Chapter 251: Success

The moment Jia Junpeng’s voice faded, a torrential downpour began. A bolt of lightning, wrapped in thunder, struck Zhang Wenda directly, slamming him to the ground just a meter away from Tang Xingxiong.

Smoking from head to toe, Zhang Wenda lay on the ground, knocked senseless by the electric shock. Before he could even react, a new wave of the online onslaught began.

The network storm whipped up stones and bricks of all sizes, pelting his body. Within seconds, they had filled all the craters in his flesh.

The storm then brought whips, lashing him mercilessly from the left and right with the shifting winds.

In no time, he was beaten black and blue, his skin split and his flesh torn open.

He wanted to fight back, but it was a struggle to even get to his feet. Every time he managed to stand, the network storm would slam him back down.

Even when he tried to switch ideological tides, the online onslaught followed him out of the Internet World, continuing to affect him within other tides.

Off to the side, Song Jianguo raised a large black umbrella, about to charge in for a rescue, but Hu Maomao stopped her from this suicidal act.

In just a few tens of seconds, the tables had turned once more. Zhang Wenda’s situation was now perilous.

Tang Xingxiong watched the wretched Zhang Wenda in the storm, a cruel smile spreading across her Crow-like face.

"Young people always think their will can conquer all, but individual strength alone is useless. An adult should know how to use the rules to their advantage. That is the only way to defeat an enemy far stronger than you."

Having said her piece, she was done playing around. She had no intention of becoming one of those long-winded villains who monologue endlessly without taking action.

As a new rhythm emerged from her piccolo, the network storm now whipped up sharp debris and steel rebar from the ruins, hurtling them at Zhang Wenda. This time, the intent was clearly to kill.

A steel rebar pierced Zhang Wenda’s abdomen, and a dagger stabbed straight through his calf. Just as a bayonet aimed for his head, Zhang Wenda suddenly moved.

He charged head-on into the storm of blades without a moment’s hesitation.

But he was quickly skewered like a pincushion and fell limply to the ground.

"Hmph. Fool." Tang Xingxiong stopped paying attention to Zhang Wenda, turning her gaze to the cat-girl hissing at her in the distance, Hu Maomao. "As for you two, you’ll be dying here as well."

Yet, the moment she finished speaking, Tang Xingxiong felt a chill creep up her spine. When she looked back at Zhang Wenda’s corpse on the ground, she found he had revived and was once again charging toward her.

All the wounds that had been on his body were now transferred to the forum-goers covering the ground, while he himself was fully restored.

The gale once again whipped up a variety of weapons, furiously assaulting Zhang Wenda. He dodged what he could and tanked the hits he couldn’t, transferring the damage. On the ground amidst the ruins, the "lying flat" forum-goers silently bore the full brunt of this online onslaught.

Hu Maomao, having removed her tinfoil hat, stood in the distance, raising both hands toward Tang Xingxiong in the air. "Group Organizational Entanglement Technique!"

Under the influence of the Entanglement Technique, Tang Xingxiong kept feeling as if someone were attacking her from behind, and her rhythm instantly fell into disarray.

Far from panicking, Tang Xingxiong only grew more furious.

"I’ve had enough of these games!" As Tang Xingxiong cranked the rhythm to its maximum, sand and stones instantly began to fly across the ground, making it seem impossible for Zhang Wenda to get any closer.

The network storm had now become a metal maelstrom, intent on grinding to pieces every living thing within it.

But Zhang Wenda was fearless. He jerked his head up, glaring at Tang Xingxiong above. "Why do I have to play by someone else’s rules?! Are rules really meant to be followed without question?"

With that, he raised his Sacrificial Knife and, without hesitation, plunged it into his own chest once more. The Gaze of Kopan descended again.

Kopan, however, was in despair. ’You can’t do this! We had an agreement! I told you they’d find me!’

He didn’t even get to finish his thought before the furious cry of some half-bird, half-serpent creature echoed, and Kopan’s voice vanished completely.

The Kukulkan Feathered Serpent God had found Kopan. The effect lasted only a very short time—four seconds—but four seconds was all he needed.

In those four short seconds, the entire storm around Zhang Wenda vanished without a trace, and everything that had been whipped into the air came crashing down.

And because the storm had grown so immense, Tang Xingxiong hadn’t seen this happen at all.

Just then, Zhang Wenda leaped high into the air once more. Within the final second, he became a phantom blur, piercing through the layers of the storm to slam into Tang Xingxiong.

Under the influence of Kopan’s power, Tang Xingxiong’s bird’s-nest head completely regressed, becoming the head of a woman wearing heavy makeup.

The piccolo shattered instantly. Zhang Wenda locked his arms and legs around her body, digging sharp sickles backward into her flesh to prevent her from turning back into a Crow to escape.

And in that instant, all the injuries he had sustained were transferred to Tang Xingxiong. Now grievously wounded, Tang Xingxiong could no longer hold herself up and was dragged down to the ground by Zhang Wenda.

Tang Xingxiong’s body hit the ground like a broken doll. Zhang Wenda viciously slammed the back of her head onto a jutting piece of concrete. With a sickening thud, blood began to pool out from her skull, spreading across the ground.

Soaked to the bone, Zhang Wenda panted heavily as he glared down at the dying Tang Xingxiong. It was finally over.

"When you killed my uncle, did you ever imagine this day would come?!"

With no one controlling it, the piccolo’s rhythm gradually faded away. The torrential rain from the sky lessened to a drizzle.

Tang Xingxiong’s pupils dilated. She stared at the sky of the Internet World and murmured, "I really wish I could go back... back to before the ideological tides..."

She could no longer hear what Zhang Wenda was saying. In her mind’s eye, she saw a young boy on a vintage bicycle, a young girl riding on the back. Something had amused them, and they were laughing heartily. In that moment, they were carefree, just laughing and playing without a worry in the world.

Just then, Hu Maomao and Song Jianguo walked over. Song Jianguo, sopping wet, shook her head in annoyance.

"Why is it raining? I hate the rain," she grumbled, pulling off a soaked, single-arm sleeve and wringing it out forcefully.

At that moment, Tang Xingxiong, lost in her memories, was captivated by the sight of the other tattoos on Song Jianguo’s forearm.

The dying woman, who had been on the verge of death, seemed to experience a final burst of life. She painfully reached her right hand toward Song Jianguo’s forearm, her once-ashy eyes now brimming with hot tears.

Song Jianguo blinked at the sight, then looked up at Zhang Wenda. "How is she not dead yet? Haozi, why are you taking so long to kill someone?"

Saying this, she hefted her spear, walked over, and casually plunged it into Tang Xingxiong’s left eye.