Chapter 49: Time Stop Series

Chapter 49 Time-Stop Series

"That’s a decent heart. It seems you aren’t just an ordinary person."

The owner of the blood-red giant hand was none other than Jiang Ren. Seeing that Bridges appeared stunned, he used two fingers to pinch the heart in the center of his palm.

Hearing the voice, Bridges suddenly had a moment of epiphany.

Oh.

So this actually is my heart...

Yet an even greater wave of confusion welled up from the bottom of Bridges' heart: Wasn't Jiang still surrounded by the tentacle monsters? How could he possibly appear behind me? And why didn't those dozens of people standing behind warn me?

"I bet you must be feeling very confused right now, right?"

Jiang Ren smiled faintly, and then said, "Don't worry, I will help you clear up your—keep dreaming!"

His fingers instantly exerted more force, and the heart within them directly burst.

Since he had already decided to strike, he had to completely eliminate the enemy. This simple truth was something he still understood.

After all, he had no desire to experience those tropes from certain movies and novels where the protagonist hesitates for a moment, allowing the enemy to make a miraculous comeback, or escaping only to drag out the plot for dozens of episodes.

Fresh blood splattered onto Bridges' face and chest.

With his heart shattered, the vitality within Bridges' body rapidly extinguished, and his head hung limply down toward his chest. If not for the fact that Jiang Ren's hand had not yet been withdrawn from his chest, he probably would have collapsed directly.

"Such a fragile body."

Jiang Ren shook his head, his expression calm.

The heart housed in the antique iron box ahead, after absorbing more than half of the energy from the tens of millions of lives in this city, now contained energy that surpassed his own left arm.

Yet, it was a pity.

Clearly possessing such a vast amount of energy, Bridges, as its owner, only knew how to use it in the crudest way possible. It was akin to a child driving a fighter jet; even though he could press the missile launch button, he was utterly incapable of unleashing the true power of the fighter jet.

Of course, Jiang Ren did not consider himself to be much better off either.

The formidable power he possessed fundamentally originated from his left arm, but the energy of the left arm had increased far too rapidly, leaving him with virtually no time to familiarize himself with it, accumulate power, or let it settle.

Much like an ordinary person piloting a fighter jet, he could touch every single button, yet he remained ignorant of the functions of most of them, let alone being able to deftly maneuver and utilize them.

Am I dead?

Have I failed?

Feeling his life rapidly draining from his body, Bridges suddenly found several questions popping into his mind.

No! I am not dead, I have not failed, I can still ascend to godhood!

A fierce flash of determination crossed Bridges' eyes, and his mouth silently recited an incantation he had once thought he would never need to utter.

This incantation did not possess any miraculous abilities.

It merely served to offer his body as a sacrifice to the divine heart, allowing the divine consciousness slumbering within the divine heart to awaken and use his body as a vessel to fully resurrect.

Naturally, the consequence of doing this would be the complete dissipation of Bridges' soul and consciousness, leaving behind nothing more than a shell.

Yet, this was already sufficient for him. Compared to dying in such a frustrating manner right on the threshold of success, offering up his body at least guaranteed that his physical form would attain godhood!

This was undoubtedly a form of ascension to godhood as well!

Clang!

Hovering quietly two meters above the ground, the antique iron box suddenly shattered, revealing the bizarrely shaped, blood-red heart within.

Just as Jiang Ren glanced over, he saw the heart rapidly contracting and expanding.

Simultaneously, invisible and wondrous energy manifested in the surroundings, instantly triggering a certain special transformation.

A few droplets of blood falling from Bridges hung suspended in mid-air, a raised leaf drifted no further, and Jiang Ren even discovered that his own body was unable to move.

It was as if time around them had fallen into a standstill.

Encountering this exact same situation were the tentacle monsters over a thousand meters away, as well as the fleshy ball, the robed figure, the schoolboy, and the woman with sunglasses, alongside the temporary clone Jiang Ren had created with his left arm.

"What's going on? Why can't I move?"

The woman in sunglasses felt a tinge of bewilderment; she discovered that the only part of her entire body that could barely twitch seemed to be her eyes.

Just as she wanted to test whether her eye-based charm control ability was still effective, her peripheral vision caught sight of a familiar red figure over a thousand meters away.

While shock gripped her heart, the woman in sunglasses swiftly shifted her gaze to look at another identical red figure a dozen meters away beside her.

Now, the questions in her mind not only failed to diminish, but instead multiplied.

Why were there two Jiangs?

A sudden thought flashed through the mind of the woman in sunglasses: Could it be that some deity heard my prayers and thus bestowed yet another Jiang upon me, allowing me to experience double the joy at the same time?

Compared to the optimism of the woman in sunglasses, the fleshy ball, the robed figure, and the schoolboy felt rather nervous.

Due to their angles, although they could also barely move their eyeballs, they were completely unable to see Jiang Ren standing outside the altar.

Facing such a situation, all they could do was look at each other, mutually inquiring what on earth was happening.

"Is this time-stop?"

Standing at the very center of the time standstill, Jiang Ren currently had all his attention focused on the bizarre heart revealed after the shattering of the antique iron box.

For some inexplicable reason, a series called "Time-Stop" suddenly popped into his head.

A massive surge of energy emerged.

Inside the bizarre heart, a white figure the size of a palm slowly rose.

The little figure lacked distinct facial features, and only the general location of its face could be faintly discerned.

The figure paused for a moment, then slowly flew toward Bridges. During its journey, its head turned to glance at Jiang Ren, before drifting directly into Bridges' head.

Although he could not see the little figure's eyes, Jiang Ren could clearly sense that what it was looking at should be his left arm.

Swish!

"Bridges" abruptly lifted his limply hanging head.

A vast and confounding surge of energy manifested within his body, rapidly repairing the massive wound on his chest while slowly pushing Jiang Ren's right hand backward out of it.

Bang!

A blood-red giant hand covered in scales directly crushed the head of "Bridges".

Blood droplets fell, and the leaf drifted past.

The time-stop vanished.

The bizarre heart shuddered and emitted a mournful cry, fragments surfacing all over its body before transforming back into the antique iron box. It enclosed the heart once more, continuing to hover in its original position.

"That's... resolved?"

Jiang Ren stood dumbfounded, his gaze shifting back and forth between the bizarre heart and the shattered head.

He had originally anticipated that a fierce battle would ensue with this bizarre heart, and that he might even need to unleash various overpowered bursts of strength to win—though there was also a high probability of losing.

Precisely because he anticipated the situation developing in that direction, he had deliberately feigned weakness and launched a sneak attack, hoping to increase his odds of winning.

As it turned out, just by unexpectedly crushing Bridges' head, the white figure that had only just drifted inside was obliterated instantly without even having a chance to react!

And that bizarre heart had unexpectedly become an ownerless item.

"What is this supposed to be?"

Jiang Ren felt somewhat speechless in his heart.

The sensation was akin to playing a level-based game where, after finally struggling all the way to the boss, you slash it once and the boss simply dies.

"Demon, could you please save us first before you zone out?!"

In the distance, having just discovered that he could move again only to be swarmed once more by the tentacle monsters, the fleshy ball and the others couldn't help but shout out.

Under the obvious, gleaming gaze of the woman in sunglasses, they too noticed that an extra Jiang had appeared in the distance. Though they didn't know what was going on, since Bridges had died right next to him, they figured they ought to be saved.