Death.
There was intense pain, as though his heart had been ripped open.
Scenes from his memory flickered like dusty, old photos. The audacious and naughty, yet gentle and caring face began to yellow.
Then it turned gray.
The ferocious mutated human roared and flipped the warhammer in its hand before facing Jiang Chen, whose mind had gone completely blank.
It was fury, but beyond fury.
Anger seemed to have broken a lock in his heart, shattering it.
But his mind was clear and conscious.
[Kill.]
[Kill him.]
Thoughts of slaughter.
Roar!
The explosive shadow dashed at him, the raised warhammer gleaming with a faint blue light.
It was a power warhammer, equipped with a power storage system. It could release energy upon impact, and the damage was comparable to that of an anti-tank cannon, making power armor rather useless against it.
Anger did not numb his thoughts; he never had such clarity in his life.
His thoughts passed in 0.01 seconds, and the tactical flashlight in front of him opened instantaneously.
The blinding ray pierced the pupils of the mutated human and deadened his vision.
At the same time, the turbine engine opened, and he began to glide.
What followed was a deafening screech, a challenge that smashed into the ground. Jiang Chen maneuvered the power armor and dodged the thunderous hit. He raised his right arm, and the machine gun with revolving tridents fired rapidly.
Tatata—!
Bullets swarmed out, each impact casting sparks on the mutilated human's back.
The sound of the striking metal began to fade. The violent firepower did not damage him in the slightest, being reflected instead.
"Roar—!" The mutated human shouted in pain. He dragged the power warhammer up from the concrete floor, his eyes the size of bells shooting out a terrifying light.
From the sparks and flashlight, he could see the mutated human's pitch-black back.
A dark mutated human?
Information from the database was displayed on his pupil.
"Lead skin? I don't know how it works, but—"
The black figure leaped at Jiang Chen once more. The warhammer smashed down like a meteor with four trails of faint blue light.
The turbine engine at maximum output, Jiang Chen made a curved trajectory to avoid the attack midair. He then braked, sparks screeching out from the bottom of his feet.
Without hesitation, he pulled out the tactical rifle and aimed it at the mutant's head.
The second it turned to look for its target, Jiang Chen fired.
Dadada—!
It was still ineffective; it had a ridiculous defense even on its head. With a fierce shout, the mutated human swung its power warhammer at Jiang Chen from his flank.
There was no time to dodge, but his heart was devoid of any anxiety.
He deployed the wheels on the soles of his shoes once more while a nitrogen shield expanded outward like an umbrella.
The power warhammer smashed through the thick waves of nitrogen and hammered on the front of his armor.
Jiang Chen flew explosively, but with the help of the nitrogen shield, he was pushed out rather than ejected with great force.
The T-3 power armor weighing three hundred kilograms was very light, and most of the impact was not absorbed by him. Instead, it was transformed into energy that helped him recoil backwards.
The wheels turned rapidly, and after flying for approximately ten meters, Jiang Chen calmly braked with a screech of metal on the ground.
Boom!
The power armor directly smashed into the first floor of the experimental building. He landed awkwardly in the hallway.
"Energy of impact, 494000 joules." Straining, Jiang Chen raised his dazed head and read the stats on his pupils.
<Warning! Power armor damage: 54%>
The entire front of the armor caved in. The turbine engine on the left shoulder and left side of the waist were destroyed. The life detection device was damaged, and the communication device was malfunctioning.
He silently glanced at the rows of <Offline> symbols that represented the team, then at the jumping red symbol. Jiang Chen closed the notifications and pulled out the tactical dagger.
"Roar!"
The roaring sound advanced, as he had expected. It was clear that the gorilla-like monster was not ready to let its prey go.
And neither did Jiang Chen.
Like a gust of furious wind, the black figure raised the power warhammer and smashed it in his direction.
Flames burst out of what remained of the turbine engines. Jiang Chen slid across the ground as though being dragged to avoid the power warhammer's hit. Finally, the stood up shakily. Rock debris had scraped the power armor which clanked continuously.
The turbine engines had exceeded their output limit and stalled, but it was enough.
Jiang Chen, who had just escaped danger, did not back down but rather dragged the busted power armor and dashed at the mutated human.
He then furiously stabbed his tactical dagger forward.
Conservation of energy.
He noticed a while ago that the second the mutated human raises its hammer, the muscles over its entire body seemed to expand as though it was straining to perform the action.
The warhammer itself was not heavy, but when it was raised, even the mutated human had to use all of its energy to do so.
Although Jiang Chen did not know the energy principle behind it, his instincts told him that this was the key to the power warhammer's charge, as well as its weakness!
The mutated human was struggling to raise the hammer, so it was unable to react to the attack.
The opportunity was a small window of time.
The sound of metal screeching echoed in the air the moment his dagger came into contact with its skin, leaving a trail of sparks. Jiang Chen clenched his teeth as his muscles expanded to the limits. The output of the power armor was also operating at its maximum.
"Roar—!"
The power warhammer in the hands of the mutated human stalled and fell to the ground. He flung away the left arm that was stabbed with the dagger and smashed his fist towards Jiang Chen's head.
Jiang Chen lowered his body to avoid the hit, then leaped at the chest of the mutated human. With power output at a maximum, both of his hands locked onto its shoulder. He clamped the roaring, fighting mutated human against the wall.
The misshapen face twisted in anger, and its red teeth that seemed as though they would pop out were even more gruesome.
<Energy remaining: 53%>
Jiang Chen, also furious, had no color in his face. He looked at the energy bar and what remained before activating a red button.
<Self-destruction program initiated. 20 seconds remaining.>
The internal fuel rod began to shake as the stable contents became agitated.
<Feet locked>
The metal strips penetrated the ground.
<Power armor released>
A thin opening appeared at the back of the power armor through which Jiang Chen jumped out.
He met its frightening gaze with only grimness in his eyes.
The pitch-black mutated human desperately tried to push the power armor away, but it was futile. The power armor was locked down and held him in its grip against the wall. His left hand was useless because of the injury, and with his joints locked, it didn't matter how much brute force he used. He did not budge.
Jiang Chen walked away 100 meters and stopped. He turned and began a silent countdown.
Strangely, he did not feel any emotional fluctuations.
Hatred, fear, the joy of victory? Or even anger itself...
It was as though all of his emotions were stripped from his body.
The fire erupted, and the blinding light covered his vision.
Shhhhhh!
He felt a slight pain on his face. Upon touching it, he realized it was blood.
His face was cut open by the metal shrapnel. He quietly gazed at the blood on his finger.
A bomb worth 13000 crystals should be enough to blow that monster up.
From the fire, a figure emerged.
Flesh exposed, its skin was lit up brightly by the red flames which had already melted the lead skin. The daunting bloody holes were likely the work of the metal fragments. The muscle on its left arm had been nearly stripped clean.
If it were any normal human, they would have been dead.
The mutated human?
Jiang Chen silently retrieved the 11 tactical pistol that he had on him for a long time. He aimed at the figure walking towards him from afar.
He pulled the trigger.
Bang!
No reaction. The bullet may have penetrated his flesh, but it did not stop him from moving forward.
Shots continued to be fired.
The mutated human used its right hand to cover its heart, the damaged left arm to cover its face. The horrifying teeth could be seen from behind its fingers, and Jiang Chen could imagine the viciousness on his face.
There was no time to run, especially since he never had the intention to do so.
Fear?
What was that?
The mutated human was finally in front of him.
Jiang Chen pulled the trigger, only to hear a faint "clank" sound.
The bullets ran out?
He lifted his hand, his hollow eyes staring emotionlessly at the mutated human.
When all emotions had been stripped from the body, what would it feel like to face death? He suddenly thought of the insane intermediate artificial intelligence that had repeated countless experiments to obtain emotion. When it faced death, did it feel calm?
Out of his peripheral vision, he caught sight of the giant hand being raised.
Would he get squished?
Jiang Chen lowered his head, removing the cartridge.
[Seems like I lost...]
At that moment, a homing noise almost shattered his eardrums.
Boom!
"Awe!"
Flames exploded from the left shoulder of the mutated human before it could release its pained scream. It was blown onto the ground by the force of the bomb. The 72mm AP bomb, with a power great enough to penetrate through steel armor, hollowed his muscles and nearly ripped every organ and muscle in his body. But even after this, he still had not died and made desperate attempts to stand.
Jiang Chen was shocked.
Not from the mutated human's ridiculous life force.
He stared blankly at where the bomb had originated.
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