Chapter 57: The Corridor

On Zou Zhengze's chest, the faces of a man and a woman belonging to Zeng Weiming and Wang Fangni slowly emerged.

Their faces bore blank eyes, their expressions alternating between joy and sorrow, anger and grievance, muttering indistinctly, "Come, come, come..."

Hearing the call, the souls of the residents floating midair appeared even more serene and peaceful, as if they had heard a sacred and pure gospel, and uncontrollably flew towards Zou Zhengze.

"Boom"

The explosive pack, shaped like a disc and fired by the Conscienceless Cannon, traced an arc through the air and spun toward Zou Zhengze.

However, before it could get close, the package full of explosives was struck by lightning from the black clouds and exploded with a bang.

The shockwave from the explosion tore a gap in the rotating vortex of Demonic Qi, and Li Ang, standing on the rooftop in the distance, leaned forward almost at a forty-five-degree angle to the ground and charged like a cheetah.

Boots kicked up dust, the Gale lifted his hood, and Adrenaline instantly surged, prompting the liver and muscles to release glucose into the blood, providing energy like molten lava to the tendons.

His body hot as if aflame, Li Ang kicked off the edge of the rooftop and like a lone sail in a tumultuous sea, soared into the sky amid an overwhelming rush of wind.

Shrouded by the vast moonlight, Li Ang, still in the air, flipped his hand, drew his rifle, and opened fire on the demon.

The sound of the gunshots crackled like firecrackers, the flames erupting from the barrel dispelling the night, and the bullets, etched with a cross-shaped groove, spiraled forward and penetrated the sole gap in the vortex of Demonic Qi.

The searing bullets smashed into the demon's massive body, tearing the skin, jolting the muscles, and splattering blood, like a torrential downpour ravaging a pond, causing ripples to surge.

After unloading half a magazine, Li Ang then descended from the air, his foot heavily landing on another rooftop.

Since it was a charge, there could be no hesitation.

Li Ang ran wildly, his finger still on the trigger, his shoulder hammered by the recoil of the gun, but he remained unflinchingly steadfast.

Metal shrapnel was embedded all over the front of Zou Zhengze's body, shining brightly under the moonlight, and what seemed like terrible and horrific injuries merely annoyed him.

"Sigh."

The demon, colossal and unlike any human form, furrowed its brow and sighed softly, as if pitying Li Ang's overestimation of his own strength. The flesh around the wounds writhed wantonly, swelling and expanding like fermenting dough, pushing out the shrapnel, which clinked as it fell to the ground.

Zou Zhengze, on one hand, guided the residents' souls as they slowly drifted towards him, while with the other, he bent down and pressed his Red Palm, as large as a fan, onto the rooftop floor.

His fingertips easily pierced into the ground, and with a muffled boom, Zou Zhengze effortlessly lifted a large chunk of reinforced concrete with one hand as if throwing a discus, hurling it at Li Ang.

The concrete block seemed to spin slowly yet swiftly toward Li Ang, who still maintained his charging stance. He put away his magazine-empty rifle, increased his running speed, and leaned back, allowing his back to slide against the ground.

His spine grated against the rough stones, but Li Ang remained expressionless until the moment his feet struck the stone railing at the bottom edge of the rooftop, where with one hand pressing fiercely on the ground, he vaulted into the air like a pole vaulter.

His body spun, his vision swirled, and the sensation of weightlessness stimulated his vestibular system, but his feet landed precisely on the chunk of reinforced concrete Zou Zhengze had thrown.

Thud—

Using the concrete block as a stepping stone, with the tremendous rebound force, Li Ang changed direction again, carved a Z-shaped trajectory in the air, and plummeted straight down towards Zou Zhengze like a meteorite.

"All flash, no substance, just circus antics!"

The demon laughed wildly, his hideous face filled with cruelty.

He threw a punch, his arm covered with bone spurs like a speeding projectile, from below upwards, to intercept the falling Li Ang.

Seeing that he was about to be skewered by the jagged bone spurs, Li Ang's face remained unchanged. He took out a shotgun from his backpack, pressed the butt against his chest, and pulled the trigger towards the sky.

The shotgun's tremendous recoil once again altered his falling trajectory, and Li Ang narrowly missed Zou Zhengze's arm bone spurs, landing on the ground. Before he could steady himself, Zou Zhengze's heavy fist was already smashing down.

This smash was akin to the collapse of mountains, the tipping of giant waves.

With no time to dodge or retreat, Li Ang bent down and slammed his fist into the concrete floor of the rooftop.

The already crumbling rooftop, on the brink of collapse from Zou Zhengze's previous blow, now disintegrated under the impact of Li Ang's Ripple Energy-infused punch, and the entire rooftop loudly caved in.

Zou Zhengze felt a sudden loss of balance beneath his feet, and his body slid down in the direction of the collapsing rooftop, plummeting into the corridor of the building.

The punch that should have crushed Li Ang into a pulp also veered off to the side, breaking a hole in the corridor's stone wall.

The air filled with dust, obscuring the view, but Li Ang, holding a dagger with resolution, silently closed the distance and stabbed towards Zou Zhengze's chest.

Ding—

The dagger struck dead center of the palm, emitting a crisp clang as if metal clashed with metal, and Li Ang's palm tremored violently, his entire arm tingling with numbness.

Zou Zhengze's body was covered in red and black runes that writhed and spiraled like tadpoles. His already tall stature grew even taller, his skin shimmering with an iron-melt red luster.

Unable to breach the defense, not even scratching the skin, the formidable body bestowed by the Demonic Path of Yin and Yang allowed Zou Zhengze to disregard such trivial attacks.

"Weak and feeble,"

The demon coldly commented, his form seeming to flicker for a moment as his legs, as sturdy as an African elephant's, silently lifted and then a knee strike thundered into Li Ang's chest.

Crack—

The steel plates of the CQB Tactical Bulletproof Vest shattered, scattering everywhere, embedding deeply into the concrete walls of the narrow corridor.

Even with the protection of Ripple Energy, Li Ang still felt his chest go numb, losing all sensation as he helplessly flew backward, slamming hard into the corner wall of the corridor.

Boom.

The ceramic tiles on the wall fractured like a spider web, forming a human-shaped dent. If one stood outside the building, they could clearly see a "swelling" bulge on the outside wall.

The System's imposition of a 72-hour mission time limit was actually a hint that he could follow the police, cooperating with the authorities,

leveraging the power of the national machinery to persistently pursue Zou Zhengze over three days, seeking an opportunity to kill him, rather than recklessly charging up to him as he was now.

There was meat on the other side, and strong output, not something he could withstand.

Thump, thump, thump.

The demon's massive and muscular body began a savage charge through the narrow corridor, the ground trembling beneath him. Any object in his path—be it rubble, furniture, or even walls—was smashed to pieces.

Li Ang struggled to his feet, and saw the two human faces on Zou Zhengze's chest muttering indistinctly,

As the demon ran faster, the eyes on those faces became clearer, the expressions more spiteful, and their voices louder,

"Come, come, come..."

The human faces' eyes wide open, roaring with resentment, as if calling out to Li Ang, urging him to give up resistance, to embrace his fate, and to merge with Zou Zhengze willingly.