Chapter 79 - 74: Joining Forces

Chapter 79: Chapter 74: Joining Forces

The moment the pendulum smashed down, Yin Zhen lunged to the side. The pendulum brushed past the hem of her clothes and slammed into the ground. BOOM! The impact blew a crater into the surface.

Quentin raised an eyebrow. "Not a bad reaction time!"

He raised his hand. Iron nails, steel rebars, and shattered steel plates scattered across the junkyard were instantly uprooted, hovering densely in midair.

Aided by his A-level Magnetic Control, his C-level Molecular Sharpening could affect these metals without physical contact. However, the energy consumption was massive; Quentin needed a few seconds to hone all of them to a razor-sharp edge.

Just as Yin Zhen seized the opportunity to strike, two Blood Clan members—one burly, one scrawny—charged at her from the left and right.

The scrawny one was clearly an agility-type Extraordinary Ability User. In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of her, slashing a dagger at her face.

Yin Zhen tilted her head to dodge and retaliated with a backhanded slash aimed at his neck. His figure blurred, retreating three meters away so fast he left an afterimage.

The burly one charged like a maddened bull. Since Yin Zhen had just focused on repelling the scrawny Blood Clan member, she couldn’t dodge in time. She crossed her arms to block but was sent flying. Her back slammed heavily into a pile of scrap metal, eliciting a muffled groan of pain.

Under the intense glare of the lights, she couldn’t use Shadow Instant Teleportation, making her evasion abilities slightly inferior.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t fully mastered the Blood and Flesh Ascetic Method yet. Even with the Character Card equipped, the Skills felt obscured by a veil, making it hard for her to grasp them thoroughly.

Yin Zhen immediately allocated 10 of her 12 newly acquired attribute points into agility. Her speed surged instantly. Over a dozen blood silks, as thin as hair strands, burst from her fingertips and tangled around the burly Blood Clan member.

The blood silks sliced into his flesh, tightening further with every struggle.

Seeing Yin Zhen unleash a second Extraordinary Ability, the scrawny one paused his steps and backed away a few more paces.

As Yin Zhen lunged at the burly Blood Clan member, she tried to force a resonance, but it failed. Her pig-killing knife, enhanced by Molecular Sharpening, plunged deep into his throat and ripped horizontally.

[Killed Blood Clan Invader (D-level), gained 200 words, attribute points ×2]

Without missing a beat, the blood silks shot toward the scrawny Blood Clan member. His expression changed drastically as he dodged with all his might.

At that moment, over a dozen steel rebars shot toward Yin Zhen from all directions like javelins, their speed inconceivably fast.

The intense light aimed at Yin Zhen impaired her vision. She activated the Super Sensing State to detect every movement around her, dodging with the smallest possible movements. The rebars scraped past her body and plunged entirely into the scrap metal pile behind her.

"The good show is just beginning!" Quentin laughed.

More metal fragments took to the air, wave after wave.

Some were sharpened, some were not. Yin Zhen could only slice apart a portion with her blood silks and do her best to dodge the rest.

Even so, her tracksuit was torn in several places, leaving her with numerous deep, bone-revealing gashes. She hurriedly used Structural Repair to heal herself.

The agility-type Blood Clan member roamed the periphery, dashing in periodically to harass her before retreating immediately.

Caught in a pincer attack, Yin Zhen was overwhelmed.

"I have experience!"

She shouted through gritted teeth and furrowed brows. The Title activated, granting All Attributes +10%.

A warm current surged through her body, slightly boosting her Strength, speed, and reaction time.

With one slash, she knocked away an incoming steel plate, then spun and kicked away the agility-type Blood Clan member trying to sneak-attack her. Blood silks shot from her fingertips, snagging a distant steel pipe. With a violent yank, the pipe flew over. She caught it, infused it with Molecular Sharpening, and hurled it backhanded at Quentin.

Quentin tilted his head. The steel pipe grazed his ear and drove itself into the mountain of metal behind him.

BANG!

Another gunshot rang out, and blood bloomed on Quentin’s other ear. His eyes widened in shock and fury.

"You’re courting death!"

The entire junkyard came alive. Every piece of metal vibrated simultaneously, emitting an ear-piercing hum.

Iron nails, steel rebars, steel plates, pipes, and even scrap metal buried deep underground all rose from the dirt, levitating in midair.

Yin Zhen’s pupils contracted. She forced back the agility-type Blood Clan member with another slash, simultaneously dodging and firing three shots in Quentin’s direction.

All three bullets hit a steel plate. Then, a tempest of metal fragments rained down. Yin Zhen pushed her Spiritual Barrier to its absolute limit. The fragments crashed against the transparent shield, emitting a dense cacophony of shattering sounds.

Yin Zhen’s temples throbbed. Sustaining the Spiritual Barrier was arduous. If push came to shove, she would have no choice but to use ’Why aren’t you dead yet’ early.

Just then, the agility-type Blood Clan member roaming the outskirts suddenly stiffened. He abruptly changed direction and charged at Quentin, his dagger nearly slicing Quentin’s throat open.

Quentin dodged backward, causing the metal fragments he controlled to plummet with a loud CLATTER.

Yin Zhen turned her head sharply. Under the blinding lights, she saw Bai Qiang standing at the edge of the material yard. Her brows were tightly knit, and her eyes were fixed on the agility-type Blood Clan member.

Bai Qiang had taken control of him using Spiritual Manipulation.

But Quentin’s reaction was faster. When the agility-type assailed him again, a steel rebar shot in from the side, impaling the Blood Clan member’s chest and pinning him to the ground.

Bai Qiang’s spiritual power link snapped. With a muffled grunt, she stumbled half a step backward. If a target she controlled died, she suffered a degree of backlash.

"Two Players? Perfect!"

Quentin sneered and raised his hand, the veins on his forehead bulging entirely. An obsolete machine tool floated up from a mountain of garbage and hurtled toward the two women.

BANG BANG BANG!

A rapid string of gunshots rang out even faster. The searchlights surrounding the junkyard exploded one by one. The area plummeted into semi-darkness, and shadows re-emerged at the feet of Yin Zhen and Bai Qiang.

Both of them had limited ammunition, which was why they hadn’t targeted those eight searchlights in the first place.

The moment the machine tool smashed down, Yin Zhen dissolved into a cloud of black smoke, using Shadow Instant Teleportation to escape. Bai Qiang vanished simultaneously, emerging from another patch of shadow.

Landing in different spots, both looked toward the source of the gunfire.

Nan Jiamu stood at the junkyard entrance with her gun raised. Clad in a camouflage Combat Uniform with her hair tied in a low ponytail, she looked every bit a professional soldier.

"Two against one and you still can’t beat him?" she called out, swapping magazines as she ran over to join the battlefield.

"Why don’t you try it!" Bai Qiang snapped back irritably.

Seeing Nan Jiamu, Quentin’s expression shifted. He could fight one of them, he could barely hold off two, but three... The thought of retreating sprouted in his mind.

Taking a step back, Quentin began gathering the metal fragments at his feet to construct a barricade.

Nan Jiamu pulled out a Clapperboard and forcefully snapped it shut.

"Action! Set rule: Magnetism disabled!"

Quentin froze for a second before a mocking smirk curled the corner of his lips. The metal fragments continued to float around him; the rule had failed to take effect.

Nan Jiamu’s expression changed. Her Clapperboard could only suppress silver-tier and lower Items, as well as Extraordinary Abilities below the A-level.

Magnetic Control was an A-level, perhaps even reaching A+. The rule was entirely ineffective against it.

Nan Jiamu swiftly swapped to a different rule—one of those wicked, twisted rules the system favored.

"All males on set must do a one-handed handstand!"

Quentin’s body suddenly stiffened, struck by an uncontrollable urge to perform a one-handed handstand. Unaware of what Nan Jiamu was doing, he forcibly suppressed the urge, which instantly triggered the NG penalty: full-body paralysis for three seconds.

"Fire!"

Nan Jiamu shouted, casting a quick glance at Yin Zhen—she was indeed a woman.

All three raised their guns simultaneously.

BANG BANG BANG!

Bullets slammed into Quentin, sending blood splattering in all directions. His body convulsed violently under the sheer impact of the gunfire, but anchored by the rule, he couldn’t even fall over.

Nan Jiamu emptied her entire magazine, while Bai Qiang and Yin Zhen each saved a single bullet.

The three seconds were up.

Quentin’s body was riddled with holes. He had taken shots between the eyebrows, to the throat, and to the heart, yet he merely dropped to his knees, coughing up large mouthfuls of blood.

Bai Qiang’s face darkened. "He’s still not dead?"

"He has an Item!" Nan Jiamu said grimly.

Quentin lifted his head, a blood-soaked smile on his face. "Take a look behind you."

Nan Jiamu and Bai Qiang turned simultaneously to follow Quentin’s gaze. Only Yin Zhen kept her eyes fixed on Quentin, refusing to look back.

Without the glaring interference of the searchlights, Bai Qiang and Nan Jiamu could finally see an iron cage suspended from an abandoned tower crane some sixty or seventy meters away. Inside were five children, seemingly six or seven years old, huddled together with their mouths gagged.

"Go save them, or kill me? Choose!"

With a loud CLICK, the winch suspending the cage lost its hold and began spinning wildly as the iron cage plummeted.

"Damn it!"

Without hesitation, Nan Jiamu deactivated the set, released three Tactical Ball Items, and dashed toward the tower crane with all her might.

Bai Qiang hesitated for half a second before following Nan Jiamu. Her Shadow Instant Teleportation would allow her to reach the children in the iron cage faster than Nan Jiamu ever could.

Of the three, only Yin Zhen never once looked back. With single-minded focus, she chased down the fleeing Quentin.