Chapter 14: The Devouring Dragon of Desire, Reckoning

"Are you joking?" The Faceless Giant sneered, lunging forward with a sudden leap. While still mid-air, his body towered over the twenty-story building where Zhou Yan stood.

He raised his left hand high and slammed it down toward Zhou Yan as if crushing an insect.

Zhou Yan stared coldly at the descending giant hand. A black light expanded in his right palm, forming a black sphere thirty centimeters in diameter, inside of which sat a pitch-black bullet.

He raised his right hand, aiming it at the Faceless Giant’s palm in the gesture of a pistol.

Strange light flowed across the black armor on his body.

Fire!

The immense recoil shattered the ground beneath Zhou Yan’s feet, sliding him backward several paces.

The black sphere streaked into the sky, appearing no larger than a ping-pong ball compared to the giant hand descending upon him.

The two made contact in an instant.

Boom!

A violent explosion erupted, unleashing terrifying black light. The center of the giant hand was pierced through by the sphere. Following the trajectory of the shot, a long string of abscesses swelled and erupted along the path of destruction!

Amidst the Faceless Giant’s howl of pain, half of his giant hand was blasted away.

The next second, the severed hand seemed to crawl with countless insects, regenerating to its original state in an instant.

"This level of power!?" The Faceless Giant looked at Zhou Yan with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

Zhou Yan raised his right hand toward him once more. "Looks familiar, doesn't it? This is his power."

"Impossible," the Faceless Giant muttered, questioning him while secretly shedding a mass of flesh from his back. The mass hit the ground and splattered, transforming into a dozen small Faceless figures that scurried into the distance, shielded by the giant's main body.

"Nothing is impossible." Zhou Yan’s lips curled into a smirk. He condensed another black sphere, encasing a "Desire Bullet," and pointed his finger at the target.

That last strike was a "Desire Shot" with a power level of "50." This time, let's try "100"!

As Zhou Yan focused, the sphere rapidly expanded in a heartbeat, becoming a terrifying black orb nearly a meter in diameter, radiating an aura of infinite destruction.

"How can this be! Even the shooter himself could not possess this much power!"

The Faceless Giant sensed the aura of death in the "bullet" Zhou Yan had condensed. He turned and retreated, attempting to hide behind a skyscraper.

"Blast."

Zhou Yan’s calm voice echoed from behind.

Boom!

The moment the sound reached him, the Faceless Giant’s right shoulder exploded. A massive void was carved out of the entire upper right side of his torso, as if bitten away by some gargantuan maw.

The joint connecting his right arm vanished, and the massive limb fell limp to the ground.

"Roar!" The Faceless Giant let out a low growl, retreating in a panic to the far side of the building. The severed arm on the ground melted and burst, transforming into hundreds of small Faceless figures that scattered in all directions.

Zhou Yan watched all this indifferently, making no move to hunt down the small creatures.

The main body of the Faceless Giant laughed from behind the building: "You are indeed terrifyingly strong, but you must have guessed it by now—I have so many clones. As long as one survives, I live. I will find a chance to grow again, becoming a god even greater than I am today. What will you do then?"

"Then you had better pray that your true self can actually escape disguised among those clones." The eerie right eye of Zhou Yan, covered by the black armor, emitted a strange red glow.

The Faceless Giant responded with manic laughter, but terror bubbled in his heart—how did he know about the "true self"?

Clearly, the Faceless Giant was lying; those clones were truly just clones. If the main body died, the clones could never become him again!

The next second, the increasingly uneasy Faceless Giant launched an attack. His left arm suddenly split, turning into a multitude of tentacles that snaked around the other side of the building, lunging at Zhou Yan.

The sheer number of tentacles blotted out the sky, dense and widespread. Even with the power of Zhou Yan’s shots, firing the same black orb would at best destroy a few, unable to stop the rest from striking him.

Facing this tricky attack, Zhou Yan silently activated another technique.

Armor of Desire!

In an instant, the black armor that had been coiled only around his right hand surged violently, expanding to cover his entire body. Spikes of black bone erupted from his back, making him look like a bio-warrior clad in black skeletal armor.

The technique was activated in a flash.

Once the transformation was complete, the skeletal spikes on Zhou Yan’s back flowed with black light, collectively condensing several black spheres.

Facing the wall of tentacles wrapping around him, he leaped upward. The black spheres suspended behind him exploded, creating a powerful shockwave that propelled him skyward!

The tentacles slammed down, instantly pulverizing the roof of the building where Zhou Yan had stood.

But Zhou Yan was already high in the sky.

He flew rapidly, soaring over the building where the Faceless Giant was hiding. He turned his body and dove, the spheres on his back exploding again, sending him streaking toward his target like a meteor.

During this descent, the black armor on his right arm, which resembled a gauntlet, unfolded to reveal his own arm beneath. The opened armor transformed into a spiral structure, coiling around his right hand.

The spiral armor served as the primary frame, becoming increasingly complex until it took on the terrifying shape of a beast's head.

No, not a beast...

A dragon!

The entire exterior of Zhou Yan’s right hand was constructed from black bone into the foundation of a massive dragon head.

Within this unfolded skeletal structure, a vast amount of black light began to fill the space.

This black light acted like flesh and blood, clinging to the black bone and condensing until it formed a terrifying dragon head even larger than Zhou Yan himself!

Dragon of Extreme Desire!

The right eye of Zhou Yan, currently covered by the black armor, glowed with an eerie red light.

In the vision of this special eye, the Faceless Giant’s massive body was filled with dense, swarming "white light figures." Among these countless figures, one conspicuous "black light figure" was constantly shifting its position within the giant.

This was the scent of incredibly concentrated desire!

Target—Locked!

The Faceless Giant looked up suddenly, finally spotting Zhou Yan approaching at high speed from the sky!

He roared and lunged with his massive body, dodging out of the trajectory Zhou Yan had set.

However, the black spheres behind Zhou Yan erupted again, increasing his descent speed even further!

The black light ejected from the explosions trailed behind the dragon head like a long, winding body.

Just as he was about to strike the ground vertically, the dragon head suddenly twisted, forcing the trail of black light behind him into a near-right angle.

The ferocious skeletal dragon skimmed low over the ground, the massive air pressure sending debris flying in all directions.

The Faceless Giant had just scrambled to his feet after his dive when he saw the massive dragon head open its maw and charge straight at his right thigh!

That was exactly where the true self was hiding!!!

"No!"

Amidst the Faceless Giant’s terror, the dragon’s savage mouth bit into his thigh, its sharp teeth closing to snatch the true self hidden within.

Then, the spheres behind Zhou Yan exploded continuously. With incomparable explosive force, the dragon turned and surged upward, grinding through the giant’s thigh like a chisel.

The energy and matter forming the dragon head seemed to be the nemesis of flesh and desire; the Faceless Giant’s body crumbled like tofu against a drill, instantly shattering into dust, only to be absorbed by the dragon to fuel its continued assault.

Thigh, hip, abdomen, chest, neck—

Boom!

The dragon head burst out from the top of the Faceless Giant’s skull and shot into the sky.

A hundred meters up, the dragon’s mouth hung wide open, revealing the true self of the Faceless Giant, pierced and locked by layers of black bone.

"No! Don't! I surrender—"

The Faceless Giant shrieked in agony.

Zhou Yan held his right hand, now transformed into the dragon head, high in the air, a wild, unrestrained smile on his face.

"No need! Take your pathetic desires and fade into nothingness!"

Amidst his manic laughter, endless light of destruction erupted from the gaping maw of the dragon.

Then, it blasted violently toward the clear firmament!

This was—The Dragon that Devours Desire!!!

[Killed "Extreme Desirer," gained 7255 Spirit]
[Gained "1-Star Rune—Physique, Sharpness, Spirit"]
[Gained "Rune Circuit Core·Insight (2)"]
[Gained "Rune Circuit Essence·1-Star" x1]
[Resolved three "Major Events" (3/3)]

A pillar of black light appeared out of thin air between heaven and earth, lingering for a few seconds before gradually dissipating.

The massive dragon head on Zhou Yan's right hand quietly dissolved, and the black bone armor wrapped around his arm once more.

He allowed his body to fall from the high altitude. As he neared the ground, the black spheres on his back ejected energy, cushioning his landing.

[All bonus tasks completed, you may choose to settle and return at any time.]
[Settle and return? — Yes/No]
[No]

A prompt appeared before his eyes, but Zhou Yan chose not to return just yet.

He intended to finish the cleanup before departing.

The first thing to do, naturally, was to take advantage of the end of the battle to upgrade his "Fate Gear."

Before the upgrade, he used the three "Rune Circuit Essences" he had saved to advance the three circuits within his gear that had not yet reached 1-star level.

After a series of operations, the levels of his "Indestructible," "Destruction," and "Reap" circuits rose from "1" to "2," along with his other circuits.

The effect was similar to the improvements of the others; a "2-star" circuit effect was roughly three times that of a "1-star" circuit.

The only exception was the "Reap" circuit's "Kill-based Physique Enhancement." While the stacking bonus per kill became "3%," the cap only rose from "100%" to "150%."

Then, Zhou Yan installed a "1-Star Spirit Rune," filling the twentieth rune slot on his body.

[Runes: 20/20]
[Fate Gear upgrade requirements met]
[Commencing upgrade]

His entire body was enveloped in a strange fluorescence. Soon, a series of messages scrolled across his vision.

[Upgrade complete]
[Runes fully absorbed]
[Rune bonuses (including circuit effects) solidified as intrinsic gear effects]
[Fate Gear attribute bonuses increased: Physique +10, Sharpness +10, Spirit +10]
[Fate Gear maximum durability increased: 100]
[Fate Gear material strength improved]

Hmm.

Zhou Yan inspected it, confirming that after reaching "1-star," the upgrade bonuses had increased from "5" to "10," and the durability bonus had increased from "50" to "100."

It seemed that the morphological changes that occurred during every upgrade at "0-star" were gone, replaced by improvements in material strength.

Presumably, because his gear set was now complete from the perspective of "armor," further upgrades would simply focus on improving quality.

After installing the remaining eight basic attribute runes, Zhou Yan checked his final stats.

His current base stats were:
[Attribute bonuses: Physique +137 (+9), Sharpness +118 (+9), Spirit +111 (+6)]

But that wasn't all. Killing the Faceless Giant had also provided him with a long-awaited rune circuit core.

[Rune Circuit Core·Insight (2)]
[Rating: 1-Star]
[Effect: Attached to Fate Gear, increases Sharpness by 9 points, and activates "Insight Circuit (2)"]
[Insight Circuit (2): When co-existing with 3 "Sharpness" 1-star runes in the same gear, gain additional "Sharpness +15," "Reaction Speed +15%," and "Enhance Sharpness by 3%/sec during combat (Cap 150%), enhancement fades one minute after leaving combat."]

A sharpness-specialized circuit. The third effect, which strengthened sharpness continuously during combat, was similar to the Reap circuit's physique enhancement—very straightforward and violent.

Zhou Yan installed the circuit immediately.

His strength had grown once more.

Post-battle preparations were complete.

Next, he would use the remaining days to farm points.

Most importantly, he had to wipe out all the remaining clones of the Faceless Giant!

The red light in Zhou Yan's right eye, capable of capturing "desire," flickered.

***

A few days later.

Zhou Yan, hand-in-hand with Long, stood in the cemetery of Longing City.

"My lord, you are leaving now, aren't you?"

The young girl looked up at him, her smile bright.

"Yes." Zhou Yan nodded, looking at Long. "Long, it will be a while before we meet again."

The girl giggled. "Not really. Only my lord feels that way. In Long's mind, there is no interval between the next time we meet."

Zhou Yan smiled, reached out, and patted the girl’s head. "I suppose so. Well then, Long, see you next time."

As the girl nodded, Zhou Yan chose to return.

[Chaos Catastrophe World No. 366759, walk completed.]
[Basic task: "Survive" seven days (Completed early)]
[Bonus Task 1: Resolve three "Major Events" (Completed)]
[Bonus Task 2: Kill six "Great Desirers" (Completed)]
[Bonus Task 3: Kill one "Extreme Desirer" (Completed)]
[Exceeded standards for this "Catastrophe World Walk"]
[Walk Rating: 100]
[Rating Reward 1: Talent Blood Crystal]
[Rating Reward 2: Path Secret Record]
[Settlement complete, returning now.]

Zhou Yan watched as the girl beside him transformed into light and dove into the center of his brow.

The next second, his eyes went blank, and his body crumbled and vanished.

In front of the spot where he had stood was an ordinary tombstone.

The photo on the tombstone was of a young man in a uniform, wearing a bright smile.

A small bouquet of white flowers lay in front of the stone, swaying gently in the breeze.

***

(End of Volume)

Another volume finished, petals falling!