As soon as Lin Mo's words left his mouth, a thunderous crash followed, echoing through the battlefield.
He surged forth like a tempest, the sharp clash of metal ringing out—a discordant note cutting through the chaos and completely disrupting the rhythm of the fight.
The door to the underground chamber had been forcefully breached. A gust of wind swept out, and before the bewildered scavengers could grasp what was happening, they felt only the rush of air against their faces. Then, in an instant, the cold steel of Lin Mo's blade severed their throats, mercilessly claiming their lives.
The scavengers wielding heavy weapons—grenade launchers, rocket launchers, and the like—fared no better. Their heads were swiftly removed from their bodies, and the weapons that could have changed the course of the battle were kicked aside, disappearing into the darkness with a sharp crack.
[Ruthless Combat Mode], Tier 3 Activated!
Lin Mo wielded his Black Unicorn blade with cold precision. To him, this battlefield felt like his personal garden, and he was plucking flowers at his leisure. Each strike was decisive, each target crushed in his grip like fragile petals falling to the ground, their beauty ruined.
To the scavengers, however, Lin Mo was nothing short of a ghost—too fast for the naked eye to track. All they could see were their comrades falling, one by one, blood spraying the walls, the floors, the debris. The scene transformed into a nightmarish slaughterhouse, as crimson streaks stained everything in sight.
The fear that swept through the scavengers was palpable, yet there was nothing they could do.
Since the invention of the Sandevistan system, the limits of combat had been redefined. Soldiers, agents, and mercenaries alike were forced to acknowledge that the world was now divided into two types of people: those with cyberware and those without.
And the unbridgeable gap between them? It was the sheer power of time manipulation.
The scavengers' carefully maintained advantage—superior numbers and heavy firepower—was unraveling in the face of this unseen specter that haunted them from behind, dispatching comrades one by one. Panic began to take root.
Some scavengers tried to turn their guns on this ghostly figure, hoping to use sheer firepower to keep him at bay.
And it worked, to an extent. Even Lin Mo, operating with the enhanced speed of Sandevistan, was wary of rushing headlong into the hail of bullets. A few managed to hit their mark, leaving small holes in his flesh. Fortunately, the most critical areas of his body were protected by Subdermal Nano-Polymer Armor, mitigating the damage.
The nanobots in his bloodstream quickly went to work, repairing the wounds. In a matter of moments, even the bullet casings were pushed out of his body, the injuries beginning to close.
Thanks to the boosts from Ruthless Combat Mode, Lin Mo's speed was now pushing 40 kilometers per hour in the Sandevistan's time-slowed world. Even so, it wasn't enough to completely outrun bullets, forcing him to use cover strategically as he navigated the battlefield.
Meanwhile, this distraction gave Maine and his team the opportunity they needed.
Rebecca and Dorio emerged from the security post, their weapons reloaded and ready to fire. With hot lead flying from their barrels, they mowed down the disoriented scavengers, who were still trying to make sense of the chaos.
Maine, too, burst from cover with a booming laugh, launching a grenade toward the scavengers. The resulting explosion sent debris and bodies flying, the stench of charred flesh filling the air as the scavengers were blown apart.
Behind the cover of an overturned structure, Lin Mo panted heavily. His breath fogged the night air as he rummaged through his pouch, eventually pulling out a vial of pale yellow liquid.
Switching out the spent cartridge from his pneumatic injector, he inserted the new one and jabbed it into his arm.
Since Xia Wanxue had returned his garage—his personal base of operations—Lin Mo had found a trove of valuable items. He'd never been short on medical supplies before, but now, his collection of top-tier combat stimulants and healing agents had expanded beyond what money could usually buy. These were items only accessible through special connections.
As the liquid coursed through his veins, Lin Mo felt his strength return, a familiar surge of energy flooding his body. Even the weariness from endless combat, the soreness in his sword arm from swinging the Black Unicorn so many times, began to fade.
With a deep breath, he flexed his muscles, gripping the Black Unicorn tightly once more.
Sandevistan activated—again.
A gust of wind whipped past as Lin Mo vanished from his spot, and more scavengers' screams filled the air. His blade was so fast, it sliced through their flesh before the sound of the cuts could even reach their ears.
In the altered perception of time that Sandevistan provided, Lin Mo could feel the power of his combat specialization. "Still as Water, Fast as Lightning." These weren't just words—they were a true reflection of his enhanced state of mind and speed.
Lin Mo had once assumed his enhancements were simple. His skills like Ruthless Combat Mode had clear, quantifiable boosts—kill one enemy, gain a 10% speed boost, and so on. But with "Still as Water, Fast as Lightning," he began to realize that his improvements weren't just physical.
Every time he entered Sandevistan's time-slowing field, his mind became perfectly calm, like the surface of an undisturbed lake. His focus sharpened, and in that clarity, his speed exploded. His blade moved with such ferocity, it felt as if nothing could stand in its way.
Even Brutus's alloy claws had chipped and cracked under Lin Mo's relentless strikes.
The sheer lethality of this ability wasn't something Lin Mo could fully understand yet. But with a 100% increase in sword damage, few things in this world could withstand his strikes.
No matter how many augmentations or protective layers the scavengers had, the Black Unicorn cut through them like butter.
The tide of battle shifted.
As more and more scavengers fell, their lines began to break. Outnumbered and outmatched, they couldn't hope to hold their position any longer. Their forces, which had once overwhelmed Maine's team, were now being decimated.
Panic set in, and many of the scavengers tried to flee, but they were no match for Lin Mo's speed. He was the predator, and they were the prey, with no hope of escape. Meanwhile, Maine and his team blocked the exits, preventing any chance of retreat.
The factory had become a slaughterhouse, and the scavengers were the livestock being culled. Once feared as hyenas, celebrating their hunts with wild abandon, they were now facing an enemy they could not overcome.
When Lin Mo severed the head of the final scavenger, it marked the end of the massacre.
He stood in the center of the blood-soaked battlefield, covered head to toe in the sticky remnants of his enemies. Blood clung to him like a second skin, his body stained crimson from the carnage.
And yet, his Black Unicorn blade remained pristine, its polished surface gleaming as brightly as ever, untouched by the filth of the battle. It was hard to believe that this weapon had claimed so many lives without so much as a nick on its edge.
As the moon began to hide behind a veil of clouds, its silver light gradually fading, Lin Mo stood alone among the fallen. The darkness crept in, shrouding the bloodied earth in shadow.
He sheathed his sword with deliberate precision, as though performing a solemn ritual.
At that moment, as the Black Unicorn clicked into its scabbard, the moon disappeared behind the clouds entirely. The last vestiges of moonlight vanished from the battlefield.
Lin Mo, bathed in the blood of his enemies, now stood in darkness. It was as if the moon itself refused to witness the violence he had wrought, withholding its light as if in silent judgment.