Chapter 149: The Might of the Demonic Infant, You All Deserve to Die

The next moment, fierce and roaring artillery fire blanketed the main body of the Infant Demon Descended.

Violent explosions erupted one after another.

Ren Chong, single-handedly, produced the spectacle of a pitched battle between two opposing armies.

The remaining low-tier scavengers scattered and fled in all directions, with only a few daring enough to glance back.

In the sky, countless metallic human heads whistled, tumbling up and down.

In the span of a single instant, at least dozens of people went down.

The situation on Ren Chong's side was also changing with dizzying speed.

The momentum of his forward charge slowed slightly.

It was not because he was afraid; rather, he had perceived the changes within himself.

The efficacy of the mental stimulant went without saying—he was already well-accustomed to it—but he had no idea what the characteristics of the super-exosuit berserk stimulant were.

However, given that the panic-stricken and enraged Brother Sun had expanded to the point of trying to risk his life with this drug, it meant it could at least grant a powerless scholar the courage to challenge second- or third-tier professionals.

The moment the drug took effect, Ren Chong detected the anomaly.

He could no longer feel the blood pressure shock brought by the acceleration.

Yet it was not because his perception had dulled, but because his body was undergoing rapid transformation.

This sudden change caused him to temporarily alter his strategy, causing him to merely graze past the side of the Infant Demon Descended rather than launching an immediate impact.

After avoiding the frontal collision, he began to revolve at high speed around the Infant Demon Descended while reading his physical condition.

A human projection appeared in Ren Chong's field of vision, which was feedback provided by the armor's built-in medical examination system.

His load-bearing capacity and physical comprehensive index were soaring at an outrageous speed!

Within the drug, strand after strand of xenogeneic genes rapidly and comprehensively integrated into the cells of his body, altering the cellular structure of his physique.

Under the prompt of the armor's self-diagnosis system, streams of data flashed rapidly.

"Ant gene fragment detected..."

"Rhinoceros beetle gene fragment detected..."

"Lion gene detected..."

Gene fragments of more than twenty different creatures, including the Siberian tiger, brown bear, African elephant, eagle, ape, and peacock mantis shrimp, manifested in various parts of his body. On the three-dimensional human projection map, he had practically turned into a colorful butterfly.

Immediately following this, Ren Chong let out a muffled grunt, a powerful sense of hunger and bloodthirst welling up from the depths of his heart.

His eyes turned crimson, and the black parts of his pupils suddenly expanded, transforming to resemble the eyes of a hawk.

The next instant, Ren Chong turned off the acceleration-limiting valve used for human self-protection within the exoskeleton armor.

Bang!

He lunged forward.

The output power of the Flame-Slash Great Blade was 7,000 kilowatts.

The output power of the arm armor holding the blade was 5,000 kilowatts.

The instantaneous output power of the dielectric thruster on his back was 5,000 kilowatts.

The stable output power of the full-body armor was 3,000 kilowatts.

His instantaneous total power soared directly to 20,000 kilowatts!

Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for him to wield such power given his capabilities.

Right now, however, under the enhancement of the concentrated stimulant, his brain reaction index had surged sixfold, crossing the thirty-thousand mark.

Coupled with his already budding "sixth sense," he was now roughly equivalent to a shrunken version of a tier-five warrior.

He was capable of effortless control while possessing boundless strength.

Ren Chong's heavy blade smashed fiercely into the top of the Infant Demon Descended's head like a missile, then swept past in a sudden rush.

The blade's edge grazed across the demon's metallic surface.

A screeching sound rang out continuously, with flames dancing and sparks flying everywhere.

After Ren Chong crossed paths with it, the Infant Demon Descended seemed utterly enraged, suddenly spinning around to face him.

On the side of the top of its head was a tear two to three meters long and half a foot wide.

Flames were still spewing from the fissure, and the surrounding area was scorched pitch-black like charcoal.

It seemed not to have expected that the human before it not only felt no fear, but even dared to counterattack. Its blood-filled maw opened wider, and piercing screeches emanated from deep within its throat like a loudspeaker.

It was angry.

Of course, perhaps this was the only emotion it possessed that resembled anger.

Ren Chong's peripheral vision quickly swept across the tactical helmet panel, and combined with the AR information projection on his retina, he observed the rapid evolution of the wound on the Infant Demon Descended.

The burr-like metal torn open by the Flame-Slash Great Blade was rapidly melting into a liquid state, re-aggregating, and resolidifying.

Merely 0.3 seconds later, the previously huge wound had vanished, becoming as good as new.

The comprehensive combat information hub provided an analytical report.

"Special Ability: Liquid Metallization. Deep Analysis: Cutting-edge defense capability. Unless a powerful focused attack is used to instantly breach the defense, it is impossible to cause substantive damage from the surface."

A moment later, Ren Chong traced a broken line in the air, reversed direction once more, and lunged straight in.

This time, he did not successfully strike a second blow.

When the distance between the two closed to twenty meters once again, countless slender metal threads suddenly emerged from the bald top of the Infant Demon Descended, winding and rolling to sweep toward Ren Chong in a overwhelming deluge.

Had Ren Chong not reacted quickly and timely detonated a blast bomb beside him, utilizing the air-pressure shock to accelerate his sideways movement, he would have almost been sucked in.

The information hub provided a new analytical report.

"Special Ability: Piercing Long Hair. Deep Analysis: Possesses extremely strong cutting and piercing capabilities, posing a massive threat to conventional metal material armor."

Since this piercing long hair could not be approached, and having tasted the sweetness of the blast bomb, Ren Chong immediately altered his strategy. He dodged sideways after the sweep, threw another blast bomb, changed direction once again to lunge diagonally downward, and landed beneath the demon's chin while completely avoiding the dancing metallic long hair.

This time, the Flame-Slash Great Blade left another fissure beneath the demon's lips.

Yet another blast bomb!

Ren Chong soared away.

While moving, he also shook loose the sacrificial burst shotgun on his back, propped it on his shoulder, and fired bang-bang in rapid succession, blasting back the chasing long hair with multiple consecutive shots.

Seeing that utilizing the blast bomb for mobility worked well, Ren Chong simply incorporated it as one of the steps in his routine maneuvering.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang...

For a time, only the sounds of explosive blasts resembling firecrackers resounded.

Within the span of a few short seconds, he had switched positions at least thirty times, leaving several scars on the surface of the Infant Demon Descended.

With his current equipment, he was still unable to deliver a focused attack that exceeded the upper limit of the demon's defense. Therefore, he needed to test the opponent's liquid metallization characteristics several more times—parameters such as the energy conversion details during the liquefaction process and the solidification cycle of the liquid metal.

Before injecting the exosuit berserk stimulant, he would never have dared to make such wild and frantic direction changes, otherwise the shift in acceleration alone would have caused his blood to surge and his brain to suffer fatal congestion.

On the other side, Yu Jin, Zheng Tian, and the others, who had disobeyed his retreat order, gathered together. While casually resisting the onslaught of the infant demon branchlings, they gazed toward Ren Chong with expressions of deep anxiety.

They had been thinking that should Ren Chong happen to lose, they would rush forward immediately to help and see if they could rescue him.

Yet this was utterly impossible.

Ren Chong's operational intensity was simply too high; the naked eye could not possibly capture his movements.

Wen Lei had to share the specially installed battlefield scanner from his own armor, slowing down the image information severalfold before sharing it with everyone.

Thus, should everyone see Ren Chong caught in a desperate situation within the footage, it would likely have happened a long time ago.

With a flushed face, Yu Jin clenched his teeth tightly, the knuckles of his hands holding his gun turning white.

He muttered to himself.

"It's too fast; I can't see clearly. Even if I turn the power of my tactical glasses up to the maximum, I still can't see clearly at all."

Beside him, Chen Hangyu shouted, "Yu Jin, turn down the power of your biochemical combat uniform! You're about to burn up!"

Yu Jin snapped out of it with a start and hurriedly dialed down the power.

He hammered his chest heavily with a disgruntled expression, "Damn it! I want so badly to help Mr. Ren, but I don't even have the qualifications to watch the battle."

Zheng Tian used a continuous spray of machine gun fire to repel the clusters of infant demon branchlings rushing from the flank, offering words of comfort instead: "It's fine. Helping doesn't necessarily mean having to see Brother Ren's movements clearly. Anyway, the demon's attention is entirely focused on Brother Ren. Let's quietly approach that side first and figure out a way to deal it a heavy blow; we'll manage to help somehow. Ou Youning! Hurry up and prepare the directional impact explosive array trap!"

The Infant Demon Descended (Part 1 of 3)

The Infant Demon Descended (Part 2 of 3)

Young Master Ou shouted aloud, "Alright!"

Chen Hangyu looked toward a spot just over ten meters away from the group.

There, a semi-professional mecha warrior was being besieged by three infant demon branchlings, the situation hanging by a thread and death possible at any moment.

Chen Hangyu raised the rapid-fire machine gun in her hand, aimed it in that direction, and said, "These people came here because they trusted us after all. We can't just turn a blind eye; we should help a bit where we can."

Just as she was about to open fire, she heard the screeching frequency emitted by the main body of the distant Infant Demon Descended change once more.

Following that, the situation underwent an abrupt and drastic transformation.

The three infant demon branchlings besieging that mecha warrior suddenly abandoned their target and soared into the air.

Everyone looked around, drawing in cold breaths of air one after another.

At the rear of the valley, as many as tens of thousands of infant demon branchlings were floating into the air simultaneously. They converged into a torrent, whistling in dark, oppressive waves like a swarm of locusts.

The direction toward which the locust swarm was aimed was none other than Ren Chong!

Wen Lei hurriedly shouted in the squad's communication system, "Not good! All the infant demon branchlings have been recalled! Mr. Ren, run!"

Prompted by Wen Lei, Ren Chong, who had been immersed in a self-forgetful state, grew instead furious. "Didn't I tell you all to retreat? I took the drugs! I'm dead for sure! Dead for sure! Get out of here!"

No one answered.

However, aside from Ou Youning, who was still preparing the bomb, and Chen Hangyu, who was providing slight cover, the other four individuals had already moved laterally to the front of the infant demon branchling torrent, positioning themselves precisely in the inevitable path of the torrent charging toward Ren Chong.

Zheng Tian shouted at the top of her lungs, "Activate the anti-gravity suits! Form the wall formation!"

Wen Lei, Bai Feng, Ou Youning, and Yu Jin soared into the air, forming a formation.

Wen Lei was at the front, Bai Feng at the top, while Zheng Tian and Yu Jin occupied the two flanks.

They intended to act like mantises trying to stop a chariot!

A small number of infant demon branchlings had already begun to appear around Ren Chong.

He was forced to divide his attention, occasionally dodging the death-defying impacts of these branchlings, and occasionally counterattacking, using his blade to whip up fiery plasma that devoured the branchlings in patches.

Although he showed no signs of defeat, the difficulty of bombarding the demon's main body had increased significantly.

His information hub provided a new analytical report.

"Special Ability: Infant Demon Torrent. Deep Analysis: Continuous impact by an oversized number of low-tier branchlings. Try to avoid."

Of course, Ren Chong could not avoid it unless he gave up his surprise attack on the demon's main body.

On the other side, the main force of the torrent had crashed fiercely into the defensive formation formed by Zheng Tian and the others.

Seeing this out of the corner of his eye, Ren Chong's pupils constricted slightly, though he did not know what to say.

At this moment, Ou Youning, who was configuring the demolition trap on the side, spoke his true thoughts.

"Brother Ren, don't worry about us. We're just like the parasites on your body; wherever you go, we go too. We've all returned to Spark Town, but we don't even have an identity in Chromium-Carbon Town; we can't go there. If you die here, Spark Town's census won't pass either, and sooner or later we'll die anyway. We might as well die together."

Ou Youning's words sounded utilitarian, but they were very practical.

Ren Chong was suddenly enlightened.

In a sense, that made sense.

The torrent swept over.

Yu Jin's high-powered bullets first blasted a vacuum crack through the front.

Zheng Tian adjusted the fire rate of her rapid-fire gun to the absolute maximum.

Wen Lei activated the self-acting reactive armor at the front of his giant shield, blasting a destructive counter-thrust forward.

Bai Feng shook a metal net from both arms as plasma surged.

The four of them gave it their all, yet it was all in vain.

A blink later, the four of them were completely swallowed up.

Although the main target of the torrent was not them at all, simply grazing past it, head by head, mouth by mouth, the group was instantly torn to shreds.

Below, Chen Hangyu's disheveled hair whipped about as her machine gun spat out continuous bursts of fire, striking the sweeping torrent with a clanging sound—equally in vain.

The infant demon branchling torrent could not even be bothered to pay her any mind.

Even so, the group had managed to buy Ren Chong some extra time.

He experienced two more of the demon main body's methods.

"Special Ability: Mental Information Flow Shock. Utilizing high-frequency noise of a special frequency to directly induce resonance and vibration in human brain neurons."

Unlike the maze bug's special particles that induced dreams, this method directly damaged the human brain through physical means.

Merely targeted by the giant maw of the demon main body and covered by the shock, Ren Chong felt his brain grow groggy and hazy, as if he had drunk wine.

He began to sway unsteadily.

Immediately after, he saw a flash of red light within the demon main body's huge, angry eyes.

Two scorching red beams were fired, shining directly upon him with nowhere to hide, completely blanketing his torso!

Terrified heat surged toward him.

Ren Chong detonated a cryogenic bomb in the first instant, attempting to fend off the thermal energy.

Yet none of this worked. Alarms sounded in his armor, continuously feeding him overheating warnings.

He wanted to dodge sideways, but the infant demon branchling torrent behind him whistled in once more, wrapping him inside like a giant wave.

These human-headed monsters braved the thermal energy capable of melting their own bodies, biting down viciously on his arms, legs, and head.

Crack.

The transmission lines for his dielectric engine and anti-gravity engine snapped.

Ren Chong spread his arms wide, awaiting the end of his life.

"Ahhhhh!"

Two roars inexplicably rang out beside Ren Chong's ears.

He tilted his head with difficulty.

His field of vision was completely crimson, yet he caught sight of two lean figures, one on the left and one on the right, carrying a large box as they sprinted frantically toward the underside of the demon main body.

That must have been Chen Hangyu and Ou Youning charging forward with the large-scale impact-explosion trap they had just completed.

Unfortunately, the two of them failed to reach the direct underside of the demon main body.

A small squad of branchlings lunged forward, attempting to entangle the pair.

Clearly, the main body of the Infant Demon Descended gave that large bomb sufficient respect.

Boom boom boom boom!

The trap detonated prematurely.

A golden-yellow shockwave radiated outward in a bloom, in turn blanketing Ren Chong and the demon main body all at once.

Benefiting from the impact of this shock wave, the crimson light beam that had melted half of his armor came to an abrupt halt, and the infant demon branchling torrent behind him also stalled slightly.

Ren Chong began to fall toward the ground.

Yet he had no wish to die so easily.

He activated all remaining power, channeling the energy into the propulsion system. Twisting his body around with a sudden snap, he hurled the Flame-Slash Great Blade fiercely behind him.

Simultaneously, he stomped hard with both feet against two large, lunging heads.

Having lost his dielectric engine and anti-gravity engine, he utilized this explosive recoil to head-butt fiercely toward the giant maw that the demon had kept wide open from the very beginning.

In the distance, a streak of deep blue electrical light flashed brightly.

A delta wing as swift as lightning whistled in at a speed breaking the sound barrier.

As it was about to arrive, the delta wing began to transform, using air resistance to decelerate.

The transformation complete, an agile and graceful figure arrived suspended in mid-air.

Ma Xiaoling's angry reproach was the last thing to ring out in Ren Chong's communicator.

"Ren Chong, what on earth are you doing! Didn't you promise..."

She received no answer.

The next instant, Ren Chong plunged entirely into the demon's maw.

The Infant Demon Descended (Part 3 of 3)

That mouth, which had never closed, snapped shut violently.

Strands of liquid metal seeped inward along the seams of Ren Chong's armor.

In the span of a single instant, the immense pressure brought by the liquid metal crushed his body thoroughly.

Death!

Yet Ren Chong's consciousness did not dissipate.

Instantly switching to a netherworld "God's-eye view," his soul broke free from his body.

A triumphant smile hung upon his face.

A terrifying explosion occurred within the demon's mouth.

Long before the battle began, he had deliberately installed three extra reactor batteries inside his armor and turned off the explosion-proof protection system.

The terrifying electrical energy hidden within these three reactor batteries—each packed with dozens of electrical-type tier-4 Void Beast crystals—would be released instantly and converted into thermal energy.

According to parameter projections.

The power of this round of explosions rivaled the twentieth century's "Father of All Bombs."

0.5 seconds later, the terrifying high-temperature vacuum impact pressure tore the demon's main body completely to shreds!

Countless liquid-metal jets sprayed and scattered outward from the demon's main body as the point of dispersion, spreading across a range exceeding three hundred meters.

Ma Xiaoling's approaching trajectory came to an abrupt halt.

She froze in place.

As for Ren Chong, he floated beside a crystal structure of a regular icosahedron about 0.5 meters high, looking ahead with a face full of regret.

The surface of this object still flickered with fluorescent light.

In the distance, the splashed liquid metal streams had already begun to decelerate, floating back in the air to re-gather toward this spot.

The liquid metal blasted into the ground was floating upward from below at a rapid pace, dropping by drop re-adhering to this regular icosahedral crystal structure.

The demon was rapidly re-coagulating its body!

As expected of a terrifying, intelligent Void Beast that had already completed its life evolution and was on the verge of crossing tier 5 to ascend to tier 6.

It still hadn't died from this.

Suddenly, however, a light dawned in Ren Chong's eyes.

Before the crystal structure was completely enveloped, he clearly "saw" one of the faces of the crystal automatically open a lid, revealing a honeycomb-like aperture inside.

A thick line rapidly condensed from liquid metal stretched out, reconnecting with the honeycomb-like aperture.

Ren Chong understood.

This was the "spinal nerve" of the Infant Demon Descended.

It was through this "nerve" that it could control the various parts of its body and issue commands to the massive horde of infant demon branchlings.

Ren Chong suddenly thought: could I treat this thing like a computer?

What if I write a Trojan horse and hack it?

Consciousness faded.

Before losing consciousness entirely, he lightning-fast recalled everything the group had done today.

Though it might seem somewhat cold-blooded.

At this moment, he was indeed extremely happy.

He truly had not expected that even though he had given everyone different choices, in the end, everyone decided to stay and face death by his side.

He knew for a fact that he would definitely be resurrected after dying, which made him appear exceptionally grandiose and passionate.

In a sense, the others were greater than him.

Even though Ou Youning's analysis seemed utilitarian, it could be interpreted in another way.

Spark Town indeed had no future.

Yet the strength of everyone whom he had meticulously cultivated was no longer what it used to be.

Even upon leaving Spark Town, they could easily head to the Wilds tribes, or simply hide away in the Iron Insect Forest, taking turns keeping watch to survive the census, waiting until the Mengdu Group's hunters departed, thus giving themselves a chance to live.

Yet they ignored this possibility, staying by his side to hold the line until the very last moment.

Good!

Truly wonderful!

Thank you all!

Yu Jin, Zheng Tian, Chen Hangyu, Wen Lei, Bai Feng, Ou Youning.

It is my good fortune to have known you.

Ren Chong did not deny that most people had various shortcomings.

Yet when these people saw him generously embrace death, whether out of gratitude and the desire to repay kindness, or out of confusion and despair toward the future, they had ultimately all come.

You are more remarkable than I am!

I am the fire-stealer, and you are the sparks.

Our journey has only just begun!

And those Wilds people who accompanied me today.

I thank you as well!

...

"What are you silly grinning about, Ren Chong? Keep up and pay attention. There are tier-3 and tier-4 Void Beasts in this valley. Don't blame us if you die."

Bei Lihui's voice came from ahead.

Regaining his senses, Ren Chong looked straight ahead.

The resurrected Bei Lihui turned his head and glared at him with an unhappy expression.

Ren Chong's thoughts spun rapidly, running through his parameters and current status in his mind at breakneck speed.

Very good.

The timing was controlled with absolute precision.

Five minutes from now, the group would encounter the legion beasts.

Ren Chong smiled and said, "Brother Hui, I was just thinking about returning to the town, so I'm happy."

Hearing this, Bei Lihui slowed down slightly, dropping back to walk beside Ren Chong.

"Well, that's true. You struck it rich by unearthing a mineral source stone this time, so you have reason to be happy. Still, even though your brat treated everyone to a round, I don't think it's enough. Your striking it rich this time, to put it bluntly, still relied on our coattails. Not to mention splitting the money, you should at least let me play with those two chicks under your command, right? By the way, tell me what Ju Qingmeng feels like anyway? I've never gotten to play with a proper second-tier citizen in my entire life."

Last time, Ren Chong had "saved" Bei Lihui's life right here.

Moved by his "life-saving grace," Bei Lihui began to call Ren Chong brother and restrained himself slightly.

Right now, however, Ren Chong had not yet had the chance to "save" him.

So he was acting true to form.

Ren Chong's face darkened. "Brother Hui."

Ahead, Lin Wang turned his head back. "Bei Lihui! Get to the front and keep watch! Stop blabbering nonsense."

Bei Lihui walked off in sullen disappointment.

Ren Chong watched his retreating figure, then quietly glanced at Sima Wan by his side.

In a flash of lightning and flint, he made a new decision.

Captain, Brother Hui, Sima Wan, Pan Fenglian, Song Qianlian—I'm sorry, all of you are bound to die.

Ren Chong was growing increasingly proficient at walking through the cracks of time.

This very time, he would set the grand curtain of new history rising from the very first moment of his resurrection!