58: Chapter 58 Half-step King Level? It's not qualified yet!

Saintess Lin Xinglan slightly lifted her smooth chin.

She stood on the clean ground forcibly purified by her Holy Light, her white robe with gold trim completely spotless.

In those golden pupils that should have been filled with divine compassion, there was now only haughty disdain and undisguised disgust.

"Monster? That truly is an apt description."

"Executive Jiang Xu, you should be grateful that you are not one of our people in the Sanctuary."

"According to the way our Sanctuary has operated for thousands of years, an anomaly like you, half-human and half-ghost, would absolutely not be allowed to exist in this world. Whether through active Fusion or passive contamination, any filthy thing tainted by the aura of the Void Realm deserves nothing but to go to Hell in our eyes. Your only destination would be to be tied to a pyre by the Holy Light and burned into ash along with your Soul."

Having said this, Saintess Lin Xinglan changed her tone.

She deliberately shifted her gaze from Executive Jiang Xu's expressionless face to Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo of the Jiangcheng Investigation Bureau, who stood to the side with a livid expression, her tone carrying a hint of undisguised sarcasm and contempt.

"However, since you are the 'Sharp Blade' in the words of the Daxia officialdom, the ceiling of their highest combat power that they hold in the palms of their hands, how you Daxia people want to keep this 'new aberrant species' in captivity is your own family business. It is not yet our Sanctuary's place to intervene and discipline it."

Her scepter slammed heavily onto the water-logged ground with a dull thud.

"I only hope that the next time we cooperate, the dog chain on Executive Jiang Xu is tied a little tighter so that he doesn't bite his own people."

Extreme humiliation.

Naked contempt.

Ye Zhiwei, standing behind Executive Jiang Xu, was trembling with rage. If she hadn't just witnessed a more terrifying monster, she would have wanted to pounce on this arrogant Saintess and fight to the death right now.

Facing such haughty humiliation from Saintess Lin Xinglan, Executive Jiang Xu, as the person involved, had eyes like stagnant water, without a single ripple.

He did not fly into a rage, nor did he retort. He only extremely slowly raised his mutated left hand.

On the surface of the dark gold skin, barbs extended menacingly.

As he clenched his fist, beneath those hard, wolf-fur-like fibers, the sound of blood flowing was like surging magma.

"Click, click, click..."

His joints let out a teeth-gritting crack, and a wisp of extremely violent dark gold ghost fire, capable of burning the air until it smelled scorched, flashed and vanished at his fingertips.

This pure pressure from the Void Realm made the several Sanctuary Elders behind Saintess Lin Xinglan involuntarily step back half a pace, their faces filled with horror.

Executive Jiang Xu raised his head, that left eye glowing with dark gold light, locking onto Saintess Lin Xinglan.

"Saintess."

Executive Jiang Xu's voice was rougher than if it had been sanded down, "The rules of the Sanctuary cannot reach Daxia's land. Whether this power is dirty or clean is not for your bullshit doctrines to decide."

He violently pulled out the dark gold spear that had been stuck in the ground beside him, bringing up a large chunk of shattered concrete.

"Power is power. How to use it, who to fight, I, Executive Jiang Xu, decide for myself."

Domineering. Unyielding. A fierce Battle Intent of one who is ready to face death erupted from within this broken man.

The atmosphere in the pump room was bone-chillingly cold.

The dark gold ghost fire at Executive Jiang Xu's fingertips and the brilliant Holy Light on Saintess Lin Xinglan's scepter silently confronted each other in the Void Realm.

Two completely different high-tier psionic energies squeezed against each other, and the resulting gale scraped across the dilapidated load-bearing walls, emitting bursts of shrill screams, as if countless vengeful ghosts were wailing in one's ears.

Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo's forehead was covered in cold sweat. If a large-scale S-Class chaotic battle broke out here, the entire foundation of the reservoir would completely collapse, and by then, the northern part of Linhai City would be completely submerged by tens of millions of tons of reservoir water!

Just at the most critical moment when the flames of war were about to ignite, "Stop arguing, all of you."

A hoarse voice sounded very abruptly from the corner of the ruins, forcibly interrupting this standoff that was on the verge of spiraling out of control.

Everyone's gaze turned in unison.

Beside the collapsed load-bearing column, Su Yao, using both hands to press hard against the ground filled with standing water and stones, slowly stood up.

The special combat uniform on her body, which represented the elite of the Investigation Bureau, was now long since tattered, revealing large areas of flesh scratched by rubble.

She gasped, her chest heaving violently. Those eyes, covered in terrifying bloodshot veins, swept over Saintess Lin Xinglan and Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo in a completely numb manner.

Lin Wanqing quietly looked at her daughter, who was disguised as a C-level specialist, her brows hidden beneath the human skin mask slightly furrowing.

To let a bottom-tier Psionic User who hadn't even reached B-level participate in such a high-risk S-Class investigation mission, how exactly was the Daxia officialdom doing things? Wasn't this just sending her to her death?

But this was a disguised identity after all, so Lin Wanqing did not show a mother's concern, but instead, with the posture of a high-ranking member of the Sanctuary, gave her attitude in an extremely cold manner.

"A C-level specialist, do you have a place to speak here?" Lin Wanqing's voice was not loud, but carried unquestionable majesty, "Step back!"

Hearing this familiar voice, a trace of complex pain flashed in the depths of Su Yao's eyes, but she did not back down.

"Let her speak."

Executive Jiang Xu leaned on his spear and turned around, blocking the space between Su Yao and the group from the Sanctuary with his tall figure.

His dark gold left eye stared fixedly ahead, giving Su Yao the confidence to speak.

Su Yao ignored the contempt of that mysterious woman.

She took a deep breath of air mixed with the scorched smell of the Void Realm, her lips parting.

"Now is not the time to hold anyone accountable for whether they maintained the Formation or whose power is dirty or clean."

"Do you still not understand? If you don't figure out where that meat-web behind you came from, then..."

"The millions of people in Linhai City could be wiped off the map tonight. Just a moment ago, a Half-step King Level Void Realm Strange Tale squeezed in through that broken crack."

The entire place was deathly silent.

Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints.

This Chen Jianguo of the Investigation Bureau, who had experienced countless storms and even personally suppressed two A-level Anomalies, felt his legs involuntarily begin to tense violently, his breathing nearly stopping.

Half-step King Level. These four words were like an extremely heavy ten-thousand-ton hammer, smashing fiercely onto everyone's heart.

For ordinary people, this might just be a concept. But for these top-tier powerhouses present who stood on the front line of Daxia's defense against the Void Realm, these four words represented absolute destruction.

In Daxia's top-secret historical archives of the last hundred years, every time a King Level or Half-step King Level Strange Tale descended, there was absolutely no such thing as a miracle where the tide was turned. That was a pyrrhic victory barely exchanged for by the total annihilation of at least three cities with a population of one million, plus several S-Class Executives filling in with their lives!

Saintess Lin Xinglan's golden pupils flickered violently. She glanced at Executive Jiang Xu's left hand, which was covered in dark gold bone spurs, and then at the pool of ruins on the ground that had been burned until only white ash remained.

Her brain was spinning rapidly, trying to use logic she could understand to explain all of this.

"So that's it..." Saintess Lin Xinglan took a deep breath, "If it was a Half-step King Level beast, then it makes sense that our Formation was broken. It is not surprising that you, Executive Jiang Xu, were beaten like a stray dog and even resorted to devouring the power of the Void Realm to save your life."

She tried to shift the responsibility for the Sanctuary's Formation being broken onto this peerless, absolute power. Losing to a Half-step King Level was not shameful.

However, Executive Jiang Xu slowly turned his head and let out a cold laugh.

"It?" "That Half-step King Level giant wolf... it doesn't have the qualifications for that."

Saintess Lin Xinglan's hand gripping the scepter tightened suddenly. What did he mean it didn't have the qualifications? If a Half-step King Level didn't have the qualifications to break the Formation, then who broke it?!

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Just in this deathly silence that was about to drive people crazy, a voice that was slightly lively and carried an extremely unique train of thought interrupted very abruptly.

Su Qing was covered in pitch-black shadow power, and like a startled cat, she poked half her head out from behind Ye Qingqiu.

In those eyes beneath the mask, there was now full of curiosity, shock, and a kind of clear stupidity unique to college students.

"No, let me sort this out." Su Qing extended a finger wearing a tactical glove and gestured in the air, "That sister in white clothes just said that Captain Jiang didn't even take one move from that monster and was insta-killed."

She pointed at Executive Jiang Xu, then pointed at Su Yao: "Then you said a Half-step King Level big boss came. But Captain Jiang just said a Half-step King Level doesn't have the qualifications to break the Formation."

"That is to say... this Half-step King Level big boss isn't even the monster that hurt Captain Jiang? Holy shit! Is there someone even stronger in this?!"

Ye Qingqiu's expression changed greatly. She suddenly cooled her face, grabbed Su Qing by the back of her collar, and extremely roughly dragged her back behind herself: "Dark Blade, shut up! Step back!"

Lin Wanqing's breathing quickened for a moment. She stepped forward, staring fixedly at Su Yao.

"What exactly is going on? Is there an existence even more terrifying than a Half-step King Level? Since it broke the Formation, why didn't it trigger a Void Realm tide? What exactly does it want to do?" A series of pressing questions slammed into Su Yao like a machine gun.

"What does it want to do?" Su Yao's gaze fixed on that meat-web. "That monster that broke the Formation cannot be defined by any existing Strange Tales rating."

"It broke the Formation and forcibly tore open this spatial rift, not at all to trigger a Void Realm tide to destroy the world like other monsters."

"Then what is it for?!" Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo's eyes were red, and he blurted it out, almost roaring.

Su Yao looked at him, her pale lips parting extremely slowly. "To eat."

"To eat?" Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo was stunned. He opened his mouth wide, as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.

"I don't understand." Ye Qingqiu's brows were tightly locked, her palms covered in cold sweat, "Eat what? Did it treat Linhai City as a dining table?"

"No. It doesn't look down on the civilians outside." Su Yao took a deep breath, and she began to describe the scene from just now, which was absurd to the extreme, word by word.

"After completely crushing Executive Jiang Xu, its body began to expand crazily. It became like a purple-black mountain of meat, completely abandoning its humanoid form. And then..."

"It opened that mouth filled with inward-growing sharp teeth to its limit and blocked the exit of the spatial rift that had just been shattered."

Saintess Lin Xinglan's breathing stopped. Lin Wanqing's eyes widened to their maximum.

"The monsters on the other side of the Void Realm had no idea what was happening on the side of the real world. They sensed the aura of the barrier breaking and smelled the scent of flesh in the real world, so they rushed out crazily."

"When a B-level rushed out, it didn't even chew, just slurped it down in one gulp."

"When a pair of A-level with blood magic Laws rushed out, it was just like eating instant noodles, 'crunch, crunch,' it chewed them up in its mouth. Black blood splattered all over the ground."

"Do you understand? It was not ruling the Strange Tales! It treated that Void Realm passage, which was enough to destroy dozens of cities, as an automated serving line! It lay there, treating the vanguard of the Void Realm as a buffet, eating extremely happily!"

Deathly silence. A silence like that of a tomb.

Su Qing turned her head to look at Ye Qingqiu, her eyes widened like two copper bells. Treating the Void Realm passage as a buffet serving exit? Chewing A-level Strange Tales like crunchy bones? This is too wild! This is simply not treating the Void Realm as a dish!

"Absurd! This is simply nonsense!" Saintess Lin Xinglan was the first to speak out in rage. Her dignity as a Saintess was being crazily rubbed by this absurd description: "Although there is devouring between Strange Tales, it is absolutely impossible to have such an outrageous act of treating the Void Realm passage as a cafeteria! What about that Half-step King Level?! You just said there was a Half-step King Level descent! A majestic overlord of the Void Realm, could it just watch it humiliate its own kind like this?!"

"Of course it came out." Executive Jiang Xu took over the conversation.

"It was an extremely huge giant wolf, carrying dark gold ghost fire that annihilated everything, and it even came with a terrifying Law that severed space."

Executive Jiang Xu turned his head to look at Saintess Lin Xinglan. "Then, that giant wolf launched its strongest killing blow at that monster."

"And the result?" Lin Wanqing asked urgently.

"The result?" Executive Jiang Xu pulled up the corner of his mouth, a smile filled with self-mockery and extreme fear. "The result was that the giant wolf slapped its own face with one paw."

Saintess Lin Xinglan was stunned: "What?"

"Not only that." Executive Jiang Xu closed his left eye, as if he saw that extremely horrifying scene again, "It was, without any awareness, had its five senses tampered with by that monster. It bit madly at the air, using its annihilation Domain to burn itself."

Executive Jiang Xu's fingertips pointed to a piece of scorched concrete floor. "Do you know what happened in the end? That Half-step King Level, it forcibly ate away its own back half! It ate itself into a high-level paraplegic, yet still thought it was fighting a mortal enemy!"

"Hiss!" In the pump room, a sound of gasping for air rang out in unison once again.

This kind of effortless dimensionality reduction strike was even more hair-raising than any flashy psionic bombardment or world-destroying explosion.

A Half-step King Level Strange Tale, without even touching the corner of the enemy's clothes, ate itself into a cripple? What kind of god-like method is this?!

"What level of monster is it exactly..." Saintess Lin Xinglan stepped back two paces, and for the first time, true fear appeared in her proud golden pupils. "Is it... is it already a King?"

If a true King Level Strange Tale had descended, then let alone a Linhai City, all defensive lines in the entire southern part of Daxia would have to immediately initiate the final plan. Because absolutely no human could withstand a King Level slaughter!

"No." Executive Jiang Xu shook his head extremely affirmatively. Everyone instinctively was about to let out a sigh of relief in their hearts. "But for it, it's only a matter of time."

"This absolute crushing at the level of status, this speed of devouring that doesn't follow any logic at all... as long as it is willing to continue eating. To destroy the entire Linhai City and turn Daxia into a wasteland, it doesn't even need to do anything, it just needs to turn over."

A sense of despair, like a tangible slime, spread wantonly at the bottom of the underground reservoir, covering everyone's mouths and noses, making them suffocate.

Ye Qingqiu bit her lip, blood dripping down her chin.

Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo suddenly reacted. His face was as pale as paper, and he directly and extremely roughly tore open his bulletproof vest, taking out from his arms that red encrypted communicator with a fingerprint lock.

He unhesitatingly disengaged the safety, his thumb pressing hard above that red button representing the special-grade alert.

"I want to report to the Supreme Command!" Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo's eyes were bloodshot, like a crazed trapped beast, "I must demand an immediate saturated nuclear strike on the reservoir! We cannot let this beast leave here even half a step! We will all stay here to be buried with it!"

This was the bottom line of a Daxia soldier. They would rather be smashed to pieces than let the Void Realm step into the human world even half a step!

"No need to press it, Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo." Su Yao stepped forward, pressing down on Chen Jianguo Chen Jianguo's wrist holding the communicator.

"It has no intention of destroying Linhai City, nor does it have any intention of destroying the world." Su Yao looked coldly at everyone present and said this sentence.

Everyone was stunned in unison. Their brains crashed again. Such a terrifying existence, not destroying the world? Did it come here to do charity?

"Don't you want to know what this web is for?" "It said, this web is a door lock it installed itself. It locked the passage."

"Why?" Lin Wanqing blurted out, her voice trembling. "Because it is protective of its food."