Chapter 2533: Chapter 2528: The Survival Instinct of a Superior Being
Destroying the world is just around the corner.
And not even in the normal sort of way.
After completing the first full test on the Three Faces, at that moment Fu Qian seemed to sense something he hadnât noticed beforeâthis unexpected gain felt strangely aligned with his own style.
It was just too insane, even things like the soâcalled Transcendent conservation laws were all ground into dust.
Whenever he was unhappy he could spit once, and the worldâs Transcendent index would tick up a notch, forcibly generating a pile of pollution no one knew how to neutralize.
As for that "alignment," it certainly didnât mean he was into doing this kind of spitâanywhere behavior; he still remembered very clearly what heâd gotten from the reward of that previous mission.
FingerâBelly, directly activating a haloâtype Scarlet Storm, scrambling the Bloodline concept on the Supernatural Level and fostering instability and distortion.
Not only were the hues similar, the effects looked like they came from the same cesspit too.
It was easy to picture himself running around everywhere with Scarlet Storm on, then happily spitting once whenever he felt like it.
What a delightâgiven the way the current Administrator was developing, who knew what the warehouse would think.
Clicking his tongue in his heart, Fu Qian casually tossed the lamp stand away and actually activated FingerâBelly.
...
I am the will of heaven; today I, this seat, am gonna defy the heavens!
Scarlet coiled around him, storm raging; in the blink of an eye Fu Qian was already standing there in the posture of a Demon King descending, even matching it with an arrogant expression, cackling in his heart.
As mentioned before, the color tone really was too close, and the effects were both astonishing in their own ways.
It felt like if he practiced this a bit more, he might not even need to investigate whether that former Doomsday ever happenedâhe could just consider making one on the spot.
Even just at this scale, it was already exerting immense pressure on the surroundings.
And it wasnât about the dazed receptionist beside him.
The effect of FingerâBelly was clearly described: it affected intelligent beings drawn in, except for himself.
Which meant that aside from himself, this source of chaos, he needed at least two other targets for it to workâtrying to use this to play progenitor of mankind still didnât fly.
So even though the receptionist bro was closest and took the brunt, he actually had no big problem at the moment, because the surroundings were honestly a bit empty.
The "pressure" in question actually referred to the entire environment.
When heâd spat out the first breath just now, heâd mentioned that the aftermath of destruction still seemed to be spreading, making the whole research facility tremble.
Turns out that wasnât an illusion; the second breath continued to bring further deterioration.
As for the halo heâd turned on now, even though there were obviously no actual victims yet, it still managed to add insult to injury.
For a moment, even though he had only destroyed part of the area and the overall structure of the research building was still fairly solid, it still gave off a sense of tottering on the verge of collapse.
"It might get more intense in a bit. Youâd better go back and hide."
As the main culprit behind all this, Fu Qian didnât forget to point behind him and remind the receptionist, who was already completely dumbfounded.
This...
After his initial hotâbloodedness cooled a little, seeing that terrifying scene of destruction, the guy clearly also realized just how much gold was in that word "intense."
So much so that, out of all heaven and earth, it actually felt like the cleanerâs advice might be worth listening to...
Not badâ
Watching the receptionist actually retreat into the storeroom to hide, Fu Qian expressed genuine appreciation for that survival instinct.
Bang!
Then he raised his right hand and fired another shot.
The range of this gun wasnât far, but it was enough, because those terrifying twin wings had already returned, right up in his face.
This time the bullet wasnât dodged; instead, it vaporized the instant it drew near, as if the thing before him was untouchable.
...
It really came backâwas this the Superior Beingâs will to live?
Facing such an imposing scene, Fu Qian felt nothing but relief for a moment, and one particular suspicion was almost confirmedâEngraving Wisdom.
In its current state, it probably still wasnât all that normal.
That previous Sea of Ashes trip had cost him a huge amount of SAN Points, but it also came with a little lesson: Engraving Wisdom could also bleed SAN Points; it wouldnât just cancel out in an instant because of that.
On that basis alone, even if he complained that every time there was work injury, Fu Qian never ruled out the possibility that what was in front of him wasnât real.
On the contrary, since coming in here, there had been no shortage of suspicious points.
Like that thing heâd especially remarked on: whether the Academy Exploration Team back then had also been lucky enough to be received this way.
This placeâs state of existence was indeed bizarre, enough that even having a living researcher inside didnât feel impossible.
But if a whole team had really come in here back then, with the final outcome being near total annihilation, could this place really have stayed this neat, instead of leaving some traces?
Secondly, although the receptionist was careful and enthusiastic, the surroundings were still way too quiet; other than him, he hadnât seen a single person along the way.
And lastly, donât forget why Engraving Wisdom was on him in the first place.
Heâd eaten that special Divine Blood and Flesh back then to try and give the Sea of Ashes expedition more room to maneuver.
And theoretically, now that heâd come to the place of its birth, wasnât it perfectly normal for there to be some sort of reaction?
All in all, it was exactly because of considerations like these that heâd reacted the way he had when facing SANâdraining attacks.
The "source of chaos" look wasnât just for show.
Doing that was really for one thing, something heâd already mentioned beforeâto put pressure on the surroundings.
Engraving Wisdom wasnât that stable; it could end early because of some of his more drastic actions. That was a lesson summarized beforehand.
So his actions were bound to cause some impact.
But the purpose of that impact here wasnât to end Engraving Wisdom; otherwise he wouldnât have chosen the relatively mild FingerâBelly halo, but the Brilliant Tyrant.
The real core aim was to accurately transmit the chill of imminent collapse around them to that Deserting Angel.
...
Even if it wasnât real, if the image of a Superior Being was being reproduced in some special way, would the actual person feel it?
The way the Blasphemous King and the others had behaved at Silver Mist Manor already looked like an answer.
Even if it was just a lanternâsummoned phantom, the Blasphemous King still raced against time, trying to secure as many chips as possible for His own return.
In that case, if they really were in an Engraving Wisdom state right now, did that count as offering the Fallen Angel His Excellency an opportunity to operate?
If Engraving Wisdom ended, would this brief window close along with it?
If someone in that kind of role was dead set on running, chasing them down would still be a pain.
Unless you made Him realize He had to stop you, to the point that He could only bite the bullet and come back.
So from those consecutive breaths earlier, what heâd been doing was probing and threatening the situation all the way.
Whether the shots went wide or couldnât reach didnât matter; the target wasnât Him to begin with.
He was just trusting that a Superior Beingâs sensitivity would let Him quickly realize that escape was useless.
"Hey there."
Fu Qian called out a greeting toward the other side.