Love, death, and false man

Chapter 44. The Mystery of War
10/4—14:42
After receiving Xia Bing's call, Fang Yan immediately rushed to the charcoal barbecue stall he frequented to meet her.

Although the Salvation Army's satellite base stations are powerful and capable of handling the aftermath well, it still needs to lay low and free up additional server computing power to perfectly eliminate the impact.

【已完成作战任务，目标确定于2030/10/4—13:19:55死亡。】

The purged false elements will receive additional merit points.

Your current merit points are: 3000/10000

[Monthly military supplies are replenished between the 10th and 15th. You can specify your needs to your liaison officer.]

[Your direct superior has added a comment: I guarantee your combined IQ exceeds 320. Considering the considerable difficulty of this mission, a ten-day leave is hereby granted. Take good care of yourself. That's all.]

Binhai City, East District.

The barbecue stall business wasn't great in the afternoon; it was basically booked out by Fang Yan and Xia Bing, along with the band members and her bodyguard. This combination was quite reasonable; it was the only logical relationship that didn't reveal their identities under the algorithm.

The pedestrian street remains the same, with folding tables, plastic chairs, and parasols.

"It's quite a commotion, and it will definitely be reported on the evening news. We'll have to wait a few days to find out the specifics, such as whether it crashed or failed to make an emergency landing. However, since we infiltrated secretly and our identities were not revealed, it won't cause a Mandela effect."

The two had changed into ordinary clothes. Xia Bing was in excellent spirits and still used chopsticks to pick up the skewers and take a big bite.

On the contrary, Fang Yan, being young, simply couldn't hold on any longer. He was under constant mental tension for 24 hours straight. When he jumped from the plane, he didn't feel anything as the blood rushed to his brain. Now, thinking back on it, he was terrified. It was a miracle that he hadn't died. Exhausted and with some liver palpitations, after having his shoulder wound stitched up at a "private clinic," all he wanted to do was get a good night's sleep. He was extremely weak.

I have 3,000 merit points. After completing the support mission to "rescue" Xia Bing, I got 1,000 points. Then I killed a monitor, which adds 200 points, and then I killed Lu Cheng, a senior in the third year of high school, which adds 400 points. So I only have 1600 merit points. The merit points I got from this operation are about the same as all the previous operations.

The person killed on the plane appears to be someone who shared the kill record with Xia Bing.

Fang Yan's impression of Xia Bing was refreshed once again. This woman was like a war goddess. Now she was casually eating skewers as if nothing had happened. Carbon-based life forms probably couldn't handle this girl. Only Cybertronians would have a chance to win her over.

The Salvation Army's high command is pretty lousy when it comes to assigning missions. This time it seems to be based on territory. Derek was assigned to a plane over the Coast when he was supposed to die, so it was assigned to this area. Hopefully, the Coast will be more peaceful in the future.

"I'm curious, why didn't those people from the Vatican transform into monsters?"

Fang Yan then realized that this was different from the group he had dealt with before who were dealing with the Soul Master, and lit a Hongtashan cigarette and started smoking.

Xia Bing, who was eating beef brisket, paused with her chopsticks. Why did she have to say this while eating?

"It's a complicated matter. It's a religious hodgepodge, with different religions having different doctrines. Some prohibit genetic recombination. The woman with the buzz cut, according to her last words, was a member of the Church of the Time of Reason, which is not allowed by their doctrine. Some religions, on the other hand, are happy to do this, just as perverse as number 0-1."

"Are those 0-1 pseudo-humans all genetically modified?"

"The concept of 'pseudo-human' is very broad. It is precisely because 0-1 is so sinister that the efficiency of altering genes through the gravitational particle accelerator is very low. The composition of the people under 0-1 is the most complex, encompassing everything, from humanoid creatures born from petri dishes to humans completely implanted with programs, and some even more bizarre things that are created by using singularity distortions in spacetime."

"Are there people who take initiative?"

"This question might be more appropriate as asking whether people have independent consciousness. The vast majority of people are forcibly dragged into this time-killing game without any choice."

Of course, there are such people. The Soul Master also needs people with self-awareness, not electronic programs that can be easily cracked. He needs natural beings that can arbitrarily and continuously doubt and self-destruct.

Humans—no, let's set aside the concept of humans altogether—are inherently self-interested, regardless of their level of thinking. The relative importance of ideology versus practical interests is self-evident. It's like war: setting aside issues of race and culture, and focusing solely on civil war, most people will choose the side that aligns with their own interests, whether short-term or long-term.

There's no need for strict management of these people; they spontaneously reinforce and uphold the historical narrative dominated by the Soul Master.

Seeing that Fang Yan wasn't in good shape and needed a good night's sleep, Xia Bing stopped forcing him to drink and drank alone. Fang Yan pondered, "Strict management? That's definitely the case. The Salvation Army is a pure military force, and its discipline is as strict as it gets. The consequences for deserters are dire; they're practically like a supervising army."

indeed……

Fang Yan couldn't imagine that without these strict management measures, and with the ability to read minds and manipulate others, and to have as much money as he wanted, that would indeed be... incredibly satisfying.

Senior Wang Ying was too authoritative; some kind of metaphysical thing determined society, and his boundless, rampant desires shattered all human relationships.

A quiet despair pervades the world, and everyone is eager to break free from their own shackles.

Everything was too hidden and roundabout, so the real culprit could not be found. The puppet became the target, and the scapegoat was used.

Although Senior Wang Ying is just an ordinary person, even if he didn't sense the Soul Absorber, he still sensed this super-conceptual existence and fought to the ends of the earth. It's so relatable.

What will the future world be like?

"By 2030, the situation is already this complicated. I can only say it's going to be incredibly tragic. It's like a ball of fluff with no ends, where everyone lives under a mysterious and terrifying rule, with mental breakdowns and chaos, endless suspicion, and frantic slaughter of one another. Be careful of the Vatican; some of these charlatans are even more ruthless than the Soul Master, pure psychopaths."

Xia Bing noticed that Fang Yan's smoking habit was so strong even in his second year of high school; he had smoked two cigarettes while they were talking. However, she thought it wasn't a big problem, since Salvation Army soldiers who lived to thirty were considered centenarians.

"Come to think of it, maybe it's just my imagination, but when I killed Derek, he seemed to be poisoned, and he looked very strange."

Xia Bing found this suspicious. Time-based coordinated operations are often multi-party battles because they don't contact each other, don't share intelligence, and kill anyone they find without any room for maneuver. It's possible that someone from the Soul Master's faction was involved.

"Could it be that the cabin depressurization caused the lack of oxygen? Ordinary people really couldn't withstand that situation."

"What you said makes a lot of sense."

Xia Bing was just worried about being targeted, so she was granted a special ten-day leave. Based on experience, this time the leave was a sure thing. Lieutenant Sylvia wouldn't let her subordinates carry out two high-intensity missions in a row.

"There's another thing I find strange. Is the lieutenant's real name or an alias? Since we're classified personnel who don't use our names and only use contact codes, the lieutenant shouldn't be using his real name either."

To be honest, Fang Yan felt that the lieutenant's name was a bit childish.

"Of course it's an alias, probably taken from a character or actor in an old movie."

Xia Bing had a vague idea, but dared not be certain. If it was true, then the lieutenant who chose this name must be an amazing person, far from being as rigid as he appeared in the communications. Even in Xia Bing's eyes, he was incredibly eccentric.

"You eat barbecue every day, how come you don't gain weight?"

Fang Yan had completely given up hope on Xia Bing and was just chatting idly. It was unclear whether the Cybertronian was actually trying to seduce her or she was trying to seduce the Cybertronian.

"Given that we're fairly familiar with each other, let me give you a friendly reminder: this is a very serious and sensitive question. Are you implying that I should lose weight?"

Xia Bing looked at her hands and then pinched her thigh; she felt fine.

"The question already contains the preliminary result, literally." Seeing that Xia Bing still wasn't convinced, he said, "I'm... sorry."

Fang Yan was speechless. This woman's identity was still female, but her core was too strong. She was the epitome of female and the epitome of male.

Damn it, they say it's a holiday, but I have to go back to No. 6 Middle School on the 8th. I won't be happy for more than a few days. I want to kill my super-desperate mom.

(End of this chapter)