40: Chapter 40 Desperados

The next three hours were long and torturous.

Relying on his meticulous piloting skills and the cover of the [Void Warp Stealth Field], Zhou An managed to survive in the gaps between these thousand-meter titans.

Amidst this high-pressure, extreme tug-of-war, Zhou An, that "sneaky bastard," even found time to squeeze in some crazy looting.

Although most of the wealth belonging to the cross-regional big shots crushed by the colossi was destroyed along with their vehicles, many sturdy, high-tier supply crates still remained in the ruins.

Piloting his invisible fortress like a vulture, Zhou An silently collected all of this "inheritance."

"Left, left! Steady, Boss! That purple-gold crate is about to get crushed!"

Luo Ning pressed against the porthole, slapping her thigh in anxiety.

Zhou An slammed the control stick, and the [Cloud Top Fortress] performed an incredibly flashy drift along the ground, sliding past the colossus's instep.

The mechanical tractor arm extended precisely, and with a "swish," just 0.1 seconds before the colossus's sole hit the ground, it snatched the purple-gold treasure chest and dragged it into the cargo hold.

"Oh my, the folks from District 998 are too polite. They're gone, yet they still had to leave us so many local specialties."

Zhou An wiped the cold sweat from his forehead while watching the numbers on the resource panel skyrocket, unable to suppress the grin spreading across his face.

Li Muzi held onto her safety belt tightly in the back, pale and with weak knees, but her marker pen continued to professionally and skillfully record the loot on the virtual panel: "B-Boss... are we counting as making money off the dead?"

"Don't go blurting out the truth like that!" Zhou An corrected her without turning his head, while deftly maneuvering the fortress to dodge a flying boulder.

"We are promoting humanitarian spirit by conducting emergency material recovery! We can't let the big shots' hard work go to waste in this wilderness, can we?"

"Boss, this really is seeking wealth in the midst of danger!"

Luo Ning counted the spoils, unable to help but exclaim: "Just the Tier 3 materials dropped by these few warships add up to nearly 400,000 units! And there are a huge number of blueprints inside too!"

Li Muzi was even more excited as she held up a polyhedron crystal shimmering with a deep blue light: "Boss! Look at this! I found it in the wreckage of that crushed heavy battleship! It's a [Quantum Matrix Hub]! A core component for LV4 upgrades!"

"Good!" Zhou An's eyes lit up.

Not only were they now overflowing with basic resources, but even the hardest-to-get core component had unexpectedly dropped.

This battle royale was practically a cross-regional delivery service bringing him packages!

Suddenly, an extremely cold system broadcast sounded again.

[Notification: Remaining surviving teams in the arena: 1!]

[Warning: As no other survivor teams remain, 'Fight of the Trapped Beasts' has entered the final stage! All Ancient Arbiters will lock onto the sole surviving target!]

"Beep—"

On the main console, the energy bar representing the active mode of the [Void Warp Stealth Field] was completely exhausted, and the light of the black cube dimmed.

The massive [Cloud Top Fortress] was abruptly exposed in the empty mid-air of the arena.

Almost the instant the fortress became visible, the dozen or so Ancient Arbiters that had been wandering around seemed to be hit by a pause button.

Immediately after, a dozen pairs of piercing, scarlet eyes locked onto Zhou An in perfect unison!

"Damn! They're all looking over here!"

Zhou An cursed angrily.

He operated the fortress at high speed.

"Boom!" The four heavy ducted fans roared to their limit, and the fortress shot upward at an angle like a cannonball.

"They have no intelligence, only the instinct to kill! Use the difference in their size to make them block each other!"

Zhou An's eyes were terrifyingly cold.

He maneuvered the fortress in a suicidal manner, charging directly into the space between the two closest colossi!

Both colossi simultaneously swung their mountain-like giant fists, smashing them down fiercely toward the fortress.

At the last possible moment before the fists closed, Zhou An decisively pulled the deceleration rudder, and the fortress suddenly hovered and dropped in mid-air!

"Bang—!!!"

The colossi's fists slammed into each other, unleashing a terrifying shockwave!

Half of one colossus's arm was even shattered, sending debris flying from the force of its companion's blow.

"Nice!" Luo Ning shouted.

Zhou An repeated the same maneuver, continuing to weave stylishly between the colossi.

For a time, roars continued incessantly, and several colossi frequently collided and caused friendly fire as they fought over the target.

However, although these colossi lacked intelligence, the combat instincts granted to them by the system were quickly correcting their errors.

After colliding four or five times, a despairing scene occurred.

The remaining dozen or so colossi eerily stopped in their tracks, ceasing their chaotic attacks and instead completely sealing off the entire airspace.

Subsequently, two massive leader-level Arbiters, wielding broken giant bronze axes, stepped out from the group of colossi!

"What the f*ck... rocks can coordinate tactics?!" Zhou An's scalp tingled.

These two leader-level colossi moved in unison, flanking Zhou An from front and back.

"Port side inclination 30 degrees! Full rudder!"

Just as Zhou An had narrowly dodged a domineering axe swing from the colossus in front, the colossus behind suddenly opened its abyssal mouth!

"Roar—!!!"

A materialized sonic storm swept over like a tsunami!

"Shield energy to max! Transfer all power to the thrusters!"

Zhou An roared frantically, and the fortress's composite energy shield was instantly compressed to the dangerous red line by the sound waves, emitting a teeth-grinding cracking sound.

Enduring the terrifying tremors, Zhou An forcefully maneuvered the fortress to complete a "cobra maneuver" at the very edge of the sonic storm, narrowly sliding out of this lethal blow!

However, before Zhou An could even catch his breath, the radar on the main console suddenly erupted with an extremely piercing, even heart-palpitating, top-level scarlet warning!

Those two leader-level colossi seemed to be thoroughly enraged by Zhou An's eel-like evasion.

They did not continue their blind pursuit, but suddenly halted their mountain-heavy footsteps.

The two colossi gazed at each other across the void, then simultaneously raised their broken giant bronze axes high above their heads, and with thunderous force, smashed them down fiercely into the void beneath their feet!

"Dong—!!!"

Accompanied by an ancient bell toll that seemed capable of shattering souls, an extremely piercing dark golden light erupted from the points where the two giant axes landed.

Immediately after, a scene of utter despair occurred.

Countless dense runes, exuding an aura of ancient vicissitudes, spread frantically from the void cracks where the giant axes had struck, like living chains.

These runes quickly intertwined and expanded, forming a massive hemispherical dark golden light curtain with a diameter of over ten kilometers in the blink of an eye, trapping the [Cloud Top Fortress] tightly in the center!

[System Extremely Serious Warning: High-tier domain skill detected — 'Ancient Arbiter's Imprisonment'!]

[Warning: This airspace has been absolutely anchored in space! Fortress power engine output has been forcibly suppressed by 80%!]

[Warning: Gravity within the domain has suddenly increased 10-fold! Composite shield is suffering destructive crushing!]

"Hum—"

It was as if an invisible, ten-thousand-zhang mountain had instantly pressed down on the top of the fortress.

The gravity simulation system in the hall declared collapse within a second; Zhou An's knees buckled violently, and his bones emitted unbearable cracking sounds.

His entire body was brutally pinned to the captain's chair, and even lifting a finger or turning his neck became extremely difficult.

Outside the porthole, the four heavy ducted fans that were originally capable of unleashing terrifying thrust now seemed to be stuck in thick, super-strong glue, emitting a shrill, desperate mechanical wail as their fan blade rotation speed dropped to freezing point at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The massive and agile [Cloud Top Fortress] was now like an insect completely frozen in amber, its pride-and-joy maneuverability completely stripped away.

At the edge of the domain, the two leader-level colossi were taking extremely heavy, yet unstoppable steps, like two judges pronouncing a death sentence, approaching the imprisoned fortress step by step.

"Push me too far, and nobody gets to have a good time!"

Zhou An gritted his teeth and turned abruptly, rushing toward the storage area on the first floor like a whirlwind.

The system space was forcibly opened, and the extremely dangerous slot he had listed as absolutely forbidden was completely unsealed.

[Severed Limb of an Unknown Abyssal Behemoth (Extremely Dangerous Item!)]

Zhou An directly used the fortress's external mechanical arm to roughly hang that half-section of a two-meter-long, dark purple tentacle, covered in eerie eyeballs and slime, onto the outermost armor of the [Cloud Top Fortress]!

"Hum—"

A wave of dark purple mental pollution, visible even to the naked eye, instantly spread frantically from the center of the fortress, like a tsunami, toward the entire arena!

Almost the instant the tentacle was taken out, the three people inside the fortress simultaneously let out a painful groan.

[Warning: Suffering from indescribable high-tier mental pollution!]

[SAN Value Decrease Speed: Extremely fast!]

"Damn, this thing's pollution radiation ignores physical armor!"

Zhou An felt like tens of thousands of bloodthirsty ants were crazily gnawing on his nerves inside his brain, and eerie, distorted double images began to appear before his eyes.

Relying on [Little Giant] and his Tier 3 formidable physique, he could barely maintain consciousness, but Luo Ning and Li Muzi clearly wouldn't last long.

"Muzi! Go back to your room immediately!" Zhou An roared sternly, his eyes bloodshot.

"Lie down on the [Recovery Bed]! Chug all those SAN-increasing foods and potions! Even if you have to die, you must endure these last few hours for me!"

Li Muzi's face was deathly pale, devoid of any color.

She was the weakest of the three in terms of combat power, and in just a few minutes, her SAN value had already dropped to the edge of danger.

She didn't waste words, biting her lip hard and using the rusty, bloody taste to force herself to stay awake, then stumbled back to her room.

As soon as she entered the room, she threw herself onto the recovery bed, her hands trembling as she pulled open the storage bar, cramming the recovery-attribute potions and food into her mouth like force-feeding a duck, desperately resisting that terrifying SAN-draining speed.

Meanwhile, in the hall.

Luo Ning, however, did not return to her room.

She stood there, abnormally calm, or perhaps one could say, insanely.

In just two minutes.

Under the pollution of the tentacle, her SAN value plummeted like a waterfall off a cliff.

90... 50... 20...

Finally, it stuck firmly at a dangerously low single digit—one!

"Boom!"

Luo Ning's eyes instantly turned as scarlet as blood, and the muscles all over her body began to twist and expand under a violent, unknown force, her originally petite figure erupting with a heart-palpitating sense of oppression!

[System Notification: Teammate 'Luo Ning' has triggered the passive 'Blood-Lock Berserk (Mad Scientist Form)'!]

[Remaining Duration: 3 hours!]

[Status: Locked at 1 SAN value, Mental Pollution Immunity!]

"Boss, leave these damn rock things to me."

Luo Ning's voice became hoarse and extremely bloodthirsty.

She pushed Zhou An aside, her whole body welding itself firmly onto the main console like an octopus.

In the berserk state, her neural reaction speed reached a terrifying, non-human level!

Under her control, the fortress instantly abandoned its previous stable navigation method, crazily weaving through the gaps in the colossi's torrential attacks in an extremely distorted, eerie trajectory like a snake-skin maneuver.

That level of extreme micro-management made even Zhou An's scalp tingle.

And the situation outside had undergone an astonishing reversal.

That terrifying mental pollution from the Abyssal Behemoth finally spread to those Ancient Arbiters like a plague.

These colossi, originally cold and like war machines, now actually began to tremble violently.

Their scarlet eyes flickered with extremely chaotic light.

"Roar... Roar!"

The two leader-level colossi, which had previously been in sync, suddenly gave up chasing the fortress, turned around, and frantically swung their giant bronze axes, smashing them fiercely into another colossus beside them!

"Boom!"

One colossus's head was brutally chopped off, and countless debris rained down onto the ground like a meteor shower.

The mental pollution completely destroyed the underlying logic of these Ancient Arbiters.

The remaining twelve colossi, amidst this terrifying abyssal whispering, completely fell into a state of frenzied mutual slaughter!

"Fight! Give it to me, fight fiercely!"

Zhou An leaned against the wall, panting heavily, staring fixedly at the extremely spectacular scene of the colossi brawling outside the porthole.

"Now..."

He looked at the slowly ticking battle royale countdown on the panel.

"We'll see whether this bunch of rock lumps gets smashed into powder by each other first, or whether the three of us get driven crazy by this damn tentacle first!"