Forty-Nine Doomsday Chapter 256: Reason, Ability, and Battle

Didn't chase after ?

"Dead End" ran to the other side of the town, looked back over her shoulder, and saw that no one was pursuing her.

She let out a slight sigh of relief and muttered a few words under her breath.

"It seems their target is the Commander. They don't care about a small fry like ... I need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Once they capture the Commander, they definitely won't let

go."

"...I can't go to any big cities. My identity must be exposed; I'll be flagged by facial recognition. Damn it, if only I could get that guarantee, I wouldn't have to worry about this problem."

As soon as the words left her mouth, a young voice suddenly sounded from behind her.

"They don't care, but I'm quite curious."

The abrupt voice made her jump in fright. She quickly assud a combat stance and turned to look. There, standing as if he had been there all along, was a person completely encased in jet-black armor.

"Who are you?!"

"The person you were asking for a guarantee from. You are 'Dead End,' aren't you?"

The woman was astonished upon hearing this. "You're Shadow?!"

Earlier, when Guan Tong was controlling his Shadow and saw this woman betray Jiang Lanying and flee, he guessed she might be that "Dead End." Because only a betrayer would do such a thing.

Hearing her mutterings just now confird it was indeed her.

After the initial shock, the woman looked at the black armor on the other person and thought it must be Shadow. The information on Shadow included records about this set of "Shadow Armor."

"You... how did you find

here? I didn't give you my location!"

"Just because you didn't give it, doesn't an I couldn't find it."

"...What do you want?"

The woman didn't attempt to escape. She didn't think she could get away from "Shadow." No matter how fast she was, could she possibly be faster than a shadow? Besides, she had already used up her speed-boosting item to escape the enemy encirclent.

She truly felt she had reached a dead end.

"I'm just a little curious," Guan Tong asked. "Why did you betray Jiang Lanying?"

Through his Shadow left at the scene, Guan Tong had seen those "Han Lings" willingly die for their Commander, Jiang Lanying, even going mad to the point of taking their enemies down with them.

Why was that fanaticism absent in the woman before him? Why was she so different?

Upon hearing Guan Tong's question, the woman was silent for a mont before saying, "If I tell you, will you let

go?"

"No."

Even without the rule binding him, Guan Tong wouldn't lie at this mont.

"Do you really think I'd let you go after you've helped Jiang Lanying do so many bad things?"

The woman's expression changed. "Then why should I tell you, just to satisfy your curiosity?"

Guan Tong shrugged. "It doesn't matter if you don't say. But I think you might tell , because the desire to confide is also a human urge... Especially when facing death, people always seem to have a lot they want to say."

Hearing this, the woman was stunned for a few seconds before finally speaking. "It's nothing special. I'm simply afraid of death. So, even though the Commander took in an orphan like , I never had the thought of dying as a sacrificial pawn for her. Do you find that laughable?"

"No, I think that's the thought process of a normal person."

The rules were absolute. The woman knew Guan Tong wouldn't lie; what he said was his true feeling.

She was quite surprised. "I didn't expect you to understand. Many people would probably think I'm an ungrateful, selfish person."

"If the purpose of adopting orphans is to have them die for you soday, then that is the true selfishness."

"Thank you... You can do it now."

Guan Tong raised his hand, then paused. "I know you people all hide poison in your teeth. Taking it causes imdiate death without much pain."

Han Ling and the short-haired woman who led the team to attack him earlier both died by poison, their deaths looking the sa. This indicated they all carried this kind of poison.

The woman gave Guan Tong a strange look, then suddenly flung a Mind Power bomb item at him.

"BOOM!!!"

After the bomb exploded, the woman stared intently ahead, trying to see through the dust of the explosion.

But the next mont, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. A shadow spike had pierced through it and was swiftly withdrawn.

She fell powerlessly, clutching her chest, and said with difficulty, "You were already on guard..."

"I just thought it was strange for soone with such a strong will to survive to say sothing like 'you can do it now.'"

Guan Tong's voice ca through the smoke.

"However, I appreciate your sneak attack. It shows you practice what you preach."

"..."

The woman couldn't speak anymore. Her life quickly faded away.

Guan Tong looked at her corpse, then suddenly turned his head toward the direction of the bank vault, his eyes changing sharply.

The visual feed shared by the Shadow he had left at the scene showed him an unexpected arrival.

"Lucifer? It's actually him..."

Guan Tong had co to intercept "Dead End" because he thought Jiang Lanying couldn't escape.

Her subordinates were all dead. On her own, defeating the remaining official team mbers was impossible.

But he hadn't expected that mysterious "contact person" to suddenly enter the battlefield, kill several people in a row, and instantly turn the tide.

And this person was none other than the famous Ascendant from the forr Suroma Empire, Lucifer.

This man was later wanted for treason for organizing killing contests, fled to the Tulip Federation region to participate in warlord conflicts, and was rumored to have beco the leader of one of the factions.

It was just unclear how he had contacted Jiang Lanying and beco her contact person, tasked with getting her safely out of the country.

Watching the shocking images transmitted by his Shadow, Guan Tong thought, "I need to get over there imdiately."

...

Dragon Soul stared at Lucifer standing beside Jiang Lanying and tightened his grip on the Triangular Bayonet in his hand.

He asked his team mbers through the headset, "Is anyone else alive?"

"Captain, Chen Na and I are still alive," Silver Fox's sowhat weak voice ca through. "My right arm was severed. Chen Na is with ; her headset fell out and got crushed when she fell."

"Dragon Team, I'm also alive..." This young voice belonged to the team mber You Hao, who possessed the Lockdown Compass item. His voice was feeble. "I have to hold on... If I can't... the enemy will use a teleportation... item to escape..."

Hearing these two voices gave Dragon Soul so small comfort. But aside from them, no one else spoke, which spoke volus about what had happened.

"The target's backup is Lucifer," Dragon Soul said. "Silver Fox, imdiately take Chen Na and withdraw from the battlefield, then report the situation to higher-ups. You Hao, keep pretending to be dead on the ground, don't move. I'll deal with Lucifer."

"...Understood, Captain. Please take care."

Jiang Lanying glanced at the bodies on the ground and said to Lucifer, "Let's go."

"Go?" Lucifer's gaze was fixed intently on Dragon Soul. "Haven't you noticed? This man has no intention of letting

leave."

Jiang Lanying frowned. "Don't drag this out any longer. From my understanding of the Beixing authorities, their follow-up support will arrive soon."

Lucifer said coldly, "You have no right to order . Rember that clearly."

Jiang Lanying's face darkened, but she said nothing more, stepping aside to watch coldly.

By now, Dragon Soul had already removed his combat uniform. He was left wearing only long pants, military boots, a brown tactical vest, and holding a single Triangular Bayonet.

"He is Dragon Soul, captain of the Beixing official team. His ability is 'Muscle Enhancent,' which allows him to instantly strengthen specific muscles in his body, enabling feats of physical skill that ordinary people would find impossible. That weapon in his hand is a Mind Power item. Its effect is—"

Jiang Lanying stood to the side, leaking Dragon Soul's intel to Lucifer, hoping he would finish the fight quickly.

However, this action was rudely interrupted by Lucifer. "Shut up, old woman. Don't ruin the fun of my fight!"

Jiang Lanying's face turned livid, and she fell silent.

Dragon Soul wasn't angered by Jiang Lanying revealing his ability either. He simply adjusted his muscles, his aura completely locked onto Lucifer.

"I can tell you really want to avenge your team mbers," Lucifer said coldly. "Captain of the Beixing official team, quite a title. But I don't think you have the capability."

Whoosh!

Dragon Soul threw his hand forward, and the bayonet shot toward Lucifer.

Lucifer flapped the wings on his back, and his body imdiately soared high into the air.

The bayonet that missed suddenly changed direction on its own, pursuing the fleeing Lucifer.

Lucifer glanced at it, flapped his left wing, and several black feathers shot out, knocking the bayonet away to the ground.

He looked down at Dragon Soul standing on the ground. "A creature that can only stay on the ground, what can it do besides play with these boring tricks? Do you really think you can hurt

with a toy that has tracking ability?"

Dragon Soul didn't speak. He bent his right knee, lowering his stance. The muscles in his leg rapidly swelled, and the ground beneath his feet cracked audibly.

Lucifer narrowed his eyes, rembering what Jiang Lanying had said about Dragon Soul's ability.

"Muscle Enhancent..."

Boom!

The next mont, Dragon Soul's body shot up from the ground like a cannonball! The ground beneath his right foot deeply cratered, showing just how astonishing the explosive force of that instant was.

Watching Dragon Soul "spring" up from the ground, Lucifer finally showed interest. "Now this is interesting!"

He flapped both wings and charged forward to et him!

Earlier, by enhancing the muscles in his right leg, Dragon Soul had gained the instantaneous explosive power to shoot into the sky. But the mont he took flight, the enhanced part of his body switched.

Now, it was his arm that was enhanced.

Dragon Soul's entire right arm rapidly transford. Veins bulged, muscles knotted, swelling several tis its size in an instant. The thick, robust limb took on a reddish-brown hue, resembling the legendary arm of a Qilin beast.

"BOOM!!!"

The two collided in mid-air, fist against fist. Lucifer felt as if his fist had slamd into a steel plate. The pain of bone fracture instantly spread throughout his body.

At the sa ti, he felt a sharp pain attack his back. It was that bayonet. While throwing his punch, Dragon Soul had directed it to attack from behind, creating a dual assault.

With the punch completed, Dragon Soul lost montum and couldn't stay airborne. His body rapidly descended to the ground. He looked up at Lucifer in the air. The latter had taken his punch head-on, and his entire right arm now hung limply, broken.

Unfortunately, the bayonet hadn't managed to pierce Lucifer's heart from behind.

Dragon Soul thought, "Those wings of his seem to have an automatic defense chanism for vital parts of his body. Otherwise, he'd be dead or at least severely wounded right now."

"Not bad, not bad!" Lucifer, with a broken arm, seed pleased instead. "The captain of the Beixing official team isn't a completely useless waste."

Jiang Lanying watched Lucifer's broken arm, her brow deeply furrowed. She was genuinely worried this madman might play too far. Him dying was one thing, but if it caused her escape to fail, that was absolutely unacceptable.

"My turn now!"

Lucifer flapped his wings, and dozens of feathers shot down with incredible speed!

Dragon Soul's leg muscles swelled, and he dodged by running rapidly across the ground. All the feathers landed on the ground behind him; not a single one hit.

"You're good at dodging. How about this?!"

Lucifer let out a low shout and violently flapped both wings.

The next mont, hundreds, even thousands of feathers rained down like steel needles, blanketing the sky and aiming to pierce every part of Dragon Soul's body from all directions!

The massive number of feathers covered all possible dodging areas. Dragon Soul had nowhere to hide. He didn't even have ti to use an item. However, he believed he shouldn't expend more Mind Power on an item at this mont.

Dragon Soul lowered his head, hunched his back, and activated his ability. The muscles on his back suddenly bulged massively. The shoulder blade muscles and back muscles connected, forming a shape like a large disc.

The steel needle-like black feathers poured down onto it, actually producing a series of "thump, thump, thump" sounds, as if hitting a hard drum skin. They couldn't completely penetrate the hardened muscles, leaving Dragon Soul with a back full of bloody marks.

Seeing this, Lucifer's eyes lit up. "You've developed your ability quite well."

Dragon Soul straightened up and looked up at Lucifer in the air.

He knew that by flying like this, Lucifer was constantly consuming Mind Power. What he needed to do was drag this out until Lucifer's Mind Power was exhausted. Once this guy was forced to land, dealing with him would be much easier.