91: Li Qiang, a pacifist: Who says you can't use nuclear weapons in close combat?

Li Qiang's mad battle cry tore through the desperate cloud hanging over all players via the Team Communicator.

"All of you, damn it, wake the Hell up!"

"Playing Resident Evil, are we? I got sick of that back in the Wasteland! Those bastards were far more disgusting than this!"

"Everyone, listen up! Put on your Gas Masks! Bring out every last piece of explosives you've been hoarding!"

"The Final Boss's Health Bar is showing! Let's go!!!"

However, this adrenaline-fueled mobilization had little effect.

The battlefield had completely turned into a living Hell.

The horror of the Bio-Spores created by Raphael was not in their direct lethality, but in how they polluted the concept of "teammate" at the rule level.

A well-equipped hundred-man group was just attempting to focus fire on Raphael in the sky, but the next second, a giant mushroom constantly spewing Acidic Poisonous Mist grew on the team's Main Tank. His eyes instantly turned blood-red, and with a roar, he turned and smashed his Huge Shield violently towards the Healing Priest behind him.

"Old Li! What are you doing! It's me!" the Priest screamed in horror, but he was smashed by the shield of the person he trusted most, his bones and tendons severed, turning him into a flash of white light.

As for the Main Tank who killed his teammate, the mushroom on him became more vibrant, and his Health Points even recovered slightly.

Panic, like the most terrible plague, spread in the hearts of all surviving players.

You didn't know if the comrade fighting beside you would turn into the deadliest enemy the next second. The Human Wave Tactic, the greatest advantage players prided themselves on, had now become the most fatal poison.

The more people there were, the faster the infection spread, and the more uncontrollable the chaos became.

"We can't fight... We absolutely can't fight this!"

"Damn it! My hand! My hand won't obey me! Get away from me quickly!"

"Log off! Stop fighting! Hurry up and log off to hide! This Boss is too disgusting!"

Player morale truly collapsed for the first time. Some ran frantically toward the Teleportation Array they came from, while others simply chose to log out on the spot, trying to escape this hellish scene.

Raphael in the sky, like an elegant, detached spectator, watched his "masterpiece" with great interest. He looked at the "Invaders," who had once been united and arrogant, now slaughtering each other, and a satisfied smile, like an artist admiring his painting, appeared on his face.

"Struggle, cry out. Your fear and despair are truly... the most exquisite nourishment." He elegantly spread his arms, as if embracing the garden he had personally created.

Amidst this gloomy atmosphere, Li Qiang, the man who had stood on the edge of the battlefield observing everything with cold eyes from start to finish, did not show the slightest fear. Instead, he stuck out his tongue and licked his chapped lips.

In his eyes, a light of almost pathological, extreme excitement flickered.

"Resident Evil... Viral Infection... Controlling Friendly Forces..."

He muttered to himself, as if savoring something.

He abruptly opened his Storage Space, and under the astonished gazes of all surviving players, he did not take out a potion or a stronger weapon. Instead, he pulled out a Blueprint that was yellowed with age and covered in complex mechanical patterns.

That was the Ultimate Reward he had looted from Dwarf King Solin in Black Iron City, which he had been hoarding and hadn't dared to use.

[Final Weapon Blueprint: Fusion Core Bomb]

[Required Materials: High-Purity Energy Crystal x100, Orichalcum x50, Mechanical Heart x1...]

Looking at the long list of extremely rare Materials, Li Qiang grinned. If it were before the war started, he couldn't have gathered them even if he sold everything he owned. But now... he glanced at the spoils he had "looted" from the Celestial Realm in his backpack and immediately slapped the Blueprint onto his Arm Terminal.

[Option: Manufacture Immediately!]

[Materials Insufficient. Consume Contribution Points to complete? Estimated cost: 8,750,000 Points.]

Li Qiang didn't even look at the number and immediately clicked Confirm. Lin Xiaowan's guild had just transferred a large sum of "Raid Dividends" to him; he was now a Millionaire.

[Materials Supplemented Successfully. Starting Manufacture...]

[Manufacturing Time: 10 seconds.]

A Spherical Bomb, about half a meter in diameter, made entirely of Silver-White Metal and covered with Blue Energy Circuits, appeared out of thin air in Li Qiang's hand. At the center of the bomb, a miniature Energy Core, radiating an aura of destruction, was slowly rotating.

"Brother Qiang! Are you crazy?!"

Wang Wei, who had been hiding beside him, saw the bomb, and his Analysis Glasses instantly flashed with Red Alarms indicating "Extreme Danger." His voice was distorted.

"This is a Fusion Bomb! It's a Nuke! The yield is enough to wipe the entire Outer Ring of the Celestial Realm off the map! Including ourselves!"

"Afraid of what?!" Li Qiang said carelessly, shouldering the humming bomb. "If we die, we just Resurrect! We can all go back to the Spring of Rebirth for a bath and wash off this disgusting smell!"

He glanced at the bright red [10] second countdown on the bomb's screen, then violently pressed the Activation Button.

The countdown began ticking wildly.

[9]

"All brothers who haven't been infected yet! If you don't want to be hacked to death by your own people, hit the deck!"

Li Qiang let out a final roar, then put on the heavy Anti-Radiation Goggles he had seized from the dwarves. He activated all the Thrusters he could use on his body, and amidst the roar of steam and Electric Arcs, he charged fearlessly like a human cannonball, holding the decisive bomb, toward the center of the square—the land of death completely overrun by Mutated Players and Plant Monsters.

[8]

His speed was extreme, leaving a straight afterimage on the chaotic battlefield.

A Player Monster, wrapped in Vines and no longer recognizable as human, roared and lunged at him. Li Qiang didn't even look, smashing it into pieces with his shoulder.

[7]

In the sky, Raphael finally noticed this "bug" holding a glowing sphere and charging fearlessly toward him. He was curious at first, but then his Extraordinary Perception made him aware of the terrifying energy contained within the sphere, enough to threaten his Origin.

The elegant smile disappeared from his face for the first time.

[6]

"Madman!" Raphael cursed, violently flapping the four Crystal Wings on his back, attempting to ascend higher and escape the dangerous area.

"Trying to run? Too late!"

[5]

During his high-speed charge, Li Qiang accurately threw the High-Strength grappling hook gun modified by Wang Wei. The hook, trailing Electric Arcs, wrapped tightly around Raphael's ankle, which he hadn't had time to pull back.

[4]

A huge pulling force came down from the sky, but Li Qiang's feet were rooted to the ground. He roared, exerted force in his core, and actually managed to forcibly halt Raphael's upward momentum!

[3]

"Get your ass down here!"

Li Qiang yanked the Cable, using the full weight of his body to forcibly drag the arrogant Cherubim in the sky down from mid-air!

Raphael let out a shriek of shock and fury, falling miserably to the ground, landing right in the middle of the densest group of mutated monsters.

[2]

Li Qiang did not hesitate. Like a predatory leopard, he stepped on the heads and shoulders of the mutated monsters, reaching the newly fallen Raphael in a few bounds.

[1]

Four eyes met.

Raphael's handsome eyes were filled with terror and disbelief for the first time.

Behind Li Qiang's goggles, his eyes held undisguised madness and mockery.

He tossed aside the grappling hook gun, opened his arms, and fiercely hugged Raphael's body, pressing the Fusion Core—which was hot enough to melt steel—tightly against the Boss's chest.

He showed a chilling smile next to Raphael's ear, using his last bit of strength to deliver his final taunt:

"I heard you like Disinfection?"

"I'll give you one hundred million degrees!!"

[0]

The world lost its sound.

Immediately afterward, a Pure White Sun, ten thousand times brighter than the real sun, exploded in the center of the Celestial Realm.

There was no earth-shattering explosion sound, because the speed of sound transmission lagged far behind the light.

The light was absolute and irresistible. It devoured everything.

Whether it was the ferocious mutated monsters or the trembling surviving players; whether it was the sacred and elegant White Buildings or the Magnificent Gardens that had just been looted; whether it was Li Qiang's wild smile or Raphael's terrified expression... everything, in this pure light, was instantly decomposed, vaporized, erased, and reduced to its most basic existence.

Su Mu, far away in the "Tinder" Central Space, even had to temporarily turn off the Holographic Projection to prevent his senses from being overwhelmed by the overloaded Data Stream.

The light lasted for a full ten seconds.

When the light faded, the former Glory Atrium Plaza had completely vanished from the map.

In its place was a massive Crater, several kilometers in diameter, bottomless, with edges still flowing with Crimson Magma.

A huge hole was torn in the clouds in the sky, revealing the cold and dark Universe behind them.

A massive and beautiful Mushroom Cloud was slowly and silently rising and spreading over the Celestial Realm, as if announcing the arrival of a New Order to the world.

Absolute silence.

The green spores, twisted Vines, and the nauseating stench of decay that once covered the square were all completely "purified" in the unimaginable high temperature and radiation.

In a sense, Li Qiang truly brought "Peace" in his own way.

Nuclear Peace.

Right on this silent Wasteland, at the very center of the huge Crater.

"Cough... cough, cough..."

A violent fit of coughing broke the eternal stillness.

From beneath a pile of charred, still-smoking Carbonized Material, a broken hand suddenly reached out.

Raphael staggered up from the massive pit.

He no longer possessed his previous elegant and handsome appearance.

His spotless White Research Uniform had long turned to ash. Half of his body was completely carbonized, exposing the charred bones and Mechanical Structures still flashing with electric sparks underneath. Three of the four Crystal Wings he prided himself on were broken, and the remaining one was covered in cracks and dull.

Half of his face was charcoal, and the other half was covered in horrific burns. His Gold-Rimmed Glasses were long gone, and his eyes, once full of wisdom and indifference, now held only endless, tangible rage and pain.

He looked down at the massive cavity in his chest, an Eternal Wound left by the point-blank detonation of the Fusion Core.

"Ah—!!!"

Raphael threw his head back and let out a roar that echoed throughout the Celestial Realm, a sound no longer elegant or cold, but filled only with pure pain and Brutality.

"Unforgivable!!"

"Unforgivable ah ah ah ah ah—!!!"

Before his roar had even subsided, one white light after another, representing player Rebirth, began lighting up frantically at the distant Respawn Point, springing up like mushrooms after rain.