Abyssal Wanderer.

Did you hear that?

Jiang Zhou, crouching behind a half-concrete wall, turned to look at AR.

"It's being broadcast on all channels, so it's hard not to hear it... It's also a global live stream, so he's really made the most of this traffic."

At this moment, the data stream in AR's eyes was flashing incessantly, and she said somewhat unhappily.

"He's not a meme entity, so the boost from public opinion can't be converted into combat power... Is this the Hercules path?"

Jiang Zhou sighed.

The live stream was quite spectacular—dozens of jet-black umbilical cords extended from Columbia's abdominal cavity, their ends disappearing into the ever-emerging undead army in the void.

A large number of fully armed soldiers marched with firm steps toward the target in the distance. This army consisted not only of marines, but also received continuous reinforcements of various infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, and helicopters. In addition, missiles, artillery, drones, and bombers would occasionally roar by, providing fire support.

Throughout the entire sequence, the shots of the Colombian goddess were remarkably steady, making her appear almost like a statue, silently reviewing her army as they passed before her, heading to the battlefield.

Meanwhile, on Alex's side...

It's unclear whether the filming crew encountered technical difficulties or if it was intentional to showcase Alex's power—the footage of Alex's movements shot by the Bacchus Order was constantly shaky, and the focus was continuously adjusted.

His movements were too fast, but more importantly, his movements didn't follow any predictable trajectory. The camera always followed his actions, as if filming bullet holes already left on the wall.

Alex stood amidst a pile of Apache wreckage dismantled into parts. Just three seconds before, the helicopter was intact—its rotors cleaved through the rain, its fire control system locked on, and two Hellfire missiles launched simultaneously. Then, its adversary defied gravity and jumped up.

The live stream footage only captured a blurry figure catching a missile with one hand in those few frames, then using the momentum to turn and fling the missile at another helicopter. A fireball exploded in the low sky, and burning debris rained down. In the next frame, he was standing on the ground, while the Apache helicopter he had previously hauled down was now on the ground.

Jiang Zhou stared blankly as the gun barrel of the M1A3 main battle tank was crushed by the opponent's single hand, and as three skeleton marines fired at the same time, only to be kicked in half by him with a sweeping leg kick—the Bacchus Order even thoughtfully noted that these soldiers, enhanced by meme liberation, were comparable in strength to some low-depth Coordinators.

You absolutely must not confront this person head-on...

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

Immediately afterwards, his head was shoved down by a hand.

The next second, a scorching beam of energy grazed the spot where his head had been, melting a fist-sized hole in the wall behind him. Molten concrete flowed down the wall, hissing as it hit the ground.

Jiang Zhou, regaining his senses, looked down at the hand pressing on his head. AR, who had saved him earlier, was now lying on the ground, his eyes blank.

Just a hair's breadth away, the energy beam was about to pierce through both his and AR's heads.

"We've been discovered."

That blank look lasted only a moment before AR spoke up.

They had finally shaken off the pursuit of that Coordinator squad, but before they could even have a moment's peace, the same group was chasing them again.

Jiang Zhou nodded with lingering fear, then asked while activating his deflection shield:
"You just saw it?"

AR nodded, then asked with a puzzled expression:
"It's somewhat similar to the instantaneous future vision of a near-death state... but it has never worked so quickly before."

In that instant, her mind went blank, and she almost instinctively completed the perfect cover and rescue maneuver.

"This might be a hidden ability of the Oedipus Path... But they're attacking again. Can you hold them off this time?"

"Now is not the time to analyze our own capabilities," AR asked directly.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhou quickly retrieved the sensor data from the power armor.

The deflection shield of the Ominous Power Armor was now only 30% intact, and the response delay of the servo motor exceeded the safety threshold. Fortunately, the exoskeleton armor's battery was still sufficient... Jiang Zhou quickly analyzed the situation, gripping the modified Gauss rifle tightly while rapidly marking several heat source signals on the tactical panel.

"If you could decipher it in under thirty seconds..."

After less than a second of thought, Jiang Zhou gave a straightforward answer.

The Coordinator squad that came to hunt them down consisted of six people, with an average depth of 3. Two of them were confirmed to be Path Coordinators: one a sniper specialist and the other a frontal assault specialist.

Logically speaking, with the support of the Celestial Path and the "Ominous" power armor, they shouldn't have been beaten so badly. But the coordination between those six people was just too perfect; their coordinated attacks gave Jiang Zhou absolutely no chance to catch his breath.

This was unavoidable, since the one directing their actions was the man who followed Jason's path. Even with the Heavenly God Path providing long-range cover, Jiang Zhou could only barely withstand a few rounds of attacks in terms of tactical micro-management.

In fact, if AR hadn't hacked into their communication network and completely crippled Zhou Liqi's command system, Jiang Zhou would probably have died on the spot.

Therefore, this became their tactic—Jiang Zhou would go out to hold the front line, while AR would be responsible for hacking into the enemy's command system. Once their coordination was disrupted, Jiang Zhou would be able to maintain the balance of power on the battlefield and buy time to relocate.

Thirty seconds?

AR asked, puzzled.

She had deciphered the code twice in less than fifteen seconds each time. Now, with the mortician's weapons and equipment so depleted, it was ironically giving her even more time?
[The commander on the other side isn't an idiot. His command system has been crippled twice already, so he'll definitely have a contingency plan in place this time... Remember to be more cautious when hacking this time.]

Jiang Zhou spoke quickly over the communication channel.

But can you really hold out against them for thirty seconds?

AR immediately replied.

Jiang Zhou did not answer, but instead pulled out a tube of Nyx Factor from his waist.

Silvery-gray particles swirled slowly inside the glass tube, like liquid smoke. He held the tube in his hand, but did not inject it.

No problem.

She said on the communication channel.

[This small amount of Nyx factor is useless unless the adjuster of the Orpheus path is present.]

AR, thinking this was a trump card from Theta, immediately retorted.

Without prosthetic bodies as remote control nodes, a certain quantity of Nyx Factor is needed to support the Coordinator's mind. The amount the Embalmer has is simply not enough to give him any tactical advantage.

Jiang Zhou didn't explain the origin of these Nyx factors, but instead said directly:
[I'll create a breakthrough point, then you can rush out. Theta's location signal shows she's heading this way; go and meet her.]

"How many can you hold off by yourself?"

Sita spoke directly.

"Enough for you to run away."

"Then you die here."

AR frowned and said:
"Is this your plan?"

"My plan is to survive."

Jiang Zhou looked at the energy level, which had three minutes left to complete its steady-state return, and said.

Even if he could stall for those three minutes, he would only be able to go back to ten minutes earlier, and he still couldn't find a way to break the deadlock.

He took a deep breath and continued:
"But if there are no other options, at least—"

Then, his words were interrupted by a burst of laughter. "What a touching spirit of sacrifice!"

A melee-specialized modifier who had previously fought Jiang Zhou emerged from the shadows—it wasn't until he appeared so brazenly that the heat source detection system on the Omen Power Armor picked up his signal.

His left arm had been severed at the elbow by a Gauss sniper bullet from the Tenjindo sect, leaving only a few carbon fiber tendons connecting half of his forearm.

But what he was dragging with his right arm was even more intriguing—it was a two-meter-long monomolecular slicing blade, its surface so thin it was almost transparent, leaving a straight, smooth trail on the ground as he dragged it.

"But none of you need to run, none of you will escape."

The man spoke, his voice coming through the helmet speaker, carrying the cold indifference characteristic of electronic synthesized speech.

As he spoke, several other Coordinators responsible for the assault also stepped forward, surrounding them in the middle.

【AR!】

Jiang Zhou shouted into the communication channel.

Without the slightest hesitation, the data stream in the AR pupil began to jump wildly.

She is re-deciphering these people's command system.

However, the next second, she collapsed to the ground, her eyes glazed over, convulsing.

"Young lady, your hacking skills are truly impressive."

The adjuster, who was dragging a long sword, said:

"But compared to Npsa, who once confronted the Venus board member directly, we are still somewhat lacking... Our firewalls are all loaded with anti-intrusion protocols she wrote herself."

As he spoke, the two Coordinators responsible for fire support also stepped out of their bunkers.

The energy shields enveloping them shimmered with blue light in the rain, and the directed energy weapons in their hands began to charge—orange-red light gathered at the muzzle, and water molecules in the air were prematurely ionized, emitting a fine crackling sound.

Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Zhou pulled out the safety pin of the Nyx Factor, and the huge pressure difference between the inside and outside instantly released those silver-gray particles.

At the same time, the Nyx factor previously injected into Jiang Zhou's body activated and resonated. Jiang Zhou felt a sudden heat in his head, and then—the world suddenly became noisy.

Several voices appeared in his mind, but not in the form of language; those voices were more primal than language itself.

Fear. Although the adjuster holding the knife appeared relaxed, he was filled with fear as he faced himself.

Excitement filled the two energy-charging modulators, for their directed energy weapons were fully charged, and they imagined they could incinerate their targets in the next second.

Be alert. The two offensive adjusters are on alert, but not towards Jiang Zhou—they are wary of their own commander. They believe the instructions for Jason's path are delayed too much and are considering whether to ignore the tactical orders and charge directly.

Hunger, confusion, exhaustion, pain, and a sorrow tinged with regret—the last one of which is unknown.

In short, these fragments of consciousness poured into Jiang Zhou's brain simultaneously, like turning a hundred radio stations to maximum volume at the same time.

Using the Nyx Factor without a foundation of Orpheus path modification comes at a price. In an instant, Jiang Zhou tasted rust in his mouth, and the capillaries in his eyes began to burst, staining the edges of his vision with a pale red.

But he had already heard the information he needed: the energy-accumulating regulator would fire in 2.7 seconds, prioritizing the most threatening heat source—Jiang Zhou himself.

The melee-specialized Coordinator would charge forward 0.5 seconds after the charging cannon fired, cutting in from the right, intending to sever his spine with the monomolecular blade.

All of this was planned by someone who wasn't even here.

So……

The energy-charging cannon fired, and an orange-red beam of light pierced through the rain, completely melting half of the concrete wall. But Jiang Zhou lunged to the right 0.3 seconds before the fire started—he didn't need to run faster than light, just faster than the finger that pulled the trigger.

The instant the Coordinator fired, the Celestial Path's Gauss sniper bullet struck the load-bearing column of the building behind them; the one-meter-diameter reinforced concrete column exploded in the middle, and the entire roof collapsed. While not enough to crush them, it at least halted their next attack.

The instant Tenjindo fired, the Paris Path Adjuster on the other side also fired—he had been waiting for Tenjindo's sniping, and this time he finally seized the opportunity to expose the opponent.

Although Tian Shendao was not hit by a bullet, he will not be able to continue providing assistance in the short term.

Taking this into account in the subsequent operation, Jiang Zhou simultaneously fired his Gauss rifle at the two attackers.

Multiple adjustment components in his brain instantly enhanced his reflexes, calculating the trajectory of the bullet, wind speed, and the target's movement. He completed all the shooting calculations in 0.3 seconds.

With a beautiful flick shot, the bullet bypassed the melee-specialized adjuster in front of him and headed straight for the remaining two.

But the two attackers simultaneously deployed their energy shields, the pale blue arcs engulfing all the bullets.

The adjuster wielding the knife didn't even glance back—he had already charged in front of Jiang Zhou, his single-element blade slashing down diagonally. Jiang Zhou didn't have time to draw his melee weapon and could only parry with his rifle held horizontally in front of him.

The blade cut into the gun barrel, severing the electromagnetic acceleration track, battery pack, and cooling pipe, splitting the entire gun in two.

The blade continued its momentum, slashing towards Jiang Zhou's chest. Jiang Zhou dodged backward, but the opponent used the moment the rifle broke to deflect the angle of the blade, causing it to glide across Jiang Zhou's left shoulder.

The outer armor of the Omen Power Armor was cut open, the cushioning gel layer was torn, the heat dissipation pipes broke, and coolant sprayed out.

In the blink of an eye, he lost all power assistance from his left arm.

The outcome was now decided, and Jiang Zhou glanced at the time.

There is less than a minute left before the time for the body to return to steady state.

Oops……

Looking at the knife that was about to be aimed at his throat, Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

Then, the person stopped moving.

"Go to sleep~"

A dagger suddenly pierced his chest, and a murmur, like a lullaby, echoed behind him.

Then, a pale face came close to his shoulder.

His face looked ashen and swollen as a corpse that had been drowned for days, exuding an aura of utter death. His eyelids looked as if they had been cut off with scissors, leaving only two huge, dark pupils embedded starkly and unblinkingly in his pale face, appearing as if they had been gouged out.

Then he smiled.

The skin on either side of his mouth cracked as he laughed, like wet paper that could be easily torn apart, stretching a hideous wound to his earlobe.

This monster, which seemed to exist only in dreams, had appeared beside him without his noticing...

No, it's not that we don't know when.

Realizing something, the man turned around.

One of the two teammates who had been following behind him also fell with a stab wound to the chest, while the other...

Another person was right behind him. (End of Chapter)