Chapter 162: Half Body

High in the sky, Jiang Zhihui, carried aloft by the Tian Gou (humanoid body, bird wings, red nose, red face, wearing a straw rain cape), did not look back—through some innate sense, she sensed all three shikigami had died.

'Faster than I expected.'

Her heart remained utterly still; she was a natural spiritualist, forged in battlefields, no longer the girl who had once killed herself in a psychiatric hospital.

How did that saying go again? Misfortune leans on fortune; fortune hides within misfortune.

As the only chosen one in this world so far, Jiang Zhihui enjoys the 'Only I Possess the Law' benefit—and naturally, the Battlefield has imposed further 'tests' upon her.

The alternate-world players sent by the Battlefield to carry out assassination missions and eliminate her—even if their levels are only lv10–lv15—are unquestionably top-tier powerhouses within that bracket. It's normal they could swiftly kill three shikigami.

Fortunately, such assassination missions usually come with a time limit—ranging from half an hour to one or two hours.

Jiang Zhihui had no need to stay and fight; she could simply fly into Seoul and use the complex urban environment to evade and outmaneuver her pursuer.

He was the one in a hurry, not Jiang Zhihui.

Whether she dragged it out until the timer expired and the Battlefield punished him, or he grew desperate and revealed a weakness, Jiang Zhihui would seize the initiative.

As for whether either side would cause massive destruction in Seoul, resulting in civilian casualties and severe social impact—

Jiang Zhihui didn't care about the lives of ordinary people; instead, she could use this opportunity to publicly reveal the existence of the extraordinary to the world—consider it a dress rehearsal for her godhood plan.

Thinking of this, she unconsciously tilted her head—and then widened her eyes in shock, her face twisted as if she'd seen a ghost.

A moment earlier, Li Cheng had given a few instructions to Hui Yu, handed over the motorcycle, and then—dismantled the majority of his own body.

Literally, the entire lower half of his body, from below the chest and abdomen down to both legs, was completely detached.

Through the cross-section, one could clearly see the pancreas, kidneys, intestines—frozen and sealed by invisible force, even the blood within still flowing and circulating on its own.

'Uh.'

Hui Yu stared at the half-man still straddling the motorcycle and clicked his tongue. 'I know we're not supposed to think with our lower halves, but Li Cheng, isn't this whole 'sex-driven disaster, amputate to cure' thing a bit extreme? It's just so weird. So weird.'

'Someone who uses mitosis at home to create clones to do their homework has no right calling anyone weird.'

Li Cheng casually retorted, tossed the GPS tracker to Hui Yu, adjusted his exoskeleton's position, activated the rocket pack, and shot skyward.

This Shark-type individual exoskeleton, an Affairs Bureau Product, was standard issue for Mobile Task Forces; its rocket pack had limited thrust and couldn't carry Li Cheng—whose muscle density far exceeded normal humans—high or far.

So he simply dismantled his lower half like a ragdoll; as long as he reattached it within a few hours, there would be no organ failure or similar issues.

To Jiang Zhihui's eyes, this was horrifying—she turned around and saw a man with only an upper body, rocket pack blazing, chasing her, laughing maniacally.

'Legs are just decorations. The higher-ups won't understand.'

The four mechanical arms now held light machine guns instead of shotguns.

These guns were modified from the Singapore Special Industries Ltd. Ultimax 100 light machine gun—the original Ultimax used a gas-operated open-bolt system, 5.56mm ammunition, and a constant-recoil receiver, maintaining high accuracy with extremely low recoil.

After modifications by the Louch Street gun shop, the recoil was further reduced, leaving zero impact on the jetpack's flight.

A dense barrage of gunfire echoed through the night sky; each gun was fitted with a C-Mag 100-round drum magazine, forming four streams of fire sweeping toward the Tian Gou and Jiang Zhihui.

The Tian Gou's defense was far weaker than that of the Hai Fangzhu or Niu Gui shikigami; it frantically flapped its wings, altering its flight path to dodge the bullets. Occasional rounds were intercepted by Jiang Zhihui's skills.

【Skill Scroll Name: Bullets Circle Around Me】

【Attribute: Consumable (only five uses)】

【Type: Spiritual Energy】

【Usage: Active】

【Rank: Fine】

【Effect: Bullet Circumvention. Alters the trajectory of all objects meeting the definition of a bullet, making them curve around the user. Lasts up to one minute.】

【Cost: 100 Spiritual Energy to activate; subsequent consumption depends on bullet power.】

【Cooldown: None】

【Condition: Win a game of Russian roulette using a revolver.】

【Note: This skill only deflects flying objects near the user—it cannot exempt from secondary damage such as shrapnel from fragmentation rounds, flames from dragonbreath rounds, or nuclear radiation from nuclear bombs.】

【Note: Thoughts fear no bullets; extreme acts fear no events.】

As soon as the skill activated, it parted the gunfire like Moses dividing the sea—every stream of bullets automatically veered away. If this happened in a shooting game, the opponent would scream 'cheat! You're hacking your whole family!'

'Damn it.'

Jiang Zhihui watched her Spiritual Energy plummeting on her player panel and cursed inwardly.

As a triune entity of spirit, spiritual energy user, and summoner, the bulk of her power resided in her stored shikigami.

But here, at high altitude, only a handful of shikigami possessed flight capability.

Might as well try the desperate move.

Jiang Zhihui hugged the baby with her right arm, flicked her sleeve with her left, and released several white paper cutouts. Then she pulled out a satellite phone and dialed Ms. Park at Cheong Wa Dae.

Murder Hornets, Locusts, Flocks of Crows—

Swarms of low-tier shikigami filled the sky, surging en masse toward Li Cheng.

Firearms were useless against such targets; fire was the best countermeasure.

Li Cheng retrieved his nearly empty 【Nuclear Lighter】 from his inventory, set it to level three, and fired a column of flame forward.

The inferno tore a gap through the swarm of low-tier shikigami, allowing Li Cheng to break through.

This delay allowed the Tian Gou to pull away again, accelerating its dive toward the brightly lit city of Seoul.

On a mountain road, a white-collar worker returning from a business trip was driving while calling home to report his safety: 'I'm back in Seoul, should be home in twenty minutes.'

Shhh—

Two shadows skimmed the treetops at high speed, streaking past the car.

The white-collar worker jumped in fright, dropped his phone, nearly crashed into a tree: 'Hey, I just saw a giant bird carrying a teenage girl holding a baby, chased by a man with only an upper body!'

Seoul had not yet recovered from the shock of the helicopter mysteriously crashing into the river and exploding; the roads were clogged with fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars. Everyone had seen this horrifying scene.