World version update

Chapter 329 Virtual World
City Seven, once the steel fortress that served as the frontline for monitoring City Fourteen, is now shrouded in an unprecedented atmosphere of tension and oppression.

Over the past few years, executives from countless global giants have regarded this place as fertile ground for profit-making, investing huge sums of money to build an impregnable defense, all in an effort to get a share of the spoils in the final war to suppress City Fourteen.

Everyone firmly believed that as the Heavenly Code gradually lost its effectiveness, City Fourteen was nothing more than a grasshopper in autumn, unable to hop around for more than a few days.

It is only a matter of time before it is completely wiped off the map.

However, the sudden and devastating blow three days ago shattered their illusions.

The border defense line, which was once considered impregnable and stretched for hundreds of kilometers, was razed to the ground and turned into scorched earth in just fifteen minutes.

The painstaking efforts of City Seven over the years proved utterly futile in the face of overwhelming power, crumbling in an instant.

Panic spread like a plague through City Seven, and countless once-arrogant dignitaries scattered like startled rabbits, trying to escape the city that was about to become a battlefield.

The usually high-ranking executives of global giants even boarded private planes overnight and fled to safer cities in the rear, fearing that they would become victims of this apocalyptic war.

However, just as they were about to escape, a cold and ruthless command came from the intelligent God high in the sky, instantly sealing off all escape routes like an invisible shackle.

"Mobilize all available forces and defend City Seven at all costs!"

This order is not to be questioned or disobeyed.

Over the next three days, City Seven seemed to transform into a massive war machine, frantically devouring the military resources of the global conglomerate.

More than 100,000 well-equipped psionic soldiers flooded into the city like a tidal wave, deploying heavy forces at various key locations.

Hundreds of massive and menacing space carriers, like steel behemoths hovering over the city, their dark cannon muzzles gleaming with a chilling light.

Above orbit, several long-dormant satellite turrets were reactivated, their chilling killing intent locking onto every inch of land surrounding the city.

Thousands upon thousands of patrol aircraft, like a swarm of bloodthirsty bees, roared and circled over the city, weaving an impenetrable net of fire.

The global giants have poured almost all of their most advanced military forces into this isolated city without reservation.

Even those Seraphim-level psionicists, who only existed in legends and were hailed as walking divine punishments with unfathomable strength, made a rare appearance, personally overseeing City Seven. The terrifying pressure they exuded, almost tangible, made the entire city tremble.

Global giants have poured everything they have into mobilizing all available resources, just to await the inevitable war.

……

Inside a makeshift outpost on the border of City Seven.

Ten psionicists clad in heavy powered armor formed a patrol team and were conducting a routine inspection of the surrounding area along a pre-set route.

The atmosphere was somewhat somber, and most of the team members seemed listless, chatting idly with each other in an attempt to dispel their unease and anxiety.

"I was wondering, with all this fuss from above, including reinforcing troops and deploying space carriers, is that City Fourteen really that powerful?" A young psionicist couldn't help but ask, unable to contain his doubts.

“Nonsense! They are the only known force that dares to openly defy a global giant corporation and even successfully dismantle our border defenses. Their strength is beyond doubt.” A slightly more senior team member replied solemnly.

"I heard that the border defense line we spent more than two years building was completely destroyed in the hands of others in less than 15 minutes."

That kind of destructive power, even a legendary Seraph-level being probably couldn't achieve, right?

"Since City Fourteen is so powerful, what's the point of sending us here? Are we really just cannon fodder?"

The team members' words were filled with pessimism and confusion, the shadow of death looming over their hearts like a dark cloud.

Only the squad leader, a middle-aged man named Osei, remained unusually calm throughout, even displaying a hint of inexplicable excitement on his face.

Seeing his appearance, one of the team members couldn't help but ask, "Boss Osei, I remember that with your qualifications and strength, you should be qualified to refuse this mandatory draft, right?"
Why would you still actively participate in this almost certain death war?

Upon hearing this, Osei grinned, revealing a set of specially modified steel teeth made of alloy.

There was no fear in his eyes, but rather a kind of fanatical light: "Heh! Staying in that damned city, sooner or later we will all be sent to the Tower of Souls and turned into a pile of cold data."

"Rather than die such a pathetic death, I'd rather come to the front lines and fight a glorious battle!"

"Besides, if we can witness those world-destroying powerhouses in action, then even if we die here, it will be worth the price of admission!"

Just then, a beam of light, like a shooting star in broad daylight, suddenly ripped through the dim sky and shot straight toward City Seven at a terrifying speed that was difficult for the naked eye to perceive.

The meteor was so fast that even a powerful psychic like Osei, whose strength had reached the level of a high-level psychic, could only catch a blurry afterimage and could not see its true form at all.

"What is that?" a team member exclaimed in shock, pointing at the strange phenomenon in the sky, his voice shrill with fear.

"It's most likely just a normal meteorite fall. It can't be those lunatics from City Fourteen who actually attacked, right?" another team member said, trying to sound calm, but his trembling voice betrayed his inner unease.

"Stop scaring yourselves! Our patrols are just a formality."

"Don't forget that above us, there is an omnipresent celestial canopy monitoring us around the clock. No unauthorized aircraft can escape the eyes of the global behemoth!" another veteran psionicist shouted in a deep voice, trying to calm the troops.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, everyone's pupils contracted sharply, and their faces showed disbelief and horror.

At the edge of their vision, inside the seemingly impregnable City Seven, three towering soul towers, like colossal pillars reaching into the sky, simultaneously unleashed a deafening roar.

Everyone knew that it was the Tower of Souls, the final resting place for all living beings under the rule of the global conglomerate. They were once filled with fear and resistance towards the existence of the Tower of Souls, but as time went by, and through the subtle propaganda of the global conglomerate, beautiful images of that so-called world of souls began to circulate among the people.

Gradually, some people even began to regard the Tower of Souls as a manifestation of the miracles of an intelligent God, believing that it is the ultimate and most perfect direction of human civilization's evolution.

And now, right before their eyes, inside City Seven, those three soul towers that were once considered sacred and inviolable were collapsing with a series of earth-shattering roars, just like the mythical Mount Buzhou that was broken in the legend!

The massive tower collapsed, sending up clouds of dust and smoke, creating an apocalyptic scene that sent chills down the spines of everyone who witnessed it.

Almost at the same instant the Soul Tower collapsed, hundreds of space carriers and tens of thousands of patrol aircraft above City Seven immediately turned their guns around, precisely locking all their deadly firepower onto the culprit that caused all this disaster.

On the ground, two figures exuding a terrifying aura took a step and traversed thousands of meters, appearing at the spot where the meteor had fallen.

Their auras were as vast as the sea, far surpassing those of ordinary Nascent Soul stage cultivators. They were surrounded by holy and powerful spiritual energy, and were none other than the two Seraphim-level spiritualists who were stationed in City Seven.

Their gazes were fixed coldly on the shooting star. One of them, a handsome and arrogant Seraph-level psionicist, spoke in a voice as cold as ice, devoid of any emotion:
"I don't know how you managed to escape the surveillance of the Azure Sky."

But right now, this place has been completely sealed off by our space engine; you can't escape!"

"Now immediately confess your origins and purpose, and voluntarily offer your soul to the great Heaven of Souls."

Perhaps I can mercifully spare your life and grant you eternal life in the realm of the soul.

The meteor's brilliance gradually faded, finally revealing a middle-aged man with a full head of silver hair, dressed in a simple Taoist robe.

A helpless, bitter smile played on his face, as if he were somewhat surprised by the scene before him.

He sighed softly and said, "I thought I could find the nearest city and sneak in a bargain, but I had no luck and walked right into your carefully laid ambush."

Immediately, the bitter smile on his face vanished, replaced by a domineering, arrogant smile.

"But do you ants really think that you can stop me with this insignificant display?"

The moment the words fell, the middle-aged man with a full head of silver hair had his thousands of silver strands hanging over his shoulders stand up in an instant, transforming into billions of incomparably sharp sword energies.

Sword light rained down, covering the sky and the earth, directly slashing towards the massive guard army of the entire city of number seven.

At that moment, the sky seemed to freeze.

Whether it was the space carriers and sky-patrolling fighters in the sky, or the psionic legions standing ready on the ground, they all appeared so small and fragile in the face of that terrifying sword light that seemed like divine punishment descending.

The sturdy alloy armor was easily torn apart like paper in the face of the sword light.

The powerful energy shield shattered instantly like a bubble before the sword light. Countless lives were mercilessly harvested like weeds under the sword light.

The two previously arrogant Seraph-level psionicists now had expressions of disbelief and terror on their faces.

They were horrified to discover that their overwhelming power, which was hailed as the pinnacle of psionic abilities, was utterly powerless against the sword light formed from those seemingly casually wielded strands of hair.

Even with frantically channeling massive amounts of spiritual energy, and even linking to the sea of ​​spiritual energy, it was still impossible to defend against that sword light.

Their proud, formidable bodies, strengthened and modified countless times, were easily severed in half like rotten wood before that incomparably sharp sword light, and their boundless life force vanished rapidly like a burst dam.

All of the city's defense systems collapsed and disintegrated rapidly under this devastating storm of sword light.

Countless psionicists perished amidst desperate cries, their blood staining the earth a shocking crimson.

The surviving Seraph-level psionicists used their last strength to send a desperate distress signal to the headquarters of the global behemoth.

However, their pleas for help went unanswered, as if they had sunk into the sea.

They will never know that in just fifteen minutes, more than fifteen megacities in the entire cyberpunk world, some comparable to or even larger than City 7, were attacked.

At the same time, the soul towers within it all suffered devastating blows.

Such a huge loss even caused the sky to tilt, as if it were about to fall to the earth.

Those cities that were a little luckier might have only had their Soul Tower destroyed, without causing any other major collateral damage.

Those cities that relied on their superior military strength and attempted to resist were all, without exception, reduced to burning ruins in the aftermath of that terrifying battle, which felt like a natural disaster.

All of this happened so fast it was suffocating, and so tragically it was despairing.

In the midst of this chaos and carnage that swept across the entire world, even those powerful titled reincarnators were completely unaware.

The Heaven-Covering Talismans, personally crafted by Lu Yan, not only successfully concealed heavenly secrets and obscured the perception of the intelligent God, but also silently exerted another effect through the incredibly profound Daoist inscriptions on their surfaces.

Those Taoist inscriptions seemed to be guidance from the underworld, leading all the resentful and unwilling souls on the battlefield to safety.

These numerous and high-quality souls, guided by Daoist inscriptions and concealed by a vast number of sky-covering talismans, transformed into invisible dark torrents that traversed endless space and ultimately converged at the same mysterious and unknown location.

That was the underground of the rebel forces in City Fourteen, a virtual world created by the cyber saint Anna using a supercomputer.

(End of this chapter)