Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 471: Chapter 409 Treatment Issues_1

The Sacrificial Knife crisply sliced through the old Sacrifice’s cheekbone. With Huai Shi’s roar, it suddenly pulled, crushed his tongue, and emerged from the side of his mouth.

From the withered flesh, which hadn’t yet begun to bleed, Huai Shi, still in mid-air, yanked the Sword of Virtue from the saddlebag behind him.

He pressed down on the old Sacrifice’s shoulder, thrust the sword blade into his neck, out through the back, and swung horizontally!

Decapitation!

A shattered, vacant head flew from his shoulders along with purplish-black blood, its scattered white hair stained red by the plasma.

But immediately after, the headless corpse suddenly moved, raising its palm and pressing it against Huai Shi’s face.

In the palm, countless tiny pupils snapped open, gazing hatefully at Huai Shi’s eyes.

A brilliance from the Abyss burst forth.

”You are but chaff! Feel the Truth!”

A tsunami-like torrent of Source Substance erupted from his palm, along with a mass of nightmares, pouring into Huai Shi’s shell.

Darkness fell before Huai Shi’s eyes, and then he felt as if his soul had left his body... propelled backward by the old ghost.

Behind him, a black vortex materialized out of thin air. Countless deformed limbs stretched out from it, pulling at Huai Shi’s soul, trying to drag him into the deepest recesses of the Rotting Dream.

”Witness reality!”

The shattered head grinned widely, laughing, as countless nightmarish hallucinations materialized before Huai Shi.

The quintessence of the Abyss and the philosophy of the Rotten Dream surged relentlessly from Huai Shi’s consciousness, steadily eroding his will to resist, seeking to embed themselves deeply into his soul, transforming him into a fallen creature of the Rotting Dream.

”Receive the Great Spirits’ Blessing, you lucky one chosen by Liangxiao!”

The aged face sneered, ”Say farewell to this rotten world! From now on, you will be one of us, an awakened being in this pitiful world!”

In a daze, Huai Shi felt himself swallowed by endless darkness. The world crumbled before him, and all existence shattered into phantoms like a dream.

Reality and illusion were inverted as an endless, frenzied dream engulfed him.

A single moment felt like millennia.

Imprisoned in endless darkness, the light in Huai Shi’s pupils gradually dimmed until only darkness remained. In the unending darkness, only a warm and benevolent light awaited him.

”Come! Come!”

The old Sacrifice smiled, spreading his arms in the light, ”Embrace the only Truth of this world! Accept the supreme salvation from Liangxiao...”

”Before that, may I ask a question...”

In his profound weariness and daze, Huai Shi subconsciously asked, ”Does Your Company offer overtime pay?”

”...” The old Sacrifice was stunned.

”You should at least have paid leave, right?” Huai Shi asked again. ”Social insurance and a housing fund? A year-end bonus equivalent to ten months’ salary?”

”Does Your Company have dedicated lanes for transport in the Current Circumstances? A VIP lounge? Reimbursement for first-class flights?”

Dissatisfaction flickered in his vacant pupils as Huai Shi continued, ”I’m an artist, after all. Shouldn’t there at least be a signing fee? Promotional activities? Any preparations to boost my popularity? You’d have to buy top trending spots for a few months at least, right?”

”...”

”Nothing at all?”

He frowned, jolting awake from the nightmare. He opened his eyes and scrutinized the hideous wreckage before him. ”And you dare to come out and scam people for money?”

BOOM!

The Hammer of Sorrow rose, targeting the old face that had just grown back, and slammed down.

Plasma splattered.

Amidst screams, the hand gripping Huai Shi unleashed immense force, flinging him away like a cannonball into a mass of writhing flesh.

”Obstinate fool!”

The enraged old Sacrifice raised his hand again, slowly making a grasping gesture toward Huai Shi, but his hand was instantly blown apart.

From the deployed greatshield formation, Crystal Grid 1-1 and Crystal Grid 1-2 emerged. Carrying shields and handguns, they advanced step by step, providing covering fire for each other.

The bullets from their handguns were exceedingly strange. Each one that struck the old Sacrifice blasted a bloody hole in his body—wounds that refused to heal and sizzled audibly.

When they reloaded, one could see the red bullets, each carved from Crystal Stone.

They moved swiftly, and with alternating fire and cover, quickly reached Huai Shi’s side.

Crystal Grid 1-1 pulled out a large axe and decisively chopped away the flesh entangling Huai Shi. He pulled Huai Shi up and sprinted, ignoring the fleshy tendrils clinging to his own arm.

Soon, he dragged Huai Shi back behind cover.

He turned and shouted, ”Epinephrine, now!”

”No need, no need. Still alive here.”

Huai Shi coughed, climbing up from the ground. He casually tore off the tendrils wrapped around him and stomped them to pieces.

Meanwhile, under a hail of gunfire, the old Sacrifice had become riddled with holes.

Yet, fleshy tendrils continuously extended from his wounds, writhing and forming malformed limbs and organs, completely obscuring his original human shape.

Yan Shi’s mechanical voice resounded from the channel, ”Remote strike is in position. Prepare for shock prevention.”

A roaring noise erupted. The dome cracked, and a pungent smell instantly spread.

A torrent swept through.

Glittering like a waterfall, a flood poured from above the dome. Huai Shi gazed upward in astonishment, his eyes twitching wildly. It was all Alchemy fuel—enough to send them sky-high once ignited!

This is the rhythm of a glorious sacrifice!

With a booming sound, far behind the breach in the wall, the artillery module rapidly descended on its guide rails.

Only this time, there was an additional figure beside the cannon.

Andrea.

Resting her hand on the cannon beside her, the Scholar from the Ivory Tower raised her fingers from afar, mimicking a handgun pointed in this direction.

An invisible trigger was pulled.

She whispered softly, ”BIANG!”

The next instant, a spark erupted from the surging Alchemy fuel, instantly transforming into a ferocious, engulfing inferno.

In the blinding glare, an endless torrent of fire was constricted by an unseen force.

All the Alchemy fuel vaporized instantly, contributing to the terrifying temperature. All the heat was brutally unleashed, yet tightly confined within that narrow space.

It formed a vague human silhouette.

As if a God from within the flames had descended.

Under the control of thermodynamics and Salamander, Andrea manifested this destructive power with stark clarity.

As the violent flames swept through, absolutely nothing remained: neither the old Sacrifice who kept resurrecting, nor the eroding flesh on the walls, nor anything else inconsequential in the hall.

All were buried in the sea of flames.

In the end, as the fire receded, only an Ivory Tower emblem remained, burning brightly, proving all that had just happened.

Huai Shi sucked in a sharp breath and turned to wave his thanks to Andrea.

Andrea winked back at him. Then, as the artillery module ascended again, she departed for other locations.

Only when the old ghost was utterly annihilated did Crystal Grid 1-1 stagger back two steps and collapse to the ground, weakly raising a hand to signal for aid.

Huai Shi quickly took out the Sacrificial Knife and slit open Crystal Grid 1-1’s tattered glove and sleeve.

Fleshy tendrils had torn through his Armor and burrowed into his arm.

Crystal Grid 1-1, resolute, prepared to hack off his own arm, but Huai Shi grabbed his knife hand.

”Wait.”

He pulled a prepared vial of blood from his pocket, ripped off the cap, and poured the highly toxic plasma onto the arm.

Amidst sizzling sounds, Crystal Grid 1-1 suppressed his agonized cries.

Soon, the fleshy tendrils vanished, leaving behind patches of mold-like corrosive marks on the damaged flesh, deep enough to reveal bone.

Using poison to counteract poison was exceptionally effective, but this was the extent of what emergency treatment could achieve.

Huai Shi roughly extracted his poison from the arm, then left the rest to the medics. After a layer of spray was applied, a mechanical splint was immediately fitted to his arm, concealing any sign of injury.

Crystal Grid 1-1 saluted Huai Shi, got up, and gestured for his subordinates to clean up the aftermath, then prepared to move out again.

Without giving them any chance to rest, new orders arrived from Yan Shi.

Those lunatics from the Liangxiao Club had finally realized something was wrong and begun to riot. However, the tide had turned against them; they were already scattered in different locations, awaiting extermination by the Legion.

There were many missions, but Huai Shi was not assigned to any this time.

Soon, Tony’s annoyed voice came through the earpiece, ”A5, A5, I screwed it up! FUCK! One got away! Damn it, I can’t believe I capsized in the gutter this time...”

”I’ll be right there.”

Huai Shi replied, picked up his sword from the ground, and waved goodbye, about to leave, when Crystal Grid 1-1 called out to him.

He picked up Huai Shi’s pistol from the ground, ejected his own magazine, filled it with several red Crystal Stone bullets, and handed it to Huai Shi.

”Blessed Bullets. They’re effective against Hell Creatures.”

He saluted Huai Shi in farewell, ”Godspeed, Commander.”

”Ah, alright.”

Huai Shi took the gun, stuffed it into his saddlebag, waved at them, then turned, grabbed a dangling steel cable, and swiftly ascended.

In mid-air, he pressed his headset, ”This is Huai Shi. What’s going on?”

”A Sacrifice got away.”

Gasping for breath as he ran, Tony reported, ”I was a step too late... That bastard got out of the blockade and into a public area! Are the snipers in position? FUCK!”

From the other end of the headset came rumbling and loud crashes, and faintly, roars of ”Liangxiao forever!”

This was followed by the sound of an explosion.

A burst of intense gunfire erupted, and the headset went dead.

As the cable pulled him upward, Huai Shi could hear the gunfire growing closer.

He gripped the Sword of Virtue tightly, ready for action. The moment the hatch flipped open, he charged out.

He immediately saw a small, devastated plaza.

Many travelers lay dead in the streets. Several zombie-like members of the Liangxiao Club were firing indiscriminately, causing chaos.

A few travelers had already been taken hostage.

From the exit of an underground passage, a figure, its body half-shattered, slowly emerged.