I take life seriously 87. Demigod, Entering the Formation (2)

"I don't know! We don't understand how it works," Night replied.

"We can't read any information from this formation, either," Day complained.

"Then let's not worry about it. If we go all out, do you think we can't kill them?"

"Right! We can start with the weakest among them—those two little animals."

"In a formation like this, the power at each position is usually about the same, because the others will come to reinforce."

"Then what do we do?"

At this, Day said, "If we want to eliminate the enemies at one position, we have to ensure we won't be fatally attacked during the attempt. But the enemy can foresee our actions, so it's impossible to guard against everything. The best way is to keep the Transfer Technique running at all times."

Upon hearing this, the temporal anomaly code within Day was the first to grumble, "Come on! If you can't kill a group of enemies after half an hour of fighting and can't break through the formation, wouldn't we have to keep the Transfer Technique running for half an hour too? Do you know how much energy that would consume? Are you trying to kill us?"

Night added, "If we want to break through this formation, that's the only way. Otherwise, if we're trapped here, they'll just wear us down eventually."

After a brief discussion, they reached a consensus, but both temporal anomaly codes insisted on one condition: they had to break through in no more than twenty minutes.

...

They chose to attack the Xun position, where Feathered and Ascended were stationed. These two pitiable demigods and their internal anomaly codes had no idea this was a Bagua formation. The four visible opponents represented only four trigram positions; the other four had yet to appear. With no understanding of the formation, not only was breaking through impossible, but their chances of being beaten were high.

Sure enough, whenever they attacked Feathered and Ascended from all angles at seven times the speed of sound, Zhang Yidao could foresee their path and targets through the Bagua formation. He would timely rotate the formation, and his team would adjust their positions in sync. So whenever the two demigods arrived at what had been the Xun position, it was no longer Xun; instead, they encountered the team's pre-laid firepower.

Still, they remained unharmed, as every attack was diverted away.

After several rounds, Zhang Ming also realized that the enemy anomaly codes were keeping the Transfer Technique active, so he told everyone to stop wasting energy on attacks, leaving only his own Star-Absorbing Fist in play.

It seemed the anomaly codes were gritting their teeth, determined to help the demigods break through, enduring even as Zhang Ming's Star-Absorbing Fist kept siphoning their energy.

Unfortunately, after ten minutes of struggle, the two demigods had achieved nothing.

The anomaly codes began to waver. The one inside Day complained first, "If this continues, you'll never touch those two animals, and we'll just be wasting energy."

Day and Night knew this, but they weren't willing to give up.

Night sighed, "If only we could move even faster, then we'd have the upper hand!"

Day suddenly saw the light and exclaimed, "Exactly! They only dodge us because they can predict our actions. But if we move faster than they can react, even with foresight, we can override their advantage and take down those animals."

"Come on! You're already moving at seven times the speed of sound. Do you know how much energy it would take to go even faster?" Day's anomaly code immediately shot down the idea.

"Exactly!" Night's code echoed. "We have to keep the Transfer Technique up for both of you, and that kid's fist is draining our energy. Now you want us to boost your speed too? Even if I were rich, you'd bankrupt me!"

"But if we don't risk it, we're finished," Day warned.

Night agreed, "Yes! There's nothing worse than dying with a pile of unused energy. So for the sake of breaking through, it's worth the gamble."

After a moment, Night's anomaly code relented. "Based on historical data, their highest speed is Mach 10. If you want to boost your speed, jump straight to Mach 11! Make it quick—the energy drain is insane. Don't drag this out."

Thus, they reached another consensus.

Once agreed, Day and Night first attacked Feathered and Ascended at Mach 7—missing again. Then at Mach 8—still nothing. Then Mach 9—again a miss. Finally, they cranked it up to Mach 11...

The two demigods quickly ramped up to Mach 11, and Zhang Mingjing grew anxious.

Both he and the five-dimensional cognitive model worried, "Although Zhang Yidao can barely keep Feathered and Ascended moving ahead of the attacks by manipulating the Bagua, the opponents are now hunting at over ten times the speed of sound, and Feathered and Ascended can't match that. Sooner or later, they'll be caught."

But the worst happened first on Zhang Yidao's side.

Because the demigods pushed their speed to Mach 11, Zhang Yidao had to triple the pace of managing the Bagua formation.

It was like playing a video game at lightning speed—his brain had no time for thought, only instinctive reactions. After half a minute, he was thoroughly immersed and almost enjoying himself.

But after nine rounds of Mach 11 pursuit, Zhang Yidao, caught up in the thrill of manipulating the formation, lost track of himself.

Regrettably, the one person who might have snapped him out of it—Chairwoman Xiao Nvxia—was so absorbed in the spectacle that she forgot her responsibilities.

At last, Zhang Yidao's anti-addiction protocol kicked in, snapping him back to reality.

When this message reached Zhang Mingjing's mind, he knew things had gone terribly wrong.

The five-dimensional model cursed, "Damn, talk about dropping the ball at a critical moment!"

No sooner had he spoken than Zhang Yidao was snapped out of his trance. Feathered and Ascended, suddenly without guidance, hesitated for a mere two-thousandths of a second—just long enough for the two demigods, racing at Mach 11, to strike them. The two animals plummeted toward the ground at supersonic speed. Even with their armor deploying wings, they couldn't slow down enough. At that velocity, survival was unlikely.

In the nick of time, Zhang Mingjing caught up at Mach 10, using his energy shield behind the two pets to cushion their fall. Just before hitting the ground, he managed to reduce their speed to 300 kilometers per hour—still hard enough to carve a massive crater.

The two pets were gravely wounded, unable to continue fighting.

Zhang Mingjing scooped them from the crater and soared skyward.

Yet while he rushed to save the pets, the two demigods had already turned on Catherine and Jamie.

By the time Zhang Mingjing was halfway there, Catherine and Jamie had been struck and were falling toward the southwest.

Zhang Mingjing was about to change course to rescue them when he found his armor suddenly unresponsive, then accelerating toward Day and Night. At the same moment, the two demigods were charging at Catherine and Jamie—a truly perilous situation.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Mingjing's speed kept increasing, in a flash reaching Mach 13, then crashing into the two demigods from the flank.

The velocity was so great that in an instant, he and the demigods collided at hypersonic speed, the resulting heat igniting the air, erupting in a thunderous explosion.

The two demigods were sent hurtling toward the ground at supersonic speed, unable to stop themselves, finally striking the earth with a thunderous crash that gouged a crater the size of a basketball court.

Zhang Mingjing, protected by his armor's shield, was unscathed.

The demigods were surely injured, staggering to their feet, while Catherine and Jamie managed to deploy their armor's wings before landing, making it down safely—an outcome that brought relief.

Seeing Catherine and Jamie land unharmed, Zhang Mingjing finally breathed a sigh of relief, though he was puzzled as to why his armor had suddenly become unresponsive and accelerated to Mach 13—an unprecedented limit for both his body and armor.

The five-dimensional cognitive model explained, "Since they broke the Bagua formation with speed, you could use speed to counter them. I just triggered your armor's energy reserve to accelerate you and plotted a collision course with the demigods, overriding your control and pushing you to Mach 13."

"So that's what happened."

The model continued, "Now it’s up to you and those three satellites above. To win, you have to be faster than both of them. I’ve calculated that if you absorb the remaining energy from Catherine, Jamie, Feathered, and Ascended's armors, you can maintain Mach 13 for twenty minutes. The demigods, after all their high-speed fighting, are nearly depleted—if they try to match Mach 13, they can last at most ten minutes. So if you gamble on speed, your chances of victory are high."

"Understood!"

But just then, the two demigods rapidly converged. Their eyes were dull, vacant, cold, and vicious. Zhang Mingjing immediately sensed that their anomaly codes had completely overridden their will.

The five-dimensional model muttered, "The methods of these anomaly codes are truly ruthless—they always drain their hosts dry in the end."

"Should I still stick to the plan and challenge them with speed?" Zhang Mingjing asked.

"Exactly! But be even more careful—they’re going all in. Stick to the plan, and you’ll outlast them in both speed and energy."

"Alright."

By then, the energy from the other team members' armors had already been transferred into Zhang Mingjing's suit.

No sooner had this happened than the two demigods began accelerating toward him, trailing a series of terrifying sonic booms.

With the five-dimensional model's help, Zhang Mingjing instantly boosted his armor to Mach 13, and both sides began a hypersonic aerial chase, darting and attacking each other through the sky.