Chapter 305: This Punch Has 100 Points of Power—Can You Block It?

"Mr. Peace, no, Councilman Peace, we've given you everything you asked for—when will you finally start forming your fire brigade?"

In the mayor's office, Mayor Avery stared grimly at Wu Chang across from him.

"I gave you the councilman status. I let you announce yourself as head of the firefighting operation at the press conference. I did it. I agreed to have the Sigfus City Police Department cooperate with you during the firefighting."

Mayor Avery lowered his voice and said:

"Even the land acquisition cut—we're willing to take only twenty percent. But what have you been doing these past two days? I've only seen you using police systems to track down a few wanted fugitives."

Wu Chang picked up the coffee on the desk, took a sip, and spoke slowly:

"Firefighting is a massive undertaking—it can't be rushed. I've seen all the help you've given me. When the time is right, I'll act."

Mayor Avery couldn't hold back anymore—he shouted:

"Damn it! Firefighting! I need firefighting! Even if it's just a show—send your people to walk around, just to buy some time and shut them up!"

Wu Chang gave a helpless expression and said:

"As you wish, my lord. Today, our fire brigade will enter the fire zone and extinguish the blaze."

Hearing Wu Chang's firm reply, Mayor Avery's face brightened with satisfaction.

He agreed to Wu Chang's demands not because he believed Wu Chang could actually put out the fire—everyone was just profiting from the disaster, and there was nothing shameful in making money.

But if you take the benefits without stepping forward to absorb the public's fury, that's unacceptable.

Seeing that the scapegoat was finally willing to fulfill his role, Mayor Avery immediately said:

"I'll be sitting in front of my TV today, waiting for your good news."

Wu Chang stood up and smiled: "You won't be disappointed."

Leaving the mayor's office, Wu Chang rode back to Bai Lao K warehouse.

Miles had already selected a batch of temporary firefighters—they'd never extinguished a single fire, but each one looked thoroughly professional: muscular, cheerful, perfectly matching the federal stereotype of firefighters.

Dressed in custom-made fire uniforms, anyone who saw them would give a thumbs-up and say: "You're exactly what firefighters are supposed to look like."

Behind them, thirty fire trucks sat parked inside the warehouse—new-looking, but all refurbished scrap vehicles repainted.

Whether they could even start was questionable; extinguishing fire was out of the question.

Seeing Wu Chang return, Miles hurried over and whispered: "Boss, is this really going to work?"

Wu Chang gave him a sidelong glance. "You don't actually think I'm counting on them and those thirty old clunkers to put out the fire, do you?"

Miles looked worried and handed Wu Chang a news article.

"Boss, if we fail to extinguish the fire this time, things might get messy."

Bai Lao K had supporters in politics and business, but also enemies—especially the people of color politicians who rose to power on the wave of political correctness over the past two years, each viewing Bai Lao K as a thorn in their side, a splinter in their flesh.

In the past, Bai Lao K's roots ran too deep; these rivals had no power to topple him. Now that a perfect opportunity had walked right in, they wouldn't let it slip.

Instead of exposing Wu Chang's philanthropist facade in front of the media, they chose to kill him with praise.

They called Peace the result of meticulous deliberation by the entire city hall, claiming Wu Chang's control over the fire situation far surpassed the former fire chief.

Though they'd previously opposed many of Mayor Avery's policies, this time they pledged full support.

During interviews, they casually revealed that Mayor Avery and Wu Chang had both guaranteed that fire control would improve by thirty percent within two weeks.

This interview directly put Mayor Avery and Wu Chang on the spot—not only forcing them to extinguish the fire, but also setting a strict efficiency target.

Avery couldn't publicly deny the guarantee—he'd never made it—because doing so would devastate his credibility.

Helplessly, he rushed to push Wu Chang forward to draw public attention, hoping that if firefighting failed later, he could publicly denounce Wu Chang, eliminate Bai Lao K, and quell the people's rage, settling the fire's account.

Wu Chang glanced at the article and tossed it aside.

"Ignore it. We just need to do our job. Unless something goes wrong, the fire will be completely out in the next two days."

Miles widened his eyes in shock. "Boss, did you get your hands on a weather weapon?"

Wu Chang gave Miles a sidelong glance.

"No. But close."

Miles pressed: "A small weather weapon?"

Wu Chang: "No. Divination. Two days ago, I had someone use tarot cards to divine—it said rain will fall today and tomorrow, pulling us out of trouble."

Miles: …

Is it too late to cut ties with this boss?

Wu Chang didn't care what Miles was thinking—he walked over to Colton and asked:

"Have you found any information on Lin Jiang and the others?"

Thanks to the privileges he gained as the scapegoat, the Sigfus City police system had been fully open to Wu Chang these past two days—he granted Colton full access to track Lin Jiang and the others.

With the entire city system aiding them, they quickly locked onto Lin Jiang's group again: after leaving Roman Street, they met another player, seized control of an auto repair shop, and claimed to be relatives of the owner helping out.

With police and Bai Lao K's underworld connections working together, they pinpointed the group. Yesterday, Wu Chang led Colton and a team of officers to arrest them.

Lin Jiang was lucky—he and one accomplice weren't in the shop. They only caught Murphy and Long Kai, plus several players who had come to join Lin Jiang.

The few players who joined Lin Jiang were shot dead on the spot. Murphy and Long Kai escaped by fusing with monsters.

But their condition wasn't easy—they were chased by five or six armed helicopters when they fled, firepower so intense it could pierce monster defenses; they'd survive only if they shed a layer of skin.

Colton said:

"Lin Jiang is hiding well—we haven't found his trace yet. But near the northwest fire zone of the Isade Mountains, surveillance cameras captured a figure resembling Murphy."

"He probably used the wildfire to shake off the armed helicopters."

Wu Chang nodded. "Good. Then today's firefighting location will be the northwest Isade Mountains. Gather everyone—let's go extinguish the fire!"

When Zhen Wo arrived at the northwest Isade Mountains with the crowd and media, the original had already reached the seashore.

The "Cursed" dungeon had no Aileen's divine realm—it couldn't set up a powerful altar like in the Silent Passage dimension to control the entire coastal sea.

But this time, he didn't need to make as much noise as last time.

He spent three hours constructing a complex occult ritual using mysticism—it amplified water energy, gathered moisture, and summoned dark clouds and gales.

He drank a bottle of enhanced energy activation potion, waited for his energy to fully recover, stepped into the mystical ritual, and activated it.

As the ritual began, within a few breaths, the clear sky became thick with dark clouds.

The calm sea surged into violent waves, crashing against the shore, spraying water into the air and lifting vast mists.

Under the raging wind, the mist surged upward, forming a white vapor column linking heaven and earth.

Wu Chang opened his eyes, formed a hand seal, and pointed upward.

Torrents of lightning energy burst from his body, traveling up the white vapor column and vanishing into the dark clouds above.

Within the pitch-black clouds, lightning flashed and thunder roared; the clouds expanded like pollutants, turning the entire coastal sky black.

Water Thunder: summoning lightning to bring rain, calling wind and rain.

Continuous water vapor was drawn into the clouds; the saturated clouds grew heavy, no longer light, but weighed down, ready to fall.

Looking up at the sky, it seemed as if the heavens had sunk lower.

All that was needed now was a trigger—then the water vapor within the clouds would pour down as rain—but it was not yet time.

The Water Thunder technique, besides summoning rain, could also summon wind.

As his hand seal changed, a fierce wind arose in the sky, pushing the heavy clouds toward the Ised Mountains.

New clouds continuously formed along the coast and were continuously transported toward Ised Mountain.

Residents along the path of the moving clouds felt they were not living in a world, but inside a giant box.

Now, it seemed someone was about to close the lid.

People did not know what was happening; they believed the end of the world was near. Citizens of Sigef City, witnessing the celestial anomaly, devoutly prayed, begging the gods to forgive their sins. They did not know what sins—only that they must confess first, and seek forgiveness.

In the northwestern region of the Ised Mountains, while the original body had set up the mystical ritual, the True Self had already arrived at the scene with the team.

Under the guidance of professional stylists, they posed in numerous arrangements for the arriving media to photograph.

After dealing with the media, the Bai Lao K members pulled up barriers and signaled the press to stop.

Before them lay one of the original five ignition points.

The fire had spread down the mountain slope, already consuming two major zones.

The Monor District now burning before them was the third zone.

Before the wildfire, any single house here was a place ordinary Bai Lao K members could never hope to reach in their lifetimes.

But now, they could not reach it either.

The temperature of several hundred degrees was unbearable.

!

Booker opened a can of chilled cola, stared at the flames before him, downed the entire can in one gulp, and let out a satisfied "Puhhh!"

He crushed the can and tossed it far into the burning district, then said:

"If Murphy is hiding inside, we seem to have no way to get to him. Veronica just tried—her attributes were suppressed too much; even with energy conversion, she could barely reach the fire's center, with no time to fight."

"If we don't put out the fire first, we really can't do anything about that stone man."

Murphy was the second candidate for the Quietist Sect's Holy Son, ranked very high on the four organizations' wanted list.

When they arrested him yesterday, Booker and the others saw Murphy reveal his ability, and guessed his origin.

Not just Murphy—they also recognized Dragon Armor's identity. Booker and the other two had participated in the purge of the Iron Armor Corps and knew well the capabilities of the ringleader.

Wu Chang said: "No need. You only need to surround him and make sure he doesn't escape. The rest, leave to me after the wildfire stops."

"Wait for the fire to stop?" Booker repeated, puzzled.

"You're not seriously waiting for a rainstorm, like you just said?"

Wu Chang gave no explanation, only stood still, quietly waiting.

Not long after, an unnamed strong wind blew, making the fire burn even fiercer; many half-collapsed houses were blown down outright by the gale.

Immediately after, cries of shock erupted beyond the fire perimeter.

Booker and the others turned back and saw endless black clouds surging toward them under the wind.

After confirming the black clouds were no illusion, their gazes shifted from the sky to Wu Chang.

Huh?

No way, bro—you actually made it happen?

The dark clouds quickly engulfed the fire zone; with rumbling thunder, the water-saturated clouds began to rain.

Sigef City's entire year's rainfall seemed concentrated in this single storm.

The rain piled down like buckets overturned, heavier than any storm in Sigef City's history.

Under the downpour, the fire was suppressed at incredible speed—but the weakening fire did not mean the buildings could be saved.

For after the wildfire came mudslides.

Mud and floodwaters swept over, pushing row after row of houses flat.

Since the rain began, Booker and the others fell silent, as if their voices had been muted.

Their understanding was clashing with reality.

Wu Chang had taken responsibility for extinguishing the fire, yet for days he let public opinion ferment, pursuing Lin Jiang and the others slowly and calmly, as if he had never worried about the wildfire at all.

Today he waited for a rainstorm—and now the storm arrived, and with such ferocity.

Politicians who wanted Bai Lao K dead had set a target of thirty percent fire control within two weeks, convinced Bai Lao K was already doomed.

But with the current torrential rain, if the wildfire still had thirty percent left after two hours, it would be considered burning fiercely.

If this were coincidence, none of them believed it—but if it were real power, they believed it even less.

The rules of the Cursed dungeon suppress even item attributes—what kind of item could produce such a storm?

A-class consumable? Or S-class?

Booker was the first to break the awkward silence: "Boss, where'd you find that fortune-teller? I wanna go get my fortune read too."

Before Wu Chang could answer, a tremendous boom drew everyone's attention.

The mud near the mountain wall burst open, and a stone giant over fifteen meters tall stepped out. Its eyes were blood-red, and within that already "intelligent" gaze there now sat an added layer of muddled stupidity.

It swung into motion, trudging through the mud, and charged toward Wu Chang.

Wu Chang looked at the back of Murphy's neck, where a grotesque flesh-worm clung.

The flesh-worm was like a tick without a shell; it had buried its entire head inside Murphy's body, hanging from the back of his neck like a massive fleshy tumor.

Through the worm's nearly translucent body, one could see it continuously drawing blood from Murphy, while at the same time pumping its own fluids into him.

It was precisely this fluid that drastically amplified Murphy's Fearless Stone Giant state.

The price, naturally, was that his already low intelligence in the Stone Giant form dropped yet again.

At this moment, only one voice remained in Murphy's mind: smash through everything that blocked him with brute force.

This wasn't him losing his reason entirely—it was that he was confident enough in his own strength.

Long experience with the transformation had let Murphy find the best way to control the Stone Giant state. In the Fearless Stone Giant form, his brain couldn't process complex information; trying to take too much into account would fry his CPU and cause his actions to glitch.

So he simply discarded all unnecessary thought, and before transforming, he would silently fix only one target in his mind.

In the Fearless Stone Giant state, he would move only toward that single target in his heart; even if his intelligence wasn't enough, he wouldn't go off course.

His target right now was to break out of the encirclement.

As a player purely specialized in strength, Murphy was obsessed with power, which led him to pour the vast majority of his stats into Strength.

Few players in the Wasteland Realm had stats that could touch the planar barrier, and Murphy was one of them. In his Fearless Stone Giant state, his Strength stat exceeded 250 points.

Under the effect of Lin Jiang's ability, by merging with the flesh-worm on his neck, he gained an additional stat liberation—just like the Deep Sea—and all his stats recovered to forty percent of his panel.

Originally, exceeding the planar barrier with strength was a form of wasted stats, but in the Misfortune-Plagued dungeon, the stat-suppression mechanic actually helped him avoid the planar barrier's reduction of any stat portion above 200 points.

In other words, his stats right now were fully utilizing the 250-point panel value, reaching an astonishing 100 points!

In the Misfortune-Plagued dungeon, what does a three-digit stat represent?

It means he alone could easily wipe out every player from all four major organizations, including that legendary monster rookie, Heping.

When absolute strength is on the table, no amount of ability matters.

Before his strength that had broken a hundred, everyone had to fall!

A fifteen-meter-tall body running made the earth shake. Combined with Murphy's already considerable speed, in just a few seconds he was upon them.

The drop in intelligence made his instincts sharper. Instinct told him Wu Chang was the greatest threat, so the moment he charged in, he threw a punch straight at Wu Chang.

This punch carries a hundred points of Strength—can you block it?

Facing the oncoming fist, Wu Chang took a step forward of his own accord, spread his five fingers, and met Murphy's punch head-on.

The instant fist met palm, the unstoppable giant stone body abruptly went from violent motion to dead stillness, frozen in place.

He tried to keep pushing, but found his fist pressed against something like a mountain; he strained with all his might, yet his opponent stood immovable.

Yet Wu Chang, bearing the brunt of his punch, took another step forward, and Murphy's body was shoved backward, his feet plowing two deep furrows into the ground.

Murphy: o. 0

What is going on?

(End of Chapter)