144: Chapter 144 Protect My Wife?

One dangerous Excellent Grade aura after another erupted around him.

In the darkness, pairs of crimson eyes lit up like ghost fires, decorating these dark ruins like hell.

They were watching, hesitating.

The human kneeling before them clearly radiated a life aura that made them salivate, yet simultaneously exuded a terrifying pressure that made their very souls tremble.

It was a silence purer than death and colder than the abyss.

Like a volcano about to erupt, it appeared calm on the surface, but inside, it had accumulated enough energy to destroy everything.

Li Taiping slowly and silently stood up.

His tears had already run dry.

His throat was completely hoarse from screaming, burning with pain.

His heart was also empty.

He looked down at the diamond-shaped metal terminal that had reappeared on his wrist; its cold touch now seemed to mock him silently.

[dungeon Countdown: 12:00:00]

Ever since the system reconnected, this damned mission interface had popped up.

He had spent a full twelve hours staring blankly on the ground.

From dusk until late at night.

From the end of the Peaceful Period to the arrival of the black tide.

He was like a soulless statue, letting time slip away and allowing the monsters around him to gather in increasing numbers.

Until now.

Li Taiping moved.

He raised his head, and those crimson eyes, devoid of any human emotion, scanned the various eerie creatures surrounding him.

The faint blue light from the terminal cast a cold shadow across his face.

The belated system panel finally manifested clearly.

[dungeon: Abandoned City]

[Trial Countdown: 11:59:59. When the countdown ends, the trial-taker will be automatically teleported out of the dungeon.]

[Trial Mission 1: Kill Virus Source No. 004.]

[Trial Mission 2: Protect your wife.]

[Trial Failure: No penalty.]

Li Taiping looked at the second line of the mission, those four glaring words that looked as if they were written in blood.

Protect your wife.

He suddenly laughed.

At first, it was just a silent grin; the smile was uglier than crying.

Next came an uncontrollable, raspy sound from his chest.

Finally, it turned into a fit of manic laughter.

“Protect my wife?”

“Hahahaha!”

“System! You goddamn piece of shit survival game!”

“Hahahahahaha!”

“Protect my wife? You’re really fucking kidding me! How ridiculous!”

The laughter echoed through the empty ruins—shrill, desperate, and filled with endless mockery.

His wife?

His wife was right here on this land, just twelve hours ago, chewed to pieces alive by a beast!

Not even a fragment of bone was left!

And now, this bullshit system actually jumped out to tell him that the mission was to protect her?

To hell with protection!

To hell with this bullshit mission!

The laughter stopped abruptly.

Li Taiping's gaze became incredibly sinister in an instant.

He didn't wait for the tide of Excellent Grade eerie creatures to make their move.

He took the initiative to strike!

Boom—!

Silver-white liquid metal appeared out of thin air, like a living stream, instantly clinging to and covering Li Taiping's entire body.

Clang! Clang!

Amidst the crisp sounds of mechanical interlocking, a set of streamlined mecha armor, full of violent aesthetics, protected all his vital points.

He hadn't even fully activated the external form of his Bestialization Talent, but the berserk power originating from deep within his bloodline had already caused his strength, agility, and all other attributes to skyrocket to an inconceivable level.

A terrifying pressure, infinitely close to that of an epic grade lifeform, swept across the field like a tsunami!

The eerie creatures that were originally restless instantly froze.

It was absolute suppression from a higher level of life!

Hum—

A pitch-black Telescopic Greatsword appeared in his hand.

Li Taiping's figure left an afterimage behind as he charged into the "ocean" of Excellent Grade monsters.

“Roar!”

A giant zombie covered in pustules, the closest to him, let out a roar and swung an arm as thick as a water bucket downward.

Li Taiping didn't even look.

He performed a horizontal slash with the greatsword.

There was no sword energy, no light or shadow, only physical cutting refined to its absolute extreme.

Psh!

The giant zombie, along with two other monsters behind it that didn't have time to react, were cut into two pieces.

The cuts were smooth, and black blood gushed out.

A female ghost wearing a bright red bridal gown with a red veil covering her face shrieked and threw out the veil in her hand.

That seemingly light piece of red cloth transformed in the air into a massive net that blotted out the sky, carrying a cold power capable of freezing the soul as it descended.

Li Taiping gave a casual swing of his sword.

A streak of sword energy, invisible to the naked eye, tore through space.

Rip!

The red bridal veil was directly turned into two tattered rags.

The sword energy’s momentum didn't diminish, leaving a long, black spatial rift in the air.

Before the female ghost could even scream, she was sucked into it and instantly torn into flying fragments by countless fine spatial rifts.

“One... two... three... wooden man...”

A sinister nursery rhyme, sounding like a little girl's voice, rang out across the battlefield.

It was a Rule-based Anomaly!

An eerie ghost girl in a tattered princess dress, holding a broken puppet, stood on the roof of a nearby abandoned building, staring fixedly at Li Taiping with eyes that lacked pupils.

Its skill was charging up.

However, in the next second.

Its head soared into the sky without any warning.

Li Taiping's figure had appeared behind it at some unknown point.

That puppet head flying in mid-air was then violently torn into powder by a burst of berserk sword energy.

This was no longer a battle.

It was a one-sided slaughter.

It was Li Taiping alone, hunting and hacking through a crowd of Excellent Grade eerie creatures.

He had gone completely mad.

He wanted to pour out all the sorrow, anger, and despair accumulated over these twelve hours onto these damned monsters!

He wanted this land that buried his woman to be completely stained red—stained black—by the blood of these monsters!

Just as he was in the heat of the slaughter, about to pin the last shadow anomaly trying to escape to the wall.

A voice he was familiar with to his very core, carrying a hint of timidness and joy, suddenly sounded behind him.

“Hubby~ it's me.”

Li Taiping's pupils suddenly contracted.

The greatsword he had swung out stopped abruptly in mid-air.

...