Buildings and cars burned, their flames lighting up the night. The asphalt road was riddled with craters where eight figures, all radiating Essence Fluctuation, were locked in a fierce battle on the ruined street.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Brady, an elite special agent from the North Carolina Counter-Terrorism Department, narrowed his eyes and vanished. The next second, a pair of shimmering golden Iron Fists slammed into the spot where he’d just been. BOOM! The air erupted with a piercing shriek as a hurricane-force wind howled, a ring of white vapor exploding outward from the golden fists.

"Tch..." The burly man named Ah Man withdrew his fists, clicking his tongue in annoyance. ’The guy is like a flea, hopping here and there. We’ve been fighting for so long, yet I haven’t even managed to touch the corner of his clothes. It’s infuriating.’

Dressed in an expensive black suit, Brady reappeared two hundred meters away. He casually brushed the dust from his clothes with his black-gloved right hand, his cold gaze sweeping over the Ascenders rushing to provide support nearby.

"Seven... eight, nine... fifteen... Fifteen Ascenders?"

Brady’s brow furrowed slightly. This street gang was no small fry. They possessed a huge arsenal, with enough firepower to suppress the Government Army at one point. Now, there were nearly forty Ascenders out in the open, and more than half of them were Tier Two Ascenders. They had clearly undergone systematic combat training; on the international stage, they’d be considered a decently sized Mercenary Corps.

’More thugs newly trained by those terrorists...’ Brady’s expression turned sinister, a viciousness welling up inside him. ’When will all these damn peasants finally die out? When I get back, I’ll get the whole department to push forward with the peasant extermination plan. These things, worse than pigs and dogs, are a waste of North Carolina’s air and land just by existing. The sight of them is disgusting...’

A thick killing intent filled his eyes. He activated his Instant Teleportation again and vanished, simultaneously dodging a massive Fireball that was hurtling toward him.

Brady’s figure flickered back and forth among the crowd, frequently finding opportunities to strike. His Power was terrifying; a single punch could shatter the bones of a Tier Two Ascender. A Tier One Ascender would likely be killed on the spot.

As Zhou Chen arrived, he watched Brady teleporting back and forth and finally understood just how annoying his own Flame Jump must be for others. A normal Ascender couldn’t even react, let alone land a hit.

Suddenly, Zhou Chen’s vision blurred. Brady, in his black suit, had instantly teleported right in front of him. A brutish violence was hidden in his cold eyes as he threw a punch.

’There’s a masked guy right next to you and you attack me instead?!’ Zhou Chen cursed inwardly. He hurriedly raised his arms to block, and the next moment, felt a massive jolt. He heard the sharp crack of bone, as if he’d been hit head-on by a speeding dump truck, and his entire body was sent flying backward.

BANG—

Zhou Chen shot back like a cannonball for over a hundred meters, shattering a glass window as he crashed into a streetside clothing store. The powerful impact sent him plowing through rows of shelves, reducing them to splinters, before he flew straight into a fitting room and slammed hard against the wall, leaving a deep indentation.

He struggled for a moment before his body slid down the wall, landing him perfectly on the fitting room’s leather stool.

’If there’s a next time, I need to make the skeleton out of a super-alloy when I’m creating the body... Or maybe I should just build a Terminator?’

Zhou Chen mused to himself as he looked at his severely deformed arms.

’This body is just a vessel for my Divine Descent, so I can’t feel any pain. It’s like controlling a video game character. But if it dies, things will get tricky. I went to great lengths to connect with the Poisonous Sore Gang. I can’t just create a new character and start all over, can I?’

As he briefly pondered, the severe injuries to his arms began to heal at a visible rate. His bones were forcibly straightened, and he could clearly hear the grinding cracks of them shifting back into place... He had just drunk the Life Sacred Dew, so his body still retained a large amount of healing power. An injury like this was no problem.

In less than thirty seconds, the body’s arms were back to normal. Meanwhile, even louder rumbles came from outside.

Zhou Chen walked out of the clothing store, and the scene that greeted him made him raise an eyebrow in surprise.

A female Ascender from the Poisonous Sore Gang was swinging a black-and-red Thorny Whip, which had wrapped around Brady’s left leg. Sharp thorns pierced his flesh, instantly corroding it and creating numerous pits with a sizzling sound. The pink muscles squirming within the pits were clearly visible, as was the white of his leg bone.

If he wasn’t mistaken, that had to be Forbidden Object C-008: Thorn Erosion Whip. Its attacks carried a powerful corrosive property. Even lightly touching a thorn with a finger could ruin that finger on the spot. How powerful was it exactly? One look at Brady was all it took to know. Even a Tier Three Ascender was taking heavy damage.

After only a moment of contact, the flesh on Brady’s left leg began to melt off like wax, exposing the stark white bone beneath. His face twisted in pain as he hurriedly activated his Instant Teleportation to escape the Thorn Erosion Whip’s grasp. He reappeared in front of an Ascender who had already been severely wounded, intending to seize the opportunity to kill them.

At the same time, the Plague Doctor took a Silver Pocket Watch from his coat. With a soft click, the cover sprang open. The hands inside were ticking along rhythmically, but as he pressed down on the watch, they abruptly stopped.

Brady’s movements froze. His time—and his life—had been paused.

Zhou Chen’s eyebrows rose a little higher.

That was Forbidden Object C-002: Time-Pausing Pocket Watch, the one numbered right next to Forbidden Object C-003: Hypnotic Pocket Watch, which Jiang Che had contained!

’Just what kind of resources does the Poisonous Sore Gang have? They’ve already pulled out two Forbidden Objects, and both are high-end items among C-Level Forbidden Objects... I’m even starting to suspect they have a B-Level Forbidden Object.’