Truth Ruler

The sizzling static of the overhead blazing lamp filled the room as both the light and holographic screen flickered.

The next moment, the light source went out.

The entire bedroom plunged into darkness.

Gu Shen immediately got up to pull back the curtains. Looking out from the side, he saw that even the few streetlights that were always on beside the old unfinished building had gone dark. As far as the eye could see, there was only pitch-black darkness.

Someone wanted to kill him.

Those people had already made their move... cutting off the power was only the first step.

"Meow."

A calm feline cry rang out in the darkness. The Orange Cat, which had been lazily sleeping in its nest, had somehow appeared beside Gu Shen. It rose onto its tiptoes and nudged against his pant leg.

Chu Ling's words resurfaced in his mind—

"I'll contact you in another way."

Gu Shen froze. "Could it be...?"

The Orange Cat merely nodded with cold eyes, then raised a paw and pointed toward the door.

Amid a series of bang bang bang impacts, hissing smoke seeped through the crack beneath the door. The lock bolt was being corroded. This outdated residential security door could not withstand such erosion at all. The doorframe trembled; the uninvited guests outside would soon break in.

"Meow."

The window opened. Big Orange lightly leaped onto the windowsill, signaling Gu Shen to hurry.

"You've got to be kidding... this is the seventh floor..."

Gu Shen's expression changed slightly.

Big Orange meowed and sprang out. It landed steadily on the metal rack of an external air-conditioning unit, then turned back to stare coldly down at Gu Shen.

Gu Shen took a deep breath. Glancing at the doorframe that could break apart at any moment, he made a snap decision and chose to jump out the window.

He did not have much time. There was no time to hesitate!

He was actually quite agile. Climbing out onto the windowsill, he gave a light leap, used the air conditioner's outer-unit bracket as a springboard, grabbed a pipe, and stepped onto the outer edge of the old building's wall. The protruding stones could only support half a foot.

"Phew... made it..."

Gu Shen let out a breath of relief. Just as he prepared to rest for a moment before sliding down along the pipe, Big Orange cried out urgently, signaling him to climb up quickly.

Up... was there a dead end below?

Gu Shen did not hesitate. He hurried after the Orange Cat and climbed upward.

Boom!

The next instant, an explosive roar of bursting airflow came from beneath him. Rolling shockwaves surged upward and shattered the glass. Amid the roar of heat, there seemed to be several faint screams, swallowed by the flames before they could carry far.

Gu Shen's face abruptly turned pale.

The surging sea of fire dyed the corner of his vision crimson. The pipe became searingly hot to the touch, but under the threat of danger, Gu Shen climbed with astonishing speed. This old unfinished building had eleven floors in total. At the top was a wide rooftop, where layers upon layers of clothes and bedding hung over metal racks, flapping violently in the hot wind.

"Is there no law? No justice?!"

Gu Shen could not believe what he had just seen.

He braced himself against the rooftop's edge and barely stood steady. Looking down, he felt dizzy.

These people were utterly insane. What they had just done was no longer as simple as breaking in to murder someone... Were they trying to blow up the entire building?

The sudden explosion shattered the quiet of the night, waking many people with its tremendous blast. By then, the fire had already spread, rapidly expanding from the seventh floor. From up close, the old unfinished building stood tall within the raging inferno, its phantom silhouette swaying amid Blazing Flames like a mirage from hell.

Yet the true disaster was not merely this fire—

The awakened residents tried to make calls, but failed. For some unknown reason, the signal was extraordinarily poor. Both the power and network had been cut off.

When disaster descended, humanity itself was far too insignificant.

They could do nothing but watch helplessly as a scene from hell unfolded before them—

Several charred, indistinct figures flailed within the flames, trying to cry out for help.

Even without hearing their voices, one could still feel the pain and despair of those suffering.

This sudden explosion had trapped the innocent residents above the seventh floor within the sea of fire.

Some chose to jump from the windows to survive.

Whoosh—crash!

Burning bodies fell through the air in broken arcs. When they struck the ground, there came a brittle crack. Blackened charcoal-like corpses shattered into pieces, still dotted with scattered sparks.

Those who jumped did not know that the flames from the explosion were mixed with powerful corrosive force.

Seeing this, Gu Shen silently clenched his fists. He realized that he had made an incomparably correct decision at the critical moment... If he had fled downward, he would already have become a charred corpse.

But now, trapped in this sea of fire, what was he supposed to do?

Those people hunting him... carrying such overwhelming killing intent, would soon reach the rooftop...

At this moment, Gu Shen was calmer than ever. His body was still trembling from a physiological response to the huge explosion, but his fingers had stopped shaking.

He looked toward Chu Ling... toward that Orange Cat, standing sharply at the rooftop's highest point and looking back at him.

Their gazes met.

In that instant, inspiration struck. Gu Shen took out the "Silver Ruler" A-009 had given him.

The Orange Cat spoke again, its voice still nothing more than feline sounds like "meow."

Yet after hearing it, Gu Shen unbelievably understood the Orange Cat's thoughts.

"There are two enemies. They are expected to reach the rooftop in twenty and forty seconds... The escape route has been sealed. You need to use the 'Truth Ruler' here to counterattack."

Truth Ruler... so this ruler was called the "Truth Ruler"!

"How do I use it?"

Gu Shen held his breath and anxiously looked toward the rooftop door's lock... There was not much time left. Perhaps it was an illusion, but he seemed to hear heavy footsteps now!

The Orange Cat said quickly, "Inject your spirit into it and imagine an image. The Truth Ruler can transform thoughts and make them real... The stronger your spiritual power, the more successful the transformation of thought."

Bang—

A heavy impact rang out.

The door lock was nearly shattered by the powerful blow.

Gu Shen gripped the Silver Ruler with both hands, focused his attention, and stared fixedly at the doorway.

His mind was blank. All his spiritual power concentrated at a single point. The image of Nan Jin fighting A-009 flashed and collided in his mind. The silver Sword Domain formed by those two long blades now seemed to become streaks of condensed light.

The markings on the Truth Ruler lit up one by one.

Wind rose from nowhere and swept across the rooftop, sending rows of clothes and bedding flying—

Boom!

After a brief silence.

On the second impact, the door lock shattered completely. A tall black shadow slammed in sideways while pushing the door panel ahead of him, his sturdy body like that of a full-grown bull!

And at that very moment, the Silver Ruler blazed with brilliant light.

The clothes flung across the rooftop were sliced apart by countless fine threads, instantly splitting into innumerable tiny gaps. Silver blades swirled through the gale, layer upon layer, slashing forward and colliding with that bull-headed figure in an instant—

Nan Jin's twin blades knocked back the Eight-Foot Lady.

Gu Shen aimed the ruler at the tall man.

Then and now, the two scenes were astonishingly similar. Only the latter... was far bloodier, and far more tragic.

"Urgh..."

A terrified muffled sound burst from the tall man's throat as he crashed onto the rooftop. That brief instant of silence had been his deliberate pause, like a cat toying with a mouse. According to the intelligence, this target was merely an ordinary person.

But he never could have imagined... that such vast killing intent would be waiting for him. His petrified skin was torn apart by countless overlapping blades in an instant. With the immense inertia from accelerating into the door, he had personally hurled himself into an abyss beyond return—

Countless blades hung suspended above the rooftop.

Silver-white radiance curled around the tip of the Truth Ruler, molding the rooftop into the Sword Domain of Nan Jin as Gu Shen had "imagined" it.

It was only an "imagined" Sword Domain because Gu Shen could not comprehend how Nan Jin had created the Sword Domain she had displayed back then... So, relying on his own imagination, he reconstructed one.

The other party's manner was simple and arrogant... He had casually set an entire building ablaze, making it highly likely that he was someone who disregarded life... Then naturally, he would regard Gu Shen as an ant as well.

Thinking of this in an instant, Gu Shen decided to turn the rooftop into a quagmire hung with blades.

And this "intruder," who had charged into the quagmire with lightning speed, now looked like someone willingly seeking death by a thousand cuts... In this frozen scene, he actively sliced himself apart—

Blood burst forth in sprays.

One warm spray splashed onto Gu Shen's face.