Chapter 429: Work's Done

The music reached the interlude, and that person suddenly accelerated during Ying Duo's reload interval.

His speed was so fast it didn't look like running, more like teleporting; in the blink of an eye, the man's hand had already been drawn from his pocket, palm aimed at Ying Duo's chest.

Something in that man's palm seemed to be glowing; Ying Duo's body suddenly lost control, his finger stuck on the trigger couldn't move, and the man's hand was less than ten centimeters from his chest, the light in his palm growing brighter.

"Deputy Director, you are after all a Fang Zhiyan person; I can't kill you, but letting you lie in a hospital for a few days is still possible."

Ying Duo looked at him, the Ying Guang Lu fragments of hair under his hat brim fluttered slightly.

The man stepped straight in front of Ying Duo, his palm thrust straight toward Ying Duo's chest, but Ying Duo simply stood his ground; seeing the strike about to land, his body suddenly turned into a mass of Data Stream.

The palm passed through the Data Stream and missed, the energy slammed into the wall at the corridor's end and exploded, leaving a large crater on the specially reinforced wall of the Dome.

The Data Stream reconstituted into a humanoid shape at the other end of the corridor; Ying Duo's weapon was no longer a gun, but a Cannon Barrel.

The metal Cannon Barrel was covered with Engravings of several complex energy circuits, and its design was almost identical to that in the wanted notice, only much simplified.

Using such a weapon in the Dome's headquarters is no small skirmish among department members.

The man's expression darkened instantly, while Ying Duo, after they had created distance, began charging energy into the Cannon Barrel.

"The gun—" the man didn't finish, because Ying Duo fired.

He slung the Cannon Barrel over his left shoulder; his left hand had to both charge it and stabilize it with energy, while his right hand was suddenly free.

The shot came so abruptly that it left a gash on the man's shoulder, but Ying Duo was clearly not satisfied with that result.

To know, that shot was aimed straight at the man's head.

Having dealt with high‑rank people like Bai Mu Yun often, he also knows that this world's combat power standards cannot be judged solely by so‑called levels.

The higher the level, the more energy a person has inside, and the higher their mastery of Aberrant Arts.

But those are only on the energy side; a person's physical techniques and combat skills are not counted.

Likewise, even at high levels, without any defense one can still die at the hands of an ordinary person.

The man glanced down at the wound on his shoulder, then looked up at Ying Duo, his expression finally becoming serious.

He raised both hands, the energy emanating from his palms quickly coalescing into a protective shield surrounding him.

Ying Duo's bullets struck the force field with a clatter but could not cause more damage, instead sounding like new background music for Qi Ran's upcoming part.

The man advanced through the hail of bullets, pushing forward with both hands, the force field maximally condensed and pressed straight toward Ying Duo.

Ying Duo couldn't dodge in time; the force field shoved his back into the wall at the corridor's end, emitting a muffled groan.

Although everything around was pixelated, seeming false to Ying Duo's eyes, the pain was a genuine feedback to his body.

"Deputy Director, the farce should end."

He raised his hand, and a burst of pink smoke suddenly erupted at his feet.

Something was moving inside the smoke, indistinct, only a vague outline.

The man's reaction was swift; he immediately stepped back, the energy flowing from his palm toward his feet, ready to launch himself, but his legs were as if bound, unable to move.

He looked down and finally saw a playing card on the cleared ground, face up, a Queen of Spades (Q).

Countless black energies surged from the tiny playing card, coiling around his limbs, immobilizing him.

"Surprise—!"

Xi Ren Sheng sprang from the smoke, the stars and tears on his mask pressed against the man's face, less than five centimeters away.

Xi Ren Sheng has lately been fond of these close‑up face kills; his fingertips held three playing cards, the corners pressed against the man's neck.

The man's body froze for a moment, energy coursing rapidly beneath his skin, ready to erupt outward to launch Xi Ren Sheng.

His Aberrant Arts hadn't foreseen this person's action?

But his energy was only half‑coalesced when he felt something burning in his chest.

Xi Ren Sheng darted to the side, while Ying Duo leaned against the corner, still shouldering that Cannon.

He had just been blasted away and landed heavily, yet this didn't affect his charging of energy into the Cannon Barrel.

At this moment, all the Rune circuits on the Cannon Barrel lit up, energy converging and compressing inside, the muzzle almost pressed directly against his chest.

The man's pupils contracted; energy from his whole body gathered at his chest, forming a thick shield right at the muzzle's point.

【Charging complete, fire?】

The muzzle emitted a pure white beam; the man's energy shield shattered with a "bang" the instant it met the beam.

It pierced the man's chest, shooting from one end of the corridor to the other, finally boring a hole straight through the Dome; from the opening, Ying Duo and Xi Ren Sheng could even see the star‑less night sky outside.

The entire corridor trembled briefly from the blast; the musical climax had just passed, leaving only Xie Jingyan's final high note echoing.

The man's chest was worse off than the Dome; the Dome only had a hole punched from inside, while he was shot through at close range.

His chest seemed to have a piece vanish into thin air, still showing churning flesh and blood, the edges slightly charred.

But Yang Yixie couldn't see the details; he only saw the pixel‑blurred image.

But in that respect, this Cannon should be considered a failure.

After all, the method of researching this Cannon falls under the Annihilation Principle, and annihilation wouldn't leave such scorch marks.

Was there a problem with the energy circuit? Or the trajectory wrong?

"He's still alive?" Xi Ren Sheng's voice was full of amazement; as he moved, the clown hat on his head jingled a few times.

The man's chest heaved violently, his pupils already dilating; although the Special Ability Practitioner's physique is stronger than an ordinary person's, taking such a blast at this close range was simply unbearable.

Ying Duo set the Cannon down from his shoulder onto the ground; the Cannon Barrel was still smoking, and he immediately packed it into his backpack.

He then drew a sniper rifle from his backpack, barrel aimed at the man's head.

"Work's done."

Bang—!