92: Chapter 92 Collapse

Inside the main control room of the "Shenguo Ship" of the [Sky Engine] guild.

City Lord Zhao Tianyu strode toward the holographic command console, his face so dark it looked like it could drip water.

"Guild Leader, the aberration in the connecting bridge area has been preliminarily contained."

His personal secretary, Ying, stepped forward quickly, pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses, and asked in a grave tone.

"But Zhou An forced his way out. What... what should we do?"

City Lord Zhao Tianyu looked at the dot of light on the holographic screen that was speeding through the hail of gunfire while holding a girl. A final trace of hesitation flashed in his eyes. Then, this hesitation was completely crushed by the cold ruthlessness of someone in a position of power.

"Kill him."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu closed his eyes and squeezed the word out through his teeth.

"He has been bound to a severe source of contamination. As long as that woman is on his ship, the entire District 997 will be buried with him. Spare no cost, shoot him down!"

"Beep—"

The highest-level cross-frequency communication on the command console lit up, and the holographic projections of Guild Leader Lin Xiaotian, Minister Su Hongye, Guild Leader Qian Wanguan, and Alliance Leader Wu Feng appeared simultaneously around the conference table. The only one missing was the scar-faced man who reeked of filth.

"City Lord Zhao, everyone saw the live stream just now."

Guild Leader Lin Xiaotian's face was equally livid.

"That woman named Luo Ning is definitely one of the initial outbreak points that triggered this large-scale high-dimensional contamination. I have already dispatched three LV4 capital ships from the Divine Realm and a formation of two hundred drones to pursue her."

"The Hongyan Pavilion guards have also been deployed in full force."

Minister Su Hongye put away her usual coquettishness, her eyes cold and sharp.

"No matter how high Zhou An's combat power is, he is now a walking bomb. We must vaporize his fortress along with that monster before he completely loses his mind!"

"Agreed."

"The Divine Pavilion will also dispatch the First Legion to join the extermination!"

...

On the other side, amidst the gale and hail of bullets ten thousand meters in the air.

"Boom!"

Zhou An held Luo Ning and smashed into the receiving hatch of the [Cloud Top Fortress] like a meteor. The hatch slammed shut behind them, blocking several plasma missiles that exploded while grazing the armor.

"EVA! Activate maximum authority! Take over all energy, evade and escape at full speed!"

[Command received! Main engine overloading, attempting to break out of the encirclement!]

Zhou An didn't dare to delay for even a second. Holding the violently convulsing Luo Ning, he rushed to the second-floor medical room and shoved her into a recuperation pod.

He frantically pulled out antidotes and mental stabilizers of various colors from his storage space, and without even caring about pharmacological conflicts, he went mad and injected them all into Luo Ning's body using an intravenous injection gun.

"It's useless... it's all useless..."

Watching those expensive agents being instantly devoured by the violent purplish-black energy inside Luo Ning the moment they were injected, Zhou An's hands shook so much that he could barely hold the injection gun.

"Rumble—"

Outside the fortress, the desperate chase that had lasted over ten minutes was extremely brutal.

High above in the sky, seven or eight LV4 heavy fleets were biting onto the [Cloud Top Fortress] like maggots on bones. The main laser cannons and tracking missiles in the sky wove a dense net of deathly firepower. These were the main forces of the major guilds; anyone else would have fallen long ago. Only because Zhou An had deep foundations could he hold out for so long.

[Warning! Your desperate talent: [Last Stand], remaining duration: 10 minutes!]

Zhou An looked at the blood-red countdown flickering on his retina, and a deep sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.

Once these ten minutes passed and the forced lockdown ended, he would instantly become a mindless monster under that terrifying contamination.

Just then, a dull thud suddenly came from inside the sleep pod.

"Bang!"

Luo Ning's hands were pressed hard against the transparent pod lid.

Thanks to her [Mad Scientist] talent's strong resistance to mental aberration and a trace of obsession deep in her soul, she managed to tear out a few seconds of absolute clarity from the endless chaos on the verge of complete corruption.

"Bo... ss..."

Luo Ning was entirely enveloped in viscous dark liquid, looking at Zhou An, whose eyes were blood-red outside the pod.

"Kill me..."

"We... provoked an existence we shouldn't have provoked in the beginning..."

Before she could finish, the will of the abyss, filled with fury, instantly destroyed her last line of rational defense.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!"

Luo Ning let out a shrill, piercing scream!

Her originally fair body burst open inside the pod, and several thick black tentacles, covered in barbs and suckers, pierced directly out from her back and shoulders, thrashing wildly against the special glass!

Her legs began to twist and deform, turning into reverse-jointed goat hooves covered in coarse black hair.

And on her forehead, cheeks, and even the exposed viscous flesh, seven or eight turbid yellow horizontal pupils, radiating extreme malice and chaos, opened in unison!

The entire medical room was instantly filled with an extremely eerie bleating sound and evil whispers that made one's head split with pain—it was the incomplete reflection of a high-dimensional god!

"Luo Ning!!!"

Zhou An's eyes were splitting with rage. He pulled out the cutting blade at his waist, gripped the hilt tightly with both hands, but he couldn't bring himself to strike.

Kill her?

How could he possibly do that! Just a few hours ago, this girl was still smiling back at him with her hands behind her back under the spotlight.

For nearly half a year, she was the one who accompanied him, joking and bantering under this cold sky.

"I can't do it... I can definitely save you! System! Store! Find me an antidote!!"

Zhou An roared at the air like a broken beast, but the cold system interface contained no items capable of reversing divine contamination.

At this moment, EVA's emotionless electronic alarm sounded, pronouncing the death sentence for this desperate situation.

[Ultimate Warning! Fortress external armor damage has reached 86%!]

[Warning! The firepower endured exceeds the limit, the trait [Smallest Giant] automatic repair rate has collapsed!]

[Warning! Detected that the fire control radars of the eight LV4 capital ships behind have completed final locking, main cannons are charging—]

Zhou An looked up through the shattered porthole.

He saw in the night sky behind him that eight beams of destructive light, capable of completely vaporizing the entire fortress along with the surrounding sea of clouds, had already lit up with the blinding light of death.

There were no miracles, and there was no way out. No LV4 fortress could survive under this level of concentrated fire.