175: Chapter 175 The quieter you are, the more noise I'll make.

The roar of falling bricks and stones made Chen Fan's eardrums ache. As he leaped out of the ruins at the heart of the tower carrying the Silent Child on his back, specks of scorching stone fragments still clung to the back of his neck.

The hammer of the thunder god hovered above his head. The body of the hammer, embedded with the jade slip, still radiated a golden light, like a red-hot branding iron, instantly turning the sweat on his brow into white mist.

"Senior Sound Silence..." His throat tightened, and he instinctively looked back.

Deep within the sea of fire, the old man's figure was being decomposed into fine light particles. Yet, the blood-stained smile on his lips became clearer—just like the light in his eyes three days ago at the lowest level of the Sound Prison Tower, when the old man grasped his wrist and used the mute language carved on the brick wall to say, "You are the first one willing to listen to me."

A system prompt suddenly exploded before his eyes in crimson text: [Player "Sound Silence" has permanently gone offline, data archived].

Chen Fan stopped short, a surge of fire rising in his chest.

Data archived?

This damned system was going to collect even the dead as data?

He recalled the "Thank you" Sound Silence mouthed before his death. That was the first time the old man had spoken in a hundred years, yet the system deemed it "invalid data."

"Critical Hit Foresight." He murmured, and a translucent deduction screen immediately appeared before him.

[False archive prompt detected, initiate "Verbal Critical Hit"?]

A red exclamation mark pulsed over the word "false."

Chen Fan gritted his teeth: "Do it."

At the instant the countdown reached 3... 2... 1, the golden flow within his body surged suddenly.

He swung the hammer back, smashing it toward the Dark Sound Envoy who darted out of the thick smoke—this was Sound Silence's last Shadow Guard. His faceplate was shattered, blood seeped from his left eye, and he still clutched half a Sound Blade.

"Bang!"

The hammer of the thunder god solidly struck the Dark Sound Envoy's chest.

The system's mechanical voice sounded in Chen Fan's ears: [Critical Hit! 6.4x multiplier].

The Dark Sound Envoy was blasted three steps back, slamming into a charred stone pillar. A piercing shriek escaped his throat.

The Sound Blade condensed into a cross shape in his palm, its cold light slicing directly toward the back of Chen Fan's neck.

"The frequency is off." Chen Fan stared at the data flow on the Critical Hit Foresight screen—after the Silent Domain disintegrated, the stability of the Dark Sound Envoy's sonic attack plummeted by 37%.

Instead of retreating, he advanced, holding the hammer of the thunder god horizontally behind his back, using the momentum to deflect the sharpness of the Sound Blade.

The jade slip on the hammer suddenly buzzed, actually reflecting the Sound Blade back.

The Dark Sound Envoy's pupils constricted. He tried to dodge but was half a beat too slow.

As his own sonic blade pierced his chest, he looked toward Chen Fan in disbelief: "You... how could you..."

"You rely on sound to kill people," Chen Fan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "I'm using your lies to hit people now."

A light cough came from behind him.

Chen Fan's heart tightened; only then did he notice the fingertips of the Silent Child trembling violently near his neck.

The area where her palm touched the jade slip was losing temperature like melting snow water.

A system prompt popped up right on time: [Vital signs of the medium life form terminated, Resonance Protocol lifted].

"No!" Chen Fan's pupils shrank—the signal for the players globally just awakened by the "Stand Up" sound wave was about to be cut off!

He stopped abruptly, pressing the jade slip against his own chest, forcibly taking over the resonance channel with the critical hit system.

Excruciating pain sliced through his meridians. Veins bulged on his forehead, and sweat streamed down his chin, splashing onto the Silent Child's hair: "Hold on, just ten seconds."

The Critical Hit Foresight screen flashed wildly: [Must induce the system to issue at least 3 false prompts within 10 seconds to continue energy connection].

Chen Fan gritted his teeth, suddenly raising the hammer of the thunder god high and yelling toward the sky: "I have cracked Black Crow's key!"

The system indeed responded.

As the prompt [Warning: Unauthorized information dissemination, activating mental erasure] began to surface, Chen Fan laughed—it was a lie!

The system had no authority to crack the key at all.

[Countdown: 3... 2... 1—Stacking!]

The second wave of critical hits flooded in. He felt the golden flow inside him grow even hotter.

"The Sound Prison Tower is fake, you are the prisoners!" he roared, his voice hoarse.

Immediately, the sky displayed: [Target cleared, mission complete]—another lie!

Chen Fan stared at the word "Triple Stack" on the Critical Hit Foresight screen, and golden light suddenly exploded from his body.

The jade slip vibrated wildly in his palm. Somewhere in a rental room globally, a delivery driver was kicking over the system's forcibly issued mission panel; in an underground dungeon, a female student was smashing a split nameplate against a ghoul; in a construction site dormitory, Old Wu crushed the light screen showing the survival permission countdown.

"Those who hear me, stand up..."

The intermittent yet clear sound wave, along with the golden light of the triple critical hit, slammed into the ears of tens of thousands of people.

Chen Fan staggered back, blood dripping from his mouth onto the Silent Child's pale face.

He looked down at her. The Little Girl had fainted, but her fingertips were still tightly gripping the edge of the jade slip, as if clinging to the last straw of life.

Alarms suddenly blared from the direction of the Shadow Pavilion in the distance. The furious roar of the Third Seat of the Red Robes pierced through the morning mist: "Lock down the East District, execute anyone carrying a jade slip!"

When he looked up, Chen Fan saw several dark figures speeding toward them from the clouds—the elites of the Shadow Pavilion had arrived.

He slowly squatted down, shielding the Silent Child beneath him, and the hammer of the thunder god struck the ground beside them with a 'clang'.

The night wind carrying the dust of the ruins brushed against his face. He stared at the approaching dark figures, a low laugh escaping his throat: "You said hearing me is resistance... Then I'll turn this place upside down."

The golden light pinned the pursuers in place like nails.

Chen Fan felt the movement in his arms growing weaker.

He gently pried open the Silent Child's fingers gripping the jade slip. The temperature he felt made his heart sink—it was cold as ice.

He stuffed the jade slip into her palm, then covered it with his own hand, trying to warm that coldness with his body heat.

"Little Girl..." His voice was hoarse. "Hold on. Wait until I tear down the Shadow Pavilion, and I'll take you to eat the sweetest candy."

A sound of tearing air came from the distance.

Chen Fan looked up; the black cloaks of the Shadow Pavilion elites were already billowing like crows within his sight.

He lowered his head, kissed the top of the Silent Child's hair, and moved her further behind the broken wall.

The hammer of the thunder god hummed in his palm, its goldenPattern creeping up his entire body along his arm.

"Come on," he wiped the blood from his face, flashing his white teeth in a grin. "I'm going to make enough noise today."

In the shadow behind the broken wall, the Silent Child's eyelashes fluttered, then slowly closed again.

The jade slip in her palm still faintly glowed, but no warmth came from it anymore.