Chapter 28: Dismantling the Tower (2)

The moment Luo Ke finished speaking, he launched himself upward like a heavy artillery shell, the air pressure beneath his feet erupting into a visible ring of dust and smoke.

Mixed into that dust were the red and white fluids spraying from a mangled Powered Loader.

Boom!

Before anyone could react, they only saw a phantom silhouette rising into the sky. As the tail wings unfolded, a bizarre blossom appeared in mid-air.

"Aah!!!"

The next second, a stifled scream from Charles shattered the deathly silence.

Luo Ke had already appeared behind him like a ghostly shadow. His razor-sharp bone blade descended decisively; the white edge shimmered with a crystalline glint under the sunlight. With a spray of bright red, a severed right arm went flying.

Chaos erupted in the crowd as people scrambled, clutching their heads in terror.

Bang!

The first shot of the Lighthouse revolution had officially been fired!

"You bunch of scum, even worse than the Phage Beasts! Don't think I won't crush you!"

Erica and Jeff appeared in their Powered Loaders, rescuing the bound Ran Bing and joining the fierce battle against the City Defense Force to prevent them from harming her or the critically injured Mark.

Bang!

A bullet from an unknown source struck a Powered Loader that was attempting to ambush Erica.

Feixue, who had been aiming from a corner, put away her sniper rifle. Without warning, she unleashed a backhanded elbow strike, slamming it heavily into the face of the Light Envoy who had been creeping up on her.

Blood poured from beneath the Envoy's mask. Feixue did not hesitate; she engaged in close-quarters combat. But thanks to Luo Ke's prior warning, she was no longer fighting bare-handed. She pulled out the brass knuckles from her pocket and, catching the Envoy off guard, shattered the mask with a single punch.

"High Priest!"

Charles’s eyes were bloodshot. He stumbled backward, clutching the smooth stump of his severed right arm, his voice a guttural growl. "4048! He is the leader of the rebels! Catch him! Get him!"

His eyes were filled with horror, his features twisted and distorted. As he stared at the monstrous organs protruding from Luo Ke’s body, his mind was overwhelmed not just by fear and rage, but by endless confusion.

Who exactly was 4048?
Was he even human?
How many more things had that old man Morgan been hiding from him?

Charles began to doubt his own worldview. First, Mark had inexplicably become a savior and then transformed into a Phage Beast, and now an even more troublesome 4048 had emerged—one who, crucially, didn't seem human either.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, nearly twenty Powered Loaders rose from behind him, immediately forming defensive and offensive formations.

Charles was hoisted up by a Powered Loader and fled in a panic toward the Lighthouse’s central command hall. That was where the surveillance for the entire ship was located; it offered a view of the whole situation and provided a temporary sanctuary.

Luo Ke did not pursue. In the sky, there was nowhere for Charles to escape.

Luo Ke didn't just want to stop his heart; he wanted to make him watch as his life’s work crumbled into nothingness. He wanted to drive him into despair bit by bit until his soul withered and his spirit collapsed, leaving him ruined in the eyes of everyone, dragging that godforsaken Light and Shadow Association down with him!

He would strip away all of Charles’s wings, forcing him to experience the helplessness of being abandoned, only to meet a bitter end filled with resentment and hatred.

That was the ending this beast Charles deserved. A quick death would not satisfy the burning rage simmering in everyone’s hearts.

Bang, bang, bang!

Over a dozen Powered Loaders opened fire, focusing their dense firepower on Luo Ke.

Yet, Luo Ke moved as if he were in his element. Even the massive bullets were easily dodged; after a few slashes of his bone blade, only fragments of ammunition littered the ground.

His black hair flowed with his movements, and the crimson luster flickering in his eyes was soul-chilling.

The pilots inside the Powered Loaders hung in the air, stunned. A chill ran down their spines, and cold sweat drenched their bodies. What kind of eyes were those? Just a single gaze made their hair stand on end and their legs go numb.

What kind of humanoid monster was he?!

Taking advantage of their momentary stupor, Luo Ke shifted his target toward the high-ranking members of the Light and Shadow Association nearby. These parasites had spent their days committing atrocities alongside Charles; it would be an injustice to heaven not to kill them.

With a light tap of his toes, he vanished from the lock-on of the Powered Loaders.

Immediately afterward, screams erupted one after another.

"Ah... don't kill me!"
"Monster! Get away! Get away! It hurts!"
"I was wrong, I was wrong! The Lord of Light and Shadow is an idiot; I'm not actually part of the Association!"

One by one, the once-arrogant elites of the Light and Shadow Association were kneeling at Luo Ke’s feet, begging for mercy.

"Pray to your Lord of Light and Shadow to come and save you."

Pfft! Pfft!

Luo Ke expressionlessly drove his bone blade into their bodies and pulled it out, slick with blood, as severed limbs flew through the air.

He dashed through the crowd, his terrifying vision scanning like a sensor. He picked out the Association members and the City Defense Force from the dense mass of Dust People and then silently put them to death, almost every strike a fatal one.

He had gone on a killing spree!

"4... 4048?" 0609, holding two young boys, stared blankly at Luo Ke.

"You need to get to the upper levels quickly. Charles and the Light and Shadow Association assassinated Mark and conspired to incite a mutiny. I'm here to save them," Luo Ke said.

The Dust People and Upper-class citizens around 0609 were astonished. "What! Captain Mark was killed by the High Priest... Charles? And Captain Mark’s current state—is that also Charles’s conspiracy?"

Luo Ke nodded. "Don't talk about that now. Run to the upper levels immediately."

The young boy wearing an eye patch looked at the gruesome, blood-dripping bone blade and felt no fear, for he knew the man before him was not a villain. "4... Brother Luo Ke, is something about to happen?"

"Walk out of the cave!" Luo Ke smiled, picking up several guns from the ground and tossing them to them. "Dust People are human, too."

"Stay safe. We're still waiting for you to tell us more stories. You haven't finished telling us what happened when Xiao Yan and Medusa were trapped underground!" 0609 and the other familiar Dust People said with concern. They gripped the firearms as if they were holding the banner of resistance.

The roar of engines approached; two Powered Loaders had tracked him down.

Bang! Bang!

The City Defense soldiers and Law Enforcement priests had also lost their minds; they fired wildly in a frenzy, killing dozens of their own people in the process.

As expected, the people of the Lighthouse were best at friendly fire.

Whoosh!

The wings of dance blossomed, and with a burst of propulsion, he soared into the sky, disappearing into the thickening clouds.

"Where did he go?"
"Don't panic, we're in Powered Loaders."
"Heh! In front of him, what are Powered Loaders... Ugh! Pfft!"

The man’s voice was cut short. A bone arrow suddenly pierced through the clouds, striking his face. It cleanly shattered the helmet armor, pulverized his brain, and punched through the back of the shell into the ground.

"Come out! Come out!" The other man was terrified. He was alone; the Dust People and Upper-class citizens had all retreated into the interior of the Lighthouse. A solitary panic surged through him.

A figure flickered, darting out from a corner. He smashed the casing and precisely hit the eject button on the back of the Powered Loader, forcing the soldier out.

Luo Ke leaped, and the bone blade executed a beheading!

It must be said, the design of the Powered Loaders was fine for defending against Phage Beasts, but against a human, it seemed rather brain-dead.

"Hmm?"

He looked back. Something was happening on the execution platform.

Ran Bing was walking toward the dying Mark. Mark, severely wounded, felt his biological instincts overcoming his reason; he desperately needed to absorb life essence.

Slap—

A crisp sound echoed. Luo Ke, who had dashed over, slapped Mark, stunning him. Mark looked at Luo Ke with pleading eyes, a glimmer of reason returning.

"That’s your wife, you idiot! Are you trying to kill your wife to reach enlightenment?" Luo Ke scolded. "You two, wait here!"

He turned and left, returning seconds later, holding a Dust Person in each hand. "Feed."

Looking closely, one could see these two were the agitators from earlier—the tools who had been stirring up trouble.

The two trembled, trying to pull the knives from their belts to resist, but Luo Ke sliced off both their arms with a single stroke.

Mark felt the fear radiating from the two men and slowly approached.

Streams of blue light drifted from their orifices, eventually turning them into two heaps of flesh.

Mark’s wounds gradually healed, his eyes regained clarity, and scarlet pigment erupted from his body. A surge of powerful energy poured out.

At this moment, Erica and Jeff retreated steadily, drawing closer to Luo Ke. Over a dozen Powered Loaders and hundreds of City Defense soldiers with guns formed a perimeter.

"Brother, what do you plan to do with this Lighthouse?" Luo Ke nudged Mark with his elbow.

Mark bumped his fist against Luo Ke’s elbow and let out a roar.

One man and one beast stood side by side.

"Demolish the tower?"

"ROAR!"