Chapter 20
What’s obtained at the expense of the weak is not called peace.
Every minute and every second felt terrifyingly long. After a long while, Shen Zhuo moved slightly.
Bai Sheng pressed down on Shen Zhuo’s shoulder with lightning speed. The force felt as unyielding as steel, but his words were tinged with a smile.
“Come on, dear, we’ve shared a bed. Are you really going to run away with just a few sweet words from a wild man painting big dreams?”
“He’s not just painting dreams.” Shen Zhuo stared at Rong Qi not far away, squinting slightly. “I know what he wants.”
Bai Sheng: “Oh?”
Shen Zhuo didn’t explain, only asking, “Is it true that the success rate of causality is only 11%?”
“…”
Bai Sheng didn’t immediately answer. The dangerous, cold light in his palm spun rapidly. After a while, he said slowly, “I don’t know where he learned about causality, but…”
He turned his head and glanced at Shen Zhuo with a half-hearted smile, his tone deliberately playful. “Darling, don’t believe that wild man trying to sow discord. What purpose could I have in Shenhai other than wanting to develop a relationship beyond friendship with you?”
Shen Zhuo glanced at him with his dark eyes.
“Alright, alright.” Bai Sheng surrendered after a few seconds: “Before causality’s effect goes out of control, there’s a sensing period of two or three seconds. I promise to save you in those seconds and maximize the probability of survival for you. Okay? Why do you look at me like that? Don’t you believe in my determination and courage to sacrifice for love?”
Shen Zhuo laughed briefly, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes: “You seem eager to sacrifice for love.”
Stepping back, he casually removed his left glove and threw it away. From his open coat, he pulled out a special syringe with a metal cap bearing an ‘S’ mark.
Bai Sheng hesitated for a moment: “Wait, you—”
“Within a radius of 3000 meters, there are at most thirty square kilometers of land. To the east, half a kilometer is a substation, two kilometers to the south is a wastewater treatment plant, and a main expressway surrounds the northwest about one kilometer away from the city.” Shen Zhuo loosened his tie with one hand, injected the needle into his neck vein, and pushed it in cleanly: “How much is your love worth, and how can you ensure that it won’t involve unrelated people?”
As the drug was completely injected into the artery, a shockwave erupted from under Shen Zhuo’s feet, rushing in all directions.
In the next moment, the crossed scar on the back of his left hand slowly revealed his evolutionary level: S!
Shen Zhuo turned his palm, and a black inverted cross mark appeared, clear to the eyes of the other two. Rong Qi abruptly stopped in his tracks, murmuring, “Inverted Cross…”
Bai Sheng’s pupils dilated to the limit in an instant.
That was clearly Fu Chen’s ability—to bear all damage for the entire field with his own body, an absolute shield of flesh and blood, the Inverted Cross!
Drops of fresh blood splattered on the ground.
Starting from the inverted cross, countless blood vessels quickly spread across Shen Zhuo’s arm. It was the result of forcefully evolving, causing the body to struggle under intense pressure, with blood vessels bursting rapidly under the skin.
“I can maintain the S-level state for a maximum of five minutes.” Shen Zhuo seemed to have completely lost his sense of pain. He patted Bai Sheng’s shoulder and looked at Rong Qi ahead with a cold gaze: “Within five minutes, use causality to erase him. Leave no trace of a single cell; I want this person’s existence to disappear completely.”
The last trace of playfulness on Bai Sheng’s face vanished. He stared straight at Shen Zhuo, as if meeting Shenhai City’s Chief Supervisor for the first time.
“Shen Zhuo…”
The Inverted Cross could redirect all damage values to the caster, meaning that if he failed the one in nine odds, Shen Zhuo would have to stand here and bear the impact for all nearby civilians.
He would surely die!
“…I thought that after experiencing so much, your view of ants would change, and our understanding of peace would converge…” Rong Qi looked at Shen Zhuo, his tone slowly turning colder: “Unexpectedly, I was wrong.”
“What’s obtained at the expense of the weak is not called peace.” Shen Zhuo said coldly, “I don’t know you, and I don’t care about your relationship with Fu Chen and Su Jiqiao, but it doesn’t matter. I will investigate after you die.”
He tightened the hand on Bai Sheng’s shoulder and ordered in a low voice, “Do it.”
“…” Bai Sheng didn’t move. If one observed closely, one would see that the light ball in his palm began to flicker slightly: “But, Shen Zhuo…”
“Don’t give him a chance to escape. Kill him!”
Bai Sheng took a half step back and said, “Shen Zhuo, why don’t you reconsider…”
Shen Zhuo scolded: “Do it!”
Causality trembled dangerously, like a water balloon inflated to its limit, ready to burst at any moment.
The swift wind abruptly stopped. Just at that critical moment, Rong Qi and Bai Sheng moved simultaneously.
The former advanced instead of retreating, swiftly flying toward Shen Zhuo to intercept him, while the latter reached back and crushed causality, making it shatter into countless fragments that disappeared in an instant.
“—I can’t watch you die,” Bai Sheng gritted his teeth with an unpleasant expression.
He swung his arm with all his strength, and dozens of utility poles in the distance were uprooted, entwined with high-voltage wires, crashing toward Rong Qi. Then he grabbed Shen Zhuo around the waist and shouted, “Let’s go!”
High-voltage electricity flashed, scattering across the sky, and the entire wilderness shook. Shen Zhuo was firmly held by Bai Sheng’s arm, like an arrow released from the string, rushing out several meters: “What are you doing?!”
Countless utility poles were blown away by the airflow like Moses parting the sea, and Rong Qi’s figure appeared in mid-air. His face was as cold as water, and his eyes were dark and gloomy. He reached out once again to grab Shen Zhuo, but Bai Sheng, holding Shen Zhuo, leaped onto a tree branch, glancing at his wristwatch. “Three minutes.” Then, with a determined swing of his hand, all the surrounding trees were uprooted, instantly smashing Rong Qi dozens of meters away.
In an instant, Shen Zhuo realized that Bai Sheng was counting down the time until his S-level state ended, creating a sense of absurdity: “What are you doing? Playing hide and seek with him? If you don’t kill him today, it will be even more impossible in the future. Don’t give him a chance to complete his evolution!”
“I can’t do it.”
Shen Zhuo thought he had misheard: “What did you say?”
“I said I couldn’t watch you die with my own eyes. I can’t do it!!” Bai Sheng gritted his teeth. “I originally planned to use the last two or three seconds to send you away. I’ll stay behind and take the one in nine odds with him!”
If the situation was absurd before, it is now utterly incomprehensible. Shen Zhuo took a deep breath, about to slap him to wake him up. In the blink of an eye, Rong Qi appeared again, wielding a blazing spear that came at them with great force.
Bai Sheng angrily exclaimed, “I’ll give you some face!”
With several crisp sounds, Bai Sheng used his ability to freeze the flames, shattering the fiery spear into countless ice shards. Rong Qi swung his hand, sending down hundreds of lightning bolts, but Bai Sheng neutralized them with electromagnetic light, grabbing a high-voltage cable and whipping it back, causing spectacular arcs of electricity to burst forth.
2 minutes and 30 seconds.
There had never been a record of two S-class individuals targeting each other globally. It was simply an eruption of abilities—hurricanes, ice and fire, thunderstorms, magnetic storms. Countless abilities collided and exploded like a magnificent and colorful fireworks display. Looking down, numerous utility poles simultaneously erupted with terrifying electric arcs, extending for hundreds of meters.
1 minute and 50 seconds.
A sharp, tearing sound ripped through the air, and Rong Qi’s lightning arrow was blocked by Bai Sheng. The life-and-death struggle ignited Bai Sheng’s killing intent. He held Shen Zhuo with his left hand, stabbed with the arrow in his right, and pierced through Rong Qi’s shoulder blade amid splattering blood.
“——Have you forgotten something?” Rong Qi held down the terrifying force of several tons pressing down on him from Bai Sheng with one hand and mocked him with an arched eyebrow.
In the next moment, the backlash ability was triggered, and the wound on Rong Qi’s shoulder began to heal.
The identical backlash injury was about to pierce Bai Sheng’s left shoulder when Shen Zhuo opened his palm and said coldly, “Have you forgotten something?”
Rong Qi’s eyelids twitched suddenly, but it was too late.
The inverted cross was activated, transferring the damage. The backlash injury that should have appeared on Bai Sheng penetrated Shen Zhuo’s shoulder instead!
The drug temporarily granted Shen Zhuo S-class abilities but did not give him the robust physique of an S-class individual. The immense impact caused him to loosen his grip, and he fell from Bai Sheng’s embrace, leaving a trail of splattering blood.
“Damn it!” Bai Sheng cursed loudly, leaping down to retrieve him. However, Rong Qi’s internal murderous intent had been triggered by this scene. A hurricane formed in his palm, shaping into a sharp dagger that he swung at Bai Sheng’s neck.
1 minute and 15 seconds.
All the drastic changes happened simultaneously:
Bai Sheng grabbed Shen Zhuo around the waist, activated his healing skill, and instantly restored Shen Zhuo’s shattered shoulder blades. However, a freezing blade approached him from behind.
At the same time, Shen Zhuo grabbed Bai Sheng and pressed his head against his own neck, facing Rong Qi’s dagger in a rapid descent.
Bang—
The upright cross was activated.
S-class ability Upright Cross, with infinite health and absolute defense, instantly rebounded all damage and evenly distributed it to everyone present.
Rong Qi suddenly realized what was happening, trying to retract his blade, but it was too late. A cold light pierced through his forehead from his temple!
With a sharp sound, the icy light thrust toward Bai Sheng’s temple, but Shen Zhuo, who had already calculated the move, intercepted it with his hand, instantly neutralizing the attack.
The earth rumbled, and Rong Qi fell directly, creating a crater over two meters deep and raising a cloud of dust.
“Cough, cough, cough…” He covered the continuously bleeding temple with one hand. Before he could sit up, a vice-like grip clamped down on his throat, dragging him several dozen meters at high speed before tossing him into the air.
Boom!
Rong Qi’s back collided with shattered rocks, and in the next moment, Bai Sheng appeared right in front of him. A powerful iron fist pierced his chest, causing half of a massive boulder to collapse!
Rock fragments fell like pouring rain, and in the thunderous roar, Rong Qi caught the second punch that Bai Sheng directed at him. However, the impact caused the mountain behind him to explode into a million pieces.
“Why bother?” The wilderness shook as Rong Qi, with his eyes soaked in blood, stared closely at Bai Sheng’s pupils, smiling hoarsely. His entire head had been pierced from side to side, but the anticipated scene of brain matter splattering didn’t occur. Apparently, simultaneous injuries to the heart and brain weren’t a big deal for him, except for a slightly chilly hoarseness in his voice. “I can’t take Shen Zhuo with me today, but you also can’t kill me. Apart from burning useless anger, it’s meaningless. Why not activate causality?”
Bai Sheng didn’t answer, his expression as cold as water. “Who are you, really?”
“Guess.”
“What’s your connection with Fu Chen and his people?”
“Guess again.”
“Is your goal the evolutionary drug in Shen Zhuo’s hands?”
Rong Qi finally seemed interested in this question. He chuckled with bloodlust, looking at Bai Sheng with a hint of mockery in his eyes:
“—The Global Human Gene Regeneration Plan.”
As if a bright light cut through heavy fog, Bai Sheng’s sensitive nerves twitched.
“You don’t know anything at all. Why get involved in this mess?” Rong Qi asked, his tone filled with pity. “It’s a pity. You should have listened to Shen Zhuo and used causality to erase me. At least you could have temporarily banished me from this planet… Causality is a wrongly deployed universal weapon. You are too lucky. You shouldn’t have been afraid to take the one in nine odds.”
“The next time we meet, causality won’t be my only obstacle.” Rong Qi released the hand covering his forehead, and the blood-soaked wound on his temple had already healed. His eyes gleamed with a profound and cold light. “I really want to know how Shen Zhuo will see you then. It would probably be a disappointment.”
Not far away, Shen Zhuo covered the wound on his shoulder with one hand, struggling to get up from the ground. Blood gathered from his slender nose to the corner of his lips, dripping incessantly from the torn collar of his white shirt.
——The final 15 seconds.
“Bai Sheng,” Shen Zhuo’s cheeks were as pale as if washed by water, every word punctuated by heavy breaths: “Kill him; act quickly…”
Bai Sheng stood with his back to Shen Zhuo, silent. His shoulders, arms, waist, back, and even every muscle in his body were tense to the limit, revealing a slightly fierce and stern expression.
“Come on, let Shen Zhuo accompany me in death.” Rong Qi smirked with a playful smile, “Why not dare?”
The inverted cross in Shen Zhuo’s palm was rapidly flashing, pushing his stamina to the limit faster and faster: “Bai Sheng…”
“A person like Shen Zhuo, if it weren’t for evolution, you wouldn’t even have the qualification 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 suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Are you really going to give up the only chance you have to leave a name for yourself in the future, Bai Sheng?” Rong Qi added, smiling and emphasizing his words.
With a clatter, a bullet was loaded into the chamber. Shen Zhuo, half-kneeling and staggering, summoned the last bit of strength to raise his gun, aiming it at the figure not far away.
“Bai Sheng! Do it!”
In the next second, Bai Sheng’s palm finally emitted a dazzling, icy light.
“I apologize to anyone who might be within a radius of 3000 meters.” The astonishing radiance of causality was reflected in Bai Sheng’s eyes. He stared at Rong Qi with a tone that was unprecedentedly low. “In case it goes out of control later, I will be your companion along with them.”
Three, two, one—the countdown reached zero.
The inverted cross disappeared, the S-class state lifted, and the gun in Shen Zhuo’s hand lost its strength, falling downward.
The chilling light of causality surged in Bai Sheng’s palm—
Just at this moment.
Rong Qi turned into a dark blue light, disappearing and reappearing a hundred meters away, with a spatial black hole opening behind him.
Bai Sheng suddenly sensed something, and in the distance, he saw a figure rushing toward Shen Zhuo from behind—it was none other than Shunsuke Noda!
In that fraction of a second, Shen Zhuo had no time to turn around and resist. He felt a strong wind passing by, and almost instantly, Bai Sheng appeared. With one hand, he grabbed Shen Zhuo and pulled him into his embrace, while the other hand caught the oncoming blade.
Blood arced through the air, and the katana was firmly gripped in Bai Sheng’s palm, unable to cut down even half an inch more.
Shen Zhuo, breathing heavily, tried to lift his head, but Bai Sheng pressed him by the back of his head, whispering in a low voice: “Stay put.”
When facing Bai Sheng, Shunsuke Noda exhibited extremely aggressive behavior. Seeing his sneak attack fail, instead of immediately retreating to the spatial tunnel, he provocatively spat out a mouthful of blood mist toward Bai Sheng. His eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty excitement, and then countless flashes of blades descended like a storm.
——Swish!
Bai Sheng, with bare hands, pinched the blade between two fingers. The bright blade reflected his profound gaze, with a hint of bloodlust shimmering deep in his pupils. He calmly said, “In the next life, don’t lay hands on others without reason.”
Only then did Shunsuke Noda sense the impending danger. Trying to withdraw his sword, he heard a sharp “snap!” The katana was unexpectedly snapped in half by the force of Bai Sheng’s two fingers. Following that, Bai Sheng’s iron-like hand gripped his throat, lifting him off the ground:
“Remember this.”
Those were the last words Shunsuke Noda heard.
Bai Sheng’s five fingers suddenly tightened, and with a sharp crack, the neck bone snapped. Shunsuke Noda’s head tilted backward at an unsettling angle, his face frozen in an expression of surprise.
Immediately after, Bai Sheng forcefully squeezed the neck of the corpse, his arm muscles and bones bulging—snap!
Flesh and blood were visibly compressed, and fountain-like blood spurted over a meter high. Bai Sheng forcibly twisted off his head!
The headless body slumped to the ground, and a pool of blood quickly formed beneath it.
Bai Sheng, with one hand covering Shen Zhuo’s eyes to shield him from the gruesome sight, lifted Shunsuke Noda’s severed head, swung it upward with a powerful motion, and threw it high into the air. The head whizzed over a distance of a hundred meters, leaving a bloody arc, and was caught mid-air by Rong Qi in the spatial tunnel.
The spatial black hole rapidly closed, and at this point, it was too late to activate causality. The two men locked eyes across the void, and a slight curve formed at the corner of Bai Sheng’s mouth.
His usually casual smile could always conceal his hostility, but this time, the smile didn’t hide the chilling bloodthirstiness. Like a demon standing in a river of blood, he silently mouthed:
“Next time, it’s your turn.”
Rong Qi held the continuously dripping head in his hand, devoid of expression or response. His emotionless gaze focused on Shen Zhuo, who was held in Bai Sheng’s embrace, observing his back figure.
In the next second, the black hole disappeared completely, as if it had never existed. Only thick smoke and pools of blood on the ground silently indicated what had just transpired in that space.
——In the distance, the roar of helicopter propellers echoed, and two armed helicopters were rapidly approaching. They belonged to the military.
……
Shen Zhuo coughed softly, and Bai Sheng finally, in a somewhat merciful manner, released his grip. He held Shen Zhuo, surveying him from head to toe, and then casually displayed a teasing smile as if nothing had happened.
“Are you okay, Inspector? Oh, it’s so heartbreaking to see you like this. No wonder you said two S-class shouldn’t stay in the same city. It turns out you had such a trump card hidden. But it’s okay; I’m a magnanimous person. Come, let me help you heal your wounds first…”
Smack.
Shen Zhuo slapped him, making Bai Sheng’s face tilt to the side.
It was actually a light slap, but the silence in the air was eerie. After a while, Bai Sheng turned his face back and, with his tongue against his cheek, said, “Hey, I couldn’t even bear to kill you, and you’re still holding a grudge.”
“From now on, he’ll do everything in his power to take your life,” Shen Zhuo, breathing heavily, said coldly: “Take care of it yourself.”
Turning away, he stepped over the headless corpse and staggered toward the nearby landed helicopter. However, after just a few steps, he started to cough more spasmodically and more urgently. Blood seeped through his fingers, and he suddenly knelt on the ground.
Chen Miao jumped down from the helicopter that had not yet touched the ground, followed closely by several military personnel. “Senior!” “Supervisor!” “What’s wrong, Supervisor?”
Bai Sheng sensed that something was amiss: “Shen Zhuo?”
Shen Zhuo bent down suddenly, violently spitting out a large mouthful of blood mixed with internal fragments.
People around immediately paled, and the military officer leaped up, sprinting toward the helicopter. “Someone! Call the Central Supervision Office!”
Blood surged from Shen Zhuo’s throat and even his nasal cavity, flowing outward and seeping into the soil through his uniform collar. Shen Zhuo covered his chest, his five fingers digging deep into the earth. Due to the extreme pain from the tearing of his internal organs, he toppled to one side.
“He was fine just now; what’s going on? He was fine just now…”
Bai Sheng abruptly stopped, a chill rushing through his bones, realizing what had happened—the genetic chain rupture.
The terrifying side effects caused by forcefully ascending to S-class, similar to what happened to Liu Sanji after his second evolution.
Chen Miao hurried over. This usually impulsive and loud junior was surprisingly calm. He took out a syringe from the refrigerated medical kit, and directly injected it into the back of Shen Zhuo’s neck. Then he pushed another serum through the arm artery.
“You’ll be fine, Senior. You’ll be fine.” Chen Miao’s voice remained composed, though the trailing note sounded slightly unsteady: “The estimated internal side effect suppression success rate is 98% within ten minutes. Just get some rest, and you’ll be fine.”
“…Too late,” Shen Zhuo gasped. “What they want is the HRG plan, and that guy named Rong got away.”
Chen Miao’s face turned pale, and he accidentally dropped the refrigerated box in shock.
“From this moment on, the position of Chief Supervisor in Shenhai City will be taken over by the S-class evolutionist Bai Sheng. Everyone is to unconditionally obey all commands and directives from Bai Sheng. Additionally…”
Shen Zhuo closed his eyes as the world spun around him. His vocal cords had torn, causing each word to carry a bloody rasp, uttered slowly amid the chaos.
Bai Sheng’s pupils contracted sharply upon hearing him hoarsely say, “If I die, immediately delete all data related to the HRG plan, destroy the serum samples, and execute all senior researchers.”
“Not a single one should be left alive.”
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