The night before the promotion

Chapter 84: Ascension
The tiger tore off a strip of cloth and tied it tightly around his upper arm. After a simple way of stopping the bleeding, the skin gradually turned pale and the dripping sound continued.

It might be the blood loss, or it might be the strong impact of the incident. Shanjun blinked, his mind was in a trance, and a series of strange feelings emerged, cutting his nerves like a sharp knife.

Sharp, loud, harsh, evil, hateful...

The tiger used all kinds of words to describe this strange feeling until he found its name deep in his memory.

death.

Knowing its real name, the tiger's pupils narrowed slightly, and the blood in his body turned cold. The extremely low temperature almost penetrated into his bones, as if he was covered with rust, locking the movement of his joints and making his steps stiff and weak.

Was it the continuous explosions from the Supervisory Bureau? Or was it Lin Jiang's terrifying wind? Or maybe the world was heading towards destruction. The ship began to wail and sway, and the long corridor also began to tilt sharply.

The tiger was running around in the corridor like a lost and helpless child. Panic and anxiety were like bombs that exploded in his heart and burned his internal organs.

His body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"I...what's wrong with me?"

The tiger tried to calm his body, but the tremors continued.

Was he feeling terrified? This emotion was so strong that he actually reacted in such a ridiculous way... This shouldn't be the case.

Shan Jun was a soldier, a soldier who crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. Even though he was once crushed under the ruins, he still relied on his tenacious will to control his armed incarnation and completed the counterattack against the enemy, even though he was covered in blood and his legs were broken.

In any case, the tiger should not be a person who would feel fear, or even tremble with fear, but the cruel reality was right in front of him, loudly proclaiming the tiger's cowardice.

The tiger was scared.

Once upon a time, Shan Jun was indeed an iron-blooded soldier, but as Zhou Si said, Shan Jun had been hiding behind his incarnation for too long, so long that his spirit and will, which he once was proud of, had become rusty and could be easily knocked down with just a little effort.

"Tiger!"

A shout came from behind, and Shanjun turned around nervously, only to see Huo Daochuan approaching quickly from the shadows. He helped the injured Shanjun up, and the two of them quickened their pace and evacuated to the other end of the corridor.

Huo Daochuan brought bad news, "The Supervisory Bureau has sent a large number of armed avatars, and there are fierce exchanges of fire everywhere."

The tiger tried to calm himself down. Once fear took over his mind, his death would be imminent.

"We have to get out of here," Shan Jun took a deep breath repeatedly, "Go to the stern, there is a lifeboat there."

Huo Daochuan said pessimistically, "I don't think we have time to reach the stern."

Bursts of explosions came from all around. Facing the legendary paradise, the Supervisory Bureau adopted an extremely brutal means of attack, which was to blast out paths of attack.

The armed avatars efficiently invaded each cabin, and all the rebels were vaporized in the half-melted metal fragments, leaving only charred remains. Only those who knelt down in time and gave up resistance were given a glimmer of hope.

If it were not for ensuring Zhou Si's survival and recovering the large amount of technical data in Yunzhong City, the Supervisory Bureau's original plan was to directly launch missiles to sink the ship.

In this extreme weather environment, all fires and lights will be covered by wind and rain. As long as it is properly controlled, the citizens of Anyan City will not even realize that while they are avoiding the typhoon, a local war is breaking out next to them.

"No...we still have time."

The tiger's eyes became fierce again and he turned back into the ferocious tiger.

Picking up the phone, Shan Jun connected to the ship's system. His voice traveled along the circuit and rang out from various loudspeakers.

"My fellow believers, the evil demons have invaded our paradise! The world is heading towards destruction, but the time to ascend to heaven has also arrived!"

With Huo Daochuan's puzzled look on his face, the tiger was like a possessed person, making his final agitation.

"Let's go to Wonderland together! Everyone!"

The crazy voice echoed in the burning ship, like a bewitching devil's voice, and reached the ears of every believer.

In the dark corridor, Huo Daochuan could not see anything.

But he heard it.

After Shan Jun's crazy call, Huo Daochuan heard roars, chanting, and gunshots coming from all around... It seemed that in an instant, the intensity of the battle increased several points, and all the believers fell into the madness of seeking immortality, allowing the raging fire and the disease of separation to engulf them.

Shanjun smiled darkly, "See, now we have time."

Holding the phone tightly, Shanjun took heavy steps and said, "It's okay. I have expected this day to come."

He comforted himself, "I have backed up all the important information. As long as we can escape, Cloud City can be rebuilt at any time."

The roar of explosions and gunshots gradually approached, like the footsteps of death striding forward.

Shan Jun kicked open a shaky hatch. Sweat and blood mixed together and flowed through his pupils. Together with the rising flames, the world in his eyes turned into a nightmare scene of blood and fire.

"Whether it is the Land of Elysium or the so-called City in the Clouds, they are nothing but empty shells."

Shan Jun asked and answered himself, his eyes fanatically, "As long as we master the technology, as long as the disease continues to spread in human society, there will always be desperate people joining us!"

Passing through the aerial corridor, Huo Daochuan saw fierce conflicts breaking out below. The believers fired back at the armed incarnations as if they were not afraid of death.

Everyone was yelling and shouting, their fingers on the triggers as if they were welded together.

For a moment, Huo Daochuan felt doubtful and confused. He couldn't understand these people's persistence and madness, even though he was one of them.

Until one believer shouted.

"Fight back! Fight back!"

With tears in his eyes, he stood high up, like a flag-bearer waving a flag, his voice resounding.

"This is our last paradise. We must not let..."

Before he could finish his words, a hail of burning bullets swept over him, and his body fell down, turning into a rolling fireball.

His death did not frighten the believers, nor did they even show any sign of retreat; they continued to come forward one after another.

Those who had guns raised their guns, those who didn't have guns drew their swords, and many human-shaped avatars rushed out from the corridor. They were all avatar killers reserved by Yunzhong City.

Countless figures fell one after another, and were crushed into pieces by the iron feet of the armed incarnations.

There is nothing left, nothing at all.

Huo Daochuan numbly walked through the sky corridor, following closely behind Shanjun's figure, but inexplicably, Huo Daochuan could not see Shanjun's figure clearly, as if the distance between them was getting farther and farther, and darkness rolled in, swallowing up the two of them like a tide.

A sharp pain spread from Huo Daochuan's mind, and he cursed in his heart.

"Damn it, does it have to be this time?"

The consciousness disease spread from Huo Daochuan's mind, affecting his nerves and thinking.

The world in front of my eyes gradually became strange and unpredictable, with large blocks of colors roughly mixed together, carrying an aura of grotesqueness and hideousness, just like an AI painting.

Huo Daochuan followed his intuition and stepped into another cabin. He saw a steel tree covered with screws and gears rising from the ground. Countless cables were hung on the branches and treetops, gently drooping down, like wildly growing vines, or like silent poisonous snakes.

Countless believers sleep beneath the Iron Tree, the metal roots entangled their bodies, piercing beneath their skin, with blood oozing out faintly.

The believers did not feel any pain. On the contrary, an expression of extreme satisfaction appeared on their faces with their eyes closed, as if they were immersed in a beautiful dream.

Huo Daochuan walked to the tree in a daze. Bursts of rumbling sounds came from above his head. He looked up and saw a dazzling red light on the top of the cabin, just like what he had seen in the Taoist temple before.

Even though he was affected by the Lizhi disease, Huo Daochuan still recognized the current situation at a glance. Above the cabin, an iron soldier incarnation was firing at this place, melting through the metal with high temperature, and continued to attack downwards.

Drops of molten iron fell and landed on the ground, exploding into sparks all over the sky. A few sparks landed on Huo Daochuan's skin, causing waves of burning pain and a hot breath to his face.

"Huo Daochuan!" Someone was calling his name. The voice was sometimes far away and sometimes near. He couldn't tell whether it was reality or an illusion.

Huo Daochuan turned his head and saw a believer standing behind him. Huo Daochuan tried to see his face clearly, but all he could see was a mass of constantly wriggling darkness.

More and more footsteps were heard, and many believers came from all directions. They all looked at him and surrounded him. Under this steel tree and the red-hot iron, it was like an ancient and distant mysterious sacrifice.

"You... you..."

Huo Daochuan looked at the believers hesitantly, but before he could say anything, noisy voices arose from the crowd.

"Ascending to Immortality!"

"Ascending to Immortality!"

"Ascending to Immortality!"

The believers cheered with all their might, even though large amounts of molten iron fell from their heads, even though some people were burned into fireballs in the splashing flames, and even though this huge ship carrying everyone's desires was gradually sinking in General Lin's storm.

They continued to shout, turning a blind eye to the lives and deaths of others, and even everything in Cloud City, just like the last dance before the end of the world.

"Come with us, Huo Daochuan!" the believers said excitedly, "This is the moment predicted!"

"We will be freed from our fragile bodies, liberated in spirit, and gain absolute freedom," another believer said with emotion, "Finally...it's finally going to end."

Huo Daochuan's body froze in place, like a piece of cooled iron.

Shan Jun regards faith as a means to control his followers, while his followers regard faith as a safe haven for their spiritual world. Huo Daochuan is somewhere in between.

Huo Daochuan is not as powerful and greedy as Shanjun, but he can understand Shanjun's methods. At the same time, he can empathize with this kind of madness from the perspective of believers... just like his own pursuit of No. 63.

Support your own spiritual pillar.

Seeing that Huo Daochuan did not respond, the believers knelt down under the steel tree. He wrapped the vines around his neck as if he wanted to hang himself - this strange scene corresponded to the reality of wearing a neural connection helmet.

"See you in Wonderland, Huo Daochuan."

Listening to the believers' farewell words, Huo Daochuan was stunned for a moment. He reacted belatedly and shouted, "Stop! Are you crazy?"

Huo Daochuan rushed forward and tried to take off the neural connection helmet, but the other believers stopped him.

They asked in confusion, "What are you doing? Why are you interrupting his journey to immortality!"

"No... there is no such thing as becoming an immortal!"

Huo Daochuan shouted in despair, but no one paid attention to his voice. All the believers fell into hysterical madness and indulged in their own fantasies.

Therefore, Huo Daochuan could only watch as the believer closed his eyes and started the upgrading procedure.

A dazzling electric current flashed on the steel tree, hitting the steel and piercing the air. Huo Daochuan smelled the scent of Houttuynia cordata, and the hairs on his body stood up involuntarily.

The believers wore neural connection helmets, their eyes were closed, their faces were full of peace, and they fell into a long and beautiful dream.

Suddenly, the beautiful dream was shattered.

It was as if a horrifying nightmare had completely captured the believer. He began to twitch strangely, his face was hideous, and his limbs were twisted in a way that was almost against the human body. He looked like a poor guy invaded by evil spirits in a horror movie, with blue blood vessels bulging clearly.

Huo Daochuan looked at his followers with tears in his eyes. He knew that the metamorphosis technology had not yet reached true perfection. It could only allow a very small number of qualified and trained people to be upgraded.

Not to mention, the upgraded facilities here, the realm of immortality, are not perfect at all... This is just a false expectation promised by the mountain lord to deceive the believers.

Huo Daochuan tried to do something, but he could do nothing, just like that day in the Gulf of Mexico.

He could only watch as sparks flashed in the neural docking helmet, and the electric current heated the believers' brain tissue into a sticky paste amid twitching and groaning in pain.

Huo Daochuan smelled the burnt smell of flesh and blood.

First there was dead silence—and then everyone started celebrating!
Large pieces of red-hot molten iron fell down and ignited the Iron Tree. The Iron Soldier incarnation poked his head out from the broken gap, and his cold voice echoed amid the carnival.

"Give up resistance!"

No one paid any attention to the declaration of the Iron Soldier's incarnation; the believers just kept laughing.

Huo Daochuan stood between them, looking so helpless. Suddenly, he realized that he was not the only one who fell into the influence of the Lishi disease, but also countless believers who entered this psychedelic state together.

If the pursuit of No. 63 is Huo Daochuan's spiritual pillar and his safe haven to escape reality, then for the believers, Yunzhong City is their only hope.

The only place for this group of marginalized people in society to stay.

But now, this precious shelter is burning in the flames and sinking in the roaring sea.

All the beautiful dreams have come to an end.

The believers refused to see the end, so they shouted.

"It is done!" the believers shouted. "He is done!"

“He has become an immortal!”

Huo Daochuan shouted, "No...he's dead!"

"died?"

A believer looked at Huo Daochuan in confusion and suddenly grabbed his collar, "What are you talking about? Huo Daochuan, he obviously became an immortal, didn't he?"

Huo Daochuan couldn't see the faces and eyes of the believers, but he could hear their fanatical and tough voices.

He tried to explain himself, but the believers had no intention of listening to Huo Daochuan's words. One by one, they put on the neural docking helmets and rushed to step into the eternal paradise.

"No no no no!"

Huo Daochuan wailed weakly, but no matter how he tried to stop it, it was all in vain.

"You...you are all crazy!"

Huo Daochuan denounced and shed tears.

Arcs of electricity flashed by, and believers one after another died in convulsions, but on their twisted and hideous faces, there was a smile of relief at the last moment.

"No, we are not crazy, Huo Daochuan."

The believer, whose face could not be seen clearly, pressed down on Huo Daochuan's shoulders, like a wriggling black shadow, standing still in front of his eyes.

"We must believe that humans can become immortals."

He whispered, "Only in this way can we survive."

After saying that, Huo Daochuan watched him turn around and leave, put on the neural docking helmet, and connected the upgrade program.

Under the sky full of shattering sparks, on the huge ship that was sinking to the bottom of the sea, the remaining believers chanted scriptures together, blessing their fellow believers who were ascending to heaven. They refused to stop even if the iron soldier incarnations fell from the sky, even if the exploding streams of fire swept down large groups of people.

Huo Daochuan stood in a daze under the Iron Tree. He saw that the roots of the Iron Tree were extending little by little. It entangled believers one after another, dragging their corpses into the dark underground little by little, piercing their bodies, eating their flesh and drinking their blood.

Until the fruits are produced on the treetops.

Huo Daochuan smiled inexplicably, and an unprecedented sense of absurdity came over him, as if his life, and even the world, were all a black humor joke.

Everything is boiling, a carnival of despair.

(End of this chapter)