Chapter 218: One Body, Total Annihilation: Reflections, Military Attention (4k)

Yellow sand blew across the sky, the sun blazing high.

At a glance, Louis saw no water source, no farmland—only dilapidated, scattered houses.

How could anyone possibly survive in such an environment?

Could they truly survive only by hunting passing travelers?

Decades of this… it’s impossible.

The farther he walked, the closer he drew to the village, the clearer his suspicions became.

That suspicion was perfectly confirmed once he entered the village and saw its inhabitants.

Deformed humans still lived here!

Through dirty, broken glass, a little girl with a crooked eye, slurred speech, and a red dress sat biting her finger—her face grotesque yet pure; sensing Louis’s gaze, she turned, her vacant eyes filled with curiosity.

Beside her, a bald, eyebrowless woman, fierce in appearance, pulled chunks of thigh meat from a refrigerator, preparing a meal.

In a corner iron basin lay leftover bones.

“Hehe, big brother… big brother…”

The little girl suddenly laughed and called out.

The woman whirled around, snatched the axe at her feet, and swung it at Louis—her reaction astonishingly swift.

Louis’s face remained expressionless; his invisible Primordial Spirit power spread outward, freezing the bald woman in place. Her eyes filled with terror, then began to plead.

Louis frowned.

His Primordial Spirit power continued to expand, scanning every corner of the entire village.

One… two… five…

Seven people still lived here.

Four were women—armless, half-headed, noseless…

The other three were children, equally incomplete.

And the food here…

Louis took a deep breath.

This place may never have escaped military control.

They are all live test subjects!

At that moment,

as if drawn by the noise,

women emerged wielding hammers, swinging their blood-smeared weapons fiercely at Louis, their eyes fixed on him with greed.

It was the look of prey.

Louis shook his head.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Sounds like bursting watermelons echoed repeatedly.

Blood soaked the earth; sunlight fell, yellow sand blew, scattering their stench far and wide.

The deformed children inside the house ran out too.

They wept, rushing to the women’s sides, tears falling—as if in grief—then, in Louis’s horrified gaze, crawled forward and greedily drank the gushing blood.

Human emotion and beastly instinct merged together.

Behind him,

the bald woman’s head also exploded.

The little girl crawled over—not crying or drinking blood like the others, but glaring at Louis with hatred, struggling to pick up the axe.

Their eyes met.

Louis fell silent for a moment.

He closed his eyes.

His Yin Realm Primordial Spirit power surged fully once more.

Hum!!

The sky above twisted unnaturally—endless blue, cloudless, now cracked by a sliver of black.

It was wind.

The wind gathered.

Sand, whipped by invisible force, began to spin, to coil.

A vast black pressure, shaped under Louis’s control, slowly formed into a hand—like a divine palm descending from heaven.

Erasing everything.

Having done this,

Louis sat cross-legged, needing stillness.

As a man with an adult’s mind, he had killed before without a single pang of guilt—he could always justify it to himself.

The “Left Path” in Left Path Civil Code gave him the perfect excuse.

His self-perception had been clear:

Not evil, not good.

Just a neutral soul, favoring his own interests, occasionally acting on conscience.

But now, he felt he must reconsider his stance—compared to those who held power, what were his past crimes, his past killings?

I am a good man. A great good man!

I kill recklessly, I wield immense power—but even if I killed nonstop, I couldn’t kill many in a short time, and I’ve never deliberately targeted the innocent.

But those who hold power? One button press, one casual hand-raised vote in a meeting—and a village, a town, even a nation vanishes in an instant.

“In this vast web of human society, those who pull more threads are the true superhumans—the real lawless ones. Until I grow strong enough to break this web, I’m just another ordinary spider caught in it.”

Louis gazed at the sky.

The sun still blazed brightly, yet it could not extinguish the wailing souls scattered across the desert.

Swirling, furious nuclear toxins surged into Louis, his body’s restrictions fully released.

In merely ten minutes, every last trace of nuclear toxin was absorbed.

Louis emerged from his state of enlightenment.

His expression returned to calm.

He stood, walking toward the outside.

One step… two steps… three steps…

His figure grew translucent, then vanished.

Behind him,

one after another soul wailed, witnessing what had transpired here.

…

In a certain military base,

several middle-aged and elderly officers stared at the screen, uneasy.

“What is this?”

“Idiot, obviously another one of those ghost-ridden freaks—didn’t know some of them could be this powerful.”

“Normal. Some witches can do this. Demons are even worse—they wipe out entire towns without a sound.”

“Pfft, so what? Can he survive a thermobaric bomb?”

“Asshole, do we even have permission to use thermobaric bombs?”

“Enough. Forget that—he destroyed our test subjects. What now?”

“Find him. Identify who he is, his personality. Then decide whether to hand him over to the Yaoguan Bureau or handle him ourselves.”

“Good decision.”

“Agreed. Solid plan.”

“And the test subjects?”

“Bring in more—smugglers, immigrants, vagrants. There’s always someone. But move the testing site deeper inland. Reporters are a pain.”

“Hmph, at least we’ve recorded most of the experimental data. Otherwise, we’d have lost big.”

“Yeah, by the way, did they contact you yet?”

“Yes. We sold them this round’s data—they’re backed by those new capitalist elites. Gotta show respect.”

“True. Let’s drink.”

“To wealth.” *6

Clang!

Red wine in the glass glimmered with a bloody sheen under the fluorescent light.

…

Louis did not truly leave the desert.

He wandered nearby, using his Primordial Spirit power to locate other surveillance cameras and any possible markers.

As expected,

facilities tied to the military bore distinctive insignias.

Louis glanced at a tiny camera mounted on a roadside sign, noting its special material, smiled, and plucked it free.

Found his blue sports car and sped away from here.

Right after Louis left.

A squad of soldiers arrived at the location where the surveillance was damaged, while another squad checked vehicle records for anyone who had passed along this road during that time.

But unfortunately, they only found some tire tracks.

Fortunately, the sports car’s tire marks differed slightly from ordinary vehicles, giving them a lead—now they just needed to check broader vehicle entry and exit records, and they should find something.

But this would take time, since the military and local authorities didn’t operate as one unit.

Some places were outright hostile toward each other.

So, it was bound to take time.

Meanwhile, Louis had already driven his sports car out of New Mexico State, racing northward.

Along the way,

Louis paid attention to his inner state, as well as local livelihoods and customs.

This might be related to the requirements of the Devil-Refining Heavenly Heart Method.

After all, beyond the initial stage, further advancement required mental discipline—if one couldn’t maintain control, progress would stall.

In addition, Louis discovered something whose implications were unclear.

Nuclear corruption seemed to have another function.

In the sports car,

One hand drove while the fingertips of the other emitted a thread-thin beam of light, shifting colors endlessly, dazzlingly brilliant.

Looking at this tiny thing on his fingertip, Louis fell into thought.

“Radiation, energy…”

Radiation was a powerful force that had always existed, but ancient people couldn’t harness it, nor did they understand it well—only in modern times had its mystery begun to be uncovered.

Now, the Corpse-Corruption Technique was undergoing strange changes as it absorbed this new form of corruption.

Traditional forms like Cold Corruption or Death Corruption never produced such effects.

They couldn’t generate cold-based power or death-based techniques—only increased resistance and physical enhancement.

But now, this new corruption could be actively used.

That was a vast difference, like the distinction between passive and active skills.

“But what good is this?”

Feeling the light on his fingertip, Louis grew curious and pressed it against the car—plastic showed not the slightest change.

“Zero power?”

Louis struggled to keep a straight face—was this just for show?

After much experimentation, Louis reluctantly concluded that this thing currently showed no discernible function.

Its power was so weak it could barely ignite a thread.

Yet its physical enhancement effect was extraordinary—this nuclear corruption had deeply fused within his body, and at every moment he felt his strength growing.

His physical attributes had roughly doubled.

He could tear apart a small car with his bare hands.

Small-caliber bullets were negligible.

At this point, his raw physical strength equaled that of a newly upgraded Jumping Corpse.

“I wonder how far Jason has evolved by now.”

Louis murmured to himself, thinking inwardly.

When I return, I’ll refine Jason with the Yin Essence Body Refinement Technique.

The blue sports car raced along the highway.

Along the way, Louis attended parties.

Ate local delicacies.

Watched mountain vistas and evening clouds.

Amusement parks, concerts, national scenic areas, picnics, waterfalls…

He also eliminated a few evil spirits along the way.

He truly enjoyed himself.

Thus, Louis arrived in New York State.

As for Massachusetts State, where Mary and the others were, there was no rush—it lay to the right of New York State; he’d visit the Eater Corporation first, then go there.

The car stopped in front of a tall building.

This place… looked decently decorated.

Louis opened the sports car, brushed off his clothes, stepped out, tossed away the sunglasses he’d taken from a pool party girl’s chest, glanced around at the people, and strode inside.

Two beautiful hostesses greeted him with sweet voices, welcoming him warmly.

Then a waiter sprinted up, stopping precisely—no closer, no farther.

He bowed, his voice clear as he greeted the guest.

Louis casually tossed his keys to the approaching waiter. “I’m here to see Jordan Belfort.”

The waiter froze, skipped the standard reservation check, studied Louis’s face closely, his expression shifting slightly, then bowed again. “This way, sir.”

His tone grew even warmer.

“Hmm, don’t tell him I’m here.”

The waiter nodded respectfully.

Soon,

They reached a certain floor.

As the elevator doors opened, the roaring noise made Louis think he’d entered not a corporation but a marketplace.

“Oh John, I’m calling today because I’ve got insider info—this might be the best lead I’ve had in half a year. Give me sixty seconds, I’ll share it with you.” The bald man spoke with absolute conviction, his eyes firm and sincere—even though the person on the other end couldn’t see his performance.

“You only need to invest six thousand dollars to potentially earn sixty thousand! Tenfold! Tenfold!!” The man with side-swept bangs waved his fist, ecstatic, his voice equally charged with passion!

“Oh my brother, I’m sorry about your love life, but I think you need a little help to show that woman what you’re made of. I know a stock about to surge—no need for ten thousand dollars, no need for five thousand, just three thousand. In a month, I’ll have you buying a house in Queens!” A plump, greasy man spoke in a hoarse yet magnetic voice, luring him in.

“Hello there, baby, I’ve got…” A bearded man spoke in a high-pitched, feminine voice.

“…”

Listening to these insane phone calls, Louis’s expression was unreadable.

What the hell is this?

Phone scams?

Confused, he walked into another area.

Hey, this place was different from the phone zone!

Everywhere were piles of client files; blackboards were covered with lines mapping relationships, listing names of wealthy or middle-class individuals, along with their social networks, shopping lists, and more.

A man in a blue uniform was lecturing a group of “apprentices” below.

“Information! It’s our first principle in understanding client needs!”

“I want each of you to act like hyenas—track your clients’ needs. What do they do every day? What do they like to play? What do they drink? When do they sleep? What positions do they use with their wife/husband?”

“What’s their favorite entertainment?”

“All the information!”

“Understood? All of it!”

(End of Chapter)