Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!-Chapter 577 - 295: The Final Deadline

Mountain City.

From Yu Qian, Chen Jian obtained the latest intel on Wanzhou City.

The corrupt Mechanical God Sect, the bishop who detached from the Mechanical Holy Temple’s management, the Church Protection Army’s audacious attack on the Forbidden Army...

Of course, there are also their beliefs that have already been transformed.

They worship machines, but they are no longer satisfied with merely "controlling machines."

They are attempting to integrate into machines, even attempting...

To become machines.

Chen Jian cut off the intelligence details on his smart lenses.

Honestly, the photos and videos Yu Qian sent back made him feel intensely uncomfortable.

This "discomfort" is completely different from the feeling on the battlefield when seeing mutilated bodies.

The higher the intensity of the battlefield, the clearer the boundary between life and death becomes.

Between life and death, there is only a thin wall; crossing it means one has crossed it, not crossing means one has survived.

Death itself becomes a conceptual existence, not causing any emotional shock.

But...

In those videos, the boundary between life and death is blurry.

Chen Jian doesn’t know if those people nailed to the decayed exoskeleton were alive or already dead.

But that doesn’t matter.

Because their flesh itself is a form of sacrifice.

Whether dead or alive, it brings no change.

Exhaling heavily, Chen Jian spoke to He Shuo beside him:

"The collapse of the Mechanical God Sect is faster than we anticipated—actually, that’s not accurate."

"To be accurate, our understanding of the Mechanical God Sect is shallower than anticipated."

"Now I somewhat understand why Zhang Tao has to implement such radical reform strategies."

"He likely has seen some... clues."

"However, he cannot reveal these clues to us."

"In his view, we are actually no different from flies."

"If we discovered an already rotten wound... tch."

At this point, Chen Jian shook his head.

Under the helmet, his expression was indistinct.

But He Shuo immediately grasped his meaning.

"If we had discovered the decline and collapse of the Mechanical God Sect earlier... I feel our primary combat target wouldn’t be Mountain City, but should be the Mechanical God Sect."

"Right?"

"Wrong."

Chen Jian walked out of the temporary command room and sat beside a simple concrete bunker.

"Accurately speaking, our target isn’t the Mechanical God Sect."

"It’s the city after city controlled by the Mechanical God Sect."

"Our biggest concern is that the Mechanical God Sect’s influence is too deep, its mental control too strong."

"But now, it seems such concerns are... too conservative."

"As long as God loses its divine power, theocracy will naturally disintegrate."

"And now, the last clay idol symbolizing theocracy has been shattered."

"It’s time for us... to start harvesting."

He Shuo stood upright.

He subconsciously clenched his fist.

Pausing slightly, he asked:

"Where do we start?"

"Jinling."

Chen Jian responded:

"It has to be Jinling."

"The more the central hub is damaged, the easier the nerves die."

"Moreover, the Penetration Company is not far from Guangshen."

"Before this, they have already explored a... relatively mature route."

"Now, this route can be used..."

...

On the other side, within Wanzhou City.

Yu Qian quietly stared at the intel on his PDA, his gaze extremely complex.

Actually, he had long anticipated that one day, he would receive such an order.

But indeed, he hadn’t expected this order to come so quickly.

So fast that he couldn’t react.

So fast that he didn’t even know what attitude he should adopt.

Turning off the PDA screen, Yu Qian walked out of the command post temporarily set outside the Mechanical God Church.

At this moment, the wasteland sky was utterly dark.

The aftermath of artillery fire swept over Wanzhou City, rendering it even more desolate.

Only occasional groans could be heard from the nearby field hospital—in Yu Qian’s ears, these sounds resembled the low, hoarse cries of ghosts.

Many have died today.

And next, probably many more will continue to die.

He is powerless to stop it.

Because the power to make decisions is not in his hands.

—should even say, it’s not in the hands of this party.

The ones who can truly decide the course of events are those who still don’t know what fate they’ll face.

Yu Qian silently gazed at the figures shimmering under the lights of the field hospital—actually, for quite some time, he didn’t understand why the commanders always made the field hospital the brightest place in the camp.

A faint remnant of his mindset from being a "ordinary person" still clung to him. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

He always thought, since the field hospital is filled with those dying or nearly dead, why waste precious electricity on them?

It’s not cost-effective.

But now, he vaguely understood something.

Those lights aren’t for the dead to see.

They’re for the living to see.

If the warriors capable of fighting see a dead silent, despairing field hospital, the morale of the troop is basically finished.

So, the field hospital must be bright.

And because it’s bright enough, its target is clear enough as well.

The upcoming mission was...

Would be carried out more smoothly.

Yu Qian called over the aide who had been following him from the Volunteer Company, whispered a few instructions, then stepped into the field hospital.

Under the glaring lights, Guo Xu was holding a dagger, somewhat laboriously cutting off the burrs on his armor’s liner.

Seeing Yu Qian approach, he smiled slightly.

"Still awake?"

"I don’t have anything major here, according to you all... the doctor says I need further observation."

"If the wound doesn’t get... acutely infected by midnight? That’s how it’s said, right?"

"If there are no acute infection symptoms, I can go back."

"So, what did your commander say?"

"Did you notify them about the situation in Wanzhou City?"

"Notified."

Yu Qian nodded.

He sat next to Guo Xu.

Then, meeting Guo Xu’s eyes, he directly posed a question.

"Do you think the Mechanical God Sect needs to continue existing?"

Guo Xu’s movements halted.

He slowly laid down the liner and rested the dagger across his knees.

"Is this your decision?"

"No."

Yu Qian shook his head.

"It’s your decision."

"You have one night to make this decision."

"Because tonight, Jinling will change hands."

"Tomorrow morning at 8 AM is the final deadline."

"If the decision you make differs from the one we hope for... I will represent the Huaxia Army to disarm you."

Guo Xu met Yu Qian’s gaze head-on.

He asked:

"Are you intending to eliminate the Mechanical God Sect, or the belief in Holy Trinity?"

"Both."

Yu Qian replied without hesitation.

But then added another sentence.

"This matter isn’t without any leeway."

"Actually, the biggest issue lies with you."

"I hope you recognize one thing."

"Even if you ultimately choose resistance... with your current... cohesion, only a minority will die."

"And your death... will be utterly meaningless."