The long string of specialized nas for the arena, the mont they flashed on the screen, captured the attention of the vast majority of the audience in the stands.
In the Special Affairs Bureau's area, Xing Hechou's expression was sowhat embarrassed while Amber from the Syndicate chuckled. Leaders of the Global Occult Coalition murmured among themselves, and the black-suited agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Special Incident Section whispered to each other.
Li Ang paid no mind to becoming the center of attention. He stretched lazily, flexing his limbs and fingers, producing a symphony of cracking sounds.
To think that my first-round opponent would be soone from the Special Affairs Bureau.
Tsk, in that case, it wouldn't be good to go all out...
On the other side of the arena, Ding Zhensi, dressed in a blue and white tight-fitting combat uniform, also seed a bit nervous. His colleagues from the Special Affairs Bureau whispered in his ear, likely sharing the specifics about Li Rising.
Ever since Bai Haozheng returned from the Dolphin Hotel, not only had he brought back Yuka Yuri, but he also brought back a mission brief.
After reviewing the entire mission, the Special Affairs Bureau's think tank had increased Li Rising's threat level by another category.
Although Ding Zhensi was not aware of the detailed information about his opponent, from the descriptions of his colleagues...
That man in the Dragon Head White Lab Coat was very, very strong.
"Zhen Shi, don't be nervous."
Yan Hanyan, a researcher from the Special Affairs Bureau's Equipnt Technology Departnt in Yin City, fastened the rivets on the back of Ding Zhensi's tactical suit and said softly in his ear, "Li Rising has a good relationship with our Special Affairs Bureau; he won't be too harsh on you. All you need to do is perform as well as you do during tests."
"That's right."
A tall, kind-faced old man said in a deep voice, "This is only the first round of the competition, and the vast majority of players will not reveal all their cards here. However, your situation is unique, as you represent not only the face of the Equipnt Technology Departnt of the Special Affairs Bureau in Yin City but also the image of the Shanhai Series cha Armor. Our joint effort involved the Academy of Sciences, Engineering Academy, Heterodox Academy, Weapon Industrial Group, various universities, and research institutions from across the country—hundreds of units in total. Working in an environnt as secure as that for nuclear tests, we consud trendous financial, material, and human resources. After more than a year of imnse sacrifice, we created the Shanhai Series cha Armor, a system that rivals the superhuman inheritance systems around the world. It symbolizes that ordinary humans can possess strength equal to, or even greater than, Transcendent players. If you can achieve good results in actual combat, then those think tank theories claiming 'Transcendent beings will completely destroy the order of modern civilization' will be self-defeating. In this duel, you can lose, but you must show our spirit!"
Yan Jianbo, the leader of the Equipnt Technology Departnt, patted Ding Zhensi's shoulder heavily.
And Ding Zhensi, as if greatly encouraged, nodded solemnly. The nervousness hidden deep in his eyes was replaced by determination.
"I won't let everyone down."
"Hmm?"
On the other side of the arena, Li Ang noticed the change in Ding Zhensi, scratched the chin of the Dragon Head Mask, and muttered softly, "Huh... Just before getting into the arena, being motivated by a beautiful girl and encouraged by a ntor, transforming from timid to strong, even his whole aura has changed... This is totally the protagonist's treatnt, isn't it? Damn, why don't I have a pretty senior or junior disciple to give
a motivational kiss?"
Despite his words, Li Ang exhibited no sense of loss.
He lightly stepped on the ground with the tip of his foot and leaped onto the arena, summoning a four-ter-long Tyrant Halberd out of thin air. He waved it casually a few tis, producing a sharp, high-speed sound in the air just from the weight of the Tyrant Halberd itself.
CLANG—
Li Ang casually stopped swinging and slamd the long spear heavily into the ground. The conical butt of the halberd was driven forcefully into the stone flooring, with about seventy centiters of its butt end sinking into the ground, completely out of sight.
"Oh?"
Amber narrowed her eyes. The arenas below the 50th level of the Sky Fighting Arena were all 3.5 ters in height, and the lower the level of stone, the more durable it was.
The depths of the cuts she had made on the Dueling Field with Tidal ssenger were no more than a ter deep, but this Li Rising had casually smashed his halberd's butt end into the ground by 70 centiters, with no spiderweb cracks appearing around it...
The power and skill of that strike had already surpassed that of ninety percent of players in the Sky Fighting Arena.
"Interesting," Amber licked her lips, "Had I known, I would have taken the stage a round later. I haven't really drunk the blood of divine creatures yet..."
Sitting nearby, Perch involuntarily shuddered. The Professor had said one day he'd arrange for so Divinity for him so he could practice becoming an idol and gathering the Power of Faith from fans.
The big sister is so nice; she surely wouldn't beat up her junior fellow disciple and draw blood from ...
Stonemason looked at Perch, whose teeth were chattering inexplicably, completely puzzled as to what was happening.
BOOM—
The blue and white fighting suit of Ding Zhensi unfolded a Vector Nozzle Mouth at the back, propelling him forward with a leap. He landed on the Dueling Field floor in Spider-Man's "half-kneeling on the ground, one hand bracing the ground, the other hand thrust back" cool pose.
Combining that with Ding Zhensi's already sowhat handso face, the stylishness was off the charts.
"Tsk," Li Ang clicked his tongue, feeling even more irritated, and loudly said, "Hey youngster, good afternoon. Eaten yet?"
"Ah?"
Standing up from the ground, Ding Zhensi hadn't expected to be asked such a question. At first, he froze a bit dumbly, then recovered and responded, "No, I haven't eaten yet."
"That's good."
Li Ang nodded his head, like a low-level henchman in a literary work delivering harsh words, and said gruffly, "I won't deliberately go easy. It's good you haven't eaten, so you won't vomit when you get hit later. Hmph, hmph, hmph... HAHAHAHA!"
Li Ang let out an exceedingly arrogant laugh, seeming to have completely turned into a literary villain who provides experience to the protagonist early in the story.
"Ah..."
Ding Zhensi, mouth agape, didn't know how to respond, suddenly realizing that this must be the pre-fight intimidation routine traditional in fighting competitions.
As he was brewing so lines in his mind, he saw Li Ang pull out a dirt-filled sack from his inventory, pinch a handful of soil, and with a flash of electricity in his hand, he refined the dirt into a red brick, then, without a second word, swung the brick down hard on his forehead.
CRACK—
A regular red brick couldn't possibly harm Li Ang's body; it instantly split in two and fell to the ground.
Li Ang silently continued to forge items like green Snowflake beer bottles, Red Bull cans, steel pipes, rebar, and cleavers, banging them on his forehead. A clutter of broken items littered the ground.
"Mr. Li, what... what are you doing?"
Ding Zhensi was dumbfounded, stuttering without understanding what was happening.
"I'm warming up."
Li Ang calmly placed a rebar against his forehead, casually bent it, and said indifferently, "As a martial arts expert, it's quite normal to warm up by smashing your head with beer bottles and bricks before a competition. It's quite impressive that you still dare to stand there after seeing my powerful iron head skill and didn't get scared into imdiately surrendering and withdrawing. You, you're quite sothing."
Quite sothing, my foot! What normal person gets scared by that? Is his standard for asuring an opponent's ntal fortitude really showing off tough acts to their face? Then why doesn't he beco a strear on Kuaishou or sothing...
Ding Zhensi had a belly full of retorts he didn't know whether to spit out or not, and the montum he had built up before the match deflated a little.
"Alright."
Li Ang smashed the last red brick, twisted his head to shake off the debris from his hair, and reached out to grab the Tyrant Halberd by his side.
In the mont his palm touched the halberd handle and the countdown number above the Dueling Field hit zero,
Ding Zhensi suddenly felt an intense pressure on himself, as if targeted by an apex predator – helpless, frightened, desperate.
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK—
His jaw involuntarily chattered, fingers trembled slightly, and his left foot uncontrollably shifted backwards.
Run. I can't win. I can't overco this. I can't survive. If I dare to pick up a weapon, I'll undoubtedly die.
Such thoughts crisscrossed Ding Zhensi's mind like steel nails, chiseling deeper into his subconscious.
In his view, Li Ang had already transcended the category of human form, transforming into sothing much larger, much darker, and more profound.
The shadow of the figure in the Dragon Head White Lab Coat, like a black hole, devoured all of Ding Zhensi's attention to his surroundings.
"Dad! What's wrong with Zhen Shi?" Yan Hanyan, at the edge of the ring, had no idea what was happening on stage and asked Yan Jianbo beside her anxiously.
She only saw Li Ang grasp the Long Spear, after which Ding Zhensi just froze, eyes wide open, unmoving.
You're asking ? I have no idea!
Yan Jianbo wanted to say just that. He was a researcher specializing in chanical Kinetic Armor with not a high player level.
Moreover, the Sky Fighting Arena's ring could block all Energy conduction inside and outside, rendering any Scout thods completely ineffective.
"Cough cough, have faith in Zhen Shi," Yan Jianbo coughed and said gravely, "He is not as fragile as you imagine. The true weaklings cannot bear the living beast that is the Shanhai cha..."
STEP, STEP, STEP, STEP.
Li Ang easily pulled out the Tyrant Halberd lodged in the ground. Maintaining Divine Pressure, he casually walked towards Ding Zhensi, stepping over the scattered debris on the ground.
To those with weak minds, the pressure from the Deity attribute alone could shatter their courage, leaving them utterly incapable of any resistance from an instinctual level.
Li Ang had only tried it on a whim at the start, not expecting the other party to actually fall for it.
Is this all there is to him? What is the Special Affairs Bureau thinking? Sending such a civilian into the ring is just sending him to his death!
If I were any other player, I might just sit here and use Divine Pressure to slowly tornt Ding Zhensi's mind for a full thirty minutes, leaving him a complete wreck even after the match.
Li Ang shook his head but didn't slow his pace.
The Special Affairs Bureau isn't stupid. Ding Zhensi being allowed to enter the ring proves they have ample confidence in him—at least in so respect.
As if in response to Li Ang's thoughts, Ding Zhensi, on the edge of the ring, started trembling.
His eyelashes quivered, his fingertips trembled slightly, his limbs and body oscillated with minor amplitude, causing the tight-fitting combat suit he wore to wrinkle.
"Hmm?"
Li Ang paused his step; he could feel sothing awakening inside Ding Zhensi, and himself standing on the edge of that "sothing's" alert range. One more step forward, and he would likely be attacked.
He can resist Divine Pressure spontaneously…?
Under the Dragon Head Mask, Li Ang raised an eyebrow, ignoring the sense of warning and took a step forward.
BANG—
A sound as if sothing shattered ca from within Ding Zhensi. He seed to break free from invisible chains, suddenly leaning forward forcefully,
and the blue and white combat suit he wore began to extrude countless sharp spikes that seed to be made of magnetic fluid.
These spikes shone with a color that could be described as "variegated black," as they riveted, pieced together, and connected with each other.
Within a single breath cycle, tens or even hundreds of thousands of dizzyingly complex chanical movents were completed,
ultimately forming a Humanoid cha that stood over three ters tall, nearly four ters in height.
This cha was bulky and massive, with an overall dark blue and black color sche.
Its chanical legs, as thick as an elephant's, were firmly planted on the ground, with hexagonally-spaced feet supported by nurous hydraulic rods that bore the weight of the cha itself.
The joints of the cha's limbs were covered with honeycomb-patterned composite armor plates,
while the Breastplate was constructed from two blunted triangular pieces of armor joined together.
In its left hand, it carried a sleek, pitch-black cannon that looked to have a caliber no less than 25mm, with an ammo belt that extended all the way to the ammunition box on its back.
In its right hand, it held a dual-headed alloy Longsword that was half a ter longer than the Tyrant Halberd. The sword had blades at both ends, with a handle in the middle for gripping.
The surface of the blades shimred with a dark golden tallic luster, seeming sharp enough to slice through hair with ease.
The head of the cha was distinctly inverted-triangular in shape, with two large, curved, pitch-black horns extending from either side.
As for the cha's back, it sported four pairs of semi-cylindrical Vector Nozzles of differing shapes, capable of rotating freely to provide thrust in any direction.
The entire cha was tough, hefty, solemn, and deadly—its re presence could make the onlookers feel as if they were in the presence of a bloodthirsty war machine, even as it stood silently.
HUM—
The inverted-triangular head of the cha lit up with two points of light that resembled eyes.
[Third Compatible Pilot's genetic password confird]
[Software program: No anomalies]
["Bug Buzz" High-Frequency Cutting Blade: Frequency overload mode available]
["Fire God" Anti-Aircraft Cannon: Ammunition 3,700 high-explosive rounds]
[Vector propulsion system ignited]
[Shanhai Kui Ox cha activated]
[Entering cruising combat mode]
The cumberso and deep electronic voice spread outward from the cha to the surroundings.
The Kui Ox cha took a step forward, and its tens of tons of weight crushed the stone pavent, cracking it into a web-like pattern.
Its left arm smoothly rotated the cannon, aiming in Li Ang's direction under the command of the fire control system.
"Phew..."
In the cockpit of the Kui Ox cha, Ding Zhensi, who had just recovered from the state of Divine Pressure, let out a long breath.
At the mont his spirit was about to collapse, the Shanhai Series combat suit automatically Triggered a protection chanism, summoning the Kui Ox cha,
and the psychic barrier covering the surface of the cockpit completely blocked the effects of the Divine Pressure.
"Is this your trump card?"
Li Ang looked up at the towering Kui Ox cha, nodding with interest, "To pilot a giant Humanoid cha, indeed, it's a man's romance. So..."
He vanished from where he stood, and in the next instant, reappeared in front of Ding Zhensi's cockpit, one hand pinching the large horn of the Kui Ox cha, the other holding the Tyrant Halberd, its tip angled towards the cockpit.
"Let
try it on."
Before his words fell, he thrust out with his spear.
CLANG—
The shrill and piercing sound of tal clashing rang out.
Li Ang was sowhat surprised to see the seemingly cumberso Kui Ox cha, at the last mont, using the so-called "Bug Buzz" High-Frequency Cutting Blade to fend off the Tyrant Halberd, saving Ding Zhensi from being impaled.
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