Chapter 358

Chapter 358: Chapter 355: "Noel, you demon!Due to the special aura skill of teammate immunity that had been bestowed upon him, the man in the white robe charged through the flames as if he were taking a stroll, with the intense flames unable to harm him in the slightest.

In his hand, a green snake burst through the flames, accurately reaching the direction of that name—

The flames were instantly dispersed by the strike.

He saw a silvery-white shield.

The Soul Clan leader, whose appearance was extremely familiar from the intelligence reports, was staring at him coldly.

"You’re done," Sevya’s expression had completely cooled.

"Luna!" the man in the white robe didn’t panic but shouted out loud.

The next moment, a somewhat transparent figure appeared beside him, her hand holding a crushed ruby that was melting in the heatwave of the flames.

The red light burst forth instantly, quickly enveloping Su Ming’an in an unavoidable manner.

A system alert popped up in front of Su Ming’an:

"Ding dong!"

The Spatial Vibration he had been brewing at his hand instantly dispersed, and the icons in the skill bar also turned grey in an instant.

A green halo rose from the white-robed man, passed through the shield, and wrapped around him.

"Ding dong!"

The step he had originally taken instantly stopped, and the green light congealed on his legs.

He spotted a gradually enlarging red circle not far away.

Outside the building, the sniper held his breath and concentrated.

He watched the marked position of the man in the white robe, seeing that figure moving in the flames.

His fingers trembled a bit, an unusual occurrence for a sniper.

But he knew what his single shot meant.

The next moment, the bullet, engraved with the "Mental Confusion" skill.

As long as it hit, even if it didn’t cause major damage, it would deal a significantly lethal blow to the opponent.

He knew the opponent was probably in the Bright State, with high three-dimensional attributes but incredibly low Mentality Points. The opponent had absolutely no capacity to withstand this compressed mental confusion skill.

...As long as he could hit.

As long as this shot could hit.

The sniper’s fingers steadied.

Through the scope, through the crosshair in the field of vision, he aimed in that direction.

He fired the shot.

The bullet, engraved with blood-red patterns, was discharged, flew through the blazing fire, and violently plunged into that direction.

He didn’t know whether the bullet had hit as he wiped the sweat from his face in a bit of a panic and sat up from the ground, suddenly noticing a faint shadow nearby.

As he instinctively turned his head, he saw a hand reaching over.

"Still a step too late, huh." The person who suddenly appeared said.

The hand slapped down.

The sniper tried to dodge but found that his body had been wrapped in transparent threads at some point.

As the hand touched his forehead and began to press slowly, his eyes gradually filled with despair...

"Crack."

"I perhaps should have been quicker," as he listened to the sound of the other’s skull cracking, Noel withdrew his hand.

His eyes, usually shimmering with humor, now showed no emotion.

He pushed aside the dead sniper and looked towards the direction of the flames.

He moved forward and leaped from the top of the high-rise building.

His gaze was firmly fixed on a green-haired woman who was trying to escape.

"Ding—"

The bullet split in two halves, falling to the ground.

Su Ming’an hadn’t actually felt any sense of danger, nor did he feel targeted.

It was just that a large red circle in his field of vision kept reminding him, inevitably drawing his attention to that side.

He took out the Amber Knife and swung it in the direction of the red circle, the bullet was suddenly twisted by the abrupt distortion of the air and then sliced in half by his knife.

The skill on the Equipment was not within the "Personal Skills" category.

Su Ming’an, covered by the special grade Defensive Barrier against fire, charged out of the cabin and saw three bodies lying disarrayedly on the street outside.

The Blade Edge Mantis was hopping on the ground, and Lin Yin was healing Lv Shu beside it.

Lv Shu’s left arm and left cheek had a clear burn, looking gruesomely mangled at that moment.

"Can it be healed?" Su Ming’an looked around.

At this moment, no one could be seen outside, only bodies were visible.

Inside, the fire blazed fiercely; Sevya emerged, enveloped in a white light.

Su Ming’an knew that the white-robed man had likely escaped since he had dared to charge in to face him directly, there certainly was a prop that allowed him to escape temporarily.

"Don’t worry, it can be healed," Lin Yin said, head lowered: "These people clearly came for you, no one bothered with us, he only got hurt by that initial explosion."

At that moment, a white light was flickering in her hands.

Milky-white light was swirling around her fingers, like water twining around Lv Shu’s wounds.

With a circulatory motion, the gruesome burn gradually began to heal, as the liquid light flowed over the bloody mangled wounds, newly condensing the burned muscles and skin.

Lin Yin, illuminated by the white light, looked particularly solemn at that moment.

When healing others, her focus was unprecedentedly sharp.

Su Ming’an had heard that the healing ability of Healing Series players was directly related to their concentration level; the stronger the healer, the more stable their emotions.

Now it seemed that even the usually boisterous Lin Yin was dependable in critical moments.

"Are you alright?" Su Ming’an looked at the gruesome burn on Lv Shu and then at Lin Yin, who was unharmed. It was a bit strange that she wasn’t injured.

"That old man saved me," Lin Yin said without raising her head.

Beside her stood Archilev, looking off into the distance.

Su Ming’an finally understood why this man hadn’t taken action just before.

...No wonder only Sevya was by his side at that moment; it turned out Archilev had rushed to protect the females first.

This man wouldn’t even lend a hand to Lv Shu who was right beside him, only wishing to protect Lin Yin. Truly... a gentleman to a ridiculous extent.

Suddenly, Su Ming’an swiftly stepped back.

"Bang—!"

A green-haired woman, wrapped in silk threads, smashed heavily onto the spot where he had just been standing, like an object thrown from a great height.

Deep indentations from the silk threads marked her body, some wounds so severe that bone was visible. Blood pooled on the ground from the impact, and Su Ming’an could even hear the crisp sound of a bone cracking.

The blond young boy quickly walked over, his fingers manipulating these transparent silk threads. As the threads tightened, the woman screamed in agony.

"Noel—I will never forgive you, I will never let you go, you demon—" the woman shouted hoarsely while screaming.

...Demon?

Su Ming’an found the woman’s appellation quite novel.

Noel, rarely grim-faced, strode forward. The silk threads in his hand moved slightly, already beginning to wrap around her neck.

On the woman’s body, white energy struggled against these silk threads, similar to a tug-of-war, competing with the tightening strands in Noel’s hands.

"—What now? Thinking of silencing me? Impossible! Under the watch of the Number One Player and the gaze of the millions in the live stream, I will expose your crimes, you demon—" her face turned crimson, and her eyes bloodshot with hatred:

"—You kidnapped my little brother, my little sister, using them as specimens for your body modification experiments—what else do you want to cover up? When you picked up the scalpel, you probably didn’t consider their feelings, did you? Have you ever thought there’s an elder sister always waiting for them to come home—"

As she spoke, she suddenly burst into tears.

Clear tears flowed down her scarred cheeks; her hair disheveled, she cried like a madwoman:

"—Noel, don’t you hate humans? Why then use innocent humans as your experimental subjects? What new world... it’s just an excuse for you to turn the blade on your own people.

Dressed in an innocently disgusting facade, you probably didn’t expect me to be here today, revealing your true face to the world—I’m telling you, this is the price of your inhumane human experiments—"

"Sizzling..."

The sound of tightening silk threads creaked, the woman’s hands clawing at her neck. A layer of white light in this tug-of-war was gradually worn down.

She couldn’t resist Noel’s silk threads; she was merely dying slowly, buying time for her own condemnation.

She was already prepared to die here.

...At the cost of her own life, she absolutely intended to reveal this disgusting side of Noel to the world. She couldn’t allow someone who harmed innocent children to stand at the pinnacle of the world.

Her hands tightly clutched the silk threads around her neck, desperately trying to buy herself a bit more time, yet her face swelled redder like one suffocating.

Su Ming’an watched this scene somewhat astonished.

In his live stream at the moment, the comments surged:

"Damn it, those who support this have no humanity, right? It’s not your siblings being experimented on, is it?"

"If you ask me, if this matter is true, it’s still Noel’s freedom. Top-ranked players do a lot of shady things behind the scenes—who knows what your beloved Number One Player has done behind your backs?"

"Let’s not rush to conclusions or start cursing. Surely someone will investigate this; we just need to wait for the results."

"Wait for what results? What is there to investigate? Do you still think this is the old Zhai Xing, where we have an army or an investigative agency? Do you think Noel would let us investigate? Top-ranked players could easily fool you with just a few words—are you really waiting for some results...are you waiting for a story that’s been whitewashed?"

Noel quickly stepped forward, a silver dagger appearing in his hand.

He could no longer wait to strangle the woman with the wire; he wanted to act quickly and kill her directly.

"—Noel, you deserve to die, you deserve to go to hell, you demon. You have no humanity. You look down on humans while using their lives to modify yourself. What are you really, and how can you still have the face to live—" the woman continued screaming, using the last moments of her life.

Noel’s face was stern as he swung the dagger in his hand.

"Bang!"

A hand stopped him.

To the side, Lv Shu, still in the Healing state, rushed over, his hand, still in a burnt condition, grabbed Noel’s hand.

"Explain clearly," Lv Shu said.

"What is there to explain?" Noel looked at him.

Lv Shu’s hand tightly gripped Noel’s wrist.

The balance of strength between them seemed precarious; Noel’s dagger could not fall.

"Explain what she said," Lv Shu glared at him. "If you really are someone who uses other people’s organs and bodies to modify yourself and gain strength, neither Su Ming’an nor I will continue to be your teammates."

Noel bit his lip.

When he was anxious, he liked to bite his lip. At this moment, a simple action revealed the extreme unrest in his heart.

"Let go; you’re too strong," Noel finally spoke.

"First, explain clearly," Lv Shu stood his ground.

Lv Shu slightly moved to the side, protecting the woman behind him. The mantis on his shoulder twitched and cut the threads Noel had wrapped around the woman.

"...Why should I explain to you? What are you?" Noel watched this scene but suddenly laughed.

"Who am I?" Lv Shu raised an eyebrow. "I’m your teammate. As teammates, shouldn’t you give us some basic trust?"

"Since we’re teammates and yet you’re protecting a mad outsider to question me?"

"You haven’t denied her words, which might mean she’s right."

"So what if she is." The smile on Noel’s face finally vanished completely. "...Do you see the big picture? Do you understand what I’m really doing? How can her few words make you switch sides? How do you know I don’t have my reasons?"

"Personal reasons are no excuse to harm innocent children," Lv Shu said.

His severely burnt hand was still gripping Noel’s wrist tightly, with fluid already seeping out from the friction, yet he seemed unaffected by the pain.

Lin Yin watched the intense confrontation in silence.

The barrage of messages flying by unregistered to her, yet being between these two men, Lin Yin could distinctly feel a powerful sense of crisis—both men exuded an incredibly strong aura.

The air seemed to have solidified.

She stepped back, looking toward Su Ming’an.