128: Chapter 128 Light of Despair

The leader's pupils contracted violently.

He saw nothing but a flash of light. Then, his head went flying.

The headless corpse swayed and crashed to the ground. The remaining Mimics froze for a second before lunging forward simultaneously.

Lin Mo immediately went all out. At this stage, he was only one step away from completing the mission; he couldn't afford any mistakes now.

The blade's light darted through the darkness, as fast as a lightning bolt.

One strike, one head sent flying.

Two strikes, another fell.

In just a dozen seconds, seven or eight Tier 4 Mimics were all lying on the ground.

Lin Mo sheathed his blade and stood among the corpses, not a single drop of blood on his body.

Old Liu lay on the ground, staring at the corpses everywhere. After a long silence, he choked out, "Are you... even fucking human?"

Lin Mo ignored him and turned his gaze toward the gravity field.

Then, he froze.

Four dark figures had appeared near Chu Tianye. Lin Mo recognized one of them—he was one of the Tier 5 Mimics who had ambushed him before.

These Mimics crawled out from the edge of the rift as if they had been lying in wait there for a long time.

Chu Tianye was kneeling at the edge of the rift, his left arm hanging limp and his right hand's blade buried in the rock. Under the pressure of two hundred times gravity, his movements were like slow motion; just as his knees left the ground in an attempt to stand, he was pressed back down.

Lin Mo wanted to rush in, but the moment he took a step, the two hundred times gravity bore down on him, nearly slamming his knees into the ground.

He gritted his teeth and retreated. In terms of physical strength alone, he was far inferior to Chu Tianye. If even Chu Tianye struggled this much to withstand such staggering gravity, there was no way he could enter.

"System, increase cultivation!"

Lin Mo gave the command directly.

It was time for a final desperate gamble; Lin Mo could no longer worry about whether increasing his cultivation would make it harder to accumulate slaughter value later on.

Right now, saving Chu Tianye was the most important thing.

A system prompt popped up.

[Ding~ Consumed 8,400 slaughter value. cultivation increased to Tier 4, Rank 1. Remaining slaughter value: 73,200]

[Ding~ Consumed 9,200 slaughter value. cultivation increased to Tier 4, Rank 2. Remaining slaughter value: 64,000]

[Ding~ Consumed 10,000 slaughter value. cultivation increased to Tier 4, Rank 3. Remaining slaughter value: 54,000]

[Ding~ Consumed 11,000 slaughter value. cultivation increased to Tier 4, Rank 4. Remaining slaughter value: 43,000]

[Ding~ Consumed 12,000 slaughter value. cultivation increased to Tier 4, Rank 5. Remaining slaughter value: 31,000]

[Ding~ Consumed 13,000 slaughter value. cultivation increased to Tier 4, Rank 6. Remaining slaughter value: 18,000]

[Ding~ Consumed 14,000 slaughter value. cultivation increased to Tier 4, Rank 7. Remaining slaughter value: 5,000]

A series of prompts exploded in his mind, and Lin Mo didn't have time to look at them closely.

He only felt surges of heat erupting from his dantian, pouring into his limbs and bones like molten lava.

His bones crackled, his muscles expanded and contracted frantically, and his blood surged through his veins like boiling water. Cyan-gold patterns surfaced on his skin—the Azure Dragon Mark responding to his skyrocketing power.

Old Liu lay on the ground, his eyes going wide as he watched the changes in Lin Mo. "What... what the fuck are you doing?"

Lin Mo didn't answer.

His aura climbed at a visible speed: Tier 4 Rank 1, Tier 4 Rank 3, Tier 4 Rank 7!

In just a few seconds, he soared directly from Tier 3 Rank 9 to Tier 4 Rank 7.

The rocks beneath his feet exploded and debris flew everywhere. His body rose by two inches, his muscle lines became as sharp as if carved by a blade, and explosive power surged beneath every inch of his skin.

Two hundred times gravity still weighed on him, but it could no longer bend his knees.

Old Liu's mouth hung open, unable to say a word. Zhang Feng lay paralyzed on the ground, his eyes full of light as he watched Lin Mo's back. He Tie leaned against a rock and clenched his fists.

Lin Mo stepped into the gravity field.

With the first step, the rocks beneath him shattered.

With the second step, his waist straightened.

With the third step, he began to run.

Despite the two hundred times gravity weighing on him, he was actually running.

Chu Tianye knelt at the edge of the rift, his right hand's blade stuck in the rock, his left arm hanging limp, and his body covered in blood.

Four Mimics surrounded him, and Lin Mo recognized the leader.

It was one of the Tier 5 Mimics who had ambushed him outside Jiang City.

They were in no hurry to act, circling Chu Tianye like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Regiment Commander Chu, why bother?" the leader's voice was raspy. "Hand over the locator, and we'll give you a quick death."

Chu Tianye didn't speak.

He knelt there, clutching the final locator with white knuckles.

His left arm was immobile, and he couldn't pull the blade in his right hand out of the rock. Blood poured from the hole in his chest, staining the rock beneath him dark red. But he didn't let go.

The leader shook his head and raised his hand. "Then don't blame me."

However, just as he finished speaking, the leader heard footsteps behind him and whipped his head around.

"Wha—"

Before he could finish, a cyan-gold bolt of thunderous light flashed suddenly, moving so fast its trajectory was nearly invisible.

Then, his head went flying.

Blood sprayed as the headless corpse stumbled two steps and crashed to the ground.

The remaining three Mimics were completely stunned, as if time had frozen at that moment. Their pupils contracted sharply as they looked at everything before them in disbelief—their leader, a peak Tier 4 existence, had been insta-killed in a single encounter?

"This... the leader is dead?"

"How is this kid unaffected by the gravity? How can he move so freely here?"

Fear instantly climbed into their hearts. The three instinctively pulled back to surround Lin Mo, yet none dared to strike first.

Lin Mo didn't look at them.

He walked straight to Chu Tianye, knelt on one knee, and reached out to help him up.

"Are you alright?"

Chu Tianye looked up and gave Lin Mo a grin.

That smile contained the relief of surviving a disaster, the ecstasy of a narrow escape, and a sliver of unbelievable hope.

"You... how did you do it? How can you move freely in the gravity zone?"

Lin Mo didn't answer. He draped Chu Tianye's arm over his shoulder and stood up, half-carrying him.

Chu Tianye leaned his entire weight on Lin Mo, so weak he could barely stand. His left arm hung limp, completely powerless, yet his right hand still clutched the locator with white knuckles as if it were his life.

Trembling, he shoved the locator into Lin Mo's hand, using the last of his strength:

"I'm leaving it to you..."

At that moment, a light never seen before burned in Chu Tianye's eyes—the last bit of hope remaining after being repeatedly ravaged by despair.

However, just then!

The sky suddenly brightened.

One second it was a deep night, and the next it was like high noon.

It was blindingly white, so bright it was impossible to keep one's eyes open.

The entire sky seemed to be ignited by some terrifying power as scorching light poured down, swallowing everyone's shadows whole.

That light carried a destructive aura, like a judgment sent down by the Heavens, causing a bone-chilling cold to rise involuntarily in everyone's hearts.

Everyone was stunned.

The three Mimics stopped their surrounding movements and looked up in horror.

"What's going on?" one of them asked, his voice trembling. "Why is Tianshu activating now? The last positioning point hasn't been set up yet!"

Intermittent voices came from the communicator from Command Headquarters, mixed with piercing static as if coming from very, very far away:

"Tianshu... activated... cannot... cancel..."

Zhang Feng's voice was shaking, every word squeezed through his teeth: "Didn't they say it would only fire after the positioning was complete? What happened to the three-minute evacuation time? We... we haven't prepared anything yet!"

He Tie clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms as blood seeped through the gaps between his fingers.

Anger burned in his eyes, only to be extinguished by despair: "They never intended for us to live. From the very beginning... they never intended to."

Old Liu looked at the light in the sky, then at Chu Tianye's back toward the rift.

The light was getting closer and brighter, carrying the will to destroy everything.

His legs felt weak, and his heart felt like it was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand.

It's over.

All over.

"We're all going to die here..."

The small spark of hope that had just been lit was completely crushed into dust at this moment.