Chapter 126: Demon God Descends! p2
“Sister, keep running, don’t go into the buildings,” Lin Jiayao said, patting her sister’s back. “There are vines above us, they can’t see us.”
“Okay.” Lin Xiwan changed direction, not replying, continuing to run.
In her panic, she hadn’t noticed the dense network of intertwining vines above.
A natural camouflage. As long as they stayed beneath the vines, they would be hidden.
But the buzzing behind them grew louder.
Especially for Lin Jiayao, her heart pounding, her breath catching in her throat.
Suddenly, she looked up, a vision flashing through her mind:
A thick, red bolt of lightning, striking her from the sky, her body pierced, her sister and Huayibai beside her instantly incinerated, reduced to black ash.
Two seconds!!!
“Sister! Move!”
Ignoring everything else, she extended a bone spike, piercing Lin Xiwan’s arm.
The wound instantly closed, thanks to her healing ability, but the sudden, tingling and numbing pain made Lin Xiwan lose her grip.
“Yao?!”
Feeling her sister slip from her grasp, Lin Xiwan stumbled, her momentum carrying her forward, tumbling across the slippery moss-covered ground.
“Yao!”
Clutching Huayibai, she looked up and saw her sister kneeling on the ground ahead.
“Yao…”
She seemed unharmed… Lin Xiwan breathed a sigh of relief.
But before she could stand, a blinding white light filled the sky.
And then, a blood-red beam of energy, like a spear of light piercing through the vines, struck the small figure kneeling on the ground before her.
“Boom—”
The massive explosion threw Lin Xiwan backwards, the current from the lightning strike coursing through the damp ground, a searing pain, her body numb.
But the physical pain was nothing compared to the agony in her heart…
What… happened…?
Yao… because she’d dropped her… she’d been hit by that… unstoppable force…
Flames erupted where the lightning had struck, mirroring the inferno in Lin Xiwan’s heart.
“Yao!!!”
She dropped Huayibai and, ignoring the danger, ran towards the flames, her mind consumed by grief and rage.
“Buzz—”
“Rumble—”
“Zzzt—”
The giant insect’s buzzing wings, the crashing of buildings, the crackling of burning trees… the once-silent concrete jungle had become a hellscape.
And another figure, even faster than Lin Xiwan, a blur of motion, raced towards the flames.
“Mommy!”
Even Huayibai, its mind flooded with extraction messages, ignoring its fear of fire, ran towards its Mommy.
A premonition of something terrible… if this Mommy died… then all the other Mommies would leave too… and she would be alone…
“Zzzt—”
Another flash of white light, a red lightning bolt striking Huayibai, its body instantly engulfed in flames.
Lin Xiwan, her breath catching in her throat, stumbled, watching in horror as Huayibai collapsed, a burning heap. She fell to her knees, her strength gone.
The people she cared for… destroyed before her eyes…
She knelt there, trembling, her lips pale, her gaze fixed on the two burning figures, despair crushing her.
That power… unstoppable… beyond the capabilities of a C-rank Awakened…
A B-rank…
Overwhelming, terrifying, inescapable.
“Thump—”
Two figures jumped down from the flying insect, landing near the flames where her sister had been.
Seeing them, Lin Xiwan gasped, a surge of rage replacing her despair, and she slowly stood up.
“Not a single B-rank… Boss, aren’t you being a bit too cautious?” a man’s voice, a hint of amusement. “Seems like there’s nothing for me to do here.”
“This… this isn’t right… this shouldn’t be so easy…”
“Boss, there’s another one alive over there. Want me to take care of it?”
The man was about to walk past Wu Hejun when she raised her right hand, its palm facing downwards, towards the flames.
“Holy shit…” he muttered, quickly stepping back, not wanting to be in the line of fire; the Boss wouldn’t hesitate to fry him along with the target.
“Zzzt—”
“Buzz—”
He’d expected another attack, but at the last moment, her hand, as if pulled by an invisible force, shifted, aiming at the ground beneath her.
“Boom—”
A burst of lightning erupted beneath their feet. But just as it reached them, a red flash from Wu Hejun’s body neutralized the attack.
“Hmm?”
She frowned, feeling a strange pull on her hand, as if something had forced it downwards.
So, it wasn’t that simple after all…
The fire had triggered a shower of white spores from the building-trees, like snowflakes falling onto the flames, slowly extinguishing them.
And amidst the mist and the white spores, a figure, sitting on the ground, head lowered, made Wu Hejun’s heart pound.
It’s her!!! It has to be her!!! The destroyer from the prophecy!!!
“Zzzt—”
“Buzz—”
As she raised her hand, another buzzing sound, and an invisible force pulled her hand back down.
And as the white spores settled, the figure became clear.
What… what kind of monster is this…?
A young woman, her clothes surprisingly intact, sat on the ground, holding a vine in each hand, the vines’ tips embedded in her arms.
A glowing green membrane covered her body, a protective shield, seemingly fueled by the building-trees, having shielded her from the earlier attack.
“Hoo—”
The girl’s head was lowered, as if unconscious, but more and more vines were connecting to her, strengthening the link.
And countless vines extended downwards, gently wrapping around the scorched Huayibai and the approaching Lin Xiwan, pulling them towards a nearby building-tree.
“You can control this forest? No wonder… no wonder… such a vast energy reserve…” Wu Hejun looked at the girl, connected to the urban jungle, not with fear, but with a smile.
At least now she knew its ability; countering it would be easy.
“Anan, burn it.”
“So that’s why you brought me here, Boss…”
The man behind her, Anan, his body glowing with a bright red light, as Wu Hejun fired a lightning whip, anchoring herself to a building-tree, lifting herself off the ground.
“Burn it all!”
Anan’s fists blazing, he slammed them into the ground. With a deafening “Boom—”, cracks spread outwards, reaching the girl.
“Boom—”
Lava-like flames erupted from the cracks, but they couldn’t penetrate the girl’s emerald green shield.
“I understand…” Anan said, looking at the unharmed girl, then turning to Wu Hejun with a smile. “Give me ten minutes, Boss.”
His body erupted in flames, a seven-meter-wide fireball, as he ran towards the girl, leaving a trail of blood-red fire in his wake, flames that couldn’t be extinguished by the white spores.
This wasn’t ordinary fire caused by lightning… this was an Awakened’s ability.
As he ran, the building-trees around him trembled, several massive Building-Tree Guardians emerging, their eyes fixed on him, giving chase.
The entire city, the interconnected jungle, had been roused by his flames.
“Zzzt—”
“Don’t chase him,” Wu Hejun said, her smile gone, her eyes cold. “You should be more concerned about me.”
“Boom—” A bolt of lightning struck one of the vines connected to the girl, forcing her to summon more.
If she lost her connection to the vines, her shield would disappear, and she would be incinerated.
But Lin Jiayao’s head remained lowered, as if unconscious.
Meanwhile, inside a nearby building-tree, Lin Xiwan watched as Lin Jiayao, protected by the vines, withstood the lightning strikes, a puzzled look in her eyes.
This… was her sister’s new power…?
When did she become so strong?
No… that’s not right… her sister was clearly unconscious, she wasn’t even moving, it was the vines protecting her!
The situation was dire. She could see that her sister was being protected by the vines, the woman was trying to sever the connection, and the man was setting everything on fire.
From her vantage point high within the tree, she could see the flames spreading rapidly.
The vines… they were protecting her sister, and that man… he was trying to burn them all!
He was trying to create a city-wide inferno, to prevent the vines from protecting her sister.
Quickly assessing the situation…
“Cough…”
A cough from beside her startled her. It was Huayibai, its charred body now covered in writhing, blood-red tendrils as the burned skin flaked away, rapidly regenerating.
This ability… it was more than just… elasticity…
Huayibai had lied, that much was clear.
But at a time like this, she didn’t care about its lies, only its actions.
It wanted to save Lin Jiayao, to save her sister.
That was all that mattered.
Lin Xiwan quickly opened her waist pouch, kept one blood crystal for herself, and shoved the other two into Huayibai’s mouth.
Huayibai devoured them instantly, and within seconds, the charred skin peeled away, its body restored.
The moment it recovered, Huayibai’s eyes snapped open. “Mommy!” it cried, running towards the window.
“Yibai! Wait!” Adrenaline surged through Lin Xiwan, but her mind remained clear.
They couldn’t fight that woman below; they would be killed before they even got close.
And her sister, protected by the vines, seemed to be holding her own against the woman, for now.
But if the fire spread throughout the city, the vines wouldn’t be enough.
“Huayibai, what’s your ability? Quickly.” Lin Xiwan grabbed Huayibai, her grip tight, her voice urgent. “If you want to save her, tell me!”
Startled, Huayibai, desperate to save its Mommy, quickly replied, “Division, control.”
“Level?”
“B.”
A concise summary of its abilities.
Division… control…?
B… B-rank…?
Looking at the approaching fire, Lin Xiwan’s breathing calmed slightly.
“Can you defeat that woman below?” she asked.
“No, she’s too fast.”
“Buzz—”
A faint buzzing sound.
A giant insect…
“What about the… fire man?”
“I… I can try…” Both fire and electricity were Huayibai’s weaknesses, but compared to the unpredictable lightning, fire, at least, was a tangible threat, something it could interact with.
Lin Xiwan quickly looked up through the vines. The insect was hovering above, seemingly waiting for the fight below to end.
“Yibai, can you control that insect?”
“Yes!” Huayibai nodded vigorously.
“Hold on tight,” Lin Xiwan said, taking a deep breath, looking at the erupting flames below.
“Thump—”
Her heart pounded, a surge of power as she punched through the wall, creating a large hole.
Carrying Huayibai, she climbed rapidly, using the vines as handholds… her goal to reach the insect and have the B-rank Huayibai deal with the fire-wielding man.
No matter how dire the situation, she would fight, for her sister…
Hold on, Yao!
Reaching the rooftop, she leaped towards the hovering insect, her body a projectile, a hundred-meter drop if she missed.
The mist obscured her vision, but she had to try.
“Thump—”
She hit the insect’s leg and clung to it, her arms wrapped around it.
“Yibai!!!” she shouted, her voice strained.
Huayibai’s body exploded, transforming into countless tendrils that rapidly spread across the giant insect, covering it completely, as Lin Xiwan watched in stunned silence.
Yibai… was that even human anymore?
Is this what B-rank Awakened could do?
Hope flickered within her.
With the forest protecting her sister… they weren’t completely helpless.
The tendrils pulled Lin Xiwan into the insect’s abdomen, and then it turned and flew towards the fire-wielding man.
I have to stop him… This is our chance…
Shortly after the insect left, Lin Jiayao, who had been motionless on the ground, her head lowered, slowly looked up.
Her eyes were now emerald green, even her hair seemed to be taking on a greenish tinge, her body likewise.
Having connected to the Vascular Network, even her blood was being replaced with sap.
The moment she’d connected, she, the only sentient being in the network, had become its controller.
The building-trees, the vines, the other plants, they had instinctively recognized her, with her similar abilities but with the added advantage of consciousness and intelligence, as a superior being.
Like a Hive Zombie’s queen.
The sheer number of controllable units was mentally overwhelming.
But as their “leader,” the building-trees now protected her, keeping her safe even while she was unconscious.
“Hoo…”
She exhaled slowly, her green eyes fixed on Wu Hejun.
Her calm gaze seemed to unsettle Wu Hejun.
“How dare you look at me like that… cripple…” Wu Hejun narrowed her eyes, a faint electromagnetic field charring the grass around her. “A powerless cripple like you, you can’t even touch me… or are you planning to roll up in your wheelchair and tap my knee?”
She grinned mockingly, either emboldened by having seemingly countered the prophecy or trying to convince herself, and shouted at the green-eyed girl, “Ten minutes, and you’re dead! You’ll be buried with this disgusting forest!”
But her trembling hands betrayed her fear. She hadn’t been able to instantly kill it, and that unsettled her.
“Zzzt—”
Electricity crackled around her, and then, her eyes widening, she saw the crippled girl’s body straighten as roots and bone spikes extended from her back, countless glowing green vines connecting to her, her entire body bathed in an emerald light.
The sight, the long, supporting bone spikes, the glowing vines spreading out behind her like a massive fan, made the girl look divine.
“Cripple…”
Wu Hejun gritted her teeth and raised her right hand, red lightning sparking.
“Playing god…”
And then, she saw the girl, her expression still blank, raise her right hand.
“You—”
And a single, clear word:
“Pulse.”
“BOOM—”
An emerald green flash!
An irresistible force pressed down, shattering Wu Hejun’s kneecaps, forcing her to the ground, the asphalt cracking beneath her weight.
She knelt before the girl she had just mocked.
“Rumble—”
And not just her, but also the surrounding buildings, shaking and collapsing as the girl spoke that single word, debris and vines raining down, as if the sky itself were falling.
Like a demon god descending.
Wu Hejun, her body trembling uncontrollably, knelt there, looking up at the girl, her mind reeling, the oppressive aura almost crushing her.
The reckoning had arrived!!!
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