The Final Showdown

"Chhh-chhh-chhh... screeech, chhh, screeech... Hello?!" The voice came from the other end. Inside the medical station's underground safe room, attempts to establish outside communications had never ceased from the very beginning. *Hello? Was that... was that a 'hello' just now?!* The communications operator froze, his body trembling. He turned his head toward his colleague beside him, seeking confirmation. His colleagues' eyes went wide. They nodded, then lunged forward. "Hello? Hello... this is Medical Station 101." "Can you hear us?" "Hello?! Hello!" "This is Medical Station 101." "Hello?! Hello! Say something! Please, say something!" Nothing. Aside from that single "hello," no further transmission came through. The only response from the communicator remained an endless sea of static... After a brief wave of disappointment, people tried to gather their spirits. At the very least, it proved that command had noticed something amiss in this sector and was actively trying to breach the communications jamming. It likely also meant reinforcements would come, or were already on their way... But for now, those on the surface had to hold out, perhaps until they could hold out no longer. "Han Qingyu! Han Qingyu is back... He and Wu Xu have tied down all the enemy's top experts... He pinned one of them to the corner building! Pinned him up high!" Her white coat flapping around her, a female doctor ran along, shouting to the people in the underground safe room. Her expression and voice were filled with exhilaration and delight. In the dim space, her energy swept through the crowd like a beam of hope cutting in. People looked at one another in confusion, then realization struck, and they stood up. *** On the surface, side building, operating room. The loud crash from the neighboring building was clearly audible high above. Mu Qijian heard it. The moment she raised her head and straightened up, she staggered back a few paces, saved only by a nurse catching her in time. Tonight, surgery had practically never stopped. "What happened outside?!" Mu Qijian turned her head and asked with concern. Looking out the window toward the upper side building, Mu Xiaolan pulled back her gaze. She had been holding her breath so hard. If she hadn't feared disturbing the surgery with a loud shout, she would have yelled out moments ago. Even now, she didn't shout. Mu Xiaolan turned around, her face mask making her wide eyes stand out even more. Sweeping her gaze across the people in the room, she tried to speak calmly: "Han Qingyu pinned someone to the corner building. The guy is still hanging there, pinned up high. He was an expert who injured and killed quite a few of ours with a spear earlier, and now he's pinned to the wall by his own spear. "Wu Xu also ran someone through with a spear, lifting him like a paper lantern. When he pulled the spear back, the guy crashed down. That guy was formidable too—he charged back and forth several times with a staff—but Wu Xu killed him." Her account lacked the vivid colors of a battle description and wasn't remotely dramatic, yet it was inexplicably uplifting. When Mu Xiaolan finished, someone in the operating room trembled as their fist clenched, and tears fell from someone else's eyes. Before, they had truly been terrified, even as they gritted their teeth and persevered. Before, it had felt so stifling and painful, because everyone knew they truly could not match the enemy tonight... That was why this current feeling brought such profound joy and excitement. "Kill them! Good kill!" "Yes, kill them!" "Kill them!" These cries of "kill," coming from female doctors and nurses, carried no martial chill, but rather a completely different kind of murderous intent—one born of raw, bone-deep hatred. "What about the strongest one?" Mu Qijian suddenly asked. "That one is still alive. There are still six of them left," Mu Xiaolan said. Mu Qijian's gaze flickered with unease. She nodded. "Mm." Suppressing her anxiety, she lowered her head and went back to work. "Should I head downstairs to see?" Mu Xiaolan asked. "Go," Mu Qijian said with a firm nod. Amid the rapid patter of footsteps, the nurse dashed down the stairs. "Roar!" "Roar!" Cheering roars drifted up from below. He Zengsheng, who had once attacked the Azure reserve station and had struck Medical Station 101 tonight, was dead, pinned high upon the wall. Pity there was no wind tonight, or he might have swayed gently in the breeze. Almost in unison, the gazes turned upward snapped back down. Amid the cheers, the besieging disciples of the seven clans began to waver, more and more of them constantly glancing over their shoulders. Over there, twin blades in hand, Han Qingyu walked toward the battlefield—toward Wu Xu, whose body was already half-drenched in blood. Before the two of them stood Tian Hetai and the five remaining core experts of the seven clans. This would be the final showdown. At this moment on the field, battle commanders like Wang Zhanpo felt joy, but not the slightest trace of relief. Having just held the line against them, they knew roughly how strong Tian Hetai was, and even more, that he hadn't exerted his full strength just now. Only the doctors and nurses behind them, unaware of the details, were filled with optimism. "Right, where's Xiao Li? Is she in the safe room?!" Amid the flurry of chatter, Wen Jifei suddenly remembered he hadn't seen Xiao Li the entire time, so he asked. "She... they... because they were on duty in the outpatient emergency building, they were captured right when the attack began. Later, they might have been moved away," a nurse beside him said. "You see... they didn't have the strength to resist..." She seemed to want to offer some explanation. Yet it was completely unnecessary. Who would demand that defenseless doctors and nurses fight to the death in a situation like that? They likely hadn't even had time to react. "I know," Wen Jifei nodded. *So a group of people has already been abducted from the medical station?* His heart clenched. Wen Jifei remembered that earlier on the mountain road, from far away across the bend, he had caught sight of a military truck driving in the opposite direction. Back then, in his rush to render aid, he hadn't thought much of it, assuming it was fleeing staff or someone seeking help outside. *What should we do? Take people and pursue?!* The mountain road wound loop after loop; it might feel as though a vehicle had driven far away, when in straight-line distance it hadn't covered much ground at all. Catching up wasn't out of the question. As long as the vehicle could be spotted, people with strength like Wu Xu and Han Qingyu could trigger an apparatus burst and pursue in a straight line. However, glancing at the people around him now, Wen Jifei could only shelve the thought for the moment. With a heavy heart, he turned his gaze back to the distant battlefield. *** Two down. Eight minus two. One had been an overwhelming crush of strength after a full burst, combined with a hard counter in fighting style; the other carried a fair amount of coincidence. But in the end, both were dead. Thinking back, compared to falling straight into a siege of eight, this was already vastly better. Blades gripped in hand. Han Qingyu now carried two mysterious bones on him. Earlier, He Zengsheng had been practically crippled by his slashes. Before sending the man up the wall, Han Qingyu had casually patted him down... and unexpectedly felt a cleft bone right then and there. Unlike Yu Yindou, He Zengsheng actually carried the cleft bone on his person... *Could he be a miser like me?!* Han Qingyu had no time to ponder further; securing the prize came first. Now, with twin blades in hand, Han Qingyu walked forward while stacking surges, triple source energy surges layering continuously. He knew Tian Hetai was an expert, but he didn't know just how formidable the man truly was... Across from him, Tian Hetai lifted his head and spoke. "You forced this old man's hand." *Fwoom!* With a ferocious roar of his source energy apparatus, Tian Hetai gripped his long mace with both hands and chopped down toward Wu Xu from above. The strike was utterly devoid of flourish, yet heavy. Fast. *Whoosh!* A brief, sharp sound ripped through the air and abruptly stopped. *Clang!* Without time to think, Wu Xu brought his spear across to block. Instantly, he felt as if struck by a massive hammer. The webbing between his thumb and forefinger tore open, and his figure was hurled backward. He planted the butt of his spear into the dirt, gouging a deep furrow through the ground as soil and stones sprayed outward. "Go!" Calling out, Tian Hetai didn't stop for a breath. Swinging his mace to stack surges, he charged straight at Wu Xu, aiming to finish him then and there. At the same instant, *fwoom!* A streak of blue light arrived first despite launching second, darting in front of Wu Xu as Han Qingyu charged straight for Tian Hetai. His right-hand blade blocked horizontally, taking the blow for Wu Xu, while his left-hand blade cut through the air, slashing toward Tian Hetai's neck. Tian Hetai didn't dodge. *Clang!* The heavy mace struck the blade first. The momentum of Han Qingyu's entire body was smashed to a halt, then battered backward in violent retreat. The left-hand blade naturally swung through empty air. For the first time—this was the very first time—Han Qingyu, under a three-turbine burst, had been directly repelled by another person's source energy surge. What was more, during the clash, he sensed something unusual. Tian Hetai's source energy surge at full burst was somewhat similar to his own—no, to be precise, remarkably similar to the source energy fluctuations of the mysterious cleft bone. Could it be that he had absorbed some source energy from the bone, or could he achieve mutual resonance with it?! His internal organs rattled. Flipping his grip, Han Qingyu stabbed both blades into the ground, barely halting his momentum, and stood back up... Turning his head, he glanced at Wu Xu, who had also just managed to steady himself. Han Qingyu forced a smile and said, "Seems... a bit strong? Not easy to take head-on... *cough, cough-cough.*" Blood welled from the split webbing of Wu Xu's hand, trickling down the black spear shaft. He nodded. "Mm... *cough!*" Han Qingyu: "I'm fine. What about you, can you still hold out? If not, take a rest first, and I'll go chop him to death." Wu Xu looked at him, as if wanting to say *take a look at the blood at the corner of your own mouth first*, and said, "I'm fine." Han Qingyu gave an inexplicable chuckle. *Can't let him outdo me,* Wu Xu thought, twitching the corner of his mouth, though he couldn't manage a smile. The true encirclement, the final showdown, had begun. While Wu Xu and Han Qingyu spoke, they had already been surrounded by the six men led by Tian Hetai. Surrounded or not, they had nowhere left to retreat anyway. The two stood side by side, angled half-turned to either flank.