Mister Zero, Her Story: Chapter 71 – Specter of the Tower
Meanwhile, Lin Cheng and Li Ping, rushing towards the battlefield, stopped and looked back at the towering Ember Furnace, their pupils constricting.
“The anomaly at the Ember Furnace… has vanished,” Li Ping whispered.
Lin Cheng sighed. “It seems… Mister is gone.”
Although they couldn’t sense the aura of the “Greed” ability, the terrifying spiritual energy fluctuations had dissipated, and the Ember Furnace was calm again.
Although their reasoning was different, even incorrect on Yan City’s side, both realized that an ancient being, a witness to the New Era, had passed away.
Further confirming this…
The sandstorm in the distance gradually subsided, and various esper abilities bloomed in the air.
The resulting energy fluctuations caused the ground to tremble.
“Dawn… they must be… bidding farewell to Mister,” Lin Cheng looked up at the display of esper powers in the sky and gasped.
“Such power… and that’s just Dawn’s hastily assembled force… Even if Yan City develops for centuries, we might not be able to match them…”
“Because Dawn has been developing for centuries,” Li Ping said softly. “If Mister hadn’t been so reluctant to expand, they would be a force rivaling even the Free Federation.”
The Misters’ original intention in founding Dawn had been to provide a home for the homeless.
However, at the time, many ability users were ostracized and homeless, which was why Dawn had become such a powerful organization, composed of over eighty percent ability users.
But such a concentration of power, capable of disrupting the world order, couldn’t be dismissed as simply “a home.”
And so, Dawn became what it was now.
Ultimately, it was an irreconcilable difference in philosophy between Mister and the younger generation.
“…A long silence…”
Lin Cheng said gravely, his gaze fixed on the spot where the sandstorm had dissipated.
After the burst of esper abilities, the sandstorm didn’t reform, and the expected Dawn attack didn’t come.
“Perhaps they’re just mourning,” Li Ping touched the sword at his waist. “This is a good opportunity, it buys us some time… I’ve mobilized most of our remaining teams.”
The reason they weren’t attacking while Dawn was mourning wasn’t because Li Ping wanted to be honorable.
It was because they weren’t ready…
Launching a hasty attack against a force composed of “Peril” and “Ruin” level ability users would be suicidal.
Although Lin Cheng and Li Ping had decided to fight personally, and together, they were Yan City’s strongest conventional force besides Sun Biwu…
They alone couldn’t withstand Dawn’s assault.
They needed to gather Yan City’s forces for a decisive battle, just like Qin Wen’s earlier strategy.
Their objective wasn’t to defeat Dawn, but to delay their advance and help Sun Biwu locate their leader.
Sun Biwu was already in position at the Ember Furnace, ready to activate the “Ember’s eruption” the moment Lin Cheng and Li Ping gave the signal.
Once that happened, Dawn’s final offensive would fail.
But the cost to Yan City…
Would be heavy.
“It’s so quiet,” Lin Cheng looked up at the sky. After the torrential downpour, not a single cloud remained, revealing a rare, starry night. “It’s like… the calm before the storm.”
“Indeed,” Li Ping shrugged.
They both knew that when Dawn’s mourning ended, a fiercer attack would follow.
Although Dawn’s objective wasn’t entirely clear, judging from their movements and the direction of their attack… it was likely the “Ice Coffin Weapon.”
Dawn had launched several operations to retrieve “Ice Coffin Weapons,” even attacking mega-cities.
But those were usually small-scale operations, involving only a few ability users, or at most, one or two teams.
The last time Dawn had deployed ten teams at once was thirty years ago, during the war against “Colonna.”
Colonna’s fate was well-known, and Yan City didn’t want to share it.
“Three Disaster Response teams will arrive in ten minutes, the others are still assembling, it will take about half an hour…” Li Ping sighed. “Dawn’s multi-pronged attack has stretched our forces thin, many teams are understaffed.”
“Three hundred pulse cannon troops from the southeastern front are also on their way, and about seven hundred mobile armored soldiers from the north,” Lin Cheng shook his head, his expression grim. “That’s all we have for now. The other garrisons need to regroup.”
Li Ping was monitoring the Anomaly Management Bureau’s deployments, while Lin Cheng was in charge of the Yan City army.
“Such a small force… well, we’ll hold on as long as we can…”
Li Ping took a deep breath, his expression turning serious.
If they could just withstand this wave, Dawn’s advantage would be gone, and they might even be defeated by the incoming reinforcements.
“By the way, is Frick still refusing to help?” Lin Cheng suddenly frowned, recalling something he had overlooked. “Although he’s from ‘Noah,’ right now… a near-‘Peril’ level combatant is a valuable asset.”
Frick hadn’t been “Peril” level when he arrived in Yan City, and there were no records of his promotion.
“I don’t know, I can’t reach him,” Li Ping frowned. “The Anomaly Management Bureau headquarters in the core district has been evacuated. Could he… have been left behind?”
The Bureau headquarters, located between the first and second lines of defense, had been abandoned during the retreat.
All personnel, including the Apprehension Department, had been evacuated.
But Frick had been unreachable, even through the communication channels.
Fortunately, command of the Apprehension Department teams had been temporarily transferred to Li Ping at the start of the war; otherwise, the situation would be even worse.
“I’m not counting on Frick, he’s never been fond of Yan City,” Lin Cheng said, exasperated by these political games. “Unfortunately, our younger generation is still recovering. The younger Hua girl, the Sword Saint successor… they were both seriously injured defending the first line…”
“Careful, the energy fluctuations are back.”
Li Ping’s expression turned serious.
“Their mourning is over…”
Lin Cheng looked up.
The sandstorm, which had subsided briefly, was reforming.
Terrifying energy fluctuations, even from kilometers away, felt like a powerful gale.
Behind the forming sandstorm, dozens of silent figures advanced towards Yan City’s Ember Furnace.
And behind Lin Cheng and Li Ping, more figures gathered, Yan City mobilizing all its remaining soldiers and ability users, determined to stop Dawn.
After the brief lull following Mister’s death, the war… continued.
…
Meanwhile, near the Ember Furnace.
Sun Biwu stood atop the Furnace, his eyes closed.
Not exactly meditating, just… bored, waiting for orders.
Waiting for death was said to be agonizing, sometimes even more terrifying than death itself.
But Sun Biwu didn’t feel that way. He was numb to death, even welcoming it.
If it weren’t for protecting Yan City… he would have long since wandered into the depths of the Endless Wasteland, like countless others seeking death.
Because of…
The pain, the constant torment.
…The secret technique that had allowed a mediocre “Ruin” level ability user like him to reach “Peril” level… how could it be without a cost?
The cost was his lifespan… that was true.
But the shortened lifespan was just a side effect.
The true cost was the constant, burning pain that consumed him.
The so-called secret technique transformed his spiritual energy into a distorted form, burning it to increase his power, then replenishing it with the Ember Furnace’s endless energy.
Therefore, Sun Biwu couldn’t truly be considered a full “Peril” level combatant.
Like during the “Ghost Town” incident, although a “Peril” level ability user should have intervened, Sun Biwu’s special condition had limited him to cleaning up the battlefield.
However, the burning spiritual energy brought not only power, but also unimaginable pain.
Once activated, this technique couldn’t be stopped. Sun Biwu’s spiritual energy had been burning for decades, the torment a constant companion.
This was why, when Old Man Sword learned that Sun Biwu was still alive, even he, one of humanity’s strongest, had been shocked, even comparing him to Dawn’s last Mister.
Of course, Mister’s suffering was far greater, his very soul eroded by malice, and he had endured it for much longer.
Knowing that he would soon sacrifice his life to trigger the “Ember’s” eruption, Sun Biwu felt a sense of relief…
Decades of constant pain… would finally end.
Sun Biwu slowly opened his eyes and looked at the approaching sandstorm, sighing deeply.
For him, a dying man, this was a release.
But for the living…
It was another kind of torment.
Whether the war, or his sacrifice.
“Mister Sun Biwu?”
A soft voice suddenly echoed beside him, like a gentle breeze.
“Who?!”
Sun Biwu’s pupils constricted. He reached for his weapon and looked towards the voice.
A tall figure stood at the entrance, its face hidden in the shadows of the eaves.
A woman… who was she?
This was the Ember Furnace, the most heavily guarded location in Yan City.
And Sun Biwu, a “Peril” level ability user, hadn’t sensed her approach.
Could she be an assassin from Dawn…?
He dismissed the thought immediately.
No, a Dawn assassin wouldn’t know his name…
“It’s me.”
The figure stepped forward, out of the shadows.
The moonlight illuminated a delicate face with a faint smile, a few strands of hair obscuring her eyes, but Sun Biwu still recognized her.
“So it’s Miss Qin Wen,” Sun Biwu relaxed slightly, his hand moving away from his weapon, then he frowned. “Wait, how did you get here?”
Qin Wen was a team leader in the Apprehension Department, recovering from her injuries.
But she seemed to have fully recovered now…
Why wasn’t she on the front lines?
He alone was enough to guard the Ember Furnace; the other guards were mainly for early warning and delaying tactics until he could arrive.
There was no need to station such a valuable asset like Qin Wen here…
It was a waste.
“Me?” Qin Wen’s smile didn’t falter. “I’m just here to… visit an old friend.”
She glanced towards the interior of the Ember Furnace, her nose twitching slightly.
“Mm… that familiar scent… not much different from that ‘Greed’ fellow… To achieve this much with a mere human body… I truly underestimated him back then.”
“What are you talking about?”
Sun Biwu stared at Qin Wen, confusion in his eyes.
He didn’t understand what she meant, but he instinctively felt something was wrong…
This Miss Qin Wen… was different.
Although they had only met a few times, the Qin Wen in his memory was boisterous and straightforward, not this… feminine and seductive.
“I apologize, some things from the past… are hard to forget,” Qin Wen smiled apologetically, slightly lifting the hem of her skirt. “I’ve disturbed you, Mister Sun Biwu. I’ll be going now.”
She turned to leave.
“…Strange.”
Sun Biwu watched her go, murmuring softly, then closed his eyes again.
He didn’t see the countless crimson tentacles writhing and twisting at the base of the tower, strangely entangled and unable to reach the Ember Furnace.
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