Chapter 311: The First Dawn

The countdown began here.

Three!

BOOM—!

Thunder moved in the firmament, and the infinite blood rain, under Gao Cheng's urging, set off a new storm, permeating and sweeping, wails rising into the sky again, roars filling everything.

Crazily squeezing inward, breaking through obstacles, falling on the armor. Blood rain erosion, infinite curses erupted, steel decayed, paint peeled off, and the operation of all spiritual qualities was completely out of control amidst the Sin-Tainted pollution.

The Non-Aggression matrix awakened spontaneously, manifesting from Ji Jue's hands, spreading to his shoulders, struggling to extend toward his heart, maintaining his sanity and stability, constituting the final line of defense.

But it was just a momentary delay, the crucial opportunity had already arrived.

The Ba Serpent roared, Lu Yang's body grew again, extended, turning into a giant snake hundreds of meters long, darting, countless limbs extending from beneath the scales, moving fast.

Squeezing the infinite power from the fish scales, at the same time, being doubled assimilated by the fish. Just like that, ignoring Mo Xie's slashing and absorption, it dead-locked onto the armor, locking the opponent in place.

Two!

And Yue Chen had already pulled away, retreating violently.

Raised his hand again.

Infinite matter gathered under the attraction of the Wasteland-rank power, roaring, collapsing inward, and integrated into the composition of ultra-density matter again!

Even, more violent and surging than before.

Even gravity was faintly distorted and twisted under this mass, merging into the vortex...

One!

The severe cold that seemed to freeze the world rose from around the Entropy-rank Awakened, almost making Gao Cheng lose consciousness in half his body, rapidly numbing. But at this moment, he couldn't help but sweat profusely, looking around, guarding against the flying light attacking from the dark.

Just a few seconds, but it was despairingly long, until the moment the charging was completed.

He still didn't dare to relax any vigilance.

When the Entropy-type Chosen roared and wailed, pouring out everything to release that destructive frost flow descending from the sky, the ultra-dense matter in Yue Chen's hand was also projected out, booming, expanding, and covering everything.

—Zero!

That's it!

The Bai Lu car manifested again!

Gao Cheng broke through the air, coming to the front of the Ba Serpent, right under the torrent of several destructive forces, the transport began, taking the Ba Serpent, and breaking through the air again—

But at that moment, his expression froze stiffly on his face, and the smile that hadn't had time to manifest was frozen by the unexpected fear.

"Wha..."

Just when he locked onto the Ba Serpent and tried to pull him back, a hand was raised lightly, also resting on the Ba Serpent's scales.

Then, the transport of the Bai Lu car lost control!

Inside the armor, a sigh came.

Waited so long, finally...

Waited for you!

After detecting and collecting data so many times before, and even personally experiencing it once, the transport of Bai Lu couldn't escape Ji Jue's eyes anymore.

What level are you?

Damn it, you dare to touch porcelain with my Sky-Track?!

In an instant, the bottom-layer matrix of the Doomsday Express operated, and the power of the Ten Thousand Elephant Engine crossed space, descended into Ji Jue's hands, unfolded, counter-eroded, reversed!

It was as if, in the middle of a speeding vehicle, another hand suddenly grabbed the steering wheel from Gao Cheng's hand and took over the driving!

Even if it was only for a moment, it was enough to make this Bai Lu turn onto an unexpected fork in the road...

The transport that was completely out of control began again.

But this time, the target of the coordinated transport was no longer the Ba Serpent, but Ji Jue himself!

In the snap of a finger, he broke through the air!

Leaving only the sluggish Ba Snake abandoned on the spot, lifting its head to gaze up at the overwhelming, lethal frost flow and the impact of the ultra-dense matter jet...

"I fuck your—"

In the roar, it struggled, trying to escape.

It was a pity that it was already too late.

Destruction descended from the sky, drowning everything. In an instant, under the shroud of destructive frost, life stagnated, and then, under the bombardment of countless violent jets smaller than dust, it exploded.

Wails and screams continued like a blood spring, gushing and spreading, countless tumors grew from the blood, thousands of Lu Yang's faces emerged from them, screaming in pain.

Roaring and cursing, or, wailing and praying!

Amidst the erosion of infinite life, it had long been unable to extricate itself.

It was just that, watching such a scene, Gao Cheng now had no time for panic and apology.

Only pure fear gradually emerged from his heart.

Turning his head in a daze.

Looking behind him.

And that steel hand that didn't know when it had pressed on his shoulder.

Like fate, it strangled his throat, gripped it tightly, leaving no gaps.

"You, you..."

His expression twitched, urging the matrix time and again, but the space gate that could be opened at will in the past, this time, was distorted and collapsed before manifesting, and could no longer respond to his summons.

Amidst the blood rain, Dragon Mountain lowered his eyes, and the eyes of fierce flames looked down!

Decisive declaration:

"You are sick."

It was as if a doctor had made a diagnosis.

But it was a pity that in that voice, there was no pity or regret.

Playing with disaster and Sin, poisoning the world...

Your illness has already penetrated the bone marrow, incurable!

But it doesn't matter.

—At least, you can still die!

Slap!

After tearing through countless defensive equipment, the Mo Xie remnant blade penetrated his throat, and then, amidst the clanging, blood light roared and gushed out.

Twist!

Decapitation with one sword!

Then, the talisman that controlled everything fell into the blood water, and under the trampling, it shattered into pieces.

"Next—"

Crossing that insignificant, inexplicable corpse, the Longshan armor lifted its eyes, looking toward Yue Chen's location; separated by the countless wriggling torrents of flesh and blood, they stared at each other.

Flying light reappeared!

After waiting for a long, long time, from behind Yue Chen, that tiny glimmer appeared out of thin air, light and airy, like a ripple or a splash of water, yet it caused his movements to suddenly stall.

The Entropy-rank Awakened, who was weak and stunned, crawled in the mud, shouted suddenly, got up, and the jade axe in his hand fell.

Slash!

Instantly, the flying light was cut off.

But before he could be happy, his smile froze on his face.

A blade edge silently protruded from his chest, piercing the heart, spiritual quality erupted, ravaged, destroyed life, annihilated the soul!

It was An Ning.

At this moment, holding the blade, she took a step out, like a ghost flashing, and the blade pierced the opponent's vital point.

There were hundreds of techniques passed down by the Hunter's Finger, and flying light was just one of them! Was it possible that one couldn't work without flying light?

Even if the inheritance of flying light and Hunter's Finger was excluded, when the Entropy-rank was approached by the Bai Lu, everything was already irreversible.

All that remained was death!

But at the moment before death, the expression of the nameless Awakened twitched, actually manifesting a kind of smile that could be called relief.

Finally, it was over.

Thus, a hoarse laugh sounded, right in that body that had completely lost its life.

When An Ning subconsciously pulled out the knife, she found that the short knife didn't move at all, as if it were welded into iron and stone. Then, the blood gushing from the wound turned into a blade.

Infinite curse poison and malice manifested, condensing into a stab.

The moment the blade pierced the heart, it pierced into An Ning's body!

Immediately after, the writhing blood water flowed, turned into hands, and strangled An Ning's wrist, clamping it.

The wound pierced by the blade suddenly extended, rolled, like a skin cover, blooming toward both sides. Amidst the broken internal organs and gushing blood color, a face covered with star tattoos manifested from the lungs, rising, appreciating her stunned expression.

Grinning like a wolf.

Finally...

"Caught you!"

The hunter launched an attack, the hunter stepped into a trap, the hunter lost vigilance, and then, at the moment of death, the hunter finally saw the reflection of the wolf.

Right in the hunter's own pool of blood!

Just like the truth of the wilderness.

The identities of hunter and prey had never been fixed, flowing silently amidst hunting and lurking. Until the moment of deciding the winner by any means, the true winner would manifest on the bones of the loser!

For this moment, the wolf had waited too long.

Too long.

【Content omitted】

So long that An Ning had almost forgotten the existence of the enemy...

From the beginning, he had been hiding in the body of this Entropy-rank Awakened, or rather, in his blood!

Abandoning most of his power and body, lurking with claws and teeth, watching coldly. Just like that, waiting quietly, waiting for the one-in-a-million opportunity to appear in front of him.

Even before this, his unlucky host had almost lost his life under the blade of flying light, but he hadn't had any hesitation. Cruelly entrusting everything to the balance of fate, waiting for the final judgment.

At this moment, the map was revealed and the dagger was shown.

The winner was decided!

But after the fleeting shock, the wolf saw a wisp of light smile on that beautiful cheek, so pleasant.

"No."

An Ning said: "I caught you!"

That moment, under the hooded sweatshirt pierced by the blood thorn, behind the opening, a line of faint silver light manifested.

And on her wrist, the original bracelet had disappeared without a trace.

Heart, back of the heart, throat, back of the head, abdomen, lower body...

In the narrow space close to the body, the mercury that originally constituted the bracelet flowed quietly. The blessing of iron-gold quality and extreme toughness intertwined for dozens of layers, weaving a suit of armor that focused on protecting every weak point of An Ning's whole body.

The originally fatal blood thorn only pierced through the protection, broke the flesh, and was clamped by the writhing muscles and mercury, unable to advance an inch.

Even though it was only a fraction away from that tiny heart!

The moment the Wolf Sin that had transformed into blood wanted to urge its power, inject blood, and make that stab advance a fraction, it felt that the pair of hands it was clamping shook slightly, shook off all the joints, and under the flow of muscle texture, entangled with the bones, and operated again.

In turn, using the back-facing hands and ten fingers, it restrained the Wolf Sin's hands!

Then, An Ning opened her mouth.

A wisp of faint light blew out from her throat and trachea, flying toward the Wolf Sin's face.

Who said, projection, must rely on hands?!

Two hours ago.

"Something's wrong."

After clashing with the three car teams and returning, in the carriage, Ji Jue, who was maintaining the sniper rifle, suddenly paused and put down the workpiece: "No, I still feel something's wrong."

"What's wrong?"

An Ning lay on the back of the car seat, tilting her head to look at his frowning, gloomy appearance: "I always feel that you like to make a fuss about nothing, and be suspicious... Even if it's smooth sailing, you won't give up even if there is one place you don't understand. This should be called 'obsessive-compulsive disorder'? Is this degree already so serious? Do you want to see a doctor?"

"Sorry, I don't have any plans to lie on a chair in the Heart Pivot's talk therapy room for the time being."

Ji Jue turned the workpiece in his hand, thought for a long time, and then suddenly asked: "Don't you feel that the opponent's counterattack this time is wrong?"

"Wrong?"

An Ning was stunned, tilting her head to look at him, meow meow meow meow?

Do you want to see what stupid things you are saying? If these people are put together, in an encounter without preparation, which one isn't enough to kill an Artisan like you dozens or hundreds of times?

"Where is it wrong?" An Ning didn't understand: "Is it because they couldn't make you have fun, and didn't say sorry to you?"

"Number of people—"

After relying on Deus ex Machina to repeatedly watch and check all the image records since departure and his own notes and memos, Ji Jue finally found the source of his instinctive unease.

"The number of people is wrong!"

"From the beginning to now, the North, Xinyuan, and Tiancheng, we have met all the opponents, right? Various messy bandit gangs, killers, and leftovers... are not counted."

Ji Jue counted on his fingers one by one, calculating the number of people, and finally stopped at that finger that could not be retracted: "But from beginning to end, there was only Yue Chen in the Echo convoy."

He said decisively: "His navigator didn't show up at all!"

An Ning thought for a moment, and asked curiously: "It's possible they didn't catch up. Or, because of an accident, didn't show up?"

"Perhaps, there is such a possibility, but there is no way to deny other possibilities, right?"

Ji Jue turned the screwdriver made of mercury with his five fingers, his thoughts spreading increasingly: "They must have another person, no, at least one more person, hidden in the dark.

Even, excluding the members of the several car teams now, there is a possibility that other helpers exist outside the field.

If we make the worst plan, it is even possible that a Heaven-Human is quietly following by the side, waiting for the situation to be unfavorable, and then turning his face and overturning the table. After all, at this point, I'm afraid that expecting those guys to have any game quality and be willing to follow the rules is not as good as expecting God to strike a thunder and split the Viceroy."

He paused and looked at An Ning: "Of course, among these, all the greatest possibilities also include one, which is what you said..."

"Wolf?"

An Ning's expression suddenly became serious.

"You didn't find the wolf, right?" Ji Jue spread his hands: "But you said, the wolf appeared by your side... Do you think this is an illusion?"

"Impossible!" An Ning shook her head decisively.

On the wilderness, the mutual slaughter and hunting between the deer and the wolf, but in essence, from the darkness, it seemed to be one body, with many threads of relationship.

The perception between each other could absolutely not be wrong!

"But apart from them, almost everyone who appeared in front of us died."

Ji Jue said slowly: "Apart from thinking worse, no one stipulated that there can't be a Wolf Sin in the car teams, right? Or, thinking worse, the opponent has actually been following by our side, hiding in the darkness, but we haven't found any traces at all.

Far-infrared detection, sound, spiritual quality, heartbeat, breathing... all equipment and your perception can't find any traces of the opponent.

If it is this situation, I think we can just lie flat and wait for death."

"..."

In the long silence, An Ning's expression was rarely solemn and deep, and her brain also rarely turned, but as it turned, white smoke began to emerge, wandering and trance-like, pitifully rolling on the carpet, crying.

"Then what to do, Brother Ji Jue!" She seemed to have tears in her eyes, pitifully looking at her external brain: "Then can you help me?"

"No, thank you."

Ji Jue pushed her face away coldly: "Guessing is guessing after all. Guessing more, without reality to prove, is scaring yourself. If you want to verify, only one person can be the bait to help me test it out."

So, who is this bait?

An Ning looked at Ji Jue ignorantly, and Ji Jue also looked at her.

Smiled slightly.

Until the cat who was pretending to be stupid could no longer pretend, rolling and selling cute didn't work, and she had to accept the reality helplessly.

"Actually let the beautiful girl who is thinking about protecting you be cannon fodder to attract firepower?!"

She rode on Ji Jue's neck, angrily pulling his face: "Brother Ji Jue, you are really not a thing!"

"Yes."

Ji Jue nodded calmly, picked up the teacup, and didn't care at all:

"Everyone says so."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 312 =====