I, the final BOSS of the beta test server!

But the journey across Deep Blue Harbor took several hours, during which time Last did not show any abnormality.

"Not bad." Last smiled. "If you've experienced the pain of being burned bit by bit by molten iron in a steel mill many times, then the rest of the pain will naturally seem insignificant."

He stood up again, picked up the suitcase and walked towards the depths of the port area: "Let's go, we are not far from clearing customs."

Hiltina followed behind Rast, looking at the thin figure in front of her who looked as if nothing had happened.

Everyone is born delicate and afraid of pain, but those who have suffered can endure it better... Crying and shouting in pain is essentially to seek help from others, but Rast has no allies in Deep Blue Harbor. Every living creature may become his enemy as an Iron Cross, and asking for help is meaningless to him.

So he had long been accustomed to enduring pain and not expressing it to the outside world.

In the tens of thousands of cycles that had passed, Last had endured the heart-wrenching pain of thousands of ants gnawing at the Iron Cross, walking alone in the dark alleys of the port area over and over again.

He should have given up long ago, but he persisted because of a reason that Hiltina didn't know.

……

Compared to the crowded residential areas, the number of Iron Crosses in the port area, which is full of warehouses and steam boilers, is obviously much less.

However, the port area is also the base of the Royal Navy, and almost every Iron Cross is armed with a gun. As the number decreases, the danger increases significantly.

Last and Hiltina had to spend more time to avoid these iron crosses under the cover of rain.

Until finally, their footsteps stopped deep in the port area.

This is a large steam plant located in the heart of the port area.

However, there were also many Iron Crosses wandering outside the factory. Unlike their counterparts in the outer city, these Iron Crosses in military uniforms were somewhat abnormal.

For example, they would actively go out in groups, capture nearby humans and imprison them. Some of them would be fed blood and transformed into new Iron Crosses, while others would be abused for fun.

Standing on a trestle a few hundred meters away from the factory, Hiltyna surveyed everything happening around the steam plant, her brow furrowed slightly. "The Iron Cross here seems to have established some kind of order."

"People's physiques can't be generalized, and the same goes for the Iron Cross. The fighting power of a boxing champion and an Iron Cross who starved to the point of being emaciated is naturally worlds apart."

Last didn't look, but simply put down his suitcase. "Most of the Iron Crosses in the port area were converted from the navy, and they have the most mutants. Due to the obedience of soldiers, this is also where the Iron Cross division of labor first appeared."

"In just half a day, mutants have already appeared, and even the embryonic form of the Iron Cross Society has appeared..."

Hiltina's brow furrowed even more. "They're developing too fast."

"Of course, if it weren't for this, how could the Iron Cross Plague have become the disaster that later swept across the continent? If it were really just zombies like those mindless zombies in the movies that chase flesh and blood, then within a few months, the cold, decay, food shortages, and microorganisms would have caused them to self-extinction."

"In a sense, the Iron Cross is the evolved form of humanity, if we put aside the control of the evil gods and their shortcomings of being easily dominated by tyranny."

Last opened the suitcase on the metal trestle. The platform above blocked the rain like an eave, preventing the contents of the suitcase from getting soaked by the heavy rain.

The foam lining of the suitcase was neatly packed with gun parts, a black prismatic bayonet, and several timed explosive bundles made from improvised explosive devices.

He took out a folded blueprint from his briefcase, flattened it, and handed it to Hiltina along with the timed explosives. "Take a look at this."

"This is our last hurdle."

Hiltina carefully took the bundle of explosives and looked at the drawings that Last handed her.

This is an architectural design blueprint. The factory depicted in it should be the one in front of the two people. It also shows the plan structure of the entire steam plant.

Inside the factory on the schematic diagram, around the giant steam boiler that serves as the core, Last has marked several equally spaced locations with red circles. The locations are connected by simple lines, and the order is marked with numbers written in pencil next to them.

Xiltina quickly understood the information contained in the map: "Is this the route for setting the time bomb?"

"Yes." Rust nodded. "I've preset different detonation times for each bundle of explosives. When placing the bombs in different locations within the factory, they need to be placed two minutes apart in the order I marked so that they will eventually detonate at the same time."

"This factory houses the largest steam boiler in Deep Blue Harbor. The multi-point, timed detonation of the explosive bundles will cause the boiler to lose control, leading to a steam implosion and subsequently affecting the surrounding munitions depots and the gunpowder scattered from the wrecked ships."

"The chain reaction of tens of thousands of tons of gunpowder explosions and super-high-temperature steam will kill all Iron Crosses in the port area."

"I'm not an expert in explosives. Deep Blue Harbor's library doesn't have any specialized books on explosives engineering. This bomb placement route is the optimal solution I found after using the most foolish exhaustive method, blowing myself up hundreds of times."

"But you are wrong about one thing." Last paused and pointed at the drawing in Hiltina's hand.

"That's not our roadmap, that's your roadmap."

Chapter 19: No tears at the time of farewell

My own roadmap?

Hiltina was slightly stunned: "What do you mean?"

"You have to place the time bomb in the steam plant according to the map and detonate it by yourself, because we have to act separately from now on."

While answering, Last's hands did not stop. He took out the gun parts in the suitcase one by one, and then spliced, assembled and debugged them with extremely skilled movements.

It turned out to be a long-scope sniper rifle, and even the spare ammunition was pointed bullets specially used for snipers. The optical sight was long and slender, reflecting a cold light in the rainstorm.

"The Iron Crosses aren't mindless zombies. They possess complete human intelligence. Time bombs aren't difficult for these Iron Crosses, who come from military backgrounds, to understand. Once they discover them, they'll dismantle them, and our plan will completely fail."

"And we don't have enough time to clear the entire factory of Iron Crosses one by one... The only remaining solution is for one person to lure out the Iron Crosses in the steam plant, blocking them and delaying them, while the other person uses this opportunity to plant a bomb inside."

"This person can only be me... My blood has a fatal attraction to the Iron Cross, and I can't keep up with your speed. Moving together will only be a burden and slow you down."

Rast took out a glass test tube from his suitcase, which contained some amber liquid.

"At your speed, how long will it take to deploy the bombs at all the designated locations on the map?"

Hiltina's eyes swept over the structural diagram of the giant factory and she calculated in her mind for a moment: "Including the time it takes to deploy the bombs, ignoring the cost, at my maximum burst speed, it will take about twenty minutes."

"You will have twenty-five minutes." Last broke the seal of the glass test tube and extracted the amber liquid with a syringe.

He took out another test tube, which contained the Iron Cross blood that Last had collected along the way. The amber liquid and the inky black blood merged in the syringe, causing a violent but silent chemical reaction.

"what is this?"

"It's a veterinary stimulant, originally intended for bulls in the bullring." Last looked at the reaction in the syringe. The fused liquid turned dark brown and settled at the bottom of the syringe.

"Interception is different from escaping. We cannot avoid direct combat. This mixed serum can largely make up for the difference in physical fitness between me and the Iron Cross. Of course, the side effects are also obvious."

"It took me more than a dozen times to finally understand the limit of my body's drug tolerance after dying from organ failure. This dose is just enough to keep me alive for two to three hours after the injection."

After waiting for the liquid in the syringe to react, Last slowly pushed the mixed serum into his own vein with a syringe.

During this process, Rast had no expression on his face, but the iron cross marks on his body expanded further and had already densely covered Rast's face, making him look like he was cursed. These dark crosses were curse marks and spells.

Last stretched his body and looked at Hiltina beside him: "Now that you've rested well, we can almost start attacking this final boss."

He seemed to have thought of something and added, "Don't worry about evacuating afterwards. There's a ventilation duct in the steam plant that leads directly to the outside of the port area. I've estimated your speed, and you should be able to leave the port area and be outside the core area of ​​the explosion when it happens."

The strong wind flipped the drawing in Hiltina's hand. On the back of the building blueprint was a simple map of the port area hand-drawn by Last, with a green line clearly marking the escape route from the factory to outside the port area.

With her strength, her life would not be in danger as long as she avoided the center of the explosion.

But Hiltina still didn't move.

She looked at Luster. "What about you? What about your own escape route?"

"I didn't prepare anything like that, but it doesn't matter."

Luster answered in a calm voice, "I won't really die anyway. Death will just be the beginning of the next cycle."

"From discovering you to making the decision, everything happened so hastily. We didn't have time to make thorough preparations... Given our current conditions, the possibility of both of us surviving isn't even a one in ten thousand chance."

"So from the very beginning, all the actions and plans I carried out in Deep Blue Harbor were aimed at your survival."

"If you feel you owe me something, then after leaving the Echoes of History, increase your strength, seek outside help, and prepare items to restrain the Iron Cross and the Evil God... Once you are absolutely sure, return to the Night World to rescue me."

"I'm not sure when you'll return to the Night World, so I'll be prepared for every cycle during this period."

Hiltina stared intently into Last's eyes and spoke word by word, "The flow of time in the Night World's reverberations isn't consistent with the real world. Perhaps when I return here a dozen days later in the real world, the Night World will have experienced another restart, perhaps even hundreds of years later."

"I know, but it doesn't matter."

Luster's voice was terribly cold: "I have spent hundreds of years here, and I don't mind waiting for hundreds more."

Hiltina remained silent, her brows furrowed, and she never responded.

"Strange, based on my previous observations, I thought you weren't the indecisive type."

"Honestly, I really hate these kinds of life-and-death parting plots." Last raised his revolver. "Every time I see them in a book, I can't help but curse the author in my heart for being vulgar. Instead of lingering here, it's better to put your energy into the action later. That way, you won't let the other person's sacrifice go to waste."

boom--

There was a gunshot.

The metal grille connection of the pier where the two men were located was shattered by armor-piercing bullets, causing dazzling sparks, followed by the creaking sound of the pier structure being destroyed and crumbling.

"By the way, if you can successfully leave the Night World, you can help me check the next place."

"It's a border town called Canaan. In the distance you can see rolling snow-capped mountains. There's a huge white waterwheel next to the town, and the locals seem to be very good at playing bagpipes."

"This place might be related to my past, the past before I came to Deep Blue Harbor and entered the night world..."

boom--

The roar of falling sounded.

Before Last could finish his words, he fell downwards along with the metal trestle he was standing on.

The noise and smoke completely separated Hiltina and Last into two different spaces.

Chapter 20 He Opened a Transparent World

The metal trestle broke and fell, sending up a cloud of dust.

Even a violent storm could not completely cover up this sound. All the Iron Crosses around turned their heads involuntarily, and some of them walked straight over to check the situation here.

After confirming from the corner of his eye that a red and white figure had entered the factory under the cover of movement, Last breathed a sigh of relief.

His eyes swept across the entire factory area. At this moment, dozens of Iron Crosses were attracted by the noise and were approaching the direction where Last was.

But this is far from enough. His goal is to tie down all the Iron Crosses in the entire port area and minimize the risk of the time bomb being destroyed.

Moreover, the Iron Crosses that he had gathered around the port area had now lost their pursuit targets and were wandering aimlessly. They would probably be far away from the port area soon. Last had to ensure that when the bomb exploded, all the Iron Crosses were within the core range of the explosion.

He set up the tripod of the sniper rifle and used the wreckage of the pier to set up a simple sniper position at a high point.

When they were escaping previously, Last and Hiltina had to keep moving at all times. This bulky weapon was far less flexible and convenient than a pistol. But now what he had to do was not to escape, but to intercept and sniper, which was exactly the best occasion for a sniper rifle to play its role.

Last set the pocket watch to timing mode and took out the evil god sculpture.

Swah——

The prismatic bayonet disappeared in a flash, and Last used it to cut his own veins again. Dark red blood splashed in the air and fell on the bound human sculpture.

He threw the evil god statue out with force, then raised his pistol and aimed.

The pollutant drew a parabola in the sky, and when it was at the highest point, Last's bullet hit it. The blood-stained sculpture suddenly shook violently in mid-air and burst into a buzzing sound.

Circles of invisible biological fluctuations were stimulated in mid-air with the sculpture as the source, radiating towards the entire port area and even Deep Blue Port.

Normal people and other creatures cannot perceive this fluctuation, but this fluctuation is like an order, issued in the minds of every Iron Cross in Deep Blue Port.

Every Iron Cross that received the vibration stopped what they were doing at the moment, and then rushed towards the depths of the port area. The coordinated movements even caused the ground to shake, as if thousands of horses were galloping.

pat.

At the same time as firing, Last pressed the button of the pocket watch in his hand, and the second hand began to beat slowly.

The 25-minute countdown begins.

……

The rain was falling harder, and mixed with the sound of approaching running and the unique laughter of the Iron Crosses.

Last squatted motionless in front of the sniper rifle, with a prismatic bayonet stained with his own blood beside him. He did not bandage it as before, but the wound on the vein on his wrist was visibly stopping bleeding and healing.

The mixed serum injected previously gave Last the self-healing ability close to that of the Iron Cross, but the price was that he would die of organ failure in two hours. The accelerated circulation and metabolism caused Last's body temperature to rise. The raindrops fell on his hot body, evaporated, and turned into white mist that dissipated in the wind.

The sight reflected a world of heavy rain. Under such heavy rain and mist, people thirty meters away were just a blurry shadow. Even visual shooting became extremely difficult, not to mention using an optical sight to search for the enemy at a distance of hundreds of meters.

But Last continued to aim, measure, and fine-tune the muzzle.

He loaded a pointed bullet into the chamber of the sniper rifle.

This gun uses a single-shot breech-loading design. After each shot, the barrel needs to be opened to eject the cartridge case and then reinsert a new bullet. However, the continuous firing performance is completely sacrificed in exchange for huge single-shot power. Each shot can knock down an adult bison.

Only such a sniper rifle can be used with pointed bullets to penetrate the steel diaphragm protecting the vital parts of the Iron Cross at a distance of 100 meters.

As the sound of the gun being loaded rang out, Last fell completely silent.

In direct proportion to his rising body temperature, the light in his pupils disappeared, and the world around him seemed to freeze into ice, and the sound of rain stopped abruptly.

The ripples of thoughts were calmed, and not only the voice but also the emotions were sealed off.

In just a few seconds, Rast's spirit was completely synchronized with the surrounding environment, integrated, and finally became one.