"That powerful?"
Huai Shi was stunned for a mont before a wide smile spread across her face, her confidence swelling. This ti, without waiting for the enemy to attack again, she launched an offensive of her own.
The Sacrificial Knife wasn't excessively long, only slightly longer than an ordinary dagger, which suited Huai Shi's Dagger Combat perfectly.
The Ro Dagger Boxing Technique, at LV8, was no longer inferior to the once-fad Red Gloves, having reached the upper echelons of professional skill. It could be said there wasn't a hint of ostentation left; it had transford into an out-and-out killing art.
Instantly, Crying Snake felt a wave of wretched, indignant despair.
He had barely survived the bombardnt, only to be surrounded before he even had ti to react.
He had originally wanted to reclaim the Sacred Relic gifted by the Lord. Incidentally, he'd hoped to find so newbie to trample on to vent his frustration. Who could have anticipated that his own strike would be akin to stirring up a Peppa Pig's hornet's nest?
Where did this freak jump out from? Oddly reactive, unaffected by snake venom, and her Sword Technique is so fierce it's frightening! Without any Stigma, she jumped two levels and beat
like I was her grandson...
"Get lost!"
He howled with all his might, his Bone Blade parrying Huai Shi's knife as he turned to flee. But then he saw that a line of people had already taken positions behind him at so point. Seeing him trying to escape, they greeted him with a volley of bullets, clearly intending to force him into a head-on confrontation with Huai Shi to capture him alive.
Crying Snake was so incensed he almost laughed out loud.
Even if I'm outmatched in blade combat, am I, a Second Stage·Gold Sublimator, really afraid of a newbie without even a Stigma? First, I'll take a hostage!
Ignoring Huai Shi's ferocious assault, the teeth in his mouth suddenly elongated, spewing a stream of venom that looked like clear water. The venom quickly evaporated in mid-air, transforming into wisps of white mist. Wherever it passed, even stones were corroded, leaving pitted holes.
Huai Shi was startled and hurriedly retreated. He seized the opportunity, regaining the initiative. One hand shot out recklessly, grabbing the blood-sucking blade, while the other reached for Huai Shi's neck.
Then, darkness enveloped his vision, and he heard the incessant roar of gunfire.
Knife in one hand, Huai Shi had already drawn the pistol from her vest with the other and pressed it against his forehead, repeatedly pulling the trigger.
The small-caliber bullets couldn't even penetrate his skull, but their impact was no less devastating than a penetrating injury. He was instantly stupefied, uncertain if his brains had been rattled loose.
"Let go!"
Huai Shi wrenched the Sacrificial Knife from his grasp and chopped down powerfully. As the blade cleaved through the air, she ignited the pale Source Substance fire in her hand, adding the weight of an Axe to the blade. With one swift cross-cut, she hacked off one of his arms. Then, she withdrew the blade and struck again.
She cleanly severed both of his arms.
After absorbing enough blood, the damaged Sacrificial Knife quickly began to repair itself. From shattered bronze debris, it restored itself to its original glossy appearance, as though freshly forged. It even began to misbehave, attempting to absorb Huai Shi's Source Substance.
Absorb my Source Substance? Are you kidding ? Huai Shi was amused. You dare to absorb from , a Negative Energy Producer? Pal, have you got that wrong?
She directly re-materialized Apocalypse back into Source Substance, then mixed it with a large amount of heart poison, and poured it in, letting the damned thing absorb its fill.
At first, it consud greedily. When it sensed sothing was amiss and tried to stop, the Hand of Confinent seized its hilt and forcefully fed it more, like being made to gulp down chili water. It drank its fill.
In the end, the blade trembled violently, emitting a mournful cry, as if begging for rcy.
The pure Negative Energy and an even purer death poison had truly tornted it enough, turning it back into a dull, gray thing, held in Huai Shi's hand as docile as a chastened child.
With the internal matter settled, it was ti to deal with the external one.
Huai Shi picked up the Sacrificial Knife, reversed its edge, and advanced on Crying Snake, unleashing a fierce barrage of chops. The terrifying weight bestowed by the Hand of Confinent made each blow as heavy as an Axe. Soon, Crying Snake, lying on the ground, twitched a few tis and then stopped moving altogether.
It could only be said that a tiger stranded in the lowlands can be bullied by dogs. The Gold-Stage master, who could have easily beaten Huai Shi in a direct confrontation, had first been battered by missiles and Incendiary Bombs. Now, he was being thrashed by Huai Shi. Egged on by Raven's sly instigation, Huai Shi even hacked off the three horns on his head.
That stuff was valuable.
The essence of the Crying Snake Stigma's toxin was concentrated in them. With a little refinent, it could be made into an antidote for most neurotoxins.
"They should fetch tens of thousands, I guess," Raven remarked, then paused before adding, "per gram."
Hearing this, Huai Shi, who had been slightly hesitant, decisively took the risk.
Such good stuff! These High-Stage Sublimators are truly walking treasure troves!
After Huai Shi was finished, the Suppression Troops, who had been waiting for so ti, rushed over. They bound the barely alive Crying Snake on the ground with layer upon layer of shackles.
First ca manacles to bind his flesh, then an Explosion Collar to block his Stigma. After that, several Potions—red, green, and other colors—were shot directly into his carotid artery via an Injection Gun. Finally, a seven to eight-centiter-long nail was hamred into the base of his neck, making Huai Shi's eyes twitch uncontrollably.
Is that really necessary?
The burly n of the Suppression Troops all looked unfazed, indicating with a wave of their hands that this was rely standard procedure. Huai Shi wondered if Director Fu was trying to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys—a subtle warning for her not to stir up trouble in the Current Circumstances.
It seed only one fish had escaped the net. Huai Shi searched the ruins again, but this ti, nothing jumped out to backstab her.
Unfortunately, she found no trace of King Ocean, not even a body.
Logically speaking, soone as weak as him, not even a Sublimator, should have died instantly in the missile explosion. But Huai Shi still harbored doubts. That guy was incredibly hard to kill; even Red Gloves hadn't managed it. Now, with no corpse visible, there was no guarantee he wasn't hiding sowhere, plotting trouble.
From the distant woods, Raven whistled, looking toward another hill.
As soon as the missiles began to fall, the figure lurking there had turned and fled. He ran like an old farr who, having stolen a waterlon, found himself under artillery fire—abandoning his companions and fleeing frantically without a backward glance.
It had to be said that King Ocean's knack for sensing danger and fleeing swiftly was far more developed than his virtually nonexistent talent for scheming.
Watching from the sidelines the whole ti, Raven saw everything but said nothing. It simply shook its wings, and a feather drifted down.
The feather drifted down, landing on the exposed nape of King Ocean's neck. It dissolved like diluted ink, transforming into sothing like a sunburn mark.
What kind of fish can be caught with such bait in this quagmire? It was very curious.
***
"Well done." Ai Qing glanced at Crying Snake, trapped in the cage, her gaze calm. "No," she corrected herself, "I should say, we caught a big one."
Director Fu looked at the charred white ruins and sighed helplessly. The Astronomical Society's airstrike might have been satisfying for them, but it was the Special Affairs Departnt that had to clean up the ss.
He could only lant that so of these individuals were incredibly resilient; otherwise, they wouldn't have found anyone left alive to give a statent.
He truly couldn't comprehend Ai Qing's hardcore, Russian Federation-style logic.
However, he also had to thank her for this reckless and arguably excessive decision, which had successfully averted a brutal ambush. Just looking at the remnants of those monstrous things at the scene was enough to make one's teeth ache.
What gave him an even bigger headache was this: how did so many Border Variants appear in the Current Circumstances?
These creatures were already formidable enough to engage a modern military in a direct confrontation...
Irritated, he lit a cigarette. "What in the blazes are the customs people up to?"
"As much as I'd love to teach those incompetents a lesson, unfortunately, these things have nothing to do with customs." Ai Qing sighed regretfully, proposing a new hypothesis. "What if they weren't smuggled in from the Border, but were raised right here in the Current Circumstances?"
"Hm?" Director Fu was montarily stunned, then furrowed his brows.
If that were the case, it would explain where all the money and resources the Savior Association had been hoarding had gone, and how they had used the privileges they'd so desperately sched to obtain from the upper echelons.
But it also ant the severity of the situation had escalated once more.
The irony was that for so many years, the shadow of the Savior Association had been silently growing in the coastal regions, and the Special Affairs Departnt had remained completely oblivious. In the end, it was a Border terrorist organization like Green Day that inadvertently exposed them...
One could only imagine that soone in the shadows had been constantly covering for them, shielding them and allowing them to flourish...
What was more troubling was that Border Variants weren't like chickens, ducks, pigs, or sheep that could thrive on simple fodder. Their environntal requirents were even more stringent than those of so endangered species. Air, food, even the depth of their habitat—all could influence their developnt and growth.
Apart from the Astronomical Society's now-sealed giant biological experintation facility, the 'Existence Institute,' institutions capable of such feats were exceedingly rare.
And, coincidentally, among them was an organization renowned for its ability to rear Border Variants...
"—The Purified People." Director Fu uttered the na, almost groaning as he massaged his temples. "Damn it, this is a huge ss. Can we be sure?"
"Don't we have a ready-made test subject?" Ai Qing lifted her chin, gesturing toward the Crying Snake Sublimator in the cage, her gaze becoming profound. "If it really is those lunatics, you definitely won't get anything out of him. Better to make so use of the waste.
"The mont any of The Purified People use external power to achieve sublimation, their souls are branded by their Lord. From that mont on, everything they possess, including their life and body—down to the last drop of blood and every shred of flesh—belongs to the Ultimate Master.
"In Hell's Paradise of Bliss, believers and envoys alike—all living beings—are rely provisions in reserve. Once they are deed to have lost their value, it is ti for the Superiors to indulge in them at the nocturnal banquet..."
As she spoke, she looked at Director Fu. His expression changed, and after a long mont, he sighed helplessly and waved his hand. "Do as you wish. I'll sign off on it later."
Satisfied, Ai Qing retracted her gaze and beckoned to Huai Shi.
Nearby, Huai Shi, who was thoroughly enjoying a mont of slacking off, jumped in fright. Looking around and confirming Ai Qing was calling her, she instinctively felt uneasy.
"Uh, Old Pal," Huai Shi dithered, reluctant to approach. "Even if I'm just a cog in the Astronomical Society's machine, you can't just order
around every single day, can you?"
"Relax, I'm not asking you to go through hell and high water," Ai Qing said, pointing to the Sacrificial Knife in Huai Shi's pocket. "Give
that."
Huai Shi hesitated for a mont but eventually took out the knife, offering it to Ai Qing handle-first. "Be careful, that thing is pretty wicked."
"It's just a D-Grade Border Relic. The risks are manageable."
Ai Qing indifferently took out a handkerchief, wrapped it around the knife handle, and took it. Once it left Huai Shi's hand, the knife began to act up again, trembling and emitting a low hum that made one's scalp tingle.
Supporting herself with her cane, Ai Qing rose from her wheelchair. Holding the knife in her other hand, her face expressionless, she stepped forward. Through the bars of the cage, she plunged the blade into the Crying Snake Sublimator's throat.
CRACK!
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