Bones of Steel

Outside the abandoned warehouse, the night wind howled like a restless DJ, blowing the battered metal sheets around like laser lights on a disco dance floor and making a piercing racket.

A Jie had just dug up a pile of canned food from a corner. He was practically dancing with joy, as if he had discovered a new world.

"Brother Chen, look, so much food! Let's have a canned food party tonight!" A Jie was holding a pile of cans, but before he could show off, his face went deathly pale and his voice cracked. "An... an armored vehicle!"

Before he had finished speaking, boom!

A rocket slammed into the warehouse roof like a drunken thug and exploded on impact.

Flames shot into the sky, rubble flew everywhere, and the entire warehouse shook.

"Holy shit! They're serious!" Lu Chen cursed, his adrenaline surging. He grabbed Xiaobai and A Jie, rolled across the ground with them, and took cover behind a pile of discarded tires.

Almost simultaneously, a rumbling came from outside the warehouse. It was the sound of an armored vehicle's tracks grinding over rubble, each clank like the footsteps of death.

"Bastards, they got here fast!" Lu Chen spat, his eyes turning cold.

A military armored vehicle had stopped at the warehouse entrance. Its gunner, Old Lei, was operating the vehicle-mounted rocket launcher, bombarding the warehouse.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Rockets rained down as if they cost nothing, instantly turning the warehouse into a sea of fire. The sounds of explosions, burning, and collapsing mingled into a deafening roar.

"Tie Dun, blast it open! Leave no one alive!" A rough voice rang out from inside the armored vehicle, thick with killing intent.

Immediately afterward, a burly man clad in heavy armor and carrying a steel shield charged out ahead of the others. He was Tie Dun, a defensive fighter who believed that "the fortress never breaks."

A dozen or so fully armed soldiers followed him, every one of them grim-faced and brimming with killing intent.

"This place is ours now." Tie Dun stood at the warehouse entrance, his voice low and cold, like a judge from hell.

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes behind cover as he watched the menacing soldiers, a cold sneer curling his lips.

"You want to steal my stuff? No chance!"

Without showing a thing, he secretly activated his [Infinite Replication] talent.

During a lull in the enemy's advance, he quietly copied a soldier's C-rank [Impact Resistance] talent.

"Ding! Replication successful! C-rank [Impact Resistance] talent has been promoted to SSS-rank [Vajra Indestructible Divine Art]!"

In an instant, Lu Chen felt a powerful force surge through his body, filling every cell with explosive energy.

He could clearly feel that his body had grown countless times stronger, as if he had put on an invisible suit of armor.

A barely perceptible metallic sheen appeared on his skin, a physical manifestation of the SSS-rank [Vajra Indestructible Divine Art].

"You want to steal my stuff? You're not good enough." Lu Chen spoke in a low voice, his tone full of confidence and contempt.

By then, Tie Dun had smashed the warehouse door apart with a punch and charged in with the soldiers.

He spotted Lu Chen hiding behind cover at a glance,

"Brat, heaven offered you a path, but you wouldn't take it. Hell had no gate, yet you barged right in! Die!" Tie Dun roared, swinging the giant hammer in his hand viciously down at Lu Chen's head.

The giant hammer weighed several hundred jin. It whistled through the air as it fell, like a small mountain bearing down on him.

A Jie was scared out of his wits, and Xiaobai was trembling too. They both knew that if the hammer landed, Lu Chen would be badly injured if not killed.

Incredibly, however, Lu Chen stood rooted to the spot, utterly motionless, with no intention of dodging.

"Courting death!" Tie Dun

"Bang!"

With a dull thud, the giant hammer slammed into Lu Chen's chest.

But the expected scene of flesh and blood flying everywhere did not appear.

Lu Chen's body was as hard as meteoric iron. He had taken Tie Dun's full-force blow head-on!

Everyone was stunned!

Tie Dun's eyes widened, unable to believe what he was seeing.

He was an SSS-rank strength-type awakened one. A single blow from his hammer was enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, yet he couldn't budge the young man before him an inch?

Ripples spread across Lu Chen's skin as the SSS-rank [Vajra Indestructible Divine Art] took effect, completely absorbing and neutralizing the force of the hammer.

He stood there without budging, solid as a rock, a contemptuous smile curling his lips.

"That's all the strength you've got? It's not even enough to tickle me." Lu Chen's voice was soft, but full of mockery.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze cold and sharp, like two swords drawn from their sheaths.

The corners of Lu Chen's mouth lifted as he took a step forward. The ground cracked beneath his foot, fissures spreading like a spiderweb as if an earthquake had struck.

He casually raised a hand and seized the handle of Tie Dun's heavy war hammer. The thing weighed at least several hundred jin, but in his hand it was like a toy.

"You say the fortress never breaks?" Lu Chen's voice held a hint of mockery, like a cat playing with a mouse. "Then I'll show you what true immortality is."

His five fingers suddenly tightened. "Crack!

Bang!" Amid a series of grating sounds of twisting metal, he wrenched the hammer's handle into a twist like a strand of noodle. The hammerhead burst apart too, sending fragments flying. They clattered against the ground, thin wisps of smoke rising from them, while a pungent smell of scorched metal filled the air.

Tie Dun was dumbfounded, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

His hammer was forged from alloy steel and was said to withstand a rocket, yet someone had just crushed it into scrap with his bare hands?

What the fuck is he, a man or a ghost?

Lu Chen casually tossed the pile of scrap metal to the ground with a resounding clang that made the earth tremble three times.

He dusted off his hands as if he had merely done something utterly insignificant. Then he raised his head, fixed his gaze on Tie Dun, and curved his lips into a dangerous smile. "Now, it's your turn..."