It didn’t matter. Xislong khey couldn’t afford to pay for them. The Grand Duke’s family's assets were all in Frost-Pted’s hands, and the national treasury was empty. Just maintaining citizens' lives and the war effort was already stretg their resources to the limit.

  A fner had e to help them regain their dignity and freedom. During the time of invasion by a powerful forot only did he step forward, destroying the Frost-Pted Air Ford preventing civilians from being bombed by Frost-Pted forces, but now Li Aozi was also generously providing the Granter people with the ability to trahe ordinary.

  What was he after? Granter’s wheat and farmnd?

  Or was it fame—willing to cut ties with his former homend for a small nation?

  Xislong had also heard that Li Aozi had crashed pnes into valleys, helping local farmers dismahem to make money.

  Phat could have been sold directly for cash—if preserved properly, they could have been traded with Frost-Pted. But Li Aozi, without hesitation, handed everything over to the civilians affected by the war.

  These as had not gone unnoticed by the Granter people, nor by Xislong and the warriors of Bermudes.

  Li Aozi handed over twe crates of Omega Energy awakening potions, deeply moving Xislong.

  "We Granter people will repay this debt sooner or ter." Xislong said seriously, "We will definitely repay it, Lord Li Aozi. You are the savior of the Granter people—you are truly Bahamut."

  【Granter Republic Favorability +307】

  【Current Favorability: 874 (Respect)】

  【You have earned a itle: Vasha Bahamut (Old Granter nguage: Hero of the Heavens)】

  【Title Effect: You enjoy 100 years of tax exemption in the Granter region, and the Granter people, within the bounds of principle, will prioritize joining yanization.】

  One hundred years of tax exemption was certainly enviable; this essentially meant that Li Aozi could bee a true financial magnate in the region.

  But Li Aozi wasn’t after that.

  He stuffed his hands in his pockets, eyes gazing into the dista the ruins bombed by Frost-Pted nes.

  "The students no longer have a pce to study."

  Li Aozi remarked.

  "There’s nothing we dht now, for the sake of our try, every Granter person—men, women, children, the elderly, and the disabled—must go to the battlefield. Educated students are the main force." Xislong said helplessly.

  "I recall Granter doesn’t have many uies." Li Aozi turned and suggested, "After this war, why not build a uy?"

  Xislong nodded. "Of course, we . Shall we after you?"

  "I’ll pass on that." Li Aozi paused and said, "Qiu Ran."

  "Hmm?"

  "Let’s call it Qiu Ran Uy."

  FAL