Chapter 108
Cannibalism
“S-class? Impossible. The number of S-classes in the world is documented, and not a single one has been recruited by the Round Table.” Amatullah frowned and questioned, “Did you sense something?”
“……”
In front of the elevator, Bai Sheng slowly scanned the empty bunker.
Bai Sheng’s eyes had a bit of a peach blossom shape, but his brows were long and sharp, and he had the typical appearance of eyebrows pressing down on the eyes. This kind of face, as long as he didn’t smile, would naturally exude an inherent ferocity and oppressive feeling. As his pupils swept inch by inch over every brick seam and every shadow in the distant tunnel.
He seemed to have sensed an S-class presence.
It was very faint and fleeting, like a barely noticeable spider’s thread suspended in the darkness.
…But an S-class energy couldn’t be hidden to such a subtle extent; like an elephant in the dark, no matter how well it hides, it would be exceptionally obvious.
Was it an illusion?
“I just had the command center conduct a scan, and the monitors didn’t detect any trace of S-class energy fluctuations in this bunker.” Amatullah’s voice came through the earpiece again, asking, “Do you need Antonio and me to come down and assist you?”
“…No, no need.” Under the tense watch of the President, Bai Sheng finally spoke, his deep voice saying, “I’ll have the hostage go up by himself, and you initiate the Wheel of Almighty over the entire bunker.”
“Initiate it now?” Amatullah hesitated, “Once the ability is triggered, it won’t distinguish between friend and foe; it will attack you too. Are you sure?”
The two doors of the giant elevator had been blasted away, but fortunately, the steel cables were still intact. Bai Sheng, with his strong hand, forcibly supported the trembling President, patted his shoulder to indicate it was okay, pressed the ascent button, and in the rumbling sound, the elevator ascended to the surface with the hostage, who couldn’t stand up anymore.
“I’m sure.” Bai Sheng turned to face the empty, deep bunker and said in a deep voice, “Start now.”
The elevator rose to the surface, Antonio helped the crawling President out, nodded to Amatullah, and then quickly retreated to a safe distance of several hundred meters.
“Alright,” Amatullah murmured.
She took a step back, clasped her hands together, and recited a hoarse and obscure incantation, like a prayer to an unknown deity.
The high-altitude airflow began to shake violently, causing the ground beneath her feet to tremble continuously. Immediately afterward, a brilliant and magnificent giant wheel descended from the sky, radiating a golden light that made the scorching sun pale in comparison, creating a magnificent spectacle above the desert.
The halo spun and expanded rapidly, and in an instant, it covered the entire bunker from above!
S-class ability, Wheel of Almighty.
A collective judgment ability, under the halo, all beings receive final judgment. Killers, once judged, are executed immediately regardless of reasons; other sinners are judged one by one, with life spans automatically deducted according to the severity of their crimes.
Everyone bears original sin, so this ability, once triggered, does not distinguish between friend and foe and cannot achieve precise targeting. Cooldown period: 30 days.
There were still over eighty intruders tied up and thrown around the bunker, each suddenly faced with a dazzling golden light. Rows of symbols, not belonging to any earthly language, flipped rapidly in the light, increasing and decreasing in an orderly manner as the Wheel of Almighty automatically calculated their individual crimes.
“What… what is this?!”
“Let me go, let me go!”
But no matter how they struggled or tried to escape, it was useless. In an instant, each person’s crimes were judged. The next moment, brilliant golden cages appeared out of thin air with a series of clangs, imprisoning every intruder within their own cage.
“Ahhhhhhh——!”
Clusters of flames erupted from the cages, incinerating all those who had ever killed, leaving only piles of ashes amidst their screams. The rest, who were lucky enough not to have taken a life, aged rapidly amidst their terrified screams, their hair turning gray, their bodies stooping, with a few young people even turning into elderly figures of seventy or eighty years old, staring in horror at their wrinkled hands.
“Bai Sheng?” Amidst the violent trembling of the ground, Amatullah pressed one hand on the sand and the other on her tactical earpiece, “Are you okay, Bai Sheng?”
Deep underground, rows of golden characters rapidly scrolled and elongated in front of Bai Sheng. If the witch Italdo were here, she would recognize that the densely packed words all spelled one word—kill.
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.
Deep in bloodshed, crimes beyond description, instant execution!
Huge beams of light formed a golden prison, rushing towards Bai Sheng from all directions, reflecting his abyss-like, emotionless eyes.
However, just at the moment of being trapped, Bai Sheng drew his right hand and slashed down diagonally.
A circular storm erupted from his feet—pure violent meteor energy, like countless blades tearing through the void, shattering the prison into thousands of fragments in the blink of an eye!
The ground shook and rumbled, the loud noise gradually subsiding.
All over the bunker, wails of misery echoed, but the tyrant alone was spared from the punishment of the Almighty, becoming the only promised land.
The signal crackled back to life, and Amatullah’s voice came through, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Bai Sheng waved away the rolling smoke with one hand, his pupils reflecting the pitch-black tunnel, “Did the Wheel of Almighty detect any S-class presence?”
In the eyes of the deity, everyone is guilty. As long as you are within the area circled by the halo, all living beings must face judgment. This is the unavoidable group attack effect of a powerful S-class ability.
In other words, if someone was really hiding here, even if they used invisibility to escape Bai Sheng’s sight, they absolutely couldn’t escape the sweeping attack of the Wheel of Almighty.
“No, all the intruders in the bunker have been judged… except you, handsome.”
Amatullah paused, then suggested another possibility doubtfully, “Could it be that your senses are too sharp, and you felt the energy fluctuations left in the brick seams from when I went down to the bunker a long time ago?”
“……”
In the darkness, Bai Sheng didn’t respond, slightly narrowing his eyes.
From the depths of the tunnel came the intermittent cries of the intruders, and apart from that, there was indeed no other sound.
Could it really be residual fluctuations?
“The command center just sent a message saying there’s going to be a global press conference. The EHPBC people have taken Supervisor Shen to the venue. Do you want to take a helicopter and join them right away?” Amatullah asked, “Do you want to come up first?”
Bai Sheng’s brow suddenly twitched, “Press conference?”
“Uh-huh, it was a sudden decision from the top—the usual bureaucratic redundancy, I guess.”
The crisis that caused international shock had been resolved, and it indeed needed to be announced to the public immediately, but this decision hadn’t been reported to Bai Sheng in advance. He immediately turned and walked towards the elevator, frowning and asking a series of questions, “When was this decided? Shen Zhuo is with the EHPBC people? Where is the venue?”
The elevator rumbled and then began to ascend, slowly bringing Bai Sheng to the surface.
What no one saw was that after Bai Sheng turned around, deep in the dark tunnel, something invisible seemed to tremble slightly in the void.
Like a ripple spreading in the seabed, impossible to notice unless you were in it.
It was a folded space.
It quickly advanced forward and disappeared without a trace.
·
“Hello, Shen Zhuo?” On the windswept surface, Bai Sheng held a satellite phone in one hand while striding towards the slowly descending armed helicopter, “I’m done here. Amatullah and Antonio are handling the cleanup. Where are you?”
On the other end of the call, endless desert stretched on both sides of the highway outside the car window, with the elite riot squad of EHPBC escorting from the front and rear, an armored convoy moving grandly.
“…I’m accompanying the chairman to the venue arranged by the local government.” In the back seat, Shen Zhuo held the phone, hesitated, and finally could only say simply, “It’s a last-minute arrangement. It will take about half an hour to get there.”
The roar of the helicopter’s rotor came from Bai Sheng’s side of the phone. To an outsider, his tone sounded normal, but only Shen Zhuo could hear that he was already quite displeased, “Alright then, wait for me. I’ll come ahead to meet you.”
Shen Zhuo hung up the call.
The stretched Hummer sped along the desert highway, with the EHPBC parliament chairman sitting right beside Shen Zhuo, surrounded by A-class evolutionist guards in front, behind, and on all sides, protected as tightly as an iron barrel.
This level of security was a privilege only for the parliament chairman.
If Shen Zhuo insisted on staying at the command center instead of accompanying, he would have virtually no security around him except for the witch Italdo, so he had no choice.
“Supervisor Shen.”
Shen Zhuo turned his head slightly and saw the chairman looking ahead. From their side-by-side position, he couldn’t see his eyes clearly, and his voice was slightly hoarse: “…That Rong Qi, does he really come from an extraterrestrial civilization?”
Unexpectedly, he brought this up. Shen Zhuo was a bit surprised, paused for a moment, then said flatly, “Maybe, I’m not sure.”
The chairman nodded mechanically and suddenly, without any warning, said, “Recently, I received some intelligence.”
Shen Zhuo glanced at him.
“Rong Qi has sent his subordinates to contact several extreme evolutionist organizations worldwide, seemingly planning to seize the evolutionary sources. This includes… the Round Table.”
Even Shu Ronghua in the front seat turned around in shock and asked, “What?”
Shen Zhuo asked sternly, “Why did EHPBC keep this information from the public?”
The chairman ignored him, looking ahead with a tone of despair and bewilderment, as if aware that the overall situation was beyond saving.
“These extreme evolutionist organizations are planning to attack meteorite warehouses in various districts. They have obtained blueprints, routes, and firepower equipment, and some have even acquired system backend keys.”
Shen Zhuo glanced sharply at Shu Ronghua, who was already stunned but quickly snapped back to contact the Shenhai District. After a moment, she looked up and reported urgently, “The Shenhai Meteorite Base has not yet been invaded. Chu Yan is using her ability to closely monitor the surroundings, and Yang Xiaodao is assisting the guard team in shifts.”
Shen Zhuo said in a deep voice, “Have Chen Miao confirm the security of the system backend.”
“Yes!”
“Supervisor Shen.” At this moment, the parliament chairman turned his head, and his face was finally visible, gray, and defeated. His red hair, soaked with sweat, clung to his forehead in clumps, and his cracked lips trembled slightly as he asked, “Can humanity really eradicate evolutionists?”
Shen Zhuo shouted, “Shut up! Do you know what you’re saying?”
“Maybe it’s not so bad to let an alien civilization rule Earth. They are advanced intelligent beings; they can rapidly advance technology. Recklessly resisting them will only lead to humanity’s extinction,” the parliament chairman stared straight at Shen Zhuo, his eyes bloodshot, and smiled a soul-lost smile, “Maybe, maybe they can even give me abilities…”
Shen Zhuo realized something was wrong, “Stop the car!”
He reached into the inside of his suit, but before his fingers could touch the HRG evolutionist serum, there was the sound of a bullet being loaded. The cold barrel of a gun was already pressed against his forehead, held by none other than the parliament chairman!
Shu Ronghua cried out, “Stop! Are you crazy?! You…”
Around them came a series of clicks. Several A-class evolutionist bodyguards in the car simultaneously raised their submachine guns, all aiming at Shen Zhuo and Shu Ronghua!
The situation suddenly changed drastically. Shen Zhuo’s wrist was firmly held by a bodyguard. The chairman, trembling all over, looked at him in despair, “I’m sorry, Supervisor Shen, I was forced… I can’t fight Rong Qi at all…”
“Shoot,” Shen Zhuo glanced around and shouted harshly, “Are you with the Round Table or Rong Qi? What’s wrong, don’t dare to shoot?”
The A-class bodyguard holding his wrist coldly said, “Don’t provoke us, Supervisor Shen. We don’t care about your death—”
Before he finished speaking, Shen Zhuo suddenly acted, his other hand lightning-fast, reaching to seize the chairman’s gun!
No one expected him to be so reckless. Angry roars erupted. The Hummer swerved into an S-shape. The centrifugal force caused everyone to tilt. In that half-second of chaos, the chairman’s sweat-soaked hand slipped on the trigger.
Bang!
The bullet pierced Shen Zhuo’s abdomen, blood spraying out!
In an instant, everyone erupted in shouts, and the bodyguards desperately tried to stem the gushing blood. Shen Zhuo had anticipated their reactions; as all attention focused on his gunshot wound, he gritted his teeth and reached into his suit again, finally grasping the cold injection tube—
But he had still miscalculated.
The car radio suddenly crackled, and a sinister voice came through: “Commence action, repeat, commence action, prepare to fire!”
In the distant desert, a rocket-propelled grenade traced a parabolic arc, heading straight for the convoy.
Boom!!
The last thing Shen Zhuo saw was the world turning blindingly bright and then eerily silent and empty.
The desert highway shook violently, and an explosion erupted.
From a high altitude, the long convoy of armored vehicles could be seen. The heavily protected stretch of Hummer suddenly turned into a fireball, with black smoke billowing into the sky.
·
“What did you say?!” Bai Sheng jerked his head up on the armed helicopter. “What happened to Shen Zhuo?!”
“The armored escort convoy was suddenly hit by a missile, causing heavy casualties and near-total incapacitation. They were then ambushed and massacred by a group of already embedded extreme evolutionists,” Cameron, striding through the hallway outside the International Supervision General Administration, spoke in a tight, low voice. “The Hummer that Shen Zhuo was in was the first to be hit by the rocket. No bodies were found inside, suggesting he was protected by some ability at the moment of the explosion, but…”
The International Supervision General Administration was already in chaos, with information pouring in from the outside and phones ringing incessantly. Everyone’s steps were frantic.
With a ding, the elevator opened, revealing Cameron’s icy face:
“But Shen Zhuo is missing.”
In the swaying helicopter cabin, Bai Sheng’s pupils dilated silently.
“The whole thing was premeditated. I suspect there’s a traitor high up; otherwise, the ambush wouldn’t have been so precise, and they wouldn’t have been able to take Shen Zhuo away immediately after the explosion.”
The background noise on the other end of the call was chaotic, but Cameron’s voice was calm and decisive: “The fire at the scene hasn’t been put out yet, and the fate of the parliament chairman is unknown. I’ve sent you the coordinates of the incident. Go to the scene immediately; I’ll be there soon.”
The call clicked off, and Bai Sheng sat in place, several solutions flashing through his mind in seconds. Then he leaned forward and handed the coordinates on his phone to the pilot:
“Change course and fly here immediately…”
The pilot was about to respond when the cabin suddenly jolted!
Before they realized what was happening, both their eyes reflected the sight of a rocket-propelled grenade rising from the desert, speeding towards the helicopter.
The pilot screamed, “Hold on! Hold on!!”
But there was no time for Bai Sheng to activate his gravity ability. The rocket hit the helicopter’s tail, and with a thunderous explosion, the helicopter lost control, spinning rapidly towards the ground!
Flames and black smoke filled the windows. In the midst of the spinning chaos, the pilot was entangled, and Bai Sheng tore off his seatbelt, grabbed the pilot, and after applying a protective shield, hurled him far out of the cabin.
The next moment, the entire cabin disintegrated in mid-air, and the explosion propelled Bai Sheng outward!
For an ordinary person, their internal organs would have been pulverized by the impact.
Bai Sheng plunged through the billowing black smoke, hurtling towards the desert. He turned his head mid-air, trying to see who was ambushing him on the ground, but the howling wind made it impossible to open his eyes. The ground spun closer and closer.
Then, suddenly.
A rift tore open in mid-air, a dark hole leading to an unknown destination, aligned perfectly with Bai Sheng’s downward trajectory.
The change happened so quickly that there was no time to react. Bai Sheng was thrown right into it!
——Thud!
In the pitch-black darkness, like a sealed small room, Bai Sheng crashed heavily into a corner of the wall.
“Damn…”
Two seconds later, he clutched the back of his head and gritted his teeth as he climbed up from the ground.
The rift he had fallen through had already closed, and around him was a darkness that couldn’t be dispelled even after many years. The violent impact on his head left his mind buzzing. Just as he was about to light a small flame to illuminate his surroundings, there was a sudden movement in the air beside him.
It was a movement that was almost imperceptible, like a spider’s silk.
Someone was there!
Bai Sheng instantly turned, dodging all vital spots. He was about to strike and pierce the attacker’s heart, but unexpectedly, his arm muscle suddenly hurt.
It wasn’t the pain from being stabbed, broken, or electrocuted. Bai Sheng froze for several seconds, then absurdly realized something:
The person hidden in the darkness wasn’t attacking him but was biting him.
With teeth.
“?!”
Bai Sheng’s first reaction was to wonder if he had encountered a zombie. Instinctively, he flung his arm, hurling the person through the air to crash against the wall.
Then he ignited a flame in his palm, illuminating the darkness with rolling flames. He found himself in a tightly sealed brick room with no doors. In an instant, Bai Sheng realized where he was.
A folded space.
A very special spatial ability that could exist independently of the caster. However, due to its complex construction, it was impractical for combat and typically served only one purpose: as a prison.
“Haha, hahaha, hahaha—”
Not far away, a shriveled, emaciated old man slowly crawled up from the ground, grinning to reveal a mouth full of sharp, strange teeth, still dripping blood.
“So sweet, so sweet…” he murmured in heavily accented English, “The taste of human flesh… so sweet…”
Bai Sheng glanced down.
His forearm was bleeding profusely, marked with a deep bite.
“Let… let me have another taste,” The old man staggered forward, his eyes clouded but glittering with greedy hunger, staring straight at Bai Sheng. “Just one more bite, one more bite—”
Bai Sheng grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall, asking in a deep voice, “Who sent you? Who are the attackers outside? Where is Shen Zhuo?”
The old man made a series of strange swallowing noises. His aged, twisted face showed no rationality, only a craving for flesh, repeating over and over:
“Meat, meat, human flesh…”
His hands flailed in the air, and Bai Sheng suddenly noticed something, his brow furrowing.
—In the flickering firelight, the old man’s hand revealed a bright red letter, S.
It was the Mexican cannibal S who was supposed to be imprisoned by the International Supervision General Administration!
An impromptu press conference, the ambushed armored convoy, the cannibal S who should have been in Heisenberg International Prison but was here attacking him… countless clues converged, forming an unimaginable, shocking truth.
“…The traitor is the parliament chairman,” Bai Sheng murmured hoarsely.
Heisenberg International Prison was a fortress that even Rong Qi couldn’t infiltrate. Only the EHPBC chairman could secretly transfer prisoners from there, and only he could leak Bai Sheng’s location to the ambushers. Who would have thought that the person with the highest authority would betray them?!
Rong Qi, the Round Table, the EHPBC chairman—they had colluded. The attack on the North African meteorite base was a ruse to lure Shen Zhuo away from Bai Sheng!
His hand suddenly felt wet; the cannibal’s saliva had dripped onto it. The craving for flesh had driven the old man completely mad: “Give me, give me—”
Bang!!
Bai Sheng, enraged, flung him away. The impact caused the entire cell to tremble, and the cannibal collapsed in a heap with shattered limbs.
If his speculation was correct, the chairman was likely still alive, and they would next target Cameron. The priority was to escape the cell. Bai Sheng ignored the cannibal and turned to examine his surroundings in the firelight, but suddenly felt dizzy.
The world spun, and he had to grab the brick wall to steady himself.
…What’s going on?
Bai Sheng fixed his gaze, and in the flickering firelight, he saw that the bite on his arm had not yet healed. Instead, it had turned black, exuding a thick, strange smell of blood rust.
Threads of black and purple spread up from the damaged flesh, like venom permeating his veins.
“…” Bai Sheng’s pupils constricted as he realized something in a flash of insight.
The cannibal hadn’t bitten him just because he wanted to eat him.
He had already activated his S-class ability on him.
Uwahh continuous attacks, our antagonist team’s really prepared this time OwO 👏