This Is Not a Core Card!!!

Look at this panel.

Su Mu was taken aback at first, but then a weight was lifted from his heart.

The card only has a combat index of over 40,000, while the total combat value of the themed dungeon is only 140,000.

Even though the opponent was level 23, once they pulled Little Drill Wind into the dungeon battle, the level advantage from the main world was gone...

This means that Little Drill Wind now has a complete SSS-level panel with a combat index of 291,000.

More than seven times that of the other side.

A level 23 player fighting a level 10 player does indeed have a level advantage. Each level has a 2% difference in both directions, so a level 13 player would have 26% damage reduction and 26% additional damage.

But this data is practically meaningless when compared to a seven-fold difference in attributes. No matter how thick your armor is, an ant can't withstand an elephant's kick.

Seven times.

This gap is beyond what level suppression can bridge.

And.

Su Mu looked at the three skills of that "Many-Faced Man" and his brows relaxed slightly.

Faceless Veil: Deals double damage upon breaking stealth. Puppet Replacement: When HP drops below 30%, swaps positions with another Faceless Person on the field and restores 30% HP. Group Splitting: Splits into a puppet with 30% of its attributes every 30 seconds, up to a maximum of three.

This skill set, placed within the framework of "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio from a Chinese Studio," is actually a very standard "The Painted Skin" route.

Faceless, face-changing, and clones—these all follow the path of the bizarre and uncanny.

If the other party truly understands this theme and builds a complete and bizarre system around the concept of "The Painted Skin," combined with the stealth and clone mechanism of the faceless man, they would indeed be adept at murder and robbery in the wild.

But the problem is...

The name "Many-Faced Man" itself reveals the other party's level of understanding of this topic.

Are there any faceless people in Liaozhai *?

It contains the Painted Skin, Judge Lu, Nie Xiaoqian, Yingning, Liancheng, and many other bizarre and fantastical stories.

However, the phrase "Many-Faced Man" does not refer to any story in Liaozhai.

This is a vague and general name, as if someone randomly flipped through a few pages of Liaozhai, thought the concept of "The Painted Skin" was cool, and then casually created a "Many-Faced Man".

Conceptual anchoring refers to anchoring the concept to the word "surface".

The truly terrifying thing in *Strange Liaozhai * is never the "noodles".

It's "skin".

The reason why "The Painted Skin" is "The Painted Skin" is because of what is hidden beneath that skin. Peel away the gentle and charming skin of a beautiful woman, and underneath lies a ferocious ghost with a blue face and fangs. That contrast, that fear of "what you think you are seeing is the truth, but it is just a facade," is the essence of "Strange Tales from Liaozhai."

This Many-Faced Man doesn't even have a "skin," only a blank face.

The concepts are all anchored incorrectly.

Su Mu silently made a judgment on the other party in his mind: Although this person's dungeon theme was rated as A-level, his understanding of the theme was probably not even half of what an A-level person should have. Otherwise, how could a level 23 A-level theme only have a combat index of 140,000?

A typical level 23 themed dungeon should have a combat index between 150,000 and 200,000. Not to mention the additional boost from the dungeon theme itself.

140,000 is too low.

So low that Su Mu even found it a bit absurd.

However, these thoughts only flashed through his mind for a moment.

After all, people in this world don't even know Journey to the West, so how could they possibly understand Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio?

Inside the instance.

The Many-Faced Man emerged from the grayish-white membrane, his figure taller and thinner than the faceless men around him, the hem of his gray robe trailing behind him, his steps flowing unnaturally like water.

It looked at the Little Drill Wind.

The blank face had no features, but Little Drill Wind could feel a "gaze" falling on him, scrutinizing and disdainful.

A level 10, A-rank summon.

Compared to a level 23 A-grade core card, this opponent was no different from an ant that could be crushed on the roadside. Without even thinking, it raised a hand, and a cloud of grayish-white mist condensed beneath its gray robe.

The mist surged and transformed into a giant hand, slamming down towards Little Drill Wind.

Strange, elusive, with almost no discernible pattern.

This is a typical attack method in the Liaozhai series; it doesn't take a physical route but directly targets the level of perception.

The grayish-white palm appeared like a cloud of mist, but on a spiritual level, it carried a real sense of oppression, leaving no time to react.

The Little Drill Wind did not react.

It stood still, as if locked in place by that strange aura, completely motionless.

A grayish-white hand patted its body.

The Many-Faced Man is ready to withdraw their attention.

A level 10 A-rank summon should be reduced to ashes by this attack.

Then its movement stopped.

Little Drill Wind's health remained unchanged.

The Many-Faced Man's blank face revealed no expression, but its aura visibly faltered for a moment. Grayish-white mist churned around it, as if reflecting some kind of emotional fluctuation.

It raised its hand again.

This time, an even denser grayish-white mist surged from its body, transforming into dozens of tiny hands that slapped at Little Drill Wind from all directions. Each hand carried a corrosive aura, even the air itself hissed as it was corroded.

Little Drill Wind still didn't dodge.

Those palms struck its body, and a faint demonic aura emanated from its dark blue scales, blocking all attacks. Its health remained unchanged.

The Many-Faced Man came to a complete halt.

It slowly raised its hand, its blank face facing Little Drill Wind, as if "looking" at something. Su Mu could sense through the Soul Link that the other party was using Appraisal.

Then the aura of that Appraisal suddenly trembled.

"SSS?"

A voice, hoarse and filled with disbelief, came from the Many-Faced Man body.

Its aura fluctuated violently, its gray-white robes fluttered without wind, and ripples spread across the gray-white membrane beneath its feet.

Su Mu was very familiar with that kind of fluctuation; it was a manifestation of Soul Power going out of control when one is extremely shocked.

"Impossible. How could an A-rank summon be SSS?"

The Many-Faced Man's voice carried a sharp tremor.

It performed the appraisal again. Then a third time. Each time the Appraisal struck Little Drill Wind, the grayish-white mist around it surged even more violently.

"SSS... it really is SSS... but it's only level 10! Level 10 SSS? How is that possible?"

Then it suddenly remembered something, and its whole body stiffened abruptly.

"It's not a core card... it's not a core card! Core cards are suppressed to A-rank outside the game, but once they're brought into the dungeon, the suppression disappears... so it was originally an SSS-rank card..."

Its voice grew softer and faster, as if it were talking to itself.

"Upgrade a non-core card to SSS level? Level 10? How is that possible? Who would waste resources on a non-core card? This doesn't make sense..."

It suddenly raised its head.

"Unless the card's owner isn't level 10 at all."

In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through the Many-Faced Man's mind.

But all those thoughts lasted less than half a second.

Because the Little Drill Wind moved.