Chapter 207: Greed is Original Sin
"What are you?" Three hours later, after Sarcasky swallowed two pieces of food that had traveled a long distance, he sent a mental fluctuation to the avatar trailing him.
Its current form still maintained its previous human appearance, but the massive black hole on its chest clearly revealed its non-human truth.
"No wonder liquid metal can be so easily made into a medicine, even directly consumed. It turns out it's simply its food." Bai Mo ignored the provocation, instead musing to himself.
"And what are you?" The avatar sent out a mental fluctuation, asking.
"Become a part of my body, and then you will know." Their conversation proved fruitless, and Sarcasky directly attacked Bai Mo.
"Boom!!!" Simply the wind pressure generated by his high-speed movement when initiating the charge had already plowed a gully through the solid frozen earth of the snowy plains.
He was no match. Bai Mo instantly reached this conclusion, then controlled his avatar to fly towards the sky.
"Going into the sky is useless too." Sarcasky braked his charging momentum, his body rapidly transforming. His torso shrank, replaced by two enormous wings that sprouted, as he began his aerial pursuit.
Or rather, it wasn't that they "grew out"; instead, they instantly morphed into the shape of wings like a fluid, then hardened once more.
"Rumble..." As a physical entity, Sarcasky's supersonic flight created immense noise. This was also the first time Bai Mo had fought a physical creature capable of breaking the sound barrier and moving at supersonic speeds.
The chase lasted for ten minutes, but no substantive contact occurred, primarily because the avatar, virtually unhindered by air resistance, still held a slight speed advantage over Sarcasky.
This, however, held little meaning. An avatar with only tens of tons of psionic output simply couldn't inflict damage on Sarcasky, whose structure was vastly different.
Despite its formidable strength, it strangely lacked a Life Field for protection. This allowed Bai Mo to observe its internal structures with his divine sense, only to discover that Sarcasky's very existence possessed no internal or external distinction!
The material on its surface and within its body was constantly in a state of exchange; every part was composed identically. When solidified, it possessed incredibly high strength, and when fluid, it had extreme malleability.
"You've annoyed me, little bug. The warm-up is over now." Sarcasky declared, then rapidly began transforming into a turret-like shape in mid-air. "No matter how fast you run, are you faster than light?"
Bai Mo only saw the opponent quickly transform into a turret, then a laser beam emerged from the muzzle. It left him no reaction time, piercing a bowl-sized hole through the avatar.
While this wasn't too significant a wound for an avatar composed purely of Spirit Energy, the fact that the opponent could transform into a laser cannon proved that his sole speed advantage had essentially vanished.
So the avatar turned and fled towards the Arctic Ocean, intending to use the seawater as a barrier to escape. If possible, he wouldn't allow the avatar to self-destruct.
Discovering that the enemy had turned to flee, attempting to escape within the laser's blind spot, Sarcasky once again rapidly transformed into pursuit mode.
"Two seconds." Bai Mo calculated the approximate time required for the opponent to complete its transformation.
The two, one pursuing and one fleeing, soon arrived at the northernmost ice fields. The avatar plunged into the water without a single ripple. Sarcasky immediately transformed into a shape suited for high-speed aquatic movement, plunging into the icy seawater right behind it.
"Connect me to Speaker Cheng's phone." As soon as he felt the opponent was unbeatable, Bai Mo had already begun contacting others while controlling his avatar.
"What's wrong, Bai Mo?" Cheng Mu's voice sounded a little hurried.
"Things seem problematic. A Terminator has appeared."
"You're speaking without a head or a tail. I have something big happening here too. Over twenty middle and high-ranking officials suddenly died at the same time a few hours ago. We have to go see it personally."
"Sudden death? Did their bodies suddenly explode?" Bai Mo asked subconsciously.
"How did you know?!"
"Then it should be the same thing. Some of the vampires on my side have also self-destructed. My avatar is currently pursuing the perpetrator."
"You found the perpetrator so quickly?"
"Yes, but I don't think I can take him down."
"Now's not the time to be modest. Don't forget, just a few months ago you were tearing down cities and destroying strongholds."
"Really. That's why I want to broadcast an announcement worldwide." Bai Mo's train of thought began to jump again.
"Why are you like Ye Zi and the others, always jumping so quickly from one thought to the next? I'm an old man; I can't keep up with you young people." Cheng Mu found Bai Mo's reasoning a bit confusing.
"I want to use that tower to broadcast."
"You young people, always loving to create big news." Cheng Mu, being old and cunning, roughly guessed that Bai Mo felt he couldn't win alone and was preparing to call for reinforcements. "Don't think I can take him down" likely meant he was being completely suppressed in the fight.
"But on what basis do you plan to rally people from other countries? That underground ranking doesn't represent prestige."
"They will go. I understand their thinking."
"You're talking nonsense. Come to the Federation Central Television broadcasting station now. I'll have my subordinates take you up. With so many high-ranking officials suddenly dead, I need to personally oversee the headquarters and suppress those who are itching for action."
"More people are probably going to die next." Bai Mo said this, then hung up the phone.
"This is an official broadcast from the Huaxia Federation to the entire world. A suspected non-human entity, possibly above the Unmelting Realm stage, has been detected within the Arctic Circle. The site is extremely dangerous. Irrelevant personnel are advised not to approach the vicinity. Current coordinates: 70 degrees 20 minutes East longitude, 71 degrees 23 minutes North latitude..."
In Tianqing, a newly constructed, massive mental fluctuation broadcasting tower stood. Through this tower, the mental fluctuations of Ability Users could be transmitted across almost the entire planetary surface, but simultaneously, the energy consumed for every second of use was an astronomical figure.
"Did you all hear that?"
"Heard it. It seems to be a broadcast from the Huaxia Federation."
"What a grand gesture, a global mental fluctuation."
"Do they actually want us to go or not?" Some, who felt they had been stuck in the Unmelting Realm stage for a considerable time and whose patience was constantly being eroded, were somewhat confused.
"This is diplomatic rhetoric. Any explanation makes sense. He probably wants us to go and act as scouts. The scene is definitely very dangerous, but as a major power, they can't openly trick others into dying, so they used this compromising method."
"Boss truly lives up to his reputation as a pundit; he grasped the nation's intentions so quickly."
Countless people began discussing the seemingly contradictory intentions of the Huaxia Federation, because such an announcement was simply self-defeating, yet it was a worldwide broadcast.
"Bai Mo, what are you doing!" Less than two minutes after the broadcast was completed, Chen Bo's call came through.
"Let more people deal with that monster."
"There could have been much better ways to notify people. Why did it have to be a global broadcast, and such a bewildering public announcement at that?"
"There's a rare opportunity to glimpse levels beyond the Unmelting Realm. Although it's dangerous, don't you want to see it?"
"Do you need to command all the world's experts to go and test it?" Chen Bo also understood Bai Mo's intentions.
"It's too strong, so of course, we need to find more cannon fodder to scout ahead first. There will always be greedy people; for power, for a longer lifespan, someone will always be willing to take a gamble." Bai Mo revealed a kindly smile.
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