Chapter 132.1: Long Night (3) (1) |
The moment the order was given, the villa that had lain in silent darkness suddenly blazed back to life, like an exploding star. Amid deafening gunfire, bursts of muzzle flashes erupted from the dark, and dust and debris shook loose into the air as a torrential rain of metal poured forth.
From the first floor, second floor, third floor, basement, left wing, right wing, and even from the depths of the overgrown shrubbery, dormant firearms rose from hidden mounts and opened fire on every living thing in sight. Crossfire swept through everything.
During the nearly week-long stay in the villa, Ji Jue had not wasted a single day. Piece by piece, bit by bit, he had practically renovated the entire place. After installing fire-control stations behind dismantled walls, he had sealed everything back up with plasterboard, putty, and fresh paint. Under his deft handiwork, it blended almost perfectly with the original decor.
Electrical rewiring, plumbing, bricklaying, masonry—he knew a little of everything. And now, the moment the disguise was torn away as that monstrous side of the villa finally revealed itself before the intruders.
Steel-core bullets punched through wooden panels and walls alike, instantly carving gruesome trails of blood through the hallways and corridors. Severed limbs and shattered bodies flew through the air together with stuffing and wood splinters. Walls and ceilings were ripped apart as crossing streams of fire lashed back and forth like whips, sweeping across everything in their path, cutting all flesh and blood cleanly in half at the waist.
Tom, trapped amid the siege, had only just turned around when a spray of blood splashed across his face. Yet somehow, the overwhelming firepower that should have reduced him to minced meat began tracing perfectly around him the moment it reached his position, sweeping past without touching even a single strand of his hair.
For a moment, he was completely dumbfounded. With precision control of this scale...
Are you even an Ember Chosen One anymore, or are you an Origin Chosen One?!
A furious commotion occurred in the main hall. Countless bullets ricocheted through the air, embedding themselves into walls and ceilings. Under the terrifying firepower of the heavy machine guns, a massive figure actually raised an arm to shield his face and charged straight through the barrage. Then, with a single kick, he bent the wildly spinning gun barrel out of shape.
But when he turned around, what he saw was his subordinates behind him, suffering catastrophic casualties, screams echoing nonstop. One after another, their heads exploded under sniper fire coming straight through the walls.
“Old bastard, quit fucking watching the show!” the Vortex-type Chosen One screamed back over his shoulder, his body encased in bone armor. “Do something already!”
“Stop shouting,” a cold voice drifted over from the courtyard.
Brilliant light flickered within Jin Wujiu’s[1] eyes as faint arcs of electricity crackled around him. Unlike the others, he had not charged into the villa’s complicated layout alongside the main force.
The most terrifying aspect of Entropy-type Chosen Ones was their destructive power. And their greatest weakness, without question, was defense.
Even though he had barely stepped into the Rebirth Realm, his defensive capability still could not compare to Vortex-types or Ruins-types in the Metamorphosis Realm. In fact, one could say there was barely any difference between him and an ordinary human. Unless he could one day completely finish the Rebirth Realm, transforming his mortal body and ascending into formless energy capable of dispersing and reforming at will, weak defenses would forever remain his absolute weakness.
Because of that, he never easily set foot in dangerous territory. Every bit of his body was covered in alchemical equipment designed to defend against all manner of attacks.
Now, after the electrostatic cage he had painstakingly arranged finally enveloped the entire hilltop, ensuring that nobody could escape, he raised his hand once more. Within the endless birth and death of electric light, a blinding azure radiance swept in all directions, engulfing the entire villa.
Every lightbulb flared once before bursting. The sound of explosions rang out endlessly as everything overloaded. Backup generators detonated one after another, wires melted and charred black, and thick smoke billowed from the servers amid loud cracking noises.
After the motherboard overload, every mechanical device rapidly vanished from Ji Jue’s perception. In the span of a finger snap, every piece of modern equipment was completely crippled by the sudden electromagnetic pulse.
“Is there really an Origin Chosen One capable of controlling machinery hiding here?” Jin Wujiu sneered. “So this is how well prepared they are. That bastard Chen Xingzhou really was hiding something. Centaur, hurry up. Quit skulking around and dragging your feet. Mr. Lei doesn’t keep useless trash around. If you want to fetch a higher price, then show me what you can do.”
“Fuck you, all you do is yap. If you’re so capable, then get your ass in there yourself!” the Vortex-type Chosen One known as Centaur said impatiently.
Once more, his body expanded. In an instant, he transformed into a giant over three meters tall. Beneath the shredded clothing were muscles bulging with veins, along with grotesque bone armor growing from his limbs, and strange structures jutting out like exhaust pipes.
With a furious roar, scorching blood-vapor, nearly boiling hot, blasted from the bony exhaust vents. The fingers on his hands elongated into gigantic steel-colored claws, razor sharp and glowing red-hot. The bone mask covering his face distorted and stretched beneath the heat. Thick blood-colored fluid flowed through the cracks like a weeping skeletal horse head. Four eyes, covered in heavy irises, opened within the gaps in the bone structure, each staring in a different direction.
“Heh... let’s start with you.”
With the slightest sniff, he sharply distinguished the scent of blood, sweat, stench, and incense in the damp air. Immediately, he locked onto Blondie at the end of the hallway.
His lips curled into a savage grin. With an earth-shaking boom, the floor exploded, blasting rubble everywhere.
“Helphelphelphelphelp!”
As the foul wind rushed straight into his face, Blondie let out a shriek and spun around to flee at full speed, scrambling on both hands and feet. At least he remembered to turn back and empty an entire magazine from his submachine gun while running.
It could only be said that he truly lived up to being a White Deer Chosen One. His balance, reflexes, and sheer speed were enough to make Ji Jue deeply envious.
Meanwhile, Blondie was on the verge of tears.
I swear, I’ve only gone to take a dump. How did I find myself in a horror movie before I even finished wiping my ass?!
Boom!
A scorching iron claw swept across his back, barely missing the chance to tear him clean in half, instead leaving four horrifying gouges in the wall. Blondie’s wailing instantly became even louder, because he suddenly felt a chill around his butt. The pants he had just pulled up were about to fall off again.
He fled in blind panic, squeezing out every bit of strength he had to escape the monster pursuing him. Then, he heard a voice from the far end of the corridor.
It was Ji Jue’s voice, and it was filled with praise.
“Well done, Blondie!”
For a split second, Blondie was confused. Huh? Eh? What? Me? What did I do? Wait, this symbol hanging on the wall... doesn’t it mean this place is a minefield AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!
“HELP MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
Blondie’s cries became even more shrill. His running speed, already at its limit, increased again. In the strangely slowed flow of time, he could practically see the floor deforming and swelling.
Terrifying heat and violent shockwaves followed behind him. Countless steel pellets scattered in expanding waves, completely swallowing the monster chasing after him. Mines and explosions could not kill it. At most, they merely cracked open a fissure in Centaur’s bone armor, driving him even further into a frenzy as boiling blood-vapor blasted from the exhaust vents across his body.
He finally entered within a radius of twenty meters of Ji Jue, exactly the maximum interference range of Deus Ex Machina after advancing to level two.
Ji Jue clenched his fist. And then, the phlogiston explosives buried within the walls erupted in a blaze of light.
The entire villa shook violently amid the thunderous explosion. Walls shattered as shockwaves swept through everything, instantly flipping Blondie through the air as he screamed and blasting him over Ji Jue’s head before slamming him straight into the wall with a smack.
That was only the aftershock, yet it had nearly killed him. If not for the protection of the alchemical equipment disguised as a thick gold chain around his neck, he would’ve gone straight to the ICU from that blast alone.
As for the charging Centaur, he had already been smashed into a load-bearing wall riddled with cracks by the explosion’s heat and shockwave. Dizzy and disoriented, the outer layer of his skeletal armor had been burned black like charcoal, thick blood dripping from the fissures.
Even one of the four eyes on his face had been gouged out.
“You little... bastard... fuck...” Centaur roared furiously, his crimson eyes locking onto Ji Jue. Violent blood-vapor spewed from him as the power granted by the Fortitude and Winter Hoard blessings prevented him from collapsing under the sudden heavy injury. At the same time, it drove his rage further into madness, multiplying both his regenerative speed and strength yet again.
But before anything else, what he heard first was a faint, muffled rumble. Like an engine starting up, it gradually turned deafening, as though it were right beside him.
They were separated only by... a single wall?!
Centaur’s pupils contracted sharply. The gigantic thing on the other side of the wall let out a thunderous bellow. Spirit light flashed across the savage chainsaws mounted upon it as it smashed through the wall and burst forth.
Amid the deafening noise, Centaur was ripped off the wall and slammed to the floor, pinned beneath the steel monstrosity that had burst through the barrier. Three enormous roaring chainsaws swung down in succession.
His armor split apart. His flesh and bones were shredded. Blood spilled in waves, spraying onto the ceiling and splattering everywhere. Horsey’s entire body was encased in heavy armor refined and processed through Fluid Alchemy. The beast-like frame it once possessed had gradually begun taking on more humanlike limbs and posture, though its long tail remained sharp as a blade.
And on its three arms, the alchemical chainsaws Ji Jue had welded onto it clamored furiously, each relentless strike carving deep, bone-exposing gashes across Centaur’s body.
Dragon blood burned scorching hot, engines screamed at maximum throttle, and boiling machine oil evaporated into thick smoke that blasted out from beneath the steel armor.
The heavily armored Horsey charged in!
Boom!!!
1. The surname 金 (“Jin”, literally “gold”) immediately evokes associations with metal, gold, wealth, giving the name a sense of prestige. The given name 无咎 comes from classical Chinese phrasing where it means “without blame,” “free of misfortune,” or “without fault.”
To me, it suggests someone who seeks to act without regret or moral stain. The name feels like the name of a strategist or a character with deep self-discipline.