41: Chapter 41: If you fight alone, your chances of survival are extremely slim.

The lights went out.

The entire laboratory plunged into darkness, with only the small lamp in the center of the glass room emitting a dim, yellow glow, barely outlining Jiang Chen's silhouette.

The air seemed to freeze. Everyone held their breath, their gazes fixed intently on the area below illuminated by the faint light.

Jiang Chen stood at the edge of the halo, his Tang sword held horizontally in front of him, his muscles tensed and his eyes scanning the surrounding darkness.

He felt his heart beating a bit fast, and his palms were slightly damp with sweat.

Soon, out of the corner of his eye, he caught something unusual again.

In the shadows of the glass room's corner, a distorted silhouette, darker than the darkness itself, was slowly coalescing.

Inside the control room, a researcher also saw the gradually clarifying dark shadow, and his finger instinctively reached for the high-intensity light activation button.

"Don't move," Shen Jianping barked in a low voice, his palm firmly pressing down on the man's wrist.

This was a hard-won opportunity; if the Shadow Devourer escaped again, there might not be another chance.

After the Shadow Devourer appeared, Jiang Chen turned his body to face the fully formed dark shadow directly.

He gripped the hilt with both hands, holding the Tang sword steadily in front of him, lowered his center of gravity, and assumed a completely defensive posture.

The Shadow Devourer's blurry head also turned toward him, tilting slightly.

The next second, it moved.

The dark shadow was like an arrow leaving a bow, lunging straight at Jiang Chen, so fast it left only an afterimage on the retina.

Jiang Chen's pupils constricted, but he did not retreat. He also charged toward the dark shadow, slashing his Tang sword straight at the opponent's face!

"Clang!"

The ear-piercing sound of clashing metal rang out!

The Shadow Devourer's forearm instantly twisted and hardened, transforming into a pitch-black Shadow Scythe that steadily parried the falling blade.

A massive force surged from the hilt, numbing Jiang Chen's hand and sending him stumbling backward from the impact.

He felt a sweetness in his throat and forced himself to swallow the surging blood.

The Shadow Devourer did not pause for a moment; having landed a hit, its form blurred again as it charged, a sharp long spike erupting from the front of its right hand, stabbing straight for Jiang Chen's head!

Jiang Chen was horrified and had to pin his hopes on the flashlight in his hand, pointing it at the Shadow Devourer.

"Click!"

The button was pressed hard.

The white light from the flashlight shot out like a sword, accurately striking the Shadow Devourer's pouncing body!

The beam of light covered it completely.

In an instant, the Shadow Devourer's forward momentum came to a screeching halt.

Its entire distorted body seemed frozen by invisible ice, maintaining its predatory pounce in a state of unmistakable rigidity!

Shen Jianping and the others watching from above almost cheered in excitement at the sight.

Below, Jiang Chen had no time to celebrate; he rolled violently to the side and rear, quickly escaping the Shadow Devourer's attack range.

A moment after he dodged, the Shadow Devourer's body jerked, and the rigidity effect vanished.

Its blurry head twisted left and right before finally locking onto Jiang Chen, who had retreated several meters and was half-crouched on the ground in a sorry state.

Inside the control room, there was dead silence, save for the sound of heavy breathing.

The hypothesis had been verified; this rule was effective.

However, it looked like Jiang Chen was about to meet his end in there.

Shen Jianping immediately shouted loudly.

"Lights! Turn on the lights!"

The lights suddenly flared on!

Light returned to the laboratory, but several main lamps in the glass room's ceiling had been destroyed by Jiang Chen, so the interior remained dim.

"Jiang Chen! Get out of there!" Shen Jianping's voice rang out urgently through the microphone.

Now that the rule had been proven effective, as long as Jiang Chen came out, he would no longer be in danger.

They could continuously control the switches outside to keep the Shadow Devourer in a state of rigidity, no longer needing to fear it.

Jiang Chen immediately understood; his gaze swept toward the airtight door, and he prepared to dash out.

The Shadow Devourer seemed to sense his intention; with a flicker of shadow, it blocked the path to the exit.

Jiang Chen's gaze turned fierce; he gripped the Tang sword with both hands, let out a loud roar, and slashed forward with all his might!

The strike was heavy and powerful, accompanied by the sound of whistling wind.

The Shadow Devourer raised its scythe-like arm and parried with a "clang."

Then, the Shadow Devourer's body twisted at an unnatural angle, and the spike formed by its other arm stabbed toward Jiang Chen's ribs from a very tricky angle!

Jiang Chen's expression changed, and he hurriedly twisted his body to dodge.

"Riiiip—"

Despite his quick reflexes, the sharp shadow blade still pierced his abdomen, and blood instantly gushed out, staining his clothes red.

Acute pain hit him, and cold sweat broke out on Jiang Chen's forehead.

Immediately after, he raised the high-intensity flashlight.

"Click!"

The beam of light shot out, enveloping the Shadow Devourer.

The eerie body fell into a brief state of rigidity again.

Jiang Chen took the opportunity to retreat through the pain, his gaze quickly scanning the area before finally landing on the still-shivering death row prisoner.

His mind raced, and he dashed to the prisoner's side.

Almost the second he reached the prisoner, the Shadow Devourer resumed its movement.

The Shadow Devourer pounced with a gust of wind.

Jiang Chen quickly dodged behind the prisoner.

The pitch-black scythe was raised high and fell violently, its edge neatly slicing through the prisoner's neck.

The prisoner's head fell, and the scythe stopped just a few centimeters from Jiang Chen's face.

A light flashed in Jiang Chen's eyes; the rule had worked!

After completing a kill, the Shadow Devourer would enter a brief "Silence Period"!

It could not kill again during this time. Although the duration wasn't long, it was enough for him to run out.

Jiang Chen didn't dare delay for a second; clutching his bleeding wound, he used all his strength to sprint toward the exit.

The Shadow Devourer didn't just stand there; it relocked its target onto Jiang Chen and followed him unhurriedly, as if ready to strike again at any moment.

Gritting his teeth and enduring the sharp pain in his abdomen, Jiang Chen finally reached the exit.

The door opened automatically, and Jiang Chen tumbled out of the glass room in a sorry state.

Outside, the light made the laboratory as bright as day.

Jiang Chen collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath, his cold sweat mixing with blood.

He looked toward the glass room door; the Shadow Devourer had stopped behind it, its blurry head facing Jiang Chen outside.

It also seemed to realize something and did not step out.

A few seconds later, its form began to fade, slowly dissipating into the darkness until it vanished completely.

After Jiang Chen came out, Shen Jianping immediately rushed down from the control room, hurried to Jiang Chen's side, and carefully helped him up.

"Are you okay? Is the injury serious?"

Jiang Chen tossed the sword aside and propped himself up with his hands. His face was pale from blood loss, but he shook his head.

"I'm fine, just a small wound. It won't kill me."

Hearing this, Shen Jianping shouted to an assistant nearby, "Go! Bring the hemostatic and healing potion!"

Their research institute had considerable authority, so they had various potions that usually required points to exchange for in the Mall.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for ordinary medicine to heal combat personnel so quickly.

The assistant ran off at the command.

After confirming Jiang Chen was okay, Shen Jianping's face was finally overtaken by excitement and joy. He looked up and shouted to the staff still in the control room:

"Quick! Send the entire recording of the process to headquarters immediately! Tell them to use this to push out the 'High-light Rigidity' rule right now! Hurry!"

A researcher took the order and immediately turned to execute it.

After giving the orders, Shen Jianping finally calmed down. He looked at Jiang Chen, his gaze falling on his still-bleeding abdomen with lingering fear, but he couldn't help but praise him.

"It's thanks to you that this experiment succeeded. If you hadn't been able to briefly contend with that thing, it would have been impossible."

Jiang Chen forced a smile and said modestly, "I was lucky. If I hadn't prepared that prisoner in advance to trigger another rule at the critical moment, I probably wouldn't have made it out."

"You're being too modest," Shen Jianping laughed.

Jiang Chen took a breath, enduring the pain, and added something.

"Back to the rule... when you report it, remember to mention that this rule requires teamwork. At least three people must act together, taking turns using high-intensity light for control, to have a chance to maneuver or escape."

"Otherwise, if faced alone, even knowing the rule, the chance of survival... is minuscule."

Shen Jianping nodded and was about to look up to tell the researcher in charge of communications to add this.

The next second, the sound from the speakers above rang out.

"Supervisor Shen!" The voice sounded a bit flustered and surprised. "Headquarters said that before the experiment began, they already knew and confirmed it... they sent you the information and content, but you didn't receive it.""}],