Li Weiyi's ears caught the faintest sounds. He heard three sets of slow, light footsteps approaching step by step through the forest of graves. Yet, blocked by a massive grave mound seven or eight meters high, neither side could see the other.
The three moved with extreme caution; their footsteps sounded entirely different from ordinary walking.
Because of this, Li Weiyi could not determine their identities from their footsteps alone. If he misjudged and failed to kill Chen Hong instantly, the rifle in Chen Hong's hands would pose a fatal threat.
The clash that followed had to be swift, but even more so, cautious in the extreme.
From where Xie Jin stood, he could just see Chen Hong and the other two inching forward through the forest of graves on the right, and his eyes involuntarily drifted toward them. Inwardly, he sighed—Li Weiyi was too cautious and hadn't pursued him.
Had he given chase, he would have surely died beneath Chen Hong's gun by now.
Chen Hong shook his head at Xie Jin and gestured for him to lure Li Weiyi over.
Getting the message, Xie Jin immediately put on an arrogant, swaggering front. "Li Weiyi, you win today, I admit defeat! But Dr. Cai is in my hands! Let's go—with a hostage, he won't dare lay a finger on us!"
Xie Jin and the security group member holding the stun gun fled in the direction of Chen Hong and his two companions, thinking this would draw Li Weiyi straight into the rifle's sights.
Chen Hong gripped the rifle tightly.
He braced the buttstock against his shoulder and aimed forward.
Li Weiyi naturally would not fall for the trick. Instead, seizing this rare opportunity, he dashed at top speed to the top of the seven-to-eight-meter-tall grave mound. Instantly, all five people behind the mound came fully into view.
Hearing the commotion, Chen Hong hurriedly swung his barrel around and looked up toward the top of the mound.
The Yellow Dragon Sword had already been hurled.
The blade tore through the air, shrieking with a piercing hum.
Bang!
The tip of the sword struck Chen Hong's chest.
Like being brutally jabbed by an iron rod, Chen Hong felt a tearing pain explode across his chest. He tumbled backward, the rifle nearly slipping from his grasp.
Because he wore the corpse-garment soft armor, the Yellow Dragon Sword failed to pierce his chest, and his injury was not severe.
Having thrown the sword, Li Weiyi leapt from the top of the mound onto a gravestone over three meters tall, and from the gravestone he jumped down, his feet descending straight toward Chen Hong's face.
Chen Hong rolled frantically out of the way.
Li Weiyi pressed the attack, his hand chopping like a broadsword, the wind of his sleeve biting cold as he struck straight for Chen Hong's neck.
He was too fast. Chen Hong had no time to aim at Li Weiyi and could only raise the rifle to parry.
Crack!
Li Weiyi's palm struck the rifle barrel with the crushing force of a heavy sledgehammer, driving the barrel down against Chen Hong's neck and nearly smashing his windpipe to pieces.
Chen Hong's throat burned with sweet, metallic blood. His eyes bulged, and just as he tried to retaliate—
A hoarse shriek ripped from his throat instead.
Li Weiyi had already twisted and snapped the arm holding the gun, then hurled his entire body through the air, his head slamming into a gravestone with a dull thud.
Chop, grapple, snap, throw...
The whole sequence was fluid as running water.
Li Weiyi picked up the rifle and walked over with steady steps. Using the buttstock, he shattered both of Chen Hong's kneecaps, ensuring he would never stand again.
Clang, clang!
Faintly, a sound like camel bells chimed deep within the forest of graves.
A bloody glimmer flickered in Li Weiyi's eyes. Myriad voices seemed to whisper and urge in his ears, goading him to pound Chen Hong into mincemeat. The rifle stock hovered above Chen Hong's terror-stricken eyes, but in the end, Li Weiyi held back, reason overcoming emotion.
He had to master slaughter to protect himself, not let slaughter master him into self-destruction.
Even if the man was to die, that kill belonged to his senior brother.
Amid Chen Hong's agonized shrieks, the other four were scared out of their wits and fled in all directions.
This college student was too ferocious, his methods ruthless—he was practically a monster.
Li Weiyi opened fire immediately.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The last three bullets in the rifle took down the slowest of them, the security group member carrying the stun gun.
Tossing the rifle aside, Li Weiyi did not pursue the three who had vanished into the nether mist. The Bronze Ship's deck area was only so large—where could they possibly escape?
As long as they lacked guns, they posed no threat to him.
On the other hand, things here were far more complicated. If someone circled back while he was in pursuit, the consequences would be disastrous.
Carrying the blood-soaked sword that gleamed with cold light in one hand and dragging Chen Hong by the leg with the other, Li Weiyi walked out from behind the grave mound.
Seeing this, everyone on deck breathed a collective sigh of relief, their hearts finally settling. To them, Li Weiyi was like a celestial warrior descended from the heavens; no matter how many scoundrels confronted him, they would all crumble like paper.
The earlier gunfire had truly filled them with dread for Li Weiyi.
Xie Tianshu still lay in a pool of blood, writhing on the ground in agony as Gao Huan, who had returned, kicked him over and over again.
Xiao Lin was genuinely terrified now, convinced that Li Weiyi was beyond mortal and utterly invincible. Slumped against the bulwark, he sat frozen like a cowering quail, not daring to twitch a muscle.
When it came down to it, they were all just ordinary people.
When bullying others, each of them acted as fierce as wild beasts. But when death loomed over their own heads, they became as timid as mice.
"If you want to vent, do it later. Untie everyone first!"
Li Weiyi said this and walked toward Zhao Meng, wanting to check on his senior brother's injuries first.
Suddenly.
From the distant nether mist came the sound of a round being chambered.
It was faint, but it could not escape Li Weiyi's ears.
Without a second thought, Li Weiyi ducked and rolled almost purely by instinct, then scrambled toward the distant medical tent to take cover.
Boom!
The gunshot detonated like a crack of thunder.
Had Li Weiyi's reflexes not been fast enough, this shot would likely have left a bloody hole the size of a bowl in his midsection.
Xiao Lin, sitting on the deck, suffered the collateral blast. His head detonated, splattering across the bulwark in a pool of bloody gore.
Chaotic screams instantly erupted across the deck.
Gao Huan, who had been untying the ropes binding the expedition members, dropped into a crouch in terror at the gunshot, frozen in place as he stared into the nether mist.
Clack, clack!
A dense cluster of footsteps drew closer from afar.
In the nether mist, the figures of the six people from Lab 705 gradually sharpened into view.
Han Qin, the burly man standing nearly two meters tall, walked in the lead. He racked another round into the chamber and aimed toward the medical tent, ready to blow Li Weiyi away the instant he showed his head.
The crowd gradually recovered from their terror.
One expedition member asked in bewilderment, "Director Yang, what are you doing? Brother Li just saved us!"
Director Yang, wearing a Zhongshan suit, spoke flatly: "Why do you think he has become so formidable? A spear weighing hundreds of jin, hoisted with effortless ease. His speed is completely unlike a human being. He must have swallowed the Buddha relic. It is the Buddha relic's power that has elevated his physical body to the realm of the transcendent."
The expedition members whose hands were still tied immediately showed looks of sudden realization.
The middle-aged woman wearing spectacles from Lab 705 chimed in, "He's been lying to everyone all along, claiming the Buddha relic wasn't on him. Can someone like that be trusted?"
Director Yang added, "Only by retrieving the Buddha relic can we possibly turn the Bronze Ship around and return to Earth. Don't you all want to go back?"
Li Weiyi's voice rang out from behind the medical tent: "That's right, the Buddha relic is in my hands, but it cannot control the Bronze Ship at all. Director, isn't it simply that you want to swallow the relic yourself and gain transcendent power? Well, let me tell all of you: my strength didn't come from it in the first place."
Director Yang had no desire to spar with Li Weiyi verbally. "I will count to three," he said. "If you hand over the Buddha relic voluntarily, I guarantee on my honor that we will act as though nothing ever happened, and we will find a way together to survive in this unfamiliar Ghost Wilderness.
"If you persist in your obstinacy, you will have only yourself to blame for the consequences."
Qi Shanshan worried that Li Weiyi was too young and might be tricked by Director Yang, so she laughed lightly and said, "If he refuses to show himself, I doubt you can do anything to him, Director."
Director Yang glanced toward Qi Shanshan, who was standing alone by the bulwark not far away. He truly couldn't fathom where this Dr. Qi got the nerve to oppose them in such a perilous situation.
Fixing a cold gaze on Qi Shanshan, Director Yang said chillingly, "They are deeply devoted fellow disciples, after all. He might not show himself, but his senior brother is lying right there."
Han Qin shifted his barrel, aiming straight at Zhao Meng on the deck.
"One!"
"Two!"
Director Yang gave Li Weiyi no time to think, counting rapidly: "Three..."
The instant the word "three" left his mouth—
Qi Shanshan's eyes narrowed. Decisively, she ripped the cross pendant from around her neck and hurled it forward.
It was an imperishable item taken from one of the human skeletons!
With a metallic clink, the cross pendant landed at Han Qin's feet. Some secret power within seemed to ignite, and the pendant erupted with dazzling white brilliance, sweeping away the surrounding nether mist entirely.
Qi Shanshan knew Li Weiyi's character well enough to deduce that once Director Yang finished counting to three, he would either strike or surrender.
She would never allow Li Weiyi to lose to the six people from Lab 705 like this, which was why she took the risk to help him.
It was also because she had witnessed Li Weiyi's capabilities moments earlier—not just his martial prowess, but his keen insight and sharp judgment in seizing an opportunity.
He would definitely seize this chance!
Just as Qi Shanshan had anticipated, at the very instant Director Yang shouted "three," Li Weiyi's voice rang out: "You just want the Buddha relic? Here it is!"
Li Weiyi vaulted onto the roof of the medical tent like a ghost, the scalding thermal currents within his body surging into his arm.
Like throwing a flying dagger, he flung the Daozu Taiji Fish. With a whistle through the air, it streaked straight toward Han Qin, thirty meters away.
Han Qin had been about to pull the trigger when the blinding white brilliance flared beneath his feet, making it impossible for him to open his eyes. In that brief split second, the Daozu Taiji Fish struck his head.
Li Weiyi possessed immense strength; even a mere pebble hurled from his hand could kill.
The bone of Han Qin's forehead shattered. His vision went black, and he collapsed top-heavy to the ground.
Whoosh!
Li Weiyi leapt down from the medical tent, his feet as swift as galloping steeds as he charged to reach them before the others from Lab 705 could pick up the gun.
Except for the middle-aged woman wearing spectacles, the other four were getting on in years, yet their reflexes were remarkably sharp. One of them swiftly scooped up the shotgun.
At that moment, Li Weiyi was still over ten meters away.
Thwack!
Li Weiyi had anticipated this. The Yellow Dragon Sword flew from his hand, piercing through the man's chest and straight through his heart.
A bloodcurdling scream and the clatter of the shotgun hitting the deck echoed together.
"I'll hold him off!"
Director Yang remained composed, his aged face turning grim and dark. He raised his arm, revealing the three-headed snake bracelet on his wrist.
It was fashioned like a metallic serpent with three heads coiled around a blood-jade bracelet.
Yet another imperishable item!
With a small blade, Director Yang slashed his own wrist.
The blood that welled out did not drip onto the deck. Instead, it seeped into the blood-jade bracelet. As a bloody glow erupted from the bracelet, the metallic snake actually came to life.
Director Yang, having lost a massive amount of blood, gradually withered, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant.
"Does it require this much blood?"
In earlier tests, a tiny drop of blood had been enough to produce a reaction.
Regret had come too late.
Chapter 17