Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Final Curtain

Ace emerged from the shattered ground, having been dragged down by Gong Hou, who had locked his arms around him as they crashed through the earth. They smashed through several meters, even breaking through the subway tunnel below. Luckily, there were no trains passing by, or Ace couldn't imagine where he might have ended up.

Climbing to the surface, Ace surveyed the dust-filled air. He waved his hand, trying to clear the dust, but after a few futile attempts, he gave up and glanced at the man dangling from his hand—a bloody, battered Gong Hou. Both of Gong Hou's arms had been broken, hanging limply as Ace threw him to the ground. Gong Hou groaned in pain, but said nothing.

"That last move wasn't bad," Ace nodded, "but it's still not enough." Gong Hou snorted coldly and turned away. If his arms weren't shattered, he would have given Ace the finger.

"Do you have any more tricks? Use them all," Ace said, plunging the Darkless Blade into the ground beside Gong Hou and crouching down. Gong Hou shot him a glare but remained silent. "In that case, you're of no further use." With that, Ace drew the Darkless Blade and aimed it at Gong Hou's head.

...

"What are you doing?" Ye Ling watched with childlike curiosity as Xu Xiong hammered countless pieces of metal flat and embedded them into the walls on either side. She couldn’t help but ask, but Xu Xiong just glanced at her dismissively, not even bothering to reply as he continued his work.

"What's with that attitude?" Ye Ling snapped angrily, but Xu Xiong treated her like air and methodically finished what he was doing. Soon, both walls were studded with metal objects. Xu Xiong admired his handiwork, nodded, and looked back at the nearly frantic Ye Ling. He spoke only once: "If you don't want to die, stay back later."

"You—!" Ye Ling was about to retort, but when she saw Xu Xiong's solemn face, she felt a chill. This man always wore that cold expression—could he be mentally unstable? The thought made her shudder, and she instinctively hugged herself and backed away.

"Spirit Ghost, can you locate the enemy?" Xu Xiong pressed a finger to his ear, then Li Shizhu's voice came through: "I can detect the enemy's location—roughly at your one o'clock." Xu Xiong's gaze shifted slightly, staring into the dust-filled distance. "I need precise data."

"Alright, sending it now," Li Shizhu replied. Her voice cut off, and a virtual 3D map appeared in Xu Xiong's mind, pinpointing the enemy's position. He sighed softly and pulled a bottle of coins from his coat pocket. Silently, he gazed at the bottle, gently caressing it as his expression grew colder.

"Get ready," Xu Xiong unscrewed the cap, lifted his right hand, and spread his fingers. Blue currents sparked from his fingertips, first as faint sparks, then bursting forth in a gale. Blue arcs shot from his fingers like whips, lashing the air. Xu Xiong smirked coldly as the wind from the ionization whipped his hair and clothes. He stepped forward into the alley lined with embedded metal, extended his index finger, and traced a line through the air.

Blue arcs spread from his fingertip, instantly crawling across the street, weaving through the metal on the walls with a sibilant hiss, eventually forming an electric net.

Even from dozens of meters away, Ye Ling could sense the power of the net. The air ionized as tiny particles were drawn toward the net, and even the parked truck behind her seemed ready to move.

"Full power!" Xu Xiong said coolly. "Let's begin!"

...

Gong Hou glared at Ace. Yes, he couldn't beat him, but he could glare him to death—such was the twisted logic in Gong Hou's mind.

Just as Ace’s blade was about to descend, and he was ready to meet Marx and discuss philosophy in the afterlife, a pink arc of light fell from above, slicing at Ace’s right arm. Ace's black pupils flickered; instead of stabbing downward, he slashed upward, knocking aside Lin Yang’s attack. Lin Yang’s descent only accelerated—he spun midair, dissipating the force of Ace’s blade, and landed right in front of Ace. The instant his feet touched the ground, his sword darted forward, stabbing more than a dozen times at Ace’s face.

Ace was forced back a step by the flurry, but Lin Yang did not pursue. Instead, he rolled across the ground, reaching the prone Gong Hou.

"Done! Hit him!" Lin Yang grabbed Gong Hou’s arm and shouted. In the next instant, the two vanished.

"Shoot!" Li Shizhu, from afar, suddenly opened her eyes. Her pupils dilated as her psychic power surged like a spring, piercing into Ace's mind.

...

"Ah!" Ace screamed, clutching his head with his left hand. "You bastards! Damn you!" he roared, caught off guard by the overwhelming psychic assault. The pain in his brain was excruciating, and with another furious shout, a massive sonic wave erupted from him, blasting the dust away.

At that moment, Xu Xiong opened his eyes. Before him, the electric grid hummed, arcs of blue light forming a deadly, beautiful spectacle. With a snarl, Xu Xiong threw the bottle from his left hand; it shattered, and countless coins scattered into the grid.

"Ahhhhhh..." Xu Xiong shouted, unleashing his full psychic power. The electric field, once flowing gently, now surged violently. Blue arcs crackled from his body, and the metal in the walls trembled as if ready to tear free.

"Go!" Xu Xiong, suppressing the pressure in his chest, swung his right hand. The scattered coins were pierced by electricity, igniting, and were launched at several times the speed of sound. Orange streaks of light shot through the dust, converging on Ace.

Dazed by Li Shizhu’s psychic assault, Ace looked up to see a wave of orange light engulfing him. He roared, slashing frantically with the Darkless Blade. The orange bolts scattered, plasma spraying everywhere. "Damn you all!" Ace howled, the pain in his head slowing his reactions. After breaking apart a dozen bolts, he was struck on the left shoulder by one, stumbling as the rest engulfed him.

"Ah!" Li Shizhu screamed, collapsing into her seat, blood pouring from her eyes, ears, and nose. Ace’s previous roar had rebounded all her psychic power back, nearly killing her. She had completed her task, but at a dreadful cost.

Ace couldn't deflect all the coins. Once struck, he lost the ability to fend off the rest. Light swamped him; some rays tore through the dust, smashing streetlights and piercing abandoned cars. Wherever the coins went, everything turned to smoke. Steel melted, the ground caved in, and thunderous explosions shook the world.

Ye Ling was stunned. Xu Xiong, who looked so slight, now unleashed devastation rivaling an artillery regiment. "Psychic power..." she murmured, finally grasping its terrifying potential.

When the last coin was fired, the blue grid flickered out, its energy spent. The metal embedded in the walls, seared by the power, disintegrated into ash, leaving only pools of solidified metal.

Ye Ling trembled as she looked at the ruins before her. The ground was riddled with craters, buildings reduced to rubble, gaping holes everywhere. "This..." she started, but stopped when she saw Xu Xiong collapse face-first to the ground.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Ye Ling rushed forward, but before she could reach Xu Xiong, Lin Yang appeared, grabbing her with one hand and Xu Xiong with the other. "No time! We have to run!"

"Run? From what?" Ye Ling was confused, but before she could react, Lin Yang whisked her away, reappearing atop a distant building. "Is that guy still alive?" Ye Ling shouted, watching Lin Yang drop to his knees and spit blood.

"Damn, teleporting two people at once is harder than I thought."

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, but Lin Yang urgently glanced back. "Not far enough. We have to keep moving!" He grabbed Ye Ling and Xu Xiong, teleporting them again onto another rooftop hundreds of meters away.

"What is going on?" Ye Ling cried, seeing Lin Yang cough up more blood. "Is he still alive?"

"Of course," Lin Yang panted, looking back at the dissipating dust. "But I'm not running from him, I'm running from Dead Eye. He’s about to use the Final Shell."

"What?!" Ye Ling’s eyes widened. "We’re not in the temporal seal now—he’s lost his mind!"

"When have you ever known him to be sane?" Lin Yang laughed bitterly, then collapsed, unconscious.

...

As the dust cleared, Xie Liu completed his preparations. He looked at his sniper rifle, anchored to the building like a giant octopus, and smiled in satisfaction. Massive metal claws gripped the building as he pulled out the ultimate bullet, flicked it, and caught it as it spun in the air. "It ends now." He loaded the bullet into the chamber.

Ace rose from a crater, holding his aching head. He was battered but not seriously wounded—just thoroughly disheveled. He brandished his blade, seething. These people had truly enraged him; none could be allowed to escape. Then, his pupils narrowed as he spotted Xie Liu on a rooftop hundreds of meters away.

"Checkmate," Xie Liu sneered, crunching the lollipop in his mouth.

...

Ye Ling had witnessed Xie Liu fire the Final Shell once before, but only from afar, unaware of its true power. Now, she saw it firsthand. The moment the Final Shell left the barrel, the building Xie Liu stood on was snapped in half by the recoil! The thirty-story tower was split at the waist with a deafening roar, catapulting Xie Liu backward like a kite in a hurricane—he crashed through several walls of a glass building before coming to a stop.

But compared to Xie Liu’s dramatic flight, the bullet from his rifle was even more astonishing. What he fired wasn’t a bullet, but a storm. At the point of impact, spiraling winds erupted into countless blades, shredding everything within hundreds of meters. It was an apocalyptic tempest, its eye aimed directly at Ace.

Even Ace’s expression changed—this was the pinnacle of Dream City’s technology, a force no human could withstand.

But there was no way to dodge. Ace, never one to hesitate, howled like a beast and swung his blade with all his might.

Xie Liu crawled from the ruins, seeing a few people fleeing in panic. He paused, mourning the two he’d sent flying when he crashed in. Feeling the chaotic wind outside, he knew the Final Shell had taken effect. Looking down at his bloodied, skinless hands—both burned by the superheated ionization as he pulled the trigger—he struggled to stand, but his injuries were nearly fatal. The micro-repair device Lin Yang had injected was still working, slowly healing him.

He crawled to the edge of the shattered floor, shards of glass crunching beneath him, and peered down.

Below was a barren wasteland, not a building in sight, just a layer of fine gravel. The once-bustling street was gone—now, after the Final Shell’s rampage, an expanse of desert surrounded him. In the center, a mutilated figure struggled to stand.

"Still alive!" Xie Liu stared, aghast. Ace’s right arm and half his torso were gone, but he hadn't died. Yet he had no strength left; he managed to stand for a second before collapsing. The Darkless Blade had been reduced to dust in the storm. Ace lay in the sand, his body broken, and yet he laughed.

"Hahahahaha..." His laughter grew louder. "Good! Good! Interesting! Fascinating! I like it!"

The battle was over, but both sides lay in ruins. From afar, Xie Liu saw city warplanes approaching and several figures moving in to carry Ace away. He managed a bitter smile. "Pity. In the end, we couldn't keep the big fish." With that, he lost consciousness.