Reunion

On the‍‌‌⁠⁠​‍‍‌⁠‍‍⁠‌‍‍​‍‌⁠⁠‍‍‍ shooting range, An Yu and the Commander had conducted many tests.

The limit of his space folding reaction was 0.13 seconds. Given the velocity of a bullet, as long as he was more than 110 meters away from the shooter, he had the conditions to save himself.

But Norbert was less than a hundred meters away.

With a whooshing sound, the scalding bullet instantly touched the hairs on An Yu’s forehead. But the surrounding wind froze for a moment, and the flashing blades in all directions also stopped—

A heartbeat later, the world resumed its motion. An axe-wielding man beside him suddenly exploded; a bullet shattered his skull, spraying warm blood and brain matter everywhere.

An Yu’s right cheek was struck by a ruptured eyeball, which rolled down his face to his collarbone before finally hitting the ground.

The sudden turn of events made everyone pause for a fraction of a second.

An Yu had never imagined using time suspension to compensate for the speed limitations of his spatial abilities; it was all instinct.

He looked up at the humanoid weapons surrounding him.

Amidst the biting, howling frost and snow, a dormant instinct seemed to be racing alongside his heartbeat.

Space folding was difficult to use for escape here because there wasn’t a single patch of empty ground within his field of vision.

Whenever he unleashed his willpower and recklessly piled the crowd together, the brief gap would be instantly filled by the people behind him. He didn’t know how many people were there, but it felt like an endless sea.

His sweat-soaked clothes were dried repeatedly by the freezing wind as the red in his golden pupils deepened. An Yu heard his own heavy breathing; the madness in his eyes was reflected on the gleaming blades and axes before him.

Then, the world returned to a deathly silence.

One second, two seconds, three seconds… one minute, five minutes—

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Those frozen glares and murderous intentions were hair-raising. After an unknown amount of time, An Yu felt a pain in the depths of his consciousness as if it were about to burst. He gasped sharply, releasing his hold on the time here, like a weakened hand no longer trying to stop a river.

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Amidst the intense breathing, time once again stood still.

Don't scrape

Don't copy

The axes above his head blotted out the sky; midday felt like a long night, the long night of death. He was imprisoned by death in a solid, filthy well, with no escape in sight.

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But a time reversal wouldn’t save him—unless he could turn back time to the moment they entered the factory gates, which was nothing short of a fairy tale.

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What about the person who bets on death?

Time resumed. The agonizing pain of his limbs being pulled to the breaking point rushed back to his mind. The axe blades above bore down all at once. However, a violent metallic clashing sound rang out. An Yu waited for a second or two, only to see that the blades had jammed against each other, failing to strike him as intended.

In that lightning-fast moment, his golden pupils suddenly constricted.

A swarm of ants can devour an elephant in an instant.

However, it is difficult for a group of elephants to surround and accurately stomp on an ant.

He had once folded the Commander into his bandages and folded An into a small jam jar.

The long-silent private channel finally crackled to life. Qin Zhilu’s voice was decisive: “Norbert’s brooch!”

Almost at the same time, An Yu turned abruptly toward Norbert.

“My daughter’s genetic entropy is a solid 8.3…”

“The threshold in the Main City has been dropping… maybe she’ll be qualified by the time she starts school…”

This soldier had known all along that he had been assimilated by the dream; he knew the truth of District 99.

But he had lied. What made him betray his loyalty was likely his wife and daughter—he wore a tiny, frame-shaped brooch on his chest containing his daughter’s photo. From the moment he illegally pinned that ornament to his uniform, he was destined to sacrifice his loyalty one day.

The moment the obscuring axes finally shifted and swung down, the helpless figure at the center of the target vanished.

Only the surrounding air seemed to ripple for a split second, like an illusion.

The giants who had been clutching An Yu’s limbs looked in bewilderment at their empty palms. The chaotic axes swung down, severing only the arms of their comrades.

Severed limbs and blood were wasted upon the ground.

However, the “god” they were instructed by their Lord to kill had vanished without a trace.