Hui Tian Ch20

Chapter 20

What’s obtained at the expense of the weak is not called peace.

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Every second stretched on for a terrifyingly long time. After a long while, Shen Zhuo made a slight move.

Bai Sheng, quick as lightning, pressed him down with a reverse grip. The force was as unshakeable as cast steel, but his voice seemed to carry a smile.
“It can’t be, my dear. We’ve slept in the same bed. Are you really going to run off just because some wild man made you a few empty promises?”

“He’s not making empty promises.” Shen Zhuo stared at Rong Qi, who was not far ahead, and narrowed his eyes slightly. “I know what he wants now.”

Bai Sheng said, “Huh?”

Shen Zhuo didn’t explain, only asking, “Is the success rate of the Causality Law really only 11%?”

“…”

Bai Sheng didn’t answer immediately. The cold light in his palm spun dangerously. After a long moment, he said slowly, “I don’t know where he learned about the Causality Law, but…”

He glanced back at Shen Zhuo, half-joking, half-serious, his smile on his face but his tone deliberately pointed. “Baby, don’t believe that wild man’s attempts to drive a wedge between us. What other purpose could I have for coming to Shenhai, if not to develop a great relationship that transcends friendship with you?”

Shen Zhuo’s dark eyes glanced at him.

“Alright, alright.” Bai Sheng couldn’t hold out for more than a few seconds before surrendering. “The Causality Law has a two-to-three-second detection period before it goes out of control. I promise I’ll use those few seconds to save you first. I’ll absolutely give you the greatest chance of survival. Happy now? What’s with that look? You don’t believe in my determination and courage to sacrifice myself for love?”

Shen Zhuo let out a short laugh, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes at all. “You wish you could sacrifice yourself for love.”

He took a half-step back, casually took off his left glove and threw it away, then pulled out a special syringe from under his open coat. A clear ‘S’ was printed on the metal cap.

Bai Sheng froze for a moment. “Wait, you—”

“A radius of 3000 meters is at most thirty square kilometers of land. Half a kilometer to the east is a substation, two kilometers to the south is a wastewater treatment plant, and a main highway out of the city wraps around to the northwest.” Shen Zhuo loosened his tie with one hand, plunged the needle into the side of his neck, and pushed the plunger all the way down cleanly. “How much is your love worth? What do you have to ensure that innocent people aren’t involved?”

The drug was completely injected into his artery. In the next moment, a ring of impact force erupted from under Shen Zhuo’s feet, roaring out in all directions.

The next moment, the crossed scar on the back of his left hand slowly revealed an evolution level: S!

Shen Zhuo opened his palm, and a black inverted cross mark appeared before the eyes of the other two. Rong Qi stopped abruptly in his tracks and murmured, “Inverted Cross…”

In that instant, Bai Sheng’s pupils dilated to their limit.

That was clearly Fu Chen’s ability. The Inverted Cross, a shield of flesh and blood that shouldered all damage in the field, an absolute guardian!

A string of blood droplets splattered to the ground.

Starting from the Inverted Cross, countless threads of blood rapidly spread up Shen Zhuo’s arm. It was the result of his body being unable to withstand the forced evolution, causing the subcutaneous blood vessels to rupture violently.

“I can only maintain this S-class state for five minutes at most.” Shen Zhuo seemed to have lost all sense of pain. He clapped Bai Sheng on the shoulder, his icy gaze fixed on Rong Qi ahead. “Erase him with the Causality Law within five minutes. Don’t leave a single cell behind. I want this person’s existence to be completely wiped out.”

The last trace of frivolity vanished from Bai Sheng’s face. He stared straight at Shen Zhuo, as if seeing this Supervisor of Shenhai City for the first time.
“Shen Zhuo…”

The Inverted Cross could pull all damage from the entire field onto the user. This meant that if the one-in-nine chance failed, Shen Zhuo would have to stand here and bear the impact for all the civilians who might be involved.

He would surely die!

“…I thought that after everything you’ve been through, your view of the ants would have changed, and our understanding of peace would have become more aligned…” Rong Qi looked at Shen Zhuo, his tone slowly turning cold. “I didn’t expect that I was still wrong.”

“That thing obtained by eliminating the weak is not called peace,” Shen Zhuo said coldly. “I don’t know you, nor do I know what your relationship with Fu Chen and Su Jiqiao is, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll investigate after you’re dead.”

His hand on Bai Sheng’s shoulder tightened as he ordered in a deep voice, “Do it.”

“…” But Bai Sheng didn’t move. A closer look would reveal that the ball of light in his palm had begun to flicker slightly. “But Shen Zhuo…”

“Don’t give him a chance to escape. Kill him!”

Bai Sheng took a half-step back. “Shen Zhuo, why don’t you think about it again…”

Shen Zhuo snapped, “Do it!”

The Causality Law trembled dangerously, like a water balloon filled to its limit, ready to burst at any moment.

The swift wind suddenly stopped. At that critical moment, Rong Qi and Bai Sheng moved simultaneously.

The former advanced instead of retreating, flying forward like lightning to grab Shen Zhuo. The latter, however, crushed the Causality Law in his hand, and its millions of fragments vanished in an instant!

“—I can’t watch you die,” Bai Sheng gritted out, his face pale.

He waved his hand with all his might. In the distance, dozens of telephone poles were uprooted, bringing high-voltage wires crashing down on Rong Qi. Then he scooped Shen Zhuo up by the waist. “Go!”

High-voltage electricity exploded in the sky, and the entire wilderness shook. Shen Zhuo was held tightly in Bai Sheng’s arm, shooting out dozens of yards like an arrow released from a bow. “What are you doing?!”

The countless telephone poles were blasted apart by an air current like the parting of the Red Sea. Rong Qi’s figure appeared in mid-air, his face grim and his eyes dark, reaching for Shen Zhuo again. Bai Sheng, holding Shen Zhuo, dodged and stepped on a treetop, glancing at his watch. “Three minutes.” Then he waved his hand decisively again. All the surrounding trees were uprooted and instantly smashed Rong Qi dozens of yards away.

In that instant, Shen Zhuo realized he was counting down the time until his S-class state ended. A sense of absurdity washed over him. “What are you doing, playing hide-and-seek with him? If we don’t kill him today, it will be even more impossible in the future. Don’t give him the chance to complete his evolution!”

“I can’t do it.”

Shen Zhuo thought he had misheard. “What did you say?”

“I said I can’t watch you die with my own eyes, I can’t do it!!” Bai Sheng gritted his teeth. “I was originally planning to use those last two or three seconds to send you away and stay behind to face the one-in-nine chance with him myself!”

If it was just absurd before, now it was utterly preposterous. Shen Zhuo took a deep breath, and just as he was about to slap him awake, Rong Qi appeared again in the blink of an eye. He raised his hand, and a long, fiercely burning spear thrust towards them, heavy and vicious.

Bai Sheng was furious. “You’re asking for it!”

With a few crisp cracks, Bai Sheng used his ability to freeze the flames, and the long spear shattered into countless ice shards. Rong Qi waved his hand again, sending down hundreds of lightning bolts, which Bai Sheng neutralized by raising countless electromagnetic beams from the ground. He then grabbed a high-voltage cable and whipped it back, causing the high-voltage current to erupt in a spectacular arc of light!

2 minutes 30 seconds.

There had never been a record of two S-classes confronting each other head-on on a global scale. It was a veritable eruption of abilities—hurricanes, ice and fire, thunderstorms, and magnetic poles. Countless types of abilities collided and exploded like a grand and splendid fireworks display. As far as the eye could see, countless telephone poles below simultaneously burst into terrifying electric arcs hundreds of meters long.

1 minute 50 seconds.

With a sharp whistle that tore through the air, an arrow condensed from lightning, shot by Rong Qi, was blocked head-on by Bai Sheng. The life-and-death struggle brought out Bai Sheng’s killing intent. He held Shen Zhuo in his left arm, and with his right, he snatched the arrow and stabbed back, piercing through Rong Qi’s shoulder blade in a splash of blood!

“—Have you forgotten something?” Rong Qi blocked Bai Sheng’s terrifying palm force, which weighed several tons, and raised an eyebrow mockingly.

The next moment, the backlash ability activated, and the wound on Rong Qi’s shoulder healed.

An identical backlash wound was about to pierce through Bai Sheng’s left shoulder, but Shen Zhuo opened his palm and said coldly, “Have you forgotten something?”

Rong Qi’s eyelids twitched violently, but it was too late.

The Inverted Cross activated, transferring the damage. The backlash wound that should have appeared on Bai Sheng pierced through Shen Zhuo’s shoulder instead!

The potion had temporarily given Shen Zhuo S-class abilities, but it hadn’t given him an S-class physique. The massive impact made his hand loosen, and he fell from Bai Sheng’s arms towards the ground, trailing a shower of blood.

“F*ck!” Bai Sheng cursed and dived down to catch him. But the killing intent in Rong Qi’s heart had been ignited to its peak by this scene. A hurricane in his palm condensed into a sharp dagger, and he chopped down at the back of Bai Sheng’s neck.

1 minute 15 seconds.

All the dramatic changes happened at the same moment:
Bai Sheng caught Shen Zhuo by the waist and activated his healing ability, instantly restoring Shen Zhuo’s shattered shoulder blade, but the tip of the blade behind him had already arrived with a cold wind.
At the same time, Shen Zhuo wrapped his arms around Bai Sheng, pressed his head into the crook of his neck, and met Rong Qi’s dagger with his own temple as they fell rapidly.

Ting—

The Upright Cross activated.

The S-class ability Inverted Cross, with its infinite health bar and absolute defense, instantly reflected all damage, distributing it equally among everyone present.

Rong Qi reacted abruptly, wanting to pull back his hand but it was too late. A cold light pierced through his skull!

With a sharp whistle, the same cold light stabbed towards Bai Sheng’s temple, but it was blocked by Shen Zhuo’s hand, who had already calculated it. The reflection was instantly neutralized.

The earth rumbled and shook violently. Rong Qi fell straight down, crashing into a crater more than two meters deep, sending dust and smoke flying.

“Cough cough cough…” He clutched his temple, which was gushing blood. Before he could sit up, a hand like an iron clamp seized his throat, dragged him along the ground at high speed for dozens of meters, and then threw him into the air.

BOOM!

Rong Qi’s back shattered a rock. The next moment, Bai Sheng appeared before him, a steel fist punching straight through his chest. Half of the giant rock collapsed with a roar!

Shattered stones rained down. Amidst the earth-shattering noise, Rong Qi blocked Bai Sheng’s second punch. The impact, however, caused the mountain rock behind him to explode into millions of fragments.

“What’s the point?” As the wilderness cracked and shook, Rong Qi’s blood-soaked eyes stared closely into Bai Sheng’s pupils, and he let out a hoarse laugh.

His entire skull had been pierced through from side to side, but the expected scene of his brains splattering did not happen. It was clear that even a simultaneous severe injury to his heart and brain meant nothing to him. His voice was just a little chillingly hoarse. “I can’t take Shen Zhuo away today, but you can’t kill me either. It’s meaningless besides burning with useless anger. Why not activate the Causality Law?”

Bai Sheng didn’t answer, his face grim. “What is your origin?”

“Guess.”

“What is the connection between Fu Chen’s group and you?”

“Guess again.”

“Is your goal the evolution potion in Shen Zhuo’s hands?”

Rong Qi seemed to have finally heard a question that interested him. He laughed, exhaling hot, bloody breath, a hint of mockery in his eyes.
“—The Whole Human Race Gene Regeneration Plan.”

It was as if a bright light had cut through a thick fog. Bai Sheng’s sensitive nerves twitched.

“You don’t know anything at all. Why did you get involved in this mess?” Rong Qi asked with a laugh, his tone not without pity. “What a pity. You really should have listened to Shen Zhuo and used the Causality Law to erase me. At least you could have temporarily banished me from this planet… The Causality Law is a cosmic-level weapon that was misplaced. You were too lucky. You shouldn’t have been afraid to take that one-in-nine gamble.”

“The next time we meet, the Causality Law will no longer be my only obstacle.” Rong Qi released the hand covering his temple. The bloody wound was already healing, his eyes flickering with a cold light as deep as a meteorite. “I really want to know how Shen Zhuo will see you then. He’ll probably be very disappointed.”

Not far away, Shen Zhuo clutched his shoulder wound and struggled to his feet. Blood ran from his elegant nose to the corner of his lips, dripping continuously from the torn collar of his white shirt.
—The last 15 seconds.

“Bai Sheng,” Shen Zhuo’s face was as white as if it had been washed with water, every word a ragged gasp, “kill him, do it now…”

Bai Sheng stood with his back to Shen Zhuo, silent, the muscles of his shoulders, arms, waist, back, and his entire body tensed to the absolute limit, revealing a hint of a grim and cold true face.

“Go on, let Shen Zhuo be buried with me,” Rong Qi said with a playful smile. “Why don’t you dare?”

The Inverted cross on Shen Zhuo’s palm was flashing rapidly, pushing his stamina to its limit faster and faster. “Bai Sheng…”

“A person like Shen Zhuo, if it weren’t for evolution, you wouldn’t even have the right to know his name, let alone the honor of killing him. Are you really going to give up?”

“…” Shen Zhuo opened his mouth to say something, but abruptly spat out a mouthful of bloody foam.

“Are you really going to give up your only chance to leave your name in posterity,” Rong Qi said with a smile, his tone heavy with emphasis, “Bai Sheng?”

With a click, a bullet was chambered. Shen Zhuo, stumbling to one knee, used his last bit of strength to raise his gun and aim it at the back of the figure not far away.
“Bai Sheng! Do it!”

The next second, a radiating cold light finally flashed from Bai Sheng’s palm.

“I am deeply sorry to any pedestrians who may be within a 3000-meter radius.” The terrifying light of the Causality Law reflected in Bai Sheng’s eyes. He stared at Rong Qi, his voice lower than ever before. “If it goes out of control, I’ll be your burial offering along with them.”

Three, two, one. The countdown reached zero.

The Inverted Cross vanished. The S-class state was lifted. The gun in Shen Zhuo’s hand fell from his grasp.

The cold light of the Causality Law flared in Bai Sheng’s palm—

At that very moment.

Rong Qi dissolved into a flash of dark blue light, reappearing a hundred meters away. Behind him, a spatial black hole opened.
Bai Sheng suddenly sensed something. In the distance across the wilderness, a figure was rushing towards Shen Zhuo from behind—it was Noda Shunsuke!

In that ten-thousandth of a second, Shen Zhuo had no time to turn and fight back. He only felt a strong wind rush past him. Bai Sheng appeared almost instantly, grabbing Shen Zhuo and pulling him into his arms with one hand, while catching the oncoming blade with the other.

An arc of blood splattered into the air. The katana was held firmly in Bai Sheng’s palm, unable to cut down another half-inch.

Shen Zhuo gasped raggedly, trying to look up, but Bai Sheng pressed the back of his head, forcing his face into the crook of his neck. “Stay put,” he said in a deep voice.

Noda Shunsuke was extremely aggressive when facing Bai Sheng. Seeing his sneak attack fail, he didn’t immediately retreat into the spatial tunnel but instead spat a breath of blood at Bai Sheng provocatively, his eyes filled with a bloodthirsty eagerness to fight. Then, countless blade lights rained down like a torrential storm.
—Swish!

Bai Sheng caught the blade between two fingers. The bright steel reflected his deep eyes, a hint of bloodlust flickering in their depths. He said slowly, “In your next life, don’t touch what someone else has already claimed.”

Only then did Noda Shunsuke sense something was wrong. He tried to pull his sword back, but with a bang of cracking steel, the katana was forcefully snapped by Bai Sheng’s two fingers. Then, a hand like an iron clamp seized his throat, and he was lifted into the air.
“Remember this.”

That was the last sentence Noda Shunsuke ever heard.

Bai Sheng’s five fingers suddenly tightened. With a crack, the throat bone broke. Noda Shunsuke’s head lolled back at a gruesome angle, his face still frozen in an expression of surprise.

Then, Bai Sheng, gripping the corpse’s neck, exerted his strength, the muscles and tendons of his arm bulging—squish!
With a distinct sound of flesh being compressed, a fountain of blood shot more than a meter high. Bai Sheng had forcefully twisted his head off!

The headless body slumped to the ground, a pool of blood quickly forming at its feet.

Bai Sheng held Shen Zhuo with one hand, preventing him from seeing. With the other, he held Noda Shunsuke’s head and swung it upwards in a wide arc. The head flew over a hundred meters, trailing an arc of blood, and was caught by Rong Qi in the spatial tunnel.

The spatial black hole closed rapidly. It was too late to activate the Causality Law now. The two men looked at each other from a distance. A corner of Bai Sheng’s mouth curled up.
His usual nonchalant smile always hid his ferocity well, but this smile was undisguisedly cold and bloodthirsty, like an Asura standing in a river of blood. He mouthed silently:
“You’re next.”

Rong Qi, holding the dripping head, showed no expression and gave no reply. His emotionless gaze fell on Shen Zhuo, who was held in Bai Sheng’s arms, watching his back.

The next second, the black hole vanished completely, as if it had never been there. Only the thick smoke and the pools of blood on the ground silently testified to what had just happened.
—The roar of propellers came from the distance. Two armed helicopters were rapidly approaching. It was the military.
·

Shen Zhuo coughed weakly. Bai Sheng finally showed mercy and loosened his grip, looking him up and down with a teasing smile, as if nothing had happened.

“Are you alright, Supervisor? Oh, look at you, how pitiful. No wonder you said two S-classes couldn’t stay in the same city. So you were hiding a trump card like this. But it’s fine, I’m a magnanimous person. Come, come, let me heal your wounds first…”

Slap.

Shen Zhuo slapped Bai Sheng, turning his face to the side.

It was actually very light, but the air was terrifyingly quiet. After a long moment, Bai Sheng turned his face back, his tongue pressing against the inside of his cheek. “Yo, you’re holding a grudge because I took pity on you and didn’t let you get killed.”

“From now on, he will do everything he can to take your life,” Shen Zhuo said coldly, panting. “You’re on your own.”

He turned and stepped over the headless corpse, stumbling towards the landing helicopter not far away. But he hadn’t taken more than a few steps before he broke into increasingly convulsive, rapid coughs. Bloody foam seeped through his fingers, and then he fell to one knee on the ground.

Chen Miao jumped from the helicopter before it had fully landed, followed closely by several military personnel. “Senior!”

“Supervisor!” “What’s wrong, Supervisor?”

Bai Sheng sensed something was wrong. “Shen Zhuo?”

Shen Zhuo bent over and suddenly vomited a large mouthful of blood mixed with organ fragments!

Everyone’s face changed color. The military officer jumped up and ran frantically towards the helicopter. “Someone, someone! Call the Central Supervision Office!”

Blood poured from his throat and even his nose, seeping into the dirt from his uniform collar. Shen Zhuo clutched his chest, his five fingers digging deep into the soil, then fell to his side from the extreme pain of his tearing internal organs.

“He was fine just now, what’s happening? He was fine just…”

Bai Sheng’s words died in his throat. A chill shot up his spine as he realized what it was—gene chain rupture.

The terrible side effect of forcibly upgrading to S-class, the same as what happened to Liu Sanji after his secondary evolution.

Chen Miao rushed over. The usually impetuous and boisterous junior was now extremely calm. He took a vial of faint blue serum from a refrigerated medical box and jabbed it directly into the back of Shen Zhuo’s cervical spine, then pushed another syringe of serum into his arm artery.

“It’s okay, Senior, it’s okay.” Chen Miao’s voice was steady, except for a slight tremble at the end. “It’s a predicted internal side effect. There’s a 98% success rate of suppression within ten minutes. You’ll be fine after some sleep.”

“…It’s too late,” Shen Zhuo gasped. “What they want is the HRG project. That Rong fellow got away.”

Chen Miao’s face changed dramatically. For a moment, his hand slipped and he dropped the refrigerated box.

“Effective immediately, the position of Shenhai City Supervisor will be temporarily filled by S-class evolutionist Bai Sheng. All personnel will unconditionally obey all of Bai Sheng’s commands and dispatches. In addition.”

As the world spun, Shen Zhuo closed his eyes. His vocal cords were already torn, so much so that every word was tinged with blood, intermittent and slow amidst the chaotic crowd.

Bai Sheng’s pupils contracted sharply as he heard him say hoarsely, “If I die, immediately delete all data on the HRG project, destroy all potion samples, and execute all senior researchers.”

“Spare no one.”

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