Interrogation

Lu Heng withdrew his gaze, turned around, and strode away.

The soles of his boots crunched over the gravel, the sound carrying far across the open field. His Blood Armor clung to his body, slightly cool, and the lingering tremor deep within him hadn't completely dissipated, flickering with his pulse like the residual warmth from the starlight he'd just witnessed.

He wasn't walking fast.

Those four words were all I could think about.

World Fragment.

The Blood Taisui has lurked underground for many years; it must know something. Where are the boundaries of this fragment? Are there other overlords besides it?

With all my mind focused inward, my senses were suppressed to the point where only the mental string remained, and my alertness to the movements around me unconsciously slowed down by half a beat.

The wind suddenly stopped.

The chirping of insects in the woods died down in an instant.

Lu Heng paused. The Mycelium on the surface of the Blood Armor tensed up before he even realized it, and the lines on it tightened abruptly.

From the side, a sharp metallic clang suddenly rang out from the shadows.

The bolt is pulled.

A dozen figures emerged from the shadows, spread out, lowered their guns, and aimed, all locking their gun barrels onto him.

The soldiers' eyes were all fixed on Lu Heng, or more precisely, on the dark red substance covering his body.

In the darkness, the Mycelium patterns on the surface of the Blood Armor shimmered faintly, rising and falling with his breath, as if alive.

Lu Heng saw several soldiers' Adam's apples bob.

That's an instinctive fear. When faced with something beyond our comprehension and clearly carrying a dangerous aura, the body reacts before the brain.

The leader was a man in his early thirties, with a scar on his face that ran diagonally from his eyebrow to his jaw. He held the gun the most steadily, and his gaze was the most intense. He stared at Lu Heng for two seconds before speaking.

"Hey, you in front, stop!"

The voice wasn't loud, but it commanded respect.

"Come back with us and be questioned."

Lu Heng didn't move.

Those four words were still on his mind.

World Fragment.

The words on the Blood-Colored Treasure Chest chest panel still lingered in my mind's eye. "Treasure Chest of the Overlord of This World Fragment." These four words were like a thorn stuck deep in my consciousness; unless it was pulled out, nothing could be contained within it.

He had to go back. He had to find the Blood Taisui and get to the bottom of this. What exactly was this fragment? Where were its boundaries? Were there any other fragments? And what lay above the Overlord?

Dealing with this group will only waste your time.

Lu Heng withdrew his gaze, but continued walking straight towards the Lakeside Base without stopping.

"I told you to stop right there!"

The leader's voice suddenly rose, and the safety on more than a dozen guns behind him snapped open in unison, the clicking sounds echoing throughout.

"Hands behind your head, squat down on the spot! What happened in this area? Did you cause the underground tremors?"

A barrage of questions came crashing down on him.

Lu Heng's inner turmoil gradually rose.

He stopped and looked up.

The next second, invisible mental ripples spread out from him.

It wasn't an attack, just an outward projection. But the mental pressure amplified by the Greedy Wolf Star Power was no different from a physical hammer blow against a group of ordinary people who hadn't even reached the threshold of awakening.

The three soldiers closest to him turned pale instantly. The veins on the backs of their hands gripping their guns bulged, their knuckles turned white, and their teeth clenched so tightly they made a grinding sound—they were using all their strength to resist the invisible pressure pressing down on them, their feet rooted to the spot, refusing to retreat an inch.

Chaos ensued at that moment.

A young soldier on the right flank, who looked quite young, had clearly never experienced this level of mental shock before. The moment the pressure hit him, his pupils contracted sharply, his breath stopped, and his entire chest felt as if it were being gripped by an iron hand—his finger on the trigger jerked violently.

It's a spasm.

A flash of gunfire.

The bullet tore through the air, heading straight for Lu Heng's chest.

bite.

A muffled thud.

The bullet struck the surface of the Blood Armor, where it was firmly absorbed by the dark red Mycelium layer. The Mycelium pattern suddenly brightened, dispersing the impact evenly across the entire armor surface, without even shaking Lu Heng's skin.

The bullet dented and fell into the grass, emitting a wisp of smoke.

Lu Heng looked down at the faint white mark on his chest armor.

Then he looked up.

A chill ran through him.

The rage surged up faster than he had anticipated. In that instant, a thought clearly surfaced—kill them all.

With his mental pressure fully unleashed and heat waves radiating outwards, he could make these people unable to even hold their guns steady, and within ten seconds, he could add more than a dozen corpses to this area.

The moment the murderous intent surged, the faint blue light dormant in his eyes flashed uncontrollably for a moment, and the Mycelium on the surface of the Blood Armor tightened at the same time, emitting a barely perceptible tremor.

It wasn't that he wanted to kill; it was two things inside and on his body that first stirred up the murderous intent in his stead.

A face flashed through my mind.

Song Yunzhong.

Song Yunzhong still needs to go to their place. Killing someone here will create a lot of trouble later.

It's not worth the risk.

Lu Heng closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, the coldness in his eyes had mostly subsided.

The murderous intent was withdrawn.

He exerted force with his feet.

A shallow crater blasted open in the ground, and the figure suddenly rushed forward. The distance of more than ten meters was covered in an instant, so fast that most people present only saw a dark red afterimage.

Lu Heng stopped in front of the young soldier who had fired the shot, raised his foot, and kicked him.

He deliberately held back most of his strength, dissipating 70% of it when his instep landed on the opponent's chest. But the remaining 30% of the impact was still too much for this flesh-and-blood body to withstand.

The young soldier groaned, his center of gravity snapped, and he flew backward, crashing heavily to the ground and sliding two or three meters before coming to a stop. His gun flew a long way, and he curled up on the ground coughing, unable to stand up for a while.

He wasn't dead. Lu Heng held back his strength; he knew what was going on.

The other soldiers, witnessing the speed of his sudden advance, all paled.

The gun barrels were still trembling, but no one dared to pull the trigger again.

"Don't move!"

The leader shouted sharply, stabilizing the situation.

He stared intently at Lu Heng, a bead of sweat sliding down his forehead, but his hand holding the gun remained steady. Two seconds later, he made a move that no one expected—

He lowered the muzzle of his gun.

"Put it all down."

Someone behind him froze: "Captain--"

I said, "Put it down."

The man's voice was as deep as iron. He understood better than anyone else: if that kick had landed on his head, he, the soldier, would be a corpse by now.

They had the ability to kill, but didn't go for the kill. That's the face they showed the other side.

If things escalate further, none of these dozen or so people will leave this forest alive.

The man slung the gun behind his back, emptying his hands, and slightly raised his chin at Lu Heng.

"Friend, it's a misunderstanding." His tone softened. "We meant no harm; we were just conducting a routine patrol to find out the cause of the unusual activity in this area. Everyone's safe now, so let's leave it at that."

Lu Heng looked at him, his face expressionless.

He was already annoyed and didn't want to beat around the bush, so he spoke in a flat tone.

"Even if you knew the truth, you wouldn't solve anything."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the group of soldiers who looked like they were facing a formidable enemy, before finally settling on the leader's face.

"Just living a peaceful life is enough."

Having said that, he didn't linger, passing the crowd and continuing towards the Lakeside Base. His dark red Blood Armor left a faint trail of light in the night, and after a few steps, it melted into the darkness ahead.

No one moved.

No one dared to step forward to stop them.

The wind rustled through the woods, making the grass blades whisper in the breeze.

The young soldier who had been kicked away was helped up. He clutched his chest and coughed for a long time before finally catching his breath. His face was pale as he looked in the direction where Lu Heng had disappeared.

"Team, captain... what are those things?"

The leader didn't answer immediately. He stared at the darkness where Lu Heng had disappeared for a long time, then looked back at the huge, collapsed pit in the distance behind him—rock fragments were still falling from the edge of the pit, and darkness was seeping out from within.

I don't know.

He was silent for a moment, his voice very low.

"But just send a message back. Report what happened in this area tonight."

"Including that person, including that suit of armor."