Gate of Revelation

Chapter 822

“Damned radiation!”

The surrounding air was filled with radioactive dust, but Aderick continued to gasp for breath.

A faint layer of ion shield covered his body to keep the intense heat from the lava out and he carried Theodore in his arms. Theodore was still unconscious.

After having the recovery flower swallow Theodore, Aderick had commanded it to go deep underground to ensure his safety.

It was thanks to this that Theodore was able to survive the nuclear explosions.

As for Aderick, he had repeated the same move he did earlier, swiftly splitting out a small part of his body and sending it underground before the nuclear bombs arrived.

His body, which remained aboveground, had been instantly and utterly evaporated by the nuclear explosions. However, that small part of him was able to grow him back.

Thankfully, the two of them were deep enough that the lava from the melted ground failed to reach them.

Aderick brought out a small hand grenade. Pulling out the pin, he then threw it onto the lava area before him. A white light flashed out and countless pieces of frost burst outwards before melting down, creating a great cloud of water vapour.

After the water vapour dissipated away, a small area of the lava there – due to the cooling effect of the Ice Grenade – turned solid. Even so, it continued to emit steam.

Moving to stand on the solid ground, Aderick then released his ion shield and put Theodore down.

Then, his legs turned limp and he fell to his knees.

He’d had to regrow his whole body from just a small piece of him twice in a row. Even with his terrifying regenerative ability, this was somewhat too much for him.

The explosions engulfing the ground had ended, but the radioactive dust created by the explosions enveloped the whole sky. Smoke and dust filled their surroundings, making it hard to see anything there.

“Guild… Guild Leader?”

Theodore had awakened. However, the injuries he sustained previously were too serious. Additionally, the time he spent inside the flower of recovery was too short. Thus, he had yet to fully recover. Opening his eyes, he saw the ghastly scene laid out before him.

“What happened?”

“Just now… there were nuclear explosions.” There was a dark look on Aderick’s face.

“Nuclear explosions? Here?!”

Theodore got up and quickly glanced around.

The hell-like scene truly looked as though this place had been through a nuclear explosion. Moreover, it was at the centre of the blast.

But… how is this possible?

“Don’t worry. Given our current physical state, the radiation will not kill us immediately. Once we leave this instance dungeon, the harmful residual effects will also disappear.” Aderick panted.

He had been maintaining his cool all this time. But now, even Aderick had lost his composure.

“No… that’s not what I’m worried about, Guild Leader.” Theodore frowned. “The most important issue is… why would a nuclear bomb be dropped here?!”

He gnashed his teeth to the point of it giving out a rattling sound.

“You did say before that the US Army might resort to nuclear bombs. However, shouldn’t the bombs be dropped in the Los Angeles region? That’s where a high number of mutants are gathering! This… why would this Rosemont Preserve be at the centre of a nuclear explosion?”

“Everywhere… it’s everywhere! Every place was bombed!” Aderick growled. Likewise, he looked as though he was about to devour someone. “You should feel thankful that you were unconscious just now. You did not see how the sky looked like… it was like a meteor shower. The whole sky was filled with trails of warheads re-entering orbit! Over a hundred warheads devastated the entire Southern California region! This Rosemont Preserve alone was hit with by least 20 nuclear bombs… just look at the ground around you!”

Theodore looked around him. Lava continued to flow and waves of heat blew towards him.

This terrifying power was indeed something that could only be brought about by a high number of nuclear bombs.

Theodore grew flabbergasted.

Originally, they had estimated that – due to the dangerous biohazard incident – the US Government might resort to nuclear bombs in order to stop its development. However, that should have been in their favour, helping them wipe out the other Players and Awakened ones within Los Angeles.

Over a hundred nuclear bombs?

All of Southern California?

Did the Americans go crazy?

“I don’t know what happened either… however… there must still be others alive in this instance dungeon, otherwise it would have ended already!” Slowly, Aderick got up, gritting his teeth as he did.

“Thankfully, that fellow equipped with the Bug Armour gave me the regenerative genes. If it weren’t for that… we would have died within the nuclear explosions.”

“Others… alive? In the face of such a high number of nuclear explosions?”

Theodore was astounded and he looked around, but his eyes could not see past the surrounding radioactive dust. “That’s impossible! No living creature could survive here!”

“Naturally, it’s not the guys from earlier.” Aderick shook his head.

“The two of us are surely the only survivors from the previous battle. For them to remain alive, it must only mean they were not within the blast radius. In fact, I suspect… that rain of nuclear bombs earlier had something to do with them!”

“Who… who is it?” Theodore was shocked and he hesitantly asked, “I don’t understand, Guild Leader!”

“If a team left Los Angeles early on, even leaving California…” Aderick pondered and slowly said, “They borrowed the power of this instance dungeon’s NPCs or perhaps made changes to the decisions that the US Government would have made. Without taking action themselves, without even showing their faces, they would be able to wipe out all the other participants…”

“How is that possible?” Theodore’s eyes widened.

“It’s not impossible.” Aderick harrumphed. “There are many who know how to borrow the instance dungeon’s momentum. Those who could accomplish that to this extent is indeed very rare, but it is definitely not impossible!”

“Then, what do we do now?” Theodore hastily asked.

“The moment I obtained the genes of the Species Lord, I was given 72 hours to kill off the other participants. Not too long has passed since the protection period ended.” Aderick frowned. “Only by killing the others would we be able to victoriously complete this instance dungeon.”

“Damn it! If we fail the quest, our punishment will be more severe than their punishment! If we fail to kill them off… you will be killed. But the biggest issue here is, we do not know where those fellows are right now. The system is only revealing our location. It did not give us the location of the other teams.” Theodore had also sensed how unfavourable their current situation was. “Finding them will likely be very difficult…”

“We can only hope that they will come after us.” Aderick’s face was grim. “If neither side can finish off the other, their side will also be punished with the loss of points. They can see our position. All we can do is make a gamble, that those fellows would – upon seeing us alive here at the centre of the nuclear explosion – choose to come here and deliver the finishing blow themselves.”

“But would they dare…” Theodore was still feeling somewhat concerned. “If they didn’t know how strong we are before this, after seeing us survive an indiscriminate onslaught of nuclear bombs… there is a high chance they would become scared, preferring punishment over coming here and taking a risk…”

“That is true. That’s why I said, we can only make a gamble,” Aderick said bleakly. “Come, let’s leave this place first. Now that the entire Southern California region has been destroyed, we need to find another city that was not bombed and rebuild out mutant army.”

“No, you guys won’t be going anywhere.”

A young-sounding voice rang out from someplace near them.

Aderick and Theodore promptly jerked their heads to look.

Somewhere beyond the radioactive dust stood a blurry-looking figure.

“Who is it?”

Aderick roared in a stern voice.

He did not think that there would be another living person here.

It had only been five minutes since the nuclear bombs detonated. No matter how fast this person may be, there was no way they could get past the radioactive dust that was enveloping the entire sky to arrive here.

Or… this person, were they here all this time?

But, that was an even greater impossibility!

With the exception of Theodore, who was sent deep underground after the flower of recovery wrapped him up, and Aderick himself, who regrew his whole body using a small portion of his body, which he sent underground as well, there was no way anyone else could survive such nuclear devastation.

Be it the Thunderstorm Tank or Sentinel mech, the shield on them could never stop the shockwaves and heat from the centre of the blast.

Maybe, if it was that big mech. If it was still whole, by pushing its shield to the limit, the mech might have been able to withstand the blast. However, Aderick himself had partially thrashed it. Additionally, it had entered its cooldown period.

If so, this survivor… just who could it be?

The figure began walking forward. As the figure moved forward, his figure grew increasingly clear.

Finally, Aderick and Theodore were able to get a clear view of the man’s face.

It was a face that they had only seen a few times before. They were not familiar with him, but his face had left a deep impression on them.

“Chen… Xiaolian?”