Chapter 644: A Torrent of Madness

Recalling that bizarre moment from just now, Lu Xin’s mind flashed with an absurd possibility.

The next instant, his father’s furious roar reverberated in his ears: “What, even stray cats and dogs can come around to show off?”

At the same moment, a shadow—like a massive torrent—hurled itself toward the three of them.

Lu Xin maintained his cold gaze on them, allowing his father’s anger to spill over without interference.

He was no longer a rookie in the Special Cleaning Department; he understood the stakes of battling ability users.

No matter how bizarre an ability appeared, it still adhered to physical laws to some extent.

His opponent’s power was indeed peculiar.

Yet Lu Xin’s thoughts quickly turned to a possibility—could the enemy steal his attacks without limit?

And during that theft, did he not have to pay a price?

So he let his father vent, waiting to see how much could be pilfered…

Sure enough, as the surge of Black Tide advanced, the priest in a black robe appeared visibly startled. This priest, capable of stealing attacks, made no move to seize the tide-like shadow; instead, he retreated alongside another.

The one who did not fall back stepped forward, drawing a circle on the floor with an outstretched foot and holding his arms in a flame-like stance before his chest.

In the next heartbeat, a massive, vicious mental monster—resembling a ferocious dog—thrust its head out from the circle.

Its enormous eyes, as big as basketballs, flared open, fixed intently ahead.

But almost immediately, that mental monster was swallowed by his father’s Black Tide.

Gradually, its body stiffened until it became like a statue, standing unmoving in the office.

Meanwhile, Xia Chong was far from idle. As Lu Xin engaged the dreadful black-robed priests, she sprang into action, her calves churning as she dashed toward the room door behind her to reach the elevator.

Her mission: capture that Hell Designer and activate Plan B.

Although her frantic sprint under the threat of the three priests was far from safe, she trusted Lu Xin completely.

“Smash…”

Yet neither Lu Xin nor Xia Chong anticipated what would come next.

Cornered by Lu Xin against a glass wall, the three priests remained unruffled, as if every move had been preordained.

In unison, they slapped their hands hard against the glass behind them, unleashing a surge of mental power that rattled the pane. In the next moment, the glass shattered with a resounding crash, its fragments cascading into a deep pit.

“Whoosh” “whoosh” “whoosh”

Meanwhile, the sound of slicing through the air, intermingled with clanking machinery, filled the space.

In the deep pit below, at the base of the mechanical grotesque tree guarded by countless individuals, three serpent-like mechanical tentacles extended upward.

Intertwined with strands of blood vessels and muscle tissue, they forcefully plunged into the back of the priests’ heads.

“Clatter…”

The tentacles’ insertion produced no sound of flesh being pierced—only a crisp, plug-like snap.

All three priests jerked their heads upward in unison.

Beneath their hoods, pale faces stared back.

In eyes laced with blood threads, pupils dilated until they nearly filled the sockets.

Then, suddenly, chaotic strands of mental energy burst forth in front of them.

In an instant, a telekinetic force strong enough to alter reality surged along the floor, ripping white ceramic tiles into fragments. Swirling eddies of chaos formed, as if invisible monsters clashed violently with the black shadow.

“Huh?”

Lu Xin was startled and quickly looked up.

He saw his father’s mental force, lunging forward, being blocked by the three priests and even rebounding.

Their mental power expanded almost instantaneously, saturating the entire space.

Not only did he feel the oppressive surge of force against him, but even Xia Chong was now targeted by a nearly tangible rush of mental energy—as if countless, sharp, sinister hands were clawing at her back.

One could only imagine that being grasped by such power would shred a person to pieces…

“Swish!”

Before Lu Xin could think further, he muttered, “Sister…”

He reached out and clasped his sister’s hand, his body contorting in a bizarre angle as he lunged forward.

At the last moment—just before that torrent of mental energy could strike both him and Xia Chong—he reached her, shielding her beneath him.

The furious surge of mental power crashed in an instant.

Even the Black Tide itself now seemed suppressed. Though Lu Xin managed to protect Xia Chong, he could feel twisted, malevolent mental forces pressing in from every direction.

Fortunately, Xia Chong was short—otherwise, she might not have been fully shielded.

“Who calls you sister?”

Under Lu Xin’s protection, Xia Chong’s voice trembled with urgency.

Simultaneously, she twisted the doorknob vigorously.

Then, from deep within her eyes, the rapid sound of pages flipping echoed.

But in the next moment, nothing appeared—instead, Xia Chong shouted, “The passage to the Abyss has been sealed! I can’t sense its presence, nor can I summon the mental creature with whom I’ve made a pact!”

“Not entirely unexpected…”

Amid the chaos, Lu Xin analyzed the situation with surprising calm.

The Flame people—or rather, that Hell Designer—had clearly anticipated his arrival…

Honestly, Lu Xin had no idea how they predicted his coming; before hearing that astronomical figure, he hadn’t even considered showing up.

But since they expected him, they were clearly ready to counter him.

This turn of events confirmed that the Flame’s strength was far greater than he’d imagined.

Perhaps the mental monster stationed in the Abyss to guard the Flame Building was nothing more than a decoy.

It was reasonable to assume that the Hell Designer had prepared to eliminate him here even before his arrival.

The only question now was: how had the three Black-Robed Priests reached this level?

Their mental power was terrifying—how could ordinary humans wield such strength?

As Lu Xin braced against the mental impact they unleashed, he pondered rapidly.

……

……

“They’re just ordinary people. How can their mental power be this overwhelming…”

While Lu Xin raced through his analysis, his father’s roar burst forth again: “I can’t hold on! I can’t even borrow Heichao City’s mental power… Dammit, I had a crew ready to swallow them at the crucial moment…”

Listening intently, Lu Xin couldn’t help but sigh, “You’ve set a trap!”

“Hmph…”

His father sneered.

Under Lu Xin’s protective arm, Xia Chong shouted defiantly, “What kind of law is that?”

Lu Xin ignored them, feeling the overwhelming, terrifying mental force crushing him. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly looked up, black particles whirling rapidly in his eyes.

“Crash…”

In an instant, his father’s shadow exuded a wild, oppressive aura.

Previously suppressed by the three priests’ mental power, his father’s form trembled violently and was lifted high.

Like a black volcano erupting beside Lu Xin, it tore apart the restraining mental force and blasted outward. In the office, three glass walls shattered like bullets, spraying fragments in all directions.

At the same time, the floor beneath them collapsed with a thunderous roar, most of one side entirely destroyed.

The three priests tumbled like marionettes caught in a fierce gust, barely managing to control their descent.

Lu Xin, rising lightly on the fractured floor with black particles dancing in his eyes, watched as the black shadow behind him billowed like tattered cloth, morphing into countless shapes as it swept over the three priests.

……

“What level of opponent is this?”

The three Black-Robed Priests, suddenly hurled by Lu Xin’s shadow, struggled to steady themselves mid-air.

With no solid footing and insufficient strength to remain aloft, the mechanical tentacles embedded in their skulls suspended their bodies, barely keeping them stable.

Ignoring the sinuous, twisting mechanical tentacle trailing behind, they appeared to be floating.

Yet the faces beneath their black hoods were clearly etched with terror and disbelief.

It was obvious—they never expected Lu Xin’s power to be this overwhelming.

Earlier, when the Hell Designer deduced that the terrifying opponent couldn’t vanish before the Hell Regiment and would instead infiltrate the Flame Building to unearth their secrets, they had meticulously analyzed and discussed every detail, devising every measure to counter him. In the end, they believed the most frightening aspect was…

“…Mental Magnitude!”

Without a method to harness overwhelming mental magnitude, they couldn’t have held on before the Hell Regiment for this long.

So they had waited here, setting up a countermeasure.

According to their calculations, they should have been able to suppress or even eliminate their foe immediately.

Yet they never expected this fearsome, frenzied adversary to break free of their control in an instant.

“Cursed by the rules of Hell…”

One Black-Robed Priest muttered quietly as he began to ascend.

The other two sank slightly, then moved laterally as they separated.

The three priests arranged themselves in a triangular formation and, in unison, made a prayer-like gesture.

In the next moment, their eyes from beneath the hoods gazed hauntingly at Lu Xin.

“You are already dead…”

“…”

“You’re the one who’s already dead…”

The synchronized words and movements of the three Black-Robed Priests left Lu Xin momentarily stunned.

Then, with a curt curse, he shouted back as the black shadow surged fiercely toward them.