Chapter 622 - 391: The Long-Awaited Reunion
"Ah!!!..."
Amidst the agonizing screams, sparks flew everywhere from Zhou Hanyan’s body, and the energy core erupted with an unprecedented roar, only to be the final sound before destruction.
Su Mo swiftly thrust his hand into Zhou Hanyan’s chest, directly pulling out the energy core and crushing it instantly.
With the energy supply gone, all of Zhou Hanyan’s artificial parts ceased functioning, compounded by his severe injuries, causing the entire body to fall with a crash.
He convulsed on the ground like a dead fish, his dilated eyes filled with profound confusion, using his last strength to look at Su Mo.
Until death, he never understood how he lost.
Clearly, he had judged Su Mo couldn’t withstand his full power attack, yet why didn’t he die?
Why did Su Mo’s Crimson Rose Blood Code suddenly escalate to such a degree?
The answer to all of this was only known by Su Mo himself.
The sudden upgrade of the Crimson Rose Blood Code was unrelated to its essence.
What worked was Su Mo’s earliest and most unique Blood Code, the "Ancestral Blood Code" from the "Dawn" game completion item.
The Ancestral Blood Code has numerous ability branches, such as the basic Devour, which allows capturing others’ Blood Codes for personal use.
Then there’s the further evolved "Homotypic Devour," which can use captured Blood Codes of one’s own to transform into nutrients, thereby promoting the existing Blood Code to a higher echelon.
The Ancestral Blood Code ability Su Mo just exhibited was named "Autophagy," newly developed in the future by adjusting the gene sequence of the Blood Code.
The effect of "Autophagy" is similar to "Homotypic Devour," both consuming Blood Codes as nutrients to support Blood Code ascension, but the target was not the enemy but himself.
The Autophagy ability allows Su Mo to use one Blood Code as a foundation to devour other Blood Codes within himself.
The Blood Codes being devoured would downgrade in level, but the nutrients gained could complete the ascendancy of the foundational Blood Code.
Su Mo previously had five major Blood Codes within him: Crimson Rose, Frenzied Corpse, Python Venom, Dragon Flame, and Illusion Shackle, with levels ranging from Critical to Overlimit. Each Blood Code alone wasn’t particularly strong.
But through the Autophagy ability, Su Mo pushed the four Blood Codes—Frenzied Corpse, Python Venom, Dragon Flame, Illusion Shackle—to the lowest "Awakening Level," specifically to upgrade the Crimson Rose Blood Code, inflating it instantly to the fifth major level, "Blood Burning Level."
From the very start, the so-called "exchanging injuries" was a trap set by Su Mo for Zhou Hanyan.
Zhou Hanyan’s judgment wasn’t wrong; given Su Mo’s previous Crimson Rose Blood Code level, exchanging injuries was complete suicide.
However, this judgment itself was deliberately misleading by Su Mo.
The Ancestral Blood Code as a trump card was something Zhou Hanyan couldn’t foresee at all.
During the final moment of their confrontation, Su Mo forcibly elevated the Crimson Rose Blood Code level through "Autophagy," exploding his "death line" and enduring the strike that could have been fatal, completing the final desperate counterattack.
Su Mo walked to Zhou Hanyan’s mangled body and looked down, saying, "Sorry, senior, I actually didn’t want to kill you. You too are a pitiable person bound by fate."
"But we’re in different positions; at this moment, it’s a matter of life and death. If victory and defeat were reversed today, I’m sure you would decisively kill me too."
"Farewell, King of Mercenaries."
With that, Su Mo drove the Moon Concealing Arm Blade into Zhou Hanyan’s forehead.
Zhou Hanyan’s mangled body trembled erratically, with palpable regrets in his eyes, reaching out to the sky as if trying to grasp something.
A bird flew over from above, soaring freely and agilely in the sky, indifferent to the human struggles on the ground.
The bird drew graceful arcs in the air, occasionally ascending and occasionally diving, weaving through the sun’s silhouette, as if rendering a passionate life dance.
Compared to powerful Extraordinary Humans, it was but a trivial little life.
Yet how free it was.
Zhou Hanyan’s hand fell lifelessly to the ground, with his pupils fully dilated, becoming completely motionless.
The free bird gradually flew away, disappearing into the distant mountains.
The imprisoned King of Mercenaries finally obtained his release.
After the battle, Nuobai returned with Dongdong.
Dongdong’s physique remained as rigid as ever, despite being beaten to such a miserable state; after resting for a while, surprisingly, he needed no longer to be carried and was able to walk on his own.
The three came to the place where the Floating Airship had crash-landed earlier. Su Mo broke open the layers of Frenzied Corpse Rigid Bone protecting it, glanced into the cabin, and let out a sigh.
The previous battle was extremely intense, and Su Mo was constantly worried about possible damage to the Nether Spring device.
Luckily, the battlefield was a certain distance from the airship, and the Bone Barrier Su Mo set up was thick, so Fenrir was unaffected, still in quiet slumber within the Nether Spring.
Su Mo looked toward the eastern sky, where the Celestial Gate Patrol Station was located.
"Let’s go. We’ve wasted quite some time; Hibell must be anxious by now."
...
On April 12, the 17th day since the Upper Court’s special team stationed in New Moon City, a shocking news arrived.
Just now, the Celestial Gate Patrol Station, which had previously fallen during the beast crisis, was attacked once more.
According to the message from the stationed troops, the attackers were the Wolf Assault Insurgents led by "Wolf King" Fenrir and "Red Wolf" Hibell.
This news stunned the World Government, and particularly shocked the Upper Court Guard stationed in New Moon City.
With the whole city under control, and suspicious personnel with dissent against the authorities detained, New Moon City was encircled like an iron barrel.