Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Killing The Body And Crushing The Soul

The entire corridor was now flooded with the blood of these officers. Gu Ran cast a calm glance around, then walked to a communicator and dialed into the Duville family’s private channel.

He had memorized it earlier when he watched Blanco operate the communicator, along with the exclusive communications channel for the D-District Legion Headquarters.

…

Outside the Screen.“He… he actually killed William Duville and decimated the entire legion headquarters. Could an A-rank ability user really accomplish that, just because he’s a spatial ability user?”

“Spatial ability users are terrifying to this extent?”

“But hold on, Gu Ran is strong because he can not only use teleportation portals and spatial slashes but also has this bizarre ability to distort space, restricting his enemies’ movements. But why have I never seen Lady Leng Feng or Gu Qingqing use this?”

An old martial arts master, who had once encountered the late spatial ability prodigy Leng Feng, voiced his doubts, quickly drawing everyone’s attention.

Most present hadn’t met Gu Qingqing’s mentor, Leng Feng, but they had seen Gu Qingqing spar with two other women just now. It was strange indeed—how could other spatial ability users not possess these same powers?

All eyes turned toward Gu Qingqing.

Gu Qingqing looked at the holo-screen and explained, “His development of spatial abilities has surpassed both mine and my teacher’s. As you know, even among ability users, it’s possible to develop a variety of techniques based on one’s unique ability type, but more is not always better.”

“Excessive skills divide an ability user’s focus, the best techniques are the ones mastered most thoroughly. So, although my teacher and I are spatial ability users as well, our developed and mastered skills don’t fully align with his.”

Since it was praise for Gu Ran, Gu Qingqing found it hard to decline answering. Her hostility toward him was gradually diminishing.

“If Teacher could have taken you as her student,” she thought to herself, “she’d probably be even happier than she was with me.”

With many ability users present, Gu Qingqing’s words were easily understood and then clarified for other martial arts experts who hadn’t quite grasped her meaning.

Lin Fan’s face was darkened.

He had been so certain that Gu Ran would fail and flee, unable to kill William Duville. Yet, Gu Ran not only killed William Duville but completed his mission with exceeding success.

He slaughtered every strong fighter in the E-District Legion Headquarters—effortlessly, as if they were pigs to be butchered. This was an A-rank ability user?

Even considering the unique strength of spatial abilities, making A-rank users exceptionally challenging to counter under S-rank, this was excessive.

Lin Fan had been hailed as a genius from a young age, defeating many others regarded as geniuses too. Yet compared to Gu Ran at the same age, he was utterly outclassed.

Even when he’d been an A-rank ability user himself, he hadn’t possessed the power to kill over twenty B- and A-rank ability users with such ease.

The only comfort Lin Fan could find was that, by acting so brazenly, Gu Ran was sure to fail in delivering his promised outcome.

“Although the Tyrant is powerful, he’s enraged the entire Duville family. At most, he’s satisfied his personal grudge.”

“There’s no way he can keep his promise to the Yang family—not mature enough yet,” Lin Fan shook his head in a feigned display of pity, careful not to mention how his earlier predictions had been disproven.

Others thought similarly. Although they admired Gu Ran’s extraordinary talent, they also felt he was too hot-headed and focused on his own satisfaction at the expense of the bigger picture. Still, for someone his age, Gu Ran had done exceptionally well. They doubted they could have done any better under the same circumstances.

“But what’s he doing now, calling the Duville family’s private channel? Is he planning to mock Finn Duville?”

Someone noticed Gu Ran using the communicator again to reconnect with Finn Duville’s video channel, and asked, bewildered.

Could it be that he wanted to kill their spirits after killing their bodies?

…

On the Screen.

“Seven minutes—not too long. We meet again, Mr. Finn Duville,” Gu Ran said, standing amid a scene of blood and corpses, smiling at the image of Finn Duville on the screen.

In reality, Gu Ran had spent half those seven minutes finding his way there. The entire encounter, from entering the E-District Legion Headquarters to his battle with William Duville, had taken less than four minutes.

Finn Duville’s gaze swept over Gu Ran’s surroundings. When his eyes fell on the tall corpse sliced in two, his pupils narrowed.

“You… what have you done?”

Finn Duville asked, voice low and tinged with an ominous sense of dread.

Gu Ran spread his hands in a gesture of innocence.

“Oh, right. You don’t even know where I am, do you? Allow me to explain.”

“This is the E-District Legion Headquarters. Its commanding officer was William Duville, an A-rank ability user. He commanded over twenty B-rank and higher ability users.”

Gu Ran’s smile turned cold.

“But as you can see, they’ve all been killed by me. The time it took? Since our last communication, you’re welcome to do the math.”

“Monster!”

Rage and shock swept over Finn Duville as he stared, eyes bulging, fingers pointing at Gu Ran.

“I will kill you!” he spat, pouring all his power into his ability, trying to compel Gu Ran to “end himself”.

But no matter how much effort he exerted, Gu Ran stood there, watching with a pleasant smile, utterly unaffected.

Gu Ran wasn’t entirely sure why Finn Duville’s mental ability didn’t affect him, chalking it up as one of his innate talents.

So, faced with the terrifying Finn Duville—feared by all—Gu Ran felt not a trace of fear. It was as if the great head of the Duville family, who ruled over Saint Yor City, was just an ugly old man next door.

Gu Ran scratched his ear and pretended to be annoyed.

“So, have you tried enough?”

Finn Duville’s face flushed with anger as he tried several more times, only to finally give up on killing Gu Ran from afar.

“Very well, state your name, boy.”

Finn Duville forced himself to calm down.

“You commit such atrocities, then call me personally. I assume you intend to make yourself famous?”