Growing Stronger
Upon entering the Trial Space again, Feng Xue looked at the modern city built of steel and concrete and slightly curled her lips. This environment was clearly not a battlefield for knights; it was probably for modern troops or Esper were good at fighting in complex terrain.
Having confirmed this, Feng Xue did not immediately begin the challenge. Instead, she took out a cloth from her Storage Waist Bag and removed all her equipment.
The Forbidden Weapons within the Tower of Babylon is absolute. In the challenge of guarding the tower where there is no chance of death, he can safely remove his equipment little by little to increase the pressure on himself.
It started with the Gynomorphic Filter, then came the Disassembly Madonna and the Blade of Suffocation, and later the Boots of Silence, and the Unspeakable Rod-shaped Object...
Now, Feng Xue has finally removed even the Phantom of the Opera's Evening Gown. Apart from a few "life-saving cards" that she has carefully put away again, all that remains of her Phantom Object are her Storage Waist Bag and the Visage of Oath used to cover her face.
After changing into the Scavenger Set he hadn't worn in a long time, Feng Xue's style immediately underwent a huge change. If he was more like a Demon King exuding a terrifying aura before, he now looked like the remains of a miner who had been dead for who knows how many years.
The Scavenger Set, lacking the [comfort] element, was not comfortable, and Feng Xue, who was used to the soft, close-fitting fabric, couldn't help but frown at it.
But he quickly recovered from his discomfort and issued the start command again.
Instantly, the wind began to blow, and the cars that had been stationary on the street started to move with the roar of their engines.
A large number of stiff pedestrians walked the streets, like NPCs in a game, performing rigid commands.
"An assassination group skilled at hiding in crowds?"
Feng Xue reached out and patted the pedestrians passing by. After discovering that they could indeed interact with the pedestrians, her expression became serious.
Although the set design changes with each challenge, even if passersby appear, they are mostly uninterrupted stickers or off-site spectators.
Furthermore, the challenge space of the Tower of Babel cannot contain meaningless NPCs; in other words, these NPCs are "part of the home ground" for the guards here.
Breathe--
After taking a deep breath, Feng Xue started walking. Based on her previous challenge experience, the [Guardian] did not have a "passive combat" setting. As long as she showed the slightest weakness, the opponent would attack without hesitation.
Sure enough, just as Feng Xue suddenly looked down, as if checking if anyone had dropped money on the ground, three people who were wandering aimlessly on the street suddenly rushed towards Feng Xue.
Three small knives were thrust at Feng Xue's lower back, heart, and neck from different directions. The movements were haphazard yet aimed directly at the target, showing a desperate, life-or-death attitude.
"So weak?" Feng Xue was somewhat surprised. She grabbed the wrist of the first one to arrive with First Turn her feet, and pushed forward with one hand. The sharp knives in the hands of the two assassins were then plunged into each other's hearts.
Seeing this, the third assassin showed no intention of dodging and continued to swing his short knife at Feng Xue. However, with Combat Power at the level of an ordinary person, he was frozen in place before he even had a chance to exchange blows.
"Sarilang!"
Just as Feng Xue was about to snap the neck of the assassin she had immobilized, a shrill scream suddenly rang in her ears.
This inexplicable feeling didn't last long. As the piercing sirens of "Arrest! Arrest! Arrest!" rang out, a large number of armed personnel dressed in uniforms from some unknown alien civilization poured out from the streets and alleys, instantly forming a massive encirclement.
"Could it be some kind of glitch?" Looking at the Dark Hole muzzle of the gun already pointed at her, Feng Xue listened to the guy with the megaphone giving a speech urging her to surrender, and her brows furrowed even more.
This scenario is different from any previous guard challenge; at least, the other guards will definitely not try to persuade you to surrender.
Even without using Arrow Protection, Feng Xue had already discerned the soldiers' shooting intentions from the raised gun barrels and their gazes. With one hand, she lifted the assassin she had pinned down and charged directly towards the person who had shouted.
"Shot!"
An order was given from somewhere, and a burst of gunfire erupted in the street. [Arrow Protection] was automatically triggered, and the trajectories of each bullet were so clear and distinct.
With ease, she used her human shield to block the unavoidable bullets. With the enhancement of the Heavenly Sphere Star Shifting Technique), Feng Xue arrived in front of the police car in about a second.
Although Feng Xue was still unable to fully utilize the mysteries of this divine skill due to her insufficient mastery of divination techniques, her application of it was far more fluid than her previous rote memorization.
Feng Xue forcefully slammed the corpse in her hand into the densely packed area of armed personnel, then, with her palms clenched like knives, she lightly slashed at the person who had shouted earlier.
The hand blade, imbued with the Mindless Divine Power, was no less formidable than any sword. Amidst the strong smell of rust and the fountain-like spray of blood, a head fell to the ground.
What was originally a move meant to kill only one person now had an unparalleled deterrent effect.
The terrified soldiers raised their guns, but at such close range, they only managed to kill their own comrades.
Thirty seconds later, the armed group of nearly a hundred people were all dead, but the scene in front of Feng Xue was still that steel forest city. The only difference was that there were no pedestrians on the street now.
"There can't be any more decryption-type guards, can there?" Feng Xue muttered in frustration, hesitating whether he should just admit defeat and quit, but at that moment, a tearing pain exploded in his brain.
"[Yan Kingdom profanity]! Is it a mental attack! A mind manipulation ability?"
Feng Xue instantly understood. Although he had been toyed with by illusion-type abilities not long ago, after several days of training, he was no longer completely helpless against mental attacks.
The main consciousness endured the pain to achieve Entering Stillness, but a wisp of the mind suddenly rushed towards the spot of the headache.
A dense killing intent was injected into that single thought, and with a powerful and sweeping motion, it directly slashed towards his own brain!
No matter how reckless you are in the Guardian Space, you will be resurrected, so Feng Xue can study all sorts of extremely Danger Coefficient moves here.
After accidentally killing herself more than ten times, Feng Xue finally found the knack for controlling the power of this "killing intent Sword Light" formed from Killing intent and thoughts.
Wherever the Sword Light passed, the mental threads that enveloped her brain like a fishing net snapped completely, and Feng Xue, following the source of those threads, unleashed an unprecedented killing intent.
"Ah--"
A piercing scream came from afar. Feng Xue's expression suddenly changed. Only then did he remember that he was merely undergoing training and couldn't afford to investigate the mental control ability user's condition. He directly said:
"I admit it..."
"Smack!"
The Trial Space shattered suddenly, and Feng Xue returned to the stairwell, but this time, he had already reached the ninth floor.
"[Yan Guo profanity]!"
The protagonist's so-called "not descending into reality" refers to "not descending using the Real World Rules of [Kung Fu Dream]," because in the eyes of the Yan Kingdom's officials, he mainly deals with the Weird Tale of Colombia. However, the fact that Kung Fu Dream would descend into Yan Kingdom, with a Weird Tale that has been wandering in Colombia suddenly appearing in Yan Kingdom, coupled with the accompanying nationwide Weird Tale, makes it hard not to make connections.
Conversely, the protagonist's absence wouldn't raise suspicion, since his area of operation isn't in Yan Kingdom; his absence is normal. As for the phone call not going through, that's understandable since he's back in Infinite City. After all, the authorities don't even know the protagonist is using Phantom Object to make calls.