Chapter Thirty-Eight: One Man Guards the Pass, Ten Thousand Cannot Break Through
“Brothers! Hold on! No matter how badly you’re wounded, it doesn’t matter! As long as we make it out, everything will be fine! At worst, we simply won’t come back next time!”
...
“Commander... Commander Zhao Hu has fallen in battle...”
“What? Damn...”
“Commander, watch your wound!”
“What about his security detail?”
“They must have run into fierce resistance; many died, the rest were scattered, and now they’re weeping over there.”
...
“Has anyone tallied the casualties?”
“We haven’t got exact numbers yet, but it should be less than thirty thousand... However, the wounded are countless—maybe sixty or seventy thousand. Fortunately, the enemy’s weapons were rather crude.”
...
Half-conscious, Chen Nian faintly heard fragments of conversation.
He slowly opened his eyes. Above him, the sky remained dim and gray.
“You’re awake!”
Seeing Chen Nian regain consciousness, a spacetrooper from the logistics corps hurried over and helped him sit up.
Chen Nian opened his eyes wide and saw the countdown had only two hours left. By his reckoning, he must have been unconscious for at least six or seven hours.
He glanced around. All around him were wounded spacetroopers.
Further out, squads of spacetroopers were sweeping the battlefield—some finishing off foes, others carrying the injured.
“Are you feeling unwell anywhere?” The spacetrooper, seeing Chen Nian’s confused expression, asked quietly.
Chen Nian shook his head slightly.
“I’m fine. Go tend to the others.”
“All right. Just rest a while longer—hang in there, and soon we’ll be out.”
...
When the spacetrooper had left, Chen Nian struggled to his feet.
The battlefield stretched for dozens of kilometers, littered everywhere with corpses.
It was a true wasteland of the fallen.
But what shocked him more was the sight beyond the battlefield: clusters of spacetroopers, drenched in blood, heads down, feverishly constructing defensive fortifications.
Further out, there were more.
At intervals, groups were building defenses, stretching far into the horizon.
The fortifications were already taking shape, clearly the product of hours of labor.
They had just endured a brutal battle, watched comrades die with their own eyes, and yet, these men could summon the strength to dig with crude tools, fortifying their position.
What kind of terrifying willpower was this?
---
In the metaverse gaming world, the Sky Dome Guild was famed for its cohesion, but compared to these men, it was worlds apart.
Chen Nian felt a surge of gratitude.
Grateful that he stood with this side.
In this moment, he understood deeply the vast gulf between ordinary people and elite troops.
If such a force clashed with ordinary folk, wiping out a million or two would be as easy as breathing.
...
Seeing a crowd gathered near the entrance to the Mecha City, pointing and discussing, Chen Nian walked over.
He was eager to see whether this battle had been worth it.
Just as Wang Yuan had said, a mechanical sentinel stood beside the city’s sole entrance.
The sentinel was two meters tall, eyes glowing red, its body radiating a blue metallic sheen; it looked formidable.
About thirty meters away, a deep line had been drawn on the ground.
Beyond it, a warning: “Extreme Danger—Do Not Approach.”
“Commander, what’s with this mechanical sentinel?” Chen Nian asked, approaching Wang Yinlong.
Wang Yinlong noticed the blood stains on Chen Nian, his eyes showing a hint of approval.
This young man had made great contributions in his previous venture into the virtual realm; this time, he brought back vital intelligence and fought in the great battle—truly a talent.
This time, the spacetroopers suffered heavy losses, including many senior officers... perhaps Chen Nian was worth cultivating.
“Throw this in and see for yourself,” Wang Yinlong said, handing Chen Nian a wooden stick he’d picked up.
Without hesitation, Chen Nian tossed the stick inside the line.
Before it even touched the ground, the mechanical sentinel suddenly extended a hand.
A beam as thick as a thumb shot from its palm, instantly reducing the stick to ashes.
“That’s... a laser weapon?” Chen Nian exclaimed, eyes wide.
In “Galaxy,” there was a weapon called the laser gun, which fired similar beams, but those were sci-fi gadgets; in reality, such weapons hadn’t been built.
If they could dismantle the sentinel’s arm and study its technology, could they replicate the weapon in the real world?
“If every spacetrooper could be equipped with this... there’d be nowhere in the virtual realm we couldn’t go. Everything would belong to us!”
Wang Yinlong sighed softly.
At that moment, several spacetroopers dragged over two allied corpses.
Under everyone’s gaze, they hurled the bodies from different directions inside the line.
The sentinel’s eyes flashed red. It raised its hand, red light swept across, and both corpses vanished almost simultaneously.
The entire process lasted perhaps 0.1 seconds.
Unbelievably precise and devastatingly powerful.
Whether stick or corpse, all were obliterated instantly.
Wang Yinlong exhaled quietly.
---
He knew well that, with such firepower, even a hundred men charging together wouldn’t last a second.
A true guardian—one man holding off thousands.
But did the thing have energy limits?
If so, they could take turns tossing objects in until it depleted its energy.
“Forget it—let the experts figure it out when we get out. Our mission is complete,” Wang Yinlong said, shaking his head. He glanced at Wang Yuan not far off.
Wang Yuan hadn’t fought in the battle. He was in decent shape, a blade of grass between his teeth, lying in a clean spot, gazing up at the gray sky, lost in thought.
Wang Yinlong sighed softly, saying nothing.
...
Time passed quickly.
With only five minutes left on the countdown, Wang Yuan, who had been lying there, suddenly stood up and walked toward Wang Yinlong.
Wang Yinlong automatically straightened.
“Wang Yinlong, promise me: you must break into this Mecha City.”
“I promise!” Wang Yinlong replied solemnly. Then, lowering his voice, he added, “Do you need me to deliver any message?”
“No need,” Wang Yuan said, waving it off. He glanced back at the busy spacetroopers, a faint smile on his face.
Next moment, he turned and walked straight toward the line at the city gate.
Seeing this, Ye Qiang, beside Wang Yinlong, was stunned and instinctively tried to stop him, but Wang Yinlong held him back.
Wang Yuan crossed the line. The sentinel extended its hand.
Red light flashed—Wang Yuan was instantly obliterated.
Ye Qiang stared, dumbfounded.
“Commander... he... what...”
Wang Yinlong replied quietly, “Did you forget? His real body is still with them. Because he leaked intel, the allied forces suffered countless casualties and lost Mecha City. Once he’s out, do you think he’ll fare well? When he escaped back here, he never expected to leave the virtual realm alive.”
Ye Qiang was speechless, and after a long silence, he saluted the spot where Wang Yuan had vanished.
...
Three minutes.
Two minutes.
One minute.
Consciousness departed, everything dissolved into darkness.
And this time, many would remain forever within the virtual realm.