149: Chapter 149 The Sword That Slashed at the Statue

"The game is over."

The Imposter's voice was flat and indifferent, as if pronouncing an established fact.

He suddenly launched an attack.

The tree branch in his hand had, at some point, been replaced by a telescopic greatsword identical to the one in Li Taiping's hand.

He simply swung the sword forward with casual ease.

There was no earth-shattering momentum, nor were there any world-destroying light effects.

But it was this unremarkable strike that made all the hair on Li Taiping's body stand on end in an instant!

Danger!

Extreme danger!

He felt as if he were locked onto by a terrifying beast from primeval times; no matter where he fled, he wouldn't be able to escape that fatal blow.

He even had an illusion that the entire world was being compressed into a single line under this sword strike—a sharp line capable of cutting through everything!

I can't dodge it!

Li Taiping's brain made the judgment in an instant.

He pushed his mecha's power to the limit, and his epic grade peak strength erupted without reservation.

He gripped the greatsword with both hands and crossed it in front of his chest, attempting to tank the blow head-on.

However.

That seemingly slow sword light swept past in an instant at a speed that transcended space and time.

Li Taiping's pupils suddenly contracted.

He wanted to move, but his body felt as if it were imprisoned in place; he couldn't even move a finger.

He could only watch helplessly as that sword light drew closer and closer.

The shadow of death had never loomed over him so clearly.

At this critical juncture.

Every detail of when the Imposter performed 'Etherealization' and 'Split Attack' replayed frantically in Li Taiping's mind.

That clever utilization of spatial rules, that profound feeling of merging oneself with space...

A sudden flash of insight!

Under extreme pressure, Li Taiping's spirit was highly taut, and his potential was squeezed to the limit.

With a sudden flash of insight, his figure abruptly retreated, and his entire being seemed to turn into a faint shadow, escaping into the void.

This was the spatial skill he had just learned from the opponent; it was his first time using it—unpracticed, but effective!

Swoosh—

The sword light brushed past his phantom and flashed by.

It raced toward the distant horizon.

“Pfft!”

Li Taiping tumbled out of the void, violently coughing up a large mouthful of blood.

Although he had dodged the fatal blow, just being grazed by the sword light's aftershock made him feel as if all his internal organs had been displaced.

A deep slash, visible to the bone, was left on the mecha's chest.

If it weren't for the Dog Talisman among Yu Tong's Twelve Talismans, which represented 'Immortality,' automatically triggering the life-saving effect of the Famous Blade at the critical moment.

He would be a corpse by now.

“Cough, cough... So strong...”

Li Taiping knelt on one knee, coughing violently, his eyes filled with lingering fear and shock.

Perfect Grade peak power was actually terrifying to this extent!

Just the aftershock had almost instant-killed him at the epic grade peak!

However, he didn't even have time to catch his breath.

A deafening roar suddenly came from the distance.

Boom—!

Li Taiping abruptly raised his head and looked in the direction the sword light had flown.

He saw that at the other end of the city ruins, that hundred-meter-tall Giant Statue holding a greatsword, seemingly about to split the heavens...

...had been struck dead center by that sword light.

Crack!

The statue's massive head snapped off and fell cleanly from the neck.

In mid-air, it turned into a sky full of fine powder.

Even the giant stone sword in its hand was sliced in two.

The cut was as smooth as a mirror, without the slightest jagged edge.

How familiar this scene was!

Li Taiping's pupils instantly contracted to the limit.

He remembered!

On the seabed of the Abyssal Sea Region, in the city ruins he had considered the 'Mofeng Mountain and Sea Outpost'.

He had also seen an identical headless statue with its head severed!

At the time, he had speculated that whoever could cause such destruction must be at least an epic grade powerhouse.

Now it seemed he had been too naive.

How could this be something an epic grade could achieve?

This was clearly... the full-strength strike of a Perfect Grade peak!

Could it be that the ruins on the floor of the abyss and this Abandoned City dungeon were the same place?

Or were they two parallel worlds that mirrored each other?

Countless questions surged frantically in Li Taiping's mind.

Just then.

The Imposter opposite him suddenly changed expression.

His figure began to become distorted and blurred, like an old television with a bad signal, the screen covered in static.

“Tsk, rejected by the world rules so soon?”

The Imposter snorted coldly, seemingly wanting to resist something.

But that rejection force coming from the entire world was clearly not something he could contend with.

His body began to flicker, liable to disappear at any moment.

He also seemed to realize time was short; he stopped wasting words and spoke quickly to Li Taiping in an extremely serious tone.

"Su Jie is not dead."

"Her soul is indeed suppressed under that Bronze Tower."

"She is not data from this dungeon; she is a real person, a poor soul whose spirit was drawn into this dungeon fragment by accident."

"If you want her to live again, push down that tower and break the energy circulation core of this dungeon fragment. Only then will her soul have a slim chance of escaping."

"Believe it or not, it's up to you."

After saying that, the Imposter's figure completely turned into points of light and vanished into the air.

Leaving only a bewildered Li Taiping staring blankly at the spot.

A real person?

Soul drawn in?

Push down the tower to save her?

This information was like a series of heavy bombs, turning Li Taiping's brain into mush.

He fell silent.

After a long time, he deactivated the mecha on his body.

He raised his head and looked at the towering Bronze Tower in the distance, his eyes filled with complexity.

He didn't believe the Imposter's words.

That guy was too bizarre.

He turned around and, dragging his weary body, began to walk aimlessly through the ruins.

He needed time to digest all of this.

He needed to be calm to judge the truth or falsehood of it all.

...

Without realizing it, he had actually walked back to the place he was most familiar with, and the place that pained him the most.

That small, dilapidated dormitory shelter.

The security door was still in that state of being violently destroyed, piled lonely in the corner.

He slowly walked in, looking at every familiar piece of furnishing in the room; in his mind, the brief yet real days and nights he and Su Jie had spent in this small space involuntarily surfaced.

His gaze finally landed on that corner.

The desk and chair where Su Jie used to sit and write her diary, and the candle on the desk that had long since gone out.

Su Jie's gentle voice seemed to ring in his ears again.

In his mind, the handwriting stained with tears on that tattered diary page surfaced again.

[Hubby, in the next life, I will definitely bring you many children, many blessings. If I'm not enough alone, then I'll help Hubby train a whole group!]

The Imposter's words rang in his mind once more.

[Su Jie is not dead... she is a real person... push down that Bronze Tower...]

Li Taiping's breathing gradually became rapid.

He abruptly raised his head and glanced at the terminal on his wrist.

[dungeon Countdown: 00:02:30]

[dungeon Countdown: 00:02:29]

Time was running out.

To gamble, or not to gamble?

To believe, or not to believe?

Li Taiping's eyes showed struggle and hesitation.

Suddenly!

He seemed to have made a certain decision, a glimmer of extreme madness flashing in his eyes.

He suddenly leaped backward into the air.

Boom—!

A massive mecha enveloped his entire body once again.

But this time, it was no longer that form-fitting, streamlined combat armor.

Instead, it was a five-meter-tall giant combat mecha full of metallic texture!

He had chosen the giant mecha control mode!

“Open... for me!!!”

Li Taiping let out a roar inside the cockpit.

Behind the massive mecha, the blue plasma thrusters roared to life, emitting a deafening boom!

It directly smashed through the wall behind it, turning into a streak of light, trailing a long, dazzling white plume of fire as it charged madly toward the Bronze Tower!

No deceleration!

As it drew near, its speed instead soared to the extreme!

He was going to use the most violent and direct method to verify that single, possible chance!

Boom—!!!

The massive mecha, like a cannonball leaving the barrel, slammed hard into the body of the Bronze Tower!

However, the expected scene of the tower collapsing did not occur.

That seemingly ancient Bronze Tower was actually a single solid piece, sturdy beyond imagination.

It was only knocked slightly askew by the massive impact, emitting a tooth-aching metallic groan.

[dungeon Countdown: 00:00:01]

[dungeon Countdown: 00:00:00]

A flash of white light.

Li Taiping's figure, along with the giant mecha, vanished from the spot instantly.

What he didn't know was.

The very next second after he disappeared.

Beneath the Bronze Tower he had knocked askew, pairs of crimson cyclopean eyes slowly lit up.

A blood-red tide, like a fountain, erupted madly from the base of the tower, instantly enveloping the entire world.

On the clock face of the Bronze Tower, the hand pointing to an unknown time shattered silently, turning into powder.

The dense runes on the surface emitted an eerie red glow.

As the blood-red mist shrouded the entire world.

In the ruins, the survivors discovered in horror that their features were distorting and deforming uncontrollably.

Their eyes, amidst intense pain, slowly merged and collided, forming a single, giant, blood-red eye.

“Ah—!”

“It's 002! It's the sealed Unknown Virus No. 002! Dammit! Where did it come from!”

The shrill screams soon came to an abrupt end.

Their bodies had completely transformed into a brand-new creature.

One-eyed, red-skinned, filled with an aura of violence and chaos.

[Wei Fang Clan]

And outside that endless world that transcended dimensions.

A faint sigh, filled with helplessness and disappointment, softly echoed.

“Sigh...”

...