Chapter 221: Qian Kun

A paper crane, at some unknown moment, quietly perched on Cervantes' shoulder.

In the next instant, Li Cheng's form materialized from the void, his right hand gripping a rusty cleaver as he drove it straight into Cervantes' abdomen, his left hand spreading open to cover the man's skull, activating the temporary skill 【Absorb Brain Entropy】.

Absorb Brain Entropy can extract the target's most recent vivid memory, gathering intelligence while exerting a slight control effect.

Cervantes' eyes rolled back; compared to the cleaver piercing his abdomen and his memories being drained,

what made him tremble uncontrollably was a terrifying possibility—brainwashing, control, possession.

Like that Batman, forever reduced to a puppet.

Time seemed slowed by countless times over; Cervantes strained every ounce of willpower to resist the effects of 【Absorb Brain Entropy】, scanning his inventory and skill slots, desperately searching for a glimmer of hope.

In his skill slot, the combat technique 【Qian Kun Yi Zhi】, whose power depends on the number of game coins owned?

No, the Special Affairs Bureau had confiscated all game coins before the mission; 【Qian Kun Yi Zhi】 had zero power, striking like a tickle.

The 【Benjamin Button Rejuvenation Technique】, which reverses the target's apparent age?

No, this skill only temporarily alters outward appearance, not physical condition.

Useful in scripted missions to deceive and persuade aging nobles obsessed with immortality, driving them mad into obedient submission.

But in this situation,

Cervantes had no doubt that even if the opponent reverted to a child's body, he could still crush his skull.

In his inventory: the 【Resonant Drum】, which boosts allies' movement and attack speed;

the 【Poison Dart Frog Bell】, which summons a swarm of poison dart frogs out of thin air;

the 【Rusted Blade】, which prevents wounds from healing or stopping bleeding.

None of these could help Cervantes break free under the current conditions—only one path remained.

He channeled all his willpower into the item in the second-to-last slot of his inventory: the 【Emergency Escape Card】, and activated its effect.

【Mission "Power Outburst" has failed】

【Penalty applied; next mission will become a penalty mission】

The system alert faded into silence; Cervantes, face twisted in fury, vanished on the spot, too late even to utter a villain's cliché like "I'll be back!"

He just ran?

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow; as Cervantes disappeared, a system chime sounded in his ear, confirming mission completion.

Grey Rain had not yet arrived at Angel City with Karoline and the others—meaning Cervantes had not used any long-range teleportation skill, but instead consumed a 【Emergency Escape Card】 to exit this world, prematurely ending the duel mission.

A pity—if only he could have severed Cervantes' head, cracked open the skull, and implanted part of the brain, Li Cheng could have tested whether he could truly control other players.

Then make them haul bricks at construction sites; with their supernatural physiques, they could move dozens or hundreds of tons per day, earning thousands or tens of thousands—massive wealth.

Li Cheng looked up at the pure-white airship, its weapon pod rotating overhead, and raised the Avenger cannon to fire.

A dense hail of bullets easily ruptured the helium balloons; the entire airship lost lift, slowly tilting downward, crashing directly onto Alexander and the others standing on the beach.

Along the shore of Angel City across the bridge, many bystanders had gathered—some locals, others who had just fled from the other side, their phone screens still displaying fake missile alert warnings.

All stared in stunned silence at the collapsing bridge, like dominoes, and the slowly falling airship.

"North Korea! It's definitely North Korean missiles!"

A middle-aged man with Korean features shouted in frenzy: "Big one's coming—run, run now!"

Inspired by him, the confused crowd followed, sprinting toward Angel City's underground shelters.

This conveniently aided Grey Rain; underwater, she formed a streamlined shield around the entire motorcycle, carrying Karoline to shore, where the latter thanked her profusely before rushing into the city with Angelica in her arms—

As previously arranged, the Avalon Organization would send personnel to the designated pickup point.

All tasks complete, Grey Rain happily called Li Cheng: "Hey, I'm done here—what about you?"

"Almost done."

Li Cheng held the phone, scanning left and right, spotting the N Professor, head bowed, attempting to glide away in his wheelchair along the roadside—"Don't move."

The bald N Professor froze; he knew full well he had no chance to resist, and obediently raised his hands: "Yes, sir."

"Cervantes planted a virus bomb at Pioneer Corp's Chicago headquarters. The bomb uses negative timing: if it detects no heartbeat from Cervantes, it detonates automatically.

While we've been talking, the bomb has already been ticking for one minute."

Li Cheng, having extracted partial memories from Cervantes via 【Absorb Brain Entropy】, said: "I don't know the exact virus strain, but I can confirm one thing—it spreads through the air.

My advice: notify the U. S. government immediately and lock down all of Chicago—mess with yourselves if you must, but don't doom all of humanity."

Deploying biological weapons in a scripted world is extremely suicidal, likely triggering a plot run amok and system penalties.

But Cervantes understood clearly: if he completed the mission successfully, he could remotely disarm the bomb.

If he died or failed, then debt piled high doesn't hurt, lice piled high don't bother—better to go big, drag more people down with him.

He had pushed the role of a troublemaker to its extreme—making one wonder if he'd been a Brit in his past life.

The N Professor, stunned into silence, only regained his wits after Li Cheng and Grey Rain teleported away; he immediately activated his psychic ability to locate a high-ranking Democrat hiding in a Los Angeles underground bunker.

May it not be too late.

————

One hour later, the virus erupted across Chicago; infected individuals turned into zombies, losing reason, becoming bloodthirsty, biting and attacking all living humans to spread infection.

Three hours later, the Illinois National Guard sealed off Chicago, forbidding entry or exit.

Five hours later, airborne infection appeared among National Guard troops; soldiers began biting each other, causing the frontline to collapse, and large numbers of asymptomatic infected fled by vehicle to every state in America.

Thirteen days later, the zombie virus erupted nationwide; numerous civilian superhumans emerged to protect their neighborhoods, and mutants were no longer a secret.

Thirty days later, scientists confirmed the unknown zombie virus reacted strangely with human mutant genes; in the ruins of cities, large numbers of intelligent, self-aware superpowered zombies began appearing.

(End of Chapter)