The incandescent lamp overhead emitted a "zzzz" of electrical noise, the light flickering along with the holographic screen.

The next instant, the light went out.

The entire bedroom was plunged into darkness.

Gu Shen immediately got up to pull back the curtains. Turning to look, even the few streetlights that usually illuminated the old, unfinished buildings were extinguished, leaving only pitch black as far as he could see.

Someone wanted to kill him.

They had already made their move...cutting off the power was just the first step.

"Meow."

A calm meow echoed in the darkness. The orange cat, which had been lazily sleeping in its nest, had somehow appeared beside Gu Shen, standing on its toes and nudging his pant leg.

His mind flashed back to Chu Ling's words—

["I will contact you in another way."]

Gu Shen froze. "Could it be...?"

The orange cat simply nodded with a cold gaze, and raised its paw, pointing towards the door.

Accompanied by "thump, thump, thump" sounds of impact, the hissing and burning smell of smoke wafted from the crack under the door. The door lock was being corroded. This outdated, old residential security door was no match for such erosion. The doorframe trembled, and the uninvited guests outside would soon break in.

"Meow."

The window was opened, and the big orange cat gracefully leapt onto the windowsill, signaling Gu Shen to act quickly.

"Are you kidding me...this is the seventh floor..."

Gu Shen's expression changed slightly.

With a meow, the big orange cat jumped out, landing steadily on the metal frame of an external air conditioner unit, coldly looking back at Gu Shen from above.

Gu Shen took a deep breath and glanced at the doorframe, which was about to shatter at any moment. He decisively decided to jump out of the window.

He didn't have much time, and there was no room for hesitation!

His agility was actually quite good. He climbed out of the window, leapt lightly, used the air conditioner unit as a springboard, hugged a pipe, and stepped onto the outer edge of the old building's wall. The protruding stone blocks were only large enough to support half of his foot.

"Whew...success..."

Gu Shen breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to rest for a moment before sliding down the pipe, the big orange cat urgently cried out, signaling him to climb upwards quickly.

Upwards...was the path below a dead end?

Gu Shen didn't hesitate. He quickly followed the orange cat, climbing upwards.

"Boom!"

The next moment, a violent roar of exploding air pressure came from below, and turbulent air waves surged upwards, shattering the glass. The sound of the heatwave seemed to be mixed with several faint screams, which were swallowed by the flames before they could even be uttered.

Gu Shen's face suddenly turned pale.

The surging tide of fire dyed his peripheral vision into a scarlet expanse. The pipe became scorching hot, but under the pressure of the crisis, Gu Shen climbed with incredible speed. The old, unfinished building had a total of eleven floors. After climbing to the top, there was a wide rooftop, where layers of tumbling clothes and bedding were piled on iron racks, rustling loudly in the hot wind.

"Is there no justice? Is there no law?!"

Gu Shen couldn't believe the scene he had just witnessed.

He braced himself against the edge of the rooftop, barely managing to stand, and looked down, feeling a wave of dizziness.

These guys were simply insane. Their actions just now were more than just breaking into a house to kill someone...did these people intend to blow up the entire building?

The sudden explosion shattered the silence of the night. Many people were awakened by the loud noise. By this time, the fire had spread rapidly from the seventh floor. At close range, the old, unfinished building stood tall in the raging sea of flames, swaying like a mirage from hell amidst the swirling blaze.

However, the real disaster was more than just the fire—

The awakened people tried to dial for help but failed. For some reason, the signal was unusually weak, and both the power and the network had been cut off.

When disaster struck, humans themselves were too insignificant.

They could do nothing but watch the scene of a living hell unfold—

Several charred and blurred figures thrashed in the flames, trying to shout for help.

Even if the sounds couldn't be heard, the pain and despair of the sufferers could still be felt.

The sudden explosion trapped the innocent residents above the seventh floor in the tide of fire.

Some chose to jump from the windows in a desperate attempt to survive.

"Crash—bang!"

The burning torso fell in a broken arc in the air, landing on the ground with a crisp sound. The blackened charcoal shattered into pieces, still carrying scattered sparks.

These people who jumped from the building did not know that the flames from the explosion were also mixed with a strong corrosive force.

Seeing this scene, Gu Shen silently clenched his fists. He realized that he had made an incredibly correct decision at the critical moment...if he had fled downwards, he would already be a charred corpse.

But now, trapped in the tide of fire, what should he do?

Those who were chasing him...coming with such surging killing intent, would soon arrive at the rooftop...

At this moment, Gu Shen was calmer than ever. Because of the huge explosion, his body was still trembling from physiological reactions, but his fingers were no longer shaking.

He looked towards Chu Ling...that orange cat, standing proudly at the highest point of the rooftop, also looked towards him.

Their eyes met.

In that second, inspiration struck. Gu Shen took out the "silver ruler" that A-009 had given him.

The orange cat spoke again, its voice still cat-like meows.

But after hearing it, Gu Shen unbelievably understood the orange cat's thoughts.

"There are two enemies. They are estimated to arrive at the rooftop in 20 seconds and 40 seconds...the retreat has been blocked. You need to use the 'Truth Ruler' here to fight back."

Truth Ruler...so that was the name of this ruler!

"How do I use it?"

Gu Shen held his breath, anxiously looking towards the rooftop door lock...time was running out. Whether it was an illusion or not, he could now hear heavy footsteps!

The orange cat quickly said, "Inject your spirit, imagine a scene. The Truth Ruler can transform thoughts and make them come true...the stronger your mental power, the more successful the transformation will be."

"Thump—"

A heavy thud.

The door lock was almost shattered by the force of the impact.

Gu Shen gripped the silver ruler with both hands, concentrating his attention and staring intently at the door.

His mind went blank, and all his mental power focused on one point. The scene of Nan Jin fighting against A-009 flashed and collided in his mind. The silver blade domain pieced together by those two long swords seemed to have turned into condensed light.

The scale of the Truth Ruler lit up little by little.

Wind arose from nothing, sweeping across the rooftop, and the rows of clothes and bedding were blown into the air—

"Boom!"

After a brief silence.

With the second impact, the door lock was directly smashed. A tall, dark figure, supporting the door panel with his body, crashed in sideways, his body as strong as a mature bull!

And it was at this moment that the silver ruler burned with a bright light.

The clothes and bedding flying on the rooftop were cut by thousands of fine threads, instantly splitting into countless small cracks. The silver blades, swirling in the wind, stacked layer upon layer, colliding with that reckless, bull-like figure in an instant—

Nan Jin's two swords repelled Mrs. Eight Feet.

Gu Shen aimed the ruler at the tall man.

At this moment, the two scenes were strikingly similar, except that the latter one...was even more bloody and tragic.

"Ugh..."

The tall man who crashed onto the rooftop let out a horrified muffled sound from his throat. That brief moment of silence was originally his deliberate pause in toying with his prey. According to the intelligence, the target this time was just an ordinary person.

But he never expected...to be greeted by such a grand display of killing intent. The petrified skin was torn apart in an instant by countless overlapping blades. The huge inertia after accelerating the door crashing pushed him into an abyss from which there was no return—

Countless blades hung suspended on the rooftop.

The tip of the Truth Ruler, entwined with silver-white light, simulated Gu Shen's "imagined" Nan Jin blade domain on the rooftop.

The reason it was the "imagined" blade domain was because Gu Shen couldn't understand how Nan Jin created the blade domain at that time...so he relied on his own imagination to reconstruct a blade domain.

The other party's personality was simple and overconfident...setting fire to an entire building at will, it was highly likely that he disregarded human life...so it was only natural that he regarded himself as an ant...

Thinking of this in an instant, Gu Shen decided to set up the rooftop as a quagmire with hanging blades.

And this "intruder" who crashed into the quagmire at lightning speed, at this moment, looked like a death seeker willingly being sliced into pieces...in this static picture, he was actively cutting himself apart—

Splashes of blood burst out.

And a splash of something warm landed on Gu Shen's face.