Chapter 335
"But even if merit is needed to prove to the world that Tonghua killed those evil gods, isn't Tonghua's clone still Tonghua? Anyway, all the experience and skills gained by the projection summoned by the Assistance System during the event will be returned to the original body, right?"
"Moreover, if Tonghua herself dies, it takes 30 seconds to revive her, but if Tonghua's clone dies, it only takes one Starstones to summon her again. In such an intense battle, isn't that better than wasting 30 seconds?"
"..."
"Why are you all looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"
"..."
Chen Li fell into deep thought.
Perhaps... Aqua really is a genius.
Although "I have a plan" is proof of Aqua's sudden inspiration, representing that Aqua will unleash all her silliness in this instant, it is merely the effect of the Great Herta's blessing to Aqua from the Aeon of Intellect.
Perhaps... Chen Li means perhaps.
Perhaps, the moment when Aqua's IQ drops to a negative number is actually when Aqua at her smartest!
For example, 0-1=999.
(Because some counters have a limit of 999, such as some jump rope counters. So the simplest way to get the counter to 999 is to jump backwards once.)
The Erudition, was this also part of your plan?!
That's terrifying! No wonder he's the Aeon of Intellect!
Upon closer reflection, Aqua had proposed the plan three times!
The first time was to help Sirin Night Raid on Chen Li and prepare solutions for 100 possible contingencies!
The second time, the Otto sacrifice plan was proposed! That is, Otto would merge with Kyubey to provide the group members with ads and Resurrection Cards, and at the same time, he could kill a few Otto when Theresa wasn't working hard to improve her work efficiency.
The third time, right now.
"Perhaps I really should consider fusing Otto and Kyubey." The plan that Chen Li had deliberately forgotten because he thought it might have flaws was revived and began to attack Chen Li.
"What nonsense is this? So, is my plan even going to work?" Aqua complained.
"It will work," Tonghua nodded.
It's just that it takes too much effort to create clones.
"Haha, I knew it! I'm a genius! The 'wisdom' in 'Water Wisdom Goddess' means wisdom! Kazuma even called me 'idiot,' but now it's obvious who's the idiot, isn't it?" Aqua crossed her arms and laughed heartily.
"He's more than just a genius, he's an absolute genius." Everyone gave him a thumbs up.
Although Aqua's plans were quite unethical, they were all effective.
It's just a bit too unethical.
Whether it's sacrificing Otto or sacrificing the Tonghua's alter ego.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Li changed Aqua's exclusive title in the Miraculous Item group—[Poisonous Strategist]!
In the group of Miraculous Items, everyone who can obtain an exclusive title is an exceptional individual!
What's even better is that each person with an exclusive title can get 5- Starstones for free from the Miraculous Item group every day.
Giving Aqua this title was the result of Chen Li's careful consideration.
Anyway, it doesn't cost much to keep Aqua.
At the same time, it also serves as a warning to other group members to ask themselves honestly before adopting Aqua's scheme: Has things really really gotten this far?
"My name is Tonghua. I am a projection, number 10086. I cost only one Starstones to make. I am mass-produced, inexpensive, cheap and durable. So there is no need to pity me. Use me as a tool to your heart's content."
"..." Looking at Tonghua, who had just stepped out of the Summoning Circle and was making such a statement with a blank expression, Chen Li's expression was as if he had seen something strange.
"Hey, aren't you really going to say anything? You heartless bastard." Chen Li kicked Tong Hua, who was lying on a recliner, wearing sunglasses and basking in the Tonghua.
"Wishing you great success in your military endeavors?" Tonghua took off his sunglasses and glanced at his own reflection.
"... Ugh! This is infuriating! Get up and put on your gear right now!" The fairytale projection, which had originally planned to Tonghua as Misaka Mikoto to see if it could awaken the last vestiges of conscience in its original self and have her take its place in the battle in the Friends Circle, kicked its original self with a disgruntled expression.
"Sigh, I know." Tonghua reluctantly got up.
Projection only needs to consume its own life, but Tonghua require each projection to be equipped with gear.
Normally, the clones summoned by the Assistance System wouldn't rebel like this, since the projection is indeed oneself, provided that this behavior isn't repeated too many times.
Chen Li was standing atop a giant clock tower, gazing at the world.
The roof of the clock tower was blown off by the Tonghua, providing Chen Li and his friends with an excellent viewing spot.
This was an era where the dawn of industry and the afterglow of magic intertwined, with steam machinery and runic magic driving the gears of civilization together.
Gear towers, copper pipes, steam, mechanical birds, maglev trains, luminous ores, the sound of gears turning, brass goggles, rusty iron bridges...
A scene unlike any world Chen Li ever seen came into view.
It was dusk, but the clouds were not tinged with gold; instead, they were blood red.
High in the sky, countless eerie figures pierced through the clouds and mist, their movements intricately intertwined...
Although Tonghua are ranked in the lower tier among many evil gods, they still have believers in this world... Those children who are so frightened by evil Tonghua that they have nightmares at night shout the name of the Tonghua gods every day—in this world, fear is also a kind of faith.
So, with a single slap, the Tonghua returned to this long-lost world.
Holding the Ghoul Attractor, he turned the power up to maximum and declared war on all the evil gods of the world: War against the God of Steam! War against the God of Shadows! War against the God of Twilight...
In this world, the difference between evil gods and good gods is the size of a fist.
After attracting the attention of all the evil gods, Tonghua threw out the hundreds of rice balls that Chen Li had prepared... and then started grabbing her own food!
The Tonghua was very well thought out, but even the Tonghua itself couldn't resist the temptation of these rice balls.
But the effect was surprisingly good, because the other evil gods were instantly anxious when they saw that Tonghua had almost finished eating the rice ball by herself!
Within 30 seconds, all the evil gods had arrived on the battlefield, and then the entire battlefield was filled with posts on Friends Circle!
The battle has begun!
But the culprit, the Tonghua, quickly slipped away using Slap Gloves!
"Alright. Your gear is on, get going!"
"You even have Attack Speed Gear! You idiot!" The Tonghua projection, wielding two [God Must Die] swords, wearing a [War Correspondent's Pass] around its neck and carrying the [One Arrow Once Slaughtered a Million Demons] weapon, glared at the real body.
"Oh." Tonghua picked up the black silk stocking and put it on her own projection's head, then got punched by her own projection.
After snatching the black stockings from the projection Tonghua, cursing and swearing, he tied the stockings to his legs, then grabbed two "God Must Die" swords and flew into the sky.
Nobody said Attack Speed Gear have to be worn on the legs; you can wear them on your head if you want.
"How rude!" Tonghua complained before slowly climbing onto her recliner.
"... I think it's normal to be rude. After all, to save costs, they won't even rent a projector from their Friends Circle, so they treat the projector like a disposable tool. They really deserve a punch before they leave," Great Herta complained.
Even the Great Herta didn't treat its own projections this badly.
Because the projection is actually yourself in the next second, and there is no difference between it and yourself.
"Didn't this projection think the same way I did a second ago? But when it came to me, I got angry instead." Tonghua shook her head.
"I think that's only natural. After all, it's only when you see your own flaws in others that you're most angry," Yakumo Yukari said.
"There's no way around it. Borrowing the Friends Circle platform itself doesn't cost money, but I have to cover the losses to my friends 'Friends Circle Terminal caused by the attack myself." Tonghua shrugged.
The original Friends Circle was under constant attack because it had trapped many evil gods, costing at least 10 Starstones per minute. If a projection of the original Friends Circle were added to the projection, the cost of Starstones would be even higher!
"A projector is only worth one Starstones. That's much cheaper than renting a second Friends Circle. I think my projector will understand."
"Consideration my foot! It's not because you can't afford it. Didn't Chen Li say he'd cover all the expenses?"
"But Chen Li also said that the money saved is mine." Tonghua blinked.
"..." Yakumo Yukari had never seen such a heartless and insane boss.
"How many projections have you made today?" Houraisan Kaguya asked.
"The 45th one... There's no other way. The battlefield situation is still too chaotic. Even if 'God Must Die' makes them fearful, forbidden spells are flying around in their Friends Circles. You never know when you might accidentally run into one or even several of them." Tonghua said helplessly.
The idea that "God Must Die" can indeed instill fear in these evil gods, but Tonghua usually only target one evil god to kill. The aftershocks from the fight between other evil gods could also kill the Tonghua.
Moreover, these evil gods in the sky are becoming increasingly insane, because an evil god will lose itself when it devours another evil god.
Besides Tonghua, there are also many other evil gods that God Strike.
As the number of surviving evil gods dwindled, the frenzy and intensity of the battle only increased.
If Chen Li were to reclaim his Friends Circle Terminal now, the mere leakage of his aura would be enough to drive the entire world toward madness and Destruction.
Tonghua was unaffected because she used the humanistic anchor Miraculous Item that Chen Li had created for her.
"Ha!" While chatting about Tonghua, he suddenly breathed out a puff of air.
The terrifying pressure of the evil god drove away wave after wave of troops attempting to attack the clock tower, which had been half-topped off.
Even evil gods have followers, especially the churches under the "good" god.
These churches astutely discovered the Tonghua that led to their God's disappearance, but no matter how hard they tried... the moment they lost contact with their own deity, they were destined to be powerless against the Tonghua.
As the saying goes, when the cat's away, the mice will play. While all the evil gods are locked in a battle on Friends Circle, Tonghua are the strongest in the world.
After driving away the troublemakers and having a cup of tea, the Tonghua atmosphere surged once again.
"Your projection died again. Why did it die so quickly this time?" Although Yakumo Yukari the fact that Tonghua could become stronger quickly while lying down, she also knew that she could never envy that.
The Tonghua tale also confirms the saying: when you are carrying a heavy burden, there must be someone riding on your head and living a peaceful life.
"I was a bit unlucky. I only managed to kill two evil gods this time before I was accidentally killed by two righteous evil gods."
"You're so bad! I could do it too," Tet complained.
This time, Tet really wasn't exaggerating; Tet is good at Tet.
One advantage of using projections in battle is that each projection has never participated in battle before, so each projection can integrate into the Friends Circle as a war correspondent and slowly find opponents.
After more than forty trials and errors, the process has been standardized.
First, sneak in using War Correspondent's Pass, then suddenly use two "God Must Die" attacks on a severely wounded evil god. When the opponent tries to resist, use "One Arrow Once Slaughtered a Million Demons" to intimidate them. Once the opponent has recovered, quickly run away.
You don't need to worry about him anymore; he'll bleed to death on his own.
So, Tonghua always manages to steal one each time she makes a move; the second one... well, that depends on luck.
Tet figured that since he could steal at least one of them anyway, how much better could Tonghua be than him?
"Like I said, I usually only kill, not eat. It's normal to seem a bit weak among the ever-growing evil gods," Tonghua said.
Why don't you eat more?
"Because I promised Chen Li I would give Chen Li half of the divinity. The projections can't be regurgitated after they've eaten them, and they'll belong to me once they die. So it's better to kill them all, gather their divinity, and split it in half for Chen Li. As for what kind of divinity it is, let Chen Li figure it out himself," Tonghua explained.
Don't worry that these evil gods can digest divinity quickly. According to the Tonghua's estimation, the opponent can indeed become stronger quickly after devouring divinity, but it will take at least a month to digest a complete piece of divinity.
The Tonghua can be digested so quickly is because of the characteristic that "the progress of the projection will be quickly synchronized with the original body".
However, Tonghua usually only takes a couple of bites and then stops, never devouring an entire portion of divinity... because Tonghua is afraid of being beaten to death if she stays in place to devour divinity.
"How many evil gods are there in your world? Why are you still fighting after almost an hour? Your projection has appeared 45 times. Even if you could only kill one each time, you've still killed 45 evil gods, right? If it's two each time, that's 90. And other evil gods are also killing other evil gods." Fu Xuan asked curiously.
"Do you even know what a shrine to evil gods is? Evil gods are all normal, but there are only about 10 evil gods left on it. We should be able to take care of it within 15 minutes," Tonghua said.
"Indeed, even Tonghua tales can become evil gods..." Everyone nodded, feeling that the Tonghua tale made a lot of sense.
"... I'm giving you examples, not asking you to criticize me," Tonghua said irritably.
"You still have the energy to complain? Hurry up and put on your equipment." Chen Li summoned Tonghua's projection again, and the projection Tonghua kicked Tonghua's butt once more.
"Here they come..." Tonghua got up and equipped her projection with the Miraculous Item that Chen Li had summoned back through the privilege of the Miraculous Forger.
This is why Tonghua feel weak and lifeless.
Every minute or two, a projection of yourself kicks your butt and then makes you dress her up... No Tonghua is going to be comfortable.
The projected Tonghua, equipped with Miraculous Item and Miracle Cards, once again soared into the sky to the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the group members started betting on which evil god would survive to the final round where they would have a 1v1 battle with Tonghua.
"Cowards! Come out! Face me!" The God of War, whose body was made of flames and whose figure was long and narrow, standing in the sky like a blazing sun, roared angrily.
However, he was unaware that right behind him, Tonghua, wielding two "God Must Die" swords, was contemplating where to strike.