Chapter 2732 - The First Purge
The Purgers must be capable of recognizing dangers, which meant that they must have much more logical thinking and self-awareness than the common people in the Covenant Alliance did. They had to understand, or at least know, what feelings were.
In the frontline against the extraterrestrial devils, they were exposed to the extraterrestrial devils all the time and were more likely to be turned into the extraterrestrial devils" slaves.
Therefore, only the purest, most loyal, and most determined people of the Covenant Alliance could weather through the attacks of the extraterrestrial devils again and again and become a real Purger.
Tang Ka was only one step away from becoming a Purger.
But he was somewhat panicking, as if he were stepping onto nothing from a tall building.
Could he pa.s.s the ultimate test and resist the scourge of the extraterrestrial devils?
He and his cla.s.smates were supposed to clean up the town of the Imperium that had just been occupied by the Covenant Alliance, recollect all the useful a.s.sets, and sterilize, cleanse, or destroy all the polluted items. In the meantime, they had to ensure that their absolute loyalty to G.o.d Pangu was unaffected. That was the ultimate test..
Tang Ka had carried out similar purge operations before, but never without the a.s.sistance from his mentors and the real Purgers. Students like him were only acting as support in these operations.
This was the first time he had ever carried out a purge operation with his cla.s.smates independently.
This planet was too huge, and the Covenant Alliance was too short of hands. The adult soldiers were needed in the battles against the Imperium and had no time for the tricky and dangerous purge operations.
Since it was a test, even their mentors and their director stayed in the camps outside of the city and simply sent their students to the town of the Imperium that was full of corruption and darkness.
Tang Ka felt that he was lost on an island on a surging ocean with bottomless swirls all around him. Deep inside every swirl, the extraterritorial devils were cackling.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
It was not an illusion. He had really heard the earsplitting beeps.
Tang Ka was briefly stunned. He immediately realized that it was his wrist crystal processor that was shrieking and stinging his wrist with feeble electric arcs.
Not good. His purity had unexpected changes because there was "fear" in his head. The extraterrestrial devils were corrupting his soul!
The Covenant Alliance people weren"t supposed to feel anything. At least, the future Purgers shouldn"t.
To make sure that they did not have any unnecessary emotional waves, special surveillance chips had been embedded in every young man"s crystal processor to monitor their breath, heartbeat, secretion of adrenalin, and other biophysical parameters.
When they were absolutely tranquil, their purity would be 100%, which would mean that they were absolutely flawless without being corrupted by the extraterritorial devils.
However, Tang Ka was allured by pride first and was mired in worries and fear later. Naturally, his biophysical parameters changed, and his purity dropped to below 95%. His wrist crystal processor automatically sent out alarms.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
His twenty cla.s.smates turned around and stared at Tang Ka emotionlessly.
They did not mock him. The Covenant Alliance people were not allowed to mock their companions. Mockery was also an intense feeling that was strongly forbidden.
However, their emotionless eyes were even more intolerable for Tang Ka, who felt that he had turned into a weirdo among his cla.s.smates.
"Calm down. I must calm down!"
Tang Ka silently recited the scriptures, and several bolts of lightning were generated in his head, striking and cutting his feelings just now into smithereens.
While cutting the feelings in his heart, he recalled what his director told him.
The people of Covenant Alliance were engaged in two wars, one against the Imperium of True Human Beings and the other against the mental devils in their own hearts.
It was easy to destroy the country of devils, but it was extremely difficult to clear the devils in one"s own heart.
Therefore, they had to be vigilant all the time and pay attention to the tiniest details so that they could execute the mental devils the moment the mental devils rose without causing any mistake.
Tang Ka took a deep breath and resumed his calmness.
Thankfully, the drop in his purity level wasn"t too huge. It was acceptable since they just entered the sinful town and confronted the extraterrestrial devils. Although he would lose some points, he wouldn"t be banished from the test yet.
He still had his chances, but he couldn"t make any mistakes again for the rest of the test!
Tang Ka"s eyes were clear again. He raised his head, only to see Chu Zhiyun, the cla.s.s monitor, staring at him from a broken tank not far away.
Tang Ka blushed again. His face was so red that he seemed to be chewing fire.
Thankfully, they were all wearing masks, and other people couldn"t see his face that looked like the b.u.t.t of a monkey.
Tang Ka did not know what was wrong with him. He was fourteen, and he had known Chu Zhiyun for fourteen years. He knew the girl as well as he knew his own body.
However, in recent years, he couldn"t look at Chu Zhiyun in the eyes anymore. The moment he saw her eyes, he would feel that his heart was seething with extraterrestrial devils. Or rather, it was not his heart that was seething, but a certain part below his heart.
"Cut! Cut! Cut!"
Infinite bolts of lightning were generated in Tang Ka"s brain, slas.h.i.+ng the messy thoughts into pieces. Gritting his teeth, he nodded at Chu Zhiyun, showing that he was fine and could go on.
Expressionlessly, Chu Zhiyun leaped off from the tank and raised her arm high, before she slashed it down like a saber, gesturing that all the students should press forward in the sinful city.
They wandered in the dilapidated buildings and streets for a long time and finally pa.s.sed the battle zone where the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance had a huge fight, entering the downtown area that was almost intact.
During the whole time, n.o.body looked around or touched anything. They were like twenty chess pieces.
It was not until they reached a square in the downtown that they finally stopped simultaneously and gazed at what was before them.
It was a statue that was not tall or delicate, but more like the work of amateurs.
The statue was of four young people who were of similar age to Tang Ka, two males and two females, holding their hands and dancing. Though it was only a statue, their faces were enshrouded by the air of extraterrestrial devils.
In the middle of them, a flower was blooming and bouncing agilely like fire.
On the pedestal of the statue wrote "The First Anniversary For the Establishment of New Joy City, Our New Home Across Millions of Lightyears".
Tang Ka knew that this was not a military base of the Imperium. This was a town established by the civilians of the Imperium who had no hope in their own hometowns.
Tang Ka liked military bases better than such towns of civilians, because the items left in military bases were simpler, and it was easier to understand the soldiers.
In the towns of civilians, queer and unexpected things might show up, like the statue they were looking at.
Tang Ka had no idea why the people of the Imperium wasted their precious resources and time on such a useless statue. Did it have any practical purposes? Could it output productivity or combat ability? Could it navigate stars.h.i.+ps or resist enemies?
No, it did not have any function at all. Tang Ka couldn"t think of a second explanation as to why the Imperium people were fond of building statues except that they were possessed by the extraterrestrial devils.
Also, the figures were dancing in the statue. Dancing, another useless thing that would only exhaust one"s strength and indirectly waste precious resources.
G.o.d Pangu did not bestow life and resources upon human beings for them to dance! It was idiotic, absurd, and irresponsible!
The carefree smile of his peers on the statue burned Tang Ka"s eyes.
Speaking of which, Tang Ka was not qualified to like or dislike anything. He should peacefully and heartlessly carry out the orders of the Ultimate Benevolence Masters as well as the will of G.o.d Pangu like other people.
"This is a level-one hazard."
Chu Zhiyun said casually, "Completely purge it."
Tang Ka and his cla.s.smates raised their guns at the same time.
Their guns could unleash special high-frequency vibrations that could destroy most seemingly indestructible things within a certain range. It was the most energy-saving and effective method of destruction.
Boom!
Tang Ka pulled the trigger and blew up the head of one of the dancing men.
Tang Ka was in a better mood when the man"s annoying smile was gone, but he warily ensured that his delight did not escalate, in case his purity dropped to below 95% again.
It was easy to destroy the statue before his eyes, but it was hard to eliminate the devils in his heart!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
All the young people pulled the triggers of their guns expressionlessly like how Tang Ka did. Very soon, broken pieces were splas.h.i.+ng, and the statue collapsed. The four dancing young guys and girls, as well as the fire of hope in the middle of them, were gone, leaving nothing but their rocky corpses on the ground.