Chapter 1396: Mechanical Man
Dai Song and Dr. Duo Er remained outside the city, while Xu Huo and Li Kun avoided the mechanical men guarding the gates and entered the New District Government City. However, the scene before them was truly shocking. Streets, houses, factories… everything visible at a glance had been bombed. Most of the figures active on the streets were mechanical men, some of which were destroying buildings while others were dragging survivors of the bombardment out from ruins or hiding places and executing them!
This was clearly not the first round of slaughter, as red dragging marks could be seen in many places, though no bodies were visible. Those being dragged out were not players or outsiders either. Judging by their attire, they should be residents of the New District Government City. Some of them even tried to use jammers to disrupt the mechanical men, but it was completely useless—the mechanical men killed them without hesitation.
"What the hell is going on…" A man in a government uniform knelt half on the ground, but before he could finish his desperate question, he was shot in the head.
"Give me back my child…" A woman in the distance struggled desperately, trying to snatch the infant held aloft by a mechanical man. But in the next second, her chest and abdomen were riddled with bullets, and her child was slammed heavily to the ground.
Li Kun was still shocked by this one-sided massacre when he caught a flicker of shadow out of the corner of his eye. The mechanical man in the distance flew backward, and the child who should have hit the ground was caught steadily.
But saving one child was easy; the others were not so fortunate. Tens, hundreds, and even thousands of meters away, similar massacres were taking place. The mechanical men, which should have been protecting the city's residents, seemed intent on killing everyone inside, slaughtering every living thing without any bottom line. Even some mechanical men that appeared to be household servants raised kitchen knives and hacked pets to death!
The sounds of gunfire and bombing drowned out the city's wails. Fires broke out in different places, and with the help of aircraft continuously spraying accelerant from the sky, half the city was engulfed in flames.
"This is a damn city-wide massacre," Li Kun couldn't help but say. "Where the hell are the players from the district government?"
The situation for the district government players wasn't any better. They were the primary targets of the mechanical men's encirclement. Suicidal attacks caught many players off guard. With the jammers failing, how many mechanical men could a single player deal with? Even if they grew eight arms, they couldn't possibly destroy all the mechanical men at once. The tragedy unfolding was beyond their control.
"Boom!" A bomb landed near Xu Huo and Li Kun. Seeing several mechanical men rapidly approaching, Xu Huo grabbed Li Kun and teleported behind a collapsed building.
"The mechanical men must be equipped with detectors. The invisibility cloak probably won't be much use," Li Kun said, glancing at the infant in Xu Huo's arms. "What are you going to do?"
Seeing that Xu Huo didn't respond, he couldn't help but add, "Even if you go all out, you can't save many people… This situation in New City is probably a conflict between major powers. Even all the players in the district government can't turn the tide. The two of us…"
He put it tactfully, but he was actually afraid that Xu Huo would get hot-headed and insist on saving people. When it came to a city-wide massacre, what could one or two people do?
"Besides, the New District Government City was using people from District 023 for experiments. Being retaliated against is just karma. There's no need to sympathize with them."
Xu Huo kept an eye on the outside activity. After spotting a few district government players, he planned to transfer the child to them. But at that moment, an aircraft arrived over the city, and a voice came from it: "Maybe customs vary from place to place. The last song didn't get much of a response. I thought it over myself…"
Before the sentence was finished, attacks from all directions shattered the aircraft, and the leisurely voice abruptly stopped.
"He can't be allowed to sing!" A player on the ground shouted angrily. "Hasn't the new jammer been made yet?"
Another player answered, "No matter how many times we upgrade the jammer's level, it's useless. The jammer the other side has is a higher level than ours. After the mechanical men receive new commands, our instruments can't even achieve small-scale interference!"
"Then find him! We have to catch this person!"
The district government players were rescuing people, putting out fires, and some were drawing the fire of the mechanical men. But this still couldn't reverse the situation. Then, hundreds of aircraft rose from different places, all broadcasting the same voice:
"Everyone, please pay attention to the metal factory on the east side of the city. Next, it's going to…"
"Boom!" Following the man's words, a huge explosion sounded from one end of the city, shaking the entire city. Black smoke billowed into the sky, covering half the city's sky within seconds.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" As people on the ground looked up, the aircraft sounded again. The man mimicked the explosion in a high-pitched tone, then let out a long laugh. "Interrupting someone is very rude. Don't be so irritable, everyone. Otherwise, the next explosion will be at another pollutant laboratory."
These words made the players in the city hit pause. Many gritted their teeth but were helpless. Several major factories and laboratories had been taken over by the mechanical men from the start. The enemy wasn't even after what was inside—whenever a player tried to enter, the mechanical men would self-destruct. Ordinary factories were one thing, but laboratories containing special pollutants absolutely could not be destroyed. Otherwise, it wouldn't just be a few people dying!
"What do you want!" A player stood on a building and shouted back into the city using an amplification prop.
Whether the other party didn't hear or simply didn't care, music began to flow from the aircraft. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. This is a city full of technological atmosphere. Local slang and ditties definitely won't suit everyone's taste, so I've chosen another song from the New District Government City's charts. I'm sure you'll like it."
"But this is my first time singing it. If it's not good, please bear with me."
The man's uniquely deep tone was almost gentle, yet every word he uttered turned into an invisible attack, directly piercing the eardrums. The players of the New District Government City were prepared, all using props in advance, but some still became dizzy and vomited under the sonic assault.
"This is… too powerful!" Li Kun, who had used a silencing prop in advance, grabbed onto a nearby object and retched dryly after speaking.
Xu Huo steadied his dizzy head and looked down at the infant in his arms. He found that the child had blood coming from its ears and nose and had lost all signs of life.
Setting the child's body aside, he put on noise-canceling earphones to minimize the discomfort from the singing as much as possible. Then, he stepped out from behind the collapsed building and followed a team of district players.