Chapter 245: Slaughterer of a Million, Lu Chen (Four-in-One, Subscription Requested!)

Finally found you, adventurer...

A completely ordinary sentence sent a chill straight down Lu Chen's spine.

His body instantly stiffened, beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and a subtle chill crept up his back, as if a biting winter wind had pierced through his entire body in a split second.

Because no matter from which angle one looked, the palm-sized seashell in Lu Chen's hand clearly originated from twenty years ago.

The seashell was ordinary enough, but the traveling hat, the gray crow, and the carved inscription of this message were all augmented by a high-tier stealth barrier.

Had it not been for the upgraded power of the Myriad Resonance, Lu Chen would never have been able to discover it.

Within the spreading resonance of divine consciousness, this seashell would produce a superimposed resonance, emitting an exceptionally pleasant humming sound underground.

And this eerie underground hum could only be heard by Lu Chen himself.

Boundless loneliness surged toward him from all directions.

Lu Chen turned his head and glanced around.

The entire underground world was completely devoid of wind.

The desolate castle was permeated with a fishy stench and a moldy odor, as if a pair of blood-red eyes were staring at him from the depths of the castle.

The distant mountain shadows remained motionless, yet somehow always felt hazy and indistinct.

Orange slime molds grew in the sand and mud beneath his feet, and slime molds were believed to be fungi potentially possessing group intelligence... They seemed to be moving.

This state was very similar to that of the general manager just now.

It felt like experiencing hallucinations during a state of extreme mental tension.

Lu Chen was reminded of a line from the Platform Sutra:

It is not the wind that moves, nor is it the banner that moves; it is the minds of benevolent men that move.

Can a person truly become powerful enough to transcend time and space and converse with someone twenty years in the future?

Lu Chen refused to believe it.

He recalled these three encounters at a distance with the gray crow.

The first encounter with the gray crow occurred when he had just stepped into the Pangu Corridor, located the Nether Demon Cat, and made contact with the bounty hunter Lady Farir.

At that time, only the Nether Realm and a giant arm of a humanoid nether demon appeared, snatching away the scavenging ship Round Falcon... Although there was no Nether Demon Cat inside that ship, the other party did not care, as if merely mechanically completing a mission.

Lu Chen guessed that during that time, the gray crow herself had not made an appearance and was unaware of his existence.

At that time, he had not displayed any extraordinary traits either.

The second time was in the True Spirit Continent. The gray crow first left her cultivation notes on the Myriad Resonance to the Taoist Priest Burning Lamp, and then, in the flight log of the forbidden area's flying dragon battlecruiser, she left the puzzle of how to deal with the winged lizardmen to him, a latecomer.

It felt somewhat like a prophetic ability, and somewhat like a game set up in advance.

If one could not learn the power of resonance, one could not open the forbidden area's array, and thus could not see her log messages.

Looking back now, Lu Chen suddenly realized the crux of the problem:

This woman clearly knew that the power of the chosen one could not be imparted to others, so why did she deliberately leave the notebook on the Myriad Resonance for Taoist Priest Burning Lamp?

This led to Algernon later following suit and leaving him the power of critical strikes.

It felt like a method to test the true chosen one.

The third time Lu Chen encountered the gray crow was right now.

If Lu Chen had not upgraded his Myriad Resonance and achieved resonance with every single target in the entire environment, he would never have found this ordinary seashell.

It felt like an ultimate examination of the Myriad Resonance.

Therefore, she had written this sentence twenty years ago:

Finally found you, adventurer.

If this sentence went undiscovered, nothing would happen.

If this sentence was discovered by someone, it meant that someone capable of learning another person's chosen power—or rather, someone standing above all chosen ones—had inevitably appeared.

And once the seashell was discovered, with the two resonance powers superimposing upon each other, the gray crow would discover him—even if she were worlds away.

His existence.

Lu Chen pondered carefully; this short passage contained a massive amount of information.

Finally found you... implied that the gray crow might have been searching for the true chosen one of this world for a very long time.

In the beginning, she had used biological means, racking her brains to resynthesize an atavistic true dragon, succeeding only twenty years ago.

Although the black dragon Gordo possessed transcendent talent, it did not seem to be the true chosen one.

It was also twenty years ago that she left the annotations on the Myriad Resonance in the True Spirit Continent, waiting for the arrival of the true chosen one.

In other words, she could achieve this feat without the aid of prophetic power.

Secondly, the gray crow's changing form of address toward Lu Chen was also quite interesting.

Last time, the gray crow had called him a latecomer, carrying the tone of addressing a junior.

This time, she called him an adventurer.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Lu Chen felt that the word adventurer here did not seem to be used in its literal sense.

Perhaps playing too many games, combined with the mindset of a transmigrator, gave Lu Chen a peculiar feeling.

It felt as though he alone was the true adventurer.

As if all the other adventurers...

Were merely natives.

...

Only then did Lu Chen snap back to reality.

Two hours had already passed since he entered the underground world of the Fang Corporation.

Unawares, his clothes were already soaked with sweat.

There was no help for it; this ghost of a place was terribly muggy!

Opening the holographic interface on his wristband, Ellie had already sent him several hidden encrypted messages via worm drones.

"Captain, are you alright?"

"Captain, please reply if you receive this!"

"Captain, Sister Gloria says if you don't reply soon, she's going to charge in!"

Before Lu Chen had time to reply,

Gloria actually drove her ship in and charged!

Lu Chen successively received real-time signals from three ships: the Leoning, the Dragon Seeker III, and the Spring and Summer.

Approaching from three separate directions, the three ships had successively jumped to the periphery of the Fang Star System.

They were already not far from the garrisoned Imperial Fleet and were about to be discovered.

"Alas, Gloria is too impatient... Of course, it's also my fault for being so engrossed in searching for information about the gray crow that I temporarily forgot to reply to Ellie. It's only natural that they're worried."

That being the case, Lu Chen had no choice but to go along with it and immediately replied to each ship:

"I'm doing well, the operation can begin."

Chunsong and Xiaxian were stunned, their heads buzzing:

"Operation, what operation?"

These words were spoken right in front of the live stream room.

The barrage of comments followed up with questions:

"Operation, what operation?"

"Captain Lu is about to make a move?"

"It's been so long, hurry up and drive the live stream ship into the Fang Corporation!"

Inside the magnificent cockpit of the Dragon Seeker III, upon receiving Lu Chen's message, Paulie Glenn instantly panicked:

"Brother Lu, didn't you negotiate with the Fang Corporation?

Why are you launching an operation directly?

There's an 80th-tier Imperial Fleet here!

Shouldn't you think this through a bit more? Or let me help you infiltrate, don't just start a war!"

Sivier, sitting high on the command seat, said in a deep voice:

"Starting a war directly is fine. The Dragon Seeker III is also an 80th-tier adventure ship, and our design specifications ensure we can survive under the siege of an 80th-tier Imperial Fleet... Now is precisely the time to verify whether the ship meets the standards."

Paulie Glenn was dumbfounded.

"Uh... Her Highness has a point. With me here, this ship won't have any problem escaping."

Sivier picked up a cup of milk tea and took a dainty sip.

"What escape? I won't escape; I want to fully test the combat performance of this ship!"

Lu Chen hadn't expected this little chubby girl to be quite so domineering.

He suddenly remembered why Prince Tarly had asked him to ensure his younger sister's safety...

This girl was somewhat reckless.

"Thank you for Your Highness's support. Since that is the case, I will direct the direction and sequence of the attack."

Sivier clearly had no intention of submitting to Lu Chen's command.

In her view, Lu Chen was younger than her, far too handsome, and certainly unreliable in handling matters.

As for her, she had received professional military training in fleet command since childhood, and this was precisely the time to showcase her skills.

"Why should it be you—"

Before she could finish, Paulie Glenn hastily pressed down on the princess's hand.

"You'd better let Captain Lu command. It's your ship, but your piloting clearance might not be as high as his."

Sivier was momentarily startled. Seeing Paulie Glenn point to the flashing spiritual runes on the control panel, it took her half a day to react.

She simply had no choice in the matter.

Lu Chen had merely taken a fancy to her ship, and nothing more.

"Very well then, you must fight hard and thoroughly test the offensive and defensive performance of this ship from all angles."

Such a request existed?

Lu Chen always felt something wasn't quite right.

Could it be that your brother secretly told you to break the ship so I would help him find one of the seven dragon balls?

This ship was fine, but it was still a hundred thousand miles short of the value of those seven dragon balls.

"Alright, alright, I'll charge into battle as much as possible and spare no effort with Her Highness's ship."

Though he said that, Lu Chen felt in his heart that it was still best to take things easy.

Sivier said with confidence:

"My brother's ship is meant for seeking dragon balls after all; if it can't even handle a casual Imperial Fleet, how could it possibly succeed in its quest?"

Paulie Glenn chimed in from the side:

"Her Highness speaks the truth!"

Inside the cockpit of the Leoning.

Ellie looked around, and among all the ships, the Leoning was the most fragile.

In her view, only when the captain himself piloted this ship could it turn decay into magic.

Seeing Sister Gloria eagerly itching to pilot the ship beside her, she felt a little nervous.

"Captain, when are you coming back to the ship?"

Lu Chen shook his head.

"I still have matters to attend to and won't be returning for the time being. However, I will pilot the ship remotely."

Gloria, however, put her hands on her hips with a confident expression and said:

"Idiot, remote piloting has network latency. This time I'll pilot the ship. Do you really take me for nothing more than a swordsman?"

"Alright, flight control is left to my remote operation, and ship combat is left to you, Gloria!"

"Just you wait and see."

Ellie was too frightened to utter a word, trembling all over.

Lu Chen thought to himself, anyway, I'm not on the ship, so it doesn't matter!

He soon left the underground world of the Fang Corporation.

In a state of stealth, he once again infiltrated the interior of the corporation.

The remaining six corporate executives attending the meeting were all assassinated.

Quick and clean, not a single one left alive!

Subsequently, together with the general manager who had departed a step earlier, Lu Chen bundled the seven individuals together and carried them out through the office window.

Lu Chen swiftly left the Fang Building.

With battle armor enveloping his body, moving in stealth and high-speed flight, he headed toward the desert region!

Meanwhile.

The live stream ship Spring and Summer was the first to charge into the defensive perimeter of the Imperial Fleet, entering the territory of the Fang Star System.

Soon, two 60th-tier Imperial destroyers approached the Spring and Summer, their twin-ship gun barrels calibrated—effectively holding the Spring and Summer hostage—and issued a severe warning to it:

"Military restricted zone, live stream ships are prohibited from entering!"

Chunsong and Xiaxian's live stream room was still running, and they simultaneously responded to the warning from the Imperial Fleet:

"Apologies, we are the Spring and Summer live stream ship from the Crazy Little Sun Company, conducting accompanying adventure live streams with the Prime Firmament Adventure Group. This trip is strictly limited to live streaming and we will not assist them."

The Imperial Fleet was also somewhat startled—did the Prime Firmament Adventure Group really dare to brave danger?

The adventure ship hadn't moved yet, but the live stream ship went first, broadcasting their whereabouts to everyone the entire time?

"Where is the flagship of Prime Firmament right now!"

Chunsong and Xiaxian looked innocent, saying cutely:

"Eh, hasn't the Leoning arrived yet?"

"Well, you can't entirely blame them. After all, it's only a 50th-tier adventure ship. Limited by jump speed, even when courting danger, they can't even catch a hot meal, haha."

"Don't worry, they'll be here shortly. This trip is to negotiate with the Fang Corporation."

The audience in the live stream room was thoroughly amused by the two female anchors' playful tones.

The long-dormant online viewer count rapidly climbed!

The Imperial Fleet immediately perked up and raised its vigilance.

"Military restricted zone, live streaming is not allowed, leave immediately!"

Chunsong and Xiaxian pleaded with innocent expressions:

"Don't be like that, you can deduce the position of the Leoning based on the location of our live stream ship!"

"Besides, the Fang Corporation is a private company of the Kanglang Kingdom; how on earth is it an Imperial military restricted zone?"

The Imperial Fleet showed no gallantry toward fair maidens and quickly drove the Spring and Summer live stream ship out into the outer airspace of the star system.

With this commotion, both the Imperial Fleet garrisoning the outer perimeter and the Kanglang Fleet patrolling within the star system focused their attention on external defense.

Even the local fleet of Fang Star concentrated its deployment, focusing entirely on aerial defense.

The low-altitude patrol ships rapidly ascended to high altitudes, forming a dense defensive net.

This gave Lu Chen even greater room for ground operations.

At this moment, the Leoning, eagerly awaited by the live stream room, still had not appeared.

The first to charge into battle was actually an 80th-tier giant dragon-shaped adventure ship.

Resembling an Eastern azure dragon, with a single roar of the dragon, it charged straight into the heavily defended Imperial Fleet.

Its flight speed was extremely rapid, opening its mouth to unleash a flame-style laser cannon that instantly disrupted the defensive formation of the Imperial Fleet.

The audience in the live stream room was dumbfounded, engaging in lively discussions.

"Where did that dragon-shaped ship come from!"

"It's actually a brand-new ship fresh out of the factory..."

"Could that be the latest flagship of Prime Firmament?"

"It's possible, otherwise how would they dare issue an advance announcement that they're coming to negotiate with the Fang Corporation?"

"Knowing there are tigers in the mountain yet heading toward the tiger mountain, they've brought a major weapon for negotiations. This is going to be a good show!"

Among the Imperial Fleet, Colonel Horton knew that this was the Dragon Seeker III customized by the Dragon Seeker Adventure Group at the Lianzhong Corporation.

The Dragon Seeker Adventure Group and the Prime Firmament Adventure Group had been allies during the flight trials at Sea Hero Port.

It was entirely normal for them to come and lend a hand at this moment.

"This is an ally of Prime Firmament, and it's an 80th-tier ship after all. Do not underestimate the enemy, and at the same time, make sure the Leoning doesn't take advantage of the chaos to break into the defensive circle!"

"Understood!"

A great battle was on the verge of breaking out.

Unable to enter the star system, the Spring and Summer live stream ship could not broadcast the impending battle of the Leoning and had to remain on the periphery to live-stream the Dragon Seeker III soloing the Imperial Fleet.

Initially, the barrage was filled with inquiries about the whereabouts of the Leoning.

Soon, however, everyone's attention was captured by the Dragon Seeker III.

The Dragon Seeker III was utterly reckless!

This was a super adventure ship with rapid flight speed, highly versatile flight postures, and formidable defensive capabilities.

Thick-skinned, with magnificent array formations, and a flight and combat endurance that had no friends, it rampaged through the Imperial Fleet with all sorts of flashy maneuvers, picking specifically on the flagship of the Imperial Fleet, the Hurricane.

Furthermore, it possessed an endless array of laser cannons and missiles.

It also loved assaulting the Hurricane using savage ramming tactics.

The Hurricane had never encountered such a ferocious 80th-tier ship either, and could only temporarily avoid its sharp edge while fighting and retreating.

As a result, the Dragon Seeker III was able to ravage the remaining destroyers of the Imperial Fleet!

Lu Chen hadn't expected this ship to be so savagely fierce.

No wonder Sivier had been so confident...

The barrage in the live stream room was asking:

"Is this a new ship from Prime Firmament? That's completely absurd!"

"The Imperial Fleet needs to step up its game!"

"Is this all our taxpayers' money could build?"

Soon, Princess Sivier personally connected to the live stream room to answer the vast online audience:

"A clarification: this is the latest flagship of the Dragon Seeker Adventure Group, the Dragon Seeker III!

This ship has just come off the assembly line and hasn't had time to register with the Adventurers' Guild yet.

Coming to the Fang Star System this time is not directed against the Empire; we just wanted to test whether various design specifications of the ship meet standards. We didn't expect the Empire's Hurricane Fleet to be here as well, what a coincidence."

The audience in the live stream room finally understood.

"So this is the wealthy tycoon ally of the Prime Firmament Adventure Group!"

"As expected, our taxpayers' money simply cannot compare to a dune mining tycoon!"

"No wonder Prime Firmament is being so arrogant!"

Regardless of the details, the Dragon Seeker Adventure Group had made a name for itself.

The outer airspace of the Fang Star System was already a sea of war.

The endurance and weapon density of the Dragon Seeker III made it feel less like a single 80th-tier ship and more like a fleet composed of ten 80th-tier ships!

Every time the Hurricane tried to run away, the Dragon Seeker III would randomly destroy a 70th-tier destroyer just to liven things up.

As a result, the entire Hurricane Fleet was actually chased around everywhere by a single Dragon Seeker III.

However, the Hurricane Fleet quickly regained its composure, calculated the attack patterns of the Dragon Seeker III, and sought out the optimal tactics.

Soon, the Hurricane Fleet dispatched a small drone fleet to surround the Dragon Seeker III.

They didn't expect the drones to actually harm the opponent, but rather attempted to infiltrate the Dragon Seeker III using the latest organic night virus.

After a series of operations,

the virus successfully infiltrated the Dragon Seeker III.

However, upon encountering Lu Chen's modified version of the organic night within the flight control system of the Dragon Seeker III, it was rapidly devoured by Lu Chen's version until not even a scrap remained, leaving nothing behind.

Lu Chen thus also confirmed a fact—

the robot riot incident at the Lianzhong Corporation was indeed the handiwork of the Imperial Fleet.

Having failed in its virus warfare, the Hurricane Fleet had no choice but to reorganize its formation and engage the Dragon Seeker III in a head-on fleet decisive battle!

Fortunately, after gradually becoming accustomed to the offensive and defensive methods of the Dragon Seeker III, the Hurricane Fleet also grew more comfortable, transitioning from a disadvantage to an advantage and beginning to besiege the Dragon Seeker III.

The Dragon Seeker III did not show weakness either.

Within its arsenal and tactical manual, Lu Chen discovered a peculiar tactic.

The Dragon Seeker III was a long dragon-shaped ship connected in sections.

Its tail could dismember into five small adventure ships, each equipped with 80th-tier mini-engines.

Although these mini-ships had slightly shorter endurance and significantly weaker offense and defense compared to regular 80th-tier ships, their speed was extremely fast, outclassing 70th-tier ships.

Lu Chen immediately deployed the five mini attack ships from the tail!

Resembling five blazing firecrackers of incredible velocity, they zoomed with a buzzing sound straight into the formation of the Hurricane Fleet.

The five attack ships quickly disrupted the formation of the Imperial Fleet.

Refusing to get bogged down in prolonged combat, they sped further inward, charging into the inner airspace of the Fang Star System.

The Kanglang Fleet patrolling within the star system scrambled in panic to meet the threat.

They had originally expected to engage the Leoning, only to be met by five highly maneuverable mini attack ships.

The defense of their 70th-tier flagship could endure a wave, but its speed fell completely short, and its attacks had no effect on the five enemy vessels.

Soon, the Kanglang Fleet was thrown into complete disarray by the five attack ships, with 60th-tier destroyers and frigates successively hit and exploding, plunging into a sea of flames.

This forced several 70th-tier destroyers of the Imperial Fleet to enter the star system as well, pursuing these high-speed mini adventure ships.

In the blink of an eye, the entire star system was thrown into utter chaos!

Lu Chen had originally thought of pulling the Dragon Seeker III in just to provide support, but instead, it ended up fighting as the main force, single-handedly tying down the operations of two fleets.

The live stream room erupted into an uproar; some viewers were boiling with excitement, while others cursed the Imperial Fleet for its incompetence.

On the surface of Fang Star.

Covered in battle armor, Lu Chen quickly arrived in the desert.

The sandstorm was still raging.

However, the center of the storm had moved far away from the deeply buried Ghost Knight.

Fortunately, the enemy's attention was entirely focused on air defense, and they failed to discover the Ghost Knight underground.

Lu Chen remotely activated the Ghost Knight, causing it to slowly surface.

He then plunged into the sand clad in his battle armor.

It was a true mutual奔赴 (journey toward each other).

Lu Chen quickly merged with the Ghost Knight.

During this process, many patrol boat radars actually had opportunities to discover Lu Chen, but all the ships were tied down by the battle situation and deployed upward for defense, leaving them no time to spare for the ground.

Soon, however, a low-altitude satellite discovered the anomaly and reported it to the armored legion on the ground.

At that exact moment!

On the periphery of the Fang Star System.

The long-awaited Leoning made its grand entrance.

Remotely piloted by Lu Chen, the Leoning took advantage of the chaos stirred up by the Dragon Seeker III and effortlessly broke through both the inner and outer defensive layers of the star system.

It rapidly arrived on the periphery of Fang Star.

Urgent air defense alarms blared across the entirety of Fang Star!

The Fang Fleet consequently ascended into the skies to meet the enemy.

At this point, the viewer count in Chunsong and Xiaxian's live stream room once again broke the million mark, climbing at an unprecedented speed!

"It really is the Leoning!"

"A 50th-tier ship actually daring to charge right in!"

"Are adventurers truly throwing their lives away?"

Without Lu Chen himself piloting it, the Leoning could neither fly in stealth nor proactively evade danger, making things rather strenuous when facing the 60th-tier Fang Fleet.

Consequently, Gloria, who had been itching for action, finally took over piloting clearance and manually piloted the Leoning.

She immediately blanketed the entire ship in monstrous demonic flames.

Rampaging through the Fang Fleet, she proved utterly invincible.

Any incoming lasers, missiles, and nuclear warheads were swiftly dissolved by Gloria's demonic flames without even detonating.

Gloria was also capable of firing black demonic flame beams through the laser emitters; though inferior in speed to lasers, their destructive power was terrifyingly high.

She could even project long whips of demonic flame, binding nearby ships tightly and dragging them into the deep demonic flames to be completely dissolved.

The live stream ship Spring and Summer could no longer see the fierce battle above Fang Star, but it could still receive signals via radar.

"We've detected high concentrations of Nether Demon Power!"

"It's Gloria!"

"The galaxy's most beautiful witch has finally gone berserk!"

Among the three fleets, the Fang Fleet took the worst beating.

With Fang Star right beneath them, they had nowhere to hide; the moment they dodged, the Leoning could directly assault the Fang Building.

They could only sacrifice a large number of warships to desperately surround it while calling for support from the Kanglang Fleet and even the Imperial Fleet.

However, those two fleets were also bogged down with their own problems and faced grim situations.

Despite outnumbering the enemy ships by several times, the defending side had to suffer greater sacrifices to completely block the onslaught of these few ships.

The Imperial Fleet's situation was relatively better.

Thus, two damaged 70th-tier Imperial destroyers entered the inner star system, arriving at the periphery of Fang Star to pursue the Leoning, which quickly balanced out the battle situation.

At this moment, the ground defenses of Fang Star had become completely nominal.

Lu Chen was finally able to pilot the Ghost Knight and unleash absolute devastation.

Over a hundred 50th-tier combat armors surrounded the Ghost Knight in the desert.

They were able to surround it only because Lu Chen was no longer using stealth.

He did not want to expose the secret that his own physical body could use stealth.

Piloting the Ghost Knight, Lu Chen rampaged at will among a hundred combat armors of the same tier.

He quickly discovered that these armors were operating in coordination, cooperating seamlessly with high tactical acumen.

Yet this also provided an opportunity for Lu Chen's hacking skills to shine.

After cleaving through one armor, he rapidly infiltrated its control system via a virus, quickly infecting every single armor.

He then cut off the control systems, forcing all those armors into manual pilot mode.

The cultivation levels of these pilots generally ranged between the 40th and 50th tiers.

Lu Chen drew his light sword and swept it out in an arc.

The surging spiritual pressure spread instantly along with the sharp sword momentum, fusing with the spiritual rune resonance that had invaded the flight control systems, severing the bodies of all the pilots in a single strike.

Nearly a hundred combat armors plunged straight into the sand, never moving again, resembling massive tombstones.

Blood flowed from the seams of the cockpits into the desert...

...

The Ghost Knight in the center of the tombstones soared into the air.

Lu Chen turned and headed toward Fang City.

Leaping onto the summit of the Fang Building, he neatly arranged the seven corporate executives he had just killed along the edge of the building.

Simultaneously, Lu Chen fed the visuals from outside his armor into Chunsong and Xiaxian's live stream room.

The skies above were filled with the flames of war.

Wails of grief echoed across the ground.

The air raid sirens—first urgent, then lingering—sounded in wave after wave, rising higher and higher.

The human citizens of Fang City were fleeing toward the underground shelters.

While the humanoid slaves, who lacked the qualifications to enter the shelters, appeared dazed and helpless.

They raised their heads to look toward the summit of the Fang Building.

A towering, headless mecha stood resolutely along the edge of the roof of the Fang Building.

Treading upon seven corpses, it overlooked this sin-ridden planet.

Though this armor lacked even a head.

Yet everyone felt as though they could see its overlooking gaze.

The live stream room of Chunsong and Xiaxian erupted!

The online audience count leaped past two million in an instant.

" Wow, we finally get to see Teacher Lu!"

"How can a bloated, headless armor look this cool?"

"Look closely everyone, Captain Lu seems to have seven corpses at his feet... His oral negotiations seem to have failed."

Lu Chen cracked a grin:

"The negotiations haven't even started yet!"

With that, Lu Chen immediately took the general manager's computer system replicated on his wristband and established a video call with the chairman of the Fang Corporation, who was far away at the Imperial headquarters.

That white-haired old man!

The calling holographic screen was projected into midair through the armor's searchlight, forming a sprawling celestial canopy.

A canopy visible to the entirety of Fang City.

Right now, however, the lords inhabiting Fang City had all hidden themselves away in underground shelters.

Left on the surface were only the humanoid slaves wearing iron collars, staring blankly up at the sky.

Soon, the chairman connected the video call.

Instead of the general manager, the face he met face-to-face was a headless armor standing atop the Fang Building.

And at the feet of the headless armor were neatly arrayed seven high-ranking executives of the Fang Corporation, including the general manager.

Outside the atmosphere of Fang Star, wrecks of Fang Fleet spaceships continuously plunged downward, resembling a shower of fire.

"Greetings, Chairman Sir. I am Lu Chen, Captain of the Prime Firmament Adventure Group.

You may not know me, but your corporation issued a bounty of fifty thousand spirit stones for my head.

Such trivial matters generally don't bother me, but daring to apply to the Empire to cancel my Hero Medal is a path to self-destruction.

Now, they are all dead, but revoking that application still requires your nod, Chairman."

The white-haired old man instantly grasped the situation, yet maintained a stern and unfazed expression, revealing no emotion.

"Are you threatening this old man?"

Lu Chen replied:

"No threat. I don't like wasting effort threatening people; there is only a choice between life and death—the life and death of the Fang Corporation, and the life and death of yourself, nothing more."

While speaking, Lu Chen piloted the Ghost Knight, turned around to arrive at the center of the building's roof, and knelt on one knee.

Instantly, his spiritual pressure surged violently, and the rocket launcher mounted on his shoulder carried a fierce shockwave that pierced straight through the roof of the building.

The rocket launcher bored downward level by level, stopping just above the entrance of the basement before detonating with a thunderous roar!

The hole punched through by the rocket spread outward, forming ripples that cracked open in every direction.

The entire building consequently collapsed, slowly sinking downward.

Dust and flames burst upward in an instant.

The towering Ghost Knight hung suspended amidst the flames and dust.

"Starting today, the Fang Corporation will no longer exist in this universe."

Lu Chen gave the old man no room for choice whatsoever.

The white-haired old man suppressed his rising fury, yet retained his natural majesty, murderous intent practically overflowing from his pupils.

"Neither the Adventurers' Guild nor the Crownless Nation—no organization dares to act in such a manner.

I see through your true nature, young man: nothing more than impulsive youth and reckless bravado.

The Fang Corporation will not disappear. What will also not disappear—and will in fact double—is your bounty amount.

The only thing that will disappear is your Hero Medal."

"Is that so?"

Lu Chen glanced at the time on his holographic display.

"Today happens to be November 1st. Six months from now, on May 1st... you won't live to see the sun rise that day.

No matter how powerful you are, how deeply you're hidden, or what backing you have... I will personally drag you out.

In front of your wife, in front of your parents, in front of your children and grandchildren, I will execute you by a thousand cuts and then desecrate your corpse repeatedly.

Enjoy the final moments of your life."

Lu Chen's verbal sparring was quite formidable.

Yet the white-haired old man did not cower in the slightest, matching him blow for blow across space.

"Why wait half a year? You might as well come right now."

Lu Chen spread his hands.

"I still have pleasant adventures to attend to; is your insignificant head even worthy of letting me fast-forward?

I did hear, however, that a branch of the *Imperial Entertainment Weekly* is right nearby. Once I've finished slaughtering the lords on this planet, I'll head over and have a nice chat with them."

Lu Chen didn't sound like he was joking at all.

The white-haired old man suddenly furrowed his brows tightly.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

Lu Chen shrugged.

It seemed that many of the lords on this planet were descendants of Imperial dignitaries, which explained why this old man was so nervous.

After all, Imperial law forbade the enslaving of humanoids; slaves within the Empire had to be hidden away in underground castles, which paled in comparison to Fang Star, where one could parade slaves through the streets.

Saying he would slaughter the lords was just a casual remark, but seeing how nervous the white-haired old man was, combined with the fact that these celestial beings had concentrated themselves inside the underground shelters, completely isolated from the slaves...

Lu Chen figured he might as well do it as a mere convenience.

A bunch of criminals anyway—killing them casually was no big deal!

Furthermore, this group of criminals had placed a hefty bounty on his head and was actively applying to revoke his Hero Medal.

"Originally, it wouldn't have been easy to deal with these lords all at once, but since they've all hidden in the shelters, things just got simpler."

"Step one: lock down all exits."

"Step two: shut down the spiritual gathering arrays."

"Step three: cut off the air supply."

That was what Lu Chen said, and that was precisely what he did.

After the lights and array formations went dark and the air supply was severed, the million-plus lords inside the nine underground shelters screamed frantically, wailing in despair and pounding hopelessly against the walls...

Meanwhile, more warships fled the battlefield, charging toward the Ghost Knight suspended above Fang Star.

Unfortunately, before they could even reach the atmosphere of Fang Star, they were annihilated by the Leoning and the five mini warships.

Amidst the swirling dust and roaring artillery in the skies, the figure of the Ghost Knight resembled a demon... and perhaps a deity.

"Previously, I never imagined that killing one million people could be this simple.

You might find it hard to believe, but I don't actually enjoy killing.

I am not a god.

Nor am I a demon.

Please, however, make sure to remember: you died because you wanted to revoke a hero's medal."

(End of this chapter)