Chapter 76.1 – Destroying the Headquarters (4)
The city was obliterated.
Streets disappeared, bridges collapsed, and tall buildings were in ruins.
A massive black shadow, shrouded in the sky above the city, continuously swayed. With only a few remnants of its head, its facial expression barely discernible, the grimacing face swiftly transformed into a curved, sharp blade. Glinting with cold light, it rapidly swung towards the figure suspended in mid-air.
Jiang Yujin reversed his body, stepping onto the blade. Using the momentum, he propelled himself upward, reaching for another head. Subsequently, he swiftly pressed down with the captured head.
The wind rushed past his ears as the head was firmly pressed into the ground, continually pushed downward until it sank deep into the earth. Several sharp spikes attacked from behind, but he deftly grabbed a steel pipe, twirled it around, and repelled the spikes. The spikes rebounded and stabbed into the mass of flesh behind him.
As only a few heads remained, the strange species became noticeably enraged. The mass of flesh transformed into sharp cones, attacking indiscriminately in all directions.
The few remaining low-rise buildings also couldn’t escape this time and collapsed amid a thunderous roar.
In the distance, flames still flickered, and the dust floating in the air not only failed to dissipate but grew denser. The visibility became even more blurred than before, and those standing by the ship could only see thick dust and the occasional elusive dark shadows. Nothing else was visible.
However, as long as they were still in this space, no place was safe.
The thick dust billowed, and something swiftly approached through the fog, heading towards them.
Soon, even before their brains could register what their eyes saw, they watched as the indistinct object rapidly approached.
The only one able to react promptly was Hu Li. His hands moved faster than his mind; a black long sword instantly appeared in his hand. With almost no pause, leveraging the railings by the riverbank behind him, he jumped to intercept the incoming objects. The long sword and the approaching objects fiercely rubbed against each other, producing a piercing sound and sparks. They were pushed back, retreating continuously until they barely stopped on the opposite side of the river.
They were dark red spikes, and there was more than one. After one spike came, almost without any time gap, the sound of breaking air resonated again in the dense fog.
When the sound of breaking air echoed, the spikes had already reached the group of people.
No one in the group made a single move, and their expressions didn’t change, or rather, there wasn’t time for them to change.
Unable to block, unable to dodge. They had never had such a clear self-awareness before.
Before the spike pierced through the lucky one’s head, just at a distance less than two centimeters from his pupils, a buzzing sound erupted.
“Buzz—”
The dark red objects came to a halt, or rather, were forcibly stopped. They couldn’t advance any further, only emitting a buzzing sound.
In less than a blink of an eye, the pale fingers turned the direction of the spike back to the thick fog.
The airflow created by the spike pierced through the fog, leaving a clear trace, and then forcefully penetrated a head suspended in the sky above the city.
Finally able to move again, Lucky Man’s legs trembled uncontrollably, and with a shaky voice, he said, “Thank you, Captain Xu…”
Vice-Captain Hu was still on the opposite side of the river, the only one capable of intercepting this thing was Xu Tonggui.
But Lucky Man stopped speaking halfway through his sentence, following the gaze of the others. He saw a white figure disappearing into the fog of dust.
A shirt, white hair; it wasn’t Captain Xu.
“Who is this?”
*
The spike reversed its direction, piercing another head. When there were only two heads left, Zhang Xin, who had been observing from a fixed position, saw a blood-red, rhombus-shaped crystal briefly appear amidst the surging pile of meat. She quickly signaled the other two with gestures.
However, it only appeared for a moment and disappeared before they could react.
—And they found it challenging to get close.
Even though it seemed like being pressed down and beaten by 001, something capable of exchanging blows with 001 must be formidable.
The mass of flesh continually transformed various spikes with yellow venom, and various human faces appeared on its surface. When the two were in combat, there was a massive gust of wind around them, making it impossible for others to mix in.
But even if unable to mix in, they had to get in.
When there was only one head left, the entire space had turned dark red, the ground started trembling, and countless eerie sounds reverberated in their minds, like needles pricking, causing their sanity to gradually collapse.
Struggling to ignore the external noises, amidst the violent sandstorm, Chen Jing squinted his eyes and looked at the continuously changing mass of flesh. He saw a brief moment when a red crystal surged from within. Ignoring the increasingly sharp winds around him, he directly leaped into the attack range of the mass of flesh.
Upon reaching there, he realized the conditions were even worse than he had anticipated.
Eyes covered the entire body of the mass of flesh, sensing his presence. However, there was someone above who could easily turn it into mush if not careful. The strange species it generated all died several kilometers away and couldn’t divert its attention here. It could only secrete venom, covering its bodies.
Intense flames lit up, and the venom began to evaporate.
Zhang Xin brushed aside a wooden board with nails blown by the wind, appearing behind Chen Jing. Clutching his head in pain, Xiao Pang threw a toy knife to him, almost getting blown away by the wind.
The toy knife instantly turned into a metal blade in Chen Jing’s hand, piercing deep into the mass of flesh. The venom splattered was almost entirely consumed by the flames.
In the depths of the flesh heap, the red crystal glowed in the firelight.
Exposed, 【0】 couldn’t ignore the situation here. Sharp teeth emerged from its body, swiftly stabbing towards those attempting to reach the crystal.
The sharp teeth were directly broken off by someone, leaving none.
Jiang Yujin grabbed a tentacle-like thing trying to entwine him from behind and whispered, “Disturbing someone at work is very impolite.”
There was no time for hesitation; Chen Jing took action.
His arm extended into the mass of flesh, feeling the continuously sticky and spicy sensation, along with the feeling of spikes piercing into his arm as the flesh heap transformed. Chen Jing’s expression remained unchanged as he continued to move downwards.
After his entire arm, along with his shoulder, sank into the flesh heap, he could feel something inside the mass feasting on his flesh. Finally, he touched the crystal.
The crystal was scalding hot, making his palm numb, but he didn’t let go. He held onto it tightly, attempting to pull his hand out.
The strange species continued moving, and Zhang Xin and Xiao Pang were pushed to other places but were still reaching towards Chen Jing.
Chen Jing’s left arm was already broken, and with only one hand exerting force, thin thread-like things rapidly drilled out of the flesh heap, attempting to break through his skin and burrow inside.
He could feel something extending inside his blood vessels, reaching toward his spine and climbing up to his brain.
Xiao Pang below, ignoring the venom, quickly climbed up towards him. After reaching up, he tried to break these threads with his bare hands. His arm’s skin was burned halfway, and blood streaks formed, dripping down his wrist.
Once Xiao Pang’s hand became a bloody mess, his arm was finally free from the mass of flesh’s constraint.
Bright flames cleared a path, and Zhang Xin could finally come over. Noticing that Chen Jing was only using one hand, she didn’t hesitate to lend her hand.
The threads also began climbing onto her hand.
On the side, Xiao Pang continuously pulled these threads, sweat pouring down his forehead in urgency.
Realizing what would happen next, the mass of flesh became even more restless. The sole remaining head quickly turned towards them, and tentacles with barbed hooks emerged from the faces, creating eerie sounds that exploded in the minds of those present.
Having found what they needed, with no intention to delay further, Jiang Yujin kicked the head into the ruins and said, “Quiet.”
【0】, suppressed and immobile, no longer struggled. The strange species in the distance ceased to appear. The sandstorm seemed frozen, and only the destroyed street lamps emitted a sizzling sound of sparks.
At a distance, Chen Jing looked towards the person standing far away. The person tilted his head, not glancing in their direction. After the wind ceased, his white disheveled hair covered his eyebrows, making it impossible to discern his expression.
Seemingly purely calm, completely indifferent to the situation here.
The temperature of the crystal in Chen Jing’s hand continued to rise, and Zhang Xin exerted force with him.
Within the entire world, the dark red light grew increasingly bright, and the sound continuously drilling into their minds became louder. It seemed to churn in their brains, incessantly instilling something that didn’t originally belong there.
Something was brazenly invading their brains, attempting to alter something. The stabbing pain in their nerves sent ripples throughout their bodies.
Before their sanity completely collapsed, disregarding the blood continuously flowing from his hand, Chen Jing exerted his last bit of strength.
“Crack—”
A faint sound, so subtle that it could be easily ignored throughout the entire space.
The flames went out, and the dark red light suddenly dimmed.
Following that was a violent sensation of shaking.
Atsha was collapsing.
