The young man casually tossed the head aside and stated flatly, "Surrender, or die!"
His voice wasn’t loud.
But every soldier on the battlefield could hear it clearly.
The soldiers of the corporate army hadn’t yet had a chance to react.
On the walls of Night City, the soldiers who heard his voice were stunned for a moment before becoming ecstatic.
To those outside Night City, the voice was unfamiliar.
But to the soldiers of Night City, it was all too familiar.
Lord Little Charles, the Emperor of Night City, the sun that all the people of Night City followed...
Although the soldiers of Night City didn’t know why Li Chang’an had suddenly appeared on the battlefield, they recognized the head he was holding. It belonged to one of the leaders of the Ten Great Financial Groups.
The head of a leader from the Ten Great Financial Groups in the hands of the Night City Emperor—what did that imply?
It implied that the Ten Great Financial Groups were likely in chaos, that the tables had been turned on them spectacularly!
On the corporate army’s side, the soldiers who had now processed the situation showed clear hesitation on their faces, their gazes toward Li Chang’an filled with deep fear.
Only the robots controlled by artificial intelligence were still resolutely advancing.
Seeing this, Li Chang’an stomped his foot lightly.
Instantly, a ripple visible to the naked eye spread across the battlefield.
Any human or robot touched by the ripple was instantly pulverized by an invisible, intangible, yet very real soundwave.
Witnessing this, the corporate army’s morale plummeted. Everyone was terrified by the combat power Li Chang’an had just displayed.
The fastest to flee were the Transcendants who had been injected with the Extraordinary Potion.
After all, it was precisely because they possessed Extraordinary Power that they could more keenly sense Li Chang’an’s terrifying nature. Facing him, they felt as if even the cells in their bodies were trembling.
It was like a subject before their emperor.
They couldn’t help but feel the urge to prostrate themselves in worship.
In fact, their feelings were not wrong at all. After absorbing that arm, Li Chang’an had, in a sense, become the progenitor of all Transcendants.
Any Transcendent injected with an Extraordinary Potion...
...had cells from Li Chang’an flowing through them.
Li Chang’an did nothing to stop them from fleeing.
He could have killed them all with a single thought and reclaimed all the Extraordinary Cells in their bodies.
But he clearly had no interest in bothering with a group of ants.
...
Seeing the corporate army scatter like a collapsing dam...
...the soldiers of Night City immediately erupted in cheers!
Although they didn’t know how Li Chang’an had managed to bring the heads of the leaders of the great financial groups to the battlefield.
But they clearly didn’t care about that.
The only thing they cared about, the only thing they knew, was that under Li Chang’an’s leadership, Night City had once again survived a crisis that could have annihilated it!
In a few flashes, Li Chang’an returned to the front lines amidst the cheers, precisely locating the Night City command post.
The moment she saw Li Chang’an, Girina’s eyes reddened, and she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Li Chang’an glanced at the people in the tent and said with a faint smile, "Everyone, you’ve worked hard. The darkness has passed, and the dawn is about to break! What comes next will be an era for Night City... an era for all of you!"
Hearing his voice, the officers in the tent, as if shot with adrenaline, involuntarily straightened up and declared, "For Night City!"
After the war ended, Li Chang’an made a brief appearance to calm the panicked people of Night City and signed some documents for the city’s reconstruction.
He also formulated a development plan for Night City’s future.
Then, he locked himself back in his laboratory.
He had wreaked havoc upon the Ten Great Corporations, leaving them severely weakened and with no power to resist. As such, Night City no longer needed his constant attention; he only needed to manage the big picture.
What he needed more was to quickly digest the data and documents he had obtained from the Advanced Technology Company, as well as the various forms of black technology from the other corporations.
After all, once he left the Rebirth World, this knowledge could be exchanged for real gold and silver.
Ten years passed in a flash.
Li Chang’an had learned nearly all of this world’s technology.
But he still didn’t stop.
Because in Andre’s office, he had learned the origin of the Genetic Warrior’s arm: the Advanced Technology Group had salvaged it from low-earth orbit.
In other words, other body parts of that ridiculously powerful Genetic Warrior might still be near low-earth orbit!
To Li Chang’an, this was naturally another huge temptation.
After all, he had gained so much just from absorbing the genes of a single arm. If he could find a leg or even a piece of flesh...
Wouldn’t his gains be multiplied?
Besides, he didn’t have any strong attachments to this world anyway.
And so, after a brief farewell to his subordinates, Li Chang’an boarded a rocket bound for space.
...
...0...
Night City: An Epilogue
The Sixth Corporate War, though it swept up countless ordinary people...
...is recorded in history as a war belonging to the Transcendants.
The Night City Emperor, Little Charles—later unanimously deemed the "Strongest Transcendent in History"—demonstrated the terrifying power of a Transcendent to the entire world.
He single-handedly stormed the Advanced Technology Company, killed the three-hundred-year-old "Father of Transcendants," Andre Grant, seized the "Divine Right Arm," and became a god.
Then, on his way back to Night City, he assaulted the headquarters of the remaining eight great corporations, annihilating them completely.
Through his individual might alone, Little Charles single-handedly reversed what should have been an unwinnable situation for Night City.
From then on, the era of the Ten Great Corporations ruling the world was swept into the dustbin of history, and the world entered the age of Night City’s Extraordinary Association.
Transcendants came to play an increasingly important role on the world stage.
As for the Emperor of Night City, Little Charles, he only made a few appearances in the decades following the Sixth Corporate War.
Some said he was dead.
But most insiders in Night City who knew Little Charles claimed that he had not died, and never would.
He had simply gone to the starry sky, in pursuit of a more distant, brighter sun.
「2088.」
To follow in Little Charles’s footsteps, Night City initiated a project called "Cosmos," beginning the exploration of other planets.
The exploration of the universe was not smooth; in fact, it was fraught with difficulties.
But the scientists and people of Night City never gave up. Generation after generation gritted their teeth and persevered, hoping to find the sun they so desperately sought among the vast cosmos.
...