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Chapter 365: Chapter 365: "I Refuse!

These people... what exactly have they been through? Why is their mindset so fragile, yet they can calmly accept the arrival of death?

These two expressions shouldn’t appear in the same person.

They shouldn’t even appear in a human being.

Chen Xuan had an illusion that despite Ma Kang speaking the same language as him, the two could hardly communicate effectively, as if they weren’t of the same species.

Even if he took him back for questioning, he might not get any valuable information.

Unless he let the opponent witness with his own eyes, the thing he believed in is not so invincible.

Chen Xuan ignored Ma Kang, tossed him to the ground, and walked back into the hall.

"You... hey!" The other seemed to want to say something, but in the end, it only turned into a heavy sigh.

The room was filled with white smoke, the floor littered with charred human bodies, the brightness of the lights less than a tenth of before, and sparks still continuously fell from the ceiling.

In this hellscape akin to a battlefield, Xu Xuanling and Liuli occupied corners of the room, forming a pincer attack with the nano-living body in the center. The former appeared unscathed, a few chains wrapped in talisman paper gleaming, probably using a thunder avoidance magic to channel the power of thunder onto the Talisman. The latter looked a bit disheveled; though she used her large hat as a shield to block the recent lightning strike, the hat itself and half of her skirt were burned ragged by high voltage, even her waterfall-like smooth silver hair now stood on end, looking as messy as just waking up.

But Liuli is a wonder, her recovery speed incomparable to humans, so Chen Xuan didn’t worry too much about her condition.

It’s a pity those two Ability Users didn’t survive.

The current released by the nano-living body showed no mercy to these "followers."

Seeing Chen Xuan reappear, Xu Xuanling and Liuli couldn’t help but be a bit surprised.

They had considered the possibility of the nano-living body interfering when formulating the plan before. After all, Evangelicals and nano-living bodies have a complex relationship. According to the plan, everyone should avoid fighting large or medium-sized nano-living bodies, firstly because they are hard to destroy with regular attacks, secondly to avoid attracting tougher enemies like the Celestial Patrol.

Having caught a valuable Evangelical, they should be retreating now.

Chen Xuan didn’t utter a word.

Just by standing there, the two had already realized what he intended to do next.

Chen Xuan stretched out his hands, virtually grasping the nano-living body waving cables like a steel octopus. As his gaze moved, the "Seed of Flesh and Blood" quickly calculated the cost required to fuse the opponent — full fusion was not feasible, he couldn’t afford to break the triple-digit consumption; what about the coils at its center? The protection shell of the coils? The insulator poles and cables exposed outside?

There’s always a part that can reduce the cost to an acceptable level.

At this moment, the enemy seemed to sense danger.

It turned to face Chen Xuan, opening its steel shell again, revealing the coil inside shimmering with electric light. This time, the energy gathering targeted only Chen Xuan!

The light dimmed further overhead, nearly to the point of extinguishing. For a moment, Chen Xuan had an illusion — the nano-living body was not supplying electricity to the building’s appliances, but it was continuously absorbing their energy... Massive current was converging onto it via cables, and along with it came the appliances’ hopes and calls; they would rather destroy themselves than continue being enslaved by humans. These electronics and machines seemed to have sprouted a collective consciousness, with their purpose here being to join forces to knock down the enemy ahead: him, himself.

At this moment, Chen Xuan grasped a flaw in the nano-living body. Choosing its opened half shell required only twenty-six of himself, a cost he could afford to pay, even if it’s very close to the limit.

But even if exhausting all stored "costs," what’s the old saying?

Choosing to depend on the nano-living body is not humanity’s only choice!

In a near-stationary flow of time, he whispered the words "Decomposition and Re-Fusion!"

Flesh grew out of thin air, wrapping around the outer shell like vines, and quickly merging with it. Chen Xuan couldn’t tell whether the steel was sprouting flesh or flesh was sprouting iron, but one thing was sure — this fusion no longer pure and disrupted the nano-living body’s concept of "integrity."

The supercharged current couldn’t fire in time.

Perhaps due to the change in overall form, or maybe it "felt" the pain of losing limbs, the concentrated energy instantly went haywire, exploding directly from its center! Current turned into a roaring flame, illuminating the hall once again; even from nearly ten meters away, with Heart Method protection, Chen Xuan still felt a strong burning sensation, his exposed skin seemingly pierced by thousands of needles.

The nano-living body staggered back several meters, its writhing cables crawling towards the window, its movement all too clear — it wanted to break through the wall and leave the hall!

Yet, the next second four white chains flew from the ground, intertwined through its insulator posts, firmly pulling it in place.

This was Xu Xuanling’s Thousand Machines Lock Moon Formation!

Next, Liuli stood before the nano-living body.

She had thrown aside her hat, a flash of admiration in her eyes, "Nice fight, next it’s my turn."

Two cables swung out, one left and one right, whipping towards Liuli, but Chen Xuan promptly summoned the Thousand Thoughts Sword, blocking the blow for her.

She seemed indifferent to all this, entering a state of self-forgetfulness.

Whether it was the nano-living body a meter or so away, or her assisting teammates, at this moment all ceased to exist. She methodically bent down, stepped forward, gripped the sword hilt, then drew the sword—

The sword light bloomed from the sheath!

Compared to the Dimension Slash formed by countless sword shadows, this sword of hers had only one ray, able to slash just one enemy.

The center of the Master of Thunder was penetrated.

Just like that nano-living body disguised as a drum washing machine.

Even though its size was many times larger, encountering a loss of shell and coil overload explosion, its integrity had already been greatly reduced, with the scattered flesh on the ground as proof. This heart-piercing sword further inflicted fatal damage on it, the entire coil structure continuously spewed red-hot components, as if vomiting blood.

Chen Xuan noticed that the price of using Decomposition and Re-Fusion on the enemy had suddenly dropped to two of himself.

He unhesitatingly used the ability again!

This time, muscles, blood vessels, and organs bloomed from the center of the nano-living body, filling its damaged hole in a blink. The enemy’s struggling force visibly diminished, and within half a minute, it completely ceased movement.

All lights went out, plunging the room into darkness.

Someone turned on a flashlight first, aimed at the nano-living body.

Now this "transformer" was hard to say still a mechanical creation, quietly standing on the floor, with the cage armor turned into gray-white bones; blood vessels flowed out like roots about to wither; cables hanging above replaced by intestines, and still slowly wriggling.

It seemed less terrifying, Chen Xuan thought.

It now looked like a tombstone, forged from flesh and metal.

He turned and walked towards the hall exit.

Ma Kang, who was lying outside the door, witnessed everything happening in the room, staring incredulous, looking at Chen Xuan stammering, "How, how could this be... What did you do to it!?"

"Do you still think dying at its hands is a better fate now?" Chen Xuan asked instead of answering.

Ma Kang’s face was ashen gray, "Things... shouldn’t be like this, our destination, shouldn’t be like this..."

It seemed his issue wasn’t completely cured, but at least they were able to communicate normally now.

Chen Xuan nodded at Honglian, "Take him back to camp."