Chapter 296: Fireworks in the Flying Light

Ji Jue didn't speak; he picked up the binoculars.

Amidst the still-violent wind and snow, the convoy slowly drove over from the distance. The pale paint hastily sprayed on was peeling off, faintly revealing the heavy bulletproof chassis beneath.

A normal rescue team wouldn't have so many Transcendants.

Likewise, they wouldn't be carrying so many weapons.

And they wouldn't be so blatant.

"... A little, a little slower, right here!"

Ji Jue took a look. The radio hanging on his chest automatically connected to their internal channel: "Lead car, pay attention. Don't get too close after finding them. There's a White Deer among those two!"

"Watch out for the artisan; they say he's very wicked."

"Don't get too close. Rear cars, get the gear ready."

"Are they still alive? This kind of white-hair wind, even the locals can barely handle it. Maybe they froze to death already."

"If they're dead, even better. Just take two photos of the corpses and we can split millions."

Laughter erupted from the noisy channel.

"A bunch of small-time punks."

Ji Jue sighed with regret. "It's only just begun, why are they so impatient? The platter is on the table, but there isn't even a main course... Can you handle them?"

"Eh? Just me?"

An Ning caught his meaning and immediately became reluctant. "I was hoping to join hands with Ji Jue-ge, solve the strong enemies, and increase our bond and feelings."

"This isn't some hot-blooded manga; where would such things come from?"

"What about feelings?"

"Sorry, none of those either."

Ji Jue looked at An Ning, who was still planning to bargain, and added a finishing blow: "Xiao An is better; communicating with him isn't this much trouble."

"Tsk—"

An Ning clicked her tongue. Her cheeks, squeezed between the fur collar and the big hat, puffed up. She glared at Ji Jue, who had his hands in his pockets, and then, sulking, stopped talking.

She took long strides, stepping on the snow powder and ice layers, and walked forward.

She was angry.

Ji Jue yawned. He didn't comfort her, but sat on the hood of Little Niu Ma, watching the scene with interest.

The mercury limbs behind him extended, rummaging through the bag for two titanium steel cups and tea bags. He poured water slowly, not even needing to light a fire, just covering them with his hands to heat them up.

Seeing Ji Jue make no move, An Ning glared back, even angrier.

Then, she heard the sound coming from behind.

"If you're too slow, the tea will get cold."

An Ning's movements paused. She stomped her feet in place and seemed to hum.

Then, her pace quickened.

She waved at the distant convoy.

She leaped.

"Help, help, come save me quickly."

A call without any emotional fluctuation, attracting attention with zero-point acting skills.

"Found them. Found them!!"

A surprised shout came over the radio: "It's a little girl. The man is found too, he's behind. The car must have broken down. Hurry, prepare, prepare!"

In that instant, there was a sudden sound of bursting.

The entire convoy, all six vehicles, jolted violently. All the tires burst almost simultaneously, losing power in an instant, skidding in place, shaking violently, and some even rolled off the road.

Under the gloomy sky, amidst the reflections of residual snow and cracked ice, a line of faint light flashed by.

Like threading a needle, it danced and wove with agility, slicing through all the thickened explosion-proof tires in the blink of an eye.

One couldn't see where it came from or where it went; the only thing one could distinguish was the fleeting trajectory.

One couldn't even see An Ning's movements.

She just stepped on the accumulated snow and ice, moving forward on her own. The thick, piled-up powder snow and slippery ice didn't form the slightest obstacle, nor did they leave any footprints.

She was like a ghost floating on snow and ice.

Screams rang out, along with shouts. The radio was in chaos, and there were hoarse roars: "Fire, fire!!!"

At this point, besides firing, was there any other choice?

In a flash, black gun barrels were raised from behind the opened doors of the vehicles that had managed to stop while skidding, firing in a hurried, chaotic manner.

Some even pushed out a machine gun from a vehicle that hadn't flipped over, the gunner's expression ferocious as he pulled the trigger.

A storm of metal, rushing toward her!

Unfortunately, it was useless.

Amidst the relentless hail of bullets, An Ning's pace didn't falter in the slightest, nor did it speed up. Against the countless trajectories, she moved forward unhurriedly, tilting her head or turning her body slightly to dodge the fatal ones, finally raising her hand to grab into the air in front of her. Between her five fingers, there was an extra thumb-thick, scorching armor-piercing bullet head.

The tungsten alloy armor-piercing bullet still had traces of spiritual quality circuits, and the liquid destructive substance inside the glass tube should not have been triggered.

The kinetic energy after the bullet left the chamber was neutralized in an instant; it didn't even have time to collide and ignite.

Then, she threw it out—

Boom!!!

A vehicle in the corner that was clumsily reversing exploded instantly, swallowed by intense light and flames. In the moment it dissolved into a pile of residue amidst the spreading mist, the people crawling out from inside screamed in terror, their faces twisted as if they had fallen into hell.

With just a touch of the mist, the figures froze in place, their skin cracking, carbonizing, dehydrating rapidly, and being swallowed by the spreading flames, burning into ashes.

Chemical weapons!

And it was a creation that had been catalyzed and purified by alchemy, specifically designed for high-threat targets, and could even be used by ordinary people at will.

This kind of thing, strictly prohibited by the Association, could absolutely not be bought on the open market, nor was it something a bunch of small-time punks roaming the wilderness could get their hands on.

To issue such forbidden items even to a bunch of cannon fodder—the backers behind the scenes were truly generous.

It was just that...

Ji Jue lowered his eyes, ignoring the stray bullets drifting past his ears, and sipped the warm tea in his cup.

In the distance, the roar was incessant.

Realizing that bullets were useless, sharp cones rose from beneath the ice, spreading like an explosion. Countless ice blades, like sharp edges, swallowed the figure moving forward.

But the next instant, An Ning was like a phantom, walking out of the snow mist and frost, piercing through the sharp blades, completely unharmed.

Turning back, she broke off a section of an ice blade, weighed it in her hand, and threw it.

A piercing whistle of air erupted.

A pure white trajectory shot out, crossing hundreds of meters. The fragile ice blade actually tore through the bulletproof armor, penetrated the vehicle body, and exploded.

Instantly, the entire vehicle's windows were covered in splashing scarlet, and there was no more sound.

One after another.

A wisp of faint light reappeared. With a light wave of her finger, it swept across the entire broken convoy from beginning to end, vertically and horizontally.

Then, amidst the spraying blood, the out-of-control machine gun swept across, falling into the cabin, sweeping those who had been severely wounded by the cut throats and pierced vital points into a pile of rotten meat.

Finally, the missing, frozen fingers finally slipped off the trigger, and the red-hot gun barrel fell into the pool of blood, hissing.

Amidst the howling wind and snow, the entire snowfield returned to silence.

And when An Ning raised her hand, Ji Jue finally saw the true form of that wisp of faint light... It was a tiny floral hair clip tucked into the bangs on her forehead.

It was completely without any damage or flaws, still shining brightly.

"Hmph, how was that?"

An Ning, who had returned, stood with her hands on her hips, triumphant, and reached out her hand: "Where's my tea!"

Ji Jue pointed to the spot beside him and the teacup placed there.

The heat rose from the cup.

Amidst the warm water vapor, the fragrance of tea lingered.

Just right.

"Just in time," Ji Jue said. "Still in time to watch the fireworks."

"Hm? Where?"

An Ning sat unceremoniously on the hood, looked around, followed Ji Jue's raised finger, and looked at the sky, that dark sky, between the aurora neon, the scratch coming from the distance.

Missiles!

The speeding firelight suddenly dove, splitting apart on its own in mid-air, and then, like a crushed pea pod, scattered hundreds of strange black dots, pouncing toward the ground.

Cluster bombs!

Clearly, they had anticipated Ji Jue's mechanical descent, so they didn't enter Ji Jue's interference range at all before the missiles disintegrated on their own. Even the fuses of all the cluster bombs were the most primitive contact-type.

Even if mechanical descent could hinder the fuses, it couldn't block them all. And their chemical nature dictated that the moment the safety devices were disengaged, the ammunition would explode upon the slightest collision!

If even a single one slipped through the net, it would trigger a chain reaction of the others.

That bunch of small-time punks who had delivered themselves to the door were, from beginning to end, nothing more than bait to pinpoint Ji Jue's location. The moment they all died, the true destruction descended from the sky!

At this moment, dense cluster bombs fell onto the earth. Instantly, they covered an area of several kilometers, and then, flames, intense light, thick smoke, and mushroom clouds rose into the air amidst the rushing gale!

The ice layers peeled and dissolved, the snow water evaporated instantly, and the earth at the center of the explosion was completely turned into a vacuum of scorched earth.

Under the repeated ravaging of dragon-breath catalysis to increase destructive power, damage-dealing metals to improve armor penetration, chemical toxins, and alchemy processing, as well as that patch of strange polluting mist, any living thing or inanimate object could not remain at the center of the explosion.

Shattered ice and stones rose and fell like a torrential rain along with the scorching gale, falling messily onto the ground, bouncing and rolling beside the wheels at Ji Jue's feet.

Ji Jue lowered his head and drank his tea, not even losing a single hair.

Because the coordinates of the missile strike were twenty kilometers away.

They had completely missed!

Further away, two observation vehicles braked suddenly, raised their binoculars, and stared at the unbelievable scene before them, dumbfounded, not even having time to respond to the shouts on the communication channel.

"How did you do it?"

An Ning was stunned. "Is the interference range of mechanical descent this far?"

When the missiles flew over their heads just now, they were already at a high altitude hundreds of kilometers away. It was hard to imagine that the influence range of a Metamorphosis-rank ability could be this vast; it was simply inconceivable.

"How is that possible?"

Ji Jue shook his head and just smiled slightly. "Mechanical descent isn't omnipotent, you know?"

But seeing him leave half his words unsaid, An Ning became angry. "Selling mysteries again! If you do this again, I'm going to catch little mice and stuff them into your bed and collar!"

"Don't be impatient."

Ji Jue shrugged. "The fireworks aren't over yet."

In that instant, deep in the snowfield, a piercing alarm sounded in a hidden camp, one after another, but then, all sound ceased abruptly.

When everyone looked at each other in dismay, they heard a hair-raising friction sound—at the control console of the missile launchers, without any command, one indicator light after another turned from scarlet to emerald green, entering a state of readiness. Then, flames erupted and rose, and the piercing whistle of breaking air was incessant.

Missiles fully loaded with cluster explosives had already soared into the sky without any control.

"What's going on?!"

The commander in the barracks stared blankly at everything before him, roaring in loss of voice: "Who ordered the launch? No, hurry, cut the fuses! Immediately, fast!!!"

Watching the dozen or so missiles on the radar rushing in all directions, almost shrouding the entire snowfield in the attack range, if even one or two fell toward the city, the consequences...

Cold sweat instantly seeped out, and he was drenched.

But even more terrified than him was the operator in front of the console, who was almost crying: "Cut, they've all been cut, but it's useless, there's no response!"

On the satellite map, red dots flickered rapidly, flying in all directions, but then, following strange static and abnormal characters, bits of fragmented light appeared on the LCD screen, piecing together to form a blurry figure.

As if bowing and bending, lifting a long skirt, paying respects to the perpetrators in front of the screen.

【Isis sends you her regards】

The blurry figure turned and walked into the darkness, disappearing.

The screen reappeared.

In the silence, the commander's expression was blank, breathing heavily, finally seeing... the red dot on the satellite map that had circled around and was now counter-attacking toward the camp.

Opening the window and looking up, he saw the familiar trajectory descending from the sky after completing a huge arc.

"I f—"

Boom!!!!

Amidst the rising flames, the entire camp left no trace behind.