Chapter 72

"Wow, he shouted so loudly."

In Little Niu Ma's galloping escape, Ji Jue couldn't help but look back and sigh. In the back seat, Little An nodded admiringly: "His voice is really good."

He sat in the back, checking the iron plates previously stored in Little Niu Ma's dark compartment, only to find that not only his own iron plates, but even the guns and bullets Ji Jue had put in the dark compartment seemed brand new.

Faint Supreme Virtue emblems appeared and disappeared in the dim light, and the material, strength, and material properties had all been enhanced by Ember and blessed by Wild Ruins.

Brother Furnace is Brother Furnace. Just by turning around in the furnace, since he was here, he simply took it and passed it through his hand. As a result, this batch of weapons had already reached the edge of alchemical weapons. The stability and durability were much stronger than before, and the durability was all filled up!

Just this level of basic skill was already a hundred times higher than Ji Jue's!

"Ah, what a pity." Little An sighed disappointedly: "If I had known, I would have put Dark Star in too."

Dark Star was the weapon he hid in his sleeve. Unlike other iron plates, it was about twenty centimeters long, and the translucent turbid color couldn't distinguish the material. There seemed to be faint blood threads wandering inside, but when Little An held it in his hand, it had no strength and toughness of steel. Rather, it was incredibly soft.

Ji Jue hadn't even touched it. It wasn't that Little An was stingy, but that the seemingly plain edge could easily cut synthetic steel into pieces. If Ji Jue played with it and swung it toward his neck, that would be a big joke. It is said that people of the An family are used to using such weapons, and under the blessing of projection techniques, they can reach incredible precision and effects.

After all, working in the Wild Market these days, it's really hard to get by without two unique skills, not to mention having to make people listen obediently, the deterrent power must be enough.

"What's the pity?" Ji Jue patted his head without looking back: "Isn't there me? Besides, if I can't handle it, I can take it as homework and find the teacher later!"

Being a student has this advantage: things that can't be solved professionally can all be solved by calling the teacher.

"Oh, that's trouble for Brother Ji Jue."

Little An smiled, without any doubt, the eyes in the rearview mirror shining, as if the effect would definitely not be wrong if Brother Ji Jue went out. Instead, it made Ji Jue feel a bit of pressure.

"I say, Little An... is your expectation of my ability a bit too high?" Ji Jue's expression twitched: "You are already a level 5 big boss, I am a blank novice, and I don't even have a matrix. I'm really not that powerful."

"No, very powerful, well, the very powerful kind!"

An Ran shook his head decisively and said seriously: "Much more powerful than me."

"You can beat me up with one hand, right?" Ji Jue smiled bitterly.

"It's not that being able to kill or fight is powerful. If being able to win is the most powerful person, then I wouldn't have quarreled with my sister and run away from home."

Little An looked up and blew the wind, staring at the Rift Realm before him: "Sister Wen is very powerful, Old Zhang is also very powerful, and Sister Painting, sometimes she is very powerful.

Brother Ji Jue, from the moment I knew you, you have always been very powerful."

"Why?" Ji Jue was almost amused.

"Because you know what you want to do."

The young man answered as a matter of course: "When Sister Painting told me, I knew that you must be super powerful—knowing what you want to do, knowing what kind of life you want to live, and then moving forward without hesitation, becoming an enemy of those who block you, even if you die, you won't bow your head.

I think such a person must be much stronger than me."

"..."

Ji Jue was silent for a long time, then sighed: "That's all, doesn't everyone have a life they want to live?"

Little An shook his head: "I don't."

"I don't know what I want to do in the future, and I don't know what kind of life is the best, but I don't want to 'work' with my family. It's because of this that I ran away from home."

Little An sighed: "Originally, besides my left leg, my two hands were also going to be cut off by my sister, but my aunt pleaded for me. If I can't find the result I want before I'm eighteen, I can only go home to work. If it doesn't work out, if I don't go back, my hands will really be cut off."

"... Isn't there still three or four years? Just find it slowly."

Ji Jue was silent for a moment, then suddenly said: "Don't worry, I'm here. Even if you can't figure out the life you want to live by then, I won't watch others cut off your hands."

"Well, Sister Wen actually said that too." Little An looked at him seriously: "However, Brother Ji Jue, you can't beat my sister, you will die."

"..."

Why does this stinky kid speak so bluntly?

Ji Jue couldn't help but pat his head again: "Then won't I make you a pair of prosthetic hands?! I've read about bionics three times in the past two days, and it definitely won't delay you from playing the piano or pipa!"

"Oh, right!" Little An's eyes lit up again, pulling his clothes: "Then I'll trouble you, Brother Ji Jue!"

So you've already assumed that you'll be chopped off by then!

Your family is really weird, little brother!

Ji Jue only felt that his mouth was full of old slots that couldn't be spit out, but when he found a safe place and was about to stop, he felt Little An's hand suddenly press on his shoulder.

"Be careful."

He said, "Something is staring at us."

Ji Jue was stunned, looked in the direction he pointed, and in the apartment that had just collapsed not long ago in the distance, behind the broken wallboard, a figure flashed by, peeking cautiously.

In the magnification of the binoculars, that face was so clear.

It seemed to be a middle-aged man, bearded, ragged, like a homeless man, but his face was broken. On the right side of his face, several eyes were growing in a mess, blinking.

His arms were also, with two extra sections, long, dragging on the ground.

Looking over cautiously.

After detecting the vigilant eyes of the two, he panicked and turned around and ran.

"Wait—"

Little An's palm raised, aimed, but was pressed down by Ji Jue. He let that figure run far away and disappear.

Little An retracted his hand and looked at him blankly: "Brother Ji Jue, that's not a human."

"I know."

Ji Jue recalled the look in that man's eyes, the vigilance and fear that couldn't be erased, but for some reason, he thought of the words left by the furnace: 【If, there is still a chance... please show mercy to us again.】

At that time, Ji Jue was confused and didn't have time to ask clearly.

Looking at it now, is this what it means?

Things hurt their kind. After the furnace was endowed with a soul, would it feel compassion and pain for the encounter of these puppets?

"Forget it."

He shook his head and twisted the throttle again: "Anyway, there is no malice toward us, and it doesn't matter if we leave it alone. Let's change the camp."

Little Niu Ma disappeared again in the city that was gradually collapsing and breaking.

Disappeared.

At the same time, in another underground space, in the darkness, only broken puppet remains were left. Those monsters that occupied this place after alienation were ruthlessly cleaned up.

The large indoor space, except for the house in the corner and the pot gradually boiling on the cassette stove, had no other movement.

Several figures sitting on chairs had no movement, their eyes were empty, and except for breathing, there was no sign of any living creature.

Until the footsteps gradually approached, someone pushed the door and entered, carrying a huge package, with a relaxed and happy smile on his face.

The nine people stood up immediately, greeted him, and coordinated and comprehensively helped him unload the package, unpack it, and store the tools, harvest, and even captives in the package by category...

During this process, the fake smile on the entrant's face also disappeared.

Only empty calmness remained.

"They are all poor ghosts."

The ten people bent down, looked at the harvest on the ground, shook their heads in unison, their voices overlapped, with strange tremors. And among the things brought back, the largest one was a living person wrapped in strange bandages, unable to even struggle.

All scattered spiritual quality was completely sealed inside.

And when the bandages were opened, that pale face full of fear was revealed.

"Wait, wait a minute, please..."

Before the words were finished, the ten people around them took a deep breath.

In an instant, the shrill screams were cut off, and scarlet aura rose from the person on the ground, falling into their mouths, life, spiritual quality, and even the soul itself.

Being swallowed happily, feasting wildly.

And on the ground, that person who was still struggling instantly shriveled and turned into dry bones.

It had been eaten up.

And the same scarlet flash emerged from the eyes of the ten people, rose, gathered, and a vague figure appeared faintly in the void.

Like a skinned corpse.

That soul condensed into substance was shrouded in scarlet, faintly able to distinguish the incomplete faces wriggling on every wisp of scarlet, I don't know how many people's spiritual quality and soul fragments, constituting this incarnation.

And the ten people fell to the ground as if they had fallen apart in an instant.

Only the figure in mid-air checked his hands and feet and sighed silently.

"They are all ordinary goods, not useful."

Known as the invisible shepherd of the Dragon Sacrifice Society, he sighed silently, feeling the gap in his soul, his expression regretful: "Only half came in. This place really has something strange."

Originally, he had prepared well, split his soul separately, and hid it on more than twenty people, but he didn't expect that only less than half would come in the moment the Rift Realm opened.

However, as an Awakened who had already reached the rebirth rank, he did indeed enter this world by splitting his soul, bypassing the restrictions of the Rift Realm!

Since he had already entered the door, he could seek opportunities and recover calmly.

A missing half of the soul might be a fatal injury for other Awakened, but for the invisible who had been immersed in the Heart Hub and Metamorphosis paths for many years, it was not a problem at all.