Chapter 416 - Tumor
Chapter 496 of "Player Reload" starts here: Chapter 416: Chapter 385 Tumor"At present, only the factory defense system remains at zero level... Discover what happens next!
Chapter 416: Chapter 385 Tumor"At present, only the factory defense system remains at zero level and has yet to be upgraded to level one, with a total shortfall of 27,165 points."
The Smart Core replied without hesitation, "Are you ready to upgrade the factory?"
"Yes."
Li Cheng opened the three-dimensional warehouse and displayed the Bronze Giant Ship stored inside, "I want to dismantle this thing."
The Smart Core said, "This ship is too large; it needs to be disassembled into segment structures first, then sent to the crushing room for processing in several rounds. If itâs a second-level crushing room, the time consumption can be greatly reduced."
"Iâll leave it to you for now; Iâm going to the slum."
Li Cheng placed the three-dimensional warehouse on the ground, and the Smart Core immediately commanded the cylindrical robots to operate cutting machines, cranes, and other engineering equipment to continue dismantling the ship and stack it on the vacant ground.
The factory was bustling with activity while Li Cheng headed to the slum, as usual visiting several shops specializing in buying and selling artifacts, specifying a desire to purchase items related to scientific technology.
The arrival of the killing field is not good news for ordinary people who just want to live their lives, but for historians and artifact collectors, itâs absolutely thrilling.
Especially the script tasks set in ancient times, which can help unravel a large number of historical mysteries, such as the location of Genghis Khanâs Tomb, the reason for the disappearance of the Loulan Ancient Country, the method of constructing pyramids, and so on.
If time permits, players can exercise their subjective initiative, either by trading artifacts with ancient people or by acting as a Tomb Raider Captain, directly collecting items from the tombs.
According to rumors, the Special Affairs Bureau has already collected several sets of the Nine Tripods of King Yu, Xuanyuan Sword, Imperial Jade Seal, and the Lanting Preface.
However, a noteworthy point is that even among items of the same type, there are significant differences in the details, indirectly confirming the forumâs parallel world theory.
Namely, that the script worlds are not generated by the killing field but naturally exist, and the killing field sends players into different parallel worlds.
(For instance, in the X-Men universe, the Egyptian pyramids were built by Superpower Users. In other parallel worlds, the pyramids were assembled by Egyptian laborers using the ramp transport method.)
In short, after spending fifteen thousand Game Coins,
Li Cheng acquired the original manuscript of Einsteinâs "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies," an original Tesla Coil from Nikola Tesla, an unexploded nuclear warhead from the worldâs first nuclear test (the Trinity Test in New Mexico), the first artificial synthesis of starch from carbon dioxide, and a series of other artifacts.
And just as he was loaded with purchases, walking into the phone booth teleportation station,
Clang!
A robust figure materialized out of thin air in another nearby red phone booth.
A middle-aged Asian male, dressed in standard camouflage combat uniform, carrying a sci-fi styled electromagnetic rifle on his back, with a Barbie doll tied to his waist, and wearing cartoon crocodile slippers,
his face pale, eyes unfocused, he sluggishly pushed open the glass door of the phone booth and stepped onto the slumâs main street.
Li Cheng glanced at him but didnât pay much attentionâa plethora of bizarrely dressed individuals frequented the slum, and at a glance, one could spot two Kobes, three Zhao Weikes, five "understanding kings," and a bunch of known and unknown anime characters.
Walking around the street aimlessly, you could roughly tell which new shows were trending recently.
"Huhâhuhâ"
The man in camouflage emitted a wheezing breath like a leaky bellows, staggering forward, eventually colliding with a passerby.
"Watch where youâre going."
The passerby instinctively pushed him away,
but in the next instant, the man in camouflage suddenly paled and spewed out a pale flame with a swoosh.
The flame was extremely intense, instantly burning through the flesh and bones of the passerby, who shrieked and frantically slapped his own face in an attempt to extinguish the fierce fire, only to find his hands ignited as well, turning to charred remains.
This sudden scene caused the flow of people on the bustling pedestrian street to pause, the shock momentarily overshadowing the panic.
This shouldnât be possible, it couldnât be,
the slum prohibits all types of mutual harm between players unless both parties consent. This is almost equivalent to the fundamental logic of the killing fieldâs rules.
Just as Li Cheng was about to teleport away, he paused his action of pressing the phone booth button,
only to see the man in camouflage still staggering forward, rapidly developing numerous lumps on his body, each spewing white fire, resembling a deflating gas cylinder.
And his position was right in front of the âs entrance.
My newly opened shop!!
Li Cheng kicked open the glass door of the phone booth, activated the Instant Thunder Skill, and in a blink of an eye crossed the street, shouting, "Give me the contact permission!"
In the slum, many businesses, whether legitimate massages or not, weapon training, cosmetic surgery, or body modification, require first obtaining contact permission.
Striding to the scene, Li Cheng grabbed the unlucky burning passerby with his left hand, activated the Assembly Puppet Effect, and from a distance, tore off their fiercely burning arms and entire face, saving this unfortunate soulâs life.
With his right hand, he wielded the Victory Flag Spear, passing it through the collar of the man in camouflage, pinning him to the ground.
The Information Integration Glasses showed that this person was named , Lv20,
with a series of statuses hanging over him: , , , ,
What on earth is a Bright Flame Tumor?
Li Chengâs mind raced as he stabbed the Victory Flag Spear into the pavement of the pedestrian street, activating the Enhancement Domain to slow down the explosion progress bar,
then, with lightning speed, he gouged out the cyst growing on Yakai Quan.
For each one removed, the explosion progress barâs speed decreased slightly, but it still grew at a slow rate of 0.5% per second.
At this moment, another petite figure dashed over.
It was a blonde girl in a doctorâs uniform, her body covered with hideous suture marks, each of her four arms wielding a surgical scalpel, an electric chest saw, orthopedic pliers, and a drill.
Li Cheng raised an eyebrow silently. He had seen this girl named Fulan the first time he entered the slum; she had opened a magical pet modification hospital at the end of the same street and was at least a medical practitioner.
The situation was critical with no time for chit-chat. Li Cheng said directly, "Hold down his arms and legs, and be careful not to get burned. Also, give me the scalpel."
Fulan silently pinned down Yakai Quanâs limbs, and Li Cheng took the scalpel and sliced open his chest and abdominal cavities.
Inside Yakai Quanâs body was a tumor as large as a bowling ball, its surface covered with artichoke-like chitinous armor.
Li Cheng and Fulan exchanged a glance and, with tacit understanding, carefully dismantled the armor, exposing the tumorâs core.
Surrounding the tumor were dense entwining blood vessels, each connecting to the bodyâs main blood vessels, pumping out white flames like a meticulously designed time bomb.
Creaaak, creaaak.
Perhaps sensing a change in the external environment, the tumor squirmed, slowly rotating a circle inside Yakai Quan.
Its backside had numerous eyeballs, which snapped open as soon as they contacted the air,
the jet-black pupils rolling swiftly, scanning the surroundings.
Explosion Progress: 59%, 72%, 91%
Li Cheng immediately deduced that this thing was a biological bomb. He promptly detached Yakai Quanâs head and activated the Dragon Breath skill, retreating while unleashing White Dragon Cold Air into the headless bodyâs chest cavity.
Everyone nearby, including Fulan, quickly realized the gravity of the situation and dispersed swiftly.
The next second, the tumor rapidly expanded, bursting open the headless bodyâs skin and eventually exploding.
An incredibly intense incandescent light pierced through eyelids, striking directly onto retinas, making everyone feel as if witnessing the sun up close in a daze.
However, contrary to the imagined flames and shockwaves accompanying the light, these never came.
Bystanders rubbed their dry eyes fiercely, Fulan put on sunglasses, while Li Cheng calmly installed a surveillance camera on his forehead, replacing his eyes.
There, standing in the middle of the road, was the Side of Truth, clad in his iconic yellow robe.
His face hidden under a hood, arms open wide, directly containing the furious energy of the tumorâs explosion within a spherical space, even allowing a clear view of the small boiling mushroom cloud inside.
A dozen seconds later, the spherical space was gradually compressed to the size of a ping-pong ball,
which the Side of Truth then casually annihilated with a wave of his hand, before lowering his head, silently gazing at the black humanoid mark left by Yakai Quanâs body on the slumâs ground, scorched by thermal radiation.
Woo wooâ woo wooâ
The air raid alarms belatedly wailed on the streets.
The security forces subservient to the Shabby Street Community Committee rushed to the scene, quickly sealing it off and evacuating personnel.
Along with the security forces, leaders of major guilds also attended. Looking around, high-ranking Transcendents of Lv35 and above could be seen everywhere.
"Whatâs going on? Isnât any form of player harming banned in the slum?"
"No idea. Could it be that he was possessed or controlled by a Divine Calamity or something else outside, and then came to explode in the slum?"
"Impossible, weâve tested it before. Even in the slum area, creatures without player status, the âblack householdsâ, canât harm players..."
Li Cheng did not want to get involved in this mess, promptly handing over Yakai Quanâs head to a city management officer in a Special Affairs Bureau uniformâ
Under the Assembly Puppetâs effect, Yakai Quanâs head connected with plastic pipes and a water pump, temporarily providing circulatory function to ensure its short-term independent survival.
As he was about to turn away, the Side of Truth called out to him, "Wait a moment, our community committee intends to hold a temporary meeting; would you like to join?"
"Hm?"
Li Cheng arched an eyebrow, "This might not be appropriate; Iâm not a community committee member."
Though called a community committee, essentially it was the most powerful clique of top-notch Transcendents on the killing field, controlling over 90% of affairs in both the killing field and the real world.
Leaders of some medium and small guilds tried desperately to join, only to be routinely rejected by the community committee with the excuse that "our organization currently does not intend to expand",
evoking a sense of dĂŠjĂ vu, reminiscent of Indiaâs seven attempts to join the UN Security Council as a permanent member, only to be repeatedly vetoed by the five permanent members in turn.
"It doesnât matter; Iâm the vice president. Besides, you were the first to discover Yakai Quan."
The Side of Truth stated, "The bomb in Yakai Quanâs body was placed by players from another world. You might find this interesting."