123: Violent explosion

During the battle, the sweet, pungent, light-red mist continued to accumulate and spread under the Gardener's persistent and intentional throwing, becoming increasingly dense. A large area at the top of the ruins was already shrouded, visibility dropped, and the air seemed to be filled with thick, blood-colored veils.

Fortunately, the armor's life-support System was running at full capacity, filtering the deadly nerve gas. Lu Jianchuan only felt a persistent slight nausea and irritability, showing no serious signs of poisoning such as hallucinations or organ failure.

However, this thickening toxic mist severely hindered his vision and perception, making him more dependent on the bursts from his thrusters to pull away or launch attacks.

"This can't go on!" Warning signs flashed frequently in Lu Jianchuan's mind; he had to break this passive situation!

He spotted a gap in the Gardener's throwing. The thrusters beneath his feet and on his back roared again, and his orange-red figure charged resolutely toward Lin Wan on the flank, intending to break the weakest link in this triangle first!

On his charge path, he extended both arms, and flames surged from the nozzles on the backs of his hands, attempting to use the high-temperature jets to disperse the toxic mist ahead and clear a path.

At the very moment the blazing fire came into contact with the dense, light-red toxic mist—

A sudden change occurred!

The gas, which seemed to be merely corrosive, underwent a terrifying transformation the moment it touched an open flame!

BOOM————!!!!

An earth-shattering explosion, far exceeding any single sonic attack or capsule rupture, erupted violently, centered at the point where the fire met the toxic gas!

The expanding fireball instantly swallowed a large portion of the surrounding toxic mist, triggering a chain reaction of secondary explosions!

The shockwave of the explosion swept out wildly like an invisible tsunami. Rubble and metal fragments were hurled high into the air, and the entire ruined building groaned under the unbearable burden!

Bone Chime, the Gardener, and Lin Wan seemed to have foreseen this. The moment Lu Jianchuan sprayed fire, they had already evacuated rapidly in different directions, narrowly avoiding the core of the explosion. Even so, they were tossed about quite wretchedly by the violent blast of air.

But Lu Jianchuan, at the very center of the explosion, took the full force of this devastating blow!

"Ugh—!"

He only had time to concentrate energy in front of him to form a hasty layer of defense before he was swatted away by an irresistible force. Like a hit baseball, he crashed through several layers of broken floorboards and was finally buried deep within a pile of collapsed ruins along with countless pieces of rubble.

The roar of the explosion gradually subsided, leaving only the crackle of burning and the creak of breaking structural elements. Amidst the swirling dust and smoke, a heavy chunk of concrete was suddenly pushed aside.

Many of the dark-red energy conduits on the armor were dim, and the surface of the silver armor was covered with burn and impact marks. The light from the brilliant white eyepieces also flickered unsteadily. Lu Jianchuan struggled to prop himself up with his arms, as the intense pain and shock caused waves of darkness to flash before his eyes.

Just then, a shadow loomed over him.

Bone Chime had approached silently at some point. With a cruel and triumphant smile on his face, he raised his foot and stepped heavily onto Lu Jianchuan's chest plate! The immense force slammed his body, which had just propped itself up a little, back into the ground.

Immediately after, that pale, mutated biological sonic cannon muzzle slowly lowered, aiming almost at point-blank range at the center of Lu Jianchuan's helmet eyepieces.

"It's over, silver skeleton." Bone Chime's voice trembled slightly with excitement, filled with the pleasure of imminent revenge. "At this distance, my sonic waves will penetrate your helmet directly and vibrate your head into a pulp from the inside. Even your armor won't be able to save you now."

Just as Bone Chime's finger was about to pull the trigger for that fatal blow—

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of rapid and precise gunshots suddenly rang out from below to the side!

The cruel smile on Bone Chime's face instantly froze. He never expected that after such a violent explosion and amidst the sky-filling dust, on a ground where the tide of Fissure Beasts had not yet receded, someone would actually be able to brave everything to rush here and fire at him without hesitation!

He whipped his head around, his pupils shrinking. He saw a GUPA Defense Force soldier, covered in blood with his combat uniform torn in many places, kneeling resolutely on a broken wall dozens of meters away.

The soldier even had two Fissure Beasts hanging off him, crazily biting his shoulders and arms. Blood flowed out in streams, yet he seemed unable to feel the pain, merely gripping his gun tightly, the muzzle steadily pointed in this direction.

Bone Chime instinctively wanted to dodge or launch a sonic wave, but it was too late. He was not an invulnerable monster, and he certainly hadn't expected this near-suicidal attack. The large-caliber burn-explosion rounds gave him no chance to utter any last words.

The first bullet tore through his flank, the intense pain and impact causing his body to lurch. Then the second, the third... the bullets were like a roll call from the Grim Reaper, hitting his chest and neck in succession.

The burn-explosion effect triggered inside his body. He opened his mouth, but could only spit out a mouthful of bloody foam mixed with organ fragments. The light in his eyes faded rapidly, his mutated arms hung limply, and he rolled off Lu Jianchuan, falling heavily to the side, silent and still.

The soldier emptied his magazine, used his last strength to kick away a Fissure Beast on his body, gave a tactical knife stuck in another beast a vicious twist, then pulled out his pistol. Aiming toward Lu Jianchuan, he shouted hoarsely with all his might: "silver skeleton... Comrade!"

His mission was complete. Using himself as bait and his life as a weapon, he had seized the most critical glimmer of hope for the hero in that desperate situation.

However, he had also reached his end. More Fissure Beasts were attracted by the smell of blood, swarming toward him from all directions like hyenas smelling carrion, instantly surrounding him so tightly that not even water could pass. With his back against the broken wall, he had no way out, and even the strength to raise his pistol was rapidly draining away.

He looked at the silver figure struggling to crawl up in the distance, then at the last high-explosive grenade in his hand. There was no fear on his face, only a near-calm resolve.

He pulled the pin and, using his final strength, clutched the grenade tightly to his chest, charging without looking back toward the densest pack of pouncing Fissure Beasts.

BOOM—!!!

Another violent explosion rang out, and fire swallowed the warrior and everything within several meters of him. The shockwave even blew away several nearby Fissure Beasts and briefly distracted the other monsters.

This explosion, paid for with a life, was like the most tragic and brilliant firework in the dark night, buying Lu Jianchuan what might be his last and only chance to catch his breath.

Consciousness Space

Through the System interface, Han Chengyu witnessed the entire process: Lu Jianchuan being swallowed by the explosion, the soldier's self-sacrificing rescue, Bone Chime's death, and the soldier's self-detonation.

He saw Lu Jianchuan struggling, yet unable to stand due to severe energy depletion and heavy injuries.

But he was merely an "Artifact Spirit" trapped here; there was nothing he could do. The only thing he could do was continue to help Lu Jianchuan.

"System! Quick! All the energy we've saved, now, immediately, transfer it all to Lu Jianchuan!" Han Chengyu shouted loudly.

[Command confirmed. Performing emergency purification and remote injection of the life energy obtained and stored during combat so far... Transmission beginning.]

Real World

Just as Lu Jianchuan felt his body as heavy as lead, with every attempt to exert force bringing tearing pain, and darkness flashing before his eyes as if he were about to be completely swallowed by it the next second—

The armband on his left wrist, that crimson gem, suddenly conveyed a completely different, cool, and gentle sensation. A surge of pure and massive life energy, like sweet rain after a long drought, poured continuously into his nearly withered limbs and bones!

This was not the violent power he had traded his own life for, but the purest supplement from the outside. This energy quickly soothed some of the most intense pain and forcibly stabilized his metabolic balance, which was on the verge of collapse, allowing his nearly extinguished flame of life to flicker once more with a stubborn spark.

"Hah... ah!"

A low growl escaped Lu Jianchuan's throat. Relying on this life-saving energy, his arms suddenly exerted force, pushing away a chunk of rubble pressing down on him, and he stumbled to his feet. The armor's surface was still covered in scars and the eyepiece light was dim, but his will to fight was like tempered steel, even more resolute.

He had no time to think about where this energy came from. In the distance, Lin Wan and the Gardener were besieging his loyal ride. The motorcycle dashed left and right but was pinned down by the continuous toxic mist and bone spikes, unable to break free to regroup.

The thrusters at his feet burst with unstable light. Lu Jianchuan, dragging his heavily injured body, once again turned into a slightly swaying but still determined orange-red trail, charging toward the fray! The roar of the thrusters was particularly piercing in the now-quiet ruins.

Lin Wan, who was focused on attacking the motorcycle, whipped her head around at the sound. When she saw that silver figure, who should have been dead under the explosion and Bone Chime's finishing blow, actually charging again with flames, her face was instantly filled with unbelievable horror!

"Impossible! How can you still..."

Her scream came to an abrupt halt. Because she saw the bone-chilling killing intent in Lu Jianchuan's eyes and realized what it meant that Bone Chime had not followed.

The shadow of death instantly enveloped her. She wanted to dodge, she wanted to parry, but Lu Jianchuan's death-defying strike was too fast, too fierce, carrying too much sacrifice and rage!

A heavy fist covered in residual electrical sparks and explosive energy, like the proclamation of the Grim Reaper, slammed hard into the side of her forehead before she could make any effective reaction!

Crack!

A heart-wrenching sound of bone cracking rang out. The horror in Lin Wan's eyes froze, her mutated bone blades hung limply, and she was sent flying like a puppet with broken strings. She crashed heavily to the ground, twitched twice, and then there was no more sound.

"Another one!"

The Gardener's raspy voice carried a hint of surprise, but more of it was cold scrutiny. He clearly hadn't expected Lu Jianchuan to be able to kill another person and stand up again in such a desperate situation.

But his reaction was extremely fast. At the moment Lu Jianchuan sent Lin Wan flying and his old strength had just been spent, he unhesitatingly raised his hand and fired a specially made miniature igniter, precisely throwing it into the densest area of the light-red toxic mist that had accumulated from the previous battle and had not yet completely dissipated!

BOOM!

Another violent explosion erupted nearby, this time targeting the motorcycle that had been trying to approach! The violent air currents and flames flipped the motorcycle over, parts scattered, and it struggled on the ground for a few moments, temporarily losing its ability to move.

Now, atop these burning ruins, only the tottering Lu Jianchuan, whose energy was about to bottom out again, remained, along with the Scarlet Gardener, who looked composed despite having likely consumed much of his ammunition, and the regrouped tide of Fissure Beasts below, who began to climb up recklessly like sharks smelling blood!

Lu Jianchuan panted heavily, every breath pulling at the pain in his internal organs. He looked at the Gardener closing in step by step, then glanced at the dark-red tide of flesh getting closer and closer below, knowing he had truly reached the brink of his limit.