Upon hearing Pei Yan's plea, Shangxing hesitated for a moment. Although he didn't stop walking, he refrained from joining the battle, maintaining a certain distance from Pei Yan to provide the fastest assistance in case of emergency.

With Shangxing behind him as backup, Pei Yan felt bolder. He immediately initiated the metal storm, unleashing a torrent of bullets that formed azure beams shooting straight at Han Lihu's body.

The internal source of a fourth-rank awakened ability user is indeed incomparable to that of a first or second rank. The defense that was penetrated within seconds earlier now rippled around Han Lihu's body. Though his defense was rapidly depleting, the internal source replenishment from within him continuously filled the void.

After less than a minute of bullets hitting Han Lihu's body, he finally refused to remain a target. His figure began to move, and amidst his dodges, he waved his large hands, summoning a dense dark red mist in front of him.

The moment the bullets hit the mist, a fierce explosion occurred, generating extreme heat. Hidden behind the flames, Han Lihu temporarily disappeared from Pei Yan's sight. As Pei Yan activated the Mechanical Eye to locate the target, aluminum thermite wrapped in internal source surged past the flames, racing toward Pei Yan.

Before the attack could reach him, Pei Yan had already vanished from the spot!

"Too slow!" commented Shangxing sincerely, noticing Han Lihu's attack couldn't catch up with Pei Yan's speed. Even Shangxing himself couldn't keep up with Pei Yan now.

In the crowd, Xia Yu watched Pei Yan move rapidly, shooting madly at Han Lihu from multiple directions, and sighed, "His ability is just out of this world. Ordinary ability users would definitely be suppressed to the end!"

"Yes, before merging other abilities, he was already terrifying enough, able to devour others' internal sources which was already a nightmare. Now combined with such speed and long-range shooting ability, if I hadn't seen it myself, I would find it hard to believe a fourth-rank ability user would be suppressed so severely by someone not yet at second-rank!" Wang Wenze said incredulously, resting his hand on the camera.

Xia Yu turned to Wang Wenze, questioning, "Do you really think Pei Yan has thoroughly suppressed the opponent?"

"Isn't that the case?" Wang Wenze glanced at Han Lihu in the field, who only seemed to be struggling with no other actions.

Both Zhao Yuanhu and Xia Yu, looking worried, exchanged glances. Zhao Yuanhu interjected, "Perhaps, but don't you think something's odd about this Han Lihu? A normal fourth-rank ability user, even with average abilities, wouldn't be suppressed to this extent!"

"He's not the Han Lihu we knew!" At that moment, the weak Deng Shufa, waking slowly, said with a head full of sweat.

Ye Jiumu, upon hearing this, turned to the criminal already tied with confinement rings and asked sternly, "What do you mean?"

"Water, is there any water!" Deng Shufa pleaded with lips pale and cracked from blood loss.

Seeing this, Qi Hua crouched, retrieved a spare military canteen from the ring, and helped him drink it down.

Watching the opponent drink thirstily, like sipping nectar, still unsatisfied, asking for more, Qi Hua became impatient, "Come on, you can't drink too much. Hurry up and tell us what's going on! Don't fool me with downbeat nonsense!"

"He's controlled by someone, now just a puppet with pure fourth-rank ability, only able to perform basic functions!" Deng Shufa struggled to utter before taking a breath. If his previous guess was half-believed, seeing Han Lihu now pretty much confirmed the rumor.

Listening to Deng Shufa's words, Kong Lin beside Qi Hua sneered, "Controlled by someone? Ridiculous! Do you know how difficult it is to completely control someone's thoughts? An ability user's spiritual power is inherently stronger than regular people, especially a fourth-rank ability user. You're saying he's remote-controlled?"

"Believe it or not, I've said what I know!" Deng Shufa finished speaking, didn't bother arguing, groaned in pain, and fainted again.

As everyone was puzzled, unsure of the truth of the words, a muffled sound was heard, and Pei Yan and Shangxing simultaneously returned to the front of the crowd.

"Quick, prepare defense measures!" Shangxing's rough voice rang in everyone's ears!

Pei Yan had already acted first, planting his hands on the ground, crazily spewing metal torrents outward, forming one metal wall after another in front of everyone!

Though unclear about what happened, knowing things went bad, Ye Jiumu waved his hand, floating giant photos in the air, dropping metal walls out of nowhere, blocking in front of Pei Yan's metal walls.

Just as they finished, deafening explosions roared, carrying shock waves and sweeping winds! In the brief moment of contact with the metal walls, the walls were lifted as if being demolished.

"Indestructible, Avatar of Heaven and Earth!" Shangxing's body grew large, his physique shielding everyone as he held the steel wall at the front, yet even this could not completely neutralize the shock wave's force. He backed off over twenty meters carrying the wall before stopping.

Several minutes later, when the blast's aftermath gradually subsided, the slightly disheveled crowd finally breathed a sigh of relief. Qi Hua released Deng Shufa's hand, surprised, "What exactly happened?"

"Shang Team, are you alright?" Feeling the scorching heat emitted by the steel wall in front, Xia Yu hurried to Shangxing's side, asking with concern.

"I'm fine!" Shangxing, returning to normal, shook his hands smelling burnt, his palms began healing the moment he left the iron wall.

"What just happened!" Liang Qian shielded Wang Wenze as he walked to Pei Yan without his face mask and asked anxiously.

Pei Yan did not respond, waved him off, stood up and cautiously walked out from the steel wall, hands on his waist, looking outside the wall for a while before blurting out.

"He's a damn lunatic!"

By this time, everyone also stepped out from the steel wall, staring at the scene outside, eyes wide open. The first thing to greet them was an overwhelming heatwave, forcing them to step back, only stabilizing before carefully viewing.

Han Lihu was now nowhere in sight, and the spot where he previously stood was the center of radiation forming a gigantic circle, with the encompassed ground burned red by extreme heat.

While everyone was dumbstruck, a flash of light swept through the Jiezhi Space, and a figure appeared right on the burnt ground. Before the figure fully materialized, a miserable cry was heard as the figure disappeared with a flashing light.

A moment later, a flash lit up beside the crowd, Jiang Feiyang appeared, shaking his leg wildly and cursing, "Damn, are you guys hosting a barbecue party here!"