Chapter Ninety: Complete Trust

His limbs were growing steadily cold, which meant the Overlord’s uncanny power was already inflicting undeniable damage on Qi Chen’s body.

Yet even in this state of strange fusion, the most Qi Chen could do was suppress the amber anomaly. He could see no possibility at all of utterly destroying it.

And with all the mental strength it could fully unleash, the amber anomaly was able to keep up its interference with Qi Chen at every turn. Seemingly possessed of a certain measure of intelligence, it seemed to have seen through Qi Chen’s predicament as well; no longer willing to clash head-on, it chose instead to weave through the mall from place to place, buying time by constantly evading him.

“Roar!”

With a furious bellow, Qi Chen broke into a charge. The blazing anger and urgency in his heart intertwined as he hurled a fierce punch.

A vast psychic impact came straight at him, once again halting his movement. The amber anomaly let out a shrill laugh thick with mockery, sprang lightly aside, and even stood on tiptoe to turn in a graceful little circle where it landed.

That shrieking, needle-like laughter kept stabbing at his eardrums. The more the agitation swelled, the deeper his rage became.

Crack, crack, crack.

He clenched both fists so tightly that his knuckles popped with crisp cracks.

Though the Overlord’s power was formidable, its methods were far too blunt. Against an existence like the amber anomaly, if he could not get close, then all that strength was useless, unable to be brought to bear.

A suffocating stillness had quietly begun to spread through the mall.

...

...

Outside the mall, the tense atmosphere was plain to see.

Every member of the City Guard Army beside the cordon wore a look of dread and unease, especially the artillery crews. Their palms were already slick with sweat.

Even as ordinary people, they could now feel the profoundly unsettling, terrifying aura seeping from inside the Commerce Mall. If not for their long military training and the stronger discipline it had given them, perhaps someone would already have fled, or even fired the cannons on their own initiative.

But fear, once it began to ferment, was an extremely unstable powder keg. No one knew when the emotions being held down might suddenly ignite.

A convoy of vehicles suddenly came speeding from afar, heading straight for the command car where Director Fu Ying was seated.

Bang, bang!

Director Qiu, his face dark with anger, shoved open the door and strode out. He marched quickly to the command car, and his clenched fist hammered heavily against the window with repeated thuds before he barked, “Captain Fu! I think you owe me an explanation! Why haven’t you given the order to attack yet?”

Crash!

At once, several figures, Fu Ying included, stepped down from the command car. They were all the uncanny operatives who had already arrived.

Facing the deputy minister of the Supervision Department, the ordinary operatives of the Anomaly Response Department had no right to speak; only Fu Ying possessed that qualification.

She merely gave him a cool sidelong glance. “We are carrying out a mission.”

“A mission? What kind of joke is that?” Director Qiu sneered. “Even I know the threat inside the Commerce Mall is escalating nonstop. Shouldn’t we stamp it out before it can even take root?

“The city guard troops are already ready to fire, yet Captain Fu, you are letting the crisis continue to ferment. It seems you have given no thought whatsoever to the safety of the hundreds of thousands of citizens in Third City. If that is the case, then I believe I must exercise the authority of the Supervision Department now!”

In an instant, several glares turned on Director Qiu. Even the cheerful one could not help saying, “Director Qiu, we still have a member of our department carrying out an anomaly-clearing mission inside the mall. It’s not yet time to open fire!”

“Hmph.” At that, Director Qiu gave a derisive laugh. “Clear anomalies? As far as I know, the psychic strength value of the anomaly inside the Commerce Mall has already exceeded five thousand. It’s about to reach the C-plus level. As for the threat level, it is nearly breaking into regional class. Which one of you anomaly operatives can honestly say you can handle such an anomaly alone?”

“Don’t tell me... you can’t, but a newcomer can?”

“Sometimes, necessary sacrifice is worth it. I shouldn’t need to remind you all of that, should I?”

No one could refute Director Qiu’s words, because none of the anomaly operatives present could guarantee that any one of them could handle such a crisis properly.

In truth, deploying artillery first was indeed the best choice after weighing all past anomaly incidents, especially if the price was merely a rookie operative; in that case, the cost could hardly even be called a cost.

“Seems none of you have the heart to make a hard decision. Then I’ll do it for you.” Director Qiu smiled coldly and stepped into the command car. Without another word, he picked up the communicator, switched to the City Guard channel, and was about to issue the order to fire at once.

Whoosh!

A flash of golden afterimage appeared in an instant. Director Qiu, who had just raised his hand to press the call button, froze sharply, his eyes going vacant.

“Write a hundred-thousand-word report,” Fu Ying’s cool voice sounded.

Then Director Qiu dropped the communicator in his hand, ran off the vehicle, and from his chest pulled out a pen. He knelt on the ground in a feverish trance and began writing with manic concentration.

Weren’t they going to use the authority of the Supervision Department? Then let him use it to the fullest.

The other members of the Supervision Department who had come with Director Qiu were dumbfounded as well. Their gazes toward Fu Ying and the others from the Anomaly Response Department were suddenly filled with terror.

“We’ll follow Captain Fu’s orders!”

Fu Ying paid no attention to those lackeys. She stared toward the Commerce Mall and frowned slightly.

Why was there still no major movement?

...

...

Whoosh!

Qi Chen twisted aside to dodge a vine whipping at him. A streak of blood was immediately torn across his chest, and the searing pain drove hard into his senses. The veins beneath his temples writhed like little snakes.

No... he still had not thought of a way to bring down the anomaly before him.

If this dragged on, he felt he would not be able to hold out much longer. The cold, uncanny aura had almost completely overwhelmed everything else he could feel, and even the pain in his body had begun to go numb.

“Can you be any more useless?”

That familiar mocking voice suddenly rang beside his ear. In a daze, Qi Chen seemed to see that half-hidden pale mask floating before his eyes.

“Get lost!”

“Hahaha!” The pale mask burst into unrestrained laughter after being cursed at. “Don’t you want to know how to smash that thing to pieces?”

Its voice carried a strange sort of magic, and in the blink of an eye it had actually melted away much of the agitation in Qi Chen’s heart.

“Of course.”

“Then embrace the Overlord’s power completely. Open your mind without reserve!”

Qi Chen looked puzzled. Had he not already let go enough?

He had already merged with the uncanny, had he not? If that did not count as releasing himself, then what did?

“What you need is true surrender... not a heart that still harbors doubt toward us...” The pale mask’s tone gradually took on a thick, mesmerizing edge. “Qi Chen, you have been resisting all along. Even now, though you are already one with the Overlord, you are still resisting. Deep down, you fear that we will affect you. You are afraid of becoming a madman who has lost all reason and is left with nothing but rage!

“Is that not so? You would rather believe in other people than in us, who were bound to you from birth. You only think of us as so-called anomalies, beings that can influence your mind and temperament... But why not believe that we are your innate companions?

“Could it be that you think the Overlord’s power is only this much?

“Open your heart and accept it. Then you will be able to unleash our power completely! You too will become all-powerful.

“We... are your eternal support.”

...