Chapter 54: The Wrath of the King

In the prophecy of the “Prophet” of that cult, the key to finding the “Test Subject” turned out not to be Selene, as Linoa had previously claimed, but rather the “Zero—Ancient Reagent” she had injected into herself. The information Linoa revealed at the last moment startled Zhang Wen greatly.

If Linoa’s words were true, had she already possessed the key all along? Then, did Linoa already know Zhang Wen’s true identity? Thinking of this, Zhang Wen instinctively turned his head, eager to question Linoa further.

However, Linoa gave Zhang Wen no chance to continue his questions. After speaking those last few sentences, she had already dashed into the jungle and disappeared from sight. Although Zhang Wen could still sense Linoa’s location, he lightly furrowed his brow and hesitated, choosing not to pursue her.

Zhang Wen, of course, didn’t know that the “Zero—Ancient Reagent” inside Linoa’s body had long vanished. He simply judged from Linoa’s previous actions and tone that she still hadn’t discovered his identity.

This might be because, even after injecting the “Zero—Ancient Reagent,” Linoa couldn’t easily sense the Test Subject’s location. Then, with her plan having completely failed, Linoa would likely no longer bother chasing down the Test Subject’s whereabouts.

But if Zhang Wen pursued her now, he might instead raise Linoa’s suspicions. If she grew suspicious and began secretly investigating, Zhang Wen would only be asking for trouble. Therefore, Zhang Wen did his best to suppress his unease and refrained from taking unnecessary actions.

After spending several seconds adjusting his mindset, Zhang Wen temporarily suppressed his doubts. He walked over to Xiaoxi and Garret, who had been knocked unconscious by Linoa, picked them up, and placed them together with the still-unconscious Zack and Cloud.

Then, Zhang Wen picked up the longsword he had dropped earlier during his frenzied state and walked toward Robert, who was still lying motionless on the ground. Zhang Wen could sense that the wound he had inflicted on Robert had missed the vital areas, so this guy definitely wasn’t dead.

Zhang Wen couldn’t afford to leave this psychologically twisted, hate-filled, and highly skilled federal secret agent alive and comfortable. Even if he didn’t want to dirty his hands, he could subdue Robert and “deliver” him elsewhere.

He believed that both the Empire’s Eagle Guard and the Cult would be extremely interested in this federal secret agent who had orchestrated the entire night’s drama in Sandra Forest, skillfully manipulating all of them.

“Hey! Andrei Stein, do you really want to kill me? Don’t you even want to know how to find that Test Subject? Your hopes for reviving the ruby depend entirely on this!” Sure enough, before Zhang Wen could approach, Robert, who had been pretending to be dead, hastily got up, frantically backing away while speaking.

“Oh? Do you actually have a way to find the Test Subject? Don’t even think about deceiving me.” Zhang Wen stopped walking, smirked, but his eyes grew increasingly murderous.

“I obviously can’t do it right now. This time, the Cult went through great lengths to obtain a dose of the Zero—Ancient Reagent, and it’s all in Linoa’s hands. However, even if you could get hold of the Zero—Ancient Reagent, only I and Linoa know how to use it to find the Test Subject!” Fearing that Zhang Wen might attack him halfway through his explanation, Robert blurted everything out in one breath.

“Is that so? Why does your statement sound so unbelievable to me? From what you said earlier to Linoa, the Zero—Ancient Reagent should be something she studied in the Federation. How could its usage method possibly be known only by the two of you?” Zhang Wen coldly laughed and took a few more steps toward Robert.

“Hehe! You’re right! The Federation does have many people who know how to use the Zero—Ancient Reagent. However, the method of using the Zero—Ancient Reagent to find the Test Subject is completely different from its normal usage. I had to go through a lot of trouble to secretly learn it from Linoa. If you don’t believe me, I can first reveal a bit of basic information.” Robert took another step back, spreading his hands with a nervous smile.

“Go ahead.”

“The usual method of using the Zero—Ancient Reagent involves injecting it into a Psychic who is above the tenth rank but below the Super Rank, along with the Federation’s X-1 slow-release agent. It allows the Psychic’s abilities to temporarily break through to the Super Rank level for a short period, about three to four days, and they can unleash their unique ‘abilities,’ just like Psychics who have naturally reached the Super Rank…”

“You sure talk a lot. My patience is limited, so don’t play games with me.” Zhang Wen seemed impatient with Robert’s rambling.

“Hehe! Don’t be in such a hurry. What I’m saying is all relevant. As I just said, the only people who can normally use the Zero—Ancient Reagent are Psychics above the tenth rank but below the Super Rank. Anyone else who uses this agent will soon experience uncontrolled energy expansion, leading to… boom!” Robert made a gesture of explosion.

“What you’ve said so much has to do with finding the Test Subject?” Zhang Wen furrowed his brow again.

“Haha! Of course it does! Because when using the Zero—Ancient Reagent to find the Test Subject, you have to use ‘abnormal’ methods. As I just said, when others use the Zero Reagent, they will indeed quickly lose control. But before they lose control, their energy will ‘unlimitedly’ expand!”

“Do you know how terrifying the power of an ordinary Psychic can become during that time? Just give that little girl over there…” Robert sneered, pointing at Garret in the distance, “…a few milligrams of the Zero Reagent. Her Psychic energy will expand to unimaginable levels within a minute. Although two minutes later, she will die from being unable to withstand the excessive Psychic energy. But during that one minute, everything within her Psychic range, including people’s thoughts and memories, will not escape her perception.”

“I see. First, use the Prophet’s prophecy for rough positioning, then use the Zero—Ancient Reagent for a large-scale search. No wonder you controlled those monsters to drive everyone in one direction.”

“You got it. What I said was just the general method. There are many important details in the operation. For example, the ‘sacrifice’ used for injecting the Zero Reagent can’t be just any Psychic. That little girl over there is quite suitable, but you probably wouldn’t want to let her die.” Robert smiled ambiguously, “I know all the operational details. If you let me go, I can tell you everything.”

“Sounds like a pretty good deal. I’m not worried about you lying to me. If you try to deceive or hide anything, I can tell. But I’m still curious. What makes you believe I’ll keep my word and let you go after I hear the information?” Zhang Wen asked lightly.

“Hehe! It seems I don’t have much of a choice.” Robert glanced at the sword in Zhang Wen’s hand, “I can only trust your character.”

“Ah… That’s true. Then go ahead.” Zhang Wen smiled and shrugged, adopting a posture of attentive listening.

Robert didn’t hesitate and began to speak, introducing to Zhang Wen the information he knew about the “Zero—Ancient Reagent.” However, Robert deliberately slowed down his speech, adopting a deliberate pace like an elderly scholar.

At first, Zhang Wen thought Robert was just worried he might renege on his promise afterward, so he didn’t pay much attention to Robert’s stalling. It wasn’t until Zhang Wen suddenly noticed that Robert’s gaze kept glancing toward a certain direction that he was suddenly alarmed, instantly understanding!

This guy wasn’t worried about him reneging on the deal but was intentionally stalling, hoping for something! What else could he be hoping for?

Just as this thought flashed through Zhang Wen’s mind, a golden light ball suddenly rose into the sky and exploded in midair.

Fury!

At the moment of the explosion, it emitted a deafening roar, like the sky and earth were collapsing, and the intense light was like a miniature sun, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day.

At the moment the golden ball exploded, Robert, who had been waiting for this moment, gritted his teeth and, without hesitation, turned away and stumbled into the depths of the jungle.

At the moment of turning, Robert’s face, already pale from blood loss, became even worse. He hadn’t run a few steps when the wound on his shoulder burst open again, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Then, under the white light pouring down from the sky, the skin on Robert’s body was cut by countless small wounds, as if by tiny knives.

“Hmph! So this is the ‘King’?” Robert grunted, his face showing an expression of utmost ferocity, and then he actually accelerated again! A few seconds later, Robert’s blood-soaked figure had already disappeared into the endless jungle.

Compared to Robert, who was prepared, the golden ball had an even more severe impact on Zhang Wen.

In most cases, his senses, which are ten times more acute than those of ordinary people, are an advantage for Zhang Wen. However, when facing the attack of sound and light from the explosion of the golden ball, his overly sensitive senses brought Zhang Wen a lot of trouble.

Of course, if he had been prepared, Zhang Wen would definitely have the ability to easily deal with the attack of the golden ball. However, at the moment the golden ball exploded, Zhang Wen’s attention was still mostly focused on being wary of Robert! Caught off guard, Zhang Wen suffered far more damage than he had anticipated.

At that moment, Zhang Wen felt as if ten thousand thunderclaps had simultaneously exploded in his ears, shaking his head with a buzzing sound, his face drained of all color. Moreover, the Spring Water Battle Qi within Zhang Wen’s body began to boil like a pot lid.

In addition, the white light from the explosion of the golden ball not only dazzled Zhang Wen’s eyes, making everything in front of him a blur of white, but also made Zhang Wen feel as if a mountain had been placed on his body, almost requiring him to use all his strength to barely stand upright.

Damn it! This is no simple light! There’s… battle energy in this white light? With such heavy pressure, how could that guy Robert withstand it? Could it be an attack that increases pressure the more resistance it encounters?

Zhang Wen gritted his teeth and struggled against the pressure on his body.

The sound and light attack from the golden ball lasted for a full minute. When Zhang Wen’s hearing and vision gradually recovered and the pressure on his body disappeared, Robert had already escaped beyond the range that Spring Water Battle Qi could sense.

“Tsk! This slippery pervert.” Zhang Wen angrily spat lightly, taking a few steps in the direction Robert had fled, but suddenly heard a woman’s scream from a distant western location.

West… Zhang Wen suddenly stopped, looking complexly at the source of the sound. That was exactly the direction Linoa had fled earlier.

“Damn it! Troublesome woman, she’s my enemy who wants my life, yet in the end, I have to go save her!” After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Wen finally gritted his teeth, angrily complaining, and gave up the idea of chasing Robert.

Then, Zhang Wen quickly turned around and used the “Ghost Step,” instantly appearing beside the row where Garret and the others were piled up.

Whoosh! At this moment, Zhang Wen didn’t care about much else. He casually scooped up a handful of rainwater from a puddle on the ground and splashed it onto Zack and Cloud’s faces.

“Ahh!” Drenched by the icy rainwater, the two young men immediately shivered and woke up from their unconsciousness.

After waking up the two underachieving students, Zhang Wen didn’t pause for a moment and was already flying westward at high speed.

“Keep an eye on the red-haired little girl. Also, wake up Garret and let her lead you back to the camp of the third squad!” The awakened Zack and Cloud hadn’t even seen Zhang Wen’s figure clearly, only hearing the distant voice of instructions from the void.

Zhang Wen hadn’t been separated from Linoa for long. With his Ghost Step at full speed, a few minutes were enough for him to catch up. However, when Zhang Wen arrived at the location where Linoa had screamed earlier, what he saw was a scene that made him twitch his mouth a few times in frustration.

Before Zhang Wen’s eyes appeared a giant crater, as if formed by a massive meteorite impact. In the center of this giant crater stood a huge man wearing a somewhat comically looking sleeveless jacket on the upper body, and standard Imperial military pants on the lower body, with his left calf wrapped in bandages.

The giant’s hair and beard had turned gray with age, but the exposed parts of his body were still muscular and coiled, clearly showing explosive power.

In the giant’s left hand, he held a red-haired man by the back of his neck like a chicken. This was obviously the No. 3 executor of the Cult, the genius martial artist Flame Demon Agate, who possessed terrifying battle energy.

And the Eagle Guard Captain, Reim, who had previously defeated Agate almost without a chance to fight back, stood about a hundred meters away from the giant, covered in dust and bearing several wounds, facing off against him.

Reim’s face, which usually bore an eternal fake smile, was now replaced by a serious expression. However, his eyes still occasionally flashed with madness and excitement.

As for Linoa, the target of Zhang Wen’s journey, she was lying on the ground, pale-faced, biting her silver teeth tightly as if enduring great pain, and despairingly staring at the giant in the center.

Not far from Linoa, Reim’s female aide, Isaiya, was also standing. However, Isaiya seemed to have no time to take any action against Linoa at the moment. She was seriously glancing back and forth between the King and Reim.

When Zhang Wen’s figure appeared beside the obviously man-made crater created by the giant, neither Reim nor the central giant turned to look at Zhang Wen. However, Zhang Wen could clearly feel that both of them were aware of his arrival. As for Linoa and Isaiya, they hadn’t noticed Zhang Wen’s presence. Zhang Wen gave a bitter smile toward Linoa’s direction, then focused his attention and looked toward the center of the crater.

Whether it was the scene before him or the mountain-like pressure emanating from the giant, Zhang Wen could not possibly mistake his identity.

He was… the King!

“Boy, old man admits you indeed have the qualification to challenge me. But your current state is still not enough to fight me.” After facing off with Reim for several seconds, the King slowly raised his head, and his thunderous voice proudly echoed, shaking the crater where the few stood.

“Hehe. It’s a rare opportunity, but I can’t fight as I wish. Facing a legendary expert, if I can’t give it my all, it’s indeed somewhat disrespectful.” Reim smiled calmly, his body still standing straight.

“Oh? If you wish to retreat, old man is willing to let you leave. You can come back after you’ve rested and prepared yourself.” The King laughed again, speaking slowly.

“Hehe! Let me go? That’s probably not possible.” Reim shook his head with a smile, his eyes again showing a hint of madness and excitement. “Although I’m reluctant to be disrespectful to the ‘King,’ if I don’t do something and just go back empty-handed, I won’t be able to explain to my superiors either.”

“Hmph! Since that’s the case, old man won’t waste words. The lives of the two young men from the Cult, old man will take them. If you want to stop me, feel free to try, but old man won’t hold back anymore!” Upon hearing Reim’s refusal, the King’s gaze instantly turned as cold as a blade. He threw Agate aside, and suddenly his body flashed with battle energy that flickered like electric currents. The battle energy around the King’s body appeared and disappeared, like a golden dragon that had shrunk its size and coiled around him.

Then, the King slowly extended his hand toward the void. A gigantic and grotesquely shaped blade magically appeared in the King’s hand.

“Hehe… So this is the famous ‘King’s Tyranny’?” Reim stared at the golden lightning flickering blade in the King’s hand, his expression becoming increasingly serious. Although he still had his hands empty, a thin layer of purple battle energy had unknowingly wrapped around his hands and forearms.

“Ha!” At the moment the King slowly raised the blade above his head, he suddenly let out a roar, and the golden battle energy on his body instantly intensified dozens of times. At the same time, the ground beneath the King’s foot was crushed. Like a golden dragon, the King instantly soared dozens of meters into the air, then, with an unstoppable momentum, he dove down, the giant blade accompanying the whistling sound of tearing air, heading straight for Linoa.

At the same time the King leapt into the air, Reim also moved almost simultaneously. His figure flashed, and in an instant, he had silently approached the air only a few meters away from the King.

Then, at the moment the King lunged toward Linoa, Reim also miraculously changed direction, shooting toward the ground like a cannonball alongside the King. At the same time, Reim, blocking the King’s path, forcefully swung his arms and clamped the giant blade the King had slashed down with both hands.

As soon as Reim’s hands touched the blade, the surface of the blade burst out with blinding golden light. The purple battle energy covering Reim’s arms also shone with astonishing brightness. At this moment, expressions of seriousness and madness, two completely opposite emotions, clearly appeared on Reim’s face.

In just an instant, the King and Reim had crossed dozens of meters and returned to the ground again.

Boom!

At the moment the two landed, the ground beneath their feet shattered under the massive impact of battle energy. Reim slid backward more than ten meters, leaving two deep drag marks on the ground. The King, however, stood as steady as a pillar reaching the sky, the golden blade in his hand still shining brightly as he pointed it straight at Reim and roared angrily.

“From watching your fight with Agate earlier, you are not someone with great strength! Abandoning your strengths to fight me with brute force is unwise! With your abilities, you might barely be able to protect your life against my attack, but trying to take the person I want to kill is pure fantasy. Even if you can withstand one strike from me, can you withstand my second strike?”

“Hehe… If you don’t try, who can know?” Reim straightened his body, staring intently at the blade in the King’s hand.

“Hmph! Big talk!” The King snorted angrily and once again raised the blade over his head.

With the crackling sound of golden battle energy flashing, the King rose into the sky like a dragon again, the blade in his hand once more slashing down toward Linoa. Reim repeated his previous action. However, as his hands clamped onto the blade swung by the King, his expression was more serious and cautious than ever before.

In the blink of an eye, Reim and the King landed on the ground again. At the moment of landing, Reim couldn’t help but change his expression. This time, the position where the two landed was only a few steps away from Linoa.

Then, suddenly, the golden light on the blade swung by the King flared up. The ground under Reim’s feet shattered again, and the purple battle energy on Reim’s arms, which had been resisting the King, suddenly flashed brightly before “puffing” into pieces.

Without the protection of the purple battle energy, Reim’s hands were torn by countless tiny cuts the moment they came into contact with the golden battle energy. Reim’s face also turned as dark as the clouds. He gritted his teeth hard, finally letting out a cold snort, and had to release his grip on the blade, using the immense force from the blade at the moment of release to rapidly retreat backward.

With Reim no longer blocking, Linoa, who was already weakened, was completely exposed under the King’s blade. Without even glancing at Linoa, the King coldly snorted and mercilessly swung the blade at her waist.

Even though Linoa had once been the fearless Soul Dancer, she couldn’t help but show a face full of despair.

Under the wrath of the King, no one could save her… or could they?

The golden light shining from the blade almost completely blinded Linoa’s eyes. Under the blinding light and the double effect of fear, Linoa couldn’t help but tightly close her eyes. However, at the moment her eyes closed, Linoa suddenly felt a dark shadow abruptly appear in front of her, shielding her from the golden light.

“Hey! Miss Linoa, it seems your luck isn’t very good. We just parted ways a few minutes ago, and you’re almost getting killed again!” The voice ringing in Linoa’s ears was still the one she both loved and hated.

Linoa opened her eyes and saw Zhang Wen steadily standing in front of her, half-bent, holding his longsword high, blocking the golden-bladed weapon.

“Damn it, what are you doing here? We’re enemies, don’t you know that I want to kill you?” Linoa whispered softly, tears unknowingly flowing from her eyes.

Fool! Don’t you know? The person in front of you is the “King”!

“Ahh! Of course I know.” Zhang Wen turned his head and gave Linoa a bright smile.