章 34: Character Collapse!
編集者: Henyee Translations
Facing the current situation, Fang Ran was frozen on the spot.
This was his first time witnessing this kind of scene after living for twenty years.
A huge water cage trapped an ablazed figure, with several figures brandishing all kinds of cold rays and launching attacks towards him! The gold vibrant lights shining on this magical scene seemed unfamiliar to Fang Ran, making him wonder whether this was the same sea of lights that he knew.
Every attack left no leeway, and every blow was fatal.
He could sense that everyone of them truly had murderous intent, and seriously attacked with the aim of killing the other party.
Fang Ran was still in the same position from when Si A pushed him to the ground. His entire body was trembling and his legs had turned to jelly.
This was not the same as the previous scenario when he was shrouded in a cloak and peacefully watching others attacking the monster. This was genuinely a group of people staging an assasination before his eyes!
Fang Ran stared blankly at the battle arena. In the huge cage of water, a figure surrounded with red flames was violently charging around the water cage like a trapped beast!
Although Si A looked like he had the upper hand, Fang Ran could tell…
Si A could not hold on for much longer.
The huge water cage seemed to be able to strongly suppress or even restrain Si A's flames. Fang Ran could see through the water cage that he could not liberate his flaming arm guard.
One after another, all of them took turns to attack Si A. Even though he was stronger than any of them and even if his rank was as high as B-grade, in that unknown water cage, his situation was getting more and more precarious.
The number of wounds on him was increasing, and blood continued to ooze out from his wounds.
There were four main threats to Si A: the mage who had unleashed the water cage and was hiding all the way at the back, the woman at the side who kept using sorcery to disrupt his mind, the young man from the authorities whose frontal assault was becoming increasingly aggressive, and lastly the man in the suit who was watching Si A's every move.
"Damn it!"
Flames raging, Si A applied force to his arm that had been slashed by the Tang Dynasty sword. His flaming right hand directly pressed on the wound, burning the wound and stopping the bleeding!
Si A's sweat evaporated and the corners of his jacket thrashed in the rising flames, as he stared intensely at the man maintaining the water cage!
Because of the water cage, the activation of his Night Equipment failed once again. Si A glanced at the ring on his right hand. His personal weapons and Night Equipment were all related to fire. This was his greatest strength but also his greatest weakness!
Bang!
The hooded young man from the authorities rushed up to Si A. With a swing of his Tang Dynasty sword, Si A, who was already low on health, narrowed his eyes and barely dodged the imminent danger. However, just then, Si A's expression changed!
The man in the suit who had been standing still suddenly moved!
In a flash, he was behind Si A!
Sensing an intense danger coming behind him, Si A turned to the side with difficulty. The next moment, a sharp pain struck him!
A hand penetrated through his right chest!
"Pfft! Cough!"
Si A vomited a huge mouthful of blood!
Boom!
A vigorous flame erupted, forcing back the attack from the two of them as well as stifling the subsequent attacks from others!
However, Si A also lost the strength to maintain his posture. He was sent flying due to the force of the impact, before crashing and skidding on the ground for a few meters!
He stopped right beside Fang Ran.
A scorching smell and the stench of blood shot up to Fang Ran's brain!
"A… Big Brother A…?"
With a quivering voice, Fang Ran looked at the injured figure. The flames on his entire body had not died out. However, this tenacious figure did not give up, even with trembling arms, he continued to push himself off the ground, like the last iron-willed soldier on a battlefield trying to pick up his spear.
"What the… That's not right! Big Brother A! You… you… are you alright!"
Fang Ran did not know what he was thinking then. Mustering up some strength, he stumbled over to Si A's side and supported him up despite the unextinguished flames on his body.
"F*ck! It's so hot!"
Fang Ran's hands scalded, yet he still hurriedly patted Si A's body in the places where he was still ablaze. His head right now was blank; he had simply dashed out for some reason unbeknownst to himself.
Si A gasped slowly, without stopping him. He simply looked at Fang Ran with a calm expression. All of a sudden, he laughed and asked Fang Ran,
"Why didn't you run?"
"Ah?!" Fang Ran was stupefied.
Si A let out another laugh. He then looked straight ahead again. Out of the blue, he pushed Fang Ran aside!
His body was once set ablaze and his hands warded off the incoming Tang Dynasty sword!
Bang!
Sparks flew in the air!
Just then, the punkish youth also rushed to their vicinity. Seeing Si A looking like an arrow at the end of its flight, the youth could not help but sneer. "You're done for! Si A! Stop resisting!"
Si A glanced at him, but did not speak while continuing to look at him in disdain.
The punkish youth was raging internally! That damn arrogant look of contempt was one of the reasons he hated Si A the most!
At this moment, he noticed the dazed Fang Ran who had been neglected by everyone else.
"Yo! Why is there an E-grade worm here?" He sneered. Then, he lifted his brass knuckles with demonic prints on it and punched towards Fang Ran as if taking revenge for Si A's contemptuous gaze. The expression in his eyes was one of mockery and disdain. It was as if he wanted to inflect all the contempt he had received onto Fang Ran!
Seeing a punch coming straight for his face, Fang Ran could not help but shiver as he smelled the scent of death amidst his laborious breath.
Bang!
A blazing hand suddenly grabbed his fist.
"You!!!" The punkish youth immediately turned pale in shock! He frantically tried to pull out his right hand, but to no avail! The right hand that Si A was grabbing was not budging an inch; it was as if a ginormous claw had viciously clamped down on it!
With flames still remaining on the right side of his face, Si A suddenly appeared between the two of them with a malicious expression on his face!
"And that's why minions will remain as minions. They will forever only attack people who are weaker than themselves!"
Immediately after, the sound of bones cracking could be heard. Mixed with the sounds of cracking bones, a roar straight from a demon of a hell resounded through the area.
When they heard the roar, the woman from Adversity, the hooded young man, the man in a suit, and everyone else halted in their steps and even adopted a defensive posture!
"Want to kill me? You must pay the right price first!"
Si Ai's expression turned crazy and wild. Grabbing the youth's wrist, he slammed him towards the ground. He clawed the back of the youth's head, as if intending to shatter the youth's head with just his grip! Looking up, he sneered maliciously at all of them.
"Remember! This is what you have brought upon yourself!"
Then, the flames on his entire body raged! In a split second, he turned into a Flaming Man! The gaping hole in his chest was no longer a burden to him!
A hoarse voice rang out from Si A's throat!
"Blazing hell!!!"
The expressions of the man in the suit as well as everyone else, changed drastically! All kinds of protective shields appeared on them at the same time!
Then, inside the hemispherical water cage, a magma fire column that was the same size as the base, erupted!
The raging flames rushed up!
It was as if the water cage was submerged in a world of flames!
When the two extremes collided with each other, they all returned to the same source!
However, a second before this, Fang Ran had seen Si A turning around and smiling at him as he said,
"Well, it seems like I can't survive. Hmm, why don't I lend you a helping hand. Goodbye, young friend. Remember to find a place to hide and live your life well…"
His words ended there. Sounds of explosions drowned out the rest of his words.
…
…
After Lord-knows how long, Fang Ran slowly opened his eyes with trembling eyebrows. The last bits of the flames that surrounded him as protection had vanished. Looking at the blackened street, Fang Ran's eyes were blank.
However, that did not last long, because very soon, Fang Ran spotted it. Collapsed in front of him, the only intact body in his vicinity was…
A corpse.
With a gaping hole in its right chest lying on the ground.
Instantly, a wave of nausea washed over him!
The charred stench in the air, the smell of people being swept up by flames. The shock of the scene before his eyes and the unprecedented panic and fear that he felt, all constituted the uncomfortable feeling in Fang Ran's throat at this moment!
"Uh! Cough cough!!!"
How many people have seen dead bodies?
And not the intact ones you would see at a funeral, I am talking about those brutal, mutilated, indescribable, human corpses.
Before today, Fang Ran had never thought that such a tragic scene would appear before his eyes!
He actually really wanted to pull himself together, like a fearless heroic protagonist in the movies, but he could not do it.
He wished he could revert back to his calm self, the self-deprecating self. Right now, he really wanted to roast himself with something along the lines of, 'Dude, someone like you with the power of a devil fruit, actually plagiarised from the Grim Reaper.' However, at this moment, he could not bring himself to utter a single word.
That person whom he had only known for a few hours, had died in front of him.
A living person had died in front of him!
'Had he not saved me then, could he have had the chance to escape?!'
This thought rushed into Fang Ran's brain, causing him to tug at his hair and have a splitting headache!
Strong emotions interfered with his perception, and a feeling of nausea spread across his body. Not being able to accept reality, his eyes widened as he stared at Si A who had collapsed in front of him.
The emotions from a moment ago lingered as he looked at the blank eyes of the dead, the horribly mangled hole in his chest caused his bones and internal organs to be dimly seen. All these sights caused huge waves of fear that crashed against Fang Ran's heart.
The memories of the past few hours flashed in his mind, but they seemed like ages ago.
'Why can't they compete fairly? Why do they have to kill people? Do they not care about the law?'
Fang Ran, who had lived in a normal society for the past twenty years, could only think of these seemingly stupid questions.
Opening his mouth, he did not know what sound to make. He dug his hands deeply into the ground, as if trying to find an opening to vent his feelings.
After a period of time, Fang Ran slowly calmed down, and he slowly recalled the many things that his teacher had once taught him.
Before the 20th century! Before the industrial revolution! Before the world war! Before capitalism! Before feudalism! Before the Empires! Before the Code of Hammurabi in 1700 BC!
There was no law in this world. People abided by the oldest rule - The law of the jungle!
"But!"
A hoarse but calm voice rang out from Fang Ran's mouth.
In China!
As early as five thousand years ago, in the age of mythology, there was already another rule!
Fang Ran slowly lifted up his head, suppressing all his turmoil and slowly becoming tranquil. Looking at the unchanging night sky of the Night Battle, he clenched his teeth and said in a soft but resolute voice,
"A debtor must pay his debt, a murderer must pay with his life!"
-- 贈り物
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