by <unknown>
"However, I'm thinking about something else. So many players and tourists have come from the sky. They can naturally count on the invisible landing cabins when they come, but how are they going to return? They cannot simply fly to the Heavenly Rails, which would be too eye-catching and seen by the sinners, right?
"Also, the 'Slaughter Game' in the Land of Sins has a high death rate. The odds of being heavily wounded can't be low. A lot of low-level Immortal Cultivators are incapable of flying into the clouds in the first place, and it will be even less possible for them to do so after they are heavily wounded.
"Therefore, there must be a secret and convenient channel that allows them to return to the Heavenly Rails comfortably."
"Well…" The mental devil pondered for a moment and said, "Right, the towers to the sky!"
Li Yao was thrilled. "Yes. Every Elysian World has an asset transmission tube that is made of high-tenacity fiber, porcelain, and metal. They are connected to the Heavenly Rails to ship assets on a large scale. I've been feeling that it's peculiar since a few days back. However many assets the Heavenly Rails intend to deliver, they can just toss them down, and gravity will do all the work. Why would they bother to build so many towers that lead to the sky with so much effort?
"Come to think of it, the greatest function of the towers should be to carry the players and tourists of the Immortal Cultivators back up to the Heavenly Rails!
"In the jargon of virtual games, the towers and the Elysian Worlds are the 'spawn points' and 'recall points' for most players. Of course, some of the players are randomly 'spawned' in the wilderness, but they will have to go to the towers in the Elysian Worlds after they accomplish their quests and prepare to return to the Heavenly Rails."
"There are also the 'perfect test subjects' in the Land of Sins." The mental devil smiled. "Other than the sinners, a lot of mutated beasts that have evolved greatly are the targets for the Immortal Cultivators. Some of the beasts are even huger than a super-heavy crystal tank. Naturally, it is impossible for them to fly into the sky. They can only be shipped through the towers.
"It is well known that the high and mighty angels will issue all kinds of quests through the Elysian Worlds. According to my investigation, most of the quests concern hunting mutated beasts, which must be captured alive. Think about it. After the experts among the sinners catch a king of mutated beasts through their arduous effort and accumulate enough contribution points, they can be shipped to the City in the Sky together to be sliced and studied. Can it be any more convenient? It both saves the valuable strength of the Immortal Cultivators and will not raise the resistance of the sinners in the Land of Sins. To the last moment, the perfect experiment subjects still think that they will become angels and live a good life in their ignorance. Hehehe!"
"In that case…" Li Yao thought of something. "If we can find an opportunity to blend into the Immortal Cultivators or the perfect test subjects, we will be able to follow them to enter the Heavenly Rails through the towers. It is a chance to break into the City in the Sky, right?"
"There is one such tower in Liberty City. Also, after the Battle of Liberty City, a lot of players and Immortal Cultivator tourists will certainly return to the Heavenly Rails and leave the planet," the mental devil said. "If we can grasp or even create an opportunity to transform the Battle of Liberty City into mayhem, there will be a chance for us to sneak into the dirty water."
"Indeed. Then, let's continue lurking and waiting for an opportunity to fight with this Wuying Lan, the helmsman of the Heavenly Eye Group!"
Li Yao finished the communication with the mental devil and focused his attention on the outside world again.
A long time seemed to have passed when he invaded Liao Fei's brain and established a bizarre, frightening illusion, but it had actually only taken three minutes.
However, during those three minutes, a lot of changes had taken place on the battlefield.
With the cover of the enormous airborne fire platform, Li Yao pushed Liao Fei's body into the burning remnant without alarming anyone. He then tossed more than ten crystal bombs into it, blowing Liao Fei into bloody dust in the surging fire and smoke.
On the frontal defense line, however, the Fist King's troop retreated like an ebbing tide. The defenders of Liberty City seemed to have high morale and were chasing the enemy, reaping their lives unstoppably.
Li Yao had long known from the Fist King's battle formation earlier that it would only be a test attack today in order to locate the weaknesses of Liberty City's defense line. He was not surprised by the result.
What gave him a headache was that one of the elite troops from Liberty City was charging in his direction.
"Run!"
Since he had been unmistakably informed that everything was just a game for the Immortal Cultivators and that the sinners' battlefield was a paradise for the angels, Li Yao was naturally uninterested in fighting the ignorant sinners under the watch of so many viewers.
However, the moment he was about to run away at full speed, he noticed a familiar shadow by the scanning of his crystal camera.
It was Xin Xiaoqi, who had involved them in everything by accident and called herself a thief, a broker, and a black market dealer.
Li Yao hesitated for a moment, considering carefully if he should waste one second to save Xin Xiaoqi's life. Compared to the atrocious bandits, the woman was not exactly an unpardonable person. When faced with the Red Viper Squad, despite her extreme fear, she still gritted her teeth to speak up for Han Te and Liu Li.
In the Land of Sins, those who had the slightest kindness in them were as rare as the Gold Barley that grew in loneliness. Li Yao did not want such Gold Barley to be completely obliterated in the radiation and blood.
At the same time, Xin Xiaoqi noticed Li Yao.
As if she had seen a life-saver, she shouted and ran at him.
The cat-like woman, like the first time they met, was still dodging and fleeing agilely with the spring-like propulsion magical equipment, evading from the blades and bullets. Although her movement looked rather disgraceful, she was miraculously unharmed.
Li Yao stopped hesitating. While boosting the power rune arrays to the maximum efficiency, making sure that he could run at full speed, he extended a mechanical arm at her and picked her up.
Right when Li Yao took action, an ear-splitting explosion burst out. From the smoke behind Xin Xiaoqi, four furiously burning crystal tanks were blown away, and a dark shadow almost five meters tall suddenly dashed out of the overwhelming scraps and remnants.
After the smoke was gone, a hideous monster was revealed. The lower half was a coldly-shining metal chassis, with six agile mechanical limbs that were fully embedded with iron nails and thorns. In the front, there were six honeycomb-type flying sword launches. Starry redness could be found on the launch holes of the flying swords, making them look like the crimson eyes of venomous spiders.
The upper half was a human covered in black hair who was wearing thick armor like an iron tower. He was holding an armor-penetrating cannon specially designed for crystal tanks at ease in one hand and a vibration hammer that could automatically extend in the other hand.
At this moment, the hammer was still vibrating at a frequency of more than five times per second, shattering the blood stains on it into a cluster of mists!
At first glance, it was like a beast puppet in the form of a metal spider had been transplanted onto the abnormal body of a serious mutant!
"Hehehe!"
The half-monster, half-machine bandit uttered low chuckles. His hammer tore apart the air, triggering rings of blasts, before it was thrown to where Li Yao was at an unbelievable speed.
Xin Xiaoqi shrieked and clutched Li Yao's iron shell in panic.
What the f*ck is this?
Li Yao cursed loudly in his heart and retreated rapidly. The powerful hammer brushed past his face narrowly, smashing a crater more than three meters in diameter on the ground. The dead bodies and remnants around all b
ounced, as if they had lost the boundary of gravity in that moment.
It was truly happening. Li Yao noticed that the powerful hammer in the monster's hand was also a rare piece of magical equipment. Other than the powerful blow and the high-frequency vibration, it employed a gravity disruption technique to some extent, which allowed it to disrupt the gravity in a range of about twenty square meters!
Things somehow got tricky.
Chapter 2006: The Weird Fist King |
If he fought without any restraint, Li Yao certainly would not be scared of the half-monster, half-machine guy.
However, he was surrounded by countless bandits and thugs, which probably had a lot of Immortal Cultivator players and tourists mixed in. As a 'ragged' spiritual puppet, did he have any reason to kill the guy instantly before everybody's eyes?
The smoke above his head grew thinner and thinner. Any unexpected moves might be noticed by the Immortal Cultivators.
Anxious, Li Yao pretended to stagger and dodge the blasts of the powerful hammer somewhat clumsily again and again. His enormous body shook like a lone boat on a surging ocean due to the blasts and gravity interference. It seemed that he would be blown apart at any moment.
But it was not going to work out just like that.
With his camouflage, there was no reason he could have avoided so many attacks.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The enemy's ten or so attacks failed to smash Li Yao into smithereens. He could not help but burst into fury. The honeycomb-type launcher at the front of his lower body raised a lightning storm and drowned Li Yao immediately.
Li Yao gritted his teeth in fury in the smoke and fire. He almost made up his mind to kill the guy. If he was left with no choice, he could only release abundant smoke grenades to disrupt the battlefield and blow the monster into a pulp in one attack.
However, such a decision would be very risky. Judging from the strength of the monster, he seemed to be a notorious expert on Liberty City's side. Many people would pay attention to the cause of his death, which might bring Li Yao endless trouble. Li Yao's plan to sneak into the City in the Sky might have to be aborted before it was carried out!
What could he do?
Right then, the lightning storm came to an abrupt end, and the whole world seemed frozen in steel.
A cluster of turbulence swirls, however, was generated right inside the frozen steel!
Li Yao's soul spread out, only to discover that a great wall of steel had risen abruptly before him and stopped the enemy's crazy bombardment.
After a slight daze, he realized that it was just his imagination caused by the daunting aura of the newcomer. The guy who fell from the sky and crashed between him and the monster was none other than 'Fist King' Lei Zonglie!
The Fist King's brown cape had long been torn into shreds, and his metal shell had turned into hot, steaming redness, like a heap of iron that had been heated.
The intimidating air that felt almost tangible condensed into colorful swirls around him, making him look like not an individual but an army of thousands of soldiers!
On his iron shell, thousands of rune arrays had been carved densely. At this moment, every rune array was shining, quaking, and roaring, as if they were about to float from his body and form another layer of glittering, invincible rune armor!
The overwhelming pressure froze all the enemy's tiny flying swords and explosive bullets in midair. Some of them were even detonated into a dazzling fire wall.
The opposing monster was apparently frightened, but he could not stop his body from waving the hammer at the highest speed and smashing it over like a rushing meteor because of the inertia of fury and bloodthirst.
Boom! Boom!
The earth below the Fist King's feet exploded, and the rocks and mud rose like a spring. His immaculate body made of strengthened alloys was bent like an enormous dragon prowling in an abyss, and all his strength was poured into the fist on his waist.
Li Yao even felt as if the fist was alive. It was absorbing the strength of the mountains, the oceans, the sky, the earth, and the entire world while roaring with the utmost hunger and thirst!
The Fist King's fist was activated!
There was no sound at all. The Fist King's fist was much faster than sound when it hit the hammer right in front precisely. The force was not entirely destructive but simply blew the hammer backward in one piece.
Before the hammer was blown back to its master, the Fist King's second punch had arrived.
After the acceleration of the waving during the first punch, that was his real fatal move!
After the punch, the air within dozens of meters seemed to have been pumped away. Even the ground collapsed quite a few centimeters, with countless cracks ripped out. Li Yao felt as if he had sensed the barrage of the main guns of a crystal warship right next to the shell of the turrets at the closest distance!
He looked at the opposite side, only to discover that the half-machine and half-monster bandit did not even have the time to scream before his upper body was blown into smithereens by the Fist King's punch. The only thing left was a bloodstained chassis that was still twitching.
The Fist King's strength, however, continued marching past the chassis, digging a ravine more than one meter deep with hot steam popping up nonstop.
In the punch's effective range, which was almost a hundred meters, all the bandits were killed because of internal bleeding. Even a lot of bandits who were lashed by the blast from the side were blown away, vomiting blood with pale faces. Their combat ability was entirely gone.
That was only one punch. The Fist King truly deserves his fame!
Li Yao's soul shook hard like a quickly-beating heart as he complimented in secret. 'Fist King' Lei Zonglie was truly the strongest spectral Cultivator he had ever seen. There was really no telling what kind of uncanny techniques or secret arts he had been practicing to grow to such a formidable level!
Perhaps the Immortal Cultivators were also interested in the answer to the question. That was why they had instigated chaos in secret and arranged the Battle of Liberty City.
"Xiahou Wuxin!" Lei Zonglie blew up countless hostile warriors in the hundred square meters after only one punch and stopped the enemy from further pursuing them outside of the city. Then, he roared thunderously at Liberty City's direction, "I'll spare your life today, but if you still do not dare to duel with me outside of the city tomorrow, don't blame me for razing the entire Liberty City to the ground!"
As the thunderous declaration rumbled out, none of the defenders, excluding the Immortal Cultivator players, had the courage to move forward and challenge the Fist King.
"Fall back!"
The Fist King looked at Li Yao and waved his hands, personally covering the retreat so that the army could evacuate from the battlefield in order.
Li Yao shuddered in coldness, feeling that the Fist King's eyes were particularly thoughtful.
Perhaps his pretend clumsiness but actual casualness when he dodged the monster's attacks had been seen through by the Fist King.
…
Han Te and Liu Li finally woke up, only to discover that they were in the secret chamber on the top floor of Great Iron City, where the Fist King collected his spiritual puppets.
'Grandpa Yao' was next to them, and 'Fist King' Lei Zonglie still sat on the throne of gears majestically and stared at them without saying anything.
Other than them, there was not another person in the room.
The two little fellows were alarmed. They looked at Li Yao in confusion at the same time.
"Don't look at me like that. I don't know what is going on either!" Li Yao's soul was almost soaked in cold sweat. "The attack has come to an end. Just now, the Fist King took action in person and saved us from a monster. Then he ordered his subordinates to bring us here. Who knows what he is up to? I estimate that he has probably grown suspicious of me. You looking at me with such confusion and eagerness for answers is essentially telling the Fist King that there
is something greatly wrong about me!"
The two little fellows were dazed. It was not until then that they realized that they had made a great mistake. Not knowing how they should make up for it, they became extremely awkward.
Compared to a giant of the Land of Sins like 'Fist King' Lei Zonglie, the two of them were too insignificant, to the point that they were absolutely incapable of fighting back.
Li Yao was secretly considering what 'Fist King' Lei Zonglie was up to exactly.
He reached a similar conclusion because of his senses and intuition. The Fist King seemed to have a certain uncanny 'interest', if not subtle 'fondness', in him.
He can't really be a pervert, can he?
Li Yao's soul felt creeped out.
Seeing that the two little fellows had woken up and their subtle interaction with Li Yao, the Fist King appeared even more thoughtful. He said casually, "The monster I killed in one punch just now was named 'Bloody Butcher' Lei Kuang, one of the seven most famous thugs under Xiahou Wuxin.
"Although we failed to break into Liberty City today, we have figured out the details of the enemy's battle formation and slain a general as famous as 'Bloody Butcher' Lei Kuang. So, it is essentially a minor victory for us.
"It shouldn't have been as easy to kill such a tough person. It was all thanks to your effective distraction that he burst into fury and made a bad call. He did not notice my arrival, which gave me the opportunity to kill him in one punch. So, the two of you have made a major contribution!"
Han Te had Liu Li looked at each other in bewilderment, not having the vaguest clue what the Fist King was talking about.
Li Yao thought to himself quickly. The Fist King was apparently making an excuse to speak to them, or rather, to him, in private.
In fact, considering the world-overturning punches that the Fist King had launched, if he had made up his mind to kill 'Bloody Butcher' Lei Kuang, unless the leader of Liberty City had shown up in person, or dozens of players of Immortal Cultivators attacked him at the same time, how could the guy have not been killed?