Countless spherical concrete skyscrapers, not entire buildings as spheres, but spheres pieced together, forming structures resembling candied hawthorn.
All buildings in sight were spherical, not a single square tower, creating a magical spectacle.
The wide streets were filled with viscous fluid and the shattered corpses of Mil people, flowing slowly like white masses, like countless plastic bags, countless jellyfish, countless glues poured onto the road. The entire street seemed to be submerged in a river of Mil corpses, and the entire city floated on an ocean of Mil people.
"Why are there so many Mil people corpses in this First Main City?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Because it was originally a Mil city," Isabel replied. "The Mil people colonized Birong Star extensively, building over forty large cities, and this is one of them. Last night, a human force of twenty thousand attacked, and it took only half an hour to capture the entire city. Thus, it became our base, the First Main City."
"Killed them all?" Jiang Ye pointed to the river of corpses on the street.
"Killed them all. We chopped for over six hours, and those who entered the city first earned a fortune in merit points. We missed out," Isabel said with regret. "Just a minute before you arrived, Da Long finished his battle. We could only go out and wander around, looking for any stray Mil refugees to kill for merit points."
The two waded through the river of corpses across the city. Occasionally, they encountered other humans, all wearing mechs. Some of them were clearly high-level, their mechs reaching the height of two stories, heavily armed, and incredibly cool.
Jiang Ye was envious. They had entered the new server at the same time to level up, and the level gap had already widened so quickly.
As soon as they exited the city, they entered a vast, scarlet grassland. The lush grass grew to a meter high, undulating boundlessly in the wind.
Giant mushrooms grew sparsely on the grassland, looking distinctly alien. Each mushroom was over two meters tall, almost as large as trees, with increasingly vibrant colors, blue-green or yellowish-white. The surface of the mushrooms was covered in a viscous liquid, and many flies buzzed around them.
At least several hundred people in mechs were cutting grass and collecting mushrooms, like harvesting rice. They were bundled into large sheaves and piled up in open spaces. Several grass mountains had already been harvested.
"This grass and these mushrooms are species from the Mil people's planet. After extraction, they can be used in medicine, but eating them directly is poisonous to humans," Isabel explained. "Cutting grass and collecting mushrooms both earn merit points, but it's too little. We're not doing this; we're going forward!"
The two ran wildly across the fiery red grassland. With the mechs' assistance, they didn't feel tired. The city behind them soon disappeared. The plain ended, rising into rolling mountains.
Fang Cheng, with sharp eyes, pointed towards the mountains. "Mil people!"
"No weapons, they're civilians. Let's go kill them," Isabel said after a glance, her voice filled with joy. "Let's sneak up the mountain, no shooting!"
The mountains were also covered in red grass. Many transparent, whitish Mil people were gathered at the mountaintop, devouring giant mushrooms. They were likely refugees who had escaped the city last night, stopping to eat something after getting tired.
Jiang Ye and Isabel grabbed grass and climbed the mountain. They intended to approach stealthily, but as soon as they reached the mountainside, the Mil people at the summit suddenly spotted them.
The sound of infant cries erupted throughout the mountain, and the Mil people scattered, rolling down the grassy slope in a ball.
"Hurry, shoot! Don't let them escape!" Isabel shouted.
Jiang Ye drew his machine gun and pulled the trigger. Shell casings clattered out as he swept the rolling Mil people on the slope. Isabel fired in bursts, following her old habit. The two guns alternated continuously.
Large numbers of Mil people were hit, but they didn't die immediately; they were still desperately fleeing.
The bullets could easily penetrate their bodies, passing through them with no resistance, like jelly. However, they couldn't kill them instantly because the Mil people had almost no vital organs, and a few貫穿 wounds couldn't incapacitate them.
The two continued to shoot and chase, running wildly through the mountains. When they caught up, they stomped on them, and the fragile Mil people immediately burst like balloons, spewing large amounts of transparent tissue fluid.
Notifications of merit points increasing popped up continuously, with tens or hundreds of points awarded for each Mil person killed.
After chasing for more than half an hour, panting, the valley was filled with the corpses of dead Mil people.
Jiang Ye and Isabel looked around, seemingly no survivors.
"I feel like we're truly ferocious," Jiang Ye said, shaking the sticky fluid from his hands. "There was a big one just now; it protected two smaller ones behind it. They might have been parents protecting their children. I killed them all, and the children cried so loudly."
"They're just alien beasts; why pity them? Have you forgotten Li Nannan? The Mil people did that to her," Isabel scoffed. "The Mil people should be exterminated! Sooner or later, they'll be listed in the annals of extinct species!"
"Right, I have a question," Jiang Ye said. "We came here using remote control pods. If we die here, our real bodies won't have any problems. Why was Li Nannan captured by the Mil people? Couldn't she have fought using a remote control pod as well? Why did she have to use her real body?"
"That question is quite complex. As we move forward, I'll explain it to you. I estimate there are many more Mil refugees with their families ahead," Isabel said.
Following the mountaintop, the two continued to run, occasionally using skills to jump onto higher rock formations.
"The first reason is to prevent signal warfare. The Mil people have technology that can interfere with or block any signal transmission within a certain area, including consciousness signals. If they fight with avatars, encountering signal jamming would result in a large number of personnel and equipment instantly freezing, turning into a pile of expensive targets."
Jiang Ye nodded in understanding. This reason alone was enough to be deadly. If the Mil people were to jam signals on Birong Star right now, all the mechs entering and exiting the First Main City would be scrapped, becoming static sculptures throughout the city. The city, bustling one second, would be so silent the next that one could hear dripping water.
"The second reason is that armies also frequently use remote avatar combat, but when the army is defeated to a certain extent, the production of remote avatars becomes insufficient, and they have to send living people. Using ancient examples, it's like running out of anti-tank weapons and having to rely on human-shaped explosive packs to stop armored vehicles. It's a desperate measure."
"So, normally, troops don't die. Once people die, it means the situation is already very serious, and there's no time to build unmanned weapons, so they have to send living people to fight," Jiang Ye interjected.
"That's right," Isabel nodded.
"The third reason is that home was stolen. With mature warp technology, traveling to different spaces is as convenient as pulling out a drawer. Once the location of the human army is identified, the Mil army can immediately warp over and engage them face-to-face."
"In short, war inevitably involves casualties. Even with technological advancements, it cannot be avoided because the enemy's technology is also advancing. If both sides' technologies are not on the same level, it's not called war; it's called a massacre," Isabel suddenly stopped, pointing to a direction on the horizon. "What's that?"