The moment he broke into the drug factory, Blue Pigeon took in the scene. Two figures stood before him—one fat, one thin—but his gaze locked onto the space right above the tall, thin man's head.
—[Li Wei].
Staring at the player ID suspended in midair, Blue Pigeon froze for a moment.
The commander's intel was right. A genuine player was actually hiding in this drug cartel's den!
From start to finish, this person never seemed to consider contacting other players. Ke Mingqing had absolutely no idea someone like this existed in Leijing...
"A real player. Why didn't he contact us?"
Blue Pigeon studied him closely. The young man sported a buzz cut with a short, upturned braid at the back, dressed cleanly in a white dress shirt and suit trousers.
His facial features were soft and effeminate, his expression cold. He watched them with the eyes of a lone wolf sizing up its prey, completely dismissing these absurdly dressed superheroes.
Blue Pigeon took a deep breath and shot a glance toward the other figure in the warehouse.
[super-human species codename: "Wavy Hair"]
[Type: esper]
[Danger Rating: C+ Rank]
[Description: An esper capable of manipulating his hair, altering its texture, and extending its length and hardness for combat.]
The pitch-black warehouse was swallowed in absolute silence. Wavy Hair patted his belly, and his brown curls extended outward, spilling across a large swathe of the floor like a spreading lake.
"Bro, I'll take care of the curly-haired fatty. The thin one is all yours," Top Hero said. "The commander said that guy is probably the 'player.' We need to capture him alive if possible."
"I'll do my best."
Blue Pigeon agreed aloud, but inwardly scoffed. If I capture him alive, aren't I just making trouble for myself? The authorities are dying to get their hands on a player to use as a guinea pig.
"I'm counting on you, Bro."
With that, Top Hero shot forward, his dreadlocks whipping wildly in the wind.
The battlefield split in an instant. Top Hero clashed with Wavy Hair, while Blue Pigeon charged toward the tall, thin young man.
Their eyes met.
Blue Pigeon leaned in, stamped his feet against the floor, and launched forward like a bolt of lightning.
Hearing the thunderous roar rushing his way, Li Wei raised his right hand without the slightest hint of panic.
He activated a skill, massively enlarging the thumb and index finger of his right hand. The two digits swelled and expanded to grotesque proportions, growing larger than his entire palm, like the misshapen limbs of a deformed mutant.
[E Rank skill: "Big Big Big!" (Enlarges a specific part of your body for a short duration.)]
"He enlarged his fingers?" Blue Pigeon was baffled. "What's the point? I wouldn't touch a skill like that even if it were on sale."
The next instant, Li Wei's enlarged fingers moved.
Blue Pigeon saw it clearly. He had snapped his fingers.
It was only then that Ke Mingqing finally understood his enemy's intent. As a fellow player, he remembered a D Rank skill he had once seen in the Skill Shop: "Snap Pistol."
[D Rank skill: "Snap Pistol!" (For a short duration after activation, every finger snap fires an air bullet forward.)]
With a sharp crack, Li Wei completed the snap.
An enlarged Snap Bullet spiraled outward, tearing through the air at an inconceivable speed.
Objectively speaking, it had far surpassed the concept of a "bullet." It was a giant sledgehammer of compressed air smashing right for him! Blue Pigeon only felt a sudden gust of wind against his face before the explosive air bomb slammed into him.
He was sent flying backward like a kite with a severed string, crashing heavily into the warehouse wall.
With a harsh bang, the metal armor plating on his body shattered.
Blue Pigeon collapsed into a patch of sunlight, clutching his chest. He spat out a mouthful of blood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Fuck... you can actually combo those two skills like that?"
He truly hadn't expected "Big Big Big" and the Snap Bullet to synergize into something so devastating. Pressing his advantage, Li Wei slowly walked toward Blue Pigeon, snapping his fingers again and again.
Bang! Bang!
In the blink of an eye, two more massive waves of compressed air blasted toward him.
"You think you're the only one who can snap?" Blue Pigeon sneered. He forced himself upright, raised his metal-gauntleted right hand, and snapped his fingers. [It's Raining (E Rank skill): Snap a finger to summon a localized downpour.]
Crack. A sudden torrential rain crashed from the ceiling, drenching both Li Wei and Blue Pigeon.
Li Wei raised his eyebrows, muttering in surprise, "A rain-summoning esper ability just like Rain Crow's?"
Blue Pigeon plunged his right hand straight into the curtain of rain. Electricity surged from his fingertips, conducting through the water to weave a sprawling curtain of lightning. The electrifying barrier collided head-on with the explosive air bombs, violently detonating in a shockwave of force.
The downpour flash-boiled instantly, turning into a massive cloud of snow-white steam that began spreading rapidly across the warehouse.
"Cheap parlor tricks."
Li Wei frowned and snapped again, firing another massive air bomb that tore straight through the veil of steam.
But Blue Pigeon was already moving, darting sharply to the right to evade the bullet.
The enlarged air bullet slammed into the warehouse wall instead, blowing two massive craters into the structure.
Boom!
Sunlight streamed fiercely through the breach, illuminating the pitch-black warehouse. Li Wei stood squarely in the light, while Blue Pigeon sprinted through the shadows, weaving frantically to dodge the relentless barrage of air bombs.
Every time Li Wei snapped his fingers, a violently turbulent, invisible shockwave tore through the room.
The air howled, churning like an endless gale inside the warehouse, but his bullets simply couldn't catch Blue Pigeon's agile movements. Seeing this, Li Wei frowned and silently commanded:
"Overlimit Disintegration."
[D Rank skill: "Overlimit Disintegration" (Temporarily enhances all physical stats.)]
In an instant, a faint blue glow enveloped Li Wei's body. His strength surged, making every snap of his fingers faster and more vicious. The resulting air bullets evolved from the force of a sledgehammer to the raw devastation of a rocket launcher, their area of effect widening drastically.
Deafening booms echoed continuously through the warehouse, mixing the violent hiss of lightning with the concussive roars of compressed air bombs.
Assembly machines shattered one after another, throwing mechanical components into the air like heavy snow. The warehouse walls fractured completely, letting the blazing sun illuminate half of the facility.
The shadows were wiped out like a retreating wildfire. Blue Pigeon surveyed the destruction, realizing he had completely run out of room to hide.
Li Wei's bullet coverage was now so wide that he only needed to predict Blue Pigeon's trajectory to cut off all avenues of escape. Left with no choice, Blue Pigeon abandoned his evasion.
Boom!
In the very next second, Blue Pigeon planted his feet, twisted his body, and launched himself directly at Li Wei like a streak of black lightning!
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Li Wei raised an eyebrow and snapped his fingers, launching a massive air bomb straight at Blue Pigeon.
It was like charging headfirst into a tornado. Blue Pigeon's body was immediately caught in the violent winds. Yet, in that split second, a strange light glinted in his eyes, and his position instantly swapped with Li Wei, twenty meters away.
It was the E Rank skill, Transposition. Ke Mingqing had used this exact trick countless times to turn the tide of battle.
In the second after they swapped places.
Li Wei froze in shock, then silently issued a command:
"Earth Barrier!"
[D Rank skill: "Earth Barrier" (Forces the earth within a five-meter radius to thrust upward, creating a protective barrier around the user.)] Amid a thunderous rumble, the ground violently erupted, forming a thick circular ring that encased Li Wei, successfully blocking his own oncoming air bomb.
Bang!
The concussive blast dissipated, leaving a massive, cratered dent in the side of the Earth Barrier.
"Is that the best you can do?"
Li Wei stepped out from the Barrier, his voice ice-cold.
After a few exchanges, he seemed to have faintly guessed Blue Pigeon's identity. Yet, he hadn't spotted a player ID hovering above his enemy's head, leading him to conclude that this esper simply had a very bizarre ability.
Look at this arrogant punk... if I weren't busy playing the role of a superhero right now, I'd have used my player skills to butcher him ages ago, Ke Mingqing sighed inwardly.
In truth, he genuinely hadn't wanted to kill Li Wei. There were only one hundred players in total; losing even a single one was a massive setback for all of them.
Because of that, even as he dodged and skirmished, Ke Mingqing had been wracking his brain for an alternative solution.
He had considered calling Kuroki Hitomi over to drag Li Wei away, or simply holding back to assess the situation. But seeing Li Wei's absolute intent to kill, he no longer had the luxury of hesitation.
If he hesitated for even a second, he would be the one dying here.
Blue Pigeon activated Gate of Truth, summoning the paper doll Nietzsche into his palm. Simultaneously, he hurled a broken piece of machinery at his opponent. Li Wei's Snap Pistol state only lasted for thirty seconds. Knowing he had to finish the fight quickly, Li Wei decisively raised his hand and snapped his fingers directly at Blue Pigeon.
Crack. Another massive air bomb swept out, instantly crushing the thrown machinery into a flurry of metal shrapnel. Where is he attacking from? Li Wei wondered, only to witness an utterly bewildering sight.
In that second, Blue Pigeon didn't dodge. Instead, he charged straight into the path of the incoming air bomb.
Can he use that transposition esper ability twice in a row?
Li Wei's expression turned dead serious as he braced for the trick.
But completely defying his expectations, a faint golden light suddenly enveloped Blue Pigeon.
Bang! The instant the air bomb struck Blue Pigeon, it harmlessly disintegrated, vanishing without a trace.
"Superman Philosophy," the paper doll in Blue Pigeon's palm chanted.
Stunned, Li Wei hastily retreated, snapping his fingers in rapid succession. Boom! The continuous air bombs violently tossed over a dozen heavy assembly machines into the air.
"Where did he go?!"
Li Wei frantically scanned his surroundings, but Blue Pigeon was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly hearing a thunderous rumble off to the side, he violently whipped his head around.
Blue Pigeon had concealed himself behind the soaring machinery. With a single explosive step, he arched around the debris, bearing down on Li Wei's flank like a storm of wind and lightning. Li Wei froze. Staring into the blinding electricity and the pitch-black eyes illuminated by the flash, he barked a skill name: "Forced Escape."
[E Rank skill: "Forced Escape" (Instantly teleports you to a random location within a twenty-meter radius.)]
Blue Pigeon shrugged. He suddenly halted his charge, as the paper doll in his palm chanted:
"Eternal Recurrence."
[Philosopher Nietzsche's skill: "Eternal Recurrence" (Reverts you or a target within range to the exact position occupied 1.5 seconds prior.)] The two skills triggered at almost the exact same time.
Instantly, Li Wei was engulfed in silver light. He vanished, appearing a dozen meters away.
Backed against the warehouse exit, Li Wei stared at Blue Pigeon in the distance and was just about to let out a sigh of relief. But a fraction of a second later, his body suddenly flashed and vanished all over again. In an instant, he was pulled back to where he had been 1.5 seconds ago—the exact spot he had occupied right before using Forced Escape.
"Impossible..."
When Li Wei regained his bearings, his face was locked in absolute terror.
He turned his head, only to find Blue Pigeon's Lightning Knife Hand already plunged completely through his chest, shredding his heart like a butcher's blade.
Li Wei stared blankly downward, his pupils contracting.
With a sickening squelch, blood tried to spurt from his chest, but it was instantly devoured by the dark electrical currents tearing through his body.
Blue Pigeon kept his right arm buried deep inside his opponent's chest and gave it a slight twist. The spiraling currents of lightning thoroughly shredded Li Wei's internal organs.
Using the very last ounce of his strength, Li Wei raised his hand and snapped his fingers—but the timer on his Snap Pistol had already run out.
A weak snap echoed in the air, but absolutely nothing happened.
Two seconds later, Blue Pigeon slowly withdrew his right arm and flicked his metal gauntlet, spattering a thick streak of blackened blood across the floor.
"You... you definitely aren't a super-human species..."
Clutching the gaping hole in his chest, Li Wei stumbled backward, swaying on his feet.
His legs soon gave out and he dropped to his knees. The look of utter disbelief remained frozen on his face, his eyes rapidly losing focus. "Are you... a player?" Ke Mingqing did not answer directly. From behind his mask, his voice was chillingly indifferent:
"What kind of nonsense are you babbling about?"
Li Wei lacked the strength to force out another word. He just stared blankly at Blue Pigeon before slumping over, collapsing lifelessly into a growing pool of his own blood. In that crimson mirror, his horrified face was perfectly reflected.
Sorry man, your luck just ran out, Blue Pigeon thought. Next life, don't be a lone wolf. Go form a party with some other players early on.
Exhaling softly, he finally tore his gaze away from the corpse.
He was just about to turn and check on how Top Hero's fight was going when a blood-red interface suddenly popped up before his eyes.
[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! You have been detected killing a fellow "player." You will be subjected to severe penalties!]
[Penalty 1: Having killed a player, you have degenerated into a "Red-Name Player." To all other players, your player ID will now be highlighted in a glaring red font.]
[Penalty 2: In the following day's daily bulletin, the ID of the Red-Name Player will be broadcast to all. Furthermore, any player who kills a Red-Name Player will receive a reward.]
[Penalty 3: If you kill enough of the super-human species in a timely manner, you can clear the "Red-Name mark." (Progress: 0/100 super-human species)] Blue Pigeon rested a hand on his hip and paused in disbelief. "Nobody told me I'd become a Red-Name Player for killing someone! And I have to kill a hundred of the super-human species just to clear the mark? How the hell am I supposed to finish a penalty quest like that?"
On second thought, he realized: Then again, there are only a handful of players currently in Leijing anyway. Even if I get a bounty put on my head, Kuroki Hitomi is keeping them busy. I shouldn't be at risk of getting swarmed anytime soon.
Looking down at Li Wei's corpse, a brilliant idea suddenly struck him.
Wait... since my Disguiser Talent lets me hide my player ID, shouldn't I be able to change my ID completely? If I do that, I won't have to worry about my real name leaking at all.
Blue Pigeon pondered for a moment, then nodded. "As for the new ID... I'll just go with 'Fanquan' for now."
He touched the metallic jaw of his helmet, his mind racing with possibilities.
"Based on his posts in the forum, this guy is clearly sharp. If the Japanese girl wants to crown herself the boss of the players, she'll have to get through him first. I might as well stir up a little trouble for him and see how he handles it."
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