Chapter 13: I Will Blast You Into Oblivion!

Zhou Yan looked at Qi Yu, who had transformed into a creature resembling "Venom" from the superhero films on Earth, and gazed at his familiar right arm, now morphed into the shape of a firearm.

He sighed and shook his head.

This police officer actually possessed a strong sense of justice and was quite to his liking. Yet, he had ended up reduced to such a "Desire-Being."

On the other side, the moment Zhou Yan appeared, the blonde secretary who had been guarding the Pope quickly completed her transformation. Her face became covered in a substance resembling a half-mask, and her fingernails elongated into razor-sharp claws. Without hesitation, she lunged toward Zhou Yan at high speed.

"All who obstruct the Pope must be eliminated!"

Zhou Yan: ?

In an instant, the secretary, who looked somewhat like a catwoman, crossed the dozen or so meters like a flicker of light, appearing directly before him. Zhou Yan, confused by this senseless woman, mercilessly raised his hand to grab her.

*Whoosh!*

The secretary’s reflexes were seemingly extraordinary; she quickly ducked, evading Zhou Yan’s large hand, and immediately swung her claws toward his abdomen.

*‘These claws can even slice through the carbon armor of the Black Blade!’* a savage grin appeared on her face.

*Snap!*

The claws shattered completely.

The secretary’s smile turned blank.

The next instant, she felt a tightness around her head; Zhou Yan’s five fingers had already clamped down on her skull.

"An agility-type ability, it seems. So confident..." Zhou Yan squeezed her head, forcing her down onto her knees before him. He did not kill her immediately; instead, he looked up at the Pope. "This looks like your most loyal subordinate. Do you intend to save her?"

The Pope remained silent but suddenly raised a hand.

The next second, a massive number of Faceless Ones rushed toward Zhou Yan.

"Heh, afraid to come yourself?" Zhou Yan let out a wild laugh and exerted force with his palm.

*Bang!*

The female secretary’s skull was crushed, and her body collapsed to the ground, trembling.

[Killed "Great Desirer," gained 3811 Spirit]
[Obtained "1-Star Rune—Physique, Acuity, Spirit"]
[Killed six "Great Desirers" (6/6)]

Immediately after, Zhou Yan was submerged by the swarm of Faceless Ones.

The next second, the berserk Qi Yu fired a blast, creating a massive crater at the spot where Zhou Yan had been "controlled" by the pile of Faceless Ones. Dozens of them were instantly blown to pieces, and the crimson armor representing Zhou Yan was sent flying.

"Qi Yu" let out a roar. The black substance on his back formed the shape of thrusters, firing continuously to provide terrifying acceleration. With this speed, he caught up to Zhou Yan almost instantly. His left claw grabbed Zhou Yan’s shoulder while the massive cannon on his right arm condensed a destructive light, pressed directly against Zhou Yan’s chest.

*BOOM!*

On the other side, seeing his secretary killed, the Pope allowed Qi Yu to attack Zhou Yan while he raised his own hand.

"Gather!"

As his thoughts shifted, every single Faceless One filling the area rushed toward the Pope. Starting with those nearest to him, every Faceless One that came close melted like soft clay and fused into the Pope’s body. During this process, the Pope's white suit burst apart, his stature grew larger and larger, and the mask on his face cracked, revealing his true form.

He was a Faceless One himself!

"Hoo..."

"I desire for all people in the world to be heart-to-heart and realize their own wishes!"

"With such a noble, selfless philosophy, why must so many small fry stand in the way!"

"It is clear, so clear that if you would just accept it, everyone would find peace!"

The mutation occurring with the Pope did not affect Qi Yu’s assault on Zhou Yan. After a deafening blast, the berserk Qi Yu found that his right arm’s cannon barrel had been pushed aside by Zhou Yan with effortless ease. The peerlessly powerful shot missed entirely, hitting a nearby building and carving out a massive hole.

"Can you still wake up?" The two hovered in mid-air as Zhou Yan asked calmly.

"ROAR!" The berserk Qi Yu’s eyes streamed with tears as he kicked Zhou Yan away, sending him crashing into the ground like a meteor. His right arm transformed and unfolded again, morphing into several firearms connected by black substance, aiming at Zhou Yan on the ground from various angles.

*Rumble, rumble, rumble!*

Endless firepower poured down on Zhou Yan, instantly enveloping him in explosions.

The next second, a crimson figure burst out from the sea of artillery fire. Like an uppercut from a cannon, he slammed his fist into Qi Yu’s abdomen, then continued his momentum, carrying Qi Yu into the skyscraper beside them.

All the glass curtain walls of that side of the building shattered instantly!

Qi Yu’s back was embedded into the broken tempered glass, and he spat out mouthfuls of black blood.

***

Zhou Yan, wings sprouted from his back, his "Tyrant Ghost God" armor glowing with a scarlet light. He stood high above, one foot pressed onto Qi Yu’s shoulder and the other on his knee, slowly retracting the right fist that had punched a massive bloody hole in Qi Yu’s stomach.

"Qi Yu, I don’t have time to waste with you here. If you can wake up, do it. If you can't, I’ll take you out before I go kill that Pope."

Zhou Yan said coldly. As he spoke, he pulled his left arm back high, his body covered in deep purple demon flames.

Qi Yu, whose appearance was like Venom, roared in agony. As he struggled, the black substance on his face receded halfway, revealing half of his human face.

"Z-Zhou... brother..." Qi Yu’s face was filled with struggle.

"Good, as long as you can come back." The corners of Zhou Yan’s mouth under the helmet curled slightly.

"No..." Both the human and monster parts of Qi Yu’s eyes were streaming with tears.

"I... I can’t come back..."

He seemed to be using all his strength to suppress his desires. "I... I don’t even know if seeing you now, Zhou... is real... or just an illusion."

Zhou Yan watched the murmuring Qi Yu in silence.

"Brother Zhou..." The remaining part of Qi Yu’s face was filled with despair. "I, I don’t want to become... a monster..."

"I’m just a small-town cop."

"I shouldn’t have taken this risk... *sob*..."

"But I just... couldn’t help it... somehow I just ended up here..."

He seemed to have fallen into a delirium, rambling incoherently. The black substance on his face began to spread once more, covering the human portion.

Zhou Yan watched all of this silently, the demon flames on his body flaring up even more violently. The next second, amidst Qi Yu’s rambling, the black substance on his face completely engulfed him again, leaving only one left eye that still resembled a human eye.

The pupil of that eye suddenly contracted. In the next moment, Qi Yu’s right arm quickly raised, transforming into a terrifying cannon.

Zhou Yan was about to move to kill him first, but he was struck by the sight before him, and his movements paused.

He saw Qi Yu struggling to aim the cannon on his right arm at his own head.

Black tears flowed from his only remaining human eye.

"Brother Zhou, I... I wanted to help you, too."

"But... but... I’ve disappointed you."

*BOOM!*

Amidst the violent explosion, Qi Yu’s head vanished instantly.

[Killed "Extreme Desirer," gained 6157 Spirit]
[Obtained "1-Star Rune—Physique, Acuity, Spirit"]
[Obtained "Rune Circuit Essence · 1-Star" ×2]
[Killed one "Extreme Desirer" (1/1)]

Zhou Yan looked at Qi Yu’s remains, not bothering to ponder why a kill he didn't personally land still counted toward his tally. His expression behind the helmet was icy.

In the distance, a mocking laugh erupted—the sound was exaggeratedly loud, as if a giant were roaring: "How laughable. Someone who cannot be true to his own desires dies like trash. It is truly incomprehensible."

It was the Pope!

Zhou Yan turned his head silently and saw the giant Faceless One, now nearly twenty meters tall after absorbing tens of thousands of others. A terrifying, oppressive aura bore down on him as if it were physical.

Now Zhou Yan understood why "Nature" was so certain that if he had arrived any later, he would have been unable to defeat the Pope. It was true—having already grown to this extent by absorbing ten thousand people, if given more time to absorb all one million citizens of Desire City, there was no telling what this monster would have grown into!

Everything remained unknown.

Zhou Yan did not respond to the giant’s words. He simply looked down at Qi Yu’s corpse again. After two seconds of silence, he bent down and gently placed a hand on Qi Yu’s chest.

[Extreme Desirer (Endless Desire to Shoot)]
[Type: One who has undergone Extreme Desire Sublimation]
[Description: Fully awakened the special power of the Butterfly of Extreme Desire, completely controlling "Desire-Matter," turning himself into an agent of desire.]
[Rating: 1-Star, 2nd Tier]
[Attributes: Physique 102, Acuity 98, Spirit 107]
[Note: A shooter with a heart for justice, who became a frenzied Desire-Beast after his desires ran wild, yet in the very end, followed his own will to fire the final shot...]
[Detected compatible Chaos Matter. Shall it be recorded as material for the talent "Super Fusion"?]

Zhou Yan looked at the information regarding Qi Yu’s remains and whispered to himself.

"To die by one's own will is not a bad end."

"No matter. Since you wanted to help me, I will naturally ensure that you can."

As he spoke, the hand he pressed against Qi Yu’s chest shone with a strange light.

*‘Material replacement.’*

Qi Yu’s headless black corpse dissipated like stardust. Three illusory, magnificent cards appeared before Zhou Yan: The Karmic Lotus Calamity Sword, the Black Locust, and Shuten-doji’s Oni Horn.

*‘The Karmic Lotus Calamity Sword acts as a weapon, and the Tyrant Ghost God form fused with Shuten-doji’s horn is my strongest close-combat form, capable of completely replacing the Weevil Armor at a higher level.’*

Zhou Yan pondered briefly and chose to replace the Malicious Locust in the middle. The locust within the card vanished, replaced by a mass of black sludge that constantly changed shape.

[Chaos Matter "Endless Desire to Shoot" has replaced "Weevil Progenitor · Malicious Locust," recorded as material for the talent "Super Fusion."]

"Hmm!?" The giant Faceless One saw Qi Yu disappear under Zhou Yan's hand and felt something was wrong. "What did you do?"

He immediately took a step and charged at Zhou Yan; because of his massive size, he arrived in front of him in an instant. During this, not only did Zhou Yan make no move, but the Tyrant Ghost God armor on his body also vanished like stardust.

He didn't even activate his Fate-Armor form.

As if in mourning for the departed Qi Yu, Zhou Yan’s current appearance was that of a young man wearing black athletic clothes, much like mourning attire.

"You are courting death!"

Seeing this, the Faceless Giant was overjoyed and unleashed a heavy punch, roaring toward Zhou Yan!

Zhou Yan looked up coldly, meeting the gaze of the berserk creature.

*‘Super Fusion.’*

Everything in the world came to a standstill, and even the high-speed movement of the Faceless Giant froze as if a pause button had been pressed.

[Activating Talent: Super Fusion]
[Fusion Material: Endless Desire to Shoot]

A strange light erupted from the center of Zhou Yan’s forehead. It rotated at high speed, resembling a celestial body or a nebula. The shapeless, squirming black sludge emerged from the void and, amidst the rapidly rotating light, merged with Zhou Yan.

[Fusion Complete]
[Fused Fate-Armor Form—Extreme Desire Gun-Skeleton]
[Combat in this form requires an additional consumption of 50 Fate-Armor Durability/second]
[Obtained additional attribute bonuses: Physique +102, Acuity +92, Spirit +107]
[Activated Skill 1—Desire Shooting (Consumes 1-250 Fate-Armor Durability/shot)]
[Activated Skill 2—Desire-Skeleton Entanglement (Continuous consumption of 30 Fate-Armor Durability/second)]
[Activated Skill 3—Extreme Desire Skeletal Dragon (Consumes 500 Fate-Armor Durability/use)]

The light faded. Time, which had been paused, began to flow once more.

*BANG!!!*

The Faceless Giant’s heavy fist slammed down!

Like a blast of high-powered explosives, the punch tore half of the building away. Amidst the screams of the few remaining survivors, the building groaned with the sound of snapping supports and then collapsed.

Having caused such terrifying destruction, the Faceless Giant felt no pride. It quickly stood up, rotated its head, and locked its gaze firmly on the top of another skyscraper!

Reflected in its pupils was a small figure standing on the exterior wall of that building. That figure was still not wearing armor, still dressed only in black athletic clothes, as if an ordinary young man on his way to a friend’s funeral.

The only difference from an ordinary person was that the sleeve of his right arm was gone. Wrapped around his bare arm was a substance resembling black bone. On his handsome face, his left eye looked down at the Faceless Giant, filled with icy killing intent, while his right eye was covered by the same black bone, with a perfectly round, inhuman pupil at its center.

It was Zhou Yan!

He stood on the high building and waved his left hand. The Ghost Gourd appeared, releasing a massive amount of purple mist, instantly shrouding an area of several hundred meters.

[Activating Effect—Decisive Field]
[Target—All Desire-Beings within range]

The Faceless Giant looked around. Seeing that the mist did not seem to affect it beyond a slight drain on its energy, it sneered: "Is this all your tricks amount to?"

Zhou Yan looked coldly at the Faceless Giant and whispered: "This mist is not to weaken you, but to ensure that none of your clones can escape."

Destructive black light emerged from the palm of his right hand.

"Next, I will turn you, and every one of your clones..."

"Into dust!!!"