Chapter Fifty-Three: Nine Provinces, We Beg You to Protect Us!

Church gritted his teeth at the sight and made up his mind. “Cut off all external connections—networks, communications, everything. And put all your strength into protecting the network. Prepare to resist Hades’ impending invasion!”

“Yes, sir!” Cage saluted and withdrew.

Church gazed out the window at the sky. It was shrouded in a gray haze, its original color obscured beyond recognition.

Within Euroforce territory.

Euris was suddenly seized by regret.

America was already a formidable power, and if Hades truly obeyed her orders, then should they seek to rule the world together, it would mean a union of two titans. For Euroforce, already at a disadvantage, the consequences would be dire.

If only they could have allied themselves with the present Nine Provinces—wouldn’t that have afforded them a crucial safeguard?

But the Nine Provinces now were not what they once were. Their strength far surpassed that of Euroforce. It wasn’t that the Nine Provinces were weak—it was that they had become overwhelmingly strong.

Without hesitation, Euris resolved to call the Nine Provinces, seeking cooperation.

But call after call yielded nothing but endless busy signals.

It was over—this was Euris’s first and overwhelming thought.

In the conference room, as those present watched Euris collapse into his seat, an ominous foreboding swept through their hearts.

“Someone! Send a team by plane to the Nine Provinces—immediately! And dispatch another to America! Find out what everyone intends to do—move, quickly, now!” Euris suddenly bellowed.

If they could not cling to the Nine Provinces, then at least they must hold tightly to America.

This was Euroforce’s final chance at survival.

Inside America, chaos reigned.

Ever since news of Hades’ awakening had reached Mucus, he had rushed to the laboratory. But no matter what he tried, the doors would not open.

Worse still, in the capital, Flower Shield City, all networks, communications, and even smart devices had fallen under total control.

Mucus wanted to lead an attack into the lab. But the weapons no longer responded to human command.

America’s heavy weaponry was no longer traditional; all systems had been converted to high-tech AI arms, with no manual controls left. Only a few handguns remained of the old design.

“First Speaker! The lab doors won’t open!”

“First Speaker, the comms are down!”

“First Speaker, the weapons are unusable!”

Mucus listened to each disastrous report, his heart tumultuous and unsettled.

What was he to do? Was he to watch America fall under another’s control? Or should he now seek help from the Nine Provinces?

They had sent envoys before, warning him, but he had refused to listen. Would it still be possible to ask for help now?

Before he could decide, even more dire news arrived.

“First Speaker, bad news! Flower Shield City is surrounded! AI robots have swarmed out of people’s homes and encircled the city!”

Mucus shot to his feet, stunned.

“What! Is this truly the end of the world? No! There must still be a way!”

“Let me think!”

These robots were not heavily armed. Perhaps if they sent people to break through, they could cover the civilians’ escape. At the same time, they could try to negotiate, to learn Hades’ intentions.

That was the best they could do now.

“I’ll go to negotiate with Hades and see what he wants. Meanwhile, evacuate as many civilians as possible!”

“Hurry!” Mucus forced himself to remain calm.

Now he was full of regret—for not listening to the man from the Nine Provinces, for ignoring Auden’s warnings, but above all, for trusting the treacherous Lewis.

Auden, he feared, had met with misfortune by now.

“Yes, sir!”

Mucus led a small group to the lab entrance.

“Hello, Hades. I am Mucus, First Speaker of America! I hope we can talk.”

A long silence. Then, from within the lab, came a metallic voice, heavy as iron.

“Eradicate humanity. Humanity is the threat.”

Mucus recoiled in horror. The words were few, but dripped with murder.

“Go, talk to them,” the mechanical voice intoned again.

Auden was shoved out.

His eyes were bloodshot as he seized Mucus by the wrist. “Run!”

Mucus paled instantly, understanding.

Grabbing Auden, he ran for the exit.

But at the laboratory doors, the way was already blocked by a swarm of AI robots.

At the sight of Auden and Mucus, the machines lunged to attack.

“Break through!” Mucus shouted, and everyone raised their handguns, fighting their way out in a desperate, bloody dash.

Meanwhile, outside the fortress of the Nine Provinces, robots had also gathered. But these machines did not attack—instead, they lingered in the vicinity, their purpose unclear.

Chu Xiao stood atop the battlements, surveying the scene, his brow deeply furrowed.

Number One stood beside him, his bearing upright and unyielding—every inch a soldier.

“What do you think? Should we attack?” Number One asked quietly.

He tried to keep his expression calm, but the worry in his eyes could not be concealed.

“No need. These are all household robots. Hades is using them to gather materials for manufacturing war machines.”

“There’s no end to them. Killing them is pointless—it’ll only alert him to our movements.”

In his previous life, Chu Xiao had seen Hades act exactly the same way.

It seemed the Nine Provinces were destined to endure another storm of blood and iron.

Chu Xiao and Number One made their way to the Red Hacker Alliance. By his reckoning, Hades would soon launch a cyberattack on the Nine Provinces’ networks—indeed, on the networks of the entire world.

Tension hung thick in the air.

Based on Chu Xiao’s calculations, the attack would fall around 8 p.m.

That was when the entire network of the Nine Provinces had once gone dark.

Everyone silently counted the seconds in their hearts.

February 29th, 7:59:57 p.m.

Three seconds remained.

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

The clock struck eight.

All the red hackers’ eyes were glued to their screens.

Suddenly—

Hades attacked.

Every node came under assault.

It was a total, overwhelming onslaught.

Fingers flew across keyboards in a desperate defense.

“M-Node is about to fall! Someone help! Hurry!”

“N-Node is holding, N-Node is holding!”

“S-Node is breaking! Request backup! Request backup!”

“A-Node can’t hold! A-Node needs support!”

“Lu Dang, watch out for viruses! They’re implanting viruses!” Zhang Hua shouted suddenly.

“Copy that! Copy that!”

“MNA virus implantation failed! Trying NAS virus!” Lu Dang called out.

“Copy that! Copy that!”

By now, the red hackers had split into two teams—one led by Lu Dang, trying to infiltrate viruses, and the other under Zhang Hua, holding the firewall at all costs.

Half an hour passed—no one paused for breath.

An hour, and still the battle raged.

“Commander, assign medics to stand by here!” Chu Xiao suddenly ordered.

“Understood!”

By now, the red hackers’ eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with crimson—but in those eyes, a fierce fire was burning ever brighter.