The world returned to normal. It seemed no one had noticed anything amiss, and Wei Yuan still wore that same poker face. Only the reason for his expressionlessness had changed: a moment ago, he had forgotten how to smile; now, he simply could not bring himself to smile at all.
Wei Yuan had made ample preparations and had immense karmic luck shielding him, yet he had never imagined in his wildest dreams that he would awaken in such a manner. Given the choice, he would rather not have awakened at all. With a vast ocean of human karmic luck, there would always be countless miracles in life-or-death crises, and miracles were the one thing Wei Yuan never lacked.
Yet things had come to this, and it was too late to say anything. Besides, this Indestructible Dharma of Emptiness and Form... was actually quite handy.
Just then, a squeaking sound came from beside his feet. Wei Yuan looked down and saw the creature writhing on the ground. The tips of all six of its claws were gone, and its mouth had been reduced to a flat surface. Black blood gushed steadily from the stumps as it rolled about, shrieking in agony.
So you can feel pain too?
Wei Yuan pointed his muzzle at the creature and fired five consecutive shots, blowing apart its limbs and what looked like its reproductive organs. He paused briefly, then blew its head apart with one final shot.
The surrounding soldiers all instinctively stepped back a few paces, putting some distance between themselves and Wei Yuan. It was as though making eye contact with him would cause an inexplicable dull ache in their groins.
Ji Liuli's eyes flickered. Coming up beside Wei Yuan, she said, "Done pretending?"
Wei Yuan studied her expression. She did not seem to be faking; she probably had not awakened yet. A cluster of golden-azure luminous qi appeared in Wei Yuan's palm. This was the karmic luck before the Buddha that came with the Lotus Lamp ancient treasure. After Wei Yuan used it to awaken himself, a little bit remained—enough to advance Ji Liuli a great stride toward awakening, or even awaken her outright.
Yet Wei Yuan immediately recalled what had just happened, so he pulled the karmic luck back. If she truly regained her wits, it would become quite inconvenient to retaliate for quite a few things.
Of course, this reason was hardly presentable, so Wei Yuan silently swapped it for another: the Immortal Monarch had naturally predetermined the timing of her awakening, so there was no need for him to paint legs on a snake.
Wei Yuan pointed to the creature's corpse on the ground and played along. "If I hid it any longer, I'd be dead."
"Fair enough. Actually, you could have disguised yourself as someone else. For example, two of my four deputies have nothing but muscle in their heads. I recruited them precisely so it'd be convenient for you to replace them. It shouldn't be hard for you to pose as them, and you'd be able to get close to me, making it easier to strike."
"...But I don't want to kill you," Wei Yuan said honestly.
Ji Liuli went quiet for a moment. Then she pinched Wei Yuan's chin, kissed him on the cheek, and said, "One of my abilities is telling whether people are speaking the truth or lying. To think your words were actually true. Color me surprised."
"What's so surprising about that..."
Before Wei Yuan could finish, another monster pounced down from above.
Yet no sooner had it left the ceiling than a flash of gunfire erupted before its eyes. Amidst the deafening blast, another huge hole was blown through its lower body, leaving its two legs dangling by only a shred of flesh.
With a wet thud, it crashed to the floor, writhing in excruciating agony. Wei Yuan walked over, stepped on its head, and slowly crushed it underfoot.
The surrounding soldiers instinctively backed away even further. One Ji Liuli was already lethal enough; now another equally terrifying figure seemed to have emerged.
Just then, Wei Yuan's body suddenly jolted. He raised his hand and stared in disbelief at a wisp of azure qi curling on his fingertip: Where did this karmic luck come from?
His gaze swept across the surrounding men. When his eyes met a heavily bearded, exceptionally burly soldier, the man shuddered all over and snapped to attention, not daring to meet Wei Yuan's eyes at all.
Looking at this hunk of a man covered in muscle and body hair, Wei Yuan decided to ignore it outright, unwilling to face the reality, and continued looking for the next suspect.
Scanning the circle, Wei Yuan actually reaped another wisp of azure qi—this time from a relatively slender, bearded soldier whose neck was still thicker than his head.
Among the troops under Ji Liuli's command, not a single one had a neck thinner than their head.
A short while later, the entire warehouse was cleared. Follow-up units moved in to take over and establish a base. They began pumping and filtering the air, wheeling in instruments one after another to test on-site for various active components and unknown viruses.
To guard against unexpected power outages, they had also run two dedicated power cables in, hooking into the experiment area's power supply.
Once the forward base was fully established, Ji Liuli ordered them to press forward with the reconnaissance.
Beyond the warehouse lay a long corridor dimly illuminated by lights that only worked now thanks to the external power. Suddenly, several larger monsters charged out from the far end of the corridor. The two scouts at the front reacted with lightning speed, instantly hunkering behind their riot shields.
Yet though the beasts were only the size of wolves, their strength was unbelievable. A single impact sent both soldiers flying, knocking the shields clean from their grips.
The two monsters pounced onto the fallen soldiers. Just as their jaws were about to snap shut, two massive roars rang out, muzzle flashes illuminating the entire passage!
Dropped onto one knee, Ji Liuli fired twice in rapid succession. The colossal recoil slid her backward by a foot, while the two monsters were hurled backward as if struck head-on by sledgehammers.
While they were still airborne, flashes of green light repeatedly burst from their bodies. Wei Yuan drew his gun and followed up, pumping three rounds into each creature in an instant.
The monsters hit the floor, green fluids oozing continuously from their wounds as the injuries rapidly spread. It seemed these green-tipped bullets had a special effect against them.
The two beasts struggled to resume their attack, but Wei Yuan habitually fired two rounds into their lower bodies followed by headshots. With their hind legs shattered, they thrashed for a few more moments until the green fluid drained away, and they finally collapsed, motionless.
Ji Liuli glanced at Wei Yuan. "Not bad skills. Well, at least not disappointing. Let's keep moving."
This time, Ji Liuli had the soldiers search the rooms one by one while she and Wei Yuan made their way toward the entrance leading deeper underground. The layout here was noticeably complex, divided into numerous utility rooms and annexes. After being ambushed twice in a row and scrambling in fluster, Wei Yuan could bear it no longer and began releasing his divine sense to probe their surroundings.
As soon as his divine sense stirred, Wei Yuan felt palpable resistance, as though sweeping through glue or gelatin. He could clearly perceive only within a radius of ten zhang; beyond that, everything blurred rapidly.
Moreover, this space was not intact, riddled with countless hidden rifts and collapsed zones. Wei Yuan had to carefully maneuver his divine sense around them; otherwise, it would become trapped in the fractured space and be lost.
Still, with his divine sense monitoring the surroundings, Wei Yuan immediately sensed around a dozen small monsters wandering aimlessly ahead. Sensing Wei Yuan and Ji Liuli's presence, they sprinted toward them at full speed.
Only when they closed to within five zhang did Ji Liuli react, raising her gun in defense with two magazines already ready in her left hand.
By now, Wei Yuan's divine sense had swept over them, numbering all dozen or so beasts in the order of their approach and plotting their trajectories. From there, he did not even need to think—he simply let his body react on instinct.
Wei Yuan also held his weapon in both hands, two magazines gripped in his left. He emptied his magazine in an instant, reloaded at lightning speed, emptied it again, and reloaded once more.
Every beast that showed its head in the corridor caught a bullet from Wei Yuan. Some dropped dead on the spot; others kept charging forward only to be blasted away by Ji Liuli's high-caliber rounds. After clearing this wave, the two reloaded and advanced, while reinforcements streamed in continuously behind them to expand the secured perimeter and mop up the corners.
Wei Yuan used his divine sense to scan the surroundings, cross-referencing with the map displayed in his tactical glasses. Just as they neared the elevator bank, he suddenly heard a sound inaudible to human ears. His divine sense flared with intense pain, and two streams of blood trickled from his nose!
A terrifying monster appeared ahead. The space around it warped slightly; whenever Wei Yuan's divine sense drew near, it was distorted and blurred, preventing him from discerning the creature's true form.
Ji Liuli warned, "Careful! Ultra-high energy reading ahead! Looks like we've run into a big one."
Rather than charging straight in, Ji Liuli assessed the terrain and drew a circle on the wall ahead.
Several soldiers quickly rushed forward and placed a ring of explosives around the wall. Four soldiers carrying thick recoilless rifles entered and took up firing positions, whereupon Ji Liuli gave the order to act.
With an explosion, the wall collapsed with a crash. Two gunners immediately fired, their shells piercing through the breached wall and slamming into the next one, bringing it down as well. The two rear gunners fired another two rounds, blasting through yet another wall. Through sheer brute force, they blasted an open path straight into the elevator lobby.
In the elevator lobby stood an abomination that looked as if dozens of humans had been torn to shreds and stitched back together. Beneath it were countless human legs; its upper torso bore multiple interconnected arms, the longest stretching over a dozen meters. Human eyes and ears dotted every part of its body. It was in a frenzy now, violently hammering at everything around it.
The moment the breach opened, it spotted Ji Liuli and Wei Yuan. Transforming into a human-limbed centipede, it skittered forward with a flurry of myriad limbs. Human faces surfaced on its head, unleashing a silent shriek that instantly caused both Wei Yuan and Ji Liuli to freeze, while the dozen-plus elite soldiers behind them collapsed outright!
Fortunately, Ji Liuli possessed extraordinary physical resilience and recovered in an instant. Amidst a deafening roar, her shot struck the monster's head, tearing open a horrific hole over a foot wide.
Beside her, Wei Yuan had loaded a purple magazine, only a fraction of a second behind Ji Liuli. In the blink of an eye, he emptied the entire clip, firing away several centuries' worth of his annual salary.
As the bullets struck the monster, patches of purple spots immediately appeared and rapidly festered, oozing thick pus. The beast howled shrilly in agony, thrashing and rolling its colossal bulk. Yet its deadliest weapon was not direct physical attack, but its relentless shrieks.
Behind them, the soldiers writhed in immense torment beneath the silent shockwaves. One soldier could not withstand the pressure; his eyes bulged and burst, and a torrent of gory plasma mixed with visceral chunks erupted from his mouth before he fell limp and still.
Soldier after soldier struggled in agony, while the monster's vitality remained astonishingly tenacious. Though clearly in pain, it showed no signs of a fatal wound—the purple patches were negligible compared to its gigantic bulk.
And shaped as it was, with its screeching shockwaves rattling his divine sense, Wei Yuan had no idea where its weakness lay.
Seeing the dire situation, Wei Yuan gritted his teeth. If it has no weakness, I'll make one! He slapped in a fresh magazine at once and fired a bullet shimmering with golden-azure light!
At this point, the type of bullet did not matter; what mattered was the karmic luck before the Buddha infused into it.
The bullet sank into the monster's body. In the air, the faint chanting of Zen verses seemed to echo. Dozens of faces emerged across the monster's flesh, bearing distinct expressions—some terrified, some sorrowful, others filled with joyful liberation.
The creature let out an earth-shattering shriek. Fractures spiderwebbed across the surrounding walls in an instant. With a sharp snap, Wei Yuan's tactical glasses shattered into countless shards; the fragments struck toward his eyeballs, only to be deflected by a ripple of golden light over their surface.
That final screech seemed to deplete the creature's entire life force. Its body bounced upward violently, smashed into the ceiling, and crashed down to the floor. Broad swaths of golden-azure surfaced across its body, intermingled with countless purple spots, before it moved no more.
Wei Yuan's heart suddenly stirred. He felt wisps of an invisible presence rise from the creature's corpse, drifting into him and vanishing inside his body, having gone to who knew where.
A vengeful spirit? Resentful energy? Or the essence of heaven and earth?
Before Wei Yuan could decipher what exactly he had absorbed, someone gave his backside a heavy pinch.
Ji Liuli leaned forward slightly, her eyes shining. "Nice shooting! I'll be sure to reward you properly in a bit!"
Wei Yuan gave no reaction. Right now, he was recording all of this from three different angles; at a moment like this, his best reaction was to remain completely poker-faced.
Chapter 787