Ruined.
A ruined city.
Millions of living beings, massacred.
The only one who remained alive in the vast ruin was a single bewildered young girl.
The descending asteroids were hurriedly avoiding this dead city as if running for their lives.
âNo...â
âI said, donât hurt anyone else, why did...â
The girlâs expression was completely pale, the emotions in her eyes gradually dried up.
The world turned back into countless fine curves and quickly disappeared from Gu Qing Shanâs vision.
Emptiness.
Another world suddenly appeared and received Gu Qing Shan into it.
A tree by the river.
Under its shade.
Gu Qing Shan had returned.
Zhang Ying Hao and Ye Fei Li were standing next to him, Ye Fei Li stood facing his gaze straight with her own.
Ye Ru Xi asked with anticipation and nervousness: âYou said... that you were the same kind as me?â
âIndeed, can you control your power now?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
A question straight to the heart.
If they arenât the same kind, how would they ask such a question?
Ye Ru Xiâs eyes lit up.
She hesitantly stated: âPlease prove to me that you are my same kindâ
Gu Qing Shan signaled to Zhang Ying Hao through his eyes.
âUse your strongest summoning technique, otherwise she would not believe usâ he sent his voice.
Zhang Ying Hao tacitly understood and drew a Card from the void of space.
âDonât worry, Iâll summon the ruler of the Hitman deckâ
Zhang Ying Hao sent his voice in return and tossed the Card outward.
Boom!
A resounding impact.
A green-scaled lizard that was several hundred meters tall appeared in front of the trio.
Compared to the last time Gu Qing Shan saw him, he seemed to have changed somehowââ
It had become stronger.
ă Ah, little Ying Hao, did you summon me? ă
The green-scaled lizard breathed out a cluster of colorful mist and questioned.
âA friend wanted to see youâ Zhang Ying Hao replied.
He, together with Gu Qing Shan and Ye Fei Li, turned to Ye Ru Xi.
Ye Ru Xi looked a bit confused and muttered: âWhy so weak?â
She turned directly to Zhang Ying Hao and questioned: âThis weak and feeble reptile, is the entity that you can summon?â
The world became silent.
Before the three of them said anything, the green-scaled lizardâs presence abruptly rose.
He seemed to have been angeredââ-
âDispel!â
Zhang Ying Hao hurriedly canceled the summon.
With a poof, the green-scaled lizard was forcefully sent back.
How dangerous!
If he had gotten angry, that wouldnât be a joke anymore.
Zhang Ying Hao wiped the sweat off his forehead and was about to say something when Gu Qing Shan took the opportunity first.
âAs you can seeâ Gu Qing Shan calmly stated, âOur control of power had reached this extreme level of accuracyââ- that was the weakest one we can summonâ
âRight, indeed, that was the weakest entity that I could summonâ Zhang Ying Hao immediately followed up and continued: âWe wouldnât arbitrarily exert extreme power, as you saw before, my summoning had been restrained to the utmost degree, normal people couldnât possibly achieve thatâ
ââ-of course, other people would never be able to achieve that.
The Hitman deck was a branch of a Mysticism Card deck, one that only hitmen could form a covenant with.
Even in the 900 million World Layers, this Card deck was a considerably rare one, combined with how scarcely talented hitmen were, the Card deck was even harder to come across.
Zhang Ying Hao could be considered to be an individual of extraordinary strength in the current 900 million World Layers.
However, compared to Ye Ru Xi...
âSo that was how it was. I spent 10 years learning how to control my powers, so it is highly unusual for me to lose control of my power nowadaysââ- but even so, I still couldnât finely control the power I summon to become as weak as you displayedâ
Ye Ru Xi casually stated.
Crack.
Zhang Ying Hao could hear his own heart, breaking.
âIndeed, it wasnât easy to reach my current level. To be exact, it took me 20 yearsâ he calmly replied.
It took me 20 years to reach this level of strength.
Zhang Ying Hao silently told himself.
âSo weak, so feeble, so unassuming that others would ever pay attention to you, how I admire the level you have reachedâ Ye Ru Xi displayed a look of determination: âI believe that with the passage of time, I would eventually reach your same level and grasp a full control of my abilitiesâ
Zhang Ying Hao displayed an encouraging smile and replied with the tone of an experienced senior: âYou have a long way to go, do your bestâ
âHm, I will definitely follow your exampleâ Ye Ru Xi nodded.
Her gaze towards Zhang Ying Hao now carried a genuine sense of admiration.
Gu Qing Shan: â...â
Ye Fei Li: â...â
The two of them exchanged glances.
ââfor somebody to be emotionally battered to this degree and could still retain an act full of seniority without changing his expression.
As expected of a professionalââ-
Hitman.
Gu Qing Shan pondered for a bit, then directly told her: âIn truth, our strength had also been suppressed by a considerable degree as we entered this world. If youâve seen me fight, you should have been able to sense part of thatâ
Silently listening to him Ye Ru Xi finally appeared relaxed.
It wasnât just the summoned lizard, but Gu Qing Shanâs statement that fully convinced her.
He managed to stop the giant apeâs attack with a single strike.
How could she not notice that he couldnât completely exert his swordsmanship at the time?
At the moment he wielded his sword, I could instantly sense a terrific chill.
As if the life and death of all living beings lay on the blade of his sword, waiting to be decided by his single thought.
ââand also.
He could transform into an apocalyptic monster and survive the explosion of 6 nuclear bombs without being discovered by anyone.
Who could possibly do such a thing in this world?
This had already surpassed my entire 27 years of living experience.
Ye Ru Xi silently nodded and trusted them a bit more.
âGood, then let us get into official businessâ Gu Qing Shan sternly said, âRight now, we need to think of a way to leave this world. Otherwise, if the carriers of [Order] or apocalyptic monster discover you again, the same situation from before will repeat itselfâ
Ye Ru Xi was stunned.
The same situation from before...
No matter how much I tried to blend into society, to display my worth, to work for the sake of this world.
They were willing to sacrifice over a million lives just to kill me!
Ye Ru Xi took a deep breath.
She turned to the three men in front of her.
Itâs no longer the same.
Right now, I have people of my same kind.
âHow should we leave now?â Ye Ru Xi lightly asked.
Gu Qing Shan felt assured and answered: âIâm not sure either. I donât know a lot about your world, we will need a lot more information, perhaps a bit of resource and technology as well...â
âResources and technology?â Ye Ru Xi asked doubtfully.
Zhang Ying Hao chimed in: âIndeed, even without his supernatural abilities, he would still be a scientistââ- one that commands science far surpassing this world, which can help us safely departâ
Ye Ru Xi delightfully asked: âA scientist? I would never have thought, then what about you?â
âMe? Iâm a hitman, an assassin, I own a hitman guildâ Zhang Ying Hao replied.
âYou truly are impressiveâ Ye Ru Xi exclaimed.
She then turned to Ye Fei Li.
Ye Fei Li shrugged and answered: âIâm the number one ranking gamer in the worldâ
âNumber one ranking gamer?â
âThatâs right, what do you usually play? RPG? Real-Time Strategy? Or casual games?â Ye Fei Li excitedly asked.
âI donât play gamesâ
Both of them went silent.
This conversation was stopped here.
âAlrightâ Gu Qing Shan cut in, âWhile no one had discovered us, letâs search this city to see if we can find anything useful. At the same time, I want to learn a bit more about this worldâs history, trends of social upheaval, the direction of scientific development, space travel research results, as well as the current distribution and usage of resourcesâ
The four of them turned to the ruins of the city.
âWhat are you planning?â Zhang Ying Hao asked.
âSpace is vast, and it doesnât have such a thing as nuclear weapons, it would become our home fieldâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
Zhang Ying Hao and Ye Fei Li both nodded.
When it came to technology, Gu Qing Shanâs expertise was second to none.
Everything that Ye Ru Xi had come into contact with today were things that she had never seen before, so she was in a good mood as she answered: âAlthough all traces of living beings have been erased from this city, I know of a few research centers that should still have usable technologyâ
âLetâs seize our time, some unknown variables might be introduced very soon, we need to set out nowâ Gu Qing Shan stated.
âHm, letâs goâ Ye Ru Xi replied.
...
In the same world.
At another location.
A distant oceanic city.
Under the cover of night, two figures suddenly appeared.
The Raging Flame Travelerâs burning chains illuminated their surroundings.
The Soul Shrieker stood still for a while in the darkness and examined the [Chaos]âs prompt.
ă It seems we will need to find another Deity of [Chaos] in this world ăthe Soul Shriekerâs female voice said.
ă Our enemy arrived an hour before usâââ they spent a lot less time compared to us in the bar ăthe Raging Flame Traveler commented.
ăă We should probably hurry up, perhaps, we might be able to eliminate them all right here ăă
The Soul Shrieker exuded a solid sense of killing intent as it said that.
The Raging Flame Traveler paused for a brief moment, then replied: ă That is a good choice, although our strength had been suppressed, all of our supernatural abilities have been fully unsealed ă
ăă Indeed. With your great power from the Age of Immemorial and my divine power, it should be quite easy to get rid of a few mortals whose powers are also being suppressed ăăthe Soul Shrieker grinned.
ăă Let us end the Apotheotic Combat right in this place ăă