Chapter 207: A Glimmer of Hope

The mall was a scene of intense fighting. With Little Niu Ma acting as a tank, Ji Liu's output became increasingly ferocious, the sound of the horn and his laughter echoing endlessly. However, on the other end of the radio, Ji Jue wanted to speak several times but hesitated...

No, how did you guys become buddies so quickly?

Is it that fast?

One could only say that life was truly wonderful; you really never knew when you would make such outrageous friends.

If the occasion hadn't been wrong and time hadn't been so tight, Ji Liu would have been putting his arm around Little Niu Ma's shoulder.

They were already making plans for which day to go get a spa treatment together.

No, wake up, Little Niu Ma, he's talking about a spa, not a precision cleaning and descaling package... there's no engine maintenance! And he won't change your oil either!

Ji Jue sighed, wanting to cover his face.

How did a kid who usually thought about white-cut chicken every day degenerate so quickly after coming into contact with society? The Great Crowd is harmful!

He reached out, took another bullet from Lou Feng, and loaded it into the chamber.

The pitch-black bullet radiated an eerie chill; just holding it in his hand, he felt waves of coldness. In less than a few seconds, the bullet was endowed with terrifying lethality under the infiltration of spiritual-quality shaping.

"How did you do that?" Ji Jue asked curiously.

"Workshop secret, no comment." Lou Feng habitually wore a sour face, guarding against him strictly.

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, Ji Jue's movements subconsciously paused slightly. The moment Non-Aggression appeared, the spiritual-quality fluctuation of the Disintegration Art spread within it, reading the traces, and his eyes lit up.

Hmm, based on the Good Artisan, blending material properties and spiritual quality, Lou Feng's spiritual quality and matter were fused into one. The property transformation brought by spiritual-quality shaping was thus overwritten into the mercury, thereby achieving an exaggerated effect similar to enchantment.

Like turning stones into gold.

It was truly an outstanding 【Ascension】!

This was indeed a workshop secret; the principle was very clear, but the operation was entirely built on the application of one's own abilities, involving the Good Artisan and spiritual-quality shaping. It seemed this convenient technique couldn't be swiped.

But if there were other spiritual qualities after special qualitative changes as materials, Non-Aggression wouldn't be unable to knock it off...

"What are you doing?!"

Lou Feng's eyelids jumped wildly, his expression twitching, feeling that his fist was already harder than Jiang Xuan's—you're actually analyzing, reading, and reverse-engineering it on the spot without avoiding anyone at all!

"Sorry, occupational disease, occupational disease flared up..."

Ji Jue smiled awkwardly, nimbly loading the bullet into the chamber, still able to feel the resentful gaze behind him, like needles on his back.

For a moment, he couldn't help but sigh silently; there was no harm without comparison.

Little An was still the best!

Sword Qi attachment was fast and neat, and she was responsive to every request, smiled sweetly, and would protect Brother Ji Jue.

Unlike this guy Lou Feng, who had no good face and was always thinking about hitting him from behind...

It had been I-don't-know-how-many days since he left Yacheng; he missed her.

"Forget it, a substitute is a substitute, at least it fills the stomach." Ji Jue murmured melancholically.

For some reason, although he couldn't understand what Ji Jue was saying, Lou Feng instinctively flew into a rage; no matter how he looked at it, this dog thing didn't have any good intentions!

If this went on, he was afraid that before the Sin-Eroding Cult killed them, he would blow Ji Jue's dog head off himself.

"Alright, stop glaring, I won't freeload off you."

Ji Jue pulled the bolt and said: "Let me show you a trick—"

At that moment, his palm swept over the gun body, and strands of spiritual-quality phantom light appeared between his five fingers, intertwining like tiny neon and aurora, merging into the gun body.

Silent, yet hair-raising.

It was as if the shell of a sleeping beast had been endowed with a soul, the killing engine had pressed the start button, and from that silent gun body, some aura flashed and vanished, like a cold gaze cast from the shadows of a distant mountain, stinging the soul.

Intelligence endowment, complete.

The heavy sniper rifle remained silent as stone.

A familiar voice sounded from his perception, so clear: 【At your service, Commander.】

【Revising parameters and wind speed—】

Ji Jue lowered his eyes to look at the calculation results sent by Xu Guan in the notebook beside him. The scope of the gun body micro-adjusted silently, the strange body was integrated into one in an instant, and the debugging was complete.

Finally, he told it, 【Annihilate everyone, leave no survivors.】

【Understood.】

At that moment, the gun body shook, startling countless dust particles, and a thunderous roar suddenly soared beneath the night sky. Before it could spread, it dissipated in the air under the blockade of telekinesis.

Only a scorching stream of light flew out from the chamber, the evaporated mercury leaving behind a scorching light like a sword piercing out, crossing a distance of several hundred meters, and casually piercing into the wall of the mall.

BANG!

A hole appeared out of thin air on the wall.

Right in front of Jiang Xuan, the opponent who had been entangled tightly suddenly splashed into a mass of scarlet. Under the impact of the armor-piercing bullet, the entire upper body exploded into a paste, but immediately after, the coldness within the bullet head spread, freezing the scattered blood into flying ice chips. When the frozen lower body fell to the ground, it was like a stone, cracking with fissures.

CLICK!

Accompanied by the pulling of the bolt, the scorching shell jumped out and fell to the ground. He reloaded, aimed, and a second silver radiance pierced out, piercing through four floors before hitting the figure hiding behind the corridor pillar and turning it into a mass of scattered ice powder.

CLICK!

When the second sound of the shell hitting the ground rang out, Lou Feng's expression twitched for a moment, and then came the third, fourth, fifth...

A roar of grief and indignation rang out from inside the mall.

The giant that rose from the ground like molten lava seemed to be hammered by an invisible hammer, staggering backward. Every time the silver light flashed and vanished, a deep hole appeared on the face covered with layers of lava and stones, and the coldness spread.

He struggled desperately, attacking fiercely, wanting to break free from Ji Xue's entanglement, but he couldn't shake off that impossibly fast, eerie figure, nor could he dodge the sniping that didn't know where it came from.

The Wilderness-Ruins defense at the top of the Metamorphosis Rank fully unfolded; lava and stones were destroyed and born, violently waving flames and viscous lava like cannonballs, but it couldn't do anything to the opponent.

Nor could it protect itself.

In terror, he raised his arm, wanting to block his face, but immediately after, he felt that terrifying coldness deep into his bones...

BOOM!

The sound of explosion rang out, and the left arm, like a giant pillar, was broken at the root, falling to the ground. The flames and high temperature dissipated rapidly, covered by frost, and were shattered into pieces.

Then, it was the right arm, which hadn't had time to wave out before it broke into two sections, lava like blood, spraying endlessly.

BOOM!

The mercury bullet arrived through the air, hitting his face head-on, piercing through iron and stone, causing him to stagger involuntarily, retreat a step, and lift his head.

Then came the second, third, fourth...

Ji Jue read the map updated in real-time by Xu Guan, transmitted information, and slowly micro-adjusted under the mobilization of the firearm. His hands, blessed by natural surgical talent, were the most stable gimbal, without a trace of deviation or trembling.

Pouring out firepower.

Thus, the ravaging inside the mall began.

It was as if an invisible giant was waving an invisible hammer, brutally chiseling the enemy's face, drilling into iron and stone amidst screams and wails, the coldness spreading.

Even if there was no retreat, smashing it against the wall, it still wouldn't stop!

With every roar, the wall behind it had an extra crack from the impact, and the broken ceiling fell like a rainstorm.

In the end, amidst the fine, sobbing wails, the flames ran dry, and the Wilderness-Ruins Sin-Eroding Chosen's body stiffened in place. And the head exploded completely under the impact of the final bullet.

The wreckage scattered, just like a burst furnace, scattering coal and firewood.

"Thanks, Sister Xue."

Ji Jue's voice came over the radio: "Pleasure working with you~"

Working with?

Ji Xue lowered her head, looking at the rapidly cooling wreckage, only feeling the question marks on her forehead couldn't stop popping up: I didn't work with anything! I was being chased around the whole time, I hadn't even outputted yet!

But for some reason, looking at the bullet holes all over the wall, she suddenly had a feeling of heart-pounding—it was as if she had seen a streamer in a live broadcast room testing a whitening product, the skin smooth and bright, flawless, every pore as exquisite as a work of art—is it really that good to use? I'll just...

Wait, you dog thing, put the shopping cart out!

BOOM!

Above the collapsed dome of the mall, the rapidly gathering thunder was scattered again under the bombardment of bullets.

One could vaguely hear angry roars amidst the thunder and shrill electric current sounds, impotent rage.

The destructive electric current was like an angry dragon, repeatedly crashing into Tong Shan, accompanied by streaks of electric light piercing through, but it couldn't break through the barrier of telekinesis at all.

Instead, it was like a mad bull gradually losing blood, being played with in the palm of his hand, unable to see any hope at all.

In this kind of sudden raid, being occupied by the Heavenly Human and falling into such a tragic situation was not strange at all; rather, it was already half-lost once the Heavenly Human controlled the field.

It was like jumping into the sea to fight a shark without knowing one's own strength.

What one had to face was not just the distant sharp teeth and fangs, but also the omnipresent heavy pressure, the suffocation of lacking oxygen, the surging dark currents...

And even the loneliness and powerlessness of being an enemy to the entire world!

Even Entropy, whose destructive power was publicly recognized as terrifying, couldn't stir up any waves under that masterful control—manipulating air pressure changes at will, forming invisible layers of vacuum, countless dust and iron filings diffusing under guidance, dividing lightning... Ten percent of the destructive power couldn't even exert three percent, and even that three percent was blocked by the broken walls Tong Shan pulled over at will, not even leaving a trace of injury.

The massive amount of lightning was offset, divided, and erased by the massive amount of telekinesis, but wanting to rely on the effect of the blessing to improve the nature of the lightning and suppress Tong Shan with qualitative change was also wishful thinking!

After just a few short seconds, his heart had already cooled completely; he couldn't see any possibility of winning at all.

But he didn't dare to turn and flee, nor did he dare to leave even the slightest gap or flaw.

He could feel the terrifying aura surging within Tong Shan's shell; as long as he relaxed a little and gave Tong Shan a chance to charge up, before he broke through the outer blockade barrier, he would definitely be the first to be smashed to pieces.

He could only attack wildly in vain, like a frog being boiled in warm water, gradually losing the strength to resist...

No, he wanted to capture him alive!

The moment he suddenly realized, the Wilderness-Ruins Sin-Eroding Chosen, who had turned into lightning, felt an eerie chill like a hallucination, and immediately, countless electric lights intertwined to form a ferocious face:

"I'll fight you to the death!!!"

In an instant, regardless of any consequences, he made a painful decision; the lightning filling the sky converged, gathered, and finally turned into a scorching light that burned everything in his eyes.

He didn't hesitate to exceed his own load, even if it meant igniting his soul.

At that moment, behind Tong Shan, the Star-Burning Aspect reappeared!

Impact—

No sound could be heard; even the loud noise was completely annihilated under the bursting telekinesis, with only the aftermath sweeping toward the four directions. A trace of thin electric light that remained, just by leaking, shattered two floors, and wherever it passed, everything was burned and cracked, and the turbid liquid of dissolved sand and stone fell like a rainstorm.

When the fierce light dissipated, amidst the pungent stench, the entire mall was a mess, countless broken stones flying.

And in mid-air, in Tong Shan's hand, there was an extra gaunt, withered man, blood slowly flowing from his mouth and nose, on the verge of death.

And even more tragic was Tong Shan's right arm.

Like charcoal.

His five fingers were shattered, with two remaining, clutching his neck tightly, the omnipresent telekinesis infiltrating, controlling his life and soul.

He waved his hand, crudely smashing him to the ground.

Amidst the hoarse groans, Tong Shan's figure slowly descended from the sky, stepping on his ribs, brutally crushing: "Hand over the path, and I'll spare your life."

"Ptoo—"

The man grinned, spitting a mouthful of bloody phlegm at Tong Shan without a second thought, but it had just flown out of his mouth before it was flicked aside. Then, thousands of threads of telekinesis like knives acted on the nerves all over his body simultaneously, wantonly inflicting pain, causing the resister to scream, roll, and his eyes to roll back.

A few short seconds felt as long as eternity.

But when the pain stopped and he was forcibly made to wake up, that embarrassed face covered in tears and snot twitched, but a mocking smile appeared.

With his last breath, he spat out a dirty word.

Then, it was the endless screaming and wailing, convulsing and twitching, rolling on the ground, scratching his flesh in vain; even if it was deep to the bone, it couldn't offset the pain inflicted by Tong Shan.

Such a cruel scene almost made one wonder if the roles of the two sides had been swapped.

Even Ji Jue, who had just entered the door, couldn't help but lower his footsteps, quietly gasping for air on the side, not daring to speak.

Compared to that guy Yan Chong, who sold out his teammates faster than he sold his ass, this guy's bones were truly hard!

No matter how much he was tortured, he still bit his teeth tightly.

"Hand over the path, and I'll spare your life." Tong Shan repeated expressionlessly, completely unshaken.

"... Heh, hehehe... don't know, don't understand, don't comprehend, what is that?" The Sin-Eroding Chosen grinned, coughing on the verge of death: "I absolutely... will not... betray the Sacrifice... ah ah ah ah ah!!!!"

The screaming was endless.

In just a few minutes, the Sin-Eroding Chosen had completely lost his shape, but even though his sanity had completely collapsed, he still didn't open his mouth, just mumbling something vaguely over and over again.

In the end, amidst the oppressive silence of everyone, he ceased to breathe.

Tong Shan raised his hand, subconsciously wanting to check the time, but saw a piece of iron that had been burned into trash by lightning, completely unusable.

"Two and a half minutes," Xu Guan said. "Thirty seconds left."

"Search."

Tong Shan was expressionless: "Look again, take away all relevant records and files. Ji Jue, you go search the electronic equipment."

"No problem."

Ji Jue nodded, taking the lead toward the mall.

It was a pity that the Mechanical Descent was no longer omnipotent at such a time. Besides a few light bulbs and two or three mobile phones, there was nothing else in the mall that could be used.

The phones were all fucking porn, there wasn't a single important message or intelligence; at most, there was some value in how so-and-so had a fight with the Shepherd of the Long Jihui...

In the room, Ji Xue also found a communication device, strictly verified. Ji Jue didn't dare to call, just read the message logs, but found that the last order arrived when they were fleeing from the ruins of the station, telling everyone here to guard the mall and strengthen vigilance.

Apart from that, nothing was gained.

A wasted trip.

Ji Jue sighed, looked up, and was just about to speak, but noticed Lou Feng's expression.

It was as if he was in a daze.

He lowered his head, distinguishing the patterns under his feet, his gaze sweeping over the ground, and finally, stopped on the first floor, in the center of the mall, at a storefront that had luckily not been buried by the collapsed fragments.

Footprints of entry and exit still remained on the ground.

But it was empty inside.

"Seems, there's a bit of a problem..."

Lou Feng reached out, stroking the dust on the floor; the Good Artisan matrix keenly sensed the abnormal processing traces—it looked like original ruin wreckage, clearly integrated, but it had a feeling of being deliberately made old.

Specifically and deliberately making this place the same as other places.

But at the joints, indelible traces were left.

"There is indeed a problem."

Ji Jue reached out, touched the ground, bent his knuckles, and knocked; the crisp hollow sound spread, but the spiritual-quality fluctuation of his knuckles hitting the floor appeared with eerie lag during the spread.

The material properties were uneven, just like other objects suddenly appearing in the water during sonar sensing.

Those scattered signals and feedback might be meaningless to others, but what the Disintegration Art needed most was to read the internal conditions and information of the object through the feedback of spiritual-quality fluctuations.

"Interlayer?" Ji Jue asked.

"Not enough space, and the interlayer can't fool Aether," Lou Feng said. "It's a bit like a Mirror's realistic phantom, overwriting reality... but it's not enough."

One knew with one's heels that it wasn't; if a big shot capable of overwriting reality with phantoms were squatting here, then this group of people would just wait to be played with in a hundred thousand ways.

Ji Jue wasn't afraid of dust and mud; he lay down, the spiritual-quality fluctuations of his hands spreading, thousands of threads, spreading out from the floor. Among the countless noises, there wasn't much real useful feedback.

He just felt that something seemed to be here; the reaction was weak but carried a faint sense of toughness, forming a system of its own, with a high degree of completeness.

It felt like...

Ji Jue and Lou Feng raised their heads, looked at each other, and suddenly realized:

"—Workshop?!"

"Gulp..."

At that moment, after the phantom disguise, came the dry sound of swallowing saliva.

In the enclosed space, it was so clear. ===== CHAPTER 208 =====