Chapter 202

The moon was dark and the wind was high, with clouds for ten thousand miles.

The flames were roaring, like a festive bonfire. The fragrance of white phosphorus and ashes drifted in the air, just like flowers in bloom.

On this beautiful night and festive occasion, Jiang Xuan suddenly felt a sense of ease and delight, as if it were the New Year.

Even though a large number of opponents, enough to kill him ten times over if he were careless, were close at hand, his mood was wonderfully light, and his body felt incredibly buoyant.

Just like in a certain game, a big boy with a hearty smile looks down at his cards: Hmm, Ancient Dagger, Wine, Iron Chain Link, and a Kill card...

And so, unable to hold back any longer, he threw his head back and sang.

"—It's getting exciting!!!"

Jiang Xuan grinned, unable to hold back his wild laughter as he looked up at the sky. The heavy machine gun in his hands accelerated its rotation, instantly bursting forth with a terrifying fierce light capable of piercing the entire ruined battlefield.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da—

Mercury surged like a torrent, flying out from the instantly heated rotary chamber at a rate of 1,300 rounds per minute. The points of light gathered into a line, and that rapidly evaporating and dissipating line of silver light expanded into a flowing, cloud-like surface as it was unleashed.

The silver light, like a sickle, whistled out.

A tragic hissing sound came from the lizard-transformed Chosen One. The scales, thick enough to withstand point-blank shotgun fire, cracked and deformed under the impact of the silver light in less than a second. Then, a large amount of flesh and blood flew, rising into the sky along with the spray of blood.

The arm, thick as a giant tree, seemed to have been shoved into an invisible meat grinder, instantly exposing white bones, but even the bones burst into shards under the lashing and impact.

In pain, the vortex-type Chosen One hissed loudly and opened its mouth to spit out flames, but Jiang Xuan immediately stomped his left foot forward, and an iron wall rose from the ground, blocking the raging flame flow and opening up the fire tide.

But what was even more deadly was that a firing port had actually been left in the very center!

Facing that big mouth spitting out flames, the silver torrent instantly penetrated, causing the flame flow to tremble violently and revealing a large amount of gore.

In just a few seconds, under the crazy barrage of firepower, the giant lizard's spitting was completely silenced—and even if it hadn't been, it wouldn't have mattered. The entire mouth, including the chin and even the upper body, had been swept into mush by the machine gun. If not for the vortex-type's prideful vitality, it would probably have been cut in half.

Under that violent display of firepower, not only were the opponents shocked and scurrying for cover, but even his teammates couldn't help but bend over, fearing that Jiang Xuan might have a slip of the hand and send them to their early rebirth.

When the lizard, having finally braked, couldn't care about the kills and wanted to run away, it found that its feet seemed to have taken root.

At some point, a pool of writhing mercury had permeated and risen from the soil, then wrapped around its limbs, quickly revealing a strange, crystal-like glow.

Hardening: Quality of Gold and Iron!

The blessing originally used for defense had now, under the flow of mercury, turned into shackles sufficient to drive the opponent to complete despair. No matter how wildly it struggled, even at the cost of tearing off its limbs, it still couldn't break free.

The ever-changing mercury stuck to its body like taffy, even drilling into its flesh and wrapping around its bones, then extending thousands of threads that disappeared into the earth, entangling everything around it.

In just a few seconds, most of the giant lizard's body was enveloped in mercury, like an insect stuck in amber, unable to break free.

"Save me! Save me!!!" It raised its head in terror, trying to call out, only to see its teammates running faster than each other.

Above the firmament, the mighty blood-wind and shadows constantly collided with the Star-Burning Aspect, not even glancing down at it.

And in the end, even the fierce light in the sky was shrouded in shadow.

From the brief silence, the giant lizard turned its head stiffly and saw the steel giant standing in front of it, grinning and laughing silently.

The red-hot machine gun in his hands was raised, casting a heavy shadow on the giant lizard's face amidst the reflection of the flames.

That alienated face twitched involuntarily, and tears appeared in its single remaining eye: "C-can... I... surrender..."

Jiang Xuan just smiled and raised a finger.

He waved it.

Shh, don't talk—

In that instant, ignoring the giant lizard's frantic struggles, the red-hot gun barrel was rudely shoved into its big mouth, and it began to rotate again, amidst the uncontrollable laughter.

—Feel it with your heart!

And then, amidst the final tragic hissing, the dull sound of gunfire grew louder along with the spray of blood, and from between the countless pieces of mangled flesh, the violent firepower was unleashed once again.

The storm began anew.

And now, Jiang Xuan felt that he was the embodiment of the storm!

He was death, he was destruction, he was the damn God of Firepower!

Go wherever the hell I want to go!

Amidst his involuntary wild laughter, he swung the heavy machine gun and ran wildly through the ruins, just like a dog chasing a rabbit, so free.

▲co

Relying on the super-high mass and arm strength after his own transformation, he perfectly resisted the terrifying recoil, unleashing the torrent shooting from his waist amidst the roaring thunder.

One ammunition belt after another was mindlessly shoved into the chamber; he didn't even need Ji Jue to help change them anymore.

Self-taught!

He had never felt such a hearty and thorough sensation; for the first time in his life, he felt so clearly the joy that shooting and exploding things brought him!

Or rather, the joy of money.

This heavy machine gun was reassembled from parts scavenged from Laila, thus avoiding a markup of over dozens of times, but even including the markup, in terms of retail price, it wasn't as expensive as a box of bullets.

Without the three-piece set of Non-Aggression, Ingenious Hand, and Fluid Alchemy to batch-process the mercury and grant enhanced characteristics, the retail price of a single alchemical bullet with improved armor-piercing and destructive power was four thousand credits, provided that one had to buy in bulk to get a discount.

An ammunition belt of 250 rounds was exactly one million.

In terms of man-hours, it was enough for any apprentice to work 007 shifts in the workshop for two months, and after finishing, they wouldn't want to see anything in the shape of a bullet for the rest of their lives... As for artisans, any artisan worth their salt wouldn't waste their time on such repetitive work.

Even the military, as wealthy and overbearing as they were, would only crudely increase the yield when faced with insufficient destructive power; they would never consider equipping their cannon fodder with such luxurious gear.

One million per minute? What kind of imperial joke is that? With that kind of money, why not add a few more cents and get a cruise missile to blow the opponent straight to heaven? At the very least, you could buy a few water cups and transport a batch of local sheep to the Central Continent base to give everyone an extra meal!

But those things had absolutely nothing to do with Jiang Xuan.

The military had plenty of things to consider, and artisans had plenty of things to consider, but as the user, all he had to do was lift the machine gun and blow up everything in front of him that was still damn well moving!

After becoming proficient, Jiang Xuan, standing on the broken bones of the giant lizard, had already looked down from a high position and spread his firepower across the entire battlefield. Relying on the outrageous toughness of the Wasteland, he ignored all the bullets and attacks coming from afar, wantonly unleashing firepower and roaring.

Slaughter!

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

It was just a pity that the good times passed especially quickly.

It was as if, in just a short while, the pleasant, continuous roaring came to an abrupt end, replaced by a hollow clicking sound.

Jiang Xuan reached behind him, but felt nothing—it was empty.

His smile froze on his face.

Bullets? Where are the bullets? Out of bullets!

When he finally turned back to look, he saw that his feet were covered in empty boxes, fragments of broken ammunition belts... and Lou Feng crouching and shrinking under the Iron Wall.

The dreamlike good times were over; the bullets were all gone.

He held the red-hot machine gun and sighed with regret, a sense of loss in his heart—after getting used to such a fulfilling feeling, he could never go back to the way things were before.

When he came back to his senses, he had already started estimating his account balance and pondering how to process the reimbursement in the future. He wondered if that kid Ji Jue could provide an invoice...

But immediately after, he couldn't help but feel his hair stand on end. He stared and looked behind him again, only to realize where the problem was.

Why the hell was it only this kid Lou Feng?!

"Where's Ji Jue?!"

He asked in terror.

Lou Feng sighed in despair and pointed forward...

Right there in the ruins, behind the siblings Ji Liu and Ji Xue who were fighting hard and seizing the opportunity to harvest the remaining health, was that figure crawling on the ground, looking around sneakily like a dog.

Seizing the opportunity, he stretched out his evil little hands to touch the corpses that were still warm.

His left hand activated the Dissociation Technique, grabbed the matrix, shattered it in one go, and violently inhaled all the Supreme Essence. Vortex, Mirror, Metamorphosis, Swarm, Wasteland, Bai Lu, Bai Lu... why another Bai Lu? You Ether Eye Sect guys, don't be so lopsided in your specialization!

Numerous chaotic insights emerged from his heart, one after another, along with various sin-tainted pollutions, but before the pollution could spread, it was directly dispelled by the furious Non-Aggression.

At the same time, his right hand skillfully extracted the dissipated spiritual quality, used Solid Alchemy to fuse it into the mercury for storage, and looted alchemical artifacts and all items on them that carried the aura of blessings.

Under the blessing of Ingenious Hand, his cautious movements left behind countless afterimages, and the efficiency was astonishing.

Strike while it's hot, must strike while it's hot!

Ji Jue looked in all directions and listened to all sides, keenly searching for any corpse that had just started to cool down.

He would rush up to strip the ones nearby, and use mercury tentacles to drag the ones further away over before stripping them too.

Even though it was a chaotic battlefield, it was filled with a joyous atmosphere.

It's New Year, it's New Year!

In just this short while, Ji Jue had relied on the matrices he stripped out to fill 20% of the Third Stage progress bar on his watch. If he worked a little harder, he might just fill it up.

But while excited, he couldn't help but feel heartbroken.

Watching so many materials vanish into thin air before his eyes, lacking a stable environment, they couldn't be preserved at all. If Brother Qiu were here, he might have taken off in one go, and maybe he wouldn't lack materials to practice with before the Rebirth Rank.

Just as he was both pained and happy, his allies were having a dark time, one after another.

Ji Liu, struggling and retreating in the desperate siege, looked back at Ji Jue, who was still squatting on the ground and looting frantically, and couldn't help but feel his head go bald.

"Move back, damn it, stop messing around!"

Just as Ji Jue looked up, not far away, in his blind spot, a corpse that had originally been burned to charcoal and shattered suddenly erupted, life reappearing, malice showing in its eyes as it lunged at him!

It was unknown how long it had been lurking on the spot, enduring the pain of burning, without moving a muscle.

Now it erupted, with the force of wind and thunder!

As the saying goes, capture the ringleader first to capture the bandits, but Tong Shan was not at a disadvantage even in a two-on-one fight, so he definitely couldn't capture that big shot, but as long as he could grab an artisan, everything would still have a chance. At the very least, he could use this as a threat to trade for a way out...

It was a pity that as soon as it sprang up from the ground, it was like a fish slapped onto a cutting board at the market, flopping for a moment before lying back down on the ground, silent once more.

The God of War takes off, the God of War dies suddenly.

All in one go.

It turned from a fake corpse into a real corpse.

Only on the back exposed while lying on the ground was there now a tragic, penetrating hole.

Blood mixed with fragments of internal organs flowed out slowly.

In the staining of blood, a spiritual hand appeared out of thin air. After piercing the remnant body, under the Dissociation Technique, it crushed the matrix in one go, drained the remaining Supreme Essence, and dissipated without a trace again.

On that twisted face covered in mud and blood, a pair of eyes widened, confused until death.

It had no idea what had happened at all.

How exactly was it exposed?

Only Ji Jue finally breathed a sigh of relief. While sweating profusely, he couldn't help but touch the back of his head.

In the gaps of his hair, the miniature infrared camera fixed there was still faithfully doing its job, along with the many cameras on his back and chest, bringing the surrounding environment into observation 360 degrees without any blind spots.

Stupid, right? Grandpa knows how to place wards!

Professor Ye has a saying: when entering a Time Ruin, exploring a Rift Realm, or touching an ancient tomb, you must grow an eye on the back of your head.

Ji Jue is not a vortex-type, nor does he have any relevant blessings; naturally, he couldn't grow one with his flesh.

But it doesn't matter; these days, it seems everything is expensive, except for cameras, which are becoming less valuable year by year. He hadn't even finished using the accessories that came with his drone.

However, while hurriedly looting this corpse, his movements paused for a moment.

The smile vanished without a trace, leaving only gloom.

"This is going to be bad..."

He looked up at the sky.

At this moment, above the firmament, the scarlet and darkness were constantly changing, the thunder and storms were spreading, and under the high-speed offense and defense of the Rebirth Rank, even Ji Jue, using the blessed artifacts of Transcendent Vision, found it difficult to distinguish the specific situation.

But there was no doubt that at the center of that storm was Tong Shan!

Mental power was like a tide, surging and flowing.

He was head-on resisting the siege of Yan Chong and Ling Zhi, who were of the same rank. One against two, and he was actually not at a disadvantage. No, not only was he not at a disadvantage, it even seemed like he was suppressing them instead?!

Is this still the Ten Thousand Imperial?

Ji Jue's expression twitched, amazed: Is this what a high-level player is?

Psychokinesis, one of the most common ability types, is also hailed as the most versatile ability. It lacks nothing in offense, defense, displacement, and control, but at the same time, it means it is very likely to be mediocre in everything.

Ten Thousand Imperial, the most common matrix of the Heavenly Origin lineage, is loved by many Chosen Ones of the Heavenly Origin lineage for its versatility and compatibility. Having no shortcomings means... it is very likely to have no strengths either.

After all, one must know that even with the same psychokinesis, there are many different operating habits, thus extending into many classifications such as vector interference, fulcrum operation, mental extension, and force field control.

And in the tendency of the objects controlled, it is also divided into tangible ones like iron and stone, intangible ones like gas and energy, not to mention that some people are good at operating giant objects, pressing down like Mount Tai, while some like to control dust, rain, and dew, subtle and silent...

And as for all these classifications and schools, according to Tong Shan—he knows a little bit about all of them!

From fine operation to large-scale suppression, from the control of tangible objects to the driving of intangible ones, not to mention the many ways of manipulation, he has mastered and is proficient in all of them. In the use of psychokinesis, there are no blind spots!

It wasn't that a precious, specialized matrix couldn't be found, but that only the Ten Thousand Imperial matrix, with no bias and full-range adaptability, was the path most suitable for him!

At this moment, under the Star-Burning phenomenon, the firelight in the sky swirled from the chaotic gravity flow, turning into the eye of the storm, shielding Tong Shan within it. He skillfully borrowed force to strike back, deflecting the blades that jumped and appeared in the shadows.

Unscathed!

Yan Chong's face grew gloomier, the broken sword in his hand screaming with hunger, yet it hadn't even touched a corner of Tong Shan's clothes.

This guy had made up his mind from the beginning to stall them...

"What's wrong, you two? Riding a tiger and hard to get off?"

The waving Star-Burning Flag fluttered, and Tong Shan's understated voice came: "I suggest you hurry up; otherwise, your lackeys will all be killed."

"Damn it, you little bastard..."

In Yan Chong's scarlet pupils, flames were burning literally. The whole person was like an alienated monster wrapped in blood and fire, with eyes opening angrily from his forehead and cheeks.

He suddenly opened his mouth and roared.

But it was silent.

Only within the faint scarlet ripples did countless cracking sounds come. On the ground, those dead corpses rapidly decayed and weathered, their spiritual quality dissipating without a trace.

And the spine of the broken sword in his hand grew out of thin air, absorbing the death and despair of his subordinates, and under catalysis, it formed a strange giant sword dozens of meters long.

Before the blade, the storm in the sky came to an abrupt end, and all the mental power turbulence disintegrated.

The blessing of 【Blood-Fire Coexistence】 burned the remnant spirits without limit, turning them into his own power. Under the observation of 【Enemy-Defeating Preemption】, all the directions and trajectories of Tong Shan's dodging were completely blocked. Then, a wisp of blood light broke through all obstacles and lunged forward!

In a brief instant, the trump card hidden since the start of the war was revealed. The linkage between countless blessings constituted the superior effect 【Vow of Blood Struggle】, which absolutely forbade both sides from evading or dodging!

All room for dodging and retreating on both sides was completely erased, and even space seemed to be completely distorted. No matter where Tong Shan dodged, forward, backward, up, or down, it would only shorten the distance between him and Yan Chong!

Nowhere to hide, nowhere to avoid.

Tong Shan's face was as calm as water. The pole-top at the end of the flag pierced out like a spear, carrying violent mental power like a volcanic eruption, colliding head-on with the broken sword.

A harsh, shattering sound rang out from above the firmament and spread.

In this close-quarters struggle, Yan Chong's grim smile grew more violent; he didn't care at all that he was being sliced into a thousand pieces by the mental power tide, his white bones exposed.

The target of this blow was not Tong Shan at all.

It was the flag in his hand that had broken in the middle!

In an instant, the Star-Burning Flag shattered inch by inch into silk ribbons, and with the breaking of the flag, the Star-Burning Aspect that had shrouded the entire battlefield collapsed silently.

Like a fortress built of sand, it dissipated without a trace.

And after losing the suppression and deflection of the gravity torrent, behind Tong Shan, in the cold shadow, a blurred figure quietly condensed, approaching, within arm's reach.

Seizing the critical moment created by Yan Chong.

The Blade of Destruction, flowing with shadows, stabbed out—

The outcome is decided!

In that instant, Ji Jue, who had witnessed all this from the ground, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Won.