Chapter 76.2 – Sin City (10)
◎ You, are, dead. ◎
Under the watchful gaze of Song Ke and Su Cha, Zhuang Qingyan entered the octagonal cage arena, and the iron door slowly closed and locked behind him.
Song Ke was stunned. Something was wrong—why was the door closed when the opponent hadn’t entered the stage yet!
She suddenly turned her head, only to see a mysterious smile on White’s face.
Suddenly, a black hole appeared below the arena, and the mechanical noises of the platform started. The heavy and murky breathing sounds were getting closer to them.
When the creature fully revealed itself, everyone present, except White, was shocked.
It was an evolved zombie, or rather, an evolved zombie adapted to the abyss environment!
Compared to its human predecessor, it resembled a fish called the “deep-sea anglerfish.” Its large forehead had a fleshy protrusion resembling a luminescent tumor. The lower jaw was extremely prominent, and the face had large gill openings. Its slender limbs were covered with fine scales and pointed adipose fins.
The deformed zombie sluggishly turned its head and, upon spotting Zhuang Qingyan as the closest target, roared and lunged at him.
“You’re playing dirty!” Song Ke shouted in anger.
Putting aside why an evolved zombie appeared on the 11th floor, White had just forced Zhuang Qingyan into the arena, clearly wanting him dead!
“Hahaha, when did I say that your opponent must be a human?” White sneered, laughing arrogantly.
Song Ke clenched the iron mesh with both hands.
Su Cha whispered, “Don’t panic, let’s see if he can handle it.”
Zhuang Qingyan skillfully maneuvered his wheelchair, dodging left and right. After six months, he had completely adapted to mechanical movement. The wheelchair was as agile as if it were a part of his body. Bone-cutting blade pieces popped out from the pedal with a “shoo.” These were the spiritual weapons modified by Song Ke. Zhuang Qingyan had chosen the perfect angle, and they flew out precisely, hitting the zombie’s knee.
The howling zombie lost its balance and fell, its dorsal fin on its back thrusting towards Zhuang Qingyan’s face. Zhuang Qingyan tapped on the shield, and a irregular shield popped up, blocking the attack.
People with high intelligence had an advantage anywhere. Zhuang Qingyan, leveraging his wheelchair, countered swiftly while calmly observing. He gradually discovered the weak point of this deformed zombie. It seemed to have no vision or severely degraded vision, with both pupils so small that they were almost invisible, relying entirely on the glowing tumor on its forehead to discern directions.
Zhuang Qingyan reached back, and in the moment the deformed zombie lunged at him again, he pulled out a miniature rapid-fire crossbow from a rear compartment.
“Pew pew pew!” Hair-thin needles poured out, hitting and bursting the glowing tumor on the zombie’s forehead from a close range!
A putrid yellowish fluid sprayed all over the place. The zombie seemed to sense the pain of losing its sight, clutching its head and kneeling, howling in agony.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhuang Qingyan accelerated the wheelchair and rushed forward. Stepping on the pedal, the bone-cutting blade popped up high again, accurately puncturing its skull from front to back!
They won! Song Ke jumped with excitement, even more thrilled than if she had won herself.
Zhuang Qingyan breathed slightly heavily after a long time without such activity. He controlled the blade to turn and dug out a green crystal from the zombie’s brain.
He turned around and smiled at Song Ke outside the octagonal cage, his eyes curved, still portraying the frail appearance of a scholarly individual.
“We can go to the 12th floor now,” Song Ke cheered happily towards him.
Zhuang Qingyan was about to say something when a cold voice rang out from behind them.
“You can’t. He lost.”
A chilly voice rang out from behind them.
White’s smile was full of malice. “In arena combat, the use of any weapons is not allowed. He violated the rules, so you lost.”
Zhuang Qingyan narrowed his eyes. White had never mentioned this “omitted” rule, not even from the 7th to the 11th floor before Zhuang Qingyan went up. It was intentional.
“If you win, there’s a reward. If you lose, you naturally have to accept punishment.” White’s face was red with excitement. With a gleam in his eyes, he took out a small connector from his leather jacket pocket and pressed it without blinking.
“Boom!”
The ground of the entire arena shattered, and Zhuang Qingyan, along with his wheelchair, plummeted into the bottomless abyss!!!
Everything happened too quickly. By the time Song Ke reacted, Zhuang Qingyan had already disappeared from her sight.
“Where did you take him?” she asked, her voice filled with the impending storm.
To go from the 11th to the 12th floor, they had to use the internal elevator. It was impossible to fall directly from the arena.
White sat back in his chair and leisurely took a puff of his cigar, the red glow stinging Song Ke’s eyes.
They had fought tooth and nail on the verge of life and death, all for the opportunity to advance to the 12th floor. But White? Clearly, he set the rules himself, and now he effortlessly broke them, never treating them as equals.
In White’s eyes, what were they? Disposable pawns for his entertainment, or simply worthless trash to vent on?
“Where did you take him?” Song Ke raised her voice, her clear questioning echoing throughout the arena, resonating layer upon layer.
White calmly looked at her, blowing smoke rings contemptuously. “Can’t you see? He’s already gone down, to the 13th floor, or maybe the 14th? Who knows? Anyway, it’s not my territory down there.”
He had thrown Zhuang Qingyan, the one in the wheelchair who couldn’t use abilities, into the deepest part of the Death Prison.
A completely unknown and terrifying place.
“You… are… dead,” Song Ke said, each word carefully enunciated.
White sneered dismissively, extinguished the cigar, and stood up, the blood whip in his hand making a faint sound.
“Take a good look. I am the king of the Death Prison. What are you? What qualifications do you have to challenge me?”
“Are awakeners really that great? Here, you’re still nothing but trash.”
Song Ke felt something burning fiercely inside her.
Was it fire? No, it wasn’t fire—it was an uncontrollable anger.
The spiritual force in her body surged, her cells activated and differentiated, forming new combinations. Her formidable ability broke through the constraints, bursting out of her body. Song Ke closed her eyes and opened them again. A deep blue light flashed in her pupils. In the astonished gazes of everyone, a Fangtian halberd materialized out of thin air.
“It’s impossible, using abilities… it’s impossible!” White exclaimed.
6000 meters below the ocean surface, in the legendary forbidden zone of abilities, S-class awakener Song Ke ignited a dazzling display of her abilities.
White was in a state of shock, instinctively swinging the blood whip in his hand. The long whip could restrain short weapons, but once they encountered longer weapons, they were their natural enemies.
While White’s blood whip had strong armor-piercing capabilities, it required maintaining a distance. As he swung his blood whip, Song Ke wielded her razor-sharp Fangtian halberd. Before the blood whip could approach her, she deflected it with a single move, extending the halberd’s blade to pierce White’s abdomen from a great distance. Startled, White hastily retreated, but Song Ke closed the distance rapidly. In an instant, the cold halberd was inches away!
“Guards, stop her!” White shouted in a panic.
“Su Cha, hold off the others,” Song Ke said, positioning Su Cha to block the guards and prisoners rushing to assist.
Song Ke advanced like a drawn sword, step by step. White retreated in disarray, desperately dodging, but to no avail. The Fangtian halberd pressed forward relentlessly, piercing straight into his throat! White’s eyes bulged, and blood spurted from his seven orifices. His ruptured windpipe crackled, making it impossible for him to utter a complete sentence.
Song Ke coldly withdrew the Fangtian halberd, letting the blood flow freely from the wound. White’s burly body twitched a few times and then ceased its final breath.
A person who found amusement in death would eventually witness their own demise.
The entire Death Prison erupted in a piercing alarm: “Level one alert! Level one alert! The warden is dead!!”
Levels 7 to 12 experienced violent tremors, causing the prisoners to stumble and fall. The internal elevator hummed and buzzed, and its doors slid open automatically.
“Hurry, we need to leave! The prison floor is about to be automatically sealed!” a senior prison guard exclaimed, suddenly awakened as if from a dream. A level one alert hadn’t occurred in over a decade, only happening during the transition of a warden. During a level one alert, the floors under the warden’s control were completely sealed until the new warden took over.
Su Cha rushed to Song Ke’s side, asking, “What should we do?”
Song Ke was about to respond when the display board in front of them erupted in a glaring red light—the Crime Record was activated!
Her mind felt like it was being stabbed by a thousand needles, as if it were about to explode. Song Ke crouched down in agony, using all her willpower to resist.
In the ethereal Cotard band, a hidden call persisted, constantly tempting her to enter the mouth of the arena.
“Come down… come down…”
“You… go first and join them,” Song Ke pushed Su Cha.
Su Cha hesitated.
“Go!” Song Ke shouted.
Su Cha clenched his fist. “Alright.”
Song Ke was clearly unwilling to leave Zhuang Qingyan behind. He would be of no help here. It was better to join the others first and think of another plan.
Su Cha followed the fleeing crowd and rushed towards the elevator.
“Come down… come down…”
That elusive voice continued to echo in her mind, disturbing her greatly.
Song Ke used the Fangtian halberd to support herself and slowly stood up. Her consciousness was gradually becoming chaotic.
In that last moment of clarity, she leaped, jumping into the gap in the center of the arena.
Whether she went down or not, it didn’t matter. Who was afraid of whom?
“I will find you.”
