Mental Illness Evolution Manual - Chapter 93

McCarthy was a renowned general in the Federation. He was quite old, in his seventies or eighties, having lived through the Great Purge era. His combat style was steady and cautious, never reckless.

Such a commander wouldn’t make mistakes. He had commanded more battles than Azberto’s age. He was a seasoned veteran, never engaging in a battle he wasn’t sure of winning.

Azberto faintly heard the sound of artillery fire. His brow furrowed slightly.

In the previous stalemate, the other side hadn’t used high-powered weapons. Both sides were engaged in simple gun battles. There was a strange balance.

He had originally guessed that the Federation government had a similar idea, wanting to use his hand to clear out those social scourges. That’s why the commander who came to suppress them was McCarthy, not Qin Rui, who was more aggressive.

The officials were deliberately dragging things out. His acquaintances in the Federation said the same thing, of course, using more euphemistic and pleasant words. They said it was to avoid harming the civilians in the city and to ensure the safety of the hostages.

Did the Federation care about civilians?

He didn’t think so.

The living conditions of the civilians were obvious, they were extremely bad. Azberto believed that the Federation was already rotten, so he had to take a gamble and start a rebellion.

As long as his ideals were spread, that was true success. The outcome of this battle was never something he cared about.

As long as the two armies were still in a stalemate, his men could invade more cities and clean up those pests.

Although he hoped for success in his heart, Azberto knew that those decadent tycoons and noble families were accustomed to using the corrupt social order to acquire wealth. They wouldn’t let him build a new world.

There was no place for them in his ideal country.

To maintain their status, they would definitely do everything they could to stop him.

McCarthy had suddenly changed his battle plan and was fighting him head-on. What was the reason behind it? What changes had happened that he didn’t know about?

He didn’t have time to think about the reasons. Azberto said to his deputy, “Go get the last can of mutated potion.”

Originally, this was for the capital. Now he had to use it here. He needed time, he needed a lot of time.

The troops sent to other cities hadn’t completed their mission, but now there was no chance to advance steadily.

The mutated potion was stored in an underground cold storage. The deputy personally led people to retrieve it and transport it to the front lines.

The airship slowly rose and accelerated. He heard the second order from his superior.

Only one legion would be left on the main battlefield, the rest would retreat immediately, disperse in batches, and go to the following cities to carry out a cleanup operation.

A list of existing provinces and cities was attached, some large, some small, but the smallest was a second-tier city.

There was no need to clean up the smaller towns below that. Time was of the essence, they had to make choices.

Deploying the mutated potion among the enemy troops would buy the legion a lot of time.

He couldn’t stay in Gaoshan City any longer.

After issuing the order, Azberto sent a message to the head of the Mechanical Holy Land, asking about the progress of their attack on the president.

This was the biggest factor that could affect the battle situation. The president must have had some problems.

The head of the Mechanical Holy Land sounded very flustered, he was almost furious, “We failed. Almost all of my people died. It was supposed to be foolproof, but I don’t know where a bunch of ability users came from. Damn it!”

“The guards at the presidential palace were also more numerous than before. I almost got stuck inside. I really suspect that someone leaked the information.”

“Are you suspecting me?” Azberto asked back.

“Who knows for sure? Perhaps I should believe you, but the truth is, we’re not on the same path. We only share a brief common goal,” said the head of the Mechanical Holy Land.

“My organization is going to shrink. You’re on your own.”

“By the way, a piece of advice for you,” he said, “It’s better to live to fight another day.”

With that, his avatar turned gray and went offline.

The Mechanical Holy Land, a terrorist organization that had carried out numerous terrorist attacks and was lawless in the eyes of most people, was nothing more than a rabble in Azberto’s eyes. They were short-sighted and lacked wisdom, they couldn’t do anything big.

The organization’s members were also unconstrained, they were mostly arrogant, lawless thugs. If he hadn’t cooperated with them before, he would have eliminated them all.

Azberto’s gaze was indifferent. He ordered people to quickly organize all the information. Once the mutated potion was deployed, the soldiers on the front lines would mutate and become uncontrollable. Gaoshan City would no longer be safe.

…

On the other side, Yan Xianchuan and her group had already infiltrated the administrative building.

There were twenty-two ability users in total, many of whom she knew, like Gold Ring and Silver Ring, and many she didn’t know. Their task was to make a feint attack, to try to lure the ability users away from Azberto’s side and draw fire.

They were essentially cannon fodder, their only purpose was to create an opportunity for the team of five to successfully kill Azberto.

This force comprised nearly every high-level ability user the Resistance could muster. They could storm even the Federation’s military headquarters.

Lu Mingqiu wasn’t worried about whether the mission would fail. Unless Azberto could teleport away, he would definitely die.

The druid, Ge’er, was still providing coordinates for the group. The target was currently in his study, he hadn’t left.

There was a manhole at the back door of the administrative building. The group waited for a while. Yan Xianchuan listened to the sounds outside. When she heard the sound of gunfire and artillery fire, she said, “The two armies have started to engage.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Yan Xianchuan immediately lifted the manhole cover and jumped out of the sewer. Then she turned around and pulled Lu Mingqiu out, running towards the back door of the building.

The rest of the group followed closely behind.

There were three hundred people stationed here. Although the data was paralyzed and they couldn’t get any feedback from the surveillance, they weren’t blind. When they saw these uninvited guests, they immediately raised their guns, their fingers were already on the triggers.

Lu Mingqiu remained calm. Her mental power spread out in a fan shape, starting from her. In an instant, the people on the outermost layer were like kites with broken strings, they fell to the ground limply.

Yan Xianchuan took her, her speed was extremely fast. She jumped over the courtyard wall in a few leaps, she didn’t even touch the electric fence.

With her, Lu Mingqiu’s disadvantage of having a small range of effect for her ability was greatly compensated.

Despite this, there were still people in the distance firing their guns. Yan Xianchuan dodged the bullets she could, but she was worried about the people behind her. Some of the bullets were too tricky, she couldn’t dodge them, so she simply took them head-on.

Both of them had shields added by the Holy Knight. When the bullets hit, the air seemed to ripple, the bullets stopped five millimeters from their skin, they couldn’t go any further.

Lu Mingqiu’s ability was suitable for killing enemies in a large area, and she was also the fastest. If it were anyone else, it would take some time, besides, there were too many stray bullets, and the shields had a strength limit.

She had to strike first and clear the field as much as possible.

In just a few breaths, with the two of them working together, they had eliminated almost half of the soldier guards.

The rest of the group took advantage of the opportunity to find cover. It wasn’t difficult for them to clean up the rest of the people.

Azberto was under attack, there would definitely be reinforcements. They had to be quick, they had to finish the battle within five minutes.

“Go!”

The group quickly split into three teams. Two teams entered the administrative building from different directions, one from the front door and one from the side door. Yan Xianchuan and the other four took the service corridor and climbed the stairs.

The data was paralyzed, they didn’t have Black’s guidance, they could only be on their guard.

There were also many soldiers inside the building, they were all quickly killed by Lu Mingqiu. There were a few sporadic gunshots in the distance, it must be the other teams encountering enemies.

Azberto’s study was on the fourth floor. Yan Xianchuan listened to the sounds coming from other directions, she identified the floor and location they were on. They had to maintain a slightly slower speed, but not too much. Ideally, they would be a step behind, so that the people inside wouldn’t have time to react.

When the five of them reached the third floor, there was a sudden loud bang from above. The ceiling shattered with the sound, and a figure fell from the hole.

It could hardly be called a complete person. It was like a processed corpse, it had lost all its moisture. The skin was tightly wrapped around the bones, the hair was dry like autumn grass, one leg was twisted outwards in a strange way, it was obviously broken.

He fell straight in front of the group, not a drop of blood flowed out. He was like dried meat, stiff and straight. His mouth was wide open, revealing a black cavity.

“It’s Gold Ring….”

A piece of neatly shaped gold rolled out of its pocket and rolled around on the floor.

Lu Mingqiu’s eyelids twitched slightly.

“I’ll go scout ahead,” Yan Xianchuan said softly, she jumped up and grabbed the hole in the ceiling. With a push of her arm, she pulled herself up.

Upstairs was like a tornado had hit. There were scratches all over the walls, the doors and windows were all shattered, dust was flying everywhere. The two teams were on opposite sides of the corridor, with a still space in the middle.

Bullets, darts, poison needles—every kind of attack, from strange abilities to snowflakes and balls of light—hung frozen in mid-air. Even droplets of poison, previously invisible, were now suspended, visible and immobile, like specimens encased in amber.

She saw a spinning playing card fly into it with her own eyes. It was like it had been paused, it floated in the air, slowly rotating at a speed that the naked eye couldn’t catch. It would probably take a day to make a full circle.

There were four people in this space. Azberto was among them. The other three were two women and one man. One was a young girl, her height and appearance were like those of a minor. She had long, straight black hair, her face was delicate like a doll, but her eyes were as cold as snow. The other two were tall and muscular adults, wearing military uniforms.

They didn’t seem to be bound in this space. The girl raised her hand and pointed it at a man who was covering his arm. Her five fingers closed inwards.

The man’s body instantly shriveled up. His blood uncontrollably flowed out of a tiny wound, like a floodgate had been opened.

A soft light flashed, a shield covered him. The blood stopped flowing, but he fainted. He was thin and dry, like someone who had been starving for three years.

His heartbeat was weak, he was obviously dying.

“Watch out! She can control water!”