Chapter 372: The Violence Begins (Two-in-One)

Zhao Dongchuan calmly watched the man struggle and collapse in front of him, adjusting the hem of his White Windbreaker.

As if dictated by fate, the man's bloodstained hand brushed right past the fabric, rising to the exact spot where the hem had just been.

Then, his strength completely spent, the man slumped to the ground and breathed his last.

31/3

"Thirty opponents left," Zhao Dongchuan muttered. Then, as if recalling something, he lowered his voice. "Oh, wait. Make that twenty-nine."

He didn't consider that man an enemy.

He knew the man would definitely claim one of the three remaining spots.

Aside from his own daily observations, Lin Xiaoran had told him a lot about the guy.

At this thought, weird energy surged in his right eye. In an instant, the entire pupil seemed covered by a layer of orange-yellow jade. Countless fragmented images flashed through that jade-like eye before freezing, transforming into five stars.

This was one of his abilities: to glimpse fragments of established fate and calculate his probability of success.

Five stars meant a fifty percent chance.

"Even now, it’s still only fifty percent. There really are a lot of experts this time."

He stood up and walked toward the next target building, a location he had just extracted from the dead man.

Suddenly, he spotted a man with long golden hair stepping out from a nearby intersection, dressed in luxurious golden robes.

The man was dressed like an ancient noble. A jade thumb ring bound his long hair high, and his features carried a strange, demonic charm.

"Zhao Dongchuan?" The man narrowed his eyes, deepening his eerie charm.

"Yes." Zhao Dongchuan nodded. "Jin Yao?"

"It is I," the man nodded, smiling. "How about it? Care to spar with me?"

Zhao Dongchuan smiled and shook his head. "Not interested. My goal is to survive to the end of this Dungeon."

"A pity," the man sighed. "How about we arrange a fight after we get out?"

"I've long heard that the exchange candidates Yueyin sent this time are the strongest in each tier. He Xinquan, who fought me last time, is the strongest fourth tier of the Third Ring Domain, while you are the strongest fourth tier of the Fourth Ring Domain."

"This king also wants to see who is stronger between you and him."

Zhao Dongchuan's tone was gentle. "Didn't you already lose to him? You should figure out how to beat him before worrying about me, right?"

Jin Yao shook his head. "After last time, this king already knew that his limit is right there. He’s stagnated at the fourth tier for far too long, yet he only beat me by a hair. It will be very difficult for him to improve further."

"Heh. Do you know that by saying something like that, you're definitely getting cursed out by the people watching right now?" Zhao Dongchuan chuckled.

It was exactly as he said. At this moment, outside in Yueyin, the live comments were flying everywhere, all furiously cursing Jin Yao for being a sore loser.

But Jin Yao only smiled. "First of all, this king is not from your Yueyin; it's perfectly normal for Yueyin people to curse me. Furthermore, even if the people of Beast Lord dared to curse me, I wouldn't care."

"To this king, reaching the Summit is the only thing that matters. Everything else is just trivial noise."

"So, how about it? Think about that fight I mentioned for after we leave."

This time, Zhao Dongchuan didn't refuse, nor did he agree. Instead, he asked, "How long has it been since you last saw any Inner World criminals?"

Jin Yao immediately laughed. "As expected, you noticed it too. It's been about an hour or two for me. Everyone I've encountered has been human. You're the fourth."

"My last three encounters were also human." Zhao Dongchuan's eyes flickered.

"It seems... the plan has changed." He had actually foreseen certain futures just now, but he had no intention of directly telling Jin Yao. For one, they weren't close, and secondly, the future wasn't always completely accurate.

However, looking at the smiling Jin Yao, he suddenly realized something.

Obviously, this man in front of him had his own sources of information. He came looking for him specifically for this matter.

All that talk about a fight was just a front.

"Dongchuan, good things should be shared with everyone," Jin Yao said with a smile.

"If you're worried about things being difficult after you get out, it doesn't matter. I can bring you over to the Beast Lord. We at the Beast Lord need talents like you."

"..."

Before Zhao Dongchuan could speak, another figure walked over from the distance.

It was a man clad entirely in white. Although the color matched Zhao Dongchuan's White Windbreaker, the aura he gave off was completely different.

He held a white jade sword scabbard in his hand. His expression was placid, like a deep mountain lake.

The moment he saw the figure, a flash of wariness crossed Jin Yao's eyes, but he quickly smiled. "You're here too. What do you say we three share this secret?"

He Xinquan remained impassive.

"I just found an Inner World criminal. Although he got away in the end, I saw that he didn't have Electronic Shackles on his wrists."

"They found a way to break the shackles, didn't they?" He Xinquan looked at Zhao Dongchuan.

"Hey, hey. Gentlemen, I believe we're supposed to be opponents. Coming here to fish for information from your enemy doesn't seem quite appropriate, does it?" Zhao Dongchuan said with a smile.

A second later, a slender white longsword levitated in the air, hovering just a few meters in front of him. He Xinquan looked on indifferently.

"I'm not fishing."

"I'm asking you a question."

"Heh." He Xinquan's action caused a rare flash of ruthlessness to cross Zhao Dongchuan's normally gentle eyes.

He looked up at He Xinquan. "I don't know if you still remember Lin Xiaoran."

"She used to call me a lot and ask why I didn't like Zhoulin."

"I think this is the reason."

Hearing Lin Xiaoran's name, and hearing Zhoulin, He Xinquan's expression changed for the first time.

The next moment, a chilling, murderous intent spread across the field.

...

...

Meanwhile, Yan Jing was squatting next to a girl in ragged clothes, watching her piece things together.

The girl had long chestnut hair that looked completely unkempt. She was crouched on the ground, tinkering with a pile of scavenged scrap metal.

"What are you doing?"

"Piecing things together."

"Piecing what together?"

"A power core."

"What's a power core?"

"I can't explain it clearly to you city folks."

This exchange had been repeated several times. The girl finally seemed annoyed. She looked up at Yan Jing with a weird expression.

"You city people. You don't attack me, you just keep asking questions. Is that fair?"

"Hurry up and leave before I find the time to kill you."

"I think you're very talented, and I want you to work for me," Yan Jing said, getting straight to the point.

He had just seen the girl attempting to crack her shackles, and she had almost succeeded.

Of course, he had also noticed the disappearance of the Inner World criminals, because on the Peace Heavenly Kingdom's live broadcast, every single criminal had already vanished from sight.

Their tracking locations had been lost as well.

Now, the entire Heavenly Kingdom was in chaos. Reports were coming in from various areas about massive casualties among the inner world residents.

Clearly, these criminals had found some method to deactivate the Electronic Shackles.

Therefore, he had also spent some effort to track down a criminal who had removed their Electronic Shackles, and extracted some information from him.

After that, he started wandering around, which was when he found this girl.

"Not going," the girl replied just as bluntly.

"Then can I ask you a few questions?"

"No." The girl waved her arm. "Say another word and I'll kill you."

As she waved, her tattered brown sleeve slipped down, revealing a lean, muscular tanned arm that completely mismatched her petite frame.

"Alright." Yan Jing nodded. "Nice to meet you, Wang Gang."

"But I should warn you, those Inner World criminals are probably coming this way. You'd better run."

"...How do you know?" The girl looked up, eyeing Yan Jing properly for the first time, her face full of disbelief.

"That's a secret," Yan Jing smiled.

[The always-unscrupulous Lord Mao Si tipped Monster 1,000 eerie points and sent a live comment: Wang Gang and Yan Jing are next to Peace Square in the Peace District, and they're shouting that you are all a bunch of brain-dead idiots.]

[The always-unscrupulous Lord Mao Si tipped Doctor...]

[Tipped Hacker...]

"I can only tell you that it's true." Yan Jing chuckled. "I never lie."

"Don't treat us people from the Metal Plains like idiots," the girl said with a serious face.

"We might be from the countryside and lack education, but we're just simple-minded, not stupid."

"Hurry up and leave. Once I fix this, I'll come kill you."

"Alright." Yan Jing shrugged and walked to the side.

He wasn't sure if those guys would actually come.

Even though he had sent those comments, the other side might be cautious enough to assume it was a trap set by the Law Enforcement Agency.

Suddenly, sensing something, he looked toward the empty sky in the distance. His lips curled into a smile.

Well, he had underestimated just how crazy these guys were.

Dozens of seconds later, the girl tinkering on the ground also noticed something. She looked up, then glanced at Yan Jing standing nearby, her eyes filled with confusion.

"You were actually right."

Before she could even finish her sentence, a figure plummeted from the sky. The girl's skin instantly turned bright red, steam erupting furiously from her entire body. Her speed exploded, allowing her to dodge the incoming strike.

But before she could steady herself, two more figures crashed down, landing just a few meters behind her.

"Bang!" With a deafening boom, the girl was sent flying. She hit the dirt and rolled several times before she managed to stabilize herself.

"Look, look who we have here."

The first figure to land chuckled. It was Feng Qiwen, draped in a purple cloak.

Opposite him were the other two figures: one was an old man who looked like a candle flickering in the wind, and the other was a giant boar standing on its hind legs.

Martial Fanatic and Wild Boar Henry.

Both were criminals from the Great Prison, their estimated strength in the ESPP rankings comparable to the Face Thief Yan Jing had killed earlier.

"One Wang Gang, one Yan Jing... tsk, tsk, tsk. Good names."

Feng Qiwen threw his head back and laughed. "To think that guy calling himself Mao Si was actually telling the truth."

"Perfect timing. We can get a little unexpected harvest before we blow this area to hell."

As Feng Qiwen finished speaking, Yan Jing immediately understood.

They hadn't been lured here by the live comments; they were just passing by and decided to take a look.

Still... as long as they were here, it was fine.

Yan Jing smiled slightly.

While Feng Qiwen was talking, Wang Gang bolted.

Her speed was terrifyingly fast, but Martial Fanatic was no slouch either. Letting out a slow breath of stale air, he caught up to her in just seven or eight strides and swatted his palm down.

"Bang!!!" A dull, metallic thud rang out from where Wang Gang was struck. She was slammed hard into the earth, carving out a deep crater.

By the time she struggled out of the crater, her face was completely battered and covered in blood.

Looking at Martial Fanatic standing at the edge of the pit, she cursed inwardly. This was bad.

It wasn't that she couldn't beat him; she simply couldn't attack him.

[Task Updated. The opponent has lost their Electronic Shackles and is no longer a participant in this competition.]

That was the system prompt floating in front of her.

According to the task rules, since the opponent wasn't a participant, she couldn't launch an attack against him.

Otherwise, the shackles on her wrists would activate.

She had been so close to breaking the shackles just now, but she was still one step short.

Just as she was trying to figure out how to stall for time, Martial Fanatic moved again. This time, he executed a bizarre, patchwork set of boxing techniques. Yet, its power was overwhelmingly immense. Wang Gang couldn't fight back and was quickly suppressed entirely, coughing up mouthful after mouthful of blood.

"Martial Fanatic got injected with some ancient biological genes when he was a kid. He learned a few martial arts forms and then mutated into this half-human, half-ghost freak. But sometimes, watching this chaotic boxing isn't half bad, wouldn't you agree?"

Feng Qiwen spoke playfully, looking at Yan Jing.

Clearly, they had already marked Yan Jing as a lamb waiting for the slaughter.

"Doctor had great foresight. This girl named Wang Gang has to die; that way, our advantage in this match can be maintained. But it doesn't matter to me. Honestly, killing you two is just a passing whim. I much prefer watching those commoners scream."

"A pity. But since we ran into you, we might as well wipe you out."

Yan Jing neither agreed nor disagreed with Feng Qiwen's words. Instead, he asked about something else he was interested in.

"Do you have a lot of eerie points?"

As soon as he spoke, Feng Qiwen froze, having no idea why this human in front of him was bringing up eerie points.

"Do you also know a lot of clever ways to hide eerie points? Like asset transfers, secret accounts, and so on..."

Yan Jing pressed on.

Feng Qiwen frowned. "What the hell are you trying to say?"

Losing his patience, he gestured to Wild Boar Henry. The two of them prepared to finish off the defenseless Yan Jing.

But unexpectedly, in the very next second...

Yan Jing smiled and rolled his wrists. Thick black fog billowed out from his body, and his Fear Stance activated instantly.

Endless white silk sprouted from between his brows, shrouding his body. Immediately after, a network of cracks spread across his skin, and winged tentacles burst outward.

"Slash—" Amidst a flurry of falling petals, pitch-black Thorns stabbed straight out like bolts of dark lightning, tearing through the sky. Bursting with endless dark light, they pierced right through the standing boar's chest.

Blood gushed in a thick column.

"Aargh!!!" Before Wild Boar Henry's eyes, it was as if vicious ghosts were manifesting, continuously devouring his flesh and hollowing out his internal organs.

The excruciating phantom pain nearly made him pass out.

"How is this possible?!"

Feng Qiwen stared at Yan Jing in total disbelief.

He was one hundred percent certain that Yan Jing had not removed his Electronic Shackles.

He knew this because he could smell a sour stench—the scent emitted when the biological toxins from the Electronic Shackles were injected into flesh and blood.

He looked at Yan Jing and shockingly saw the blood vessels beneath his skin bulging and turning a sickly, bruised purple.

"You absolute moron!!!" Seeing that Yan Jing was genuinely poisoned, he laughed maniacally.

"Daring to attack without taking off the shackles—"

But his laughter abruptly died. The black-and-blue hue on Yan Jing's body only lasted for a fleeting moment before vanishing completely in the next second.

Praying for Death Evolution—Nullification.

It could nullify a single attack or ability up to three tiers above his own.

Yan Jing smiled. "Are you ready, Mr. Feng Qiwen?"

"Boom!!!"

A terrifying chain of explosions echoed out.

A few seconds later, Yan Jing ripped Wild Boar Henry's head straight off its neck. With a casual flick of his wrist, the millstone-sized head slammed into the ground, instantly exploding into a puddle of shattered bone and gore.

Opposite him, Feng Qiwen was slumped on the ground, his body riddled with bloody holes. The look in his eyes as he stared at Yan Jing was filled with sheer terror.

It was the terror of facing a power far beyond one's own—like an ordinary man stumbling across a multi-meter-tall brown bear in the wild. Right now, his very soul seemed to be trembling. He had no doubt that he would be torn to pieces in the next second.

At this thought, he scrambled desperately to escape.

"Monster!! Monster!!! This is the real monster!!!!"

He ran for his life like a man possessed, completely reckless. But in the next split second, he looked up and saw Yan Jing standing right in front of him again.

"You guys worship violence, right?"

"The true violence has just begun, Mr. Feng Qiwen. Enjoy the show."

Within the billowing thick fog, those scarlet eyes were like a gaze straight from hell, and that wide grin resembled a chaotic abyss.

Yan Jing's voice echoed with the resonance of countless screaming ghosts, amplifying louder and louder in Feng Qiwen's ears!!