Chapter 1966 When Flowers of the Other Shore Blossom
The large group of people flooded into Broken Stone City overwhelmingly.
Zhao Lie found an empty place outside the city that would never be affected by the collapsing skyscrapers. The shuttles were parked in a circle, and together with the barricades, iron plates, and watch towers, a rather well-defended camp was constructed.
Then, a lot of scouts and snipers were sent to explore the city to make sure that no tough guys from the Bloody Worlds were lurking near the camp. They also occupied the commanding heights around the camp. Dozens of firing points were deployed in well-calculated locations to guarantee the maximal firepower.
A large number of landmines and crystal bombs had also been planted on both sides of the main road to the camp. Should anybody want to attack the Village of Peace’s camp, they would certainly be slaughtered without any mercy.
Li Yao even saw Zhao Lie commanding a lot of muscular men to set up bizarre-shaped, iron-structured machines not far away from the camp. Judging from the form, they looked like medieval catapults. There was no telling what they were for.
Seeing how Zhao Lie commanded the villagers calmly and meticulously, Li Yao secretly complimented him in his heart. The tough bandit from the Bloody Worlds and the captain of the exploration team of the Village of Peace indeed had his own expertise. No wonder he had won the support of many people and boasted enough influence to challenge ‘Sky Breaking Hammer’ Gu Zhengyang.
Almost a thousand people were as busy as bees for half a day. It was not until the sun set and the night fell that all the work was completed. Li Yao then saw Zhao Chong and his Iron Blood Youths, dozens of them in total, rush out on their single shuttles, spraying shockingly red paint on the main roads of Broken Stone City and drawing a line that was as intense as fire.
An enormous iron stick was also raised on the red line after every fixed distance. On each iron stick, the skull of a mutated beast was placed, with the enormous word ‘PEACE’ engraved on it.
The endless red lines and skull sticks divided Broken Stone City into two areas. After the red line was drawn, many weird noises echoed inside the ruins. Countless people who were covered in dirt with barely any clothes retreated out of the red lines, not entirely willingly.
“The Village of Peace is the largest village in the hundreds of square kilometers around. We also have the largest number of experts. With my master and ‘Blood Eagle’ Zhao Lie supervising the battle, it is absolutely impossible for any other village to defeat us,” Han Te explained to Li Yao in a low voice. “If we were ruthless enough, we could totally claim all the assets without leaving a single nail to other villages. However, such an approach is too cruel.
“Therefore, my master made the rule that a red line will be drawn on the landing spot of the assets before every Bliss Ceremony. All the items within the red line will be ours, and nobody is allowed to come in and take them. The items outside the red line belong to other villages. However hard they fight for them, we will not go out and interfere.
“In such a way, the conflicts between us and other villages can be avoided, and everybody has a chance of surviving.”
Li Yao’s interest was aroused. It was indeed a good approach to reduce casualties. However, he was still puzzled. “Do other villages obey your master’s rule so nicely?”
Han Te smiled. “Naturally, they didn’t at first. When my master drew the red line for the first time, they all burst into laughter and thought that my master was crazy.
“But whoever stepped over the red line would taste the feeling of ‘Sky Breaking Hammer’. After decades, no village has the courage to cross the red line anymore.
“Naturally, when everybody is fighting each other in a frenzy, it can’t be helped if somebody gets lost and crosses the boundary. Before, when my father supervised the battle, he always just beat them up and threw them back to where they came from. But since ‘Blood Eagle’ Zhao Lie is in command this year… I hope that the guy does not cause much trouble!”
Li Yao focused his attention and scanned Zhao Lie’s direction.
He saw that the ruthless, decisive bandit of the past was standing on a watch tower, frowning and staring at the depths of the city ruins with apparent worry.
Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts spread out like tides, surpassing the red line on the main roads quickly and reaching the city ruins. As he expected, he found countless sinners from other villages lurking in dilapidated buildings and dark corners.
Compared to the villagers of the Village of Peace, the sinners from the smaller villages were more like animals that had mutated due to excessive radiation.
They had less gear, and their bodies were thinner and more hunched. Almost all of them had disheveled hair and a dirty face, with gangrene and ulcers everywhere on their skin. Fright and hatred beamed out of their eyes as they stared at the red line as well as the people of the Village of Peace on the other side of the red line.
Li Yao could sense the intense vibe from them, the vibe of destruction that they could do anything for their survival, and that they were willing to die with anybody after the hope of survival was gone.
Despite his abundant experience traveling in the sea of stars, Li Yao was still a little disturbed by the animalistic air of the sinners.
Perhaps Zhao Lie’s belief was the right choice. It was better to attack than to be attacked. In the Land of Sins, there was no fundamental difference between civilians and bandits, thugs and the innocents, humans and animals.
If they did not kill the others, they would be eaten afterward!
Night fell, and the stinky wind rose. In the Land of Sins polluted by radiation, colorful, ghostly fire flashed everywhere, as if countless specters were dancing in the wind waiting to appreciate the dog-eat-dog play to be performed soon.
It was a starless time. The only thing that could be seen was the eccentric glow from the Heavenly Rails, which made them look like giant boas that had tied up the entire planet.
Right then, the giant boas slowly opened their eyes, letting out the most intense and glamorous redness.
“L—Look, Manjusaka!”
At that moment, all the sinners lurking in the city ruins forgot their destiny. They opened their hands and tried to reach for the sky, as if their incomplete, twisted fingers could touch the unsubstantial brilliance of ‘the City in the Sky’.
Manjusaka, the legendary Flower of the Other Shore that could make people volunteer to happily walk into hell, slowly blossomed in the dark sky of the Land of Sins. The crimson brilliance soaked the entire land in an ocean of blood.
Hum! Hum! Hum! Hum!
Blurred and anxious enchantments echoed everywhere in the glimmering city ruins. The priests from various villages were begging for the angels to grant them more luck gracefully with their own spell.
“Look! Look!”
There was no telling how long the enchantments lasted, but when the Flower of the Other Shore fully blossomed and the redness was as thick as blood, hundreds of eyes of dead fish seemed to open in the deep night sky at the same time and stare at the Land of Sins and the sinners. They were the parachutes that carried resources and the hope of survival for the next year.
The enchantments in the ruins turned into devastating howls. The prosperous city of the past turned into lifeless debris at first and then a pure jungle of slaughters, where everybody became the most ferocious beasts.
The parachutes floating in the night sky represented hope, but they were also a symbol of death!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Hiu! Hiu! Hiu!
Li Yao noticed that the dozens of contraptions that looked like catapults in the camp of the Village of Peace had been tightened to the maximal. A brawny, armed man was crouching on the rail of every catapult. After a rumbling noise, they were launched into the air like cannonballs.
All the brawn men were carrying huge metal backpacks. As their momentum petered out and they were about to fall, their backpacks released powerful air currents and unfolded four metal wings, allowing them to ascend and approach the parachutes.
In the meantime, from the city ruins outside of the red line, a lot of brawny men with wings were ejected, too. Like birds, they staggered and charged at the parachutes.
Shua! Shua! Shua!
They were all experts when it came to manipulating the wind power and air currents. Like the most professional surfers, they made use of the turbulence of the air delicately and reached the parachutes’ side.
Their wings were thin and had sharp edges, allowing them to cut the ropes of the parachutes and make the parachutes fall to one side.
After every rope was cut off and a parachute was sent to their destination, exclamations that sounded like howls would echo on the ground.
“They are all Winged Warriors,” Han Te explained to Li Yao. “Because we have only drawn the red line on the ground and it is impossible for us to divide the range in the sky, a batch of elites from every village flies into the air in advance and controls the fall of the parachutes accurately to make them fall into their own zone. In that case, the assets will surely be their village’s!”
More and more Winged Warriors flew into the sky, but the direction of the parachutes whose rope was cut off was very difficult to control. Should there be any change in the wind, it was very easy for them to collide and tangle with each other.
Therefore, the Winged Warriors from different villages inevitably had soul-stirring fights in midair. Now and then, somebody’s wings would be cut off and kicked down from the sky, thudding to the ground in huge dust and dull noises.
The larger a parachute was, the heavier the asset inside would be. The few largest parachutes soon became everyone’s target.
Some of the Winged Warriors flew higher and higher without bothering anything in order to drag the largest parachute to their side. They gradually approached the ‘Heavenly Rails’.
It all happened too fast. The Heavenly Rails suddenly glittered, like giant boas that had finally revealed their terrible true appearance. Lightning raged and illuminated the night sky, electrifying the Winged Warriors who had touched the sky and tearing them into pieces.
“They were too close to the sky,” Liu Li said gloomily. “Sinners like us are not qualified to touch the holy sky.”