Gray Serpent: I Can Tell-you're All Masters of Your Own Trades / Chapter 18: You. Got. Fooled.

Sigfried was taken aback and was about to speak when he was interrupted by Ai and Anna, who were on guard duty.

"Everyone be careful! Xia Ling, come quickly and help me stabilize the surrounding space. Kiana and the others have made their move!"

"I see."

Xia Ling immediately reached out and probed into the space, sensing the drastically changed environment around her, and continuously smoothing out the ripples in her area by opening and closing these tiny doors.

Before long, the spatial fluctuations gradually stopped, and as the fluctuations ceased, Sigfried's figure beside them gradually became transparent.

"Kiana has made her move, so we should too... I'll go!"

Before she could finish speaking, Xia Ling's voice suddenly stopped, and she immediately led everyone away from the original spot using teleportation. Just as her figure disappeared, an Imaginary Energy Cannon blasted into the location where she had just been.

"Is this the giant enemy life form you mentioned, Big Cabbage...?"

"That's right, if we defeat it, we can reach the deepest part of the Planet Catalog."

Ai subconsciously ignored Xia Ling's address, nodded, and a huge Ring Blade immediately appeared in her hand.

Meanwhile, two other figures appeared on the other side of the battlefield.

As for the identity of the newcomer... it can be seen from the Red Crow Feather Arrows scattered all over the ground.

"Flame Willow, Raven!"

Anna waved excitedly.

"That idiot..." Raven sighed helplessly and shouted as he watched Anna being moved away from her original position by Xia Ling once again, thus dodging another attack.

"Xia Ling! We can't hide our defection for long, so let's finish this quickly!"

"Okay!"

Upon hearing the Raven's cry, Xia Ling didn't hesitate and immediately looked at the people around her.

"Help me buy some time, I need to prepare. Also, Theresa, help Anna freeze it later, I might not be able to aim my next shot."

"Can't aim...?" Theresa paused for a moment, then their unspoken understanding made her realize Xia Ling's meaning. "Ah, you want to use that?"

"Yes, that's the one." Xia Ling nodded emphatically.

"If you have a plan, get on with it quickly. And all you riddle solvers, go to hell!"

The Big Cabbage next to it was almost turning red from listening.

However, despite the riddle, what Xia Ling had to do was actually not complicated.

As we all know, her utility has always been ridiculously strong. The only drawback is that her Armor Break Line is not high enough. This is compensated for by the Seven Thunders of Retribution, Scout's Sniper Scope, and the skill template for global sniping.

However, this also presents a problem: because Xia Ling has been subjected to too many tortures, the conditions for her to unleash her power have become extremely demanding. Distance, time, and sufficient preparation are all essential.

However, once the story progressed to the point where Thousand-Man Herrscher, she rarely encountered opponents who gave her enough time to prepare before the battle... This meant that instead of forcing herself to maintain a high position to deal damage, she would rather provide more support effects for her teammates.

However, after a close conversation with Theresa one day, when Xia Ling was cleaning up the mess and using her Space Power to redirect the water flow, she looked at the sticky liquid that had been stretched into long silver threads by her Space Power and had a sudden inspiration.

Since Space Power can shorten the distance between two things, making one's bullets impossible to defend against, can we consider the opposite?

If we use Space Power to lengthen the distance between the two, and let the bullets be fired out of Imaginary Space after absorbing the full bonus of Scout's Sniper Scope, wouldn't it be possible to trigger the maximum range bonus even at short distances?

However, the ideal was far from reality. Because the speed of a bullet is limited, and the pre-opened spatial gate was like a ballistic warning, after many experiments, Xia Ling had to regretfully announce a fact.

That is, this move seems to only work against large units that are not very agile. Against humanoid creatures, the hit rate is basically zero, especially against beings like Theresa whose physical abilities completely overwhelm them.

But... this gun isn't so easy to dodge when facing this enormous Imaginary Corpse Remains Existentialism.

Upon seeing the enormous black ice crystal rise from the ground and completely freeze the huge flower stem, Xia Ling did not hesitate to raise her gun and aim at the monster's Imaginary Core.

Then... accompanied by a barely perceptible rumble of thunder, purple lightning seamlessly entered Xia Ling's open door from the muzzle of the gun, accelerating in circles before flying out again without warning from the core of existentialism.

Almost instantly, the bullet carrying the Authority of Conquest destroyed the core defenses of this enormous monster, and then, accompanied by a strange hum, the giant imaginary flower slammed into the ground.

Chapter Seventeen Gray Serpent: I can see it now, you all possess extraordinary skills.

"Is it over already...?"

Watching the Imaginary Corpse Existentialist crash to the ground with the sound of a gunshot, Xia Ling retrieved the Seven Thunders of Retribution from her hand.

"It should have ended much sooner..." Ai seemed a little uncomfortable with such an easy battle. "After all, based on what I've observed, if there were only two S-rank Valkyrie -level fighters here, then we would have had to engage in a life-or-death tug-of-war with them."

"But now we..." Ai sighed, glancing at the number of people around her. "It wouldn't be too difficult to capture this big flower alive and take it back to raise."

"We have to ensure the success rate of the plan." Xia Ling put her hands on her hips proudly. "Don't be fooled by my plans being rather aggressive; I usually overcalculate the number of people needed to carry them out."

"Besides your own part, right?" Theresa angrily pinched Xia Ling's soft waist. "You idiot, you should take better care of yourself!"

Seeing the two flirting and teasing each other, and then looking at the trio she hadn't seen in a long time, Ai suddenly felt like her head was shining, like a giant light bulb.

"Ahem, enough of the small talk. Shouldn't we go inside and take a look?"

Behind the Imaginary Corpse, Xia Ling could clearly sense the anomaly in the space. Unlike the space they were in now, that direction seemed to extend into the deeper parts of the Planet Catalog.

"Yes, of course, but we also need to be careful of the guardian of the Planet Catalog. Although I'm confident I won't be discovered if I'm alone, with so many of us, we could easily be..."

"Don't worry, even if you're alone, you'll still be discovered. You're underestimating the Stigmata Project's control over the planet."

Xia Ling patted the exposed, rounded shoulder of the Big Cabbage and laughed, "Don't underestimate the fact that the principle of the Stigmata Project is not complicated. Its practicality is top-notch. Don't underestimate the ingenious design of those geniuses from the Previous Civilization."

"Really..."

Ai clearly didn't quite believe it, but the timeline Xia Ling saw seemed more reliable than hers, forcing her to believe it.

"However, with so many of us, the guardian might not even show up, right? What should we do if he doesn't come out?"

Theresa suddenly thought of this possibility and immediately asked.

"That doesn't matter. Even if he doesn't show himself, Big Cabbage can directly enter people's dreams, and I can directly release the Corrosion Virus inside the Planet Catalog. Either way, it will shake the foundation of the Stigmata Project."

"So... hiding? Hiding also counts as time, you know?"

As she spoke, Xia Ling led everyone to the core area of Planet Catalog. Just as she said, as soon as they entered the core area, she immediately reached out and gently touched the wall next to her.

As Xia Ling touched it, her fingertips were already covered with layers of faint green mosaic.

At the same time, Ai immediately began to communicate with the blue bubbles floating in the air. These bubbles were the manifestations of human dreams in the Planet Catalog.

But... their opponents moved even faster than they believed.

"You should know, Miss Xia Ling."

The sound of metal clashing against metal came from behind, and a Gray Serpent with black and gold stripes had silently appeared behind the group.

"Every action has its price. Sabotaging the Stigmata Project... Are you prepared to pay the price?"

"I may pay the price, but not now."

Xia Ling turned around, her tone without the slightest hesitation.

"But you... if I remember correctly, you should be an emotionless, rational Gray Serpent. You dare to appear before us... do you think you have the confidence to defeat all of us?"

"Hehe..."

Unexpectedly, Gray Serpent did not object to Xia Ling's words, but instead scanned everyone present in turn, its mechanical eyes flashing with a scarlet light.

"Inheritors, Fusion Warrior, heterogeneous beings, Herrscher, traitors, and... counterfeit Stigmata, the composition of your team is quite diverse."

"However, Raven, as a traitor to the World Serpent, have you considered the price you will pay for this? Your children are still in New Atra."

"You don't need to worry about that. I will personally apologize to the Honored Master for my 'betrayal'... But you, do you really think you can represent all the Gray Serpent?"

The Raven snorted, showing utter disdain for the Gray Serpent's threat.

"Hehe, of course I can't speak for everyone, but not speaking for everyone doesn't mean I can't control things..."

Gray Serpent didn't say much, but looked at Flame Willow.

"To be honest, compared to the 'foreign object' over there, your existence is more intriguing to me."

"...?"

Flame Willow didn't speak, but just quietly watched the Gray Serpent.

She had already noticed that the Gray Serpent referred to her as "the forged Stigmata."

Admittedly, her abilities were indeed fabricated through the system, but... the system's fabrication was extremely sophisticated; even Mobius hadn't noticed anything wrong. So how could this Gray Serpent...?

"Are you surprised? Actually, the principle is very simple."

Gray Serpent replied calmly, "Stigmata can be seen as a record of past information, but since it is a record, it must have an object to be recorded."

"And this power of yours, or rather, the Stigmata... do you think it has ever existed in this world?"

"You seem to have said a little too much today."

At this moment, Xia Ling spoke up.

"You shouldn't be like this. Let me guess, are you... stalling for time?"

Aren't you the same?

Gray Serpent shrugged rather humanely. "If you hadn't pointed it out, we could have stalled for a while longer."

"However, since that's the case... then we'll have to find another way to properly entertain you all."

As he spoke, the Gray Serpent took a few steps back, and all sorts of Imaginary Corpse appeared from the air.

"Aren't you going to take action yourself?"

With a flash of lightning, the Seven Thunders of Retribution reappeared in Xia Ling's hand.

"As I said, I am the individual responsible for central coordination. Although I have combat capabilities, it is not my forte."

The golden Gray Serpent showed no intention of continuing to speak, and at that moment, the hissing of the imaginary creatures completely drowned out the conversation.

"Alright..."

Xia Ling glanced at the traces of the Corrosion Virus that had just been left on the wall and silently calculated the time in her mind.

We also need to stall for time on Gray Serpent 1904's side. In that case, let's pretend to fight for a while...

Chapter Eighteen: You've Been Scammed

It can only be said that within the Stigmata Space, the Gray Serpent's authority is indeed ridiculously high.

Despite Xia Ling and the others not going all out due to their speed in clearing monsters, the Gray Serpent managed to create a stalemate for a time by continuously sending in Imaginary Constructs.

"These Imaginary Corpse were born from human dreams."

In the midst of the chaos, Gray Serpent suddenly spoke.

"Your desire to destroy these Imaginary Corpse is an impossible proposition from the very beginning..."

"So you've finally decided to speak. Looks like you've stalled for enough time?"

Xia Ling looked in the direction of the Gray Serpent, seemingly because he was already confident of victory, and he returned to the front of the stage.

"Hehe, Miss Xia Ling seems to have said that she was also stalling for time..."

The Gray Serpent sneered noncommittally, "Let me guess, are you waiting for that Herrscher of Corruption that you've 'converted'?"

"If that's the case, then Miss Xia Ling might be disappointed. You don't think we would leave the Stigmata Space unprotected, knowing that you took the Herrscher of Corruption away, would we?"

"Admittedly, it is very difficult to completely restrain the Herrscher of Corruption, but we didn't need to eliminate her in the first place. There are many ways to mislead, entice, and trick her. After all, she is still too young."

Gray Serpent glanced at Xia Ling, who seemed to be suppressing a change in expression, and a mocking smile appeared on his face.

"Miss Xia Ling, you've underestimated your enemy a bit too much... Next, prepare to be captured by the Stigmata Project and become part of the dream."

"Capture? Mr. Gray Serpent, aren't you overestimating your abilities?"

Ai snorted lightly, "In the Stigmata Project, there shouldn't have been anyone like me, right? If that's the case, then what's the point of talking about capturing me?"

"You're right, I really don't know what kind of being you are."

The Gray Serpent shrugged. "But... as a non-human being, you are a little too much like a human."

As the voice rang out, Ai's body began to gradually become ethereal, and a drowsy feeling, like the premonition of falling asleep, suddenly swept over everyone's minds.

"And your imitation is your biggest mistake... The capture conditions of the Stigmata Project are not limited to the human race, but rather, human consciousness."

"Anyone possessing a consciousness similar to that of a human will be captured by the Stigmata Project."

"Whether it's you, the Herrscher, or even... the Finality."

"Hehe..."