Chapter 319: Lu Ya Revived Inside Me |
Looking at the tower melting in the Starfish Cannon's blast, the little bat couldn't help but suck in a breath.
The secondary explosions from the machinery inside the tower kept going off, making it impossible for Sonora to maintain her footing even as her bat wings flapped frantically, sending her tumbling through the air twice.
Raising her head to watch Jiang Si streak through dozens of buildings like a meteor, a chain of explosions and fireworks rapidly began heating up the entire world as the red alert sirens spread once again.
Everywhere he goes, things explode.
She couldn't help but feel a bit emotional. This guy hadn't taken a single moment to rest since arriving at Chongxu.
Wait, didn't Lady Jialan bring him in to report to the President and take over the Vice President position?
How did it turn into this?
Or was Lady Jialan playing some grand chess game all along?
Lady Jialan must have been just as fed up with Chongxu, so she brought in Jiang Si—this landmine of a demonic man—to tear everything down.
It hurt so much.
A powerful body could be unstoppable, but had anyone ever considered what it was actually like to experience such continuous explosions with a body that tough?
The intense pain came from every direction.
His eardrums, his eyes—all the soft spots felt like they were being pierced through. His skin was constantly being scorched and torn apart.
Bathing in the flames, the young man endured an inconceivable amount of pain.
But Sonora also knew he had no reaction. He'd probably lost his sense of pain entirely.
So when Jiang Si landed, Sonora instinctively reached out and touched his right ear.
The young man tilted his head slightly, watching as she pulled off an electrode patch stuck to his ear—probably some kind of weapon that had been continuously releasing electric currents and venom.
In reality, he just couldn't be bothered to pull it off. It wasn't bothering him anyway.
"If you can't feel the pain, let me feel it for you."
Sonora didn't know why, but she suddenly mustered the courage to say it. "I'll feel every ounce of pain for you, and I'll tell the world what should have been yours to feel."
Jiang Si looked at her like she was crazy. "I can feel it."
The little bat instantly froze.
Her voice turned weak as she stammered, "Huh? Y-you can feel it?"
"Otherwise, what, do you think I'm disabled?"
"No, no..."
Acting so indifferent, she'd thought he had no pain nerves left... In Chongxu, there was actually a service to remove pain perception, but most people who used it didn't live long.
If it were Jiang Si, Sonora figured he'd live just fine even without pain nerves.
Lu Ya ignored her, raising a hand to grab his own neck. Sparks crackled and burst from the front of his throat like a string of firecrackers going off.
Sonora instinctively shrank back, trembling.
Those sparks looked painful as hell, but Jiang Si didn't even furrow his brow.
For others, the kind of pain that would make them roll on the ground, crying and drooling, was nothing more than an itch to him.
But it wasn't that he couldn't feel it—he was just completely numb... Could humans really adapt to pain like that?
Sonora sure couldn't. It still hurt like hell to her...
"Also," Jiang Si continued, "do you really think I need someone else to tell the world how I feel?"
He crouched on the high-rise, staring at the devastated, wrecked world before him, lost in thought, as if reflecting.
"Hasn't it already gotten the message loud and clear?"
Sonora kind of wanted to bury her head underground.
The earth shook. Magma bubbled and gurgled in the cracks. Buildings were exploding in chain reactions everywhere.
Flames, rubble, smoke—everything was in chaos. The sky was covered in spiderweb-like cracks, like a glass dome about to shatter into pieces.
"Loud and clear! Very loud and clear!"
Sonora felt that if she said it wasn't clear enough, the entire world of Chongxu might just manifest into human form, kneel in front of her, and beg her to stop talking.
"So clear that I think Mother Earth is probably thinking about having a second child and switching to a new world..."
She was rambling nonsense. The little bat wings on her ears were trembling uncontrollably, fluttering so fast that her species was about to change from a bat to a hummingbird!
Jiang Si glanced at those little bat wings and suddenly thought of An Shiyu.
He wondered if An Shiyu's wings could move that fast.
"Next, we need to find where Lu Ya's AI is sealed."
After blowing up the entire tower, Jiang Si had plowed through the surroundings again before confirming that this wasn't where Lu Ya's AI was sealed.
Sonora immediately pointed at an inconspicuous factory in the distance.
"We—"
Before she could finish, Jiang Si smashed down with the Starfish Cannon!
The entire factory instantly vaporized and flew into the sky!
Sonora froze, turned back to look at Jiang Si, and saw the young man in his giant mech making a chin-stroking gesture. "Huh? Not here either?"
"I was going to say let's go ask them! That's our Witch Association's factory. Someone there might know where Lu Ya's AI is!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Then give me a chance to speak..." Sonora didn't know why, but she suddenly felt stupid for being sad about Jiang Si's pain just a moment ago.
Absolutely laughable.
Did this guy really need her concern or pity?
Was she really going to have to spend the rest of her life with him like this? She'd already given him her Core Blood—there was no going back now...
"Okay, name another one. We'll go ask."
"Do you think this is a game?" Sonora slumped down in exhaustion. "I'm tired. Let me have a drink of blood, okay?"
"Didn't you just drink?"
"Just one sip. Just one..."
Jiang Si didn't really care. He casually cut a wound and let the blood drip down from the mech's cockpit.
Sonora ran underneath and opened her mouth to catch it.
After chugging a couple of mouthfuls, the little bat finally perked up. "Then let's head to the Nightwatchmen headquarters. They were the main organization that sealed Lu Ya's AI back then. They definitely have intel..."
"Where is it?"
"I... I don't know either."
"Useless."
Sonora really felt like crying.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be. You weren't supposed to hit me and yell at me. You were supposed to use a gentle voice and coax me...
The thing was, getting insulted so bluntly hurt way more coming from Jiang Si than from anyone else, especially after everything they'd been through. Deep down, Sonora actually kind of admitted it was true.
Lies don't hurt. Truth is the sharp blade. Exposed for what she was, Sonora suddenly found that the taste of Jiang Si's blood in her mouth wasn't sweet anymore—it was bitter, like coffee.
Just as Jiang Si took a deep breath, ready to plow through all of Chongxu again, a familiar voice he hadn't heard in a while reached his ears.
"I've already found the location of the Nightwatchmen headquarters, Master."
Jiang Si was slightly startled. "Tiyana."
"Even though Tiyana hasn't appeared, Tiyana has been working hard all along, Master. But a lot of things were too risky, so Tiyana had to be cautious, cautious, and even more cautious. In the end, I finally found the Nightwatchmen headquarters. In fact, I've more or less figured out the entire structure of Chongxu, the forces managing it, and the locations of their high-ranking members. The survival rate after appearing in Chongxu has finally reached 99.7%. Although the risk is still a bit high, for my beloved Master, Tiyana is willing to take that risk!"
"Get lost."
"Yay! Tiyana will get lost right away!"
"Mark the Nightwatchmen headquarters and send me all the intel you've gathered. If you dare run away, the probability of getting your legs broken is one hundred percent."
"Huh? Why are you only this cruel to Tiyana? Shouldn't you hate Thousand-Pinweed the most, Master? Shouldn't you break her legs first? You're so biased. You only give Thousand-Pinweed verbal criticism, but you directly lay hands on Tiyana..."
"Three, two..."
"All intel is being transmitted now! Spare me, Master! Tiyana will strike immediately. By the time you arrive at the Nightwatchmen building, I'll have taken out all of Chongxu's high-ranking officials!"
Jiang Si looked at the location of the Nightwatchmen headquarters and nodded.
When Tiyana dared to make a promise like that, it meant her confidence was at least 99.8%.
When it came to gathering intel, Tiyana really did an excellent job. That was why Jiang Si had called her here in the first place.
The only problem was that she was always hiding too much. Even he, as her master, sometimes didn't know how many trump cards she had stashed away.
As he carried Sonora toward the Nightwatchmen headquarters, Jiang Si suddenly had a whimsical thought.
"By the way, are you interested in joining the Azure Cloud Sect and challenging the seven true-transmissions?"
Sonora looked at him blankly. "Huh?"
"To put some pressure on them."
"Um... are you asking the right person?"
"You have that potential."
Sonora had to admit that for a split second, she was actually tempted.
The wound from being called useless just now had healed quite a bit.
So Jiang Si really did think highly of her! He thought she could match the seven true-transmissions!
Maybe calling her useless was just a slip of the tongue. It wasn't from the heart!
But...
"I don't want to die yet..."
Jiang Si's lips moved as if he was about to say something, but then he shook his head.
"Forget it. We'll talk about it when we get back."
He'd have to find a way to shake up the seven true-transmissions.
...
Nightwatchmen headquarters building.
The once-glorious building had, in no time at all, been plunged into complete darkness following Jiang Si's rampage.
Most of its functions had shut down.
But in reality, it wasn't just this building. If you went up high enough, you could see it.
The electricity in the entire world of Chongxu was going dark, section by section. The streetlights in the eastern district were going out one by one from the end of the street toward the beginning, darkness spreading like spilled ink.
In a world with such a high degree of mechanization, when the power went out, the roars and rumbles of those steel beasts fell silent.
On every floor of the residential buildings and in the clusters of factories, the lights—like white stones on a Go board—flipped over one by one, turning into pitch black. Darkness and deathly silence spread from the city all the way to the horizon, as if pronouncing a death sentence on this world.
Su leaned against the railing on the top floor of the Nightwatchmen building, watching the power failure below, and scratched her head.
"I mean, didn't our Chongxu sprint straight into the cyber age? How the hell did we still lose power? Are you kidding me? Is Chongxu's technology really that useless?"
"All magic-to-electricity conversions have to go through that tower."
Jialan leaned against the wall, looking very relaxed. "Now that Jiang Si has blown up that tower, of course the power's out."
"Damn, so our Nightwatchmen are really that trash? When they recruited me, they talked it up like crazy. 'The biggest organization in Chongxu' and all that..."
"Heh, the Witch Association is the biggest organization in Chongxu."
"Good point. Maybe I'll defect to your side later."
"Welcome, welcome..."
The leading Incubator immediately spread out a map.
It showed the entire structure of Chongxu. Dense clusters of lights were going out like the tide retreating, crazily.
And the Witch Association's district had the fastest rate of lights going out!
"Don't complain. Your Witch Association lost power even earlier than the Nightwatchmen!"
Su La looked on with reverence. "Truly, you are the district kings."
"President, what the hell are you doing, President? Can't you even handle something this simple?"
Jialan complained even as she continued asking, "Since the tower was so important, why didn't you migrate its functions earlier?"
The Incubator's expression was helpless. "It's been years. That thing has been there ever since Chongxu was established. Fun fact—it's a mountain of spaghetti code. If it works, you'd better not touch it, or else you'll end up paying a hefty price."
Jialan let out a weak sigh. "Classic Chongxu. The more developed it gets, the more backward it becomes."
There was a lot of chaotic noise, but if you looked outside, everything seemed eerily calm, as if nothing had changed.
The people in the Nightwatchmen building were still working as usual—as if, after Su La had smashed an employee's head in, the only response was the injured person's own alarm system calling an ambulance and the police.
After that, nobody cared anymore.
Chongxu was a world full of human touch.
Outside, Jiang Si was wreaking havoc like a natural disaster, but inside the factories and companies, employees were still working normally.
Even with coworkers dying right in front of them—guts flying everywhere, brains splattering—they all maintained a perfectly calm demeanor, finishing their work as usual, giving the deceased the utmost respect.
Looking down at the streets, the Chongxu residents continued working as if nothing had happened, like NPCs that auto-reset at set times, never reacting to anything outside their jobs.
But in reality, those were all living, breathing people.
Su La watched for a while. When the report bell rang behind her, she turned and walked toward the top floor of the Nightwatchmen building. The Incubator leading the way and Jialan followed.
As the headquarters of the Nightwatchmen, after activating the backup power, the top leaders of the Nightwatchmen and a group of high-ranking officials finally had their holographic projections appear in the meeting room.
But it wasn't just them.
The Xuelai Clan's mecha technology, USE military technology, and the deep-level government behind Chongxu—the [Five Ghostly Emperors].
The supporters of the Magical Girl armed forces, the artificial Magical Outfit—the [Six Paths of Luofeng].
The insurance giant—the [Ten Kings of the Underworld].
The company responsible for Chongxu's infrastructure and the development of "Thriller Paradise," "Starting from Zero," "Close Combat Mage," "Playing Through the Universe," and other online games covering all of Chongxu's gaming history—the Reincarnation Paradise Company, [Meng Po].
The holographic projections of the top executives from Chongxu's most prominent companies were all present.
Even the Chongxu Heaven and Earth Bank, headed by the [Celestial Emperor] and the [Twelve Golden Immortals], along with the CEOs of second-tier companies like [Eastern Sovereign], [Twelve Heavenly Kings], [Eight Immortals], [Three Stars of Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity], [Lord Zhenyuan], and [Five Shining Lords].
These people—possessing the [titles] and authorities of Chongxu's administrators—had all gathered in the Nightwatchmen's meeting room.
One of the [Five Ghostly Emperors] spoke first. "Since everyone's here, let's get straight to the point."
Everyone fell silent.
A girl who was one of the [Six Paths of Luofeng] took out the latest report and Jiang Si's battle footage. "The damage Jiang Si is causing is growing, but his actions are also bringing us enormous benefits. The conversion of negative emotions into mana is far more efficient than our factories."
"Just the conversion from these past few days alone has already matched over a decade of Chongxu's efforts."
"That's certainly worth celebrating. But at what cost?" The leader of the [Ten Kings of the Underworld] spoke up. "The insurance risks are enormous. Claims from various regions have already exceeded what we can pay out..."
"That's a minor issue. The real problem now is the heavy personnel losses. We need more blood clans to replenish the population."
"We have plans for six worlds. If we let Jiang Si run wild for about one to two years, we can handle it. This will push Chongxu's energy conversion to new heights."
"The casualty rate within Chongxu has already reached sixty percent. But most of them are just brain-dead. The utilization rate of their bodies is still high. Perhaps we should actively increase the casualty rate?"
Meng Po shook her head. "It would be better to just cut off the interface. I think we should deal with Jiang Si sooner rather than later."
"No, do you know how high the viewership is for his livestream of slaughtering Chongxu? If we let him break into the artificial Magical Outfit company building, our platform might crash from the traffic! If we get rid of Jiang Si, who's going to pay for that loss?"
"By sacrificing our company building, we could create unprecedented traffic. You're asking if we support it? Of course we do."
Another member of the [Six Paths of Luofeng] smiled faintly. "I'm just concerned about everyone's personal safety. It seems we should strengthen security. Compared to the Nightwatchmen, we have more experience in dealing with situations like this, don't we?"
The Nightwatchmen leader's expression didn't change. "The bigger the storm, the more valuable the catch. At the end of the day, the fish is still on the chopping board. Do you really think we need to strengthen security for it? You think it's Zi Yuan?"
"Also, the factories outside have been shut down for a long time. Negotiations with that new administrator haven't made any progress. I want to prioritize this. That's our mining site..."
"Regarding the current situation, after discussion among the various parties in Chongxu, we have decided..."
"There are a few more points I'd like everyone to pay attention to..."
"We have already reached a cooperation agreement with the Witch Association. Next, I hope you, Su, and Jialan can continue to deepen your cooperation to jointly face..."
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
When would these motherfuckers ever shut up?
Sometimes Su really wished Chongxu would pass a rule where every word spoken at a meeting had a monetary cost. For such important figures, every word should be worth a thousand gold.
If someone spoke more than a hundred words, deduct ten percent of their savings per word. That would guarantee these wastes would streamline their speeches.
When she got into power, that's what she'd do. Absolutely. Anyway, she spoke the least, so this rule could never backfire on her...
"Let me just say a few more words..."
"Say a few more words my ass! When will you ever shut up?" The table was flipped over in an instant. Su still had a smile on her face, but her tone was completely unhinged. "People are dying out there, and you're still talking, talking, talking! Even if you're shitting out a chain of farts, there's got to be an end to it! And this is like shit mixed with piss—do you think this is a public toilet? Did you pay, huh?!"
The entire meeting room fell into dead silence.
The atmosphere turned icy cold. The [Five Ghostly Emperors], the [Six Paths of Luofeng], the [Ten Kings of the Underworld]... everyone stared blankly at this suddenly unhinged girl.
Shan Lan quickly rushed over to pull on Su La. "Hey, hey, hey, this isn't the time to go crazy. Calm down."
Several mechs raised their weapons, aiming at the two of them.
But Su just kept slapping the table, as if emphasizing with extreme seriousness.
"I'm perfectly calm. I can't be any more fucking calm. I've been sitting here for so long that my blood has frozen over. Of course I'm calm!"
Seeing how outrageously agitated Su was, Jialan could only soften her tone. "Isn't this the scene you wanted to see..."
"Oh, listen, Jialan. Do you know how I climbed my way up to become the leader of the Nightwatchmen on the lower level back then? I almost got killed by that guy—what's his name? Fuck, I can't remember. Can't they just pick simple names? Why do they have to pick complicated ones just to annoy me at times like this? Fucking deserved to die, I swear. Anyway, I almost got taken out by that asshole."
Jialan listened as Su gesticulated wildly, completely lost in her story.
In no time, Su was talking more than all the high-ranking Chongxu officials combined.
And all the big shots of Chongxu just listened patiently and coldly to this newly promoted Nightwatchmen leader.
"Then there was this guy named Anton. It was Anton, right? Yeah, Anton. See, that's a great name. Simple, easy to remember. Even after all these years, I remembered it right away."
Su La nodded in satisfaction as she sifted through her memories. "So she shouldn't have died. But in Chongxu, you know how it is—too many emotions is bad. Anton had way too many emotions. She couldn't stay put either. She was always trying to help me. In the end, she took the fall for me, got chased down by those Magical Girl mobile squads, and kicked the bucket. If it weren't for her, I'd be the one dead."
As she spoke, she even showed a sad expression. "She had a really nice ass. Too bad it's gone now. That ass."
Jialan rubbed her aching temples and decided she'd rather listen to the leaders' nonsense.
Than listen to this lunatic's rambling.
"Before she died, Anton just wanted to be a little freer. A little freer. Ha. How the hell could anyone be freer in this shithole of a place? But she said it, and I couldn't just pretend I didn't hear it, right? Look at everyone here. The world's about to end, and you're all still coming to work like obedient dogs. No, wait—you couldn't even train a dog from birth to be this obedient."
Jialan just asked one thing. "Did Anton really exist?"
"Of course she did! How could she not? I raised her from childhood!"
In reality, Su had always been alone. No one had ever been close to her. No one had ever died for her.
Jialan knew Su's past better than anyone. A girl who never fit in with Chongxu, who had grown up in this environment but never let Chongxu break her spirit.
"Su, I think you went crazy a long time ago."
"Chongxu went crazy! Chongxu went crazy!" Su stomped her feet, her tone growing more impassioned. "That's why we need to let Jiang Si and the others come in and destroy Chongxu! Once Chongxu is destroyed, everyone will be free. They can do whatever they want. That's how it should be! Fuck, isn't that how it should be? Fuck them all!"
Down below, Chongxu had re-enslaved people through the Saint Hall.
Up above, everyone in Chongxu faced the devastation with apathy and numbness.
She was the only one jumping up and down, making futile efforts.
Like right now, with the mechs' weapons glowing with mana cannons. In the next second, they could annihilate her.
Making everything meaningless.
But Su just lifted her head and showed a brilliant smile. "Honey, you finally came..."
Before she could finish her sentence, amidst the violent tremors, the young man who had been rampaging outside came crashing down through the ceiling!
But his power was incredibly precise. The immense force that could have collapsed the entire building merely sent the surrounding mechs flying, embedding them into the walls.
Jiang Si held Sonora in one hand, glanced around the room, and quickly locked onto Jialan and Su.
"Where is Lu Ya's AI sealed?"
Jialan struggled to climb out of the rubble. She turned to look. The heads of the [Five Ghostly Emperors] were already on the table.
Their fingers were still twitching, maintaining the habit of tapping the table.
The entire [Six Paths of Luofeng] had their upper bodies blown to pieces. Only the spines of their upper halves remained, swaying as they sat in front of their livestream cameras.
One of the [Ten Kings of the Underworld] was frantically trying to gather his own internal organs and stuff them back in.
Meng Po was stomped deep into the ground.
The remaining [Celestial Emperor], [Twelve Golden Immortals], [Eastern Sovereign], [Eight Immortals]... all were disfigured and dead in their holographic projections.
In that single moment of Jiang Si's descent, all the hidden high-ranking officials in the corners of Chongxu's various regions had been severely wounded or killed!
Jialan's heart turned ice-cold. Looking at Jiang Si's expression, there was finally a hint of fear and shock...
How long had it been? And Chongxu had already become his toy? In the blink of an eye, he'd killed them all!
Thank goodness the President didn't come. You dodged a bullet there.
Any thought of making Jiang Si respect and admire her had vanished without a trace. Now, Jialan just wanted to rush over and hug his leg!
President, it's not that I, Jialan, am disloyal...
At that moment, Su La was standing unsteadily, covered in injuries, her face drenched in blood.
She had taken the biggest hit from the blast.
But when she saw Jiang Si, the wildness and madness from before seemed to be cured, disappearing without a trace.
"Seriously, every time you make an entrance, it's so over the top. Can't you dial it back a bit? It hurts, you know. Who knows where Lu Ya's AI is? You'd probably have to blow the whole of Chongxu into the sky to find it."
Jiang Si's gaze lingered on her for a moment.
This girl, who had felt strange to him since their first meeting, now had a calm expression, tinged with a bit of exhaustion.
"After I went back last time, I did some serious reflection. You were right. Classical music isn't all that great. It's a bit out of place in Chongxu. What really suits Chongxu is rock, heavy metal—something with power!"
Su La tugged at the wires on her body, walked toward Jiang Si, and blew him a kiss. "Honey, this song, 'Blistering Love,' is dedicated to you, representing my most burning love for you. I think you'll love it~"
As the intense, scorching rock music started playing, like the heat of a burning furnace, the air began to heat up and distort space.
The next second, a terrifying shockwave began to expand!
A mushroom cloud and flames rolled and surged, spewing toward the sky!
The entire building, along with all the surrounding factories and roads, was swept up in the explosion and annihilated!
The explosion's aftermath expanded all the way to the far eastern intersection before finally subsiding. But most of the district, with the building at its core, had already vanished, leaving only a massive crater.
The ground was like slowly flowing magma, with residual flames and heat occasionally erupting.
It took a long time for the smoke to clear, revealing the battered Su La lying in the ruins. Jialan had vanished without a trace. Sonora was also unconscious.
After the explosion, Jiang Si alone stood there, calm as always.
Lost in thought.
I just asked where Lu Ya's AI was. Why did she self-destruct?
Is she that afraid of Lu Ya?
Jiang Si asked casually, "What are you doing?"
The battered Su showed an embarrassed smile on her grimy face. "Oh, you know, just helping everyone pursue freedom. Freedom. Dignity. That kind of stuff... sigh..."
"I just wanted to let people live like human beings." After she said that, blood choked her into a coughing fit, but she still chuckled. "Heh heh, pretty cool, huh?"
"Does it mean anything?"
"Isn't resistance itself the meaning? Whether it's resisting you or Chongxu."
It was a bit hard to understand.
A mental patient's mind was always good—impossible to comprehend in the end.
Jiang Si just looked at her. That pure Personal Reality of hers, that will that would never be twisted.
She was out of place in this world—a rare, normal person.
Whatever.
Jiang Si stood beside her, looking down at the girl who was in such a miserable state, like a wreck, as her pupils gradually began to dilate.
He thought of Susan from back then, and Keke. So, out of habit, he spoke.
"Then why don't you transform?"
Su's dilating pupils suddenly contracted.
Then she heard him command her again. "Transform."
The aura of death completely dissipated.
Her Personal Reality began to expand wildly at his words!
Was it being enhanced and strengthened by his Personal Reality?
Su La's dying thoughts couldn't process much more.
The Incubator that had hosted her before suddenly appeared and landed on her.
Then, one after another, more Incubators emerged densely from the air, crawling all over her body!
Countless cables then linked in from all directions, transmitting through the Incubators into her body.
The entire world of Chongxu was being absorbed into her Personal Reality!
[Chongxu Magical Girl preparation complete.]
[Chongxu fusion and separation of Lu Ya's AI in progress...]
[Bidirectional invasion in progress.]
[Warning! Warning! Maintain self! Maintain self!]
An overwhelming, irresistible torrent of emotion surged into Su like a tidal wave, drowning her in an instant!
She opened her eyes and looked at Jiang Si.
A love and obsession that instantly robbed her of reason, brutally devouring her Personal Reality.
In that moment, Su almost forgot who she was!
"Jiang Si..."
Her voice had nearly turned into Lu Ya's.
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