119: Chapter 119 You've turned off the microphone, I'll let my fists do the talking.

The moonlight over the Thunder Sound Pavilion ruins was cut into jagged fragments by the charred remains of the walls. Chen Fan wiped the sweat and blood from his face, his fingertips still bearing the scorch marks from when he had just channeled energy into the Leyline.

He crouched down, watching Little Candle huddle before a section of charred broadcasting cable. The young girl's fingertips were trembling slightly, and a bead of blood seeped out from where the wire had snapped.

"Brother Fan." Little Candle looked up, her eyes shining like deep pools struck by starlight. "They are listening." Her voice was as soft as a sigh, yet carried a burning certainty. "Those Echo Corpses aren't dead people; they are voices the system only half-deleted—just like the noise you mentioned, living things suffocating beneath the data."

Chen Fan's Adam's apple bobbed.

He recalled the Echo Corpses he had seen in the alleys a few days ago. Those staggering figures always reminded him of Old Zhang from the construction site when his wages were in arrears; he looked just as dull and wooden while crouching in the corner smoking his pipe.

Looking at the cable under Little Candle's fingertips now, the faint humming within the line suddenly became clear, sounding like countless muffled people breathing at once.

"Let's try it." He pressed the blue flame seed from his palm onto the terminal. The blue flame shot out an eerie light along the wires, and the critical hit system exploded with red light on his retina: [Detected resonance point for "Silent Dome"].

He suddenly clenched his fist—the voice control system relied on frequency suppression. Could the sound waves generated by a punch disrupt this damn thing's rhythm?

"The Seven-Fold Sound Locks at the top of Starlight Tower." Black Crow's voice crackled through the communicator. The blind youth's fingers flew across the virtual light screen, and the structural diagrams he pulled up cast eerie blue shadows over the ruins. "Each lock is maintained by the sound waves of the 'Declaration of Obedience,' like bells strung together on a thread." His fingertip pointed to the position of the third lock. "As long as there are enough voices of negation at the same time, the thread will snap."

"Twelve seconds." The Silent Bell Maiden's voice came from a cathedral three kilometers away, mingling with the sound of wind chimes. "I can use the bell to create a 'Chain-Breaking Rhythm,' but I can only hold it for twelve seconds."

Chen Fan looked up at the night sky, which had been stained blood-red by the system's light. The spire of Starlight Tower looked like a poisoned needle driven into the clouds.

He cracked his knuckles, the blue flame popping between his fingers reflecting in his brightening pupils. "Twelve seconds is enough."

Before his voice could fade, a metallic tearing shriek suddenly erupted from the southeast.

The Iron Tongue Monk's Incantation Burning Team had stormed the nearest broadcasting station. A three-inch blade flipped out from beneath the monk's tongue, its surface carved with runes to suppress sound patterns. He was slashing toward the main control console—they wanted to destroy the transmission node and sever the connection between Little Candle and the Echo Corpses.

"You won't burn them!" Little Candle suddenly stood up, the ruins cracking beneath her feet.

She raised the Anti-Contract Rune in her palm, beads of blood snaking along its patterns. "The nameless people aren't afraid of you remembering them!"

The ground shook.

Seven dark shadows burst out from beneath the ruins; they were Echo Corpses.

Data streams left over from the system's deletion still hung around their necks, but an eerie blue light burned in their eye sockets—not the aura of death, but the indignant voices awakened by Little Candle.

The seven corpses formed a circle and opened their mouths simultaneously: "Negate... Negate... Negate..."

The sound waves were like a physical wall, slamming into the Iron Tongue Monk's blade.

That three-inch piece of refined steel was actually shaken until it shattered bit by bit. The monk's eyes widened; he didn't even notice the pain as the shards dug into his palm.

Chen Fan took the opportunity to leap onto a broken wall, the wind rushing into his sweat-soaked collar.

The critical hit system's prompts flashed frantically: [Pre-loading available for "Critical Hit: Resonance Strike" to interrupt the broadcast signal].

He took a deep breath and compressed all the critical hit energy into his fist—the shouts of street warriors, the silence of newcomers in the alleys, the smiles of patrol members saying "going home for dumplings," all surged through his veins and into his fist.

"Hah!"

The moment both fists slammed into the ground, the blue flame exploded into a circular sound wave.

Wrapped in the hum of vibrating metal, the crackle of shattering stone, and the "negations" of the Echo Corpses, the sound wave acted like an invisible giant hammer, smashing directly toward the top of Starlight Tower.

At the summit of Starlight Tower, the band of light for the first sound lock, the "Ring of Silence," suddenly distorted.

The phantom of a silver-haired woman flickered in the red light, the bronze coin at her ear burning so hot her fingertips trembled.

She watched the sound wave erupting from the ground, and a smile finally touched the corners of her mouth—that was her brother's fist-wind, a burning fist-wind filled with the essence of the mortal world.

"Silent Bell Maiden, now!" Black Crow's roar pierced through the communicator.

In the cathedral three kilometers away, the Silent Bell Maiden gripped her cross.

She tore the silver bell from her wrist and stuffed it into the bell-striking beam.

The moment the bell rang, the originally rhythmic "Dong—Dong—Dong" became "Dong!

Dong?

Dong..." The chaotic rhythm crashed into the second sound lock, the "Chain of Obedience," causing spiderweb-like cracks to spread across the chain of light.

"Dammit!" the Iron Tongue Monk roared as he ignited a self-destruct device, and the broadcasting station's alarm began to shriek shrilly.

Chen Fan rushed over, grabbed Black Crow, and retreated. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the countdown on the main control console: 00:59:59.

System prompts exploded in blood-red text before his eyes: [Warning—"Ultimate Soothing Sound" pre-load progress at 89%, estimated release in 2 hours].

He looked back at the collapsing broadcasting station. The speaker arrays within the flames were still sizzling, like a dying giant beast whimpering.

Chen Fan wiped the soot from his face and sneered into the communicator, "You close one microphone, and I'll smash ten of them."

At the top of Starlight Tower, the silver-haired woman's phantom was on the verge of dissipating.

She touched the bronze coin at her ear; the little fox engraving on the coin was warmed by her body heat. "Sister..." she whispered to the void, "do you hear that?

Brother is using his fists to wake up this world."

Deep within the Leyline, the array foundation Chen Fan had injected with energy suddenly vibrated.

The blue flame surged up through the Leyline fissures, pulling seven eerie blue bands of light through the dark rock layers—this was the precursor to the activation of the "Flame Seed Echo Array," like seven lute strings waiting to be plucked by an even more intense sound wave.