86: Warning! The main body will be annihilated in three seconds!

Outside the steel factory, chaos reigned.

The awakened crowd, under the command of Su Wanqing's team, was forcibly herded towards the safe zone for evacuation.

"Hurry! Don't look back!"

The earthen wall built by Shi Lei formed a lifeline.

The strong winds whipped up by Liu Yan pushed those with weak legs, giving them no chance to stop.

Panic.

Screams.

Cries.

But, ultimately, there was order.

Su Wanqing stood at the very back, her communicator, due to signal interference, only finally connected after they had retreated several hundred meters from the factory area.

"Director!" Her voice carried a hint of urgency.

From the other end of the communicator came Zhou Weiguo's steady voice: "What's the situation?"

"The citizens are largely under control and are being evacuated. Apocalypse Society members activated a Great Sacrificial Formation, creating a monster suspected to be B-class!"

Su Wanqing spoke extremely fast.

"Lin Yuan... to cover our retreat, he alone held back the monster."

"He and the monster formed an energy clash... now, the situation is unclear!"

On the other end of the communicator, there was silence.

Only for a second.

But this second of silence made Su Wanqing feel an unprecedented pressure.

"Coordinates."

Zhou Weiguo only said two words.

Su Wanqing immediately reported the precise coordinates of the steel factory.

"You all... lead the people three kilometers out, establish a quarantine zone, and no one is allowed to approach."

"Yes!"

"Wait a moment." Zhou Weiguo spoke again.

Su Wanqing's heart tightened: "Director?"

"A support team is already en route and will assist with your evacuation efforts. Ensure civilian safety, then stand by, replenishing your status."

Zhou Weiguo's words were brief, not mentioning Lin Yuan again.

But Su Wanqing heard a hint of... resolve in this deliberate avoidance.

"Yes!" She hung up the communication.

Almost the instant she hung up.

Several kilometers from the steel factory, inside a camouflage-painted mobile command vehicle.

Zhou Weiguo slowly put down the communicator.

Then, his figure vanished into thin air within the cramped vehicle compartment.

Not a single energy fluctuation.

Not a single spatial ripple.

As if he had never existed... In the center of the steel factory.

Lin Yuan felt like a gas tank with countless holes poked in it.

The energy within his body was being frantically drained.

His Dantian Thunder Sea no longer existed.

In its place was a vortex composed of gold and black-purple.

The heavenly thunder fragment and abyssal origin, these two masters who had been wreaking havoc inside him, had been squeezed dry of their last bit of power.

They floated weakly at the edge of the vortex, flickering unsteadily.

"Damn it..."

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die..."

Lin Yuan's consciousness was already somewhat blurry.

The intense pain had long since become numb.

His body was being forcibly transformed into a shape he himself could not comprehend.

Every cell was wailing.

Then, it was reorganized in the black-purple lightning, becoming more violent, more chaotic.

"Warning! Godly body structure is undergoing irreversible transformation..."

"Lightning attribute is completely transforming into 'Abyssal Tribulation Thunder'...".

"Transformation progress: 98%... 99%..."

Lin Yuan no longer had the strength to pay attention to the warnings on the system panel.

He only knew one thing.

He was about to explode.

The ugly monster opposite him also seemed to be on its last legs.

The monster, mutated from the masked man, no longer possessed its previous might.

Its five-meter-tall body was like an overinflated balloon, its surface covered with bulging tumors about to burst.

Black-purple electric arcs shot out from its seven orifices and from every crack in its body.

It wanted to stop, to sever the energy link with Lin Yuan.

However, the rules of the Great Sacrificial Formation, like the most vicious curse, bound it and Lin Yuan tightly together.

This "gourmet feast" was either eaten to death or burst to death.

There was no third option.

"Roar... Ugh..."

A whimper, akin to begging for mercy, emanated from the monster's throat.

Its single eye stared fixedly at Lin Yuan, no longer filled with greed, but with endless fear and regret.

If it had known this thing was so "addictive," it would have died before absorbing it!

"Now you know your mistake?"

Lin Yuan sensed the other party's emotions, bared his teeth, tried to smile, but only pulled at the bloody foam at the corners of his mouth.

"Too late."

"I said... eat until you're full..."

"Can't waste it."

"Warning! Energy transformation complete!"

"Main body energy has completely transformed into 'Abyssal Tribulation Thunder'!"

"Warning! [heavenly thunder fragment], [abyssal origin] energy depleted, about to collapse!"

"Warning! Energy balance is about to be broken! In three seconds, the main body will undergo a chain reaction of energy annihilation!"

"3..."

In Lin Yuan's mind, only one thought remained.

Damn it.

This severance pay, eight figures... I wonder how much tax I'll have to pay.

"2..."

The monster opposite seemed to also sense its impending doom.

It let out one last wail, and its body began to collapse.

Countless black-purple lightning bolts burst forth from its body!

"1..."

The chain reaction began.

The energy vortex within Lin Yuan's body lost its final restraint.

"Boom—!"

No sound.

No light.

In that instant, the entire world seemed to have been muted.

Centered on Lin Yuan, an energy of annihilation began to spread outwards.

That was not an explosion.

But a kind of... erasure.

Air, light, matter... everything, upon contact with this energy, was silently decomposed, turning into the most primitive particles.

The steel beams of the factory silently disappeared.

The ground silently disappeared.

A void domain was expanding outwards.

Ten meters.

Twenty meters.

Fifty meters.

It was about to engulf the entire factory area, and then continue outwards, erasing everything in this urban area from the world.

Just then.

A figure abruptly appeared at the boundary between the annihilation domain and the real world.