Chapter 126

The collapsing buildings were like a vast, dark sky caving in, solid walls piercing through the partitioned space and entering different worlds.

"Boom!"

A heavy object crashed down beside her, smashing a deep crater into the ground, sending dust flying and smoke billowing.

Tremors shook the earth one after another. Tong Yang ducked into a stairwell, peering outside through a corner window.

In this situation, everyone was struggling to save themselves. Xu Junyue and the "Forerunner" ceased their entanglement and fled to find shelter elsewhere.

Clearly, no one had anticipated something like this would happen.

"Boom—"

A massive structure crashed onto the roof of the building where Tong Yang was. Debris rained down, the floor beneath her feet shaking violently. She could only stand upright by pressing herself against the wall. Fortunately, the buildings in the affluent district were made of special materials, incredibly sturdy, able to withstand the intense impacts.

However, while the First World could hold, the real world might not.

From the partitioned scenes, one could see the real world was located in a bustling city. If struck by these falling buildings, who knew what scale of disaster would unfold.

"Boom!"

The ceiling was smashed open, creating a large hole. Tong Yang gritted her teeth. Now was not the time to worry about the real world. She had to end the game with the First World's Tong Yang as soon as possible. If the energy storm was allowed to persist, the situation would become unimaginable.

"Boom!"

The incessant, deafening roars seemed intent on boring through the planet. The tornado was no longer moving slowly; it was now madly advancing towards the city center, sweeping up many of the buildings that had already fallen to the ground.

The eerie green sky was blotted out by a dense shroud of flying sand and stones. The howling wind amplified in her ears, sounding like the end of the world.

Tong Yang felt the building she was in teetering on the brink of collapse. It wouldn't hold much longer. She wondered how the others were faring. If anyone was struck by falling debris or sucked into the tornado, death would be certain.

Tong Yang quickly ran downstairs. It was too dangerous; the game simply couldn't proceed. Perhaps they would die in this chaos without the First World's Tong Yang or the "Forerunner" even needing to lift a finger.

What to do?

What should they do?

Tong Yang's expression was grave, her lips pressed into a tight line, her palms slick with cold sweat. They had underestimated the power generated by the energy storm. If this continued, no one would escape death.

Tong Yang circled to the backside of the tornado and jumped down from the second floor of a building. The fierce wind felt like the combined force of dozens of hands, relentlessly pulling at her body. She pressed herself tightly against the back of the building, each step a struggle. But the tornado was getting closer and closer; in a few minutes, this place would be reduced to rubble.

Tong Yang cursed under her breath. What the hell was this magnetic field energy? How could such a powerful tornado appear in the city?

"Tong Yang!"

From within the thick fog woven from grit, several figures came running towards her.

"I'm here!" Tong Yang called back. Exposing her identity didn't matter anymore; this was beyond anything humans could stop.

"Give me your hand!"

Tong Yang reached out and grasped Tang Shuyan's hand, then used the wind's force to leap easily to their side.

"Put this on," said Tang Li.

The wind was too strong; Tong Yang couldn't see her movements clearly, only feeling her fastening something around her waist and hooking one end to the ground. The powerful pulling force from the wind vanished almost instantly.

Tong Yang breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the others. Everyone had gathered except Xu Junyue.

The gale had tangled Tang Li's hair. Her expression was extremely serious. "In this situation, there's nothing we can do. Even if the 'Forerunner' is stronger than us, they're ultimately only human. They must be facing the same circumstances."

Tong Yang nodded. "Right. No need to head to the duel arena. Let's find a place to take cover for now."

The three worlds were thrown into chaos within the energy storm, but the storm itself existed only in the First World. The other two worlds would certainly be affected, but their situation would be much better than here.

"We're missing Xu Junyue."

"She's in that third building over there. She should still be alive. Let's go find her."

"Let's go!"

Tang Li pressed a button on the device attached to Tong Yang's waist. The silver hook instantly retracted, and the suction force from the tornado swept over her body once more.

"What is this?" Tong Yang asked.

Tang Li replied, "Anti-gravity wire device. The button on the right launches and retrieves the hook. I, uh, borrowed it from Armand's place before we left."

Anti-gravity wire, something used by the military. Militants in the slums had also developed and used it to counter combat aircraft.

Using the anti-gravity wire device in this situation would prevent them from being swept into the tornado.

"Walking over there is too slow."

The tornado was advancing rapidly. If they didn't evacuate quickly, this entire area would be destroyed.

"Then what do we do? We can only move by repositioning the anti-gravity wire. Otherwise, we risk getting pulled in!"

Dust swirled around them. Crossing a single street might only take a minute on foot, but constantly repositioning the anti-gravity wire back and forth would take who knows how long. The tornado was right upon them; they had no time to spare.

Tong Yang pressed her lips together tightly, looking at the anti-gravity wire device on her waist. She didn't know how much wire was stored inside. If it was comparable to the length used during the combat aircraft attack, it should be enough to cross this exposed road.

"Follow me," Tong Yang said.

Bracing against the strong wind, she circled around the building to its side, found a suitable spot, and pressed the button on the device. The silver hook shot through the air with a whoosh and, with a sharp thunk, embedded itself in the wall of the building across the street.

"Success!"

The others roughly understood Tong Yang's idea and followed suit, launching their own hooks to the opposite side of the street.

"One, two, three..."

Tong Yang leaned back. Sure enough, a pulling sensation came from the opposite direction via the anti-gravity wire. Once the force was sufficient, the wire suddenly retracted, and their bodies soared through the night sky towards the opposite street.

"Holy shit!"

"So thrilling!"

"This is how you're supposed to use this thing!"

"Careful! Let go of the hook before you get too close, or else—"

"Thud!"

Before Tong Yang could finish her sentence, the others promptly pressed their buttons to release the hooks. However, a dull thud sounded beside her as World A's Chu Shiyu slammed straight into the wall, nearly denting it.

"Damn... you could've said that earlier!" World A's Chu Shiyu complained, rubbing her nearly-broken neck.

The others landed steadily and quickly took shelter inside the building.

"Use your head. The others didn't need a reminder," Tong Yang said expressionlessly as she climbed into the building.

Tang Li marveled, "If this thing could be used by the military in the real world, it would be incredibly convenient."

Tang Shuyan added, "True. We might even achieve wall-running and roof-leaping."

Tong Yang moved forward, following the traces left on the ground, and said, "Anti-gravity wire isn't scientifically sound; it's probably related to magnetic field energy. This technology could be realized in the real world, but not by relying on anti-gravity."

The group followed Tong Yang forward, the sound of wind and collapsing buildings frequently ringing out. At the same time, they heard the sounds of a fight coming from around them.

"Be careful, there are others here," Tong Yang warned.

The group lightened their steps as they approached the source of the noise, which grew clearer and clearer.

In an open-air garden, fallen debris had smashed through walls and the fountain pool, splashing water everywhere. Two people were fighting amidst the ruined garden, one of them being Xu Junyue.

Her clothes were completely soaked, and there were numerous injuries on her exposed skin. The "Forerunner" was in slightly better shape and kicked Xu Junyue into the water pool.

Xu Junyue let out a muffled groan, her hair plastered wetly to her face. With no time to react, her opponent's attack was already upon her. She immediately rolled to the side, pushed off the ground with her hands, and in a reverse hook kick stance, sent the other woman stumbling back.

"Pah!"

Xu Junyue stood up, spat fiercely, and cursed, "A bunch of trash."

The other woman sneered, "You don't seem very afraid of death?"

"Open your dog eyes wide. If I were afraid of death, would I still be standing here?" Xu Junyue retorted coldly.

Suddenly, Xu Junyue seemed to see something and pointed behind her opponent in surprise, "Watch your back!"

The woman mocked, "You think such a trick can fool me? If anyone approached, I'd sense it immediately... Ah!"

Before the woman could finish, a powerful impact hit her from behind. Her neck was grabbed from behind, and her body was thrown uncontrollably towards the ground. As she tried to resist, Xu Junyue pounced, pinning her arms, leaving her to fall face-first onto the hard ground.

With a thud, her forehead struck the hard stone, blood gushing out.

Apart from the Forerunner officers, others hadn't been injected with the gene serum, so their bodies couldn't heal automatically.

Xu Junyue lifted her chin and sneered, "Told you to watch your back, idiot."

"Hmph!"

Tong Yang pressed down on the woman's neck, helping Xu Junyue restrain her. Then, she pulled out a dagger hidden on her person, grabbed the woman's hair, pressed the blade tip against her throat, and slit it open fiercely, blood splattering both of them.

"Indeed, ambushes work better against them."

Xu Junyue tilted her head for a look, "That's it? Dead? Thought they'd be harder to kill."

Chu Shiyu from World A stepped forward, rolling her eyes, "Forerunners have ranks too, you know? If not for Tong Yang's sneak attack from behind, could you have beaten her?"

"Oh? What's a mutt eliminated in the third round barking about?"

The two could start arguing at the drop of a hat.

"Shut up." Tong Yang, annoyed by their bickering, snapped.

Tang Li said, "Tong Yang's anti-gravity filament device is the last one. Xu Junyue, you should move together with Tong Yang."

"Anti-gravity filament device? What's that thing?" Xu Junyue looked up at the sky, puzzled, "And what's with this place? It's like the apocalypse."

"Probably the effects of the energy storm."

As she spoke, Tong Yang handed them the sensor bracelets she was carrying and explained how to use them.

"My phone is gone, and using communication devices in critical moments isn't convenient. If we get separated, we can use the sensor bracelets to determine each other's location and vital status."

"Not bad, this thing."

Tong Yang said, "We don't know how long this situation will last. People from the First World will also try to avoid it, so they won't have time for us for a while. Let's go."

Xu Junyue asked, "Where to?"

They definitely couldn't return to the real world; leading the First World's Tong Yang and the others back would be disastrous. They could only choose to temporarily take refuge in a parallel world. Even though parallel worlds were also full of dangers, it was better than continuing to suffer the consequences of the energy storm.

"Let's go!"

The group moved through the buildings, planning to enter a parallel world through a spatial rift.

"Can we reach Chu Shiyu and the others?"

Chu Shiyu, along with Yan Qing and Liang Xi from the parallel world, had split up to search for Yang Miao's traces and should also be within the energy storm area.

Tang Shuyan said, "They're fine. They infiltrated the underground city."

Chu Shiyu and the other two came to the First World as representatives of the parallel world, so entering the underground city shouldn't pose much danger.

"Boom!"

A piece of building debris crashed down behind the group and was simultaneously split by the three worlds, falling into each one.

Tong Yang reached a boundary where space was divided, located the position of the parallel world, and led everyone diving in.

Their figures almost vanished into thin air on the ground. Two people standing atop the collapsed buildings watched this scene.

"Miss Ah Li is so clever, she actually took my anti-gravity filament device," Armand sighed.

Ye Huai from the First World glanced at him sideways, "Didn't you leave it for her on purpose?"

Armand wore an innocent expression, "Menard, what are you saying? Why would I do such a thing?"

Ye Huai from the First World's eyes turned cold, "I've told you, that's not my name."

Armand scoffed, "Ye Wen's death isn't anyone else's fault. After all these years, still holding a grudge against your father?"

Ye Huai from the First World's gaze was like icy daggers, fixed intently on Armand.

"At that time, the Second World needed to cooperate with the Third World, and the condition was Ye Wen's heart. Weren't you the same? Menard gave you the heart of Ye Huai from the Third World. The Second World gave your brother Ye Wen's heart to Ye Wen of the Third World. The only difference is, the Second World chose not to sustain Ye Wen's life."

Ye Huai from the First World said coldly, "Do you think you know a lot?"

Armand said, "I mean no harm. I'm just like you, looking forward to their collapse. To do that, you should cooperate with the Menard family sooner."

"Shut up." Ye Huai from the First World stopped responding to him.

"If Tong Yang from the Third World dies, are we really going to hand over the child of the first-generation android to the United Government?" Armand mused to himself.

"Shut up."

"The Slayer doesn't seem to intend to do that. Didn't she just throw Yang Miao out of the energy storm?"

"Shut up."

Armand didn't mind her attitude and said, "They've entered the Second World. Pursue them? Commander."

Ye Huai from the First World looked in the direction they had left, her expression deep and unreadable.

"The effects of the energy storm are more than this. The Second World might not be any safer than here."

Armand nodded, "True."

"Those folks in the Second World, their brains have been excessively affected by the magnetic field energy. By now, it's probably already turned into a living hell."

"My dear Miss Ah Li, please take care. At the very least, don't die by anyone else's hand."