The night before the promotion

Chapter 85 The Betrayer

Huo Daochuan had no idea how he left the realm of immortality. His mind kept flashing back to the scenes of his followers going to their deaths together and the iron soldiers incarnating and firing fiercely.

On the twisted and spreading branches, countless souls bore fruits on the Iron Tree. Perhaps they really became immortals, or turned into a bunch of garbled codes wriggling and changing in the hard disk. It is also possible that they simply died, just like everyone will experience.

In short, Huo Daochuan left the realm of immortality in a daze and rushed around in the cabin that was gradually burning.

In fact, he understood that all that Shanjun had said was just a beautiful bubble. Whether it was Huo Daochuan or the believers, everyone knew in their hearts how illusory and fragile all this was.

But...but it's like a kind of self-hypnosis, giving themselves suggestions, as long as they firmly believe that becoming immortal can get rid of all the sufferings in the real world, they can feel inner peace and survive.

Yes, inner peace sounds simple, but it is so heavy and high.

All along, they have been living in this illusory peace, until Chen Wen-Ge's death, until the tiger was ready to sell the paradise, until the iron soldier came and crushed everything into pieces.

Huo Daochuan's steps became erratic and his heart was beating violently, not because of fear, but because of panic, like a cowardly stray dog ​​that was dragged out of its messy den and thrown heavily on the street for everyone to laugh at.

The safe haven that had always protected Huo Daochuan was burning, and his soul was once again exposed to the chaotic and noisy world.

All that Huo Daochuan had insisted on, all that he had hoped for, all that he had ever fantasized about, were burned into shattered nothingness bit by bit in the flames.

Extremely complex emotions ran along Huo Daochuan's nerves, almost bursting his head.

"I...where should I go?"

Huo Daochuan stopped in front of a dim corridor, big drops of sweat flowing down his cheeks, mixing with blood and ashes.

——dripping.

He stared at the ground beneath his feet, at the ground soaked with his own sweat. The wet marks intertwined with each other like a strange abstract painting.

A hint of faint blue suddenly entered Huo Daochuan's sight. He slowly raised his head, walked across the corridor, and came to the Dream Pool in Yunzhong City.

Just as he had shown Zhou Si before, countless water tanks were stacked up like high-rise buildings. In the dim blue light, pale figures curled up, falling into a long sleep, as if they were unaware of the changes in the outside world.

Huo Daochuan first felt a strange sense of peace, then he ran to the operating table in horror, trying to wake up the people in the water tank.

That's too late.

A roaring explosion came from a cabin on one side. The entire wall began to burn red and collapse, and rushed into the numerous water tank rooms with scorching flames.

The heat wave easily knocked Huo Daochuan over. When he got up, through the melted bulkhead, he saw the Iron Soldier incarnation engaging in a fierce firefight with the humanoid incarnations behind him.

All the incarnation bodies on standby in Yunzhong City were mobilized at this moment. They were not aware of the transaction between Shanjun and Madam Cui, nor did they know why the Supervisory Bureau found this.

They only knew that Cloud City was their last paradise, and if they lost it, they would have no place to return to.

As the bulkhead was broken through, the offensive of the humanoid avatars became more fierce. The main bodies of their consciousness were located in these countless water tanks. As humanoid avatars, they could return even if they were killed thousands of times. However, once their real bodies were killed, all that awaited them was darkness and tranquility.

Similarly, the Iron Soldier incarnation also realized this and turned the muzzle of the gun. Huo Daochuan saw a blazing fire rapidly expanding in his eyes.

"Do not……"

Before Huo Daochuan could even scream, it was drowned out by the loud explosion.

The semi-molten metal fragments, with extremely high temperatures, spread out in a cone shape and rushed towards the water tank. They first penetrated the outer wall of the water tank, piercing the pale body inside or cutting off its limbs.

The blood quickly spread in the water tank, dyeing the dark blue light into a scarlet red.

Then, the red-hot metal came into contact with the liquid, making a crackling, rapid evaporation sound, billowing white steam surged out, and the water temperature rose rapidly and began to boil.

Huo Daochuan's eyes widened, and the whites of his eyes were full of bloodshot, as if they were crawling with red worms.

A harsh electric sound came from the radio. After a moment's pause, Dvorak's "Humoresque" rang out, surrounding the cabins and standing tall in the storm.

As the tune played, the water tanks exploded one after another, and fireworks and water vapor rose together, like a gorgeous firework show.

Under the influence of the Lishi disease, Huo Daochuan saw it.

The inherent real world has been distorted beyond recognition.

One after another, broken plastic models were thrown out from the exploded water tank. They fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, with broken plastic fragments scattered everywhere.

The entire cabin was like a collapsed aquarium. Tons of water gathered into small waterfalls, overflowing from the broken water tank and flowing onto the ground, as if covered with a layer of colorful oil film.

The stacked water tanks were like a giant tower of building blocks. Every stream of fire released by the Iron Soldier incarnation pulled out a building block from it, causing it to collapse irreversibly.

Singing, explosions, burning, running water...

More and more water tanks exploded, leaving behind one plastic model after another. The plastic models were covered with cracks, and some were even broken in half. Brilliant light shone from under the plastic models' shells.

rainbow.

Crystal clear liquid overflowed from the body of the plastic model, emitting a rainbow glow, blending into the stagnant water and flowing quietly past Huo Daochuan's feet.

Huo Daochuan watched all this with a numb expression. Death and destruction continued to happen around him, but the world in his eyes was so beautiful that it was unbelievable.

"Ha ha……"

Inexplicably, Huo Daochuan's breathing gradually accelerated. He blinked, and the rainbow realm under his feet disappeared, replaced by a pool of water completely stained with blood.

The plastic models also revealed their true appearance - pale and damaged corpses.

Huo Daochuan took a deep breath, his nostrils filled with the smell of blood and ashes. He closed his eyes in pain, and when he opened them again, the glow of the rainbow once again shone into his eyes, bringing him unprecedented peace.

For a moment, Huo Daochuan began to hope that he would always be in this state, with only beautiful rainbows in his eyes and no longer the cruel reality.

Maybe... the believers also think so, which is why they are willing to die in such a continuous stream.

In just a few minutes, Huo Daochuan had completely understood their folly. As long as he could find peace of mind, what did it matter even if he had to go through mountains of swords and seas of fire?
From the very beginning, they were a group of people who had no future, and every extra minute and second they could survive was earned by themselves.

Huo Daochuan walked slowly, wading through the Rainbow Sea. Gradually, his pace quickened until he was running at full speed.

He wanted to escape this damn world and leave the destruction and death behind him far behind.

The battle between the Iron Soldier incarnation and the humanoid incarnations continued, with streams of fire burning the cabin until one stream of fire completely destroyed the balance of the water tank building block tower.

The building collapsed.

The crashing sound of things breaking was like a long note coming from afar, which refused to calm down for a long time, rippling in the noise of wind and rain.

Huo Daochuan ran wildly along the corridor until he stepped onto the stairs and pushed open the iron door. A cold wind blew in his face and almost knocked him down, but fortunately he managed to keep his footing.

The cold raindrops hit his face randomly, bringing a faint pain. Huo Daochuan squinted his eyes. He had come to the deck. Looking around, the rain had turned the whole sky into a chaotic mess. It was gloomy and there was no sunlight. Heavy transport planes flew around the Cloud City. The huge searchlights were like the gaze of gods, hidden behind the clouds.

Looking at the Anyang Port on one side, armored vehicles were parked there with warning lights flashing. It was unclear whether they were carrying operators of armed avatars or another group of armed personnel.

The Supervisory Bureau has surrounded Yunzhong City like a big net, and no one can escape.

Strangely enough, Huo Daochuan did not feel panic or fear at this moment. His heart was unexpectedly calm, as if at the moment the water tank building block tower fell, something in his heart was also destroyed, leaving only absolute nothingness.

Huo Daochuan struggled forward on the deck against the strong wind and heavy rain. He barely made it to the stern, where he saw a familiar figure.

The tiger's figure was trembling slightly in the cold rain, and his lips had completely lost their color and turned pale, as if he was about to suffer from hypothermia.

He noticed the footsteps coming from the wind and rain. Shan Jun turned around vigilantly, raised his pistol and pointed it at Huo Daochuan.

"Huo Daochuan?"

After seeing the identity of the person coming, Shan Jun put down his pistol and shouted, "Come and help me! Let's lower this boat and we can escape!"

The tiger shouted to himself, his face full of desire.

"Damn it, we are just unlucky and encountered this damn typhoon, but as long as we can leave here, with these technical data, we can create another paradise at any time."

He excitedly described the beautiful future, "After getting rid of the immortals, no one can restrain us anymore. Whether it is wealth and glory or supreme power, everything is within our reach!"

"As long as we continue to perfect this technology, we can even surpass the limitations of human lifespan. That's what many people dream of!"

Shan Jun continued to fantasize until he found that Huo Daochuan had no reaction to his fantasies.

He turned around in confusion, only to see Huo Daochuan's thin figure standing in the wind and rain. Then, Huo Daochuan slowly raised his head, along with the gun in his hand.

The black muzzle of the gun was pointed at the tiger.

At this point, Shanjun still remained calm enough. While questioning Huo Daochuan, he secretly put his finger on the trigger.

As the crisis approaches, Shan Jun gradually regains the feeling of being a soldier. He is confident that he can beat Huo Daochuan in a gun-drawing duel.

"What are you doing?" Shan Jun asked in confusion, "Weren't we standing together just now?"

He thought for a moment, "Why? Did the Supervisory Bureau promise you something?"

"No... no one, no one promised me anything."

The rain wet Huo Daochuan's hair, sticking to his forehead and hiding his face in shadow.

"I just... I just don't understand, Shan Jun," Huo Daochuan asked loudly, "They are dead, all dead!"

"so what?"

Shanjun retorted, "If we want to avenge them, we need to leave here alive and rebuild the land of bliss!"

"You cannot leave it, and Elysium will never be rebuilt."

A suppressed voice came from the other side of the wind and rain. Huo Daochuan and Shan Jun looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Xiang Ji holding an electromagnetic rifle in one hand and supporting Zhou Si with the other. The two of them wetly joined the confrontation.

Zhou Si caught up with Shan Jun and Huo Daochuan. He held Xiang Ji's shoulders and gritted his teeth.

"You all have to stay here, either sink into the ocean or be locked up in a cell."

Shan Jun turned to look at Zhou Si, quickly took out his pistol and aimed at him.

"Zhou Si!"

Shanjun no longer used honorifics, but called him by his name, his voice hoarse and full of hatred.

"Look what you did, you bastard?"

Shan Jun pointed a gun at Zhou Si. As he spoke, explosions and fires were still spreading in Yunzhong City. It was even said that on the deck at the rear, flames could be seen rising.

"What did you do?" Zhou Si laughed hoarsely, "Just destroyed this damn place, what's the problem?"

Hearing this, Shan Jun shouted to Huo Daochuan again, "Didn't you hear it? Huo Daochuan, he is the murderer who caused all this!"

Huo Daochuan did not respond to the tiger's explanation. The muzzle of his gun was still pointed at the tiger. The three groups of people confronted each other in the rain, tying their lives to the trigger.

"This has nothing to do with Dr. Zhou."

Huo Daochuan shook his head, smoothed his hair, and revealed a numb and empty look in his eyes.

"Tiger, what exactly is the Land of Elysium to you?"

The moment he asked this question, Huo Daochuan smiled self-deprecatingly. He felt that he was very childish and naive. He had actually indulged in self-delusion for so long, so long that he didn't even realize what kind of place he was in.

"Is this just a profitable business tool for you, or do you really believe that Cloud City can bring hope to patients?"

The tiger was silent for a long time, and Zhou Si did not interrupt. He was also very curious about the tiger's answer.

An eerie silence permeated among the few people, leaving only the noisy sounds of wind and rain, and thunder or explosions in the distance.

The tiger smiled helplessly and commented.

“Damn it, Huo Daochuan, are you a child?”

Without any warning, Shan Jun decisively pulled the trigger. At the same time, Xiang Ji and Huo Daochuan also pulled the trigger. The gunshots almost overlapped.

Deafening!
The tiger's figure staggered, with a bloody hole on his forehead and another on his heart.

He staggered back a few steps, fell down, flipped over the railing, and fell into the roaring sea.

Huo Daochuan dropped his pistol and looked down at the large bloodstain on his chest. A strong sense of sleepiness tugged at his eyelids. He turned around and gave Zhou Si an ugly smile, then he climbed over the guardrail and let himself fall into the deep sea.

Zhou Si looked at the empty deck in silence. Apart from the bloodstains on the ground, there seemed to be nothing to prove the gunfight that had just taken place.

Xiang Ji was a little confused, "What's going on?"

"The tiger thinks Huo Daochuan has betrayed him, while Huo Daochuan thinks the tiger has deviated from the ideals of the Paradise of Bliss."

Zhou Si said quietly, "Compared to foreign enemies like us, they hate their own alienated people more."

The two stopped talking and just stared at the chaotic and noisy sea, feeling the cold raindrops running down their spines and touching their souls.

(End of this chapter)