Chapter 5: ALL IN!

“I… am sure.”
Yang Zicang dodged the grasp of a “train passenger” reaching from behind, leaping from the platform onto the tracks.
The phantom of the subway train behind him hurtled past, brushing against his body as it rushed by.
Among the figures on the train, some wore earphones listening to music, some played with their phones, and others smiled and chatted with each other.
None of them noticed that, right beside the train, there was a dusty elderly man in his sixties or seventies, gazing at the interior with envy, panting heavily as he struggled to keep up with the running train, only to be rapidly left behind.
The silver-white ring, like a finger loop on his chest, glowed faintly.
Yang Zicang felt as though, by some unseen connection, he was linked to certain people within a radius of dozens of miles.
[I have conceived a Life Financing plan.]
[An anonymous investor has invested 1N in me.]
After a few seconds of pause, Yang Zicang first thought of Mu Xiaoyu and the others.
“Those companions of mine…”
The voice on the other end of the phone said:
“You want those friends to invest in you too, right? If so, I can help you. Without their own models or my radio ‘Nightmare Relay,’ they can’t receive your financing model from a distance.”
“Alright!”
Yang Zicang didn’t understand what the other party was talking about; he only knew that he desperately needed more lifespan at that moment.
As soon as he spoke, several notifications popped up.
[Mu Xiaoyu has invested 10N in me.]
[Zhang Yang has invested 1N in me.]
[Liu Ming has invested 3Y in me.]
They received it!
Mu Xiaoyu was still willing to sacrifice ten years of her own lifespan for him. Yang Zicang knew that the girl was now nearly sixty years old, and perhaps she didn’t have much time left herself.
He was nothing more than a frail old man now, possibly dying from a single touch of that dwarf—yet she was still willing to invest ten years of her life for him…
Honestly, Yang Zicang was a little moved by this slightly clueless girl.
Suddenly, a piece of information came through, and a faint golden light flashed in and out of existence outside the white circle.
[The Monster Hunter Alliance invested 1000N for me.]
“What?!”
Yang Zicang’s eyes widened in disbelief; he doubted he had perceived it correctly.
In his sensory vision, a tiny number appeared inside the circle on his chest. It skyrocketed from zero in an instant, turning into 1011.3!
A thousand years, truly! What a grand gesture! How could they dare?
The phone, silent for a few seconds, continued with the man’s voice: “You should already know by now, right?”
“Yes, a thousand years… you guys…”
“We are the Monster Hunter Alliance, and this thousand years is our calling card. There are many brothers and sisters like you and me here. If you survive to get out, you can come to No. 12 Zuo Ming Avenue. We sincerely await your arrival.”
A map was transmitted to the phone.
[My temporal sequence is already sufficient; I should be able to replenish the lifespan I consumed with the temporal sequence.]
“Waah-ha-ha, I’ll see where you can run! “
YangZicang was about to replenish his consumption when the dwarf’s voice came from behind. Suddenly, an idea struck him… Wait a moment.
Behind him, high up, the monster in armor that called itself Zhang Fei and that “master” or “slave” existence were being carried forward swiftly by a blood-red triangle.
[The Wasteland City has invested 500N in me.]
“The Wasteland City?”
A blurry figure appeared in his consciousness. It gave him a slight smile, and then the faceless form quickly faded away.
[Bai Yuan has invested 10N in me.]
That runaway still had the nerve to invest in me.
[Another twenty anonymous individuals have invested a total of 219.11N in me.]
“Hah! Die, you piece of trash!”
Overhead, the short, stout man in a vest-like armor clasped his fists together and came crashing down like Mount Tai pressing down!
YangZicang turned his head and looked, a cruel smile spreading across his face.
“I’m already different now.”
With a sudden impulse, 40 years of time were instantly consumed. Accordingly, his strength and vitality began to recover rapidly, and his skin gradually became full and smooth.
Following some instinct, a glimmer of light appeared in his hand. It bloomed, forming faint gray-white burning flames around his fist.
[Because I am a quadrilateral, I can amplify my held time by four times. No extra time spent is lost, so long as my ‘principal’ is not completely spent.]
[This is me, the Great Quadrilateral!]
[So, how much temporal sequence should I allocate to this punch? I also need to guard against attacks on other parts—this calls for careful consideration.]
“All in!”
The numbers in the ring on his chest plummeted to zero like a flood, leaving only a single digit “1” after the decimal point.
The light on his fist instantly shifted to a pale gold.
[6808.3 N!]
“Ha!” He punched toward the figure hurtling at him against the sky.
“Boom!”
The burly man’s thick arms instantly turned to ash. Amid the thunderous crash, he was sent flying by the immense force, slamming heavily into the tunnel.
The short man’s body rolled across the ground several times before finally stopping after hitting the faint image of a digital billboard.
These billboards had identical images spaced every few meters.
“Cough, cough… hiding three times my temporal sequence… causing devastating…”
The burly man saw the young figure approaching step by step as he spat blood: “You have that much temporal sequence… yet you pretended to be old… to deceive me.”
“With such intelligence, you really disgrace the name of Zhang Fei.”
A golden, fire-like glow radiated from the young man’s right fist. Influenced by the monster’s emotions within him, he cracked his lips into a mad grin.
“Two thousand two hundred years, not bad—that one punch just cost me two thousand two hundred years of temporal sequence. Just how many people have you killed!”
The man’s face dramatically changed. After sensing his own lifespan, his eyes filled with terror.
“You, you reckless fool, aren’t you afraid that other parts…”
“Sorry, I’m a beginner. I know nothing.”
Several men with vacant faces rushed over; Yang Zicang swung his fist.
Bang, bang, bang!
The bodies of three controlled men instantly had large holes torn through them, and they collapsed to the ground.
At this moment, he was cold and ruthless. These brainwashed individuals had roughly 50N of Temporal Defense; killing each of them cost him 153N.
[I obtained roughly 50N back from them.]
Their total Temporal was nearly fifty years, meaning they must have been amplified threefold as well.
The Temporal he had just expended increased again; amplified fourfold by the square, it became two hundred years, totaling over four thousand two hundred years of Temporal.
Yang Zicang felt an unprecedented satisfaction and exhilaration—the fulfillment that a prolonged life naturally brings, a serene joy from the soul.
“Hah, heheh. As they say, a rash student beats the master to death. I can’t believe I fell to someone who knows nothing… cough.”
{Wait. If you join us, I can choose you as my master.}
The eyes of the monster armor fixed on Yang Zicang; its voice suddenly echoed within his own mind.
“And you think I’d trust a monster?”
Yang Zicang stepped forward, raising his hand to strike.
The monster armor suddenly writhed, completely enveloping the man.
“Boom!” The force field vibrated in his hand. This punch, containing millennia of Temporal power, cost him only a hundred years.
The dwarf let out a whimpering sound, and before his entire head was covered, Yang Zicang saw the skin beneath the armor rapidly wrinkling.
{I’ve already devoured it.}
The monster armor moved with nimble agility, springing up, but Yang Zicang grabbed its foot and yanked it downward, as its other foot whipped toward his head with a gust of wind.
[Dispatch!]
Yang Zicang’s head twisted weirdly, dodging the strike.
In the subway tunnel, the rumble of the monster bus drew closer from afar.
The monster armor broke free from the grasp, flipped back several times, then shot to the ceiling, hanging upside down crouched on the tunnel roof.
{Quadrilaterals, just like straight lines, are very rare models. But straight lines are the weakest, like ordinary humans, only able to consume cost to resist—mere ants, mere bugs.}
Yang Zicang looked up at that spot, finding it utterly unreachable.
{But you’re different. So, one last time, I invite you to join us, the Outstanding Heroes Squad. You’d become at least a deputy manager. You’d learn the truth of this world.}
The young man narrowed his gaze, then crouched to pick up a stone and clenched it in his hand.
“The armor’s ability should be to cap each attack’s time-based strike at 100 N, right.”
{Spot on. What, intrigued? If you’re willing, you’ll be Zhang Fei.}
The armor-clad monster spoke calmly with a voice that resonated directly in one’s mind.
“Hah, tempted? You underestimate me.”
The bus monster, as if crawling out of hell, rushed over from afar, and the flames on its shoulders flickered as its gaze subconsciously glanced sideways.
Yang Zicang’s gaze grew resolute. Clenching the pebble tightly in his hand, he abruptly hurled it.
[Trajectory Dispatch!]
The golden light on his hand rapidly dimmed. The stone, now clad in gold, emitted a buzzing sound and crossed the distance between them as fast as a bullet.
The stone traced an eerie S-shaped curve, carrying four thousand one hundred years of chronology, appearing almost instantaneously before the monster’s pitch-black helmet visor—
the only hollow on its entire body!
Bang!
The armor’s helmet exploded from the inside out.
The flames on the armor’s shoulders flickered with shock before dying down. The scaled armor fell from the sky.
It had no time to react—this was a strike infused with over four thousand years of chronology.
“Just as I thought—all the defense is on the outside.” Yang Zicang coldly watched it crash to the ground with a clatter.
[The chronology I invested has been returned, and I gained 923 N.]
Instant kill, with no excessive drain on the monster’s life span.
The phone rang again. Yang Zicang quickly answered, and the man’s voice came through: “That armor is a great find. Once we remove the monster’s residual will, it can be put to use for us. Keep it safe.”
Another phantom metro train roared past, the bus monster’s silhouette overlapping with it as it swiftly approached. Yang Zicang had already caught sight of Director Huang’s manic expression.
He dashed forward, scooped up the damaged dark red armor that had turned into a vest, and bolted away without looking back.