The Heterosequence's facial fissure stretched to its limit as dark red mist billowed out frantically, condensing into a nearly solid barrier in front of it.
This was its final life-saving measure—a defense constructed from its origin energy. Even a full-strength strike from a Clear Heart rank Punisher could be held back by it for a moment.
Luo Yang didn't even spare the barrier a glance.
An Armor-piercing Dagger shot out like a streak of light.
The attributes of a second-tier weapon were far superior to those of the first tier. Driven by Weapon's End, Ember's Birth, the energy circuits on the blade erupted with a blinding blue light.
The moment the blade touched the mist barrier, the barrier was torn open like paper, failing to offer even a shred of resistance.
The dagger plunged accurately into the fissure on the Heterosequence's face.
From the very top of the fissure, it sliced all the way down, piercing through the entire face until the tip emerged from the jaw.
The Heterosequence's roar came to an abrupt halt.
It was like a beast being strangled; all sound was choked back deep within its body.
The fissure running across its face was pinned firmly by the dagger, rendering it unable to even close its mouth, let alone spit pus.
Dark red mist leaked in thin wisps from the gaps around the blade, like the final gasps of a dying creature.
A brief silence fell over the lobby.
Luo Yang came to a stop in front of the Heterosequence.
He looked at the monster pinned like a pincushion by nine swords and a dagger, his expression so calm it bordered on indifference.
His plain lenses reflected the flames from the burning vehicles in the distance, making it impossible to see the look in his eyes.
A brand-new dagger slid out from his space ring and fell into his palm.
It was identical to the one he had used on Ying Xiu.
He began his work.
He didn't activate any ability. He simply drove the dagger into the Heterosequence's body, carving a long, horizontal slit.
Dark red, mist-like blood surged out, splashing onto his hands, his cuffs, and the side of his face.
He didn't wipe it away. He didn't even have any unnecessary reaction; he just held the dagger and continued deeper along the cut.
One cut.
Two cuts.
Three cuts.
His movements weren't rough; they possessed a strange precision, like a surgeon performing a complex operation.
The dagger moved within the Heterosequence's body, slicing through tissue condensed from energy and avoiding relatively hard structures as it edged closer to the core location he had locked onto earlier.
The Heterosequence's body twitched violently, but it could neither move nor scream, forced to let this human rummage through its insides.
Seventeen cuts.
Eighteen cuts.
Luo Yang's brow furrowed slightly.
The core's position was off by less than two centimeters from his prediction.
He adjusted the direction of the blade, shifting slightly to the left, and continued deeper.
Twenty-five cuts.
Twenty-six cuts.
The tip of the blade touched something hard.
Luo Yang's expression finally changed slightly.
The corners of his mouth curled up slightly with a hint of satisfaction and a trace of pleasure he hadn't even noticed himself.
He gave the dagger a forceful pry.
A dark red crystal the size of a fist was gouged out from within the Heterosequence.
Twenty-seven cuts, a live carving and gutting.
The crystal's shape remained irregular, its surface covered in fine patterns, and a deep red light flowed within it like congealed blood.
The Heterosequence's body stiffened the moment the core was removed.
Starting from its pinned limbs, its body began to disintegrate, turning into countless dark red specks of light. Like embers scattered by the wind, they drifted in all directions, eventually melting into the night.
The nine Grantee Longswords and the Armor-piercing Dagger lost their support and fell to the ground with a series of clangs.
While the dagger remained intact, the nine longswords simultaneously turned to ash the moment they hit the floor.
The effect of Weapon's End, Ember's Birth had expired at that exact moment.
Luo Yang stood amidst the drifting light specks, holding the dark red core in his hand. The Heterosequence's blood dripped from his fingers, pooling into a small puddle at his feet.
He looked down at the core in his hand, his eyes filled with a coldness that should never belong to someone his age, along with a deeply hidden sense of gratification.
Just then, the screech of tires echoed outside the club.
A black SUV bearing the logo of the Yuanxing City Ability Bureau screeched to a halt at the curb.
The door was flung open, and a middle-aged man in a dark trench coat rushed out.
Qian Yao, Section Chief of the Third Combat Section of the Yuanxing City Ability Bureau. A forty-year-old Level 3 Clear Heart, he was considered quite a figure in Yuanxing City's Punisher circles.
He had been nearby handling another case and had driven over immediately after receiving the notice from the bureau.
He had imagined many possibilities on the way, but he never expected to see this scene.
A seemingly ordinary young man standing in the middle of a wrecked lobby, holding a still-dripping Shadow rank Heterosequence core.
Beside him, several piles of ash were scattering in the wind, and his hands, cuffs, and cheeks were covered in dark red Heterosequence blood.
And the expression on his face was as calm as if he had just finished a trivial task.
Qian Yao recognized that face.
“Luo Yang?”
His voice carried a tone that was “unexpected, yet completely logical.”
As the Section Chief of the Third Combat Section, Qian Yao naturally knew Luo Yang.
In fact, there were probably few people in the entire Yuanxing City Ability Bureau who didn't know him.
As a specialized section for subjugating Heterosequences, the Third Combat Section's frequency of cooperation with him was among the highest in the city bureau, so they were well aware of Luo Yang's methods.
A Shadow rank Heterosequence, an existence equivalent to a Level 5 Clear Heart Punisher, had been killed by this eighteen-year-old young man like he was slaughtering a chicken.
No.
Even slaughtering a chicken wasn't this efficient.
Qian Yao's gaze swept over the ash on the floor before landing on the core in Luo Yang's hand. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “As expected of you, kid.”
Another figure walked quickly from the other end of the street.
Ash-white long hair fluttered gently in the night wind, and a black combat suit outlined a slender and elegant figure.
Qiu Shubai's hand was pressed against her sword hilt, her face slightly flushed from running.
She lived not far from here and had already gone to bed. She woke up immediately upon hearing the explosion and sensing the energy fluctuations of a Heterosequence. Feeling the intense blood energy fluctuations, she started her journey without a second thought.
Then she saw Luo Yang in the lobby.
Qiu Shubai's footsteps came to a sudden halt.
She saw the same scene as Qian Yao: the wreckage, the ash scattering in the wind, the intact core, and Luo Yang, covered in Heterosequence blood yet as calm as if nothing had happened.
Qiu Shubai instinctively tightened her grip on her sword hilt.
It wasn't out of fear.
It was because she suddenly realized that she knew far less about this person than she had thought.
That day in the Mission Hall, when Luo Yang had “threatened” her with the Special Division's business to form a team, she had agreed, but she had felt somewhat indignant in her heart.
She believed Luo Yang was, at best, a lopsided genius with decent strength, and that his ability to subdue Ying Xiu that day was largely because An Youxing and the others had already exhausted the creature.
But just now, she had seen from a distance as Luo Yang handled a perfectly healthy Shadow rank Heterosequence all by himself.
And it wasn't a simple kill.
It was a live carving.
He had used nearly thirty cuts just to extract that core perfectly from the Heterosequence's body.
Qiu Shubai looked at the side of Luo Yang's face, seeing the smile he hadn't had time to hide—a smile mixed with coldness and pleasure. A thought suddenly surfaced in her mind, though she couldn't tell if it was wariness or something else.
This guy... it's like he's enjoying the process.
Luo Yang finally seemed to notice the arrival of the two. He turned his head, his gaze sweeping over Qian Yao's face before lingering on Qiu Shubai for a moment.
Then he smiled. That smile was gentle and harmless, making him look like a completely different person from the one who had just carved up the Heterosequence.
“Section Chief Qian, Miss Chief. Not in bed yet at this hour?”
The corner of Qian Yao's eye twitched.
“You...” His voice was a bit dry. “Did you do this alone?”
“Pretty much.” Luo Yang weighed the core in his hand. “This guy's luck wasn't very good; it ran into me.”
Luck wasn't very good?
Do you even hear yourself?
A Shadow rank Heterosequence, luck, not, very, good?
Qian Yao took a deep breath, trying to make himself accept this reality.
He stepped forward, looked closely at the core, then at the Heterosequence blood on Luo Yang, and couldn't help but ask, “Are you hurt?”
“No.” Luo Yang shook his head. “None of this is my blood.”
Qian Yao was silent for two seconds before pulling a pack of tissues from his pocket and handing it over.
“Wipe yourself off first. If you walk down the street like this, you'll give someone a heart attack.”
Luo Yang took the tissues and wiped his face casually a few times.
The dark red blood that hadn't yet congealed was wiped away, revealing clean, fair skin.
He crumpled the dirty tissues into a ball, tossed them into a nearby trash can that had a large hole in it, and then put the core into his space ring.
The entire process was as natural as if he were doing something he did every day.
Qiu Shubai finally spoke.
“That Heterosequence just now... did you extract the core alive on purpose?”
Luo Yang looked at her, seemingly not expecting her to ask that question.
“Yeah,” he said with complete sincerity.
“A Shadow rank Heterosequence core is worth at least a hundred and fifty thousand. The reward for the mission involving that Ying Xiu's core hasn't been paid out yet. This one will make up for it.”
The tone he used was as if he were saying he bought extra groceries because the supermarket was having a sale.
Qiu Shubai's brow furrowed slightly.
It wasn't because of Luo Yang's answer, but because of his attitude when he gave it.
One hundred and fifty thousand Shenzhou coins was indeed no small sum, but it wasn't enough to justify someone risking their life to dig out a core.
Hunting for Heterosequence cores was a dangerous task no matter where it was done.
And given Luo Yang's salary level at the Ability Bureau, even if it wasn't paid in full, theoretically, he wouldn't be lacking that hundred and fifty thousand.
Unless he really needed the money.
Qiu Shubai suddenly remembered what she had said yesterday in the commercial district.
“One hundred and eighty thousand... you don't need to pay back the change, just give me back one hundred and eighty thousand.”
She had only said it casually at the time and hadn't expected him to actually pay it back. But now, it seemed this guy remembered it very clearly.
“The core is yours,” Qian Yao's voice interrupted Qiu Shubai's thoughts. “By regulation, the core belongs to whoever kills the Heterosequence. However, you'll have to cooperate with the bureau to write an after-action report. Since you fought in the city area, the higher-ups will definitely ask about it later.”
“Sure.” Luo Yang agreed readily. “I'll find you at the bureau later.”
Qian Yao nodded, looked at the wrecked lobby once more, and sighed.
“I'll have people handle the cleanup. You two head back first; there's nothing left for you to do here.”
Luo Yang waved to Qian Yao and turned to walk toward the street. After a few steps, he suddenly stopped and looked back at Qiu Shubai, who was still standing there.
“Miss Chief, are you leaving?”
Qiu Shubai hesitated for a moment before following him.
The two walked side by side down the late-night street. The distant flames had been extinguished by the arriving fire trucks, and the sounds of sirens and shouting gradually faded away.
The night wind blew, carrying away some of the lingering killing intent on Luo Yang.
After walking a certain distance, Qiu Shubai suddenly spoke.
“Do you do this often?”
“Do what?”
“Extracting cores alive.”
Luo Yang thought for a moment, seemingly weighing his words.
“Not that often. After all, Shadow rank and higher Heterosequences aren't something you run into every day.”
He pushed up his glasses. “But if I do run into one, I usually take it. Cores with high integrity are especially valuable.”
“Valuable enough to be worth the risk?”
“Risk?” Luo Yang glanced at her and smiled. “Miss Chief, I don't call this a risk.”
His tone was very flat, as if he were stating a perfectly ordinary fact.
Qiu Shubai didn't respond.
She suddenly remembered the 【Classified】 rating on Luo Yang's ability file.
In the entire Yuanxing City Punisher Academy, she couldn't find another student whose Punisher rank was marked as classified.
A person who could make an Ability Measurement Stone explode, a person who could pin down a Shadow rank Heterosequence with four first-tier swords, and a person who had carved up two Shadow rank Heterosequences and felt it wasn't a risk.
Why would someone like this be at the bottom of the rankings on the academy's Ladder Rankings?
Qiu Shubai wanted to ask, but in the end, she didn't.
Everyone has their own secrets.
Sometimes, it's better not to ask.
The two parted at the next intersection.
Qiu Shubai watched Luo Yang's back disappear into the night, her ash-white hair blown by the night wind, masking the complex look in her eyes.
She looked down at her phone.
In the KK chat window, Luo Yang's avatar was lit up. It was an anime-style boy wearing glasses, drawn with exquisite detail, in the same style as her own avatar.
Qiu Shubai's finger hovered over the screen for a few seconds before she finally decided not to tap in.
She turned off the screen, put the phone back in her pocket, and turned to walk toward her home.
Meanwhile, walking down another path, Luo Yang suddenly stopped.
He pulled his phone from his pocket, opened the Punisher app, and scrolled to the very bottom of the mission page to find a newly posted request.
“Mission ID: Y-114. Seeking one Shadow rank Heterosequence core. Reward adjusted based on integrity.”
“Reward: 200,000 Shenzhou coins. Posted by: Punisher Association Official.”
Luo Yang stared at the reward amount for two seconds, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
Two hundred thousand.
More than enough to pay back his debt.
He tapped “Accept Mission,” stuffed his phone back into his pocket, and headed toward the subway station.
He lived far away and still needed to take public transportation.
In the distance, the first light of dawn was beginning to break on the horizon.
Rate on N.U.
