042. I Live to Shatter All Chains
Bang!
The door exploded, alarming the guards around the Duke. They drew their weapons and surrounded the Duke's door.
Two Law III agents, Enlit and Bodra, arrived late. The aftermath of smoke and shock waves lifted their coats, hindering their advance.
"As expected, Commander Benjesson was right!"
Enlit immediately switched her sniper rifle to thermal imaging scope. Her eyes glowed with Qi power, quickly locating several human figures.
Click—
As a [Ranger], she held her breath and pulled the bolt, with a series of dark green Qi power veins glowing on the back of her hand. The Qi power in her body instantly infused into the chamber, completely wrapping the bullet in a spiral Qi shroud within the narrow space.
9.[Explosive Loading]
Bang!
The competition-grade trigger was gently pulled, the firing pin ignited the primer, and the excess gunpowder gas was injected into the Qi shroud. The bullet spun out, its outer Qi shroud nullifying air resistance, cutting through the smoke and striking a humanoid target with precision.
Boom!
The bullet collided with the target, causing the residual gunpowder gas in the Qi shroud to explode instantly, creating a burst of flames while providing a secondary acceleration boost to the bullet.
"Hit!"
The thermal imaging vision was instantly obscured, turning into a gray-white blur. Enlit was pleased; this meant that the gunpowder gas and Qi power had fully mixed, generating a temperature exceeding 1400°C. Ordinary armored units would melt upon contact with such heat.
However, the [Doctor] Bodra beside her did not let down his guard. He threw a flashbang into the smoke while releasing nanomechanical insects that resided in his body, linking them with Enlit. If an ambush occurred, his abundant vitality could shield her from a fatal blow.
As a [Doctor] of the [Redemption] path, he hadn't implanted any cybernetics, so his observational abilities were not as sharp as Enlit's. He was busy injecting himself with a slew of hormones and drugs to enhance his vitality and sensory capabilities.
Law III agents had distinct operational skills compared to Law IV. They were cautious, placing great emphasis on intelligence gathering. In a four-person team, they had to be equipped with firepower support, engineering infiltration, information acquisition, and frontline breakthrough capabilities.
After all, even Beta-tier individuals were just stronger humans. Even Alpha-tier individuals, let alone ordinary ones, could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
Bodra wasn't in a good mood because Commander Benjesson had taken Zuo Jiajun to face Li Aozi, leaving their team without an engineer or breaker. Meanwhile, the Duke's guards were preoccupied with their own defense, unwilling to communicate with them.
This left them in a passive situation. Without an information specialist, Enlit, holding a sniper rifle in an indoor environment, would be helpless if an enemy closed in.
He not only held up a riot shield but also used the holographic sight on his "Dust" submachine gun to scan left and right. The room was filled with the smell of gunpowder, severely impairing Bodra's sense of smell.
Where are they—where are these assassins hiding?!
Swoosh!
"Agh!"
Enlit let out a cry as a dark gold spike shot out from the smoke and pierced her chest. Her body arched backward, and the nanomechanical insects on her body instantly overloaded and crashed, falling to the ground with a series of clicks. Bodra's expression changed, and he immediately planted the shield on the ground. His mechanical arm grabbed Enlit while he fired three bursts into the smoke ahead with his submachine gun.
Ratatatat, ratatatat, ratatatat—
While firing to suppress the enemy, Bodra used his mechanical arm to drag Enlit behind cover. He pulled a nanobe from his own body and injected it into Enlit's deltoid muscle, administering treatment while beginning emergency care.
"Open rib fracture, but no pneumothorax! Keep your Qi circulating, I'll close the wound! Damn, it's lodged in your wound."
Bodra had just pulled out the dark gold spike when it wriggled like a living thing and slipped back into the smoke. He couldn't worry about it; he tore off Enlit's bulletproof vest and plates, and the scene before him made sweat bead on his forehead—damn it, Enlit had three layers of bulletproof plates, plus super Kevlar and her own nanomechanical insect attachments, how could she be downed in one hit?
As the painkillers took effect, Enlit exhaled a heavy breath, then pulled out her SMG (Submachine Gun). Her eyes now flickered with a dark blue Qi flame, greatly enhancing her visual abilities.
In her gaze, a bright figure was rapidly approaching her.
She raised the SMG and fired a burst of Qi-infused bullets at the approaching figure.
Bang bang bang bang clang clang!
The bullets struck the figure, sparking and ringing out as they hit. The Qi shrouds on the bullets didn't even have time to explode before the figure shrugged them off with a flick of their arm.
"Damn, they're coming!"
Enlit cursed under her breath, her heart filled with terror.
Click clack click clack!
The footsteps grew closer, unfazed by the attack.
Even though the SMG used 9mm rounds, combined with the Qi power of a Beta-tier [Ranger] like her, the power should not have been so ineffective. Even if it hit composite armor, it should've punched holes.
When hitting a human… where could the energy be dispersed? There should have been at least some stopping power.
What armor is this person wearing? Could it be a mobile armor coming at us!?
Compared to Enlit's shock, Bodra was on the verge of madness.
What a joke… Enlit's wound was interfered with by some unknown force. Even after injecting vitality and medicine, there was no sign of healing.
Not only that, but the spike caused not only a penetrating wound, but also erased the Qi power veins at the impact site, making regeneration impossible. It was now just ordinary muscle.
To put it simply, her extraordinary abilities were destroyed.
'That spike… has a destructive effect on superhumans!'
Click.
The magazine fell out, and as Enlit reloaded with one hand, a polished boot stepped out of the smoke. Bodra looked up and, driven by his exoskeleton, threw a heavy punch at the intruder.
Puff—
The thick smoke parted, and the next moment, Enlit, in the midst of reloading, saw the two-meter-three-tall, muscular, giant-like Bodra, known for his [Physique], flush red as if he had collided with a speeding train. He was sent flying.
"Bodra!"
Enlit didn't have time to be stunned as the assailant moved faster than her [Ranger] class. A dark gold thorn-clad hand easily tore through the smoke, grabbing her and slamming her against the wall.
Boom!
The solid steel-reinforced concrete wall was instantly shattered. Enlit's spine snapped on impact. In the last moments of her life, her blurred vision could only make out a figure with a swaying braid.
That wasn't… the silhouette of someone from this era.
"Agh—Enlit, are you alright? Enlit! Answer me!"
Enlit opened her mouth, coughing up fragments of her internal organs along with blood. She muttered into her communicator:
"Quick… tell the Comman—"
Before she could finish, the back of her head slammed heavily into the ground, her gaze freezing forever.
Crash—
Amidst the rubble, Bodra's eyes turned red as he furiously stood, his massive body towering like a mountain.
"How dare you… kill Enlit—"
The mechanical arm whirred, injecting a large dose of stimulants into his body. He clenched his fists and picked up the bulletproof shield from the ground, roaring as he charged at the enemy.
"I'm going to kill you!"
The dark gold gauntlet melted, instantly elongating into a sharp blade, forming a simple scythe.
Alexia calmly grasped the long handle and, in an instant, slashed with the dark gold scythe.
Shing!
The two figures crossed paths, and after a few steps, Bodra's lower body separated from his upper body, collapsing to the ground. The smooth cut revealed his still-pulsing internal organs.
"I will never forgive you…"
Bodra's upper body lay on the ground as he reached out, struggling to get up, only to flip over onto his back. He looked up at Alexia, his face twisted in anger, and shouted:
"You destroyed everything we had, you ruined our national interests, I'll kill you! Even if I can't, Frostplate won't let you get away with this!"
"It's not your country."
Alexia raised her scythe:
"It's the country of the Grantians."
"Go to hell!"
Bodra cursed with resentment:
"You'll eventually watch everything you cherish be destroyed! Your country will collapse, your beliefs will be desecrated! Go to hell! Frostplate forever! Twin Queens for—"
Shing—
His head flew off, rolling on the ground, staining the marble floor with blood.
"To be honest,"
Alexia said leisurely:
"My country did indeed perish. It was destroyed long ago, fallen to natural disasters, and lost to human folly."
"The enemies we had once vanquished… the church, feudalism, superstition, inequality, kings, warlords, corporations—they all made a comeback."
"The beautiful world I cherished became bizarre and strange. People couldn't even reach space, diesel engines were everywhere, and the cold outside couldn't even trigger a heat island effect."
"It's truly awful, isn't it?"
Bodra's head rolled to Alexia's feet, and the Alpha-tier Bemudes warriors were shocked to see Alexia so easily take down two Beta-tiers.
Alexia could sense that the Law III agent was not entirely dead yet and could still perceive her words, so she continued:
"But after 500 years, I encountered something new to cherish."
"So, I've come to understand. This world isn't beautiful, the past had its flaws, and the future may not necessarily get better, but people shouldn't remain stuck in the present."
She melted the scythe back into its original form, folding it into the shape of a briefcase, and spoke with pity to Bodra, who died with his eyes open:
"I crossed time and space, carrying the hopes of an era to this place, not to enjoy the fruits of future technology, but to stand up when justice and order dissipate, to punish all injustices, to shatter all oppression."
Alexia's tone was never overbearing, but to the dying Bodra, the personality shining in those dark golden eyes held a kind of nobility he could never hope to match.