Qin Yi's Defensive Amplitude

As one of the key target cities for reclamation, City 0551 had been visited by Liu Qingling and her squad many times.

She was naturally very familiar with the villa locations in the supply base, especially Villa A3, where they had stayed on numerous occasions.

Under her guidance, the group soon arrived at the five-story building.

The first floor contained the living room and kitchen, the second was a martial arts training hall, the third and fourth floors were bedrooms, and the fifth floor was a garden.

"How extravagant. Why make a temporary residence so luxurious..."

Xu Ai looked at the villa's decor, speechless.

"It's because the government is encouraging and attracting martial artists to come here to hunt monsters."

Yu Fei said with a smile, and after hearing this, Ye Yu also gave Xu Ai a brief explanation.

"In fact, ever since the war ended, the country has been planning to reclaim the land occupied by monsters. Back then, we humans were in a weak position and could only encourage the birth of more martial artists through privileges. On the other hand, we have been vigorously developing technology; if we had more powerful or portable laser cannons, the threat from monsters would be much smaller."

"By the way, the Xu Family actually contributed to the construction of these villas, actively responding to the national call."

Qin Yi chimed in as well.

"I didn't know about that. After all, I haven't taken over any of the family's business affairs, and I've never asked. They wouldn't tell me about these things unless necessary anyway."

After all, it was better to focus on martial arts training; there was no need to worry about those business matters like Xu Gang and the others.

The group chatted and laughed, put their things away, and rested for a good while.

By evening, Xu Ai, now fully geared up, left the supply base with Liu Qingling and the others, heading toward the wilderness area.

Everyone traveled light. Aside from the firearms expert Yu Fei, who brought extra ammunition, and the battlefield medic Gu Zizhen, who carried more medical supplies, the others only brought some compressed food and a few auxiliary tools.

To help the martial artists conserve their stamina, the military base was not far from the city. After walking for over an hour, Xu Ai and the others reached the city's edge.

"FD Toll Station?"

Looking at the abandoned facility where only a sign with the letter 'F' remained, Xu Ai couldn't help but guess.

"Eh? You actually know it?"

Jun Xia was surprised to hear this.

Seeing Jun Xia's expression, Xu Ai knew she had guessed correctly.

She hadn't been here in her previous life, but she had heard of this toll station.

"Haha, I've asked around."

"You're quite impressive, Xiao Ai."

Yu Fei smiled. She had been here many times and still didn't know what the station was called.

One had to realize that even the oldest among them, Liu Qingling and Ye Yu, were born at the end of the Great Nirvana. By then, Hefei City had long since fallen. It was already impressive enough to know about Hefei City; who would go out of their way to pay attention to the name of a toll station?

If it weren't for the fact that Jun Xia had passed through here during her first trip to the wilderness and specifically asked about it, she probably wouldn't have known the station was called FD either.

"This city is one of the key targets for the country's reclamation. Therefore, although there are King-level and Lord-level monsters, they don't dare to show themselves easily. As long as we don't break into the inner depths, we generally won't encounter them."

Liu Qingling said to Xu Ai while they walked.

"We will operate on the outskirts first. There are mostly Beast Soldier-level and a small number of Beast General-level monsters here. If you perform well, we will gradually move toward the middle zone."

Monsters possessed intelligence and naturally established their own hierarchical order; the further in one went, the stronger the monsters became.

Jun Xia suddenly stopped Liu Qingling.

"Wait, there are some Iron-Horned Savage Bulls ahead. Judging by their size, three are D-level, and two are E-level. The E-level Iron-Horned Savage Bulls are perfect for Xiao Ai's first battle."

She was a Spirit Reader, and her 'vision' range was far superior to the others.

"Running into a Beast General-level monster pack on the outskirts? That's some pretty good luck..."

Qin Yi couldn't help but remark.

"It is indeed good. Xiao Fei, you and Zizhen find a good position and snipe that D-level Iron-Horned Savage Bull for me. Xiao Xia, you follow Xiao Yu and take care of one D-level Iron-Horned Savage Bull. I'll kill one D-level, Qin Yi, you hold off that E-level one, and Xiao Ai, you deal with the remaining E-level one."

Ye Yu arranged the plan.

"Got it!" Qin Yi happily raised her shield, waiting for Yu Fei and Jun Xia to take care of the two D-level Iron-Horned Savage Bulls so she could go in with Xu Ai.

E-level was Low-level Beast General, equivalent to the strength of a human Low-level War General, which was also the strength Xu Ai had shown to Liu Qingling and the others.

Although they knew Xu Ai had excellent physical fitness, they still needed to test her in actual combat, which was why this scene was happening.

"Xiao Ai, be careful. If you can kill with one strike, don't make unnecessary moves. Also, remember to deliver a finishing blow after killing a monster; don't let your guard down."

Liu Qingling instructed Xu Ai.

Yu Fei, Gu Zizhen, and Ye Yu left to find a tall building with a good view, while the others slowly approached the five Iron-Horned Savage Bulls.

"I'm ready."

Yu Fei's voice came through the communicator.

"Alright, Jun Xia, get ready. As soon as Yu Fei snipes that D-level Iron-Horned Savage Bull, you must immediately kill one of the D-level ones."

"No problem."

Yu Fei set up her sniper rifle, aimed at the strongest-looking Iron-Horned Savage Bull, waited for a moment, and then pulled the trigger. The bullet, powerful enough to kill a High-level Beast General, shot out, accurately entering the bull's eye and piercing through its brain.

"Moo!!!"

The death of their leader left the remaining Iron-Horned Savage Bulls in a panic, and the next instant, a throwing knife pierced through the neck of one of the beasts.

Liu Qingling and her two teammates surged forward, intercepting the three restless monsters.

"Moo!!!"

Seeing the three of them, the Iron-Horned Savage Bulls were instantly invigorated, charging straight toward them.

"Beasts, look over here!"

Qin Yi slammed her shield hard into the face of the E-level Iron-Horned Savage Bull, then leaped to the side, and then...

Then Xu Ai pierced the neck of the remaining E-level Iron-Horned Savage Bull with a single sword strike...

"This..."

Liu Qingling had only just finished off the last D-level monster, and seeing that Xu Ai had already ended the battle, she couldn't help but feel surprised.

"Not bad, right? I told you I was strong."

Although Xu Ai had hidden her true strength, the portion she had displayed, combined with her combat capability, was already enough to hold her own in a veteran squad.

On the other side, seeing Xu Ai finish the fight, Qin Yi was slightly stunned, but she immediately raised her shield to take the charge of an Iron-Horned Savage Bull head-on, then swung her blade upward, decapitating it in one motion.

"I thought it would take a while, I didn't expect it to end as soon as it started."

Qin Yi sheathed her blade and walked over to Liu Qingling and Xu Ai.

Liu Qingling nodded.

"I almost forgot, Xiao Ai is a disciple of the Ruthless Councilor; we really shouldn't have underestimated you."

Of course, while she said that, even if they had to do it all over again, Liu Qingling would still have wanted Xu Ai to show her strength, otherwise, she wouldn't have known how to position Xu Ai within the team.

Xu Ai didn't take being underestimated to heart; her attention was currently fixed on Qin Yi's shield.

"By the way, Sister Yi, what was that shield technique you used just now?"

Qin Yi looked puzzled, followed Xu Ai's gaze to her own shield, and then realized.

"You must be talking about the method I used to block the Iron-Horned Savage Bull's charge just now."

The scene where she had taken the charge of the Iron-Horned Savage Bull head-on was indeed quite shocking.

One had to know that at the same level, a monster's physical constitution is superior to a human's, especially since the Iron-Horned Savage Bull was using a charging attack against Qin Yi—under normal circumstances, she should have been sent flying, right!?

"Actually, just now, Xiao... Qin Yi used two secret manuals: our Chinese Immovable, and that one from Europe..."

"Sister Qingling!"

Liu Qingling shut her mouth, signaling that Qin Yi could explain it herself if she wanted to.

Qin Yi huffed, then continued speaking to Xu Ai:

"Xiao Ai, you should know about force amplification, right? It's about releasing your own power in multiples to cause greater damage, but the Immovable technique I learned does the exact opposite.

Since attacks can be amplified, why can't defense be amplified too? Xiao Ai, come and try attacking me."

Qin Yi lowered her shield, patted her soft chest, hesitated for a moment, and then patted her shoulder.

"Xiao Ai, hit here."

Xu Ai nodded, clenched her right fist, and with the force of a High-level Warrior, punched Qin Yi on the shoulder. She felt as if her soft shoulder were made of steel; she didn't hurt Qin Yi at all, but instead, her own fist felt a slight sting.

"Hmm?"

Looking at her own fist, Xu Ai suddenly became interested.

Could this be defensive amplification?

"This is defensive amplification—amplifying your own defense to enhance your resistance to blows and reduce damage."

Qin Yi raised her shield again and swung it fiercely to the side, causing the shield to emit several sonic booms in succession.

"With body defense amplification combined with the shield's force amplification, even if I encounter a Lord-level monster, it won't be able to take me down for a while. This is my reliance as the primary defender of the Willow Leaf Squad."

"However, because defensive amplification is quite difficult, there is only one Immovable manual on Earth right now, and the maximum amplification level only reaches 3 times. If it weren't for the shield force amplification method Holy Shield as a supplement, this technique wouldn't be very useful."

Jun Xia chimed in from the side to dampen the mood.

Qin Yi glared at Jun Xia and retorted defiantly:

"Tch, if you're so capable, you learn it then."

"Why would I learn that? I'm a Spirit Reader."

"The difficulty of Holy Shield is world-renowned; it's even more exaggerated than Nine-Layered Thunder Blade or World Destroyer. In the entire world, there are fewer than 500 martial artists who have mastered the basics of Holy Shield, and fewer than 30 who have reached 2x amplification. Yours truly happens to be one of them."

"I'm a Spirit Reader."

"Can you withstand the attack of a Lord-level monster?"

"I'm a Spirit Reader."

"Can you..."

"I'm a Spirit Reader."

"Damn it!"

Qin Yi and Jun Xia were making a ruckus, but Xu Ai's attention was focused on the defensive amplitude.

Defensive amplitude was considered a conceptual technique on the original Earth, meant to strengthen defensive capabilities through amplitude.

However, a concept was just a concept; in the original timeline, Earth did not have defensive amplitude during this period!

So, the origin of this secret manual...

Hen Ren opened her eyes, walked out of the Gravity Chamber helplessly, and took out her phone to check using her own clearance.

"So that's how it is. The detailed force-exertion amplitude manual I provided gave the creator of the defensive amplitude quite a bit of inspiration, which is how they created the defensive amplitude technique, Immovable..."

However, judging by this, she really did need to re-optimize her force-exertion amplitude; having only attack amplitude without defensive amplitude was incomplete!