She didn't even interrupt the other party, simply listening quietly as Prophet Moses finished his self-righteous declaration of victory.
“…So, we don't need to engage in any fair duel with you.”
Prophet Moses’s voice rose slightly with excitement, “The moment you agreed to the duel, the outcome was sealed. We will use the safest method, the fastest speed, and our numerical advantage to kill you, the number one person in the East Region, right here.”
“Your vehicle, your special equipment, and even everything in your territory… will all become precious spoils for our West Region Alliance.”
“Now, do you feel a hint of regret? For your own gullibility, and for your arrogance?”
Outside the perimeter, the faint sound of mocking laughter and whistling from other West Region players drifted over, filled with malice and derision.
Cheng Shuili truly didn't understand what this guy was posturing for.
This kind of harsh talk only carried weight when delivered with composure. Prophet Moses, however, knew time was short, so he spoke with such haste that all sense of presence was lost, replaced by a sense of the ridiculous.
Cheng Shuili smiled before she spoke, not for any other reason, but simply because the opponent’s actions were genuinely laughable.
She pulled the door open with effortless grace and stepped out.
Wrapped in her cloak, she had the confidence to do so.
The moment Cheng Shuili appeared, she became the focal point of the entire scene.
Heads poked out from the vehicles surrounding her, their gazes filled with curiosity, hostility, disdain, or even a hint of fear.
A standard, mocking “heh-heh” sound emanated from the speakers.
Cheng Shuili paused for a moment to confirm the guy was actually laughing; she wasn't sure if it was a system translation error or if Prophet Moses was truly emitting that sound.
Regardless of which it was, coupled with his accelerated speech rate…
Cheng Shuili: “Pfft.”
Cheng Shuili’s sudden laugh caused the atmosphere, previously filled with malice and tension, to freeze instantly.
Prophet Moses’s smug expression solidified on his face, and the mocking grins of the onlookers stiffened on their lips.
They had anticipated the reactions of this number one person in the East Region.
Anger, fear, reluctance, attempts at negotiation, or even despair…
The one thing they never imagined was that she would laugh.
This laughter carried not a hint of hysteria, nor a trace of forced composure; it revealed only a pure sense of amusement, as if she couldn't help but laugh at something comical.
It was as if this death trap they had meticulously laid, this siege that they viewed as a life-or-death situation for the Crow, appeared to the person being surrounded as nothing more than a clumsy, laughable comedy.
“What are you laughing at?” Prophet Moses’s voice dropped, laced with the irritation of being slighted, “Angry Crow Takes Flight, recognize your situation! You are already surrounded!”
Cheng Shuili ignored him, not even looking at the heads poking out or the weapons pointed in her direction.
As if she were in her own backyard, she nonchalantly stretched her neck and shoulders, which had grown stiff from sitting for too long.
Only then did she lift her eyes to look at the speaker: “Regret? Arrogance? Someone like you, who doesn't even dare to show your face, has the right to say such things?”
Cheng Shuili’s voice was clear: “And I just think that you people from the West Region need to go back and take some remedial classes on how to talk trash.”
She shook her head and asked a question she already knew the answer to: “Also, is time that tight? You’re talking like you’re reading a menu, without a shred of intimidation. Truly pathetic.”
“You…!”
Prophet Moses was so angry his face flushed red. Before he could say anything more, a low voice sounded from the speaker:
“Boss! Time is running out! If we don't act now, the server merge test will end!”
This reminder was meant in absolute good faith, but to Prophet Moses, it felt like the loudest slap across the face, shattering all his posturing and feigned profundity.
Prophet Moses’s face turned so red it looked like it might bleed. Consumed by shame and rage, he abandoned all pretense and wasted no more breath, shouting desperately: “Everyone! Aim at her—”
Before he could finish, Cheng Shuili was faster.
She immediately released the Cloud-Piercing Arrow. A searing, dazzling beam of light shot from her palm into the sky, a piercing whistle echoing across the wilderness, instantly drowning out all other noise.
The light was so blinding that the surrounding West Region players instinctively squinted, their aim faltering by half a beat.
“What is that?!”
“A signal flare? She wants to call for reinforcements?!”
“Are you kidding me? Where would reinforcements come from on the highway?”
“We’re running out of time! Attack!”
Prophet Moses’s internal alarm bells rang, and he roared: “Forget that thing! Kill her!”
Unfortunately, it was too late.
The Cloud-Piercing Arrow was not a mere signal flare that only delivered information; it was a tool that provided convenience.
The function of the Cloud-Piercing Arrow was—to instantly deliver reinforcements to the user’s side upon activation!
【Your leader “Angry Crow Takes Flight” has used the Cloud-Piercing Arrow. Will you teleport to the leader’s side immediately?】
The moment the arrow was fired, every member of Glory received this notification!
Standing at the very front, Xinxue’s eyes flashed with excitement, and she immediately shouted a reminder: “Maintain order! The first squad of players teleports first!”
The so-called first squad consisted of players armed with large shields.
These shields had been sent along with the firearms by the Rat King; they were the very ones carried by the Rat King’s honor guard.
Before the West Region players could recover, the situation reversed instantly!
Pure black shields appeared out of thin air around Cheng Shuili, like a metal city wall rising in an instant! The shields were heavy and stable, guarding Cheng Shuili firmly in the center.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The bullets fired in haste by the West Region players hammered against the black shields, producing dull thuds, but they left only shallow white marks, unable to shake the formation in the slightest.
“What the hell is this?!”
“Where did they come from?!”
The West Region’s siege circle was in an uproar, the previous derision and malice instantly replaced by shock and panic.
They watched helplessly as the squad of players holding giant shields appeared like ghosts, quickly forming an airtight defensive formation.
And this was only the beginning.
Immediately following, the second and third batches of Glory members teleported in!
The moment the shields parted, a pitch-black cannon muzzle appeared.
A moment later, the muzzle erupted with flame, and oval-shaped shells, trailing smoke and emitting ear-piercing shrieks, precisely struck the areas where the West Region players were most concentrated and their vehicles were parked.
BOOM!
Explosions far more violent than gunfire erupted! Fireballs of orange-red flame, carrying shards of steel and dust, shot into the sky. The violent shockwaves flipped several light vehicles, and the screams that began were quickly swallowed by the echoes of the explosions.
This was not an isolated incident.
Glory’s rocket launchers fired as if they cost nothing. As soon as a shield pulled back, it revealed a player carrying a rocket launcher!
The projectiles trailed smoke of death, precisely blanketing any area where West Region players attempted to regroup or resist!
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Continuous explosions dominated the highway. Fire blossomed one after another, and thick smoke rose in billowing clouds.
Under the cover of artillery fire, Glory’s elite melee squads moved like tigers released from their cages, using skilled tactical coordination to cut into the fleeing enemy groups. Amidst the flash of blades, they efficiently harvested the remaining enemies.
The siege circle meticulously arranged by the West Region players lay shattered like a cookie struck by a heavy hammer under this sudden, luxurious, saturation-style artillery bombardment.
Vehicles were blown to pieces, cover was flipped over, and casualties were heavy. Those who were lucky enough to survive lost all will to fight, fleeing in every direction like headless flies, wishing only that they had been born with more legs.
In the midst of the chaos, Su Rui was not idle.
She didn't get out of the vehicle with Cheng Shuili specifically to operate the crossbow mounted on the roof of the leader’s vehicle!
Although there were only ten shots, each massive bolt acted like a death sentence.
Su Rui held her breath, her eyes glued to the scope, her slender fingers steadily holding the trigger.
She did not target the scattered soldiers; she targeted the key enemies who were attempting to reorganize or those whose vehicles remained intact enough to potentially be used for escape.
HUM!
The first giant bolt, as thick as an arm, tore through the air with a tooth-aching shriek, precisely piercing the hood of an armed pickup truck that was attempting to reverse and turn.
The arrowhead sank deep, completely destroying the vehicle’s chassis.
BOOM!
The pickup instantly transformed into a burning iron coffin, and the exploding shrapnel knocked down several West Region players who had been attempting to use it as cover for a counterattack.
This terrifying scene of dual suppression by cold and hot weapons appeared to the West Region players as nothing short of a desperate nightmare.
They had originally thought themselves the hunters, surrounding a lone beast.
They never expected that this beast was not only powerful enough to laugh at their plans but could also summon an army armed to the teeth with terrifying firepower in the blink of an eye!
Rocket launchers clearing the ground, giant bolts sniping, the silent, immovable, and indestructible black shields, and the cleanup squads unfolding like precision killing machines behind them…
This was not a battle between players; it was a dimensional-reduction strike by a modern regular army against a mob.
“Retreat! Retreat quickly!”
“Is this f***ing a player? Is this firepower from an NPC regular army?!”
“Monsters! The East Region is full of monsters!”
“Where is the Prophet?! Where is the Alliance?! Help!”
“Where is our leader?”
In the chaos, some tried to find their backbone, only to discover that their boss’s vehicle had already vanished.
Prophet Moses had disappeared; perhaps he had slipped away early upon seeing the situation, or perhaps he had been sent to the heavens by some stray shell.
The defeat was like a collapsing mountain.
Glory’s warriors gave the enemy no room to breathe.
Without command or organization, the West Region players collapsed completely.
The engines of the remaining vehicles roared frantically, attempting to flee this highway that had become a purgatory, only to be ended by whistling rockets or cold, giant bolts the moment they tried to turn or accelerate.
Cheng Shuili stood in place, not moving an inch.
The black shield formation in front of her acted like the most loyal fortress, isolating the stray bullets and the clamor.
She watched the one-sided crushing calmly.
The firelight illuminated her clear eyes, which remained devoid of ripples.
Three minutes.
From the moment the Cloud-Piercing Arrow took flight to the total cessation of gunfire, it had taken only three minutes.
The battle on Glory’s side had concluded long before the server merge test had even ended.
The smoke had yet to disperse, and the stench of blood mixed with the acrid scent of burning hung in the air.
The once-bustling highway was now a mess; burning wreckage, scattered weapons, and player corpses that hadn't yet refreshed silently told the tale of the short and cruel battle that had just transpired.
Glory’s warriors had ceased firing and pursuing; everyone held a defensive posture, waiting for the server merge test to end.
It wasn't until the server merge test countdown hit zero that every tense Glory player finally let out a sigh of relief.
The smoke, the blood, the acrid burning scent, and the real feel of the earth beneath their feet all became blurred and distant in an instant.
A halo of light began to envelop every person’s body, and the ripples of distorted space swayed silently.
The server merge test was over, and the highway was due to convert.
Cheng Shuili took one last look at the messy highway battlefield and the wreckage traces being rapidly cleared by the system.
Her face showed no expression; she simply nodded slightly to the black-shield warriors standing at attention beside her, as well as to Xinxue and the others who had just put away their rocket launchers and were looking toward her.
In the next second, the scene flowed.
The halo dissipated, and the distorted ripples calmed.
All the noise and chaos belonging to the battlefield were instantly wiped away as if by an invisible hand.
The biting wind of the wilderness highway poured into her ears, carrying the scent of grass and dust.
Cheng Shuili stood in place, squinting slightly to adapt to the sudden silence.
The black-shield warriors who had been surrounding her, silent as mountains, the rocket launchers that had spewed fire, and the melee squads that had roared in the assault had all vanished.
It was as if the short, bloody, and entirely one-sided massacre was merely a high-fidelity hallucination that she and Su Rui had shared.
But the sensation in her body was real.
A faint, lingering scent of something burnt seemed to remain in her nostrils, and the echoes of the explosions still resonated in her eardrums.
Cheng Shuili took a light breath and slowly exhaled.
She turned her head.
Her vehicle sat quietly a few meters away. In the driver’s cab, Su Rui still maintained the posture of operating the crossbow, her back slightly hunched, hands held in the air, eyes wide, as if she hadn't yet fully recovered from the instant scene transition.
Her face still bore a trace of the focused, cold intensity of a hunter locking onto a target, a look that hadn't yet faded.
Their eyes met in the air.
Su Rui blinked, then blinked again, before suddenly relaxing her body and letting out a long, “hoo” of a breath—a breath filled with the lingering fear of surviving a disaster, but also a hint of unbelievable excitement.
“Boss…” Her voice was a bit dry; she cleared her throat before continuing, “Is it over?”
She gestured toward the empty highway around them, “Where are the Glory members?”
“They should have returned to their respective highways,” Cheng Shuili said calmly, walking over to pull the door open, “The server merge test is over, so everyone goes back to their own highways.”
She had only just sat back in the vehicle when the private message notifications began to chime incessantly.
Rate on N.U.
