Who Exactly Needed No More Words?

Shen Lian's words made the atmosphere tense once more.

"Foolish! Utterly foolish!"

Zhao Yan slapped his thigh, his face full of anguish.

"Kids will be kids! Just to show off, he actually chose to make the Kill Replay public!"

"The reward is generous, sure, but he's practically shown everyone his underwear!"

Zhao Yan paced back and forth around the office, frantic. "His whereabouts are exposed, and his supernatural ability is out in the open..."

"Those bastards from Eagle Country and Cherry Blossom Country are definitely watching right now!"

"Once they figure out his weaknesses, their jealousy will kick in, and they'll use every assassination tactic under the sun. How's this kid supposed to defend himself?!"

Wan Changzheng's brow furrowed as he nodded repeatedly. "That's true..."

"The tallest tree catches the wind."

"This move of his was far too risky."

But then Wan Changzheng changed tack.

He raised his head and looked at Zhao Yan.

"But... Old Zhao, you need to understand one thing."

"If you want to assassinate a tiger, you'd better be strong enough to break your teeth on it."

"Well said, Chief."

Shen Lian, who had remained calm, pushed up her glasses in agreement.

"According to our Think Tank's rough estimate..."

"This 'No Need for More Words' is at least an S-class transcendent."

"And..."

Shen Lian paused, her tone turning exceptionally grave.

"I have reason to suspect that he's very likely not an ordinary Awakened, but a Chosen of God!"

"And his Supernatural Ability is highly likely to be a Rule-Based Supernatural Ability near the top of the sequence rankings, with extremely high lethality."

"A Chosen of God?!"

At those three words, Wan Changzheng and Zhao Yan both stopped breathing for a moment.

Wan Changzheng nodded, his expression solemn. "Your analysis makes sense."

In this Barbaric Realm, after years of exploration and research, humanity had broadly divided human combat strength into four categories.

The first category: ordinary people.

Their Overall Physical Fitness ranged from F-class to E-class, and they had no Supernatural Ability.

They made up the largest portion of humanity, and were also its most fragile foundation.

The second category: Reinforced Humans.

Their Overall Physical Fitness ranged from D-class to S-class. Though they had no Supernatural Ability, their bodies were formidable thanks to Natural Treasures or Gene Drugs.

Almost all Grassroots Combat Personnel and special forces belonged to this category.

The third category: Transcendents.

That is, people who had awakened a Supernatural Ability.

Their strength varied greatly, with an extremely low floor (F-class) and an extremely high ceiling (S-class).

They were currently the mid- to high-tier force fighting against monsters.

The fourth category: Chosen of God.

They stood at the very top of the pyramid, an exceedingly rare group.

They were born to rule.

Their Supernatural Abilities were so powerful that they had to be ranked by "sequence," and most of their abilities involved rules and the Law of Causality.

Even more terrifyingly, according to the investigation, many Chosen of God could use their Supernatural Abilities to a limited degree before consuming an Awakening Fruit...

Even before they came to the Barbaric Realm!

"I remember..."

Wan Changzheng's voice trembled. "The Pillar of the Nation at our Central Base is a Chosen of God, right?"

"Yes."

Zhao Yan's eyes were full of reverence. "Sequence rank 081, ability codename: [God of War]."

"His ability is... to put allied forces in a certain area into a 'Blood Lock' state."

"As long as their bodies aren't completely destroyed, they can keep fighting even with their hearts shattered."

Thinking of that person's terrifying power, Wan Changzheng grew even more excited.

Chosen of God were rarer than phoenix feathers and qilin horns, each one a strategic treasure of the nation.

And now, China might have another one!

"Quick! Get the video up!"

Wan Changzheng urged, his hands trembling.

"An old man like me can hardly wait! If it's true, we have to protect him at all costs!"

"Right, right! It's already been posted. There's no use worrying about it now!"

Zhao Yan came to his senses too, excitedly crowding around the screen.

"Come on! I want to see what kind of divine Supernatural Ability this 'No Need for More Words' has!"

Shen Lian nodded. She was just as curious. Whether the Think Tank's assessment was right or wrong, the answer was in the video.

She tapped the screen, and the video began to play.

[Kill Replay begins]

The view opened from a God's-eye perspective, looking down from above.

It descended slowly from the Blood Moon in the night sky, finally settling on a Wheat Field cloaked in darkness.

The scene was shocking.

The golden Wheat Field was now spattered with blood and scattered with severed limbs.

The camera zoomed in on a corpse lying in a pool of blood, its body broken in two.

It was a boy.

His entrails had been ripped out and tossed aside, while the hollow shell of his body was being stuffed with strange straw.

As for his head, it was covered by a mass of shadow.

This was special censorship applied by the Sky Curtain to protect the information.

"Ugh..."

Wan Changzheng and Zhao Yan let out deep sighs at the sight.

They couldn't see his face, but his youthful build made it obvious that he was just a kid.

"Chief Engineer Shen, can you work out who it is?" Zhao Yan asked.

Shen Lian's mind raced, her gaze sharp as lightning.

"Male, about one meter ninety... Strong build, probably an athlete."

"The surroundings... a Wheat Field..."

Suddenly, Shen Lian's pupils contracted. She pressed pause.

"Please wait a moment, Chiefs."

Her voice lowered. "Based on my calculations, this person..."

"Is very likely Yang Wei, ranked eleventh in the Novice Ranking, and already dead."

"What?!"

Zhao Yan's hand jerked, nearly flipping the table. "It's him?"

Wan Changzheng said nothing. He merely gripped the back of his chair, his chest heaving.

He forcibly suppressed the stinging in his eyes that made him want to piss.

The moment he learned the dead boy was one of their own, the pain in his heart was impossible to hide.

"Elemental Scarecrow... Weird Wheat Field... Watcher Scarecrow..."

Zhao Yan lowered his head and murmured, "So Yang Wei was with No Need for More Words!"

"Exactly."

Shen Lian analyzed calmly. "They were very likely classmates who came to the Barbaric Realm together."

"Judging by their clothes, they were probably a group of students on a spring outing."

"But..."

Shen Lian changed tack. "I don't think Yang Wei was a partner of No Need for More Words, at least not a teammate on the same level."

Wan Changzheng agreed. "You're right."

"Going by the timing of the kill, No Need for More Words could instantly kill a boss. There's no reason he couldn't have protected Yang Wei."

"Unless... something unlikely happened."

"For example, the Watcher Scarecrow had a serious First Kill weakness."

"Yang Wei might have been buying him time, or risked his life to test its abilities."

"Chief, that's a very perceptive observation."

Shen Lian nodded. "So let's see what kind of surprise No Need for More Words brings us next."

The video continued.

The camera drew closer, bringing a dense Wheat Field into view.

At that moment, a figure was lying prone between the furrows, trembling all over, not daring to move a muscle.

"Is that No Need for More Words?"

The three of them all looked puzzled, then turned their attention elsewhere.

Not far away...

A scarecrow draped in ragged human skin was searching the ground on all fours, like a huge Deformed Spider.

"Gah!"

Zhao Yan sucked in a sharp breath, his scalp prickling.

"So this is the S-class Watcher Scarecrow? The monsters on Weird Island really live up to their reputation. That thing is horrifying!"

Its twisted limbs, its seven orifices stuffed with straw... They could almost smell the stench of blood through the screen.

Shen Lian kept her eyes fixed on the screen, listening closely.

"The sound... It's faint, but there's the sound of a Mechanical Watch..."

"That scarecrow is heading toward the Mechanical Watch."

But the next moment, a scene that left them dumbfounded unfolded.

The real Watcher Scarecrow crushed the Mechanical Watch in one hand.

Then it let out an enraged roar and tore open the human skin on its own body!

Riiip!

A true Demon Main Body, a full two and a half meters tall, with three Withered Wood Arms, crawled out from beneath the skin!

The sight made all three of them' scalps prickle.

"These kids..."

Wan Changzheng couldn't bear to watch. "They were facing something this terrifying..."

Zhao Yan pounded the table in fury. "Damn it! How desperate must they have been back then!"

"That helpless feeling, when you can only watch and can't save them, is fucking awful!"

Shen Lian wasn't swept up by their emotions. She refused to miss a single movement the scarecrow made.

"It's waving its arms..."

The next second, a gust of eerie wind swept through the video. The wheat stalks bent low, brushing lightly against the boy lying on the ground.

Shen Lian's beautiful eyes widened.

"The sound...?"

"I see..."

"The Watcher Scarecrow has no vision. It locates things through sound and the feedback from the wind."

Wan Changzheng and Zhao Yan noticed the details too.

"No wonder No Need for More Words didn't run. He figured out its weakness!"

"But..."

Wan Changzheng asked in confusion, "How's he going to turn the tables now?"

"Once it's found him, he's as good as dead."

"Could it have something to do with his Supernatural Ability?"

Everyone's heart was in their throats.

No Need for More Words, what secret were you hiding?

Just then, the timestamp on the kill record in the lower-right corner began counting down.

That meant the video had reached the main event!

Here it comes!

"It moved! It moved!"

Zhao Yan shouted.

The Three-Handed Scarecrow roared, dropped to all fours, and pounced toward the boy lying on the ground!

At that moment, the breath of death swept over him.

But in the very next instant—

Creak!

The Scarecrow, sprinting at top speed, suddenly slammed to a stop as if it had hit the brakes!

Its gaze passed straight over the shadow on the ground. In its once-empty eye sockets, two red lights suddenly blazed!

"Hm?"

The three of them were stunned.

What was it looking at?

Just then, the video's viewpoint shifted again, intelligently switching to the Scarecrow's first-person perspective.

And at that very moment,

the three of them finally saw the being the S-Class Monster was staring down.

In the distant wheat field, a figure slowly emerged.

He wore a thin black shirt, its collar open, letting the night breeze stir the hem.

He carried no weapon and assumed no defensive stance.

His hands...

were casually tucked into his pockets.

He simply stood there, quietly meeting the S-class Scarecrow's gaze from afar.

Backlit, and obscured by the Sky Curtain's privacy protection, his face was impossible to make out.

But even so,

through the screen, Wan Changzheng, Zhao Yan, and Shen Lian could all clearly sense the aura emanating from that man...

an air of utter fearlessness, even tinged with disdain and scorn.

His presence made him seem more like a monster than the S-Class Monster itself.

Shen Lian pushed up her glasses.

"This... is the real..."

"Needless to say."