Hope City, for the first time in this entire apocalypse, had its veil lifted. Everything about it was revealed without restraint before the eyes of the upper ranks of several mobile cities. This most mysterious place in the apocalypse had finally, truly, descended into everyone’s field of vision.
The upper ranks of all the major cities that had come to Hope City for this invitation were all permitted to pass on all the information to the city lords of their respective cities. Hope City would, with its most hospitable attitude, let everyone experience the feeling of being a distinguished guest.
All the guests would instinctively look around at their surroundings. Angel City, as an allied city of Hope City, was not that close to Hope City in terms of distance, but there was a very wide road serving as the channel of communication between the two cities. Many guests also used this road to go to Hope City.
Gradually, some rumors about Hope City that had once circulated during the apocalypse were all proven true. For example, that it would not be eroded by Nightmare Beast seeds, that within the city, there would always be extraordinarily powerful new humans who made people not dare to look straight at them, and that the city truly had already taken root firmly in the soil, with no possibility of moving again.
The city designs of Hope City and Angel City were not that novel to these true power holders, yet they were exactly the future that every city’s ruler hoped to achieve, especially: territory.
Back when there were no Nightmare Beast seeds in the world, every nation had its own territory. This stretch of land was the true source of wealth. Humans would plant crops on the land, live on the land, and mine resources on the land. All of humankind’s resources and wealth, even now, still come from the land.
No human would hate the land. The land was the mother that raised them, the capital they depended on to survive. Returning to the land was the dream of so many people, and also the hope of so many ambitious people. Yet they could only occupy that mere patch of land under a mobile city on this vast remaining land.
Just seeing it with their own eyes had already tempted quite a few people. Maybe, they too could return to living on the land.
And because of Gaia City and Pangu City, many people had discovered a blind spot.
Gaia City and Pangu City were places they themselves had chosen. In other words, Hope City could freely mark out its range on the ground. If they could obtain enough territory, they could even, in the truest sense, establish a nation.
Right now, everyone has a few questions in their hearts that they want answers to as soon as possible.
From the moment Shi Canghai first understood Hope City and Angel City, he had gone out as little as possible. His terminal already had all permissions unlocked, so even while staying in his residence, he could learn about many things.
Last time, the other side had said that other mobile cities would very likely take advantage of this invitation to stir up trouble. The people of Mirage had taken the initiative to warn him not to get involved in anything, so the best plan was for him to stay behind closed doors, stepping neither out of his front gate nor his back gate, and quietly leave everything to Mirage’s powerful people to handle.
The people of Mirage were not only strong but also very united. That brief conversation he had with City Lord He Fang had been passed on without a word out of place to every single person of Mirage in an instant. One could imagine that within Mirage, there must be an unimaginably intricate and dense network of connections. This network was separated from the people of Hope City and Angel City.
He saw the invisible cohesion that existed among the people of Mirage, and at the center of that cohesion was Mirage’s city lord, He Fang.
Judging from the other side’s strength and baseline of peace, the Library’s stance was already very clear. Now, he just had to be like that young bride about to get on the sedan chair, quietly waiting for the powerful city alliance to come marry it.
The true purpose of this invitation from Hope City this time was a military parade. In this parade, it was very obvious that they meant to display Hope City’s strength.
If seeing the city wasn’t enough to make them wary, when they saw the people of Mirage mixed among ordinary people, yet so numerous, they already felt something strange.
Clearly, up to now, every weapon they had seen looked outdated one by one, yet those people of Mirage themselves seemed even more terrifying than the weapons.
And the day of the parade finally arrived.
On this morning, they were woken up by a long, distant call. No… or rather, they were slowly awakened within this sound. This sound was very loud, loud enough to make people’s eardrums feel a sharp pain. Yet, contrary to that, this sound brought everyone a sense of peace in their hearts. They opened their eyes within this sound, as if they had just woken up from a beautiful dream, their whole bodies filled with a sense of comfort.
It was too strange.
Shi Canghai sent someone out to ask, but they came back quickly.
His guard said, “The residents in the city told us not to worry. This is the voice of Hope City’s Rainbow Squad, Xiao Qing. It’s a giant turtle-shaped mech. This mech’s greatest strength lies in its safe defense. It is preparing for today’s parade.”
“A defensive mech… is it to prevent any danger from the parade from affecting everyone’s safety?” Shi Canghai murmured.
With the help of his guards, he dressed himself from head to toe to absolute perfection. As a scholar, the city lord of the Library wore a robe-style outfit. Intricate and precise patterns on it depicted the entire history of Earth. This outfit was very heavy. It was the most formal attire possible.
This alone was enough to show his stance—absolute respect for Hope City. If it were an ordinary day, he might not have paid such attention, but this time, he had specially brought the ceremonial attire that represented the highest respect.
When he stepped out the door, waiting at his door were a man and a woman. Both had exceptionally outstanding looks, remarkable bearing, and tall stature. From head to toe, even down to their fingertips, they were flawless. The slight curve of their lips seemed so perfectly trained that it looked completely formulaic. They looked simply like the world’s most perfect vases.
Yet Shi Canghai knew that the moment he got close to these two people, his body would start to tremble instinctively. That was fear. Fear of these two incomparably powerful receptionists.
Under the guidance of the receptionists, they got into a vehicle. Gradually, what they saw was a huge place ahead of them that none of them had seen before.
“What is that?” Shi Canghai finally couldn’t hold back his shock. He stared at that gigantic thing in front of him. He could even hear the sound of his own dry throat swallowing. That vast, greenish metal—a metallic sheen so beautiful it inspired reverence. Could it be…?
“That is the venue for this parade. I am honored to introduce to everyone one of the main city’s mech Rainbow Squad’s Xiao Qing. Xiao Qing is a turtle-shaped mech. It possesses defensive power that is unmatched in this world. Because this parade might bring danger, everyone’s meeting venue will be on the back of the turtle mech.”
Shi Canghai could hear the sound of his own heart pounding. A mech… that was a mech!? Wasn’t that a mountain?
He had seen the Rainbow Squad’s lamp post before. Although it was heavy and large, it absolutely did not reach the scale of a mountain. This thing had come out from inside the lamp post.
“Impossible. From any knowledge I know, this is impossible. How could a mech this big possibly shrink into that tiny lamp post in the end?” Shi Canghai felt his understanding was being heavily shaken. Was this a world he could no longer comprehend?
“City Lord of the Library, we are very glad you so admire our city lord’s technology. But even with all your vast knowledge, you still cannot understand our perfect Creator. What he possesses is something you can never imagine. After this parade, you will definitely have an even clearer experience.” The woman who was receiving them showed a rather proud smile. “Of course, I believe that once the Library joins us, under the leadership of our Creator, the main city will open up an even greater and stronger world.”
Shi Canghai no longer knew what he should say. He covered his lips, wanting to stop himself from asking any more embarrassing questions. His gaze turned to the guard beside him, and he too saw the same shock.
Shi Canghai tried to calm himself down.
After all, in Mirage, gods do exist, so even if there were many things he couldn’t understand and couldn’t explain, it was all perfectly normal.
He should calm down.
And not far away, their aircraft was rising. This was not a ground-skimming vehicle. It truly could fly. The reason it did not fly before was very likely because City Lord He Fang deliberately chose to abide by the peace treaty.
They were lining up.
“What is this line for?” Shi Canghai asked.
“It is the line to meet the Creator—oh no, we hope you will address him as City Lord.” When the female receptionist mentioned He Fang, her delicate and beautiful face revealed a faint flush, a subtle smile that made it hard to tell what she was thinking. “It’s a pity that all of you have been here for so long and have not properly met the true City Lord. Today, you all have the honor of meeting him in person.”
Shi Canghai had seen He Fang three times—twice through video, and once when He Fang was in disguise. In the true sense, there had never been an open, face-to-face meeting.
And finally, Shi Canghai saw the figure standing at the highest point of the distant turtle.
But the one who really entered Shi Canghai’s sight was not the person standing in the middle, but rather the people gathered around He Fang at that moment.
Before they even got close, the guard beside him let out an uncontrollable gasp of fear and resistance.
“Please put down all your hostility, then you will no longer feel afraid. And of course, please rest assured. We will not do anything dangerous to the City Lord of the Library. This is Hope City’s first parade. We hope it will end peacefully as well.” The receptionist’s voice soothed the guards who had become fearful because of this.
Shi Canghai understood why his guard was so terrified that he couldn’t help but let out a sound. It was because of the two men standing on either side of City Lord He Fang. They looked like they might be related by blood. Both of them wore black military uniforms. The younger one’s face still had a touch of youthfulness compared to the older one, yet the tangible danger radiating from them was so intense that anyone who came close would feel a physical nausea brought on by sheer fear.
And their eyes were pitch-black like ink, looking… just like a Nightmare Beast.
These two were guards. Yet these two guards alone completely crushed everyone Shi Canghai had brought with him. They didn’t even need to move; just standing there, their presence alone was enough to terrify them.
All of a sudden, Shi Canghai felt that maybe he really was just a frog at the bottom of a well. For the first time, he felt that bringing guards with him here was unbelievably foolish.
At He Fang’s side stood another man, also in a black military uniform. Judging by his uniform, his rank should be higher than the two guards. He was so beautiful. So beautiful that it was impossible to look away from his face. If not for the brim of his cap casting a shadow over his overly striking features, that sharp-edged beauty would probably drive anyone mad.
And this time, Shi Canghai once again saw that man in the white lab coat, the same man who had once stood beside City Lord He Fang to speak with them. From his bearing, he seemed rather scholarly and delicate, but those eyes made Shi Canghai instinctively avert his gaze, not daring to look directly.
Every single person standing at He Fang’s side filled them with fear. The woman in the red suit with blazing red hair and a figure so fiery it almost hurt to look at, the tall, broad-shouldered middle-aged man with terrifying muscles and a righteous face, and then there were Wei Qixuan and Yuan Sanjin, the two Deputy City Lords…
Though the line-up didn’t look massive at first glance, any single one of them was enough to make their hearts quake. Such people must be countless within Mirage, and these must be the very best among them.
City Lord He Fang is so simple. He sat there quietly among them, his expression calm. Yet the more peaceful he appeared, the more unfathomable Shi Canghai found him.
It was exactly this kind of person, so ordinary that anyone might overlook him, who could so easily command such a terrifyingly powerful group.
What kind of power was this?
‘Playing dumb to catch a tiger’? No, this was playing dumb to eat the gods!
“I’m very pleased to meet you, City Master Shi Canghai of the Library. It’s an honor for us that you traveled so far to attend our parade.” In the end, Shi Canghai heard City Lord He Fang’s voice, carrying a hint of a smile.
But by now, Shi Canghai no longer knew what he was even doing. They were standing on top of a giant mech, yet what they saw was an even more shocking monster than the mech itself. By the time he returned to his own place, Shi Canghai couldn’t even remember whether he’d behaved properly or not.
He felt like a child who had never seen the world.
Standing on the back of that turtle, he felt as if he might have crossed over into another world.
“Who’s next?” He Fang lifted his head slightly and quietly asked Yuan Zhiran at his side. This time, the guest management was largely handled by Yuan Zhiran to prevent these people from stirring up trouble within his city.
Yuan Zhiran looked at the people in the next car and immediately received the information, then passed it to He Fang’s terminal. He Fang’s terminal was protected against prying eyes, so only he could see it. This way, he could read directly from the information. If someone greeted him with something he didn’t know, he could be reminded instantly. It was basically a perfect cheat device.
Every time He Fang spoke, he sounded completely natural, looking exactly like a perfect City Lord. And only heaven knew how much effort his NPCs had put into this parade, while all he had to do was sit here calmly.
His clothes were custom-made, very comfortable to wear, with a faint coolness to them. Probably because of the fabric. He stayed seated the whole time; he’d originally thought of standing up, but the NPCs had told him: We must have the pride of a great nation, so you must always sit and speak with everyone. He Fang thought so too.
Though it was a parade, He Fang also knew from the city’s upper levels that just the appearance of their weapons wouldn’t attract enough attention. So this time, the parade was a real live demonstration to show off the true power of their weapons, to make the other mobile cities understand just how formidable they really were, to intimidate them.
If this went well, in the future, they might even hold military exercises with other mobile cities.
To make sure everyone could see, they activated Rainbow Squad Xiao Qing to serve as an observation platform, and Xiao Qing’s special feature could protect everyone from accidental injuries caused by the weapons.
“So many people.” In a brief pause, He Fang suddenly said.
“Indeed, there are many people.” Yuan Zhiran rarely showed a trace of arrogance that didn’t really suit him. “But these people don’t look the least bit intimidating. They’re all supposedly powerful upper-level figures, yet you can’t even pick out a single true powerhouse. I didn’t expect that.”
He Fang lifted his eyes and glanced at his NPC.
He couldn’t exactly say that it was because his NPCs were too strange.
He Fang had also realized that his physical attributes shouldn’t be much different from the wild NPCs’ attributes. And “Ruins Without Restart” carried fantasy elements. There were mechs and mobile cities, but the development path was still understandable, plus he’d heard there were ‘superhumans’ too, like Nightmare Beasts.
But the more he understood the world of “Ruins Without Restart”, the more puzzled he became about his NPCs. These NPCs were too strange, nothing like what should exist in a normal game. They were practically like…
Like the roles of dungeon bosses and players had been reversed in many games.
Normally, a dungeon boss would have a health bar so strong it couldn’t be defeated easily, and it would take lots of powerful players a long time to fight it down while dodging skills and such. But now it was completely flipped, and his NPCs didn’t even have any skill settings.
As a game, “Ruins Without Restart” did follow the trait of “players are the bug”, yet it had made this bizarre kind of balance. It was impossible to make sense of.
After this experience, seeing the “upper level” of these mobile cities only deepened that feeling for him.
How to put it, just like Yuan Zhiran felt, looking out across them all, there wasn’t a single one who could really fight.
When everyone was gathered, the turtle-shaped mech began to move forward bit by bit. Although it was extremely bulky and massive, each time its feet stepped onto the ground, it brought a very distinct rumbling sound. Yet everyone sitting on the turtle’s back felt very stable.
He Fang sat at the main seat, looking at the huge crowd surrounding him, and suddenly felt a little guilty.
But to maintain the “strong city’s” dignity, he kept sitting there with a blank face, saying not a single word, doing his best to appear unfathomable.
At this moment, Yuan Zhiran stepped forward directly to deliver some opening remarks. All of them are very simple, official-sounding phrases.
Everyone was very quiet, or rather, the only thing they truly wanted to understand was Hope City. On the back of the mech, just sitting there, He Fang could feel countless eyes, hiding their sharp edge, falling on him.
This time, besides the military parade, the biggest theme was actually to tell everyone in person that Hope City was willing to offer the holy land unconditionally as a leaseable area.
“The Nightmare Beast Seeds have long been a huge threat that endangers all mobile cities in the apocalypse. All available land is being squeezed bit by bit. According to our understanding and estimates, every major city is constantly forced to keep entering lands that may be invaded by Nightmare Beast Seeds, repeatedly clearing out all regrown plants. The entire world is restless and unstable, and we too deeply feel our inescapable responsibility in this world.”
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