Mushroom Cloud Explosion

The instant Bai Zhu heard "jump," his body moved faster than his mind.

He kicked off with both feet and threw himself to the side.

The next second, the snow beneath him exploded.

A Black Crystal spike shot past, grazing the sole of his shoe before punching straight through a thin tree beside him.

Bai Zhu did not stop after landing. He rolled twice down the snowy slope, his shoulder slamming into a rock so hard that he immediately cursed the entire Creation Society family.

"Why is this thing like Ma Chao? Can't it stop for a second?"

Milluki spoke rapidly through the earpiece.

"The Black Crystal on the Holy Knight's chest can also provide short-range guidance. You were marked just now."

"Couldn't you have told me earlier?"

"I only just finished analyzing it!"

"Your command center is really terrible!"

Bai Zhu scrambled to his feet and ran.

The snow in the dense forest outside town had yet to melt. Every step sank halfway into it.

He was not running very fast. It was more like dragging his body forward.

More than a dozen black-armored Holy Knights followed behind without shouting.

The crisp, synchronized sound of their boots crushing the snow crust advanced steadily, making his scalp prickle.

Bai Zhu glanced back.

These Holy Knights did not charge at him in a swarm.

They split into groups of three, spreading left, center, and right.

The front line applied pressure while the rear line cut off his escape.

Some raised their spears, some guarded the flanks, and others specifically watched the trees and broken slopes.

Bai Zhu immediately cursed out loud.

"Fuck, why do these people know three-three tactics too?"

The sound of Milluki hammering at a keyboard rang continuously through the earpiece.

"Don't go left. Someone's circling around there. There's a hunter's shack ahead, a broken slope to the right, and a pile of deadwood to the left."

"You're saying so much. Can I fly over there?"

"Don't you have that movement technique that suddenly speeds you up?"

"That's a life-saving skill, not something for daily commuting!"

As soon as Bai Zhu finished speaking, the Black Crystal on one Holy Knight's chest lit up behind him.

That person's speed abruptly surged. He rushed across the snow, lowering his spear as he charged straight for Bai Zhu's back.

Bai Zhu gritted his teeth and flung out a small bug.

Bang!

A Smoke-Blast Bug exploded in front of the knight, gray smoke blanketing half the forest path.

Bai Zhu had just started to relax when the sound of heavy armor trampling through snow came from within the smoke.

The Holy Knight only paused for an instant before charging straight through it.

There were scorch marks on his helmet, but he was unharmed.

Bai Zhu's eyelid twitched.

"Milluki, your kid doesn't work."

"That's the interference model, not the damage model!"

"Can't your Zoldyck product line put labels on things? The user experience is terrible over here!"

"Stop talking nonsense and take out the Beetles!"

While running, Bai Zhu pulled out a metal box.

The lid sprang open, revealing six Black-Shelled Rhinoceros Beetles lying inside.

Up close, they looked even less reliable.

Quiet, ugly, like Milluki's aesthetic made physical.

Milluki warned him.

"Don't throw the first one around. There's a rocky slope ahead. Flick it beneath the snow and lure them within ten meters."

"Ten meters? Didn't you say the safe distance was thirty?"

"That's why you need to run!"

Bai Zhu took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to throw the box back at the inn and smash it into Milluki's face.

The rocky slope lay ahead.

He pitched himself forward, flicking the Beetle in his hand into the snow as he fell.

The Black-Shelled Rhinoceros Beetle burrowed under the snow, and a red light flashed across its abdomen.

Bai Zhu lay sprawled on the ground, panting convincingly.

Because he did not need to pretend. He was genuinely about to run out of power.

The three Holy Knights at the front closed in as expected.

One raised his spear to block Bai Zhu's path ahead.

One circled around to cut off his retreat.

The last reached out directly, preparing to grab the back of Bai Zhu's neck.

Milluki shouted softly through the earpiece.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

Bai Zhu rolled over and activated voice authorization.

"Explode!"

The air went quiet for a moment.

The Holy Knights paused as well.

Beneath the snow, the Black-Shelled Rhinoceros Beetle suddenly beat its wings and took flight.

Bzz—

It was loud.

It looked imposing.

Then it circled once above the three Holy Knights' heads, landed on a nearby rock, and remained completely still.

Bai Zhu froze.

The three Holy Knights stared at the bug too.

The scene was awkward enough to carve out a luxury villa.

Three seconds later.

Bai Zhu lowered his voice.

"Milluki, does your family's explosive need prayers to activate?"

There was half a second of silence in the earpiece.

Milluki coughed.

"I forgot to tell you. Exploding Beetles have a Nen Ability restriction."

Sensing trouble, Bai Zhu rapidly retreated.

"Go on."

"To compress hundreds of kilograms of high explosives into an insect-sized body while deceiving Nen users' senses, I gave it a divine-demonic duality."

"Speak human."

"Fifty percent chance of being a dud."

Bai Zhu looked up at the Holy Knights, who had raised their spears again.

"What's the other fifty percent?"

"An overpowered explosion."

Bai Zhu nearly laughed from anger.

"Why didn't you tell me something this important earlier?!"

Milluki sounded completely justified.

"You didn't ask."

"Fuck your grandfather!"

The Black Crystal Spear had already thrust before him.

Bai Zhu jerked backward. The spearpoint sliced past his ribs, black patterns of light sweeping across his bandages as a sharp pain bored straight into his flesh.

He did not dare block it head-on. Gathering his Reiatsu, he made a brief burst beneath his feet and used Shunpo.

He slipped through the gap between the three Holy Knights in a horribly awkward pose.

But it worked.

He tumbled down the rocky slope, snapping several low branches along the way and rolling until he was covered in snow and mud.

Milluki continued rubbing salt in the wound through the earpiece.

"That's why I told you not to stand too close."

Bai Zhu scrambled up, cursing as he ran.

"What does a dud have to do with standing too close? Are you just making excuses because you forgot to tell me the intel?"

"You still have the energy to curse at me, so you must be in good shape."

"Thank your whole family for me."

"Don't thank them. My family charges fees."

Bai Zhu nearly failed to catch his breath.

The Holy Knights continued pursuing him from behind.

The first Beetle's failure to explode only made them bolder.

The leading Holy Knight raised a hand, and the team immediately pressed closer.

Milluki routed intercepted voices into Bai Zhu's earpiece.

"The target's stamina is declining."

"Do not kill him."

"The elder needs him alive."

"Confirm the connection between the Blue Flame Heretic and Holy Stone contamination."

After hearing that, Bai Zhu's breathing actually steadied a little.

"They think your bug is an interference device."

"Understandable. The first one didn't go off."

"They don't know you're a lunatic."

"Please call me a professional."

"A professional with a fifty percent dud rate?"

"That's called trading restrictions for power."

Bai Zhu did not argue further.

Cursing was one thing. He still had to think.

One Beetle had a fifty percent chance.

With two, there was still hope.

If he deployed several, surely they could not all be duds.

If they all turned out to be duds, then he would accept his fate today and ask the system for some hidden achievement for people cursed with African luck.

He reached for the remaining Beetles.

"Milluki, route ahead."

Milluki became serious as well.

"Keep heading north. There's an abandoned logging road. It's narrow, with snowbanks and broken timber on both sides. Good for setting traps."

"How dense is the pursuit?"

"Six in the front line, four in the middle, and another three to five behind them, uncertain. Don't blow them all up at once. Cut off the front line first."

"No. I'm going to hurt them in one wave."

"Are you crazy? The safe distance isn't enough."

"Then find me a ditch."

"There's a snow trench forty meters ahead on the right, one and a half meters deep. If you dive into it, you can avoid part of the blast."

"Part of it?"

"The rest depends on luck."

Bai Zhu's teeth itched with anger.

"Your family's instruction manual only needs four words—use at your own risk."

"Quit talking. I've unlocked the Beetle permissions for you. Set the traps yourself."

Bai Zhu rushed onto the logging road.

The path was narrow, with old stumps and scattered rocks wedged along both sides. Snow concealed the potholes beneath it.

Every few steps, he flicked out another Beetle.

The first was hidden beneath a fallen log.

The second was stuffed into a hollow in the snow.

The third was lightly flicked with the sheath of his knife and hung behind a dead branch.

He failed to hold the fourth one steady, and Milluki snapped a reminder through the headset.

"Don't crush its trigger abdomen!"

"This thing has a trigger abdomen?!"

"Are you squeezing a bomb like it's an orange?"

"It looks like a bug. How was I supposed to know its belly was the button?!"

"That's a Beetle, not your toy!"

Bai Zhu could not be bothered to keep arguing.

The Holy Knights behind him charged onto the logging road.

Seeing Bai Zhu stumble as he ran, they spread their formation wider.

The Black Crystal on the lead knight's chest lit up, and his speed surged again.

Black armor bore down on him, stamping a row of pits into the snow.

Bai Zhu stopped at the end of the logging road, bracing himself against a tree as he panted.

He raised a hand and waved at the pursuing Holy Knights.

"Gentlemen, welcome to this after-sales satisfaction survey."

The Holy Knight leading them wasted no words.

"Take him alive."

Six Holy Knights accelerated at once.

Their lances lowered, Black Crystal Patterns connecting into a single stretch.

Bai Zhu turned and ran.

"Milluki!"

Only two words came through the headset.

"Get down."

Bai Zhu practically dove into a snow trench.

While still in midair, he heard Milluki press the detonator.

The first sound was still that of insect wings.

Bzz.

Bai Zhu's heart skipped a beat.

Don't tell me it was another dud?

Then the second, third, and fourth Beetles sprang out from beneath the snow at the same time.

They did not scatter aimlessly. They flew straight at the nearest Holy Knights in black armor.

One Holy Knight raised his lance to sweep them aside.

The tip had barely touched a Beetle.

White light exploded.

Boom—!

The shockwave slammed Bai Zhu into the bottom of the snow trench, and his ears instantly began ringing.

Snow, broken timber, and shattered stones rained down over his head.

He opened his mouth to curse, only to get a mouthful of snow.

The second explosion followed immediately.

The third was even closer.

The entire logging road was blown into chaos.

Broken logs flew through the air, and a huge section of snow collapsed.

Bai Zhu lay at the bottom of the trench with his hands over his head, feeling something strike his back twice.

Fortunately, it was not too heavy.

Only after several seconds did he raise his head.

All he could see was snowy dust.

Milluki's voice came through the headset, warped with excitement.

"They blew up! Three blew up! Three!"

Bai Zhu spat out the snow in his mouth.

"Why do you sound like lottery numbers just got drawn?"

"It is like a lottery draw! Three out of six exceeded spec. Pretty good luck!"

"I almost got killed."

"But you're still alive, aren't you?"

Bai Zhu propped himself halfway up against the edge of the snow trench and looked toward the logging road.

The pursuing formation had been blown apart.

The few Holy Knights at the front had gone completely still.

Fragments of black armor were embedded in the snow, and several Black Crystals from their chests were still flickering.

Those in the middle had been hurled over by the shockwave. Some tried to get up, but the Black Crystals on their chests had shattered, their armor was in tatters, and their injuries were severe.

The Holy Knights in the rear were forced to stop at the edge of the blast zone, no longer daring to press forward recklessly.

Bai Zhu fell silent for two seconds before speaking seriously.

"Chubby, this thing of yours... it's not an assassination tool anymore, is it?"

Milluki sounded immensely pleased with himself.

"Precision delivery, minimal detectable residue, high close-range lethality. Aside from the probability issue, it's basically perfect."

"Basically perfect? You call a fifty percent dud rate a probability issue?"

"The more ridiculous the restriction, the more ridiculous the power. Don't you understand Nen Ability?"

"All I understand is that you're committing war crimes."

"What are war crimes?"

"Never mind. Don't update your knowledge base to that version yet."

Milluki gave a huff.

"I'm not bragging, but if I had enough materials, time, and budget, I could theoretically stuff a Miniature Rose into a Beetle."

Bai Zhu's hand slipped, and he nearly fell back into the trench.

"What did you just say?"

"Theoretically."

"Does no one in your Zoldyck family keep you in check?"

"My grandfather said I had a good mind."

"Your grandfather was being far too subtle."

Bai Zhu lowered himself again.

The snowy smoke from the explosions had yet to disperse. From afar, a snow-white mushroom cloud was rising from the dense forest.