Volume 4, Dungeon Dungeon, Chapter 97: Li Wei's Deduction and Appearance
A gentle breeze swept across the roadside grass and crops, caressing my face like the soft touch of a young girl's skin—a feeling of unparalleled comfort, yet also evoking a sense of melancholy. What was that person in my heart doing at that moment?
Are you also enjoying the gentle breeze under the night sky?
Li Wei lay on a grassy slope, gazing at the deep night sky above, pondering many questions. With just one night's rest, he could reach Luoyang City by noon tomorrow. He wondered what kind of mission would be posted on the Yellow Paper then.
Beside him, the muscular man sat cross-legged, practicing a mantra that Li Wei had just told him.
That's right!
What Li Wei told him was the cultivation formula for the first level of the Innate Skill, a top-tier internal martial art.
The Innate Skill is divided into seven levels. Li Wei himself has only reached the fifth level. He passed on his skills to the muscular man simply to answer a question that had been bothering Li Wei.
What are the differences between techniques developed through self-cultivation without relying on Skill Book and those learned through Skill Book?
Although the muscular man was not one to smile easily, he was by no means stupid. After Li Wei used his internal energy to help him open up some of his basic meridians, he began to practice in a serious manner.
As for Liu Piaopiao and Zheng Chenglong, they had already fallen asleep. Li Wei also had his own plans for these two; he never kept useless people around him.
At that moment, the muscular man exhaled a puff of breath and opened his tiger-like eyes.
"Master, this technique is amazing! What's it called?"
Clearly, he was a discerning individual with exceptional talent; after only three hours of cultivation, he felt changes in his body. Li Wei simply smiled when he saw that he had finished circulating his energy.
"This internal energy cultivation technique is called the Innate Skill. Practice it diligently, and once you reach the first level, I will teach you the incantations for the rest!"
After a pause, Li Wei suddenly had an idea. "The night is long, and since we can't sleep anyway, why don't we speculate?"
"What speculation?"
"Let's speculate on what kind of mission we'll encounter next."
Li Wei had two purposes for saying this: one was to genuinely want to predict the next possible mission, and the other was to test the muscular man's thinking ability.
Li Wei always felt that the other party's background was somewhat mysterious.
The muscular man nodded, waiting for Li Wei to speak.
Li Wei plucked a blade of grass from beside him, put it in his mouth and chewed it. The faint grassy aroma mixed with saliva entered his throat, and a hint of sweetness gradually spread.
"The mission types in Shadow Street are basically 'survival, killing, rescue, and looting.' Of course, survival mode is the most common. This time, arriving in Luoyang City within three days seems difficult to categorize, but it can still be considered a survival mode, so..."
Li Wei plucked another blade of grass and stuffed it into his mouth.
Why go to Luoyang?
The muscular man thought for a moment and then asked, "Will the next mission be related to Luoyang?"
Li Wei smiled!
"That's right, Luoyang is clearly the key location for the next mission. There are also many characters and sects there related to the game's storyline, such as the hypocritical Hero of Heluo Hero, the Wild Ball Sect, the Rainbow Escort Agency, Heavenly Sword Sect."
These are all "points" we need to pay attention to. Points are also lines; any point can potentially trigger many tasks, and the tasks are the "lines." Of course, relying solely on these to accurately deduce who is involved, which sect, and which task is related is probably quite difficult, but it's not entirely impossible!
This time, the muscular man was clearly drawn to Li Wei's words.
"Could it be that, Master, you can guess the specific task?"
"Cannot!"
Li Wei's answer clearly disappointed the muscular man, but Li Wei didn't care, because what he was about to say was the important point.
Why do you think we entered this game world?
Why?
The muscular man looked puzzled. Why were they entering this game world? Did it have anything to do with the mission? Judging from the information Li Wei had given them about Shadow Street, entering which game storyline was not something a reincarnator could control or decide.
So, this is a random event.
Since it's random, there's no set pattern to follow.
"I've been thinking about this issue since I first stepped into Shadow Street. Although I don't know your name, since you've been branded, according to the rules, you can never betray me, so there's no harm in telling you these things!"
The muscular man's facial muscles twitched noticeably, and Li Wei laughed heartily.
"First, I suspect—no, I'm certain— that Shadow Street has a set of principles for selecting reincarnators. There are no elderly people or children here; everyone is between the ages of 18 and 19. It's understandable that Shadow Street doesn't allow the weak to enter, and even young people with terminal illnesses don't have the chance to receive an invitation to Shadow Street!"
When Li Wei finished speaking, the muscular man's face twitched noticeably, and he looked at Li Wei with an incredulous expression.
So alike, so incredibly alike!
It's exactly the same as "that person's reasoning style."
A lonely figure appeared in the muscular man's mind, causing his eyes to narrow.
"The reason we choose physically strong people is like dogfighting; people always select dogs with potential and fighting spirit to train. The same is true for building Shadow Street. That's why we're here, strengthening ourselves through missions to become the fiercest of them all."
"Therefore, there is absolutely no such thing as an 'absolutely safe' mission in Shadow Street. Human potential won't be unleashed unless it involves life and death. So, can we be certain that the missions we face, and even those to come, will be matters of life and death for us—to exaggerate a bit, a nine-out-of-ten chance of survival!"
At this moment, the muscular man chimed in.
"I think that before," "Zhengwu, dealing with the old man, wasn't a near-death experience for you. Wasn't it? You just killed them, and your life wasn't threatened." The muscular man's face no longer held any nonchalant expression; it was as if he was testing Li Wei's analytical abilities.
"Hehe, I'll tell you about that, but not now!" Li Wei waved his finger and spat out the grass that had been chewed into pieces.
"Then, let's continue speculating about the next mission. Based on our previous deductions, Luoyang City is the key point of the mission, and the mission itself is absolutely fraught with peril, for both you and me. In this way, we can be fairly certain of who will pose a threat to you and me in the next mission!"
Delineate the characters?
The muscular man began to understand what Li Wei meant.
"Hehe, I suppose you don't know my combat strength yet. Now that I've taken you in, I won't hide it. Shadow Street has a strict ranking system for reincarnators' combat strength, from the lowest level 1 to the highest 'level 3,' divided into 7 major levels. Each level has three sub-stages: 1, 2, and 3. Generally speaking, ordinary people who just enter Shadow Street are ranked 100-200. A few with strong physiques can get a 100-200 rating, but..."
There are also those who turn out to be outsiders
At this point, Li Wei glanced at the muscular man.
"What exception?" The muscular man surprisingly revealed a slight smile.
"You—" Li Wei stared at him, saying each word clearly, "Your rating has actually reached the highest level. Do you know that many newcomers who have passed the initial trials don't even have such a high rating? Not only that, you were able to kill a Black Wind Stronghold henchman on your own. This is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing."
The muscular man didn't seem surprised by this, and then asked in return, "So, Master, what is your rating?"
"Me? Haha, like I said before, I'll tell you when the time is right."
Li Wei chuckled and ended the conversation.
However, he secretly stared at the muscular man, thinking to himself, "Is this guy deliberately changing the subject? Doesn't he want to reveal his background?"
The more this is the case, the more we need to figure it out!
Li Wei yawned and fell silent. It seemed he was preparing to sleep. He lay down on the grass, covered himself with a thin garment, and after a while, he actually started snoring.
The muscular man lay down a few meters away, but he didn't sleep. Instead, he carefully observed Li Wei's breathing, a method used in special forces to determine whether a target was sound asleep.
His conclusion was that Li Wei had indeed fallen asleep.
An hour later, the muscular man quietly got up from the grass without making a sound. He looked around and walked into a grove of trees about a hundred meters away.
The Jungle effectively blocked out sound. After walking another hundred paces through the woods to confirm that no one would notice him at this distance, the muscular man found a low-lying spot and squatted down.
Of course, he didn't need to use the restroom; instead, he took out a metal pendant from his pocket.
Looking around again, the muscular man twisted his fingers, and the walnut-sized pendant opened, revealing a sophisticated instrument. What was most surprising was that the small light on the instrument was still flashing incessantly.
The muscular man seemed very familiar with the small device. He fiddled with it for a while, and the device emitted a hissing sound, just like the sound of a radio dialing a channel.
About two minutes later, the hissing noise gradually subsided, replaced by a soft squeak coming from the instrument. After checking the location, he glanced around and, seeing everyone else fast asleep, breathed a sigh of relief. He then quietly lay back down in his original spot, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
He didn't notice that Li Wei, lying not far away, had a slight smile on his lips.
At noon the next day, Luoyang City, a dilapidated carriage slowly made its way to within a hundred meters of the city gate. Suddenly, the wooden axle snapped in two, and the entire carriage crashed to the ground, shattering into pieces of rotten wood.
Li Wei and his companions crawled out of the wrecked cart, shook off the wood chips, and stood helplessly by the roadside, looking at the broken wooden cart. One of them said, "I've been practicing my internal energy inside all the way here, which caused my true energy to leak out. It's quite remarkable that this cart lasted this long!"
The muscular man climbed out of the dilapidated wooden cart, nodding in agreement. He had thoroughly experienced the wonders of internal energy over the past two days and one night. Indeed, during the practice of internal energy, there would be a leakage of true qi. What is true qi?
That's when real "energy" masters practice; ordinary people can't get close, otherwise they'll feel dizzy and their chest will feel like it's being crushed by a huge rock. This is caused by the overflow of true energy.
Liu Piaopiao and Zheng Chenglong took a good fall this time, but they were not seriously injured.
Fortunately, Luoyang City was just a stone's throw away, and the group only needed to walk a few steps to get there.
From a distance, the imposing blue brick city walls and gates came into view. But as one walked closer, the scene was quite different from what one had seen from afar. Liu Piaopiao, seeing this for the first time, exclaimed in surprise, attracting passersby to stop and stare.
Although she had changed into the clothes of an ancient woman, Liu Piaopiao's appearance, skin, and long hair far surpassed those of ancient women, attracting the attention of many passersby. Just then, a roar came from inside the city gate.
"Get the hell out of my way! Anyone who tries to stop me, I'll kill them!"
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