Chapter 111: Four Unexpected Turns

Chen Qi once again felt this sensation, only that compared to the previous times, he had an even greater reason not to die this time.

A fierce desire to survive surged up in an instant. Chen Qi tried to pull back his blade, but the mechanical giant wolf clamped onto it tightly, refusing to let go. For a moment, he could not manage to withdraw it.

Naturally, this urgency only grew stronger within him, yet this very haste pushed him further and further away from that state of absolute emptiness and freedom from distracting thoughts.

"Slash!"

A blood-red dagger plunged into Chen Qi's chest. At the very last moment, however, Chen Qi twisted his body to dodge the fatal blow to his heart. Even so, he felt the vital energy in his chest churn violently, forcing him to cough out a mouthful of blood.

His health value had plummeted to a critically dangerous 17%!

Liuluo pulled out the dagger, sensually licked the fresh blood off the blade, and flipped it over in her hand, preparing to stab him again!

A massive shadow leaped high into the air above, appearing as though it would soon descend right beside Chen Qi.

In the distance, the man with the gold-rimmed glasses curled his lips into an exaggerated smirk, his chest heaving violently as a burst of arrogant, wild laughter echoed across the mountain forest.

He was enjoying this immensely! That ant-like creature was finally about to finish.

Everything seemed destined to conclude.

At this moment, the first unexpected turn of events occurred.

Yun Tianxin actually darted behind Chen Qi at this very juncture. As carefree and relaxed as ever, wearing her charming smile, she gently wrapped her arms around Chen Qi’s waist and bit her red lips lightly:

"Junior Brother, there's no need to rush."

Though her voice was extremely soft, it seemed capable of shaking one's very soul.

Without time to ponder the bizarre nature of this action, Chen Qi inexplicably felt a surge of warmth flood his heart. His entire being instantly quieted down, and the impatience and murderous intent etched across his face gradually faded away.

The long blade in his hand also emitted a soft hum at this moment, resembling the evening drum and morning bell, purifying Chen Qi's outward blade intent and helping him enter his peak state even faster.

With multiple layers of assistance, he finally crossed the threshold before entering the state of absolute emptiness. His whole person suddenly became ethereal and profound, seeming as though he no longer existed in this mortal world. It was hard to describe in words, yet simply looking at him made it impossible to tear one's gaze away.

The second unexpected event happened the very next second. Capitalizing on this state, Chen Qi somehow managed to yank his long blade free from the mechanical giant wolf's jaws. The blood-red saber traced a gorgeous arc in mid-air, growing more bewitching and ghostly by the moment, until it connected horizontally into a sheet of dazzling blade light.

The pupils of the mechanical giant wolf, Liuluo, and the axe-wielding brute simultaneously reflected this immensely resplendent crimson hue, though their reactions varied completely.

The programmed artificial intelligence of the mechanical giant wolf lacked any concept of fear. Seeing the blade sweep out from its jaws, it immediately lunged forward furiously, its blue-and-white metallic body colliding heavily with the blade in the midst of the red light.

Liuluo, on the other hand, wore an expression of utter shock. She could never have imagined that blade light—which brought her five senses to the brink of collapse—could be unleashed by such an unassuming, low-tier contractor. Lacking even the slightest courage to resist for a moment, she chose to transform into shadow and flee backward.

This Shadow Step technique completely reversed the forward momentum of her body in an instant, serving as one of her most practiced self-preservation skills.

For choosing to temporarily avoid the sharp edge of the attack, Liuluo also felt a sudden surge of helplessness in her heart.

Even though her combat instincts told her that the best choice at this moment was for the three of them to simultaneously unleash their strongest techniques to resist head-on, that man would undoubtedly be unable to unleash a second strike of this caliber.

Yet she was entirely unable to follow this instinct.

First, her burly, formidable-looking axe-wielding teammate would definitely retreat; the two humans and one beast could never truly share a single mind.

Second, if the man concentrated the majority of the blade's power on her, she would still likely suffer severe injuries.

There were no sisters here to whom she could safely entrust her back, especially considering the fanatical and lustful nature of the man with the gold-rimmed glasses, which always left her harboring a three-tenths sense of caution.

"Better a dead teammate than myself! This is all forced by you bunch of useless pigs!" Thinking this, she quickly convinced herself. Her shadow escape sped up even further, and she was on the verge of escaping the range affected by the blade light.

As for the axe-wielding brute, he acted precisely as Liuluo had anticipated. After briefly sensing the might of the blood-red blade light, his body—which had been leaping through the air—suddenly plummeted vertically. His body then skillfully burst with a red glow as he charged in the opposite direction.

His movements were practiced, showing clearly that he had a contingency plan long in advance. However, coordinating this sequence of movements required time, so his figure had only just pulled level with Liuluo.

Within Chen Qi's indifferent gaze, the actions of the two humans and one wolf were clearly reflected. His aura erupted fully, his vital energy as deep as an oceanic abyss, resembling the descent of a blade monarch.

Yet, he still faced a difficult choice!

First: Direct the blade light outward into the distance, which would most likely severely injure the two of them, but he would have to endure the mechanical giant wolf's vicious pounce and its subsequent combo attacks. This was the inferior strategy!

Second: Concentrate the blade light around his own body, controlling its power entirely against the mechanical giant wolf. It might not necessarily destroy the creature, but it would likely cripple it.

This seemed like the superior strategy at first glance. However, if he did this, he wouldn't be able to kill a single enemy; he would merely destroy a mindless mechanical construct.

He no longer had the certainty to repeat this strike, and acting this way left him... truly quite unwilling.

Third: Strike directly down the middle. This would most likely prevent the mechanical giant wolf from lunging close, but the speeds of the man and woman were still accelerating, meaning they would likely only be grazed and suffer minor injuries.

This looked to be the worst of all strategies.

With no time to hesitate, Chen Qi's blade flashed as he prepared to fully unleash this long-suppressed strike. Then, the third unexpected event occurred.

A powerful aura suddenly erupted from behind Chen Qi!

In the span of a single heartbeat, this aura materialized into a tangible force, resembling a briefly existing vortex of airflow that appeared close to the front of Chen Qi's blade. It slightly pulled the fleeing pair inward while pushing the lunging mechanical giant wolf slightly away.

Without time to ponder the cause of this change, Chen Qi experienced a sudden flash of insight and smoothly guided the blade light to pour out right at the airflow vortex. Two miserable screams and the sound of exploding mechanical parts rang out instantly.

Watching the blade light engulf the two humans and one beast in the blink of an eye, Chen Qi breathed heavily, his eyes softening as he felt a satisfaction in his heart akin to drinking iced cola during the scorching dog days of summer.

This strike felt exhilarating, thoroughly satisfying, and cleared away all his inner demons.

At that moment, as if suddenly remembering something, he snapped his head around.

He saw that Yun Tianxin had somehow removed her cloud-white chain, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at him with a composed, unhurried expression.

Only, a trace of laughter and appreciation flowed within her eyes, as if she were enjoying her own masterpiece, while also clearly concealing another emotion.

This emotion could be accurately described by a single sentence:

"Junior Brother, you didn't expect that, did you!"

The blood-red blade light gradually receded, revealing two figures collapsed on the ground.

Liuluo was clutching her abdomen with her left hand, where the leather armor had split open into a massive gash. The blade wound within was extremely deep, revealing stacked intestines and the ribs above.

Had she not pressed down on it decisively, her intestines would likely have spilled out.

The axe-wielding brute's performance, however, was unexpected. When he was inexplicably pulled backward by the sudden airflow vortex, he had already raised his massive axe to shield his chest.

Perhaps out of sheer luck, this instinctual action blocked the blade light just barely enough. He merely suffered a violent shock to his chest and lost a chunk of his health.

As for the mechanical giant wolf, facing the blade light, it had actually opened its jaws to bite down again, resulting in half of its skull being sheared off. Sparks flickered everywhere across its body, and it lay completely motionless.

In the distance, the man with the gold-rimmed glasses issued commands repeatedly, yet he still could not drive the machine by even a fraction, causing him to stamp his feet in fury on the spot.

This was not the time to converse with Yun Tianxin. Forcing down the questions filling his mind, Chen Qi slowly stepped forward, raising his long blade high to deliver the finishing blow.

Looking at the fallen, motionless mechanical giant wolf, a thought suddenly popped into his mind:

This thing seemed lootable; could it perhaps serve as his trophy?

Because they were within a world operating under peaceful mode rules, mutual slaughter among contractors yielded no rewards whatsoever, leaving Chen Qi extremely displeased.

Given a battle of this intensity, wouldn't a purple-quality treasure chest be justified?

"Right now!" The man in the distance with the gold-rimmed glasses wore a ruthless expression. Accompanied by a violent surge of mental energy radiating from him, the fourth unexpected event occurred!

The mechanical spider that had previously collapsed nearby suddenly sprang into motion. Its entire body glowed with a dangerous red light as it crawled at extreme speed toward the metallic corpse of the mechanical giant wolf.

The mechanical spider appeared to be driven beyond its limits; its moving body darted like a ghost. The instant Chen Qi noticed it, it was already less than two zhang away from the mechanical giant wolf.

Chen Qi's expression shifted once more as he violently retreated backward, even activating his Blood Energy Shock skill in a desperate attempt to push the mechanical giant wolf's body farther away.

The next second, the mechanical spider's body heated up to a fiery red, instantly exploding into a ball of sparks and triggering a shockwave.

Chen Qi, who had already sprinted away, had his stride jolted by the impact, but he showed no signs of relief whatsoever—instead, he ran even faster.

Sure enough, the sparks spread onto the mechanical giant wolf, causing its icy blue metallic surface to flare brightly. Immediately afterward, a dazzling deep-blue ring of light flashed outward, slowly expanding to cover the entire surrounding area.