Chapter 234: If I Can

Just as in Tan Guijie's resentful vision, it abruptly ended when he began transforming into a Disqualified Monster.

When a human transforms into a Disqualified Monster, though his body still lives in another form, his soul has vanished; what now occupies and controls his body has become something else.

Just like Farrell before them, when the divine nature of a Disqualified Monster emerged within him, he was already dead.

His death caused the crimson resentment of the Zou brothers to dissipate together.

The blood-red last words of the Zou brothers granted Wu Chang 1 point of Life, 1 point of Will, and 2 points of Inspiration.

In addition to the standard four attribute points from the crimson resentment, it granted him one skill.

"Skill Name: Twin Synchronization"

"Skill Level: B"

"Skill Description: When the user possesses a physical duplicate skill and activates this skill, their control over the duplicate increases dramatically. When both the user's body and duplicate attack the same target simultaneously, a combined strike effect occurs, increasing the damage of both attacks by 50% and concentrating it into a single burst."

"Skill Note: Your synchronization rate with your duplicate is now sufficient to pilot any twin-pilot mecha."

Previously, when the two gold-employee staff killed the Gluttony Ant, they wore original-material armor crafted by the Zou brothers and demonstrated astonishing synergy.

At the time, Wu Chang had assumed their synergy came from years of training; now it seemed that synergy likely originated from the Zou brothers themselves.

The Twin Synchronization skill is not strong for most players; if there were a list of the ten worst skills, Twin Synchronization would surely rank among the bottom ten of B-level skills.

Leaving aside the skill's inherent strength, the prerequisites for activation are extremely demanding.

In the Abyss Game, duplicate skills are rare; most that produce duplicate effects are illusions or uncontrollable duplicates.

For example, the movement technique Wu Chang learned from the Thunder Law Fragment—Lightning Shadow Step—creates deceptive afterimages when used, but they are not physical.

Among the remaining duplicate skills, the duplicates created are pure tools.

Like the Otomo who appeared in the Midnight Cemetery instance, he controlled many duplicates, but each had weak combat power and required modern weapons or items to inflict damage.

Even when combining damage from body and duplicate, no significant extra damage is added.

But this skill is different when applied to Wu Chang.

His True Self duplicate possesses the same base stats as his body and can use the same skills as his body.

If both Wu Chang's body and True Self strike at once, with damage amplified by 50%, it might hurt a bit.

Moreover, in Wu Chang's eyes, the damage boost from the combined strike isn't the main point; the greatest surprise Twin Synchronization brought him was the "dramatic increase in control over the duplicate."

Previously, when controlling his body and True Self, his focus could only be concentrated on one side; when focusing on the body, the True Self could only perform simple actions, and vice versa.

With Twin Synchronization, he felt as if he gained the ability to multitask, effortlessly operating both bodies simultaneously with zero delay.

The control experience was nothing short of a qualitative leap.

When Wu Chang finally snapped out of his astonishment at Twin Synchronization, Farrell before him had lost almost all human appearance.

Farrell's head swelled like an inflated balloon, its diameter nearing one meter; his body became bloated and obese, his limbs shriveled and dried, hanging limply around him; his back skin tore and shattered, revealing flesh covered in thick layers of fat.

Two pairs of transparent wings, their skeletons formed from blood vessels and covered in fascia, unfolded from the flesh and beat rapidly through the air, emitting a dense buzzing sound.

Farrell's current form resembled a giant flesh fly.

When mentioning flies, people inevitably associate them with decay, disease, stench, and maggots that thrive on dead matter.

These images all point, to varying degrees, toward death, which is why flies hold significant positions in many mythologies.

For instance, the former King of Hell, Beelzebub.

The flesh fly Farrell transformed into is no different; though its appearance is far inferior to the previous Gluttony Ant, in actual combat power, seven or eight Gluttony Ants bound together couldn't match this single flesh fly.

Based on Wu Chang's observations, the potion that transforms humans into Disqualified Monsters works by awakening the evil within the target and extracting divinity from human evil.

The more evil within the target, the more divinity they gain, and the stronger the resulting Disqualified Monster becomes.

Farrell, in this regard, was undoubtedly an exceptional specimen.

Watching Farrell's transformation continue, even Lei Mengde, who couldn't sense energy or divinity, sensed something amiss.

"We seem to have unleashed a formidable monster."

Wu Chang shrugged and said, "You noticed a bit too late."

As Farrell's transformation continued, the underground room could no longer contain his body, so Wu Chang led Lei Mengde away first.

The two returned to the surface; if they looked west, they could clearly see the massive office building of Song Church Corporation.

From afar, the Song Church Tower resembled a sharp sword, narrowing and sharpening from bottom to top.

The topmost floor where Schulz resided was the sword's tip, pointing straight at the sky.

Their current location was only five kilometers in straight line from the Song Church Tower, closer to the corporation's headquarters than the Second Avenue where they captured Farrell.

This area was far from residential zones, surrounded by a vast industrial park, half of whose factories belonged to Song Church Corporation.

If Farrell went berserk here, Song Church Corporation would have no choice but to expend considerable effort.

Belowground, Farrell's transformation continued.

The Disqualified Monster he became was stronger than Wu Chang had anticipated; the divinity generated within him was no longer faint, but clearly detectable.

Every few seconds, he felt a pulse of Disqualified Monster power, like a heartbeat, throbbing underground.

The pulse was so immense it resonated elsewhere in the city—another location, likely the hive Farrell mentioned.

Wu Chang glanced toward the resonance point, then frowned and pulled out a map, repeatedly comparing it with the location of the resonance.

If he remembered correctly, the hive was located deeper within the Second Laboratory.

"Lei Mengde, isn't the location of the Second Laboratory…?"

Wu Chang looked at Lei Mengde; Lei Mengde noticed Wu Chang's finger resting on a spot on the map. Though he didn't know how Wu Chang had deduced it, he understood Wu Chang's implication.

"Yes, the Second Laboratory is beneath City Hall."

In Xiao En's memories, the past few mayors of Weiduo City all gained massive public support by campaigning against Song Church Corporation.

Each mayor achieved no visible accomplishments during their term, yet their public presence was enormous and their stance resolute.

Yet Song Church Corporation's hive was established beneath City Hall.

How blackly ironic.

On the other side, on Second Street, Feiguang and the others, who had been happily signing contracts door-to-door, suddenly stopped.

The three looked toward the direction where Farrell was transforming; their smiles froze and turned solemn.

They sensed a peculiar power—its level was extremely high, so high that the warning devices given to them by the big shots had activated.

In this instance dimension, few could create such commotion—only the final boss or the few who had escaped from the Four Major Organizations.

Feiguang and the others dared to attack members of the Four Major Organizations not because they believed the organizations couldn't retaliate after this job, but because they were confident they'd leave no survivors.

These past two days, they'd worked like beasts to rack up performance points, so delighted they'd truly believed they'd become beasts themselves—and temporarily forgotten about the escaped few, never expecting they were still so capable.

Capable enough to generate power at this level. Though they didn't know what the escaped ones were doing, one thing Feiguang and the others knew for certain: they absolutely could not let them succeed.

If a few players from the Four Major Organizations truly used this power to break through the blockade and escape the Saint Song Corporation's dimension, things would get very messy.

Feiguang and the others abandoned their contracts and hurried to find Wu Chang, whispering urgently:

"Manager Xiao En, we have some personal matters we must resolve immediately—could you…?"

Wu Chang raised his hand, signaling Feiguang and the others to stop speaking.

"Go. Don't worry about this side—I've seen everything you've done. Your performance points won't be shortchanged."

Saint Song Corporation was what kind of place? The four had only been here two days, yet they understood clearly.

In short, aside from being granted funeral leave for your own funeral, virtually every other leave request was denied.

Yet Wu Chang not only let them leave—he guaranteed their performance points wouldn't be cut.

"Manager Xiao En." Feiguang and the others were merely temporary beasts, yet at this moment, from Wu Chang, they felt genuine trust and importance.

If loyalty values hovered above their heads, they would have been skyrocketing.

Wu Chang shook his head, smiling warmly: "Your matter must be urgent—go quickly."

!

Watching the three quickly depart, Wu Chang thought to himself: Hurry up—Wilmore City's peace value still depends on your three to protect it.

In Wu Chang's plan, if the Degraded Monster formed by Farrell was weak, he'd let it rampage through Saint Song's industrial park, serving as Saint Song's declaration of war, stirring up chaos in Wilmore City for the Emergency Mobile Team to clean up.

If the Degraded Monster formed by Farrell was strong, and the Emergency Mobile Team couldn't stop it in time, the damage would drastically lower Wilmore City's peace value—then he'd need to maximize the commotion to draw Feiguang and the others in to clean up the mess.

The plan was reasonable. They'd already released the monster—could they really be expected to fix it too?

Wu Chang's true self, alongside Lei Mengde, had already relocated to a high-rise several hundred meters away, avoiding the gray mist.

On the rooftop, Lei Mengde pulled out the agent equipment provided by the Zhongqing Bureau. As the gear activated, an invisible energy net enveloped the two, masking their presence.

On the day they entered the instance dimension, Lei Mengde had used this equipment to remain undetected by Wu Chang and Feiguang and the others.

Wu Chang raised his telescope toward the gray mist created by Farrell, sensing the divinity within it—he couldn't help clicking his tongue. He'd released something extraordinary.

Farrell's divine strength was no weaker than that of Cui Chengze, the Sea God General of the Silent Passage.

Cui Chengze had existed longer and possessed deeper foundations, but Farrell's ability was stranger and more lethal.

If they fought, it was uncertain who would win.

Excluding the summoned Lyman and Christine from the divine realm above, Cui Chengze was already among the top combatants of the Silent Passage—yet in the Saint Song Corporation's dimension, Farrell was at most a minor boss, perhaps even just an elite mob.

Something's wrong! The difficulty of this Saint Song Corporation instance is definitely off!

I already thought: Why would the administrator be so kind, assigning me an easier instance? Was he trying to reconcile with me?

Turns out I overthought it.

The administrator's actions toward me? Only increased the pressure.

Not long after, everything within the gray mist had fully succumbed to "death," including the soil.

The ground, corroded by the gray mist, crumbled into fine dust, scattering at the slightest breeze.

When the dust cleared, a massive pit was revealed. Amid a dense buzzing, Farrell's transformed flesh-flies burst forth from the pit.

At the top of his massive, deformed head sat three sharp fleshy protuberances—seen from afar, resembling a crown.

The codename for Farrell's Degraded Monster would surely be "Fly King."

As the Fly King completed its transformation and flew out from underground, Feiguang, Youwu, and Qianye arrived at the scene.

They pushed with all their strength, barely piercing through the death-gray mist to reach its center.

Before them stood not Buk or the others—but a grotesque Fly King.

Feiguang and the three froze in place. What the hell? Was the instance's final boss randomly spawning?

The three stared at the Fly King and forced a nervous laugh: "Sorry—we got the wrong guy."

They began backing away slowly, trying to leave.

Entering was easy. Leaving? Not so simple.

To pierce through the gray mist, they'd expended massive energy—such a strong energy signature had already drawn the Fly King's attention.

Now born, the Fly King had no special transport container to absorb energy—it was starving. Three high-energy humans appearing suddenly? A gourmet feast. How could it miss?

The Fly King flapped its wings and appeared before them in near-instant teleportation—so fast that Youwu and Qianye couldn't react.

Fortunately, Feiguang was an agility-specialized player. After activating his class skill, his speed surpassed the Fly King's—he kicked Qianye away just before the Fly King's withered limbs could grab him.

Feiguang never held back. When he struck, it was always a killing blow. Last time, one move had severely wounded Veronika. A normal level-30 player hit by it would die instantly.

Yet this devastating attack left no mark on the Fly King.

The Fly King merely flew back seven or eight meters, then hovered midair, its wings flapping—no trace remained where it had been struck.

Seeing this, Qianye immediately scattered a handful of seeds. Colorful, highly toxic plants sprouted into a curved wall before them.

Each plant Qianye summoned carried extreme toxicity, inflicting unique debuffs. More importantly, these toxins resembled soul toxins—ignoring the target's physical form to inflict direct toxic damage.

In the past, even an instance boss striking this wall would lose a layer of flesh under hundreds of toxins.

But the Fly King paid it no mind. Its eyes saw only countless living beings brimming with vitality.

In the past, even if a dungeon boss had just attacked this wall, it would have shed a layer of skin under the onslaught of over a hundred toxins.

But the Fly King was utterly unbothered by this; in its eyes, it saw only countless living creatures brimming with vitality.

It flashed forward, heedless of the toxins on the surface, and tore into the plant wall with wide bites.

At the broken ends of the torn plants, purple, black, and yellow venom seeped out; wherever the venom hit the ground, it let out sizzling, corrosive sounds, yet the Fly King ate without the slightest sign of discomfort.

The Fly King ate while corroding with grey mist, and in the span of a few blinks it had gnawed the plant wall clean away.

But while the plant barrier bought them time, Mist Shade had already slipped behind the Fly King; he swung the mist dagger in his hand and drove it hard into the Fly King's body.

It was with this very move that he had stabbed straight through Buck and Colton's kidneys in succession.

The body that even Flying Light couldn't breach was pierced through with ease by the mist dagger. Just as Mist Shade showed an "I got him" expression and prepared to channel energy along the blade to widen the wound,

he saw deep-grey pus gushing out from the hole he'd made. Mist Shade sensed things going badly and used a flicker-step to retreat, but still got splashed with a good deal of it.

That pus was grey mist condensed to its extreme, pus imbued with divinity, and it ignored outright the mist-form body that let Mist Shade dodge attacks, splashing right onto his form.

"Ah! My eyes!"

Being splashed by the grey pus was like having a bucket of concentrated sulphuric acid thrown over the body, except the grey pus was nowhere near as gentle as sulphuric acid — it not only corroded flesh, it also ceaselessly drained the vitality of anyone it touched.

In just a few seconds, the face Mist Shade had splashed with grey pus had aged at least thirty years. Luckily Flying Light arrived in time and fed him a bottle of special potion, which only temporarily suppressed the damage from the grey pus.

Gazing up at the Fly King wheeling overhead, Flying Light and the others knew that the boss before them was one they couldn't beat.

Even if they played every last card, they still couldn't win.

Flying Light took a contract out of his personal storage space; since that was the case, he could only call for reinforcements.

(End of chapter)