Chapter 34 - 32: Protagonist Halo

Chapter 34: Chapter 32: Protagonist Halo

Sheng Yehan refused to cooperate. Naturally, Nan Jiamu would not allow the only person who could threaten her to exist in her world; she despised him anyway. The electric net transformed back into a button and fell into Nan Jiamu’s palm. She looked up, the smile entirely gone from her face.

"Sheng Yehan, since you refuse to cooperate, we will fight to the bitter end. This is our destined conclusion!"

Three thumb-sized spherical robots flew out of Nan Jiamu’s bag. They hovered beside her, glowing with a faint blue light.

[Multi-Purpose Tactical Ball - Mass-Produced Type]

Sheng Yehan asked in surprise, "You brought those back from the Red Corpse World? How is that possible?"

Nan Jiamu ignored him.

The three Tactical Balls simultaneously fired beams of light, weaving into a net that completely sealed off Sheng Yehan’s retreat. Flames ignited in Nan Jiamu’s other hand, morphing into a fire dragon that lunged straight at Sheng Yehan. Upon closer inspection, the blue flames were actually composed entirely of streams of binary data—zeros and ones.

[Extraordinary Ability: Data Fire - A-level]

[Effect: Converts data energy into physical flames. It can burn physical objects and, at times, even burn "settings." (As everyone knows, what programmers excel at most is "burning" things.)]

Sheng Yehan vanished. The fire dragon crashed into the wall, which instantly turned into similar data streams amidst the flames, leaving behind a bizarrely large hole. He re-emerged from the shadows in another corner of the room. He raised a hand, and the dark shadow beneath his feet surged upward, transforming into over a dozen black blades that pierced toward Nan Jiamu from all directions.

The Tactical Balls beside Nan Jiamu simultaneously deployed their shields, forming a pale blue barrier in front of her. The black blades struck the shield and shattered inch by inch. However, Sheng Yehan’s second wave of attacks had already arrived. A mist as thick as ink poured out from every shadow on the floor, walls, and ceiling, instantly swallowing the entire room.

Nan Jiamu’s line of sight was obscured. The Tactical Balls’ scanning beams pierced into the black mist, but the feedback they returned was entirely gibberish.

"Activate prediction protocol!"

In the black mist, three dark shadows lunged at her simultaneously. Nan Jiamu dodged the first sideways, flung a burst of flames to incinerate the second, and barely evaded the third as it grazed her shoulder, slicing a tear in her clothes.

Sheng Yehan’s voice echoed from all around. "Not bad, but how long can you keep dodging?"

The black mist grew increasingly dense, causing Nan Jiamu’s breathing to tighten. The beams from the three Tactical Balls swept the area continuously, yet they hit nothing but empty air every time. Sheng Yehan weaved through the black mist like a phantom, launching every attack from the trickiest of angles. Nan Jiamu hurled her flames again and again, but all she managed to burn were afterimages.

The Assimilation Degree of her Character Card rose rapidly. Nan Jiamu began to thirst for blood, panting heavily. Sheng Yehan emerged from the shadow behind her and delivered a vicious kick packed with Strength to her lower back. She was sent flying, crashing heavily into the wall with a crisp and loud crack of breaking bones. Three black spikes thrust out from the shadows, ruthlessly piercing through Nan Jiamu’s body. The Tactical Balls were crushed barehanded by Sheng Yehan.

Before the moment of ultimate despair arrives, the villain always gains the upper hand in a showdown against the protagonist. This was one of the Effects of the Villain Aura. Sheng Yehan stood in the center of the black mist, looking down condescendingly at Nan Jiamu.

"Did you only learn these useless parlor tricks over there?"

Blood seeped from the corner of Nan Jiamu’s mouth. She knew killing Sheng Yehan wouldn’t be that easy, but as the protagonist, she would never give up so easily. After all, the ultimate victory would undoubtedly belong to her. Spitting blood, she shouted, "I want to load the save!"

[Item: Load Save - Pseudo (Single-Use)]

[Effect: Used in conjunction with a save Item, it restores the current state to the moment of saving. It is only effective on oneself and does not affect time or space. (Save-scumming is great!)]

Nan Jiamu’s wounds healed instantly. Even the Assimilation Degree of her Character Card was cleared, reverting her to her initial state. She had saved her progress before coming to meet Sheng Yehan, just in case. She stood up, the blue Data Fire re-igniting in her palm.

Sheng Yehan’s gaze darkened completely. The shadows in the entire room came to life. The floor, walls, ceiling, furniture—even the shadow beneath Nan Jiamu’s own feet—all morphed into black tentacles that surged toward her frantically! Nan Jiamu’s flames incinerated a cluster of them, only for ten more to swarm forward.

Yin Zhen held her breath as she hid outside, watching the battle. She had anticipated that Sheng Yehan might also be a Player, but she certainly hadn’t expected his Shadow Manipulation ability to be so proficient and powerful. He must have been an important figure in the Cavendish family back in the Red Corpse World, just like Adeline.

Because Spiritual Extraordinary Abilities and Shadow Manipulation were standard traits for the Cavendish family. The latter was rarer, and a small number of individuals with high potential would possess both—like Adeline. The Strength Sheng Yehan displayed right now was enough to serve as an Explanation that his various attribute stats were incredibly high. His Extraordinary Ability had also long surpassed the A-level standard. It was very likely... S-Class!

Inside the room, Nan Jiamu was still no match for Sheng Yehan. A tentacle wrapped around her ankle, hanging her upside down. A second tentacle coiled around her wrist, and a third strangled her neck, tightening fiercely!

"Nan Jiamu, you’ve lost!"

Just as Sheng Yehan was preparing to deal Nan Jiamu the fatal blow, a loud crash echoed through the air! Outside the window, the brackets of the air conditioning unit snapped without warning, and the entire exterior machine plummeted straight down! Something that had been hiding on the windowsill was struck squarely by it. It dodged in panic, its grayish-black shadow flashing past under the moonlight. It was too obvious to ignore!

"Who’s there?!"

A burst of blue flames violently rushed toward Sheng Yehan’s face. He immediately used Shadow Instant Teleportation to dodge. Nan Jiamu broke free from her restraints. Sheng Yehan’s face turned livid.

It was happening again! Every time he was on the verge of success, something would always interfere, allowing Nan Jiamu to evade his fatal attacks by the narrowest of margins. This was the protagonist’s aura! He couldn’t kill her yet. Realizing this, Sheng Yehan did not hesitate any longer. His body melted into the shadows, and he vanished in an instant.

Nan Jiamu was left alone in the room, powerless to do anything as she watched Sheng Yehan escape. The protagonist and the protagonist’s recognized core group could kill the villain—this was beyond doubt. However, to achieve this, they had to force the villain into a situation with "no loopholes, guaranteed death, and no hope of recovery" across all established settings. She still couldn’t manage that right now. Sheng Yehan’s Shadow Manipulation ability was too difficult to deal with.

Next time, she would be much better prepared. As long as Sheng Yehan still belonged to this world, he couldn’t run away forever. Only by killing him could she find peace of mind.

Nan Jiamu raised her head and looked out the window. Whoever could eavesdrop for so long without being detected by her and Sheng Yehan was definitely not an ordinary person. It was a Player!

She had only confirmed Sheng Yehan’s Identity through her deductions of the plot and tonight’s verification, but who were the other Players? The system refused to tell her. Not all Characters who existed around her in this novel’s world would enter the invasion game; there would also be bystanders she didn’t know. Until she figured out everyone’s Identity, she could not expose the truth about the invasion game for the time being.

Because once the equipped Character Card’s Assimilation Degree exceeded 90%, the Player would completely transform into a member of the Blood Clan from the Red Corpse World. For the sake of survival, their stance would naturally shift, changing to fight for the continued existence of the Red Corpse World. The world existed because of the protagonist, and the protagonist also had to bear the heavy responsibility of protecting the world. It was a cliché main storyline! Regardless, she had to establish her own protagonist group, finding people who were trustworthy and of good moral character.

With this in mind, Nan Jiamu removed the toy dog pendant from her bag and chased in the direction where the black shadow outside the window had fled.