17: Chapter 17 Ruins, Inferno, and the Man Who Dared Not Fight Back
Inside the rusted iron-sheet factory, the air was filled with the pungent smell of chemical solvents and a heavy scent of blood.
Su Yao pressed against the cold load-bearing pillar, her gaze sweeping over the abandoned assembly line.
In the center of the factory, the dust on the ground had been cleared away.
The bluestone floor was carved with complex and twisted Formation patterns.
A dozen figures in black robes were continuously manipulating the remains of the Strange Tales before them, channeling their psionic energy endlessly into the center of the Formation.
In the very center of the Formation, a jet-black longsword floated.
The air around the blade was distorting.
s-class sequencing weapon, [black day].
Su Yao's pupils contracted.
In her past life, this equipment had caused countless slaughters.
She had come early in this life specifically to intercept it.
But the situation was clearly wrong now.
In her past life, there was clearly no record of anyone performing a sacrifice.
The air at the center of the Formation churned violently.
A figure in a crisp suit stepped through the blood and slowly walked out from the eye of the Formation.
The young man wore a silver-white mask with no facial features, holding a pure white silk handkerchief, leisurely wiping the bloodstains from his fingertips.
Su Yao's breath hitched, and her body instantly tensed to the limit.
[Bai Cang]!
That infamous top-tier wanted criminal who had slaughtered three s-class investigators!
How could he have appeared here ahead of schedule?
And beneath the mask, the young man's movements froze abruptly.
Su Chen stared fixedly through the mask at the girl behind the load-bearing pillar who had made no attempt to disguise herself; the features beneath his mask were contorting.
His hand holding the silk handkerchief tightened, nearly tearing the expensive fabric apart.
"Yao Yao?!"
"Why is she here instead of handling Strange Tales at the Investigation Bureau?!"
"And just standing there so brazenly, without even wearing a mask?"
Su Chen's temples throbbed.
He had spent three months setting up this scheme, bringing in over a dozen A-level Anomalies as sacrifices, just to forcibly awaken black day.
Now, at the final moment of the operation, his own younger sister had jumped out.
"What kind of situation is this?"
"Come out."
Su Chen suppressed the frenzy in his heart; his voice, processed through a voice changer, took on a chilling, metallic grinding sound.
His killing intent spread with the sound waves, causing the rust on the factory roof to fall in showers.
He had to pretend he didn't know her and scare her away with the fierce aura of a wanted criminal.
Su Yao took a deep breath.
She couldn't hide anymore.
She stepped out from behind the load-bearing pillar, her gaze fixed directly on the man who made the entire Underworld tremble with fear, her tone unyielding: "Bai Cang, why are you here?"
"A rat from the Investigation Bureau, how noisy."
Su Chen snorted coldly, and his figure suddenly vanished from where he stood.
His speed exceeded the limits of human retinal capture.
The next second, he appeared directly behind Su Yao.
He raised his hand like a blade and chopped down towards the back of Su Yao's neck.
The force was controlled with extreme precision, ensuring she would faint without damaging any cervical nerves, intending to throw her out of the factory directly.
However, Su Yao reacted extremely quickly, the combat instincts she had honed in piles of corpses in her past life exploding forth.
She ducked and rolled, taking the opportunity to swing the dagger in her left hand, stabbing straight at Su Chen's thigh.
Su Chen forcibly halted the momentum of his hand-blade, twisting his body in an extremely awkward manner.
To prevent the dagger from shattering Su Yao's wrist, he even voluntarily dispersed the protective psionic energy on his thigh.
"Sss."
The dagger slashed through his expensive suit trousers, leaving a shallow white mark.
Su Yao flipped and knelt on one knee, gasping for air; her eyes were first shocked, then turned into a cold mockery.
"You dodged? Your movements are so stiff?"
Su Yao stood up, wiped the dust from her cheek, and curled her lips into a cold sneer,
"If you can't even injure a small investigator like me, it seems the world-renowned Bai Cang is nothing more than this. Your s-class status has a lot of fluff."
Beneath the mask, Su Chen nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
"It's not that I can't instantly defeat you!"
"I was afraid I'd break your cervical vertebrae with one slap!"
"This item does not belong to you. Since you refuse to leave, don't blame me."
Su Yao gritted her teeth, reached into her pocket with her right hand, and pulled out a spirit talisman emitting a blinding golden light.
This was a divine object she had picked up in a corner of the black market: [s-class Relic Imprint: Valkyrie of Holy Flame]!
"Rip!"
Su Yao tore the spirit talisman apart.
Boom!!!
A pure golden psionic energy, violent to the extreme, surged into the sky, directly ripping off the iron roof of the factory!
The scorching holy flames transformed into a magnificent suit of energy armor, instantly attaching itself to Su Yao's entire body.
In her hand, a heavy long spear burning with raging flames condensed.
The powerful pressure of an s-class Awakened swept across the entire scene, even forcing the black-robed figures at the edge of the Formation to retreat several steps.
Su Chen, behind his mask, was completely dumbfounded.
"What the f*ck?!"
"What kind of ghost thing is this?!"
"An s-class Awakened Imprint?!"
"Where did this girl get such a top-tier strategic consumable?!"
Before Su Chen could recover from his shock, Su Yao, transformed into the "Valkyrie," had already turned into a golden meteor, carrying destructive, violent flames, and smashed her spear down at his face!
"Boom!!!"
Su Chen hastily condensed a water shield to block, but the explosive power of the s-class Holy Flame was terrifyingly extreme.
With a loud explosion, Su Chen was sent flying backward by the immense impact, snapping three thick load-bearing pillars in succession, and slammed heavily into a pile of old machine tools.
Dust filled the air.
"Leader!"
The black-robed figures were terrified.
"Get away! Maintain the Formation!"
Su Chen rushed out of the ruins in a sorry state; his handmade custom suit, worth hundreds of thousands, was now half-burnt, his left sleeve was missing, and there was a scorched mark on his silver-white mask.
He gritted his teeth, looking at his younger sister in mid-air who looked like a descending war god, his heart filled with turbulent waves.
"She's actually hacking at me!"
"This girl looks gentle and soft usually, why is she so ruthless when she attacks?!"
"Bai Cang, die!"
Su Yao didn't pause for a second, unleashing skills from the s-class [Holy Flame] system frantically.
A sky full of fire rain turned into countless light spears, bombarding Su Chen in an overwhelming barrage.
Su Chen could only fight back passively.
A disaster-level s-class battle erupted inside the factory.
Golden Holy Flames collided wildly with deep blue high-pressure water blades.
For a time, the massive steel factory was torn apart as if it were made of paper, deep, bottomless gullies appeared on the ground, and steel and concrete flew everywhere.
But because this was not Su Yao's own power, even with s-class levels, she could not fully utilize it.
The two exchanged blows at high speed between the air and the ruins, barely fighting to a draw.
Only Su Chen knew how frustrated he was fighting!
He didn't dare to use his full strength at all!
The cutting power of the water blades was forcibly lowered, for fear of accidentally scratching Su Yao's face or cutting off her limbs.
He could only frantically dodge Su Yao's lethal heavy blows while quickly calculating in his mind.
'This forcibly elevated state definitely has a time limit, ten minutes at most!'
Su Chen gritted his teeth anxiously while dodging the long spear that flew past his scalp.
'I can't go for the kill... but this girl is completely aiming to die together with me!'
'Is she trying to get herself killed?'
What made his scalp tingle even more was that the commotion of this battle was simply too huge!
The life-and-death struggle between two s-class Psionic Users was causing energy shockwaves to spread wildly outward.
Although he had set up a concealment Formation covering several kilometers on the periphery!
If they kept fighting like this, the concealment barrier of the Formation would be torn apart immediately!
By then, the official Investigation Bureau and Psionic Users of the entire Linhai City would sense the fluctuations here, and they would all swarm over like sharks smelling blood!
Su Chen was so anxious he almost cursed out loud.
He couldn't drag this out any longer; he had to find a way to restrain her without hurting her!
...
And just at this moment.
On the road outside the chemical plant.
A taxi stopped by the side of the road.
Su Yun paid the fare and pushed the door open to get out.
The driver poked his head out: "Young man, this place is very desolate, not even a ghost in sight, are you sure you want to get off here?"
"I'm sure. Thank you, driver."
Su Yun closed the car door and looked up at the massive factory a hundred meters away, which was shaking violently and erupting with intense golden and blue light.
A monstrous blood aura and s-class psionic fluctuations, imperceptible to ordinary people, were enveloping the entire factory.
Su Yun shoved his hands into his school uniform pockets.
[Foolish Eye], activate.
The world faded.
The thick walls of the chemical plant became transparent in Su Yun's eyes, and the scene inside appeared clearly.
The central Formation.
The floating black sword.
And the two people fighting in the sky, shaking the heavens and earth, with sparks of fire flying everywhere.
Su Yun narrowed his eyes, his gaze first landing on the familiar figure unleashing an ultimate move, covered in flames.
"Isn't that my older sister? She shoved a paper talisman into my hand right before leaving, turns out she secretly kept an s-class experience card for herself?"
Then, he shifted his gaze to the masked man who was being forced back step by step by Su Yao, his suit burnt into tattered rags.
Carefully examining the opponent's psionic wave band, the more Su Yun looked, the more familiar it felt.
His gaze pierced directly through Bai Cang's mask, seeing the face hidden behind it.
"Doing import and export trade in Dubai? Holding multinational meetings every day?"
Su Yun pulled out a cold, emotionless smirk.
"Big brother, the cost of your import and export trade is quite high, switching careers to become an s-class wanted criminal?"
He watched the man in the suit, who was being chased around by Su Yao's flaming spear, yet didn't dare to spray even a single high-pressure water jet at Su Yao, and couldn't help but sigh.
The situation looked extremely perilous.
But a monster like Su Yun, who possessed a high-dimensional perspective, saw through the clues at a glance.
Every counterattack from the man in the suit, when it was about to touch Su Yao's body, would forcibly turn away.
Those seemingly fierce water blades actually had their water pressure lowered; hitting her would probably just be helping his older sister take a bath.
Su Chen was clearly playing an extreme game of protecting his younger sister.
Afraid of even scratching Su Yao's skin.
On the other hand, Su Yao, relying on the time-limited invincible buff, looked determined to die, ready at any moment to perish together with the "Great Devil Head."
"A family, why must it come to this, what is this all about?"
Su Yun shook his head and walked towards the factory.
Since he was already here, he couldn't just watch his older brother and older sister continue playing this demolition-level game of house.
What's more, the remains of the ten A-level Anomalies placed around the Formation as sacrifices...
"Smell delicious."
Su Yun licked his lips; this was an unexpectedly luxurious buffet!