At this point, they were just hoping to escape with their lives and get back home; they had no time to care about completing any damn mission.
However, Dwight clearly had no intention of letting these people live. Some of them got into cars and prepared to reverse and escape, while others simply walked into the woods on both sides of the road. If Dwight were to chase them one by one, he could only go in one direction at most, and the rest would still have a chance to survive.
However, Dwight was not alarmed by the sight. He just smiled coldly, suddenly shouted, and then the thick blood mist around him suddenly collapsed and transformed into the appearance of fierce ghosts, which howled and pounced on the people who were fleeing in all directions.
However, a careful observer would notice that the vengeful spirits formed from the blood mist were clearly the same as those who had just died after Dwight had devoured their flesh and souls with his demonic claws.
More than thirty blood-mist ghosts roared as they chased after the fleeing thugs. With a single pounce, they would devour a person's flesh and soul.
Then this blood mist ghost will split into two more ghosts, each going to pursue two different targets.
In this way, those hundred or so people were really no match for them. In the blink of an eye, even the furthest ones hadn't escaped very far before they were all assimilated by the blood mist ghosts released by Dwight. The flesh and soul of each person were extracted, completely separated from their original skeletal structure.
All the souls that were transformed into blood mist ghosts lost their original consciousness and became puppets that Dwight could only manipulate.
After everyone had died, Dwight had a sudden thought and immediately summoned back all the wandering blood mist ghosts.
This time, however, Dwight did not absorb all the Blood Mist Ghosts into the red mist around him. Instead, he selectively extracted a wisp of blood mist from each of the Blood Mist Ghosts, leaving the remaining brutal energy to drift away on its own.
After Dwight extracted a trace of spiritual energy from the blood mist, those blood mist ghosts lost all their ability to coalesce and quickly dissipated on their own when blown by the mountain wind.
Dwight drew the soul power extracted from the souls of these nearly one hundred people, along with the trace of malevolent energy generated at the time of their tragic deaths, into the red mist. He then gradually absorbed it into his body, eventually bringing it all into his sea of souls.
In his sea of souls, the strange blood crystal egg had disappeared, but a blood-red vortex resembling a nebula had appeared.
The moment the crimson vortex reversed, it expelled all the hidden malevolent energy from the body, forming a tangible red mist.
Now that the crimson vortex was spinning, it immediately created a powerful suction force, and the red mist that was hovering around his body was sucked up by a whale as if it were water being sucked in, and was quickly sucked away without a trace.
This crimson vortex was formed after the blood crystal egg shattered after Dwight absorbed the second abyssal demon. Dwight hasn't fully figured out the crimson vortex yet, but thankfully, the blood crystal egg didn't contain any terrifying demons, and Dwight didn't lose his consciousness because of it. This alone was enough to satisfy Dwight.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 657: A Secret Scheme
Dwight was quite rational and restrained. He could sense that with the help of this blood-red, ferocious aura, killing people, especially ordinary people, would become very easy for him.
Moreover, whenever he kills someone, he not only absorbs the soul power of the deceased, but also extracts a large amount of malevolent energy from their flesh and blood, which rapidly increases his own strength.
However, Dwight could sense that the malevolent energy extracted from the flesh and blood of the dead was mixed with a lot of impurities. If these impurities were inhaled into his body at first, he wouldn't feel anything, but if these impurities accumulated too much over time, they would definitely cause him intractable harm.
Therefore, Dwight didn't care much when fighting those people, regardless of whether their power was pure or not. The enemy's power could immediately become his own. However, after the battle, Dwight dared not be careless again. He was extremely demanding when it came to the soul power and fierce energy he absorbed from the outside world. He only wanted to extract a trace of pure energy. If there was even a little impurity mixed in, Dwight would ignore it no matter how powerful it was.
Fortunately, Dwight had already extracted all the soul energy from these blood-red ghosts, so they could no longer take shape. Dwight didn't have to worry about these ghosts going elsewhere to harm people.
After everything was settled, Dwight looked up at the desolate scene before him. There were skeletons lying haphazardly on the ground, and many of the skeletons were no longer intact. When Dwight used his blood-red claws to lift them into the air and then dropped them down, they became a pile of broken bones, making the scene look even more tragic.
A helpless, bitter smile appeared on Dwight's lips. The reason he brought Susanna along today was to let her see his most authentic self, and for this... he had staked everything.
Aside from the fact that he would never reveal to anyone that he was actually Zhou Ziwei's alter ego, Dwight treated Susanna with the utmost honesty.
He knew Susanna didn't like mediocre men, so he didn't mind showing her his extraordinary side. As for whether Susanna could accept his terrifyingly powerful abilities... that was beyond Dwight's control.
He loved Susanna; it was something he carried with him from the memories of the body's previous owner. It was a love that had seeped into his very bones, and Dwight couldn't separate it from his consciousness, so he could only bear it.
If Susanna was truly frightened by the terrifying appearance Dwight had just displayed... Dwight would be powerless to help her and might have no choice but to give up on her.
I quickly walked back to the hillside ahead, and there in the car, Susanna's face was ashen, her eyes glazed over. She was clearly terrified and probably hadn't recovered yet...
Seeing this, Dwight sighed softly. He didn't know if he would scare Susanna to death if he walked over now. He hesitated under the car for a while, and after a long time, seeing that Susanna still looked distraught, as if she hadn't noticed him yet, Dwight finally shook his head and turned to walk down...
Although it was somewhat unkind to just leave a beautiful woman in this eerie and terrifying place filled with bones, Dwight was genuinely afraid that if he opened the car door or knocked on the window, Susanna would scream and die of fright... well, maybe Susanna wasn't that timid, but Dwight was even more afraid of seeing disgust or fear in Susanna's eyes.
That woman was the love of his life and the woman he wanted most, but... he didn't want to be discriminated against or feared by her. Since Susanna was already so frightened by him, Dwight felt there was no need for him to stay any longer.
However, just as Dwight turned around and took two steps, he heard the sound of a car door opening behind him, followed by a soft, delicate voice asking, "Dwight, are you just leaving me all alone?"
Dwight was slightly startled and quickly turned to look, only to see Susanna had already jumped out of the car with a normal expression. She was leaning against the car door, looking at Dwight with a half-smile, and said with a slight pursed lip, "I know you're afraid that I'll be scared by your appearance just now and won't dare to accept you, right? Humph... So... I deliberately scared you just now, since you scared me too..."
"What... Susanna, what... do you mean by that?!" Dwight saw Susanna's relaxed and joyful appearance and could tell that his terrifying appearance, which was like a demon descending to earth, had not really scared Susanna that much. However... he was still a little confused by Susanna's words.
"Silly girl!" Susanna didn't answer Dwight's question, but just gave him a light scolding before turning around and getting into the car by herself.
If Dwight still didn't know what to do at this point, he might as well just commit suicide. He cheered and, like a bolt of lightning, got into the car in a flash, and as if he couldn't stop himself, he crashed into Susanna's arms...
On the other side of the Zhou family compound, a dozen cars were slowly moving forward. Although the compound wall was not far ahead, they found two bright-eyed and white-toothed girls playing chess in a roadside pavilion not far from the wall.
Under the moonlight of the dead of night, two stunningly beautiful women sat in a pavilion in the woods playing chess... This scene seemed rather strange. If one had read Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, they would probably think that two fox spirits were trying to bewitch a passing scholar.
The alliance of several countries and forces assigned to this direction had just circled around to reach this road. They were already moving very fast, but... the intense gunfire coming from the front made them extremely anxious.
But now... the gunfire over there has completely stopped, and so far, the gunfire only came from outside the Zhou family compound. The Zhou family compound remains quiet, as if the people inside were completely unaware of the gunfire and the sound of rolling wheels outside.
The group felt a sense of unease when they heard the strange gunfire suddenly cease. They suspected that the other group had been completely defeated. Otherwise, how could the Zhou family's defenses be so formidable? The countries that had mobilized this time were all elites among elites. Any one of them could normally be placed in an important position and take on a major role. How could so many people gathered together today be unable to deal with a small Zhou family?
Soon the group approached the front of the Zhou family compound. The journey was uneventful, which surprised and pleased them. But just then... someone finally noticed the two girls sitting in the roadside pavilion.
This left the tense crowd momentarily bewildered. Could these two girls be experts sent by the Zhou family to deal with them? That shouldn't be possible! How could such beautiful girls... But if these two girls weren't here to deal with them, what were they doing here in the middle of the night for no reason?
The group became somewhat disoriented, and although they were driving slowly, the distance between them was gradually decreasing. They could then clearly see a sweet smile on the lips of one of the blonde, blue-eyed girls, and a flickering flame appearing at the tip of her finger.
Finally, the desperate men couldn't hold back any longer and raised their guns, ready to ruthlessly destroy the flower.
Although both girls were very beautiful, so beautiful that it was impossible to bring oneself to touch them... compared to the importance of the mission they were undertaking, their beauty was naturally insignificant.
Everyone who embarks on this path is no weakling; they all possess extremely strong self-control against the temptations of women. Therefore, the more these people discover the extraordinary qualities of these two women, the less they dare to relax. They have decided that no matter what, they must first eliminate these two women and remove this invisible threat!
However, at that moment, the flame at the blonde, blue-eyed beauty's fingertip suddenly flared up, instantly transforming into a terrifying fireball the size of a football. Nine strange patterns within the fireball, like extremely mysterious designs, swirled and danced in the flames, exuding an indescribable magical aura. Even the group of desperados, who were still some distance away, could clearly sense the mysterious energy emanating from the fireball.
The fireball shone brightly in the night, its nine stripes even more captivating. Everyone who witnessed it was stunned and momentarily lost in thought. Even the few desperados who had already aimed their guns at the two beauties paused for a moment...
While they were all stunned, the huge fireball rose rapidly, like a shooting star, and flew directly towards the convoy that was cautiously approaching like a group of tortoises.
"No... what is this?"
"God, smash it... I have a feeling this thing will destroy us."
As the fireball rapidly approached, the group of thugs finally snapped out of their daze and began to scream hysterically. No one had time to pay attention to the two beautiful women playing chess in the pavilion anymore; they all aimed their weapons at the fireball in mid-air and fired desperately.
Then, a loud "boom" was heard, and a huge mushroom cloud rose into the air near the Zhou family compound. The sound traveled for dozens of miles, and the entire city of Dangyang seemed to tremble.
The fireball with the level nine shockwave back then almost blew the Walston Tower away. Now, Emily is just testing the waters, using it to blow up the people in a dozen or so cars. So it really does seem like the target is quite vulnerable...
"Is that all?" Emily held a chess piece between two fingers, looking speechlessly at the vast open space cleared by the aftershocks of the explosion, and the flickering flames on the trees that had been caught in the crossfire. She shook her head helplessly and said, "They were too weak! How come the enemy was so easy to defeat? One fireball and it was all over. Ugh... how boring!"
Chu Qiutang, standing to the side, snorted with some dissatisfaction and said, "You should be content! At least you got to have some fun, and you even threw a fireball... I prepared more than a dozen hair needles to practice today... Your father and I have been learning for so long, but we've never actually used magical weapons to fight anyone... We finally got this opportunity, only to run into a bunch of fools, but... you wiped them all out with one fireball. You're so unfair!"
Emily stuck out her tongue and said, "I'm sorry... Sister Xiaotang, those guys all came by car... They refused to get out of the car, and they even dared to point guns at us from inside the car. I couldn't let them have a chance to shoot! Hehe... Next time... next time there's such a good thing, I'll definitely let Sister Xiaotang make the first move, okay?"
Hearing this, Chu Qiutang nodded slightly in satisfaction and said, "Hmm... that's more like it! But... hey... that fireball of yours was too insane! It smashed through and turned even those cars into ashes... it's going to start a wildfire, you'd better put it out quickly!"
"Ah... but there's no water here, what should we do?"
As they spoke, almost all the trees around the edge of the area destroyed by the fireball began to slowly burn, and as the mountain wind blew, the fire gradually grew larger and larger.
Emily panicked upon seeing this. If they were killing people elsewhere, setting a fire afterward wouldn't matter, but this was right next to the Zhou family compound... If they accidentally set the Zhou family compound on fire, then... Zhou Ziwei would skin her alive...
Although Emily had learned the knack of manipulating water energy from Zhou Ziwei, she didn't seem to have put in much effort when she practiced it. She always felt that water energy was too gentle and not as violent and direct as fire energy. Therefore, the control of water energy was probably Emily's weakest link.
If there were a small river or something nearby, Emily could probably manage to use her water energy manipulation techniques to summon a water dragon to fight the fire. But now, the area is all forest, so Emily is somewhat powerless.
"Who said you have to use water to put out a fire? Can't you put out a fire with soil?"
A familiar voice suddenly came to their ears, and then they saw Zhou Ziwei walking with a grin from the edge of the raging forest. Wherever he went, the ground collapsed and the burning trees were immediately buried underground.
On the other side, some distance from Zhou Ziwei, a thick mist rapidly condensed in the air with a flick of his finger. The mist grew denser and denser under Zhou Ziwei's control, then quickly materialized, finally transforming into a white water dragon that was half mist and half water droplets. It circled around the burning trees and easily extinguished the fire.
"Brother, you really are the best."
When Emily saw Zhou Ziwei clean up her mess as soon as he appeared, her pretty face lit up with joy. She rushed over and grabbed Zhou Ziwei's arm, flattering him, "Little brother, didn't you say you were in charge of watching the other side? What are you doing here?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei rolled his eyes and said, "Can I not come? If I come any later, you'll burn my house to the ground. As for my side... hehe... I've already taken care of it. I don't have the patience to play hide-and-seek with them."
Just then, Zhou Ziwei's phone rang. He glanced at the number, smiled, and answered. He then chuckled, "Bullet, how could it be you! How did you know my number? Oh…what…don't you know who I am? God…you really hurt me…okay! I'm actually that little prodigy who went through thick and thin with you…what…you haven't really forgotten me, have you? Hehe…so you received a mission from above to protect our Zhou family from ghosts…Isn't the Dragon Group known for its swift action? But this time your reaction was a bit too slow! If I had waited for you to arrive, the Zhou family might have been wiped out…Really? I see…"
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ziwei's face immediately turned ugly. He hadn't expected that this joint operation by more than a dozen countries was just a charade. The real target of the person behind the scenes was actually the water spirits in their Zhou family's biological cultivation base.
Just now, while people from more than a dozen countries and forces were launching a large-scale attack on the Zhou family compound, another force was secretly infiltrating the Zhou family's biological cultivation base. If it weren't for the fact that members of the Dragon Group, including Bullet, had already received the news and were secretly protecting the base, the Water Sprite Flowers that the Zhou family had worked so hard to cultivate would have been completely wiped out.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 658: Vitality of Plants and Trees
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ziwei felt a surge of emotions. He had always thought his strength was considerable, and that those clowns couldn't possibly shake him. However, after what had happened, he suddenly realized that no matter how strong his personal abilities were, they couldn't compare to those of a country. After all, he was just one person, and no matter how many elite soldiers he had under his command, how many could he possibly have? If the Zhou family wanted to expand, it would inevitably grow rapidly to the world stage. The larger the operation became, the more difficult it would be for him to protect the Zhou family's assets.
Just like this time, the national security department was well aware that spies and agents from various countries, as well as mercenaries hired by various forces, were flocking to the small city of Dangyang. Naturally, they made corresponding arrangements and measures.
However, this time Zhou Ziwei was determined to show the world the power of himself, or rather, the Zhou family. That's why he specifically communicated with his old superior beforehand, asking the National Security personnel not to interfere in this matter, and to handle everything himself.
As a result, the various foreign forces attacking the Zhou family compound were easily wiped out by Zhou Ziwei, Zhuihun, Zhou Ziwei's clone Dwight, and Emily. These agents and spies were like a swarm of moths drawn to a flame.
What was unexpected was that the foreign powers, especially the guys from the US, weren't all complete idiots who didn't understand the Zhou family's true strength. So while they were attacking the Zhou family compound, they actually made a move in secret. As a result, if the Dragon Group hadn't intervened, the Zhou family would have suffered heavy losses this time.
It seems... no matter how powerful I am, I can't develop independently without the support of the country...
Zhou Ziwei sighed inwardly, and then finally made a decision to share the technology of the spacecraft obtained from the pilot plane with the country.
Zhou Ziwei destroyed the aircraft back then, leaving only a water decomposer for the country. However, he secretly left the technology to the Zhou family, which allowed them to develop and modify a flying car in a short period of time.
Now that the Zhou family's car incident has reached the attention of major international powers, how could the leadership of their own country not know about it? They just haven't said it outright. Zhou Ziwei has already unknowingly incurred their favor once, so it's not right for him to continue pretending to be ignorant about this matter!
In any case, Zhou Ziwei has no ambition to dominate the world. Providing these advanced technologies to the country will make his country stronger. At most, he can make an agreement with the country to remain the sole developer of civilian products of this type of aircraft.
In Zhou Ziwei's view, the technical parameters of this aircraft are not complicated. It's just that the development of science and technology in the past seemed to have taken a different turn from the invention concept of this aircraft, so no one on Earth has invented such an aircraft yet.
Now that this kind of aircraft has been developed, it is estimated that it will not be long before it is cracked by scientific research institutions around the world. Therefore, it is really not very meaningful for Zhou Ziwei to cling to this point now.
In addition, Zhou Ziwei simply handed over all the energy swords he had obtained from the United States to the old chief. Although Zhou Ziwei felt that these things were not very practical and were essentially useless weapons, the country's weapons development research institute clearly valued them highly and even regarded them as treasures.
While the energy sword itself may not be very useful, it represents a research direction: the application of energy weapons. Although they only obtained an energy sword, they might be able to develop energy guns and energy cannons based on its principles.
After this incident, Zhou Ziwei indeed achieved his goal of making a name for himself on the world stage. Everyone knew that there was a Zhou family in China that not only controlled world-class advanced technology but also possessed formidable military power. The joint operation by agents and spies from over a dozen countries to attack the Zhou family resulted in their complete annihilation, which greatly shocked the world's powers. Consequently, for a long time afterward, the Zhou family did not suffer large-scale provocations from various countries, only occasional small-scale probing harassments.
Zhou Ziwei enjoyed a few rare days of leisure at home, too lazy to bother with company matters anymore. With Liu Xiaofei, the business genius, handling everything perfectly, he figured money was no longer an important thing to him.
"Money is just a string of numbers to truly wealthy people."
Zhou Ziwei had heard this phrase before, but he always thought that the person who said it must be really annoying, and that the guy was such a show-off!
However, when Zhou Ziwei saw the business report Liu Xiaofei showed him, he suddenly realized how true that statement was. At least for him now, money was just a string of numbers. Even if there were many zeros after that string of numbers, he could hardly feel any impulse or excitement anymore. With his current wealth, he would have no difficulty in fulfilling any material needs. He could buy whatever he wanted, and he had so much money that he could never spend it all. So... what would be the point of making more money for him?
Of course, that's what he thought, but Zhou Ziwei didn't generously give away all his wealth and then retreat to the deep mountains to become a monk. Although he himself had lost interest in money, the Zhou Group still needed to develop, and he still needed to control what he should control and monopolize what he should monopolize.
Zhou Ziwei simply stopped arguing about these matters and became too lazy to even look at reports anymore.