Chapter 23: Dragon (Thanks to the Alliance Leader of Buqi Shixian)

The first to crawl out was a dilapidated electric bike. Beneath the shattered plastic shell, the wheels twisted, as if shedding tears of blood, sparks flying.

Twitching and trembling, within the twisted steel, two fingers made of wheel spokes poked out, two arms, one long and one short, raised up, crawling on the ground, like a dog!

On the face composed of half a distorted LCD panel, it was filled with scarlet and madness.

It opened its mouth, spat out thick smoke, and roared.

It pounced!

Following closely was the second, the third; one electric bike after another turned into a strange creature with twisted limbs amidst the trembling and thick smoke, crawling forward recklessly, pouncing on Lawrence, opening their mouths to bite, arms pulling, releasing electric currents!

Then came the roar of cars. When the shattered shells were discarded, bodies like wild oxen or elephants ran wildly, crashing into the writhing monsters, crushing, engines roaring, spitting thick smoke!

Like giant spiders, or eerie giant birds.

Those furious steels composed of gears and machinery hissed, gathering into a tide, trampling and squeezing each other, one after another crawling up, almost completely covering the alienated Lawrence.

"Damn it, what the hell is this!"

The distorted monster roared, two limbs swept across, easily tearing apart the machines climbing on its body. That eerie Heavenly Craft Long Blade · Nightfall slashed, like a hot knife through wax, unstoppable.

It was nothing but a minor ailment!

But under the giant tree, Ji Jue just raised his hands, slowly closed them, and gave the first command to his creation:

【Aggregate】!

And so, the sound of countless steel frictions erupted again. Hundreds and thousands of complex machines gathered in the same place. Whether they were fragments or complete frames, they were now actually connecting, fitting, and riveting like living things, forming an unprecedentedly huge aggregate.

Ji Jue's vision went black.

He reached out his hand again and clenched it!

In an instant, within the torn machinery, brand new structures grew out. The limbs composed of electric bikes, motorcycles, computers, telephones, and lawnmowers writhed, suddenly contracting and shackling. Then came the second, the third.

On the constantly changing mechanical structure, venomous and painful faces appeared, roaring loudly, thick smoke rolling.

In an instant, it actually suppressed Lawrence underneath.

Open mouth, bite!

Blood splattered.

Gnawing on flesh, tasting internal organs, chewing bones—this hearty gluttony was even more monstrous than the monster itself. Lawrence roared, struggling, but for some reason, from the gaze of that face, he felt an unprecedentedly strong feeling.

Named... Fear!

"Get lost!"

Nightfall swept across, but then stopped abruptly.

It was gripped?!

It was Minerva!

Letting the blade cut her palm, her five fingers slowly contracted. Amidst the crisp sound of crystal proliferation, the blade wailed and shook violently, and from the middle... it broke!

Heavenly Craft shattered!

And then, it was trampling!

"Is this the so-called dragon?"

Wen Wen stepped on his head and shook her head contemptuously: "It's just... too weak!"

"Pah..."

Lawrence, who was being gnawed on in the mud, struggled to open his mouth, spat at her, and roared: "Too hypocritical, Minerva, too ridiculous.

The Path of Ruined Realm you follow is the track left by the dragon itself! Isn't what you pursue different from mine? Why are you pretending!"

"You are obsessed with phantoms, pinning all your hopes on things you have never seen, not knowing that..."

Wen Wen looked down, her expressionless face having only increasing frost, "—that kind of thing that doesn't even count as human will never respond to your prayers!"

From the dead silence, a high-pitched and sharp sound rang out.

Right behind her.

Crystal rubbed, proliferated, grew, and turned into a stone wing reaching toward the sky, blocking the sky and the sun, covering everything, shrouding the earth in a dreamlike, indifferent light.

Lawrence was as if struck by lightning.

Eyes opened in terror from the broken flesh, blinking constantly, trying to distinguish whether it was another kind of vicious illusion or his own hallucination, but no matter what, he found it hard to believe.

"You, you... you!"

The voice became more shrill and sharp, as if swallowed by a nightmare.

He witnessed with his own eyes everything that happened on Wen Wen's body—not blood, and not just blood; not a body, and not just a body; even her soul was completely revealing its true face.

Cold, solemn, brutal, and vast...

That was, a dragonization even more thorough than his own!!!

"What's wrong? Isn't this what you've been chasing, the dragon, Lawrence."

Wen Wen spoke, her cold voice turning into thunder that resounded through the firmament, echoing within the Encircled Realm: "Let it be my final mercy... let you die at the hands of what you are chasing!

It can be considered dying in the right place!"

Boom!!!

When she reached out her hand again and grasped toward the sky, what fell was ten thousand feet of thunder. The brilliance of the whole world gathered between her five fingers, turning into a crystal spear so dazzling that it was impossible to stare at.

This was the dragon's breath!

Manifested in material form, 【Destruction】!

In that final moment, Lawrence opened his mouth, as if wanting to shout something, curse or beg, but it didn't matter anymore; no one cared.

Parasites, blood, bacterial strains, monsters, the remnants of bitterness and despair, and even the unrealistic dream of becoming a dragon.

Everything was submerged in the dragon's breath.

Silent.

Only the fierce light that burned all eyes flashed and disappeared.

The storm rose suddenly, ashes ascended to the firmament, countless writhing scarlet spiritual qualities evaporated and disappeared, the giant tree fell apart, collapsed, and turned into a phantom.

Except for the giant pit where even charred remains didn't exist, no other traces remained.

One couldn't even find fragments of the explosion and tearing.

A portion of matter had forever disappeared from the world, not even a single particle left behind.

This was the power of the dragon.

In the long silence, Wen Wen stood before the deep pit, the giant wings behind her disappearing without a trace.

"Phew, that's why I didn't want them to come and help."

She murmured softly, sighed, tilted her head to look behind her, and grinned: "Hey, Ji Jue, remember to keep my..."

The words stopped abruptly, her smile stiffening on her face.

Perhaps, she didn't need to worry about anyone leaking this secret.

In the ruins and the blood-colored mud pit, Ji Jue sat slumped on the ground, breathing with difficulty, so disheveled.

And right on his body, the remaining dragon blood was still slowly spreading, distorting flesh, twisting the shell, growing a layer of eerie scales, gradually taking away the human brilliance in his eyes.

Corruption.

The distortion that made Chosen Ones turn pale at the mention of it was spreading, and he was on his last breath.

But he seemed not to care at all, even though he had already reached his limit.

"What's wrong, Sister Wen?"

Ji Jue raised his head, his face covered in dust and mud, and smiled with difficulty: "Can I be considered... to have accomplished something today?"

"..."

The shock came suddenly. Wen Wen was silent, but suddenly recalled the words they said when they parted yesterday. And the boy's smile at that time, and now, so determined and calm.

"Yeah, that's right."

She reached out, solemnly wiped the dust from Ji Jue's face, and told him: "Knowing you is my honor."

"Huh?"

Ji Jue was stunned, his face blank, fearing that Wen Wen's next sentence would be 'I see you also seem to have some lingering charm'.

But immediately after, he saw Wen Wen stand up solemnly, take a step back, raise her hand again, and grip the crystal thunder spear that had descended from the sky, aiming it at her own face.

"Don't worry, I won't let you feel pain."

Her eye sockets seemed slightly red, and she asked softly: "Do you have any last wishes?"

"Damn, don't!"

Ji Jue's face turned pale with fright, and he screamed in terror: "I think I can still be saved!"

Big sister, what are you doing? I thought you were just plotting against my body, I didn't expect you to take my life directly!

"There's no need to lie to me anymore, Ji Jue. Once corruption begins, both the soul and the body will collapse in pain." Wen Wen took a deep breath, her slightly trembling palm returning to stability: "Don't worry, I will preserve your dignity as a human being."

"I can have dignity while I'm alive too, big sister, I just lost too much blood, don't scare me!"

Ji Jue couldn't care about lying like a corpse anymore, his mind frantically clicking on the prompt box popped up by the watch: 【Detected active distorted spiritual quality internally, extract?】

YES! YES! YES!!!

Hurry up and extract it for me, damn it!!!!

And so, a crisp cracking sound rang out. From Ji Jue's body, all the spreading distortion and the scales that had grown out shattered, turned into dust, and dissipated without a trace.

The irreversible distortion dissipated in an instant.

"..."

In the silence, Wen Wen froze in place, staring blankly at everything happening before her eyes, for a long time, almost forgetting that she was still holding the dragon breath in her hand.

Only embarrassment grew exponentially every second.

"Huh?"

For a long time, she made a sound like a sleepwalker, completely dumbfounded.

Who am I? Where am I? What happened?

Did I just see someone's signs of corruption retreat and disappear? This kind of thing, if spread out, would be enough to shatter the worldviews of those lunatics in the hospital; I have absolutely never heard of it, damn it!

Then what was I doing just now?

She suddenly wanted to look in the mirror to see if there was a little red ball on her nose.

You bastard, give me back the tears that were about to fall!

And...

If I silence him now, is it too late?

And so, her eyes gradually became dangerous.

"Sister Wen, don't be like this, I still have family!" Ji Jue's tears were about to fall, "Spare my dog life, I'm good at work and not clingy, the service is very good, it would be a pity to use it when it's cold!"

Bang!

The furious dragon breath gun brushed past Ji Jue's neck and embedded itself into the nearby masonry, leaving a shocking crack.

"..."

Wen Wen grabbed his collar and warned him word by word: "If you still want to see tomorrow's sun, bury everything about me and your ability to reverse corruption in your stomach. Don't tell anyone, not even in your sleep, understand?!"

"Huh? Huh?! You weren't plotting against my bo... cough cough, okay, no problem." Ji Jue nodded frantically, wishing he could shake his brains out: "I bumped into something and fainted, I don't know anything!"

"Very good."

Wen Wen nodded, her smile becoming gentle, helping him straighten his collar, and patting him twice, "Did you bump into something by accident? Is your head okay?"

"Huh?"

Ji Jue was dumbfounded, subconsciously wanting to say something, but what he finally saw was Wen Wen's raised fist, small, exquisite, and cute, showing no sign of how many people's lives it had taken.

And then...

Bang!

After experiencing the Vortex Planting Art, spiritual quality erosion, desperate nightmares, the Chosen One Ceremony, a desperate counter-kill, and surviving a great disaster, Ji Jue's vision went black, and he completely passed out.

'Cause of death', friendly fire.

Not even turning off friendly fire, reality is truly a shitty game.

Ah, it's finally raining in Haikou... and then my house was flooded... so miserable, I stayed busy until 4:30 after opening my eyes, only then did I remember to set a timer, I guess I'll have to work until night... sobbing... ===== CHAPTER 24 =====