Chapter 313 Plague

Before the embers of war had completely cooled, the wizard's creations had already begun efficiently "cleaning up" the battlefield in the void and on the earth.

Those new cannon fodder units, specifically designed for the battlefield of the Giant Spirit Realm, swarmed like hungry locusts toward the scattered warship wreckage, mechanical fragments, and the corpses of the Giant Spirit Realm natives.

They don't intend to cause destruction, but rather to use it as nourishment and devour it.

Metals are melted and reorganized, biological tissues are decomposed and absorbed, and all the dissipated energy is extracted.

Even more astonishingly, when the matter and energy accumulated in these cannon fodder units reach a certain critical point, they will split on the spot and divide into two!

And the newly born individuals will immediately join the devouring army.

Thus, these cannon fodder units, like a self-replicating gray tide, spread rapidly outwards from the battlefield, expanding the defensive line.

These war machines are devouring the territory and resources of the Giant Spirit Realm at a visible pace.

The retreat of the Giant Spirit Realm was chaotic, even somewhat disorganized.

Under the wizard's highly targeted and widespread attacks, the formation had already fallen into disarray.

Many units, in their panicked retreat, were accidentally injured by stray bullets from friendly forces, out-of-control energy, or even collisions, and silently perished on their way home.

Endy felt lucky.

He is the captain of a third-tier warship, commanding a flexible medium-sized assault ship.

In the final, devastating sweep, he relied on his exceptional intuition and a bit of luck to maneuver the warship through the gaps in the energy storm.

Finally, with their crew covered in wounds and still shaken, they successfully retreated to the rear defense line.

Upon severing the neural symbiotic connection with the warship, Endi felt a wave of exhaustion and weakness wash over his semi-fluid body.

As they walked down the gangway with their team members, looking at the gloomy atmosphere and the wounded soldiers filling the base, they couldn't help but feel a wave of fear and a sense of unbelievable relief—their small ship had miraculously survived without any casualties, only the warship itself was severely damaged.

Endi felt a slight heat rising in his core, a strange sense of excitement lingering within him.

He attributed it to the emotional shock of surviving the ordeal and didn't think much of it.

With so many wounded soldiers, the medical department was already overwhelmed.

After a quick medical examination, the medic handed him a vial of bio-gel for quickly replenishing energy and repairing minor tissue damage, then waved him back to camp to rest, leaving the limited resources for the more seriously wounded.

As soon as he returned to his cramped dormitory, Endi couldn't wait to plunge into the nutrient-rich therapeutic pool.

Overwhelmed by exhaustion, he fell asleep almost instantly.

After a few days, Endy could clearly feel that the atmosphere in the camp had changed.

Despite previous defeats, morale remains high.

Now, however, there is an extremely oppressive atmosphere, as if something heavy is pressing on the hearts of every soldier.

Even high-ranking officers carried a subtle unease during their inspections, and the soldiers dared not speak out against their anger.

Two days later, Endy began to feel that something was wrong.

The exhilaration of the battle had long since faded, replaced by a persistent, deep-seated fatigue.

At first, he thought it was a normal reaction after excessive mental stress, but the fatigue increased day by day, even affecting his daily restorative training and mental meditation.

Left with no other option, he had to go to the medical department again.

"Doctor, I feel very tired, extremely tired, not mentally, but physically..." Endy described his symptoms to the on-duty military doctor.

The medic, clearly impatient, interrupted him without looking up: "Fatigue again? I've heard at least a hundred of these excuses in the last few days! Are you all trying to use this as a reason to avoid training and patrol duties?"

Endy was a little annoyed: "I'm not trying to slack off! I just really feel something's wrong!"

"Alright, alright!" The medic waved his hand, clearly not wanting to hear any more. "Everyone who comes here says the same thing. I'll give you a basic scan, and if everything's fine, hurry back and don't waste resources!"

After a quick scan, the military doctor frowned as he looked at the results: "Cellular activity is abnormally high... and the energy metabolism rate is also higher than normal."

"It seems the stress of the battlefield has really affected you, leading to a persistent state of stress, which is a somatic symptom caused by psychological pressure. I'm giving you a three-day leave to relax and get out for a walk. Don't stay in the camp and overthink things!"

Although being diagnosed with "psychological problems" made Endy feel somewhat frustrated, it was always good to be able to get a vacation and leave this oppressive camp.

He took the electronic leave slip and didn't say anything more.

On the way out of the camp, Endy noticed that many soldiers looked listless and walked with difficulty.

A hint of doubt flashed through his mind, but he quickly found an explanation: "After such a crushing defeat, it's normal for morale to be low and spirits to be low."

As a third-class captain, he was entitled to request a dedicated vehicle, but Endy had his own ideas.

As he had done on many previous vacations, he went to the public airship station near the military camp and quietly boarded a civilian airship bound for a nearby city.

Inside the airship, the ordinary people around felt the energy fluctuations and faint killing intent emanating from Endi, which had not yet been fully subdued after being tempered on the battlefield, and they all cast their gazes with either awe or envy.

Feeling these gazes, Endi's heart, which was depressed by defeat and inexplicable fatigue, seemed to receive silent comfort.

In an army full of powerful figures, he was just a nobody, but in the eyes of these ordinary people, he was a powerful figure they had to look up to.

The feeling of being admired by everyone was irresistible to him.

He has always enjoyed this unique "relaxation method".

When the airship arrived at its final stop, Endy got off the vehicle, still feeling unsatisfied. He then casually boarded another airship, heading to an unknown destination, to continue his aimless "relaxation" journey.

He didn't notice that after he left, the passengers on the airship gradually and inexplicably felt lethargic and drowsy.

The three-day holiday passed in the blink of an eye.

When Endi returned to the military camp, he was stunned by what he saw—multiple checkpoints were set up at the entrance, energy shields were fully activated, the number of patrol teams had increased several times, and the atmosphere was extremely tense!

"Could it be... that the wizards have attacked?!"

Endy's heart tightened, and he quickly showed his identification and hurried back to his dormitory.

The adjutant, who had been anxiously waiting in the dormitory, visibly breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing him return.

"Captain! You're finally back!"

"What happened? Is martial law declared? Has the enemy attacked?" Endi asked hurriedly.

The adjutant, his face contorted with fear, shook his head: "It's not an enemy attack... it's... it's a plague! A strange disease has broken out in the military camp!"

Upon hearing this, Endy breathed a sigh of relief, relieved that it wasn't one of those terrifying wizards.

The adjutant's voice trembled: "The symptoms of that disease are terrifying! Captain, you haven't seen it, their bodies... they twist! They uncontrollably coexist with whatever they come into contact with, turning into... turning into indescribable monsters!"

"Some people disengaged their mechanical symbiotes, but not long after, their bodies began to have strange symbiotic reactions with their clothes, beds, and even dust particles in the air, eventually twisting their bodies into a mess... They didn't even have a complete corpse when they died!"

Endi felt a chill run down his spine as he listened, a coldness rising from the depths of his being. He subconsciously touched his still somewhat weak body.

Back in his dorm, he felt inexplicably uneasy, but he forced himself to fall into a deep sleep.

However, in the following days, the situation at the camp not only did not improve, but even got worse!

At first, only a few people experienced severe fatigue, and the military doctors didn't pay much attention to it.

But soon, more and more people got sick, the symptoms became increasingly strange, and drug treatment was almost ineffective.

At first, the military command tried to order all patients to be isolated, but as more and more people became infected, they soon couldn't even muster enough healthy soldiers to maintain order.

The weak Endi was awakened by the knocking on the door. He opened the door weakly and saw his adjutant with a terrified expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Sir, let's run too!" the adjutant's voice was filled with despair. "The quarantine zone is out of control, management is completely paralyzed, and many people are desperately trying to escape..."

"What?!" Endy couldn't help but widen his eyes.

He then struggled to his feet and leaped out of the nutrient pool, rushing to the outside of the dormitory building, where he saw a dilapidated and horrifying scene.

Soldiers lying dead by the roadside, their bodies twisted and deformed; officers locked in their rooms yet still undergoing horrific mutations; and some completely insane, twisted monsters indiscriminately attacking any moving object...

Only occasionally would survivors cautiously huddle in the shadows, crawling away from the camp.

Endy stared blankly at the hellish scene before him.

Suddenly, a broken piece of limb was blown in front of him by the wind, making him shiver and snap him back to reality:

"Quick! Call the rest of the fleet too!"

"No, I've already checked. Now we're the only ones left in the dormitory!" The adjutant's voice was trembling with tears.

"What?!" Endi's body trembled violently.

However, as a seasoned veteran, he quickly calmed down: "Then let's get out of here quickly!"

The two carried almost no luggage and ran cautiously toward the gate of the military camp.

"……captain?"

Just as they were about to reach the gate, a voice suddenly called them down.

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw a creature growing symbiotically with the ground next to the military camp gate, its body twisted.

Endi forced himself to suppress his nausea and carefully examined the person before realizing that the other person was actually a member of his own fleet.

"you……"

Endy instinctively reached out to help him, but was stopped by his adjutant: "Sir, this disease is highly contagious..."

Endy instinctively stopped in his tracks.

(End of this chapter)