Ling Cage, pick up Lu Mingfei at the start.

The expected tearing pain did not come. Lu Mingfei looked up blankly, and what came into view was an absolutely still picture - the soaring Devouring Beast was frozen in mid-air, the splattered blood droplets were frozen like gems, and even the wind stopped flowing.

"Brother, where did you go?"

The voice rang out again, ethereal and distant. Lu Mingfei looked around; there was only deathly silence.

"Who? Who's playing tricks on me!" The supernatural sight sent chills down his spine.

"Shall we exchange?"

"What are we exchanging?"

"A quarter of my life, in exchange for power."

"Are you a devil?! Why didn't you just rob a quarter of it?!"

"A very fair price. It can get you out of a desperate situation and save the life of someone you want to save—as long as they haven't been dead for more than three hours, I can bring them back to life."

Lu Mingfei fell silent. A quarter of his life...

But he looked at the dying Maido in his arms, and at the frozen, grotesque monsters around him. When the time stop ended, they would be torn to pieces.

He had no other choice.

"I'll change."

There was a sudden silence on the other end, followed by a low laugh.

"What are you laughing at? Weren't we supposed to be exchanging?"

"I just didn't expect... you would be so decisive for a threat of this level, for people you've known for less than two months."

"Yes! It's for them! Before, no one cared about me, everyone looked down on me, but they, they were good to me, genuinely good to me! But what about me? I couldn't do anything! I could only watch!" Lu Mingfei hugged Mai Duo tightly, sobbing uncontrollably, "I have no other way!"

"Not going to reconsider? I can guarantee you'll be unharmed. I feel bad for you even if you risk a quarter of your life to fight these vile beasts."

"Stop talking nonsense! If she dies, I'll truly regret it for the rest of my life!"

"Good...very good..." The voice carried an indescribable sense of relief. "Brother, you have come to your senses. In your predetermined destiny, your entire life would belong to me. But now, the script has been changed, and we no longer need to confront 'He' directly."

"Though I am too weak to take form, from this day forward, we brothers will never be separated."

"Who wants to be gay with you!" Although Lu Mingfei didn't understand, he instinctively felt a chill.

The voice paused for a moment. "Feel it well, brother. Even though my power is reduced to a fraction, I still hold the reins of authority. 'Do not die.' This incantation is something you awakened on your own. When you utter this incantation, the wounds of the person you choose will be completely healed."

"That's awesome?!"

"Of course. There were many more gifts to give, but we are too far apart, and I am but a remnant soul here. You need to awaken more 'power' yourself, brother. I have already removed the shackles for you. How far you can go and to what extent you awaken is up to you."

"Oh, right, let me give you a little more strength for the current situation. This little strength is enough to deal with the current situation... so..."

"'Something for nothing', 5%... fusion!"

The frozen world suddenly resumed its rhythm. Blood dripped, ripples spread, and the Devouring Beast roared as it charged forward!

A streak of fiery, golden light, like lava, violently tore through the thick darkness of the ruins.

That was not light, but the manifestation of authority, an ancient majesty that transcended the ranks of all beings, flowing from Lu Mingfei's slowly opening eyes.

He stood up, his movements slow and even slightly sluggish from exhaustion, but the moment he straightened his spine, the air within a hundred meters of him seemed to freeze and sink!

The pack of snake-dogs, which had been roaring and charging forward, were suddenly struck in the chest as if by an invisible hammer. Their momentum came to an abrupt halt, their claws digging at the ground with a piercing sound, yet they could not advance an inch further.

A purer, more fundamental fear than when facing higher-level Devouring Beasts gripped their simple yet violent nerves.

They sensed that Lu Ming was not a life source at this moment; his majestic and imposing presence was like an ant facing a collapsing sky, or an insect looking up at a burning star.

That was not a threat that could be resisted, but an existence that had to be bowed down to.

"Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo"

A sickening whimper, a mixture of extreme fear and desperate pleas for mercy, was squeezed out from those hideous mouthparts.

Unable to support their own weight, the powerful limbs collapsed one after another like dominoes, their heads pressed against the cold, rough ground, even their trembling turning into subtle, uncontrollable spasms.

In their scarlet eyes, cruelty and hunger had long been replaced by boundless terror. They had even lost the courage to look up, and could only fix their gaze on the dust a few inches in front of them.

Lu Mingfei seemed oblivious to the submission and fear around him; his gaze fell on the blood-stained Six Harmonies Spear at his feet—Maido's spear.

He bent down, his fingertips touching the cold, familiar gun barrel, and in the next moment, the gun was firmly in his hand.

This simple action caused the nearest snake-dogs to flinch as if branded with a hot iron. Their bodies jerked violently, only to be pressed firmly back to the ground by the omnipresent majesty, leaving them only to let out even more desperate cries.

He raised his eyes, his molten gold pupils sweeping over the dark mass of beasts. Wherever his gaze fell, the beasts shrank back in terror like wheat fields blown down by the wind, yet they were bound by some deeper, more ingrained, and coercive command, unable to truly break free and escape. They could only struggle in vain, forming a grotesque and twisted spectacle.

Then, Lu Mingfei "disappeared".

No, it didn't truly disappear. Instead, it left behind a clearly visible crack, caused by the extreme speed at which it was compressed and burst open!

The deafening explosion then erupted, and the shockwave violently pushed the rubble and dust on the ground in a ring!

His true form had transformed into a crimson-gold meteor that tore through space, crashing headlong into the center of the stagnant horde of beasts!

In his mind, the meticulous marksmanship trajectory demonstrated by Maido on the snow-capped mountain, those once-complex and obscure techniques of power generation, footwork transitions, and the core principles of waist and stance coordination, now seemed to have been practiced countless times, transformed into flowing instincts.

The Six Harmonies Spear in his hand was no longer an unfamiliar weapon, but an extension of his limbs and the sharpness of his will.

laugh--!

The first shot was an extremely simple thrust. The sharp whistling sound of the spear tip tearing through the air was so short that it was almost inaudible. Only that point of extremely concentrated crimson-gold cold light drew a straight and cruel streak of light in the air, and precisely entered the faintly pulsating, ghostly blue light spot on the side of a snake-dog's neck—the Spirit Breath Seed!

There was no violent explosion, only a soft "crack" sound, like crystal shattering.

The snake-dog's massive body suddenly stiffened, the crimson light in its eyes instantly went out, and its life force rapidly dissipated like a punctured balloon before it collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Lu Mingfei's figure didn't pause for a moment. The instant the spear tip retracted, using that negligible reaction force, his waist twisted suddenly with a flexibility and coordination that defied the laws of physics, and the spear swept horizontally!

Whoosh—Bang!

The gun barrel, imbued with terrifying kinetic energy and blazing crimson lightning, slammed into the side of the head of another snake-dog that was lunging at them from the side, like a furious metal dragon swinging its tail!

The skull caved in and deformed, the spirit seed inside the skull shattered by the violent force! The massive beast body spun and flew out, crashing into two or three of its kind behind it, the sound of bones breaking and tendons snapping was sickening.

With a shift in footsteps, the figure turned again. The spear shot out like a startled dragon returning to the sea, a vicious and cunning strike that pierced through the gaping maw of a snake-dog, exiting through the back of its neck, raising a cloud of blood mist mixed with eerie blue light.

The spear retracted like a serpent returning to its hole, pressing down smoothly. The spear's tail slammed into the ground like a heavy hammer, propelling his entire body upward. With a fierce slash in mid-air, he cleaved a snake-dog below, along with its spine and the spiritual seed buried within, in two!

boom!boom!boom!boom!

The air was constantly torn apart, emitting terrifying, rapid-fire shrieks. His speed increased, his movements became more fluid, and his crimson-gold figure left dazzling, deadly trails against the backdrop of the dim ruins and the dark, swarming beasts.

Each flash was accompanied by the distinctive, chilling hissing sound of a high-voltage electromagnetic pulse being released, the explosion of blood-red electric sparks, and the final sound of at least one Devouring Beast Spirit Seed shattering.

It was no longer a battle, but a one-sided harvest filled with the aesthetics of violence.

The blood mist continued to explode, and the eerie blue light fragments mixed with dark red blood plasma scattered and fell in the air, like a cruel and grand blood-red ceremony offered to this ancient monarch who had descended upon the end of the world.

Each bloom of blood flowers corresponds to the sudden stop and restart of a crimson-gold stream of light, precise, efficient, and indifferent, carrying an indescribable sense of detachment and majesty that looks down upon all living beings.

The pack's instinctive fear finally overwhelmed the forced command, and the surviving snake-dogs began to completely break down, howling and fleeing in all directions. The crimson-gold figure finally stopped after impaling the last snake-dog attempting a sneak attack in the ground with a single shot.

In the ruins, only the howling wind through the crumbling walls and the thick, pungent smell of blood remained.

At the tip of the Six Harmonies Spear, a thick drop of blood, a mixture of dark blue and crimson, slowly condensed, finally dripping into the dust with a "tap".

"What's going on?!" Xu Tong, who had already given up hope, was awakened by the sonic boom. He saw the beast horde exploding one after another, with only a streak of crimson-gold light flashing and weaving through the scene like a shooting star with red lightning.

Shan Da, Xia Dou, and the others were dumbfounded, unable to comprehend this sudden appearance of divine soldiers.

Bai Yuekui, despite her severe injuries, made her way to the railing. She was prepared to overdraw her source energy again to save people, but the scene before her made her stop.

"Who exactly are you..." she murmured to herself. She couldn't sense any fluctuations of awakened essence; this power seemed to originate from the depths of his own being. "Is this your hidden...true nature?"

Perhaps, that one percent of special genes is the answer.

Lu Mingfei stood amidst the pile of beast corpses, holding a gun in one hand, breathing slightly heavily. The crimson lightning on the tip of the gun gradually subsided, only the molten gold in his eyes remained.

In the blink of an eye, all the Devouring Beasts in the park had been wiped out.

Lu Mingfei reappeared beside Mai Duo, his molten gold eyes still burning fiercely. Everyone finally saw the savior's face clearly; it was Lu Mingfei!

The oppressive aura emanating from those eyes sent chills down their spines, but upon seeing Maido lying in a pool of blood, worry immediately overwhelmed fear, and everyone rushed forward.

Lu Mingfei knelt on one knee and gently lifted Mai Duo's head and neck.

"Lu Mingfei, you..." Xu Tonghua's voice choked as she saw Mai Duo's bloodless face before she could finish her question.

"Maiduo—" Xia Dou knelt on the other side, and tears, which she had been suppressing for so long, finally broke down.

Bai Yuekui approached, his gaze sweeping over Lu Mingfei and Maiduo in his arms with a complex expression. His voice trembled almost imperceptibly: "Take her... and Fang Yuan home. Preserve the source essence well; perhaps in the future... there will be a day when we meet again."

"No."

Everyone was taken aback.

"If we don't store the source now, it will really be too late!" Xia Dou shouted, suppressing the fear in her heart, as she met those golden eyes.

"No, she won't die." Lu Mingfei's voice was deep and certain.

Everyone assumed he was overwhelmed with grief and unable to accept Maido's departure.

"Don't die."

He spoke softly, then shouted with all his might:

"Madame! Don't die—!"

"Mai Duo is already... this, this..." Xia Dou tried to wake Lu Mingfei, but the scene in front of her made her freeze.

A miracle has occurred here.

As if time stood still for a moment, an invisible, immense force suddenly expanded from Lu Mingfei at its core, forming an absolute "domain".

The spilled blood flowed back into the wound, the torn flesh healed rapidly, and the pale cheeks regained their color.

"Cough..." Maido coughed softly in his arms.

"A miracle..." Xu Tong murmured absentmindedly.

"Maiduo!" Xia Dou was stunned for a moment, then hugged her newfound companion with great joy.

Bai Yuekui's eyes were filled with disbelief.

"Tasia," Lu Mingfei called out.

"I'm here!" Tasia was jolted awake from her shock.

"Bring Fang Yuan over here."

"Oh, okay!" Tasia panicked and frantically activated the teleportation disc. In a flash of light, Fang Yuan's body was placed on the ground. However, Tasia's face was instantly filled with grief.

"Fang Yuan... her heart is almost stopped beating!" she cried out in anguish.

A heavy silence descended.

Lu Mingfei gently placed Mai Duo into Xia Dou's arms and silently walked to Fang Yuan's side.

"Fang Yuan, don't die."

The power of words, like a royal decree, reverberated once more.

As the ripples passed, the wounds healed, the heartbeat grew stronger and more powerful, and the pale cheeks gradually regained their color.

Tasia burst into tears, carefully picking up Fang Yuan as if embracing a priceless treasure that had been lost and found again.

Bai Yuekui stared at Lu Mingfei, her golden eyes still burning, the power they contained and the authority to reverse life and death filling her with awe.

What kind of existence is this?

"Boss Bai."

"Um?"

"Don't die."

After uttering those last three words, the crimson light in Lu Mingfei's eyes suddenly went out, and his body fell forward.

Bai Yuekui stepped forward and gently pulled him into her arms. Lu Mingfei's head rested limply on her shoulder.

At the same time, that miraculous power surged into her body. The pain from the fierce battle was instantly healed, the chronic ailments accumulated over the years vanished, and the deteriorating cells stopped deteriorating and even began to reverse... Her body returned to its long-lost peak condition.

She felt her body transformed, but there were more important things to do at that moment.

She looked down at Lu Mingfei, who was breathing steadily in her arms, with a complicated expression, and then looked up at the horizon.

On the horizon, the first rays of dawn pierced the darkness, gently bathing the two people leaning against each other.

"Don't worry, he's alright." Bai Yuekui said softly to her worried companions who had gathered around her. Her gaze swept over each of the survivors and over the ruins bathed in the morning light.

"We're going home."