Martial Soul Hall, I'll Take Your Shells!

"No... don't..."

Yan, the pride of the Martial Soul Hall Golden Generation, felt his legs go weak, nearly collapsing to the floor.

He looked at the empty glass container, which seemed custom-made for him, and then at the emotionless golden snake eyes of Orochimaru. A chill shot straight from his tailbone to the top of his skull.

He had no doubt that if he were to step inside, his fate would be far more miserable than that of the Thunder Tyrannosaurus being used as a living battery!

"I... I..." Yan's lips trembled, unable to form a single word.

Beside him, Xie Yue was equally ashen-faced. He wanted to resist, but the mere thought of that bizarre force field—which had twisted even a Soul Douluo's True Body of Martial Soul—drained every ounce of courage from his body.

In the face of absolute technological suppression, the talent and strength they took such pride in were nothing but a joke.

"What? You're unwilling?"

"Forget it."

However, Qin Feng waved his hand, a look of disdain appearing on his face.

"Your genetic sequence is somewhat interesting, but it's too full of impurities, and the energy conversion efficiency is pathetically low."

"Doctor, let's not dirty your laboratory with such inferior experimental materials."

Inferior?

Too many impurities?

Yan's brain buzzed, a sensation even more agonizing than the threat he had just faced.

This was an insult on a much deeper level!

He, a member of the prestigious Golden Generation and the wielder of the Flame Lord martial soul, wasn't even qualified to be a test subject in the eyes of this madman?!

"Throw this trash out."

Qin Feng waved at a Security Robot in the corner as if he were ordering someone to clean up the room.

"Don't use the main entrance; dump them directly into the waste recycling station outside."

"Command confirmed."

The Security Robot glided over. With its two massive mechanical arms, it grabbed the unconscious Salas with one and snatched Xie Yue and Yan by the scruffs of their necks like chicks with the other.

The two struggled desperately, their soul power surging, yet they were as powerless as infants against the cold, unyielding mechanical limbs.

"Let me go! Who do you think you are! Let me go!" Xie Yue roared frantically.

The only response was the robot's cold, mechanical voice: "Resistance from trash detected. Initiating suppression mode."

"Zzzzt—"

A powerful electric current surged through the mechanical arms. Both men spasmed, their eyes rolling back into their heads as they passed out instantly.

The Security Robot dragged the three "human-shaped pieces of trash" toward a separate freight passage leading to the surface.

Orochimaru watched the scene, flicking his long tongue over his lips as he spoke in a raspy voice: "Qin Feng-kun, are you just going to let them go? Their genes still hold significant research value."

"No rush." Qin Feng watched the surveillance screen, where the three bodies were being tossed into the garbage heap outside the city, a cruel curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

"The bait has already been cast."

"Now, it's just a matter of when the big fish, Bibi Dong, decides to take the hook."

Outside Nuoding City, at the waste recycling station.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

With three dull impacts, Salas, Xie Yue, and Yan were unceremoniously dumped onto a pile of industrial waste that reeked of rot.

As the night wind blew, Salas slowly regained consciousness.

He opened his eyes to see the towering, steel-beast-like gates of Nuoding City.

Humiliation!

Fury!

Terror!

Every emotion at that moment coalesced into a towering hatred!

He struggled to crawl out of the garbage heap; his once-luxurious Platinum Bishop robes were now nothing more than rags.

He stared fixedly at the countless surveillance cameras flickering on the city walls, and with every ounce of strength he had left, he let out a venomous, piercing roar!

"Qin Feng!!"

"You just wait!"

"I, Salas, will never forget the humiliation of this day! Within three days, the army of the Martial Soul Hall will trample this place to the ground! I will grind you, along with this filthy city of yours, into dust!!"

His voice echoed through the night sky, filled with a reckless, desperate madness.

Above the city walls, there was only dead silence.

Salas believed his threat had intimidated the enemy.

He helped Xie Yue and Yan, who had also regained consciousness, to their feet, a trace of ferocious satisfaction appearing on his face.

Just you wait, you ants! Prepare to tremble under the iron hooves of Martial Soul Hall!

However, just as he prepared to turn and leave to summon the knight order stationed outside the city.

On the city wall, that familiar loudspeaker once again broadcast the lazy voice of Qin Feng.

"Oh? Is that so?"

"The army of Martial Soul Hall? I'm so scared."

"Bishop Salas, it seems you still don't understand what a gap in power really means."

The moment the words fell.

"BOOM—"

A dull, earth-shattering roar erupted from within Nuoding City.

Salas whipped his head around.

He saw the armor plating at the top of a tall tower inside the city slowly slide open, and a massive cylinder, dozens of meters long and shimmering with a cold metallic luster, slowly rose into view.

That wasn't a cannon!

What was that?!

The tail of the cylinder suddenly erupted with blinding blue flames, the terrifying thrust causing the surrounding air to let out a groan of unbearable strain!

It wasn't aimed at Salas, but rather, at a steep angle, it shot straight into the heavens!

Fast!

Too fast!

In just one second, it had become a tiny speck of fire, vanishing into the high altitude ten thousand meters above.

"Playing tricks!" Salas snorted coldly, assuming this was merely an intimidation tactic from his opponent.

But the next second, Xie Yue, standing behind him, suddenly pointed at the distant sky and let out a scream as if he had seen a ghost!

"That... what is that?!"

Salas turned his head abruptly, following Xie Yue's gaze.

He saw that at least fifty kilometers away from Nuoding City, on the eastern horizon, a speck of fire trailing a long plume of smoke was descending from the sky!

Its target was a towering, desolate mountain on the distant horizon!

Time seemed to slow down in that moment.

There was no sound.

There was no explosion.

Only a ball of light, blinding to the extreme, bloomed with a roar atop that desolate mountain!

That light was ten thousand times more dazzling than the sun!

Salas's eyes were instantly stung, and tears streamed down his face.

Immediately following, a massive mushroom cloud composed of dust and flames slowly rose, shooting straight into the sky!

That towering mountain, which had existed for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, was like a sandcastle being crushed beneath that mushroom cloud, silently... vanishing.

Dead silence.

The world fell into a dead silence.

Salas, Xie Yue, Yan, and the Martial Soul Hall knights in the distance all stared blankly at the slowly dissipating mushroom cloud, their minds completely blank.

The mountain... was gone?

A mountain, just like that... gone?

What kind of soul skill was this?

No! This wasn't a soul skill! Even a god couldn't unleash a strike so capable of destroying heaven and earth!

A full dozen seconds passed.

"RUMBLE—!!!"

The deafening sound of the explosion finally arrived, fashionably late!

Following closely behind was a terrifying shockwave like an eighteenth-grade storm!

Sand and stones flew, and the sky turned dark!

The three of them were sent flying by the shockwave, rolling over a dozen times on the ground before coming to a stop.

They couldn't care about their injuries, only staring in sheer terror at the distance that had been leveled into a flat plain, their bodies trembling like chaff.

Just then, Qin Feng's voice, like the judgment of a devil, came once again from the city wall, clearly delivered to everyone's ears.

"Bishop Salas, did you see that?"

"This is called the 'Dongfeng-1' surface-to-surface conventional tactical missile, with a range of three hundred kilometers and a margin of error of no more than ten meters."

"That last shot was just clearing out expired inventory; the explosive charge was reduced by eighty percent."

Qin Feng's voice paused, filled with mockery and coldness.

"You say the army of Martial Soul Hall is coming?"

"Very good."

"I happen to be short on moving targets to test my new toys."

"Thank Bibi Dong for me."

"I have accepted the shells you sent over."

"Thud!"

Salas could no longer hold himself up; his knees went weak, and he collapsed directly onto the ground.

In his eyes, there was no longer any hatred, only endless, bone-deep terror.

An army?

Flatten this place?

With what would they flatten it?!

By filling the gaps with human lives?!

"Run! Run quickly!!"

Salas let out a shrill, miserable scream, scrambling and crawling as he fled toward the direction of the knight order outside the city, as pathetic as a stray dog.

Inside the central control room.

Qin Feng watched the screen, observing the ugly sight of Salas and the others fleeing in a panic, his face showing not a ripple of emotion.

He turned around and issued new orders to Grey Wolf and Orochimaru standing behind him.

"Brother Wolf, set all production lines to maximum power. Within three days, I want to see one thousand Dongfeng missiles and one hundred thousand sets of Tyrant Power Armor ready for combat."

"Doctor, those 'test subjects' you captured should also be put to use."

"Infect them all with the T-Virus; I want a Biochemical Legion that is absolutely loyal and fears no death."

Qin Feng's gaze shifted to the map on the screen representing the direction of Martial Soul City, his eyes icy.

"Notify Ning Fengzhi to accelerate the transport speed of all mineral resources."

"The war has begun."