Lingquan City had only one Abyss Rift, located near the old industrial zone in the eastern part of the city.
As the destination grew closer, the ordinary people on the bus visibly decreased, while martial artists carrying sabers, swords, and various other weapons became more and more numerous.
Li Wei sat there feeling completely uneasy, always sensing many undisguised gazes scanning back and forth over her.
Especially a muscular giant with a broad saber sitting diagonally in front of her; that look—tsk—was just like looking at prey, full of naked desire.
Li Wei glared at him in annoyance.
Instead of backing down, he grew even more excited, purposely puffing out his pectoral muscles, raising his right hand to point at the Two-Star Martial Artist badge pinned to his chest, and arching his eyebrows with extreme smugness.
Li Wei rolled her eyes in her heart. Wasn't he just a Second-Tier Martial Artist? Look at how full of himself he was.
Judging by that full beard of his, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes could trap mosquitoes; he had to be at least forty or older, right?
A Second-Tier at forty—was that something to be proud of?
Seemingly sensing Li Wei's poorly concealed contempt, the muscular man's face sank, and he jerked forward as if wanting to crowd closer.
Li Wei's body instantly tightened, her lotus-root-like forearms crossed to protect her chest.
"Cut it out."
Someone stopped the muscular man.
With that, a scar-faced youth squeezed over and swept his eyes up and down Li Wei twice. There didn't seem to be any malice in his gaze; instead, there was a bit of...
Envy? Appreciation?
"Captain?" The muscular man looked unconvinced, but he didn't dare to push back hard.
The scar-faced youth gave his shin a moderate kick, speaking in a voice neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for the surrounding people to hear:
"Stop looking for trouble! Her blood-qi is at least seventy, and her muscles and bones are ringing in harmony. She's a proper elite student from a martial arts university—what are you sticking your nose in for?"
As soon as these words came out, the carriage gave a low buzz and then fell into an eerie silence.
Those reckless gazes from a moment ago were retracted in a flash. One by one, they either looked out the window or stared at the floor, pretending to be model citizens.
The corners of Li Wei's mouth twitched, thinking, how did he figure that out?
Her body relaxed, though; at the very least, the trouble was resolved without requiring any effort on her part.
She never expected that a single stat point allocation would bring such huge changes to her life's circumstances.
Until the bus reached her stop, no one dared to glance at her randomly anymore.
Li Wei was glad for the peace and quiet. She got off the bus and followed the flow of people toward the Rift entrance.
There was only this one open public Rift within the urban area of Lingquan City, and there were simply too many martial artists. Added to all the peddlers and onlookers, it was a bustling, chaotic mess, just like a massive country fair.
Li Wei was not an official martial artist and couldn't get in, so naturally she didn't need to line up.
She drilled back and forth through the crowd, and after a hard time squeezing closer to the entrance checkpoint, she hunkered down in a corner.
System, it's up to you. Bring on some essence...
Two hours passed...
"Little sister, all alone? Wanna go hang out with big bro?" Yet another greasy martial artist sidled up to chat her up.
Li Wei couldn't even be bothered to lift her eyelids. "Not interested, thanks."
This was already the eighth one!
She gradually realized that by standing right here in her black dress and fair skin with such an eye-catching face, she looked just like...
"Damn it!" Li Wei cursed under her breath and quickly slipped away.
The martial arts trade brought in plenty of money, carried heavy pressure, and left people with an abundance of energy. Standing there looking like a streetwalker, how could she avoid being harassed?
Getting back on the return bus, Li Wei looked at the Abyss Essence count on her panel—still sitting stubbornly at 17—and felt depressed.
At that moment, the onboard display screen behind the driver's seat suddenly cut into a news broadcast.
At 1:53 AM today, our city's Abyss Energy Monitoring Station detected high-intensity abnormal fluctuations. After analysis, it was confirmed to be... located in Baihuai District...
The Municipal Rift Investigation Bureau's action team immediately...
The screen cut to a middle-aged man in uniform with a cluster of microphones jammed in his face.
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"...Every second we arrive early is one less point of danger for our citizens..."
"...In this operation, we dispatched... successfully slaying one Sixth-Tier Abyssal Monster and fifteen Fourth-Tier Abyssal Monsters... Our side suffered no major casualties..."
Li Wei's eyes lit up brightly.
"As expected! The timing matches up!" She cried out internally. "Abyss Essence really is related to abyssal monsters! That ambulance last night must have been carrying the Investigation Bureau's casualties from this operation!"
Her train of thought suddenly cleared up. "In all likelihood, you have to kill abyssal monsters to 'drop' essence! And the essence can even 'cling' to people nearby? Otherwise, that black light from last night is impossible to explain! They couldn't possibly hoist an abyssal monster into an ambulance, could they?!"
"However..." A new problem arose. "I spent two hours at the Rift entrance just now, and easily hundreds of martial artists who had just finished fighting came out. Why didn't I absorb even a shred of essence? Is there a time limit, or is it due to some other reason?"
Thinking of this, she hurriedly pulled out her cracked-screen broken phone, opened the artificial intelligence assistant named Lingzhi, and her fingers typed rapidly.
Me: What procedures do martial artists have to go through when coming out of the Rift?
Lingzhi: Standard V3.7 protocol for Rift personnel evacuation... (a long list)... Mandatory purification and sterilization (standard duration 4 hours)...
Li Wei slid her screen, her gaze fixing on the words "four hours of sterilization."
"Could it be a matter of time and sterilization?" She pondered. "The Investigation Bureau personnel got injured, so they were definitely rushed straight to the hospital for emergency treatment. When would they have time for four hours of sterilization?"
"As for live abyssal monsters..." She recalled the special trucks she had seen earlier on the outer periphery of the Rift entrance. "There's no need to go to that abyssal monster exhibition park in the north of the city either. Those trucks transporting live abyssal monsters just now were less than five meters away from me, and the system didn't give a single fart of a reaction."
"Then, I'll try going to the Investigation Bureau entrance again to see if there's anything different about their people."
At three in the afternoon, Li Wei dragged her exhausted body and brought Li Cheng back from Grandma Wang's place to their small attic.
Clearly, the entrance to the Investigation Bureau yielded nothing either, and she had almost been arrested as a suspicious person.
Still, she had managed to rule out a few false options, and now she could basically confirm two points:
1. Abyssal monsters most likely need to be killed to "drop" essence. 2. The persistence of essence either has a time limit or requires other conditions, such as that "sterilization" process destroying it.
Fine then, next step: find somewhere to kill an abyssal monster and test it out.
Seeing her lifeless appearance, Li Cheng asked listlessly, "What, didn't get your past-life fortuitous encounter?"
"..." Li Wei couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind. She carried him onto her bed, and the two of them lay side by side, staring blankly at the deep and shallow mildew stains on the ceiling.
After a long while, Li Wei suddenly spoke up. "Tell me, is there a place... where even non-martial artists can kill abyssal monsters?"
She was thinking that having muscles and bones ringing in harmony sounded pretty impressive, but it was still just the level of an ordinary genius.
What if she could hurry up and break through to Minor Perfection, or even Great Perfection?
By then, carrying the title of "Peerless Prodigy," would any major faction or big shot be willing to make a premature investment and casually save Li Cheng's life?
Unfortunately, Li Cheng's reply completely crushed her delusions.
"You're pipe-dreaming..." He panted, his subsequent voice somewhat weak. "Unless you go to the Western Frontier Death Line. The main force there is an army made of ordinary people."
Li Wei started, retrieving the corresponding information from her memories.
Xifeng Pass Abyss Rift was one of the largest rifts in the world, capable of spitting out even Ninth-Tier Abyssal Monsters, and it had always been jointly defended by Hua Nation and the Arctic Alliance.
A little over thirty years ago, for reasons unknown, the Rift suddenly breached, and a massive tide of abyssal monsters surged out.
To buy time for the defense line to regroup, Hua Nation and the Arctic Alliance hurled over twenty "Dongfeng" and "RS" missiles right into the Rift entrance.
Even the White Eagle Federation joined in on the excitement, having strategic nuclear submarines prowling the Indian Ocean lend a hand by launching four "Trident" missiles in succession.
Dozens of nuclear warheads of various sizes bombarded the area in waves for an entire day, finally helping humanity restabilize the defense line.
It was just that the original Rift entrance could no longer be recaptured. Under the cover of their countries' top powerhouses, Hua Nation and the Arctic Alliance built continuous chains of fortresses around the Rift, adopting a strategy of constant encroachment to push forward bit by bit. The tug-of-war had dragged on for over thirty years, costing an untold number of lives—hence the name "Death Line."
Li Wei remembered those video clips she used to see on the internet: overwhelming monsters and world-destroying scenes...
If all of those could turn into her Abyss Essence, slurp—!
Her saliva was about to come out...
What a pity, though; enlisting in the military also required physical exams, background checks, and going through procedures. By the time she reached the western frontier, the cabbages would have already turned cold.
Li Cheng... couldn't wait that long.
She once again pulled out her battle-damaged phone, opened her contacts, and stared blankly in a daze.
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