Night’s Nomenclature

Everyone in City 7 knew that Orchid Pavilion was Chen Yu's residence, and that he spent his days painting in this small courtyard.

Everyone also knew that Chen Yu's lineage, because of the Purple Orchid Star, had been steadily producing generations of Demi-Gods, their status forever above the head of the family.

For Chen Yu, the Chen Family head was more like a chief steward.

Chen Family painters needed to paint without distraction, so someone was needed to handle chores.

At this moment, a middle-aged man in white linen clothes stepped out of a Shadow Gate, calmly looking at the pair of stone lions at the entrance of Orchid Pavilion.

In the courtyard, Chen Yu, who was originally painting a Gandharva, suddenly paused. This Demi-God raised his head to look outside under the guidance of his senses.

Chen Yu put down his brush and came into the courtyard. He looked at the middle-aged man outside through the open courtyard.

The Chen Family Demi-God smiled gently, "So Shadow brother's Shadow Gate has come into your hands, Qing Ji brother. Since you're here, come in and have a seat."

Qing Ji stepped over the threshold, and Chen Yu laughed, "Qing Ji brother, how many years has it been since we parted in the wilderness? I still admire my elder brother's courage and might."

However, Qing Ji, in his white linen clothes, did not intend to be polite with Chen Yu, but simply said calmly, "We have detected unusual movements from the Chen Family rocket army. Where are you planning to strike?"

Chen Yu smiled, "Where do you think I'll strike, Qing Ji brother?"

During the Federation civil war, many people ignored the Chen Family, and the Chen Family did indeed not have any intention of participating.

However, was it in Chen Yu's interest to stand idly by at this time? Of course not.

There are only two Demi-Gods left in the Federation, Li Shutong and Chen Yu.

Li Shutong does not have any power affiliation, so within the Conglomerate, there is only Chen Yu left.

Now that the veteran Demi-God, Shendai Qianchi, wants to make a comeback using the lives of an entire city, how could Chen Yu agree?

He and Shendai Qianchi have no grievances, and are even partners in some private agreement.

But Chen Yu will not allow Shendai Qianchi to rise again.

Therefore, the Chen Family rocket army is going to attack City 10.

"If you're going to attack City 10, I advise you to forget it," Qing Ji said coldly.

"Oh? Qing Ji brother, who are you speaking for, the Head of the Qingshi Clan?" Chen Yu curiously asked, "Everyone knows that City 10 has already fallen, and may one day become Shendai Qianchi's private land. Why not just bomb him? Is it because Qing Chen is inside?"

Qing Ji sneered, "The Qing Family's seventh rocket army has not yet been deployed to the northern battlefield. They already have 7 cruise missiles locked onto 4 Chen Family cities. If your Chen Family rocket army dares to launch, they will immediately launch."

Chen Yu's eyes narrowed slightly, "Playing a game of mutual destruction? The Qing Family intends to violate the agreement and use cruise missiles against human cities? The Chen Family rocket army is not just one, I can also target City 5. As far as I know, the Old Master on Ginkgo Mountain is an ordinary person, he can't run far."

Qing Ji said, "It doesn't matter. The patriarch said that anyone who dares to launch missiles at City 10 will be buried with it."

At the negotiating table, people usually negotiate terms first, and only resort to threats when they can't reach an agreement. There's usually a margin for compromise.

But Qing Ji's words were extremely harsh, like a child pretending to negotiate with you, then suddenly slamming the table, "I'm not playing with you anymore!"

But this childish tactic is surprisingly effective.

Because Chen Yu understands that the Qing Family's bunch of madmen are really capable of doing such a thing.

In this world, the most effective method is always the best solution, without any fancy embellishments.

"Do you know what will happen if you let Shendai Qianchi control the Rat Tide in City 10?" Chen Yu softly asked.

"I know," Qing Ji turned to leave.

"You know and still let it be?"

"It's just not our concern. I'm not going to talk anymore. I still have other places to go," Qing Ji said, opening the Shadow Gate. The next second, a terrifying cold air blew out of the Shadow Gate, even carrying large snowflakes.

City 7 is located in the south and has not been affected by the late spring cold. The white apricot blossoms in the courtyard are all in full bloom, very beautiful. But this cold air actually blew all the apricot blossoms in Chen Yu's courtyard.

Chen Yu raised his eyebrows. Qing Ji had just walked a few steps, and he was looking for an angle to aim the Shadow Gate at his apricot tree!

Is he crazy? Is the great demon Qing Ji so angry that he's taking it out on an apricot tree?

However, after Qing Ji left, Chen Yu pondered for a moment and made a call: "Recall the rocket army. Let's wait and see."

At this moment.

In City 10.

A rat with gray-white eyeballs slowly followed the group back into the sewer.

No rats noticed its abnormality. The Rat Tide army carried the food in their mouths and moved towards the Rat King's location.

Return Countdown 01:0:1.

There is more than an hour left until the return time.

"Keep moving, the Traffic Bureau building is just ahead," Qing Chen said, "I can already hear the Rat Tide, it's surrounded."

As he spoke, gunshots rang out from inside the building, exceptionally crisp in the midnight hour.

The gunshots were not dense, but rather sparse.

Qing Chen's heart tightened, just as he had imagined, Kunlun had come to the Traffic Bureau building after leaving the PCE headquarters. Dianfu was going to risk his life to find new clues for him!

Around a corner, Qing Chen and his group suddenly saw dozens of white skeletons lying on the street.

Weapons, bullets, and shell casings were scattered beside the skeletons.

Strangely enough, there were two more skeletons on the other side. They also had weapons, and their black combat uniforms had been bitten to shreds by the rats, only the outline could be vaguely seen.

These weren't Kunlun's men, but those who had exchanged fire with Kunlun.

Judging by the position of the skeletons, it should have been two people in black running ahead, with Kunlun Members chasing behind.

These two people in black combat uniforms must be experts. Dianfu and his men paid the price of dozens of lives to take them down.

Qing Chen stood on the long street, silently watching this scene.

In an instant, he seemed to return to the past, watching Dianfu pass by him: "They're blocked by the Rat Tide, kill them, don't let them have a chance to destroy the hard drive!"

In the fierce exchange of fire, Kunlun Members fell one by one.

However, this battle also enraged the rat swarm, and the Kunlun Members fought and retreated, eventually trapped in the Traffic Bureau building.

"So that's how it is," Qing Chen said, "Kunlun Members discovered that the hard drive had just been destroyed when they arrived at the PCE headquarters, so they judged that the person who destroyed the hard drive hadn't gone far, and there was still a chance. Therefore, they wanted to take a gamble at the Traffic Bureau, betting on whether they could catch up to the person who destroyed the hard drive in time."

Dianfu and his men had no clever plan, no powerful firepower support, they could only bet their lives.

Qing Chen looked at the skeletons clutching their weapons with their finger bones until death, these Kunlun Members wanted to fight until their last breath.

"Keep moving, the firepower at the Traffic Bureau is weak, I guess they don't have many survivors left, they're almost out of ammunition," Qing Chen was not optimistic about the situation of the Kunlun Members.

Everyone quickened their pace.

But even though Qing Chen was mentally prepared, when he saw the scene at the Traffic Bureau building, he was still shocked.

It was a building of more than 20 stories.

The building was surrounded by a sea of rats, attempting to charge from inside the building to the top floors, and countless rats stacked up on the stairs, all the way up to more than ten floors.

The Rat Tide was like a black sea, wriggling densely, climbing upwards.

It was as if a giant from hell had opened its black mouth, about to swallow the entire building.

"No wonder the number of Rat Tide on the lower three district defense line is different from my calculations," Qing Chen said in a daze, "It turns out that Dianfu and his men held back part of the Rat Tide here!"

The Rat Tide below the building, by rough estimate, numbered millions, it was terrifying!

Qing Chen didn't even know what Kunlun had done to provoke the Rat King so much that it was willing to do anything to kill them!

At this moment, someone threw a chair from the top of the tall building.

The chair fell down with a rumble, crushing countless stacked rats.

Tables, chairs, sofas, one after another were thrown down from the roof by the Kunlun Members, along with burning bedsheets and curtains. The huge flames burned the stacked Rat Tide, causing them to squeak and cry.

"They must be out of ammunition and can only throw furniture to slow down the Rat Tide's attack," Qing Chen said in a daze, "How did they hold out for these days?"

This was a question that came from Qing Chen's heart.

Without ammunition, without support, without food, how could they hold a building against millions of Rat Tide?

Qing Chen didn't understand.

He materialized his black sniper rifle, pulling the trigger shot after shot. Orange bullets flew out of the spiral rifling, bursting forth with extremely high initial velocity.

The incendiary bullets contained aluminum alloy and barium nitrate, and when they collided with the Rat Tide, the burning agent inside the bullets instantly exploded, burning the rats into balls of fire.

The people on the roof seemed somewhat surprised at this sight, they stopped throwing things, Qing Chen saw Dianfu come to the edge of the roof, cheering and waving at him.

More than ten Kunlun Members came to the edge of the roof, excitedly waving to Qing Chen.

Their faces were pitch-black, their cheeks sunken from hunger.

But these people, their eyes were still bright, like stars in the night.

Qing Chen's heart ached, these people were here under his orders.

More than 600 Kunlun Members, only a handful left, perhaps there were still some inside the building, but it wouldn't be more than a hundred.

Qing Chen forced a smile and waved back, the next moment Dianfu's waving arm stopped, he suddenly patted his chest, then gave a thumbs up.

Then, Dianfu pointed in the direction behind Qing Chen, then waved again, but this time, the gesture was to tell Qing Chen to leave.

Qing Yi stared blankly at this scene. He had drunk Jingshan Tea, so when he saw Dianfu's gesture, he understood.

Patting his chest meant the mission was accomplished.

Pointing in the direction behind Qing Chen was because Dianfu saw a new batch of Rat Tide, trying to surround Qing Chen and his men.

Waving his hand again meant that there were too many rats, they couldn't kill them all, leave, let them handle the rest.

Leave.

Leave.

But Qing Chen didn't pay any attention to the gesture, he simply kept moving towards the building, while steadily firing, blasting the rats into fireballs.

Dianfu, seeing that he wasn't leaving, immediately became anxious and frantically waved his hand.

But Qing Chen was like he couldn't see.

Qing Yi looked back, there was the rumbling sound of the Rat Tide marching from behind, like thousands of horses galloping.

This kind of sound, at least a million rats, it was not something one person could stop.

"Sir!" Qing Yi shouted, "I know you don't want to hear this now, I know you really want to die with them impulsively, I heard Zhang Mengqian said that you have been very self-blaming recently, even punishing yourself by staying up day and night. But sir, your death at this moment is meaningless!"

"Sir! Dianfu must have come to his senses, he knows that he is here to die, but it has nothing to do with you, this is a human catastrophe, someone has to die!"

Qing Yi followed Qing Chen, watching Qing Chen's entranced expression, his tone growing heavier, "Sir, your decision was correct, there's only an hour left until your return, Dianfu must have a way to bring what you want back to the Outer World. Now that they have completed their mission, what about you? Have you completed your mission? Sir, you must leave!"

Qing Chen never expected that he had spent an hour to get here, only to briefly see Dianfu, but was unable to save him.

In the face of this catastrophe, individual strength is too small, so small that even Qing Chen, so intelligent, didn't know how to kill these Rat Tide and save Dianfu.

Qing Chen slowly stopped firing, he looked across at Dianfu on the roof.

He saw the other party's expression gradually calmed down, no longer waving his hand to urge him to leave, no longer anxious.

Dianfu just stood at the edge of the roof, standing straight, giving Qing Chen a standard salute.

Leave, this is the glory of a soldier.

Qing Chen understood, even though the other party didn't say a word, but Qing Chen understood everything.

Qing Yi roared, "Yan Chunmi! What the hell are you still doing, pull the sir away, don't let him be stupid here."

But at this moment, Qing Chen suddenly said, "No, I'll go myself."

Saying this, Qing Chen turned and ran in another direction, "Retreat, I need to wait for the return."

Qing Chen wanted to kill, now was not the time for helpless rage, he must become the coolest, most rational self, and then kill all his enemies.

Qing Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief, he was really afraid that he wouldn't be able to persuade his master and then watch him stubbornly die in the Rat Tide.

After running for a while, he subconsciously looked back at the rooftop, and saw Dianfu still standing at attention.

Somehow, his nose soured, and he didn't dare to look any longer.

On the rooftop, Dianfu, seeing that Qing Chen had finally left, suddenly smiled, "Damn it, when I was a kid, watching war films, I always thought those heroic sacrifices were so damn cool, but when it's my turn, why am I a little scared?"

"Grass, you said it early, I saw you acting so tough, I didn't dare to say a word of anxiety," a Kunlun Member laughed and scolded.

At this time, four people carried two sofas up the stairs to the rooftop: "Grass, why didn't you throw them? Aren't there still stools? The lower floors have been breached, the rooftop probably can't hold either. Tangguo and Jishiben are both dead, they didn't hold the last floor. Come on, give me a hand, let's throw these two sofas down, crush those beasts."

Dianfu laughed, "What are you smashing for? There are more than 20 minutes left until the return, our mission is about to be completed."

"Ah?" The Kunlun Members were stunned, "Then you could have said it earlier, if you said it earlier, we wouldn't have carried them up!"

At this time, everyone was exhausted to the extreme, all politeness and etiquette were thrown out the window, everyone was cursing.

Dianfu chuckled, "Block the door with the sofas, don't let the rats rush up from this small door, everyone sit on the sofa and rest for a while, I've been throwing sofas down these days, and I haven't even sat down myself, I'll need you to buy me some time later."

After the Kunlun Members blocked the rooftop door with sofas, everyone crowded onto the sofas. Dianfu, because he was late, could only sit on the armrest of the sofa, which was a bit uncomfortable.

Everyone sat there quietly, gazing at the distant night sky.

The rats behind them were rumbling against the door, but with the sofa blocking it, they couldn't break through.

"Do you think, after we leave, will Boss Zheng and Lu Yuan miss us?"

"Of course they will, Lu Yuan's mother asked me to wash his socks every day, I'm about to throw up, is this considered bullying within the organization? Can I report him?"

"What were you doing earlier? If you had told Boss Zheng earlier, Boss would have beaten him up."

"Should I live a little longer? Or should we get up and guard for a while, I want to survive until the return to report Lu Yuan."

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Laughter swirled on the rooftop, lingering for a long time.

Gradually, everyone fell silent. In the past few days, their minds had been filled with each other's shouts, rats are coming, rats are coming again, over and over again, the same few words, their ears were calloused.

It was boring.

At this time, Dianfu said, "Brothers, time is almost up. It's a fortunate three lives to be able to go through this with all of you. In the next life, let's be brothers again."

"A fortunate three lives."

"A fortunate three lives!"

The next second, the Rat Tide actually piled up from outside the rooftop, continuously pouring onto the rooftop.

"Kill!" All the Kunlun Members pounced on them: "Give Dianfu some more time."

Dianfu sat on the sofa quietly watching his brothers fight, but he remained motionless.

He saw the Kunlun Members one by one being swallowed by the Rat Tide, he raised his hand and glanced at the Return Countdown 00:00:0.

In an instant, Dianfu took out his dagger and fiercely cut open his abdomen, then stuffed the sealed hard drive into his belly.

The excruciating pain shot to his brain, almost making him faint.

Dianfu was actually going to use the rule that humans can carry items to bring the hard drive back to the Outer World for Qing Chen!

And the others' desperate struggle was just to buy time for Dianfu, until the moment of return.

The next moment, after the Rat Tide swallowed the others, it also instantly engulfed Dianfu.

Until the moment of his death, Dianfu did not intend to protect his vital parts, but simply let the Rat Tide tear at him.

He tightly protected his bleeding abdomen, that was the purpose of his trip.

"Long live the new world!"

Countdown to return Ling.

The world plunged into darkness.