Chapter 451: A New Direction for Strengthening |
On May 14th, the Human Consortium released its latest statement.
All parasitized forms in Black Flag Country had been completely eradicated, and the Joint Force was officially disbanded. However, since some parasitized forms had scattered into smaller groups across various locations, the war between humanity and the parasitized forms had not yet fully ended.
The statement mentioned that humans need not be overly concerned, because as the organizational capacity of each nation grew stronger, the living space for those lurking parasitized forms would shrink further and further. Even if they could temporarily hide among the crowd, they simply wouldn't dare—and couldn't—carry out any conversion of humans.
In this way, their complete elimination was merely a matter of time. The next operational resolution for the Human Consortium would focus on wiping out the remaining forces of the Fire Thief Worship Cult.
After the statement was released, the public reaction was neither high nor low.
People generally believed that both anti-human factions were on their last legs. They might still cause some damage, but threatening all of humanity was no longer likely.
Therefore, what people cared about more was the aspect of "development and construction."
Breaking it down further, the focus was on two directions: space migration and memory digitization.
Supporters of each direction had issues with the other.
Meanwhile, those who supported memory digitization argued that space migration was meaningless. The deaths of the astronauts had already made it clear that the Fire Thief's power could affect multiple planets. Forget migrating to another planet—even if humanity could flee the entire galaxy, there was no guarantee they would escape the Fire Thief's control.
As for the super city construction plan, hardly anyone cared. Most people thought it was unlikely to succeed and would probably end up abandoned. After all, in an era where tomorrow was uncertain, talking about long-term urban development inevitably seemed a bit ridiculous.
Along with the statement's release, the soldiers and Ascendants from various nations that had formed the Joint Force all returned to their respective countries.
After the plane carrying Beixing's Ascendants landed in Pinglu, Chen Na, Silver Fox, Bai Xuewu, and the others took vehicles back to the Countermeasures Research Office base.
Zhang Minglu specially waited at the entrance to welcome them back. After completing various reports, Li Meng found them that afternoon and suggested that the squad members gather together.
Although the Beixing team that had participated in the assassination mission had disbanded after the mission, Gao Liangwei had told Li Meng that the team's structure would not be canceled. They might be assigned tasks in the future, so he hoped Li Meng, as the team leader, would maintain good relationships among the members in normal times.
Li Meng had already coordinated with Guan Tong in advance. Now that Chen Na and the others were back, he suggested everyone meet up to strengthen their bonds.
Chen Na and the others naturally had no objections. The next morning, they gathered at the pavilion in the small park where they had met last time.
When Chen Na and the others arrived, Guan Tong was already there. As soon as she saw him, she happily ran over: "Brother Guan, long time no see!"
Guan Tong smiled. "Xiao Na, you didn't run into any danger over in Black Flag Country, did you?"
"It was fine! With Sister Silver Fox and Sister Bai around, I was very safe!"
"Little sister Xiao Na is our precious 'eyes,'" Silver Fox said, stepping forward and dotingly ruffling Chen Na's hair. "Of course we'd protect her."
Guan Tong nodded.
Li Meng, Bai Xuewu, and Yang Ran arrived shortly after. When Yang Ran saw Guan Tong, he said respectfully, "Captain! Good to see you again, heh."
"What captain..." Bai Xuewu curled her lips from the side. "The team's already disbanded."
"Once a captain, always a captain! That's what loyalty means!"
"..."
Bai Xuewu was utterly speechless. After Guan Tong greeted everyone, Li Meng said to him, "Wenren Yizhi didn't come. She's not in good physical condition, and she doesn't care much about the world outside the chessboard. Don't worry about it."
"Mm, it's nothing."
Guan Tong had only met Wenren Yizhi twice. The latter truly had that kind of genius aura focused on a single domain. Apart from being immersed in that one field, she always seemed a bit spaced out the rest of the time.
No wonder she had been able to livestream Go for seventy-two hours straight back then. That kind of absolute focus was itself a manifestation of shutting out all other external influences.
"That's just how Wenren is," Silver Fox said. "Although she's not very approachable, she really does her part when help is needed."
"Please pass on my thanks to her when you get back to the base," Guan Tong said.
Back when he had gone into space to face the Scarlet Fear head-on, Wenren Yizhi's chess pieces had been a significant help, saving him a lot of Mind Power.
The group then chatted about recent events.
Guan Tong didn't mention Adam. Zhang Minglu had previously advised him to keep it confidential for a while due to Adam's sensitive identity.
Only Gao Liangwei and Zhang Minglu knew about this matter within the Countermeasures Research Office. The healing-type Ascendants Zhang Minglu had brought in had no idea who they were treating.
"Although the parasitized forms in Black Flag Country have either fled or died, the original citizens of Black Flag Country have also been decimated," Li Meng said. "The remaining ones are now concentrated in a small residential area... It's truly heartbreaking."
"The biggest problem is that we failed to eliminate the 'Prophet,'" Bai Xuewu said with a frown. "That guy moves fast, as if he knew we were going to use Xiao Na's ability to hunt him down."
Hearing this, Guan Tong recalled how Lu Cheng had betrayed Shi Jingyi under the Prophet's orders. From that moment on, he had listed the Prophet among his targets that must be eliminated.
Based on his interrogation of Lu Cheng, he learned that the Prophet had heard from "those voices" that Shi Jingyi would be one of the threats and needed to be dealt with.
Ever since learning this, Guan Tong believed that the "Prophet" truly lived up to his name—he could foresee things before they happened. Only this precognition wasn't like Moon Key's prophecy; it relied on "those voices" to relay information.
The whole structure was essentially: "those voices" → the Prophet → parasitized forms.
The Prophet was indeed the key link in this chain—"bridging the top and bottom." As long as they caught or eliminated him, unless "those voices" found a new agent, the other parasitized forms would become headless flies, unable to stir up trouble again.
"Don't worry, we'll find him eventually," Silver Fox said confidently. "As long as that guy hasn't given up his goal of converting other humans into parasitized forms, he's bound to plan actions. And when he plans actions, he'll inevitably show his hand."
"Silver Fox is right," Li Meng said, pushing up his glasses. "Back when I was in the Police Department, I wasn't afraid of criminals committing crimes; I was afraid of them going underground and hiding. Many major criminals can't help but strike again—it's their nature."
"How many people has that bastard Prophet killed? If I find him, I'm going to roast him over a fire!" Yang Ran said angrily. After joining the new Joint Force and witnessing the devastation in Black Flag Country firsthand, he had developed an intense hatred for the Prophet.
He then looked at Guan Tong: "Captain, you feel the same way, right?"
Guan Tong said calmly, "Roasting him would still be letting him off easy. If I catch this guy, I'll use means that will make him more fully aware of his mistakes."
...
For some reason, everyone began to feel a little sorry for the Prophet. They didn't know what Guan Tong's methods were, but they had to be terrifying.
...
Before the gathering ended, Guan Tong left a Mental Stability Anchor for each person.
Mental influences and attacks were always invisible, hidden, and hard to defend against. But with the Mental Stability Anchor in place, if such an attack occurred, the totem would heat up immediately to alert the bearer and also withstand the attack.
Each new Mental Stability Anchor totem had its maximum defensive ceiling linked to Guan Tong's Mind Power. With his current ceiling of one thousand two hundred, unless a single mental attack exceeded that level, it would be canceled out by the totem.
After returning, Guan Tong spent the remaining time focusing solely on improving himself before the new Doomsday Rules were released.
Adam's experience made him start thinking in reverse.
That is, if he were standing from an enemy's perspective, how would he target the "Shadow" ability?
Since the Shadow could become intangible, external defenses, no matter how sturdy, were meaningless. To resist a tangible Shadow's intrusion, one either needed to prepare a large number of Mind Power defensive items, or energyize Mind Power to form a full-body defensive shield.
The former went without saying—as long as one had enough financial resources, they could stockpile plenty. Guan Tong had encountered such enemies many times before, but they could only hold him off temporarily. No matter how many defensive items they had, they couldn't compare to his ability to maintain an unending offensive through his continuous supply of reserve Mind Power.
The latter was the Mind Power shield provided by Shi Jingyi's circulation method, which depended more on talent and diligence than financial resources.
This method also had the problem of insufficient stamina. Even Shi Jingyi herself, as a master-level practitioner, couldn't sustain a drawn-out battle against Guan Tong. This had been verified in their multiple sparring sessions.
Yes, from an enemy's perspective, fighting a protracted war against the "Shadow" was an absolute mistake!
Shi Jingyi had seen this long ago, which was why every time she sparred with Guan Tong, she maintained an intense, high-pressure offense, never defending or stalling. Her core strategy was to avoid a war of attrition and defeat Guan Tong through explosive combat before her Mind Power ran out.
Besides Shi Jingyi, another formidable enemy Guan Tong had faced, Lucifer, was the same way—constantly attacking at high speed with high-attack, high-speed wings. His strategy had actually succeeded; he just hadn't expected Guan Tong to possess a Small Space attack that surpassed the power of his wings.
"Every enemy that has put me on the defensive has been, without exception, a high-speed burst type. Enemies that rely on guerrilla or protracted warfare only fall into extreme disadvantage against me... This means I need to play to my strengths and avoid my weaknesses."
Using the Shadow Domain and smoke grenades to obscure enemy vision, employing Body Swap to dodge attacks... these all fell within the scope of playing to his strengths and avoiding weaknesses. But he absolutely couldn't neglect intensity training.
He recalled the mecha that had self-destructed on Eden Island. The energy from its explosion was so massive that if Adam hadn't forcefully neutralized it with his field, at least several hundred meters would have been caught in the blast.
This kind of suicide attack was just as dangerous for Guan Tong. One of his previous enemies, Wu Wang, who could detonate metal, had already posed a certain threat to him.
"Even after entering the second stage, an Ascendant's physical body still isn't strong enough. Facing instantaneous high-burst energies like explosions is still extremely dangerous. Only a few Ascendants with body-related abilities can withstand such attacks with their physiques."
Take Dragon Soul, for example. His ability was muscle strengthening. As his ability continued to improve, his physical strength in normal conditions grew increasingly terrifying, far surpassing ordinary people.
Even Uenoshi's bloodline ability counted as a special type of physical enhancement. The full-body, impenetrable scales that covered her provided all-around protection and amplification.
"I don't need to envy others. The key is to integrate my own abilities to perfect my physical defense."
Guan Tong summoned his Shadow, forming Shadow Armor around his body.
This was a Shadow usage he had employed early on—using thick armor for defense. It was effective, but that was as far as it went.
Now, feeling the Shadow covering his entire body, Guan Tong thought: "Why do I only use it as armor for defense? If I developed it toward a 'battle suit' direction, would it be better?"
He got this idea from two sources. First, from Bai Xuewu and Suroma's combat mechas. Second, from some similar movies he had watched before transmigrating. He knew that a battle suit could serve not only as defense but also as a comprehensive amplifier for speed, strength, and everything else.
It might even make "flight" possible!
He had tried before, using the Shadow to transform into big hands, pillars, and other forms to lift his body into the air, dodging attacks or charging at enemies.
So could he, while maintaining the Shadow Armor throughout, use multiple shadow lines to brace and whip his body, indirectly achieving high-speed flight?
"...Like a combination of Iron Man and Spider-Man."
Guan Tong formulated a definition.
He immediately tried it. Splitting several shadow lines from the Shadow Armor covering his body, he braced them against the ground, making his body float. But when he tried to move quickly, a problem arose.
Spider-Man's webs had extraordinary stretch and elasticity, allowing him to catapult or whip his body for high-speed movement. But the Shadow had no elasticity. Its length changes were all achieved through transformation, meaning its movement method was gliding rather than propelling.
Moreover, he wasn't very accustomed to the floating state, let alone engaging in high-speed, intense close combat under those conditions.
The shadow lines deformed and contracted, and Guan Tong landed on the ground.
He planned to spend the next ten or so days specifically solving the first problem: further developing the Shadow to give it a new "elastic" characteristic.
As for evolving the "Shadow Armor" from a single-function defensive tool into a comprehensive combat-enhancing "battle suit," that was a long-term training process.
After getting through the initial adaptation phase, the later combat drill phase would require a sparring partner to get twice the result with half the effort. Training alone in combat was like climbing a tree to catch a fish—it was hard to achieve results. Guan Tong thought that when he needed a sparring partner, he could ask Shi Jingyi for help. Few people were more authoritative in this area than her.
"Right now, I'm still stuck in the mode of simply using the Shadow as an external ability. Although the results aren't bad, it's still too rigid and lacks flexibility. There's no essential change from when I first acquired the Shadow—I just have more Mind Power to create a larger volume of it."
Guan Tong clenched his fist and decided on his new training direction: "I need to get my body used to fighting with the Shadow's assistance as quickly as possible, to make up for my shortcomings. Then the coordination between me and the Shadow will be more harmonious, no longer as disjointed as it is now... achieving true unity of person and shadow."