49 Apocalypse Rules

Chapter 152: Chapter 142: Destroying the Base

The alarm blared as piercing red lights flashed throughout the base.

In the lowest-level prison area, the entrances and exits were sealed the moment the alarm sounded. This was standard procedure; no matter what happened above, order had to be maintained below.

Meanwhile, in the middle-level area, a large number of armed personnel heard the alarm, all of them confused.

The base’s main gate was on their level. If an enemy were invading from the outside, they would be the first to engage, yet no enemy had appeared.

"What’s the situation?"

"Did someone upstairs hit the wrong button by accident?"

The expression of a captain holding a walkie-talkie changed drastically. "This is bad! I can’t reach Manager Han. Something might have gone wrong on the upper levels. We need to get up there, now!"

The armed personnel grabbed their gear and rushed toward the upper levels of the base.

At that moment, in the Ascender squad’s dormitory area on the upper level, the thick fog in the hallway had not yet dissipated.

Gu Fei and Chu Xiaoyuan, who had come out of their rooms at the sound of the commotion, couldn’t see clearly down the corridor. But from the blaring alarm and the thick scent of blood in the air, they knew something was happening nearby.

"Who’s there? Get the hell out here!"

Gu Fei summoned his scimitar and gripped it tightly. Cursing, he walked forward, but after just a few steps, he was met with the sight of a tall figure wielding a giant axe.

’This is...’

WHOOSH!

The giant axe swung at him. Gu Fei quickly ducked to avoid it, the blade grazing over his head with a powerful gust of wind that sent a chill down his spine.

’Fighting a warrior with a giant axe in a narrow corridor like this is too dangerous!’

He knew this had to be some kind of Summoned Creature. If he could just eliminate the Ascender who summoned it, the creature would disappear.

’That guy must be hiding in the fog up ahead!’

Gu Fei made a snap decision. He threw his scimitar under the Giant Axe Warrior’s legs, sending it spinning forward at incredible speed.

THUD!

A muffled sound. ’Did it hit something?’

As Gu Fei rapidly retreated to dodge the Giant Axe Warrior’s second attack, he tried to recall his scimitar.

To compensate for his lack of ranged attacks, he had recently developed the ability to throw and recall his scimitar. But when he tried to recall it now, it didn’t return.

’What’s going on?’

Gu Fei expended more Psychic Power to activate the ability, and this time it worked. The scimitar flew back successfully, but along with it came a pitch-black shadow clinging to its surface.

’A shadow...?’

When Gu Fei saw that shadow, the painful experience on Holy Grail Island flooded his mind. He knew it was Shadow who had caused his squad’s early elimination back then.

Because of that disastrous defeat, he had been ostracized by his own teammates. That guy surnamed Zhang had also held him primarily responsible for letting his emotions dictate his command, ultimately stripping him of his captaincy and kicking him out of the Official Squad.

’If it weren’t for that incident, I’d still be one of the Official Team’s captains, enjoying excellent benefits and privileges. How could I have fallen so low, forced to scrape by in a shady organization like this!’

"Shadow! It’s all your fault that I, Gu Fei, ended up like this!"

His blood boiling, Gu Fei pulled out all his items and used them in one go to block the Giant Axe Warrior. He then dashed past the warrior, determined to have a final showdown with Shadow himself.

He leaped into the air, manipulating his spinning scimitar to unleash a blade of energy to sever the shadow. But as he landed and gripped the hilt, he saw a silver gun barrel pointed right at him through the mist.

"Gu Fei, remember this? It’s what sent you packing on Holy Grail Island. Today, I’ll give you another send-off."

Guan Tong’s voice echoed from the mist. Before Gu Fei could say a word, Guan Tong pulled the trigger.

"BOOM!!!"

The power of the Silver Hunter No. 3 High-Explosive Bomb was as immense as ever. An intense, fiery explosion instantly engulfed Gu Fei.

Guan Tong hadn’t used it earlier because he didn’t want to cause a huge commotion. But now that the base’s alarm was already blaring, it didn’t matter anymore.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

He didn’t spare any bullets, pulling the trigger repeatedly. The violent explosions made the entire hallway tremble.

When the fire and light faded, Gu Fei was lying on the ground, covered in wounds and barely breathing.

Just like when he was eliminated on Holy Grail Island, his defensive items had saved him from an instant death, but he no longer had any strength to fight back.

Guan Tong’s abilities were a perfect counter to a melee fighter like him; he couldn’t even manage to rush up to Guan Tong.

"*Cough...*"

Gu Fei vomited a large mouthful of blood. Unwilling to give up, he tried to crawl back to his feet, but the Giant Axe Warrior behind him had already raised its axe.

"Dammit..." Seeing the warrior’s reflection on his scimitar, he cursed under his breath, "In the end, it’s still..."

WHOOSH!

The giant axe fell, cutting Gu Fei in half at the waist and killing him instantly.

His other teammate, Chu Xiaoyuan, who could manipulate building blocks, died at almost the same moment.

Guan Tong had finished him off with a shadow implosion.

This Ascender squad, hand-picked by the Qingmei organization, was almost completely helpless against Guan Tong, with the exception of Jiang Ming.

But that wasn’t surprising... After all, they were facing "Shadow," who had ranked number one in the world several times.

Guan Tong finished off the three members of this squad. Chen Na was still hiding in her room.

Listening to the sounds from outside, he knew that the armed personnel from the middle level were all coming up.

’This is good too. Saves me a trip down there.’

’Dealing with these gunmen will be much simpler.’

Guan Tong continued to draw on his reserves of Psychic Power. A mass of shadows spread out from his body, constantly branching into one Shadow Line after another, which then slithered outwards at high speed.

The armed personnel who came up from the middle level had yet to find any trace of the intruder when they saw countless snake-like "black lines" slithering rapidly towards them along the floor and walls!

"What are those things?!"

"Open fire!"

RAT-TAT-TAT, RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

They fired at the black lines, but it was completely useless. They could only watch in horror as the lines closed in, crawled onto their bodies, and wrapped around their necks, coil by coil.

Then came the tightening and the suffocation.

"Ugh...!"

"H-help me!"

"Run!!!"

A huge swath of armed personnel fell in an instant. The rest were scared out of their wits and tried to flee.

But no matter how fast they were, they couldn’t outrun the shadows.

Before long, all of them were dead, caught in the shadows’ lethal embrace.

Many died with their eyes wide open. Some had struggled, leaving several scratch marks on the floor with their fingernails.

Guan Tong emerged from the gloom. His expression was unmoved as he surveyed the gruesome scene he had created.

’They brought this on themselves. From the moment they chose to serve this evil organization, capturing and killing people, they should have known this day would come.’

’My appearance merely hastened the inevitable.’

After eliminating the threats on the upper and middle levels, he went down to the lowest level.

The door here was already locked tight, but Guan Tong had Han Ling’s highest-level access card and swiped the door open.

The guards inside quickly fell to the shadows, just like the armed personnel on the middle level.

Guan Tong saw the imprisoned Ascenders with his own eyes, and a flood of emotions washed over him.

From the surveillance control room, he opened all the cell doors. But the people who had been imprisoned for months didn’t dare to step out, even seeing the doors open, fearing it was some kind of test.

Guan Tong didn’t say anything to them. He knew that once one person came out, the others would follow.

He returned to the upper level, knocked on Chen Na’s door, and told her to come with him.

Chen Na followed Guan Tong out. First, she saw the bodies of Gu Fei and Chu Xiaoyuan in the hallway. Then, as soon as they left the dormitory area, she saw the floor littered with the corpses of the armed personnel.

"Chief, did you do all this...?"

Guan Tong didn’t reply, simply walking back to the manager’s office.

Han Ling, who had been knocked unconscious earlier, had now come to. Although her hands and feet were bound by Shadow Lines, preventing her from moving, she could still see and speak.

The moment she saw Chen Na behind Guan Tong, her face turned ice-cold. "Chen Na, you betrayed the organization?!"

"I... Han Ling, why did you lie to me? You said..."

"Shut up! You little bitch, you little mongrel! I should have just gutted you from the start, gutted you right along with that bitch of a mother!"

Han Ling, who had always been so gentle and pleasant, had suddenly ripped off her mask. Her vicious, vile words left Chen Na in a state of shock.

"You treacherous little bitch! If the organization hadn’t paid for the medicine, your mother would have died from her illness long ago! And this is how you repay us? With betrayal and treachery!"

Chen Na had snapped out of her shock by now. Looking at Han Ling’s crazed expression, she said, "Han Ling, I was very grateful for the medicine and items. In return, I joined the organization to serve... But all of that was on the condition that this organization was just as you described it, Sister Han Ling—one of mutual aid and self-preservation. You were the one who lied to me first! If I had known the organization harmed people like this, I never would have agreed to join!"

"She’s right," Guan Tong said. "Han Ling, you know full well that without the guise of ’mutual aid,’ you’d never be able to trick good-hearted people into working for you. At this point, what right do you have to accuse others of betrayal?"

"...So it seems you’ve destroyed this base."

Han Ling ignored Chen Na, her eyes, like a viper’s, fixed on Guan Tong.

"Shadow, you really are something else. To be able to infiltrate this heavily-defended base so silently and eliminate its armed forces... you truly live up to the title of ’World’s First Ascender.’ But I’m telling you, the Commander-in-Chief will have his revenge. Just you wait. No one will be able to save you then..."

"I’d actually like to have a long chat with you about this Commander-in-Chief," Guan Tong said. He was about to take out the shelter he had stored in the Wordless Book, intending to use its properties to take Han Ling away for a slow interrogation.

But Han Ling just laughed maniacally. "Hahaha, you want me to sell out the Commander-in-Chief? In your dreams! Shadow, we’ll meet again. I’ll be waiting for you in the Underworld, hahahaha—"

Her laughter stopped abruptly. A dark, bluish tint appeared on Han Ling’s face.

Sensing something was wrong, Guan Tong rushed forward to check on her. Han Ling’s head hung limply. She was no longer breathing.

He lifted her chin and saw a purplish liquid trickling from the corner of her mouth.

’Poison? Hidden in her mouth... no, in a tooth?’

Guan Tong frowned.

He had heard that some special agents hide poison in specially made false teeth. When needed, they could open it with their tongue or crush it with their teeth to commit suicide quickly, preventing them from leaking vital information under brutal interrogation.

’...To think Han Ling had something like that in her mouth. This organization, that Commander-in-Chief... did they really require this level of devotion from her?’

"Sister Han Ling..."

Chen Na stared at Han Ling, who had died from poison, her own face deathly pale.

Even though Han Ling had just hurled so many vicious words at her, seeing her die with her own eyes still made Chen Na feel deeply uneasy.

There was nothing Guan Tong could do about it. As powerful as his shadow abilities were, he couldn’t bring the dead back to life.

It was a pity that he couldn’t get more information about the true mastermind, "Big Sis," but in Guan Tong’s view, this operation, which had consumed a great deal of his Psychic Power, had not been in vain.

"...Let’s go, Chen Na. At least this base is finished. You’re safe now, and all the imprisoned Ascenders have been rescued."