"What? Fan Fengfei left the Dragon Whale Sect?" Qi Suian stared at the satellite intelligence, incredulous.
’I’d better not be seeing this wrong. The satellite feed isn’t exactly high-definition, and with Sacred Objects everywhere, what if this is just a ruse to get me to act?’
Upon learning that Fan Fengfei had left, Qi Suian’s first thought was to take the opportunity to obliterate Longjing City with an intercontinental missile.
He would kill every last survivor there.
[Map data has been marked for you.]
The Smart Brain, of course, didn’t argue with Qi Suian. It simply presented the data as proof.
After reviewing it, Qi Suian confirmed that the satellite feed was correct.
’Strange. Why would she suddenly leave? It couldn’t be...’
’Wait. If Fan Fengfei used the Eternal Love series of Sacred Objects to merge with Li Yao, could she have acquired his protagonist halo too?’
’I mean, I have Li Yao’s brain and his body is brain-dead, but a protagonist halo is a pretty abstract thing.’
’It’s entirely possible Fan Fengfei is benefiting from it.’
’By the same logic, the Eternal Love series of Sacred Objects must be the protagonist’s comeback mechanic.’
According to Qi Suian’s speculation, the holder of this series of Sacred Objects should have been the survivor protagonist, Li Yao.
But Qi Suian had intercepted it first, and then it had passed into Fan Fengfei’s hands. On top of that, Li Yao’s protagonist halo likely didn’t have a protective effect similar to the Seven Elements Relief of Qi Suian’s own halo.
This all led to the classic outcome: when destiny offers a gift and you fail to take it, you suffer the consequences.
After all, most people are just one opportunity away from rising to power, to say nothing of a capable person like Fan Fengfei.
Now, with the addition of a protagonist halo, if she were to assemble the complete Eternal Love Destructive Sacred Object...
At this thought, Qi Suian couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.
"HISS... Terrifying beyond belief!"
’Once the third Destructive Sacred Object appears, the Doomsday Game will surely begin its final countdown...’
’No, wait. With a shoddy platform like the Doomsday Game, could it even handle that?’
The Doomsday Game’s control only extended to SSS-rank at best.
Qi Suian didn’t believe a Destructive Sacred Object was merely of that quality.
The Tai Sui God was indeed SSS-rank and possessed infinite evolution, but in Qi Suian’s view, this so-called "infinite" was a pseudo-concept.
It was nothing more than continuous quantitative changes leading to qualitative ones; sooner or later, it would hit a ceiling.
However, that wasn’t something Qi Suian needed to consider at this stage, as he lacked the resources to reach that ceiling.
’If Fan Fengfei weren’t a survivor, she wouldn’t be tied to the Doomsday Game. At worst, she could just run away.’
’But once you have the status of a survivor, it’s like a tenured government job—hard to get in, and even harder to get out.’
If it were easy, Qi Suian would have long since shed his Violator status, which had evolved from being a survivor.
He couldn’t leave even if he wanted to, and the Doomsday Game had no way to kick him out.
That was why he was stuck in this love-hate, kill-or-be-killed relationship with the Doomsday Game. Otherwise, they would have "broken up" long ago, and there wouldn’t even be a chance for a cold war.
"No, I have to find a way to stop Fan Fengfei. One Violator in this Doomsday Game is enough." Qi Suian wasn’t worried that the Doomsday Game would label Fan Fengfei a Violator.
He was afraid that the Doomsday Game would recruit her, reveal some intelligence about Violators, issue her a mandatory mission, and offer a hefty reward.
Then Fan Fengfei, armed with a Destructive Sacred Object, would turn around and come to kill him.
Not even Death Reforge would be able to withstand it, and Celestial Fate: Profound probably couldn’t save him either.
For no other reason than the massive power gap; his protagonist halo definitely wouldn’t be able to block it.
Of course, it was also possible he wouldn’t die. His protagonist halo might grant him a rebirth, turning him into a triple-threat: a transmigrator, a re-incarnator, and a Violator.
But that was highly unlikely. No matter how he looked at it, Celestial Fate: Profound didn’t seem to have the ability to reverse time.
If the suffix had been something like Celestial Fate: Time or Celestial Fate: Epoch, then maybe his protagonist halo would have such an ability.
But "Profound" definitely didn’t.
Hadn’t he seen that even the Profound God had become a corpse? If it really had that kind of power, how could the Profound God have ended up dead and floating in space?
[Your idea is excellent. However, in terms of comprehensive strength, you are far inferior to Fan Fengfei. Therefore, theoretically, you cannot catch up to her.]
As for setting an ambush in advance? That would require knowing her destination, unless he got lucky.
But this brought up another problem: the more of the original Eternal Love Sacred Objects she collected,
the faster her power would grow.
A Jigsaw Sacred Object assembled from two or three pieces of the Eternal Love series might be underwhelming, but the more pieces she had, the more dangerous it would become.
With the effect of Extraordinary Charm alone, Qi Suian was afraid that a single glance at Fan Fengfei would be enough to get him charmed into becoming her simp.
Not to mention, as more and more Sacred Objects from the Eternal Love series were assembled, their original effects would gradually become more terrifying.
Sacred Objects from the same series had perfect synergy, after all; their effects wouldn’t be diminished in the slightest.
Getting charmed at a single glance was thinking on the optimistic side. What if she had already formed a Charm Domain, where anyone who stepped inside would be brainwashed and controlled?
That was the truly terrifying part.
"This is bad..." Qi Suian’s heart sank.
After thinking it over and over, he decided his only choice was to bomb Longjing City first.
"Forget Fan Fengfei. Bomb Longjing City first and prioritize dealing with the survivors."
"This batch of survivors is powerful, and they know how to stick together. If a large number of them make it to the next Doomsday World, it’ll be a huge problem."
"Full-power intercontinental missile!"
Things had come to this. Qi Suian could only kill first and ask questions later.
Once he perfected the Quenching Method, Li Yao’s brain would be useless. After destroying it, Qi Suian would be able to have his own protagonist halo devour the other one.
As for how he knew he could do this? Intuition, of course.
And with the boost from a survivor protagonist’s halo,
once Qi Suian’s dual protagonist halos were combined, both survivors and natives would be like lambs to the slaughter in his eyes.
Once they were stacked, forget win rates—his survival rate would reach at least ninety-nine percent.
He still couldn’t beat someone overwhelmingly powerful, so win rates were meaningless. Surviving was all that mattered.
A launch silo slowly emerged as the Tai Sui God began preparations to fire.
Numerous related modules began to couple and take effect on the intercontinental missile.
The aura of the Evil Dragon and Evil Tiger infused it, adding an Extraordinary power.
Various elements were injected into the warhead, giving it an even stranger elemental nuclear radiation effect.
The more modules, the stronger they became.
After about half an hour, the Smart Brain sent a notification.
[Strategic missile weapon system ready. Launch?]
"Launch!" Qi Suian gave the definitive order.
The ballistic missile launched immediately, the recoil so strong that even the Tai Sui Divine Capital trembled.
There was no need to worry about it being intercepted en route.
It could indeed be intercepted by living creatures, but humans wouldn’t necessarily be able to react in time.
Besides, the target was Longjing City. Neither the Eternal United States nor the Xuan Empire would intervene.
And Longjing City’s foundation of Sacred Objects was too shallow; it likely lacked the ability to intercept the missile.
The only person who could intercept it was Fan Fengfei, and she wasn’t in Longjing City.
Thus, the probability of success was very high.
In truth, Qi Suian could have gotten closer before launching for an even higher chance of success.
But things were different now. The current intercontinental missile had the assistance of satellites.
Combined with the enhancements from all the modules, the Smart Brain could perform remote-controlled micro-adjustments.
"Smart Brain, it’s all up to you now."
"Protagonist Halo, give me a hand. This time, you have to make sure the intercontinental missile destroys Longjing City." Qi Suian was being very precise, specifying "this time" and that it must be "destroyed."
If he left out even one keyword, he had no idea how the Protagonist Halo might interpret his command.
With both science and metaphysics working in tandem, the probability of the intercontinental missile successfully destroying all of Longjing City was extremely high.
The remaining survivors would have to be dealt with by the Eternal United States and the Xuan Empire, who would surely kick the city while it was down.
Otherwise, if Qi Suian had to kill them all by himself, his only option would be to destroy the entire planet.
The method for destruction was also simple: find a complete set of original Sacred Objects from the same series and assemble a Destructive Sacred Object.
The difficulty was indeed a bit high, but people—and protagonist halos—were forged in desperation.
He believed his protagonist halo could definitely scrounge up another set for him.
And if it couldn’t, that was fine too. At worst, he could hide out in space.
He’d just lay low for as long as he could. If he couldn’t hold out, the worst that could happen was death. In any case, having the Tai Sui God and a protagonist halo buried alongside him would be a pretty lavish funeral, Qi Suian felt.
-----------------
Helan desperately suppressed her emotions.
First, her senior brother, her childhood sweetheart whom she was about to marry, had died. Then, her master, the pillar of the Dragon Whale Sect, had gone mad.
She had abandoned Longjing City, raving about becoming a god...
In the span of a single day, Helan had almost broken down.
Fortunately, she was no delicate flower. The pressure forged itself into motivation, and she began to shoulder the burden.
Longjing City was huge, and its daily affairs were numerous, especially now, during wartime.
Only now that she had truly taken over did she realize just how heavy the burden of managing Longjing City was.
She wiped her tears away with one hand while handling official business with the other.
Her emotions and her duties did not interfere with each other.
But soon, a Sacred Object on her desk, one used for sensing danger, suddenly let out a warning.
"Who’s there!" Helan instantly suppressed her emotions, her expression turning wary as she called out.
But no one answered. Instead, the Sacred Object’s warning grew more and more urgent.
It was as if the danger was expanding and approaching at a frantic pace.
Yet Helan couldn’t detect any danger at all.
Not until a strange whistling sound was followed by a colossal boom on impact. Helan rushed out at once, looking toward the source of the noise.
Her eyes were met with the moment of the explosion. A blinding light instantly illuminated the sky, as if the sun had suddenly descended.
The light flared in a multitude of colors—from searing white to deep purple and glaring red—intertwining to form a breathtaking tapestry of light and shadow.
Accompanying the light was a sound like a summons from hell, shaking the heavens and the earth.
It was like an invisible force, tearing the air and making the very ground tremble.
Helan knew nothing of what happened next, for she was swallowed by the light and the roar.