The Phantom’s Retreat and the Aftermath

Far, far away on the overpass, the illusory figure crouching on the railing let out a sigh and lowered the telescope.

“It really won’t work after all?”

He pulled out a notebook and scribbled in it, muttering to himself as he wrote.

“Hmm, the alien bugs still can’t fully heal the ability core. If we activate it early, the core collapses again. Looks like this project doesn’t have a bright future. I’ll have to talk to the boss and cut the budget, downgrade it to a B-class project.”

“I’ll have to take this valuable experimental sample with me, to organize the data and write a review report.”

Phantom Demon put away his pen and shook his head helplessly. “Ah, being a wage s*ave is really tough!”

He was just a poor, helpless wage s*ave, but he had way too much work. And it was literally “life-threatening.”

As he spoke, the illusory figure dissolved into the air. But the next second, he spanned hundreds of meters and silently appeared before Yan Huarong.

He reached out to the kneeling man. “Come with me while there’s still time!”

“No, no!” Yan Huarong, looking like a madman, slapped away Phantom Demon’s hand and stood up.

“I am a soldier, I am a Special. I don’t want to become a pathetic ordinary person again. I will die on the battlefield, as a Special!”

In the moment his ability shattered, he felt with certainty that no one, no method could help him recover. This loss was eternal.

“Alright, alright, suit yourself.” Phantom Demon spread his hands, radiating exasperation.

“What kind of people are these, all wanting to die. Is it really so hard to just survive?”

“Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance. I’m leaving.” He looked at the middle-aged man rapidly approaching with terrifying speed, smiled slightly, and bowed. Then his form quickly became transparent.

Bang! A blast of air shot out, tearing Phantom Demon’s hood, but passed through his head and dissipated in the air.

“Still a step too late.” Professor Yuan stopped.

The reason he agreed to intercept Yan Huarong was to try to lure out Phantom Demon through him. But in the end, he failed.

Paying no attention to Phantom Demon’s departure, Yan Huarong strained to channel the last of his void energy, pushing the shattered remains of his ability core to the limit. He barely managed to stop the disintegration of the rock fragments on his body.

“Come on! Kill me!” The aging man charged at the locust tree giant, determined to die in a suicidal attack.

“Kill you? You wish!” Huang Xiu, controlling the situation from afar, sneered coldly.

“How many died last night? How many had mental breakdowns? And now he wants to die and take the easy way out? No way!”

With a thought from the girl, the plant army surged forward and engulfed Yan Huarong.

Mutated thorn vines grew wildly, creeping up the man’s limbs, trying to bind him.

He tried to resist, straining to break free, but a vicious kick landed on the back of his head.

A dense cluster of thorns delivered a prickling sensation from the back of his head, instantly driving away the dizziness.

Before he could turn around, bang! Another kick hit the back of his knee, forcing him to his knees.

Once he fell, he had no strength left to resist. The thorn vines shot up like bamboo shoots after rain, and in moments, Yan Huarong was wrapped in a large brown-red ball.

Seeing that this side had settled, the girl ignored her fatigue and immediately looked toward the distant battlefield.

In just a few minutes of fighting, the asphalt road was riddled with potholes.

Railings were bent, trees were snapped.

The two rampaged like ancient tyrannosaurs, leaving devastation everywhere.

It vividly demonstrated the destructive power of Specials.

Their combat power was not equal; Yun Ning was clearly stronger than Old Ghost. But with an additional two tons of force boosted by the speed of his punches, even Yun Ning didn’t want to get hit. So they barely held a stalemate.

With Yan Huarong’s defeat, their battle immediately entered its climax.

Old Ghost tried to flee, but Yun Ning seized the opportunity. He decisively used void arts – void energy infusion – and struck Old Ghost in the abdomen.

This blow, infused with void energy, shattered the opponent’s defenses like a storm, causing him to spew green liquid, eyes bulging, as he collapsed to the ground. Old Ghost, unable to continue!

“Phew!” Yun Ning steadied his breathing, turned to look at Huang Xiu and the teacher not far behind her, and gave a thumbs up with a smile.

If Huang Xiu hadn’t succeeded first, he would have needed more effort to defeat Old Ghost. But Huang Xiu clearly misunderstood.

She paused for a second, then gave a thumbs up back, refusing to be outdone. Showing off? Anyone can do that! Little bro, you still have a long way to go!

Professor Yuan leaned against a tree, watching this scene, his eyes filled with nostalgia for youth.

“Youth is wonderful,” he murmured to himself. Then he saw the girl turn and ask, “Teacher, what do we do with these people? Just leave them here?”

“Leaving them here is fine.” Professor Yuan pursed his lips. “Don’t think it’s just us three. The control bureau guys are definitely hiding nearby watching.”

Based on his understanding of Liu Xin, that guy was definitely lurking in some corner, peeping at them.

“Also, you two clean up the battlefield quickly. It’s such a mess.”

“…” Huang Xiu looked at the plant debris all over the road, then at the tree spears stuck in the road, and subtly averted her gaze.

This won’t be easy to clean up.

“Just do a simple cleanup.” Professor Yuan didn’t expect his students to make it spotless; that was the control bureau’s job. He just wanted them to understand how much destruction Specials could cause, so they’d learn to control themselves in the future.

Specials don’t only fight in the Void Realm; they often battle in the real world. If they don’t control themselves and destroy freely, one day a house gets smashed, the next day a street gets blown up. No amount of reconstruction funds would be enough for their extravagance.

“Got it.” Huang Xiu didn’t refuse. She immediately commanded the plant army to clean the battlefield.

The fierce, bizarre, and ugly mutated plants, which a second ago were ruthless war machines, now turned into environmental cleanup experts.

Mutated thorn vines and mutated weeds joined forces, using the Senro Tree Spear as a base to make a giant broom.

The locust tree giant nodded, pulled out the “broom,” and began carefully sweeping the ground. Mutated wildflowers turned into blowers, huffing and puffing to blow lightweight leaves and such off the road.

While all the mutated plants were busy at work, a certain green rolling ball object approached again.

It came to claim credit, since its last two kicks had directly broken the old man’s final resistance.

Splat!

“You go too!” Miss Xiuxiu, treating everyone equally, kicked Huang Xiaoxian over as well.