My setting is above yours!

Chapter 58 The Magician's Attack, Ron Unaffected (4k4)

"Hostile target detected! Fire restrictions lifted!"

Despite the danger, Xia Zhi remained calm. Looking at the hollow monsters with bizarre grass-like features before him, he activated the body camera hanging from his collar:

“Turn on your body cameras, C03, C05, C06, and fight alongside me immediately.”

"C02, C08, provide logistical support!"

She issued instructions methodically, and everyone immediately saluted her and began to act.

Ron watched as everyone saluted skillfully, and he followed suit, then silently followed behind Ji Jin.

"Bang! Boom!"

Dull impacts rang out against the monsters. Except for Ron and Ji Jin, everyone else raised their matte black pistols, and electromagnetically accelerated armored ammunition flew out, accurately shattering these hollow monsters with grass-like features.

Why are they using a handgun now?

Seeing this scene, Ron was a little puzzled.

These are just ordinary, hollow monsters...

To be honest, Ron didn't think they were much stronger than a chicken.

This kind of utter weakling is so easy to crush with your abilities; it's much faster than using firearms that only people without abilities would use...

But a slightly lazy voice came from beside me.

"Aren't you curious why someone with special abilities like you, senior, would choose to use firearms at a time like this?"

Seemingly noticing Ron's confusion, Ji Jin leaned close to Ron's ear and whispered an explanation:

"This is an important provision in the Patrol Bureau's mission guidelines... You were directly pulled into the Patrol Bureau by your senior, and your abilities are too strong, so it's normal that you didn't go through normal onboarding training and are not familiar with the mission guidelines."

"In fact, most patrol operators would avoid using their strongest force at the very beginning of a mission."

“Every mission may encounter unexpected enemies or take longer than expected, all of which could make it difficult for your personal reality to be maintained and your computing power to continue.”

"Therefore, unless the situation is extremely urgent, knowing when to use what kind of force and how to upgrade the force based on the situation is what a qualified patrol officer should do."

It turned out to be like this...

Okay, he went into a blind spot.

Ron nodded, but a strange feeling crept into his heart.

While what Ji Jin said is indeed true, it clearly applies to ordinary ability users...

If you are powerful enough, there is no need to conserve your energy. Even if you wipe out all the monsters in the factory, it won't consume much computing power.

For example, Ron has now advanced to Lv.3 [Vector Manipulation]. If he wanted, he could easily sweep through this small factory, which covers about ten acres, in five minutes with almost no cost.

If you think about it carefully, experts like Xia Zhi, who have reached the top level of Lv.3 and awakened the [Ability Formula], might also be able to achieve this level when using the "Formula"...

Unfortunately, Xia Zhi's ability seems to consume too much computing power. Although the strength of her ability even exceeds the limit of Lv.3, her computing power consumption is far greater than that of other superpowered individuals of the same level.

Perhaps that's why she didn't consider using her abilities and quickly cleared out the factory...

Ron thought to himself, while the battle not far away was also coming to an end.

The patrol officers were unharmed as they defeated the horde of monsters that were staggering towards them.

These twisted monsters covered in grass fell to the ground, some of them quickly resisted by the [Anti-Mystic Equation], their grass dissipating and turning into mutilated corpses.

Some didn't even leave behind a corpse; they turned into dust scattered by the wind...

Wait, dust?
Seeing this scene, Ron couldn't help but frown.

These mutilated corpses were dressed in dark blue factory uniforms, their clothes tattered and torn, and it was clear that they were factory workers, just as expected before they arrived.

But... why are there guys who are completely resisted by the [Anti-Mystic Equation] and turned into ashes?

Even if they were transformed into hollow monsters through experiments by [Ark] and [Noah's Medicine], only their mutated organs should turn to ash...

Could it be that Noah Pharmaceuticals has mastered the technology to completely transform people into monsters?

Ron frowned and listened to Xia Zhi's instructions, piling the tattered sack-like corpses together.

"Hmm... teleport directly to the evidence processing room..."

Xia Zhi muttered to himself, then tossed out four more game coins, snapped his fingers, and sent the corpses away.

"This factory has no more than two hundred registered employees, so there shouldn't be many mutated monsters left..."

Only after confirming that no bodies had been missed did she give the order:
"Alright, let's go. Stay alert. Let's go inside the factory and take care of the rest of the monsters."

After saying that, Xia Zhi took the lead and walked ahead, while Ron silently followed at the back of the team, lost in thought.

The number of registered employees does not exceed two hundred?
But in that last battle, we already killed about a hundred monsters...

If that's the case, wouldn't there only be a few dozen monsters left in the factory?

Something just doesn't feel right...

Ron followed the team into the factory, a vague feeling of unease creeping into his heart.

Think about these monsters, and then think about the predictions made before we came, relying on the "medium's" extraordinary abilities...

A thought flashed through Ron's mind, and he immediately realized what had happened.

Wait... is the premonition filled with corpses?

And—and how many people have just been killed?
More than a hundred?
Back in a certain high school, there were only a dozen or so monsters, yet they had already caused a void!

Even if these grass-like monsters in the factory were indeed far weaker than the dozen or so hollow monsters transformed from high school students, they should still have caused the "hollow" phenomenon...

Where did the “hollow” and the monster that fell out of it go?

Ron frowned and carefully observed his surroundings.

The factory interior was quiet, just as old and dirty as it appeared from the outside, and covered with moss, weeds and vines.

Strangely, this seemingly ordinary factory is now completely empty...

Inside the factory, all the industrial equipment was gone, and Ron couldn't even tell what the factory was used for or what production tasks it was carrying out.

Something's getting weird... Did someone come here beforehand and clear out the factory?
Ron frowned and immediately and without hesitation loaded [Superpower] and [Vector Manipulation].

Clearly, the magician foreseen in the divination has probably already arrived here...

This magician... came early to clear out the monsters that fell into the cave and emptied the factory... Is he hiding in the shadows now, secretly watching us?

Ron frowned, carefully examining his surroundings, but he couldn't find anything amiss.

wrong.

He turned his gaze to the empty factory floor.

The most strange thing is the empty ground itself!
The moment doubt arose in his mind, before Ron could even react, he saw bright green, densely packed patterns suddenly light up on the ground—

These intricate symbols covered the ground. Ron looked closely and immediately realized that the symbols formed a circular pattern that almost encompassed the entire factory floor...

Just as Ron had predicted in his divination, this was clearly a large magic circle!

The next moment, a burst of bright green light erupted and exploded...

"Rumble..."

The factory floor shattered and collapsed instantly.

A foul-smelling, emerald-green mist rose from the ground and enveloped the entire factory!

……

at the same time.

A man wearing protective clothing and a gas mask slowly emerged from the bushes outside the factory and stood at the entrance, looking smugly at the thick green fog filling the factory.

"The stuff that fell out of the 'cavity' is indeed good stuff... The power that can be unleashed by using that thing as a ritual anchor is already comparable to many ancient magics recorded in secret texts..."

He tossed the green fruit in his hand with considerable satisfaction. The fist-sized fruit was clearly somewhat ethereal, radiating a vibrant green hue.

However, compared to normal materials that fall from the "hole," this fruit is noticeably more transparent and has a more pronounced sense of illusion.

"It's a pity that a lot of magic power was probably wasted... but it should be enough as experimental material. The 'Ascension Ritual' should be able to generate a few more experiments..."

He muttered to himself, looked at the factory buildings engulfed in a thick green fog, spat again, and sneered:
"You guys are always looking for trouble... We arranged so many synthetic human suicides that day, why couldn't you just run the missions properly?"
"You had to get involved at the experiment site, which made it impossible for me to even recover the experimental materials that time. I got a good scolding from Minister Old... You deserve to die here!"

Having said all that, he turned around with satisfaction, just as he was about to go back to clock out and finish his experimental materials and assignment, when he suddenly heard a few sighs behind him, their voices filled with the relief of surviving a close call:
"I never imagined your formula had this kind of power... Xiao Jin, you're amazing!"

"If it weren't for you learning the [Ability Formula] ahead of time thanks to [Athena], we might not have been able to escape. This time, we're all counting on you..."

"No, stop talking! No matter how much you rely on me, I can't hold on any longer..."

what? !

The magician turned his head in surprise, only to see a huge pink bubble floating leisurely out of the factory filled with green mist, enveloping the C-112 squad that had just entered!

At this moment, Ji Jin's face was flushed and her forehead was covered in sweat. After holding on to the bubble and floating out of the factory building to land on the ground, she finally deflated.

The huge pink bubble burst with a "pop," and she collapsed, pale-faced, only to be caught by Ron, who was already prepared.

Xia Zhi, who was already prepared, immediately took out a stimulant and injected it into Ji Jin, whispering to Ron:
"She overloaded her abilities. I gave her emergency treatment, and she should be able to temporarily regain her mobility in about ten minutes. Please take care of her..."

Ron nodded in agreement to the task and led Ji Jin back to a safe place.

After confirming the injured were safe, Xia Zhi immediately turned to the silent man in protective gear, picked up her name tag, and said in a serious tone:

"This is Team C-112, I am Operations Officer C01!"

"You are suspected of assaulting a police officer, murder, and damaging public property. Please immediately cease your illegal activities and cease all resistance!"

As she spoke, she unusually pulled a few steel needles from her pocket and said coldly:
"In accordance with the principle of armed escalation, Team C-112 will use lethal force against you, and the D District General Patrol Bureau will make a judgment on this incident based on law enforcement records..."

At this moment, the other patrol officers also cooperated with Xia Zhi to move forward, slowly surrounding the suspect, and had clearly begun their individual actions—

But before Xia Zhi could finish speaking, she saw the bulky man in front of her, whose face was completely obscured by protective clothing, suddenly tremble.

He seemed to chuckle twice, a muffled, cold laugh coming from inside his protective suit, but it quickly turned into a gritted-teeth laugh:
"Those bunch of useless cowards who take money and do nothing... the patrol bureau... humph!"

He snorted coldly, and then looked at the crowd who had clearly escaped and left the factory, but he showed no fear whatsoever.

"A group of ordinary ability users who don't even have many formulas, and the one with the strongest ability model is only a Level 2 who just joined the team... That's enough!"

A distorted sound came from his protective suit. Suddenly, the man raised his hand, and a bright silver pendant appeared in his hand without him noticing.

He twirled the sapphire-like pendant with a sense of ritual, and a muffled, distorted murmur came from his mouth.

The moment Xia Zhi saw this, her eyes narrowed, and without hesitation, she activated her full power, causing the steel needle in her hand to vanish instantly—

But the next moment, the steel needle appeared outside the person's protective suit, as if it had been "squeezed" out of space by something, and fell to the ground helplessly.

The remaining few did not hesitate and were about to rush forward when they suddenly felt a weight on their bodies...

As if all their strength had been suddenly drained, their personal reality was severely eroded, and their once effortless abilities suddenly became sluggish.

Even Xia Zhi, who had reached the peak of Lv.3 and possessed the [Ability Formula], found herself suddenly feeling an inexplicable heaviness pressing down on her personal reality...

Just like before, when he touched the ashes of the murderer that Ron killed, Xia Zhi felt that his abilities were affected, and far more severely than before!
At that moment... she inexplicably discovered that her abilities seemed to have vanished into thin air; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't access the "space"...

Seeing the patrol officers in front of him suddenly rendered powerless, only able to raise their pistols at them in a daze, the man in the protective suit laughed loudly:
"You lot, who don't even have the ability, can't catch me!"

After he finished speaking, he didn't linger. He ran straight out of the factory, as fast as if his feet were greased...

But everyone could only watch him leave, the heavy pressure weighing on them, making it almost impossible for them to take a step.

The bullets inexplicably failed to hit the person; after being fired, they would suddenly fall to the ground and disappear without a sound...

"Damn it... what kind of mutant ability is this?"

As Xia Zhi watched the man in the protective suit walk away, she couldn't help but grit her teeth in resentment.

Are we just supposed to watch him walk away openly after his failed attempt to assault a police officer and murder him?

Just as Xia Zhi was thinking this, she heard a calm voice beside her:

"I'll do it, Captain."

Ron watched the man fleeing at top speed, and the "power amplifier" around his neck emitted a faint "beep" sound.

"Take good care of Senior C02... I'll be back soon."

After Ron finished speaking, he shoved the limp Ji Jin, who had fainted from overload, into Xia Zhi's arms, and then suddenly jumped up—

Gravity was under his control, and he instantly flew up!
That inexplicable power that could suppress everyone's superpowers had no effect on Ron whatsoever!

(End of this chapter)