"Major Shen, what happened?!" a shout rang out.
"..."
'Major Shen? Who's Major Shen… Wait, it couldn't be… Shen Ning'Er, could it?!' The delighted expression on Gao Neng's face instantly froze. 'This damn thing actually made me "sacrifice" an Alliance Major?! Isn't this a profit I could earn but won't live to spend?'
It wasn't just Gao Neng who was scared.
Tang Weiwei and Ah Si also froze in fear at the voices outside.
Shen Ning'Er… was a Major?!
What did an eighteen-year-old Alliance Major represent?
One of the Alliance's youngest Majors!
Backed by extraordinary power!
The elite of the elite, a king among kings!
The two of them collapsed to the floor, having even forgotten to rush forward and pin Gao Neng down again. By the time they came to their senses and prepared to act, they saw Gao Neng standing by the nightstand, a black capsule pinched in his hand.
"This rap is too heavy… you guys can take it!" Gao Neng said with a smile. He waved at Tang Weiwei with one hand and crushed the high-dimensional capsule with the other.
"What?! That capsule… it looks like the one Shen Ning'Er materialized!"
"ROAR!"
A clear, resonant dragon's cry rang out.
Before Tang Weiwei and Ah Si could even react, a massive, seven-to-eight-meter-long Iron Dragon burst out of the high-dimensional capsule. Its thick Scale Armor hummed as it immediately slammed into the ceiling, creating a tremendous BOOM.
Chunks of rubble rained down.
Gao Neng, meanwhile, seized the opportunity to dash to the balcony and then leaped off.
"Not good, there are sounds of fighting in Major Shen's room."
"Quick, break down the door! If anything happens to Major Shen in the Forgotten Land, all of you will pay with your lives!"
"BANG!"
The door was kicked open.
Tang Weiwei and Ah Si sat dumbfounded on the floor. They looked at the figure disappearing from the balcony, then at Qin Tianxiong and his men charging in from behind, and their minds went completely blank.
"It's you?!" Qin Tianxiong immediately recognized Tang Weiwei.
"Lieutenant Qin… It wasn't me! I was actually here to save her! The one who really did this to Shen Ning'Er…" Tang Weiwei was trembling like a leaf in the wind.
He tried to explain, but Qin Tianxiong was already charging at him.
"BAM!"
A fist slammed into his face.
"Captain, there's knockout gas in the room!"
"Knockout gas?! You son of a bitch, you dared to use knockout gas on Major Shen!!!" Qin Tianxiong was utterly shocked. He grabbed the fallen Tang Weiwei with one hand and hauled him up.
"CLATTER!"
The knockout gas canister fell to the floor.
"Lieutenant Qin, it's… it's not what you think…" Tang Weiwei stared at the knockout gas canister on the floor, looking as if he'd been struck by lightning.
"You're caught red-handed with the evidence, and you still want to argue?! Today, I'm gonna kill…"
"BOOM!"
Before Qin Tianxiong could finish his sentence, the Iron Dragon hovering in the room suddenly dove, slamming into the bed and setting the whole thing ablaze.
And then, from within the raging flames, a figure completely wrapped by an Iron Dragon stood up steadily.
Shen Ning'Er was awake!
Her face was covered in blood, her black hair whipping wildly behind her. The black Iron Dragon was coiled around her body.
"You can't scare me! I won't be afraid of you anymore! I won't! I absolutely won't!" a cold voice rang out.
"Major Shen, you…" Qin Tianxiong's expression changed. Looking at Shen Ning'Er's state, he didn't even need to think to know what had happened; he had personally experienced it before.
'Shen Ning'Er has been terrified!'
'And not just a little, either.'
'That son of a bitch Tang Weiwei, what the hell did he do?!'
'Why is her face covered in blood?'
"The Major seems a little delirious?"
"It's the knockout gas. She probably isn't fully awake yet. Quick… quick, stop her!"
"No, quick, run!!"
The soldiers started to charge forward, but they quickly realized their mistake. It was already too late.
After being enveloped by the Iron Dragon, Shen Ning'Er's entire aura instantly became terrifyingly powerful. Coupled with the raging flames, she looked like a War God wreathed in fire.
"ROAR!"
The Iron Dragon soared into the air and, with the force of a fiery furnace, slammed into the wall.
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
The wall collapsed, leaving the area scorched black.
Startled by the terrifying commotion, Qin Tianxiong immediately let go of Tang Weiwei, dodged the flying debris, and hastily retreated a few steps.
But while he could dodge, Ah Si and Tang Weiwei could not.
"THUD!" A rock, like a cannonball, smashed into Ah Si's head as he was trying to flee, knocking him out cold on the spot. He didn't even let out a groan.
A rock also smashed into Tang Weiwei's leg.
His body went limp on the floor, completely immobilized. He was so scared he pissed himself. He knew that if this continued, Shen Ning'Er would definitely kill him.
"Don't kill me! I have something important to give you!" In his panic, Tang Weiwei fumbled in his jacket pocket and pulled out a metal storage device.
This was his last resort, his only remaining hope.
But just as he took out the metal storage device, the Iron Dragon was already in front of him. Its massive head stared him down, its thick Scale Armor humming.
"Don't… don't kill…" Tang Weiwei pissed his pants.
"WHAM!"
The Iron Dragon flicked its flaming iron tail, sending Tang Weiwei flying into the wall. The metal storage device in his hand flew straight off the balcony.
"THUMP!"
Tang Weiwei's head slammed against the wall, and his vision went black.
'Why? I planned everything perfectly, so how did I end up the scapegoat?!' was his last conscious thought.
'I refuse to accept this!'
"..."
"Captain, the hotel is about to be demolished!" a soldier shouted, watching the Iron Dragon rampaging everywhere. No one paid any attention to whether Tang Weiwei was alive or dead; after all, the Iron Dragon was the main problem now.
Under Shen Ning'Er's control, the Iron Dragon was constantly devouring the glass and wooden cabinets in the room. Everything was being destroyed in an instant.
And as it devoured more, the Iron Dragon grew even larger. The molten glass formed its eyeballs, making them glow like red gems.
The wood, meanwhile, mixed with the iron and ignited, causing the room's temperature to rise to an absurd level.
"As expected, Shen Ning'Er can not only materialize and assimilate, but also devour!" the soldiers exclaimed in shock. Energy materialization plus devouring meant one thing: destruction.
Under such circumstances, no one dared to get close.
'Whether this hotel gets demolished or not… its continued existence is already meaningless!' Qin Tianxiong's eyes flickered. He too was constantly backing away—not because he didn't want to stop her, but because he couldn't.
Shen Ning'Er, one of the Alliance's youngest Majors.
A rank like an eighteen-year-old Major couldn't be achieved just by piling up family resources. No one would dare bestow a military rank representing supreme honor upon a good-for-nothing.
'Let's run. If the hotel gets demolished, so be it…' At that moment, Qin Tianxiong truly understood that in front of Shen Ning'Er, he would be defeated in an instant.
"..."
...
Qin Tianxiong and his men were running.
And wasn't Gao Neng running as well?
In fact, he was running much faster than Qin Tianxiong. The moment he leaped back onto his own balcony, he realized something was very wrong.
The commotion from Shen Ning'Er's room was just too loud.
'She's definitely tearing the place down.'
And he, the "innocent bystander" next door, was getting caught in the crossfire.
'Damn! Is this Iron Dragon really that terrifying? If I'd known, I wouldn't have crushed the capsule. This power… it could probably sell for at least five thousand Alliance Coins, right?' Gao Neng was a top student, but he hadn't had much contact with the world of Energy Warriors.
In essence, he didn't really understand how an Energy Warrior's strength changed after "possessing energy."
But there was one thing he knew for sure: he had to run!
After all, Shen Ning'Er was probably awake by now. Who knew if someone would come investigating next door?
When it came to escaping, Gao Neng didn't hesitate at all.
The more critical the moment, the more it reveals a person's intelligence.
Gao Neng's intelligence was, as his name implied, quite high.
Therefore, he didn't choose the main corridor where he might run into someone, nor did he plan to take the elevator. Instead, he used the Iron Claw Flying Rope he had prepared in advance to rappel down from the balcony.
'And who said preparing the Iron Claw Flying Rope was a waste?'
'Huh? Why are two women getting a room on the sixth floor?' As Gao Neng rappelled down, he happened to see two disheveled women scrambling out of a large bed.
'This one on the fifth floor… The woman is in her pajamas, but why is the guy still so neatly dressed? Is he a simp?'
'Fourth floor is one guy and two women? My man, 666!'
'Third floor is two guys…'
'…'
Gao Neng maintained a dignified posture as he dangled precariously, not at all flustered.
Soon, he landed.
Then, he felt a slight pain on his head, as if something had hit him.
He looked down.
'A shiny metal storage device?'
'Huh? Stuff like this falls from the sky? I just so happen to need something to store my "study materials" on. I'll take it!' Gao Neng quickly pocketed it, glanced up at the seventh floor burning like a ruin, and then broke into a run.
After running five meters, Gao Neng stopped again.
Then, gritting his teeth, he looped back around to the hotel lobby.
In the hotel lobby, the female receptionist was on the phone, looking extremely anxious.
"Checking out," Gao Neng said, pulling out his key card.
"Oh, just toss the key card here." The receptionist was clearly in no mood to flirt with Gao Neng now.
"Thanks, sis," Gao Neng said his thanks, casually strolled out the hotel's main entrance, and then once again broke into a dead sprint.
Only after running nonstop for nearly half a kilometer did he realize that a wooden chest had been bobbing up and down in front of his eyes the whole time.
'Speaking of which, don't I still have a beginner's treasure chest to open?'