And of all times...
No, this had to be the time.
The explosion was undoubtedly the smugglers' handiwork. Now that the blast had left them both incapacitated, it would be a problem if the smugglers *didn't* show up to finish them off.
Zhou Chen glanced at the rifle slung over his body. The force of the explosion had snapped the barrel and split the frame, damaging it beyond repair.
The pump-action shotgun on his back had been shattered by the immense impact. Only the pistol, protected by its holster, was still usable for now.
The grenades and smoke bombs on his tactical vest were still intact. Thanks to their special materials, they hadn't been set off by the blast—an improvement made by the Star Association's tech department after learning from countless past failures.
In that split second, Zhou Chen heard a series of explosions echoing from all over the warehouse.
The other teams had probably walked into the smugglers' traps as well.
'But with so many explosives planted in here, aren't they afraid of bringing the whole warehouse down?'
Just then, heavy footsteps approached like a death knell. Zhou Chen had no time to think; he decisively drew his pistol and fired.
As the gunshot echoed, a figure within the smoke suddenly erupted forward with unbelievable speed, weaving in an S-pattern to dodge the bullets. He burst through the billowing smoke and was on Zhou Chen in an instant, his arms—now two massive, sharp Bone Sabers—chopping down without mercy.
Zhou Chen reacted just as quickly. Planting one hand on the ground for leverage, he dodged the vertical chop of the Bone Saber and rolled to his feet, smoothly aiming his pistol at the enemy now just inches away and pulling the trigger.
The Ascender, a man named Shi Meng, was stunned that Zhou Chen could still be so energetic after surviving an explosion. His expression changed drastically. He instinctively snapped his head to the side, but he was a step too slow.
In that instant, a bullet—fiery red laced with a hint of pale white—tore through the air, taking one of his ears with it in a spray of blood and mangled flesh.
He roared in agony and swept his Bone Sabers horizontally. The terrifying Power and speed seemed to rip through the air, creating a sharp whistling sound.
Zhou Chen dodged back explosively, barely avoiding the slash. He raised his gun and fired a wild volley, not even trying to aim, just hoping to force his opponent to retreat.
But Shi Meng pursued him relentlessly, his arms sweeping down like scythes harvesting crops. They were incredibly hard; bullets that struck the Bone Sabers only left behind a series of dents.
In his frenzied assault, one of the Bone Sabers sliced off a piece of the pistol. Zhou Chen tossed the ruined gun without hesitation, drawing a pair of Alloy Daggers from the sheaths at his waist and meeting the two descending Bone Sabers head-on.
CLANG!
A piercing sound rang out. Though formed from his arms, the Bone Sabers were somehow even harder and sharper than the Alloy Daggers.
At the same time, the immense, unexpected Power of the blow sent a numbing shock through Zhou Chen's palms. The daggers nearly flew out of his hands, and the momentum forced him back several steps.
Shi Meng stepped forward, his Bone Sabers chopping down again, clashing with the daggers.
Within a few short seconds, the two had clashed several times.
In the end, the web of skin between Zhou Chen's thumbs and forefingers split open, dripping with crimson blood.
His combat suit and tactical vest were riddled with countless slashes. Some only tore the fabric, while others cut deep into his skin.
Suddenly, as if struck by lightning, Shi Meng froze without warning. Zhou Chen seized the opportunity and quickly retreated to put some distance between them.
He glanced down at the Alloy Daggers in his hands. Both were covered in nicks and on the verge of shattering.
Wincing at the pain from his wounds, he sighed internally. 'My combat experience is still too limited. Without a proper Weapon, I'm at a huge disadvantage fighting an experienced Ascender like this in close quarters.'
But now, he could finally breathe a small sigh of relief.
Shi Meng's expression twisted. One of his arms reverted to its normal form as he instinctively clutched his wounded ear, his face contorting in pain.
A searing mental agony, many times worse than any physical pain, washed over him. It felt as if a raging Fiery Fire had entered his body through the wound, burning with an intensity that brought indescribable torment, threatening to incinerate his every thought.
A pained groan escaped his throat. Ignoring the agony, he frantically slapped at his injured ear with a blood-soaked hand, screaming madly as if trying to extinguish a non-physical flame.
It was useless.
Panting for breath, Zhou Chen drew another pistol from a holster at his waist, aimed at the man's head, and repeatedly pulled the trigger.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He fired several shots, but the bullets didn't penetrate the skull. Instead, they embedded themselves in the bone, creating several gruesome, bloody holes.
'He's still not fucking dead?'
Zhou Chen gritted his teeth and kept firing, experiencing for the first time just how tenacious an Ascender's Life Force could be.
Shi Meng roared, desperately trying to claw his consciousness back from the searing mental agony, his face twisted like a savage beast's.
His eyes bloodshot, he leaped up—not toward Zhou Chen, but toward Yang, who was lying on the ground in the distance, apparently unconscious.
'If I can't take you down, I'll take down your teammate first!'
'At least I'll kill one of you to break even!'
Zhou Chen's expression changed. Just as he was about to act, Yang, as if anticipating the move, suddenly rolled over with a grin. He raised the long, thick, black object in his hands, aimed it at the stunned face in mid-air, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
A storm of metal and fire erupted from the muzzle of the Destructive K-49, instantly knocking Shi Meng out of the air in a shower of blood.
"Not bad at all," Yang said, struggling to his feet. He aimed at Shi Meng's head and fired again.
Amid the roar, Shi Meng's face was utterly obliterated, yet he still wasn't dead. He twitched in agony, struggling to stand.
BOOM!
Yang fired again, and then again.
He didn't lower his weapon until Shi Meng's head was a shapeless pulp of blood and gore, his bladed arms had reverted to normal, and he was deader than dead.
"Almost solo-killed an Ascender on your debut mission. Not bad. I'll make sure to put that in my report," Yang said with a cough and a chuckle.
"You're okay?" Zhou Chen asked instinctively.
"If I were okay, I would've gotten up and helped you fight him," Yang said, rolling his eyes before letting out two more violent coughs. "But what about you? How did you recover so fast? Are *you* all right?"
Zhou Chen collapsed to the ground. As his racing heart began to slow, his face turned pale and his legs started to tremble uncontrollably. "I've been anything but all right!"
In reality, the moment he saw the Ascender from Xi Feng, he had decisively made a "restore my condition" wish, exchanging all ten specks of Star Dust he had accumulated for a massive physical recovery.
Otherwise, he probably would have been chopped to pieces long ago.
'As for anyone noticing something was off... I'm injured again now, so it doesn't matter. If anyone asks later, I'll just say I was running on sheer willpower.'
What surprised Zhou Chen, however, was that after Shi Meng was dealt with, a new, rather large speck of Star Dust had appeared in his Wish Bottle.
Since it was just him and Yang here, it didn't take a genius to figure out where the Star Dust had come from.
It was probably from Yang's wish to "kill Shi Meng."
'Wait...' Zhou Chen suddenly realized. 'I wasn't the one who killed Shi Meng in the end.'
He had already experimented with this in secret. Even if he contributed a great deal to fulfilling a wish, he wouldn't get any credit as long as he wasn't the one to personally see it through to the end.
In other words, "killing Shi Meng" wasn't the wish that had rewarded him.
'But it wasn't hard to guess what the actual wish was. Probably something along the lines of 'I hope the kid can hold out' or 'I hope the kid survives this.''
"Hey, come take a look at this." Yang was standing at the edge of a collapsed section of the floor. Beneath his feet, countless exposed wires at the break were throwing off showers of sparks.
He pointed downward. "There's another level down there."
Zhou Chen walked over and saw that there was indeed an underground area beneath the collapsed section of the cold storage. He could also see a large door that seemed to have opened due to a circuit failure; the verification panel next to it was flashing erratically.
"The place where they store the smuggled goods?"
"Probably. Let's contact the others first."
The two turned around, preparing to regroup, but froze in place as if they had seen something impossible.
On Shi Meng's body, which should have been deader than dead, a wisp of pitch-black flame had ignited. As they watched, it grew stronger and stronger.
In the blink of an eye, it completely incinerated his shattered skull and swelled into a swirling mass of deep, black flame, blazing furiously from his neck in place of his head.
The corpse began to twitch, and then...
It slowly and stiffly rose to its feet.
"Fuck..." Yang narrowed his eyes, his hand reaching for the pistol at his waist.
A muscle in Zhou Chen's eye twitched uncontrollably. 'What the hell is this thing now?'