The civil war on Mars erupted without warning, catching everyone completely off guard. The Martian Revolutionary Army, which had been lurking underground like rats, suddenly sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, launching uprisings in various underground cities across Mars, overthrowing local governments, and plunging the entire planet into flames of war. In an instant, the situation on Mars descended into utter chaos. The intensity of the conflict and its rapid spread were like a single spark igniting a prairie fire, blazing fiercely. The whole of Mars was engulfed in war.
Feng Lin kept a close eye on the current news from Mars, watching as the map of the planet split into two colors—red and blue—like two beasts locked in a deadly struggle. The news footage showed mechs, aircraft, particle cannons, and all kinds of lethal weapons deployed on the battlefield, escalating into a white-hot war in no time. Fortunately, Mars was a barren desert planet, with most humans living underground; otherwise, such a terrifying and dense barrage of firepower would have wiped out the Martian population several times over. The mountains on the surface were flattened, plains were blasted into craters, and the landscape was scarred and transformed beyond recognition.
The blue areas were controlled by the Martian government, while the red territory of the Revolutionary Army grew from small to large, like a relentless little fish devouring the blue side’s land, eventually becoming a monstrous leviathan that swallowed heaven and earth. In an instant, Mars was completely split into two halves. All of this happened within just half a month, with the situation shifting rapidly, and the head of the red leviathan pointed straight toward Shitai City on Mars.
The atmosphere inside Giant Pharmaceutical also changed, becoming heavy and suffocatingly oppressive. As one of the top gene-drug oligarchs in the solar system, headquartered on Mars, Giant Pharmaceutical was a natural mortal enemy of the Martian Revolutionary Army, irreconcilable. Even a fool could see that the Revolutionary Army was coming for Giant Pharmaceutical. If they could swallow this fat prize, their power, funding, and technology would all reach new heights. The wealth of Giant Pharmaceutical was something the Revolutionary Army was determined to seize.
Inside and outside Giant Pharmaceutical, soldiers in combat suits could be seen patrolling everywhere, with tight security. Anyone entering or leaving was subjected to repeated checks. Even the R&D department, a research division, felt the impact, with an air of unease spreading among the staff. Feng Lin, however, acted as if nothing was wrong. In truth, he wasn’t even sure if this civil war was a result of his actions. If so, the Revolutionary Army’s reaction seemed a bit excessive.
These past days, Feng Lin had been diligently cultivating, gaining two more original gene points, with his vitality breaking through 45 to reach 45.8. But he didn’t immediately allocate them. As his vitality increased, his physical changes became more pronounced, making it unwise to add points too quickly in a short time, lest he reveal his secrets. Moreover, his earlier rapid allocation of the Stone Monkey gene had caused a sudden surge in abilities, and he hadn’t fully adapted or achieved complete mastery over himself. Adding more points rashly would be like overwatering a seedling! Though Feng Lin craved power, he had learned from the crisis of draining his vitality during his apprentice days the importance of steady progress and solid foundations. Besides, keeping free original gene points had significant advantages—adding them at a critical moment could instantly restore his stamina to peak condition. This was a trump card. When he was weak, he had relied on this ability to climb to the twentieth floor of the Virtual Martial Tower. He intended to keep these points in reserve; if things changed, they might prove invaluable.
As the external situation grew more chaotic, Feng Lin chose to lie low. In times of turmoil, the bird that sticks its head out gets shot. He wisely opted to bide his time, patiently waiting for an opportunity. Would he quietly leave Mars, or snatch the mythical relic of the Furnace Immortal Sect from the fire? He would wait for events to unfold and find the most suitable moment. If things became untenable, he would decisively withdraw. He wouldn’t risk his life in this vortex of war out of greed. No matter how valuable the mythical relic, it couldn’t compare to his own life. As the saying goes in cultivation: first cultivate life, then cultivate nature. If life is lost, everything is nothing but an empty dream, vanishing like smoke.
Feng Lin thought he could keep lying low, but one day, while cultivating in his room, his identity chip suddenly buzzed incessantly. A three-dimensional holographic projection automatically popped up, revealing a figure draped in a traditional Martian robe—none other than Luke of the Martian Revolutionary Army. The moment he saw Feng Lin, he grinned as if they were old friends. “Thank you, Feng Lin! The information you gave us is worth its weight in gold. Our Revolutionary Army was split between the insurrectionist and moderate factions, deadlocked. After receiving your message, we insurrectionists finally gained the upper hand and launched the uprising early. But we don’t know the internal details and military setup of Giant Pharmaceutical. Could you…”
Snap! The video didn’t end there; Feng Lin shut it off himself. Not only that, but he quickly deleted the message and completely blocked the source of the information. From start to finish, he had only used the Martian Revolutionary Army, letting them and Giant Pharmaceutical tear each other apart like dogs fighting over scraps. That gave him a chance to fish in troubled waters. He had no intention of getting entangled with the Revolutionary Army in any way. The deeper the entanglement, the greater the danger. And Luke’s self-importance was laughable—he actually wanted Feng Lin to act as an inside informant, leaking information. Feng Lin didn’t want to hear a single word of such nonsense.
It turned out the Revolutionary Army had long planned an uprising, but internal disagreements had stalled it. The information Feng Lin leaked became a fuse, uniting their factions and triggering the civil war on Mars prematurely. Even Feng Lin hadn’t expected that. Nor would anyone else imagine that such a massive Martian civil war could be sparked by a casual leak from an unknown nobody. Feng Lin himself was utterly baffled. It seemed he had stirred up more than he intended. But since it had come to this, he stopped dwelling on it, cut ties with the Revolutionary Army, and quietly lay low again.
Having become an interstellar cultivator, his strength surpassed the mundane, making him no weakling even on Mars. In the worst of situations, he had some ability to protect himself. And the gene he had awakened was the mutated original Stone Monkey gene, granting him immunity to blades, bullets, fire, and water, maximizing his survival against technological weapons. The war raged on like a wildfire. The Revolutionary Army advanced unstoppably, like a massive blaze intent on burning Mars to the ground and reshaping the world. Wherever they went, the Martian government forces crumbled and fled in disarray. Even Feng Lin, the instigator, was shocked by the Revolutionary Army’s devastating power. It seemed they had been preparing for a long time.
As the situation worsened, the Revolutionary Army’s march became an arrow aimed straight at Shitai City. Giant Pharmaceutical could no longer sit idly by and dispatched its own troops to the front lines. Another five or six days passed. Feng Lin watched the news and saw that Giant Pharmaceutical’s forces were like a small wave falling into a sea of fire, vanishing without a trace. The atmosphere inside Giant Pharmaceutical grew unbearably tense. Though it was an oligarch with private armed forces, it couldn’t compare to a real army. What would Giant Pharmaceutical do next? Feng Lin observed quietly, growing curious.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Three days later, while Feng Lin was pretending to study how to crystallize the Green Giant drug with the egg-headed researchers, the space around them suddenly shook. He and the others turned to look. Unbeknownst to them, the clones in the glass chambers had been awakened. They stood tall and naked on the metal floor, forming a formidable army with an imposing, unspoken authority. Each clone was lean and muscular, like living Greek hero statues. They all had golden hair, radiant as the sun, and their eyes, when open, showed no emotion, like machines devoid of any aura. This eerie, terrifying army was enough to chill any enemy. Intelligent robots equipped them with beam guns, combat armor, field packs, and other gear. Mechs were scarce; each one was a war machine built with money, and even Giant Pharmaceutical, with its vast resources, could only field three.
Thud! Thud! The hundred-meter-tall mech at the front took the lead, stepping forward to guide the way. The clones swiftly donned their combat gear, moving in perfect unison like a steel tide surging outward. Their movements were as agile as leopards, acting as one, exuding a majestic, awe-inspiring force. Their memories had been implanted with the most advanced special forces combat skills, making each of them a killing machine on the battlefield. Faced with successive defeats, Giant Pharmaceutical had finally deployed its ultimate trump card. Feng Lin’s eyes narrowed as he noticed a striking symbol on all the combat equipment: a swastika—a 45-degree tilted, right-rotating, inverted swastika formed by two lightning-shaped S letters merged together. “Nazi…?”