Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Shen Jian grabbed two heavy submachine guns hidden under the bar counter and, relying on the violent power brought by the drug, suddenly poked half of his body out from behind the marble bar counter.

Gun muzzle flashes!

"Da da da da da da da—!!!"

A barrage of metallic projectiles tore through the thick liquid nitrogen fog, weaving together an impenetrable web of death that rained down on Li Rui.

Shen Jian roared, trying to use this primal metal storm to tear apart the demon that crawled out of hell.

However, amidst the raging chaos, Li Rui didn't even budge an inch.

Within the extraordinary perception of Ye Huo, Shen Jian's lightning-fast movements under the influence of the potion, the spinning brass bullets tearing through the air, and even the rapidly spreading icy mist droplets in mid-air, all seemed to be slowed down and become incredibly clear.

A flash of dark red appeared in Li Rui's eyes, merely a projection of a thought.

"Buzz—"

A semi-transparent, dark red wall of fire appeared out of thin air a meter in front of him without warning.

The hail of bullets didn't even create a ripple when they struck the wall of fire.

The kinetic energy, enough to penetrate steel plates, was instantly stripped away. The brass bullet couldn't even withstand half a second under the extreme heat and was directly melted into molten iron.

The extremely cold mist, capable of freezing everything, seemed to encounter some inviolable rule of a higher dimension when it rolled and touched Li Rui's body.

The thick white fog automatically and strangely parted to both sides, forming a semi-circular area of ​​absolute vacuum.

That layer of icy, bone-chilling white mist, at this moment, became merely a backdrop to highlight Li Rui's godlike and demonic figure.

The gunfire was still deafening.

Li Rui slowly raised his right hand, the same hand that had once wiped out countless sins from afar, and aimed it at Shen Jian, who had fallen into madness, through the thick fog and rain of bullets.

He suddenly clenched his fist in the air.

"Clang—!"

Shen Jian's frantic firing came to an abrupt halt, and a strange, distorted sound escaped his throat.

The instant Li Rui closed his palms, Shen Jian suddenly felt a suffocating heat explode inside his body!

That was the "Tranquilizer V-type" medication he had just injected into his carotid artery!

This potion, originally intended to extract life's potential, was deemed sinful under the judgment of karmic fire and burned directly in his surging veins!

"Aaaaaaahh ...

Shen Jian dropped the gun in his hand, gripped his neck tightly with both hands, and let out a shrill scream that was not human.

A terrifying scene unfolded.

Through his exposed skin, one could clearly see streaks of dark red light running wildly along his network of veins and arteries.

That's his blood boiling, his muscles dissolving!

Shen Jian crashed heavily to the ground. He rolled around desperately on the frost-covered floor, trying to struggle and extinguish the flames within him, but the frost that was trying to cool him evaporated the moment it touched his skin.

Karmic fire does not burn matter, but only sins and the soul. However, when the soul is completely burned away, the body will also return to nothingness.

Behind the marble bar, this once-feared, imposing body, in a violent spasm that seemed to break bones, was reduced to a pile of charred remains from the inside out.

Finally, with a muffled "boom," Shen Jian vanished completely.

On the ground, only a special operations uniform that had been burned through remained, along with a small patch of black powder still emitting wisps of smoke.

The entire process, from Li Rui breaking down the door, to the two guards turning to ashes, to Shen Jian's tragic death after using up all his trump cards, was described in detail.

Completely destroying everything in its path.

No doubt about it.

All in all, it doesn't even take five seconds.

In those five seconds, deep inside the study, Wang Shijun stood frozen, witnessing a scene that overturned all his understanding.

He watched as his most elite guards turned to ashes without even having a chance to fire, and watched as Shen Jian, who had taken banned drugs, was burned alive by his own blood in the frigid liquid nitrogen mist.

Wang Shijun's pupils contracted violently, and fine beads of cold sweat seeped uncontrollably from his forehead.

That is the instinctive fear that comes from the deepest part of humanity's genes when faced with overwhelming power.

But he did not collapse, nor did he kneel down and beg for mercy.

He is Wang Shijun, the only son of the third committee member of Lieyang Province, and the high-ranking chess player in the Five Mountains Alliance.

His long-standing arrogance and ingrained cunning forced him to forcibly tear out a sliver of reason amidst extreme fear.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed his trembling legs, and straightened his back.

"I admit... I underestimated you."

Wang Shijun's voice rang out in the study, which was filled with the mess and the smell of gunpowder, as he tried to find leverage in this one-sided massacre.

"The power you possess is beyond all our calculations." Wang Shijun stared into Li Rui's dark red eyes, his speech gradually accelerating. "But, Li Rui, your fire isn't limitless, is it?"

He began to throw out what he considered to be "logic".

"Zhang Zhaoqing said before he died that your fire was 'running out of power.' How many people did you kill tonight? The Black Stone squad on the outer perimeter, plus Shen Jian and those two from earlier, how much mental energy do you have left? How many more times can you unleash that dark red flame?"

Li Rui remained silent, maintaining his cold demeanor, his gaze fixed on Wang Shijun.

"My men are on their way, and the Special Investigations Bureau is already en route. At this moment, the Special Investigations Bureau's armored vehicles might already be blocking the building entrance."

He spread his arms, striking a pose as if he were in control of the entire situation.

"Even if the flames are raging, can you, alone, fight against the armed forces of an entire city? Can you kill all my Black Stone team members, can you kill all the hundreds of fully armed special police officers from the Special Investigation Bureau?"

A seductive glint flashed in Wang Shijun's eyes; this was the game he excelled at—weighing the pros and cons, dividing and winning over others.

"Killing me would certainly give you a quick death. But then what? After your mental energy is exhausted, you'll be shot dead on the spot by the Special Investigation Bureau, or you'll be shackled and used as a precious experimental subject, sent to Gu Heng and those mad scientists' dissection table! The rest of your life will be spent on dissections and blood draws!"

Wang Shijun leaned forward slightly, his tone becoming highly inflammatory.

"But now, you have a better option in front of you—we cooperate."

"I admit I lost this round. But my identity, the resources behind me, are of immeasurable value to you. What do you need? Money? A flawless false identity? A safe passage out of Lieyang Province, or even out of this country? I can give you all of that!"