r18novel Chapter 620 The Possibility of Cooperation
Chapter 620 The Possibility of Cooperation
Chapter 620 The Possibility of Cooperation
The night was as dark as ink, completely engulfing the Black City.
Outside the window, the gray-green filthy rain continued to stubbornly beat against the solid stone wall, producing a dull and monotonous sound, like an incessant death knell.
Inside the bedroom on the top floor of the city lord's mansion, the cold and ominous atmosphere of the outside world was unusually isolated. The flickering flames in the fireplace emitted a warm and dry glow, and the air was filled with the faint scent of calming herbs and burning pine.
Tang Zijun lay on his back on the large bed, his body still tense. The exhaustion and heavy pressure of the past few days seemed to have been etched into his bones. His eyes were closed, and his brows were furrowed with an inescapable weariness and solemnity.
A pair of soft, warm hands were pressing down on his stiff, iron-like shoulder and neck muscles with just the right amount of pressure.
Tan Zhixin knelt beside him, her slender fingers possessing a magical power, precisely kneading the knots that had formed from long hours of desk work and intense tension. Her movements were gentle and focused, her fingertips applying just the right amount of pressure as she slowly pushed along the taut muscle lines, trying to gradually dispel the deep-seated fatigue.
The warm, dim glow of the fireplace outlined Tan Zhixin's beautiful and serene profile. Her eyes were lowered, and her long eyelashes cast a gentle shadow beneath them.
Her gaze remained fixed on Tang Zijun's face, with a focus that seemed to etch every inch of his weariness into her heart. An almost stagnant stillness filled the air, with only the crackling of the fireplace, the sound of rain outside the window, and the soft breathing of the two of them intertwined.
"This time..." Tan Zhixin's voice was soft, as if afraid of disturbing something, yet it clearly pierced through the sound of the rain. "You plan to personally go to the wasteland to find the 'Gods of the Epoch'?"
Her fingers didn't stop, still wandering over Tang Zijun's shoulders and neck, but the pressure seemed to have eased slightly, carrying a silent exploration.
Tang Zijun didn't open her eyes, but only made a muffled "hmm" with a heavy nasal sound.
He knew he couldn't hide it from her, and he never even considered doing so.
Tan Zhixin's fingertips paused slightly before resuming the pressing rhythm, but her voice carried an undisguised worry, like a pebble thrown into a still lake.
"I know you're doing this because of nightmares... because of something that might be more terrifying than the pleasure of crawling, but... Gods of the Epoch..."
She paused, seemingly considering her words, and ultimately chose the most direct and somber expression.
"It was once our enemy; the civilizations it destroyed are countless, its eras are the tombstones of countless planets. Is it truly possible for such an entity to cooperate with us?"
Her fingertips slid to Tang Zijun's temples, massaging them with extremely gentle pressure.
"Cooperating with such beings... is like playing with fire. They are even more uncontrollable than heretics and demons." Her voice was soft, but it pierced Tang Zijun's heart like an ice pick.
Tang Zijun finally slowly opened her eyes.
His gaze was unfocused as he stared at the ceiling, the firelight dancing in his dark brown pupils, reflecting a bottomless weariness.
She let out a long sigh. "I know... Zhixin, I know everything."
Tang Zijun's voice was hoarse and low.
"I know its dangers, its past, better than you do." Tang Zijun's voice gradually gathered a sliver of strength, yet was shrouded in even deeper weariness. "But, faced with a nightmare," faced with this ultimate catastrophe that could sweep across the entire world and devour all life... we don't have many choices."
He turned his head slightly, his gaze finally settling on Tan Zhixin's face, which was filled with worry. In those clear eyes, he saw his own reflection.
"The creature that crawls for pleasure is not what I'm worried about, but you've seen its power. The monsters in nightmares are no less powerful than it. We need to know the true face of our enemy, we need to know its weaknesses, and we need to know what we can still rely on."
"The Gods of the Ages, having witnessed the rise and fall of countless civilizations, possess technology that might even be able to analyze some form of nightmares. What they know might be our only hope. This intelligence, this potential cooperation, is worth the risk."
Tan Zhixin's hand stopped on Tang Zijun's forehead. She could feel the throbbing of the veins under his temples, full of resolute strength. She knew that his mind was made up.
"and...
""
Tang Zijun's voice grew even lower, carrying an undeniable weight, "This time, I must go myself."
He looked at Tan Zhixin. "This danger, this responsibility... I can't entrust it to others. I need to see it with my own eyes, hear it with my own ears, and judge it myself... just how much cooperation is still possible," or rather... whether it itself poses an even greater threat.
"If the gods of the era cannot cooperate, then let me be at the end of time..."
"...Destroy it!"
He turned his hand and gently grasped Tan Zhixin's hand that was resting on his forehead.
Her hands were cold, carrying the chill of the night rain. Tang Zijun's palms were broad and warm, but covered with thin calluses from holding a sword and fighting.
"Black City is in your hands now." Tang Zijun's voice carried trust and a hint of barely perceptible guilt. "Herri, the Storm Church, the anomalies in the Ghost Mist Forest, the reconnaissance on the river front... and... this damned rain."
Tan Zhixin's hand trembled slightly in Tang Zijun's palm.
She didn't pull her hand away, but just stared at him intently.
"...Okay, Black City, I'm here."
The firelight danced on their clasped hands, casting two slowly approaching silhouettes on the wall.
The gray-green rain curtain outside the window continued to silently shroud the earth, like a huge curtain hanging down. In the dark sky, it seemed as if a huge body was baring its fangs and claws, but the next second, the shadow disappeared without a trace.
The afternoon sun, carrying the unique warmth of the city—a mixture of car exhaust and the smell of steel and concrete—lazily spilled onto a street that wasn't wide but was full of life.
This is an old neighborhood in the city, with small shops lining both sides of the street, restaurants wafting the aroma of food, and some residential buildings with mottled exteriors but adorned with tenacious vitality.
Chang Lei held his youngest daughter Luan Luan's hand and strolled slowly down the rather empty street.
The man, who was originally tall and burly with a hard-lined face and even a bit of a menacing look, was now awkwardly bending over, accommodating his daughter's small steps.
His expression was replaced by tenderness, and there was even a faint smile on his lips that he himself did not notice.
Luan Luan, like a happy little bird, wore a clean new dress, a gift from Secretary Ma to congratulate her on successfully standing up. Her little face was rosy, and she tilted her head back, chattering away in childish language. Occasionally, she would excitedly point with her other little hand to a small flower stubbornly emerging from a crack in the roadside stone, or a beetle hurriedly crawling by.
This was a time she had never experienced before, a time filled with the comfort of her father's presence.
As Chang Lei listened to his daughter's soft, sweet voice and felt the small, warm hand in his palm, an unprecedented feeling of "satisfaction" slowly flowed through his heart, which had once been filled with endless greed and killing.
He even began to feel that perhaps... these simple walks were more interesting than usual.
The idea felt strange and absurd to him, yet damnably intoxicating.
"Daddy, shall we have a race to see who can get to the supermarket entrance first?" Luan Luan stood on tiptoe, pointing her little finger forward, her eyes sparkling.
Chang Lei looked in the direction his daughter was pointing, and was about to say something when he suddenly froze in place.
His expression changed slightly, and he suddenly turned his head to look at the street on the right.
Boom! ...
Immediately afterwards, a deafening, terrifying explosion that tore through the air rang out without warning.
The sound didn't come from afar, but from diagonally ahead on the street, from an abandoned building that had just been topped out during post-war reconstruction and hadn't yet been put into use. The shockwave from the violent explosion swept across the street like an invisible giant hammer.
Chang Lei's pupils suddenly contracted. His instinctive reaction, typical of those with extreme greed, was faster than his thoughts. He abruptly pulled Luan Luan into his arms, using his tall and broad body to protect her tightly. At the same time, he knelt on one knee and slammed his other hand hard on the ground.
hum!
An invisible barrier instantly opened up around him, steadily blocking the sweeping debris, dust, and violent shockwaves. Newly planted saplings on both sides of the street were snapped in half, and windowpanes shattered everywhere.
"Daddy!" Luan Luan was so frightened by the loud noise and vibration that her little face turned pale. She hugged Chang Lei's neck tightly, buried her face in his hard shoulder, and her body trembled slightly.
Chang Lei did not immediately comfort his daughter. His eyes, which had instantly turned as cold as ice, were fixed on the building that was the source of the explosion, or more precisely, the entrance to the underground parking lot at the bottom of the building that had been blown to pieces, revealing a huge black hole!
A strong, pungent stench, a mixture of gunpowder smoke, ozone, and some other...nauseating stench, filled the air.
Immediately afterwards—
"Roar!!"
A savage roar, filled with endless pain and destructive desire, exploded from the black hole of the underground parking lot. The sound was like the gates of a hellish furnace being forcibly pulled open, accompanied by the ear-piercing noise of metal rubbing together and the frenzied screams of living beings.
The next moment, under Chang Lei's icy gaze and Luan Luan's terrified, furtive eyes, a massive, suffocating shadow suddenly burst out of the cave entrance.
Gravel and twisted metal debris scattered like raindrops in an instant!
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