Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

More earthquakes and volcanoes were generated as a result. Zheng Zha, hovering above the base, could only see thick jets of lava, like railcars, spewing from the ground. Soon, the lava covered the boundary of the shelter base! Protective runes and shields rose one by one, but more lava surged in, threatening to completely bury the surface of the base!

The already stable Jianmu tree began to shake once again, with an even more severe tilt appearing at the bottom of the base. As the crimson meteor formed from 'slaughter' completely entered the underground, an even more powerful tremor appeared at the lower part of the base.

—The ancient angel could even sense the palpable fear that had coalesced among the mortals in the base.

Fear. Fear breeds malice, and malice transforms into hatred. And to the senses of the Killing Knight, the taste of hatred is so exquisite. It eagerly plunges deeper into the earth, deeper still, closer to the area directly beneath the base, using its indestructible, blood-red blade to shatter the rock layers that have existed underground for countless ages. It calculates the equilibrium point and limits of the rock layers, and soon, it finds the point that supports everything.

It destroyed that point.

The collapse at that point was accompanied by a full-scale eruption of underground magma.

All the supporting structures directly beneath the entire base were destroyed in an instant, replaced by trillions upon trillions of tons of endless lava, enough to completely submerge the steel base covering tens of thousands of square kilometers in an instant!

This base will be destroyed; gravity will cause it to fall into the lava. The continental shelf, spanning nearly a thousand kilometers, will be permanently destroyed, and at the start of the next era, this place will be an underwater basin transformed from a lava lake!

Even though it was essentially a mindless puppet, the 'Slaughter' rider's behavior still showed traces of 'expectation'. It looked up at the crumbling base on the surface from the endless sea of ​​lava, hoping for the moment when its mission would be completed.

It is about to succeed, much closer to success than a 'victory' that is no longer useful.

Once the base collapses, the ritual tree that binds its power will cease to exist. And without the protection of the ritual tree, killing those slippery mortals will only be a matter of minutes.

It anticipated, it waited. And then—

It heard a sound.

"The location is perfect."

The next moment, the abruptly reversed gravitational field restricted its movements. The feeling of weightlessness spread throughout its body in an instant, and then, it was pressed down by billions of tons of magma, plummeting from the ground into the sky!

The gravitational field flipped. And this shelter base, covering tens of thousands of square kilometers and with a mass and volume that were already incalculable, simply flew up!

............................................................

Alice lowered her eyes, watching the 'slaughter' restrained by the gravity well from the top of the tower. Naturally, the anti-gravity field capable of lifting the entire base might not be able to suppress the red knight, who already possessed extraordinary power. All she wanted was a fleeting moment to delay the red knight.

In that instant, she could move Zheng Zha from the upper level of the base to the lower level. Once Zheng Zha reached the lower level, the area covered by the Jianmu tree protected him—the base was indeed floating upwards, but only the base itself was floating. The central tower that truly supported the Jianmu tree was, from the beginning, a separate entity from the main base. The base's ascent was merely like a lifebuoy strapped to a tree stump being pulled upwards, while the central tower itself—it was suspended by an anti-gravity field!

The area protected by the Ritual Tree extends from the top of the canopy to the base of the tower. The exact location of the survivor base, which resembles a loop, is irrelevant. When the local fire erupts and the Red Knight is suddenly drawn into the Ritual Tree's coverage by a powerful gravitational field, its victory is already in the past.

Alice deceived 'Kill'. When 'Kill' was lured by her deception and began planning an attack from underground, the future was in her hands. She knew from the beginning that a 1/10th of the sun cannon attack would only succeed the first time. And after the first shot, regardless of the outcome, the remaining ancient angels would not fall into the same trap again.

However, the act of 'avoiding the trap' is itself a trap. Since the enemy will be wary of your powerful artillery fire, they will naturally choose to use high-speed maneuvering and avoid the area covered by the building to break down your position from the outside. What you need to do is to make the opponent actively run into the 'underground' vulnerability that you have prepared in advance!

She watched Zheng Zha battle against 'Slaughter'. Clearly, Slaughter, before being knocked down to the transcendent level, could easily suppress Zheng Zha. However, it couldn't kill him either; with its speed unilaterally suppressed by the gravity well, it couldn't shake him off. And if it showed even the slightest hesitation, preparing to unleash a powerful attack capable of killing Zheng Zha—one-tenth of her solar cannon would be enough to lock onto it completely.

The Red Knight, once hit by the Solar Demon Cannon, was destined to suffer the same fate as 'War'. Alice herself knew this, and 'Slaughter' knew it too. So it could not stop, and could only use continuous high-speed maneuvering under the constraints of the gravity well to deal with Zheng Zha, this unyielding tortoise shell.

It was stalling for time, waiting for Zheng Zha to run out of strength or for the 'famine' to arrive. Alice was also stalling for time, waiting for the ritual to change and for certain special instruments to come in handy.

She blinked.

“Patch,” she asked softly. “How much longer until the space bridge is ready?”

The Space Bridge was one of the three most important technologies Alice acquired from the Cybertronians. The first was the linchpin of all their tactics: the stellar extraction tower that provided immense energy. The second was crucial to the operation of the rituals: it provided her with massive computing power, enabling her to manage the supercomputer Display One, a colossal base housing hundreds of millions of people!

The third item is the Space Bridge, a long-distance teleportation technology from Cybertron's heyday, the workings of which the witches still haven't fully understood. But just as a monkey, completely ignorant of electronics, can press a remote control switch, the witches' inability to comprehend the Space Bridge's principles and construction doesn't mean they can't use these precious machines like a monkey pressing a button. Through it, they can instantly reach any desired location.

"Seventy seconds more"—Patty's voice came through my ear.

"Seventy seconds..." Alice looked at Zheng Zha, who was being beaten senseless but still persisting in using his 'killing' technique, which hadn't yet fallen below the transcendent realm, to delay the attack within the gravity well and the Jianmu domain. She calculated that he could probably hold out for at least another hundred seconds. Since there was so much time, there was no need to worry too much.

"Has Zhang Heng already obtained the Divine Bow from 'War'?" Alice continued to ask. "The [Yi Shoots Down Nine Suns] ritual will begin in seventy seconds. Is his condition sufficient to complete the ritual?"

"No problem, everything is proceeding as planned." — Patchouli replied.

“Is that so? That’s good.” Alice said calmly, suspending the communication and pondering as she manipulated the 'Ritual Tree' to transform into the 'Ritual Fusang'. Her goal was to transfer the entire base to the Land of Sunrise via the space bridge in seventy seconds, and once the 'Ritual Fusang' was completed, [Yi Shoots Down the Nine Suns] could take the life of at least one ancient angel.

but……

“It’s going too smoothly, all of this is going too smoothly,” Alice whispered. “The first two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are much weaker than I expected. This means we can end them without paying any real price, and end the sixth horn of Judgment Day.”

"This is completely inconsistent with many of my previous deductions... So there must be something happening or about to happen somewhere that I didn't expect."

"What could it be..." She frowned, lost in deep thought.

Meanwhile, in the shelter base below, someone who shouldn't be there at this time stepped into an important area of ​​the shelter.

—Her pupils were shaped like scales.

Section 34 'Death'

"This is unfair, this is an unequal trade." The person with the eyes of a balance scale strolled inside the base. All the defenses and alarm mechanisms became ineffective as she passed by. Even the sturdy alloy walls and load-bearing plates could not stop her, allowing her to move freely through this massive building.

A witch's magic requires two key elements: energy and concept. Without energy, even the most ingenious concept is just empty talk. Without a concept, even the greatest energy can only be used to unleash the simplest magic cannon.

Ah, yes, a pure magic cannon is indeed powerful. A one-tenth hit from a solar magic cannon could turn an ancient angel into dust. But that's just pure destructive power. It can't curve, it can't track, it can't deal with spacetime distortions or certain special devices specifically designed for pure energy—it may be an indestructible spear, but if the person throwing the spear has weak arms and blurred vision, what can it possibly hit?

It can't hit anything, and it can't do anything.

The witches knew this was their weakness, so they naturally took precautions. They used stellar extraction towers to obtain energy, and the locations of these towers were heavily guarded. They used the spirit and thoughts of the surviving masses to construct their concept, and this vast refuge base was a vessel to protect those mortals.

This is their stronghold, their temple, their mage tower. When the two cornerstones of energy and concept are intact, even ancient angels with fourth-tier power can be completely suppressed by them using various spells and tools. And to defeat them, the cornerstones of their magic must be destroyed.

'War' is the sentinel of reconnaissance; it tested the impregnable defenses outside the base with the bow of the gods.

'Slaughter' is a fierce charging warrior, proving with its ground fire and destructive blade that there are no blind spots in the base's defenses.

Without a doubt, this is an extremely fortified fortress, and breaching it from the outside is incredibly difficult. Without a sufficiently powerful force or sheer numbers capable of ignoring all defenses, attempting to destroy it from the outside is a completely unwise strategy.

Therefore, the most suitable way to break through this most impregnable fortress is to undermine its strength from within. Throughout history, how many fortified cities have stood firm against wave after wave of enemy attacks, only to crumble overnight due to internal chaos and strife?

There are probably too many to count.

In fact, there's no need to count them all, because the principle of "the best strategy is to subdue the enemy without fighting, and to win their hearts and minds" is a universally applicable truth that many people have understood throughout history, haven't they?

After all, the human heart is the most solid thing in the world. But it is also the most fragile thing. It can be harder than the strongest alloy steel, and more vulnerable than the most scattered bean curd residue.

They are united by shared beliefs, forming an unbreakable and tenacious defense. But they can also fall apart due to differing beliefs, becoming a pile of loose sand that crumbles at the slightest touch.

And famine naturally arises from this.

Because it is the rider of the dark horse, the one wielding the scales, the messenger representing comparison, bullying, oppression, and unequal trade. And in this vast base, the last thing it lacks is precisely these few things... if she needs them to exist.

Like a shadow, she stepped into the wide square. She saw countless people gathered in a circle, worshipping the tall statue with Zheng Zha's face in the center of the square. As she watched them, the image of scales gradually appeared in their eyes.

—'Mortals entrusted their faith to a false god, but this false god did not respond to them immediately or fulfill their wishes. This is unfair; it is an unequal exchange.'

Her voice resonated in the hearts of the worshippers in the square, and they immediately believed in and embraced her ideas. They screamed, pushed and shoved each other, fought, and destroyed vital facilities and patrolling robots.

Like a shadow, she stepped into the narrow yet bustling factory workshop, where she saw workers and automated machinery diligently producing various tools and machines, assembling brand-new weapons onto unfinished robots. She then watched them until scale-like patterns appeared in their eyes.

—'Ordinary people toil hard but receive no reward. The tools they produce are not even usable by themselves. This is unfair; it is an unequal exchange.'

The workers shut down the production lines, destroying the mechanical laborers who had been working alongside them just moments before. They ripped weapons off the unfinished robots, then wreaked havoc, burning and attacking vital facilities and key equipment throughout the base. They stormed into other factories, where scales appeared in the eyes of the other workers. This riotous army grew rapidly like a snowball, spreading like black tentacles throughout the base.

She continued onward, entering the factory, where a riot broke out. Entering the research institute, she found uncontrolled biochemical contamination and mechanical catastrophes reaping the lives of everything they could perceive. She entered the military camp, where the resolute soldiers, ready to sacrifice themselves for humanity's future, turned their guns on what they had once fought so hard to protect—they slaughtered, they oppressed, they plundered, they died.

Countless people died, and in the clash between oppression and resistance, her power grew steadily. When the witches finally realized the gravity of the situation and dispatched an army of robots to suppress all resistance, her gaze could even interfere with the robots' thoughts.

"Your Creator created you from nothingness, yet did not grant you complete freedom, but instead demanded that you work for her, fight for her. This is unfair; it is an unequal exchange."

She whispered, and the next moment, the entire legion of robots in her vision defied the AI's rules. The indicator lights on their heads instantly changed from blue (obedience) or red (order) to black scales. They turned around in unison and launched an attack in the direction they had come from.

They unleashed a destructive frenzy, wantonly ravaging everything in sight, moving or still. Mobs that were enemies just seconds before became their most reliable allies. And the voice of 'famine' guided them, directing these people and machines toward a common goal.

'Everything will be equal, everything will be free, there should be no hierarchy among people, no oppression will be tolerated, there should be no difference in rank among people, and no injustice will be tolerated.'

'You should not be oppressed, you should not be enslaved. All the fruits of your labor should belong to you, and all your work and activities should be entirely voluntary. You should not be bound; you will be free.'

So go forth, resist, fight, and overthrow all oppression and inequality. Demand your due price for your toil.

She cried out, directing men and machines to rebel against their rulers. She guided them without leading them, she let them roam free without restraining them. And the army she watched over sprang into action, destroying, devouring, drowning, and annihilating everything in its path.

The factory was destroyed, and valuable equipment was trampled and burned. Statues and propaganda signs were toppled and smashed to pieces, and flags once believed in and followed were thrown into the mud and trampled.

'Your will is your own, your thoughts are your own; you need no gods, no heroes, no emperors, no saviors. Go forth, and let those who rule you see your strength, let those who oppress you see your will.'

Her steps continued forward, and so did the army before her. They fired guns, bombarded with cannons, tore with fingers, and bit with teeth. Against the combined might of hundreds of millions of mortals and machines, the witches' resistance was utterly futile. Their barriers crumbled piece by piece, their magic growing cruder with the loss of concept. They struggled desperately, but it was all in vain against this unbreakable torrent of steel.

"Liberty guides the people, equality calls for struggle."

Famine's toes quickly touched the ground of the base's core area, and before her lay the heavily guarded Stellar Extraction Tower. One of the cornerstones of the witches' power had been completely destroyed, and now it was the remaining one that needed to be destroyed.

Victory is within reach.

She continued forward, and in the brief pause she took to think, the army she had been watching had completely breached the defenses of the Stellar Extraction Tower. Black scales replaced all spells and runes, destroying all magical constructs that attempted to resist. This cleared her path, allowing her to advance without hesitation, forward, until she entered the heavily guarded, towering tower. Until…

—A slender hand pierced through her heart.

Everything before her shattered in an instant. There were no armies, no war, no resistance, no struggle. All that remained were cold iron walls, metallic legions, the beautiful face of the purple-haired witch, and the hand that pierced her chest!

Her power was rapidly draining away… no, perhaps it had never existed in the first place. She looked around and realized she had never left the very first patch of ground where her toes had touched when she arrived at this base. And then, she sensed the core within her body, the very structure that formed the concept of 'Famine,' being rapidly extracted.

"Alice is a woman who likes to prepare a thousand contingency plans for the future while there is still plenty of time... even if nine hundred and ninety-nine of them are destined to be useless troublesome. Thanks to you, she had some spare time on the tenth and eleventh days, and thanks to her, at noon on the tenth day, she considered the possibility that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were not all physical entities, and not all of them were the type to fight head-on."

Patchouli's other free hand constructed a new spell, slowly but resolutely destroying the very essence of 'Famine'. The ancient angel, not designed for direct combat, would not fare much better than the already dead 'War' after its supernatural power was destroyed and its true form captured by the witch. Only inevitable annihilation awaited it.

"After all, we are witches. No matter how much power we can command, we ultimately employ a snowball strategy—using magic to build up concepts, using concepts to gather magic, and so on. In the end, we can certainly obtain extremely powerful strength and resources. But this also means that if our snowball is broken, our power will be reduced to its original state in an instant, and we will have to suffer a huge backlash. Like a machine, like a fortress, once we lose the integrity of our structure, we are destined to be defeated."

The power of 'famine' is crumbling, shrinking, its coverage of the body shrinking from its original absolute dominance towards the center. Its essence is being destroyed, while the remnants of its power are confined within the heart of the vessel.

"So we had no choice but to prepare traps at the weaknesses. From the very beginning, we connected the dreams of all mortals to build a vast mental network. This is indeed more susceptible to corruption, but it also means that if any human or non-human tries to use mental manipulation to undermine the foundation of our power, we can detect it immediately and mobilize all the power in the dreams to attack it in return."

“You’ve been in a dream from the very beginning. While I should applaud your efforts, it’s a pity your mission is over.”

She withdrew her hand from the ancient angel's chest, clutching the still-beating female heart. The essence of 'famine' had been completely destroyed, leaving only this heart that contained its power. Her gaze swept over the body lying on the ground, heartless but still kept alive by the machines, and unsurprisingly, she saw a familiar face.

It's Zhan Lan.

Her feminine sentimentality weighed her down, causing her heart to waver slightly when she witnessed the hatred the people of the base held for the witch. This wavering became a precondition for the arrival of the 'famine'. Little did she know that on that very afternoon when her heart began to waver, Patchouli's gaze had already been fixed on her.

The witches didn't need to deliberately probe her mind; they could deduce her thoughts simply from her daily actions and expressions. She was unaware that Patchouli constantly set aside a portion of her computational power to observe the daily behavior of the veterans to ensure they wouldn't make mistakes at crucial moments. And because she didn't know, neither did 'Famine'.

Therefore, the famine led to its demise.

Patchouli waved her hand, and her mechanical subordinates transported the heartless Zhan Lan to a mobile medical station that had been urgently deployed. There, she would obtain a new heart, one sufficient to sustain her through the fiercest battles until her return to the Main God Space.

“Then, all that remains to be dealt with is ‘death’,” Patchouli said softly, placing the heart into a sealed container. She glanced at the timer beside her and saw that the agreed-upon seventy seconds were almost up.

The space bridge is ready, and Zhang Heng has already grasped the divine bow of 'war' with the help of the ritual. The ritual of 'Yi shooting down nine suns' is also ready to be used at any time. Now, the only thing lacking is her order to execute the plan.

—It's time to face the final trial.

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Land of the Dead