Who left their last words here?

Chapter 81 The Furnace Explodes! The Burning Building!

Chapter 81 The Furnace Explodes! The Burning Building! (Two Chapters Combined)

At half past eleven.

Dark clouds surged up, and the night was dark and the wind was high.

An invisible, chilling pressure quietly descended upon the vicinity of the Starry Sky Building.

At first, it was the shadow of the street corner trash can that began to creep and elongate unnaturally.

Then, one after another, pitch-black figures leaped from the adjacent buildings, like weightless ghosts, silently sliding down the vertical glass curtain wall like dumplings.

In the sky, on the ground, in the sewers...

Figures flashed quickly through the shadows, disappearing in an instant.

The mysterious visitors, walking in the depths of darkness, opened their scarlet eyes one after another, surging into the vicinity of the Starry Sky Building like a tide, silently surrounding the area.

——【Dark Knight】

coming.

The security guards in the neighboring building seemed to sense something was amiss and peered around with a puzzled look.

The empty streets reflected the moonlight, resembling a calm pond, with the occasional car with its headlights on slowly passing by, causing ripples on the surface.

All was quiet, and everything was as usual.

A chill ran down his spine for no apparent reason. The security guard shook his head, muttering something as he looked away.

"It rained yesterday, and the weather has already cooled down today. I should change my bamboo mat when I get home..."

however--

Right above his head.

A "Dark Knight" hanging upside down from the ceiling like a spider is silently recording and analyzing his every move with cold red eyes.

From the perspective of the "Black Knight," every vital sign of the security guard is recorded, and like a machine, the threat level of the security guard is assessed.

—Of course, the security guard's threat level is only 0.01.

This 0.01 came from the stun gun worn by the security guard on his waist.

"Wang! Wang Wang!"

A few barks came from the stray dogs in the alley, but they quickly stopped and there was no more sound.

The Darth Vaders, these creatures who have emerged from hell, are highly trained and breathtakingly coordinated.

Yet, not a single word of their presence was leaked, and without anyone noticing, the encirclement was tightening at an unimaginable speed.

Every possible escape route was blocked in advance, and every valuable strategic location nearby was occupied beforehand.

A net of deadly intent has been cast, and a chilling killing intent quietly permeates the air of the late autumn night, biting cold and sending shivers down one's spine.

"—A feast for the eyes!"

Through the camera lens carried by Darth Vader, the major sat in his office, admiring the computer screen in front of him.

Holding the champagne glass in one hand, gently swirling it.

A handsome male secretary stood by his side, pouring him a full glass of champagne.

"bring it on."

The major adjusted his sunglasses, his cold expression remaining unchanged, but he lightly patted his thigh.

"Join me in watching this farce come to an end."

"..."

The newly appointed male secretary swallowed hard and took a moment to mentally prepare himself.

"Ok?"

The major glanced in their direction through his sunglasses.

With a couple of chuckles, the male secretary slowly lifted his leg and sat on the major's lap, looking obedient and cautious.

The major took a satisfied sip of champagne.

"Once this matter is settled, you can take over the work left behind by Lieutenant Han, including the position of head of the Black Box Maintenance Department."

The male secretary's eyes immediately lit up:
"Thank you, Commander Luo!"

"Commander Luo?"

The young hero raised an eyebrow slightly:

"Once you step out of this door, you can call me Commander Luo, and I won't hold it against you."

"But what should you call me here?"

This question stumped the inexperienced male secretary.

He pondered for a long time, recalling some rumors from when Adjutant Han was alive, and tentatively asked:

"Luo, Brother Luo..."

"Ok?"

Seeing the major's cold expression soften, the male secretary felt reassured. She took a deep breath and called out in a sweet, coquettish voice:
"Brother Luo~"

"Not stupid."

With a chuckle, Major Luo took his secretary's small hand and stroked it.

At the same time, a deep, magnetic voice slowly came through:

"From now on, you will be the new adjutant."

"I will announce this to everyone tomorrow."

The male secretary was wearing a woody perfume, the scent the major had specified.

At this moment, the major felt a long-lost sense of exhilaration.

—A feast for the eyes, how pleasing to the eye!
With a wine glass in hand, a beautiful woman in his arms, and the fragrance of her sleeves, he watched in the quiet of the night as his enemies' heads rolled.

Bai Zhou is probably still fast asleep, completely unaware that a hunt targeting him is about to begin.

On the computer screen, accompanied by the shaking of the image, his most prized secret weapon, the "Black Knight," had successfully infiltrated the Starry Sky Building and begun a perfect and efficient collaborative operation.

Undoubtedly, their subsequent performance—

This will provide a small amount of military deterrence to our ally, the Art Club!

The major is waiting to see.

……

Black "tide" seeped into the building.

As they tiptoed through an unremarkable corridor—

There was a "click".

A sharp, rattling sound of machinery grinding against each other rang out, particularly noticeable on the quiet ground floor of the building.

"Wow!"

The ceiling in front of us suddenly collapsed.

A spinning object, composed of several sharpened steel bars, flew down with a whooshing sound as it rapidly spun towards the Black Knights.

"not good!"

The black-clad warriors who were coming at them reacted with exceptional speed, immediately performing several backflips on the spot and retreating rapidly.

At the same time, two black warriors stepped forward from behind, their scarlet eyes emitting laser beams that shot directly at the giant spinning top.

"Om-"

The steel bars melted away quickly in the face of the laser, revealing the molten iron in the painting.

The sharpness that Bai Zhou had meticulously honed seemed powerless when facing the Black Warrior.

The major, who saw this scene on his computer, burst into laughter.

"A ridiculous trap!"

"It works on ordinary people, but White Boat knows nothing about extraordinary beings and Black Warriors!"

The major said softly:

"Through experiments, each Black Knight has incorporated some of the abilities of the [Black Box], and their bodies are constantly being corrupted and modified by the [Black Box], giving them superhuman physical abilities."

"They were one in a hundred lucky ones to survive the experiment. Although they lost most of their sanity, each of them had the ability to fight against extraordinary individuals, and they were even more terrifying when they worked in teams."

"—And, absolutely obey my commands!"

Looking down at his male secretary, who was gazing up at him with adoration, the major's lips curled into a slight smile.

"Faced with such a killing machine, what do you think of Bai Zhou...?"

The major hadn't even finished speaking.

A loud bang came from the computer.

The destroyed "spinning top" triggered the ritual set up at its core.

An explosion ceremony.

Then, there was a loud "boom"—

The computer screen was engulfed by the surging flames.

"asshole!"

The champagne glass shattered with a crack.

The enraged major jumped up from his office chair and began to curse:
"What a treacherous beast!"

...In fact, an explosion was not enough to cause the Dark Knights much damage.

One of the Dark Knights who was closest to the target and was releasing lasers was instantly blinded and left with torn flesh, rendering him incapable of fighting.

The other Dark Knights didn't have any major problems.

This is an acceptable loss.

But the key point is that Bai Zhou's move successfully disgusted everyone.

The covert infiltration plan failed.

The Black Knight launched a full-scale attack.

Even with a strong attack, they changed from their previous confidence and became cautious, to prevent new traps from suddenly appearing somewhere.

Sure enough, not long after, they discovered a new trap on their only way upstairs—

The entire wall was densely covered with sharp steel bars, blocking their way.

"This is……?"

Under the major's orders, the Black Knights carefully examined the steel bars and indeed found tiny explosive runes on them.

"Trying the same old trick again, the donkey has run out of ideas!"

What else can this fugitive, who's been causing explosions, do besides explosions?

The major, when he got serious, had anticipated Bai Zhou's actions.

So he gave the Darth Vaders a wise command:
"Don't damage these steel bars, take a detour, go over them—"

The Darth Vaders carried out the order strictly.

A few "swish" sounds.

One after another, dark figures leaped out of the stairs, jumped straight to the next floor, and reached out to grab the edge of the platform above.

They don't need to climb stairs; their jumping ability is sufficient to allow them to jump to the next floor.

Then, as they gripped the edge of the platform with their fingers, they clearly felt the edge tiles sink and drop suddenly under the force.

All the Dark Knights could clearly hear the continuous "crackling" sound reaching their ears.

It's like... the floor tiles along the edges of these platforms have all turned into protruding infantry mines.

The Black Knights: "?"

Major: "?"

Are you waiting here?
Did Bai Zhou anticipate their predictions?

The mechanism has been triggered.

The side wall opened with a click.

"Boohoo, boomboo-!"

A series of short, sharp whistling sounds rang out.

More steel bars!

A dozen or so sharp steel bars, each a meter or two long, resembled arrows shot from a crossbow.

They shot straight toward the black warriors hanging in mid-air, unable to tumble, their killing intent palpable!

This scene reminded the major, who was far away at the base, of a game he played as a child: the pink pig riding an elevator and shooting the balloons carrying the big bad wolf with a javelin.

Fortunately, the Dark Knights are not as simple as the Big Bad Wolf.

Figures flipped and darted about.

One by one, the steel bars were smashed to pieces by the Black Warriors on the ground.

Even if the steel bars explode, they are prepared in advance.

However, there was no explosion as expected.

The steel bars in the air are also more "fragile" than imagined.

—Because these steel bars are completely hollow!

"Pfft—!" The steel bar exploded.

The white powder exploded like a smoke bomb, instantly engulfing the entire area.

It's lime!
—The sky was filled with flying lime, and even though the Black Knights felt no pain, they still temporarily lost their sight.

At that moment, a fire axe was suddenly launched from an ordinary-looking fire safety glass cabinet by some kind of powerful spring device!
With two "plop" sounds, two heads rolled to the ground.

The spinning fire axe struck the ground, sending sparks flying.

The Black Knights couldn't see the spark for the time being.

However, the major, separated by a computer screen, immediately spotted the bright red flame in the gray image.

"not good!"

The major muttered to himself.

As is well known, when the dust concentration reaches 63-86 g/m³, it will explode upon contact with an open flame.

The next moment——

There was a bang.

The explosions and raging fire completely engulfed the first floor of the Starry Sky Building.

Before the sparks completely engulfed the major's computer screen.

In the hazy, gray scene, the major's last blurry vision was—

It's that fire extinguisher glass cabinet that's held open by springs, with the safety slogan on it: "Early detection of fires means small fires can be extinguished..."

……

Similar traps are constantly emerging.

Before they even saw Bai Zhou, the invincible Black Warriors were already suffering non-combat casualties.

Even if a Level 3 Extraordinary was standing in front of him, the Dark Knight could still engage in a one-on-one duel, fighting for a long time with his strange abilities.

Once they join forces, even the two top "artists" of the Art Club, who are at the peak of level 4, will feel intimidated the moment they see them.

But even this killing machine suffered greatly from the endless traps and mechanisms, and was no longer as cold and mysterious as it once was.

Of the fifty Black Knights, only 37 survived.

There were also 15 people who stayed outside the building to guard it.

Only 22 Darth Vaders made it to the top floor.

Behind every Black Knight lies a mountain of lives and the Major's life's work.

A rough estimate suggests that in just a short time, the major has lost at least 50 million federal dollars, and likely more.

A normal civil servant in the Eastern Federation earns a monthly salary of two thousand federal dollars.

"Thump! Thump thump..."

The footsteps were heavy.

When the Black Warriors, their clothes torn to shreds, their faces covered in soot and charred black, arrived at the final level, billowing smoke and their eyes glowing crimson,...

Bai Zhou's tense and cold expression almost broke down.

He coughed softly, the window opened, and he stood with his back to the moonlight streaming in...

Bai Zhou stood in the shadows, composed himself again, and said in a heavy, low voice:
"You actually found my hiding place..."

"It seems you are more capable than I thought!"

The Black Knights remained silent.

The voice that answered Bai Zhou came from behind the group of black warriors.

"—You're really amazing too."

"You've set up so many things in your own base, aren't you afraid of accidentally triggering them?"

"It's hard to imagine how insecure a person must be to sleep soundly amidst so many traps."

The group of black warriors parted to the sides.

Two figures draped in black cloaks slowly approached, exuding an almost tangible sense of oppression.

At this moment, another woman in a black cloak spoke slowly in a mature female voice:
"But this is the end!"

"You are……?"

Bai Zhou's eyes narrowed slightly.

“Our identities are irrelevant.” The woman shook her head, revealing a painted mask beneath her cloak, on which three sets of crowns were faintly depicted.

“Because we don’t need to introduce ourselves to the dead,” the man continued, picking up the conversation again.

"It took these black warriors half an hour to climb from the first floor to the 20th floor."

The man looked up at the white boat, and the painted mask beneath the cloak was also revealed.

“You’re smart. You knew there might be people lying in wait outside, so you didn’t go out at this time and run into the two of us.”

"—But that will only extend your life by half an hour."

As he spoke, the man snapped his fingers.

The air rippled slightly, enveloping the entire building.

Nothing happened, yet it felt as if something had already happened.

"I know you're good at explosions."

"—She's exceptionally good at it."

"But people don't fall into the same pit twice... okay, three times."

The man scrutinized Bai Zhou, seemingly trying to detect any nervousness on his face.

"I suspect you've also set up numerous explosive rituals here?"

"Just like last time, when we faced that idiot, Van Gogh!"

As he spoke, the man glanced around.

As expected, the place was filled with all sorts of densely packed ritual patterns.

Even these things are only visible here.

Perhaps there are even more unseen rituals set up in the hidden corners of this building.

"—But this time, Commander Luo specifically invited a ritual master to completely decipher the structure of your explosion ritual and study the corresponding reverse incantation!"

"Now, the reverse curse has taken effect, covering the entire building."

"No matter how many 'bombs' you planted in this building, now it's just a pile of useless graffiti."

The man's voice paused here.

He brought with him the greetings that the major had given to Bai Zhou:
"—You have nowhere to run!"

"..."

As the man wished, and as the major wished.

In front of everyone, Bai Zhou's expression indeed revealed panic and surprise.

But the panic was so exaggerated that even Bai Zhou himself thought it was exaggerated.

So, after coughing twice, he quickly suppressed his panic and regained his calm expression.

Indeed, people don't fall into the same pit twice.

"unless--"

"There's more than one pit here."

"...?"

After a moment of silence, the major behind the computer and the two "artists" frowned in unison.

Bai Zhou's reaction far exceeded their expectations.

The man's tone became wary:
"...What do you want to say?"

"Don't worry, there really isn't any more explosion rituals here."

Bai Zhou waved his hand, indicating that everyone should rest assured:
"Actually, I always thought you would come up with countermeasures against the bombing ceremony much sooner."

"However, as a friendly reminder, there are some other things here as well."

"—Because I've recently become very interested in a traditional art of the Eastern Federation, a ritual related to alchemy."

"...Alchemy?"

Everyone was surprised and confused, not understanding why.

"Ah."

Bai Zhou scratched his head, suddenly becoming a little embarrassed:
"But I'm not very familiar with those alchemy rituals, since there's no reliable lineage to pass them down."

"All we have are some very old-fashioned and rudimentary rituals."

"Therefore, mistakes are common, or rather, there are never any times when you succeed."

"But this time, I had a sudden inspiration and combined the concept of the 'alchemy furnace' with some of the structure of this building."

"An interesting experiment."

"—Of course, it failed as well."

As she spoke, Bai Zhou, who had been fidgeting, inadvertently leaned against the window.

The moonlight, like water, shone in, illuminating the wary and gloomy faces of the crowd.

Bai Zhou's voice, like a dagger revealed at the end of a painting, reached their ears:

"As you all know, failed alchemy can have all sorts of strange consequences... such as producing weird things, like candy that turns people into frogs or pills that poison people."

"But the most common, and most likely to happen..."

The conversation then abruptly ended.

As everyone listened intently and vigilantly...
With a "whoosh"—

Taking advantage of everyone's inattention, Bai Zhou flipped over and rolled straight down from the window on the twentieth floor.

Only a faint echo remained.
"Everyone——"

"See you soon!"

The two "painters" immediately changed their expressions, and their figures flew forward and disappeared from the spot.

"Is he crazy?"

Bai Zhou's sudden actions were completely unexpected.

A jump from the 20th floor would only turn a person of extraordinary ability (level three or four) who cannot fly into a pile of minced meat!
But what if we just keep climbing like this?
In this process, Bai Zhou will become a sitting duck for everyone!

How dare he?!

"Crash!"

Footsteps were chaotic as the artists and the Black Knights came forward to greet them.

But then, with a sudden "whoosh,"—

A huge black shadow rose up right in front of them, sweeping past the window.

What is it...?

With her trench coat spread out, she looked like a bat.

It is a white boat gliding under the moon.

"Quick! Shoot him down!" the male artist shouted sternly.

"……wrong!"

But the female artist's expression suddenly changed drastically. She reacted quickly and, as if her life depended on it, leaped out of the window.

Before anyone could react.