Chapter Thirty-Five: Absolute Zero

As Gao Yue plunged from the building, Li Xueshu darted after her in the blink of an eye, leaping from the second floor as well—so swift that Lin Lei was left far behind. Lin Lei’s lips twitched as he surveyed the wreckage of the room.

“An S-class Gift at the third-stage of Source Energy... is it really this formidable?”

Recalling Li Xueshu's calm confidence throughout this mission, Lin Lei finally understood the reason why. With complicated emotions swirling within him, he strode to the window and looked down to the scene below—

And was taken aback.

Not far from Li Xueshu, Gao Yue lay silently in the grass. Dark, hollow cavities appeared all over her body, yet not a drop of blood flowed out. Her skin was crisscrossed with fine cracks, as if she were a life-sized porcelain doll.

Li Xueshu frowned, swept her hand again, and shards of ice shot forth, shattering Gao Yue’s body into a mass of fragments.

Lin Lei swallowed hard, jumped from the second floor of the villa, and landed with a strange expression. “We were tricked by a decoy?”

Li Xueshu shook her head. “It was the Source Artefact ‘Doppelganger Puppet.’ At the instant of death, the puppet and the true body switch places.”

Lin Lei was stunned. “Then where is she now...?”

Li Xueshu turned her gaze to the villa. “‘Doppelganger Puppet’ can’t be switched over great distances, and it can’t function through the ‘Sealed Realm.’ She must still be within the boundary!”

Li Xueshu’s words had barely faded when a tremendous crash erupted from inside the villa, followed by savage, beast-like roars echoing from within.

Meanwhile, Chen Ning and Qiao’er, who had been watching the bodyguards, came scrambling out of the villa in a panic.

“Ghouls! A whole swarm of ghouls just burst out from the basement!” Chen Ning’s voice rang out, reverberating within the Sealed Realm.

As his words fell, one ghoul after another burst from all sides of the villa. But they paid no heed to the humans nearby, instead flinging themselves at the dark red barrier encircling the area, clawing at it like rabid dogs.

Ripples shimmered across the surface of the barrier.

There were so many ghouls, each more frenzied than the last, their bodies flickering with eerie blood-red light—obviously the effect of some unusual power!

Once more, Qiao’er raised her submachine gun, sweeping bursts of fire into the horde. Yet these monsters seemed like a different species; even bullets tearing through their flesh didn’t halt their relentless assault.

Lin Lei gripped his steel blade and struck at the nearest ghoul, severing its head with a single swing.

But even as its skull rolled to the ground, the body kept thrashing, claws raking at the crimson barrier.

“What the—?” Lin Lei was shocked.

“It’s the power of a particular ‘ritual.’ Given time, all these ghouls will die off. But until then, nothing will stop their bodies from moving,” Li Xueshu said, shaking her head.

“That woman’s abilities aren’t much, but her tricks are far from simple.” Li Xueshu had said their bodies wouldn’t stop so easily, not that they couldn’t be stopped at all. If their arms and legs were all hacked off, the ghouls would lose what threat they had, even if they could still move. But with so many surging at once, it would be nearly impossible to dismember them all in time.

Li Xueshu’s frown deepened. “The Sealed Realm can’t withstand this level of assault for long. If it breaks...”

An outbreak of ghouls would spell disaster.

The Green Bamboo Villa District was a place of wealth and influence; if chaos erupted here, even Li Xueshu couldn’t contain the fallout.

Lin Lei turned to her. “What should we do?”

Li Xueshu’s eyes flashed. She barked, “Everyone, get to my side!”

Without hesitation, Chen Ning and Qiao’er rushed to her. The bodyguards glanced at one another before crowding around as well.

Suddenly, an intense chill radiated from Li Xueshu. Lin Lei shivered involuntarily, then saw howling winds whip up, and within the red barrier, a storm of snowflakes began to swirl.

Everywhere he looked, the trees and flowers were turning white.

Crunch, crunch!

The ghouls battering against the Sealed Realm’s barrier were quickly coated in heavy frost. One after another, their movements slowed, then ceased entirely, bodies tumbling to the ground.

In less than ten seconds, the biting wind and falling snow subsided. Now, within the Sealed Realm, all was blanketed in white. The ghouls lay buried beneath thick armor of snow, their bodies invisible.

Of those gathered by Li Xueshu, only the sturdy Lin Lei remained standing; the others were frozen stiff and collapsed to the ground.

Lin Lei’s lips twitched as he took in the scene. “What kind of power is this?”

Li Xueshu, face pale, opened her eyes and answered, her voice tinged with exhaustion. “I call this move ‘Absolute Zero.’ Using it takes a heavy toll on me—”

As she spoke, her body swayed unsteadily. Lin Lei, quick as lightning, stepped up to catch her.

Cradling her soft form, he felt no hint of desire—only concern. “Are you alright?”

She straightened herself with his support. “I’m fine.”

Just then—

A hiss—

Thick plumes of white smoke suddenly billowed up from the villa. The sound of footsteps crunching through snow echoed as Lin Lei and Li Xueshu turned to look. From the snow-shrouded villa, a fiery red light emerged as a massive figure carried a slender silhouette out into view. The glow radiated from the person being carried.

“As expected of an S-class Gifted Source Energy user, Li Xueshu. I’d believe you were fourth-stage, not just third.”

It was the second-tier monster that had attacked Lin Lei earlier, now shouldering “Gao Yue.” But she had changed outfits—now clad in a black-and-red Gothic dress, a monocle covering her left eye.

“It’s a pity. You froze all the ghouls, but it drained too much of your strength. Now... do you have anything left to deal with me?”

The monster set Gao Yue down, the fiery aura around her fading away.

Lin Lei noticed the wounds on the monster’s chest had mostly healed.

Li Xueshu looked up at Gao Yue, her eyes unflinching. “And you? After using your free-form arts one after another, and activating such a high-grade ritual, I doubt you have many tricks left either. If you think I’m easy prey now, come and try me.”

Gao Yue snorted, lips twitching, but instead of advancing, she snapped an order to the second-tier monster: “Kill them!”

With a roar, the monster lunged. Its claws, sharp as blades, glinted with chilling menace. It was still blindingly fast, even if not at full strength.

As it closed in on Li Xueshu—

A flash of silver cut the air.

Clang!

Sparks flew.

Lin Lei had stepped in front of Li Xueshu, swinging his blade in a powerful arc.

The monster’s charge was halted, forcing it back several paces. Lin Lei, face flushed, staggered back even farther, pain throbbing in his hands, but his eyes were burning with fierce determination.