In the end of the world, I become an immortal alone

Fifty minutes after the mine was attacked;

Confidential meeting at Fortress 76.

Zhou Zhengde pushed open the conference room door. The other seven attendees looked over at the same time. He nodded slightly and hurried to the end of the conference table.

At the head of the long table sat the Chief Executive of Fortress 76, a kind-faced, burly uncle with graying hair.

The one Kong Nuo described as being soft and indecisive.

To the Chief Executive's left and right were two women. The one on the left, a slender, intellectual-looking woman who seemed like Zhou Zhengde's older sister, was Zhou Zhengde's mother, Minister of Internal Affairs Zhou Meiying.

The new Minister of Biological Affairs was absent. In their place were two middle-aged men in military uniforms.

"Captain Zhou is here," the Chief Executive said in a deep voice. "Let's start the meeting. Just two small matters."

Zhou Meiying spoke first:

"Fortress was suddenly attacked by Blade Beasts. After investigation, this small group of Blade Beasts was wandering underground. There are no traces of General-level or Sub-General-level Blade Beasts. The front-line headquarters has determined it to be an accidental event and is strengthening the geological survey around the fortress."

"Thanks to Major Ling Tong, a semi-mechanical soldier, being on leave in the fortress, the Blade Beast attack was quickly quelled."

"We suffered sixty-two deaths of mine workers. Two soldiers were injured while traveling in the tunnel and the process of compensating the deceased's families is underway."

The Chief Executive uncle said solemnly:

"First, we express our condolences to the deceased."

"Then, this attack has been properly resolved. Because the number of Blade Beasts involved exceeded one hundred, should we publicize this within the fortress? Let's have a brief discussion."

The attendees spoke in turn:

"I think it's unnecessary for the time being. It will cause unnecessary panic."

"Our location is behind the Central Basin war zone. Being attacked by Blade Beasts is already a low-probability event. There's no need to publicize it."

"There are no traces of large-scale Blade Beast movements, correct?"

"No, this group of Blade Beasts has been active underground. They must have sensed the gathering of humans."

"No need to publicize it, right?"

The Chief Executive nodded: "Consensus reached, no publicity. Second matter, the Thirteenth Research Institute requests to be stationed in the outer expansion Area C for investigation. Do we agree?"

"Reject!" Zhou Zhengde immediately raised his hand.

The attending representatives exchanged glances and nodded in agreement. Minister of Internal Affairs Zhou Meiying chose to abstain.

"Meeting adjourned," the Chief Executive uncle gestured. "Zhou Zhengde, stay behind. Ministers, return to your offices."

Several people got up and left.

Before leaving, Zhou Meiying patted Zhou Zhengde's shoulder and asked softly, "Want to have dinner together later, baby?"

"Only if you're not cooking."

"Then eat by yourself!"

Zhou Meiying slapped Zhou Zhengde on the head and quickly walked away.

Zhou Zhengde looked at the Chief Executive uncle and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"There's a rather tricky problem," the Chief Executive took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead. "Let Colonel Dongfang explain."

"Okay!"

Dongfang Zhenghong, the current Supreme Commander of the Joint Defense Force of Fortress 76, responsible for the defense of Fortress 76, is forty-six years old this year, a square-faced, righteous-looking… former Chief Commander's bodyguard.

His left arm was missing half of its length. He now used an ordinary prosthetic limb, which did not affect his command work.

Dongfang Zhenghong smiled at Zhou Zhengde and pushed the disc-shaped holographic projector in front of him. Several photos appeared on it.

The photos showed the remains of two Blade Beasts.

The kind that had been dissected.

Zhou Zhengde frowned tightly.

"Interesting, isn't it?"

Dongfang Zhenghong said in a deep voice:

"A mysterious Esper hunted eight low-level basic Blade Beasts. Their causes of death were bizarre, but without exception, their exoskeletons were torn open. There were also obvious traces of attempts to burn them, but obviously, the hunter couldn't burn them in the end."

"Then, Zhengde, you tried to destroy these photos on the military internal network half an hour ago."

Zhou Zhengde said softly, "Is there a problem with that? This hunter helped us."

"The crystal cores of these Blade Beasts are missing."

Dongfang Zhenghong said:

"I've suppressed this matter and deliberately omitted these eight Blade Beasts in the process of reporting to the front line, letting people burn them to ashes with a high-temperature, high-pressure furnace."

Zhou Zhengde nodded slowly, touching his chin and carefully analyzing: "Uncle, are you saying that the hunter took the crystal cores?"

"Yes," Dongfang Zhenghong asked, "The reason I asked you to come here is to ask this question. What does the hunter want the crystal cores for? Can he make Espers? This question is very important. The Thirteenth Research Institute has become a tumor in our human camp. If there's a way to replace them, that would be great."

"The hunter took them to make weapons, weapons to fight against Blade Beasts."

Zhou Zhengde explained:

"I'll negotiate with this hunter to see if I can get him to share some alien technology… especially weapon-related technology."

Dongfang Zhenghong leaned back: "Is it really alien technology?"

"It's very possible that a civilization coexisting with the Blade Beasts is helping us."

Zhou Zhengde said nonsense in a serious tone:

"Of course, none of this has been confirmed."

"Uncle, what I mean is, before he takes the initiative to speak, try to maintain a good relationship with him."

"He's helping us hunt Blade Beasts, he's fighting against the corrupt Thirteenth Research Institute, he's punishing the evil deeds of the downtown gangs. He's done more than we've done in the past few years."

"If we're going to launch any investigation around him in a high-profile manner, it's impossible to hide it from the Thirteenth Research Institute."

"Why don't I dare to take him to see Grandpa now? It's simple, I don't trust the environment there. The Thirteenth Research Institute is already ubiquitous, especially around my grandfather."

"We all know the reason, they fear my grandfather."

"In this hunter's matter at this stage, we can only try to keep a low profile and guard against Qin Qin's probing and investigation. In fact, Qin Qin just messed something up. Ling Tong has already killed one of her subordinates, Lu Dongjie."

"I know about this."

Dongfang Zhenghong rubbed his eyebrows and leaned back in his chair, constantly thinking.

The Chief Executive uncle asked with a smile: "Zhengde, how's your downtown reform plan going?"

"Thirty percent," Zhou Zhengde said quickly, "I'll give you a few drafts to look over as soon as possible."

"Keep it up."

The Chief Executive uncle stretched and stood up:

"I still have a pile of work to deal with. You guys decide the direction of this matter yourselves."

"However, as the local official, let me say one more thing."

"This is an era lacking hope. If, I mean if, our Fortress 76 can really give birth to new hope, even if it only increases the overall war situation by one percent, one-thousandth, or one-ten-thousandth, that's extremely precious."

"Be decisive, my beloved soldiers, you are the main force protecting humanity."

Dongfang Zhenghong and Zhou Zhengde nodded with smiles.

After the Chief Executive left, Zhou Zhengde took out the text exchange device and typed a line of text and sent it out.

[01: You really killed eight!]

[02: Yes.]

[01: Even a C-level Esper doesn't have this kind of strength!]

[02: Yes.]

[01: Ling Tong must be infatuated with you! So cool! By the way, are you sure you want the crystal cores to make weapons? Ling Tong sent me a message before.]

After half a minute.

[02: Can you get more crystal cores on your side?]

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[01: No, according to the front-line legal regulations, all crystal cores must be handed over to the front-line command center, and then transferred to the Esper Capital. Otherwise, the Espers will explode, which is also the core interest of the Thirteenth Research Institute and the military. If there's this situation again later, tell me in advance. I'll arrange for my own people to destroy those Blade Beasts without crystal cores when cleaning the battlefield.]

[02: Okay.]

[01: Okay, I'll continue to deal with the follow-up events. Qin Qin might come to make trouble for you. Her subordinate was killed. I'll remind Ling Tong. What are you doing? Are you injured?]

[02: Not injured, in a coma.]

[01: Ah?]

[02: I'm Ling Tong, taking care of him. The text exchange device suddenly rang. The power-on password can't stop me.]

Zhou Zhengde's forehead was covered with black lines, and his whole body stiffened in his seat.

Why doesn't this thing have a recall function!

Zhou Zhengde raised his hand to support his forehead, put away the text exchange device, looked up at Dongfang Zhenghong, and said seriously: "He killed them. The crystal cores are used to make weapons. I'll contact him about his new weapons later."

Dongfang Zhenghong nodded, looking at the remains of the Blade Beasts, and muttered:

"Is he really an E-level Esper?"

"That's what the energy reaction shows," the adjutant next to him said softly.

"Incredible."

… …

Area C surface camp, Ling Tong's supply station, Wang Zheng's room.

Daoist Wang was lying on his bed, snoring loudly, with a little cold sweat constantly seeping from his forehead.

He was having a nightmare.

If Ling Tong was a cultivator, she could probably see that Wang Ji Xuan was suffering from the impact of the residual power of those souls. This was the price of using demonic techniques before, and it would take some time to digest.

Unfortunately, she wasn't.

Daoist Wang would naturally be able to withstand it, and he could also give his own soul a small training session by the way.

Ling Tong couldn't help but think of the previous scenes. Her mechanical arm slowly lifted and touched her chest.

Well, it should be soft. This is still the normal human tissue structure.

That's good.

A knock sounded on the door. Ling Tong turned and went out, talking in a low voice with Sister Wan.

"Is it handled?"

"It's all taken care of," Wan-jie said gently. "All information sources have been blocked, and the miners who saw Xiao Wang take action have been detained. I used protecting their mental health as a reason to wipe their memories of the past three months."

"That's good. We can't let Section Thirteen get their eyes on him. I'll restore him as soon as possible and take him to the front lines. It'll be relatively safer there."

"Ling Tong, Wan-jie has watched you grow up. Wan-jie wants to ask you... are you good to him because it's a mission, or do you really want to try getting along with him?"

"Mission."

"No, no, no, you can't fool me."

"I don't want to have this conversation."

"Hey, don't be like that," Wan-jie chuckled. "I wanted to say that in this day and age, there's really no need to be particular about those extra things. If you like someone, you should express it, because none of us can guarantee that we'll see the sun tomorrow. Cherishing every moment is the most important thing."

Ling Tong hummed a few times, "Wan-jie, have you been stimulated by something?"

"This young man was willing to risk his life to support you."

Wan-jie exclaimed in admiration:

"I saw a person's sincere emotions in his eyes. In this era, that's something even more dazzling than a laser cannon."

"Is that so?"

Ling Tong said softly:

"I thought he was just looking for an opportunity to fight Blade Beasts to train himself and improve... Okay, continue to monitor Section Thirteen's reaction and file a report to adjust the probe satellites to lock onto our area."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Ling Tong turned and walked back to the room.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up a romance novel, reading it quietly.

Wang Jixuan had been changed into loose pajamas by Uncle Tai. His body was clean, but his forehead was covered in a little sweat.

"Senior Sister, no..."

Hmm?

Ling Tong glanced at him, realizing that he seemed to be talking in his sleep.

After another while.

In Wang Jixuan's unheard thoughts, Taoist Wang was constantly shouting.

"This poor Taoist is really not a demonic cultivator... This poor Taoist has explained it very clearly..."

"You celestial soldiers of the Immortal Realm can't be unreasonable! We have to be reasonable!"

"This poor Taoist wants to see the sect's founder!"

He suddenly sat up, opened his eyes, his ears were buzzing, and his eyes were filled with a white light.

Ling Tong asked softly, "Are you alright?"

Wang Jixuan glared.

Did she hear everything he just said?

What to do, silence her? Uh, it doesn't seem necessary and I can't beat her anyway... It seemed like I was almost awake just now, so I didn't say it out loud...

"Ling Tong, did you hear anything just now?"