Chapter 104: Artificial Soul 31
Wang Feichi steadied himself and stood up from the ground.
There was no anger on his face, only a thoughtful expression. Frost gathered around the severed end of his right arm, freezing the blood, and the extremely low temperature temporarily suppressed his Black Flame.
“Prepared, and knows to use ice. Is it a low-temperature freezing gun, liquid nitrogen, or an Extraordinary Abilities user who can control ice?” Wang Feichi murmured, “So your target was me all along… it’s strange, where did you get this information?”
The frost on the severed end of his right arm started to melt, the melting wounds showed no blood, and a burst of black flames emerged, reconstructing his flesh and blood; a brand-new arm grew in an instant, identical to the original.
Silverface and Kui Xin had similar abilities. Silverface could, when necessary, turn his body into transparent water, becoming immune to most physical attacks while in water form, and could hide himself in rainy weather. Kui Xin would turn into a black mist when maintaining his Shadow Transition state, also becoming immune to some physical damage and even able to pass through walls.
Wang Feichi’s Black Flame body was a passive trait that only activated when he was harmed; it could fill in his body and repair his wounds.
From start to finish, this was a trap, a bait, and the true target of the enemies was always only him. They wanted to obtain his genetic information, which led them to set up this elaborate scheme.
They sent out over a dozen Extraordinary Abilities users who could control water to attract his attention, paired with those with spatial abilities for a precise coordination. They even understood the characteristics of his Extraordinary Abilities and used extreme low temperatures to suppress his Black Flame temporarily.
When Wang Feichi’s arm and legs were caught in the spatial vortex a moment ago, he felt the super low temperature, as if a whole pool of liquid nitrogen was in the connected space.
He was executing a mission for the Special Affairs Department, a secret that few knew; in recent years, he had retreated to the sidelines. How did the enemies learn about his abilities?
And that spatial abilities user hiding in the shadows—if their Extraordinary Ability level wasn’t S, it was certainly very close, as Wang Feichi had experienced severed limbs in his early missions. The severed limbs would directly become flames and fly back to his body to repair him; there existed a special connection between the severed limbs and his body, allowing him to sense this connection.
Wang Feichi was a ruthless person. With the help of colleagues in his department, he had tested the limits of his body’s healing capacity, but he couldn’t determine the maximum distance his severed limbs could turn to fire and return.
Now that a part of his limb had been severed and the connection had also disappeared, it indicated that the severed limb was too far from his body.
How far could the spatial abilities user teleport? Wang Feichi had colleagues with spatial abilities, but their teleportation distance was at most ten kilometers, which was already A rank… What was the limit of the spatial abilities user targeting him?
If Kui Xin knew what Wang Feichi was pondering, she could give a clear answer—over three hundred kilometers.
During the mission with the Kraken, Night Cicada led them through numerous spatial jumps on a small island in the sea. The cargo ship sailed on the vast ocean, far from Hei Hai City, yet Night Cicada handled it effortlessly, quickly bringing them to their destination.
His Extraordinary Ability was almost ridiculously strong! Kui Xin once suspected he was S rank because Red was already A rank, and his status was clearly higher than Red’s. Later, after acquiring the Investigative Eye, Kui Xin ruled out the possibility of Night Cicada being S rank.
Wang Feichi stood still, scanning his surroundings, wary of the vanishing spatial vortex.
Wei Zhi took the initiative to close in on the enemy; the earlier distance was too far, beyond the range of the spatial confinement. Now that they were closer, if the spatial vortex appeared, Wei Zhi could immediately attempt to counter it.
Wang Feichi flicked his hand and conjured a whip of fire. The whip, like an angry dragon, coiled around the clones; all clones touched by the flames were engulfed and burned by the Black Flame. Just as it was about to reach Red and Silverface, the fire whip was swallowed by a blue spatial vortex that appeared in midair.
Wang Feichi said, “That white-haired man and the guy in black clothes are the protected core.”
“If the enemy doesn’t want to abandon their companions, they will definitely use their spatial teleportation ability to take them away,” Kui Xin whispered. “Director Wang, attack the enemy to force them to activate their ability; when the vortex appears, the team leader will use spatial confinement, and I’ll try to assist with the attack…”
“Wei Zhi, are you confident you can stop the spatial vortex from closing?” Wang Feichi asked. “Physical means won’t work, and my flames can’t prevent its opening or closing. Tsk, I really despise spatial abilities users… except for teammates.”
“Not sure, but since we are both spatial types, we can give it a try,” Wei Zhi replied. “Attacking the vortex will have to wait until my spatial confinement ends; otherwise, we can’t pass through the spatial barrier. Kui Xin, act according to the circumstances.”
“Electromagnetic devices ready to activate.” Wei Zhi issued the command discreetly.
“Understood, countdown commencing,” Adam reported. “Three, two, one… Electromagnetic shockwave has dispersed.”
The intangible electromagnetic shockwave spread out, and Kui Xin felt a wave of tingling, followed by a harsh electric sound in her earpiece, which soon vanished.
The moment was fleeting.
In the next instant, a spatial vortex suddenly opened right above her head, the deep blue vortex resembling an unfathomable abyss, as if some terrifying entity was about to emerge.
Silver light fell from the deep blue vortex—an enormous shell resembling a four-meter-long, one-meter-wide cannonball!
Wang Feichi raised his head, his expression fracturing: “What the hell?!”
Kui Xin was dumbfounded as well, exclaiming, “What the f*!”
The most powerful nuclear bomb known in the First World measures eight meters in length and two point one meters in diameter; a single strike could devastate an entire city! The shell before them was only half the size of a nuclear bomb, but its explosive power must not be underestimated.
Has Mechanized Dawn gone mad?!
At that critical moment, Wei Zhi dashed forward, reaching a close enough distance before the shell exploded to activate spatial confinement, binding it in place; the silver shell halted in mid-air.
The Black Flame was not omnipotent; if the black flames made contact with such unstable materials like a bomb, it would directly ignite the explosive. No matter how strong Wang Feichi’s recovery ability was, he couldn’t withstand such a massive cannonball exploding right in his face!
What fractured Wang Feichi’s expression further was that after one cannonball was thrown from the spatial vortex, another spatial vortex opened!
Another silver cannonball fell outside Wei Zhi’s control radius, exploding immediately!
An extreme cold storm swept through, and the shockwave threw Kui Xin several meters away.
These two cannonballs were not filled with gunpowder or other explosives but with liquid nitrogen! This was a liquid nitrogen bomb! Mechanized Dawn was using liquid nitrogen bombs to create an environment close to absolute zero to suppress Wang Feichi’s Black Flame.
The explosion of the liquid nitrogen bomb triggered a chain reaction; without flesh regeneration abilities, Wei Zhi faced the extreme cold impact and lost consciousness instantly. The spatial confinement failed, and the other liquid nitrogen bomb she was controlling exploded too! The second round of the extreme cold storm swept the whole area.
A layer of frost instantly formed on Kui Xin’s eyebrows and hair, and the exposed skin suffered frostbite. She spat a mouthful of blood, blood also gushing from her nose and mouth; the icy air froze her nasal mucosa and trachea, prompting a reflexive fit of coughing, blood gushing down her face; as soon as it flowed out, it froze, forming icicles that dropped to the ground with a thud.
Both cannonballs exploded nearly right next to Wang Feichi; he faced not only the extreme cold near absolute zero but also the shockwave from two explosions. Compared to Kui Xin, his condition seemed far more severe. He lay face down on the ground, completely covered in white frost, strands of Black Flame flickering out to repair his body, indicating he was still alive.
Rain falling from above felt like hail smashing against him, and if it weren’t for the protective goggles over Kui Xin’s eyes, they would have been frozen blind by now. Nevertheless, everything before her turned blood-red, the capillaries in her eyeballs seemed to have ruptured.
More terrifying than Extraordinary Abilities was human technology; more fearsome than human technology was the combination of Extraordinary Abilities and advanced tech.
No wonder the researchers of Mechanized Dawn would hold such arrogance and ambition, viewing themselves as “God.” They were skilled at creating life and even better at destroying it; individual power couldn’t compete with the collective wisdom of humanity.
Wang Feichi was S rank, but he was not a human-shaped nuclear bomb; he could easily crush A rank abilities users, exterminating Silverface’s clones was like chopping vegetables, but facing a real “nuclear bomb,” he could only be rendered incapacitated.
“Kui Xin… Kui… zzzz…” Adam’s voice flickered in her earpiece, but Kui Xin couldn’t make out what he was saying. After the harsh electric sound, communication was cut off!
This time, the communication disruption wasn’t caused by electromagnetic pulses but by the extreme cold temperature.
The ultra-low temperature could damage and disable electronic devices; the Investigation Bureau’s equipment could withstand extreme cold down to minus seventy degrees, but the temperature at the scene was not merely minus seventy degrees—rather at least minus two hundred degrees, even approaching “absolute zero,” where molecular movement stops.
Ice is the solid form of water, and the “Silverfaces” could also manipulate ice.
The clones worked together to control ice particles to cover Wang Feichi’s body engulfed in Black Flame, as if constructing an ice and snow tomb for him.
Red was trembling all over from the cold, two streams of nasal mucus extending from his nostrils, freezing solid. He pulled out a backup device from his lower back, pressed the communication button, and reported his coordinates, cursing, “Damn it, the electromagnetic pulse device failed. Luckily, I was prepared. Night Cicada, hurry, I’m about to freeze to death!”
On the other side of the communicator, Night Cicada’s voice was weak: “R-received…”
Wang Feichi’s fingers twitched; after suffering such severe wounds, he came to his senses again after less than ten seconds, but a deep blue spatial vortex opened above him, and liquid nitrogen cascaded like a waterfall from the vortex, drenching his body and causing white mist to rise, obscuring Kui Xin’s vision.
The Black Flame was extinguished, and another spatial vortex opened below Wang Feichi’s body.
He fell into it and disappeared.
Kui Xin saw double… she moved her stiff limbs, struggling to crawl away from the realm engulfed by extreme cold.
Silverface ran up nervously, first taking off Kui Xin’s personal devices and crushing them underfoot. Then, he hoisted Kui Xin onto his back, laboring to move her several meters away. “Lady Fortune, are you okay? Ah, you’re so cold!”
Kui Xin opened her mouth, exhaling a puff of icy white mist, then turned her head and spat out blood mixed with ice shards, unable to utter a word.
Fortunately, her combat suit was made from cold-resistant and heat-retaining materials, or she’d be an ice sculpture by now.
Flesh regeneration had saved her life multiple times; she calmed herself for a moment, slapped Silverface across the face, her voice hoarse: “I’m undercover right now, why are you getting close to me?!”
“But the two who came with you are dead; once they die, you won’t be exposed, so is there still need to act?” Silverface whispered. He noticed Kui Xin’s blood-covered face and absentmindedly tried to wipe it.
Kui Xin impatiently swatted his hand away.
Thinking about this made her angry, Wei Zhi hadn’t even been on the job and was dead already; where could she find another suitable superior to guide her up?
Red pulled out a tranquilizer gun and shot Wei Zhi to keep her unconscious, finally dragging her out of the people under the extreme cold.
Red supported his waist, catching his breath. “Night Cicada said he’ll open the portal soon.”
“What about Wei Zhi?” Kui Xin asked.
Red replied, “She’s a captive. The same old routine. Take her away, interrogate her, brainwash her.”
“And me? I was executing a mission with two big shots, yet I’m the weakest survivor?” Kui Xin protested.
“So you are our captive too.” Red said with a grin, “Let’s go through the motions.”
Kui Xin’s legs were frostbitten and immobile, so Red instructed Silverface to carry her, while he dragged Wei Zhi.
Not far away, Night Cicada had already opened a portal.
The surviving clones lined up neatly beside them, waiting to enter first.
“Is this the organization’s goal?” Kui Xin stared at the back of Red’s head, “To achieve multiple objectives at once?”
“Don’t ask me, I really don’t know. I only learned in the end that I was in the dark during this operation… probably everyone was kept in the dark.” Red sighed, “It’s best not to guess what the ‘boss’ is thinking.”
