Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 259: Even the Fire Stealers Were Less Human

"team leader……"

The voice of the silver fox behind him made the dragon soul turn its gaze away from the "dark domain" in the sky.

He turned around and his gaze lingered for a moment on the empty space on Silver Fox's right shoulder: "Why are you back? Where is Chen Na?"

"I told her to hide. What's going on now? That whole area is pitch black..."

Silver Fox gazed at the sky, where the enormous, ever-changing, pitch-black entity sent a chill down her spine.

“It’s something created by the ‘Shadow,’ I don’t know what it is either,” Dragon Soul guessed. “It has trapped Lucifer inside, and the situation is unclear.”

Silver Fox was astonished: "'Shadow' has appeared?"

"Yes. Although I don't know how he found this place, his arrival is crucial."

"Captain, you..."

Silver Fox then walked to Dragon Soul's side and saw the horrifying long wound on his chest and abdomen.

"I'm fine, but You Hao... was killed by Lucifer."

Silver Fox glanced at Jiang Lanying not far away, his eyes filled with undisguised murderous intent.

"Don't be impulsive," Dragon Soul cautioned. "Our mission is to bring the target back."

"...But Captain, isn't it Shadow who's binding her now? Will he agree?"

Dragon Soul did not answer, because he did not know the answer.

……

Within the Shadow Realm, Lucifer hung in the darkness, panting heavily and covered in sweat.

He had been sprinting for an unknown amount of time, changing direction several times, but he still couldn't reach the end and touch the solid shadow layer.

This was unbelievable to him, and his original self-confidence began to waver.

The seemingly endless darkness made him feel that everything he was doing was in vain.

The most critical thing is that he has very little mental energy left.

Through his long-term development of the "Fallen Angel Wings," he has greatly reduced its consumption of mental energy. However, due to its inherent characteristics, its consumption is still much higher than that of most other items.

This is also why he almost never uses props; he doesn't believe that any prop can compare to the effect of his own wings.

However, his remaining mental energy could only sustain him in the air for less than a minute at most. Furthermore, his mental energy would decrease slightly with each additional second he remained in the darkness, which was what frustrated him most.

If I were in perfect condition, I wouldn't be in such a passive position.

Lucifer had already fought the Dragon Soul and was injured, with his left wing broken. Even if he killed the guy who was pretending to be dead and absorbed his mental energy to replenish and recover, his condition would still be different from his peak.

Just then, the shadow appeared.

Lucifer knew in his heart that the "Shadow" should have been hiding nearby for a long time, deliberately waiting for him to lose a lot of his strength with the Dragon Soul before showing up, so as to wait for him to catch up.

His guess was absolutely right.

Guan Tong had indeed arrived at the battlefield long ago, but did not immediately take action, in order to confirm the condition of Dragon Soul and Lucifer, as well as their abilities.

He had fought Lucifer once on Grail Island, so he knew him somewhat. But he had never seen Dragon Soul use his abilities before; today was the first time he learned that his ability was to manipulate the body's muscles.

The reason he rescued Longhun was not because the latter was a member of the official team, but because Longhun had left a good impression on him during the previous earthquake rules, and was a responsible person.

Conversely, if it were someone like Gu Fei, even if he were an official member of the team, Guan Tong wouldn't help him. She would just wait until he died to further deplete Lucifer's mental energy.

Even if Guan Tong was confident in dealing with Lucifer, it would be good if someone else could wear down the latter. When facing an enemy, he didn't care about fair fighting; victory was the only thing that mattered.

"I can't be trapped here and die..."

Lucifer, trapped in darkness, knew that if he could not break the deadlock, only death awaited him.

He cannot die here. He will soon break through his limits and elevate his strength to the next level. He will never accept dying halfway through.

Lucifer took a deep breath, and his pair of wings suddenly closed, enveloping his entire upper body.

What is he going to do?
Guan Tong watched Lucifer wrap himself in his wings, feeling puzzled.

But the next moment he realized that this guy was going to run away!

Om-!
A burst of bright light refracted through the gaps in the wings, clearly indicating that some kind of teleportation device was being activated.

Lucifer's purpose in covering himself with his wings was not to prepare any powerful attack, but simply to conceal his actions of secretly using the item.

Before the light fully erupted, everything around them froze.

Only a giant shadow spike manipulated by Guan Tong was advancing.

Can you make it?

The frozen spacetime resumed the next second, and as the Shadow Assassin pierced through Lucifer's lower body, which was not covered by his wings, the teleportation light also engulfed him.

"Uh...I'll come back to find you again...Shadow!"

Lucifer's cry of pain vanished into the shadow realm along with the light.

Guan Tong glanced at the [Hourglass of Time] in his hand. There were 3 uses left. He had just used this item given to him by Ye Lianka to freeze time around him for one second.

But the fact that Lucifer was able to speak before disappearing means that his attack had not been enough to kill him; at most, he was only seriously injured.

After Lucifer teleported away, Guan Tong did not immediately dispel the Shadow Domain, but instead reflected on the situation.

The Shadow Realm cannot prevent those trapped from escaping using teleportation items, which poses a significant threat when dealing with powerful opponents.

Because any strong player will inevitably acquire a large number of Ascension Coins. With a large number of Ascension Coins, they will definitely buy teleportation items on the market and carry them with them to save their lives in critical moments.

So, could "preventing enemies from teleporting away" be the direction I'll be optimizing for Shadow Domain later?

The shadow domain is lifted.

Both Dragon Soul and Silver Fox watched as the black area in the sky disappeared, and the "shadow" was lifted up by a large black hand and placed on the ground.

The two of them immediately felt relieved.

Even if they have confidence in the shadows, they still can't relax until they see the results with their own eyes.

The shadow is still there, but Lucifer has vanished without a trace; the outcome is undoubtedly decided.

Some were happy while others were sad. While the two relaxed, Jiang Lanying looked ashen-faced.

She didn't care whether Lucifer had run away or died; it made no difference to her, as both meant her plan to defect had failed.

"Shadow, thanks to you this time," Dragon Soul said as he stepped forward.

"Hand over the target to us, and we'll take him back for interrogation by our superiors."

Guan Tong glanced at Jiang Lanying, who was bound by his shadow not far away. This "elder sister" who had caused so much harm had completely lost her previous spirit and seemed to have aged considerably in an instant.

"I'm sorry." Guan Tong turned to look at Dragon Soul, "I don't intend to hand the person over to you."

"!!"

Both Dragon Soul and Silver Fox were taken aback.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Lanying felt a glimmer of hope and suddenly looked up, saying, "Shadow, if you are willing to take me out of the country and provide me with security, I can make amends for my past actions."

"My storage box contains a large number of Ascension Coins and items that can help you advance further and become stronger. As long as you agree, they are all yours!"

In Jiang Lanying's view, obtaining the protection of the shadow would be even more worthwhile than commissioning Lucifer.

She only approached Lucifer because she had no better alternative.

She had tried to secretly contact the Somali Empire and the State of Sisya in hopes of obtaining asylum, but both countries refused her, citing that "as a member state of the Commonwealth of Peoples, it is not possible to provide asylum to fugitives wanted by other member states."

This meant she couldn't escape to the territory of any member state of the Human Federation. Her only option was the Tulip Federation, a lawless, warlord-ridden region.

So she managed to contact Lucifer and hired him to help her leave the country, paying him a huge amount of Ascended Coins.

If Shadow agrees to protect me now, I'll definitely be able to escape successfully!

"Shadow, you won't agree to her request, will you?" Silver Fox shouted. "Have you forgotten what she's done?!"

She had no idea that Shadow would agree, but even if there was only a sliver of a possibility, she worried that Shadow might be tempted by profit and make the wrong decision.

If Shadow really chooses to protect Jiang Lanying, then with her and Dragon Soul, and even with subsequent reinforcements, they absolutely cannot stop him.

“I will never forget what she did,” Guan Tong said.

Without the rule of "punishment for lying", Guan Tong might have pretended to agree and then taken action after obtaining Jiang Lanying's sublimation coin.

However, with this rule in place, "pretending to agree" is a violation.

Dragon Soul had already understood Guan Tong's meaning.

“Shadow, are you going to resort to vigilante justice? This is not a rational act and will bring you trouble. Moreover, without interrogation, some hidden enemies connected to her may not be exposed.”

"Maybe. Goodbye."

Guan Tong had no intention of discussing the matter further; he neither confirmed nor denied what the Dragon Soul had said.

After he finished speaking, his body quickly moved away, taking Jiang Lanying, who was bound by several shadow threads, with him.

"and many more!"

“Shadow, you…”

The two were powerless to stop Guan Tong from leaving with his men, and could only watch helplessly as the two quickly disappeared from sight.

"Captain, what should I do?"

"...I can only report the truth, cough!"

Dragon Soul coughed up a mouthful of blood and took out a healing item to swallow.

He was seriously injured in his battle with Lucifer and will be unable to fight for a short period of time.

Just then, the sound of propellers could be heard in the distance; reinforcements had arrived.

……

In a remote, secluded forest.

Jiang Lanying tried to move her arms, but to no avail.

Each of her fingers was bound by shadow threads, making it impossible for her to move even a little.

She knew that this was the shadow's doing. In this way, even if she could retrieve the items from the storage box with her mind, she wouldn't be able to use them at all.

Guan Tong wouldn't suffer the same loss twice in a row. Lucifer had already escaped using a teleportation item, and he would never give Jiang Lanying that chance again.

After struggling to no avail, Jiang Lanying said bluntly, "Shadow, if you're afraid of being wanted by the authorities and that's why you didn't agree to my terms in front of Dragon Soul, then I can tell you now that my conditions remain unchanged."

"...I'm curious, you already have so much, why aren't you satisfied?"

Guan Tong's inexplicable words made Jiang Lanying's expression freeze: "What?"

“Compared to others, you already possess resources that are unimaginable to ordinary people,” Guan Tong said. “Even without doing things like kidnapping, you can still safely navigate through each rule with the protection of many people, right?”

"..."

Jiang Lanying was silent for a moment, then snorted coldly: "Shadow, I can tell from your words that you must come from a humble background. Only someone who has never been in contact with power would say such childish things."

"Is it childish?"

"Utterly naive. An ignorant and fearless person who has only gotten lucky in this special era has the audacity to question me? Who do you think you are?"

Guan Tong wasn't angry at his words. She calmly replied, "You think I'm lucky, but aren't you just as lucky? If you hadn't been born into a good family and had a good background, would you have everything you have now?"

Jiang Lanying glared at him: "What did you say?!"

“You’re so old and you still haven’t figured this out. It seems I’m not the only one who’s naive.” Guan Tong shook her head. “I have nothing more to say to you.”

Jiang Lanying knew she was at her wit's end, but she still couldn't resist making a threat: "Shadow, do you think you can do anything to me without consequences just because I'm wanted? Do you believe that if you dare to do that, many people won't let you off the hook, including those you think will be on your side?"

"Yeah."

Jiang Lanying sneered: "Only humans can kill people in this world, but if a dog owned by a human dares to bite someone to death, then even the dog's owner will kill the dog. Do you know why? Because a dog stained with human blood will make everyone feel threatened, including the dog's owner."

Upon hearing Jiang Lanying's words, Guan Tong felt more sorrow than anger.

He even felt that the Fire Stealers were more humane than the "person" before him. The Fire Stealers' apocalyptic rules treated all humans equally, while this "person" treated most people like dogs.

"What, scared? You realize you're just a dog that bit the wrong person? If you regret it now, it's not too late. I'll show you the way."

Seeing Guan Tong's silence, Jiang Lanying assumed he was hesitant because he felt threatened, and wanted to strike while the iron was hot to make him change his mind.

However, Guan Tong's voice was calm in response, without any fear or regret.

Moreover, the certain resoluteness contained within it instilled a deep sense of fear in Jiang Lanying.

"I'll kill as many 'people' as you are."

(End of this chapter)