Chapter 18: Still Not Enough
"It's just... not pure enough."
Mark stroked his chin, muttering to himself, "Why hold onto that last bit of weak attachment?
That will only become your shackles, making you hesitate at crucial moments."
He slowly descended, a nearly gentle, contemplative expression on his face.
"Let me help you."
He said with a smile, his voice as soft as if he were coaxing a child, "Help you become... even stronger."
The child still glared at him with hateful eyes.
The next moment, the figure before the child's eyes abruptly vanished.
He froze for a moment, then stiffly turned his head to look at his family member who had been protecting him from behind.
But the figure who had stood there was now lying on the ground, never to rise again.
"Mom... Mama?"
Meaningless syllables escaped the child's throat.
"What's wrong, Mama?!"
A few seconds later, belated fear and intense pain pierced his brain.
He lunged forward, embracing the still-warm body, letting out a wail so mournful it sounded inhuman.
"Don't cry, it's all over."
A calm voice sounded above his head.
The boy looked up blankly, and through his tear-blurred vision, he saw that demonic figure standing before him.
The other party merely waved a hand, easily shattering his last reliance.
"From today onwards, you have no retreat."
Mark watched the boy as if looking at a work about to be completed, "Everything you've lost will become your reason to live."
"Ah—!! No! Mama—!!!"
The boy broke down, screaming as he lunged, but Mark easily fended him off.
He could only cling tightly to his family member's body, as if that could preserve the last bit of warmth.
He couldn't believe that on this very day, at this very moment, he had completely lost all his support and become a true orphan.
"Ah~ what a... poignant scene."
Mark savored the boy's despair, even letting out a soft sigh, "It truly leaves me... deeply impressed."
This was precisely the effect he wanted.
He wanted these aggressors to personally experience the heart-wrenching pain of having their homes trampled and their loved ones taken away.
To let them know that the harm inflicted upon others would one day return to them in an even heavier way.
He raised his hand and gently pushed, causing the boy to stumble and fall to the ground.
Mark looked down at him, his voice carrying a cold sense of oppression:
"Child, stop crying.
You are merely the descendant of an invader, understand?
Your ancestors participated in invading my planet, so now, I have come to 'revisit' your planet."
"Don't put on this pitiful victim act, otherwise..."
Mark's smile turned cold, "I will make sure you don't even get a chance to cry."
The boy trembled and cried in pain on the ground.
But besides sadness and fear, Mark didn't see the expected, completely ignited, reckless hatred.
He frowned.
Without that extreme hatred, this wouldn't do.
Such a'seed' wouldn't grow tough enough.
But soon, his brows relaxed.
He had a way to solve this problem.
During this month of high-intensity, high-frequency actions, he had learned quite a few methods for 'awakening will'.
He bent down, picked up a relic belonging to the boy's family member from the ground, then walked to the boy who was pinned to the ground and squatted down.
"Child, look at this."
The boy looked at the familiar object before him, and immense fear completely engulfed him.
He shook his head frantically, begging with tears and snot streaming down his face:
"No... no! Please! No! I don't want to see it—!!"
He curled back and crawled on his hands and feet like a wounded cub, wanting only to get away from this true demon.
"Don't be like that, child."
Mark's voice remained soft.
He pressed closer, and against the eerie backdrop of blood-red and ghostly-red interwoven around them,
his figure was highlighted like a demon god crawling out of the deepest hell:
"This is for your own good.
Remember this, so you can remember this pain.
Every single second of your life from now on, you will remember this moment!
Each time you remember, your hatred for me will deepen; this is all the motivation for you to become stronger, child.
I'm doing this all for your own good..."
The boy desperately covered his face, shaking his head with all his might.
That bone-deep fear and despair almost swallowed him whole.
"Remember this feeling."
Mark's voice carried an undeniable coldness:
"This is the last time you'll feel the warmth of your loved one.
Of course, she will also remain in your memory forever, always reminding you."
Tears streamed down uncontrollably.
It was hard to imagine the psychological impact this child was enduring at this moment.
That pain...
Like the most venomous curse, it was deeply etched into his senses and the depths of his memory.
He knew that he would never forget it in this lifetime.
"I look forward to meeting you again in a year."
A cold voice sounded from the air.
When he finally managed to lift his head again, vaguely searching for that demon, the spot was already empty.
Only his fallen family member, the scattered relics nearby, and the intense pain radiating from his body remained.
And the churning, unforgettable fear and humiliation deep within his heart.
Bone-chilling despair, like the deepest ocean, engulfed him.
And at the very bottom of that abyss of despair, a never-before-felt, utterly dark rage began to quietly sprout and burn:
"I must kill you!!!"
Chapter 19: I Will Not Stop!
In the dim underground laboratory, the air was turbid, thick with a mixed scent of ozone, metal, and some kind of decaying biomass.
Fluorescent fungi on the walls provided a faint glow.
It illuminated an unusually tall figure in the center of the room, along with the mountains of mechanical parts and biological tissue culture vats piled before him.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Jack?"
An elderly Planet F Scientist in a stained lab coat asked with a trembling voice.
He clutched a datapad in his hand, the physiological parameter curves displayed on it were terrifying to behold.
"Your body... it won't be able to take it."
The tall Planet F man known as Jack kept his back to him, silently calibrating a semi-finished set of armor before him that looked as hideous as an exoskeleton.
His back was broad, but the contours of his muscles were abnormally gaunt, as if every bundle of muscle fiber had been excessively drained of its strength.
His skin was covered in a patchwork of old and new surgical scars and traces of energy burns.
The silence persisted, broken only by the hum of mechanical arms and the faint sound of dripping liquid.
The Old Scientist looked at that silent back.
He looked at the vital signs on the datapad that had nearly exceeded safety thresholds.
A mixture of fear, anger, and despair suddenly overwhelmed his reason.
Bang—!
He slammed the datapad hard onto the ground, the fragile screen shattering instantly.
"Look at what you've turned yourself into!?"
The Old Scientist roared, his voice echoing in the confined space.
He rushed forward, his withered fingers trembling as he pointed at Jack's bare back.
There, several new interface scars, still seeping with interstitial fluid, lay atop old wounds like ugly centipedes.
"You've learned the techniques of every existing combat master, hammering their experience into your brain like nails!"
"You injected the most dangerous and unstable 'Primal Serum' from our gene bank, nearly causing your genes to collapse and turn you into a pile of rotten meat!"
The Old Scientist panted heavily, his eyes bloodshot.
"And even that wasn't enough for you!"
"You even... even implanted that damned 'Temporal Perception Regulator' into yourself, locking yourself in a void of time-flow to 'grind' for an extra ten years!"
"Do you know how much damage that does to your nerves and lifespan?!"
He circled Jack, as if inspecting a piece of porcelain that was about to shatter completely.
"You're only twenty-five years old!"
"By our standards, you're still a youth!"
"But your organ load, telomere wear, nerve fatigue... they're all worse than a fifty-year-old miner's!"
"You're burning through your life!"
"How many more years can you live?"
"Tell me, Jack, how much further do you want to push this?!"
His gaze fell upon the interior of the helmet that had not yet been fully closed on the workbench nearby.
It was filled with dense, hair-thin neural probes, glinting coldly under the dim light.
"And now... now you want to put this damn thing on your head?!"
The Old Scientist's voice cracked with extreme fear.
"To physically connect every major nerve, even secondary nerve plexuses, to this iron coffin?"
"Do you know what that means?"
"Every second, biological currents and mechanical signals must be forcibly synchronized and coupled!"
"That's not control; that's torture!"
"It's like being cut by a thousand blades!"
"It's like roasting every inch of your senses over a fire!"
He grabbed Jack's shoulder, trying to pull him around, but it felt like trying to move a mountain.
"You'll be tortured to death by the pain before you even reach that demon!"
"Tell me, tell me!"
"Did we pour our hearts and souls into designing this 'god slayer' armor just so a madman like you could wear it to commit suicide?!"
Jack, who had been silent all along, finally stopped his movements.
He slowly turned around.
His face left the Old Scientist momentarily speechless.
It was not the face of a twenty-five-year-old youth.
Deep wrinkles were etched into his forehead and the corners of his eyes, and his skin appeared dull and rough from long-term exposure to intense pain and pressure.
A massive scar slashed across his left eye, making it look somewhat cloudy.
But those eyes—the right one intact, the left one cloudy—
Now burned with a heart-stopping calm.
A calm like volcanic rock, settled after experiencing countless life-and-death situations and witnessing endless despair.
"So, what is the purpose of you inventing this armor?"
Jack spoke, his voice raspy yet exceptionally clear and steady.
"Dr. Karon."
The Old Scientist, Dr. Karon, was stunned.
Purpose?
Of course he knew the purpose.
To gather the essence of Planet F's remaining technology, integrating biological interfaces, energy feedback, overload modes...
Wasn't it designed from the start to create an ultimate weapon, a suit of armor that could grant a mortal the power to oppose a god?
"I hoped... hoped someone could wear it..."
Karon answered subconsciously, his voice trailing off.
"You hoped for a death seeker to wear it, a brainwashed criminal, or a coward with nowhere left to run."
Jack finished for him, his tone devoid of blame, stating it as a mere fact.
"To have them perform a tragic, suicidal charge, using their life to trade for a potential moment of hesitation from that demon, or... a slight scratch."
"Trading sacrifice for hope, using death to ignite a spark."
"That was your original thought, wasn't it?"
Karon opened his mouth, unable to refute it.
When that hellish massacre began a year ago, this was indeed the desperate plan he and the remaining council had devised.
"But such a sacrifice is meaningless." Jack shook his head.
His gaze drifted to the mottled marks on the laboratory walls, recording countless failed experiments and the ID numbers of the fallen.
"A weakling with an unsteady mind, or a fanatic seeking only a quick death, cannot master the 'god slayer'."
"Their nerves would collapse the moment the connection is made; their will would disintegrate the instant the pain hits."
"They wouldn't even be able to make the armor take its first step."
He turned back, his gaze falling once more on Karon's face, a ripple finally appearing in that calm—the resolve of a warrior.
"And I need it."
"Dr. Karon, I have no time left."
"Jack... don't do this..." Dr. Karon slumped into a nearby metal chair as if all his strength had been drained, able only to offer a weak plea.
"You'll die... if this continues, you really will die... please, child..."
"Die?"
Jack softly repeated the word, and then, he actually smiled.
That smile appearing on his weather-beaten, scarred face looked exceptionally desolate, yet it carried a strange power.
"I have been dead for a long time, Dr. Karon."
His voice was very soft, yet it struck the listener's heart heavily.
"Exactly one year ago today."
Karon jerked his head up, remembering that day—the day that demon descended from the sky, the massacre began, and Jack lost everything.
"But this body can still move."
The smile faded from Jack's face, leaving only iron-like determination.
"Until I kill him... I absolutely will not stop!"
Chapter 20 Does God Shed Blood?
You cannot kill him!"
Karon seemed stung by these words, suddenly standing up, his voice sharp with agitation.
"That guy is a monster! He is a God! Do you understand?!"
"All our weapons—energy cannons, molecular blades, collapse bombs—couldn't even scratch his skin!"
"Even if you wear this, you will only change from a strong mortal to a slightly stronger mortal wearing iron skin!"
"You cannot kill a God!"
"Then let's go confirm one thing!"
Jack suddenly roared, his voice not loud.
Yet it seemed to contain the boundless rage accumulated over three hundred F-Star days and nights, the bone-deep hatred, and the entire will of their dying civilization, which now erupted in a single burst!
The laboratory lights seemed to tremble momentarily with his voice.
"I need to know—"
Jack spoke word by word, each syllable striking the ground like quenched steel.
"If a God bleeds!"
He took a step forward, closing in on Karon, his burning eyes fixed intently on the Old Scientist.
"If he also bleeds, if he feels pain when injured, if his invincibility is not absolute... then, Doctor Karon, you tell me—"
His voice suddenly rose, echoing throughout the entire laboratory:
"Once it is proven that the Divine is not invulnerable, then countless successors will follow, one after another, to—Kill! Him!"
Having spoken, he no longer looked at Karon's despairing gaze and turned straight around, walking toward the heavy, isolating main door at the back of the laboratory.
He reached out and pressed the biometric scanner beside the door.
"Click... Rumble..."
The heavy alloy door slowly slid open to both sides.
The scene outside instantly flooded in.
It was not a laboratory corridor, but a vast, empty space that might once have been an underground warehouse or shelter.
At this moment, it was densely packed with people!
Thousands upon thousands of F-Star inhabitants.
Most of them were ragged and emaciated.
Many bore incurable disabilities—missing limbs, disfigured faces, bodies requiring simple mechanical assistance to stand.
The light of peacetime was long gone from their eyes; only a mixture of numbness, exhaustion, and the deepest, almost tangible hatred remained.
The air was thick with the smell of sweat, dust, the fetid odor of festering wounds, and something else—something called 'despair,' yet stubbornly burning beneath that despair—
The scent of blood and iron.
For a full year, they had struggled to survive here, in their ruined homeland, enduring the periodic massacres inflicted by that 'God,' as if He were merely toying with His prey.
They had witnessed loved ones die, homes turned to scorched earth, and their civilization plunged into the abyss.
And now, their gazes were uniformly focused on the tallest figure standing at the doorway.
Jack.
The man who had stood like a bedrock at the forefront for the past year.
He had consolidated the scattered resistance, salvaged residual technology, and trained warriors in the most brutal manner.
He had led countless near-suicidal raids and retreats.
He had personally tested every dangerous genetic enhancement technique he could find, turning himself into a living weapon.
He had even utilized unstable temporal technology to banish himself into the void, refining every detail of combat through an unimaginable span of loneliness and pain known only to outsiders.
Now, he was about to make his final, and most insane, attempt.
To don the ultimate armor, named the 'god slayer,' though it resembled the 'Mutual Destruction' suit more.
That armor was said to be the pinnacle creation, fusing F-Star technology with scattered energy data collected from battles with demons.
Theoretically, it could push the wearer's biological potential to its limit, providing near-immortal recovery capabilities, and...
Strength sufficient to shake mountains, perhaps even to contend briefly with a God.
The only price was that the moment the connection was established, the wearer's nervous system would endure hellish, continuous torment.
Perhaps before taking the first step, the brain would self-destruct from the unbearable agony.
All surviving F-Star inhabitants, regardless of age or gender, held their breath at this moment.
Their hope, the last spark of vengeance for their civilization, rested entirely on this mad leap.
Jack's gaze slowly swept over the familiar and unfamiliar faces below, over those eyes filled with too much heavy emotion.
He spoke, his voice echoing through the vast space via simple amplification equipment, calm yet carrying the weight of a thousand mountains:
"Everyone."
"I want to know—"
He paused for a moment, his gaze seeming to pierce through the thick rock layers to the figure of the demon possibly rampaging somewhere.
"—If a God bleeds?"
He took a deep breath, the air mixed with dust and hope filling his lungs.
"I believe you also want to know."
After speaking, he said no more, turning and walking toward the platform in the center of the hall, which resembled an altar.
On the platform stood the 'god slayer' armor in silence.
It was a dark, deep purple color, with faint lines of ghostly blue energy flowing through the joints. Its design was ferocious yet brimming with power, like a coiled, steel beast.
Jack walked to the front of the platform, removed his simple clothing, revealing a body covered in scars and modification marks.
Without the slightest hesitation, as if performing a sacred ritual, he lay down into the open recess inside the armor.
"Activate... Neural Link Protocol."
His voice came from the internal communicator, terrifyingly calm.
"No... Jack..."
Doctor Karon, far away, slumped by the door, tears streaming down his face.
Around the platform, several technicians, suppressing immense grief and fear, initiated the sequence.
The various components of the armor began to close automatically, emitting heavy metallic locking sounds.
The helmet fell last, fitting seamlessly over Jack's head.
The next second—
"Eeeaaaaaahhhhhhhh—!!!"
A shriek of indescribable agony instantly burst forth from inside the armor, resounding throughout the entire underground space through the external speakers!
That was not a human scream, it didn't even sound like a sound biological life could emit.
It was the lament of ultimate pain, the sound of a soul being torn apart, nerves being crushed inch by inch, and consciousness being thrown into an eternal furnace!
The sound was sharp, hoarse, intermittent, filled with unimaginable suffering.
All the F-Star inhabitants in the hall clamped their hands over their ears; many couldn't help but collapse to the ground, their faces pale, as if the pain had transferred to them as well.
The children cried out in fright, only to have their mouths tightly covered by their parents.
The wailing continued, seemingly without end.
The armor trembled violently, and small electrical sparks even erupted on its surface due to the chaotic conflict of internal bio-currents.
The ghostly blue energy conduits at the joints became intensely bright, flickering on and off, as if they might overload and explode at any moment.
Time passed second by second, each second feeling as long as a century.
The wailing gradually subsided, turning into beastly roars, then into suppressed gasping sounds squeezed from the depths of the throat...
Finally, only faint, near-death gasps remained, transmitted through the gaps in the steel mask.
The armor became completely still.
It remained in a half-kneeling posture on the platform, like a steel statue devoid of a soul.
What rose from the surface was not steam, but a scorched smoke generated by the excessive stress response of biological tissue, mixed with the smell of coolant.
A deathly silence enveloped the entire underground space.
Every eye stared fixedly at the silent armor.
Despair, like the coldest ice water, began to spread from everyone's feet, freezing their hearts.
Doctor Karon closed his eyes, unable to watch any longer.
Some resistance fighters lowered their heads, clenching their fists, their nails digging into their flesh.
Could it be... that even this last spark of madness was about to be extinguished?
Just then—
"Creak..."
A slight, almost inaudible sound of metal friction arose.
Everyone's heart leaped violently, and they looked up in unison!
"Creak... Creak..."
The sound grew louder, clearer.
The silent armor, that steel statue, began... to move!
Its lowered head started to lift, extremely slowly, bit by bit.
The two ghostly blue slits where the helmet's eyes were suddenly lit up, shooting out two beams of cold, sharp azure light, as if condensing endless pain and hatred!
"Hoo... hoo..."
Heavy, metal-filtered breathing sounds came from beneath the mask, like the pulling of an old bellows.
Then, under the gaze of countless shocked, ecstatic, yet pitying eyes—
The 'god slayer' armor staggered, supporting itself on the platform with its steel-armored arms, little by little...
It stood up!
It straightened its body, its nearly three-meter-tall steel form casting a huge shadow.
It moved its neck, emitting a grating sound of grinding metal, then raised one heavy steel arm and clenched its fist.
Beneath the mask, the voice of the one who had endured inhuman suffering and merged with the steel sounded low, yet incomparably clear, reaching every corner:
"Then..."
"Let us... go and prove it."
He slowly and firmly raised the clenched steel fist into the air, pointing toward the direction where the God, perhaps non-existent, resided.
The voice transmitted through the speakers, like a war drum, pounded against the heart of every surviving F-Star inhabitant:
"I believe—"
"God bleeds."
The fist swung down heavily, smashing onto the platform with a thunderous impact.
"And once it bleeds..."
The azure light beneath the helmet swept over the faces below, now ignited.
"He is no longer a God!"
Chapter 21: I Am Waiting
"I'll wait for you here, powerful Earthling... or rather, the so-called god."
A low voice echoed through the global emergency broadcast system, reaching every surviving corner of Planet F.
The signal pierced through the ruins, drilled into underground bunkers, and reverberated across cracked plains and dry riverbeds.
"I'm right here—the only perfectly preserved Central Sports Plaza on the entire Planet F."
The owner of the voice paused, as if calming some intense emotion, or perhaps explaining to an invisible audience.
"I believe you must have specially reserved this place for me.
Otherwise, with your destructive nature, these symbols of civilization would have long ago turned to dust."
The Central Sports Plaza was indeed, as he claimed, a rare and relatively well-preserved large facility on the planet's surface.
The stands, the track, the central lawn, and even the towering lighting pylons had miraculously escaped complete devastation by the war.
Although the outer walls of several surrounding skyscrapers were mottled, their skeletons remained intact, standing silently under the dim sky, like gravestones of giants.
"I am here!"
The voice continued to declare, with a desperate calm, like a "Wallfacer" speaking to the void.
"With everything I have, all my preparations, all my hatred, all my despair and hope, I await you!"
"Let's end this."
Jack shouted these final words to the empty plaza, to the silent planet.
He believed Mark could hear him.
That Earthling, with his extraordinary senses, almost a deity, would surely catch this global challenge.
He could even imagine that demon, at this moment, might be tilting his head, wearing that damned, amused smile, listening to his "last words."
On the other side of the planet, a desolate valley surrounded by purple crystal veins.
"Crack."
With a soft sound, the head of a Planet F resistance fighter shattered in Mark's hand, splashing blue-purple blood onto his newly changed battle suit.
The javelin, thrown by the warrior before his death and polished from rare crystal fragments, successfully grazed Mark's cheek.
A thin, almost invisible white mark oozed a rice-grain-sized drop of blood.
"Did you hear that?"
Mark released his grip, letting the corpse slide to the ground.
He gently wiped away the insignificant bloodstain with his thumb.
A happy smile, like a child discovering a new toy, appeared on his face as he spoke to the still twitching remains at his feet:
"He's calling out to me.
Using the entire planet as a loudspeaker... quite ritualistic, isn't it?"
"If I were a girl, I'd certainly exclaim that it's a romantic confession."
"But unfortunately, I just want to exterminate your entire planet..."
He looked up, his gaze seemingly piercing through rock layers and distance, towards the Sports Plaza.
"But I'm really looking forward,"
he murmured to himself, his voice full of delight:
"To what kind of 'graduation ceremony' my dear 'sparring partners,' especially this little Jack, have prepared for me over this past year."
He had been on this planet for a full Earth year.
The number of killings was already beyond calculation.
The Planet F people, and those other enslaved races who had long lost their will to resist, enslaved by the Planet F people...
...he treated them "all equally."
As for the slaves, he couldn't be bothered to awaken any desire for freedom.
You are already slaves, so wouldn't it be simpler if I bestowed upon you "freedom through death"?
The dark combat suit he was now wearing was specially made and form-fitting, without superfluous armor or protection, tough yet thin.
It was a "dress suit" he had ordered a few surviving Planet F tailors to sew using the best materials they could find.
Specifically for today, to thoroughly "experience" what kind of heartfelt "hospitality" the little Planet F person he had "carefully cultivated" for a year would bring.
In the corner.
An old Planet F tailor was trembling, clutching a pile of leftover fabric.
His cloudy eyes were filled with terror, fearing that this demon would casually crush him to death before leaving.
Mark noticed his trembling, turned his head, and gave him a surprisingly "gentle" smile.
"What are you afraid of? Are you afraid I'll kill you?"
The old tailor trembled even more violently, almost curling into a ball.
Mark chuckled softly and shook his head: "Don't worry, old man.
Today is the last day, the day of 'celebration.'
I won't kill you, at least not today... I'm willing to show a little kindness."
He walked up to the old tailor, bent down, and patted his stiff shoulder—a gesture that almost made the old man faint.
"After all, you sewed me such a well-fitting 'dress suit.'"
Mark straightened up and stretched, the fabric smoothly gliding with the contours of his muscles:
"And the 'crop' I've carefully cultivated for a year is finally ripe, waiting to be harvested...
This feeling of anticipation makes everything look a little better to me."
He no longer paid attention to the old man, who was almost consumed by fear, and his feet lifted slightly from the ground.
"Then..." He looked towards the Sports Plaza, golden light shimmering in his eyes, "I'm coming, Jack.
Don't disappoint me."
"Boom—!"
A sonic boom cloud exploded behind him, and his figure instantly broke the sound barrier, transforming into a streak of light tearing through the dim sky.
Sports Plaza, deathly silent, dim.
After the damage to the artificial atmosphere, the starlight became faint and sparse, only outlining the massive facility's silhouette, like the skeleton of a giant beast.
Mark's figure crashed into the center of the plaza like a meteorite, yet landed as light as a feather, stirring not a speck of dust.
He looked around, at the damaged but still magnificent stands, the empty lawn, the silent skyscrapers in the distance...
This place had indeed been meticulously "maintained," impossibly clean, a stark contrast to the dilapidated state of the rest of the planet.
"It seems you've cleaned this place up very well."
Mark's voice echoed in the emptiness, "So... my dear little Jack, where are you?
Come to Uncle, Uncle misses you terribly!"
He slowly paced, as leisurely as if strolling through his own backyard.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time, a whole year."
He looked up, speaking to the air, as if Jack were standing right in front of him:
"What kind of 'surprise' will you prepare for me? I can't wait to unwrap my gift."
"Did you hear? I've arrived.
Where is our Planet F's... 'Great Hero'?"
Chapter 22: Hey, Hello
As if in response to his words—
"Buzz—!"
A huge buzzing sound suddenly erupted!
All the remaining, backup, and even temporarily erected giant lighting equipment around the sports plaza lit up simultaneously!
Thousands of searchlights, holographic projectors, and emergency lighting arrays cast a blinding, stark white light.
It poured down like a waterfall, instantly illuminating the entire sports plaza as brightly as day!
Every inch of the ground, every corner, was exposed to the relentless glare, leaving no shadows to hide.
At the same time, the ruins around the plaza, the grandstand passages, the underground entrances...
Countless figures began to move quickly and orderly.
They didn't use any electronic communication, relying only on the most primitive gestures and hushed commands to relay information.
Old, modified hovering camera platforms buzzed upwards, adjusting their angles, their cold lenses pointed at the center of the plaza.
Ensuring a live broadcast signal with no blind spots could be transmitted to every corner of the planet still capable of receiving a signal.
And in the very center of the light, on the stadium's turf, a steel figure nearly three meters tall had already stood silently.
The god slayer armor reflected a cold, hard deep purple glow under the strong light, and dangerous, eerie blue flowed through its energy conduits.
It raised its head, the brilliant blue light from its helmet's eyes piercing the air and locking onto Mark.
From beneath the faceplate came a calm voice, filtered by metal, yet exceptionally clear:
"Hey, hello."
Mark looked at the display, especially the cameras hovering in mid-air with their cold, reflective lenses, and the smile on his lips deepened.
"A live broadcast, huh?" he chuckled, flexing his wrist. "Quite the setup.
You'd better... really have learned some new tricks, don't disappoint so many spectators."
"I won't."
Jack's voice came through the armor, still calm.
"Because this isn't a one-on-one fight, I'm going to cheat!"
Then, he moved.
Instead of charging at Mark, he raised his heavy steel right foot, and then, stomped it down hard!
"Thud!"
With a muffled thud, a small section of the turf beneath his foot suddenly collapsed, revealing an inconspicuous metal pedal hidden there.
Mark raised an eyebrow slightly, his super vision instantly penetrating the turf and shallow soil.
He saw the complex mechanical linkage device beneath the pedal, and... a large number of cables and explosives connected to the foundations of those distant skyscrapers!
"Oh?"
Far from being vigilant, Mark showed a look of pleasant surprise.
Almost the same second Jack stepped on the pedal—
"Rumble rumble rumble—!!!"
An earth-shattering explosion came from behind Mark!
Not one sound, but a continuous, terrifying roar!
The sound was so immense that it even created visible ripples in the air!
With a brilliant smile, Mark suddenly turned his head!
Only to see at the edge of the sports plaza.
Those tallest and most intact skyscrapers, serving as the backdrop.
Their middle floors simultaneously erupted in dazzling flames and thick smoke!
The massive shockwave precisely destroyed the load-bearing structures.
Entire hundreds-of-meter-tall steel and concrete behemoths let out grating metallic screams of twisting agony.
Towards the center of the sports plaza, towards where Mark stood, they slowly, then unstoppably, tilted and collapsed!
Tens of thousands of tons of reinforced concrete, glass curtain walls, internal facilities...
Like the collapse of the heavens, they transformed into a destructive torrent, accelerating with potential energy, obscuring the sky and sun as they crashed down!
The sheer scope and speed of the descent meant that even at Mark's speed, he couldn't completely escape the core impact zone instantly.
"Wow... that's really unfair."
Mark looked at this apocalyptic scene, his eyes gleaming with golden light—not fear, but extreme excitement:
"But this is... truly a grand gesture!"
He simply gave up on the idea of dodging, standing still, slightly bending his knees, crossing his arms in front of him, and raising his head to face the falling steel forest!
"Welcome to..."
Jack's voice echoed through the armor's amplifier, overriding the thunderous collapse:
"F-Star Resistance Alliance!"
The next second, the collapsing buildings completely engulfed Mark.
The impact generated a shockwave that swept outwards like a tsunami, pushing Jack back dozens of meters even in his heavy armor.
Dust, debris, and twisted rebar splattered outwards like a downpour, hitting the grandstands and the ground with dense crackling sounds.
The live broadcast camera shook violently but remained fixed on the mountain of architectural rubble that had instantly risen dozens of meters high.
Smoke and dust billowed, filling the entire plaza.
Silence lasted for about five seconds.
"It seems you don't know..."
A smiling voice clearly emerged from deep within the ruins:
"What kind of physique I actually possess!?"
"Boom!"
The top of the ruins exploded, and Mark's figure shot into the sky!
He hovered in mid-air, his specialized battlesuit covered in dust but still intact.
He brushed off the debris from his shoulders, looked down at Jack below, and shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of regret:
"I allow you to cheat, I allow any measure.
But if this is all there is... then I'm truly disappointed.
It's just steel and concrete, not even enough to scratch my skin."
At the foot of the rubble mountain, the deep purple armor raised its head, and the brilliant blue light beneath its faceplate flickered.
"Of course I know."
Jack's voice rang out, a certain fervor seemingly suppressed beneath his calm demeanor.
As soon as he finished speaking—
"Whoosh—whoosh—!!!"
Piercingly sharp engine roars came from behind the skyscraper ruins on both sides of the sports plaza!
Two heavily modified heavy transport planes, almost unrecognizable from their original forms.
Like suicidal giant birds, trailing thick black smoke, they plunged at an almost vertical angle from two directions, desperately crashing towards Mark, who had just ascended!
Their bellies and cabins were crammed with visible, piled-up high explosives and energy cells!
The figures of the pilots were clearly visible in the cockpits; their faces showed no fear, only a cold determination.
Mark's eyes widened slightly; this time, he was genuinely a bit surprised.
"Bang!!! Rumble rumble rumble—!!!"
The two planes were simultaneously detonated by remote control less than twenty meters from Mark!
No, perhaps there was no remote control at all; instead, the pilots themselves crashed into the detonation buttons!
Chapter 23: You Did Great!
In an instant, the sky seemed to be torn apart!
An explosion more than ten times more violent than the building collapse earlier occurred!
A fireball interwoven with crimson and searing white instantly expanded to hundreds of meters in diameter, completely swallowing Mark's tiny figure!
The terrifying shockwave spread spherically, once again blowing away and scattering the building debris that had just piled up below!
The camera platforms high in the sky were blown to pieces like leaves in a gale, with only a few of the sturdiest ones barely holding steady.
The light of the explosion caused all the live broadcast screens to instantly overexpose into a blinding white, and they were immediately occupied by rolling thick smoke and flames.
The scorching heatwave forced even Jack, on the ground, to drop to one knee.
He had to set his armor's shield power to maximum to withstand the scorching heat and Shockwave, which felt like a blast of hot wind.
"Twenty brothers..."
Jack said in a low, hoarse voice into his built-in communicator:
"To ensure there was enough explosive material, they had to transfer the inventory in the shortest time possible... Because of this, twenty brothers were left behind on those two planes."
He paused.
"Now, they are all dead."
In the sky, the flames and thick smoke slowly dispersed, revealing a floating figure.
The special combat suit on Mark finally shattered this time.
The fabric was torn into ragged strips by the high temperature and shockwave, barely hanging on his body.
He breathed slightly and looked down at his exposed skin, which was stained with a bit of smoke and dust—it was still intact, without even a red Mark.
But the powerful Shockwave and the close-range explosion shock clearly made him feel uncomfortable.
He frowned, swayed, gave up on floating, and turned to fall heavily toward the ground.
"Thud!"
His feet landed, creating two shallow pits in the charred ground.
He tore off the tattered fabric that had become a burden, leaving only a larger piece wrapped around his waist to cover the key area.
His naked upper body had smooth and perfect muscle lines, and under the strong light, it looked like a sculpture of an ancient Greek god of war.
If you ignored the smile on his face at this moment, which was so excited it was almost ferocious.
"I hope you can keep smiling! That will make me even more excited and pumped up!"
Jack slowly stood up straight, looking at the almost naked enemy not far away who was exuding a terrifying aura.
He finally moved; he reached back with both hands and pulled two weapons from the magazine on the back of his armor.
They were two uniquely shaped straight-edged long blades, the blades were a dark silver color and covered in intricate energy circuits.
At this moment, the circuits were emitting a low hum, and a faint blue light flowed along the blades.
This was the crystallization of Planet F's material science and energy technology, the "World-Breaker" power blades.
Theoretical simulation data indicated that its high-frequency oscillation energy field was sufficient to cut through most known material structures, including... the tough flesh of a Viltrumite.
"Initiate Plan B."
Jack said into the communicator in a low voice, his tone calm and waveless.
The next second, he moved!
The heavy armor erupted with astonishing speed, the ground beneath his feet exploded, the purple steel figure dragged out an afterimage, and with blades crossed like a predatory mantis, he thrust straight at Mark's chest!
Mark looked at the incoming twin blades, neither dodging nor avoiding, and even opened his arms as if to embrace the attack, his smile growing even brighter.
"Squelch!"
The blade tips precisely pierced Mark's pectoral muscles!
But that was all it did—pierce.
The sharp tips broke the skin and entered the muscle about half an inch, with blood seeping out along the energy grooves of the blades.
But that was as far as it went.
No matter how Jack roared, urging all the power of the armor.
The blades could not penetrate a single bit further, as if they had not pierced flesh and blood, but matter with the extremely high density of a neutron star.
Mark looked down at the two blades stuck in his chest.
He then looked up at the armor's faceplate close at hand, where the azure light inside flickered violently due to the exertion.
"Is this your preparation?"
Mark asked with a smile, as if what was stuck in his chest was not a deadly weapon, but an ornament.
Jack did not answer.
But Mark immediately felt that something was wrong—the blades inserted into his body suddenly transmitted intense energy fluctuations!
Not cutting, but... binding!
The energy fields of the two blades instantly changed frequency, linking with each other to form a short-lived but powerful energy shackle.
It was firmly "welded" to Mark's wounds, restricting his muscle movement and energy flow!
Although with Mark's strength, this shackle could only be effective for a very short time, perhaps only 0.5 seconds, or even shorter.
But 0.5 seconds, in a meticulously designed kill trap, was enough!
"Roar!!!"
Earth-shaking roars rang out from all directions!
It was not the voice of one person, but the death-defying roars of hundreds of people mixed together!
In the surrounding ruins, behind the broken stands, and even in the tunnels blasted open underground.
Countless modified hovercars or ground vehicles welded with heavy steel plates rushed out!
Every vehicle was piled high with explosive packs, energy batteries, makeshift fuel tanks... and even unexploded shells!
And in the driver's seat, without exception, sat the Planet F resistance fighters with crazy eyes and explosives strapped to their bodies!
From every direction, they floored the gas pedals, recklessly crashing toward Mark, who was temporarily "nailed" in place by the twin blades!
The moment the twin-blade energy lock was activated, Jack released the handles, engaged his armor's full power, and fled for his life in the opposite direction of the traffic flow!
Mark watched the vehicles swarming in from all directions like a suicide swarm, and a glimmer of true, battle-ready sharpness finally flashed in his eyes.
He wanted to fly up, but the energy shackle in his chest did indeed create a hindrance, slowing his takeoff motion for just a split second.
And that split second determined the scale of the subsequent explosion.
"For our home!!!"
"Kill!!!"
The drivers' final shouts were drowned out by—
"BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
A super explosion that could not be described in words occurred!
The yield, concentration, and destructiveness of this explosion far exceeded the sum of the previous plane crashes!
Hundreds of vehicles fully loaded with explosives were detonated at the same time and in the same area.
The resulting energy release could no longer be described as a "fireball"; it was more like a small supernova occurring on the surface!
The blinding white light instantly swallowed everything.
The sound exceeded the upper limit of hearing in the very first moment.
Following that was a destructive storm sweeping through everything, mixed with high temperatures, shockwaves, and lethal radiation!
A terrifying mushroom cloud mixed with flames, dust, and plasma rose in the center of the sports plaza, clearly visible even when viewed from space!
At the moment of the explosion, Jack had already rushed to the very edge of the plaza and hidden in a semi-underground bunker that had been reinforced with armor debris and energy shields beforehand.
Even so, the terrifying shockwave still tore the shield outside the bunker to pieces.
The heavy armor was slammed hard against the internal steel wall like a broken rag doll, emitting a heart-stopping Shockwave sound.
Jack, inside, felt as if he had been hit by a ten-thousand-ton giant hammer.
His vision went black, blood seeped from his ears and nose simultaneously, and the excruciating pain from the neural connection instantly soared to its peak, almost causing him to faint.
But he gritted his teeth, his face under the helmet visor twisted with extreme pain and ecstasy, yet he was still smiling.
He stared at the destructive light swallowing everything outside the bunker's observation port and whispered hoarsely:
"I think... you will like all of this."
"I—do like it!!!"
A long howl that almost drowned out the lingering sound of the explosion soared into the sky from the core of the destruction!
A naked figure charged out brazenly from the flames and smoke that had not yet dispersed!
The fabric on his body had long since vanished into ashes, with only a small piece of charred remains miraculously left around his waist.
The surface of his body was covered with large patches of charring and burn Marks; in some places, his skin was torn open, with blood constantly seeping out and dripping down.
Most of his hair was singed, his face was full of smoke, dust, and blood, and one of his ears was even still bleeding.
But he was laughing wildly!
Laughing wantonly, laughing heartily, laughing as if he had just enjoyed a supreme feast!
"Throwing away the lives of hundreds of brothers, just to 'kill' me, Jack?!"
Mark hovered above the explosion crater, his voice somewhat hoarse from excitement and the shock of the explosion, yet still loud and clear:
"You did great!!!"
He could feel every Viltrumite cell in his body screaming and cheering.
Frenziedly absorbing the "pressure" and "damage" brought by this devastating blow, and repairing, restructuring, and evolving at an even faster speed!
Chapter 24: Total Annihilation
Smart Atoms were working with unprecedented efficiency, transforming those burns and concussive injuries into nutrients for reinforcement.
The pain was real, and the damage was real.
But this feeling of wandering on the edge of destruction, only to be pulled back by powerful vitality... it intoxicated him!
"Yeah!! To kill you, I've abandoned everything!!!"
Jack's roar came from the bunker.
That deep purple armor crashed through the shattered barrier and charged out once again!
Countless dents and scorch marks now covered the surface of his armor.
Some energy conduits were exposed, crackling, but his charging speed was actually faster than before!
It was as if that suit of armor was no longer merely mechanical, but had completely merged with his vengeful spirit, burning away his final life force and will together!
He was a vengeful spirit, willing to burn everything just to leave his own mark on that God Among Men!
"You're bleeding, aren't you?!"
Jack roared, his armored fist tearing through the air, carrying all his remaining kinetic energy and fury as it smashed hard against Mark's cheek!
This time, Mark didn't use his hand to block, nor did he dodge.
He just floated there, arms spread wide, taking the punch squarely... with his face!
"Bang!!!"
A dull thud, like striking heavy leather!
Mark's head snapped back, and his body was sent flying backward over a dozen meters before he steadied himself.
He shook his head and raised a hand to wipe his nose—there, a clear smear of blood appeared.
"You really are bleeding!!!"
Jack burst into a fit of ecstatic laughter, though the sound was more unpleasant than crying!
Without any pause, amidst the shrill scream of the overloaded engine—
He caught up to the flying Mark and tackled him violently to the ground.
Straddling Mark, his two steel fists acted like pile drivers, carrying all the remaining power of the power armor and the strength Jack had traded his life for!
He smashed down frantically toward Mark's skull and chest!
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"
Every punch landed on flesh!
No, it was the impact of steel against a superhuman physique with every blow!
Every strike was accompanied by the creaking of overburdened armor joints and arcs of energy overload!
Every hit caused the ground beneath Mark to sink and crack!
Jack didn't know how many punches he had thrown—a hundred? Two hundred?
He only felt his consciousness gradually blurring amidst the intense pain and fury.
The armor's feedback grew increasingly sluggish, his vision began to darken, and his respirator was filled with the sweet, metallic scent of his own blood.
The power core was already emitting a shrill overload alarm, and some limb servo systems began to fail.
Finally, his movements stopped.
Kneeling heavily on Mark, smoke rose from various parts of the armor, which emitted a mournful wail as it neared disintegration.
He gasped for air, each breath sounding like a bellows, hot air venting from the gaps in his faceplate.
He looked down.
Mark, pinned beneath him, was bruised and battered, bleeding from his nose and mouth, and his chest was slightly sunken—clearly, several ribs were broken.
Those black eyes, which had always held a hint of a smile, were now somewhat unfocused, and even more blood flowed from his ears.
But... he was still alive.
And, he was still smiling.
Even though that smile appeared somewhat hideous due to the swelling and bloodstains.
A hand suddenly rose, covering Jack's helmet faceplate.
Large patches of skin on the back of that hand had charred and peeled off, revealing the muscle tissue beneath and even showing glimpses of finger bones, yet it remained powerful.
Mark's fingers hooked onto the edge of the helmet.
"You fought well,"
Mark said hoarsely, and then, his five fingers suddenly exerted force!
"Crack! Rip—!!"
The sturdy armored helmet, along with the neural interface connected to Jack underneath, was brutally torn open and ripped apart!
Jack let out an inhuman scream!
It wasn't just the pain of physical injury, but the soul-piercing agony of nerves being violently stripped away!
Taking advantage of the moment Jack was dazed by his own screaming, Mark grabbed his shoulder with his other hand and flipped him off!
At the same time, the hand that had torn the helmet grabbed downward!
"Squelch!"
Jack felt a chill on his face, followed by a pain intense enough to make one faint!
With his remaining good eye, he saw Mark holding... a large piece of facial skin, complete with skin, muscle, and even part of the cheekbone!
It was his own face!
At the last moment, Mark had held back, not directly twisting off his head but merely tearing off most of his facial skin!
Jack staggered back and fell to his knees, his sole remaining eye clouded by blood.
His hands trembled as he tried to cover his mangled face, yet he didn't dare touch it.
He had to see clearly!
He had to see the enemy clearly!
And in the ruins, Mark, clutching that half of a bloody face, stood up unsteadily.
He looked down at the "trophy" in his hand, observing the green skin, the distorted features, and the severed nerve endings...
Suddenly, he burst into earth-shattering laughter!
"Hahahahahaha!!!"
He laughed so hard he doubled over, coughing up more blood clots, yet he didn't care at all. "You've grown well! My boy! You've grown... so very well!!!"
He tossed the facial skin aside and stumbled toward the kneeling Jack, leaving a bloody footprint with every step.
With his only remaining eye, Jack watched the naked figure that looked as if it had crawled out of a pool of blood in hell.
He watched the horrific wounds on his body stop bleeding, scab over, and even begin to heal at a visible rate.
He watched the golden light in his eyes reignite, more intense and crazed than before...
Despair.
A bone-chilling despair finally submerged Jack completely at this moment.
Even like this... it's still not enough?
Even when he didn't resist seriously at all, just like a child testing the durability of a toy.
Even when he let Jack pour out everything and sacrifice all he had... he still couldn't be killed?
All his efforts, the sacrifices of his brothers, the final struggle of an entire civilization...
Faced with this absolute gap in power, it was all so... pale and powerless.
But in the next second, amidst the despair that nearly consumed him, a trace of... a relieved smile struggled to surface.
At least...
He raised his mangled face, his sole remaining eye staring fixedly at the approaching Mark through the blood.
At least... he bled, didn't he?
The god bled.
This fact itself was like a spark.
Even if he died here today, this spark might... maybe one day...
"Urgh—!!!"
Jack let out the final roar of his life; he didn't dare think any further!
The mangled armor emitted one last spark of faint blue electricity.
Like a moth to a flame, he used the last of his strength to launch his final and first charge toward Mark!
A heavy punch aimed at that detestable face!
Mark raised his hand, easily catching the iron fist that had already lost most of its power.
"That's enough."
Mark's voice returned to a state of calm.
"I'm not in the mood to play with you anymore."
He gripped the iron fist, slowly tightening his hold.
The armored gauntlet made a tooth-grinding sound of deformation under his grip.
"Even though your mother is dead,"
Mark said indifferently, looking into Jack's single eye filled with resentment and the last of its fire, "my mom is still waiting for me to go home for dinner."
"Die, Jack."
"I don't have time to mess around with you anymore..."
Jack heard the sound of his arm armor completely shattering and felt the irresistible, terrifying force coming from that iron hand.
At the same time, he clearly felt...
That cold, final sense of the end, surging in like a tide.
Mark released the hand that had crushed his gauntlet, and then another fist rapidly enlarged before his eyes.
"Bang!!!"
This punch landed squarely on Jack's mangled face, which had already lost its faceplate protection.
The sound of his skull fracturing was clearly audible.
Jack's consciousness was instantly torn apart by boundless darkness and intense pain.
His body flew backward like a tattered sack, slamming heavily onto the scorched earth dozens of meters away and rolling several times before stopping.
He lay there, motionless.
His only remaining eye was still open, but it had lost focus, reflecting the dim sky of Planet F and the burning clouds.
His mouth hung open weakly, blood mixed with broken teeth constantly gushing out.
His skull was deformed, and the socket of his remaining eye had completely collapsed.
Mark slowly walked to his side and looked down.
Then, he bent down, grabbed the mangled connection at the neck of Jack's armor, and lifted him up.
"Sleep, Jack, sleep."
"You did your best..."
Grabbing Jack's mangled body, Mark soared into the sky, and then... began the final rampage.
Holding Jack, he flew at high speeds over the ruins of the Sports Plaza, then suddenly smashed him into a tall, remaining lighthouse!
"Boom!"
The lighthouse snapped.
Next were the grandstand roof, the abandoned generator array, and the remaining statue bases...
Every impact was accompanied by the screech of twisting metal, the explosion of concrete, and the sound of armor fragments and flesh splattering.
The deep purple armor was ground down and peeled off, revealing the equally mangled flesh beneath.
Skin was rubbed away, muscles were stripped, and finally, even the bones were deformed and broken in the repeated collisions...
Until only a small section of cervical vertebrae remained in Mark's hand, with a few bits of charred flesh and broken armor fragments attached, along with a bit of a mangled shoulder blade.
He hovered in the air, looking at this final remnant in his hand.
Expressionless, Mark closed his fingers.
"Snap."
The remnant was crushed into a pile of debris in his palm.
He opened his hand, letting these final traces fall from between his fingers and scatter with the wind.
All resistance forces on Planet F...
Completely wiped out.
Chapter 25: Extinction
Planet F.
The setting sun was like blood, and the skyline was dyed a dark purple by permanent dust.
This was a secret facility hidden deep underground, one that had survived countless sweeps over the past year.
At this moment, within this cramped laboratory, the air had almost solidified into a solid mass.
A Planet F Scientist wearing a tattered white lab coat was hunched over, his withered fingers tapping rapidly on an old console.
Every breath he took was trembling, and every keystroke felt like a gamble with his life.
Sweat rolled off his forehead, dripping onto the console and spreading into a small, dark wet patch.
And less than three meters behind him...
The existence that had plunged the entire Planet F civilization into the abyss...
Was leaning lazily back in an old armchair scavenged from some ruins, looking almost as if he were on vacation.
Mark had his legs crossed, holding a plate of Planet F specialties.
A type of specially fermented purple berry; they were sweet, sour, and juicy, with a texture similar to Earth's blueberries, but with larger pits.
He popped them into his mouth one by one, the sound of his chewing exceptionally crisp in the deathly silent space.
Beside him, nearly two hundred Planet F people knelt in a dense crowd.
These were the last survivors of Planet F.
The elderly, children, women, and a few technicians who had escaped the purge by hiding in deep underground shelters.
They were covered in dust and dried bloodstains, their eyes as hollow as stagnant water.
No one dared to look up; no one dared to make a sound.
Even the youngest child was held tightly in their mother's arms, their sobs pressed into a shoulder to be silently digested.
They didn't know why they were still alive.
But it was impossible that this demon had spared them out of mercy.
They only hoped... not to die too painfully.
"Crunch—crunch—"
The sound of Mark chewing the berries sawed at everyone's nerves like a blade.
"De... debugging complete..."
An old, dry voice finally spoke up.
The Scientist turned around trembling, his hunched body looking as if it could be crushed by an invisible weight at any moment.
He kept his head down, not daring to look toward the chair, simply holding a small control terminal respectfully with both hands above his head.
"Portal parameters have stabilized... spatial coordinates locked on the target area..."
"E-energy filling at ninety-seven percent..."
"A-a single two-way transmission can be performed, estimated duration is thirty seconds..."
His voice was shaking, every syllable on the verge of breaking.
Mark didn't take the terminal immediately.
He tossed another berry into his mouth, chewed it slowly, swallowed, and wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb.
Only then did he stand up, casually placing the half-eaten plate of fruit on the chair cushion.
He walked up to the Old Scientist, looking down into those cloudy, bloodshot eyes, and then—
He placed his hand on the other man's thin shoulder.
In that instant, the Old Scientist shuddered violently, as if that wasn't a hand but a red-hot branding iron.
"You did well."
Mark's voice was very soft, even carrying a hint of... gentleness.
The Old Scientist could hardly believe his ears.
He stiffly raised his head, meeting those black eyes looking down at him.
There was no killing intent, no mockery—just a vast calm.
But that calm terrified him more than any savage threat ever could.
Mark took the control terminal from his hands.
His gaze moved past the trembling Scientist, landing on the newly formed portal ahead, which swirled with a red energy vortex.
The red light cast shifting shadows in the dim laboratory, like a wound leading to another world.
"I'm going back to my hometown,"
Mark said.
He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the dense crowd of Planet F survivors kneeling on the ground.
"However,"
He tilted his head slightly. "Leaving so few of you here... I really find it hard to bear."
As soon as he said this, suppressed gasps immediately came from the kneeling Planet F people.
Several young children began to cry silently, held tightly to their mothers' chests.
A few elderly people in the front row closed their eyes, their bowed heads almost touching the ground, their withered fingers tightly clutching the hems of their clothes.
They were afraid this demon would suddenly change his mind, afraid he wouldn't even let these few pitiful survivors go.
Mark watched their fear but only smiled.
In the dim light, that smile could even be described as 'genial.'
"Don't worry," he said, his tone as soft as if he were coaxing a child. "I won't do anything to you."
He paused, his gaze grazing over those pale faces, and then—
"You will stay here."
"Forever."
The last word was spoken very softly, yet it was driven into everyone's eardrums like a nail.
The Planet F people remained kneeling where they were; not a single person dared to move.
A massive sense of post-disaster exhaustion flooded over them like a tsunami.
Though they couldn't understand why this demon had suddenly shown mercy...
As long as he was willing to go, as long as he left this planet—even if they were left to linger on this scorched earth—that was...
That was a chance to survive.
Mark stopped looking at them.
He turned and walked slowly toward the swirling red portal.
His pace was slow and steady, as if he were just taking a stroll in his own backyard.
The red light reflected off his bare back, outlining his smooth muscle lines and those fresh, pale-gold scars that were rapidly healing.
A second before he was about to step through the doorway, he stopped.
Then, he looked back.
That young, handsome, and even gentle-looking face wore a faint smile.
"Goodnight, everyone."
He said.
The moment the words fell, his figure vanished into the red light.
The swirling energy vortex fluctuated violently for a moment, then quickly collapsed, shrinking from the size of a millstone to the size of a fist, then to a single point, and finally—
"Pop."
With a soft sound, the portal closed completely.
Only the dim lighting from Fluorescent Fungi remained in the laboratory, along with the crowd of Planet F people kneeling on the floor, hardly able to believe they were still alive.
Dead silence lasted for a full ten seconds.
Then, it was unclear who started first.
It was a mother; she held her child tightly, burying her face in the child's thin hair, and began to sob violently and repressively.
That crying sound spread as quickly as a virus.
The elderly, the women, the surviving technicians...
Everyone seemed to have their last bit of strength drained, collapsing where they sat.
Some covered their mouths, crying silently; others knelt on the ground, gasping for air as if they had just been pulled from the deep sea.
Alive.
They were still alive.
That demon... had really left.
A young technician stumbled to his feet, leaning against the wall.
His legs were still trembling.
But his eyes involuntarily drifted toward the display screen still flickering behind the Scientist.
It was the system interface after the portal closed, with the final energy readings flashing on it, along with a line of green prompts:
[Transmission complete.
Remote signal confirmed: Arrived.]
The technician opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but suddenly—
"Beep—"
A short, piercing electronic alert sounded from the edge of the console behind him.
He froze.
That sound... didn't seem like a system prompt.
It was more like...
He turned his head stiffly.
It was an entirely unfamiliar external device that had never been connected to the laboratory network.
It was palm-sized, entirely black, with only a small indicator light flashing red on its surface.
Chapter 26: The Demon
It was stuck right to the edge of the console.
He had no memory of when or by whom this thing had been placed there.
But in the next second, he realized the answer.
That demon.
While he was calibrating the portal, only that demon had been sitting behind him.
Only that demon possessed the absolute ability to do anything without him noticing at all.
"Beep— Beep— Beep—"
The blinking frequency of the red light was accelerating.
The technician's mouth hung wide open, but no sound could escape his throat.
He whipped his head around, looking toward the ceiling—there, beyond the sealed rock layers, was the dim sky of Planet F.
He saw it.
Through those thick layers of rock, weighing who knows how many tons, his biological instincts and fearful intuition told him—something was up there.
"Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep—"
The red light merged into a solid line.
Outside the laboratory, on the surface of Planet F.
A medium-sized transport plane hovered silently five hundred meters above the ruins of the Central Sports Plaza.
Its appearance was aged, its paint mottled, but the weapon bays mounted under its wings had clearly undergone unconventional modifications.
The bay doors were wide open, revealing a dense, mountain-like pile of black projectiles inside.
Every projectile was stamped with the same mark:
It was not Planet F script.
It was a completely foreign symbol from another world.
At the bottom of the aircraft, the bomb bay doors slowly slid open.
The first black projectile detached from its rack, flipping and falling under the pull of gravity.
Then the second.
The third.
The tenth.
The hundredth.
Countless black projectiles poured down from the vault of heaven like a rainstorm, blanketing the last piece of land on Planet F that still held the breath of life.
Above the laboratory.
The first to rush out of the bunker was that young technician.
He practically crawled and scrambled to throw open the emergency exit cover, looking up—
And then he froze.
His pupils reflected the dense black raindrops that blotted out the sky.
"No..."
He murmured, his voice as light as a sigh.
The first bomb exploded fifty meters above his head.
Then the second, the third, the fourth—
"BOOM—!!!"
The laboratory's coordinates were completely swallowed by a blazing white light.
The shockwave expanded in a ring, reducing all life still in the bunker, still praying, still weeping, into fundamental particles.
Ruins were tossed aside like building blocks, rock layers rolled like waves, and the earth was kneaded repeatedly as if by an invisible giant hand.
From space, the fire of the explosion looked like a crimson flower blooming on the surface of the purple planet.
After dropping the last bomb, the transport plane automatically changed course and flew toward the star.
Its fuel tanks had long since been converted into extra explosive payloads.
Now, in the process of flying out of the atmosphere, it automatically detonated the last batch of ammunition remaining in the cabin.
Another firework bloomed silently in Planet F's low orbit.
Debris scattered like a meteor shower, streaking across the dim sky.
The explosions on the ground continued.
One, two, three...
The firelight merged into a single sheet, incinerating every last trace of Planet F's civilization, its final survivors, its last tears, and its prayers into ashes.
Until the sound of explosions gradually subsided.
Until the flames slowly died out.
Until this planet completely returned to the silence it was meant to have.
No more life signals.
No more remnants of civilization.
Only the wind blew across the cracked earth, kicking up grit laden with radioactive dust, letting out a hollow, endless wail.
The Civilization of Planet F: The End.
Earth.
Global Defense Agency underground base, Portal Monitoring Area.
The air was thick with the smell of ozone and the scorched scent of hot metal.
The hastily constructed reverse-recovery portal gradually stabilized after one final surge of energy.
The swirling energy vortex subsided from violent to calm, with ripple-like golden waves appearing at its center.
A figure stepped out from the depths of the ripples.
Mark Grayson crossed the glowing boundary of the portal, his feet landing on the solid ground of Earth.
He was stark naked, with only a mostly charred piece of black cloth wrapped around his waist, barely maintaining a basic level of decency.
Multiple wounds that had not yet fully healed remained on his skin, still slowly oozing blood.
His hair was curled and brittle from high temperatures, and half of his face was smeared with dried, dark bloodstains.
But his eyes were bright.
Those black eyes scanned the surroundings.
Upon seeing the several familiar figures at the door, they widened slightly, then curved into two surprised crescents.
"Whoa,"
He raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Are you guys... all waiting here for me?"
Debbie Grayson stood at the very front.
Her eyes were red, and her hands were clenched tightly, her knuckles white.
She stared fixedly at her son before the portal—bruised and battered, yet smiling heartlessly—her chest heaving violently.
It was as if a thousand words were stuck in her throat, and in the end, she only managed to squeeze out one sentence—
"I've been waiting in here for a whole half a day!"
Her voice carried an irrepressible tremor and the raspiness of someone who had just survived a disaster.
There was no reproach, only the statement of a fact that had made those 'half a day' feel like years to her.
Mark was stunned for a moment.
He looked down at his hands, which were covered in pale gold scabs and new, light pink skin.
Oh, right.
Time dilation.
He blinked, and the heartless smile on his face immediately switched to a 'I'm sorry but there was nothing I could do' look of obedience as he shrugged helplessly:
"Is that so?
Then that really... is quite a long time."
His tone was casual, as if he had merely missed a meal.
But in his mind, alarms were blaring frantically: He absolutely, positively could not let his mom know that he had spent an entire Earth year on that planet.
Undergoing non-stop survival training with a daily kill count in the thousands of aliens.
If she found out...
Mark imagined Debbie pulling him by the ear and pinning him to the dinner table.
Criticizing him from dinner until late at night, starting from 'How could you run off to an alien planet alone'.
Escalating to 'Have you considered my feelings' and then to 'You're just like your father, you don't treat this home like a home at all'...
He instinctively shivered.
Forget it.
Some things are better left as secrets forever.
"WHOA!!!"
A sharp voice, nearly cracking with intensity, suddenly exploded in his ear.
Rex was like a spring compressed to the limit and suddenly released, zipping in front of Mark so close that their noses almost touched.
His eyes were as wide as copper bells, scanning Mark up and down, left and right, as if he wanted to use a microscope to scan him eight hundred times from head to toe.
"Mr. KFC!!
You look about the same age as me!!!"
The shock in his tone was no less than discovering that a Christmas gift box contained a nuclear launch button instead of Legos.
Mark was startled by the face pressed too close and leaned back, instinctively raising a hand to press against the other's forehead to push him back a bit:
"Because our races... aren't exactly the same."
"!??"
Rex's expression instantly became extremely colorful.
He froze for a second, then jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his finger trembling as he pointed at Mark:
"You actually have such deep-seated racial discrimination!!
But—but I'm the noblest white man!!!
You're discriminating against me?!"