My Notoriety Spreads Throughout the World

Chapter 769 - 679: Landing

Xu Xiaoyou sat in front of the sand table. One stronghold after another in Mirage City lit up with cursors, small flags being planted in sequence overhead. The areas outside the strongholds were shrouded in a layer of red mist, representing zones occupied by the Insect Race, marked with their troop deployments.

Across the sand table, darkness seethed as four pairs of scarlet eyes opened. Fangs clattered softly in the shadows; she felt a gaze steeped in fear upon her.

Mirage Tower City was huge; to swallow it whole within half a month was nothing short of a madman’s dream.

The objective of this exercise was to simulate the capture of the southern sector of Mirage Tower City, from Paper Lantern Port to Mofang, including three castle towns and one Main City.

Once the exercise ended, the Chichu Family would launch a counteroffensive against this region based on the exercise data.

Xu Xiaoyou would not directly participate in commanding this military exercise; all levels of command would be in the hands of the Chichu Family’s officers. Her goal was to ensure the exercise proceeded smoothly, monitoring and purging unstable elements.

Time was short and the task heavy.

Xu Xiaoyou drew a deep breath, picked up a shogi piece and placed it on Stronghold No. 1 in Paper Lantern Port.

"Commence exercise."

...

Inside the large transport aircraft, the roar of the engines thundered right beside their ears, yet was muffled by the Steel Barrier. A tang of rust and machine oil filled the cabin. The soldiers awakened from the darkness, gazing at one another with a faint confusion.

As if wondering why they had appeared here.

The mechanical rings at their necks beeped sharply; a jolt of turbulence ran through the cabin, shattering the silence.

Very soon, the chaotic thoughts in these soldiers’ minds aligned. The implanted memory modules had created different pasts for them, and now they shared a single identity—soldiers of Chichu Heaven, about to be dropped into a battlefield riddled with peril.

Tension and unease spread across their faces and quickly permeated the entire cabin.

Some clutched their rifles to their chests in nervous dread, some covered their faces and sobbed softly; thinking of the family members at home and of themselves, who might fall on the battlefield at any moment, their complexions grew even more ashen.

Only a single young man in the cabin calmly observed his surroundings. He looked down at the name tag on his chest—Lin Yu.

"Buddy, you not nervous?"

The broad-shouldered man beside him, whose expression was open and carefree, patted his shoulder. The man wore an ill‑fitting uniform, his undershirt gaping at the chest, a pair of Damascus combat boots tapping out a rhythm on the floor.

The reek of heavy smoke coming off the man made Lin Yu frown slightly as he shifted his body to the left.

"A little nervous."

"What about you?"

"Me? I’m just fine. This is my third time at the front. I’m not afraid of dying—hell, I’m itching to die." The man let out a rattling, hearty laugh.

"Soon as I’m dead, my ma can get a big fat blood‑compensation payout, won’t have to hunch over weaving baskets every day. My little brother’s schooling will be taken care of too. He’s got a quicker head than me; he’s bound for bigger things."

"So, tell me, what brought you here?"

"I..." Lin Yu’s tone hesitated,

"I’m not entirely sure."

He was a network detective, specializing in handling commissions online—investigating cold cases the police had failed to crack, deducing the shooting locations of photographs, collecting evidence of cheating husbands.

Sharp as he was, he quickly sensed that this seemed at odds with his current situation.

Chichu Heaven enforced compulsory conscription in most cities. Citizens over twenty who failed to generate sufficient social value had to serve in the military; the city he lived in was no exception. Yet given his counter‑surveillance and cyber skills, the conscription offices in those cities should not have been able to pinpoint his location.

But they had found him all the same, and had come to his door to take him away. He hadn’t been surprised, nor had he resisted.

"I just find it a bit strange," Lin Yu said.

"It’s stifling in here, but none of them are sweating much. There’s no dust on their faces either. It’s like they were hauled in here straight after changing into uniform, without any training at all."

The moment he said this, Lin Yu suddenly felt a chill‑inducing gaze fixed upon him, something that made his hair stand on end.

"You okay?"

"I... I’m fine."

An nameless terror kept Lin Yu from following the thread of his thoughts any deeper, yet the layers of contradictions made him involuntarily doubt everything around him.

Suddenly, as if something had occurred to him, he yanked up his sleeve.

—Lie.

The bright red word stabbed into his pupils like a thorn. The moment he made out the letters, Lin Yu’s pupils shrank sharply, and that dreadful sense of being watched by some invisible presence only grew stronger.

He jerked his head up and looked around.

The soldiers sat in neat rows. A young boy noticed him and greeted him politely.

Xiaoliu, noticing how pale Lin Yu looked, was just about to step forward and ask when a thunderous shout boomed from the side.

"All personnel, prepare for airdrop!"

A hard‑featured officer stepped out, giving the drowsy soldier beside him a kick to wake him. At the same time, the transport’s hatch yawned open with that barked command. Amid the heavy grinding of machinery, rings of red light flashed rapidly; the gale outside howled into the cabin, the light sharpening to a glare along the edges of the opening!

"Move, move, move."

The soldiers in front jogged a few steps and leapt straight into the wind, those behind them following in quick succession.

Noticing a girl hesitating at the edge, Xiaoliu stepped up and took Frey’s hand. The two of them jumped from seven thousand meters up. The wind barrier tore past their bodies, the setting sun sank in the distance, and the clouds below were stained a brilliant gold.

In no time, only Lin Yu remained in the cabin. He stood at the edge, his feet repeatedly retreating. Just as he mustered his courage, a venom‑tipped missile from the ground punched through the clouds and struck the transport.

Lin Yu had no time to think and hurled himself downward. The transport behind him was swallowed in surging flames. As he fell, a sheet of steel came spinning through the air and sliced Lin Yu clean in two.

In the darkness, a blonde girl’s lips curved faintly as she plucked at unseen strings, her fingertips held in a poised, flicking gesture.

This was what Xu Xiaoyou had to do.

Eliminate every factor that might interfere with the future.

At the same time, multiple transports over the battlefield came under attack from the Insect Race. The black locust missile carriers could lock onto transports five thousand meters up and strike them with precise guidance; after pheromonal enhancement, their range extended to ten thousand meters. At this moment their eyes burned crimson—everything in the sky was prey.

Blossoms of searing red fire burst open in the clouds.

On the ground, countless predator‑class Insect Race creatures glared with red eyes. The massive black locusts dragged their limbs along the highway, the Insect Race’s army closing in on the area around Stronghold No. 1.

"Damn it, those bastards have us locked. Once you hit the ground, don’t get bogged down—head straight to Stronghold No. 1!"

"My leg, my leg’s gone!"

"They hit me... uaaahhh!"

"Stingers! They’re closing in on me!"

A few stingers seized a soldier by his limbs and tore him into four pieces.

The command channels of the various squads dissolved into chaos. Before they even reached the ground, the situation had already spiraled out of control.

The officers of Chichu Heaven, seeing this, shook their heads and pressed their hands to their foreheads. Chichu Qiu’s expression grew all the more grim.

"Their military discipline is far too poor; this is nothing but a pile of loose sand."

"They clearly had the relevant memory modules implanted—how did it end up like this? It’s... it’s a farce."

"On the battlefield, some things—muscle memory—matter more than textbook knowledge."

"At this rate, what’s the point of an exercise? Before the real fight even starts, casualties will probably top five thousand."

"Xiaochun, intervene," Xu Xiaoyou said coolly. "Don’t let the situation get too ugly."

In front of the transport, the girl’s long dark‑red hair was whipped about by the wind. Her fingers rested against the comms unit at her ear. Her Gothic skirt flared, setting off the length of her legs. The Undead Armament rose slowly; the black muzzle lit with a circular glow.

"Got it," Chichu Chun’s lips curled. "Perfect time to show them my new toy."