Long-term salvation

The girl folded her hands over her chest and let the incoming water sweep her away.

As she was floating, Mortis felt something picking her up - it was the hand of Xiangzi's AS mecha. The latter quickly retreated and sent the girl into the M9S mecha assigned to her.

The cockpit closed, the water drained out, and the girl with long light green hair raised her head and reached out to tuck her wet hair behind her ears. Then, she smiled and said on the communication channel:

"Hey, Minna-san from Ave Mujica, my name is Mortis, and I'm a member of 'Wakaba Mujica'."

“…?!” x4

"Don't be so surprised. Ahem, it's a bit troublesome to explain now. You will know after the battle. The Wakaba Mutsu you are familiar with has fallen into a deep sleep due to mental exhaustion. I am just a substitute."

Mortis expertly maneuvered the AS to retreat, even raising her hand to use the machine gun to shoot down two incoming fleshwhip whips. She exhaled slowly and spoke again:

"This monster is powered by the clairvoyants within. I've already heard the sigh of one person dying, so there are only two left... As for the others who aren't clairvoyants, forget it; they won't be able to hold on."

Upon hearing the news, Xiangzi frowned. She controlled the mecha to retreat to get out of the attack range of the Meat Whip, but the latter's body was slowly expanding, squeezing the water away, causing the water level to rise even higher.

Now, the vascular network on the walls of the corridor has expanded to an astonishing scale. The originally scattered tubes and flesh membranes are connected into a complete circulatory system, and the "heart" in the center pumps out dark red liquid.

When these liquids flow through certain nodes, they will suddenly change color, from dark red to yellow-green, and irregular sharp metals will grow from there. The metals overlap with each other and turn into branch-like existences - the creations in the inner world are still growing, and it is very difficult to get close to them as before.

Not to mention, the metal shell hit by the pile driver's nails has been "peeled off", just like cutting off the life-threatening rotten flesh.

"Just like the monster from that day... This is going to be difficult. We must kill it with one strike and rescue those two innocent people."

Xiangzi squeezed out a sound from between her teeth. She could sense that the surrounding noises and whispers were slowly growing stronger. A faint humming began to sound in her mind, and even some hallucinations appeared in her vision - in a trance, the girl saw the joystick in her hand turned into piano keys.

Taking a few deep breaths, letting his body's life support system inject a dose of adrenaline, Xiangzi regained his sanity and clarity amidst the frantic beating of his heart:

"Looks like we need one more try. My pile driver's spikes are coated with black stone powder and can pierce the monster's metal shell directly. Two of you will suppress the Fleshwhip, two will prepare to grab the survivors from the cheek pouches, and I'll go... I'll go pierce the shell."

"What?! The cheek pouches are in different locations. You need to keep in contact with the monster that has become even more powerful!" Sanjiao Chuhua's voice rang out in the communication channel, and the girl's words were full of worry. "This is too dangerous!"

"Then protect me, Chuhua."

Xiangzi stopped calling by the code name. Having made up her mind, she no longer wavered. The AS mecha slowly bent down, discarded all unnecessary bits and pieces, and took a starting position in the increasingly turbulent and turbid water. The lights on the fuselage were all dimmed, but the humming sound of the power supply system suddenly became louder.

The faint light from the screen illuminated the girl's face, illuminated that strong face. She exhaled slowly, mentally prepared to die here... Su Shi... everyone... No, you can't think about it anymore. You have already stepped into the "extraordinary" and fought to protect their "daily".

"I will cut off everything, whether it is strange interpersonal relationships or Nagasaki Suyo..."

Suddenly, time seemed to freeze at this moment:

The heavy rain brought by the super typhoon continues.

However, the sound of water flowing underground in Tokyo changed its frequency, turning into a low-frequency vibration between the roar of machinery and the song of bloody whales. It spread throughout the city along the drainage pipes, causing all the manhole covers to ooze bloody sewage with metal fragments.

At this moment, the beating rhythm fifty meters underground gradually matched the resonant waveform of the flesh-and-blood mechanical "heart" in front of the mechas.

The beating devilish sound of the heart reached its peak at this moment!

Before she could drive the mecha to charge, the world in front of Xiangzi was distorted. An infinitely complex world unfolded in front of her like a kaleidoscope, but the next second it was burned to ashes by the golden sun that was completely extinguished and then instantly ignited!

A familiar man's voice sounded in Xiangzi's ears:

"When you are prepared, death will not find you, Toyokawa Shoko..."

After a certain existence cast a glance at her, Xiangzi returned to reality from the illusion. She found that the AS mecha had begun to charge, separating the water in front like Moses parting the sea, allowing the sewage that had turned into blood to pass through the fuselage, engraving thunder-like patterns on the surface of the armor.

"You don't have to tell me!"

After roaring at the unknown silver-haired creature, Xiangzi pushed the joystick, increasing her mech's speed even further! As her mech began to charge, Chuhua and Mortis on either side simultaneously operated their mechs to charge, while Hailing and Ruomai provided support fire, using the locking system to knock the long whips away and disrupt them!

But this was just the beginning. The surface of the flesh-and-blood machine began to roll, and several metal spikes pierced through the flesh and blood, shooting out like an arrow, instantly piercing through the right shoulder of Xiangzi's AS mecha!

At the critical moment just now, if Xiangzi had not subconsciously controlled the mecha to move, her cockpit would have been hit!

"I've become weaker, is it because of Su Shi?!" Xiangzi gritted his teeth, but she was already close enough, and the pile driver on the mecha's left arm was ready to go.

At that moment, the other two AS mechas following closely behind pulled out the heavy rotary hand cannons at their waists and fired two shots at the monster's expanding flesh. The explosive grenades exploded on the flesh, and metal fragments wrapped in whistles that pierced the air rushed in all directions. Discarding the hand cannons, the two mechas simultaneously ejected their arm blades, creating the conditions for Xiangzi's attack.

"Break it open for me, you damn turtle shell!!!"

The pile driver's nails blasted out mercilessly!

Through!

The moment the metal shell and the thin membrane of flesh were pierced, blood poured out like a tsunami, covering the entire AS mecha. Xiangzi opened his eyes from his deep sleep:

【Xiangzi, it’s time to get up. 】

Her mother, Mizuho Toyokawa, was looking at her with a smile.

In this world, the mother is alive, the father is not decadent, they work together to pay off their parents' debts, and their life is poor but happy. Xiangzi goes to study and do odd jobs clumsily, and the family saves a little money to go to the aquarium to see dolphins, and occasionally go to the countryside to see the stubborn grandfather... It's so beautiful.

But the whole world was silent. No one sang, no one played music, no one said:

From now on we are a band, a community of shared destiny playing music together.

But the whole world was black and white, no one fought, no one shouted, no one said:

The Global Occult Coalition, for humanity, until death.

"Wouldn't it be nice to stay here? A human life span is only a hundred years, and a hundred years here is but a fleeting moment. Wouldn't it be nice to die peacefully in happiness and enjoy a perfect life?"

"..." The girl raised her eyes and looked towards the golden sun on the other side of the reality curtain. "No, I'm leaving."

So, with her mother's sad eyes cast down, the girl took a step forward.

The body of her mother lying in the coffin, her drunken father, herself crying, and then her companions who had fought together. She walked faster and faster, and then began to run, leaving all the false shouts behind her.

"Compared to false dreams, I prefer to live in painful reality. The weak me is already dead!"

With a loud roar, Xiangzi grabbed the joystick tightly, retracting the pile driver on his left arm and blasting it out again and again!

Human blood spurted out, mixed with tiny fragments of book pages, causing the monster clinging to the concrete pillar to let out a shrill but real roar.

"Chuhua, Mu!" Xiangzi shouted on the communication channel, "Pry open that metal shell. I want to pull out those two cheek pouches. Hailing, Ruomai, keep covering me!"

"Understood!" x4/"Call me Mortis!"

The two AS mechas tightly grasped the broken metal shell, and the fuselage made a teeth-grinding metallic creaking sound as the output continued to increase, but it was worth it - Xiangzi had already seen the two cheek pouches in the wriggling flesh, she stretched out her hand - the mecha stretched out its hand and pulled the cheek pouches out of the monster's body!

Just as the connecting cable of the cheek pouch was disconnected, the roar of the monster coming from nowhere suddenly weakened, and the giant heart that was protected by layers of protection was also exposed.

"How ugly," Xiangzi manipulated the mecha, throwing his cheek pouches backwards so that Hailing and Ruomai's AS mechas could catch them. Then, a cold and mocking look appeared on the girl's face. "But from now on, this ugly heart of yours will become even more vulgar."

The pile driver began to load the explosive propellant, and the micro booster rocket behind the nail began to warm up.

The next second, Xiangzi gripped the joystick tightly.

Direct penetration!

Through the heart!

Corrupted blood spurted out, dyeing the five mechas black and red... The water flow slowed down, and in this giant drainage facility fifty meters underground, it echoed cheerfully, like a band playing.

The rain has stopped in Tokyo.

A ray of sunlight shone through the gap in the clouds, passed through the horizontal window of the underground theater, and reflected on Nagasaki Suyo's face.

The girl lowered her eyes dejectedly and sat on the edge of the stage, while the members of the MYGO band next to her were slowly packing up their instruments and complaining:

"Damn it! No one comes to listen during a typhoon."

"We were lucky. We arrived just before the rainstorm."

"That's bad luck, my clothes..."

Complex sounds rang in Su Shi's ears, but she had no intention of paying attention. However, these sounds soon disappeared without a trace... Everyone shut up.

As if realizing something, Su Shi raised his head and looked towards the theater door——

Xiangzi was panting and clinging to the door. She held up the invitation card with all her might, squeezed the last breath of air from her lungs, and shouted loudly:

"I haven't listened to the live performance yet, you're not allowed to leave! Ou Nei Gai! Without you guys... Wow Darcy... Ahem, wrong... Anyway, I want to listen to the live performance!"

"Well then," Sushi stood up, and she looked at the other girls in the band with a bright smile on her face, "Let us fulfill your wish."

She picked up the pick and plucked the strings.

+ + + + + + + +

Live ends.

It's time to cut it all off.

Xiangzi lowered her eyes, not daring to meet the gazes of the girls on the stage, for she was afraid that she would want to regret it.

The girl put her hand into the small bag she carried with her and tightly grasped the communicator inside... After a slight sigh, she took it out and prepared to call GOC investigators to carry out subsequent memory processing.

However, the communicator suddenly rang at this moment, forcing Xiangzi to pick it up and put it to his ear. Then Makise Kurisu's voice came from it:

"Xiangzi, something has happened. Return to the institute immediately and wait for orders. This is an emergency."

"...What's going on?" Xiangzi's heart was slightly moved. He felt a little relieved, but also a little uneasy. "Could it be a new combat mission?"

"No, it's the boss—Mr. Rhodes. Something happened to him in Mogadishu, Somalia. During your previous battle, the entire Army Without Borders's direction of advance might have changed. Governments around the world would gradually learn of the existence of the other world... The world would be changed."

Volumes: Volume 1: Hero Trial

Chapter 1: Rebirth in Three Days

Rhode cautiously retreated back into the cave, clinging to the cold rock wall and pointing his M16A2 rifle at the entrance. He wore only a slightly tattered and dirty United States Army uniform. Blood-soaked bandages could be vaguely seen through the rips in his clothing. His chest rig and body armor had long been discarded due to damage, but even worse was this:

Only one magazine left.

The magazine now sits quietly on the rifle, rather than being scattered across this twisted world of fog and monsters like the others.

The other world, those who glimpse a glimpse of the future from the darkness will call this country that goes against the beautiful reality.

"Huh... that dog is quite good at chasing."

Rhodes half-knelt against the rock wall, trying to calm his breathing, but he didn't dare move the muzzle of his gun away from the cave entrance for a moment... Those "things" might still be searching for his traces:

It was a silverfish-like creature, larger than a moose. Perhaps an animal, but more likely an insect. In this world, its nature was irrelevant. What mattered was that the moment Rhodes laid eyes on it, he was immediately attacked—its long, sharp limbs sliced ​​through the milky white mist, creating a visible air current.

This gave Rhode some time to react, unlike previous attacks where he didn't even see the attacker's appearance. The only good news was that the 5.56mm M855 bullets could still cause damage to the monster, cracking its carapace, oozing foul-smelling corrosive acid blood, and causing it to emit a sharp insect-like buzz and shrink back, but that was all.

The sound of rifle fire attracted more of the monster's kind. They rushed out of the fog, their centipede-like legs leaving thousands of ugly holes in the slightly soft ground.

Rhode repeatedly pulled the trigger at the monsters bursting out of the fog, mentally cursing the M16A2, which only had semi-automatic and three-round burst modes. He slowly retreated, the gun in one hand, reaching for the utility bag at his waist and pulling out the last of his M67 grenades. His tattered chest harness had long since lost its space for a grenade.

Rhode then unfastened his rifle, its magazine empty. The swaying of the rifle belt rubbed against his neck, causing a burning pain. He ignored all that. He gripped the grenade with his right hand, tore off the pull tab with his left, and threw it into the monster pile about twenty meters ahead.

As the grenade was thrown, he turned and ran, not stopping even though the sound of the explosion and the whistling of fragments tearing through the air reached his ears - fighting a monster was never fun, especially when he was the one who was fleeing.

Regardless of the monsters' lives and casualties, Rhode ran forward without looking back. Based on his experience, he had better not stay in the same place after making a big noise.

Cross the foggy jungle, cross the swamp full of wriggling blood-sucking maggots, walk up the broken walls of the ancient dilapidated castle, go down the escalator of the large shopping mall... In the supernatural dimension of the otherworld, any form of terrain and architecture from any era may appear, but they are all distorted and broken enough, as if they are the real manifestation of children's nightmares.

After wandering around for nearly an hour, Rhodes finally found a place to rest temporarily.

A cave that you can see the end of at a glance.

This is a good place. Although it is a bit cold, it is spacious and dry enough. There are no deep and dark tunnels or groups of flesh-eating monsters living in them. There is no poisonous gas that can melt the human body, and there is no mutated mold that can parasitize on the retina... In this ghost place, the last thing you lack is all kinds of strange things that can kill you.

Although Rhode's current physical fitness far surpassed that of an average person, it hadn't yet transcended the realm of "human" and still required rest and food. However, for now, he didn't need to worry too much about this issue.

After all, the time to return to the world is coming soon——

[Mission: Three-Day Resurrection (72 Hours)]

[Task Description: Waiting in the other world to return to the real world]

【Remaining 00:29:59】

[Pollution points in the other world increased by 1]

"Exchange for Army Infantry Squad Card, quantity 1," Rhodes said softly.

[Points deducted: 30]

In an instant, as if the entire world had been taken away for a moment, several dark green plastic boxes of varying sizes appeared before Rhode, containing all the weapons and equipment of a 90s-era mechanized infantry squad of the United States of America.

From military uniforms to chest mounts, from M16A2 rifles, M249 general-purpose machine guns to bulletproof vests, or M302 grenade launchers and grenades, the box contains everything, even fully rationed first aid kits, individual rations and clean water.

Best of all, there were four M72-LAW disposable rocket launchers inside. These were more than enough to completely rip through the silverfish-like monsters from before, but unfortunately, Rhode didn't have them with him then, nor could he exchange them for new equipment like he does now.

The backworld pollution points required to redeem the card containing these items weren't too expensive. After all, Rhode didn't choose the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle version, which would have cost an additional 70 points. In fact, when Rhode first saw the system's exchange options for the card, he'd expected to redeem the burly, third-class bruisers on the card cover as well... In this haunted place, only having more companions could bring a greater sense of security.

Armored vehicles or tanks would be better, but the surrounding terrain is complex, making it difficult to move vehicles, and exchanging them would be even more troublesome. Furthermore, the pollution points in the other world weren't easy to obtain, even if he was currently in the other world.

【Remaining 00:19:59】