Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Keith’s eye widened like two large pearls the moment he saw the black matt gloves this mysterious young man wore. He immediately looked up and also spotted a black-colored collar strapped around the young man’s neck!
It was the uniform of the mysterious organization coming after him!
Unlike the grunts of the mysterious organization, there was the addition of several translucent buttons on the collar that emitted a weak blue-ish glow which gave it a classier look.
Keith immediately turned as pale as a ghost as he stumbled several paces backward until he reached the door. He glared cautiously at the young man who stood before him.
“What is it, wasn’t it you wanted to give these items to me?”
The young man asked with a mocking smile as he took several steps toward Keith, “Why are you running, what are you afraid of? Are you worried that I might eat you?”
“D*mn!”
Panic washed across Keith’s eyes. For some reason he could not put into words himself, this plain-looking young man carried an overbearing aura that suffocated him. He immediately reached his gun and aimed it at the young man. “Don’t come any closer or else I’ll open fire!”
It was right at this moment where the sound of rotor blades coming from outside the window intruded the tranquility of the room. Both Keith and the mysterious young man looked out the window and saw a military helicopter flying outside the window, seemingly searching for something.
Upon seeing this, Keith clenched his jaw and pulled the trigger without any hesitation!
“Bang bang bang bang bang!”
A ripple of gunshots tore through the air. Even Keith did not know how many shots he had fired in total. When he came to his senses and looked in front of him, his expression became twisted into wordless shock!
What seemed like an invisible barrier held all of the fired bullets in mid-air and cut off their momentum instantaneously!
“Fool!”
A biting chill flashed across the young man’s eyes as he clutched Keith’s neck like how one would hold a helpless hatchling. It happened so quickly that Keith barely had time to react. All he felt was something tightening around his neck and his feet being lifted off the ground.
Sharp pain and a sense of suffocation rushed at Keith. He instinctively threw the gun with the empty magazine and tried to wring himself free from his enemy’s clutches. No matter how hard he beat at the mysterious young man’s arm that felt like a piece of steel bar, it refused to budge…
Moments before he thought that he was going to die, the sound of rotor blades repeated outside the window again. This time, there was a piercing flash of light that accompanied it!
“All inhabitants listen up. Put down your weapons. Get down on the ground and wait for the patrol officers to arrive!”
The young man in front of Keith seemed to be unfazed by this sudden warning. On the contrary, his eyes glowed with rage!
“No good…”
Keith felt the clutch around his neck tightening. Just as he felt he was about to have his neck crushed, he heard the sound of gunshots immediately followed by a violent force that flung him into the door behind him!
Somebody inside the helicopter had opened fire at the mysterious young man!
After registering what had happened, Keith acted immediately and dashed back into the corridor and made for the stairway.
“Is there any way to make it out of this situation?”
After Keith got away, the mysterious young man mumbled pensively to himself. He proceeded to turn around to face the helicopter and removed a deformed bullet the size of a fingernail that was stuck to the back of his hand, then he looked at the helicopter that had its mounted guns aimed in his direction.
“I repeat, all inhabitants are to set down your weapons and get down on the ground. Wait for our officers to arrive at the scene!”
The helicopter issued the same warning again.
The mysterious young man tilted his head to one side and suddenly waved his hand outward!
“Bang!”
There was an immediate explosion. The helicopter seemed to be hit by an invisible force and lost control. It immediately tumbled to the ground below!
“Boom!”
Several seconds later, a gigantic column of fire rose from the ground below. It was accompanied by a deafening explosion that tore through the silence of the night. The entire building shook!
“Mr. Chen Chen, you…”
Parker was baffled by everything he had witnessed in the last few seconds. He lay on the ground dumbfounded and looked at Chen Chen like he was staring at a ghost…
Chen Chen ignored Parker as he slowly and calmly turned around and exited the office.
Chen Chen formed a frown as he stepped out of the room. He briefly shook his head from side to side and soon felt a sharp pain invading his nose.
A steady stream of blood poured out of his nose.
“Sir Godfather, we’ve alerted the Northern American military that is here to search for the angel statues. They are advancing toward our position!”
Little X’s voice sounded across the earpiece, her tone was one of confusion. “You had a chance to kill him just now, why did you…”
“I only wanted to see if he had any way of escaping even after being forced into a corner like this.”
Chen Chen answered before Little X could finish forming her question, “It does seem like there’s something different about this Keith because the moment I saw him, my head started throbbing with pain. It’s probably a symptom of my exhaustion of Field this morning added with the injuries that I haven’t fully recovered yet…”
“I advise you to retreat for now. Since he already gave away the drug and its information, there’s nothing he has that can possibly threaten us anymore.”
Little X advised.
“You’re still too naive, X.”
Chen Chen shook his head. “You truly believe the drug and the USB drive he delivered aren’t fakes? Would someone as cautious as him meet Parker with the real drug before getting a proper read on the situation?”
Chen Chen took the bottle of drug as he said this and opened it to give it a quick sniff. He immediately tossed it onto the ground after that.
As expected, it was a fake.
“Others are unable to kill him but perhaps I can. From here on, I won’t be holding back anymore!”
Chen Chen wiped the blood off his nose and approached the stairway. He decided to not exhaust whatever was left of his Field and instead put one arm on the railing and jumped over it to the opposite staircase one floor below!
“Bang!”
There was a tremendous crash as he planted his feet on the opposite railing. After he steadied himself, he turned around and repeated the same process!
“Bang!”
“Bang!”
“Bang…”
The loud crashes echoed across the stairway at a fixed interval. Chen Chen descended the building rapidly at a pace of one floor every three seconds and made it to the bottom floor in under two minutes!
Just as he made it to the bottom, Little X informed again, “Sir Godfather, the target is escaping in a vehicle. The location he’s headed to is… The direction of the Herrank Warehouse District, the Black Knights are in close pursuit!”
Chen Chen frowned at this piece of news. Although Keith did not know about the ongoings in Los Angeles, he still made for the Herrank Warehouse District. This was no mere coincidence.
This was not the time to be bothered with these details. As soon as Chen Chen stepped out of the building, he saw a Black Knight waiting for him outside in a vehicle. He entered immediately and they proceeded to speed toward the direction of the Herrank Warehouse District…
With the rise of the killer statue cases in the city and mass casualty cases reported in the city hall, the police and military forces had evacuated from the Herrank Warehouse District. At this time, the only thing that remained in the area was a large array of police tapes that sectioned off the area.
A sedan appeared and drove along the road leading to the Herrank Warehouse District. Another vehicle emerged from the side of the road out of nowhere and rammed into the white sedan. The sedan was flipped over and tumbled in circles several times before it stopped at the entrance of the Herrank Warehouse.
The sedan was flipped over. A weak wail came from the inside of the car that was deformed at this point. Within moments, Keith crawled out of the sedan with his face covered in blood. There was a deep cut on his head that was inflicted during the collision…
Moments after that, several vehicles that were trailing after him stopped and had him surrounded. Dozens of Black Knights stepped out and formed a circle around him while Chen Chen also stepped out with a blanket wrapped around himself.
“Cough… You won’t get away, Keith.”
Chen Chen covered his mouth with his pale hands and coughed haggardly. “If you tell me where you hid the information on the AD-001, I might consider letting you live.”
“I won’t tell you, you’re never getting it!”
Keith shook his head insistently, a hint of despair surfaced in his eyes. “I never thought that even Mr. Parker would betray us. It’s a shame that I’ll never fulfill the promise I made with Professor Irwin…”
A flash of annoyance appeared in Chen Chen’s eyes when he saw Keith trying to garner sympathy. Within the next second, Keith suddenly felt his vision turning into a blur. He seemed to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a card flying toward him that sent him tumbling backward!
From Keith’s perspective, he only felt his body turning light as a feather. He felt himself spinning in circles in the air and as he spun, he caught a glimpse of something baffling. He saw his body along with his feet firmly planted to the ground…
Could it be…
Keith seemed to have realized what was happening but before he could properly process what was happening, his consciousness had faded away rapidly…
“Thump!”
There was a sound of what sounded like a ball dropping on the ground. It was Keith’s head that was sent tumbling away more than twenty meters away!
Keith was dead.
One of the Black Knights walked toward the head of the decapitated Keith. The Black Knight raised its right feet in the air and stomped it down hard on Keith’s head!
With a gruesome splatter, what was once Keith’s brain was turned into a mesh of meat under the Black Knight’s boots!
A large amount of blood and brain particles splattered across the small square in front of the Herrank Warehouse District.
A gentle breeze carried the scent of flesh and blood toward Chen Chen’s direction. He only shook his head ever so slightly as he saw this. Now, he was sure there was no way Keith could be brought back to life, not even with the help of Medpod 3000.
Chen Chen summoned the nano poker card back into his hands and felt another sharp pulse of pain in his head. He knew that this was a result of overuse of Field. He did not expect that even using the graphite poker cards would put this much stress on him.
It was at this point when Little X suddenly alerted, “Sir Godfather, the military is here, they’re behind us!’
As soon as Little X said this, several military helicopters appeared in the sky above and they had their sights aimed at Chen Chen. At the same time, a fleet of military vehicles was quickly approaching from the distance as well!
Hundreds of armed soldiers stepped out of their vehicles as soon as they arrived at the plaza in front of the Herrank Warehouse District and began setting up a defensive formation.
Chen Chen was surrounded!
Chen Chen was surrounded by countless soldiers that covered both the ground and the sky above and cut off all potential exits. Despite all this, Chen Chen seemed unfazed as he proceeded to order, “X, cut off the military satellite and intercept their contact with the headquarters!”
“Understood!”
Little X acted immediately upon receiving the order. Within ten seconds, she spoke again, “I’ve hacked into the military satellite communication system, they won’t be able to restore it within twenty-four hours at least!”
Chen Chen nodded and turned to look at the army in front of him. The soldiers that surrounded him numbered somewhere between seven and eight hundred. At this point, the chief officer in charge got on the roof of a jeep and announced with a megaphone, “Mr. Chen Chen, allow me to introduce myself, I’m Lieutenant Colonel Wilson in charge of the 52nd Battalion of the 3rd Division, part of the Northern American Division Army. I have come today to put you under arrest under charges of direct violation of the ‘Earth Federation-Northern America District Independent Act’ and a range of crimes including open manslaughter, assault on the army, and warmongering. Please surrender immediately and you may receive further leniency in court!”
Had they discovered my identity?
Chen Chen was not even remotely shocked to hear his name coming out of the lieutenant’s lips. His lips curled into a hideous smile as he asked, “So, it’s Lieutenant Wilson. In that case, I suppose Keith entrusted the drug and the USB drive to you?”
“That’s right, my troops received the belongings of the civilian, says that it’s meant to be given to the Northern American government.”
Lieutenant Wilson continued. “This isn’t the time to discuss this. We’ve all witnessed a murder scene. Mr. Chen Chen, do you have anything to say in your defense?”
“No, I killed him, I have nothing to say in defense!”
When Chen Chen heard that the drug was under the army’s possession, he smiled and revealed a row of marbly white teeth. At the same time, he shook his wrist and made a weird, slender metal rod appeared in his hands.
Within the hollow layer of the metal rod, one could faintly make out a bright red fluorescent liquid steadily flowing inside it. There were two buttons attached to the tube, one painted in blue and the other in green.
When Chen Chen clicked the blue button, a jet-black needle head popped out of one end of the metal rod with a swift “swoosh”!
“Alright, Mr. Chen Chen, we’ve recorded everything you’ve just said. Now, we’d like it if you and your subordinates don’t resist our arrest. We’ll hand you over to the investigation department of the Earth Federation after this.”
The lieutenant was mildly surprised to hear Chen Chen admit to his crimes. He felt like he saw the golden hands of fate waving at him and presenting his promotion ahead of him. He immediately gave a signal and sent a group of soldiers to Chen Chen.
Seeing this, Chen Chen no longer hesitated. He raised the metal rod in his hand and stabbed it right into his heart!
Chen Chen felt a chill seeping into his heart. The needle approximately ten centimeters long went all the way into his heart. He proceeded to tap the green button after that!
“Hnnghh…”
There was the sound of liquid pumping as the stark red liquid contained inside the metal container was injected into Chen Chen’s body!
“What are you doing!”
The color drained away from the lieutenant’s face when he saw what Chen Chen did. He seemed to have realized something as he cried out, “Stop him, he’s trying to kill himself!”
The soldiers sped up their advance toward Chen Chen when they heard this. By this point, Chen Chen was trembling all over. His entire body was jolting violently as if some tremendous force within was about to burst at any given moment.
The soldiers gazed in Chen Chen’s direction with an uncertain look between them. What happened after that was something that they would never forget!
They all watched as Chen Chen’s body suddenly enlarged. It started with the sound of fabric being torn apart as Chen Chen’s flesh tore through his coat to reveal another layer of black tights he wore underneath!
Underneath the black tights, Chen Chen’s muscles bulged upward and outward. He started to get down on his knees and curled his body into a ball and soon roared with every ounce of strength he had in his body!
“Ah-!”
Something repeatedly popped and crackled inside Chen Chen amid his howl until a certain point, something started prodding out of his back as if it were trying to burst out of its shell!
“Thump!”
In the end, even the black tights Chen Chen wore was unable to contain his ever-expanding figure anymore. A large mass of bones shot out of Chen Chen’s back and transformed Chen Chen into a spiked beast!
The soldiers halted their steps at the sight of this monstrosity. Their eyes widened with horror and disbelief.
Chen Chen’s transformation was not completed just yet. After his clothes were ripped apart, his figure was still expanding at a rapid pace. At one point, his skin was ripped through and revealed rows of stark red flesh underneath! The torn skin then began regenerating at breakneck speed. However, the skin after healing turned into a light-gray color instead of the regular color of human skin. It was soon replaced with a bony layer that spread all across his body. His body was soon covered with a plated armor of bones!
Chen Chen’s face went through a sharp transformation as well. First, he split his jaws wide open and revealed two rows of densely arranged razor-sharp teeth. The tooth on the furthest end of both rows was especially long and sharp. When he raised his head, they saw that the surface of his skin had also turned into a boned structure. He had turned into what seemed like a skeletal monstrosity!
They all looked on with a mix of horror and amusement as Chen Chen turned into a monster that stood more than three meters tall, weighing more than four hundred kilograms in a matter of seconds!