...
Outside Baiyin City.
As Qing Chen gouged out the Silver Duke's eyeballs, he said to Boss He, "Shindai Yunluo must be overjoyed now. A demigod's eyeballs! How could he possibly get such a good thing on his own? If a hundred pairs of B-grade eyeballs can make a hundred-eyed demons rival a demigod, then what would be the effect of adding a demigod's eyeball and a dozen or so A-grade eyeballs? Boss He, do you think it might be able to compete with you?"
As Qing Chen put his eyeballs into the formaldehyde bag, he continued speaking to Boss He, "Did you see when I used God Slash just now? Wasn't it spectacular? Just imagine, this ability killed a demigod with a single use, wasn't that cool? When I awaken my ability to become a demigod, I won't just be able to use God Slash three times anymore, I feel like I'll be able to do it even more, maybe 30 times, isn't that amazing? When I encounter the Silver Duke again, I'll blind him and beat him to a pulp. Of course, you deserve half the credit for this... What? Be honest? Okay, okay, you deserve 90% of the credit."
Qingchen suddenly seemed to have become very talkative.
However, Boss He remained seated, showing no intention of paying any attention to Qing Chen.
Qing Chen suddenly became somewhat dejected: "I know you're burning your life force and won't live much longer, which is why you had to kill the Silver Duke before you died. But... you should at least hold on a little longer, so that Boss Zheng could see you one last time... Why were you in such a hurry to leave?"
As he complained, his mood only worsened.
He knew that war was not a dinner party; war was a true victory won through bloodshed and sacrifice.
He knew that a victory without bloodshed and sacrifice was a false victory.
Even knowing all these reasons, Qingchen was still genuinely saddened when Boss He left.
Qing Chen sacrificed the corpse of the Silver Duke, and the marionette seemed to be eating this kind of food for the first time, happily flying up.
But now, the marionette, which originally had seven strings, has suddenly grown an eighth string!
Qingchen lifted Boss He up, carried him on his back, and slowly walked westward.
He wanted to take Mr. He home; he couldn't let him continue sitting in such a cold place.
But at that moment, he heard the sound of engines in the sky.
Qing Chen suddenly turned around and saw a fleet rapidly chasing after him, with a very clear objective!
"What bad luck!" Qingchen turned and ran away with Boss He on his back. He didn't have the skills of a sword immortal, so he was helpless against enemies in the air.
If he were a demigod, he could directly use God Slice to cut through the airship, and all electronic components in the path of God Slice would explode.
But now, all he can do is run.
However, before he could run very far, he heard a roaring sound ahead. Just a few seconds later, the shadow of the Silver City army suddenly appeared on the horizon.
The three army groups have finally arrived...
To the west, north, and south, there were army units, while to the east was the royal fleet that had come from Silver City!
At this moment, Qingchen also felt the same way Boss He had felt earlier... looking around with a sense of bewilderment, as if the whole world was against him, my friend!
Chapter 892, Dead End, Desperate Situation
The enemy has appeared on the horizon.
As dawn broke, a time that should have symbolized hope, it instead brought devastating news to Qingchen…
Besieged on all sides.
Qing Chen muttered to Boss He with his back turned, "Boss He, it seems we're destined to be brothers in misfortune. I was just planning to carve out a burial plot for you on Whale Island, so you could see the development of Kyushu, Kunlun, and the Time Traveler Academy. This prosperous era is just as you wished. Now it seems it's just as we wished..."
At this moment, Qing Chen had been killing for a full six hours. He had used up all his Knight Cloud Qi, his power bank was on cooldown, he had exhausted all the lightning plasma in his body, and all the puppets he controlled were dead.
Only the silhouette remained alive, standing beside him.
Now, a vast number of enemies have arrived...
Where can I find justice?!
He looked around, but in that instant, a piercing pain suddenly shot through the three ribs that the Silver Duke had broken.
Even the slightest movement causes excruciating pain.
Qing Chen gasped. He felt as if three sharp blades had been plunged into the three broken bones under his ribs, and any slight movement felt like being stabbed with them.
If it weren't for the dragonfish's blessing on his bones, that kick would probably have killed him already.
"It's like when it rains, it pours," Qingchen said, not knowing what was wrong with him. He felt incredibly lonely on the battlefield and wanted to talk to someone, not even caring whether the other person would answer.
We've reached a dead end.
Qing Chen couldn't think of any good way to break through.
He didn't even know what to do to survive.
The next moment, Qing Chen carefully analyzed the distribution of the enemy's forces.
The east is definitely not an option; that's where the royal air fleet is located, and there's nothing we can do about those airships.
The number of Silver City Army Groups in the west, north, and south is roughly the same, each consisting of nearly 10,000 field divisions.
The surrounding terrain was open, with only the southwest direction—the forest he had previously fought his way out of—offering some obstruction to his view.
Upon discovering Qing Chen, the Silver City Army Group immediately deployed an artillery matrix on the spot, ready to cover the area where Qing Chen was located with firepower.
Holy crap!
Qingchen could no longer care about the pain in his chest. He turned around and ran wildly towards the woods in the northwest. If he didn't run, he would die!
However, the Silver City Army Group was even more efficient than expected. A barrage of artillery fire erupted on the horizon, its momentum as astonishing as the roar of dragons and the howl of tigers.
This was the first time Qing Chen had ever seen so many artillery pieces firing simultaneously. The enemy, with three army artillery positions, had directly achieved fire coverage within a five-kilometer radius!
When Qing Chen caught a glimpse of the firelight out of the corner of his eye, he was already feeling a bit numb.
Because the artillery on the eastern and western continents are different, even if he sees the muzzle elevation angle, he cannot calculate the trajectory of the enemy's ballistics, because he has no idea how much gunpowder is being loaded.
At that moment, the shell flew in from a distance of several kilometers...
Let's give it our all!
I'm taking the gamble!
The next moment, Qingchen placed Boss He on the ground, and then covered him with his own body, and then covered himself with two shadows!
Mr. He was completely covered up!
At this moment, he could only pray that no shells would land right next to him!
The so-called artillery barrage does not mean that shells are dropped on every square meter of the area to completely plow the ground.
Instead, it involves calculating the kill radius of the shells and dropping them at intervals of 10 to 100 meters. The density of these drops depends entirely on the lethality of the shells.
But Qingchen felt that the Silver City Army must hate him now, and their artillery fire would be even more intense!
The shells fell.
In an instant, Qingchen felt the ground shake violently, and ear-piercing explosions rose and fell. His ears were ringing and bleeding.
Two shells landed 20 meters to his left and right respectively!
Shrapnel struck the two shadows, and the pain was transmitted back to the host, causing Qing Chen to almost faint.
At that moment, several shrapnel fragments, each about two fingers wide, flew out and seeped through the gaps in the shadows, embedding themselves deeply in Qingchen's legs, waist, and arms.
The artillery barrage was so intense that even with two shadows shielding him, it was impossible to block all the damage.
Qingchen felt a wave of despair.
However, when the first round of artillery fire briefly subsided, he shook off all distractions and got up.
He only breathed a sigh of relief when he confirmed that Mr. He's body was unharmed.
Qing Chen gritted his teeth and laughed, "Boss He, let's flee to the ends of the earth together!"
As he spoke, he took advantage of a lull in the shelling to pick up He Jinqiu's body, limped around the shell crater, and ran for several dozen meters.
Then he pounced down again, using the same trick as before!
This time, Qing Chen already had some rough parameters. When he observed the elevation angle of the enemy's cannon, he roughly chose a position where the shell would land in the middle.
The thunderous roar of artillery fire erupted once more, and Qing Chen could no longer hear any sounds from the outside world.
He could only hear his own breathing, heartbeat, and tinnitus.
It was as if the sound of blood flowing through the pulse became exceptionally clear.
After a round of intense and noisy artillery fire, Qingchen's arms and legs were once again riddled with more than a dozen small pieces of shrapnel.
The commander of the Silver City Army Group probably never imagined that there would be people in this world who actually wanted to survive in an area under artillery fire.
They never expected that the enemy would actually survive two volleys of fire!
However, when Qingchen tried to calculate the trajectory of the shell again, he suddenly realized that he was surrounded by smoke and could no longer see the muzzle elevation.
He cannot see the other person, and the other person cannot see him.
But the Silver City Army Group didn't care about any of that. Regardless of whether they could see it or not, they just wanted to use up a basic load of ammunition first!
When Qingchen got up again, he felt as if his body no longer belonged to him.
Every step he took was excruciatingly painful; his muscle fibers and skin tissue rubbed against the sharp metal shrapnel, and every movement aggravated the damage.
In fact, he could also use Boss He's corpse and shadow together as a shield for him.
This is, after all, the corpse of a demigod, the other party's experimental subject, so it must be very resilient.
Three bodies can cover one person, and if the angle is right, it can even avoid injury from shrapnel.
But for some reason, Qingchen just didn't want to do it.
He felt he might be being a bit pretentious, or a bit impractical.
He didn't know what he was thinking; he just didn't want to do it.
In the past, Qingchen would definitely have been the first to laugh at his current self.
But then he suddenly thought...
After Mr. He's body is displayed to the world, there will surely be many people attending the memorial service, right? At that time, everyone will take turns to come forward and offer him flowers, and then take one last look at Mr. He under the glass cover and say goodbye.
Qingchen hoped that He Jinqiu would still have the same charm she has now back then, at least not with a shrapnel sticking out of her face, that would be too unsightly.
Of course, these were just his wild guesses; funeral homes do have beauticians.
Ultimately, all he wanted was to bring Mr. He home unharmed.
Comrades who died in battle far from home should be led through gunfire and smoke, through forests and streams, across mountains and plains, back to the place where they were born and raised.