Invincibility starts when I see the BOSS health bar.

Chapter 1042 Make do
Minister Chen paused for a moment on the other end of the phone, seemingly weighing the pros and cons, before finally explaining in a slightly heavy and helpless tone.

"Mr. Fang, you are unaware of something."

"Some people...who are on the verge of death, under the constant pressure of impending doom, will become...very unstable and extreme in their mental state."

"They can be intensely hostile and aggressive towards everything around them, including those trying to maintain order or offer assistance."

"Of course, we understand that this is not their inherent nature, but rather a distortion and collapse of humanity under extremely desperate circumstances, which is an understandable tragedy."

"But in order to ensure the safety of the base itself and to prevent larger-scale social unrest as much as possible, we also have to deploy enough personnel to carry out necessary protection and vigilance at some key points, just in case."

He put it very tactfully, but Fang Yu understood completely.

The countdown, this visible, inescapable, and precise declaration of impending death, is itself the cruelest form of mental torture.

It is entirely logical, and even predictable, that human nature becomes extreme, suspicious, and aggressive in such dire circumstances.

Moreover, with such a large-scale infection, panic spreads like a plague, and it's not surprising that people might take any extreme actions.

The fact that the city has managed to maintain basic public services and order under such immense pressure, and hasn't completely fallen into a jungle where the strong prey on the weak, is a testament to the hard work of the authorities.

"Understood," Fang Yu said, his tone still calm. "I need to go over there and check it out. Tell your men to remain calm and not to attack me in any way, to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and...casualties."

He pronounced the last two words with exceptional clarity.

“Okay! I’ll notify the base manager immediately!” Minister Chen agreed immediately, his tone resolute.

However, just as Minister Chen picked up another internal encrypted communication phone, quickly found the base leader's number and dialed it, all he heard was a long and monotonous "beep-beep-" busy tone, and no one answered!

A strong sense of foreboding, like a cold, venomous snake, instantly coiled around Minister Chen's heart, almost suffocating him!

Almost at the same time, a series of extremely abrupt, frantic, and rapid gunshots came from the phone in Qi Ge's hand, which was still connected to Fang Yu!
“Da da da da da——!!!”

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The bursts of automatic rifles, the volleys of pistols, and even the muffled roar of some kind of heavy firearms mingled together, creating a terrifying sound wave that clearly assaulted the eardrums of everyone in the hotel parking lot through the small cell phone receiver!

The gunfire was hysterical, not at all like a warning or deterrent shot, but a complete, all-out, frenzied barrage!
The call lasted less than three seconds before it abruptly ended with an even louder explosion and a piercing electrical noise.

"Mr. Fang!"

"what happened?!"

"At the base..."

Qi Ge, Minister Chen, Boss Ma, and everyone else who overheard the brief phone call outside the hotel turned deathly pale!
Qi Ge's ominous premonition erupted like a volcano, and he practically shouted, "Quick! Get in the car right now! To the base! Quick!!" The group rushed towards the off-road vehicle parked to the side as if their backsides were on fire, the roar of the engine violently tearing apart the tranquility of the night.

Even traveling at full speed, it would take quite a while to reach the hidden base deep in the forest from the hotel by taking a winding mountain road.

Meanwhile, the base itself had been completely transformed into a hellish battlefield.

As Fang Yu slowly descended from the sky and approached the barbed wire fence and watchtowers surrounding the base, he was not greeted by the expected communication and questioning, but by a metal storm that came crashing down on him like a sudden downpour!
Countless bullets shot out from the windows of the high watchtowers, from behind the sandbag bunkers, and from the corners of the barracks, forming a crossfire network with almost no blind spots, instantly covering the airspace where he was!

The bullets struck the air around his body with a clanging sound like hail hitting a steel plate, then twisted, deformed, and bounced away, scattering dazzling sparks all around him!

He could even clearly see the soldiers' faces as they pulled the triggers, a mixture of extreme fear, twisted fanaticism, and a hint of...empty numbness!

"Whoosh—!"

A piercing sound of something cutting through the air came rushing in!
A man-portable anti-aircraft missile, trailing a fiery and dazzling orange-red flame, like an invitation from the Grim Reaper, drew a graceful arc in the air and accurately struck Fang Yu's figure hovering in mid-air!
"boom!!!!!!"

A huge fireball exploded violently in the air!

The expanding flames and thick black smoke instantly engulfed Fang Yu's location. The violent shockwave, like an invisible giant hammer, spread wildly in all directions, even blowing away some lighter debris on the ground!
The scorching heat wave hit them in the face, causing some of the soldiers firing below to instinctively squint or turn their heads away.

Below, in the base, countless eyes were fixed on the still-burning plume of smoke, and some soldiers even wore twisted smiles of relief or revenge.

However, as the smoke dissipated slowly in the high-altitude air currents, the figure that had filled them with despair remained suspended in place, not even a hint of dishevelment in its clothing! The attack, powerful enough to tear an armored vehicle to shreds, had failed to leave even the slightest scratch on its body!
This scene, beyond comprehension, plunged the base below into an eerie silence, followed by an even more hysterical, collapsing frenzy!
"Monster! It's a monster!!"

"Fire! Keep firing! Don't stop!!"

"To survive! Kill it!! Kill it and our countdown will stop!!"

The offensive did not stop; instead, it became even more ferocious and irrational!
Several light tanks violently smashed through the obstacles at the edge of the training ground, their short, thick gun barrels quickly rising, adjusting their angle, and aiming at the area where Fang Yu was about to land.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!"

The tank cannon roared deafeningly, and the high-explosive warheads blasted huge scorched craters into the ground, with hot shrapnel and shock waves flying everywhere!
At the same time, an even denser hail of bullets, like a relentless barrage of metal, completely covered the area where Fang Yu landed and its surroundings. Soil, grass, and debris were thrown into the air, creating a blurred zone of death.

Amidst this endless, frenzied onslaught capable of instantly vaporizing any carbon-based life form, came Fang Yu's calm, undisturbed yet seemingly imbued with boundless majesty whisper:
"Gas explosion... Tianxuan..."

Rumble, rumble—! ! !
It wasn't an explosion, but rather the eruption of some more fundamental force! Centered on the spot where Fang Yu landed, an indescribable, extremely violent, invisible force field suddenly spread and swept outwards!
The earth groaned under the weight, cracking open with spiderweb-like patterns!

The air is compressed to the extreme, and then suddenly expands outward!

Sand, broken weapons, empty shell casings, abandoned training equipment, and even several light tanks weighing several tons... everything within the force field was forcibly lifted up from the ground and thrown tens of meters into the air by this irresistible force, like the palm of a god!
The surrounding barracks creaked and groaned, their windows shattered and walls cracked!
The whole world seemed to turn upside down at that moment!

The sky has turned into a "ground" made up of debris and weapons!
After a moment of deathly silence, an even more shocking fall ensued!

"boom!!!!"

"Clang!!"

"Pfft——!"

Everything that was swept into the sky crashed back to the ground with tremendous kinetic energy, just like a meteor shower!

Tanks twisted and deformed, smashing deep craters; soldiers screamed as they were buried or shot away; buildings partially collapsed, raising clouds of dust... The once orderly perimeter of the military base had now been completely transformed into a ruin, as if ravaged by a natural disaster, a scene of utter devastation and utter chaos!

The relentless, frenzied attacks were abruptly halted by this single blow.

The soldiers who could still stand stared blankly at the ruins and the figure in the center of the ruins who was slowly withdrawing his hand without even a hint of disorder in his breathing. Their eyes were filled with utter bewilderment and fear.

Fang Yu remained expressionless, casually lifting his hand as if taking something from a bag, precisely catching the neck of a soldier captain who was falling from the sky and trying to struggle, lifting him off the ground like a chick.

"Tell me, why did you attack me?" Fang Yu's voice was cold and devoid of any emotion.

The soldier captain's face was filled with extreme fear. His pupils were dilated, and his lips trembled. He seemed to want to say something, but only strange "ho...ho..." sounds like a broken bellows could be heard from his throat, unable to form complete sentences.

His gaze shifted between clarity and confusion, as if two distinct wills were fiercely vying for control within his mind.

Fang Yu immediately understood.

"Is it [spirit]...is it influencing, or even directly controlling them?"

He suddenly felt enlightened.

Since [Spirit] can grant a countdown, it can also use this countdown as leverage to coerce, guide, or even directly interfere with the mind and behavior of the infected through some unknown means!
It seems that some of the chaos and aggression are not entirely the natural collapse of humanity under despair. Behind it, there may be a mastermind deliberately fueling the chaos and depleting humanity's strength.

The moment this thought flashed through Fang Yu's mind, he suddenly felt a cold, viscous, and strangely corrosive force with an ominous meaning rush into his body, like a venomous snake that had found new prey, using the body of the soldier captain he had captured as a medium!

This force ignored his strong physical defenses and drilled directly into the depths of his soul, attempting to leave a mark there that signified his impending death!
coming!

Fang Yu was not alarmed but delighted. Instead of mobilizing his power to resist or expel the invading curse, he deliberately relaxed some of his mental defenses, as if opening the city gates to let the enemy into a trap, allowing the malicious power to penetrate deep into his life essence and core of perception!

The next instant, a strange "vision" was generated in his consciousness.

Fang Yu looked up and clearly "saw" it: hovering directly above his field of vision, a death countdown that emitted a ghostly red glow, like an invitation to hell, uniquely his own.

[12: 00: 00]
"Twelve hours?"

Fang Yu's lips curled into a cold and confident smile, as if he were evaluating an insignificant item. "It seems that this guy's accumulated power is not so strong that he is completely unable to resist and can only wait to die."

The numbers jumped mercilessly.

[11: 59: 59]
The countdown begins, decreasing steadily and cruelly in seconds.

At this moment, Fang Yu closed his eyes without hesitation, focusing all his mind and perception, like the most precise probe, firmly locking onto and following the newly established curse connection that, like a black blood vessel, links him to a distant being, tracing back to its source with all his might!
With this direct and malicious "connection" as the clearest signpost, the obstacles that were previously shrouded in thick fog were instantly pierced!

Fang Yu's spiritual perception seemed to spread out at an unprecedented speed and precision along an invisible line of cause and effect, penetrating the dense forest, skimming over the undulating mountains, ignoring physical distance, and finally clearly sensing a strong, cold, core reaction that was like a dark heart beating continuously, filled with the aura of death and annihilation in a specific area in the northwest of the city center!

The feeling was like finally locking onto a malice-emitting lighthouse in a dark ocean!
"Is it over there?"

Fang Yu opened his eyes, his sharp gaze seemingly piercing through layers of spatial barriers as he looked toward the city, muttering to himself.

As if clearly sensing Fang Yu's undisguised lock-on and the tangible threat, [Ling], far away in the city, seemed to feel a strong, almost instinctive sense of crisis!
The bright red countdown numbers above Fang Yu's head suddenly flickered and distorted violently, like a screen with a poor signal. Then, it was as if an invisible hand had wiped off a section of it, abruptly reducing the countdown by one hour!
[10: 57: 21]
"Anxious?"

Fang Yu's smile widened, a smile of composure and mockery that comes from a hunter seeing his prey in a panic. "But the worst is yet to come."

With a thought, the power within him began to surge and roar at an unprecedented speed!
A deep, dense hum emanated from all the bones in his body, as if thousands of tiny creatures were awakening at the same time!

The next moment, dense, snow-white bone armor, as if possessing its own life consciousness, rapidly multiplied and spread from under his skin all over his body!

Click, click...

A series of subtle yet dense covering sounds rang out, and in the blink of an eye, a full-body bone armor that perfectly conformed to his body contours and exuded an aura of savagery and sturdiness was completed!

(End of this chapter)