The "Actually, It's Great" Rule

"Wipe your face. That was only the tutorial for the first stage."

Hearing the calm voice above her, with its faint hint of teasing, Ning Rongrong looked up.

Indignation flared in her large, tear-reddened eyes.

She was the little devil of the mighty Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Wherever she went, people fawned over her!

Yet today, in some lousy Internet Cafe, a monster in a fake illusion had smashed through her defenses with a rifle butt. Worse, she had cried in front of this awful owner!

How humiliating!

It was an utter disgrace!

"Y-you dare laugh at me!"

Ning Rongrong snatched the tissue and scrubbed at her face. Then she sprang up like a startled kitten. "What a lousy game! I'm not playing anymore! This place is a scam designed to torture people!"

With that, she turned toward the door, her green skirt swinging in an angry arc behind her.

"Ah, what a shame."

Lin Ye made no move to stop her. He merely leaned against the counter and sighed. "I thought someone from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would have more grit. One little setback, and all you can do is cry and run away. You're not even as brave as an ordinary person. Oh well. I suppose Night City's peerless hidden weapon simply isn't meant for you."

"Hold it! Who are you calling worse than an ordinary person?!"

Sure enough, Ning Rongrong stopped dead.

She turned and glared at Lin Ye, but another phrase quickly caught her attention. "Wait. What did you just say? A peerless... hidden weapon?"

As a member of Douluo Continent's elite, she knew about hidden weapons, of course.

But they were crude things. They might work against low-level Soul Masters, but against a high-level Soul Master's Protective Astral Aura, they would barely tickle.

"Want to know? Sit back down." Lin Ye pointed at the computer.

Ning Rongrong gritted her teeth. The image of that Scavenger crushing her skull with a rifle butt kept replaying in her mind.

In the end, her fierce unwillingness to lose overcame her fear.

"Let's see what other tricks you've got!" she huffed, dropping back into the chair. "If you let me get beaten up again, I'll burn this place down even if it kills me!"

"Relax. You got beaten up because you tried to summon your Martial Soul in a world without Soul Power."

Lin Ye walked behind Ning Rongrong, bent down, and pointed at the lump of metal Jackie had stuffed into her hands on the screen. "In Night City, there's no Soul Power and no Martial Souls. People here believe flesh is weak and Mechanical Ascension is the way forward. What you're holding is this world's most basic weapon for self-defense: a Kinetic Pistol."

"Kinetic... Pistol?" Ning Rongrong eyed the metallic weapon on the screen with distaste. "That lump of iron doesn't have a trace of Soul Power. What good is it? And it's so ugly!"

"Ugly? You won't think so in a moment."

Lin Ye chuckled. "It won't cost you a scrap of Soul Power, and you don't need any talent for cultivation. Just raise your hand and pull the Trigger. Its internal mechanism uses gunpowder to generate kinetic energy, delivering lethal force in an instant. Put the headset on and try again."

Still doubtful, Ning Rongrong put the VR headset back on.

The darkness cleared, revealing the Scavengers' hideout again, thick with the smells of blood and disinfectant.

"Cops! Kill them!"

The same roar rang out. The Scavenger thug with half his body rebuilt in metal charged around the corner again, Assault Rifle in hand.

Familiar fear surged through Ning Rongrong, and her body began to tremble.

"Don't panic! Raise your gun!" Lin Ye's steady voice came through the headset, somehow calming her.

Gritting her teeth, Ning Rongrong gripped the Kinetic Pistol called Unity in both hands and aimed it at the charging Scavenger.

"Aim for his head. Squeeze with your index finger and pull the Trigger!"

"Die, you ugly freak!"

"Don't close your eyes! Watch the red dot I told you about!" Lin Ye called out at almost the same moment.

But Ning Rongrong had already squeezed her eyes shut. With a sharp cry, she pulled the Trigger.

Fortunately, the game had a slight built-in aim assist. As long as her shot was off by no more than fifteen degrees, the bullet would be nudged toward the target.

Bang!

The deafening gunshot exploded through the cramped room!

Gunpowder ignited inside the pistol. The tremendous recoil traveled up the grip into Ning Rongrong's wrist, leaving her arm numb.

But when she opened her eyes a moment later, the sight before her left her stunned.

A metal bullet too fast to follow had ripped through the air and struck the Scavenger squarely in his metal jaw.

The impact shattered half his metal jaw in an instant, spraying oil and blood across the wall.

The terrifying brute who had killed her with a single blow moments ago collapsed into a pool of blood like a broken sack. He twitched twice, then lay still.

"I... I killed him?"

Ning Rongrong stared at her trembling hands, then at the body on the floor.

She really had not used a shred of Soul Power.

She had merely moved a finger, and a monster who looked stronger than an assault-type Battle Soul Master had fallen before her?

A rush of exhilaration and triumph unlike anything she had ever felt surged through her like an electric current!

It was more than the thrill of defeating an enemy. It overturned an iron rule of Douluo Continent!

After all, the fatal weakness of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the world's foremost support sect, was that its direct descendants had no combat ability!

If... if everyone in the sect could carry a peerless hidden weapon like this...

Ning Rongrong's breathing quickened as the thought took hold. Not a trace of fear remained in her beautiful eyes!

"What... what kind of divine weapon is this?!"

Back in the Internet Cafe, Ning Rongrong took off the headset and turned to Lin Ye, her eyes shining.

The furious, tearful girl who had threatened to go home was nowhere to be seen.

"So? Is my illusion still a scam at 298 Gold Soul Coins?" Lin Ye asked with an amused look.

"No! Not at all! It's a bargain!"

Ning Rongrong nodded furiously, then hugged the headset as though protecting a priceless treasure. "Boss, teach me! Can this pistol thing get even stronger? Are there more monsters in there? I can take ten of them!"

The "Actually, It's Great" rule was inescapable, even for a proud young lady of Douluo Continent.