pjbooks Chapter 292 Announcement!
Chapter 292 Announcement!
Nie Qingcheng glanced at her, ignored her, and walked straight to the entrance.
The mechanical doll "Sister" was already waiting at the door, expressionless and carrying a briefcase.
"Zhang Yan, what would you like to eat for lunch?"
Nie Qingcheng turned around at the door.
"Don't worry about it, I'll take her out to eat."
"Don't eat junk food."
"Know."
Nie Qingcheng went out.
Nie Xiaorou, biting into her bread, asked indistinctly, "Brother-in-law, where are you taking me today?"
Zhang Yan did not answer.
He was staring at the latest message Qin Xiao had sent him on his phone—a code had been found in the wreckage of the cargo ship's signal jamming device last night, which perfectly matched the characteristics of the Void Energy he had obtained in the Golden Triangle nest.
These monsters were indeed sent by Su Wanqing... or rather, directly by the Void itself.
Moreover, it was only dispatched after he obtained the Vermilion Bird.
The timing is too perfect.
Zhang Yan put away his phone.
"Brother-in-law?"
Nie Xiaorou called out again.
"exist."
Are you in a bad mood today?
Zhang Yan glanced at her.
Although this girl is carefree, she is quite perceptive of emotions.
"No, I'm thinking about something."
"Oh." Nie Xiaorou didn't press the matter further and focused on eating her bread.
Zhang Yan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the sunlight outside.
At 11 a.m., he took Nie Xiaorou out to a popular restaurant that she had been wanting to try online for a long time.
Nie Xiaorou enjoyed the meal very much and took a bunch of photos to post on her WeChat Moments.
While she was taking photos, Zhang Yan gave Qin Xiao instructions: increase the frequency of pupil screening at all ports, airports, and train stations in Jinghai, and set the program's sensitivity to the highest level.
After dinner, Nie Xiaorou suggested going shopping, and Zhang Yan took her to the largest shopping mall in Jinghai.
At 3 p.m., on the fourth floor of the mall, Nie Xiaorou was leaning over the glass display case of a trendy brand store, picking out earrings.
Zhang Yan stood at the shop entrance waiting for her.
My phone vibrated.
It wasn't Qin Xiao.
It's a system.
A dark red warning pop-up window:
[High-dimensional energy fluctuations detected within a three-kilometer radius of the host. Level: Unassessable. Characteristics: Highly consistent with the 'Ruins' entity.]
Zhang Yan's expression remained unchanged.
He glanced back at Nie Xiaorou in the shop. She was holding up a pair of silver star earrings in front of the mirror, her eyes crinkling with laughter.
Zhang Yan walked into the store, took a card out of his wallet, and handed it to her.
"You can take your time browsing, I'm going out to take this call."
"it is good."
Nie Xiaorou waved without turning her head.
Zhang Yan walked out of the trendy brand store, crossed the mall's corridor, and took the elevator to the top-floor parking lot.
The empty parking lot was deserted.
The afternoon sun slanted in through the ventilation openings, shining on the gray cement floor.
Zhang Yan stopped in his tracks.
"Come out."
The sound was very flat.
In the corner of the parking lot, the shadows began to twist.
A red mist of light condensed into a human shape and slowly emerged from the shadows.
Su Wanqing.
Or rather, it was that thing that used to belong to Su Wanqing.
She was wearing a white dress, exactly the same as when Zhang Yan first met her.
But her eyes were no longer human-colored—the entire eyeball was scarlet, without pupils or irises, as if filled with liquid blood.
Her body was translucent; when sunlight shone through her skirt, the patterns of the wall behind her could be seen.
Clone.
It is not the main body.
"have not seen you for a long time."
Su Wanqing... Xu's clone tilted its head and smiled.
The smile was made using Su Wanqing's face, but the expression was off.
The curve of the corners of the mouth is too wide, like something that doesn't understand the concept of "laughter" is imitating a human.
Zhang Yan stood still, his hands in his pockets.
"You made a special trip just to say hello to me?"
Not entirely.
Ruins' clone slowly took a few steps closer.
Her feet were not on the ground, but suspended two centimeters off the ground.
With each step, a dark red ring of veins would appear on the cement beneath your feet, as if it were corroded.
"I have something to tell you."
"explain."
You can't win.
Zhang Yan looked at her.
The clone of Ruins stood still.
Those scarlet eyes stared straight at him, devoid of emotion—no hatred, no anger, no mockery, nothing at all.
It was a gaze completely detached from human emotions, like an instrument observing a specimen.
"You've made a lot of interesting toys."
she says.
"That iron bird, that iron tiger, and that iron fish in the water."
She knew about Suzaku.
Zhang Yan's expression remained unchanged, but his inner tension tightened slightly.
"They are exquisite."
The clone of Xu tilted its head.
"The artisans of the Mohist school made similar things 30,000 years ago."
"Bigger, more, lined up in a square formation, stretching from one end of the horizon to the other."
Her smile vanished.
"Then I crushed them all."
The silence lasted for two seconds.
Zhang Yan asked, "So you came all this way just to show off what's in your history textbook?"
Ruins' clone was watching him.
"I have obtained enough energy."
Her voice had changed; it was no longer Su Wanqing's timbre, but a resonant sound composed of multiple frequencies superimposed together, as if countless vocal cords were speaking simultaneously.
"The ley lines of the southwest, the lingering effects of the ruins in the East China Sea, and those remnants you helped me drive out, scattered across the world—where do you think the energy they released when they died went?"
Zhang Yan's pupils contracted slightly.
He absorbed a portion of it using the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship.
But not all.
Those scattered energies that dissipate in the air, seep into the soil and seawater, and are blown by the wind to every corner of the world...
The ruins have been continuously being recycled.
"For every one you kill, a wisp of energy returns to me."
Ruins' clone revealed that overly distorted smile.
"Thank you."
Zhang Yan remained silent.
"I will come back."
Ruin's clone began to become transparent, and its body began to dissipate like smoke from the edges.
"Next time, it won't be a clone."
"At that time, every inch of land, every drop of water, and every living thing in this world will be mine."
Her body completely turned into red smoke and evaporated in the sunlight.
The parking lot returned to quiet.
A shallow corrosion mark, less than half a meter in diameter, was left on the ground where she had stood, and it disappeared a few seconds later.
Zhang Yan stood still.
The phone rang.
Nie Xiaorou's message: "Brother-in-law, are you done making the call? I've picked out three pairs of earrings, come and pay for them for me!"
Zhang Yan put his phone away and turned to walk towards the elevator.
His steps were steady, exactly the same as when he came.
But as he stepped into the elevator and the doors closed, he looked down at his hands.
My fingertips were trembling slightly.
It's not fear.
It's anger.
He spent more than half a year planning, manufacturing, and fighting, from Changbai Mountain to the East China Sea to the Golden Triangle to isolated islands, doing everything he could to the extreme.
But Xu told him that every victory he won was feeding his opponents.
The elevator reached the fourth floor.
The door opened, and the bustling sounds of people from the mall poured in.
Nie Xiaorou stood at the entrance of the trendy brand store and waved to him. Sunlight streamed down from the glass dome of the mall, illuminating her bright smiling face.
Zhang Yan took a deep breath and suppressed the trembling in his fingertips.
Stepping out of the elevator, his face had returned to its usual calm.
"Which three pairs? Let me see them."
Nie Xiaorou happily presented him with three pairs of earrings.
Zhang Yan glanced at it and pointed to the pair on the far left.
"These two look nice, I'll buy them. I'll put the other two pairs back."
"Why!"
"Your sister said you're not allowed to spoil me."
Nie Xiaorou pouted, but still obediently put the other two pairs back.
After paying, Zhang Yan led Nie Xiaorou to the parking lot.
The phone rang.
Nie Qingcheng's message: "What are we having for dinner tonight?"
Zhang Yan typed with one hand: "Hot pot".
"Okay, I'll go buy the groceries."
"Don't buy it, I'll just stop by the supermarket on my way."
"Then I'll buy the soup base."
"We have some at home."
"Then I'll come back soon."
Zhang Yan put his phone in his pocket and led Nie Xiaorou into the parking lot.
The sunlight was still so bright.
But he knew that from today onwards, the meaning of the countdown had changed.
It's not that the Ruins will descend eight months later.
He must make ample preparations within eight months!