Chapter 866: NO.235: Then he will consider banning himself

NO. 235: Then he will consider banning himself

Friends who have gone hunting know that the safest way to hunt is to wear down the prey slowly, especially if the prey already has a wound and has been marked.

A cornered beast will still fight; even a rabbit forced into a corner will bite. A hasty pursuit, eager for quick results, easily backfires, but if you have enough patience, you can let the prey keep running, leaving a trail of blood.

Until they become weak and decline, lost in endless struggle.

To reduce casualties, both the police and the Two Worlds Safety Bureau units are employing this tactic.

Even with billions of monsters and aliens, even if they are leaderless, they remain just as dangerous; even if everyone is an elite picked from their own units, they still must be careful not to fail here.

In fact, from the start until now, in these 21 hours, law enforcement casualties have already exceeded two thousand.

Compared to the enemy's numbers, this figure isn't huge, but compared to the encircling force of only thirty thousand members, it's not small either—enough to justify their choice.

But what if someone on both sides doesn't want to keep dragging this out?

A hunting method that is both safe and time‑saving can only make the prey feel it has a great advantage, so that even wounded it still leaps about vigorously, yet it is not attacking the hunter.

To achieve this, one must either give them hope of escape or give them hope of resistance.

The former—Aomo cannot provide; letting Gilbalis open the door would make it hard to explain to those officers like Bixikeshi.

The latter is also difficult for Aomo.

He can't just hand over Gilbalis, nor does he want to push Xiao Lu to the opposite side; in that case it seems there's no way.

But that's not entirely true.

He had already made a plan and split up operations from the start, directing remotely, and even specially had Gilbalis leave him a fixed screen dedicated to capturing the battlefield situation where Jie De is being broadcast, which shows——

——although he doesn't want to push Xiao Lu outward, he still wants to use Jie De as bait.

He wants to intervene.

He wants to manipulate the opponent's gambler's mentality.

The police want stability, but the other side also wants to survive and stay at large.

A group that originally ran honest businesses, yet got tempted into illegal dealings, initially harbored the thought that even if they couldn't conquer Earth, they wanted to become shadow emperors.

But after the police intercepted them, these ideas changed.

They couldn't simply surrender, since most of their subordinates are unclean and wouldn't survive a thorough investigation.

But to flee—no matter how powerful their hacking skills, they can't match a data world built by artificial minds.

Unless they could, like the original Trinity Form Oubu, harness the power of Ultraman X, who excels in the data domain, and pair it with a full set of Gomora armor, then shatter the data wall with a massive data strike.

They can only fight; what they can now pursue is merely a life of living free from the law.

To achieve this, they have only one hope for a turnaround: an artificial Belial.

In the Business Alliance's plan, this is an optional final step.

Because nobody really expects to revive a Belial and have it ride over everyone's heads.

Only followers of Belial like Xia Ta'er deem this goal necessary, and, using the excuse that the alliance now lacks high‑end combat power, they convince everyone to accept the plan: 'make a name at Zhongshan Racecourse, then carry out terrorist attacks, and thereafter remain hidden to keep applying pressure'—which requires this final step.

They indeed need it.

This is proven by the present situation.

There is no truly top‑tier force that can match Sai Luo, Jie De, or Lipiya; even if one were to fuse super beasts or create a Beliuodra from countless undead monsters, it would still be defeated by Emperor Jie De, Wild Burst Sai Luo, Ashen Jiedun Aomo, Lipiya, and Jie Si Ti Si acting together.

They might confidently claim that they have drained a great deal of the enemy's energy, yet they lack the ability thereafter to assault the police base where Gilbalis is located.

Even that consumption means little—Aomo and the others, by rotating shifts with police and Two Worlds Safety Bureau personnel, have taken short breaks and even eaten.

As for this group of Reionics, they can only scavenge the few scraps of material left after their base was blown apart.

What if they can't even eat enough to replenish their strength?

Then slaughter any edible monsters.

Even killing other Reionics isn't out of the question—some Reionics still trapped in their berserk state don't mind such intra‑species slaughter.

And Reionics that have emerged from their berserk state but are now weak make an excellent 'optimization option'.

Leaving aside that before becoming Reionics they were all different aliens, even if they changed… Reionics are born to slaughter their own kind.

But a bigger problem than that is the monsters' declining stamina.

Know that the Business Alliance initially prepared only embryos and corpses because normal monster farming is too costly for the alliance to bear.

Thus they 'calculate life and death' in order to constantly field the maximum number of troops.

Since the goal is to field the utmost troops at all times, it's certainly not for long‑term preparation—among these monsters, the living ones have short lifespans, and no thought was given to supplying them with rations.

Otherwise, even if a large portion of the billions of monsters were undead, after roughly halving them the food required… those aliens selling themselves couldn't earn that much.

Precisely because no such provision was made, the alliance's Reionics now face the dilemma of their monsters gradually weakening over time.

The only stopgap is to be frugal—storing them instantly in their battle devices every second they aren't fighting, to delay energy consumption.

This is merely waiting to die, like a fallen beast watching its wound bleed out, watching its life and vitality ebb away bit by bit.

Can they really endure that?

Do they really have that much patience?

Aomo expressed doubt, so he has constantly tried to conserve his strength and energy; even after defeating a beast stronger and more valuable than the original Moon‑Riding Elephant symbol, it's hard to say whether it could surpass a thousand‑bodied monster stronger than the original Belial, and he still doesn't feel completely safe.

Because those Reionics aren't desperate yet.

Many of them have neither surrendered nor sought death; they are merely stalling.

Perhaps they are just avoiding.

Perhaps they are about to become desperate.

But as long as they truly aren't desperate, they are the most dangerous.

They could even be more dangerous than usual, carrying a resolve to perish together and a kind of madness.

They could also be the most cunning.

The quick wit born of fear might instead make the concluding process more delayed and complex.

This can't go on like that……

Aomo, not wanting to see that scene, threw out a bait.

To the weary LeoNix, there was no sweeter bait than the Son of Belial, but even so, Aomo had waited until now.

After waiting for those damned 21 hours.

After waiting until even Bixiketuxe·Shihuaiya sent him a message, asking: 【Are you going to miss the match?】

【Sorry, getting tickets is quite a hassle……】

Back then, the imperious Bixiketuxe·Shihuaiya Juanzhang now seemed to empathize and apologized, but this gave Aomo not a bit of comfort.

It only made him, whenever the match was mentioned, feel urgent beneath his face as cold as profound ice.

But even with such urgency, his mind had not yet lost reason.

He would also tell Sai Luo not to rush.

Sai Luo cannot come.

Right now, even Orb has arrived—this perfectly timed pressure is exactly what is lacking now; if Sai Luo were to come as well…… perhaps it would turn into despair, or perhaps into utter cowardice.

The gambler who couldn't even find a last chance had his spirit crushed, no longer staking everything on one throw——how could this let him fast‑forward!

Holding such fervent anticipation, Evil Blaze Jeton's face, as cold as black iron, turned toward the distant window where the scorched earth blended with the ground, not so easily noticed.

In the diamond‑shaped crystal at the center of his face, lava‑like light flowed as from an organ in his chest, resembling a gaze.

It reflected those trembling goat eyes.

You have no idea? Hell's Xiataer.

You are not like Lei Botesi, who tried to seize the Ultimate Combat Instrument; you have an opportunity.

You also haven't been blocked by an enemy like Orb Ultraman; you have countless LeoNix companions around you, who may place their bets alongside you.

「Aomo-san! 」

A terrified cry——coming from the Son of Belial whose eyes had regained clear blue light——Evil Blaze Jeton had already readied himself to snatch Jie De back the moment he was captured.

Yet everyone's gaze was fixed on him.

Even in Orb's eyes, there seemed to be the same alarm as Jie De's, looking toward his own rear.

His rear?

He didn't turn back, merely letting the scorching flame flow out like an arc, like a storm clinging to a star's surface.

Such a response would usually give most ambushers a taste of having offense and defense reversed, but the entity behind him—the one that had constantly given him that uneasy feeling—was not among them.

Indeed, it was not among the vast majority.

「Aomo Lindun, come and truly become a LeoNix! 」

When he heard those words, his vision was swallowed by Hei'an.

In the eyes of onlookers, Evil Blaze Jeton's whole body writhed as if losing control, clutching his head, and around his form appeared the unstable fusions of Jedun, Mefeilasi, and even Aomo.

Furthermore, Aomo's demonic visage, while shifting from half silver‑black to pure black, simultaneously revealed the outline of Leibulangduo.

——

【Fusion, loss of control, variables beyond calculation】

【Calculated variables——3】

Behind the front lines, in the temporary police base, the second form assumed by Jierbalisi——on the Command Tower——the core red light flashed and vanished.

【Notice: Bixiketuxe·Shihuaiya, please come to the core base】

【Bixiketuxe·Shihuaiya: Eh?】

【Aomo Lindun should have entrusted you with an item called the Secret Key; please come to execute Plan Two】