131 Intercepts Sky Ring

Bang!

Yuhelai stumbled and slid heavily down the hillside. His face was grim. The Black Knight's shield bash had just hit his kidney. Without armor protection, he had suffered a kidney hemorrhage from the impact.

Although... in reality, that little bit of armor didn't provide much protection, how could he easily calm down after being so humiliated by the Black Whale who was still a mortal?

"Black Whale, just you wait! I'll kill you sooner or later..."

He leaned on a cane made from Zonia's spine, stood up shakily, and looked at the snow-covered sky, feeling somewhat lost for a moment.

—I'm lost.

Yuhelai didn't want to admit it, but there was nothing he could do about it.

After losing track of the Black Whale, it would take him several hours to relocate it, giving the Black Whale ample time to escape.

Damn it, if you're so capable, why don't you keep fighting head-on! That guy, after driving me away, turned around and ran away... what was his reason? Yuhelai thought to himself, and suddenly calmed down.

'That guy isn't the type to live a life of cowardice or selfishness. The fact that he suddenly rode his motorcycle alone into the Outland means something important must have happened to him.'

Black Whale is kind and generous. Even when faced with the suppression of the Sky Ring, he dared to step forward without hesitation and block the cannonballs. With his physique, Yuhelai even suspected that he was about to Gamma-rank.

If that were the case, with Gamma-rank body and the power of the Hidden Society — Yuhelai became wary.

He will lose.

I can't let that guy advance to the Gamma-rank, otherwise I'll definitely lose to him.

Although Horst often told riddles, Yuhelai knew he never lied.

He almost got killed even when dealing with Li Aoz, Beta-rank opponent... If it weren't for the Blood of Ether holding things in check, that drill would probably have torn his chest apart.

He was blinded by the frenzy of the battle at the time, but now, looking back, he only feels lingering fear.

Without the Blood of Ether... wouldn't I be easily slaughtered by Li Aoz? Similarly, Gretwar Night Song, with his powerful physique, after advancing to the Gamma-rank and obtaining the Blood of Ether from the Hidden Society, would surely be able to unleash terrifying power.

'We can't wait any longer, we have to act quickly!'

Think about it carefully, what else is important recently? — Li Aoz caused a scene at Nine Dragons Gathering.

Upon realizing this, Yuhelai's mind immediately began to work.

Yeah... Li Aoz, Li Aoz, isn't everything that's happened lately because of this guy?

Those Heavenly Ring People sent troops to eliminate Li Aoz.

When Gretvor was being broken out of prison, Li Aoz was causing a scene at the event.

No matter how you look at it, it's not too obvious, it's too much of a coincidence.

The Red Squad didn't break into the prison earlier or later, but they did it right when Li Aoz started causing trouble and killing people. Then, as soon as Li Aoz escaped to the Outland, Gretvor started running towards the Outland...

"Li Aoz, that guy is definitely familiar with Gretvor, or at least they know each other and have a cooperative relationship."

Yuhelai a cold laugh.

How ridiculous! Such a clumsy scheme, isn't it just a feint? All that talk about nuclear weapons and provocation is pointless. Li Aoz's goal from beginning to end was the Black Whale.

"Don't even think about it, Li Aoz. You're not very bright, but you're quite cunning."

Yuhelai's gaze sharpened, revealing a mouthful of shark teeth as he locked onto the direction the Sky Ring troops were moving.

"Just you wait, Li Aoz, you and Black Whale are both mine!"

Buzz—

The roar of the motorcycle disrupted Li Aoz's thoughts. He shook his head. Ya Wen's sudden confession did not affect his judgment. He neither accepted nor rejected her, but simply said, "Really? I look forward to our next meeting," trying to keep his distance.

Ya Wen must be having some kind of problem; she's in a bad mental state. It's good to call her over so we can have a face-to-face talk.

"Sorry, I ran into a madman on the way. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

A tall man, completely shrouded in a black Exoskeleton Armor, slowly walked up to Li Aoz, removed his helmet, revealing a mature and composed face:

"Gretwar Night Song. Nice to meet you, please take care of me."

"Thank you for coming. I am Li Aoz."

Gretvor extended his hand to shake hands with Li Aoz. Without exchanging pleasantries, Li Aoz immediately explained the situation to him, "The situation is not optimistic. An entire regiment of Heavenly Ring Warrior is advancing towards us. We have observed at least 12 Mobile Armor, a fully mechanized force, and air support as well."

"A countermeasure of this level wouldn't work even with several Gamma-rank." Gretvor also became serious. "For small countries, this is a force capable of annihilating a nation."

"Yes, that's why I'm looking for help." Li Aoz glanced at the storm in the distance. "The Heavenly Ring Warrior are using the Cataclysm as cover, so the reconnaissance drones can't get detailed intelligence. The only option here is a head-on ambush, otherwise we'll all be swallowed up by the Cataclysm."

"What do you plan to do?" Gretvor wanted to hear the young man's opinion.

Frankly speaking, based on what he had seen along the way, the natural disaster stretching for thousands of kilometers completely eliminated any possibility of a sneak attack. If they were not careful, the teams that went to ambush them could be buried by the natural disaster.

Guerrilla warfare is even less reliable. Where would they find cover or terrain in the Outland? These people, relying on the transport capabilities of bipedal, general-purpose human vehicles, would be bombed to death by Mobile Armor before they could even run a few hundred meters.

In contrast, the most reliable approach is to rely on the Old Era relics here, and in this permanent structure that is half submerged underground, to wage a war of attrition, buy time, and wait until all preparations for going to heaven are complete.

But Gretvor doesn't think Li Aoz would think that simply.

After all, she is the one who saved herself, so she should have her own unique ideas.

"Positioning is definitely going to be fought," Li Aoz admitted. "There is no better way to buy time than positional warfare, but before that, we must organize several waves of blocking battles."

He called Mouldy Crotch over, projected a tactical sand table, and explained, "The Sky Ring troops are advancing very quickly, and the sand dunes Outland pose virtually no obstacle to their progress. If we want to make a move, we can only do so by flanking them from this point."

He pointed to a building that looked like an abandoned factory.

"What is this?" Du Zexin wondered. "There is no information about this on the computer."

"Sunny Garden".

Li Aoz explained:

"The headquarters of the Greening Base is located underground. We can travel to and from it by taking the Track No. 1012 controlled by the Subway Brotherhood, which also helps us avoid natural disasters."

Gretvor's eyelids twitched. "But this would be like shifting the blame eastward, and the Greening Base- Qaeda would hate you..."

"Of course, but I'm about to go into space, so let them hate as they please. Hatred can't travel Superluminal."

Li Aoz's remarks left Gretvor speechless.

"This plan is indeed bold." Du Zexin's synthesized voice was mistakenly set up and replaced with a cute female voice, but he was too lazy to care about such things in his current state. "Attack from underground in the Greening Base and then return by rail—but in the current situation, where are you going to find the Brotherhood of the Subway Brotherhood's Armored Train?"

Why should I specifically seek out the Subway Brotherhood?

Li Aoz glanced blankly at Du Zexin, or rather, looked past Du Zexin's mechanical body at the pickup trucks from Triangle Town shuttling back and forth in the distance.

"Who says trains have to travel on railway tracks?"

With the plan finalized, Li Aoz immediately began recruiting suicide squad members to join him. Players were very enthusiastic in signing up, and even some players who were only level five or six joined the team with guns. Before long, Li Aoz had 800 players under his command, along with 190 pickup trucks and jeeps, each carrying a homemade RPG from Triangle Town.

Players can only set their respawn point to Triangle Town, but no one wants to miss the storyline because of death. Everyone is smart enough to stay with Li Aoz as long as possible to gain more experience from Li Aoz's monster-killing.

Caramel Snail eagerly approached Li Aoz, relying on its slightly higher Favorability than others, and quietly asked, "Boss, do you have any powerful Aoneng can rent out?"

Li Aoz glanced at it and saw that Caramel Snail had already reached level 10 [Martial Artist]. As a newcomer, his level was quite good, almost catching up with the professional players.

To curry favor, Caramel Snail gritted its teeth and took out a jewelry necklace that it had earned from working and completing tasks, presenting it to the snail pitifully.

"This is very expensive and valuable. I hope you like it."

Caramel Snail's efforts to increase its sensitivity are somewhat reminiscent of Boiling Sheep, but originally, Li Aoz intended to give him that Aoneng.

In his previous life, Caramel Snail of the [Twilight Sword Saint] fought against Li Aoz five times. The more they fought, the greater Li Aoz's advantage became. There was nothing that could be done about it, as the [Twilight Sword Saint] path was not one with great potential.

Caramel Snail lamented her gradual loss of the upper hand: 'If I could do it all over again, I would definitely choose the path of "Unfounded Creation." That's the path that suits me best... Unfortunately, I missed my chance.'

There are too many paths in the Destruction-type, giving people plenty of choices, but once you embark on a path, there is no room for regret. Caramel Snail has said more than once that the skills and potential of [Wu Unfounded Creation] are stronger than [Twilight Sword Saint], but the main character has already been trained, and it is unknown how long it will take to accumulate experience for the alt character. He also has to endure the Star Abyss's Curse. For Caramel Snail, who is an individual player, this is a very difficult thing.

Now... from the very beginning, Li Aoz has planned to cultivate Caramel Snail according to the path of [Unfounded Creation].

It's not just about unleashing the snail's potential; more importantly, if Caramel Snail goes down the [Unfounded Creation] path, then from [Martial Artist] onwards, the materials needed for each job change will overlap with the materials that can be produced by the [Starcaller] path.

In other words, he will basically have to buy everything from Li Aoz from now on.

Once he got used to buying materials from Li Aoz, no matter what he did, whenever he mentioned NPCs again, his first reaction was, "I need to catch up with Li Aoz"—that's path dependence.

So, Li Aoz opened the trading page, and a window immediately popped up in front of Caramel Snail: [Soul-Inscribed Sword Saint]: When using sword-type weapons to kill enemies, you gain power and skill enhancements. The more enemies you kill, the more gradually the weapon will awaken its own consciousness.

Lease fee: 5,000 experience points/month (Awakened Consciousness Weapon; once the Aoneng Lease period ends, communication with you will cease) "Hey, how did you know I bought a good samurai sword these past few days?"

Caramel Snail scratched his head. This Aoneng was quite suitable for a Martial Artist like him, so he readily paid up the experience points without hesitation. A ball of fleshy growth immediately sprang from Li Aoz's palm and slammed directly into Caramel Snail's hand.

After a slight soreness, faint purplish-black spots appeared on Caramel Snail's arm. He ran back to the car, pulled out his weapon, and immediately sensed something was different.

He swung the blade several times without deliberately aiming, but the blade's tendons naturally remained straight. No matter how he struck, the blade always felt light and effortless.

He calmed himself down and could even faintly hear a nascent consciousness emanating from the weapon.

Slaughter... Blood-drinking...

"This is really a great Aoneng. I feel like with this, I could even go up against Alpha Rank opponent."

Caramel Snail happily hopped into the pickup truck, clutching his weapon, waiting for Li Aoz's command. At that moment, 800 players would charge like mad dogs, tearing the enemy to shreds... or being torn to shreds themselves.

"Do you need my help?"

Du Zexin, maneuvering a robot, approached Li Aoz and asked with concern, "Maybe I can hack into their computer terminals..."

Li Aoz rejected Du Zexin's request to join the fight. "Don't think about anything. Just stay here and do your defense. The sooner we get into space, the fewer people will die."

"...I understand." Du Zexin was a rational person and immediately turned back to repair the equipment.

Seeing that Du Ze had returned to the right path, Li Aoz turned around and opened the biochemical chamber. Liquid nitrogen gushed out instantly. He reached out and touched the pioneer's gradually warming skin. The cells at his fingertips rapidly divided, turning into tendrils that merged into the body.

His cells gradually merged with the pioneer's body, and information was constantly being transmitted and exchanged.

[Cell invasion complete]

[Under pollution...]

[This implant has been Gene Pollution. You may now transfer your consciousness into it, or equip the entire implant.]

His body trembled slightly, Li Aoz felt his soul being pulled out of his body. His thoughts rose to a higher level, looking down at his two armored bodies from a third-person perspective.

[Plastic Body - I - ' Li Aoz's ']

[Plastic Body-II - 'Pioneer']

Li Aoz casually changed the name of his second bio-armored body to his own game ID—True.

There were no other bells and whistles, just a single word 'true'. This was his ID from his previous life. He was lucky that such a short ID had not yet been registered.

It is precisely because of the single word "truth" that her name is so easy to remember, which has contributed to Li Aoz's popularity as a broadcaster.

As for why I made the change... for me, piloting a cybernetic suit is the same as a player controlling a game character.

[The name of the hybrid armor has been changed]

[Activation of the proboscis has been detected. Connect the proboscis?]

"Next, it's time to offer some words of comfort to the Heavenly Ring People."