Legend of the chosen ones: Beyond Destiny

After a brief exchange, the two hard-pressed brothers had managed to figure out the situation and accepted each other's new persona.

The lazy big brother, who spent his days picking his toes and scrolling through short videos, was actually an elite trooper from Central Earth's muddiest pits, a king of special forces soldiers who killed without blinking; and the quiet little brother, who dreamt of accumulating qualifications, had suddenly become a superpower user, able to talk to telephones—seeing this, the small garage in Cliff City really seemed to be a feng shui treasure land housing this auspicious pairing of brotherly talents.

"Is she the one?"

Lu Feng, finishing organizing his ammunition, confirmed.

"Yes, at least she's a leader," Ji Jue nodded. "Be careful, these guys aren't human anymore."

"I know."

Lu Feng nodded, steadily loading his shotgun.

Even if he hadn't known at the start, after killing a few, he had understood.

"I've seen plenty of these ghostly things in Central Earth, all sorts of messy crap. One shot from a coastal defense cannon, and they die just as cleanly."

Pulling the bolt of his gun, Lu Feng suddenly asked:

"Scared?"

"Scared."

Ji Jue nodded without hesitation, then retorted, "Does being scared help?"

"If you're scared, you go out first, wait for me in the car. If I happen to slip up, you'll still have a chance to run."

Lu Feng glanced back at him. "These ghost things have power and influence, we won't have peace in Cliff City for all our lives unless we get rid of them, you understand?"

Ji Jue didn't answer.

He suddenly felt that from this morning, no, from yesterday afternoon, when that monstrous old thing on a tricycle had charged at him, his life had likely been completely changed.

It's just that he had only just realized it now.

Bloodshot eyes, hunger, mutation, beasts, blood, viscera, and those things that were neither human nor ghost... Once they set their sights on you, peace would never be yours again!

If he didn't clear these obstacles, he'd have no future!

But since there was a chance...

In a brief moment of sudden clarity, Ji Jue looked up at Lu Feng, and through their masks, their eyes reflected a calm and understanding as if looking into a mirror:

—They had to kill them all!

But something was not right...

Ji Jue's lips moved slightly, hesitating.

For a moment, a voice inside him kept ringing, but he didn't know whether it was 'conscience' or 'weakness'. It urged him, telling himself: This isn't right, Ji Jue, don't be impulsive, stay calm, just killing won't solve the problem...

You at least need to set another fire!

Machines could speak and reveal the truth, so could corpses perhaps have something to say to others, what about souls? Did they really exist? Could they become ghosts? Would they linger unrelentingly?

Just to be safe, kill them all, drain the spiritual essence with a watch, burn the bodies to ash, crush their bones and scatter them, flush them into the sewer, set a fire, clear the scene, disperse the crowd, and then with the gas, blow this damned nightclub sky-high, erase all the surveillance on the way here, he and Brother Feng would find a place to have a drink, stir up some trouble, perhaps under the surveillance of a police station or some group's headquarters, change the time, leave proof they weren't there, then they could go home and sleep peacefully, and then think about tomorrow.

But regardless of which path or choice, there was only one prerequisite.

Those ghostly creatures, all of them, must die!

"There are fourteen people inside, four in the room next door. One at the door, one in the car, another in the back car."

Ji Jue said, "Among them, the woman on the left at the door, the one next to her, in the car, they are all monsters. Shooting the heart won't work, blowing up their heads might still make them struggle. Can you handle it?"

"That's a bit troublesome, but I'll give it a shot."

Under the mask, Lu Feng grinned, like a caged beast sharpening its claws again, and began meticulously checking his equipment, telling him: "In a moment, help me with the switch."

"When?"

Ji Jue placed his hand on the outlet beside them.

Lu Feng fit an old night-vision goggle onto his face, carefully adjusting the fit, and then started counting down: "5, 4, 3, 2..."

Silently, the soft digits echoed in the dark stairway and hallways, carried far away by the wind tinged with the scent of blood.

A crimson light ignited on the indicator, like a waking beast.

And thus, the final countdown reached its conclusion.

"—1!"

Pop!

In that instant, blinding sparks spewed out from the outlet.

As if, in a moment, all the souls had been sent to the flames, ignited!

With unprecedented effort pushing forward, Ji Jue's spiritual energy surged, passing through his fingertips, never to return. Yet his consciousness seemed to leave his body, following the electrical circuit, entering a gargantuan shell he had never experienced before, filling everything.

In an instant, expanded into controlling everything like a giant, Ji Jue could feel the electric current racing through countless cables within the immense building, rushing like blood in veins.

Speakers roared, neon lights flickered, huge ventilation fans silently spun in the dark, countless intertwined cables in the machine room, data flowing like an ocean.

But in an instant, it all vanished.

For as Ji Jue clenched his fist, the giant's heartbeat halted abruptly!

Thump!!!

The electricity equipment atop the building erupted into a roar, thick smoke billowing, and even the backup power failed. All music and dancing abruptly stopped, in that instant of silence, light vanished.

Darkness engulfed everything like a tide!

In the silence, Ji Jue fell to the ground, gasping violently.

Thick blood oozed from under his mask.

He couldn't see anything clearly.

He could only sense that the figure next to him had vanished in the breeze, and amidst the escalating noise of the garage, a piercing scream suddenly erupted.

"What the hell is going on?!" Zhu Hong roared in anger, instinctively looking towards the man smirking next to him, only to find him stiffened in place, bewildered in the dim light.

Someone tried to pull out their phone to turn on the flashlight, but just as they lifted their phone, a heavy thump sounded.

The only illumination came from the figure who had been holding a box next to him… Now, as the box fell, he lay on the ground, with bright red blood spurting continuously from his neck.

The dying man convulsed violently.

He reached out, trying to grab the leg of his comrade.

But the only thing visible was a figure slowly emerging behind the light, like a true monster. The dagger crossed the neck of the man holding the phone.

In an instant, the pale light was stained red with blood.

The phone fell, submerged by the spreading pool of blood.

"Be careful, there's trouble."

Those who reacted quickly began to retreat rapidly, some yelling, screaming, "Turn on the lights! Turn on the lights!!"

But those groping in the dark along the walls couldn't find the switch, their hands only finding a face hidden under night-vision goggles.

Then, with a click,

a head twisted.

In the sudden chaos, the entire underground garage turned into a boiling cauldron: pungent blood mixed with sewage, blending with the foul smell from the sewers, making one nauseous.

So vivid.

Ji Jue could smell it; it was the scent of death.

Now, he finally understood how Lu Feng had managed to kill so many people on his own—he never talked about his specific experiences in the army, only occasionally mentioning over drinks or in casual conversations: "It's all conscienceless work, the kind that gives you nightmares."

This was what that unnamed Parachute Battalion had taught him, the role he played when moving through Central Earth.

His job was to slaughter.

Even a few seconds of darkness, a fleeting moment of chaos, was enough for him to kill all six people on his route without even stopping or firing a shot.

Damn impressive!

Ji Jue couldn't help but nod as he and Brother Feng wildly slayed!

"Car!! The car!!"

Among the turmoil, a sharp cry echoed, "Turn on the headlights!!!"

The stunned driver finally reacted, starting the ignition in a flurry, and a blinding light burst forth from the headlights, illuminating the blood-soaked figure.

Standing in front of the headlights, turning around, his night-vision goggles looked like insect eyes as they gazed past the car window at the pale face, raising the handgun and pulling the trigger.

A burst of blood mist exploded behind the shattered window.

Then, the barrel turned and triggers were pulled one after another at those frantically fleeing towards the doors.

"Get the guns, kill him!!!"

The man standing next to Zhu Hong roared, and immediately someone rushed from the blind spot next to the truck.

Lu Feng casually turned the barrel, pulled the trigger, and bullets flew, instantly penetrating the enemy's chest. However, the opponent's body started to swell insanely.

Like inflating a balloon, mutant flesh grew wildly over the bones, quickly returning to its original state and even speeding up.

The next moment, aimed at him, was the dark barrel of a shotgun.

Under the mask, Lu Feng was expressionless, pulling the trigger.

The man was blown backwards, his chest burst open, exposing shattered bones and organs, a foul stench spreading, but incredibly, it began to rapidly heal again, then he opened his mouth to vomit.

Strange tentacles extended from his mouth, winding around the gun barrel, pulling tight. Lu Feng continued pulling the trigger until the man on the ground was reduced to a heap of mush.

Immediately afterward, he sensed a chill behind him.

Just behind him, from the shadow of the cargo, someone emerged on all fours, moving unbelievably fast, leaping between the walls and the ceiling, seizing a crucial moment, sharp fangs bared, biting toward his neck.

Bang!

A muffled sound suddenly burst forth, and blood spouted from the twisted face, the left eye exploding under the bullet's impact. Then, in that fleeting moment, his right eye also burst.

In less than a blink, three bullets came almost simultaneously, face-forward, and what followed was the monster's skull being blown apart, blood splattered!

The mutant body fell from the air.

A sniper? No…

From a moment of chilling urgency, Lu Feng suppressed the urge to roll and find cover, suddenly looked up towards the source of the bullets, and what he saw was an unexpected figure.

Ji Jue!

From the stairwell exit, hiding in the shadow of the corner, the youth had somehow already raised his weapon.

Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger!