Chapter 235: I

What is an A-class corruption instance?

Simply put, for non-top-tier Breakers, an A-class corruption instance is the ceiling of players in the Wasteland Realm, including the top 500 players by combat power.

Even players ranked in the top 500 by combat power have a high probability of dying inside an A-class corruption instance.

Even the four major organizations, when facing an A-class corruption instance, have only two ways to resolve it.

Either deploy specialized Breaker teams to clear it, or use temporary administrative permissions and special items to request outside assistance from players in the second or third layer of the Abyss.

In the Wasteland Realm, without mandatory exit items, no one dares to swear they can definitely survive an A-class corruption instance, let alone clear it.

Iron Armor Corps is a PVP organization, specializing in player-vs-player combat, with skills mostly focused on control, burst, and short-range lock-on effects.

Extremely effective in player battles—once hit, opponents often can't even retaliate before being wiped out in one combo.

But in an instance, if the boss is a humanoid with high attack but low HP, it's manageable; if it's a non-humanoid, large, high-HP boss, their skill synergy falls short.

What gives this group of PVP players the nerve to enter the Hymn Corp instance, drive off other players, and even attack members of the four major organizations?

Excluding they've gone mad, there's only one possibility: they have backup.

There are two methods to break an A-class corruption instance; since their raw power is insufficient, they naturally chose the second: seeking help from deeper Abyss players.

As soon as Feiguang activated the contract, a powerful aura emanated from it—also imbued with divinity, specifically from the second layer of the Abyss.

The deterrent force from the positional barrier caused the Fly King's body to freeze, as it stared at Feiguang in shock and suspicion.

Wu Chang, watching from afar, wore an expression of "as expected."

He knew all along: Iron Armor Corps went through so much trouble to monopolize the Hymn Corp instance—not for class transformation, but for something else.

After completing the Dispute Knight class transformation, his perception had become far sharper; back at the Midnight Cemetery, when Lei Hu's contract attacked him, he couldn't yet discern the aura of divinity and couldn't confirm it.

Now, seeing the contract carried by Iron Armor Corps again, he could confirm: the contract's creator was Mercury.

He recognized the signature—no doubt about it!

His grudge with Mercury isn't over; right now, this is the Wasteland Realm, his territory—he must show proper hospitality.

No matter what they intend to do, stopping them first is definitely right.

But before that, he needed to carefully observe what this group's trump card really was.

The Hymn Corp instance isn't as easy as the underground shelter; even if Mercury and his group are players who've activated divinity, clearing it won't be easy.

The Fly King is an indigenous deity; though affected by the Wasteland Realm's barrier, its stats are capped below 200, but it still possesses divinity within.

With divinity blessing, Feiguang and the others couldn't damage its core at all; Wu Chang originally thought that even with Mercury's intervention, it would be a grueling battle.

But reality quickly proved that these guys, who spend their days scheming across realms, truly have a system for handling lower-plane instances.

From the contract, seven or eight chains shot out, binding the Fly King before it could dodge; the chains not only restrained its body but also suppressed its divinity.

The crown formed from the Fly King's fleshy warts vanished under the chains' seal—literally reduced to an ordinary fly.

This transformation made Wu Chang frown.

The chains extending through the air from the contract weren't anything extraordinary; Wu Chang could sense their upper limit was low—they wouldn't work against an indigenous deity of the second Abyss layer, or against Eileen in her Archangel state.

In the second layer of the Abyss, these chains are useless—only effective against elite monsters who've acquired a seed of divinity but haven't activated it.

But in the first layer of the Abyss, they're a dimensional downgrade.

Under the chains' effect, the Fly King immediately lost its former arrogance; the thick gray mist field around it thinned considerably, and the gray pus oozing from its wounds turned red again.

The Fly King's divinity was sealed—but Mercury and his group on the other side of the contract were not.

After the chains bound the Fly King, three arc-shaped bolts of lightning shot out from the contract and struck it hard.

Two of the lightning strikes severed three of its wings; the final strike slashed diagonally across its chest, nearly splitting it in two.

After these two attacks, the contract in Feiguang's hand burst into flames and slowly turned to ash, leaving only the severely wounded Fly King, barely hovering on one remaining wing.

Is Mercury truly so powerful that he could strike across realms and cripple the Fly King with two easy blows?

Obviously not.

After being weakened by the Wasteland Realm's barrier, Mercury's energy output and divinity strength weren't necessarily superior to the Fly King's.

Without the chains suppressing its divinity, even ten lightning strikes wouldn't have dispersed the Fly King's Degraded Field.

But the problem was: the Fly King's body was frail—it had no shell, couldn't regenerate much HP, and relied entirely on divinity for defense; without divinity, it was less durable than a Gluttony Ant or a Pressure Mushroom.

The Abyss game works this way: no matter how strong you are, if targeted correctly, you can still be defeated in the most unexpected ways.

In full strength, the Fly King made Feiguang and his team flee in panic; but now, this crippled, divinity-depleted ordinary fly? They unleashed full-force attacks.

With a flash of light, Feiguang activated his ability, clasping his gloved hands together into a heavy punch aimed at the Fly King's chest.

"Spike!"

The Fly King flew like a volleyball slammed hard—over twenty meters through the air, crashing heavily to the ground.

The punch tore a massive blood hole in its chest, tearing open the previous slashes and nearly splitting the Fly King apart.

The Fly King went from severely wounded to barely clinging to a sliver of HP.

Feiguang turned to Youwu and said: "Use your ability to stabilize Youwu's life force—I'll go retrieve that fly and deliver it to Xiao En Manager. Maybe Xiao En Manager can use his permissions to extract an antidote from the fly's body and clear Youwu's condition."

Youwu nodded, planting a green four-leaf clover on Youwu's forehead: "I'll do my best."

Feiguang sighed and turned toward where the Fly King had been flung—but as he turned, he froze in place.

His body dissolved into light and instantly appeared at the spot where the Fly King had crashed.

"You first use your ability to maintain Ghost Mist's vitality. I'll go catch that fly and bring it back to Manager Xiao En, to see if Manager Xiao En can use his authority to extract an antidote from that fly's body and help Ghost Mist dispel his condition."

Wait—where's my Fly King? Where's my big Fly King?

Inside the Golden Land, Wu Chang stared at the dying Fly King before him, his expression filled with awe.

His body transformed into a streak of light, arriving in an instant at the spot on the ground where the Fly King had crashed.

He looked around in a panic, his face full of question marks.

No way—where's my Fly King? My Fly King was that big!

Within the Kingdom of Gold, Wu Chang looked at the Fly King, barely clinging to life before him, his face full of emotion.

In his plan, if the Fly King was too weak, he'd let the Emergency Mobile Unit handle it; if too strong, he'd let Feiguang and the others handle it.

Then when would he need to step in himself?

That was for moments like now — picking up the scraps. Seeing Mercury seal the Fly King's divinity remotely through a contract, he knew the battle was over, and immediately drove Social Anxiety Disorder and Elite Stealth closer, wanting to try his luck.

As a result of that try, he really did find an opening.

After Feiguang sent the Fly King flying, he didn't pursue immediately, but chose to turn his head and check on Hazy Mist's injuries.

Seeing this opportunity, Wu Chang didn't hesitate at all, and directly used the Kingdom of Gold to take the Fly King away.

Since Feiguang wasn't coming, that lump of a Fly King on the ground with no one around — he'd just pick it up and take it.

Wu Chang's gaze fixed on the Fly King, or more precisely, on the deep crimson resentment clinging to the Fly King's body.

That wisp of resentment belonged to its former self — Farell.

Farell's resentment burned like a ball of flame, blazing fiercely. As the firelight flickered, Wu Chang's consciousness plunged into the resentment.

Perhaps Farell's resentment ran too deep, or perhaps his grudge had threaded through his entire life.

When Wu Chang entered the resentment, what he saw was Farell as a child.

!

Farell was born in the slums. If life had difficulty settings at the start, his was absolutely Hell.

His family situation could be summed up in one sentence: a dad on drugs, a mom on gambling, a gravely ill older brother, a little sister in school, and a broken him.

Not only was his whole household steeped in every vice, but the priest who often came to preach in the neighborhood would, every few days, ask him and his brother if they wanted to go to the church at midnight to pray — meals included.

Hungry Farell was very tempted, but his father wouldn't allow it. Every time he saw that priest talking to his son, he'd whip out a gun in agitation and start yelling at the man.

Poor children grow up fast. From age three, Farell helped his father — who dealt to feed his own habit — with "deliveries."

Farell was born clever, and had a kind of well-behaved look that didn't belong to the slums. When he smiled, he was as sweet as a little angel. The police never once suspected that the backpack of this good kid might hold textbooks — or neatly stacked white powder.

Just like that, relying on his formidable "business ability," Farell became the youngest "mule" on the block, a legend passed from mouth to mouth in the drug-dealing world.

Thanks to his powerful delivery skills, Farell's family finances gradually improved.

But when he was seven, his father reached the "ceiling-vent" stage, and after one gang lineup, he never woke up again.

This made Farell realize he couldn't waste his whole life in a gang like his father had.

Knowledge changes fate.

So in between deliveries, he began to study hard, and with his genius brain, got into one of the top three universities in the Federation.

Because his methods were clean, his channels solid, and his variety complete, he quickly established himself in the fraternity he'd joined through his delivery work, and through an upperclassman's invitation, landed an interview slot at Anthem Company.

Of course he'd heard the great name of Anthem Company. Getting into Anthem Company — as long as you weren't fired and didn't drop dead — was absolutely the fastest and most direct path for someone at the bottom to leap up the class ladder. No question.

From the moment Farell entered Anthem Company, his goal was to climb all the way up and become a Level Nine Partner.

Once he became a Level Nine Partner, he would represent Anthem Company, and no one would ever laugh at his background behind his back again.

To that end, he had to climb all the way up.

Born in the slums, mixing freely in gangs from age three, nicknamed the Legendary Mule — Farell's moral standards naturally needed no questioning.

Relying on strong business ability, efficient execution, and most importantly, a black heart and ruthless hands, his path of promotion was smooth sailing.

Especially the series of school shootings he orchestrated — by hyping insurance sales through the public opinion at the time, his skyrocketing performance let him leap from a Level Three employee to a Level Six Gold Medal employee in just three years.

But at that point, he ran into the biggest crisis of his career.

His psionic awakening surgery hadn't been successful enough — the degree of awakening wasn't sufficient to let him control an Essence Armament.

At the time, there was a consensus among Anthem Company's middle ranks: only Gold Medal employees who could wield an Essence Armament were true Gold Medal employees.

One had to know that merely activating an Essence Armament, combined with lab test data, earned more performance points than other Gold Medal employees racked up in half a month or more. Under such a massive gap, being unable to control an Essence Armament was a fatal disadvantage.

But Farell didn't give up. Relying on his iron will, and an ever-lowering moral bottom line, he stubbornly clawed his way back to even through sheer performance, and was promoted to Level Seven Supervisor.

On the night of his promotion, he received a personal summons from Schultz. The meeting place was the laboratory where Essence Armaments were manufactured.

There, he witnessed the fate of the most outstanding Gold Medal employees.

Schultz pointed at the conversion lab and asked him, "Do you still envy them now?"

Farell stood rooted to the spot, his mind blank. He thought he was going to be made into an Essence Armament just like the Gold Medal employee before.

Who would have thought Schultz said: "This is the true face of Anthem Company. Knowing all this, are you still willing to keep going?"

Upon hearing those words, Farell didn't hesitate for a moment, and immediately said: "I am."

Schultz walked up to him, patted his shoulder, and said:

"You're different from them. You're not a simple tool. You have ability, you have ambition, and you have the boldness to stop at nothing to climb higher."

Farell didn't remember what he saw afterward, nor how he got home that night. He only remembered Schultz's words.

"You are destined to become a Partner. I'll be waiting for you at the very top of Anthem Company."

From then on, he climbed like a madman, cutting his way forward at every step. Not only did he become a Level Eight Department Manager, but even with an ordinary insurance department, he fought his way to second place in performance, crushing both the Psionic Awakening Department and the Automated Defense Systems Department.

Moreover, he got wind from other Level Nine Partners that that waste Xiao En was about to resign, and the Automated Defense Systems Department he vacated would be handed to him to manage.

If he could pull second place in performance even in the Insurance Department, give him a core department, and becoming a Level Nine Partner would be a done deal, wouldn't it?

But just then, that idiot Xiao En actually had an awakening. Not only did he poach the orders Farell had been negotiating for ages, he also pushed Farell's performance down.

Xiao En was already a connected hire. If his performance stabilized, the Level Nine Partner seat would definitely belong to Xiao En.

Farell was unwilling to accept it, so he took a desperate risk, wanting to imitate Xiao En's approach and make a move on the rich too. But he was outmaneuvered again — not only did the plan fail, he fell into the hands of Anthem's Hunters.

He was just one step away. If only that Xiao En had stayed stupid for one more month, or if that bastard hiding in the shadows hadn't come out to interfere, he could have become a Level Nine Partner and stood at the very top of Anthem Company.

Just one step away from fulfilling the wish he'd held all along, and answering Chairman Schultz's expectations.

He only wanted to rise above others. He only wanted to defeat through effort those wastes who clung to high positions thanks to their family backgrounds. He only wanted to escape the shadow of his past life. What was wrong with that!

He was unwilling to accept it!

A massive resentment swelled in his heart, transforming into a deep crimson blood-colored last word.

【I will climb to the very top of Anthem Company!】

(End of this chapter)