With Embers and Aether, Everyone Looks Like Easy Pickings!

Hospital, third floor. Beneath a sky mired in near-perpetual dusk, it was impossible to tell morning from night. A scruffy, stubble-faced man crouched in the corridor, irritably grinding a cigarette butt beneath his heel. "Damn it, how long has he been in there? Why hasn't he come out yet?" "What's the rush?" The gaunt man beside him cast him a sidelong glance. "Look at Ximin. Look how calm she is. Learn a thing or two from her." Right next to the pair, a woman with a sallow, waxy complexion knelt on the floor in prayer, muttering scriptures and sacred texts, entirely unperturbed. *Who the hell can act like a psycho like that?* The bearded man, An Jiexu, felt his face twitch, but he didn't dare say it aloud. "In any case, don't be hasty," Kong Yebai admonished. "The Hierophant's instructions must be carried out to the letter. Complete this sacred work properly, and you too will be granted purification and blessings down the line." "Of course, of course, you're right," An Jiexu offered an obsequious grin. "It's just that I saw that old bastard dragging corpses pass by several times. What if..." "Rest assured. As long as you don't fight right in front of them, those damned things won't give a damn even if you beat someone's brains out," Kong Yebai comforted with a slight smile. "The Hierophant holds you in high regard. Make sure you perform well this time." "Naturally! Absolutely!" An Jiexu nodded with a smile, while inwardly cursing up a storm. *Damned wretched luck! If it weren't for the money, who the hell would mingle with you lunatics from the Evil Transmutation Cult? To hell with your Holy Spirit and sacred rites.* *A meal's a meal wherever you earn it.* *Once this mess is over, I'm heading straight to the Mid-Continent. What could you bastards possibly do to me then?* Just as his thoughts wandered, the woman kneeling in prayer suddenly opened her eyes. "He's out," Wang Ximin said. At that very moment, the dust-caked door at the end of the corridor slowly swung open. "Oh, come on, we're practically family! No need to see me off!" Ji Jue waved with a genial smile, politely declining the escort. "Right here is fine. I'll be fine from here!" Then, beneath his sleeve, he smoothly slipped another bulging blood bag across. Immediately, the old ghost—already half-translucent with spiritus—beamed with sheer delight, his cloudy eyes brightening with vigor as though he were looking at his own beloved grandson. "Come by whenever you have time, lad!" "Don't you worry, I'll be visiting all the time!" Ji Jue pushed his cart forward and waved goodbye. "I'll get back to work now!" "Work, yes, busy is good!" Clutching the warm blood bag, the old ghost watched him walk far into the distance, letting out a forlorn sigh. "Being busy is good... It's good to be busy..." The door clicked shut. Looking at the veritable mountain of bottles and jars stacked atop the pushcart, Ji Jue could no longer suppress his beaming grin. What a fantastic place. A truly wonderful place! Especially after slipping a few gifts, it was better than ever! It was like strolling through a damn supermarket—tossing all sorts of oddities onto the cart as if everything was on the house. Had he known such a treasure trove existed, he would have applied to work in the storehouse straight away. Why would he have ever bothered running off to obstetrics? He was definitely coming back next time! "He's out." Kong Yebai's eyes lit up as he gripped An Jiexu's shoulder. "Stick to the plan. You spearhead the attack, and Ximin and I will support you. Wrap it up as fast as possible, understood?" "Leave it to me." An Jiexu grinned, his full beard twitching. "I do this kind of thing all the time." The moment he bent his back, his frame hunched and shrank inward, making him look frail, withered, and entirely harmless with his light, unsteady steps. Next, he punctured a blood bag, letting a stream of crimson spill down his chest. By the time he rounded the corner, he was already staggering, breathing raggedly as though he were on his last legs. "H-Help..." Fat teardrops rolled down his cheeks as he leaned against the wall, weakly waving toward Ji Jue. Behind him, concealed around the corner, the woman who had been kneeling in prayer closed her eyes once more, pressing her palms together as whispered incantations poured from her lips. Amidst her feverish piety, spiritus stirred restlessly, flowing forward soundlessly like water toward the distance. Silently, handleless blades drifted out from behind the ceiling tiles, darting forward like a school of ravenous fish, closing in at breakneck speed. "Help me, brother... Please, help me..." An Jiexu's voice grew shriller, his face contorting in an effort to hold Ji Jue's attention. "This hospital... I know their secret... They've been secretly experimenting on Celestial Chosen... Save me, and I'll tell—" Before he could finish his sentence, he froze. Upon noticing him, the young man pushing the cart hadn't panicked, nor had he backed away. In fact, he showed no reaction at all, as though he couldn't even be bothered to spare him a second glance. He simply pushed the cart forward. He continued until he was barely five paces away. Then, with complete nonchalance, he pulled a crude, freshly welded, still-steaming handgun out from a compartment in the cart and pointed it right at An Jiexu's forehead. "Great acting. Don't ever do it again." The trigger was pulled, unleashing a deafening roar. A mercury bullet of absurd caliber burst from the barrel welded out of rebar pipe, expanding rapidly in An Jiexu's stunned eyes as it blasted toward his face. An Jiexu only had time to raise his arms in front of him on pure reflex. In that split second, his disguise shattered. His body inflated violently, and a crimson metallic sheen surfaced across his raised arms, face, and torso. Like glowing-red iron, scorching heat radiated from his skin. Yet, beneath the bullet's terrifying kinetic impact, his forward-most left arm bent visibly, gouged open with a deep fracture! Mercury seeped into the flesh beneath the wound, triggering waves of searing agony. How the hell was this a gun?! It was practically a cannon! "You little motherfucker—" Heavy iron armor rapidly sprouted from beneath his white coat, encasing his entire frame and turning him into an iron man in an instant. Yet what moved faster than him was the ceiling shattering above. The moment the shot rang out, dozens of handleless blades guided by telekinesis rained down like a torrential storm... But as if anticipating the ambush, that little bastard took a sharp leap backward the instant he pulled the trigger. Immediately after, he flipped his lab coat over his head, hunching down to shield his face. As though a mere coat could stop blades rivaling armor-piercing weaponry... Yet in the very next instant, to An Jiexu's dumbfounded disbelief, a massive volume of liquid solution welled from beneath the coat, saturating the fabric. Through Fluid Alchemy and the material property enhancement unique to Embers, the ordinary white lab coat hardened in a flash. It turned tougher than forged iron! Blades capable of piercing solid steel struck the fabric, only to dig in a negligible fraction of an inch—or simply lost all momentum entirely, clattering uselessly to the floor. Even before impact, they had been stripped of their motive force... Only then did a shrill scream erupt from the corner where Wang Ximin hid. In an instant, a foul wind whipped through the corridor. By the time she sensed the danger, it was already too late! When the praying woman opened her eyes in a frenzy, she saw the 'vicious hound' that had slipped its leash—the two-headed ghost fetus, which had crawled a full lap around the building's exterior before smashing through the window to pounce on her! Its split expressions of ferocity and delight tore open down the middle into a gaping maw that spewed a rushing torrent of frost, instantly freezing her limbs. Then, ravenous, the ghost fetus clamped onto her face, tearing and gorging with wild abandon. "Aaaaagh!" Amidst uncontrollable screams, she struggled wildly, her scattered telekinesis repeatedly attempting to tear the monster from her face. But gripped by blinding pain, her mind couldn't focus at all. Her eyeballs and tongue were gouged out in a flash by razor-sharp claws and swallowed whole, blood spilling everywhere. "Kong... Old Kong... Save... Save me! Save meee!" *Thump!* Following a dull crack, a bloody hole suddenly appeared in her face. She fell backward, completely still. Meanwhile, the teammate she had desperately cried out to only now turned his head in sluggish delay, reaching out with reactions slowed by dozens of times. Only now did he register the faint chill at his neck, followed by radiating agony. Drowsiness surged through his consciousness, accompanied by uncontrollable lightheadedness and an inexplicable euphoria. His lungs seized up, and his heart spasmed violently. *No... I've been... poisoned...* He collapsed onto his back, limbs contorting and twitching uncontrollably. His face turned a sickly bruised shade of purple, dark veins crawling up from his neck to his cheeks. White foam bubbled rapidly from his lips. In the final instant before losing consciousness entirely, the last thing he saw was a pair of tall leather boots slowly materializing out of thin air. Tong Hua. She was currently panting heavily with tension, barely able to keep her footing. In all her life, she had never experienced anything so thrilling... "One against two?!" Staring in shock at her own handiwork, she blurted out, "Holy shit, I'm a badass!" In her left hand, she held the handgun Ji Jue had just improvised for her in the storehouse. In her right was a needleless jet injector, its attached medicine vial now completely drained. Propofol, ketamine, fentanyl, morphine, dolantin, tramadol... A cocktail of expired anesthetics found in the storehouse, refined by Ji Jue's Non-Offensive to an appalling degree of purity, mixed together pell-mell, and injected straight into Kong Yebai's carotid artery. Ji Jue didn't have a medical license, nor did he know much pharmacology. God only knew what would happen after pumping such a terrifying concoction into someone, but as long as it worked, that was all that mattered! Against an Entropy-path Celestial Chosen, it was more than enough. Pity poor Kong Yebai—as the heavy-hitting carry among the three, renowned as a deadly assassin even before joining the cult, he had been brought down before he could even activate his matrix or use an ability. If anyone was to blame, it was the sheer absurdity of an Aether Celestial Chosen's tracking capabilities combined with the Tong family's inherited matrix and techniques! Her observational prowess, far superior to other Aether Celestial Chosen of the same tier, had allowed her to easily pick up the stalkers' trail. Meanwhile, Matrix: Yesterday Once More excelled at reading the residual history and past impressions imprinted on physical objects. Paired with the Marks of History technique, she had essentially peeled away every shred of secrecy from the three targets right from their footprints... One Desolate Ruins, with the Red Bronze matrix, specializing in shapeshifting and heavy assaults. One Tianyuan, with the Wanyu matrix, specializing in telekinesis. And one Entropy, with the Feilian matrix, adept at manipulating air pressure... One Metamorphosis and two Callings. She had practically laid out their exact dimensions and dates of birth in a neat spreadsheet before Ji Jue, asking him how he wanted to take the fight! How to fight? Ji Jue could hardly imagine a way to lose an engagement this easy! Was this the power of Aether?! Aside from being genuinely terrible in a direct brawl, it was ridiculously convenient for literally everything else—the ultimate utility kit for travel, stealth, and murder! With Aether providing foresight and meticulous tracking, combined with Embers tailoring counters and hammering weak points, it would have been a miracle if they hadn't taken these three down effortlessly. As for the last guy from Desolate Ruins, who had turned tail and bolted the moment things went south, abandoning his comrades without a second thought... Ji Jue didn't even bother giving chase. He simply stood where he was, leaning his elbow on the pushcart. He began counting down on his fingers. "—Five, four, three, two... one!" Before his voice had even faded, a heavy thud echoed down the hall. A shrill, deafening scream of agony shattered the silence!