Chapter 413: Excessive Output

The sound of gunfire and metal clashing came from deep within the pipe; the Butterfly Speaker, following behind Ying Duo, listened as the noise drew nearer, confirming that Ying Duo was not merely leading him on a wild goose chase, but truly had a clear purpose.

Footsteps came from the other end of the underground tunnel.

Xie Jingyan and Sha Yu Feng looked up simultaneously; Xie Jingyan's left shoulder had been slashed open by Sha Yu Feng, the torn fabric revealed a streak of blood on the skin, but the bleeding seemed to have stopped.

A few strands of purple hair clung to her sweat‑soaked forehead; her breathing was heavy, but the hand gripping the sword remained steady.

Sha Yu Feng stood three meters opposite her, the muzzles of his twin pistols still exhaling faint blue smoke.

Then they both saw that flash of Ying Guang Lu.

The shards of Ying Guang Lu glowed so glaringly in the darkness that they were blinding, because Ying Duo was moving straight toward them, and the hoodie of his sweatshirt did little to conceal him.

Xie Jingyan's fingers tightened on the sword hilt; the ghostly silhouette she had chased all the way, never able to catch, was this very color.

Her left‑hand sword had unconsciously swung across her chest, while her right hand pressed against the spatial device, fingertips touching the hilt of the peach‑wood swords inside.

Sha Yu Feng reacted faster than she did; his gun barrel was already aimed at that Ying Guang Lu head.

He recognized that Ying Guang Lu head.

During the Supervision Bureau incident, he remembered that among the people trailing Yue Chengzhang there was someone with that color.

Later, when he escaped from Tianmian City, he learned that this kid was actually a Co‑Absorption undercover.

Co‑Absorption.

Sha Yu Feng narrowed his eyes; the Co‑Absorption crowd were all lunatics—he used to call the Church rigid, but now it seemed the Church was also unscrupulous.

What holy father or holy mother in this wasteland would ever act without expecting something in return?

Putting aside the secret collusion between Co‑Absorption and the Dome for now, at least Sha Yu Feng was thrilled to see Ying Duo blow up Tianmian City.

Xie Jingyan's gaze was fixed on Ying Duo; she was sure she had never seen this person, yet she felt a strange familiarity in him.

Thinking back on previous experiences, that eerie Ying Guang Lu was likely the result of the opponent's Aberrant Arts, not some ghostly figure.

Could it be illusion? Consciousness Law?

Ying Duo ignored the two who were confronting each other, his eyes landing on the haphazard pile of bodies in the middle of the tunnel.

Butterfly Speaker slipped half his body out from behind Ying Duo, his eyes flicking between Xie Jingyan and Sha Yu Feng.

Unlike Sha Yu Feng, who is purely action‑oriented, Butterfly Speaker had been gathering intelligence from the moment he first reached the Dome, not to mention that today's sudden incident also involved some higher‑ups, and they had obtained files that were originally forbidden to view.

For example, the scarred girl before us is the sole daughter of Foreign Ministry Minister Xie Jingnian, captain of Neon‑X, and the direct target of today's attack, Xie Jingyan.

So his newly appointed partner, right after joining the Dome's Field Operations Department, already wounded the Foreign Ministry minister's daughter, huh?

Their job‑hunting path really looks bleak.

Butterfly Speaker cleared his throat, stepped out from behind Ying Duo and adopted a "we're all on the same side" posture.

"Don't get worked up, don't get worked up; we're all working for the Dome, why can't we just talk things out?"

"This is our Dome Mutation Department's newly appointed deputy director, here to assist with the investigation."

Xie Jingyan furrowed her brows; these people were sent by the Dome to investigate?

Butterfly Speaker and Sha Yu Feng were both in their own civilian clothes, while Ying Duo wore a black sweatshirt and a suit the Dome required for work, with no money involved at all.

If they were an action unit, they should have been wearing special protective gear.

Can't the liars put a little effort into it?

Butterfly Speaker looked at Xie Jingyan's clearly skeptical, even more cautious expression and felt a headache coming on.

"Then you should have the credentials the Dome issued, right?"

Xie Jingyan asked warily; whether they were from the Dome or not, the three in front of her certainly seemed to be a group.

"As for this one…"

Butterfly Speaker instinctively glanced at Ying Duo; both he and Sha Yu Feng were fresh names on the Church's wanted list, and the Dome couldn't openly recruit them, so……

"Why do you think I have credentials?"

Ying Duo's golden eyes stared at Butterfly Speaker, posing a soul‑deep question.

"Or, why would you think a deputy director uses credentials on the job?"

"Isn't it always the deputy director who checks others' credentials? How could it be the other way around?"

He shouldn't have placed any hope in Ying Duo's reliability.

Butterfly Speaker fell silent for a moment, then finally spoke to the Xie Jingyan before him.

"I know it's hard to believe, but this really is the newly appointed deputy director of the Mutation Department; after all, you should know that if the three of us act together, you have no chance to escape."

"How can I know unless I try?" Xie Jingyan retorted stubbornly.

Butterfly Speaker truly didn't want to test her, though he deliberately mentioned Ying Duo's identity without revealing theirs, to mislead Xie Jingyan into thinking they were also from the Mutation Department.

But what if…?

What if this miss is a petty, narrow‑minded person, goes back and tells her father, and secretly sets traps for them?

The situation stalled, Sha Yu Feng's combat was interrupted and felt a bit dampened; Butterfly Speaker could only grit his teeth and explain Xie Jingyan's identity, hoping Sha Yu Feng would grasp the urgency of the problem.

In the end Sha Yu Feng just sneered, holstered his gun, and paid no attention to the matter.

Jokingly, if you really argue like that, he had even kicked the Church saint's table, taken her tea leaves, and even drilled several holes in her body.

Even if he wanted revenge, the Church's people would crush him to dust first.

Xie Jingyan kept a careful distance from the few of them, but after they failed to explain, they seemed to simply ignore her; Ying Duo had even begun studying the several corpses lying on the ground.

If Xie Jingyan wanted to leave now, she could simply walk away.

"…Did you never consider leaving a way out?"

Ying Duo crouched beside the barely‑living person about to gasp their last breath, and beside them was another who hadn't even survived until Ying Duo arrived.

Even seasoned players know you have to leave a segment of the Blood Bar to capture a monster.

If that person is a link in a quest chain, then with that NPC gone the chain would break, wouldn't it?

But the crux is, Ying Duo's output is maxed, his melee is slightly inferior, defense even worse, and as for healing… he simply doesn't have that stat allocation option.

Isn't that just a coincidence?

Die Yu Zhe is a pure mage, Sha Yu Feng is a melee archer, Ying Duo is a ranged artillery, and there wasn't even a shadow of a healer on the scene.