Book 2 Chapter 3.2 - Soldier
Su sat in the front of a truck, his eyes closed in rest. Propped on the roof of the driving cabin was a heavy machine gun, and a soldier was currently vigilantly watching the surroundings. In fact, he was a bit too nervous, because this was inside the Black Dragonriders' zone of control, and in the rear car was a Black Dragonrider lieutenant. Even though Enzo didn't display any extraordinary skills, his lieutenant rank explained quite a bit.
On this trip that wasn't particularly long, Su strangely sank into a state of sleep and even began to dream. The dream this time was no longer of an unchanging green sea, and instead a burning city!
There was fire everywhere in the city. Some of the fire was real, and some were projections of dark flames. Within the dark flames, Su could see many weeping and crying faces. All of their faces were distorted, making them seem like they were suffering from unbearable pain. There were some buildings that were burning furiously as well, and the flames were rushing into the heavens. The flames that shot out from the window reached several meters outwards. However, inside the same building, the dark flames burned even higher. From time to time, warped faces separated from the dark flames as if they were being pulled along by strings, continuously dragged higher and higher all the way until they were dragged into the thick radiation clouds.
There were corpses everywhere in the city. Most of the corpses belonged to robust men, and the majority died at the sides of the road. A lot of them were holding weapons, but the looks of horror on their faces did not vanish even in their death. There were a few people who died on the battlefield. The ones that died included the elderly, women, and children.
Faint miserable cries continuously sounded from within the city, and it was unknown where exactly they came from.
What was strange was that there were still people moving about on the streets, only, their figures were thin and indistinct. Their faces all carried vacant expressions as they looked around, as if they didn't know where they were. Sometimes, they would walk past the street full of corpses. Their feet didn't enter the corpses' bodies at all, and they were perfectly fine when pulled back out. There wasn't the slightest bit of hindrance as they walked about.
The eye-grabbing building at the center of the city continuously released burning flames, its windows releasing flames that flickered between bright and dark. These flames unexpectedly formed a lifelike image! It was a weeping face!
Su suddenly woke up, and he only felt his entire body becoming wet and cold. His body had unknowingly been drenched in cold sweat! He checked the time and saw that he had only slept three minutes. However, it was different from the past, because this dream was clearly engraved within his memory.
Su slowed down his breathing, and his skin once again absorbed the moisture of his surroundings. In the wilderness, sweating was an extremely extravagant thing. Su first calmed down his mood, and then he began to recall everything he saw in his dreams. He had a strange feeling, a feeling that the world he saw within the dream had been real, real to the point where it was completely identical to reality. In Su's field of view, the two worlds seemed to coexist.
Su suddenly discovered that the last building that entered his field of view was extremely familiar. That was Roxland's branch headquarters! As such, if all of the distorted buildings stabilized, then that would be Pendulum City!
Even though it was just a dream, it made Su feel extremely uncomfortable. After obtaining more and more evolutionary points, Su's control over his body became increasingly fine. He was able to easily lower his body's activity to receive the benefits of rest, and as such, he almost didn't need to sleep. This made it even more weird. Why did he have to suddenly enter a dreaming state at this time?
Su looked around his surroundings and made a simple comparison with the map stored within his brain. He knew that there was still almost a hundred kilometers separating him from Pendulum City. He immediately ordered for his party to advance towards Pendulum City at full speed and for everyone to stay vigilant. Su himself jumped out of the driving room and sped towards Pendulum City at a constant speed of sixty kilometers an hour.
The wilderness was rugged and not smooth, and roads had long disappeared. Even for the Black Dragonriders' transport vehicles, while on this type of terrain, they could still only proceed at about fifty kilometers an hour. When Enzo saw Su suddenly leap off from the transport vehicle, his face immediately revealed a hint of disapproval. However, when he saw Su, who was carrying all of his equipment, speed into the distance at a speed of sixty kilometers an hour before disappearing into the horizon's boundless mist, the corners of his eyes jumped a few times. He muttered, "All a bunch of Combat Domain lunatics."
For Enzo to run at a speed of sixty kilometers an hour, it was possible. However, he would at most be able to run a few kilometers and definitely couldn't do it while carrying equipment.
As Su ran along, the world before his eyes seemed to have divided into two again. One was real, and the other were void images. The two worlds seemed almost identical, but there were still minute differences. For example, the wind that blew against his face was dry, rough, cold, and even carried dust full of radiation. However, in the void world, the wind carried a wave of burnt smell.
The void world's great earth was trembling and groaning as it released a fretful and restless aura. At this time, a wet and sticky feeling was transmitted from his legs. Without even looking down, Su knew that this was the feeling of stepping in viscous blood. The blood was rather sticky, and it continuously poured towards Su. It latched onto his legs to pull him into the mud, trying to drown him for all of eternity within the abyss.
Even though his body couldn't feel the force of the void images, his consciousness could clearly feel their dragging force. Su's consciousness became more and more heavy as he continuously dropped lower and lower. Meanwhile, below him, there was only bottomless darkness.
Countless data was collected from various parts of his body, and they were reviewed and organized within his consciousness. The nutrients stored within his body mobilized bit by bit, flowing into his body's various muscles and tissue cells. Based on the speed at which his energy stores were being exhausted, Su knew that he could maintain his current speed for another six hours. This was the data from the tangible world, clear and easy to control.
However, in the void world, all of the information he received was disordered and messy, and he couldn't filter out any meaningful data. However, if he directly listened to it, he could hear a group of people crying and shouting, asking Su to come down and accompany them. He couldn't analyze the data from the void world, or perhaps Su hadn't found a way to analyze this information yet. In the void world, willpower seemed to be the only deciding factor.
Between the void and real world, there were also a few links. These were some type of gene domains that belonged to the Mysterious Fields.
Su concentrated on controlling his body's movements and tried to ignore the various changes that took place in the void world. When those from the void that had already fallen into depravity saw that they couldn't pull on Su any longer, they released roars of unwillingness before sinking into the abyss' darkness one by one.