Chapter 141: Wishing Neither to Live Nor to Die

Have the undead from the Vulcan Base all turned into an army?
Especially those catapult-like devices and the liquids used in them—no matter how one looked at them, they felt terrifying.
Before heading out, Su Miao had specifically checked the temperature; the outside temperature today was minus 69 degrees Celsius.
Ordinary liquids would have frozen solid long ago under such conditions.
Yet these undead were packed with liquid.
Just how toxic must it be to exist in liquid form in such weather?
Su Miao shivered, huddled in the snow, and grew even more terrified when she remembered that these undead had been created using her own Reanimation magic.
Now, what should she do?
Should she change locations to observe the battlefield?
Her current vantage point was not high enough, and there were obstacles in front; she needed a better observation post.
There was a tall mountain in the distance, but getting there meant crossing through this army of the undead, and she might even accidentally stumble into the battlefield between the cannibals and the Four Seas Base, which would be terribly troublesome.
"Your Highness!"
Suddenly, a hoarse and eerie voice called out.
Su Miao was momentarily confused.
This was not the voice of the Mynah.
She stood up and spotted an undead standing at the base of the mountain.
The undead knelt on one knee: "Do you have any instructions for me?"
Su Miao blinked. How did this undead manage to hear her voice from 300 meters away?
An undead that could speak—how terrifying, she really wanted to destroy it.
However, this undead was kneeling on one knee before her.
"Never mind, you all go back to what you were doing," Su Miao said, waving her hand.
"As you command."
The undead stood up and hurried back to its unit.
Watching the undead walk away, Su Miao let out a sigh of relief, terrified that if it stayed a moment longer, she would inevitably purify it.
As for the idea of going to the distant mountain to watch the battle, Su Miao abandoned it entirely.
She would simply stay right here.
Whatever happened, she could just wait for the Mynah to report back.
……
Cannibal camp.
King Daxishi stood atop the ice ramparts, smiling as he watched the forces from the Four Seas Base attacking their position.
A while ago, they had been the ones attacking the ice walls of the Four Seas Base; who would have thought that just a few days later, the roles would reverse, and the Four Seas Base would be attacking their ice walls.
Yet one had to admit, Yu Yuangui of the Four Seas Base was truly formidable.
With only five thousand men, he had launched an offensive that felt like tens of thousands.
Since early morning, the cannibals had suffered over three thousand casualties during the first wave of the Four Seas Base's assault, which completely exceeded King Daxishi's expectations.
Even more infuriating was that Yu Yuangui had basically replicated the cannibals' initial attacks against the Four Seas Base.
This was a blatant provocation against him.
Very well!
Over here, Lin Heneng and Pei Fu each led a unit, tearing through the cannibals' various outposts like a hot knife through butter.
In less than two hours, they had fought their way to the base of the cannibals' ice wall.
The Four Seas Base had also piled up ice walls of their own, and a fierce, bloody battle for supremacy erupted between the two sides.
At this juncture, ability users unleashed unprecedented combat power, and firearms gradually lost their utility on the battlefield, save for the occasional rocket-propelled grenade slamming across.
However, both sides had largely exhausted their rocket supplies within the first few hours of battle.
The conflict devolved mostly into close-quarters combat where every strike drew blood.
"King Daxishi, the Four Seas Base's offensive is far too ferocious this time," He Chao reported upon rushing back from the front lines. "For some reason, no matter if their men suffer bullet wounds or blade gashes, as long as they have a single breath left, they recover to peak condition in mere minutes and are leaping around again."
"They are practically more savage than those corpses!"
Even when facing the Undead Queen last night, He Chao had not experienced anything so bizarre.
It was precisely because of this anomaly that the cannibals were suffering catastrophic casualties.
Previously, it was the cannibals who showed no fear of death.
Now, the people of the Four Seas Base were even less afraid to die.
King Daxishi, eating a bowl of stewed meat, remarked, "When you can no longer hold the line, release those coffins."
He Chao took a sharp breath: "King Daxishi, this..."
King Daxishi asked, "What, are you waiting for those corpses to come and help?"
He Chao wore a bitter expression: "King Daxishi, no."
That was their ultimate trump card; once deployed, let alone the people of the Four Seas Base, the cannibals themselves would be slaughtered as well.
King Daxishi chuckled: "Rest assured, the Four Seas Base only has five thousand men, while we still have thirty-five thousand. The advantage is ours."
He Chao regained his confidence: "Understood, King Daxishi!"
He turned and strode back toward the battlefield.
King Daxishi smiled as he looked at the stewing meat in the pot.
If these thirty-five thousand men could trade for the corpse of Lan Shaokong from the Four Seas Base, it would be a guaranteed profit.
It was a pity those failed-mutation monsters couldn't be eaten; otherwise, there wouldn't be so much troublesome business.
On the battlefield.
Whether ability users or ordinary citizens, the people of the Four Seas Base charged into battle without any regard for their own lives.
"Die!"
In the snow, a cannibal drove a blade straight into the belly of a young man.
The young man showed not the slightest concern; with a backhanded stroke, he thrust his own blade into the enemy's neck, pulling his weapon free from the crimson flesh amidst the cannibal's look of utter astonishment.
Barely thirty seconds later, full of vigor, he charged toward the next cannibal.
The ability users of the Four Seas Base struck with even greater ruthlessness.
In the past, when unleashing powerful lethal techniques, they were somewhat restricted by their physical limits, capped at perhaps a few times a day.
Yet today, those limitations were entirely nonexistent for them.
If their bodies showed signs of tearing apart, they could recover to pristine condition in less than three minutes, returning to their peak.
Naturally, injuries sustained in combat were likewise healed in an extremely short span of time.
"Brothers, we are blessed by divine miracles! Charge!"
The men of the Four Seas Base surged forward valiantly.
In the distance, at the command post of the Four Seas Base, Lan Shaokong and Yu Yuangui stood side by side, watching the battlefield.
Pei Fu strode into the command post, took a gulp of water, and said, "That was truly exhilarating to kill today! Do we have any more of that potion? Hand me a bottle."
Yu Yuangui shook his head: "That potion is not prepared for you. You cannot drink it."
Pei Fu demanded, "Old Yu, what is the meaning of this?"
Yu Yuangui replied, "You will understand in due time. You cannot drink this potion, Lin Heneng cannot drink it, and I will not drink it either."
Pei Fu frowned, glancing toward the battlefield ahead as realization seemed to dawn on him.
He grabbed Yu Yuangui by the collar: "After drinking this potion, no matter what injuries one sustains within a certain timeframe, they recover to their peak state in an instant. You give it only to them and deny it to us—what is the reason behind this?"
"What is the price of drinking this potion?"
Yu Yuangui stated, "I am currently the supreme commander of the Four Seas Base, Pei Fu. Are you planning to disobey orders?"
Pei Fu released Yu Yuangui's collar with a shove: "When the battle is over, you had better give me an explanation."
Yu Yuangui said, "No problem. Just remember, your family is still waiting for you to return within the Four Seas Base. If you want to go back, you cannot drink this potion."
Pei Fu widened his eyes.
The implication could not have been clearer: those who drank the potion might never be able to return.
Yu Yuangui declared, "Do not forget, everything is for the Four Seas Base. They are all heroes!"
Pei Fu turned and left without looking back.
Only at this moment did he truly understand why Yu Yuangui had instantly become a director the moment he joined the Four Seas Base.
Part of it was due to Yu Yuangui's strength, and the other part was because of this potion he brought along.
Why hadn't they used it when the Four Seas Base was besieged?
Because if used within the Four Seas Base, the effects of this potion would be completely exposed.
Therefore, despite all the unreasonableness, Yu Yuangui had driven the Four Seas Base to pursue the cannibals all the way here.
Using the potion here meant that whether they won or lost, the future of the Four Seas Base would remain unaffected.
Lan Shaokong watched the battlefield, uttering not a single word from beginning to end.
On their left and right flanks, a reserve force of 1,200 men remained uncommitted to battle.
These were the men Yu Yuangui had held back; they were the final sparks of hope for the Four Seas Base. If possible, Yu Yuangui hoped they would all survive rather than become heroes of the Four Seas Base.
As the battle reached its white-hot peak, the Undead Queen and her army arrived at the periphery of the battlefield.
Since most of the undead wore scraps of clothing, they looked little different from living humans.
When this third force suddenly appeared, both the Four Seas Base and the cannibals paused in obvious astonishment.
"Ready!"
At the undead commander's order, catapult after catapult swung into action, loaded with eerie, churning liquids.
"Fire!"
Boom, boom, boom!
As huge barrels of liquid medicine were hurled into the skies above the battlefield and violently detonated, they transformed into massive sprays of fluid that rained down onto the combatants of both factions.
"This is..."
On a distant hill, Su Miao watched the scene through her binoculars.
Especially as the liquids burst and scattered downward, she seemed to understand precisely what these were.
This was the deadly hallucinogenic magical potion she had synthesized, which had subsequently been contaminated by corrupting massive piles of corpses, turning into lethal toxin.
When she destroyed the Vulcan Base, she had caused many of its inhabitants to be poisoned by the hallucinogenic agent; after their deaths, the residual fluids in their corpses must have been collected by some clever undead, transforming into this terrifying biochemical weapon.
Terrifying explosions rang out one after another, and many locked in close combat on the battlefield were splashed by the toxic liquid.
Even more of it was atomized and swept across the greater part of the battlefield by the icy winds.
For the first few seconds, some individuals remained oblivious to the situation, even taking a moment to wipe their faces in an attempt to clear away the disgusting fluid.
Yet when they actually wiped, they tore their very skin away along with it.
"Ah!"
Piercing screams rang out.
They collapsed to the ground, clawing their own faces to shreds amidst agonizing wails.
Some attempted to flee, but their clothing was corroded by the toxic liquid right down to their skin, causing them to crash onto the snowbanks moments later.
Others, driven to unbearable agony, decisively triggered their own explosives, perishing on the battlefield.
And that was not even the worst of it.
The most wretched fate befell the people from the Four Seas Base.
They collapsed to the ground in agony as their bodies corroded at a visible rate, only to regenerate at an equally visible rate—compounding their agony multiple times over, making death a mercy they could not attain and survival a torment they could not escape.
"What on earth is this?"
Shamo, stationed somewhat further back, stared at the scene with absolute terror in his heart.
Had he charged just a little closer a moment earlier, he likely would have suffered the exact same horrific death on the spot.
Lin Heneng, who had been fighting Shamo, was similarly filled with dread: "What is going on?"
On the cannibal side, He Chao, who was in charge of command, was both alarmed and furious.
These corpses truly had no intention of cooperating whatsoever.
They intended to slaughter everyone from both the Four Seas Base and the cannibals right here.
Following successive waves of toxic bombardment, the Undead Queen issued the command to attack, and the horde of undead swept over the battlefield like a tidal wave.
Affected by numerous previous conflicts, there were currently nearly eight thousand undead within the Vulcan Base.
Considering the scale of the Vulcan Base and the reserves of her blood pools, she had decided to physically prune the number of undead in exchange for higher quality specimens.
She hoped that bathing in blood would give rise to more elite undead, ensuring that even if the magic bestowed upon them by the Witch Highness faded, a larger number of undead within the base would still retain their sentience.
"Kill!"
Vast numbers of undead charged into the fray, plunging the battlefield into utter chaos.
The undead slaughtered the Four Seas Base and the cannibals.
The Four Seas Base slaughtered the undead and the cannibals.
The cannibals slaughtered the Four Seas Base and the undead.
Everyone was driven completely mad by the slaughter.
……
"Your Highness, they are too miserable."
The Mynah flew back to report, having observed the battlefield.
The golden-winged roc and the eight gray rocs had also flown back.
They had originally intended to scavenge for some food, but who could have foreseen that the undead had zero sportsmanship, directly deploying biochemical weapons and toxic bombardments?
Had they been any slower in fleeing, they might have accidentally been poisoned as well.
"The people of the Four Seas Base seem to have ingested some kind of potion; their bodies are endlessly rotting and regenerating, unable to die and unable to live, and even if they are hacked with blades several times, they rapidly heal only to rot again—it's too horrifying."
The Mynah was shivering as it spoke.
Su Miao was shivering as well.
What kind of earthly torture was this? Even the ancient punishment of death by a thousand cuts recorded in history books couldn't compare to this.
Though she had wanted these undead to help her resolve her troubles, their methods of attack far exceeded Su Miao's imagination.
Perhaps the thought was a bit abrupt.
Su Miao suddenly recalled the torrential rain magic she had recently been studying and practicing.
If she were to dilute the deadly hallucinogenic potion into her torrential rain spell while casting it, could she produce the exact same effect—or perhaps an even more terrifying attack than what the undead had achieved?
Terrifying~
While the Mynah chattered endlessly about the state of the battle, Su Miao let her mind go blank, refusing to dwell on it further.
She hoped this battle would end soon.
That way, if anyone still couldn't die quickly enough, she could at least wander over and finish them off with a fireball spell, putting an end to their misery sooner.
With the entry of the undead into the battlefield, King Daxishi and Lan Shaokong could no longer remain entirely composed.
To be honest, neither of them had expected such a development.
Especially on the side of the Four Seas Base.
The operational plan formulated by Yu Yuangui had essentially been mostly destroyed.
And this was the result even though he had factored in the mysterious faction that had wiped out the Vulcan Base beforehand.
"Young Master Lan, it is time for you to make a decision," Yu Yuangui said.
Lan Shaokong replied, "Execute it."
Yu Yuangui nodded: "Very well, I understand."
On the cannibal side, the undead had carved their way through the breaches in the ice wall corroded by the toxic liquid.
As they fought, they planted explosives along the ice ramparts, widening the breaches further and allowing even more undead to pour in.
Who could have imagined that among the 35,000 people left behind by the cannibals, 15,000 were the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled intended as reserve rations?
Facing the slaughter of the undead, the entire cannibal camp was instantly plunged into chaos.
King Daxishi nibbled on his stewed meat, frowning slightly.
These moving corpses had already fought their way right up to those coffins.