Zhang Chen held Arlen's wrist in one hand and A Jian's neck in the other.
He stood in the middle with a cold expression.
"Huh? Arlen? You... you're going to kill me? Are you insane?"
"Aren't we good brothers!"
Zhang Chen was squeezing A Jian's neck, not his throat.
So A Jian's voice was not affected. Instead, due to anger, it became much louder.
When the other brainless fan girls saw their idol subdued by Zhang Chen in an instant, their faces changed dramatically.
Holding the crossbows in their hands, they didn't know what to do.
Upon hearing A Jian say that Arlen intended to kill him, disbelief flickered in everyone's eyes.
This was a statement that overturned their worldview.
In their impression, the Four Horsemen had always had a very harmonious relationship, especially Arlen, who had a very good temper.
No matter how others provoked him, he would just smile faintly.
He gave people a feeling of warmth and safety.
And now... this?
The gentlest Arlen wanted to kill his own good brother?
All their personas collapsed.
The fans' worldviews were also instantly shattered...
Some brainless fans immediately knelt on the ground, holding their heads and weeping.
They simply couldn't believe that the idol they admired wholeheartedly, the idol they were willing to give everything for...
Was a scumbag?!
Of course, there were also some stubborn, fanatical fans who were cursing Zhang Chen.
They believed that their idol had no choice but to defend himself under Zhang Chen's attack and coercion.
In short, everything their brother did was right!
Arlen felt as if his wrist was being gripped by a slowly tightening iron hoop, his palm no longer receiving blood.
His wrist bone was gradually being crushed and deformed, slowly exceeding the bone's limit of endurance, eventually shattering!
If this process continued...
The shattered bone would pierce the flesh, destroying the arm from within!
Arlen broke out in a cold sweat from the pain and managed to say:
"A... A Jian... If I don't kill you, you'll die just the same!"
"If you die... and I absorb your crystal core... and level up again... I might have the strength to fight!"
"Now that my leveling up is hopeless... we're all doomed... Ah..."
Zhang Chen's left hand exerted force sharply, with a crack.
He cleanly snapped Arlen's wrist but didn't let go.
The latter could no longer speak, only let out screams.
"Big brother, you saved me. I'm willing to recognize you as my boss!"
"I'll personally kill that beast Arlen... and then..."
A Jian only managed to say half of his sentence.
Then, with a crack.
Zhang Chen expressionlessly twisted his neck.
"Don't misunderstand."
Zhang Chen wasn't here to save him at all.
You must know that when one person dies and is harvested by another, only 50-60% of the crystal core can be collected.
When Zhang Chen killed Arlen, he could also only collect 50-60% of Arlen's crystal core.
This way, it would be equivalent to collecting only 25-36% of A Jian's crystal core.
There would be a loss.
Zhang Chen stopped Arlen simply to prevent intermediaries from profiting!
"Go to hell!"
Arlen's wrist was in excruciating pain.
But he still had his other hand.
Since he couldn't escape, he decided to fight Zhang Chen to the death!
He was an energy evolution type, a stage 2 initial awakened!
His left hand suddenly unleashed an energy beam from behind Zhang Chen!
[Energy Focus Strike]!
*Bang!*
Zhang Chen didn't even move, enduring the attack head-on.
Arlen was overjoyed!
"It hit?! Successful sneak attack!?"
"Haha, no matter how strong someone is, they can't withstand this damage when caught off guard!"
"Even a crawler can't, let alone a human!"
"If I collect this guy, I'll definitely have a surge of power, and I might even be able to dominate the apocalypse! Haha!"
However...
The next second...
Arlen's expression became extremely ugly!
Because he discovered that as Zhang Chen was attacked, armor instantly appeared, covering his entire body.
The area hit on his back didn't even show a trace of scorching.
The armor perfectly blocked all damage.
At this moment, a line of prompts appeared before Zhang Chen.
[Energy Focus Armor absorbed part of the Energy Focus Strike's energy, total crystal cores +1!]
"Alright, although the crystal core given is a bit less."
"It's still free, isn't it?!"
"This... this is impossible!"
"If I weren't just a little short of leveling up, this wouldn't be the result!"
"Ahhh!"
[Energy Focus Strike]!
[Energy Focus Strike]!
Arlen endured the pain and unleashed two [Energy Focus Strikes] with all his might!
One attacked Zhang Chen's abdomen, and the other attacked Zhang Chen's face.
However... all the attacks were lightly absorbed and decomposed by the armor.
[Total energy crystal cores +1]
[Total energy crystal cores +1]
"Is that all?"
Zhang Chen flicked his left hand upwards.
Arlen was sent flying into the air.
[Energy Focus Strike]!
Zhang Chen slowly opened his left hand, unleashing an attack nonchalantly.
*Boom!*
A thick beam of energy engulfed most of Arlen's body, blasting a hole in the castle hotel behind him.
The swimming pool water cascaded down like a waterfall...
Arlen looked at his body, which was instantly blown away by more than half... his slowly disappearing remains...
He suddenly understood one thing...
Even if he had just killed A Jian and successfully advanced to stage 3 of the initial awakened...
Such strength was still insignificant in front of Zhang Chen...
Let alone fighting to the death... even escaping was a delusion...
From this perspective... dying without regret was perhaps a consolation...
In front of such a powerful expert, all schemes and tricks were nothing but a joke...
Arlen's body turned into a mist and dissipated in the air.
Zhang Chen then flexed his arms.
[Crystal Core Resonance]!
*Whoosh!* *Boom!*
An invisible shockwave swept out.
It directly scattered the surrounding brainless fans and fanatical fans into white mist...
[Crystal Core Resonance]!
With another strike, he pulverized the staff hiding inside the castle hotel and the fanatical fans who were trying to avenge their idol into dust...
*Ding!* Automatically collected [Energy Crystal Core]*9300 + 7540 (80% talent bonus), [Signed Photo of a Certain Group]*230, [Cheering Props]*520, [Basic Water Purifier]*1, [Repeating Crossbow]*196, [Repeating Crossbow Blueprint]*1, [Sharp Short Sword]*182, [Sharp Short Sword Blueprint]*1, [Heisei City Map]*1, [Storage Ring Fragment]*722...
The rest included a large amount of food and beverages...
The entire camp had nearly two hundred people, all survivors from the thousands of fans at the concert who had been tempered by the apocalypse.
Most were at the exceptionally strong tier, with a few at the extreme physique tier.
The only strange thing was... no [Radiation Suit] was found!