Apocalypse Circular-Chapter 456: Counterkill (My eyes are uncomfortable these past few days, hence just 4K)
The Metal Dragon, entwined with lightning, was forcefully yanked down by Lu Luo’s tentacles. Although the dragon was not Noah but a shell he temporarily controlled, Lu Luo was certain that without this large mechanical electrical shell, Noah’s battle strength would further decline.
"I’ve said it before, humans are very fragile. Noah, your biggest mistake was to stand before me so brazenly!"
Hidden within the mechanical dragon, Noah could not be said to be panicked, but he no longer possessed his previous composure. Indeed, just as Lu Luo had said, he had underestimated Lu Luo’s strength. This underestimation led him to make a very incorrect judgment about his own plans. But Noah had been around for 400 years after all; he had experienced too many things. He had lived too comfortably in the Fourth Ring for over a hundred years, which caused him to lose some vigilance. Fortunately, the current situation was still redeemable.
There’s still a chance! Wait for an opportunity.
The dragon suddenly stopped resisting. Without the strength to fight or struggle, it was quickly dragged into the ground by Lu Luo’s tentacles. This time, without the obstruction of the thunderclouds, Lu Luo ascended with his sword in hand. The Ashbringer in his hand glowed faintly red and instantly cleaved open nearly two meters of the mechanical dragon’s armor.
Armor of such thickness, this guy Noah is really outrageous.
After splitting open the dragon’s head, Lu Luo did not find Noah’s whereabouts. Looking at the dragon’s extended body, Lu Luo simply stopped searching by himself.
"If you’re unwilling to come out, then just die!"
The huge eyeball once again emerged from the ground, and this time, what was revealed was not just the thin layer of the eyeball. As the main body of the eye rose, people gradually saw what lay beneath it: a constantly twisting, spiral mouthpart bristling with sharp teeth appeared before everyone. The mouthpart was even larger than the eyeball, its center an endless darkness, like a road to the abyss. This was the true World Devourer, the origin of all consumption.
As the mechanical giant dragon approached, the Devourer once again released two tentacles, pulling the mechanical giant dragon in, gradually transferring it between its mouthparts.
CRUNCH!
The dragon’s head was directly bitten off. Noah’s steel body, repeatedly refined by thunderous power, had absolutely no resistance against the mouthpart’s sharp teeth. A worthy origin of all consumption.
"Noah, if you don’t show yourself, you’re going to die!"
Lu Luo stood atop the eyeball, looking down at the mechanical dragon beneath his feet. He was certain that Noah’s true body was within this mechanical dragon. However, if the other party was unwilling to come out, it seemed his only choice was to completely devour them.
Lu Luo turned his head to look at Zhang Changming and Wu Qi, who were watching the battle from a distance. His gaze was enigmatic, but Zhang Changming quickly understood his meaning. Noah’s death could very likely trigger a real Intelligent Machine crisis.
Imperial, are you ready to face this crisis?
This isn’t something I can decide, okay...
"What are you saying? Muttering to yourself?" Wu Qi looked at Zhang Changming with some confusion. Zhang Changming first fell silent for a moment, then turned his head to ask, "Is the Imperial ready to face the Intelligent Machine crisis?"
"Eh? What do you mean? Don’t speak nonsense, Old Zhang!"
"Lu Luo just glanced at me."
"He glanced at you? And then? Does his glance have any special meaning?"
"His implication was clear. Killing Noah means the Outburst of the Intelligent Machine crisis.
"Without the Intelligent Machine Monarch, the Intelligent Machine Species would chaotically assault every corner of the world. They would be unordered and insane."
"What if Noah doesn’t die?"
"If Noah doesn’t die, an Outburst of the Intelligent Machine crisis is still possible. However, with Noah’s existence, these Intelligent Machine Species won’t be so wildly insane. Once an Intelligent Machine Species is born, it must have a leader. An Intelligent Machine Species without a leader is the absolute crisis." Wu Qi understood what Zhang Changming meant.
"So how long do we have to make this judgment?"
Zhang Changming raised his five fingers.
"Five!"
"Five days? That’s a bit tight. Now that the phone lines are down, if it’s five days, I can only make a trip to the Imperial Capital personally," Wu Qi muttered to himself. But Zhang Changming did not respond, which made Wu Qi feel less confident.
"It can’t be five hours, right? That’s way too tight. Is there any emergency communication equipment available? Zhang Changming, what do you mean exactly? Speak up!"
"Four!"
Wu Qi: ???
"Damn it, five seconds, give me a friggin’ break! This is not a choice that we can make."
"Yes, it’s not a choice we can make. Let’s leave it to him!"
Hearing Zhang Changming say this, Wu Qi could only nod in silence. The Imperial indeed took the Intelligent Machine crisis very seriously, dispatching three Seventh Tier masters to resolve the issue: him, Zhang Changming, and Fang Tian from the Dark Department. But even so, it wasn’t enough for the gravity of the situation; Noah, that guy, was definitely an Eighth Order being. Wu Qi was very clear about this.
"What will happen in the future?"
"The future will be good, don’t worry."
Wu Qi didn’t know where Zhang Changming got his confidence from, but since he had already said so, that was all they could do.
"Who exactly is he?"
"He should be considered one of us."
...
While Wu Qi and Zhang Changming were talking, Lu Luo indeed hesitated for about five seconds. However, his thoughts were different from Zhang Changming’s; apart from life and death, he actually had another choice. Now, it was time to see the gamble between him and Noah.
[He must be looking for a chance to escape, the space has already started to fluctuate.]
"I know."
As the Devourer materialized and consumed the Mechanical Thunder Dragon, the air around them also began to fluctuate gradually. Although Lu Luo’s previous deliberate Ashen Divide could affect space, that method was too slow, inefficient, and the actual consumption was significant. Even if used again, it might not prevent Noah’s escape.
So...
"Noah, you don’t have much time left!"
"Really? I don’t believe it."
A voice emerged in front of Lu Luo. Without guessing, it was Noah’s own; however, this time the voice was different. In addition to a man’s voice, there was some metallic sound characteristic of Intelligent Machine Species.
"Silver Wheel."
Lu Luo was slightly startled as the Mechanical Thunder Dragon’s body broke apart out of thin air. Two cross-sections, guided by lightning, quickly melted into two severed surfaces. The dense machinery was almost instantly completed. These two planes, like two rotating giant gears, had electricity shuttling between them, accelerating.
When Lu Luo saw this, he seemed to understand what Noah wanted to do. He immediately drew the Ashbringer and delivered a Soul Sunder Strike.
Noah did not choose to run; he chose to counterattack!
A thick bolt of lightning passed through the two rotating gears. This strike was accelerated to a speed that even Lu Luo could not react to in time. It was like a ray of light!
BOOM!
The lightning instantly engulfed Lu Luo, melting away his clothes and body hair in a surge of intense energy. Yes, he went bald again. And he balded below, too.
The robust lightning did not cease after striking Lu Luo. It continued forward, striking the giant eyeball behind Lu Luo. Red glows within the eyeball collided and fused with the lightning. At first, the eyeball could absorb a portion of the lightning. But in the end, even the massive eyeball could no longer withstand the lightning before it.
However, the eyeball was just an appetizer; the real card up Lu Luo’s sleeve was the physical manifestation of the Devourer. The Devourer’s mouthparts gradually lifted, sucking in the lightning fiercely. The bright white lightning seemed to illuminate the darkness within the Devourer’s mouth, and for a moment, the two forces began to stalemate.
"Lu Luo, I admit I indeed underestimated you, but do you think I’ve spent these 400-plus years for nothing? Don’t underestimate the power of machinery!"
The two rotating gears continued to accelerate, the bent lightning gradually being straightened out by this acceleration. Noah’s energy assault finally became light at this moment.
"I have never underestimated machinery, Noah."
Somehow, Lu Luo’s figure had passed through Bright Light and arrived behind Noah.
Noah did not understand how Lu Luo had escaped from Bright Light. Lu Luo’s strength and physical condition were very strong, even to some extent stronger than his own. But the problem was that Bright Light involved rule-based abilities. Overwhelming energy assault, paralysis, spatial interference, the inescapable, near-light speed. All of these effects were a dimensional assault from an Eighth Order on a Seventh Tier creature. Lu Luo should not have been able to evade. Even if his physical fitness was strong enough to compete with an Eighth Order, he shouldn’t have been able to break through Eighth Order rules. Yet he broke through!
"How did you do it?"
"What do you think?"
The Ashbringer swept past the two ranks of gears, and the lightning abruptly ceased. Noah, caught up close, still wanted to resist, but Lu Luo would not give him that chance.
Doomsday Disc!
A purplish-black disc appeared behind Lu Luo, slowly rotating as the Sequence Glyphs on it emitted red lines that entangled Noah. Once, Lu Luo had not been able to see these red lines because he wasn’t strong enough before to touch the essence of Sequences, but now it was different. Being Seventh Tier was strong enough. Under the influence of the Doomsday Disc on his person, he also began to nourish the Doomsday Disc in return. Everything he had devoured would contribute to the repair and nourishment of the Doomsday Disc. And these red lines had appeared only after Lu Luo reached the Seventh Tier.
"Doomsday Disc?"
Noah knew Lu Luo possessed this object, but it had once been so insignificant... so insignificant that it could not be mentioned in the same breath as the Dawn Disc. It was like a defective product. Unexpectedly, after just a few years, Lu Luo had evolved the Doomsday Disc to this extent.
"Who would have thought you had such an ace up your sleeve. You used it to escape Bright Light, didn’t you?"
Lu Luo did not answer, but what Noah said was actually correct; it was indeed by using the Doomsday Disc that he had escaped the dimensionally suppressive force of Bright Light. The Doomsday Disc had already become one of the highest rules of this world. When he was suppressed by Bright Light, he first entered the Doomsday Disc, and then went out from the other side of the disc. Thus, he appeared behind Noah, turning defeat into victory.
"Lu Luo, have you considered the consequences of my death?"
"I have. It’s nothing more than all intelligent devices gradually becoming Intelligent Machine Species under the influence of Dark Energy.
"The entire Imperial would fall into a catastrophe, much like the former Wasteland Alliance.
"Ultimately, humans would have to abandon intelligent devices, causing productivity to plummet significantly.
"This would revert the world to a primitive state and start another cycle."
Lu Luo’s statement did catch Noah by surprise, but overall, Lu Luo wasn’t wrong.
"Since you know all this, do you still plan to kill me?"
"Noah, you are indeed smart, but you’re too smart for your own good. I’m not one to talk much during battles, but I’ve said so much while fighting you. Do you know why?"
"Why?" Noah suddenly felt anxious.
"Because I have a way of dealing with you without having to kill you!"
"What?"
More and more red lines wrapped around Noah; his human body was gradually dragged by Lu Luo into the Doomsday Disc. Entering the Doomsday Disc along with him were Lu Luo’s enormous eyeball, endless tentacles, and the manifested form of the Devourer itself. The Doomsday Disc, like a vortex, absorbed everything around it, swallowed into another world.
Lu Luo disappeared as well.
Zhang Changming and Wu Qi watched the two gradually vanish and silently sighed.
"The battle should be over now."
"Who won?"
"I don’t know, but I think with Lu Luo’s temperament, he shouldn’t lose this kind of battle."
Hearing that Lu Luo had won, Wu Qi couldn’t feel happy at all because Zhang Changming’s previous words were still vivid in his mind.
"If that kid won, does that mean the crisis of the intelligent machines is beginning?"
Zhang Changming did not speak but instead pulled out his own mobile phone. This not-so-new smartphone would experience a flood of chaotic information spreading to all smart devices if Noah truly died. Then his smartphone, being closest, should be the first to distort. Now, it was time to see if this smartphone would turn into an Exotic Species or not.
Five minutes later, the two were no longer staring at the phone blankly.
"Old Zhang, I think it’s pretty stupid to stare at our phones like this."
"I think so too."
Zhang Changming put away his smartphone, his mood inexplicably lifting. "Maybe he has other ways besides killing Noah."
"Other ways?"
"Like sealing him or something? Forget it, these are not things we can influence anymore. Call the others over to clean up the aftermath."
The ruined Inspection Department building, the destroyed crater, and the houses obliterated by the shockwave all bore witness to the intense battle that had occurred. But no one knew just how intense and brief that battle was. Because of Lu Luo’s arrival, the Inspection Department had suffered almost no losses in their ranks. Could this be considered a sort of redemption attributed to Lu Luo?
I don’t know when it started, but I’ve grown fond of whitewashing his background; humans really are filthy.
Zhang Changming self-deprecatingly picked up the ring that Lu Luo had dropped on the ground.
Noah’s Star!
