After hearing what Sun Jack had said, the Poet responded with a defiant middle finger.
"If I were really that powerful, I'd have taken over Metropolis by now. And what's it to me? When the time comes, can't I just run away? Why on earth would I stay in Metropolis?"
Sun Jack barraged the Poet with questions, but the Poet was of no help to the current crisis.
Having given up, Sun Jack stood and walked to the window, looking down at Shendong Street through the glass.
He could see some hover cars heading toward the suburban areas, clearly some smart folks had seen the trouble coming and were planning to flee.
This did not surprise him at all, whoever won, they'd help.
However, there weren't many in Metropolis who cherished their lives enough to flee, and besides, where could they run to under these circumstances?
With the uncertain future, the scattered morale, and the impending doom of Metropolis, honestly, he never felt such despair even back when he was the protagonist— at least back then he had an awakening memory card up his sleeve.
Just then, a familiar communication code accessed Sun Jack's system. It was Black Shadow. "Sun Jack, you have no chance of winning," he said.
His voice was laced with nonchalance. "We've collected all your data, and with the resources and production of Metropolis, there's simply no chance of winning."
"If you're here to persuade me to surrender, you can hang up now," Sun Jack said with disgust.
Black Shadow shook his head. "No, the situation has escalated to this point, you've completely lost any value as a bargaining chip. Your only value now is as a flag to be raised."
"Don't think that just because you played the media and did a number on the company once, that it proved anything. Your actions, apart from causing more deaths, are utterly pointless."
"Do you know why we're opening up the network blockade now? Because we plan to use your method against you. We're going to broadcast live globally, to show everyone how Sun Jack dies."
"Only by completely destroying and defeating you in front of the entire world can we finally eliminate those Resistance Armies that are as persistent as flies."
Sun Jack silently listened to the other party, and when the last sentence was uttered, he suddenly spoke up, "You've got one thing wrong. Those never-ending Resistance Armies aren't because of me, they're because of your oppression. As long as your oppression exists, the resistance will never cease."
Hearing the other party still daring to argue, Black Shadow's tone grew much harsher.
"Sun Jack, keep being stubborn. When Metropolis is destroyed, when the people you care about are tortured in front of you, living a fate worse than death, I hope you stay just as tough! And I remember 'Revolution Sun Jack'; I've seen it before. AA, isn't it? I hear the Clone from the Breeding Factory has quite a relationship with you."
As Black Shadow spoke, all sorts of data about AA, even information on the number of Clones, were displayed.
The moment Sun Jack caught sight of AA's 3D image, his heart raced in anger, his eyes filling with rage as he looked at Black Shadow.
"And there's Old Three, Linda Linda, Delete, Tapai, everyone's going to die. That's the price for causing the company losses. Oh yes, and your Hilda and Si Ai, I hope you cremate them; otherwise, we'll dig them out too," Black Shadow continued.
As Black Shadow kept talking, Sun Jack's internal rage soared higher and higher. He absolutely couldn't let this happen, absolutely not!!
Just as Sun Jack was about to open his mouth to speak, he suddenly saw something.
That thing instantly calmed his angry brain, and through the translucent body of AA, Sun Jack, in the back, found a glimmer of hope in despair.
After pausing for a second, Sun Jack refocused on AA's body, "Oh, is that so? Then let's try it! Let's see if it's you who will torture them, or if it's me who will torture you!"
After closing the communication, Sun Jack's pupils rapidly focused, fixating on a teenager in the crowd below—the one training the new recruits, Old Three, the Wild Man who once had three arms.
Nobody has calculated and nobody cares about how many Wild Men actually live in the wilderness filled with radiation layers, but everyone knows there are many Wild Men in the wasteland, as many as there are cockroaches.
The once stupid and deformed Old Three had, under the influence of DNA enhancement technology, become a very qualified mercenary! He had found his own breakthrough, and that breakthrough was the Wild Men in the wilderness!
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In the midst of the cold howling wind and rain, through the decaying steel forest, a tribe of several hundred Wild Men was slowly moving along the base of the wall.
At the end of the group, staggered a skinny, filthy young girl.
Wood's body shook uncontrollably as she tried to cover her black and blue frozen legs with her clothes as much as possible, but her 1-meter long jacket could never cover her 1.5 meters tall body.
"Mom, I'm cold," Wood blurted out instinctively, but after calling out twice and receiving no response, she remembered that her mother had starved to death five days earlier.
She quickened her pace to catch up with the man in front, trying to lean against him to steal the pitiful warmth.
However, she was pushed and stumbled into a puddle, as the man with a black mole on his face looked down at Wood indifferently and continued to hurry along.
Everyone knew Wood was too skinny, so skinny that she didn't even bleed down below, and if you didn't bleed, you couldn't have children, and with her frail body, she had no value to the tribe.
When they still had their territory, maybe she could be of use, but now that they had lost it, they naturally had to fend for themselves.
Chilled by the cold water in the puddle, Wood gasped for breath as the last trace of warmth left her body, signaling a likely death in these conditions.
It was then that a large hand holding a light green stone reached into Wood's hands, which were almost numb from the cold.
Feeling the life-giving warmth from the stone, Wood looked up gratefully at the owner of the hand, "Chairman! Thank you for giving me the Warm Stone."
Plastic, the most authoritative figure in the tribe, reached out and touched Wood's head. "Wood! Survive, don't die, try to eat and get fat, have many children for the tribe! We will all get through this!"
"Okay!" Wood clutched the glowing green, warm stone in her arms and followed them.
And Plastic walked at the very end, making sure no one was left behind. Though he was full of confidence in front of Wood, his face was filled with worry.
They had been walking for so long and still hadn't found that legendary place, teeming with plastic bags and cockroaches—a land of life; he really didn't know if it was a wise choice to keep leading his people in search of it.
Especially when he saw a 29-year-old elder of the group stagger, fall, and not get up again, his heart weighed down with yet another heavy burden.