radicalducati Chapter 49 The Feast
Chapter 49 The Feast
The change happened in an instant.
Lu Siye was so fast that he didn't even have time to react.
One second ago, the banquet hall was a vibrant and lively world.
The next second, the lights went out.
It wasn't that the lights went out one by one; all the lights went out at the same time.
The banquet hall was plunged into complete darkness.
Lu Siye's eyes lost their function for a moment.
He heard a sound.
Screams.
It wasn't just one person screaming; it was dozens of people screaming simultaneously.
Then the scream changed.
The high-pitched, sharp sound of "Ah—ah—ah—" changed into a gurgling sound.
Lu Siye's eyes still couldn't see anything, but his other senses were activated to their limits in that instant.
zero.
That's the smell of zero.
His body reacted before his brain did.
His right hand shot out and accurately grabbed Liara's wrist in the darkness.
He pulled her towards him, and her body bumped against his chest.
"Don't move," he said.
Liara didn't answer, but she grabbed his hand.
Then the lights came on.
It's not the original lamp.
It is a type of purple light.
Purple light emanated from every corner of the banquet hall.
Lu Siye saw the guests.
Their faces changed.
A change that happens in an instant.
One second it was a human face, the next it turned into a circle.
Ba Ling.
Then they died.
No, he's not dead.
It has become something else.
Something that no longer belongs to humankind.
Gunshots could still be heard in the banquet hall.
Da da da da.
The sound of automatic rifles came from the direction of the banquet hall entrance.
What did those bullets hit?
It's not a wall, not a ceiling, not a floor.
It's air.
At the edge of the banquet hall, about two or three meters from the wall, the bullet struck something invisible.
Barrier.
A purple barrier enveloped the entire palace.
From the ceiling to the floor of the banquet hall, from one wall to another, from the entrance to the exit, everything was covered by this barrier.
The sniper's bullets struck it, leaving only purple ripples.
But the crack healed quickly.
Lu Siye didn't have time to analyze where the barrier came from.
Because within the purple light, those tyrants had already begun to move.
Their movements were slow; they hadn't yet adapted to the body because they had only been in a state of zero for a short time.
Then they started walking.
It's not going away, it's surging.
Like a tide, it surged towards the center from every direction of the banquet hall.
Their target was not Lu Siye, not Liara, not any specific person.
Their target is everything that is alive.
Lu Siye's right hand was still gripping Liara's wrist, while his left hand reached to his waist and touched the hilt of the dagger.
But he did not draw his sword.
Drawing the sword is useless.
Ba Ling cannot be killed with a knife.
He took a deep breath, activated Moon Chase, and pushed his movement speed to its limit.
He pulled Liara along as they weaved through the gaps in the Baron.
The three tyrants stood side by side, blocking the entrance to the corridor.
Lu Siye did not slow down.
He slammed his right leg off the ground, his body leaping into the air. He stepped on the first Zero's shoulder with his left foot, using the momentum to spring up, and then stepped on the second Zero's head with his right foot.
Then he flew over the head of the third Zero, did a somersault in the air, and landed with his knees slightly bent to cushion the impact.
Liara was pulled along by him, almost flying over the heads of the three Tyrant Zeros. Her red dress unfolded in the purple air, blooming for a moment in the darkness, before falling down, the hem of the dress fluttering behind her.
They rushed into the corridor.
There were also tyrants in the corridor.
Lu Siye continued to use Moon Chase to move through the gaps between the Tyrants and Zeros, dodging left and right, sidestepping, and lowering his head.
Liara kept up with his pace.
Her breathing was heavy, but her steps were steady. Every time he turned, she was able to adjust her center of gravity in time, so that she was neither thrown off nor slowed down his speed.
Then they saw the two people.
Standing at the end of the corridor.
Zhang Lei and Liu Chuang.
They stood at the end of the corridor, side by side, about two meters apart, completely blocking the corridor.
Zhang Lei still had that smile on his face.
His left palm was glowing.
green.
Wood element.
In that instant, Lu Siye realized the attributes of Zhang Lei's Xia Lan technique.
Wood-attribute Xia Lan are skilled in ranged attacks, control, and healing.
The wavelength of Wood-attribute Yuan Qi is gentler than that of Water and Fire attributes, but its attack power is not weak, especially at mid-to-long range. Wood-attribute Xia Lan techniques can unleash a large number of dense, rain-like attacks in a short period of time.
Zhang Lei raised his left hand.
"Wind of Xun - A Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart"
The green light exploded.
The green light split into countless needle-like beams the instant it exploded.
Each beam of light carried the primordial energy fluctuations of the wood element.
Lu Siye's eyes spotted Liara's location amidst the green rain of light.
She stood half a step behind him, her red dress standing out strikingly in the purple light.
Moon Chase moves too fast; in that instant, he'll rush to the other end of the corridor, leaving Liara alone behind.
He used a different speed, a state between normal running and moon chasing, which he called "half speed".
He stood in front of Liara, his hands crossed in front of him, palms facing outwards. In that instant, nearly half of his vital energy was drained away, all of it surging into his hands, into his palms, and into the air in front of him.
"Wind and Sun - Cold River Snow".
ice.
What gushed forth from his palm was not primordial energy, but ice.
Ice spread from his palm, forming an ice wall about ten centimeters thick in front of him.
The surface of the ice wall is not smooth, but covered with tiny, sharp ice crystals.
The green beams of light crashed into the ice wall.
Puff puff puff puff.
Most of the beams of light were blocked by the ice wall.
But not all.
Three beams of light pierced through the ice wall and struck Liara.
Liara's expression was very unpleasant.
Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and her face was pale.
There was no time to think it through, because the attacks had not stopped.
He sensed it.
The ground beneath my feet is moving.
Liu Chuang.
Earth element.
Earth Kun·Tu Escape.
Lu Siye's brain completed the calculation in that instant.
Liu Chuang sneaked underground from behind him, using earth-attribute Yuan Qi to move through the soil at a faster and more stealthy speed than on the surface.
His target was behind Lu Siye, the moment Lu Siye turned his back to him, the moment when he focused all his attention on Zhang Lei.
He would burst out of the ground a meter behind Lu Siye and strangle him from behind.
Lu Siye closed his eyes and activated his detection technique.
The ability to detect is one of the basic abilities of the Xia Lan. It uses Yuan Qi to perceive the surrounding environment, the location, number, movement trajectory, and Yuan Qi fluctuations of enemies, and to perceive everything that is invisible to the naked eye but does exist.
His detection range has expanded to fifty meters, and his accuracy has improved to the point where he can sense moving objects underground.
His vital energy spread out from his body, like an invisible net, covering a spherical space with a radius of thirty meters centered on him.
The net pierced through the air, through the walls, through the ground, through the soil and rocks, capturing every moving object with primordial energy fluctuations.
He saw Liu Chuang.
Two meters underground, three meters to his left and rear, it was approaching him at a speed of about two meters per second.
Lu Siye opened his eyes.
He squatted down and placed his left palm on the ground.
"Wind and Sun - Cold River Snow".
This time, instead of creating an ice wall, he directly injected Han Jiangxue's ice-attribute Qi into the ground.
The primordial energy seeped into the marble from his palm and was released in an instant.
Water turns into ice below zero degrees Celsius, expands in volume, and squeezes the surrounding soil and gravel in all directions, filling every crevice, blocking every channel, and freezing every soil particle.
Liu Chuang felt a bone-chilling cold while underground.
In an instant, the soil around him transformed from a soft, movable medium into a hard, concrete-like mixture of ice and soil.
His body was frozen, not by ice, but by the soil.
The moisture in the soil froze in that instant, binding every single soil particle together.
He was trapped underground.
Lu Siye didn't have time to check on Liu Chuang's condition.
Because Zhang Lei made a move.
The moment Lu Siye squatted down and injected his Yuan Qi into the ground, Zhang Lei saw an opportunity.
"Wind Xun - Entangling".
Its target was not Lu Siye's body, but his limbs.
twine.
Wood-attribute control-type Xia Lan techniques use Yuan Qi to condense into vine-like energy bodies that wrap around the target's limbs, restricting their movement, while simultaneously absorbing the target's Yuan Qi to replenish the user's own.
Lu Siye did not dodge.
It's not that you can't avoid it, it's that you don't need to.
Zero Kill.
Lu Siye dislikes Ling Sha.
Each time he condensed Zero Fiend, he could feel the power that wanted to devour everything struggling in his palm.
But he needs it.
Because Zhang Lei is of the wood element, and the wood element has healing abilities.
The damage inflicted on Zhang Lei by the Yuan Qi attack can be healed within seconds.
But Zero Force is different; Zero Force's damage to Xia Lan is not only physical but also energy-based.
Zero Force will erode the Qi of Xia Lan, like acid corroding metal, spreading little by little from the wound outwards.
Disrupting the flow of vital energy significantly reduces the effectiveness of the healing technique.
Lu Siye extended his palm.
Zhang Lei saw the black energy ball.
His pupils contracted in that instant.
He recognized what it was.
Zero Kill.
Lu Siye was attacking him with a Zero Fiend.
He tried to dodge, but his body was a step slower than his brain.
Zero Fiend had already flown in front of him.
He didn't have time to dodge.
But he can block it.
He raised his left hand, and primordial energy surged from his body, forming a green energy barrier in front of him.
The barrier is about five centimeters thick and looks indestructible.
Zero Fiend crashed into the barrier.
The moment the black energy sphere made contact with the green energy barrier, there was no explosion, no shockwave, and no release of energy in any physical sense.
There is only one thing: devouring.
The black energy sphere resembled a miniature black hole, and the moment it came into contact with the green barrier, it began to devour the primordial energy on the barrier.
The green light was stripped away from the surface of the barrier.
The barrier thinned in an instant.
It went from five centimeters to three centimeters, from three centimeters to one centimeter, from one centimeter to the thickness of a sheet of paper, and then it broke.
Zero Fiend passed through the barrier.
But its size has decreased, from the size of a fist to the size of an egg, and its energy has also weakened.
It hit Zhang Lei.
At the last moment, Zhang Lei shifted his body slightly, and Zero Fiend flew past his left arm, leaving a black, burn-like mark on it.
Zhang Lei's expression changed.
It wasn't pain, it was fear.
He sensed it.
That icy power was spreading outwards from his wound, flowing along the path of his vital energy, and heading deep into his body.
He used healing techniques.
Green light surged from his body, flowing towards the wound, attempting to repair the eroded tissue and dispel the remaining zero force.
But zero force is not so easy to dispel.
Zhang Lei covered the wound with his Yuan Qi, sealing the Zero Force beneath his skin to prevent it from spreading further.
He looked up at Lu Siye.
Their eyes met.
Zhang Lei's expression changed.
He looked into Lu Siyue's eyes, and in those dark, calm eyes, he saw someone he didn't recognize.
Not that quiet roommate from my university dorm.
It's someone else.
A person he had never met before, someone who made him feel unfamiliar and even somewhat afraid.
Zhang Lei's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something.
But he didn't say it.
Because his vital energy experienced a brief pause at that moment.
After each release of a large-scale Xia Lan technique, the Xia Lan's Yuan Qi will experience a brief interval of a fraction of a second.
Even a fraction of a second is still time.
Lu Siye knew about that break period.
He was also on break.
After continuously releasing Moon Chase, Cold River Snow, Detection Technique, and Zero Fiend, his Yuan Qi also experienced a break, which lasted longer than Zhang Lei's, because his consumption was greater.
His dantian was empty; although there was still a little, it was very little, not enough to support the next attack.
Both of them were standing during the break.
Whoever recovers first wins.
Zhang Lei smiled.
"You are strong, but I am stronger."
"Do you know what you're doing right now is called?" Zhang Lei asked.
Lu Siye looked at him without saying a word.
"Betrayal," Zhang Lei said, his smile widening, "You're betraying your country."
He paused, as if giving the two words enough time to ferment in the air.
"You are betraying your country."
Lu Siye stood there, watching Zhang Lei's mouth open and close, uttering those standard, template-like words that he had heard countless times.
Betrayal of the country.
Betrayal of the motherland.
What a useful word.
You can use it to define anyone or anything.
You disagree with my opinion?
Betrayal of the country.
Did you do something I don't like?
Betrayal of the motherland.
You've put yourself on the opposite side of me, and I have the right and ability to label you so that you can never hold your head up morally again.
betray.
traitor.
Traitor.
Lu Siye could no longer hear what Zhang Lei said.
It's not that your ears can't hear clearly; it's that your brain chooses not to listen.
Those words turned into a gray, meaningless noise in his brain.
He was too lazy to bother with this person anymore.
It's not because Zhang Lei is wrong, but because no matter what he says or how he tries to defend himself, in Zhang Lei's narrative, he is always wrong, always a traitor, always a collaborator, and always a sellout.
Because you can never win a battle you've already lost, and in this debate about "loyalty" and "betrayal," he lost the moment he lifted the canvas and reached into the cage.
It's not because he did anything wrong.
It's because he chose to stand on the other side of the cage.
In Zhang Lei's world, the people on the other side of the cage don't deserve to be called "compatriots".
Lu Siye stopped looking at Zhang Lei.
He looked down at his hands.
There was still Lyara's blood on her palm.
He turned his palm over and looked at the lines on his palm.
Then he began to condense his primordial energy.
Very few.
But that's enough.
There's no need to kill Zhang Lei; just incapacitate him for a few seconds.
A hand pressed down on his arm.
Liara's hand.
"Don't move," she whispered in his ear, "I'll do it."
Lu Siye turned his head and looked at her.
Her red dress was soaked with blood.
Lu Siye sensed it.
It wasn't sensed using a detection technique, but rather felt through the body.
Something emanated from Liara's body.
It's more like a "field," a domain.
Something that exists between reality and illusion.
The moment that thing touched his body, he felt two completely opposite and extreme forces simultaneously impacting his consciousness.
A force, like a flame, made his heart beat faster, his breathing quicken, and his skin burn.
It filled his mind with images of Liara that he wouldn't normally think about—images of her body, her lips, her skin, and her voice.
The images flooded in like a tide, wave after wave, almost overwhelming his reason.
Another force, like ice water, poured down from above, extinguishing the flames and washing away the images.
It cleared his mind, restored his heartbeat to normal, cooled his skin from burning, and made his breathing steady instead of rapid.
Two forces clashed, collided, and tore at each other within his body, turning him into a battlefield.
Each time he clashed with another, his consciousness would go blank for a moment.
Then Leah reached out and touched his arm.
The moment my fingers touched his skin, the feeling of conflict vanished.
His consciousness returned to calm, and his body returned to normal.
But Zhang Lei and Liu Chuang were not so lucky.
Zhang Lei's body stiffened.
His hand was raised halfway, then stopped in mid-air.
His eyes were wide open, his consciousness was being invaded from the outside by some force, and he was desperately resisting, but the resistance was not very effective.
His hands were shaking.
Fighting against one's own desires.
Lu Siye didn't know what he saw or felt, but he could read the struggle in Zhang Lei's expression.
You want something so badly, so much that you're willing to give up everything, destroy everything, and betray everything.
But your reason tells you you can't have it, you can't have it, you desperately tell yourself you can't have it.
But your body doesn't listen to you; it makes the decisions for you.
Your body is moving towards what you want, step by step, like a puppet being led by strings.
Liu Chuang burst out from underground.
He struggled for too long in the ice-soil mixture, expending too much of his vital energy, and finally melted part of the surrounding ice, breaking free from the cage that was about to freeze him into an icicle.
He burst from the ground, sending dirt and rubble flying in all directions, his body springing out from underground.
But his expression was off.
His face held a more confused expression.
His brain is being taken over by something.
Lu Siye did not hesitate.
Moonlit Night.
Zhang Lei's eyes were still open, and his pupils were still dilated, but he couldn't see Lu Siye.
His consciousness had been taken over by something in that realm; his eyes were merely organs through which light could enter, but the signals could not be processed by his brain.
Because the brain is processing other things, something more primal, more instinctive, and more irresistible.
Lu Siye did not look at him.
He was looking at Liu Chuang.
After Liu Chuang burst out of the ground, he stood motionless in the middle of the corridor.
His body still retains the posture of breaking through the ground.
"Wind and Sun - Cold River Snow".
Ice surged from his palm and flowed around Liu Chuang.
Ice crystals condensed around his body, rising from the ground, gathering in the air, and surrounding him from all directions, forming a three-dimensional cage composed of countless ice crystals.
The ice crystals did more than just surround him.
They are still spinning.
Centered on Liu Chuang's body, the ice crystals were spinning at high speed, forming a small vortex of ice crystals.
The vortex is not just about blowing wind.
It is also disrupting Liu Chuang's vital energy.
Like the water-attribute primordial energy, it has the characteristic of flowing.
When ice crystals rotate at high speed, they produce a special, resonance-like effect in the air.
It disrupts the flow of all surrounding Yuan Qi, preventing Xia Lan from precisely controlling their own Yuan Qi and thus from releasing Xia Lan techniques that require precise control.
Liu Chuang's vital energy was disturbed.
He could feel the primordial energy within his body surging erratically. He tried to control it, but his consciousness was still struggling with something in that realm, and he couldn't spare enough attention to precisely control the primordial energy.
He could only stand there.
Like a target.
Lu Siye drew his dagger.
The dagger did almost no damage to the Xia Lan.
The bodies of the Xia Lan have been strengthened by Yuan Qi, making their skin more resilient than that of ordinary people.
An ordinary dagger, if not infused with vital energy, can at most pierce the skin of a Xia Lan, but cannot damage the muscles or internal organs.
unless......
Lu Siye infused the dagger with zero power.
He turned to Zhang Lei.
Zhang Lei was still standing there.
Lu Siye walked up to him.
Lu Siye looked at him for about half a second.
Then he raised the dagger.
No hesitation.
No mercy.
Because at such times, any extra thought is tantamount to death.
So he stabbed him.
The tip of the dagger was aimed at Zhang Lei's left eye.
It wasn't because he wanted to gouge out Zhang Lei's eyes, but because the eyes are one of the most vulnerable parts of a Xia Lan.
The eyeball has almost no defense; it has no muscle protection, no bone protection, and not even skin.
The dagger pierced Zhang Lei's left eye.
Zhang Lei's body tensed up suddenly.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Then the sound came.
Ah!
The sound echoed in the corridor.
Zhang Lei covered his left eye with his right hand. His legs went weak, and his body slid down the wall, sitting on the ground with his head down.
Lu Siye drew his dagger.
He turned around to face Liu Chuang.
Liu Chuang was still standing in the center of the ice crystal vortex, and his consciousness seemed to have cleared up a bit.
It's unclear whether it was because Liara's domain weakened or because his own willpower was strong enough.
His eyes were no longer unfocused; they now held a certain light.
He was looking for Lu Siye.
Lu Siye looked at him without moving.
The dagger was still in his hand, and blood was still dripping from the blade.
He did not approach Liu Chuang.
Because it's no longer needed.
Liu Chuang's vital energy has been disturbed by the ice crystal vortex.
Although his consciousness had recovered somewhat, his body was still trapped in the cage of ice crystals, each of which was spinning and emitting a resonance that interfered with his vital energy.
He couldn't unleash the Xia Lan Technique, nor could he break free from that cage, because every time he tried to condense his Yuan Qi, the ice crystals would shatter it.
He is no longer a threat.
Lu Siye turned around and walked to the other end of the corridor.
After taking three steps, I stopped.
He raised his right hand, palm facing the purple barrier that covered the entire palace.
Zero Kill.
Zero Fiend shot out from his palm.
It crashed into the barrier.
No sound.
As before, there was no sound.
The black sphere began to devour the purple barrier.
The purple light on the barrier was peeled away layer by layer, spreading outwards from the center, revealing a circular hole about two meters in diameter.
Air from outside rushed in.
The sound of helicopters came in from outside the cave, the sounds of their rotors overlapping.
Lu Siye stood at the cave entrance, looking at the sky outside.
He saw some figures.
soldier.
Wearing military uniforms and helmets, and carrying guns, they ran outside the palace walls. Some were shouting, some were giving orders, and some were talking on walkie-talkies.
They were dealing with the guests in the banquet hall who had become ostracized.
But those guests are no longer guests.
They are Ba Ling.
They are the enemy.
Lu Siye withdrew his gaze and turned around.
Liara stood in the corridor, her back against the wall, her red dress soaked in blood.
But she stood up.
She did not fall down.
The two people looked at each other.
Lu Siye walked up to her, reached out his hand, and helped her steady herself.
His hand rested on her waist, and he could feel her body trembling slightly.
"Find a place to hide," he said.
Liara looked up at him.
"And what about you?" she asked.
Lu Siye did not answer.
He turned his head and looked at the other end of the corridor.
Don't forget our promise.
Liara's voice came from behind him.