This Game Will Explode

"Impressive! Just as expected of an expert known for his heavy spear!"

"The White Feather Gang bastards weren't lying!"

Hou Fei, standing over three meters tall, burst into laughter. Though both hands gripping his saber trembled violently, and the impact from the weapon clash had left him with considerable internal injuries, his gaze at Qin Mu burned with intensity.

"There is one final move left in the Wind Slaying Saber I learned—Windless. If you can take this move, I'll admit defeat!"

As Hou Fei spoke, many among the Crystal Race were visibly astonished.

"Is Hou Fei risking his life? After using that move, he'll be bedridden for two or three days."

"Is that human really that strong? I remember that when Hou Fei used Windless out in the wilderness, he could even go head-to-head with Quasi-Martial Artists without falling behind."

"Sure enough, none of those who earn titles in the wilderness are simple. Still, forcing Hou Fei to use this life-risking move means he won't lose unjustly!"

The Crystal Race watched Hou Fei assume a saber-sheathing stance. The muscles all over his body bulged, gradually turning dark red. One after another, they shifted their eyes to Qin Mu, who stood less than ten meters away.

Qin Mu was in no better condition than Hou Fei. His hands trembled, his blood and qi surged throughout his body, and his muscles prickled with pain. Clearly, the result of that head-on clash had not been good.

The humans were equally tense as they watched Qin Mu. Some even wished they could rush forward and take Qin Mu's place, blocking Hou Fei's final slash for him.

While the human drifters were anxious and uneasy, Fang Zhen and Wu Shang, watching from the rear, had unusually calm expressions after their initial shock.

"Other than having powerful physical attributes, that NPC doesn't seem like much," Fang Zhen said, watching Hou Fei prepare to unleash his final slash. Some disappointment colored his voice. "Every slash is so fast that it's hard to see clearly, but after watching long enough, you can tell that every attack has a very fixed target. The NPC attack patterns designed by this game company are really a bit monotonous."

"Indeed. He's fast, but every attack targets the neck. Against weaker opponents, he can end the fight quickly," Wu Shang said with a nod. "But against someone equally strong or stronger, it's far too easy to defend against. And his attack range is too fixed—his maximum attack radius is around 2.2 meters, with no attempt to conceal it. Once an enemy retreats to 2.2 meters away, that Crystal Race NPC can only stare blankly. This game really is still in closed beta. Its NPC combat intelligence is still a little low."

Fang Zhen and Wu Shang's quiet exchange left Lin Qi, standing nearby, stunned.

Who exactly are these two?

Lin Qi glanced at the pair, who were deeply disappointed in Hou Fei, the NPC, and for a moment did not know what to say. He had watched for so long without spotting Hou Fei's weakness, yet they had identified a whole pile of problems with him in minutes. Their powers of observation were simply heaven-defying.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the street.

"One final move?" Qin Mu watched Hou Fei approach step by step, gripping the saber on his back one-handed as he continuously gathered strength. After taking a deep breath, he stomped his foot and gripped his spear tightly with both hands again. "Come!"

"Good!"

Seeing Qin Mu ready himself, Hou Fei laughed loudly. He suddenly stamped the ground and shot forward with a single step like an arrow, charging straight in front of Qin Mu as the hand gripping his saber slashed down at the same instant.

Windless!

At that moment, it was as if even the wind had stopped. There was no sound at all, only a black shadow sweeping directly toward Qin Mu. Its speed made everyone present suck in a cold breath.

Supersonic!

This was a slash that had truly surpassed the speed of sound. The sound had been flung far behind the blade!

"So fast!" Lin Qi's expression darkened when he saw the slash. He immediately shouted a warning to Qin Mu, "Keep 2.4 meters away from him!"

A slash that completely surpassed the speed of sound was not merely fast. After all, kinetic energy depended on an object's mass and velocity. The faster the speed, the greater the force naturally became.

This slash should have exceeded Hou Fei's limits in every respect.

To be safe, Lin Qi still decided to add another ten percent to the maximum attack distance.

"2.4 meters?"

At that moment, Qin Mu heard Lin Qi's distant warning. Without doubting him, he advanced instead of retreating against Hou Fei.

He took one step forward, planting a foot precisely at the limit of Hou Fei's 2.4-meter attack zone. His foot paused and pivoted, his entire body twisted sideways, and his neck grazed past that black shadow as he came to stand beside Hou Fei.

"You!"

"Microscopic Control...?"

Hou Fei's eyes widened as he stared fixedly at Qin Mu beside him. He could only watch helplessly as Qin Mu's spear swung with his body and slammed directly into the armor at his waist.

Bang!

Hou Fei's three-meter-plus body flew more than ten meters away before crashing heavily to the ground.

This sight made Fang Zhen and Wu Shang, who had just been discussing Hou Fei, both turn toward Lin Qi. Their eyes held nothing but shock.

"Damn! Is this our hall master's strength?" Fang Zhen stared at Lin Qi in front of him, so astonished that he did not know what else to say. "2.4 meters, without the slightest error—this prediction is terrifying!"

"Is this the true strength of the NPC who controls our player permissions?" Wu Shang looked at Lin Qi with equal astonishment and shock. During the earlier fight, she had been certain of Hou Fei's maximum attack distance. It could not possibly have been any farther. Yet Lin Qi had been even more precise than she was.

She was one of Pilgrimage's rare geniuses. In terms of combat intuition, she ranked among the top three in all of Pilgrimage.

Yet now she had been surpassed by an NPC. It was simply unbelievable.

For a time, both Fang Zhen and Wu Shang felt that the hall master arranged by the game company was definitely not as simple as they had imagined.

"He won?"

"Brother Qin won!"

The humans stared at Hou Fei, who had fallen to the ground, unable to believe it was real.

"Microscopic Control?"

Lin Qi looked at Qin Mu, who was completely unharmed, and was shaken to the core. He had even forgotten the joy of victory.

In this high-martial world, people's control over their bodies was divided into three levels: basic, specialized, and Microscopic Control. Normally, only Martial Artists could reach the level of Microscopic Control.

Anyone who reached that level could precisely control their body like a Mechanical Person, making the greatest possible use of both their own and the enemy's attack ranges to deliver the best counterattacks and responses.

For Qin Mu to graze past the blade and evade Hou Fei's attack during Windless, he could not possibly have accomplished it without reaching Microscopic Control.

On the street nearby, Hou Fei slowly rose to his feet, his expression clearly carrying a trace of dejection.

"I lost. We'll leave this place as agreed." After taking a deep breath, Hou Fei swept his gaze toward the direction the warning had come from, then looked at Qin Mu with deep emotion. "I never expected there to be another expert among you humans besides you. Still, losing to a Microscopic Control expert like you is not unjust. It's just that an expert like you, instead of joining one of the martial arts halls in the city and striving for the Martial Artist realm, is willing to stay in a place like this. Our luck really has hit rock bottom."

"Don't underestimate the abandoned district on our human side. There's naturally more than one expert here besides me." Qin Mu also glanced toward Lin Qi among the crowd behind him and nodded in thanks. He had remembered Lin Qi's voice earlier, but he had never expected the kid living in that broken-down martial arts hall to be a hidden expert who could see Hou Fei's maximum attack distance without the slightest error.

After greeting him, Qin Mu turned back to Hou Fei and said firmly, "As for your question, I've lived here since I was young. I'm used to living here. If I joined those martial arts halls, I wouldn't have this much freedom anymore. Besides, someone has to stay in this place, just like those people back then."

Hou Fei did not say anything in response.

"Where do you plan to go next?" Qin Mu asked curiously. "With your skills, joining those martial arts halls wouldn't be difficult either."

"Me?" Hou Fei could not help laughing. "Of course, I'll go with everyone to search for the next place where we can live. After all, just like you, I'm used to freedom."

"Then good luck." Watching Hou Fei depart, Qin Mu turned and returned to his residence.

After Qin Mu won the wager, the drifters living in this area began cheering and celebrating. Many unregistered drifters even went to the outskirts of the city to buy foods and alcohol they normally could not bear to purchase, celebrating with Qin Mu as they ate and drank.

That night, Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.

Good thing Brother Qin was here this time. Otherwise, I could only have left this place. Looking at the map of the various races' forces in the abandoned district on the table, Lin Qi felt an even greater urgency to improve his strength. Among the many races in the abandoned district, the Crystal Race does not even rank high. And because of the Half-Scale Race's influence this time, some powerful races have left the areas where they originally lived.

I have to improve my strength as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if we lose ground next time, I'll have no choice but to obediently leave this martial arts hall.

Lin Qi immediately settled on two directions for expansion.

First, he would thoroughly search the martial arts hall again to see whether he could find more training methods and martial skills for the players to learn and improve with.

Second, he needed to carefully consider how to test and select talented players. He only had seven slots left, while the number of reservations had already exceeded ten thousand. Since it would be difficult for him to complete the martial arts hall restoration mission in the short term, he had to choose carefully.

Blue Star, Huxin City, Heavenly Elegance Pavilion High-End Residential Complex.

Inside a bedroom as luxurious as an imperial palace, a woman wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, with long hair cascading over her shoulders, stepped briskly out of a Virtual Game Pod. A trace of anxiety showed between her brows.

This woman was none other than Luo Wu Shang, the famous vice president of the Heavenly Might Guild in Pilgrimage.

"Qing Wei, has the president logged off?" Luo Wu Shang opened the call to the president's secretary, her words brimming with excitement and exhilaration.

"Miss Luo, my dear Vice President Luo! Do you know what time it is? Even production-team donkeys aren't worked as brutally as this." The female secretary named Qing Wei yawned, sounding extremely dissatisfied. "The president hasn't logged off yet. He should still be in a meeting with the senior members of those guilds. He probably won't have time until tomorrow morning."

"That late?" Luo Wu Shang's crescent brows furrowed slightly. "I need to contact the president right now. I've found a new game that can replace Pilgrimage!"

"A new game that can replace Pilgrimage?" The secretary, Qing Wei, woke up a little more and said with a smile, "I didn't expect you to be so capable, Miss Luo. You found a new game to replace Pilgrimage so quickly."

"Still, quite a few people in the guild have found some impressive new games recently. If you want to recommend one, I have a form here. Tell me in detail about the new game's potential, and at tomorrow morning's meeting, I'll submit it to the president and the others for review."

"Its potential? In detail?" Luo Wu Shang recalled those combat scenes, her voice incredibly excited. "All I can say is that this game will explode! It'll completely reshuffle the virtual gaming world!"