There were still people alive in the rubble and smoke-filled repair shop. The shrill sound of bullets firing rang out, piercing through the black smoke and striking the hard armour of the wolf fang mecha. The sound was muffled and loud, but it could only create a few small sparks, not even leaving a deep mark. In a battle where the difference in power was too great, the scattered firepower of the resistance group looked abnormally pitiful. It was like a despairing insect waiting for death, futilely spitting out a few drops of venom against an elephant that was countless times its own weight, and yet the elephant could not feel it at all.
That wolf fang mecha abruptly stopped its heavy mechanical legs, the gun on its left mechanical arm firing out. The terrifying firepower instantly blasted that ruined wall into flying shards. As for the resistance group soldiers behind the wall, they did not even have time to scream before they became dismembered corpses.
The humming of the engine, the heavy mechanical legs of the mecha landing on the ground, the muffled and cold sounds of gunfire, explosions — all these sounds were frightening, because there were no more gunshots or shouts from the resistance group among these sounds. Gradually, this solemn and terrifying massacre came to an end.
Dozens of wolf fang mecha cleared out the resistance within the repair shop in the shortest amount of time possible, and then they quickly spread out, occupying the various key points of this block. Among them, several of the electronic mecha began to activate their high-powered surveillance equipment, attempting to find the direction of those complicated tunnels below the repair shop.
Right at this moment, the faint rumbling of heavy engineering mecha could be heard from behind the block, mixed with the almost inaudible sound of grinding tires. The gate of the repair shop, which had long been on the verge of collapse, collapsed with a crash. As the smoke and dust settled, Huai Caoshi, wearing a military cap and an indifferent expression, stepped in under the protection of countless stern-looking soldiers, walking towards the south.
The high wall on the south side of the repair shop had long been reduced to dust by that terrifying missile attack. The exposed steel bars hung mournfully, its usually hard head facing the shallow pond outside the wall.
That terrifying explosion had occurred here, and now it was a terrifying black crater that billowed with smoke and dust.
The water in the small shallow pond had long been burned clean by the high temperature of the explosion, revealing the thousand-year-old mud underneath. The mud had already dried up and cracked open, like the windless and poor fields around the desert.
Huai Caoshi stood on the charred shore with his hands behind his back. He lowered his head and looked at the cracked soil at the bottom of the pond. He looked at the overturned tunnel in front of the pond. He looked at the strangely shaped charred corpses and the few people who were still breathing under the broken tunnel. He frowned slightly.
The tunnel was directly blown up by the missile. Most of the 60-odd resistance fighters who escorted the leader died instantly. As for the old man and a few of his most loyal subordinates, they were also blown away by the explosion because they were at the forefront. They fell in the ruins of the tunnel, covered in blood, but fortunately, they didn't die on the spot.
However, this was perhaps the greatest misfortune.
Old Voss lay on the ground on the verge of death. His face was smeared with mud and blood. The obvious and ugly age spots and the fair skin that gave him the beginnings of a lowly life but courageously challenged the unfair order could no longer be seen clearly.
His pants were burned to ashes by the burning flames. His legs, which were paralyzed in the war with the Empire in the early years, were badly burned. His black and red skin was smoking.
His amazing willpower kept the old man from fainting. He stared at the young Empire officer walking towards him from the top of the tunnel and vaguely guessed the identity of the other party. His weak breathing suddenly became rapid. His old right hand weakly grabbed the soil on the ground, as if he wanted to grab something and hit something.
The Empire soldier guarding him noticed his movements. He lowered his body and slapped him hard. The loud slap made the old man's face tilt to the side.
Huai Caoshi waved her arm, indicating the people around her to disperse. She walked in front of Leader Voss alone and looked at him quietly. After a long time, she said indifferently, "Let me introduce myself. I am Huai Caoshi."
Old Voss's bloodied lips moved slightly. A strange look flashed in his eyes, but he didn't speak in the end.
"I know who you are." Huai Caoshi continued indifferently, "The Empire has allowed you to escape for so many years, not because we can't catch you, but because we need you to stir up some people and do things that are inconvenient for us to do. But if … we really want to catch you, how can you escape?"
The light in Old Voss's eyes gradually faded. He knew that this princess didn't need to lie to him before he died. His heart that had long been prepared to sacrifice itself gradually became a little lost.
Since his youth, he had devoted himself to the liberation of the lower class of the Empire. He didn't know how many times he had escaped the pursuit of the Imperial armies and secret police. He led seven large and small uprisings or riots. He led hot-blooded students and farmers to secretly execute hundreds of greedy and cruel nobles. He was injured and imprisoned under an alias, but he watched as the future of the liberation cause became dimmer and dimmer. Yet, he didn't regret it for a moment.
Until the moment of his death, when he heard Huai Caoshi's indifferent words, Leader Voss finally understood why he had been able to escape for so many years without dying.
"Where is that person from the Federation?" Huai Caoshi squatted down. Her gaze was like a knife. "Where are you going to send him away?"
Old Voss didn't answer her question. After a long silence, the light that belonged only to him returned to his eyes. Before he died, he finally understood something. Even if his life was to some extent used by the royal family, the things he did were always valuable.
"Voss, when I saw your file, as a member of the royal family, I couldn't help but admire you because you used to have a backbone."
Huai Caoshi looked at the change in the old man's expression and knew that he would never say what she wanted. She frowned slightly and said in a cold voice, "The battle between us is ultimately a battle between the people of the Empire. But I didn't expect that you would do such a disappointing thing when you're old."
"Colluding with the people of the Empire, betraying the interests of your own people, and for your own political ideas, you didn't hesitate to commit treason … Don't you feel ashamed?"
Huai Caoshi's anger was very real. Leader Voss, who was lying on the ground, looked at the high and distant sky indifferently. He seemed to be thinking about how to answer the princess's anger, but also seemed to be thinking about whether his decision to cooperate with the Federation was right or wrong.
After a long time, Old Voss turned his head with difficulty and looked at Huai Caoshi. His turbid eyes revealed a trace of determination and mockery. He said in a hoarse voice, "Betray … the country? This is your country, never the country of lowly people like us … Your Highness, can you find a reason for lowly people like us to love this country? "
"But after all, you are all people of the Empire. You were born here and grew up here …"
"Is this the reason why maggots must love a cesspool?" The old man breathed rapidly. His eyes gradually became hollow, and his hands weakly scratched the scorched earth beside him. He looked at Huai Caoshi and said, "What I want to do in this life is not to prove that I am great, but to take back what we have lost. I don't want to continue living in a cesspool."
"Gods belong to gods, His Majesty belongs to His Majesty. What belongs to lowly people like us? Dear Your Highness, if you are willing to return the power that belongs to us, you will definitely find that our determination to resist the invasion of the Federation is stronger than you think. "
"The words of cowardly traitors are always so beautiful." Huai Caoshi looked at the leader of the resistance organization under her feet, indifferently made a final mocking comment, and then turned around and left.
The soldiers of the resistance organization habitually called the military officials loyal to the royal family as imperial traitors, and they themselves were called traitors. From today onwards, there would be one more crime on the wanted list — treason. Old Voss had led the resistance organization for decades, and at the last moment, he made a shocking decision to cooperate with the invaders of the Federation. Although he had temporarily obtained the approval of most of the members of the organization due to his supreme authority, the crime of being a traitor, the crime of being the precursor of an invader, would follow him and his organization forever and ever …
Was this really the right thing to do? Was it really … worth it? The old man couldn't answer this question. The spiraling gunshots from the bottom of the dry pond ended his life full of fighting spirit, and also left this question to the successor of the resistance organization and the soldiers with complicated feelings.
…
…
The soldiers who were desperately running in the tunnel naturally couldn't hear the gunshots. But from the images of the large explosion transmitted from the remote monitoring, as well as the fire, black smoke, and scattered limbs, they had long guessed the worst outcome in their hearts.
That old man who was like a loving father, no, really like a loving father, who had led them and even their fathers to fight for decades, should have already dedicated his life to the cause of the liberation of the people.
The soldiers glanced at Qi Dabing with stiff bodies, silently making painful inquiries. Qi Dabing, who glanced at the screen from the corner of his eyes from time to time, had long become numb from the pain and sorrow in the depths of his heart, and didn't have any reaction.
Therefore, the people who were running for their lives did not stop. The dense sound of footsteps continued in the dark tunnel. No one spoke, and no one cried out crazily or turned around to try and save something. Everyone continued to run on their own, silently running.
There seemed to be no end to the dark underground tunnel, and there seemed to be no end to the running as well. The terrifying Empire's military mechs on the ground were stepping heavily on the ground. After a long time, someone in the fleeing crowd finally couldn't help but start crying.
Xu Le, who had been silent from beginning to end, had a heavy heart. Thinking about how the leader of the resistance organization who didn't have much emotion had died just like that, he couldn't help but think of the words that the Great Teacher had said that night: Everyone has their own historical mission.
Then what was his own historical mission? He rubbed his eyebrows that were growing back, and thus appeared even harder than before. He took a sip of water from the soldier beside him, and then, somewhat stunned, he took a cold handgun.
Qi Dabing lowered his head and said, "If we all die, you have to make sure you can go back alive."
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