{Who else is here? Why are there only a few weak bugs like you?}
The alien words transmitted from the outside into the mind paused; the thunder ceased momentarily.
–I-we were locked in here… by someone.–
{So you’ve been restrained too. Did the owner of the crystal flee? Hah, a cowardly fool, trying to use me to eliminate his opponents.}
{Fine, then I’ll grant his wish.}
Boom!
Liang Xi had already thrown the steel sword. As the lightning surged again, it lay trembling on the floor in front of the window, repeatedly struck by bolts—any piece of metal now a natural lightning rod.
The few outside, not even able to utter a scream, shattered into pieces amidst the blazing light.
–It’s another foreign tongue I can understand directly.–
Such encounters usually spelled trouble—things hard to deal with.
–It’s appeared. Remember what I said? Seeing a humanoid form in places like this isn’t a good sign.–
Robin Lo whispered, a note of tension creeping into his voice.
Though they couldn’t be certain it was human, at least it spoke human language.
Tap, tap, tap.
–What?!–
The three turned toward the old door, being knocked on. Who would be knocking at a time like this?
{Won’t you invite me in?}
A chill runs down the three of their spines.
–Fall back!– Yang Zicang pulls Liang Xi behind him, –Jump out the window and get as far away as possible.–
–No, I’ve still got thousands of years of Chronos; this is the time for me to protect you two uncles!–
Liang Xi tears himself from Yang Zicang’s grasp, his body enveloped in faint golden projections, staring wide-eyed at the door.
Creak.
The door swings open to reveal a man standing outside, wearing a tattered grayish-white velvet tailcoat, with a face marked by pale, eerie cracks that give him a weathered look.
He bows slightly, bringing his arm down to below his chest in a salute before straightening up with a faint, sinister smile.
–So, you’re also victims trapped here, are you?–
Snap! He gently flicks his fingers, unleashing a bolt of lightning.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
[Scheduling has been activated to maximum capacity!]
A vacuum-like void seems to form within the lightning field. Yang Zicang, holding onto the two beside him with skin crawling, finds thin arcs of lightning still branching out toward them.
–Who are you?–
–Oh? An interrogation using Moxel, huh? Hmm, no… you want to question me, don’t you?–
He adjusts the dirty gloves on his hands, strolling forward in unhurried strides.
–How amusing. It’s been years since anyone tried to interrogate me. Hmm, who am I? I am the last patron of this theatre.–
–Were you trying to distract us?– Robin Lo pressed on.
This damned lunatic, even at a time like this, wouldn’t let go of obsessively collecting Moxel intelligence rates on this terrifyingly powerful monster.
Yang Zicang cast aside thoughts of the drunkard.
His mind raced rapidly; this was only a c-level intersection, he thought—he shouldn’t encounter someone he absolutely couldn’t contend with.
The opponent’s strength should only be slightly greater than that of the one who took his weapon.
Hence, he was not someone to be reckoned with solely through force.
Recalling the terrifying thunder, which hadn’t yet manifested in the room.
–He’s buying time to Invest for me.–
Yang Zicang said loudly.
{Buying time? Even if I am, so what.}
The figure across from him snapped his fingers again, and as the lightning appeared, his form merged with it like a thunderstorm, instantly spanning space to appear behind the group.
Boom!
Liang Xi felt a numbing sensation flood through his body; a sharp pain permeated every inch of his skin, even his stomach twisted into a cramping knot.
As a palm pressed against his back, a ball of lightning exploded within the youth’s body.
With a thunderous roar, Liang Xi flew out like a torn rag.
One blow of five thousand years! Liang Xi’s last thought while still in mid-air was that he had lost five thousand years’ worth of Chronos Moxel feedback.
Yang Zicang’s fist, carrying a fierce wind, blasted like a cannonball toward the monster that had suddenly appeared beside him.
This man’s lips curled slightly, and with a cracking sound, the fist passed right through his body.
The strange man had already appeared abruptly by the wall; the punch Yang Zicang delivered with blazing golden radiance only struck the afterimage he had left behind.
But the very next moment.
The fist-infused gale suddenly expanded, the golden radiance spreading outward like a shockwave and striking the strange man.
Thunderous rumbles!
As if hit by a truck, his figure was violently smashed into the wall, shattering it into a huge hole.
Another fist shadow came crashing in.
{This is…}
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Yang Zicang also appeared before him at high speed.
{What kind of skill…}
Before the strange man could react, a flurry of frenzied fist shadows rained down on him. Every time his fingers twitched, Yang Zicang’s fist would land first with brutal force!
{This doesn’t seem like…}
Pinned under the wall, the strange man had no time to move, taking dozens of punches in a single second.
{No… no trace of blood essence. Could it actually not be a secret art?!}
A thin trickle of fresh blood had already started seeping from his mouth, signifying that the Chronos protecting his core was running low.
-Don’t move!–
With effort, the strange man turned his head, his eyes sweeping over with boundless killing intent.
-I said, don’t you fucking move!–
Thump! This punch, carrying centuries of training essence and Yang Zicang’s final Chronos amplification, slammed into his eye socket.
The skin, which had remained unscathed after countless blows, finally let out a dull crack under this strike.
His skull burst open, splattering red and white matter.
This freak’s vitality was terrifyingly strong; even with most of his head gone, his body could still move, his thumb and forefinger struggling to gather together.
Clang!
Battered in tattered clothes and covered in dust, with hair bristling like fried wire, Liang Xi swung a sword wrapped in thick grass at the hilt, severing his right hand.
Simultaneously, Yang Zicang destroyed his left hand.
At last, the monster’s corpse fell still.
[Acquired: 100N.]
[Acquired: 100N.]
Yang Zicang and Liang Xi both perceived the feedback of Chronos at once.
Yang Zicang found it unremarkable, but Liang Xi, fresh from the jaws of life and death, was overjoyed—he had never gained this much Chronos from a single battle before.
–Earlier, he went after you first.–
After a brief rest, Yang Zicang gave Liang Xi a thumbs up.
The boy scratched his head shyly and said:
–Heh heh, I guess he heard my voice and thought I had the most Chronos. You’re amazing, big bro.–
–The timing was earned by your courage.–
The opportunity was fleeting, and Yang Zicang seized it.
Robin Lo, whose clothes were already riddled with holes from the explosion, collapsed weakly onto the straw mat, listening to the voice echoing in his mind.
[Surviving until the moon’s shadow vanished earned you 30N.]
–Still insisting you didn’t get a skill from the dream?– Robin Lo panted, casting a sidelong glance at Yang Zicang.
–I didn’t gain it; I mastered it through training in there. It’s called the Explosive Fist.–
–Training?–
–About the lead on a complete post emblem—wasn’t it you who told me to sell it? So, exactly how many Chronos are you willing to trade for it?–
–Huh? Bro, do we still need to be so formal with each other? I just gave you the best stuff I had stored away.–
Robin Lo had just invested over three thousand years in himself; without him, it would have been really difficult to handle that sudden monster.
–Ha, alright then. Consider this my way of repaying you for that free intel from before.–
Robin Lo scratched both his arms, feigning innocence as he looked at Yang Zicang.
–Didn’t you say that a full dream might consume quite a bit of Chronos? That’s right, the four thousand years I earned earlier have pretty much all been spent in there.–
–You spent that much!–
Robin Lo had indeed heard that a complete Hermetic Seal would cost a hefty sum of Chronos, but in his estimation, it would probably only be a few hundred years—a figure already difficult for an ordinary person to save.
–You didn’t spend Chronos to extend time inside it or something, did you?–
–Exactly.–
–What’s the ratio?–
–There’s no ratio—what you spend is what you get, except you can accelerate it.–
–Huh? One-to-one?– Robin Lo’s neck shrank as he opened his mouth in astonishment.
Liang Xi also caught on, staring incredulously at Brother Yang beside him.
–So, you spent a few thousand years inside practicing martial arts?–
–Ha, that’s an exaggeration. Most of the time, I accelerated and skipped through it.–
[**Affected by the scatter of the Moon Shadow, synchronicity with the Bright Moon has decreased. **]
[**The Crosspace is now fully stabilized. **]
The figure on the ground swiftly dissolved into speck-like light, expanding and then coalescing, leaving a small humanoid figure standing on the ground, resembling a black granite figurine.
–Is this the companion idol you mentioned?–
Yang Zicang’s heart stirred—could this be a type of statue?
–Hehe, I know what you’re thinking, but unfortunately, it doesn’t count as a bloodline statue. However, once it resonates with the headquarters’ statue, you can use the statue’s abilities remotely, making it a low-powered small clone of the main statue.–
Liang Xi glanced at Yang Zicang, and after receiving a nod from him, stepped forward to pick up the small statue.
–Wow, with this, we can control the opening and closing of this area and open the passageway door whenever we want.–
–It can do that?–
Robin Lo stood up, walked over, took it in his hands, and felt it—it was true. Even he hadn’t known about this secret.
–Hahaha, I was wondering why those people cherished an Attuned Idol so damn much. Turns out it can also seal off this space here after stabilizing the Crossspace. But it takes a hundred Chronos resonances though.–
The man’s face was nearly split with a grin.
–Well then, we’ll make this our base. Who’s gonna anchor with this thing?–
The three exchanged glances, and Liang Xi said, –Let’s vote. I cast my vote for Brother Yang.–
–Vote your damn ass.–
Robin Lo casually tossed the idol to Yang Zicang.
Yang Zicang caught the idol, tossed it in his hand, thinking about the Whoosing Dreams he’d have to spend, and sighed inwardly: if this thing weren’t essentially a remote idol, he’d seriously consider selling both it and the Crosspace outright.
–Keep it for me for now,– he said, tossing the idol back to the young Liang Xi.
From the window, the three looked down—the people below were already out of sight.
But then they heard a faint whimpering. Someone was still alive.
Yang Zicang leaped from the upper floor and landed below.
Suspended under the staircase, Yu Chen swung his body like a piece of curing meat, the man nearly frightened out of his wits.
–You actually managed to survive.–
–Brother, big brother, I was blinded by greed, I know I was wrong.–
To survive in such a situation is to be a man of great fortune.
–Contact your team outside and have them come take you away—get lost.–
–Thank you, thank you, big brother, but I have no team left. They’re all dead. The one outside must’ve been taken out by the guy who ambushed us.–
Yu Chen looked at Yang Zicang with a face on the verge of tears, feeling not a shred of hatred left in his heart.
Even the one who unleashed the thunder was killed by him—this Yang Zicang is no weaker than the guys back at headquarters!
Who the hell spread the rumor he’s just a useless Moxel with a duplicate force field ability? Bullshit—misinformation is nothing short of lethal.
[Yu Chen is in awe of my authority, bowing to me in admiration and reverence.]
「……」
Yang Zicang felt an urge to just toss him out.
At that moment, in the hands of Tong Wenqi outside, the new moon within the frequency crystal vanished like a mirrored projection, and the mysterious power within disappeared along with it.
The crystal turned cloudy and ordinary, and after a few seconds, it was etched with countless cracks.
–The Moon Shadow has been destroyed.–
Although the Moon Shadows born from each intersecting land have a minimum strength threshold, their upper limit is manifested based on the strength of the strongest person who has ever entered that intersecting land.
The Moon Shadow monster that is born will always be one level stronger than the strongest person.
Tong Wenqi believed that he was the strongest person who had ever appeared in that C-level intersecting land.
But now, the frequency crystal had actually shattered.
This meant that the person inside had managed to defeat an enemy stronger than themselves.
–How did he do it?–
Thinking this, Tong Wenqi activated the Moxel on his chest.
A silver thread refracted into the void, and soon, a young man with a pointed chin appeared in his sensory view.
–Did the prediction results from yesterday come out?– asked Tong Wenqi, who was wearing a jacket.
In the sensory view, the man sat on the sofa of a motorhome, holding an exquisite glass of wine.
{No, not yet. Yan Yi also asked me about it, but no means no. It’s strange; it’s never taken this long.}
The prediction results hadn’t come out, and a faint possibility took root in Tong Wenqi’s mind—could the ownership of that gun…
{But, you’ve come just in time. Through our investigation, we found traces of the initial checkpoint of Time Acceleration. Want to guess if we can locate him within the next twenty-four hours?}
The man laid out two boxes of different colors and a pair of dice.
–Ha, have you ever wondered why there’s been no feedback on the prediction results for over twenty hours? Doesn’t that mean Yang Zicang might still reclaim his weapon? Anyway, I’ve already thrown Cent-Arms out according to your plan. If he does manage to take it back, I’d like to see how you explain yourselves to me.–
{Rest assured. Although Yan Yi’s Invest on Yang Zicang has exceeded twenty-four hours and the visuals are lost, Chronos War Device has been under constant surveillance. As long as there’s any unusual activity, we’ll intervene. It won’t be lost.}
Tong Wenqi severed the mental link, turning his head to look at the shattered crystals on the bed.
–Could Yang Zicang’s strength really rival mine? That’s impossible.–
In this world, while Moxel’s predictions don’t fully dictate the outcome, they at least indicate a certain trend.
Hence, Tong Wenqi believed there was currently at least a near fifty-percent chance that Yang Zicang had the ability to reclaim the gun.
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