That domineering spear intent sweeping across the area receded like the tide, concealing itself within the girl's seemingly frail body.
She slowly stood up. The cowardice that once filled her eyes was now replaced entirely by calmness and a sharp edge.
Shanda's Adam's apple bobbed as he subconsciously took half a step back.
The sheer force of her will just now made him feel as if his very soul was about to be pierced.
The meeting could no longer continue. At Bai Yuekui's signal, the group stepped out of the stiflingly hot shipping container and headed to the spacious training ground outside the village.
Meiduo walked to the edge of the field in silence and casually picked up a withered, yellowed branch.
The branch was about as thick as an arm, but in her hands, it seemed as light as a feather.
Everyone's gaze converged on her.
Her eyes narrowed, and a layer of crimson Source Essence flames instantly ignited upon the ordinary branch.
The fire was not blazing; rather, it resembled solidified glass—restrained yet dangerous.
She aimed at an abandoned warehouse in the distance and performed a thrust from afar.
The motion was simple, direct, and even somewhat effortless.
A crimson spear aura, as thin as a strand of hair, flashed from the tip of the branch.
It was so incredibly fast that it seemed as though it had never appeared at all.
The next second.
The distant factory building silently split open right down the middle, revealing a perfectly smooth cut.
Immediately after, crimson flames violently erupted from within the incision, swallowing the entire structure.
Steel rebar twisted and melted in the extreme heat, while the concrete structure was incinerated into the finest ash.
Everyone present, including Marc, watched in dumbfounded awe.
While the crowd was still reeling from the shock, Ian turned his gaze toward Bai Yuekui.
He strolled forward, wearing his signature playful, cynical smile.
"The little girl had her turn. Now, let's see yours."
He pulled another card from the slot on his belt.
This card was pure white, radiating a soft, holy glow as if it were condensed from moonlight itself.
"Boss Bai, this is your original Abyss Walker armor."
With a flick of his finger, Ian tossed the card to Bai Yuekui.
"But your old suit was way too ugly, and having to strip every time you put it on was just too much of a hassle."
His tone was frivolous, causing a barely noticeable blush to creep onto Bai Yuekui's cheeks.
Bai Yuekui caught the card reflexively.
It felt warm and smooth to the touch, clearly branded with a brand-new Abyss Walker armor design.
"This is the version I modified for you," Ian's voice rang out beside her, carrying a hint of a boast. "As for the power, it's probably been multiplied by a lot. I didn't really calculate it."
"Most importantly, it now features thought-controlled equipping, so you won't have to look so disheveled anymore."
"Also, I made some... 'personalized' adjustments based on your figure."
His gaze swept over her body meaningfully as he said that last sentence, causing Bai Yuekui's fingers to involuntarily tighten around the card.
She did not hesitate any longer and applied a slight pressure with her fingertips.
Crack.
The pure white card shattered at the sound, turning into a sky full of light particles.
In the next instant, a blinding pillar of white light shot into the sky, more dazzling than the midday sun!
The pillar of light suddenly expanded in mid-air, forming an immensely massive and complex circular magic array of light.
Ancient and sacred runes flowed within the array, chanting hymns that mortals could not comprehend.
A pure white, smoothly contoured biological armor slowly descended from the center of the array.
Its design perfectly blended the aesthetic curves of a female form with the chilling, lethal intent of a divine weapon.
Every plate of armor was like the most exquisite work of art, flowing with a holy radiance.
And on the surface of that flawless white armor, fine golden lightning flashed from time to time, resembling the battle garb of a god.
The method to equip it automatically appeared in Bai Yuekui's mind, like an innate instinct.
She closed her eyes and willed it.
The pure white armor suspended in the air instantly disassembled into billions of light particles.
These particles transformed into a holy torrent, descending from the sky and covering her body.
They perfectly adhered to every inch of her skin and every curve, before reforming back into shape.
The entire process was smooth and incredibly fast, brimming with the ultimate beauty of intertwined technology and fantasy.
"Ugh!"
The moment the armor was fully equipped, Bai Yuekui let out an uncontrollable muffled groan.
An unprecedented power, as vast as a cosmic flood, surged madly into her limbs and bones.
She felt every cell in her body undergoing a mythical transformation and sublimation under the wash of this power.
She even had the illusion that right now, with just a casual punch, she could pierce through the earth beneath her feet and shatter the clouds on the horizon.
This kind of strength was something she could never have imagined in the past. How could this possibly be achieved by a carbon-based lifeform?
This was not just a hundred times stronger than before, but a thousand times!
From then on, the atmosphere in Dragon Bone Village became more harmonious than ever.
When Shanda and the others looked at Ian again, their eyes held not only awe but also a heartfelt conviction.
Ian and his group naturally settled down in the village.
Over the next few days, Ian casually created hundreds of simplified Source Essence Cultivation Manuals.
He handed out these secret manuals—which would have caused a bloodbath in the outside world—as casually as if he were passing out candy to the villagers of Dragon Bone Village.
The overall strength of Dragon Bone Village began to grow explosively.
Almost every single day, someone broke through their bottlenecks and experienced a leap in power.
The village was brimming with an almost fanatical hope for the future.
Meanwhile, Xia Dou had become completely addicted to that virtual reality helmet.
She forgot to eat and sleep, spending day and night conquering a game with a grandiose background and brutal warfare.
From time to time, she would mutter nonsense like "For the Emperor" and "Purge the heretics."
She firmly believed that as long as she cleared the game the big boss Ian mentioned, she would receive that unique special easter egg.
At dusk on this particular day, the setting sun dyed the earth in a warm, tangerine hue.
Dragon Bone Village, which was enjoying a moment of tranquility, was suddenly shaken by a violent earthquake!
Rumble—!
The earth roared and rolled wildly like an enraged behemoth.
Countless bottomless ravines instantly split open on the ground, and many houses converted from shipping containers collapsed with a crash amidst the violent shaking.
"What's going on?!"
Inside the temporary command center, Shanda gripped the edge of the table tightly to steady himself.
Ear-piercing alarms blared once again.
A technician in charge of monitoring pointed at the main screen with a pale face, his voice distorted by fear.
"Report! The Suppression Tower located in the southwest of the village... its core energy module was damaged in the earthquake just now. It's offline!"
This news was even more terrifying than the earthquake itself.
Without the cover of the Suppression Tower, the intense emotional fluctuations of the thousands of people gathered in Dragon Bone Village—their life auras, hope, fear, and joy—were completely exposed.
To the senses of the Pola Beasts, it was like a lighthouse suddenly lighting up in the dark of night!
On the radar screen, red dots representing Pola Beasts surged madly from all directions.
Their scale and density faintly rivaled the beast tide that had previously besieged the Lighthouse!
"Oh my god..."
Another monitor operator stared deep into the radar and let out a despairing groan.
There, several massive light spots—hundreds of times larger than the normal red dots, representing Monarch-class beasts—were approaching Dragon Bone Village at an astonishing speed!
It turned out that Ian's recent series of massive actions had subtly affected the Mana Ecology, which in turn slowly drew more powerful Pola Beasts to this location.
The apocalypse had descended.
Alarms resounded through the skies.
Amidst the chaos, several incredibly tyrannical auras shot into the heavens.
A pure white figure clad in divine armor, like a Valkyrie descending to the mortal realm—it was Bai Yuekui.
A crimson figure wielding a flaming spear conjured from thin air, her spear intent piercing the firmament—it was Meiduo.
Marc, Ran Bing, Shanda, Sui Xing... all the warriors who had gained newfound power charged toward the beast tide without hesitation.
Right at this tense moment when the decisive battle was about to begin.
The door to a room was violently pushed open.
Xia Dou's eyes were shining brightly. She snatched the gaming helmet off her head, a smile of extreme, hyperactive ecstasy plastered across her face.
She ignored the apocalyptic scene of the world collapsing outside, raised her hands high, and shouted excitedly with all her might:
"I cleared it! I cleared it! I got the final easter egg!"