Chapter 166.2 – Key (9)

◎ Unprecedented S9 ◎

Half an hour ago, at the Awakened Department.

In the administrative office, the administrative secretary cautiously spoke, inquiring about the stiff figure in the shadows, “Director He, all departments have taken action, the relocation of Qianzhan City residents is completed. Do you have any further instructions?”

After a while, He Qiuhong’s hoarse voice sounded, “Follow General’s command in everything.”

The secretary breathed a sigh of relief, not daring to glance at her expression, and hurriedly said, “Then I’ll go help too…”

Almost impatiently, she turned around and left the oppressive atmosphere of the office.

He Qiuhong looked through the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the entire city at her feet. For twenty years, she had poured all her efforts into governing the Northern Base. Why couldn’t it develop as she had envisioned?

Shoo—

A spatial tunnel suddenly opened, and two elusive figures appeared out of thin air.

One person was entirely covered in a black robe, with unclear features. The other was a man wearing a half-sinister-looking mask.

At this moment, the Awakener Department’s defense was at its weakest, with ninety percent of the officials running around outside. Unexpectedly, S-level spatial awakeners had entered.

“Who are you?!” Xi Ze shouted, raising his hand to activate the vacuum domain.

“Just an A9, overestimating your abilities.”

Qing uttered a cryptic incantation, and Xi Ze’s entire body twisted in pain. In just a few seconds, he transformed into a wriggling pupa.

He Qiuhong turned her head to press the alarm, but Qing, with a gesture, drew symbols in the empty air. She was uncontrollably drawn towards him, and with a thud, she collided with the floor-to-ceiling window.

Blood trickled down her forehead. With B3-level strength, she was extremely vulnerable in the face of an S4.

Qing seemed somewhat surprised, “It’s quite amusing. Hasn’t the Northern Base always valued strength?”

“He Qiuhong, right? How did someone like you, a B3 level, manage to attain your current position?”

He Qiuhong struggled desperately, “Who are you? Why do you want to kill me?”

Qing smirked and skipped the first question, “I won’t kill you. You’re just an ant, not worth my effort. We want to kill Ye Zheng.”

He Qiuhong’s face turned purple, but she remained resolute, “Delusional. You won’t be able to kill the teacher.”

Qing dismissed it, “I heard you were Ye Zheng’s student. You must have worked hard to take over the leadership from him. Now that he’s on the verge of death, why not lend us a hand?”

He Qiuhong gritted her teeth, “No way. He is my… mentor. I won’t betray the Northern Base.”

“Hahaha!” Qing burst into laughter, a laughter that was coarse and yet melodious, carrying a discordant and piercing sensation.

“Do you really think you’re someone important?”

Qing’s chilly lips approached He Qiuhong’s ear, whispering like a devil, “Now I understand why Ye Zheng didn’t completely delegate authority to you.”

“In the end, it’s because you’re incompetent.”

He Qiuhong’s pupils contracted.

Qing slowly smiled, his tone seemingly regretful, “You, someone with cunning schemes and a dirty heart, might be passable in peacetime. But in times of war, look at yourself, easily controlled. Therefore, you’re destined to be an inadequate leader.”

“I heard you value awakeners highly. Controlling them in your hands, is it because of fear?”

“You’re constantly afraid, afraid of being replaced, afraid of being killed, afraid of losing power. You have nothing at all.”

“Tsk tsk, being incompetent is the original sin, after all.”

Qing recited a chilling incantation, and before He Qiuhong’s eyes, a black sphere with insects fluttering appeared.

“This is called a silverfish. It amplifies the evil in a person’s heart. Let’s see if Director He is as selfless as you claim.”

The insect ball entered He Qiuhong’s mouth, and she writhed in pain, memories flashing before her eyes.

When He Qiuhong was born, the nuclear war had already ended, and the Northern Base was becoming stable. She received an elite education from a young age and learned about “genetic selection” and “early awakeners” from various sources. She firmly believed in the inequality between people. After the apocalypse, she finally awakened but only achieved a mediocre B3 level due to inherent limitations in her aptitude, making her promotion prospects almost non-existent.

Becoming the successor of the Northern Base was a difficult task. Initially, Ye Zheng favored another student named Chen Xuerou, who was optimistic, positive, and an A8-level early awakener with better social connections and assessment scores than He Qiuhong.

During a peacekeeping mission, they encountered a powerful earthquake. Chen Xuerou, attempting to save a group of students, got trapped under collapsed debris and remained buried in a deep hole for two whole weeks. Ye Zheng never gave up on the rescue efforts.

He Qiuhong volunteered and accompanied the rescue team to find Chen Xuerou. Fortunately, she was the first to discover Chen Xuerou, who was on the brink of death with her lower body in a gruesome state. With timely treatment and the installation of bio-mechanical prosthetics, Chen Xuerou could still survive.

Looking at her, He Qiuhong muttered, “Senior Chen, they are just ordinary people. Why bother saving them?”

Chen Xuerou, struggling to speak, asked, “Qiuhong, are they… okay now?”

“I don’t know,” He Qiuhong answered indifferently. She had no interest in those students; her sole focus was finding Chen Xuerou. Once she found her, she became less anxious. Her tone carried a slight reproach, “You see, you saved them but sacrificed yourself. People like you are simply not suitable to lead the Northern Base. Rest assured, I will do better than you.”

Chen Xuerou couldn’t speak anymore; she could only stare at He Qiuhong with wide eyes.

He Qiuhong waited silently in place until, a day later, Chen Xuerou breathed her last breath. He Qiuhong stood up, patted her stiff knees, and stumbled out, shouting, “Senior… Senior’s here!! I found Senior!”

“Ah—!” He Qiuhong let out a heart-wrenching scream. Her consciousness gradually blurred, and tears streamed down her cheeks. For the Northern Base, she had burned twenty years of her youth. She only wanted to build an ideal city according to her own will.

She searched everywhere for scientists involved in the “Eternal Life Plan.” Publicly, she claimed to want to cure Ye Zheng and secretly supported research on excessive radiation. Only she knew that deep within her heart, a hidden voice kept calling out: Do I still have a chance to advance?

He Qiuhong’s pitch-black eyes, immersed in endless agony, recalled Ye Zheng’s reprimand:

“Qiuhong, treat awakeners the same as ordinary people. You can’t discriminate.”

“Remember, the foundation of the entire city is the tens of millions of residents in the Northern Base. Some things should not be inverted.”

He Qiuhong gripped her own neck and screamed, “No! That’s not true! Teacher! It’s different! Awakeners are born noble. We are meant to have more status and power than ordinary people… Chen Xuerou is wrong, and so are you. You’re all wrong!”

…In this world, we, the awakeners, should rightfully hold it in our hands.

The silverfish fully invaded He Qiuhong’s brain, and her intense anger turned into tranquility. Her eyes became completely black.

Mechanically, He Qiuhong stood up, like a puppet, and pressed the terminal:

“A district-wide announcement is now being issued. Everyone is to stand by immediately. No matter what happens, you are not allowed to leave your posts. Otherwise, residents of District B10 will have their identities revoked and be treated as rioters, and they will be killed without mercy.”

“I repeat: No matter what happens, everyone is to stand by in place.”

Beside her, Qing laughed, his smile becoming increasingly radiant.

The term ” Silverfish” refers to villains who harm collective interests. He Qiuhong was indeed a hypocritical pretender.

The spatial rift reappeared, and the two S-level awakeners disappeared on the spot.

He Qiuhong’s inexplicable command carried a strong sense of oppression. People dared not resist and stood bewildered in place. Murmurs spread, and just a few seconds later, the terminal beeped again.

*

Near the 13th channel, with Song Ke’s position as the center, a straight line formed. Behind her was Ye Zheng, whom she vowed to protect to the death, and in front were thousands of advanced awakeners.

Qing exaggeratedly applauded, a cold smile playing on his lips, “I can’t deny it, you’re formidable. You can handle one against ten, but what about one against a hundred, or a thousand?”

“You can try,” Song Ke replied coldly. The phantom bear paw lifted, and a massive, cold jagged blade slowly drew out.

Qing withdrew his smile, gazing deeply at her, “Then… I’ll kill you first, and then Ye Zheng.”

Boom! Flames, wind blades, thunder, ice and snow, thorns… Countless awakeners attacked Song Ke, swallowing her slender figure.

Bloody ghost hands grabbed her calves, vicious man-eating flowers crawled towards her, opening their blood-filled mouths.

Song Ke cut through with her sword, leaped out of the landing point, lifted the cold jagged blade, and fiercely slapped back.

Bang! There was no escape from the dense attacks, and she was harshly hit from behind. Seizing the opportunity, Lu Tao swung his tiger claw forward, slashing open a wound on Song Ke’s abdomen. She rolled and fell into a trap, where a radiation-type awakener had long been waiting for ambush. A powerful electric current erupted, convulsing her entire body, even the phantom bear curled up.

“Song Ke!”

Zhuang Qingyan’s expression changed suddenly, and Lin Youyou and others were all anxious to rush over but were unable to break free.

Seeing the situation on the brink, in the nick of time, chaotic footsteps echoed from all directions on the street.

As if sensing something, Ye Zheng suddenly looked up.

“Who dares to kill General Ye? I’ll f***ing fight you all!!”

“To hell with being on standby! Even if I’m not from District B, I’m coming!”

“General Ye, you saved us, and we won’t abandon you!!”

A sea of people rushed towards the battlefield, each face either familiar or unfamiliar, fearlessly approaching through the swirling yellow sand.

Leading the charge were the Ling siblings, Zhigler, Zhao Yuqing, and other S-level awakeners. Behind them trailed a diverse army of awakeners labeled ABCDE, consisting of people of all ages and genders. Their expressions were uniformly resolute, with even ordinary citizens raising weapons.

The moment Qing appeared, Lu Xiaoyu, under the name of V587, posted a private commission on the platform. There was only one location and a brief message, no rewards, no points, and the danger level was marked as the highest, the red level.

—”Ye Zheng is under attack, urgent rescue needed.”

Such a commission, especially under the threat of “expulsion and killed without mercy,” logically should have received no takers. However, without a second thought, residents of the Northern Base spontaneously accepted it. The number even exceeded the A-level tasks the system had issued.

The buzzing of voices filled every corner. Outside the encirclement of Qing and others, the arriving reinforcements turned the tables on them.

Amidst the sizzling and dazzling electric currents, Song Ke slowly stood up, clutching her abdomen. She opened her eyes, revealing deep blue pupils.

A radiant and dazzling light erupted in a circular pattern beneath her feet. The phantom of a brown bear rose to the sky, doubling in size, bringing a devastating sense of oppression. Her other hand lifted slightly, and the cold jagged blade quietly disintegrated, fragments falling in all directions. The surrounding ruins trembled violently, as an unprecedented powerful awakened energy surged out from every limb and bone, like a storm.

Without relying on any external objects, large and small blue light orbs rose from the ground, instantly transforming into thousands of sharp swords. Song Ke raised her hand gently, and the tips immediately aimed at Qing and other awakeners, like a spectacular and eerie will-o’-the-wisp. The flow of yellow sand seemed to freeze, the restless flock of crows collectively fell silent, and the dazzling blue light illuminated half the sky.

Everyone on the scene stared in shock. This was completely different from summoning through spells or relying on external forces to condense a sword array. Each one was a genuine and pure metal spiritual weapon – the ultimate manifestation of the explosion of metal-type ability!

‘All things in heaven and earth are my weapons.’

Song Ke stood in the center of the storm, with a brutal beastly shadow behind her and a myriad of sword lights swirling around her.

If an R-type testing device were used at this moment, it would reveal a stunning fact.

Song Ke’s awakened energy intensity had reached an astonishing value.

An unprecedented S9.