Chapter 195 Unleashed 1

The sharpshooter concluded that I was no match for Chenlong. This judgment seemed to be based not on likes or dislikes or emotions, but on a conclusion reached after rational thinking.

He probably thought that the "Teleportation Armor" was a skill that a fire-type user like me couldn't overcome after seeing the information about it. However, he certainly didn't know that I could forcefully break through that skill with overwhelming power. I had been advised before not to try to conquer Chenlong under equal conditions, so even if he said this to my face now, I just thought it was the same old advice.

"For a fire-elemental user like you to break through the 'portal armor,' the only way is through overwhelming brute force. Pure power can trample all rules, and even the most absurd superpower mechanism must follow this principle—I guess that's what you're thinking. But even assuming you really possess a super move that can elevate your firepower to that dimension, you're still destined to be unable to defeat Chen Long, at least not in that independent reality space."

The sharpshooter seemed to have read my true thoughts. He continued, "I've seen the information about that independent reality space. I have a pretty good idea of ​​why Chenlong was able to unleash his full power there."

"All you need to do is honestly focus on dealing with Ying Lingyun's 'possible clones' and destroy that independent reality space."

“Chenlong…I will kill him.”

Zhu Shi frowned and asked, "Why do you say Zhuang Cheng can't do it?"

"Why should I say it? You'll all find out soon enough anyway, so just keep having a headache here."

It wasn't unexpected for the sharpshooter to say something like that. Logically, since we're now on the same side, we should share information valuable to the operation. However, I guess just as I see him as someone to kill afterward, he certainly doesn't really see me as a partner.

Moreover, he is probably someone who values ​​his own mood more than the big picture—no, it should be said that in his view, his own mood is the big picture, and whether the battle goes smoothly or not is secondary.

Looking at the ruins of the destroyed building, he immediately smashed through the load-bearing structure of the Luoshan office building to kidnap Ma Zao. This might not have been an intentional display of his domineering nature, but rather a sign that he simply hadn't thought things through. Whether the building would be destroyed or bystanders would suffer collateral damage—these questions didn't even cross his mind. It was like a gamer controlling an action game character who, upon entering someone's house, is too lazy to avoid obstacles like tables, chairs, and cabinets; even if he smashes them to pieces, he won't realize anything is wrong.

Perhaps rules are like the walls of this building in the minds of people like them. Those at the Great Accomplishment level are super-individuals capable of single-handedly destroying a great nation; their perspective on human affairs is destined to be different from that of ordinary people. I vaguely sensed that I was encountering a set of values ​​completely different from anyone I had ever met before.

Even the immortal monster who used to call himself "Superman" never made me feel the perspective and values ​​of this super individual—despite calling himself "Superman," he still unconsciously revered those in power, the law, and morality, and his heart was full of rules and regulations.

This transcendental thought is not unfamiliar to me. Because for a long time, I have unconsciously viewed the world from a similar perspective. I was also partly responsible for turning this building into ruins.

As he spoke, the sharpshooter observed my expression. He probably said those things on purpose to disrupt my mindset before the battle. Well, that only meant letting him down. From the beginning, my goal was to conquer the "Portal Armor" under equal conditions. If the brute-force method was truly sealed, it would only fuel my desire for challenge.

His trash talk sounded to me like a disguised form of "good news".

Seeing that I remained unfazed, he smacked his lips, turned around, and jumped.

Like a rocket launching, he soared into the sky, even this simple jump generating a violent shockwave and gale. High in the air, he became a blurry dot, then burst forth with silver light, streaking across the night sky like a shooting star, leaving a straight contrail before disappearing at the horizon.

He actually ran away?

I turned to Lu You and asked him where he had gone. What if I wanted to kill him later but couldn't find him?

“He went to the old outpost of the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau and laid an ambush beforehand,” Lu Youxun replied.

“Ambush…” I glanced into the distance.

The demon hunter team led by Sharpshooter was still waiting in the distance. Since Sharpshooter was supposed to ambush the old Humanitarian Division stronghold hundreds of kilometers away, why were these people still here? They weren't like Sharpshooter, capable of moving at several times the speed of sound; wasn't it a bit too late to set off for the old Humanitarian Division stronghold now?

“They can’t be like sharpshooters, waiting dozens of kilometers away from the target location. To avoid being detected by the Humanitarian Affairs Department, instead of having this team ambush near the old Humanitarian Affairs Department stronghold in advance, it would be better to use spatial teleportation to go directly to the battlefield,” Lu Youxun explained. “This approach requires Ma Zao’s help. We hope she can recreate the teleportation portal in the monster creator’s ‘clinic’ so that our team can directly enter the interior of the old Humanitarian Affairs Department stronghold.”

“I made this request to her before when you were investigating the enemy's stronghold, and she agreed.”

"Is that so?" I asked Ma Zao.

After the formidable enemy left, Mazao approached me again and nodded, "As long as there is an item that can take over the burden of my soul, there will be no problem."

Then, she glanced in the direction the sharpshooter had gone, and said apologetically, "...Zhuang Cheng, I'm sorry, I couldn't help you and I've only caused you trouble..."

“I just love the trouble you cause me,” I said.

"Huh?" She was stunned.

"What I mean is... don't take it so seriously."

After changing my mind, I looked at Lu Youxun and asked, "Are you in trouble too? It seems that Shenqiang is very unhappy that you withheld information from me. Will he retaliate against you afterward?"

"Don't worry, I have some connections with him, I know how to get away with this. You should worry about her situation more." He glanced at Ma Zao, "It seems Sharpshooter won't let this go. What if he suddenly turns around and kidnaps her? Just relying on the G on her wrist—"

"Ah—ah—"

Zhu Shi suddenly made a loud noise.

"Zhu Shi, what's wrong?"

Ma Zao looked completely bewildered, then turned to Lu Youxun and asked, "Also, were you talking about my bracelet? What's wrong with the bracelet?"

Lu Youxun's gaze darted back and forth between us, and he said with a strange expression, "...Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it."

To divert Asaho's attention, I immediately steered the conversation back on track: "I left 'Firefly' here. Now my connection with the secret base is very smooth. 'Firefly' being here is the same as me being here."

“Then there’s no problem.” Lu Youxun nodded.

The Luoshan office has been destroyed, so it was inconvenient for us to stay here any longer and we went directly to the "clinic".

Fortunately, the agents stationed at the Luoshan office were not seriously injured during the earlier gunfire—although they were slightly injured, as the sound of the office being bombed into ruins was so loud that it gave them concussions and ruptured their eardrums. Luckily, there were still many medical supplies in the ruins, which Lu Youxun used on the agents, healing them in no time.

On the way, I also briefly checked my "haul"—

When I attacked the spearman earlier, I did more than just burn his arm.

Having learned from my past experiences fighting Chenlong, the flames I unleash now possess not only physical destructive power but also a special ability to damage souls. The flames just now should have damaged the Divine Spear's soul to some extent. However, this is the first time I've consciously tried to harm someone else's soul, so the feel for it is still somewhat unfamiliar.

Strictly speaking, this probably wasn't the first time. In fact, when I burned the researchers and guards at the Humanitarian Division's secret outpost, I also intended to kill their souls. But to put it bluntly, my opponents weren't skilled enough, and I couldn't even tell whether they died from having their souls damaged or from being burned to death by the physical force of the flames.

Since the souls of all the enemies I've killed so far have been reduced to "ashes," it means my flames originally possessed soul-destroying power; it's just that in the past, I was only unconsciously unleashing this power. That level was insufficient to deal with enemies at the Great Completion level. But this time, I've finally truly attacked the soul of a Great Completion level enemy.

The evidence is "slag".

After killing the sharpshooter, I gained a large amount of "slag," more than half more than all the "slag" I had accumulated so far.

This also leads to the conclusion that "slag" is indeed different from "experience points" in virtual games. In virtual games, the death of an enemy can be determined by whether or not "experience points" are gained, while "slag" can be obtained by burning souls.

Judging from the spearman's reaction, the soul trauma he suffered didn't seem particularly severe. Since I only burned off one of his arms, his soul probably only lost a corresponding amount of weight at most. Losing an arm isn't a big deal for someone at the Great Completion level, and even if it was a soul-level injury, there are probably ways to repair it.

Actually, I think the “damage suffered by the soul” shouldn’t be calculated in that way, or rather, the soul shouldn’t be something whose loss can be measured from a quantitative perspective… It’s just that as a human being, I can only cause quantifiable damage to other people’s souls, similar to “damage equivalent to losing an arm” and so on.

If I could be less bound by the fundamental principles of the material world, perhaps even burning off a single finger of the divine spear could completely incinerate its soul… No, that's still bound by the principles of material spacetime. Why must I first injure the physical body before I can injure the opponent's soul?

But if a flame can affect the soul of another without going through material space and time, is it still a flame?

It's less of a flame and more of a curse in the form of flame. That being said, I don't feel it's a direction I can't move forward in. I recall past experiences that extended the flame to a metaphysical level.

While pondering the evolutionary direction of superpowers, I shifted my focus back to the secret base manager's office to continue investigating the information on the bookshelves.

This time, I wasn't able to uncover any particularly important intelligence; I simply stored the experimental data and information into my consciousness. Meanwhile, Lu Chan's work was progressing simultaneously. She had persuaded all the imprisoned demon hunters to join the riot plan and was on her way back.

As I investigated the last item on the bookshelf, a report that, while seemingly unimportant, might be worth mentioning, caught my eye. It was about the "witcher from the next cell" whom I had casually rescued when I first entered the secret hideout. After escaping his cell, he naturally failed to escape the hideout itself, nor did he cause much of a stir. He was quickly detected by the hideout's internal surveillance system, then engaged in a battle with nearby guards, dying in the struggle.

Although it was a stranger, I couldn't help but sigh when I thought about how the person I had helped had failed to escape.

However, in such a place, it doesn't matter whether he is caught or even killed. He is already a "bound spirit" of this living hell and can't escape no matter what.

And now is the time to destroy hell.

I put the last folder back on the bookshelf, then turned around and opened the door to the supervisor's office.

A fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, dressed in a white straitjacket, with delicate and beautiful features, appeared before me.

“Everything is ready,” said the young girl, Lu Chan.

I made the final decision: "Shall we begin now?"

At this very moment, over a hundred "fireflies" have spread throughout the secret hideout thanks to the efforts of the young girl Lu Chan. The "fireflies" I brought her were not only responsible for route reconnaissance, but they also split themselves and implanted themselves into the keyholes of all the prison iron doors and magic-sealed locks.

She closed her eyes, seemingly recalling her past experiences in this terrifying place, then exhaled a deep breath, slowly opened her eyes, and said in a deep voice, "—Let's begin."

As soon as she finished speaking, I issued commands to all the "fireflies" inside the secret base.

In my perception, more than a hundred "fireflies" burst into flames at the same time, and then contracted and solidified into the shape of a key, unlocking all the restraints; and the demon hunters who joined the riot plan obviously sensed the failure of the magic seal lock, and the iron doors of the prison cells that trapped them also opened automatically.

All the prisoners were freed.

In an instant, countless fluctuations of magical power erupted throughout the stronghold.

(End of this chapter)