Chapter 439: Entering the Inner City
Anno was awakened by the heat.
She struggled to get out of bed and looked around. Mingxiao and Sitar were sleeping on either side of her. They had made a makeshift bed in front of the fireplace, and the fire was burning so brightly that the whole room was warm.
and.....
Her gaze fell on Sitar's chest, where the core light shone brightly.
She lowered her head, and the two cores in her chest also shone brightly. She called out to Feixing in her mind, but received no response.
Feixing has been helping them break the core seal since yesterday. Originally, Feixing sealed the cores of the three King Worms directly, but now that Caesar is gone, the process is much slower.
She couldn't fall back asleep after waking up. It was already dawn, and Lingjiu and Xiaoshi were already getting ready. When they saw that she was awake, they quickly prepared breakfast for her.
"He seems to have grown a little taller."
At the dinner table, Xiao Shi gestured to Anuo, who then turned to look at Xitar, who seemed to have grown a little taller as well. It seemed that the core was gradually breaking the seal.
After breakfast, Anno put on her equipment, and Zero Nine handed her and Sitar Mingxiao several communication bracelets from inside the Lyca Galaxy, then shared the internal map of the City of Heaven with them.
Anno opened the holographic map and noted down several key locations for future reference.
Although Mo was there, she couldn't completely trust him. His abilities were too strong; it was a kind of absolute power suppression. Anno saw that the Lyca Galaxy also used energy stones and the like to provide them with various kinds of energy, so she guessed that Mo also had an energy source similar to their Queen Worm, like a core.
To avoid being led by the nose by Mo, the safest course of action is for them to break the core's blockade as soon as possible. The core is their most important source of power; with the core, they can deal with superhuman forces with such a small number of people.
Before setting off, Anno checked her weapons. She stood in front of the full-length mirror in the room, looking at the twelve or thirteen-year-old girl in the mirror. She was wearing a fitted and neat combat suit, with her long, slightly wavy pink-gold hair woven into her hair, and her eyes were clear and resolute.
In a daze, she seemed to see her past self again, fighting and killing frantically in order to survive.
Now, however, the madness in her eyes has faded, replaced by a more composed demeanor. Gone is the uncertainty about the future; instead, she possesses an unwavering courage.
Now she is gradually understanding some things. Whether it is the battle between Caesar and Sitar for the male insect king, or the current attempt to leave this place and go home, they are all tests and trials for her.
As the future queen of the Zerg, she should not be protected by her followers, but rather stand in front of them and lead them.
Before she inherits the throne, she should go out and see the world, and be tempered by the storms.
It is thanks to the sacrifices of successive Zerg queens that the Zerg have achieved their current strength and status.
Whether it was the Dark Light Queen, her mother, or the slightly fragile Wind Spirit Queen, they all experienced countless trials and tribulations in their youth, which forged them into strong and resilient individuals.
Anno drew the knife from his waist, and the sharp longsword emitted a crisp ringing sound.
A knife will become dull if it is not used.
Mo had laid bare the last vestiges of her obsession and dreams. She wanted to leave the people of the past in the past, to look back but not to linger, and to keep moving forward.
A long queue stretched out in front of the city gate of the Heavenly City. These were people who worked in the inner city, but were not allowed to live there. After finishing their work, they had to leave the city and were not allowed to linger.
The "upper class" of the City of Heaven shut out everything they considered dirty and inferior.
There were many well-equipped guards at the city gate, wearing helmets, with information screens in front of them flashing a cold blue light, and drones patrolling overhead, ready to fire at any moment if anything seemed amiss.
A light drizzle was still falling from the sky, and the weather was generally better than yesterday. She wore a hood and looked around at the several queues. These people who lived in the outer city were all wearing different colored uniforms, and most of them looked tired.
It's only a little past six in the morning, and they already have to get up and start working.
On the other side of the fence, staff members who had finished their evening shift came out to change shifts. They all looked tired, with their heads down and their eyes numb.
Besides these staff members, there were also some people dressed in combat uniforms, each with fierce eyes and an aura of murderous intent.
These people should be the warriors participating in the arena, but they are clearly different from Zero Nine and the others. Zero Nine and the others who are marked with numbers are swords specially trained by the City of Heaven to prevent various riots from happening in the City of Heaven.
The arena is there to select these people.
The queue quickly reached Anno. Anno raised his wristband and scanned it in the detection channel. The machine lit up green, and the gate in front of him immediately opened the way.
Anno passed through the gate, and the other 09 people who were queuing in another line also passed through and walked up to her.
Lingjiu leaned close to Anuo and whispered in her ear, "There will be some hunters who will pick up people from the arena later. Follow them. There will be a registration form at the entrance. Don't fill it out, just go in."
Anno nodded. Mo had also told her that if she wanted to see those people, she would have to use extraordinary means. The arena was a chaotic place, and the rules were there, so they weren't unbreakable. It just depended on whether you dared to break them and whether you had the ability to do so.
Anno placed her hand on her chest; she could already feel the surging energy, and the blockade was about to be broken.
Emerging from the wide passageway, one does not reach the interior of the Heavenly City; instead, one is greeted by bustling transportation facilities.
Staff members entering from the outer city swiped their wristbands and took different modes of transportation to their respective work stations.
Various floating information images popped up on this huge transportation network, and neatly lined guards walked past them from time to time.
After Anno entered, he took off his hood. Here, there was no need to hide anything. Once inside the inner city of the City of Heaven, everyone was already under Mo's gaze, or rather, under the gaze of the Enlightenment Organization.
Through silence, and by establishing an information network, they covered every corner of the City of Heaven.
Anno turned his head and saw that Lingjiu and Xiaoshi had also taken off their hoods, exposing themselves to the surveillance cameras.
Ling Jiu turned around and gave Anuo a faint smile, with a reassuring expression.
Sitar and Mingxiao stood to her left, now standing with the others who were preparing to enter the arena.
Unlike the orderly queues of people taking transportation to work, these people stood haphazardly, some secretly observing each other. Once inside the arena, there were only two kinds of people: the living and the dead.
After standing still for a while, the barrier in front of them rose up, and several people appeared, standing on a wide floating platform. These people were dressed in gorgeous clothes, wearing all kinds of fancy jewelry, and their hair was dyed in various colors.
Their discerning eyes swept over the group, then they walked among them, carefully examining each person, pinching their hands and chin as if selecting merchandise.
Anno was no stranger to this kind of selection; she had been selected in the past, becoming both a warrior and a plaything to be manipulated at any time.
Those who wield great power never treat them as human beings.
However, the person who chose her ended up having his throat pierced by her.
Anno stood in the middle of the crowd when a slightly overweight, well-off-looking man caught her eye out of the corner of his eye. His eyes immediately lit up, and he strode towards her like a hungry wolf smelling meat. The jingling of his expensive jewelry was particularly clear in the empty traffic hall.
The man walked up to her, staring at her intently. He seemed about to reach out to her, but Anno's hand was already on the knife at her waist. Before she could draw it, the man stopped, took a step back, and rubbed his hands together nervously, looking like he had seen a rare treasure but was afraid of defiling it.
"Beautiful, so beautiful."
The man spoke in Lyca language, praising her incessantly, but Anno found his words grating and disliked; he was simply treating her like an object.
The fat man tapped on the personal terminal, and Anno's bracelet lit up, instantly transmitting her information to him.
An information screen popped up in front of the fat man, displaying Anno's personal information.
"Anno, a Tianyun Star person..."
Anno concealed the light band and the insect patterns on her body; now she was just a Tianyun girl who had come to participate in the gladiatorial combat.
The fat man looked Anuo up and down again, and after confirming that the information was correct, he smiled at her and said, "Come with me, beauty, I will arrange the best show for you."
With that, he turned and walked towards his hovercraft.
Anno paused, then turned to look at Sitar and Ling Jiu. Sitar and Mingxiao were also chosen by a tall, thin woman, while Ling Jiu was chosen by someone with a number on their hand. They all glanced at her and then boarded the hovercraft with the person who had chosen them.
Once inside the City of Heaven, she could no longer communicate with Xitar Mingxiao through consciousness. It wasn't that she was completely suppressed by Mo, but Mo's consciousness covered a large net. When they used the ability of the consciousness net, it would trigger Mo's ability, making them easily fall into an illusion.
Without core capabilities to support them, they cannot easily activate the consciousness network.
Anno followed behind the fat man. As she walked out of the crowd, the other people who came to make their selections also saw her and, with expressions similar to the fat man's, walked towards her.
The fat man seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, suddenly turning around. His previously kind expression instantly turned fierce. He clenched his large hand, and a surge of energy emanated from it, blasting away the people who had come forward, carrying a warning.
"I took a liking to this first, everyone. This is what I prepared for that lord."
The others showed resentment, but they still backed down.
Anno followed the fat man and the few people he had chosen onto the hovercraft, which flew toward a huge door ahead.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com