Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Each tree root was crackling with blinding blue-white lightning, striking the mercenaries with deadly precision, as if they were alive. Their insulated combat suits were as fragile as paper under the combined impact of the immense force and the lightning, easily torn to shreds.

Some were pinned in mid-air by tree roots, some were rolled up and slammed to the ground, and some didn't even have time to scream before being burned to ashes by the electric current that pierced their bodies.

The flamethrower's fuel canister exploded in mid-air after being pierced by tree roots. The orange-red fireball was instantly vaporized by the blue-white electric arc surrounding it, leaving not a single spark.

The electromagnetic interference device mounted on the off-road vehicle was smashed by tree roots, the circuit board exploded into pieces, parts flew everywhere, and the piercing interference sound disappeared instantly.

Liu Zhen felt the stinging pain in his temples ease, and his mental energy finally returned to his control.

boom--

The foundation of the main building was pierced by tree roots, and the entire six-story building was lifted half a meter off the ground. The walls began to tilt, and the glass curtain wall shattered completely. Countless fragments reflected blue and white electric light in mid-air, like a glass rain.

The sound of the load-bearing wall breaking was like thunder, the sound of the steel bars snapping was like artillery fire, the whole building broke in the middle and crashed onto the lawn with a bang, kicking up a cloud of dust that mixed with the flashes of electricity, like a thick fog.

Song Mingzhang stood behind the window of his study on the third floor, watching the building tilt and fall. He was thrown out of the broken window by the huge inertia, his body tumbling in the air. His suit was cut in more than a dozen places by the broken glass, and blood instantly soaked through the fabric.

He instinctively reached out and grabbed wildly, his fingertips gripping a piece of exposed steel bar tightly. He was suspended in mid-air, his right knee slamming hard against the broken steel beam, the pain almost making him faint.

The snipers on the rooftop fell from the height, gun and all. Some were impaled by tree roots in mid-air, while others crashed onto the rubble and had their necks broken, dying without even a groan.

Five seconds.

It took only five seconds from the first tree root breaking through the soil to the main building collapsing.

The tree roots were still growing, with emerald green branches sprouting from their tips. The branches, crackling with electricity, intertwined in mid-air to form a huge net. Blue and white electricity surged and exploded on the net, crackling and illuminating the entire Cloud Hidden Manor as if it were daytime.

Liu Zhen and Meng Zhaowen stood at the edge of the crater. Liu Zhen's right hand was still in the electric discharge posture, and the electric arc at his fingertips gradually dimmed. Meng Zhaowen's palm was still pressed on the ground, and blood and mud were still stuck in the wrinkles on his face.

……

The deafening roar of the main building's collapse still echoed in the valley, and dust surged in all directions like a tsunami, churning in the air with blue and white lightning, turning the entire night sky of Yunyin Manor into an eerie bluish-purple hue.

Song Mingzhang was impaled from behind by a tree root carrying residual electricity, and his whole body hung on the edge of the collapsed ruins on the third floor, like a butterfly nailed to a specimen board.

Fresh blood flowed down the rough wood grain, dripping onto the cracked concrete, creating dark red blood flowers that were quickly covered by the pervasive dust, turning into dark brown stains.

His right arm was completely ruined; the bone was crushed into fragments by the immense force the moment it pierced through. His fingers were so weak that he couldn't even clench them into a fist; they could only hang limply at his side, swaying slightly in the wind.

The excruciating pain felt like countless red-hot steel needles drilling into his brain along his nerve endings, causing his consciousness to fluctuate between clarity and blurriness. The scene before his eyes shifted between the impending capture of the two superhumans and the sight of the electrified tree roots that had surged out of the ground like a tidal wave.

His mind was racing, every thought filled with a agonizing fear of being torn apart: What is this?

How could they possibly have such power?

Who exactly is that person wearing glasses?

Just seconds before, he was standing in his perfectly intact study, slowly counting down into the loudspeaker, still shouting "Fire!", still waiting to see the two Avengers, driven to the brink of despair, riddled with bullets, and then dragged alive into the lab to dismantle the source of their abilities.

Seconds later, the security defenses he had built at a cost of tens of millions became a joke. His elite mercenaries died without even a complete scream. The main building of Cloud Hidden Manor, which he had personally designed, became a ruin. He himself was nailed to the wreckage of his own house by an electrified tree root, like a trophy for people to admire.

The electromagnetic jammer is military-grade and can cover all high-frequency signals within a three-kilometer range.

The insulating suits were custom-made for special forces and cannot be penetrated by 500,000 volts of electricity.

Its firepower includes flamethrowers, automatic grenade launchers, and high-precision sniper rifles, enough to wage a small-scale urban assault.

He had clearly calculated everything, clearly understood their capabilities perfectly, and clearly laid a trap.

Why?

Fear poured over him like ice water, making his teeth chatter.

For the first time, he realized that these two people were not someone he could handle; they were not ordinary avengers who only knew how to use knives and guns, but vengeful ghosts who had crawled out of hell to claim lives.

He began to struggle, his left hand gripping the tree root that had pierced through his shoulder, trying to pull it out of his body. The moment his fingertips touched the still-warm wooden surface, the remaining blue-white arc of electricity exploded with a "sizzle," instantly burning a black blister on his left palm.

"ah--!"

The screams tore through the dusty air, bouncing back and forth above the ruins, sounding particularly mournful.

He convulsed in pain, his body swaying in mid-air. The tree root hanging on his shoulder was pulled and swayed slightly, and more blood gushed from the wound, flowing down the tree root and seeping into the wood grain.

……

Thirty kilometers away, in a signal monitoring vehicle, Chung Lin suddenly stood up from his chair, which tipped over and crashed heavily onto the vehicle floor with a loud bang.

The image on the screen froze on the last frame of the main building's collapse—countless electrified tree roots surged from the ground, like a giant open hand, grasping the entire six-story building in its palm and crushing it violently. Glass, steel bars, and concrete fragments, mixed with blue and white electric light, scattered everywhere like a torrential rain falling from the sky.

His face was ashen, his lips were pressed into a straight line, and his fingernails were almost embedded in the hardwood.

Wang Hongyuan stared at the charred corpses of mercenaries impaled by tree roots on the screen: "Song Mingzhang's side... is it over?"

Zhong Lin did not answer, his gaze fixed on the two figures standing side by side at the edge of the crater in the corner of the screen—one covered in blood, with lingering eerie blue arcs of electricity still visible on his fingertips.

A figure with completely white hair, a slightly hunched back, and his palms pressed against the scorched earth, looked like a stone statue that had crawled out of hell.