"Why did you abandon your post?"
A man wearing a red mask spoke in a hoarse voice.
Feeling the scorching heat emanating from the hilt of the Tang刀, the Snake Woman sensed her internal energy surging. The power contained within it seemed to actively absorb her true qi. "Abandon my post? That's an interesting way to put it. I'd call it life imprisonment."
"Precisely, but that is your destiny." The man seemed unwilling to engage, signaling the men behind him not to act rashly.
At this moment, Ren Yuanhao was completely immersed in the wine's intoxicating aura, his body subtly absorbing the potent, fiery true qi from the drink. He showed no signs of waking.
The Snake Woman let out a cold laugh, tinged with a hint of bitterness. "Destiny? Yes, perhaps I once believed that was my fate. But now, haven't I escaped from there? Hasn't my unchanging life seen a ripple of change? Tell me, is this also destiny?"
"That is merely a minor interlude in destiny, one that will not pierce your being. Now, the City Lord has ordered me to eliminate you, or you can obediently return to your lair." The man's twin blades were like two gleaming fangs. He paused briefly, then added, "That way, at least you would still be a dog of the City Lord, retaining a shred of dignity."
The Snake Woman smiled again. "Dignity? I lost that sort of thing ten years ago. Do you know, as long as I can get revenge, I don't fear staying in that disreputable place forever. Being a dog is of no consequence. I constantly wished for that bastard to die at any moment, but I discovered my curses were useless. Only by leaving that place can I have a chance at revenge."
"Revenge?" The man sneered. "Do you think you, with your current abilities, can defeat the City Lord?"
"How will I know if I don't try?" The Snake Woman gripped her blade tightly. "I seem to finally understand now. People like us can only trust the swords in our hands. If you believe in it, it will give you strength."
"It seems you have made up your mind. In that case, let us speak with blades."
The man's twin blades opened like lion's jaws. With a flash of cold light, they lunged mercilessly towards the Snake Woman's waist. She leaped up, her left hand moving in a strange, contorting motion. A rustling sound suddenly emanated from the window!
More than ten rattlesnakes crawled in through the window at the Snake Woman's call. While her right hand wielded her blade against the masked man's attack, her left hand simultaneously controlled the rattlesnakes to attack the other masked individuals. The battle was fierce and intense. Fortunately, the open dormitory provided ample space. Relying on her agile movements and the assistance of the snakes, the Snake Woman managed to hold her ground.
Just then, what Mu Yunyan had feared reappeared: a more exquisitely crafted sonic device. The moment its switch was flipped, the Snake Woman clutched her head, her movements becoming extremely sluggish. The snakes retreated, and without their support, she was on the verge of defeat.
"This is your power! Do you see it now? What do you have to fight the City Lord with!"
The man didn't press his attack immediately. Perhaps he merely wanted her to see clearly, to make her realize that living was more important than anything else.
At this critical moment, Ren Yuanhao, who had been in deep sleep, suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. His complexion instantly shifted from flushed red to pale, and his body trembled uncontrollably.
"I didn't expect him to be an ability user as well. Do you know, this device has undergone several improvements. It not only restricts 'acquired' ability users like you but also affects 'origin' ability users!"
The masked man pressed forward, the device in his hand flashing with a solitary, eerie glow.
Mu Yunyan and Sha Yunba were startled. They finally understood why their Bao Ge was so formidable—he was an ability user!
"Look, this is the power of modern technology! What can you possibly use to fight the City Lord? Your pathetic 'acquired' ability?"
The Snake Woman had lost the strength to reply. As an acquired ability user, the device's restriction on her powers was nearly devastating.
What she didn't realize was that Ren Yuanhao was also in extreme danger.
"Beep beep, system is experiencing interference from unknown sound waves."
The system voice became like static from a radio suffering from wave interference, the crackling sound causing Ren Yuanhao, who was in a mental illusion, to feel a surge of nausea.
"What's happening?"
"System is experiencing interference from unknown sound waves, threat level: 3 stars, defense system has been breached!"
Ren Yuanhao felt his illusion shattering piece by piece. He couldn't even actively contact the System Miss. In a daze, he felt as if his back of the head had been struck hard by a hammer, his breathing becoming labored.
Fortunately, through this painful torment, Ren Yuanhao finally awoke from his slumber.
While asleep, it was bearable. Upon waking, however, he felt his eardrums constantly filled with a low-frequency, yet utterly unavoidable noise. Underneath this noise, he felt a profound weakness and a churning of his blood.
He had sensed this feeling before when he was in the underground passage, but at that time, the sound was faint, and its frequency differed from his own, so he hadn't been substantially affected.
But now, it was different. The system's imminent collapse should also have been due to this bizarre sound wave. Since the system was a form of ability, he suddenly realized: that sound wave was likely a new type of weapon designed to counteract abilities!
To confirm his suspicion, he deliberately used his wind element ability, but that ability was suppressed even more terrifyingly than the system. This reminded him of the systemic chaos caused when he was afflicted by the South Asian death curse—blood curse.
His brain felt like an expanding and then collapsing universe, causing him excruciating pain. However, he now knew clearly that the immediate task was to find that little device and destroy it.
He forcibly circulated his true qi. Since abilities actually relied on the true qi and internal energy within the body to be activated, his abilities, once suppressed, also caused his normally freely flowing true qi to be slightly affected. It was as if a part of the complete system had been suddenly extracted, thoroughly disrupting the energy that had been integrated into his body. Reorganizing it would definitely take time. The simpler and more direct solution was to turn off that sonic interference device.
As Ren Yuanhao was in a daze, he suddenly heard a faint male voice.
"It seems I can only carry out the extermination order on you, Snake Woman."
Ren Yuanhao looked up and saw a man wearing a red mask flash past him. He then grabbed a woman by the throat and thrust a short blade into her chest. The woman, in immense pain, seemed to have finally lost all her strength and collapsed to the ground.
—Snake Woman?
Ren Yuanhao's memories seemed to be slightly disrupted. However, since the sound waves primarily targeted abilities, he quickly remembered that this woman was the Snake Woman who had defected and helped him in the underground passage!
And now, this woman connected to you is dead.