Chapter Sixty-Two: The Final Showdown

Ye Chen turned around and stared.

In the distance, two hundred meters away, the cloaked figure stood with bow drawn, aiming an arrow straight at him and Qiao Mucao.

The two gems set near the grip of the bow glowed with an even more intense blue light, pale blue patterns unfurling along the limbs.

Dazzling, eerie, and mysterious.

Beautiful, yes—but with a touch too much delicacy.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that Ye Chen felt an inescapable sense of being targeted, as if there was nowhere to hide.

This skill from the cloaked figure—I can’t dodge it. And even if I could, Qiao Mucao behind me would not escape disaster... This, Ye Chen judged in an instant.

A sense of crisis descended again, far stronger than before.

It was as if the cloaked figure was responding to Ye Chen’s earlier challenge, choosing to face him head-on.

There was a palpable air of a final showdown... Either you and the rubber-skinned man are pierced through, or I am the one crushed beneath your assault.

“How do I deal with this?”

Ye Chen calculated frantically in his mind. “At this distance, even if I drain every last bit of my intrinsic energy, I still can’t reach him.

“But the moment I make a move, the duel begins.

“The power of that explosive arrow last time was already immense, but this time, the threat is even greater...”

I am Ye Chen, and right now, I am scared out of my wits!

After a few seconds, Ye Chen pulled the last two vials of restorative agent from his pocket and shoved them all into Qiao Mucao’s hands, urging him anxiously:

“Drink them all!”

Qiao Mucao glanced at the recovery values—only one hundred and fifty points in total.

He thought he understood Ye Chen’s meaning; a resolute look flashed in his eyes. Without another word, he downed both vials in quick succession.

The cloaked figure saw this from afar and sneered to herself: “So after all that, the rubber-skinned fool is just going to be used as a shield.”

“Qiao Mucao, rubberize me!”

Qiao Mucao froze, his mind failing to catch up, and asked in confusion, “Uh—partially or all over?”

Ye Chen’s mouth twitched. What on earth is this guy thinking? He replied at once, “All over!”

Qiao Mucao finally snapped to his senses. “What are you planning?”

Now it was Ye Chen whose eyes flashed with determination. He declared, “You’ll know soon enough! Get ready... Go!”

There was no room for argument in his tone.

Qiao Mucao laid his hand on Ye Chen’s shoulder. In the blink of an eye, Ye Chen’s entire body turned black.

The sensation was bizarre—Ye Chen felt tensile strength throughout his body, as if no amount of blows to his chest could hurt him.

He’d actually been worried Qiao Mucao would place his hand wrong, just a moment before.

Without another word, Ye Chen dug his feet into the ground and lunged forward.

All of this happened in a flash, leaving the cloaked figure momentarily caught off guard.

“So that’s his plan...”

The final confrontation was about to erupt.

The bow in the cloaked figure’s hands blazed with a blinding light, which suddenly contracted and condensed into a single arrow.

That arrow shimmered with silver light, brilliant beyond compare, as if it held immense power.

In the next instant, countless slender threads of silver light burst forth from the arrow, shooting toward Ye Chen like a meteor shower.

The air was filled with a relentless, hissing sound.

This time, the cloaked figure didn’t even release the string; she kept the bow drawn, the arrow poised.

The sky was awash with endless silver light, illuminating the entire street.

Seeing this, Ye Chen knew things were bad. He crossed his arms before him, shielded his vital areas, and roared, charging forward into the storm of arrows without fear.

He knew full well that dodging meant certain death for Qiao Mucao behind him, whose intrinsic energy was already depleted.

Ye Chen had also compared their constitutions—his own physical strength was definitely superior to Qiao Mucao’s.

With the same rubberization, the defensive effect was much greater on himself.

So this time, let me be both spear and shield!

The silver arrows were a bit shorter than normal, their heads tapered to a point.

Such arrows flew with incredible speed, and with such high density and frequency, even the sturdiest shield would be pierced by this relentless barrage.

Every part of Ye Chen’s body facing forward was taking the brunt of the assault.

Wherever the silver arrows struck his rubberized skin, some glanced off to the side, others dissolved into motes of light.

It was as if silver fireworks were constantly bursting across his body.

Thank goodness I chose full-body rubberization—if I’d only strengthened one spot, I’d be long dead by now!

Now it was a contest of endurance, courage, and intrinsic energy.

As Ye Chen drew nearer to the cloaked figure, his speed visibly slowed.

“Just a little more, just a little more—hold on!”

Ye Chen shouted in his heart, his gaze unyielding.

“How... how can he choose to face it like this? Is this man a fool? Who just takes all the damage head-on?”

Just as with the previous ‘triple-star’ attack, Ye Chen’s way of breaking through once again shattered the cloaked figure’s expectations.

Now, panic began to rise in her heart as well—she knew exactly how much intrinsic energy she had left.

This ‘rain of a thousand arrows’ skill, once activated, would not stop until her reserves were drained; it was a do-or-die strike.

Ordinarily, she’d never use it without teammates to cover her.

But now, there was no turning back!

Suddenly, Ye Chen sensed something amiss.

The rubberization at the ends of his limbs—feet, arms, and so on—began to fade, and wounds started to appear.

The silver arrows sliced his thigh, grazed his arm—soon, perhaps, they would pierce him through.

Is this the sign the ability’s about to end?!

The intensity of her attack is so high, it’s directly shortening the duration of the rubberization!

Please, just a little longer!

But Ye Chen’s prayer went unanswered. The blackness covering his body receded like the tide.

Fortunately, at that very moment, the silver arrow nocked to the cloaked figure’s bow shattered with a metallic clang, scattering into a rain of light.

Her once-straight posture sagged in an instant.

“Ha... haha! So you’re just at your limit as well...”

But Ye Chen couldn’t relax yet—some stray silver arrows still hung in the air.

“You’re not getting away—give back the case!”

Ye Chen didn’t lower his guard, letting the remaining arrows strike wherever they would.

He looked like a human pincushion bristling with silver spines.

He drove off his left leg, now covered in silver arrows, spinning his body in midair.

His intrinsic energy flooded into the Broken Blade; he became a whirling storm of steel, sweeping toward the cloaked figure.

Qiao Mucao’s ability had just timed out—Ye Chen’s own strength had not.

The cloaked figure gritted her teeth, spun around.

Though she couldn’t see the invisible blade, the deadly pressure told her she could not let him near.

“Go, I have to go!”

She raised her right hand, and a grappling hook shot from her sleeve with a snap—the same tool she’d used to snatch the briefcase before.

In a flash, as she soared into the air, she felt something graze her back.

A moment later, her burden lightened—the case was severed in half. By the time she reached for it, it was too late.

The grappling hook’s mechanism had already pulled her skyward.

At that instant, the silver arrows embedded in Ye Chen’s body vanished into thin air.

With nothing left to block his wounds, blood gushed out in countless streams.

A moment later, Ye Chen’s vision went black, and he collapsed into the snow, unconscious.

Blood poured from him, dyeing the snow on the street a scalding red.