GOR

The Sea of Love…

Although it was presently not Zero City’s opening period, there was still a small number of Awakened ones gathered here and there on the beach.

Naturally, given Zero City’s size, the resident guilds were not the only ones residing within Zero City.

There were day-to-day facilities of varying sizes within Zero City. There were also the lesser production lines. The number of personnel required for those was too high and the members of the resident guilds alone were insufficient to fill up those spots.

Although there was only a total of seven resident guilds in Zero City, there were also tens of other guilds, all of varying sizes, each working under the seven resident guilds.

Depending on their level and size, the guilds could enter Zero City at differing times for a certain amount of time. Some of their more important members could stay longer within Zero City.

The southern part of the Sea of Love was the entertainment district, filled with various bars and shops. By the outside world’s standard, it was presently three in the afternoon. Normally, the artificial sun above should be sending golden rays of light down upon the beach, giving it a sense of warmth.

However, there was only darkness above them. No clouds and no sun.

Half an hour ago, the Awakened ones who were resting there found that all the lights around them had simultaneously gone dark all of a sudden.

That included the artificial sky above their heads and the surrounding shops.

Only after a few minutes had passed did the faint emergency lights began lighting up. However, they were only capable of maintaining their lowest level of illumination.

By now, the dispersed Awakened ones had gathered on the beach in twos and threes as they speculated what was happening.

Even so, none of them panicked. Instead, their emotions leaned towards curiosity.

The present situation was similar to that of… power outage?

However, that was too bewildering. There were no known instance of Zero City suffering from a power outage in the past. In fact, they had never imagined such a possibility.

Still, the power will surely return soon. As long as they wait, everything will return to normalcy. The Board of Patriarchs and the Angel Corps have maintained Zero City’s day-to-day operations perfectly all this time and it will surely continue on.

After several minutes, however, an alarm, which represented a state of emergency, rang out. The alarm’s rhythm was that of two lengthy rings followed by a short ring and another two lengthy rings. After that, the illumination from the surrounding streetlights too, changed from a dim light to a dark red light.

Seeing that, a minor unrest began to rise from the Awakened ones. Some of them retrieved transports from their storage equipment, intending to head to the Board of Patriarchs’ building in the North District and find out what was going on.

Immediately after that, though, several teams from the Angel Corps appeared to stop them. Additionally, they also used the broadcasting system to declare martial law.

“I am Angel Corps’ Omega Angel! Everyone is to immediately head to their own residence! If you are not in possession of permanent residence, return to your hotel rooms. If the doors to your room cannot be opened, just stay near your rooms.”

A figure clad in faint golden-coloured Angel mech armour rushed towards the Sea of Love. His face was partially covered and several other Angel Corps’ members followed behind him. With a quick gesture, he directed those he could see to head towards the commercial street and dispersed them. “Zero City is now in a state of martial law. Before it is lifted, no one may move about without permission.”

After hearing his announcement, everyone on the beach erupted into an uproar.

No one could have imagined this.

Zero City… … entering a state of martial law?

Some of the Awakened ones there began following Omega Angel’s instructions to head towards the commercial street. Others, however, moved towards Omega Angel, wanting to ask him what was going on.

A soft thrumming sound rang out as a beam struck the ground beneath the frontmost Awakened, a female in bikini whose breasts rose up and down like the waves. The extreme heat from the beam instantly melted the sands to transform them into an angry, red-coloured liquid glass.

“This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Every street within Zero City must be cleared in 15 minutes. No questions and delays are allowed. The Angel Corps has received permission from the Board of Patriarchs to utilize force against anyone who remains in the streets!”

Omega Angel raised his visor and cast an icy stare at the bikini-clad woman. His mechanical voice carried with it an unquestionable atmosphere of authority.

The bikini-clad woman was nearly struck by the beam and had jumped backwards while holding back a scream.

“You, do you hear me?” Omega Angel raised his right arm slightly to aim right at the bikini-clad woman’s chest. Cyan-coloured smoke was still flowing out from the energy blaster.

“I… I hear you!” The bikini-clad woman hastily nodded her head before running towards the commercial street like a bunny, all the while avoiding the energy blaster’s range of attack.

Omega Angel nodded his head and shifted his attention away from her to check the rest of the beach.

After that incident, no one dared to stay behind. The Angel Corps had always represented absolute authority within Zero City. With the addition of the abnormal announcement, only a fool would attempt to defy the orders of a martial law.

Although they do not understand what was going on, the best option for them at the moment was to obey.

Seeing the diminishing number of people on the beach, Omega Angel nodded his head in satisfaction.

Although he disliked being rough when giving orders, he was a high-ranking member of the Angel Corps. Thus, he was well aware of the urgency of their present situation.

He did not know what had happened and what was needed to resolve their present situation. He also did not know when it could be resolved. However, there was one thing he could be certain of. The present situation was very abnormal.

He was not a member of the IT department who were presently monitoring everything in the monitoring room. There was nothing he could do to help. All he could do was to give his all in enacting the martial law decree passed down by the Board of Patriarchs and Angel Wu.

“The beach is now clear. Let’s go.” Omega Angel turned around. However, just as he was about to head towards the commercial street, the corner of his eyes caught sight of a figure.

A white figure.

The Sea of Love was an artificial beach. However, those who chose to come to the beach would always wear either swimwear or beachwear. That way, they will not dampen the atmosphere in the beach.

The man was slowly walking towards the beach from the sea. The sea waters reached his knees. And yet, the man was wearing white robes.

That… … was definitely not something to be worn on a beach.

Additionally, Omega Angel was certain that this person was not here when he first arrived.

“Who goes there?! Report your name and the name of your guild!” As Omega Angel shouted those words out, he raised his right arm to aim the small energy blaster on his wrist at the man in white.

Omega Angel had just issued out martial law, but now, this man was walking at a rather leisurely pace. There were no signs of panic on his face at all.

It would be more accurate to say that there was no expression on his face at all. His hands were clasped behind his back as he slowly walked forward. He was like a gentleman who had only just finished a high-class lunch and was presently taking a stroll through his garden.

“I repeat, report your name and the name of your guild and immediately return to your own residence! Under martial law, the Angel Corps is authorized to utilize force against any dissidents!”

Omega Angel shouted once again.

However, the man in white simply continued to leisurely walk forward.

“Open fire!”

By the time he growled out the command through the microphone near his throat, the Omega Angel had already fired out a beam towards the man in white.

Without hesitation, the other Angels obeyed Omega Angel’s command and their five-men squad opened up the muzzle of their Floater armour to open fire at the man in white.

However, when the energy beams were but three metres away from the man in white, they were deflected away by an unknown power. It was as though they were projectiles that had struck a tough armour, only to ricochet away instead.

Omega Angel’s face sank slightly.

The man they face… … something about him was amiss. Terribly amiss.

Tens of armour components on his mech armour immediately slid upward to reveal the blaster barrels beneath.

“Squad Five calling HQ. Squad Five calling HQ. A hostile person has been found in the Sea of Love. He refused to obey the command for martial law and we are now engaging him in combat as an enemy.”

Even before he was done reporting, the tens of blasters beneath his mech armour had simultaneously opened fire at the man in white.

Fire everything!

To Omega Angel’s surprise, even this level of attack was ineffective.

Be it the energy beams or the mini Vulcan autocannons, all the attacks made a peculiar curve three metres before the man in white and missed.

A mini missile had exploded upon the ground, and the resulting fire and shockwave threw a large amount of sands upwards. However, none of the sands fell upon the man in white.

Not only was the man in white unscathed, the sands and dust failed to even stain his clothes.

After the fires from the explosion dissipated, Omega Angel saw a sword suddenly appear from the man’s right hand. Next, the man in white swung forward at seemingly nothing.

There was a distance of over 10 metres between the two of them. And yet, the moment the sword swung down, Omega Angel’s mind screamed out in warning.

It was the instinctive reaction born of years of near-death battles…

I am going to die!

Ignoring the Board of Patriarchs’ restriction on the use of thrusters, the Omega Angel, in that split second, activated the thrusters on his arms, legs and back, a total of five thrusters. He pushed them to their maximum output to charge to the sky. In less than half a second, he had darted up into the sky.

His few Floating Angel subordinates raised their heads in shock to look at Omega Angel. They had no idea what just happened.

Next, like a rocket that had failed to lift off, Omega Angel, after having only flown no more than 20 metres up, suddenly halted. Then, he fell headlong down the ground.

As his falling figure was just halfway down, his body separated into two.

His body was accurately cut into two, from the head down to his crotch to produce two symmetrical bodies. It was as though someone had measured the length of Omega Angel’s body before cutting it carefully with a pair of scissors. Next, the two pieces of Omega Angel’s body, still clad in his Floater mech armour, fell to the ground.

The right portion of his body fell upon the sandy beach before tumbling a few times. The left portion of his body, however, fell diagonally and it thrust into the sand, causing the head and even the shoulder part to disappear into the sand.

The four remaining members from the Angel Corps, the few Awakened ones from the peripheral guilds who were on their way to the commercial street, all of them became flabbergasted.

Omega Angel… … died just like that?

Without any indication, without anything resembling ‘combat’, he had… … died?!

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