Chapter 191
Chapter 191 That Dream Is the Past
When the radiance dissipated.
In the sky, only one thing remained.
“Hmm?”
Zhao Xi frowned as she looked at the War machine before her, which, though utterly devastated, still managed to maintain its shape.
“It’s a Level 12 weapon after all; as expected, it’s not that fragile. Everyone inside is dead, and the intelligence has fallen dormant. Oh well, destroying it doesn’t have much meaning…”
The gap between Level 13 and Level 12 is indeed significant, but this War machine is also truly powerful.
As one of the trump cards of the Monitorial Department, the fact that it could fight against the Hunting Mechadragon in Transcendent Mode is enough to show its strength.
Even though it was being beaten up unilaterally.
She pulled up her personal interface. Her Stamina was alright, but her Mental Power column had already fallen below the mark of 30.
The dark golden radiance on her body faded, and she couldn’t even maintain her silver-white state any longer.
“Hoo…”
“However, it’s about enough.”
Those experts from the City of Eternal Night were all dealt with by the power of the black hole.
Three seconds.
Zhao Xi had maintained the power of the warhead for three seconds.
She rubbed her slightly aching temples, looked around, returned to the ground, and took out a few bottles of Mental Power recovery potions to drink.
“…Tch, can’t it recover? The upper limit has been temporarily locked… Every time I use the warhead in Transcendent Mode, it turns out like this. Huff… Then that leaves only the last…”
Clack—Clack—
Zhao Xi heard the familiar sound of boots stepping on the ground, strolling over from not far away.
“Mayor…”
Sizzle—
Zhao Xi’s hair turned silver-white once again.
Her gaze looked toward the direction where the sound came from.
“Well done. As expected of you, Xiao Xi.”
Clap—Clap—
The aged woman stood atop the ruins, applauding her.
The mayor of Solomon City, Grace.
With a kind smile, she looked upward.
She gazed at that Hunting Mechadragon.
Then, shifting her gaze, her eyes narrowed slightly as she saw Ye Qiyan sitting high up as a spectator, alongside the Hunting Mechadragon beside him which hadn’t been put away yet but had shrunk considerably, as well as Zhu Xingtu in another direction, also acting as a spectator and watching all of this with a smile.
“Level 13, heh. The first time an item of this grade appeared was sixty-six years ago. Back then, everyone thought an item of this level would change the world, but who would have thought that after so many years, nothing has changed at all, heh… Xiao Xi, you have good luck. Although this isn’t a normal Level 13, it is very strong.”
Her voice was not loud, but Ye Qiyan above heard it clearly.
Was this old hag doing it on purpose?
Does she want everyone to hear?
Ye Qiyan frowned, snapped his fingers, and summoned Red Tears and Raven.
Normal Level Smiling Man He actually had one.
Due to the increase in his Stamina upper limit, his eyesight had long surpassed ordinary people’s; even from a long distance away, he could still clearly see everything happening below.
Grace opened her palms, and thousands of Train Coins, a large number of mechanical parts, Metal, and various materials flew upward from around her body.
That War machine suspended in mid-air, nearing collapse, was gradually recovering.
“Hmm~ Almost done. It cost ten thousand Train Coins to fix it. This really caused quite a bit of destruction. It seems I’ll have to find a way to collect more money from those guilds, though it will have to be from the next batch of Train Captains, heh~.”
“Mayor, why?”
Zhao Xi didn’t care that the War machine in the sky was being repaired.
Even without activating the Hunting Mechadragon in Transcendent Mode, she had plenty of ways to destroy that machine.
Grace still wore that kind expression.
Spreading her arms, she said with a smile:
“Xiao Xi, don’t be angry. This kind of thing isn’t happening for the first time.”
“What do you mean by this?”
Grace walked straight over, and Zhao Xi directly pulled out a spear and aimed it at her.
“Don’t come over!”
“Fine~ I won’t come over. Since you want to know, it won’t hurt to tell you. We are simply reducing the number of Train Captains, nothing more, just like ten years ago.”
“???”
Grace’s words made Zhao Xi’s expression turn exceptionally ugly.
“M-Mayor, what, what do you mean?”
“Literal meaning. The City Lord of the City of Eternal Night and I reached an agreement where both sides lead the Train Captains in our respective cities to battle each other, and then~ mutually consume each other.”
A Light Screen appeared.
The scenes of the first three floors of Solomon City floated high in the air.
“Look, they are slaughtering each other, taking each other’s lives for just a sliver of benefit.”
“Look, how foolish. They could have traveled in the wilderness forever, yet they chose to join a city to enjoy temporary stability, only to be utilized by us in the end.”
“Look~ how splendid. In this world, is there anything more enviable, painful, free, powerful, and crazy than beings known as Train Captains?”
“The answer is no. Even gods can be made to fall by Train Captains.”
Grace’s words stirred a trace of fear in Zhao Xi’s heart.
“Y-You, what are you talking about? What do you mean by mutual consumption? Why? Why do this?”
In her mind, the scene from ten years ago in Solomon City where Grace invited her to join and establish the Inquisition surfaced.
That year, she was a Train Captain independent of the city, disdainful of joining guilds, forging ahead in the wilderness.
That day, Grace told her that many weak people needed the protection of the strong.
Therefore, Zhao Xi stayed here.
Other members of the Inquisition could freely go to the wilderness.
Only she remained stagnant for ten years in this vast yet tiny Solomon City.
And now… Grace’s words inflicted unprecedented trauma on Zhao Xi’s inner heart.
Her Mental Power was fading, and the silver-white thunder was also gradually receding.
“Why?”
Grace looked toward the sky, as if recalling something very wonderful.
“We just want to go home.”
She said so:
“Not this wilderness, not this Station World, but a real home.”
“As long as we continuously reduce the number of Train Captains and help the so-called gods weaken the weight of that hateful Train System, the gods can send us home~”
“Therefore, I built this city. No, or rather, the reason why the original twelve cities were built is all because of this~”
“Xiao Xi, don’t you want to go back? To return to your original world? And… those two friends up there~ Don’t you want to go home?”
Suddenly called out, Ye Qiyan’s expression remained unchanged.
Go home?
Return to the original world?
I see. So, the City of a Thousand Stars is like this too?
A city…
A city?
In Ye Qiyan’s mind, the Forward Station where that Smiling Man resided surfaced.
In a sense, isn’t that Forward Station also a tiny city?
Therefore, according to this old hag’s words, the initial 12 cities in the wilderness are just like that Forward Station?!
“Go home, huh?”
“I don’t really have much interest in it, but…”
Having said that, after hearing Grace say these things, Ye Qiyan could completely understand these people’s thoughts.
The wilderness is not home, and the city is not home.
Forced to come to this endless world, forced to enter countless Platforms, what many people desire most in their hearts is to return to the home they once had.
Just like what Zhu Xingtu said back then.
Many people want to find the Dream Eater and indulge in the sweet dreams they weave, unable to extricate themselves.
That dream is the past.
