Chapter 243: The Scientific Electromagnetic Gun

"Lei Mengde, how many people are attacking the city hall?" Mo Ke's voice came through the phone.

Lei Mengde said: "There are many—at least five or six."

With Wu Chang and his three companions plus him, the number checks out.

Mo Ke fell briefly silent on the phone; Lei Mengde, as if unaware of what had happened, pressed:

"What's the problem?"

Mo Ke replied calmly: "It's nothing major. The opponent is cunning—only one person is currently exposed; the rest are likely hiding in the shadows."

Lei Mengde volunteered: "Do you need my help?"

"Not yet. If possible, keep monitoring these guys—see if you can flush out the hidden ones."

Mo Ke ended the call.

Lei Mengde turned to Colton and asked: "Can you lock onto his position?"

Colton typed on his computer: "He's left Song Sheng Company and is moving toward the power company. The tracking signal's accuracy needs further confirmation."

Wu Chang said: "I'll verify."

Since Wu Chang hadn't revealed his identity, his role in the team was strategist and support—lowest in direct combat power—so reconnaissance naturally fell to him.

No one objected to his early departure.

Lei Mengde stared toward the power company: a massive, worm-like Degenerate Monster was voraciously devouring electricity; its body had already grown over twenty meters long. As its feeding speed increased, over eighty percent of Wilddo City plunged into darkness.

Large corporations and wealthy districts had backup power—the blackout lasted only seconds before lights returned—but streets and ordinary residential areas remained utterly dark.

Lei Mengde nodded to Colton: "While confirming Mo Ke's intel, have Bu Ke create some commotion."

Wu Chang headed toward the power company. As he neared, he activated Social Anxiety and Elite Stealth, approaching on foot.

Inside the power company, five Gold-Rank employees armed with Prime Armaments were beating the giant worm.

Though Prime Armaments and Degenerate Monsters were born of virtue and sin respectively—and should have comparable power and energy levels—somehow, whether by coincidence or design, Prime Armaments exerted extreme suppression over Degenerate Monsters.

Alone against one Gold-Rank employee armed with a Prime Armament, the giant worm could still resist; against two, it could barely struggle; against three, its thick hide allowed it to buy time.

But now, five against one—the giant worm was like a giant punching bag, offering almost no resistance. In under two minutes, it lay on the ground, barely alive.

The five didn't deliver the final blow. Confirming the worm had lost combat capability, they immediately returned to the armed helicopter.

Inside the armed helicopter, Mo Ke sat receiving reports from all over. Behind him stood two men—the same Gold-Rank employees who had earlier eliminated the Gluttony Ant.

Mo Ke pointed outward at one man and said: "Wang stays behind to restore power. Everyone else, come with me."

Wu Chang, hidden in shadow, filmed the scene and sent it to Lei Mengde, Bu Ke, and others.

Tomorrow's press conference is crucial—cannot afford failure. The fact that Mo Ke personally led the team, accompanied by seven Gold-Rank employees armed with Prime Armaments, shows how seriously Song Sheng Company takes tomorrow.

By sending this intel, he not only confirmed the earlier call truly came from Mo Ke himself, but also revealed Mo Ke's modus operandi to Lei Mengde and the others.

Facing Mo Ke and multiple Gold-Rank employees simultaneously—even players would find it difficult. Bu Ke, who's creating chaos, should prolong the disruption as long as possible, forcing Mo Ke to scatter his forces, then strike Mo Ke himself.

As the armed helicopter lifted off, only one Gold-Rank employee remained inside the power company to clean up.

Wu Chang checked the man's profile via his core: Jack Wang, Gold-Rank employee, just completed Spiritual Awakening surgery last month and was reassigned to field duty.

Jack Wang was left behind because his Prime Armament was a pair of gloves capable of manipulating electric current—he could release powerful surges and exert partial control over electricity when wearing them.

Wu Chang clicked his tongue. The guy had been left alone—and carried a Prime Armament that controlled electricity. What did that mean? It meant this treasure was destined for me.

He didn't rush to attack Jack Wang. Instead, he walked to the giant worm's body. The Degenerate Monster still breathed—perhaps Song Sheng Company had no habit of finishing off, or planned to recover and reuse it.

But since Mo Ke didn't want it, this unclaimed "head" on the ground—he took it.

Wu Chang punched the giant worm's head. His fist, with 214 points of strength, combined with the Heretic ability—barely activatable due to the faint divinity—shattered the worm's skull in one blow.

He devoured the giant worm's vital energy, gaining 50 strength points. After the realm barrier's levy, his strength rose to 249.

Jack Wang, sealing a power leak with his Prime Armament, suddenly heard a thunderous crash behind him. He turned—and saw the worm's head explode like a watermelon struck by a baseball bat.

Such a commotion—even with severe social anxiety—could not be hidden.

Jack Wang stared at the stranger beside the worm's corpse, aimed his Prime Armament, and shouted: "Stop! Hands behind your head! Surrender, or I'll shoot!"

Facing Jack Wang's shout, Wu Chang shook his head. Field-duty Gold-Rank employees were only skilled against Degenerate Monsters—still too green against humans. Any ordinary officer in Wilddo City would've emptied their magazine instantly, not wasted time talking.

Wu Chang raised his hands. As Jack Wang lowered his guard, Wu Chang snapped his fingers.

The next instant, Jack Wang was dragged into the Golden Realm, falling into icy seawater.

Five minutes later, Wu Chang tossed the unconscious Jack Wang onto the ground and played with the high-tech glove in his hand.

"Item Name: Electromagnetic Controller"

"Item Type: Dungeon Item"

"Item Rank: A"

"Item Skill: Luminal Amplifier"

"Skill Description: See below"

"Item Skill: Electromagnetic Control"

"Skill Description: Enhances all electrical skills of the wearer. Converts the wearer's internal energy into magnetic storm attacks. The wearer can control electromagnetic forces within a certain range; effect and radius depend on the user's energy attributes."

"Note: Do not casually toss coins while wearing this item."

Wu Chang slipped on the Electromagnetic Controller. His internal electric energy indeed strengthened—by roughly 15%—and his attacks now carried faint divinity.

Too bad—though his attacks now carried divinity, it would've been better if this were a defensive Prime Armament.

Divinity, in essence, is a maxproplus-tier status barrier. The fully awakened form of divinity is both the strongest spear and the strongest shield.

The reason only gods can defeat gods is that when a being with divinity attacks one without, the divine attack pierces non-divine defenses effortlessly—every strike deals true damage. When a non-divine attack strikes a divine being, most damage is absorbed by divinity—nearly impossible to penetrate.

Normally, players only encounter divinity after the late stage of the Abyss Layer Two, awakening it to elevate their mortal bodies into demi-gods, then seeking traits to ascend to low-tier gods.

Wu Chang's case is unusual. His divinity was gained through class transformation, completed entirely by ritual, bypassing the fusion of divinity with flesh and the physical metamorphosis into a divine body—he directly condensed divinity into Chaotic Authority.

This means unless he activates his ultimate class skill and transforms into a Low-Tier God-level Root Knight, his divinity can only be used offensively—it cannot remain permanently within him as a shield.

The bad news: his divinity has only a spear, no shield.

The good news is, when they reach the second layer of the Abyss, he'll be able to awaken divinity one more time.

Wu Chang put the Electromagnetism Controller away, thinking to himself that if he could find a defensive-type Primordial Armament, he might be able to obtain a permanent defensive divinity.

Even if the divinity of a Primordial Armament is weak and can't reach the level where mortals can't harm a deity, it could still count as permanent damage reduction.

During the time Wu Chang stayed at the power company, stirred up by Buck, Wielde City had already been turned upside down.

Going from the Wedell Building to City Hall requires crossing more than half of Wielde City; obeying traffic rules, it takes at least over two hours by motorcycle.

If it were purely for raiding City Hall, this distance would be extremely long and would give rise to many variables, but if treated as a stage, one could only say the stage is very large, enough for a grand performance.

Buck drove his motorcycle, tearing through Wielde City in the dead of night.

Surrounding him were dark streets, fireworks that hadn't finished launching kept exploding into the sky along the road, and behind him a large number of police officers and Hymn Patrol teams were in pursuit, the sirens and gunfire serving as a soundtrack.

What stage could be more perfect than this moment?

Buck excitedly shouted, his voice piercing through the roar of the motorcycle and echoing all around.

Right now, he is the protagonist.

Many bold residents of Wielde City were infected by Buck's energy, opening their phones to film Buck as he roared past, tagging the videos with "Challenging the Hymn Company," and posting them to their social accounts.

Videos with the relevant tags quickly got massively reposted; the comment sections didn't have much condemnation of Buck, but instead mostly praised his courage, saying he was a real man, and quite a few bold girls directly confessed their love to him.

When someone connected Buck with the Hymn Hunters, public opinion completely exploded.

During the day today, a large number of dignitaries flooded into Wielde City, making the citizens fully feel the disparity of the world; the enormous gap made people feel that although they were in the same city, they lived in two different worlds.

It's just that people were numbed by the carnival atmosphere and didn't stop to think carefully.

But now, the appearance of the Hymn Hunters destroyed the carnival that had numbed them, pulling them back to reality.

The Fallen monsters attacked the power station, leaving ordinary residential blocks in complete darkness, while the Second Avenue symbolizing wealth and the Hymn Company remained brightly lit, once again emphasizing their situation.

And so, the people exploded.

At first, some people covered their faces and, racing ahead of Buck, pushed police cars into the middle of the road, leaving only enough space on either side for Buck to pass through.

Immediately after, people rushed to imitate them; whatever they could find—benches with anti-homeless devices, health insurance billboards—were all set on fire and thrown into the middle of the road.

With the help of the enthusiastic citizens, apart from helicopters, the police cars were gradually shaken off by Buck.

And so, tonight's raid—what the Hymn Company and City Hall would face was no longer four Fallen monsters and a few Hymn Hunters, but a city-wide riot.

Lei Mengde dialed Mo Ke's number, his tone anxious as he said:

"Mr. Mo Ke, the whole city is in chaos right now, I can't track those people's whereabouts."

Mo Ke was silent for a moment, as if possessed by some spirit, and said: "You don't need to worry about this matter."

Lei Mengde asked: "What do you plan to do?"

Mo Ke: "The rioters are no longer ordinary citizens, we must strike hard!" At this point Mo Ke had already led his men to take out two Fallen monsters; inside the armed helicopter, there were still five Gold Medal employees left, so he immediately instructed:

"Tell the police bureau and the Hymn Patrol teams: when facing the rioters, don't hold back. Change the flight direction—don't worry about that last Fallen monster for now, deal with the biggest trouble first!"

Not long after Mo Ke issued the order, Colton's voice sounded in Wu Chang and the others' earpieces.

"Mo Ke took the bait, he's leading his men toward Buck's side, move according to plan!"

Colton, Veronica, and Wu Chang began moving toward Buck's direction, while Buck pretended not to notice Mo Ke and continued circling with the armed helicopter above.

Mo Ke's iron fist was very effective; the burning obstacles on the street began to decrease, replaced by one-meter-tall pure metal roadblocks.

These roadblocks were extremely hard; smashing through them would damage Buck's motorcycle too. After smashing through three roadblocks in a row, Buck began to feel sorry for his motorcycle and stopped forcing it.

And so, with the roadblocks blocking the way and Buck's deliberate cooperation, Buck was intercepted one block away from City Hall.

When he stopped, a huge sound of rotors came from overhead; he looked up and saw a helicopter two sizes larger than a normal armed helicopter, hovering directly above him.

Mo Ke had arrived.

Inside the helicopter, Mo Ke said casually:

!

"Try to take them alive."

The cabin of the armed helicopter opened, and three Gold Medal employees equipped with Primordial Armaments jumped down directly, surrounding Buck in a triangular formation.

Buck let out a disdainful laugh, raised the huge front wheel, and pressed down toward one of them.

Even the elite combat squad members of the Iron Armor Corps couldn't handle this move of his; the Gold Medal employees' physical fitness was only in the teens—could they handle it even with Primordial Armaments?

Bang!

The burly man wielding the heavy cannon was sent flying directly. The burly man looked like he'd taken a solid hit, but the smile on Buck's face froze slightly, because the hit hadn't landed solidly—some kind of power on the burly man's body seemed to protect him, absorbing most of the damage; even the sharp blade-like tire hadn't cut open the burly man's chest.

Not only that, while the burly man flew sideways, he actually adjusted his posture in mid-air and fired a cannon shot toward him.

Buck's heart skipped a beat; he had a feeling that if hit by this cannon shot, he might die.

He hurriedly pressed the motorcycle down; the motorcycle tilted toward the ground, barely dodging the cannon shot.

But he could watch the front, not the back.

While the burly man fired the heavy cannon, the two Gold Medal employees behind Buck also made their moves.

One of them wore an energy bracelet on their hand, drawing out dangerous glowing thin threads from it, lashing them at Buck like a whip; the other took out a shotgun with a grenade launcher attached underneath, firing a grenade directly at Buck.

Just as Buck was about to take a heavy hit, four Knight cards flew down from the sky, landing in front of Buck; the four Knight cards transformed into four knights holding tower shields and wearing plate armor, shielding Buck behind them.

The defense-enhanced knights were enough to withstand one attack from an ordinary level-30 player, yet under the lash of the energy threads, they were cleanly split in half.

On the other side, Veronica appeared in front of Buck at some unknown time, and just like when she blocked the flying light attack earlier, she reached out and grabbed the grenade directly.

The grenade transformed into a ball of light and exploded, but the energy of the explosion was entirely absorbed by Veronica; then her other hand aimed at the Thread Woman, and a fierce light wave blasted out, sending the Thread Woman flying.

Veronica's class skills are energy absorption and release; the Thread Woman's Primordial Armament is a physical type, which she's not good at dealing with, so she must be dealt with first.

Three versus three, in the first exchange, Buck's side held a slight advantage.

But for them, not crushing the opponent was already a huge disadvantage.

Buck steadied his motorcycle and called out a warning:

"Be careful, their attacks are strange—don't take them head-on."

Colton shuffled the cards in his hand, his face darkening—he had noticed without Burke needing to point it out.

Someone felt it even more keenly than Colton. Veronica rubbed the back of her hand against her nose, and a smear of blood appeared on her white glove.

"You're too late."

The grenade just now didn't contain much total energy, far below her energy absorption limit, but the explosion carried a special kind of energy that pierced through her ability and inflicted no small amount of damage on her.

Fortunately, however, that energy attacked indiscriminately—the thread woman she had blasted away had already lost consciousness.

Burke noticed this too and added, "They have a special protective energy on their bodies, but it gets countered by their own attacks."

Veronica nodded. These gold-medal employees were all glass cannons—high attack, low health, every one of them. As long as you punched through their defense, you could take them down easily.

The remaining two used pure energy attacks—damage for damage—and she could handle them.

"Leave it to me…"

Veronica hadn't even finished speaking when two more people leapt down from the armed helicopter.

Using the momentum of their descent, aided by thrusters on their backs, the two moved at incredible speed. They drew black greatswords from their backs and, one on each side, slashed at Burke in a cross.

Burke had no time to dodge. He could only raise the motorcycle's front wheel and meet them head-on, ready to send them flying.

When the two attacks collided, Burke immediately sensed something was wrong. The two moved like mirror images—both greatswords struck the exact same spot at the exact same moment, without a hair's breadth of difference.

Layered together, the two strikes directly shattered the motorcycle's armor, chopping the entire front wheel into four pieces.

Burke's heart was bleeding. This motorcycle was an A-rank item—repair costs could bankrupt him.

The two gold-medal employees didn't pause for an instant after their slash. They reversed their blades and slashed upward, cutting straight for Burke himself.

Burke's scalp went numb. Forgetting his heartache over the motorcycle, he activated it on one side, sending it charging at the two, while leaping backward and landing beside Veronica and Colton.

The charging motorcycle never reached them—under their synchronized attack, it was easily dismembered.

Well, that solved it—no need to worry about repair costs now.

Veronica frowned and said, "These two, I can't handle them."

The atmosphere instantly grew tense.

The three had originally thought that, as core members of the four great organizations, dealing with a few gold-medal employees would be a slaughter.

Who would have thought the enemy actually had black tech—and an integrated offense-defense black tech at that. Relying on their Primordial Essence armament, they'd actually dragged the three into a bitter fight.

Worse still, there were only five gold-medal employees in front of them. If the enemy kept sending reinforcements, forget a slaughter—escaping with their bodies intact would count as a success.

Colton had finished shuffling his cards. He threw out all his poker cards—fifty-four Joker cards flew toward the two, transforming into self-detonating Jokers that charged at the two greatsword-wielding employees.

The Jokers' self-detonation couldn't take the two out directly, but it was enough to stall them for a moment.

Veronica extended both hands forward, condensing a transparent energy bubble that drifted lightly toward the shotgun man.

The shotgun man fired at the bubble—bullets imbued with divinity punched countless holes in the transparent bubble, but couldn't pop it. Instead, absorbing the impacts made the bubble grow larger.

In an instant the enormous bubble enveloped the shotgun man. The moment it touched him, it abruptly shrank into a near-solid sphere covering his head.

Accompanied by the sound of the bubble being pierced, the solid sphere and the shotgun man's head vanished together. A headless corpse fell flat on its back onto the ground.

The divinity of the Primordial Essence armament was, after all, only a trace—in the face of overwhelming power, it wasn't worth looking at.

Seeing Veronica's method, Burke understood the solution too. Knowing his firepower couldn't compare to hers, he directly activated his class-change skill.

He took off his headband and swapped it for a cowboy hat. He charged forward and leapt, a horse formed of black mist condensing beneath him, and he charged straight at the heavy-cannon bruiser.

Riding the mist-horse, Burke moved with nimble, elegant grace, easily dodging the heavy cannon and arriving before the bruiser. The mist-horse reared its hooves and stomped the bruiser heavily to the ground. Burke seized the chance to draw two massive revolvers and unloaded a frantic barrage into the bruiser's head.

The point-blank barrage shattered the divinity's protection, riddling the bruiser with holes like a sieve.

Seeing three gold-medal employees taken out in a row, Mo Ke aboard the armed helicopter frowned. These Hymn hunters were more troublesome than he'd imagined.

He immediately gave the order: "Retreat."

Watching the armed helicopter prepare to leave, the three of Burke's group were reluctant, but powerless to pursue.

Colton was still occupied containing the two gold-medal employees; Veronica had consumed a great deal of energy and was temporarily unable to launch powerful attacks; Burke still had stamina to spare, but the armed helicopter in the sky was beyond his revolvers' range.

It seemed no one could stop Mo Ke's escape.

Except Wu Chang.

Not far from the battle, Wu Chang was watching the distant fight. A coin was pinched between the fingers of his right hand, and as his fingers moved, the coin flipped back and forth between them.

Seeing Mo Ke about to escape, Wu Chang flicked his right hand upward, and the coin spun into the air.

He turned sideways, right hand forward, index finger pressed against his thumb in a gathering stance. He channeled the thunder-attribute spiritual power within his body, gathering it toward his right thumb.

The instant the coin fell, his gathered thumb flicked out and struck the coin.

Do you know what a scientific railgun is?

The flicked coin, like a miniature electromagnetic cannon, became a beam of light that punched straight through the armed helicopter Mo Ke was riding. The helicopter wobbled and began to plummet.

Wu Chang drove toward the crash site. When he arrived, he saw the pilot supporting Mo Ke as they walked out of the wreckage of the armed helicopter.

The pilot carried a faint trace of divinity—clearly another gold-medal employee equipped with Primordial Essence armament.

Facing the ambusher who had suddenly appeared, the pilot shielded Mo Ke behind him and prepared to block Wu Chang. But before he could launch an attack, Wu Chang casually fired off a palm thunderbolt laced with electromagnetic shock.

The divinity of the Primordial Essence armament was as fragile as a sheet of paper before Wu Chang. The palm thunderbolt pierced the divinity and struck the pilot directly. The pilot convulsed and collapsed on the spot.

Without divinity's protection, gold-medal employees were this fragile. But with divinity, they were enough to give Burke and the others a massive headache.

This was the gap between having divinity and not.

Wu Chang stood before Mo Ke, ripped off the button-shaped Primordial Essence armament Mo Ke wore, and said with a smile:

"Mr. Mo Ke, we have a great many questions we'd like to chat with you about."

(End of chapter)