Player Reload

Breaking through the sound barrier, two Mach, three Mach.

The sun-absorbing chicken sped fiercely, Divine Era Rain Prayer initially tried to use paper talismans to keep up, only to watch as the chicken "whooshed" and virtualized, hurdling through the wall without obstruction,

left stunned, forced to stop in silence and return.

"Hey, hey, Maxwell, can you hear me?!"

Don Juan shouted into the walkie-talkie, but on the other end, there was only static noise. It was unclear whether the signal was broken or Maxwell couldn’t press the button.

Don Juan grimaced with a mix of anger and frustration, "Where did this transcendent creature spring from? It just started attacking without any chance for communication."

"It’s not an ordinary transcendent creature,"

The high-rise wall crumbled, Li Cheng emerged clutching his chest with his left hand, while his right hand retrieved suitable bones from the Three-dimensional Warehouse’s refrigerator to replace a fractured rib.

He casually recalled the mechanical swarm and the Wolf Mad Demon Axe that fell to the city below, saying, "That sun-absorbing chicken is a demon beast."

"A demon beast?"

Don Juan and Mei Wenyi exchanged bewildered glances.

The term "demon beast" is strictly used on the killing fields, representing organisms with high-level wisdom, achieving self-strengthening through cultivation, mastering abilities like flight and transformation,

distinct from extraordinary life forms like the Thorny-tailed Mountain Cat and Metal Dragon which automatically strengthen by eating and sleeping.

Demon beasts rely heavily on personal cultivation, inhaling and exhaling, absorbing the essence of sun and moon,

having a relatively longer growth period with harsher conditions, yet once transformed, they master a variety of skills.

(Those demon beasts which painstakingly cultivate for ten thousand, even a hundred thousand years, can face an extreme scenario where they are suddenly slain at home by a young human monk who’s only cultivated for a dozen years, becoming soul rings through sorcery.)

"If it’s a demon beast, then it makes sense. The esophagus and stomach are equivalent to subspace, capable of swallowing a whole person."

Gouchen hesitated, "However, judging from residual frostbite on the big chicken, it was not the cause of the city’s freezing.

Its actions to protect snake eggs are more akin to a Snake-man Guardian.

We are still wearing Execution Committee badges, considered as quasi-allies to the Snake-man civilization.

It has human-equivalent intelligence, yet how could it attack so indiscriminately?"

"Who knows."

Li Cheng adjusted his rib, spreading his hands calmly, "There are numerous potential reasons, perhaps it was a humanoid entity that froze the city, giving the sun-absorbing chicken PTSD;

perhaps its eyesight is poor, unable to distinguish faces;

or maybe today is KFC Crazy Thursday, the chicken burger scent on us makes it exceptionally sensitive."

Gouchen dismissed it as Pifu nonsense, in fact, considering GOC’s encounters,

high-level wisdom extraordinary life forms rarely possess a sense of identity for unevolved, blood-related kin.

A classic case was when GOC discovered the Fishman Clan within the killing field’s entity (technology level akin to the Second Industrial Revolution), aiming for peaceful coexistence and seeking common grounds for diplomacy,

during a subsequent banquet, GOC consciously excluded all fish dishes, serving beef, lamb, vegetables, and soy products,

confusing the Fishman Clan ambassador who softly remarked "Actually, we’re not opposed to eating fish. Otherwise, what do you think we consume at sea?"

"Currently, it’s certain that Maxwell is most likely not dead. Just incapacitated."

Li Cheng produced a sheet from the Suicide Notebook, illustrating his ice-encrusted state with frozen sculptures of Gouchen, Don Juan, and Maxwell nearby.

Indicating indirectly that Maxwell wouldn’t immediately perish inside the sun-absorbing chicken’s belly.

"So we..."

"Let’s first figure out where the sun-absorbing chicken went."

Li Cheng contemplated briefly, scanning his surroundings, gathering dozens of the most deeply frozen exposed Snake-man corpses outdoors,

using electrical wires and data cables to connect them at the neck, then wearing the Mercy Soul Song gloves, he shouted, "Rise, my Snake-men!"

The Snake-man corpses trembled violently, some convulsing on the spot, others twisting aimlessly.

"Mass resurrection technique?!" Don Juan’s astonishment was beyond words, Gouchen shook his head, "Not resurrection. When frozen, the water in these Snake-men’s brains formed ice spikes, destroying cell membranes.

This looks more like a temporary awakening using magic."

Li Cheng released Visual Memory with a backhand, typically extracting recent vivid memories from living beings,

but on these temporarily awakened bodies, Visual Memory could only procure fragmented, disjointed pictures lasting mere seconds.

All footage was fed into a laptop, run by AI to align the clips, restoring the Snake-men’s pre-death scenes.

Gouchen and others gathered around the laptop screen, the footage displayed a thriving, peaceful Snake-man city where people lived happily, workers leaving factories in small groups for pubs, watching table tennis on TV while drinking;

children returning from school carried backpacks, licking frog-flavored caramel skewer;

until a thunderous noise emanated overhead, four silhouettes emerged from a black vortex-like teleportation gate, hovering in mid-air.

The four included an armored knight on a White Horse;

a Middle Eastern-featured robust man on a colorful horse with a snake tail;

a weary, sad-faced elder in a ragged cloak, walking barefoot surrounded by chill, bearing Mongolian features;

and an Indian-attired girl riding a massive gray bear;

The four exhibited distinct styles akin to slum players fond of playing Miracle Nikki. Snake-man city’s security forces mobilized swiftly, with Snake-men soldiers approaching on quad-rotor motorcycles as the sun-absorbing chicken descended from the sky.

Indeed, the sun-absorbing chicken served as the Snake-man city’s guardian, adorned in shimmering light armor, equipped with custom alloy blades on its feet,

while a commanding middle-aged Snake-man, likely a sheriff-like figure, rode on its back.

Silently conversing in mid-air, but without sound, Gouchen urgently questioned, "Why is there no sound? Can lip-reading work?"

"Let me try."

Li Cheng operated the computer, eventually managing to produce sound.

"Good evening, did you Chi Shi today?"

"Yes, I purchased 92 octane gasoline mixed with purple aliens because Bermuda’s trigonometry damages caviar, causing glacier melt."

The dialogue content was nonsensical, leaving listeners baffled.

Li Cheng pondered briefly, realizing the individuals spoke in native languages, unfiltered by the killing field’s translation, meaning direct lip-reading couldn’t be comprehended.

That was easy to fix, Li Cheng paused the footage, manually controlling several Snake-men heads to simulate lip movements aligned with the original speech.

The temporarily awakened Snake-men corpses were identified by the killing field as "indigenous residents," activating translation effects.

Through this swift maneuver, the group gained comprehension of the conversation.

"I am Wei Chen of Xianwei City, Marquis Wu’an."

The snake-man atop the sun-absorbing chicken spoke gravely, "May I inquire who you are..."

The armored knight on the White Horse slowly began, "...The end has come, and if the Snake-men have forgotten their duties, then we’ll act in their stead."

At the sound of the final word "stead," the sun-absorbing chicken decisively struck out with its claw, but the opponent was quicker.

The armored knight unsheathed his sword defensively, while the Mongolian elder displayed sorrow, guiding a micro ice storm from a white stone amidst the screaming of many Snake-men,

following brief latency, the cold swept through the entire pipeline system, abruptly ending the footage.

"..."

The players exchanged looks, the video explained the sun-absorbing chicken’s identity and the city freezing cause, yet where did these uniquely dressed transcendents come from?

From their appearance, they didn’t seem like killing field players either.

"I’ve got it!"

Don Juan was struck by realization, pupils shrinking, shouting, "It’s Solomon’s 72 Pillar Demon Gods! That man with the serpent tail on the flower horse is Bathin, ranked 18th among King Solomon’s 72 Pillar Demon Gods, possessing teleportation ability.

The armored knight is Sabnock, ranked 43rd, with abilities in city building and maggot magic.

The other two I don’t know, but the slum-like replica building cluster we saw earlier was likely constructed by Sabnock, including the Horror Maggot Beast within the complex."