When Li Wei had closed to within 2.5 kiloters of the fortress, he switched to the Fla Baron title.
Life 400, Stamina 540, Strength 45, Agility 44, Defense 34, Spiritual Power 20, Perception 4. His current peak configuration.
He could still push it further — though at this point, a Five-Star Universal Gold Card would only enhance the title by half a level.
But Li Wei understood the danger of doing so.
Simple: the foundation was unstable.
The previous attribute gains had taken him the full twenty-five days of running, fighting, and gradually absorbing the changes.
If the Fla Baron title was enhanced further, he wasn't certain he could maintain his current level of performance. Against low-intelligence Ability Users or mutant creatures, raw stats were enough to bulldoze through. But against a skilled, exceptional player — that was a different matter.
Suddenly.
Li Wei's body shifted left in three rapid lateral leaps, calmly dodging three sniper rounds.
Freeman soldiers in the fortress, firing. Not elite freen — and even if they were, it wouldn't matter.
At this range, bullets took three seconds to arrive. With Perception at 4, Li Wei could sense the mont a round left the barrel and roughly predict whether it would hit.
Of course, he still couldn't dodge bullets at under 100 ters. But beyond that range, his reaction speed and physical conditioning were more than sufficient for rapid evasion.
In any case — after losing his elite, core freen, Scar Glenn could no longer effectively command his remaining soldiers.
Li Wei smiled faintly. He could almost picture the hatred in those three freen's eyes.
But did they know — a precision instrunt like a sniper rifle, once removed from its lead-alloy case in the current Radiation Storm environnt, could only fire three tis?
Li Wei suddenly accelerated and ran in a straight line. Sure enough, seconds later, three more sniper rounds ca in.
Ha!
Scar Glenn's expression on top of the fortress had darkened — though it probably didn't matter much to him.
Li Wei had now reached the outer concrete wall, exactly 500 ters from the fortress.
He took a breath and shouted:
"I have heard that the esteed Senior Chu Wushuang is present! I am Li Wei, and I have co to seek your instruction!"
"Should I be defeated today, I offer my head to Senior Chu, and all I possess, with both hands!"
"I ask Brother Scar to bear witness — today, Senior Chu and I shall determine not only superiority, but life and death!"
Li Wei's voice rolled out like distant thunder across the open terrain. Adai cawed enthusiastically and circled overhead — ostensibly showing off, but actually using the ti to make one final confirmation of whether Chu Wushuang was present.
No sign of him. His aura wasn't here.
Ha. So Scar Glenn really was that confident.
Though to be fair — Scar Glenn was a peak Four-Star player on the sa tier as Hathaway. Six months ago, Li Wei would never have imagined fighting him.
Hm. Scar Glenn wasn't responding.
Too contemptuous to bother.
Li Wei called out a few more tis. Still nothing.
Fine.
Wait—
Li Wei suddenly sprang sideways, shooting twenty-plus ters in an instant — and almost simultaneously, a cannon shell obliterated the section of concrete wall where he had been standing.
A tell.
At this point, Li Wei was essentially certain: Chu Wushuang was not here. He had genuinely gone to intercept Li Wei at his camp.
Not that Scar Glenn's logic was unreasonable.
Based on available intelligence, Li Wei was alone. Otherwise, if either Li Yue or Liang Yuzhi had co, this fortress would have changed hands days ago.
'So that night, while I was hunting the mutant creatures, Chu Wushuang had already set out. They really thought I'd raid once and go ho. How decisive.'
Li Wei found himself with a grudging respect. If his ambitions had been smaller, if his read of the situation had been less clear, if he hadn't wanted to hunt Chu Wushuang — he would have been sitting in Wind Residence drinking tea right now, completely off-guard.
Scar Glenn was genuinely decisive. And genuinely bold.
A formidable rival. If not dealt with early, he would beco a serious problem.
Li Wei leaped through a gap in the outer concrete wall and charged — not straight at the fortress, but at an angle, heading for its rear.
Sparse crossbow bolts ca flying, including so from heavy siege crossbows.
Effective against low-intelligence mutant creatures. Against Li Wei with Perception 4 and Agility 44, it was almost laughable.
He reached the back of the fortress in monts.
Normally, a star fort had no firing blind spots — but only if enough elite soldiers were stationed to cover every angle.
Li Wei had already morized every detail of this fortress, top to bottom, left to right — as familiar as his own backyard.
And through Adai, he could track Scar Glenn's real-ti position, as well as most of the freen.
A fortress wasn't omnipotent.
A few leaps, and Li Wei was on the second level of the fortress. But just as he was about to jump to the third, a heavy horse-chopping blade ca slashing down like a hurricane.
They had been waiting for him.
Li Wei had to pull back and drop to the second level — but there was no footing there either. He had been climbing by wedging his hands into firing slits and jumping from one to the next.
"HA!"
A thunderous shout. The next second, a spiked hamr ca crashing down at Li Wei's right hand — Scar Glenn's companion, handling the interior while Scar Glenn covered the top.
Unless he blew open a wall, there was no way in.
As for having Adai use ice magic — not realistic. Scar Glenn had rapid-fire crossbows strapped to both forearms. At this level of peak player, the shooting technique and accuracy were beyond question. Adai coming within 30 ters would be instant death — and unfortunately, its ice magic couldn't reach beyond that range.
Boom.
Li Wei hit the ground hard. Two powerful crossbow bolts shot past, accompanied by the sound of many footsteps — freen repositioning from other firing posts.
But Li Wei's speed far exceeded their expectations. He rolled, then moved like a slippery eel, hugging the fortress wall in a series of jumps — each four to five ters high, roughly one floor's worth — scaling the wall like Tarzan, using the firing slits as handholds, and appearing on the opposite side of the fortress before the freen archers could even finish repositioning, let alone aim and fire.
At the sa ti, Scar Glenn on the roof was tracking by sound, equally agile, giving Li Wei no chance to climb up — while also keeping watch for Adai's underhanded moves. After all, that bird had been the MVP of the last battle.
The other Four-Star player was moving rapidly through the second level, denying Li Wei any leverage point. Go ahead and try to smash the alloy gate — it's a ter thick.
For a mont, Li Wei looked like a monkey being chased around, scrambling up and down the outer walls of the fortress under the pressure of multiple defenders.
Forward, backward, up, down.
Sotis chaotic, like a tangled ss, seemingly unable to find a way in.
And yet his Stamina showed no signs of running out. He didn't look like he was giving up.
Sohow, it was almost endearing.
Scar Glenn felt a asure of relief.
Honestly, he had been a little worried.
But watching now — this kid was talented, yes, but only in the ordinary sense of talented. Apparently an Agility-focused Scout. Nothing more than that.
Because even Scar Glenn himself could perform at roughly this level.
This wasn't impressive enough.
He even considered taunting him — but ultimately decided against it. Bad luck to speak. Too many words, and you beca cannon fodder.
He ntally inventoried his life potions, Stamina elixirs, and food supplies. He could hold this fortress until he died of old age.
In practice, he only needed to hold for four more days — because then Li Wei would have to return for the end-of-month settlent. A Head of Household absent during settlent would lose authority.
Ha!
Scar Glenn was brimming with confidence.
He even thought he could just jump down — three strikes, five at most, and that kid's head would roll.
But there was no need. Really no need.
Caution in all things. Think three tis before acting.
His father had told him that more than once.
anwhile, Li Wei scrambling around below wasn't actually in as much distress as he appeared.
Because he was practicing.
Yes — even if he had morized every detail of this fortress, the old saying held: a good mory is no substitute for a bad pen. Direct experience, letting his body — from the whole to the individual parts, from the inside out — fully understand and internalize the structure. That was the optimal state.
In fact, while jumping up and down the fifteen-ter outer walls of the fortress, Li Wei unexpectedly discovered that his Agility attribute had beco sowhat unstable — it had drifted. He had added points too quickly recently. It used to be his most reliable attribute.
He thought back to the days when he had sprinted through mountain forests in the dark — that had been skill built through real effort.
So now he found himself genuinely enjoying this climbing practice, which was technically more demanding than anything Tarzan had done.
He had even started to lose track of Scar Glenn on the third floor, who was running back and forth with equal energy. The man could really move.
The freeman crossbown on the second level, however, had all collapsed in exhaustion — lying flat, giving up, completely demoralized. What kind of creature was this? This had to be a mutant.
Only the Four-Star player was still going, running back and forth on a flat floor — not exactly tiring.
But that guy outside — Li Wei — was genuinely impressive. No wonder they called him the Charming General. With that Stamina, who could argue?
Though — he had to be running low by now. Maybe it was ti to go down and clean up?
Just as that thought ford, sothing felt wrong.
What—
In that instant, this reasonably experienced and seasoned Four-Star player broke out in a cold sweat. This was possible?
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