Translator: AnubisTL
"Chen Jiang...?"
"You're saying that the earth-shattering commotion outside—worse than any earthquake—is all Chen Jiang's firepower?"
The bare-chested man, a massive sword slung over his shoulder, stared in disbelief. "How is that even possible?!"
"It's true," the woman with glazed eyes nodded. "The alien race players have completely vanished. The oversaturated assault is practically drowning the entire world."
"Under such an attack,"
"No alien race player could possibly survive."
"Or rather, even though this firepower is thousands of meters away from Kindling City, the shockwaves are still this severe. If it were to detonate directly over Kindling City,"
"I doubt the city the Guardian Lord built could withstand it for even a minute."
"Th-this can't be happening..."
A flicker of shock crossed the sword-wielding man's eyes before he swallowed hard and immediately turned to flee. "I'm going to check the city walls."
"Stop right there!"
Seeing the man attempt to leave,
The man beside him, clad in a tracksuit and wielding a spinal column, immediately barked, "The Guardian Lord has ordered us to form the second line of defense! No one is to leave this position until the war ends!"
Yet despite his usual authority, not a single person paid him any heed. Instead, everyone followed the bare-chested man as he sprinted toward the city walls.
"Political Commissar," the woman beside him murmured, pausing briefly. "Let's go up too. If things go as expected, we might not be needed in this battle."
The tracksuit-clad man hesitated, then slowly reinserted the spinal column into his back and strode after the others. He, too, wanted to see what was happening with Chen Jiang.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions erupted in rapid succession. Shockwaves like tidal waves shook the fifteen-meter-high city walls relentlessly, making many fear the structure would collapse.
In that moment—
Everyone looked up with complex expressions at the man standing on the edge of the city wall, leaning on his cane with both hands.
The shockwave of that magnitude didn't even make him flinch.
It couldn't be helped.
A gentleman's cane.
The only rule was: you could die, but you must never fall.
As a gentleman, even in death, you must die standing.
"Hmm?"
Chen Jiang frowned slightly, a hint of confusion crossing his face.
His kindling points had been rapidly climbing, reaching nearly 70,000, when the rate suddenly slowed to a crawl, eventually stopping completely.
Clearly, no more alien race players were teleporting through the light gate.
Even though his side had been rocked by earth-shattering explosions, the other side shouldn't have been aware of the situation. Why would they stop sending players through the light gate?
But then he quickly reconsidered, glancing at his nearly 70,000 kindling points on the player ranking list.
He soon understood why the alien race players were unwilling to teleport through the light gate.
After all, from the moment the event began, his kindling points had been skyrocketing.
Even a fool could deduce that Chen Jiang was already entrenched in Humanity's Kindling City. The rapidly rising kindling points made it clear that he had likely annihilated every alien race player who had entered through the light gates.
The reality aligned perfectly with Chen Jiang's expectations.
At every light gate, groups of alien race players stood at a safe distance.
Their caution wasn't solely based on Human Player Chen Jiang's skyrocketing kindling points.
It was the constant stream of severed limbs and blood erupting from the light gates that truly deterred them.
Before one such light gate, Yan Pomen sat in an armored vehicle, flanked by a squad of mechanical race soldiers. His expression remained impassive as he gazed at the gate.
The entrance was already piled high with blood and dismembered body parts.
More limbs continued to fly out, splattering across the surrounding wilderness.
Anyone with eyes could imagine the horrific slaughter unfolding within the light gate.
Naturally, no one dared to enter.
They were willing to gamble, risking their lives for high rewards, but they would never enter a one-sided battlefield that was like a meat grinder.
Even worse, stray cannonballs occasionally shot straight through the light gate, landing among the crowds and causing horrific casualties.
The reality before them was clear: they couldn't enter the light gate.
No one could withstand such overwhelming firepower.
Unless all the alien race players united, they could absolutely overwhelm the human city within the light gate in a single wave!
But the alien race players were hostile to each other. Even when tempted by profit, temporarily suspending their animosity to cooperate was the limit of their alliance. True unity was a pipe dream.
Moreover—
Most alien race players hadn't organized into cohesive groups; they were scattered and undisciplined. In this state, they were truly helpless against the light gate, lacking any effective strategy.
Standing at a distance, Yan Pomen observed the scene and sighed softly, saying nothing.
This global event hadn't occurred in the previous Ten Thousand Races Arena.
The mechanical race had no contingency plan for this.
However, the prospect of obtaining a human player's personal innate ability by killing them was highly enticing to many race players.
They had already tested this by killing human players outside the light gates, but it yielded no results.
Clearly, they needed to breach the light gates and kill players near Humanity's Kindling City to acquire their innate abilities.
For the moment, he couldn't think of a better strategy.
"This global event doesn't seem as tough as I thought," Scar Dog said, shrugging beside Chen Jiang. "I really expected millions of race players to pour out of these thousands of light gates."
"That's normal," Li Hao replied, his expression serious. "This isn't a game where you can respawn. Everyone only has one life. Naturally, no one would charge forward knowing certain death awaits."
Chen Jiang stood silently, gazing calmly into the distance.
His plan was simple: bombard the light gates for 24 hours, ensuring no alien race players could reach Humanity's Kindling City.
Just then—
The squad of nearly a thousand soldiers who had been stationed below the city walls charged onto the ramparts. As they gazed upon the sky-darkening, jade-green light bullets streaking across the sky with crimson tails, raining down upon the light gate in a cataclysmic barrage,
every soldier froze in stunned silence.
Is this the end of the world?
Each explosion of the jade-green light bullets struck their chests like a hammer blow, shaking their minds and instinctively halting their breath.
The woman with the apparent clairvoyant ability, her eyes now clear and free of the clairvoyant state, unconsciously turned to look at the man facing the outer city wall, leaning on his cane with both hands.
A faint blush crept across her cheeks, and her breathing quickened slightly.
Is that... Chen Jiang?
He's not just powerful, he's handsome too...
"What, smitten already?"
The bare-chested man beside her, sword in hand, curled his lip with a hint of jealousy. "Don't get your hopes up. Strong people are always aloof. If you try to approach him, he might just slap you away."
Meanwhile—
Chen Jiang, standing near the edge of the city wall, sighed with a hint of resignation. "Again?"
"Naturally."
Scar Dog gazed at the distant fireworks, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Such a beautiful sight! Not taking a photo would be a waste, wouldn't it?"
He immediately turned his back to the fireworks, raised his camera high in the air, and urged excitedly, "Brother Jiang, hurry! Smile! A little smile at the corners of your mouth!"
"Alright, alright," Chen Jiang replied.
Chen Jiang slowly turned, leaned against the city wall, propped himself up with his cane, struck a V-sign pose, and forced a somewhat reluctant smile.
Click!
The shutter clicked.
Scar Dog tucked the photo into his chest, satisfied. "Perfect! Another one for the collection."
"Scar Dog," Zhao Ritian, standing nearby, asked with a puzzled expression, "Why do you love taking photos so much?"
"What does a young pup like you know?" Scar Dog scoffed, tapping Zhao Ritian lightly on the forehead. "These are anchor points. Do you even know what anchor points mean?"
Meanwhile, the woman with the clairvoyance innate ability, standing a short distance away, noticed the faint, bitter smile at the corner of Chen Jiang's lips. She paused, murmuring unconsciously, "He doesn't seem... quite as aloof as I thought."
"It's ruined."
The bare-chested man beside him sighed weakly, ceasing to speak, and merely tilted his head back, sighing repeatedly.
Yet, in that single upward glance, the man's expression instantly transformed, his pupils shrinking violently!
His face contorted in terror as he roared at the top of his lungs, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"
"Look to the sky!"
His words immediately drew everyone's attention upward.
At that moment, Chen Jiang's brow furrowed. Why did the sky suddenly seem to darken?
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!"
A heart-wrenching cry erupted from behind him.
Chen Jiang swiftly looked up.
There, soaring toward Kindling City, was a colossal bird nearly a hundred meters long, its wings beating furiously.
They had seen such a creature before—in the sky pit teeming with the insect race, where these giant birds preyed on the insects.
But was this the same one they had encountered?
"Wait... what?!"
Chen Jiang's face froze as he recognized the creature. A wave of nausea surged through him.
The bird's head had transformed into a massive insect head, its surface covered in countless compound eyes.
Two pairs of enormous cicada wings sprouted from its back.
This was no longer the giant bird they had seen before. It was now an insect race player!
Insect race players could sever the heads of alien race players, then have the Queen Mother deposit insect eggs into their bodies, transforming them into insect race players!
They had even witnessed human players being converted into insect race players before!
However, the shock from that previous encounter paled in comparison to this moment!
How could insect race players have killed such a colossal bird and converted it into one of their own?!
Chen Jiang's face darkened. Without hesitation, he tapped the turret, which immediately adjusted its barrel to target the massive bird hurtling toward them.
The next moment—
Boom!!!
A torrential barrage of eerie green light bullets engulfed the giant bird!
Within seconds, the creature that had once filled them with terror exploded into a fiery ball, burning fiercely in mid-air.
"Phew," Scar Dog sighed in relief. "Good riddance. Even the strongest flesh can't withstand modern weaponry."
Boom!
Another deafening explosion shook the air!
The giant bird's corpse suddenly detonated violently, shattering into countless fragments!
Simultaneously!
Myriad insect eggs erupted from the carcass, streaking downward like meteors to crash heavily into Kindling City!
Many insect eggs were pulverized by Chen Jiang's turret fire, but some fortunate ones pierced through the flames and crashed directly into Kindling City!
Upon impact, the shells shattered instantly, and insect race players erupted from within, their crimson eyes blazing as they charged toward the nearest human players.
Chaos erupted across Kindling City in an instant!
The entire sequence unfolded in mere seconds, a meticulously planned assault executed with lightning speed.
And just as the bombardment of the light gates ceased, alien race players, believing Chen Jiang had exhausted his ammunition, surged through the portals once more!
Chen Jiang's brow furrowed slightly as his turret locked onto the light gate cluster, unleashing another barrage of saturated fire.
He couldn't deal with the insect race players who had already infiltrated the city; he couldn't risk leveling the city with indiscriminate bombardment.
Still, he wasn't overly concerned.
Kindling City was, after all, the human race's foremost metropolis, teeming with formidable warriors. The Human Race Guardian Association wasn't just for show; they couldn't possibly fail to contain a handful of insect race players.
Meanwhile, a hundred miles away, Zerg Dudu's face flushed with excitement as she closed her eyes, mentally commanding her insect race players within Kindling City through their mental link.
At this moment, every insect race player who had breached Humanity's Kindling City was her subject.
In the insect race, the Queen Mother possessed extraordinary reproductive capabilities.
And she was one such Queen Mother.
The players currently swarming Kindling City were her offspring, bred through cross-species reproduction.
In other words, these insect race players hadn't always been insect race players. They were originally players of other races, transformed into insect race players only after she implanted her eggs into their bodies.
These insect race players lacked spiritual intelligence and wisdom, acting solely on the Queen Mother's commands.
Furthermore, all merit points, blood sacrifice points, kindling points, and other rewards they earned from killing alien races were claimed by her, the Queen Mother.
These insect race players were also barred from appearing on any ranking lists.
But none of this mattered most. The crucial point was that the innate abilities these insect race players stole from human players could be freely chosen by her.
(End of the Chapter)
📖Read [MCC3KM] ahead on Pa.treon@AnubisTL upto c222. [+6k]
🌐Read for FREE Upto Ch166 on the Site. Visit P@treon for details.
🎁All [3] Novels can be accessed for just $6/mo.
🔥Translated [1.5k+] Chapters and [3.04M+] Words.