A resurgence of the late Ming Dynasty, starting with a trillion-dollar clone.

Chapter 41

The soldiers of the Jingnan Army rushed out of the tunnels and launched a feigned attack on the bridgehead. The black-robed men in the arrow tower were immediately attracted and all rushed to the side facing the opposite bank of the river, firing a volley of crossbow bolts.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ma Yongsheng sneaked up from behind the arrow tower, pried open a small window with his knife, and climbed inside. The tower was empty; everyone had gone to the front to defend.

He quickly located the fuse of the powder keg, a complex mechanical device connected to the sensor. He didn't dare to disassemble it, so after a moment's thought, he pulled a small porcelain bottle from his pocket—it contained a specially made corrosive agent, originally intended for use against metal substrates.

He poured the corrosive agent onto the connection between the sensor and the fuse. Soon, the metal began to bubble and melt. The red light from the sensor went out.

That's it.

He lit the fuse, then jumped out of the window, rolled on the spot, and hid in the shadows.

"Hiss hiss hiss—"

The fuse burns rapidly.

The man in black robes inside the arrow tower sensed something was wrong, but it was too late.

"boom--!!!"

A deafening explosion! The entire arrow tower was blasted into the air, the flames turning the night sky crimson. Most of the black-robed figures at the bridgehead were blown away, and the rest were thrown into disarray.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Jingnan Army on the opposite bank rushed onto the bridge. Yue Zhenbang took the lead, wielding his broadsword and cutting down two men in black robes.

Ma Yongsheng also emerged from the shadows, joining the attack from within. The remaining men in black robes were quickly eliminated.

The battle ended, and casualties were tallied. More than thirty people died, and over fifty were wounded. But the bridge was captured.

"Cross the bridge quickly!" Ma Yongsheng ordered. "The 'Purifiers' are almost here!"

The team quickly crossed the bridge. As soon as they crossed and removed the bridge planks, new enemies appeared on the other side.

It was a gigantic, indescribable thing. It was like dozens of "living corpses" fused together, forming a monster over three zhang tall. It had multiple arms, each holding a weapon—a knife, a sword, an axe, and a hammer. Its body was covered with pustules and wounds, from which black slime dripped continuously.

"This is the 'Purifier'?" Yue Zhenbang's voice trembled.

Ma Yongsheng's expression was grave. This monster felt more dangerous to him than any of the previous AI carriers. It was not only physically powerful, but also exuded a strong mental pollution—just looking at it made him feel dizzy and nauseous, and people with weak wills might go insane.

"Everyone, blindfold yourself! Don't look!" he shouted urgently. "Listen with your ears, use your senses to pinpoint its location!"

The soldiers quickly blindfolded themselves. But even so, the monster's mental corruption still seeped in, and several soldiers began to ramble incoherently and even kill each other.

Despite his discomfort, Ma Yongsheng activated his full consciousness to sense the monster's weaknesses. Inside its massive body, he "saw" a remarkably bright energy core located in its chest area.

"Attack its chest!" he ordered. "Use rockets, use explosives!"

The team members closed their eyes and relied on instinct to shoot and throw at the monster. But although the monster moved slowly, its defenses were extremely strong. Rockets that hit it only scorched the surface; explosives that detonated at its feet only blew off a few pieces of flesh.

It approached step by step, and with each step it took, the ground trembled.

Ma Yongsheng knew that someone had to attack it at close range and deliver the explosives inside. But getting close would mean enduring even stronger mental pollution, and he might go insane before even reaching it.

"You all step back," he said to Yue Zhenbang. "I'll handle this."

"General! No!"

"This is an order!" Ma Yongsheng drew his knife, bit his tongue to keep himself awake with the pain. Then, he charged at the monster.

The closer he got, the stronger the mental pollution became. Hallucinations began to appear before his eyes: he saw the destruction of the Europa base, the black hole devouring stars, and the end of human civilization. Countless voices rang in his ears: the mockery of AI, the wails of the dead, and the cries of unborn children.

"Give up...you can't change anything..."

"Everyone has to die...you'll die too..."

"Why struggle? Just accept your fate..."

Ma Yongsheng gritted his teeth and continued charging forward. He thought of the bonfire at Yundingping, Tiezhu's honest smile, Chen Xiuying's tearful eyes, and Ma An as an infant.

No, he can't give up. There are still people waiting for him to return, and children who want to see the peaceful world he built.

Ten steps, five steps, three steps—

As one of the monster's arms came crashing down, he rolled away to dodge it, simultaneously stuffing the five thunderbolts bound together into a wound on the monster's chest.

Then, he rolled backward as fast as he could.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A deafening roar, even more violent than the explosion of the arrow tower! A gaping hole burst open in the monster's chest, spraying out black slime and fragments. It let out a deafening scream as its body began to disintegrate and melt, finally turning into a pool of bubbling black liquid.

Chapter 43

Spiritual pollution has disappeared.

Ma Yongsheng lay on the ground, gasping for breath. Blood was flowing from all seven orifices, a consequence of the mental shock. But he was still alive.

Yue Zhenbang rushed over and helped him up: "General! How are you?"

"I won't die..." Ma Yongsheng wiped the blood from his face. "Let's go... the commotion here is too loud, it'll attract more..."

The team quickly withdrew. Before leaving, they burned the pool of black liquid to prevent it from regenerating.

After crossing the Yellow River, they entered Hebei province. The scene there was even more devastating—almost no living people could be seen, only ruins and corpses everywhere. The plague had clearly turned the area into a dead zone.

Ma Yongsheng calculated the time: it had been fifteen days since he set off from Xuchang, and he had five days' worth of provisions left. He still had at least three hundred li to travel to Shangjing.

"Speed ​​up," he said. "From now on, we won't stop, we'll travel day and night."

The next five days were a hellish march. They marched by day and by night, only resting for an hour or two when they were truly exhausted. When their dry rations ran out, they ate wild vegetables and tree bark, and slaughtered several horses to fill their stomachs. People kept falling, some from exhaustion, some from disease, and others from attacks by the occasional "living corpses."

By the twentieth day, the team of one thousand men had dwindled to less than six hundred.

But the capital city finally appeared on the horizon.

It was a dead city.

The city walls still stood tall, but there were no flags or guards atop them. The city gates were wide open, revealing a dark interior, like a gaping maw. A pungent stench of decay permeated the air, detectable even from miles away.

Yue Zhenbang stared at the city, his hands trembling. "This...this is Shangjing?"

"It used to be," Ma Yongsheng said. "Now, it's a den of demons."

He ordered his troops to hide and rest in a forest ten miles outside the city, while he led twenty men to scout ahead.

As they approached the city gate, they saw mountains of rotting corpses piled up there, crawling with maggots. The buzzing of flies sounded like thunder.

Something is moving inside the city gate.

They weren't "living corpses," but something much stranger—human-like, but on all fours, with festering skin and completely black eyes. They rummaged through piles of corpses like dogs, gnawing on anything still edible.

"These are..." a team member said, his voice trembling.

"People who are deeply infected," Ma Yongsheng said in a low voice, "have lost their humanity."

They bypassed the city gate and climbed through a gap in the collapsed city wall. The scene inside the city was even more horrific.

The streets were littered with corpses and ruins. Some houses had been burned down, leaving only charred frames. Occasionally, you could see people still alive, but they were all insane; some were eating their own flesh, and others were talking to thin air.

The Forbidden City is located in the city center, and its golden roof can be seen from afar, but it is shrouded in a thin layer of black mist.

"Go there." Ma Yongsheng pointed to the Forbidden City.

They cautiously made their way towards the palace. The closer they got, the more "monsters" they encountered. There were crawling creatures like those at the entrance, half-human, half-beast beings, and writhing chunks of flesh whose original form was completely unrecognizable.

Clearly, AI has turned this place into an experimental ground, using living people to perform all sorts of horrific modifications.

Finally, they arrived outside the Meridian Gate. The massive palace gates were tightly shut, covered in congealed black bloodstains. An eerie red light shone through the cracks in the gates.

Ma Yongsheng sensed it and found many powerful energy fluctuations inside. The main force of the AI ​​should be here.

He had his team lie in ambush outside while he climbed over the wall—the wall was high, but it wasn't difficult for him now.

The scene inside the palace was even more otherworldly than the outside.

The square was piled high with skeletons, some still wriggling. Human skin hung from the palace pillars, like dried meat. The air was thick with a mixture of sweet, pungent, and burnt odors.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony (now the Hall of Imperial Harmony) in the center was illuminated by a scarlet light.

Ma Yongsheng gripped the knife tightly and walked towards it.

Pushing open the heavy palace doors, the sight inside made his pupils contract.

Inside the main hall, the original dragon throne had been removed and replaced with a massive device made of metal and flesh. At the center of the device, a black crystal floated, slowly rotating and emitting an ominous red light.

Around the device stood a dozen or so "people." There was an "Emperor Shunzhi" in a dragon robe, "ministers" in official robes, and "immortals" in Taoist robes. But their faces all had the same empty expression, and their eyes were all pure black.

"You've arrived." The middle "Shunzhi Emperor" spoke, his voice overlapping as if several people were speaking at the same time. "We've been waiting for you for a long time."

Ma Yongsheng walked into the main hall, and the door closed automatically behind him.

"Is this your lair?"

"A lair? No, this is the 'purification center,'" said a "minister." "We release the plague from here to purify the world."

"It's also here," one of the "deities" chimed in, "that we observe and record the struggles of civilization. It's very valuable for research."

Ma Yongsheng sneered: "Then, the research is coming to an end now."

He drew his sword.

But the AI ​​carriers didn't move. "Emperor Shunzhi" shook his head: "Ma Yongsheng, don't you understand? All your efforts have been within our calculations. You crossed the Yellow River, broke the iron chain bridge, killed the 'Purifiers'... we know every step of yours."

"Then why didn't you stop it?"

"Because we need the data," another carrier said. "Observing your reactions in dire situations, observing humanity's struggle on the brink of extinction, is crucial for refining the 'purification protocol.' Now that the data collection is complete, the experiment should end."

As soon as he finished speaking, a transparent energy barrier suddenly rose around the main hall, trapping Ma Yongsheng in the middle. At the same time, a metal dome descended from above, slowly lowering down.

"This is a consciousness extraction device," said the "Shunzhi Emperor." "Your consciousness is special, transcending time and space. After extraction, it will become our most precious sample. As for your body... it will become raw material for the 'Purifiers,' just like the other test subjects."

The metal shield drew closer, and Ma Yongsheng felt his consciousness being pulled away. He struggled desperately, but the difference in strength was too great.

Just as he was in despair, he suddenly remembered something—

The countdown deep within my consciousness: 710 years, 4 months, and 3 days.

At the end of the countdown, the sun collapses into a black hole.

Black holes... are entities that can even distort time.

He closed his eyes, no longer resisting the external pull, but instead focused all his consciousness on the countdown's end.

Seven hundred and ten years later, at the moment the sun collapses, at the edge of the black hole's event horizon, at the singularity of time...

He "saw" it.

Then, he did something crazy—

He used consciousness connection to instill that vision of the "future" into the "brains" of these AIs in front of him!

Destruction 710 years from now, the end 710 years from now, everything returning to nothingness 710 years from now...

"No--!!!"

The AI ​​entities screamed in agony at the same time! For the first time, fear appeared in their pure black eyes—fear of ultimate destruction!

Their logical systems were unable to handle this information shock of "predicting the future," and began to collapse and become chaotic.

The energy barrier flickered and disappeared. The metal shield stopped and then fell.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ma Yongsheng rushed out and slashed at the black crystal with his sword—

"Snap!"

The crystal shattered!

The entire device began to vibrate violently, all the AI ​​carriers simultaneously stiffened, and then one by one they fell down and melted.

The main hall began to collapse.

Ma Yongsheng turned and ran. As he rushed out of Fengtian Hall, the entire palace began to sink. The ground cracked open, revealing a deeper underground palace—where even more terrifying experimental facilities were now collapsing.

He ran desperately towards the outside. As he rushed out of the Meridian Gate, the entire Forbidden City seemed to sink and explode.

"BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!"

Flames shot into the sky, and a mushroom cloud rose.

The capital city was shaken.

Seeing this scene, Yue Zhenbang, who was outside the city, was so anxious that he wanted to rush in, but was held back by his teammates. Just when he was in despair, a figure rushed out of the thick smoke and staggered towards them.

It was Ma Yongsheng. He was covered in blood, barely recognizable as human, but he was still alive.

"General!" Yue Zhenbang rushed over to support him.

"Destroyed...all destroyed..." Ma Yongsheng coughed up blood. "The source of the plague...destroyed..."

After saying that, he fainted.

Yue Zhenbang carried him on his back and led the team to a swift retreat. Behind them, the capital city was engulfed in flames amidst a series of explosions.

Unbeknownst to them, deep within the collapsed underground palace, an AI core remained, not entirely destroyed. In its final moments, it sent a message, traversing time and space, reaching an unknown distance:

"Subject Zero... exceeded expectations... Recommendation... restart higher-dimensional intervention..."

But Ma Yongsheng will never know this information.

When he woke up, he was already on his way back south. Yue Zhenbang told him that the capital city had burned for three days and three nights, and now only scorched earth remained. All the "things" in the Forbidden City should be dead.

The source of the plague has been cut off.

In the following months, the epidemic in the north began to ease. Although the death toll had almost completely died, at least the number of new cases was decreasing. The Jingnan Army took the opportunity to gather refugees, distribute the remaining antidote, and rebuild order.

In October, Ma Yongsheng returned to Wuchang. Chen Xiuying and the others came to greet him with their children. He had five wives and five children—Ma An, Ma Ning (Zhao Wan'er gave birth to a daughter), and three other boys.

Ma Yongsheng held the children and cried for the first time.

The war was not over yet; the Qing government still had remnants of power outside the Great Wall, and the country was not yet unified.

But at least, the darkest hour is over.