"What... what is this power!!" An Tian cried out to the heavens in despair and terror. Not just because of the pain, but because of the sheer dread!

People often exhibit a doubled fear towards completely unfamiliar domains. Just as many hulking brutes are terrified into spiritual collapse by ghosts or similar specters, for An Tian, Fang Senyan's Annihilation was an utterly unknown entity, naturally plunging him to the brink of panicked confusion.

And An Tian now realized that although he had teleported to another hilltop—which for ordinary men might mean a grueling, fatal pursuit—the enemy on the other side was already closing in rapidly. What was more terrifying was the insidious speed of their advance: the hills and boulders blocking their path seemed to actively shift aside, and shallower ravines mysteriously filled themselves in!

This maneuver might only buy them a few tenths of a second, but accumulating several or dozens of such tenths could translate into minutes saved.

In the brutal, life-or-death moment of a chase, a single second can determine life or death, victory or defeat—let alone minutes?

Watching the enemy pursue them like ravenous beasts hunting prey, An Tian had completely lost the resolute defiance he held moments before. He even lacked the will to continue fighting, panting as he weakly said:

"Fiorentino, let's flee first..."

The silver-white metal case beside him was now crisscrossed with cracks resembling turtle shells. One could see silvery light constantly surging, trying to mend the fissures, but just as the repair neared completion, an intensely aggressive flash of light would erupt, halting the equipment's self-restoration!

Fiorentino made a few clicking sounds upon hearing An Tian's words, and the light on the case pulsed in response. An Tian was instantly shocked:

"What! You mean, on that person's hand, there is a power that even space cannot resist?"

His expression shifted wildly. He suddenly opened his mouth, placed his remaining little finger inside, and bit down hard! Blood sprayed forth. An Tian's face was ashen; performing such an action with only one hand was already difficult, and he was drenched in sweat from the pain.

An Tian spat out his little finger. It hovered in the air, and then cube-like squares of intersecting lines rapidly appeared on the digit. It spun quickly, soon morphing into a bizarre, fleshy red worm covered on both sides with eyes. It floated in the air as if a fish drifting in water, swiftly swimming toward the distance, presumably to report back to their remaining teammate.

At that moment, the silver-white metal case also began to show squares that spun and transformed rapidly, finally taking the shape of glider-like silver-white wings, much like a Rubik's Cube transforming. However, the cracks blasted by Annihilation were clearly visible upon them.

An Tian donned the glider wings that Fiorentino had transformed into and looked back deeply at Fang Senyan. Fang Senyan, still a hundred meters away, had stopped and watched him, saying coolly:

"You dare fly here?"

Fang Senyan's point was well-taken. Since the destruction of the Mountain Fortress Ark, the government was surely enraged, meaning they would spare no expense in deploying military assets to various assembly points. Their prior battle had been quite noisy and must have alerted nearby military forces. If An Tian dared to take to the skies now, he risked becoming a living target!

An Tian looked at Fang Senyan, his voice laced with venomous hatred:

"Why do you stand in our way? The hope of our Revival has been extinguished by your own hand."

Fang Senyan replied calmly:

"First, the faction I chose is Salvation, which directly opposes your actions, so I must stop you. Second, I am also Chinese."

An Tian burst into wild laughter:

"Good, very good!"

Even as he roared with laughter, tears streamed from his eyes. Then, with a push of his feet, he launched himself into a glide toward the sky:

"Even if I must die, I won't make it easy for you!"

Fang Senyan sighed helplessly. He watched An Tian begin to glide toward the adjacent ridge, but just then, from Peace Town below the mountain, the roof tiles of a structure resembling a civilian house suddenly slid apart, revealing a rotating, grass-green multi-barreled launcher.

Seeing this, An Tian was already prepared. He hadn't intended to fly for long anyway, aiming only to reach a distance Fang Senyan couldn't cover. He had precisely calculated the distance—just over two kilometers—which, even with the speed of Fiorentino's Wings in his injured state, should only take eighteen-point-seven seconds!

The multi-barreled launcher fired a missile, streaking toward An Tian, trailing a long white smoke plume that gave the illusion of slow flight, though its actual speed was astonishing.

However, after a sharp evasive maneuver in the air, the missile narrowly missed An Tian, slamming into the mountainside with a muffled thud before exploding violently, kicking up dust and smoke tens of meters high.

An Tian was immensely smug, flipping Fang Senyan the middle finger, as survival seemed virtually assured after dodging that missile. But... just as An Tian angled toward the opposite slope, at least twenty panels on the mountainside simultaneously slid away, revealing identical grass-green multi-barreled launchers. Each launcher was capable of holding six Red Arrow VII air-to-air pursuit missiles!

With a continuous string of hissing sounds, all one hundred and twenty missiles launched simultaneously in an instant. The trailing white smoke nearly enveloped the entire mountainside!

"Damn it..." That was the last thought to cross An Tian's mind. To face a concentrated volley of one hundred and twenty missiles, even if he had landed, he would have been consumed by the catastrophic secondary explosions. Even Fang Senyan would likely not survive this calamity.

The pale blue smoke slowly dissipated, and dirt trickled down. Fang Senyan sighed lightly, noticing soldiers silently rushing to the site below, and swiftly departed with San Zai... "How could this be?" Zi looked at the objects on the coffee table with astonishment.

They had regrouped in a local five-star hotel. Fang Senyan was reclined on the sofa, a bitter smile playing on his lips, while the coffee table displayed the deep-green glove: the Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Gauntlet.

This glove, which had recently been the center of attention, originally possessed a rough, thick, almost miner-like aesthetic—direct and brutally simple. Paired with its deep-green luminescence, it looked like the perfect finishing touch, highly marketable. Furthermore, the liquid metal lifeform had added black-and-red stripes after taking form, giving it an aura of majesty mixed with murderous intent.

However, the glove's appearance was now severely marred by a single scar.

The scar looked ordinary—a streak that seemed like nothing more than rusted corrosion, as if a touch of a finger would flake off rust residue.

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, the better the remaining appearance of the Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Gauntlet looked, the more conspicuous that scar became.

Jiaoshi, San Zai, and Fang Senyan exchanged glances, then offered wry smiles:

"I can't answer your question either, because I don't know what's going on. We discovered this scratch about half an hour ago. Even more bizarrely, the spatial system's appraisal shows the glove is completely normal, without any issues."

It was Old Charlie who observed carefully for a while before saying thoughtfully:

"Master, if my guess is correct, then the Law of Time Entropy must be taking effect."

"Time Entropy? That legendary poison of time?" Fang Senyan exclaimed, "How could this happen? And why is Time Entropy acting upon my equipment?"

Old Charlie explained slowly:

"In legend, time is considered a venomous substance. This venom is slow, resolute, irresistible, and has no antidote; all matter will eventually be eroded by the venom of time and perish. This is the origin of Time Entropy. As for why it's affecting the Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Gauntlet, the reason is not hard to explain—it likely stems from Annihilation itself."

After Old Charlie pointed it out, Fang Senyan mused:

"Are you suggesting... that the Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Gauntlet cannot withstand the ability that Annihilation imparts?"

Old Charlie confirmed seriously:

"Yes. Based on my inference, the ability of Annihilation should only manifest on top-tier equipment. Even Legendary-grade gear should have an extremely rare chance of possessing it. However, we successfully transferred it to the light-green Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Gauntlet through the liquid metal lifeform's integration."

"This action inherently violates the rules of space, much like forcing a small truck rated for three tons to carry ten tons of cargo! Even if it can barely manage, the truck's lifespan will rapidly deplete."

Fang Senyan nodded upon hearing Old Charlie's words:

"You are right. This is indeed something I overlooked."

San Zai pressed for more information:

"But if the glove is damaged, why does the spatial system declare it perfectly intact? How do you explain that?"

"Instances where something is declared normal yet exhibits flaws are very common; they are all around us. I believe you are simply overthinking it," Old Charlie said calmly. "For example, a man with an amputated limb is discharged from the hospital and lives for a year, becoming as strong as an ox. Would you say his current physical condition is healthy or unhealthy?"