Chapter 132: The Long Night II

Suddenly, it seemed as if the world had fallen into chaos.

The chaos of the world had nothing to do with Ji Jue, but when it reached his doorstep, it became a matter of life and death.

Within the entire villa, there was now only one person who truly held the power of decision: Ji Jue.

Whether it was security protocols or personnel deployment, he held the highest authority. Even Old Lin had no intention of interfering; instead, he had intentionally or unintentionally expressed his support.

First of all, Chen Yubo himself was completely indifferent to this—although he lacked great ambition and was indecisive, the Young Master's greatest strength was knowing his own limitations, and he placed unhesitating, unreserved trust in Ji Jue.

Whatever Brother Ji says goes; Little Blackie, don't you interrupt.

As for the two from the gang background, Jin Mao and A-Yi—one a Bai Lu, the other a Mirror—after experiencing the incident of rooting out the mole, they were thoroughly impressed by the abilities Ji Jue had displayed and dared not harbor the slightest resentment. Moreover, Ji Jue's only requirement was for the two of them to guard Chen Yubo twenty-four hours a day, never leaving his side. That was what they were hired for in the first place.

As for Little An, there was no need to even mention it; whatever Brother Ji Jue said, he would do.

As for the usually unruly and opinionated ranger knight, Old Tang... although he initially wanted to compete, once he realized that Ji Jue held the power to evaluate the mission, he immediately acted as if he had found a benefactor and was ready to call him "Foster Father."

Especially after seeing Ji Jue bury hundreds of landmines in the courtyard, bushes, corridors, floors, and even under the sofa right in front of him...

With a total of over eighty kilograms of phlogiston explosives buried beneath their backsides, they were sitting on a powder keg whether they were eating or sleeping; Ji Jue could trigger it with a single thought.

The main theme was "living and dying together."

Damn it, did he have to be so exaggerated? Where on earth did this lunatic come from, who believed that as long as he blew up the employer first, the enemy wouldn't be able to harm the protection target?

Since when did Ember artisans become so insane?

And now, when Old Tang received the alarm, he grabbed his employer with lightning speed, kicked him and A-Yi into the pure steel safe room, and locked the door, only to hear the continuous, violent roar that seemed as if it would send the entire villa to the heavens.

When the first unlucky attacker rushed out the door and accidentally stepped on the nursery, a crisp "click" was heard, and one, two, three, four, five, six... over eight chain-reaction landmines were triggered in an instant.

Flames soared into the sky.

The roaring sounds were continuous; a mangled corpse spiraled into the sky, turning into countless fragments and a rain of blood that fell, drenching the heads and faces of the others who had just rushed out.

"Damn it, there's shit!!!"

Someone wiped their face, saw the sticky substance amidst the stench, and couldn't help but subconsciously retreat a few steps, and then, they heard an ominous crisp sound.

Immediately after, across the entire courtyard lawn, hidden landmines were triggered one after another, the roaring constant.

Yet the expanding shockwave and flames suddenly solidified.

In front of the leading old man.

At this moment, this veteran Chosen One, Jin Wujiu—the aide and strategist relied upon by Lei Yaoxing, who had been immersed in the Dao of Entropy for many years—slowly spread his arms, and the expanding flames and shockwaves were forced back.

Under the shroud of massive spiritual quality fluctuations, thunder suddenly appeared in the firmament; one after another, bolts of lightning descended like plows from the sky, sweeping across horizontally. In the blink of an eye, they triggered every landmine in the courtyard. Amidst the roaring, waves of flames and electric light surged toward the villa that was close at hand.

Beneath the villa's exterior, the fragile spiritual quality circuits appeared for only an instant before falling apart, collapsing and spreading. The side building had already turned into ruins, and the front face of the main building peeled off and collapsed, with countless dust particles soaring.

"There really is a ghost!"

In Jin Wujiu's pupil-less eye sockets, pale flames erupted; in his energy perception, he had already easily seen through the reality of the entire villa.

He couldn't help but sneer, "Chen Xingzhou really prepared quite a lot of guards for his precious younger brother... Don't waste time, kill them all; the journey ahead is still long."

Behind him, within the door that was gradually shrinking and dissipating, one figure after another had already walked out.

Crossing the ruins, they rushed into the dark villa.

Gunshots roared, and loud noises were constant.

"Trouble, this time the trouble is huge."

Under the extinguished lights, Ji Jue, who had already slipped into the garage in the dark, lowered his head, watching the infrared camera footage from various locations flickering and changing on his phone screen.

Combined with the transcendent visual observation of Gloria in her hummingbird state, every change was reflected in his eyes.

Precisely because of this, he couldn't help but have a headache.

He was left speechless.

What kind of madness is Lei Yaoxing pulling? Why did he suddenly make a move against Chen Xingzhou? But go kill Chen Xingzhou then, why stare at Chen Yubo?

No, since they have already made a move against Chen Yubo, it's hard to say whether Chen Xingzhou is dead or alive now.

Old Lin hasn't replied to any messages until now.

All communications with the outside world have been cut off.

It's not just communication; after learning from his informants about their defense and surveillance of the entire mountain, the opponent actually spared no expense to hire a Chosen One from the Gate of Eternity!

You have to know, among the Chosen Ones of the Twelve Virtues, the Gate of Eternity has the fewest members; they are almost one in ten thousand, even rarer than the black and white bears of Shuzhou.

Every Chosen One who can come into contact with the Gate of Eternity automatically becomes a member of the Star Core Society, holding an iron rice bowl that guarantees a life of luxury and no worries about food or drink; they would never be recruited by the outside world.

To get them to help open a door, the base price is usually in the millions, with the time unit calculated by the minute. At this time, letting their people intervene in the infighting of the Wilderness Market is probably no longer a matter of just adding money... And besides that, the number of people who rushed in from the door already exceeded forty, among whom, in Gloria's observation, more than twelve had vibrant spiritual quality and were likely Chosen Ones...

At this very moment, Ji Jue could only be thankful for Little Jiu's early warning, plus the fact that the entire villa had been set up with mist.

Otherwise, if the opponent had transmitted directly to their faces without any preparation, what would be the point of fighting? Might as well just surrender.

Old Tang's movements were indeed fast.

Chen Yubo was already in the safe room by now; even at a time like this, he didn't forget to hold his two stray cats. And beside him, A-Yi had already activated the crystal prisms that had been set up.

Light refracted, directions changed, and the massive metal safe room had already disappeared without a trace amidst the subtle refraction.

It wasn't just visual concealment; after A-Yi's matrix was activated, the presence of the entire safe room approached zero, merging with the entire villa.

Unfortunately, A-Yi's rank was truly too low, not even comparable to Ji Jue, only at the First Stage. Even if he used all his strength, he could only maintain it for about a quarter of an hour.

"A quarter of an hour."

Ji Jue whispered.

Fifteen minutes is sometimes too short, but sometimes, it is too long. Short enough that it's not enough to watch a video while going to the bathroom, yet long enough to finish a battle and have hundreds or thousands of people die.

The images coming from the surveillance were extinguished one after another; all the cameras placed in plain sight had been destroyed by random gunfire.

The opponent's speed was unimaginably fast, as if they had already figured out the layout inside the villa in advance.

Maybe, back when they were staking the place out, they had already gotten their hands on the design blueprints?

And just before that, what he heard first was footsteps.

The sound coming through the Bluetooth headset.

That position...

Ji Jue felt his hair stand on end in an instant—it was right above his head!!!

The ceiling vibrated, roared, and cracked.

A burly figure covered in tattoos had already descended from the sky!

Clad in heavy armor with complex spiritual quality circuits attached, the newcomer's eyes were wreathed in familiar blood-fire, making Ji Jue unable to help but curse out loud.

The Multitude!

Why is it still the Multitude?!

"Why are you people everywhere!"

He dared not compete with the opponent in speed anymore; his palms clawed onto a sports car in the garage, and instantly the car sped off, dragging him backward to create distance.

"Heh—"

A sneer came from where the figure had landed; the Multitude Chosen One's pupils had already locked onto Ji Jue.

The Multitude is the shadow of war.

Wherever the flames of war burn, this shadow follows.

"Ji Jue?"

The tattooed Chosen One's eyes had already locked onto his position, identifying his face, and the sound of his breathing seemed like a sigh of regret: "What a pity, only four point one million—"

However, it was enough!

He pulled two long blades with heavy spines from his back and lunged toward Ji Jue!

In his sprint, he had already closed the distance.

Immediately after, he saw what Ji Jue had taken out from the driver's seat behind the car window... a short-barreled submachine gun that had long been loaded with bullets and had its safety off.

Aim, lock, and then, pull the trigger!

In less than three short seconds, a torrent of metal poured out, every bullet locked onto the enemy's face, but every single one... missed!

At the same time Ji Jue pulled the trigger, the Multitude Chosen One's diving momentum stopped abruptly; the blood-fire shrouding his body swirled, and without warning, he shifted laterally, dodging. The bullets pursued relentlessly, but they all grazed past, making Ji Jue's vision go black.

Preemptive Strike?

Is it the Preemptive Strike again?!

You Multitude people can't play without this blessing, can you?!

But just as no Chosen One of Ember would ignore "Natural Hand," every Chosen One of the Multitude also harbored the same "white moonlight" known as "Preemptive Strike" in their hearts.

Prediction, perception, neural reflexes, dodging, and attacking—such a powerful blessing is enough to bring a qualitative leap to the combat effectiveness of any Chosen One.

And to possess a mid-level blessing like Preemptive Strike proved that the opponent was at least Fourth Stage or above; it had to be a Metamorphosis Rank!

And now, after effortlessly dodging the submachine gun's strafing, the opponent accelerated again while sprinting!

The surging of his spiritual quality became more intense and high-pitched, venting endlessly, strengthening his defense, speed, attack, and even reaction in all aspects.

Another standard blessing for a brute-force killing machine—【Raging Flame Like a Tide】!

Boom!

Two car headlights lit up from close range; a dormant freight truck suddenly started, sped up, and crashed toward the attacker—but before that, the Multitude Chosen One's pupils had already snapped toward the side.

On the twin blades in his hands, blood-fire surged, covering and constricting onto the blades, his aura exploding!

Ji Jue's heart sank again.

The ability to enhance weapon power with spiritual quality and killing intent...

This is 【Battle-Hardened Quenching】!

In the blink of an eye, the vehicle was sliced into two from the middle, but immediately after, the ear-piercing beeping sound rang out from the carriage; the final red indicator light on the plastic explosives lit up, flames erupted, and shockwaves swept through.

Blood-fire flew out like a meteor, dodging the impact.

He coughed violently.

"Ember guys, really fucking annoying!"

The Multitude Chosen One gritted his teeth ferociously, his hair and beard curled, his battered face showing scorch marks, and half of his iron armor burned to a deep red, but still, it was only a minor injury.

And Ji Jue had already seized this crucial gap, pulled open the security door, rushed into the stairwell, and fled upstairs.

Unfortunately, it was useless.

Before the security door even had time to fall back and close, the pursuing enemy had already rushed in through the opening, and then, he saw...

Ji Jue standing at the corner of the stairs, breathing heavily.

He had already given up on running.

As if, accepting his fate...

But in the momentary shock, the bearded Multitude's pupils suddenly contracted—no, something was wrong!

Because on the security door that had closed behind him, in the blind spot he had left behind, iron shards came whistling like a rainstorm.

Little An!

From the narrow stairwell, the Multitude Chosen One widened his eyes, suddenly roaring, the blade in his hand blocking backward against his back, protecting his neck and vital points.

The ear-piercing sound of steel colliding was endless.

Before he could throw the long blade in his other hand at the attacker, he saw the weapon Ji Jue had raised—if one had to describe it, it seemed to be a revolver, but it looked so damn strange, so crude.

It was like a knockoff product processed on a lathe by himself, square and blocky, not even having gone through the chamfering process, and there was even thick silver-white welding paint remaining on the gun body.

The cylinder was octagonal and distinct, without any roundness, and its caliber actually reached 17MM, comparable to an anti-material sniper rifle!

At this moment, the knockoff revolver, machined from alloy and weighing over five pounds, had already been raised, but one hand was still not enough; Ji Jue's other hand was already pressed onto the barrel.

Aimed at his face.

He couldn't help but smile.

—You finally stepped within five paces of me, didn't you?

It was too close, almost right in front of him; for the Multitude Chosen One, Ji Jue's neck had already come under the opponent's blade.

At this distance...

Even Bai Lu couldn't dodge it!

What resounded through the corridor was a deafening roar; what flew out from the flames of the muzzle was an alloy armor-piercing bullet used by anti-material rifles!

It is worth mentioning that because depleted uranium alloy was hard to get, and high-density tungsten alloy was difficult to process, for the bullet core, Ji Jue could only helplessly adopt the reward Old Lin had paid previously... Gold!

At this moment, amidst the violent impact, the molten high-temperature gold jet deflected the long blade the opponent was blocking in front of his chest, smashing a deep notch out of the blade.

Immediately after, the second shot followed, smashing into the chest armor; spiritual quality circuits appeared to resist the impact, but under the impact of the jet, the chest armor cracked, dented, and blood gushed out.

The Multitude Chosen One flew backward.

Injured!

Ji Jue held his breath, ignoring the violent vibration and recoil coming from his hands, and ordered again—【Shoot】!

At the final instant, what flew out from the muzzle was only the gift forged from the expectation of love and peace poured in by the artisan Ji Jue...

The fragile mercury bullet head could not withstand the high heat and the distance, lightly drilling through the gap left by the armor-piercing bullet, sinking into the shell.

Silent, explosive.

The Multitude Chosen One fell to the ground, unable to crawl up again; what he emitted was a terrifying wail, scream, and cry that was so tragic it resounded through the entire villa!!!

It was as if he had turned into firewood that had been ignited, the kind that had been doused with gasoline.

Uncontrollable blood-fire gushed out from within his body, seizing his life.

The first thing to lose control was his spiritual quality, unable to resist the malicious sin-poison flowing from the bullet; then his blessing fell into chaos, no longer able to respond to the master's commands; and finally, his matrix collapsed, because life, amidst ravaging and pain, could no longer be restrained, expanding, mutating!

One tumor after another emerged from the Multitude Chosen One's body, bones grew crazily, turning into sharp spikes that pierced out from under the armor, sharp scales emerged and fell off from his face, revealing rotting flesh. In the alienation, one curved horn after another grew from his skull, only to break and fall off.

Twitching, convulsing, writhing.

Despair, and finally...

Death.

Before he completely mutated, Ji Jue pulled the trigger one last time.

The armor-piercing bullet head blew his head apart.

Four bullets: two for armor-piercing, one for erosion and mutation, and the final one took his life.

So-called destruction is just that simple.

"Brother Ji Jue, what happened to him?"

Little An landed behind him in shock, retreating two steps vigilantly, his hair standing on end.

"Don't know, maybe he suddenly mutated. The Multitude is just like that; killing and setting fires every day, doing too many bad things, isn't retribution coming?"

Ji Jue nimbly took a container from his waist bag, poured mercury onto the Multitude Chosen One's corpse, and timely sealed it with spiritual quality circuits, waiting to recycle and reuse it if there was a chance after the attack ended.

Isn't this how the bullets keep increasing the more you shoot?!

Although using mutated items without permission and approval is a crime, and using the corpses of Chosen Ones to cultivate mutation poison is a major taboo...

But as long as no one knows, wouldn't everything be fine?

This is something I picked up!

The master and apprentice of the Tide Sound Workshop never took the waste paper regulations of the Taiyi Ring to heart from the bottom of their hearts.

Moreover, if one were to truly follow those regulations, all existing masters should be dragged out and shot; everyone would be shot at least twice on average, and as for grandmasters... grandmasters are impressive, they would have to be shot for at least half an hour.

"Remember to keep it a secret for me." Ji Jue said.

"Okay."

Little An nodded in agreement, just as he always did, without a second thought.

He listened to the vibrations and roars that now filled the villa, and finally took one last look at the ceiling: "It's very chaotic upstairs, someone is coming."

"It's fine, don't worry."

Ji Jue lowered his head and flipped through his phone, watching the footage from the hidden cameras—a team of masked attackers wearing night-vision goggles, holding various firearms, slightly hunched over, moving through the intricate corridors of the villa, skillfully executing tactical movements, pushing open one door after another, searching carefully.

They were silent among themselves, communicating through only a few gestures, as if they were one.

The tripwires hanging on the doorknobs and various subtle flaws could not escape their eyes; they advanced swiftly and methodically, and wherever they passed, all anomalies were riddled with bullets.

Where the hell did this entire special operations team come from?

You retired veterans' club is going way too far with your side hustles!

"Are they acquaintances?"

Ji Jue sighed, and his voice, with the Yacheng accent, rang out from the speakers pre-installed on the corridor ceiling, "If there are friends from No. 9 Wanbo Road, please withdraw; let's not make things too difficult—"

Gunfire was like a rainstorm, continuous; the moment the voice rang out, someone in that combat team looked up without hesitation and pulled the trigger, while others aimed elsewhere, standing ready.

Without any hesitation or wavering.

Very well, they shouldn't be locals.

Ji Jue nodded; at least he didn't have to worry about accidentally killing acquaintances.

Just like that, his finger pointed at the person at the very front of the team on the screen, and his cold voice echoed in the corridor:

"Then, the first one—"

Bang!

Amidst the roaring sound, without warning, a large hole broke in the ceiling, and the head of the gunman walking at the very front exploded, blood gushing, and he fell backward.

The mangled corpse convulsed, stained with scarlet, leaving behind a final graffiti.

In an instant, the others retreated rapidly, bullets shooting toward the ceiling like a rainstorm, shredding the plaster ceiling into powder, but unfortunately, it was all in vain.

Ji Jue pressed his finger, "The second one."

Bang!!!

On the ceiling exposed by the broken plaster, a small crack appeared again, and then, the head at the end of the team shattered instantly, leaving a ferocious trail on the wall.

And then—

"The third one."

Accompanied by the cold declaration, death and destruction descended from the sky, sending the captain in the center of the team flying into the sky, but his lower body remained in place.

The bulletproof shield shattered, the bulletproof vest was like thin paper, severed at the waist!

"Sniper!!!"

Finally, someone couldn't help but scream out in fear and chill, but it was all nonsense.

Everyone knew there was a sniper, but where the hell was the sniper?!

The night outside the window was still pitch black, with only the flashing light of thunder and flames intersecting; there was no trace of any attacker, and even the windows were intact.

It was as if the bullets had inexplicably descended from the sky...?!

Wait, the sky?

When the enlightened one looked up in a daze at the ceiling covered in bullet holes, he heard the declaration of death: "The fourth one."

Boom!!!

Amidst the loud noise, a small crack appeared on the ceiling again, and the complex electronic control mechanism fixed to the second-floor ceiling by expansion bolts adjusted its angle again, and the anti-material sniper rifle welded onto it aimed through the floor at the pale face below.

The trigger was pulled, a violent vibration roared, and then, death descended.

Like a rainstorm, continuous.

"Five, six, seven..."

Ji Jue's finger pointed one by one on the screen, the mechanical god issued orders, and the weapons installed in the ceilings or interlayers of every floor of the villa sprayed a rain of death.

Like the invisible hand of the Grim Reaper selecting sacrifices offered on the altar, one after another; every time a gunshot rang out, a mangled figure would fly up and fall backward.

He didn't divide his attention to control dozens of different firearms and different mechanical rotating bases; all equipment was connected via WIFI, linked into one by the AP panels spread across the floors, and finally connected to the network server just one wall away from Ji Jue.

It didn't even require Ji Jue to put in any effort.

A few days ago, after he simply mentioned his needs as the client, in just a few minutes, the server host completed the ROOT work for the chip motherboards of different manufacturers, and then wrote a complete set of programs—calculating the distance and coordinates of moving objects in three-dimensional space through multiple cameras, aiming and locking, and finally controlling the closest weapon to initiate fire.

The penetration power of the anti-material rifle was enough to strike any intruder through walls; theoretically speaking, from that moment on, everyone in the villa was under his gun.

Whether friend or foe.

Hopefully they were still wearing their electronic identification bracelets...

In just less than ten seconds, a fully armed special operations team had already died in the corridor, and Ji Jue no longer operated it manually.

It was too inefficient, time was short, and besides, if this trick was used too much, it might not work.

Before the opponent could react, use it to the fullest!

He waved his hand without hesitation and gave the final order to the server:

【Maximize efficiency, free attack】

In the server room under the garage, as green lights flashed, the humming of the fans suddenly rose, high-pitched, running crazily.

【Calculation complete, analysis finished, locking started】

Finally—

【Annihilation mode, activated】!

And so, it rained.

A torrential rain. ===== CHAPTER 133 =====