Location: The Command Bunker
"Barrel Overheat!" Fatty Wu screamed, throwing a bucket of water on the Railgun. Steam hissed violently. "Boss! We need to swap the coils!"
"No time," Lin Fan checked the monitors.
The Alliance had broken through the first trench. The "Napalm" had slowed them, but the sheer number of bodies—dead beasts and dead disciples—had formed a bridge over the fire.
Jian Chen was leading the charge personally. He looked insane. His robes were burnt, his hair wild.
"Kill the heretic!" Jian Chen screamed, flying over the trench on his sword. "Blood for the Sword God!"
Behind him, the Mystic Valley Matriarch began a dark chant. She wasn't attacking. She was cutting the throats of her own wounded disciples.
"What is she doing?" Su Mei asked, horrified.
"Blood Sacrifice," Lin Fan narrowed his eyes. "She's summoning a Blood Avatar."
A massive crimson giant began to form from the mist of blood rising from the battlefield. It was immune to bullets. It was immune to fire.
"Retreat to the Second Line," Lin Fan ordered.
"But... the Operators in the first trench?" Su Mei asked. "They are still fighting!"
"They are lost," Lin Fan said, pressing a button on his remote.
[Detonate: Collar Series A-100 to A-200]
In the first trench, the collars around the necks of a hundred loyal servants beeped once.
BOOM.
It wasn't a punishment. It was a tactical bomb. The servants exploded. The blast killed them instantly, but it also took out the wave of Alliance cultivators jumping into the trench. The trench collapsed, burying hundreds of attackers alive.
Su Mei stared at Lin Fan. She had killed for money. She had killed for survival. But this... this was farming death.
"You blew up our own men," Su Mei whispered.
"I detonated assets to create a terrain obstacle," Lin Fan corrected, reloading his Desert Eagle. "Don't get sentimental, Su Mei. Sentimentality is an inefficiency."
The Hero Arrives
Suddenly, a streak of blue lightning cut through the smoke.
Zhang Wei burst onto the battlefield. He had seen the explosion. He had seen the sacrifice.
He landed between the collapsing trench and the Blood Avatar.
"LIN FAN!" Zhang Wei roared, pointing his spear at the bunker. "You murdered them!"
"They were dead anyway," Lin Fan's voice amplified over the speakers. "Focus, Hero. You have a giant Blood Monster to your left."
The Blood Avatar roared and swung a fist the size of a carriage at Zhang Wei.
Zhang Wei had to choose: Attack Lin Fan, or survive the monster.
He cursed and spun around. Thunder Breathing: Second Gear.
He dodged the fist. He ran up the Avatar's arm, trailing electricity.
"I deal with you later!" Zhang Wei shouted.
He thrust the spear into the Avatar's head. ZAP. The bio-electricity disrupted the Blood Qi holding the monster together. It shrieked, destabilizing.
"Now, Fatty!" Lin Fan ordered.
"But the Hero is on top of it!" Fatty Wu argued.
"Shoot through him if you have to. The target is the Core."
Fatty Wu closed his eyes and pulled the trigger of the cooled-down Railgun.
THOOM.
The Railgun slug flew. It missed Zhang Wei by inches (calculated by Lin Fan's Seal 2). It hit the Blood Avatar's core. The impact, combined with Zhang Wei's electrical disruption, caused the monster to detonate.
Zhang Wei was thrown backward, crashing into the mud.
The Alliance's trump card was gone.
But Lin Fan's first line was gone too.
The battlefield fell silent for a moment. Lin Fan stood on the bunker. Zhang Wei stood in the mud. Jian Chen stood on the hill.
"This isn't over!" Jian Chen screamed, his voice breaking. "Ancestors! We summon the Ancestors!"
From the clouds above, three coffins descended. The Alliance wasn't just sending disciples anymore. They were waking up the Nascent Soul monsters who had been sleeping in suspended animation.
Lin Fan looked at the sky. He felt the pressure—real pressure.
"Nascent Soul," Lin Fan checked his ammo. "My strength as of now isn't high enough for this."
He looked at Su Mei.
"Prepare the Omega Protocol."
Su Mei paled. "That... that destroys everything. The factory. The mountain. Us."
"Better to burn it down than give it to them," Lin Fan said. "We retreat to the Badlands. But first... we make them pay for every inch."