Chapter 102 - 97: Scheme Within a Scheme

Chapter 102: Chapter 97: Scheme Within a Scheme

Just as Yin Zhen’s killing intent stirred, a chill crept up the back of her neck. Cannon Fodder’s Intuition triggered instantly.

She "saw" an invisible blade slash across her neck. Her own head flew into the air, blood spraying from the stump.

It was exactly the same as when she had been killed by Urban over seventy times in the Training Pod!

[Triggered Gray Card Event: Too Smart for Your Own Good]

[Event Explanation: You played your part so well that they couldn’t help but want to applaud you—and then send you to your death.]

[Event Requirement: Leave alive.]

[Reward: Word Count +300, One-time Item x1]

Without hesitation, Yin Zhen’s body instantly dissolved into black smoke as she teleported to the left. Almost simultaneously, an Air Blade sliced through her afterimage and struck the alloy wall behind her, leaving a deep gash. The sound of the airtight door locking echoed from behind. In the very center, the giant brain and the three surrounding coffins were sealed off and protected.

Julian remained standing in his original spot, looking completely unbothered. Urban had moved in front of him at some point, his expression sinister. Those emotionless eyes of his looked like two gray glass marbles. He merely stood there, yet the air pressure in the entire laboratory grew heavy.

Yin Zhen reverted to her true appearance—short red hair and a mechanical face mask. She stood safely out of range of Urban’s Air Blades.

"Your Disguise Ability is quite brilliant," Julian said, straightening up and patting some non-existent dust from his cuff. "But in my eyes, it’s full of flaws."

Yin Zhen thought of Lucy almost immediately. Julian’s cybernetic modification rate exceeded ninety percent, and his brain was so powerful it was practically mutated. Just as Lucy had realized she wasn’t Lucia, Julian could use the same data comparison to see through her guise as Sylvia.

She thought, "Oh no! Adeline’s side... it’s a trap within a trap!"

Yin Zhen immediately sent Adeline a private message. They had probably been exposed the very first time they met Julian. He had remained calm and collected simply to bait out more and bigger fish, aiming to catch them all in one fell swoop. Nan Jiamu thought they could use the Guard Team to lure out Zoe. In reality, Julian was also using Adeline to lure out more intruders—even Nan Jiamu, the leader of the intruders!

Julian sat on the edge of the desk and crossed his legs. "Disguise Ability, Shadow Manipulation... You must be S704, right? You really did inherit the Source’s Blood Source Resonance. Let me see whether you’re stronger or weaker than that person." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

As his words fell, Urban closed the distance with near-teleportation speed, flashing in a zigzag pattern twice before Yin Zhen. Over a dozen silent and traceless Air Blades slashed toward her from different directions, cutting off all avenues of retreat.

Yin Zhen immediately activated Iron Bone while drawing blood to her legs. Her agility skyrocketed as she slipped through the gaps between the Air Blades like a fish slipping through a net. One Air Blade grazed her left arm, slicing open the sleeve of Sylvia’s suit, but it only left a white mark on her skin.

Meanwhile, Julian curled his lips as he watched the battle between Urban and Yin Zhen. However, he failed to notice the fish tank beside him. The water inside violently sloshed before surging upward, rapidly transforming into sharp ice in midair and lunging straight at Julian’s face.

Julian’s brow twitched as he dodged off the desk. The Ice Blade grazed past his face and crashed into the ceiling.

"So you are the real S704. Then she must be... Interesting!" Julian turned his head. The skin on his cheek had been sliced open, oozing blue fluid from the edges and revealing the modified silver alloy cheekbone underneath.

Zoe peeled herself out of the water current. Drenched from head to toe, she stood at a distance, glanced at Yin Zhen on the other side of the room, and then charged at Julian once again.

A stream of water, gathered out of thin air by Zoe, surged toward Julian. He smiled disdainfully and raised a hand, directly grabbing the current. Before Zoe could turn it into ice, a high-voltage electrical current erupted from Julian’s palm. The electricity shot through the Water Curtain and struck Zoe. She let out a muffled grunt as half of her body instantly went numb from the shock.

Zoe turned the water into ice to insulate against the electricity and pulled back to widen the gap. She then transformed the water into countless ice spikes and fired them at him.

Julian lightly tapped his chest, and a pale blue Energy Shield enveloped his entire body. The ice spikes smashed into it and shattered into shards, which then melted in midair, turning into a thick mist that blurred his vision. Zoe disappeared into the fog.

"So this is your tactic," Julian said. He didn’t give chase. Standing in place, he closed his eyes. He didn’t need them to see. His eardrums were equipped with a sonar positioning system, and his skin was lined with a pressure sensor array. Temperature, humidity, air pressure, and the speed of blood flow—every second, all this data converged into a three-dimensional map within his processor.

Zoe rushed out from the left, an Ice Blade slashing toward Julian’s throat.

Julian tilted his head. With a flash of a laser sword emerging from his palm, he severed Zoe’s right arm. Her arm shattered into water and splashed all over the floor. She retreated, and the water flowed back up from the ground, reforming her limb.

Julian watched Zoe’s reassembled limb with great interest. "Water form. Physical attacks are useless against you. It’s been a long time since I’ve fought someone this fun. Let’s find out which is superior—Transcendent power or technology!"

Julian raised his arm. His palm opened to reveal honeycomb-like missile ports, and six homing missiles shot toward Zoe, trailing fiery exhaust.

On the other side of the lab, Air Blades continuously shot out from all around Urban—invisible, colorless, and silent.

Yin Zhen activated Super Sensing, capturing the subtlest shifts in the airflow. She tilted her head, and an Air Blade brushed past her ear, slicing off a few strands of hair. However, that split-second decision made her half a beat too slow. Urban’s fist arrived.

Yin Zhen raised both arms to block. The sickening CRACK of fracturing bone echoed from her arms all the way into her skull. She was sent flying backward, crashing into an equipment console and smashing a row of screens with her back. Urban’s Strength and agility were not to be underestimated; he was not someone who relied solely on his Extraordinary Ability.

Yin Zhen had barely propped herself up against the console when Urban’s next strike arrived. She channeled blood to her legs, her agility exploding instantly. She sidestepped, dodging Urban’s straight punch and the hidden Air Blades swirling around his fist. Every usable metal object on the surrounding consoles flew up and hurled toward Urban. He raised a hand, unleashing a flurry of Air Blades that blasted through the debris, but his vision was obscured for a fraction of a second.

A fraction of a second was enough. A Shadow Servant rose from the ground. The pitch-black figure spread its arms like a solid wall and pounced at Urban’s face.

An Air Blade condensed in Urban’s palm, cleaving the Shadow Servant in half and reducing it to black smoke. Before Urban’s pupils could even refocus, Yin Zhen was already behind him. A dagger imbued with Molecular Sharpening stabbed viciously through the back of his neck.

SQUELCH!

The dagger sank in to the hilt. Yin Zhen gritted her teeth and activated Blood Flame. A fire so red it was almost black ignited on the dagger and poured into Urban’s body along the blade. Urban’s body convulsed violently. The Air Blades surrounding him exploded indiscriminately, shredding the space around him like a meat grinder.

Yin Zhen had used multiple Extraordinary Abilities simultaneously; she was unable to activate Iron Bone. Air Blades sliced open her shoulder, causing blood to spray. They tore open her arms, peeling back flesh and bone, but she ignored it completely. With a near-manic ferocity, she savagely twisted the dagger, completely shredding Urban’s cervical vertebrae.

Urban’s head slumped and slammed heavily against the floor. His body, still enveloped by the lingering Blood Flame, burned fiercely, gradually turning into ash.

Yin Zhen staggered a step, leaning against a nearby equipment console. Blood dripped from the countless wounds covering her body.

"I couldn’t just let you... kill me over seventy times for nothing!"

This wasn’t the Training Pod. She could use all sorts of Extraordinary Abilities here. Combined with her previous experiences of death, if she had been killed by Urban again, she’d be too ashamed to ever face the people of Ancient Abyss!

Yin Zhen channeled the power of Structural Repair to mend her wounds and looked toward Julian’s side of the room.