Chapter 00183: Down Payment
# Down Payment
Chapter 183
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 183: Down Payment
Amidst the trembling of the mountains, a massive amount of mud and rubble rolled down from the peaks.
Ancient trees fell with thunderous crashes as the raging mudflow surged, causing the ground to split open.
From the front of the convoy's view, a slender yet sharp limb slowly emerged.
Then came the second, the third, the fourth...
Amidst the hissing sounds, dust filled the air, and a massive silhouette appeared ahead of the convoy.
It looked like a bizarre stick insect, but magnified tens of thousands of times, so that even a single leg was hundreds of meters long.
Its body was covered in armor, and its head had tentacles flailing wildly.
Each leg slammed into the ground, carving deep trenches.
It seemed enraged, attacking every living thing in sight.
"A Disaster Beast?"
Ji Jue leaned out of the car window, holding a telescope, peering at the colossal creature in the distance.
It was a pity Xiao Jiu wasn't here; otherwise, they could have shared the view.
But aside from sharing the view, she wasn't of much use at the moment.
As the obedient child left behind by Mercury, she didn't seem to have much combat capability, not even able to wrestle the remote control from Xiao Niuma.
Ji Jue, fearing that something in the underground cavern might swallow her whole, didn't dare bring her along.
He left her in the workshop, urging Ye Chun to study hard and write her thesis.
As the telescope's focus adjusted, the distant giant gradually became clearer.
But soon, the telescope was almost unnecessary.
The enraged Disaster Beast, with its flailing legs, was charging toward them!
A gust of wind carrying a faint stench hit their faces.
A tentacle-like appendage shot out, snatching half a truck and tossing it into its mouth, chewing it to pieces.
A Disaster Beast.
A genuine Disaster Beast!
In these times, with disasters rampant in the wild, people could only gather in cities.
Between the large and small cities, the wilderness was plagued not only by frequent earthquakes and storms but also by these monstrous creatures beyond normal scale.
Sometimes, it was an endless tide of beasts, and other times, it was these insatiable disaster creatures chasing after the beast tides!
Just as people could, by chance, become Chosen Ones, in the perilous wilderness, under the influence of either benevolent blessings or corrupting pollution, such monstrosities could emerge at any moment.
For ordinary people, encountering one meant running as fast as possible and praying it wasn't too hungry today.
There was little else they could do.
But... this was a military convoy!
After assessing the situation, Ji Jue wasn't panicked at all.
He had even considered taking advantage of the chaos to grab some materials, thinking that something this big might have some rare blessings or organs.
But before he could act, he saw the metallic glint shooting out from the rapidly descending airship.
With a roar, it descended from the sky!
Not a missile, but something even more threatening—a full-fledged military power armor!
Ji Jue's mouth almost watered at the sight.
Genuine power armor!
Even the oldest, most battered, and trashiest models of power armor were classified as A-level in the military's arsenal, something Ji Jue couldn't even dream of touching.
As for the current main models and special units, they were completely out of reach!
A single press of the enter key would trigger an alarm.
Now, six armored units descended, a standard rapid response team: two Qiongqi, two Tengu, one White Tiger, and one Chongming!
Each over three meters tall, the armors landed with a burst of flames, then picked up massive-caliber cannons and began firing.
Chains of fire swept across, instantly leaving deep cracks in the hardened carapace, with fluids gushing out.
Even under such terrifying recoil, they still managed to run with ease.
Meanwhile, the Chongming, still in mid-air, began guiding the firepower.
In less than half a minute, missiles from the Cliff City military base came roaring in, slamming into the Disaster Beast's face.
The shockwave spread, and a storm erupted.
Foul-smelling blood sprayed out like a rainstorm.
Strength, speed, reaction, and firepower—all were elevated to unimaginable heights under the power armor's enhancement.
What Ji Jue noticed most, however, was the White Tiger, standing at the front of the convoy, protecting the target without lifting a finger.
Under the glow of blood and fire, its spiritual essence remained unshaken, as steady as a mountain.
A pure, flawless aura of a Chosen One!
That was a Chosen One cultivated by the military itself!
Under the barrage of firepower and the围攻, the once-arrogant Disaster Beast quickly had its limbs severed, then was cut in half, its stench spreading.
Yet, its生命力 was stubbornly tenacious, still struggling, its broken mouthparts snapping furiously, trying to tear apart everything in front of it.
Until finally, a sky full of blue-purple lightning appeared!
In the midst of the faint electric glow, a Chosen One who had been蓄力 for who knows how long rose into the sky, waving his hand downward.
A dazzling beam of light converged and shot down!
The nearly sky-piercing lightning became the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Amidst the dissipating hisses, the stench of burning flesh spread as the Disaster Beast collapsed.
In mid-air, the Chosen One looked down at his handiwork, a smirk forming on his lips.
A mere Disaster Beast, nothing more.
But as he looked down, he seemed to see a familiar face.
He paused, then looked again, and his smile froze.
He couldn't help but... twitch!
Back in the convoy, Ji Jue put down his telescope.
No wonder the scene felt so familiar.
An old acquaintance.
"Well, well, isn't this Group Leader Yu?" he murmured softly.
"Long time no see."
Yu Hanguang, the head of the second division of Cliff City's Security Bureau, in charge of the Lihua District, the protector behind Jiang Jin and his gang, the Entropy-type Chosen One who had once nearly killed him with a single strike!
He turned his head, looking at the self-propelled artillery at the back of the convoy.
A rare opportunity...
Should he take a shot?
Unfortunately, the self-propelled artillery said it wasn't feeling well today, so no shot was taken.
Mainly because there were too many people around, too many eyes watching.
The effects of Mechanical Descent weren't hard to trace, and if he acted, even if Yu Hanguang died on the spot, the evidence would be hard to erase.
Ji Jue sat in the car, pondering for a long time, hoping that this time Yu Hanguang wasn't just responsible for the convoy's security but also involved in the underground cavern's封锁...
That way, there might be a chance for him to "commit suicide" with a dozen bullets in his back.
But alas, the hope was still slim.
He'd have to wait a bit longer.
The Corrupted Bullets had been used up in the Time Rift, and now they were running low.
He'd need to catch a few more swarms to cultivate some more...
To deal with the most destructive Entropy-type Chosen Ones, one needed to prepare a plan, set up traps, and strike with a single, fatal blow.
Poison, curses, or other methods were best.
At this stage, there was no opportunity to act...
At least, not until after the Transformation stage.
Ji Jue pondered, returning to the car, not worried that Yu Hanguang would dare to pull any tricks.
After all, his teacher was in the car ahead.
If Ji Jue lost even a single hair today, Yu Hanguang would be processed into materials.
But what he didn't expect was that, during the long wait for cleanup, someone knocked on his car door.
When he looked up, he saw the face he had just seen in the sky.
Yu Hanguang!
He had come knocking!
The audacity!
I haven't even come after you yet...
Ji Jue's hand pressed against the steering wheel, and the machine gun in the cargo box automatically loaded, aiming through the camera's view.
But coincidentally, outside the window, Yu Hanguang's expression was just as stiff, even more bizarre...
As if he was trying hard to force a smile, but not quite succeeding.
There was a kind of beauty in his misery.
Noticing he was being targeted, his eye twitched slightly, but he didn't make a move.
Instead, he seemed to try even harder to smile... making it even uglier!
Until the window rolled down.
Ji Jue looked at his almost convulsive expression, suspicious and wary, tentatively speaking: "Group Leader Yu, long... time no see?"
"Yes, yes," Yu Hanguang nodded stiffly, his voice dry.
Silence, a long silence.
Ji Jue frowned, "Are you... busy?"
"Yes, yes."
Yu Hanguang nodded frantically, his expression twitching even more violently, stammering as if malfunctioning.
"Something wrong?"
"Yes, yes..."
In the midst of an increasingly awkward silence, he finally stopped repeating himself, but his expression twitched as if electrocuted, stuttering:
"Last time... our meeting... was a bit impolite... that... a small gift, please accept it, Mr. Ji... I won't disturb you anymore... I'll definitely visit to apologize in the future, definitely!"
With that, as if afraid Ji Jue would refuse, he left a box and hurried away, head down.
Ji Jue didn't even have time to react.
By the time he poked his head out, the taillights were already out of sight.
He didn't even get a chance to shoot a few rounds at his back.
That was way too fast!
The box left behind was still stained with the Disaster Beast's blood.
Opening it, inside was a piece of bone that shimmered like metal, still in its raw state, having only undergone some preliminary processing by a craftsman.
As soon as it was opened, a dreamlike mist of spiritual essence rose, beginning to disperse.
What struck Ji Jue as even more bizarre was the aura emanating from that piece of Disaster Beast bone...
—Wasteland Blessing: [Metallic Quality]!
It was a material containing the Disaster Beast's原生 blessing?!
Ji Jue was utterly confused.
What the hell? Was this a weasel coming to pay a New Year's visit?!
But it wasn't even close to the New Year!
Three minutes later, Xiao Niuma was honking furiously outside the RV.
The curses grew increasingly vulgar.
Inside the RV, Ji Jue sat across from Professor Ye, handing over the box and explaining the situation before sitting upright, behaving himself.
Throughout, Professor Ye simply kept her head down, scribbling in her notebook, not even bothering to look up.
After hearing Ji Jue out, she finally glanced at the box: "A gift for you?"
"I doubt it."
Ji Jue shook his head firmly.
Even if he thought with his heels, the once-arrogant and domineering head of the Lihua District Security Bureau wouldn't suddenly come crawling to him with a gift.
The only possible explanation was his teacher's influence.
Either that, or Sister Wen was about to achieve a breakthrough, ready to sweep through eight hundred opponents without a single loss, forcing all the old demons and clowns to kneel and beg for mercy.
Yu Hanguang, fearing he wouldn't get a chance to kowtow, was trying to curry favor through Ji Jue.
But neither of those favors was his to claim.
He better not think he could just take this without consequences.
Professor Ye glanced at the box, then looked away, uninterested: "Just ordinary stuff, keep it."
The Metallic Quality was a common blessing from the Wasteland lineage, almost as ubiquitous as the Swarm's three-piece set.
Whether it was useful or not depended entirely on the user.
Its effect was to enhance the hardness and strength of the载体 by infusing spiritual essence, literally turning one's body into metal, impervious to blades.
For a Wasteland Chosen One, this meant becoming even tougher, significantly boosting their防御.
For craftsmen, it was also a decent blessing material, mainly because it was common, with countless design plans available.
It was usually used to make armor or protective gear, with a wide market and no shortage of buyers.
Even if you already had a dozen layers of shields, one more wouldn't hurt.
"Keep it if you want, or throw it away if it's too much trouble," Professor Ye said indifferently.
"If you don't want to take it for free, you can go easy on him when you beat him up later, leave him with a breath. That's giving him face."
Ji Jue pondered for a moment, then couldn't help but shake his head:
"Feels like a loss."
Although Group Leader Yu had looked quite dashing back then, shouting "little bastard" and hurling a lightning bolt that failed to kill him, now sending over a blessing as if nothing had happened was a bit too naive.
When he leveled up in the future and killed Yu Hanguang, wouldn't all his blessings be his?
Wouldn't that be better than this measly thing?
"Then make him cough up more," Ye Xian said, flipping a page in her notebook, continuing to write without a care.
"A district head should show some sincerity when apologizing. Bringing over a few peanuts is just insulting."
"Right."
Ji Jue's eyes lit up instantly.
As the saying goes, it's better to make friends than enemies.
More friends mean more paths!
Today's friendship fee,暂且收下—
As for the Lihua District, with its bustling business districts and thriving commerce... after so many years, Group Leader Yu must have amassed quite a fortune, right?
Ji Jue thought for a moment, then unloaded the Corrupted Bullet he had just loaded.
A lower down payment is fine; he still had a big gap to fill for his future workshop.
He'd have to endure a bit.
Thinking this, Ji Jue couldn't help but sigh wistfully.
For a moment, it felt like the days of his youthful vigor and killing sprees were slipping further away.
He had already learned the virtues of mercy, patience, and the magnanimity of postponing his killing sprees in the mature and卑鄙 world of adults.
Such was the price of成长.
"By the way, teacher, can I borrow Qiu Ge for a bit?"
Ji Jue picked up the box, eager to get started.
Ye Xian waved her hand, and the Ghost Work Ball landed in his arms.
She remained focused on her writing, not bothering with him: "Don't disturb me before we arrive. Annoying."
"Got it!"
Ji Jue nodded and bowed, grabbing the ball and the box, then scurried away.
After that, the journey continued in silence.
The quiet chef served the meals, which gradually cooled, only to be replaced by new hot dishes, over and over.
By her side, the strong tea remained warm.
Until she finally finished writing, closed her notebook, and looked up.
Outside the window, in the deep night, the end of the winding mountain road began to show scattered lights.
And further away, the illusionary neon and lights.
In front of the underground cavern's forward observation post, in what should have been a void of darkness, dazzling and noisy lights flickered, with bustling traffic and繁华依旧.
The glorious curtain covered the dust and bones, hiding the ruins and cracks.
Decades later, the mirage of the former Spring City reappeared.
Like the lingering echoes of a lament.
Eternally reverberating in the darkness.
(End of Chapter)