Chapter 145: Ice Wall

Centered on Elsa, the air temperature plummeted rapidly, moisture condensing into hexagonal ice crystals at visible speed. Countless snowflakes swirled in the wind, settling on the ground, grass, and tree branches, quickly encasing them in a shell of ice.

Had the Gray Rain not retreated in time, he would now be frozen in place.

These were merely Elsa's passive abilities; she gazed at her palms, as if adjusting to her newfound power.

"Damn it."

Bai Lang had already cursed his teammates countless times in his mind: Elliot had accidentally become a monster, standing alongside the mission's boss; Master Pi Fu had run rampant, dragging everyone into the mire. If not for these bastards, he wouldn't be reduced to this state.

But in some ways, it was also his own fault—who had he joined but the Demon Scientists Alliance?

To outsiders, every transcendent of the Demon Scientists Alliance was a villainous antagonist: human experiments, biochemical weapons, terrifying robots, demon engines, chaotic rituals—all came as easily as breathing, leaving carnage and tragedy wherever they went.

But internally, conducting technology—especially high-precision technology—cost money.

Beyond the top-tier members at Lv30 or Lv35, the lower ranks weren't any more elite; each week they had to pay a substantial membership fee (players lived on the edge, everything demanded maximum efficiency).

If you wanted to conduct research or enhance yourself, every piece of data, every technique, every patent in the alliance had to be bought with game currency; if you couldn't afford to buy, rent it; if you couldn't rent, trade techniques.

If all else failed, you worked black jobs in the Slums: guarding venereal diseases for goblin dancers in nightclubs, repairing bio-armored vehicles for mercenary squads, screwing bolts in demon mother-nest factories.

A few years ago, a small-scale app called "Summon Succubus" briefly appeared worldwide: any user, male or female, who paid a hefty sum could spend a night with a beautiful succubus of any gender in their dreams.

Many men and women were drained of both body and money, even burdened with online loans. After the Global Supernatural Alliance notified governments to crack down, the app was banned and became a widely circulated urban legend.

That app was a "small project" created by a top-tier member of the Demon Scientists Alliance to raise research funds—there were no succubi at all, just hypnotic illusions. It netted nearly ten billion in cash, equivalent to hundreds of thousands in game currency—truly a goldmine.

With this top-tier member as a model, lower-ranking demon scientists quickly rolled out a series of no-license, no-backup, no-ethics "three-no" apps.

"Pass Every Exam" app—pay money, instantly boost brainpower and raise exam pass rates.

"Malicious Curse" app—pay money, input a rival's photo, instantly curse them with bad luck: from stepping in dog shit while running, to winning the lottery—depends entirely on how much you pay.

"Chaos Ritual" app—pay money to learn a series of evil rituals: sacrifice livestock flesh to gain temporary radiant youthfulness, appearing younger.

These mobile apps spread rapidly through the dark web, greedily hoarding cash until the Global Supernatural Alliance dispatched an all-star team of Lv30 transcendants to visit the Demon Scientists Alliance headquarters, abruptly halting the flood of three-no apps.

Now, mid- and low-tier transcendants in the Demon Scientists Alliance, stripped of their fastest income stream, had all become wage slaves.

Drawn by the mission's generous reward, Bai Lang had taken the research funding gamble—and now felt the crushing sense of one wrong step leading to endless disaster.

Without further thought, Elsa raised her hand and swept it forward.

Whoosh—

A bone-chilling wind roared forth; ice and snow instantly blanketed the earth, freezing everything within a hundred-meter fan-shaped radius.

Li Cheng fired his bat-hook gun, swinging through the air to evade the cold wave. Gray Rain leapt onto a lamppost, barely avoiding it.

Su Jie activated his rocket pack, one arm clutching the jar of human heads, the other dragging Andre into the sky.

As for Bai Lang, he summoned a giant anaconda that coiled around him, using his flesh to block the all-pervading cold.

Elsa waved her hand again; the cold wave solidified, and snow and frost from sky and ground surged toward them.

The transcendants were forced to retreat, each using their own methods, yet still struggling to keep up, fleeing all the way to the Dream Garden area where Li Cheng had previously been, their survival space shrinking further.

All this seemed long, but occurred within mere minutes. To everyone's surprise, Elliot had also failed to escape the snowstorm, now frozen solid into an ice statue.

Su Jie hesitated, then fired a single shot from his Special Affairs Bureau-issue sniper rifle, blasting the ice statue's head to shards. Meaning: the Doll Princess had never cared about Elliot's life or death.

"How could this happen?!" Su Jie's voice twisted with shock, "Wasn't the Doll Princess released by Elliot? Didn't he have control over her?"

"Just his delusion," Li Cheng sneered. "The security office walls already stated: the Doll realized she had been deceived, so she killed all visitors, staff, and guards. The diamond ring used to influence her had long lost its effect."

"Then why—"

"Why did the Doll pretend to be controlled by Elliot at first?" Li Cheng voiced Su Jie's unasked question, not answering directly, but glancing toward the horizon.

The sun's lower edge was merging with the horizon; sunset was imminent.

"Notice anything? The Doll's attacks are growing stronger. The mission objective didn't just allow us to escape via visitor cards—she can too."

Li Cheng twisted his neck, then laughed loudly as the other transcendants stared in shock: "Terminator T-X! Merge!"

Gray Rain muttered under his breath, "Who the hell is Terminator T-X?", yet his body obediently liquefied again, coating Li Cheng's entire body, forming a grotesque metallic armor studded with spikes, modeled after Li Cheng's mantis-arm bone blades and rhinoceros beetle horns.

Even the rusted greatsword was coated in liquid metal, now smooth as a mirror.

"If you want to live, cover me."

A muffled voice came from beneath the armor; Li Cheng fired his bat-hook gun at an ice spire, swung violently forward, and charged into the endless snow.

Gray Rain, weighing nearly a ton, had limited mobility of his own and wouldn't fully crush Li Cheng; instead, he used his mass advantage to generate powerful sliding momentum.

"Damn cryptic bastard!"

Bai Lang raged inwardly; like a gambler who couldn't leave the table, he played his last card: summoning two Titan Snakes to launch a suicidal charge at Elsa.

Each snake was fifteen meters long, armored in chitinous bio-armor, with dragon-gland organs installed in their mouths.

Facing the snowstorm, the Titan Snakes opened their maws, spewing blazing dragonfire from their glands, carving a path for Li Cheng.

Andre drew his straight sword, severed his own left arm's artery, and sacrificed another 30% of his Zhang Xueliang to summon Holy Strike, shattering layer after layer of thick ice walls to clear obstacles for Li Cheng. Su Jie stood by, casting healing skills to prevent him from fainting or dying.

The distance narrowed; the two Titan Snakes flanking them were finally frozen into ice statues by the all-pervading cold, and Andre's Holy Strike had reached its last gasp.

Yet several ice walls still stood ahead.

It was time.

Beneath the armor, Li Cheng drew from thin air the ancient-looking Thunder Horn and blew it with all his strength.

【Effect: Storm Descends. After blowing the horn, summon a 50-meter-radius thunderstorm centered on the user. The storm lasts up to five minutes and attacks all targets except the user.】

【Cost: One bottle of premium wine aged over ten years】

A bottle of wine vanished from his inventory; at Li Cheng's center, countless flickering arcs of electricity spontaneously formed. They leapt and danced, accumulating voltage, then erupted in an instant into a brilliant thunderstorm!

Lightning shot from sky, ground, and midair—utterly chaotic, without pattern or rule. Like the hammer of an enraged god, it shattered the thick ice walls before Li Cheng, exposing the Doll hidden behind them.

(End of Chapter)