Ark Chess Player

Lin Lu's biggest obstacle right now is the tracks at the bottom of the city. Even though Chernobog has temporarily lost its mobility after the natural disaster, these insurmountable tracks are still a major hurdle preventing him from entering the city. He doesn't think that the Reunion soldiers would wave flags that say "Welcome to the Leader's Inspection of Chernobog" while wearing smiles of kinship with the Reunion Rhodes Island family, letting him go around to the elevator platform in the lower city and even helping him ascend to the upper city.

Even if the Reunion Movement members have lost their minds, these relentlessly pursuing monsters will never let go of this delicious Tang Monk meat.

"Anemone, it's an honor to embark on this unprecedented journey with you. What are your thoughts?"

Lin Lu slowly and skillfully bound himself with the restraints, demonstrating considerable expertise in self-binding techniques, clearly indicating he had done it many times before.

"Doctor, I want to live another five hundred years. If you mess things up, I'll haunt you even as a ghost!!"

Anemone smacked her lips, and the Noah motorcycle, under her control, seemed to come alive, narrowly avoiding the bombardment of the exploding monsters and carving a path through the swirling dust. She was a true veteran driver, handling any kind of vehicle with practiced ease.

Lin Lu smiled helplessly, carrying the heavy magnetic storm hammer weighing dozens of kilograms in one hand, and leaned down, half-reclined on the back seat of the car.

The nearly two-meter-long hammer felt weightless in his hands, as if its weight had no effect on him whatsoever. Turning the hammer handle was as natural as breathing.

Just in case, Lin Lu double-checked that the restraints wouldn't break, his plump thighs gripping the car tightly. If the car overturned here, even if he died and was nailed to a coffin, he would still shout from his grave with his decaying vocal cords—"May counterfeit and shoddy product merchants die a horrible death!!"

"Two kilometers to go, Doctor!"

Anemone's voice became hurried; she hadn't expected to actually feel nervous.

Lin Lu did not answer. All his energy was focused on the spiritual domain. The data-driven spiritual domain, which could cover an entire city, was now shrunk to focus on only two points—the starting point and the landing point.

"Ahhhhhh~ Ah! Ahhhhhh~ Ah!"

As the magnetic storm hammer was raised high, a catchy soprano voice with a rhythmic "ah" echoed in Lin Lu's mind.

"One kilometer left! We're about to reach the preset maximum critical point. We only have one chance, Doctor!" Anemone shouted.

"Don't worry, everything is going according to plan."

Lin Lu smiled slightly, and the emerald green lake light gathered on the magnetic storm hammer, and the silver-white hammer seemed to have electric current running through it.

He began to feel his athletic body heating up, the innate strength of the Fengti tribe yearning for conquest.

"With the strength to uproot mountains and rivers, my soul is burning, and my magma is about to erupt!"

Lin Lu raised the magnetic storm hammer high in his right hand and slammed it down at the predetermined critical point, shouting excitedly, "Now I am invincible!!"

"You can't say that line, Doctor, because you're about to lose!!"

"--Bang!!"

The lake-green halo deeply shook the earth, and a heavy, low rumble, like the fall of a Titan, suddenly resounded, as if the desolate wasteland had been struck by a cataclysmic event!

A large hole was deeply sunken in the ground, and cracks like a spider web spread in all directions. The powerful reaction force lifted the Noah machine into the air amidst the turbulent airflow.

A sickening cracking sound came from Lin Lu's right arm, and the heavy magnetic storm hammer, weighing tens of kilograms, even shattered because of it, which showed just how much force he had used!

Just as Noah's Heavy Machine tilted up, Anemone decisively seized the best opportunity to activate Noah's Heavy Machine's acceleration command chip device.

The armor on the rear of the Noah motorcycle slowly flipped up, revealing a black-gold core and four thick, sturdy black pipes.

"COMPLETE"

“START UP”

A beast-like roar echoed across the desolate wasteland. The Noah Heavy Machine, shaped like a demon, spewed out blue and white flames as its wings unfurled.

Just as it was about to crash into the track foundation, the Noah heavy machine took off abruptly, its tires slamming heavily against the outer walls of the Chernobog mobile city.

At a vertical 90-degree angle, the Noah heavy motorcycle defied the odds and advanced at incredible speed, leaving a deep rut on the iron-like wall.

—A road is not originally a road; it only becomes a road when many people walk on it.

Lin Lu's body was being pulled back and forth by gravity and inertia. If it weren't for the restraints that held him tightly, he might have been flying off like a Noah's Ark while he was still stuck in the crater. If that were the case, he would definitely be in the classic curled-up position, his body billowing smoke, with a monster's hand still lingering near the crater.

Just as Lin Lu had finally regained his balance and thought he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, he heard the countdown.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"TIME OUT"

Chapter Ninety-Eight Ifrit

"TIME OUT"

With a mechanical sound, the Noah motorcycle, which had accelerated to the point of seemingly being able to traverse space, noticeably slowed down, and the jet vents on the rear of the vehicle, which were almost white, gradually reduced their output.

“Doctor, I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?” Anemone asked.

Before Lin Lu could even ask, she blurted out, "The bad news is, Noah's Heavy Machine's acceleration chip has reached its limit. We're only halfway to the city wall. We're expected to lose our balance when we reach the last third, the front wheel will detach from the wall, and we'll flip over. Even with your regenerative abilities, Doctor, you won't be able to recover from that fall. Plus, there are sixteen hungry monsters waiting for us to fall to the ground. We're absolutely doomed!"

"...And the good news?" Lin Lu asked.

"The good news is that I bought you an accidental death insurance policy from Lungmen Life Insurance when I left Rhodes Island. If you die, the beneficiary Amiya will receive a sum of money sufficient to support her to adulthood. Doctor, please rest in peace! I will live a good life with you in hell, because you can't live without me anymore."

"Isn't this all bad news?!"

Lin Lu clutched his still-recovering right arm. If he weren't worried about the brace breaking, he would have turned around and knocked Anemone's head off.

Sometimes, overly clear vision isn't all good.

Under the spiritual realm's vision, even in the dim night, Lin Lu could see clearly. The feeling of weightlessness and discomfort, as if he could fall from the sky at any moment, the psychological pressure caused by the visual spectacle, and the mutated monster on the ground with its head tilted back, its deformed teeth interlocked, as if trying to tear a piece of flesh from his body.

"It's good that I can still feel fear."

Lin Lu muttered to himself, clutching his chest, feeling his uneasy heartbeat, and having a sense that he was still alive.

However, he had no intention of dying.

Compared to so-called accidental death insurance that can support someone for a lifetime, it's definitely better to take care of Amiya myself.

Lin Lu gripped his right hand, which was constantly burning with heat, and pulled out a class card from the class card box fastened to his belt.

A battlefield commander is someone who can see the remaining three steps ahead while taking one step.

Lin Lu would never choose such a dangerous path without knowing the Noah Heavy Machine's top speed and being uncertain of his own abilities. He would never fight a battle unprepared, but if one day Lin Lu were to abandon strategy and face the enemy head-on with nothing to his name, perhaps that would be... his death.

The Ark Driver opened on both sides, the rank card was loaded, and Lin Lu pressed the side handle with his left hand and pushed it, the sound of the mechanical meshing was clear and pleasant.

"Caster"

The shield icon symbolizing the Heavy Armor class in the central core slowly dissipates, and the mage's symbol, a tilted staff, rises.

A resonance occurred between his mental energy and the Ark Driver, and an extremely intimate feeling emanated from the Ark Driver and entered Lin Lu's consciousness. He was initially wary due to concerns about being mentally corrupted, but he only felt at ease after sensing Amiya's presence. A warm current swept across Lin Lu's mental lake, as if soothing his weary body and mind.

Despite being separated by distance, Amiya's power remained on the Caster class card, soothing Lin Lu's mind when he used it.

Lin Lu suddenly felt a little guilty because he hadn't told Amiya before leaving this time. It felt like an old father sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night to play cards. If he won, he could proudly tell his family that he got up early for morning tea. But if he lost, he probably wouldn't even dare to go home, and would only dare to hide on a park bench and question his existence.

Is this what it feels like to have someone you care about?

It's pretty good.

"Aurhorize (Authorization successful)".

Flames surged across Lin Lu's body, molten lava coursing across his skin. An unbearable, frenzied rage welled up within him; Lin Lu had underestimated the Ark Driver. It wasn't just about artificially constructing operator data into reality; it also transmitted fragments of real sensory experiences. Uncontrollable flames raged and scattered, transforming into streaks of fire. Fueled by the fall from the sky, they even shattered the skulls of monsters on the ground, the inextinguishable flames penetrating their skulls and evaporating their brains.

“Ark Ride Ifrit”

Flames wrapped around Lin Lu's body. This talent and potential, which far exceeded his expectations, gave him the feeling that he could melt the city wall with a flick of his hand.

Lin Lu's body was reshaped in three dimensions by the Mirror Originium Arts, with horns and a tail that twisted and grew like crystals, vaguely resembling the outline of a Sarkaz. She had short, golden twin tails, clear, bright eyes, and vertical pupils that exuded a subtle but palpable sense of oppression. Her petite frame was wrapped in a black and red striped dress, draped with a white protective suit jacket. Black crystals overflowed from her bare legs, emanating from them intermittently, causing unbearable pain, as if her bones were groaning.

Does this child suffer this kind of pain every day?

Lin Lu hugged his shoulders. With the aid of the Spirit Domain, he could directly see that Ifrit's somatic cells had a fusion rate of 19% with Originium! This meant that her racial characteristics were very likely to have been altered at the phenotypic level by the Oripathy infection. Her circulatory system was truly suffering from Originium flowing through her blood, and she was enduring the disease from the inside out.

A sense of anxiety welled up in Lin Lu's heart. He closed his eyes and instantly found the source of the problem: a frenzied and raging fire demon in the lake of his mind.

The ram-headed demon floated on Lin Lu's lake of consciousness, anxiously turning around to look at its surroundings, seemingly not understanding why it had come here.

As Lin Lu entered the spiritual realm, he felt the passage of time almost stand still, and a brilliant star chart was reflected on the lake of his consciousness, replacing the moon.

"..."

Lin Lu and the Flame Demon looked at each other, their eyes meeting.

The reflected shadows were indescribable, one radiating destructive heat.

Lin Lu stretched out his hand, and Ibitas's aura emanated from him. The pressure of a superior directly caused the Flame Demon's momentum to dissipate. Invisible shackles surged from all directions, binding the Flame Demon in place. A huge black shadow seemed to emerge from the calm lake, and a pair of silver-white eyes could be vaguely seen.

At this moment, the Flame Demon dared not move, and could not even muster the thought of resistance, silently burning with flames.

You have two choices.

Lin Lu said softly, his five fingers loosely clenched, as if he were holding the Flame Demon in his hand.

In Lin Lu's lake of consciousness, even the most powerful demons would have to kneel before him.

"Although I've always thought that line was really cringeworthy, I always wish I had the chance to say it out loud."

Lin Lu leisurely played with the palm-sized demon, as if he could obliterate it simply by clenching his fist.

"Surrender, or death."

Choose.

Chapter Ninety-Nine: Wei Tian's World-Destroying Wave

Lin Lu slowly opened his eyes.

Time returned to normal, he exhaled a sigh of relief, and revealed an arrogant and unruly smile.

Just now, thanks to his outstanding personal charm, he had a friendly and cordial conversation with the Flame Demon, and they gained a deeper understanding of each other.

Under the care of Lin's kind older brother, the Flame Demon vowed to repent and reform, and to be a good demon in the future. From then on, he would no longer subject Ifrit to excessive mental interference, only maintaining necessary soul tempering to preserve his own existence.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Lu decided to keep a close eye on the situation and see how it goes.

If the Balrog continues to wreak havoc, then drag it back to the Lake of Consciousness and use it as a sacrifice to the heavens.

"Doctor, aren't you ready yet?!"

Yinlianhua's face turned ashen. No matter how skilled she was, defying the heavens was no easy feat.

"Don't worry, the rules for victory have already been decided."

Lin Lu pulled a silver flamethrower from under her skirt, with a compressed energy storage box strapped to her back. Produced by Rhine Lab, it was guaranteed to be top-quality. Using Originium from its compression and liquefaction process as fuel, it not only produced intense flames but was also highly infectious; those burned would either die or contract Oripathy.