The iron can, transformed into a crude cannonball, spun with immense force, crashing into the rapidly charging figure engulfed in flames.
The can slammed into Hong Haocheng’s shoulder, flesh and blood exploding instantly.
The scorched teenager was hurled back into the flames by the tremendous force, rolling on the ground like a ragdoll, one arm torn off and flung away.
{Ha, hahaha, hahahaha, messing with me, huh!}
Ruan Jiancheng laughed maniacally, shouting curses:
{Just a newbie, a waste who chose to coexist with Enightmare—now you’re dead!}
But Ruan Jiancheng’s deranged grin gradually faded.
Because the man on the ground, now missing a shoulder, was tremblingly using his remaining arm to prop up his body, muscles bulging and writhing.
{Why… are you… attacking me…}
A hoarse voice emerged from the flames…
Cheng Yunze seriously focused on the sensory image.
A man this gravely injured could actually stand up.
……
[I gained 257.7N.]
In the flames, Hong Haocheng felt his consciousness grow hazy. He craved blood, and within that blood, he craved that delicious… trajectory!
He opened his blood-red eyes, staring ahead like a wild beast.
Suddenly, countless twisted lines appeared behind the figure who had fired the cannonball.
After taking two steps forward, a bizarre, iron-can-shaped shadow roared in once again, charging straight at him! Hong Haocheng stomped off the ground, rising onto his toes, and tilted his body sideways, grazing past the iron can that scraped his shoulder as he surged ahead.
–What? Missed!- Ruan Jiancheng stared in disbelief at the figure lunging at him.
The muscles beneath the other’s skin bulged, like a leaping cheetah.
Boom! Ruan Jiancheng was sent flying by the sheer force, and felt himself lose nearly two hundred years’ worth of time.
The two crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Ruan Jiancheng pinned the man down viciously and sneered, –Haha, didn’t see this coming, did you? We’re not on Earth anymore—your attacks are completely useless against me…-
But as he spoke, Ruan Jiancheng couldn’t help swallowing nervously.
Because the wild, beast-like gaze fixed on him was icy cold, as if it felt no pain at all.
Hong Haocheng opened his mouth.
–The taste seems kinda plain…-
–Taste?-
Ruan Jiancheng shifted his trembling eyes to Hong Haocheng’s charred, shattered shoulder.
Where the left arm had vanished, a faint phantom of an arm flickered into view, pinching threads like they were yarn ends, connecting energy lines to his own body.
……
Inside a car speeding in the distance.
Cheng Yunze, who had been staring intently all along, suddenly snapped his eyes wide open.
–Nen ability?!-
In the funding broadcast, the people who had invested in Ruan Jiancheng across the city suddenly burst into mad shouts.
{That bastard who fired the cannon is definitely dead!}
{Quick, withdraw the investment!}
On the back seat of the car, a foreigner with disheveled hair immediately bit his lip tightly, silently retracting in his heart the hundreds of years of Chronos investment he had secretly given to Ruan Jiancheng.
[I will withdraw the 500N invested in Ruan Jiancheng. Chronos loss: twenty percent. 400N recovered.]
Ruan Jiancheng, already on the verge of madness, crawled up from the ground, trying to flee.
Pull!
–Ah!–
Ruan Jiancheng felt an indescribably terrifying sensation of detachment welling up from the depths of his soul; he couldn’t help lying on the ground, covering his face, rolling and screaming.
–Suo suo suo suo.–
Ruan Jiancheng’s just-lifted head froze in place, his gaze rapidly turning confused and dim.
–Captain!–
Amid the flames, a teammate of Ruan Jiancheng finally crawled out from the explosion. Cloaked in golden radiance, he stared in shock at the scene before him.
The right arm constructed by the charred man’s energy phantom in the distance was like pulling a tangled ball of yarn, stuffing the threads connecting from the man’s body into its mouth.
–Ah! You… you killed the captain… With such severe injuries, you can still stand—are you a demon?!–
The scorched boy abruptly turned his head, revealing a face like roasted meat.
–Chronos, three thousand five hundred years—what does this mean?–
Zhang Miao, bathed in golden light, stepped back in fear and stammered:
–Three—three thousand five hundred! Ah, the captain got all that investment, and you took it all?!-
Hong Haocheng gradually regained some consciousness. The explosion had thrown his body back, and amid the violent shaking, he felt he had blacked out.
But as awareness returned, he realized he had already consumed a person’s soul. Not exactly a soul—what he had devoured was merely the other’s life path and a few fragmented memories.
Yet these, like the information exchanged with Xu Mei, were nothing more than disjointed whispers, as if hearing the murmurs of a soul, quickly dissipating.
Now, Zhang Miao, staring at Hong Haocheng, trembled all over as countless broken lines flickered across his chest.
{Don’t kill this red Moxel guy.}
{Finish him off—he can’t be left alive.}
{Can’t kill him. You attacked him first; retaliation is only natural. This guy is rare—don’t act rashly.}
{Quick, accept my investment and take out that new shot from Crimson!}
Zhang Miao was drenched in cold sweat.
{Kill him!}
{Can’t kill him!}
{Do it now!}
{If you make a move, the Thousand Blades Team will tear you apart!}
Zhang Miao was at his wits’ end—he had never been subjected to such pressure.
[Wang Yun wants to invest 3000N full authority Chronos for me, valid for 7 days.]
[Li Feng wants to invest 4500N full authority Chronos for me, valid for 30 hours.]
[Zhu Qianming wants to invest 5000N full authority Chronos for me, valid for 1 day.]
At this moment, hundreds of people wanted to invest in him—among them, some heavyweights whose names he’d only heard of before. But what they offered were two completely opposite demands.
Both sides were threatening him. What the hell was he supposed to do?!
……
An Enightmare sedan tore down the road. Countless figures milled about on both sides, but none of them even noticed the car. These were phantoms from Earth, appearing only on this very day.
–Boss, this newbie has already awakened such a strong Moxel ability. Should we take him out?- a man in the car asked gravely.
Cheng Yunze’s eyes held an unreadable look.
–Find him first. If he can use Moxel, his companion Enightmare is still alive. Let’s step on it!-
The Enightmare sedan’s speed surged up another notch.
……
Scorched and blackened, Hong Haocheng rose to his feet. He sucked in the last thread of energy line, silently staring at Zhang Miao, who stood barely upright ahead of him.
[I obtained 17,500 li of course-drawn lines.]
[We obtained 3,521.7 N.]
–Why did you attack me?- Hong Haocheng’s voice came out hoarse from his throat, asking him.
–You… catalyzed the bonded Enightmare.-
Hong Haocheng looked at the constantly flashing ring color on the other’s chest, then lowered his head to his own chest. Right now, several red zigzag lines extended inside the gradually shifting ring, but they couldn’t fully emerge yet—still gestating, it seemed.
Hong Haocheng raised his head and said:
–I am red, you are white… Just because our colors are different, you attack me?-
The constant sound of Chronos being offset echoed in his mind. In just two sentences, the thousands of years of Chronos he had just acquired were reduced by decades in an instant.
At the same time, another voice arose within him.
It kept crying out in pain, –Ya yi,- like a baby desperate for protection.
Hong Haocheng turned his head to look at the explosion site of the plane.
Inside, two figures were still struggling. Thanks to their long lifespans, they were not dead yet, but the blast had severely injured their unprotected body parts, making it impossible for them to get up and escape. The flames and intense heat steadily consumed their Chronos.
A feeling of indifference drove Hong Haocheng to walk toward the plane.
–Wait, my name is Zhang Miao. I want to be your teammate.-
Seeing that the other party was no longer attacking him, Zhang Miao gritted his teeth and spoke.
Both sides were threatening him—all because of this man before him!
–Oh?- Hearing this, the scorched-black Hong Haocheng turned his head toward the man: –Why.-
–Because you need a guide to quickly understand this place, and I can be that guide!-
Hong Haocheng’s body ached fiercely, and the strange power sustaining him was quickly fading.
With no time to say more, taking advantage of his remaining mobility, Hong Haocheng hurried toward the slightly diminished flames. As he passed several iron rods, he scooped them up and threw them at the two struggling figures in the cabin opening, impaling them.
[We have obtained 112.3N.]
[We have obtained another 44.6N.]
Hong Haocheng then looked at his one-armed palm—why had he made such a decision without a moment’s hesitation?
Zhang Miao ran over and choked out, –Let me in too!-
If she still didn’t realize that the man before her had gained a bizarre, special ability, Zhang Miao felt she would be utterly foolish.
Just from the reactions of those who had contacted him, it was clear that his Enightmare ability was extraordinarily unique.
Mediocrity or standing beside the strong—this choice would decide everything!
No matter what, she had to take a gamble!
In front of the plane’s breach, Hong Haocheng turned his head, mustering his last bit of strength, nodded, and then stepped into the rest cabin from before.
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