Four Split Personalities

High Priest: "..."

"Those few over there!"

With a frown, Big Ears yelled at the towering figures ahead, whose legs were pounding faster and faster, "Are you rushing to be reincarnated? Slow down, or by the time we arrive, you’ll all be nearly dead!"

A group of burly men and women in heavy armor reluctantly slowed their pace.

"Ah, it’s really not easy..."

Big Ears sighed and muttered to himself, "Why did Sister Feather Song choose me for this? Just setting the speed limit for these people is going to shave years off my life."

As the messenger and speed regulator of the joint task force’s heavily armored interception squad, Big Ears’s journey had been quite troubled. Although this team consisted of only two hundred people, and he was only responsible for the half walking in front, a significant percentage of whom were players, he still felt a bit of a headache... and a heavy pressure.

The reason for setting a speed limit wasn’t because they had plenty of time or the mission was relaxed; quite the contrary, anyone with an IQ above average knew how tense the situation had already become. Describing it as a race against time wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

But this team, made up of heavily armored soldiers and a large number of clergy, had to conserve energy, at least until they reached their destination, because their task was extremely crucial and couldn’t afford any mistakes.

[In heaven’s name, I’m just a delinquent youth who’s never even been a class monitor!]

Big Ears sighed again, feeling as if he had let out a semester’s worth of sighs in just a few hours. This was despite having Lord High Priest Ferman at the rear to keep a check on the team, which meant that most of the more anxious and troublesome members were suppressed at the back of the line. The ones walking with him at the front were by far more compliant.

But if they continued at this pace, they would still need to walk for at least another half an hour...

"Uncle Stone."

Big Ears scratched his head in irritation and walked up to a silent Dwarf Priest, whispering, "Got a question, Uncle Stone."

"Uh, huh? Did you call me?"

The Dwarf Priest Stone Music, who wore the God’s Badge on his chest, was taken aback and turned slowly to look at him with a chuckle, "Sorry, sorry, I wasn’t quite with it just now. Actually, my last name is Li."

"Really, I thought your name was Stone Music."

Big Ears pulled a face and then quietly asked, "So, how are things on the front lines now?"

Stone Music shook his head with a grim expression, "Still holding on, but overall, not too good. The casualties are increasing."

Big Ears was startled, "What do you mean?"

"Just what it sounds like."

Stone Music took a deep breath and glanced to the northwest, "Up to five minutes ago, my friend’s second combat sequence had already lost a third of its members. Now, Hei Fan is pulling those from the third combat sequence, who are relatively weaker but still have decent physical strength, up to the front. There shouldn’t be significant casualties in the short term, but... only for the short term."

Big Ears stiffened slightly and after a long while, murmured in a low tone, "I see... thanks, Uncle Stone..."

"I told you, my last name is Li."

"Got it, Uncle Stone..."

Big Ears replied somewhat absentmindedly, his demeanor disoriented and desolate.

Clearly, amidst the rush, Motan had still overlooked something...

Although he prohibited Feather Song and the others from revealing any information to the messenger and speed regulator of the heavily armored interception squad, and kept his communication with the other to a bare minimum, that didn’t mean Big Ears couldn’t get information about the front lines. The team had a much higher proportion of players than the other three combat sequences, and even if Big Ears couldn’t learn the specifics from Motan or Feather Song, just by asking someone like Stone Music, who had friends on the front lines, getting the updates wasn’t difficult at all.

After all, Motan couldn’t possibly notify every player chosen for the heavily armored interception squad individually, nor could he afford to specifically greet everyone on Big Ears’s friend list separately.

So, following such an almost inevitable leak of information, Big Ears finally couldn’t keep steady...

[We won’t make it in ’short time’.]

He silently calculated the distance, concluding that if they continued at the current pace, the interception squad would still need almost thirty minutes to reach their destination, immediately causing him stomach pain.

The team was certainly capable of speeding up, but doing so would inevitably affect their condition...

But if they kept moving at this unhurried pace, how many would die because of their delay?

If he weren’t strong in his sense of responsibility, perhaps he could just blame the commander for some peace of mind, but as a loyal, sensible, and warmhearted delinquent, Big Ears inevitably found himself in a very troubling situation.

Everyone here, including himself, was no fool. On one hand, they all clearly understood the importance of their mission. On the other, they were aware of the tremendous pressure faced by the front lines at this very moment. This didn’t really need any intelligence reports; the development of the three combat sequences, totaling no more than 1,300 people, engaged in a deadlock with nearly ten thousand mutants, was all too predictable.

It was merely a matter of piling up stamina, willpower, and lives.

Each person was fully aware and silently played their role.

Whether anxious ones such as the High Priest or those like Ferman and Big Ears, striving hard to limit the team’s speed, none were being dishonest. They did not wish for any mistakes in their task, nor did they want the soldiers on the front line to make massive sacrifices because of their own delay.

In fact, under mutual compromise between the two parties, this heavily armored assault group had already arrived nearly twenty minutes earlier than planned—not a lot, but enough for Hei Fan not to consider it insignificant.

But now it seemed...

[Player: Cang Ying (Orderly Neutral) requests to add you as a friend]

A system message flashed across, interrupting Hei Fan’s dilemma.

He subconsciously accepted the friend request, and immediately received a message from the other person.

’Sorry to bother you, but are you the liaison officer of the heavily armored group???’

Although the wording was very appropriate, the three question marks still indicated that the other person was extremely anxious.

’I am, who’s this?’

Hei Fan slightly furrowed his brow and replied quickly.

’I’m the liaison officer for the Knight Order! Lord Hei Fan’s orders haven’t come down yet, and everyone here is getting desperate. How long till you guys get here? We’re really on the brink here! Can you see the situation at the front line? Our brothers are almost pushed back to the third line of defense!’

Seconds later, the Knight Player who was waiting with the Holy Knights on the slope sent a reply.

’We need time, we want to speed up too.’

Hei Fan expressed his own frustration anxiously.

’How long?’

’Twenty minutes.’

He typed these four words in the chat bar, then swiftly deleted them...

’Ten minutes, tell everyone in the Knight Order to get ready, just give us ten more minutes!’

After sending this message, Hei Fan turned around and ran towards the end of the column.

’Are you sure?’

’I’m sure, we’ve been eager to accelerate here too!’

’I’m sorry, bro, if Lord Hei Fan demands accountability afterwards, I’ll share the blame with you.’

’No worries, no worries, I was just looking for someone to share this burden anyway, hurry up and get everyone ready.’

’Received, for justice and peace!’

’Aren’t you being a bit too dramatic...’

After casually closing the chat, Hei Fan sprinted to the rear of the column where the atmosphere was much less tense than the front, with everyone’s faces tightly drawn, including Ferman, the Lord High Priest, glaring with eyes wide open, vigilant against any disobedience.

"What brings you here, more trouble up front?"

Ferman frowned as he looked at Hei Fan.

The latter shook his head and spoke softly, "No, Lord High Priest, but I’ve received a message from the Knight Order, and they are almost at their breaking point."

"..."

"Also, at the front line... our forces are almost pushed back to the third line of defense."

"..."

"Lord, perhaps we should just turn a blind eye this once, otherwise, if this continues..."

"No, we cannot turn a blind eye."

Ferman shook his head and, before Hei Fan could retort, burst out yelling, "All members of the heavily armored assault group, heed my command!!"

The group silently turned back to look at him.

"Full speed ahead!"

"Yes!"

One hundred ninety-eight voices responded in unison.

Chapter 438: The End