The man was large, tall, and imposing. His right arm was made from metal, so he was naturally slower from the weight. Even though his lunge was forceful, the pattern was simple and direct, so it was not that hard to evade. Under the effect of the skill, Feng Bujue had a great advantage in terms of reaction, speed, and dynamic vision. In his eyes, his opponent was moving way too slow and too innocently.
As Feng Bujue avoided the attack, he got the opportunity to ask, “Are you one of the five sergeants from the mechanical arms unit?”
Since he was able to handle the situation with such ease, he had not given up the possibility of communicating with the other party.
“Humph… Why ask when you already know the answer?” The man’s attack missed. He turned his body around and launched another punch.
“I have no idea why you would think something like that…” Feng Bujue maintained a high movement speed and kept his breath even. “But you must trust me now. I mean you no harm. As long as you promise to stop attacking me, I will not attack you.”
The man scoffed coldly.
“You mean me no harm? You joined forces with the member of the Xin clan to slaughter my people. Do you think that I will fall for something like that when you say something like this‽” he roared. He changed his attacks. With a swing of his arm, he carried his body with the momentum and slammed into Feng Bujue.
“If we can’t talk this out, then there is no other choice…” Feng Bujue looked at the other’s approaching figure. “Then I will use this skill to teach you a small lesson.”
He said that out loud because he himself has no idea what kind of skill he would end up using.
From Feng Bujue’s perspective, there was only one dangerous thing about this enemy, and it was the mechanical arm. That aside, he was just slightly stronger than a normal person. Along as he did not fight him head on, he had a ninety percent chance of winning.
“Kyaaa!” Feng Bujue materialized behind his opponent, raised his fist, and then activated his title skill at the same time. He aimed at the top right of the man’s back, the spot that was close to the shoulder. This was not a fatal position, so even if the random skill had high damage and caused his punch to poke through the man’s body, it would not cause any harm to any internal organs. If he was lucky, he might even cause the man’s right arm to lose its function. Feng Bujue was obviously taking things slow and making things easy for the opponent. He thought to himself, Even if I claim this man’s life, it’s not in any way beneficial to me. Since he does not listen to my advice, I will try my best to fight until he loses the ability to fight back, and then I will try to figure out a way to communicate with him.
However, at that moment, Feng Bujue was surprised to hear a system announcement that he had not heard before. “The skill that you have randomly activated, ’Ultimate Hellfire Wavemotion Cannon’, has exhausted all of your current Stamina Points. The activation of this skill under the lack of Stamina Points will in turn be taken out from Life Points. Thus, your Life Points have dropped by fifty percent.”
What the f*ck is this? There’s something like that‽ Feng Bujue cursed internally. He had recovered his Life Points to maximum at the second floor bathroom. During the fall, he had lost fifteen percent, and then he had lost quite a bit after that when he activated Body Enhancement Spell. When he heard the system announcement that his Life Points had dropped by fifty percent, it flustered him greatly, and Feng Bujue immediately deactivated Body Enhancement Spell.
Of course, there was no need to maintain that skill anymore because his enemy had been ground to dust by a blast wave that could take down an entire country. Not even a drop of blood was left of the enemy. That was not all. After the blast annihilated the enemy, the residual energy continued to blast forward, and it landed on one of the walls inside the red room. The wall was facing against the door. Theoretically speaking, the wall should not have been able to be destroyed because the space beyond the wall was already out of the scenario’s map range.
Yet, even this wall had crumbled. The stone wall that looked incredibly sturdy and indestructible collapsed just like that. When the energy blast made contact with the wall, it collided into a strong glow. It was so bright that Feng Bujue had to shield his eyes to prevent himself from being blinded. When the light faded and the man was able to look again, there was a large hole about one meter in diameter that appeared on the wall. The spot where it collapsed showed a wave of large white data. The flowing light was slowly repairing the edge of the scenario, which had been destroyed, and the stone wall was gradually being rebuilt.
“What kind of skill was that?” Feng Bujue gasped in shock. The complete exhaustion of Stamina Points had drained his energy. He felt his knees go weak, and he dropped to the ground. “This can’t be real… A player at level twenty-seven can theoretically put out a skill that is so immensely powerful?”
His guess was not wrong; that was exactly what had happened.
In the description for the skill Kyaaa!, there was this description—’the effect of the random skill will not surpass the limitation of the player’s level and ability’. In other words, a player at level twenty-seven with the same physical traits as Feng Bujue and under the effect of Body Enhancement could have activated a skill like that, provided that they had the skill in their skill bar. However, throughout the whole of Thriller Paradise, so far, the only player who could perform similar attack below level thirty was Sky-Swallowing Phantom Dawn.
At this point, it was worth noting that the skill that Feng Bujue had randomly activated had been obtained by someone in the server, but it was the exhaustible version.
———
Name: Ultimate Hellfire Wavemotion Cannon
Skill Card Type: Active, disappears after one use.
Skill Type: Fighting
Effect: No matter the enemy, they will be destroyed until nothing is left of them.
Consumption: 2,500 Stamina Points
Learning Requirement: Fighting A
Remark: The ultimate for King Style, one of the strongest fighting type moves. It possesses miraculous damage power.
———
Normally speaking, a player below level thirty would have an impossible time reaching the learning requirement of Fighting Mastery A. Even the top players would only reach B. But there were several people who were exceptions. Under normal conditions, their physical ability was no different from Feng Bujue with the Body Enhancement Spell activated. In fact, they might be even more powerful than him. Only those monsters could train their fighting mastery to level A before level thirty and learn a skill like this. This was not an issue of how much time they spent in-game and not because they were special agents or martial artists in real life. This could be summed up in one word… talent.
“It is not easy to play until this point and find an NPC that I can converse with, but I had to activate a skill like this…” Feng Bujue could only blame his luck. When he did not wish to kill his opponent, he had to randomly choose a skill that was so powerful. “It even created a hole in the map itself. That is too much…”
Since that had already happened, Feng Bujue did not spend too much time regretting it. His curiosity was soon distracted by something else. He pulled his gaze to the still-recovering wall. He studied the white flow of data closely to try to take a glimpse of the world beyond ’the scenario’.
At that moment… a human face poked out from the hole. Seeing its features, it was the head of a man. The white data flow covered his face like a glowing mask, so Feng Bujue could not see his face too clearly.
The glowing face opened his lips to say, “Hey… Kid, do you know what you’re doing? With your current ability, you will be torn into pieces by the data storm if you dare pass through the ’gap’.”
When Feng Bujue heard the speaking voice, he was startled. Two seconds later, he found the owner of the voice from one corner of his memory library. “It’s you. It’s been so long…”
“Hah… Yes, it is me. The last time we met, I left in such a hurry that I did not even have time to introduce myself,” the man replied with a smile. “I am now a level two Anomaly, K2-Red Iron. Long time no see, Feng Bujue.”
The man raised his hand in greeting. Then he made a strange gesture at Brother Jue. The next second, Feng Bujue’s Stamina Points, which were supposed to be zero, recovered to fifty points. This gave him the second wind that he needed, and at least he could stand up to speak.
“Let me go over your side to take a look.” Feng Bujue stood up and squeezed his way forward. He reached out to try to push Red Iron aside.
“You do not like to listen to other people’s advice, do you?” When Red Iron said that, his entire arm that was wrapped in light reached out from inside the wall. He pressed down on Feng Bujue’s shoulder single-handedly. He was stopping Feng Bujue from moving forward. “I am trying to save you.”
“Even if it’s just three minutes, I want to go over there to take a look.” Even though Feng Bujue had not given up, the man managed to hold him back easily with just one hand. Feng Bujue could not even take one step forward.
“Ha… I knew you would say something like that.” Red Iron smiled. “Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to do that. Over on my side, we have a few ’important characters’ that have shown quite a bit of concern toward you. You are not going to toy with your life and treat it so lightly. Furthermore, I wish to have a rematch with you. Of course, that will be when we are on equal footing. The current you is too weak; this kind of data is too fragile before me. I can destroy it too easily.”
When Red Iron spoke, the surrounding data was conducting the recovery at an increased speed; the hole was rapidly closing.
“The inner world is not someplace one can easily visit. For players like you, this place is one hundred times more dangerous than a scenario.” He released his hand and pulled his arm back into his world. At the same time, his head started to shrink backward. “Feng Bujue, if you wish to admire the scenery on this side, you’d better master the Soul’s Eye first. When you can use another perspective to observe this virtual world, that is when the real game starts.”
When he finished saying that, his face had completely retreated behind the unknown space. The data flow was rapidly closing the hole, and the wall returned to its previous undamaged form. Feng Bujue looked at the door and stood there for a total of ten minute. The words that K2- Red Iron said contained too much information, and he needed time to digest them slowly.
Some time later, Feng Bujue said with a blissful expression on his face, “That was amazing… This setup is amazing and sharp. I cannot wait to reach the end game, to see what lies waiting at the latter stages of the game.”
The NPC that had accidentally been killed in one punch had been tossed out of his mind already. At this moment, Feng Bujue’s thoughts had flown elsewhere. In fact, he had the impression that…no matter what happened at the end of this scenario, it did not matter that much anymore because the scene that he had just experienced earlier was worth all the time that he had spent in the scenario. He did not waste coming to this nightmare mode.
Walking out from the red room, Feng Bujue stood where he was and took a short break. He waited until his Life Points regenerated to thirty percent, and his Stamina Points rebounded to about 160. Before the scenario punished him for AFK-like behavior, he started moving again and moved to push open the yellow door. The iron rod had been damaged already, so he would have to risk his remaining Life Points. He prayed internally that not all six rooms would have a battle that he needed to fight. If that was the case, he would end up in a bad situation considering the fact that he was banned from using consumables.
Thankfully, there was nothing dangerous inside the yellow room. This was a room that felt like it was a storage room for various chemicals. There were many steel racks and glass cupboards in the room. They were filled with potions, powders, and other raw ingredients that Feng Bujue could not recognize. The items had different shape and properties and were stored in different vessels. The only similarity between all of them was that they were all trash. No matter which of them Feng Bujue picked up, he was unable to read the item description. That could only mean that the items were useless to the player; they were no different from interior decoration. Feng Bujue searched the room for a while, but he did not find anything valuable. Just as he was about to leave the room, another cinematic video was triggered.
…
“Big brother… if we continue to do this, we will eventually be found out and arrested… no, it will be worse. We will be killed!” Andrew told Arthur worriedly. He was in a stint.
“There is nothing to worry about.” Arthur was facing away from his little brother, who stood at the door. He selected the ingredients from the glass cupboard with expertise and placed them one by one on the small cart that was parked next to him. “We have killed those that needed to be killed, and the rest are in custody. Even the Royal Arcana has lost to us, hasn’t it?”
“But…”
“Stop being so silly. We have already lost our chance to turn back. There is no way for us to return now.” Arthur cut Andrew off. “No matter what, we have to figure out a way to turn me into a human. That’s what you said, right? At this point, no matter how deep the regret or fear you have, it is unable to wash away the blood that we have on our hands.
“Since we have already reached the last stage of our plan, other than the two armed alchemists that were killed on the spot and that bounty hunter by the name of Kong He, we still have one alchemist and five soldiers from the mechanical armed units, don’t we? That is already more than enough… Just follow the established rules. Keep them separate in custody and let them enjoy nine days of special meals. Then, we will conduct the experiment.”
Arthur paused before continuing. “At this stage, a normal experimental body is of no value to us. We need people at least at the level of the bounty hunter if we want to progress. These six came at the right time. With them, we can stay hidden and stay low for the next two months. In two months, I believe that no one will be looking for us anymore.”
At this point, Arthur had taken everything that he needed. He turned around and pushed the cart toward the door. “Think on the bright side. Perhaps we will have completed our alchemy progress before we have gone through these six experimental bodies.”
“However, even if that is the case, in the end, all of them have to die, don’t they?” Andrew followed up with a creased frown.
“Yes.” Arthur’s answer sent a chill down one’s spine. “We cannot let them walk free out of here, can we? But those that remain do not need to go through the painful experiments anymore. They can have an easier death.”
He pushed the cart past his little brother and left the room.
…
“So, the aim of those experiments… is to turn Arthur, who is from the Xin clan, into a normal person?” Feng Bujue mumbled to himself as he walked out from the yellow room and headed toward the blue room that was next door. “The video from earlier should be showing me the result of their experiments. It is hard to tell for now whether Arthur has successfully turned himself into a human, but it is certain that Andrew has suffered a certain degree of damage from this…”
He pushed the blue door, and it swung open easily.
“Perhaps Arthur purposely left out this sacrifice that was needed in the experiment and tricked his little brother to take up the sacrifice for him? Or perhaps… even Arthur himself did not expect something like this to happen. Hmm… From the introductory cinematic, both of these hypotheses have a chance of being the truth. After all, they are still brothers. No matter what happened, Arthur will still some degree of guilt.”
The blue room should be a prison cell, and it was a special prison cell. The four walls, the ceiling, and the ground were all painted with magic circles. There was no bed in the room, but there were four iron pillars in the four corners of the room. Each of the pillars was attached with a shackle.
“Those inmates who have a higher fighting ability than a normal person are probably kept in this room…” Feng Bujue came to the corner and used the magnifying glass to observe. He noticed that both the shackle and the pillar had the same magic circle that was painted on the wall. “The magic circle is probably there to prevent the inmates from using magic or brute force to escape. But…”
He lay on the ground for a while to conduct his investigation. After a while, he confirmed there was no trace of food in the room.
“There is no feeding hole, there is no plastic pail, and there is a smell of ammonia in the four corners of the room… Hmm… From the evidence, the people who were kept here were not given any food or drink, and they were bound to the corners. After they were well starved, they would be taken to the other cells and then treated with the ’special meals’. By then, they were too weak to attempt to escape.”
Feng Bujue walked around the room. He would stop occasionally to see if he could trigger any cinematics. He did this for five minutes and ended up with nothing. So, once again, he had to start a carpet search…
This time, it really did work.
The four pillars in the room were thick and had rust all over them. From a cursory glance, other than the magic circle on them, there was nothing too unique about them. Feng Bujue used the wrench and knocked on every inch of the pillar. He found an opening on one of the pillars. It was a part that was facing the wall, about one meter above the ground. Feng Bujue gave the spot a light whack, and the spot caved in. Seeing that, Feng Bujue added more force, and he managed to knock out a small hole. With more knocking and peeling, he managed to expand the hole to the size of one’s fist. He reached into it and found the item that was hidden inside.
———
Name: Fake Eye
Type: Plot Item
Quality: Normal
Function: Unknown
Can be taken out of the scenario: Yes
Remark: A real-looking eyeball.
———
“Okay, on to the next room.”
With the item found, Feng Bujue left the blue room and walked toward the black room that was right opposite. This time, after he pushed open the door, he did not walk into it. This was because inside the black room was complete darkness…
The red, yellow, and blue rooms were covered in light from an unknown source, but that was not so for the black room. The room was covered in darkness, a darkness so thick it could not be penetrated by the light from the corridor. It felt as if there was a black cloth that was hung at the door, forbidding the light entry. Feng Bujue was hesitating over whether to enter and whether there was danger in the room when laughter came from inside the room.
The laughter was strange. The person who laughed had a very shrill voice, but there was a brazenness to the laughter. To make an example, this kind of contrast would be like Lin Zhiling singing a manly song…
“What the f*ck…” Feng Bujue bounced a step back. “Who is it! Show yourself!”
Without thinking, he pulled out the Death Poker to prepare to face the enemy.
Then, the ’darkness’ in the room started to move like a wave. It gathered in the middle of the room, and the empty space left by it was filled by the light from the corridor.
Feng Bujue stood at the door and looked inside. He realized that the size of the room was similar to the three rooms before it. But it was empty. The main color scheme of the room, which was the ’darkness’, had gathered together like it was alive. Soon, the darkness congealed into a shadow that had a human shape, standing in the middle of the room. The appearance and outline of the shadow mirrored a superstar who had passed away a long time ago…
“This is…” Feng Bujue had not figured out how to deal with this when background music started beside his ears. The easily recognizable rhythm was Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. As the music started, the shadow in the room began to perform thee ’moonwalk’ as it shuffled toward the door…