Chapter 132

"Finally willing to move?"

Seeing the nails scattered across the corridor and Li Ang's bleeding backhand, the dozen scar-faced directors all twitched their lips, revealing a peculiar smile.

"It seems this ability differs from soul-probing—when you activate this invisible attack or defense, you pay a price, and that price is your skin, correct?"

Li Ang glanced at him upon hearing this, still saying nothing, while the scar-faced director continued on his own:

"After the Lyon Blood Night, I investigated Lyon's estate, and even during your coma, I took a distant look at your injuries."

Aside from those who inexplicably committed suicide, many corpses died from some invisible force destroying vital organs—and you, unconscious at the estate's entrance, had lost large patches of skin… this matches my theory almost exactly."

Watching Li Ang's impassive figure in the distance, the dozen scar-faced directors shook their heads, then slowly reloaded their nail magazines as they spoke:

"Even if you deny it, it doesn't matter—your weapon's 'usage rule' was already exposed after you used it at Lyon's place."

The person who gave me this ability once said: in battles between anomalies, intelligence and strategy are sometimes even more important than raw power. No matter how strong an ability is, once its mechanics are understood, a counter can always be found.

Coincidentally, your type—long range, high burst, but heavy cost—is perfectly countered by my ability. I don't even need to do much; just keep forcing you to use your power, and you'll kill yourself. Am I right?"

"…"

Watching the scar-faced brute before him, who feigned taunting but was actually probing with words, Li Ang fell silent for a moment, then quietly released his grip on Heishanyang's horns.

The ability of 【War's Counterpoint】 only works on beings with souls, but the dozen scar-faced brutes before him were hollow shells, naturally immune to Heishanyang's "provocation."

Worse still, his true body wasn't in the dungeon; Li Ang couldn't leave the dungeon, and 【Holy Spirit Pendant】's power couldn't reach outside—it couldn't directly kill his true body, and the other anomalies were equally useless.

So right now, as he'd said, Li Ang was essentially checkmated—forced to keep using 【Holy Spirit Pendant】 to block shots, slowly consuming his flesh and stamina…

"Li Ang! Get into the interrogation room first!"

Though she couldn't understand this "unscientific" fight, seeing Li Ang remain silent, the female police officer vaguely realized the scar-faced director might be right—if they delayed any longer, Li Ang would be worn down to death.

Seeing the scar-faced brutes at the other end of the corridor finish reloading and switch out their air tanks, preparing for another volley, she cried out in panic:

"Go! If we block the door and he can't break through the walls, he can only send one or two in at a time—we'll buy ourselves more time!"

"…"

Wait… can't break through the walls?

Hearing this, Li Ang paused, then immediately activated 【Holy Spirit Pendant】, exchanging another sliver of skin to kill every single scar-faced brute at the far end of the corridor, then turned and asked:

"Does your Secret Investigation Bureau have any high-explosive ordnance?"

"Huh? Yes! We confiscate some every time we arrest rebels, then destroy them regularly—the latest batch hasn't been sent off yet…"

So there it is.

After shoving the corpses of the scar-faced brutes to completely block the stairwell entrance, Li Ang finally allowed a faint smile to appear on his face.

From the dozen hollow bodies, the scar-faced brute's "anomaly" likely had a mass-replication ability. And the firearms in their hands—all identical in design and wear—suggest it doesn't just replicate living things, but inanimate objects too.

Then why not just replicate explosives?

What?

If he truly wanted to wear you down, throwing explosives directly into the dungeon would be far easier and more effective than sending a dozen armed hollows to fire one nail at a time—but he chose the harder route, going through the trouble of creating dozens of armed shells instead of just dumping a pile of replicated explosives into the dungeon.

Excluding the possibility he's too stupid to think of it, the most likely reason is he wants to minimize destruction—he's afraid too many explosives will destroy the dungeon!

And what the enemy fears most… is exactly what I should do now.

…

Having vaguely found a possible way out thanks to the female officer's "reminder," Li Ang pulled her into a corner, took a deep breath, and gripped 【Holy Spirit Pendant】 tightly…

"Boom!"

A violent collision rang out—the wall nearest to them collapsed entirely, crumbling into a pile of broken bricks and stone.

But this was only the beginning; under Li Ang's reckless "transactions," the invisible hammer formed by 【Holy Spirit Pendant】 surged forward like a speeding heavy truck, crushing everything in the dungeon it could destroy.

Amid a series of deafening roars, not only the interrogation rooms, but also the dozen temporary holding cells were successively torn apart by the hammer, leaving the entire dungeon buried under dust and rubble—the once narrow, cramped corridors now lay wide and open.

Sensing the disturbance below, the hollow corpses blocking the stairwell were blown apart by explosions, as if someone was trying to blast a path through.

But before new scar-faced brutes could rush in, the last few walls of the dungeon had already been demolished—even two load-bearing pillars were snapped, and the southwest corner, piled with supplies and tools, had completely caved in…

"Ah! The walls are gone!"

"What's happening?!"

"It's collapsing! Run!!"

At the instant the dungeon corner collapsed, something finally broke—the souls, once visible only in the soul's vision, reappeared before Li Ang and the woman.

Indeed, my initial guess was right: if I destroy enough of the dungeon, I can get out.

Seeing the scar-faced brutes at the far end of the corridor vanish, Li Ang exhaled slowly, then used the Witch's Broom to summon a gale, sweeping the flying dust toward the stairwell—and flipping over the panicked secret police and prisoners alike.

"Take them over there!"

Pointing to the few load-bearing pillars he hadn't destroyed, Li Ang told the female officer to lead everyone there, then gripped 【Holy Spirit Pendant】 and sprinted toward the stairwell.

As expected, after half the dungeon was destroyed, the once "infinite loop" stairwell returned to normal—ascending it no longer led to another collapsed dungeon, but to the empty first-floor lobby of the Secret Investigation Bureau.

Just like the dungeon before?

Looking at the empty first-floor lobby, Li Ang frowned, preparing to test whether he could ascend further—when suddenly Heishanyang warned him.

"Watch out!"

Li Ang's expression hardened instantly; he activated 【Holy Spirit Pendant】, forming a solid invisible wall around himself.

The next instant, over fifty nails hammered into it—only to be deflected one by one by the pendant's power.

From nowhere, a new wave of scar-faced brutes, each armed, suddenly materialized in the once-empty lobby—these ruthless "replicas" not only fired from afar, but some even dropped their guns and charged headlong, launching fearless assaults toward Li Ang standing in the stairwell…

Is that all?

Watching the scar-faced brutes rush toward him, yet stopped a meter away by 【Holy Spirit Pendant】, Li Ang shook his head slightly, ignored them, and walked straight upstairs.

Aside from extreme stealth—even the soul's vision couldn't detect any anomaly—his ability provided almost no direct combat power. No wonder he was sent as an infiltrator.

The real threat has never been these "fake people" or their guns—it's the strange ability that links the stairwell's upper and lower levels, trapping me here.

The truly troublesome thing was never the "dummies" and firearms he had copied, but that strange ability that linked the upper and lower floors of the staircase together, making it impossible for him to leave.

However, that ability seems unable to exist alone; once the supporting vessel is destroyed, that strange distortion vanishes immediately.

So even if the space between the first and second floors is "distorted" again, it doesn't matter; at worst, the building gets demolished one more time. Having basically figured out the effect of the opponent's ability, he can no longer trap me.

And clearly, Li Ang is not the only one who knows this.

As Li Ang spread his "shield," hardening against the gunfire from dozens of weapons, and began walking upstairs, the scarred burly men's faces showed expressions of despair; immediately afterward, they successively lowered the guns in their hands and vanished one by one.

When Li Ang reached the fifth floor and stepped out from the stairwell, the surroundings had already returned to normal, once again becoming that somewhat noisy Bureau of Special Investigations.

In the large conference room on the left side of the fifth floor, several secret police officers seemed to be holding a meeting, with heated arguments occasionally erupting from inside; on the right side was a semi-open office area where two staff members were struggling to push a trolley loaded with a pile of files, shuttling back and forth between desks, sweating profusely as they distributed documents one by one.

Further inside was the office the female police officer had taken him to visit; the "Director's Office" sign on the door remained as before, and even the person inside was still the same individual.

The only difference was that the soul flame, once full of hostility and murderous intent, had now turned into a desperate yet calm appearance, quietly waiting for his arrival.

Giving up?

Looking at the appearance of that soul flame, he found no madness of mutual destruction, only regret, unwillingness, and a hint of relief; Li Ang couldn't help but frown slightly, then walked over and pushed the door open.

"Congratulations, you won."

Seeing Li Ang push the door and enter, the scarred burly man actually smiled, then calmly invited him:

"Willing to chat with me?

Before I die, I still have many questions I want to ask you; I imagine you must feel the same. However, please slow down your speech a bit; after all, your ability is truly terrifying, and I don't want to betray my comrades.

If you suddenly ask a question I won't answer, I will immediately commit suicide, and our conversation will end. Is that acceptable?"

"..."

After checking the state of the opponent's soul and discovering he truly had a way to commit suicide immediately, Li Ang did not rush to act and control him; instead, he nodded and said:

"Fine, then one question each, but I ask first."

"Okay."

"That ability resembling spatial distortion shouldn't be yours, so you must have other accomplices. Therefore, my question is: when he and the woman with bandages escaped, how much information related to me did they take?"

"..."

Are you sure this is "one" question?

After hearing Li Ang's first question, the scarred burly man said with extreme speechlessness:

"Don't think I don't know; you can peek into others' soul states and get answers through their reactions. So the beginning of your sentence seems like a statement, but actually, you are still secretly asking questions!

First, you asked if the distortion ability was mine, then confirmed whether I had accomplices, then asked if they escaped together, then asked if they took information while escaping, and finally asked how much information about you they took. In that single sentence of yours, you squeezed out five questions or more from me! This is unfair!"

"If you feel it's unfair, you don't have to answer."

"..."

If I don't answer, won't I lose out?

Looking at the expressionless Li Ang before him, the scarred director couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance.

If he died right now, he would get nothing; but after answering his question, he could ask one more. So either one question

for five questions, or simply accept being cheated out of four questions for free; obviously, one-for-five is the better deal.

"They didn't take much, only some speculations about your ability and basic information the Bureau could look up; beyond that, nothing. What they mainly took this time was other intelligence; information about you was just incidental."

After answering Li Ang's question, the scarred director took a deep breath and asked:

"My first question is: upstairs in your Cleanup Bureau, exactly..."

"Don't ask."

Interrupting his question, Li Ang reached out and gripped the Holy Spirit Pendant, staring intently at him and saying:

"Sorry, I won't answer any of your questions. If you want to commit suicide, go ahead."

"Huh?"

Upon hearing this, the scarred burly man opened his mouth in shock; his face cycled rapidly through anger, then confusion, then blankness, several emotions flashing by quickly, finally turning into eyes full of incomprehension.

"Are you planning to renege? But since you can see through others' souls, this exchange of questions must favor you! And I'm already preparing to commit suicide; even if I knew the intelligence, I couldn't take it back. Why do you still do this?"

"I can tell you this, though."

After thinking for a moment, Li Ang replied:

"A senior who helped me greatly once told me that no matter how advantageous it looks, never easily exchange intelligence with enemies who can threaten you, unless they are already dead. And you are only preparing to commit suicide, not actually dead yet.

Moreover, I still don't know what abilities your accomplices possess. If their abilities are special and they have a way to extract intelligence from dead mouths, what then? So before you truly die, I won't say any intelligence."

"..."

"By the way, doesn't this also count as answering one of your questions? Then according to our agreement, can I ask again?"

"..."

Ask your mother! I'm dying right now!

F***!