LRAB Chapter 246 : Continental Construction of the Demon Civilization
Chapter 246 : Continental Construction of the Demon Civilization
Chapter 246: Continental Construction of the Demon Civilization
Armor Deck of the A1 Floor of Tomorrow.
A reconnaissance aircraft was already prepared.
As the pilot inside the cockpit operated the controls, the aircraft’s engine roared to life and it soon ascended into the sky.
This time, it would be responsible for scouting the inland regions.
In the distance across the deck, Li Ye watched as the reconnaissance aircraft gradually shrank into a tiny dot, merging into the pale morning dawn.
Originally, he had planned to personally ride the reconnaissance aircraft to see what the inland area of the Ruins Continent looked like.
But after thinking carefully, he realized that doing so would be somewhat dangerous, so he ultimately abandoned the idea.
As the aircraft gradually flew deeper inland, the pilot began observing the inland scenery.
At this moment, the reconnaissance aircraft was flying high above a massive plain.
Countless demons were present here.
When the pilot looked carefully, he discovered that all of these demons were Engineering Vehicles.
Excavator demons whose buckets had evolved into gaping blood-basin mouths lined with serrated blades.
Loader demons whose bodies were covered in crocodile-like steel scales and possessed wide pushing blades.
Crane demons whose booms had evolved into retractable spine-like structures, with steel cables ending in sharp metallic claws.
Road-roller demons whose rollers were covered in spike-like protrusions, while their steel shells were riddled with lava-like cracks.
Concrete pump truck demons whose long arms had mutated into freely twisting tentacles, while their hoppers had evolved into constantly writhing steel stomach sacs.
Bulldozer demons whose pushing blades had evolved into serrated steel lower jaws.
There were so many varieties of engineering vehicle demons that the pilot felt dazzled just looking at them.
What these demons were doing was carrying out large-scale infrastructure construction across the plain.
At present, they were building cities, towns, and a transportation network that spread densely across the entire plain.
The loader demons charged forward first. Their wide pushing blades were like battle axes, splitting open rugged terrain, flattening the undulating hills of the plain and crushing obstructing boulders into roadbed filler. Wherever their tracks passed, the earth trembled and dirt and rocks flew everywhere.
The paving machine demons followed closely behind. Their massive screeds were like demonic tongues, spewing scorching asphalt mixtures. In a sense, this asphalt could even be considered their secretion. As it was laid down, it released black smoke with the smell of sulfur. After cooling, it hardened into a surface etched with dark crimson veins, resembling coagulated blood vessels.
The road-roller demons were responsible for the final compaction. Their heavy steel rollers were covered with spikes, and every rotation compressed the asphalt even further.
Through the orderly cooperation of the demons, highways were quickly formed one after another.
In another area, countless pile-driver demons and crane demons were working together to build railway tracks.
The pile-driver demons shaped the railway foundation. Their enormous steel hammers struck the ground once every second, driving burning steel piles deep into the crust. Every strike was accompanied by an ear-splitting explosive boom.
The crane demons handled the installation of the rails. Their long crane arms moved as flexibly as giant pythons, accurately placing each specially made steel rail section that was thirty meters long.
Responsible for joining them together were small welding demons. They spewed high-temperature flames from their mouths, welding the rails into a seamless steel dragon.
Deployed along the track were train demons, while beside them stood train-station demons.
The train demon resembled a steel behemoth forged from molten iron and curses. Its locomotive head looked like the skull of a mechanical dragon. The front plow had transformed into three spiraling horn-like structures twisted like seaweed. Embedded in the center was a massive crimson single eye that constantly rotated. The front of the locomotive formed a ferocious mouth composed of a gear assembly. Interlocking serrated pistons moved like teeth, opening and closing with each exhalation of steam while spewing sulfurous smoke mixed with sparks.
The appearance of the train-station demon, on the other hand, was far more conventional. It was almost identical to a modern-style train station and truly operated just like a normal one.
At this moment, the train demon’s carriages were already filled with countless passengers preparing for their first trial ride.
All of them were demons: tooth-cup demons, blade demons, revolver demons, vase demons...
Every demon followed the rules properly.
“My god...” the pilot muttered.
Although he had already expected something like this, seeing it with his own eyes still shocked him deeply.
This monstrous civilization was actually carrying out vigorous construction across the entire continent.
Not only were there highways and railways, but even towns and cities had been built in a proper and organized manner.
He chose to return immediately, because the intelligence gathered this time was already more than sufficient.
Along the way back, the pilot remained extremely tense.
There must be many demons capable of flight within the Demon Civilization, such as fighter-jet demons. If he encountered one, things would become extremely troublesome.
Fortunately, the entire journey remained uneventful.
“It’s back?”
When Li Ye saw the reconnaissance aircraft appearing in the distance near the Peninsula Zone, a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes.
At that moment, however, something strange suddenly occurred in the sky.
One second the reconnaissance aircraft was flying steadily. The next second, it seemed to crash into an invisible gelatinous wall. The engine emitted a dying shriek, and eerie frost began forming along the wings.
Inside the cabin, the pilot saw snow-like static erupting across the radar screen. The communication channel was filled only with a low-frequency pulse resembling the heartbeat of some deep-sea monster. He tried pulling the control stick violently, but the aircraft seemed nailed into solidified air and could not move at all.
The entire sky seemed to have completely frozen.
Before his disbelieving eyes, the clouds suddenly came alive.
The previously scattered cirrus clouds began spiraling inward, weaving a fluid cage several kilometers wide around the reconnaissance aircraft. Outside the cockpit glass, the thin atmosphere revealed dark currents resembling blood vessels, like the nerve endings of some gigantic organism.
The pilot immediately realized something was wrong and activated the ejection system.
In the next moment, the frozen air suddenly transformed into billions of spinning razors that slashed toward the aircraft.
The aircraft’s paint was stripped off first, exposing the raw metal beneath. Then the rivets were pried away one by one with surgical precision, as if an invisible hand were dismantling a model. Finally, even the aluminum alloy frame shattered piece by piece like glass, as if caught in an invisible sandstorm.
Li Ye witnessed the entire process of the reconnaissance aircraft going from being trapped to being completely destroyed.
Several beads of sweat slid down his forehead.
His previous speculation had been correct.
There truly was a super-giant demon in the sky.
Not only him—everyone else had seen it as well.
“My god...” Fang Yong murmured. “If that’s the case, our Aerial Forces won’t be able to operate at all.”
“Should we use my Peacemaker to bombard it, Alliance Leader?” Yang Zheng asked.
Li Ye gently shook his head.
How would they bombard it?
According to his speculation, the super-giant demon in the sky clearly had no physical body. It might be a sky demon, a weather demon, or perhaps even an atmosphere demon.
The shells, missiles, and Electromagnetic Railgun rounds fired from the Peacemaker would probably all miss.
Li Ye said nothing further and instead began thinking deeply.
Soon, something suddenly caught his attention.
It was the reconnaissance pilot who had escaped by parachute.
After obtaining the Level 3 Individual Parachute Blueprint, Li Ye had immediately input the blueprint and produced a batch of parachutes, equipping them on the aircraft.
Now the lives of the pilots and flight crew had gained an extra layer of protection.
At this moment, the pilot was slowly descending through the air beneath his deployed parachute.
However, a few seconds later, it seemed as if an invisible giant hand seized him. His body twisted and deformed, and he died instantly.
Seeing this, Li Ye let out a quiet sigh.
He immediately called Lin Wu and several others, and the group began discussing the matter together.
Lin Wu proposed a bold hypothesis.
The super-giant demon in the sky might possess a body large enough to cover the entire sky above the Ruins Continent. Its sole purpose was to intercept any flying enemies attempting to penetrate inland.
“Hiss—” Li Ye involuntarily inhaled sharply after hearing this.
If that were really the case, it would be far too outrageous.
Zhou Xing raised another question.
Since such a super-giant demon existed in the sky, why hadn’t it intervened earlier when the Tomorrow Alliance used its Aerial Forces to fight the mountain demon?
This immediately reminded everyone of something.
A deep look of confusion appeared on every face.
Indeed, that was true. As a fellow demon, why had this super-giant demon simply watched the mountain demon being killed without doing anything?
As Li Ye pondered, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him.
“Attention! The attention of this super-giant demon is limited!” he said urgently.
If Lin Wu’s speculation was correct, this super-giant demon possessed an enormous body, which would also make it extremely bloated and cumbersome. Its observational capacity and attention would therefore be limited.
It could not monitor the entire Ruins Continent simultaneously. Its focus could only remain on a specific region at any given time.
The reason the Tomorrow Alliance reconnaissance aircraft had been destroyed was probably because it had unfortunately attracted the demon’s attention.
After understanding this, Li Ye finally let out a long breath.
Losing one reconnaissance aircraft meant nothing. As long as they invested resources, they could build another one.
More importantly, he had now figured out the situation in the sky.
Although the super-giant demon above the sky was absurdly powerful, it still had limitations.
However, for the moment, he no longer dared to deploy Aerial Forces outside.
After the pilot’s corpse fell to the ground, it was retrieved by a convoy.
From the body, Li Ye unexpectedly found a note.
It seemed that while returning, the pilot had realized he might encounter misfortune, so he deliberately wrote it. The note recorded the fact that the Demon Civilization was conducting infrastructure construction inland.
“So that’s the commotion the Demon Civilization has been making inland...” he murmured to himself.
Since Level 3, Monstrous Civilizations had developed the desire to manage territory.
For a super Monstrous Civilization like the Demon Civilization that occupied an entire continent, that obsession became even stronger.
Higher-level Monstrous Civilizations might even be capable of constructing their own nations.
Li Ye could not help shaking his head.
Compared to humans, monsters seemed more like the protagonists of this world.
He then took out a satellite phone and contacted Albert, informing him of the matter and asking him to relay the message to the higher authorities.
“How rare. There’s actually such a special demon in the sky above the Ruins Continent?” Albert said in amazement.
Li Ye simply stated his request.
He hoped that the Three Major Human Organizations would eliminate this super-giant demon. Otherwise, the Tomorrow Alliance would not be able to conduct operations safely.
“I think the higher-ups will agree to destroy it,” Albert said. “It’s not just your Tomorrow Alliance. There are also some Level 3 human cities developing on the Ruins Continent. In order to keep you safe, they’ll deal with this big guy.”
After finishing the serious discussion, the two began chatting casually.
“Oh right, did you know?” Albert said. “A friend of mine in Titan Throne told me that they seem to be planning to test a newly developed secret weapon on the Ruins Continent.”
“A secret weapon?” Li Ye asked in surprise.
“Yes,” Albert replied. “I wanted to find out exactly what kind of secret weapon it was, but unfortunately my friend’s rank wasn’t high enough to learn what it actually was.”
After ending the communication, Li Ye began thinking carefully.
Very soon, he arrived at an answer.
“The secret weapon deployed by Titan Throne... must be that artificial Emperor Beast!”
At this moment, somewhere in a Level 1 region of the Ruins Continent—
A modern city unbelievably stood there.
If one listened carefully, they would hear faint heartbeat-like pulses coming from the entire city.
Looking again at the city’s location, it happened to stand directly in the center of the Level 1 region, blocking the route toward the inland.
Yes.
This city was precisely the super-giant demon deployed by the Demon Civilization — the City Demon.
From its appearance, it resembled a grotesque deity cast from steel and concrete.
Its head was formed by dozens of twin towers fused and twisted together like a mountain range. The shattered glass curtain walls resembled peeling skin, exposing intertwined bundles of steel rebar nerves inside. At the end of each steel bar hung half-melted office desks and chairs, like countless struggling neural synapses. A former city landmark television tower pierced out of the back of its skull at an angle, its structure wrapped with cables as thick as subway tunnels, resembling blood vessels.
The City Demon’s torso was formed from the buildings of the central business district. The structural frames of dozens of skyscrapers protruded like exposed ribs. The former municipal government complex formed the mechanical heart at its chest.
Its arms had mutated from the city’s transportation network. The left arm consisted of more than a dozen elevated highways spiraling together into a massive cable, with each ramp ending in crane-like metal claws. The right arm was a fluid tentacle formed from subway tunnels, whose inner walls were filled with sharp fragments of bogies.
The most suffocating part was the structure of the City Demon’s lower limbs—
The city’s ring road had mutated into reverse-jointed mechanical giant legs. Every main road had fused into bundles resembling muscle fibers. The knee joints were transformed from stadium domes, while the feet were compressed and deformed from more than a dozen underground parking garages.
As for each toe, it was the steel framework of an entire shopping mall.
If Li Ye were present here, he would be shocked to discover something—
The mountain demon that the Tomorrow Alliance had struggled so hard to defeat was nothing compared to this City Demon.
This was the true colossal behemoth.
It occupied more than seventy percent of the entire Level 1 region.
Any enemy attempting to pass through this Level 1 region toward the inland would first have to traverse this “city.”
And in reality, this super-giant demon possessed an ability that ordinary people could hardly imagine.