The first thing to crawl out was a battered electric scooter. Beneath its shattered plastic shell, its wheels twisted as if bleeding tears, sparks flying in all directions.
Twitching and trembling, two fingers formed from wheel spokes emerged from the warped steel. Two arms, one long and one short, lifted themselves up and crawled across the ground like a dog!
Above a face made from half of a warped LCD panel, scarlet and madness seethed.
It opened its mouth, spewed thick smoke, and roared.
Then it sprang forward!
Next came a second scooter, then a third. One after another, electric scooters transformed amid trembling and billowing smoke into bizarre creatures with twisted limbs. Throwing themselves recklessly forward, they leaped onto Lawrence, opening their mouths to tear and bite, yanking with their arms and releasing electric currents!
Then came the roar of automobiles. As their shattered shells were cast aside, bodies like wild buffaloes or elephants charged wildly into the writhing monsters, crushing them as their engines roared and belched thick smoke!
They resembled enormous spiders, or perhaps grotesque giant birds.
Those furious gears and mechanical constructs shrieked as they surged together like a tide, trampling and squeezing one another, climbing over each other one after another until they nearly covered the mutated Lawrence completely.
"Fuck, what the hell are these things?!"
The aberrant monster roared. Its two limbs swept across the area, effortlessly shredding the machines clinging to its body. That strange Heavenly Craft Long Blade - Evening Darkness cleaved through them like a hot knife through wax, unstoppable as it smashed forward.
They were nothing more than a minor ailment!
Yet beneath the Giant Tree, Ji Jue merely raised both hands and slowly brought them together. Facing his creation, he issued its first command:
[Assemble]!
Then, countless sounds of grinding steel erupted once more. Hundreds and thousands of intricate machines converged in one place. Whether fragments or complete structures, they now joined and fitted together like living things, riveting themselves into a colossal aggregate that had never existed before.
Ji Jue's vision went black.
He reached out again and clenched his fist!
In an instant, entirely new structures sprouted from the torn machinery. The limbs formed from electric scooters, motorcycles, computers, telephones, and lawn mowers writhed, suddenly contracting and binding themselves. Then came a second limb, and a third.
Faces filled with resentment and pain surfaced across the constantly shifting mechanical structures. They roared at the tops of their voices as thick smoke billowed forth.
In an instant, they actually pinned Lawrence beneath them.
They opened their mouths and tore into him!
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Gnawing flesh, tasting viscera, chewing bones—this gluttonous feast was even more monstrous than the monster itself. Lawrence shrieked and struggled, yet for some reason, the gaze from that face made him feel something more intense than anything he had ever experienced.
It was called... fear!
"Get off me!"
Evening Darkness swept sideways, only to halt abruptly.
It had been caught?!
It was Minerva!
Despite allowing the blade to cut through her palm, her five fingers slowly closed. Amid the crisp sound of crystal multiplying, the blade wailed and trembled violently before snapping cleanly in the middle...
The Masterwork shattered!
Then came the trampling!
"So this is supposed to be a dragon?"
Wen Wen stepped on his head and shook hers scornfully. "You're far too weak!"
"Ptui..."
Lawrence, deeply gnawed and half-buried in the mud, struggled to open his mouth and spat at her. He snarled, "How hypocritical, Minerva. How laughable.
"The Wasteland Ruins Path you uphold is itself a trail left behind by dragons! What you seek is no different from what I seek, is it? Why put on this false act?!"
"You cling to phantoms and entrust all your hope to something you have never even seen, never realizing..."
Wen Wen fell silent. She said nothing, merely staring at him. Her expressionless face held an ever-deepening frost. "—that thing doesn't even count as human. It will never answer your prayers!"
From the dead silence, a high, piercing sound rang out.
Right behind her.
Crystal scraped against crystal, multiplying and growing until it transformed into a stone wing reaching toward the sky. It blotted out the heavens and the sun, covering everything and cloaking the earth in a dreamlike, indifferent radiance.
Lawrence looked as though he had been struck by lightning.
One eye after another opened in terror from within the shredded flesh, blinking incessantly as they tried to determine whether this was another malicious illusion or merely a hallucination of his own. No matter how he looked at it, he found it impossible to believe.
"You—you... you!"
The voice grew more shrill and piercing, as though it had been swallowed by a nightmare.
He witnessed with his own eyes everything that happened to Wen Wen. It was not blood, and yet more than blood. It was not a body, and yet more than a body. Even the soul within was revealed in its entirety.
Cold, solemn, savage, and immense...
That was dragonification more complete than his own!!!
"What's wrong? Haven't you been chasing dragons all this time, Lawrence?"
Wen Wen spoke. Her icy voice transformed into thunder that resounded through the heavens, echoing throughout the Realm of Encirclement. "Take it as my final act of mercy... I'll let you die at the hands of the thing you pursued!
"That way, at least, you'll die in the right place!"
Boom!!!
When she reached toward the sky again and clenched her hand, what fell was ten thousand zhang of thunder. The radiance of the entire world gathered between her five fingers, transforming into a dazzling crystal spear too bright to look at.
This was Dragon's Breath!
The [Destruction] that had manifested in material form!
At that final moment, Lawrence opened his mouth as if he wanted to shout something—a curse, perhaps, or a plea. But it no longer mattered. No one cared.
Parasites, blood, fungal strains, monsters, bitter hatred, remnants of despair, and even the unrealistic dream of becoming a dragon—
Everything was drowned in the dragon's breath.
Silence.
Only the Blazing Light that incinerated all eyes flashed by in an instant.
A storm suddenly erupted. Ashes rose into the heavens, while countless writhing scarlet spiritual substances evaporated and vanished. The Giant Tree shattered and collapsed, transforming into an illusion.
Apart from the Big Pit where not even charred remains existed, no trace was left behind.
There were not even fragments left from an explosion or dismemberment.
Some portion of matter had vanished from the mortal world forever, without leaving behind even a single particle.
This was the power of a dragon.
After a long stretch of silence, Wen Wen stood before the deep pit. The enormous wings behind her had vanished without a trace.
"Phew. This is why I didn't want them coming to help."
She murmured softly and sighed. Then she tilted her head to look behind her and grinned. "Hey, Ji Jue, remember to cover for me..."
Her words abruptly stopped.
Her smile stiffened on her face.
Perhaps she no longer had to worry about anyone leaking this secret.
Amid the ruins and bloody mud pit, Ji Jue sat collapsed on the ground, panting with difficulty, looking utterly miserable.
Meanwhile, the remaining Dragon Blood on his body continued to spread slowly. His flesh mutated, his shell twisted, and a layer of bizarre scales grew across him, gradually stealing the human radiance from his eyes.
Sin Corruption.
The aberration that made every Chosen One's expression change was spreading. He was on the verge of death.
Yet he seemed completely unconcerned, even though he had long since reached his limit.
"What is it, Wen Jie?"
Ji Jue raised his head. His face was covered in dust and mud, but he still managed a difficult smile. "Can I say that I... accomplished something today?"
"..."
The astonishment arrived all at once. Wen Wen fell silent, suddenly recalling their words when they parted yesterday. She remembered the young man's smile then, and the certainty and calmness he showed now.
"Yes, you did."
She reached out and solemnly wiped the dust from Ji Jue's face. "Knowing you has been my honor."
"Huh?"
Ji Jue froze, his face blank. He was afraid Wen Wen's next words would be, I see you're still quite the charmer.
But then Wen Wen rose solemnly, took a step back, and raised her hand once more. She grasped the crystal Spear of Thunder that had descended from the sky and aimed it at his face.
"Don't worry. I won't let you feel any pain."
Her eyes seemed slightly reddened as she asked softly, "Do you have any last wishes?"
"Fuck, don't!"
Ji Jue's face went white with fright. He screamed in terror, "I think I can still be saved!"
Big Sister, what are you doing?! I thought you only wanted my body, but I never expected you to go straight for my life!
"It's no longer necessary to lie to me, Ji Jue. Once Sin Corruption begins, your soul and body will collapse in agony." Wen Wen took a deep breath, and her trembling palm steadied. "Don't worry. I'll preserve the dignity you were born with as a human."
"I can have dignity while I'm alive too, Big Sister! I've only lost too much blood—don't scare me!"
Ji Jue could no longer keep lying there like a corpse. He frantically tapped the prompt window that had appeared on his Wristwatch: [Active aberrant spiritual substance detected internally. Extract?]
Yes! Yes! Yes!!!
Hurry the fuck up and extract it, extract it, extract it!!!!
Then a crisp cracking sound rang out. Every trace of spreading aberration and every scale that had grown from Ji Jue's body shattered, turning to dust and dispersing without a trace.
The irreversible Sin Corruption vanished in an instant.
"..."
In the silence, Wen Wen stood frozen in place, staring blankly at everything unfolding before her. For a long while, she almost forgot that she was still clutching Dragon's Breath.
Only her embarrassment continued doubling with every passing second.
"Huh?"
After a long while, she made a dazed sound like someone sleepwalking, her confusion surpassing that of a confused cat.
Who am I? Where am I? What happened?
Did I just see someone's signs of Sin Mutation reverse and disappear? Something that would be enough to shatter the worldview of every lunatic in the hospitals if it got out? I've never fucking heard of it!
Then what was I doing just now?
She suddenly wanted to look in a mirror and see whether there was a little red ball on her nose.
You bastard, give me back the tears that were about to fall!
And also...
If I silence him now, is it still in time?
Thus, her gaze gradually turned dangerous.
"Wen Jie, don't do this—I have a family!" Tears nearly fell from Ji Jue's eyes. "Spare my dog life! I'm good in bed, I don't cling, and my service is excellent. It'd be such a waste to kill me while I'm still useful!"
Bang!
The Dragon Breath Spear scraped past Ji Jue's neck and plunged into the bricks beside him, leaving behind a terrifying crack.
"..."
Wen Wen grabbed him by the collar and warned him word by word, "If you want to see tomorrow's sun, then keep everything about me and everything about your ability to reverse Sin Corruption buried in your stomach. You can't tell anyone who asks, and you can't even say it in your sleep. Understand?!"
"Huh? Huh?! It's not like I was plotting against your bo—cough, cough. Sure, no problem." Ji Jue nodded frantically, wishing he could shake his brains loose. "I bumped into something and passed out. I don't know anything!"
"Very good."
Wen Wen nodded, her smile turning gentle as she straightened his collar and lightly patted it twice. "So, where exactly did you accidentally bump into something? Your head, perhaps?"
"Huh?"
Ji Jue stared in shock. He instinctively wanted to say something, but the last thing he saw was Wen Wen raising her fist—small, exquisite, and adorable, with absolutely no indication of how many lives it had claimed.
And then...
Bang!
After passing through the Vortex Implantation Technique, spiritual-substance erosion, a despairing nightmare, the Chosen Ceremony, a desperate counterkill, and surviving a disaster, Ji Jue's vision went black, and he completely checked out.
'Cause of death': teammate's devastating blow.
Friendly fire wasn't even enabled. Reality really was a shitty game.
Before you continue