novelraw Chapter 35 The Will to Fight
Chapter 35 The Will to Fight
Wang Xuan collapsed in a parallel pilot tunnel near the abandoned tunnel. This was an auxiliary tunnel that was excavated parallel to the main tunnel during construction and was also an important component of the emergency exit. From here, one could walk all the way east back to Hongshui City.
The ground trembled, and dust and sand danced.
That was the roar of an intercity train departing from Hongshui City passing through the adjacent tunnel.
He was somewhat dazed, and it took him a while to come to his senses. The intercity trains currently used on Cuirang Star were much more advanced than the trains used in his hometown. They had no wheels, so there was no clanging sound of wheels rolling over the rails.
The long tail of the cloak braced against the ground, easily lifting the fallen body.
He looked at the hole in the wall in front of him.
The corridor lights flickered.
The eerie and ominous blurry black shadow walked in the flickering light, leaping in frame by frame like a vengeful ghost. After a few flashes, it arrived at the cave entrance, bent slightly, and stepped out of the hole to stand in front of Wang Xuan.
The parallel pilot tunnel is still in operation, with a dim yellow light every fifteen meters on the top, resembling the scene of the sun about to set.
Wang Xuan had witnessed the sunset of this world when the diplomatic mission's ship sank into the atmosphere of the Emerald Star. The brilliant fireball sank into the iron-blue sea of clouds, its grandeur far surpassing that of his homeland. However, at that twilight moment, the glow permeating the atmosphere was not a warm yellow.
He had cursed the planet for its strange and eerie appearance back then, and now he had seen real ghosts on this planet.
His internal organs were still aching, but fortunately, the combat effectiveness of his suit was not greatly affected. Wang Xuan hated the disadvantage of not having stimulants, and now he had to concentrate more on assessing the situation in order to give instructions to the combat intelligence.
"How's the behavioral data collection going?" he asked the AI via neural connection. The answer he received was that the data completeness was 46%, which was not enough to build a model of the opponent's movement and required continued observation.
Wang Xuan was wary of the chain hammer in the hand of the dark figure before him. That thing seemed to be a high-level bionic intelligent weapon, as agile as a snake, slowly circling around its owner.
Engaging in combat with intelligent weapons is a true test of the computing power of the implant and the judgment of the host.
And what does he have in his possession?
It has only one pair of sharp claws.
Ten short spikes popped out from the fingertips of Wang Xuan's two gauntlets, gradually turning red-hot in the air, like small daggers made of orange crystal, with clear, distorted heat waves rising around them.
"Whether you're human or a ghost, once I cut open your skin and see your intestines hanging out like a curtain, will you still be able to keep up the pretense?"
Wang Xuan's words were venomous and vicious, even more terrifying than the ten scorching fingernails in his hand.
The shadowy figure remained silent, but the chain hammer wrapped around its arm once again swirled like a vortex.
Having already witnessed this move, the armored warrior dared not let his opponent unleash his power. He immediately lunged forward, his sharp claws tearing through the air, creating five brilliant, neon-like streaks in the dim light.
The grab aimed directly at the shadowy figure's chest and abdomen, clearly intending to rip out his intestines.
However, the Serpent Chain Hammer suddenly stopped spinning and the hammerhead suddenly crashed down like a hailstorm. The fierce attack was actually a feint, just to deceive Wang Xuan into attacking.
The armored creature reacted beyond the limits of human nerves, immediately raising its claws to collide repeatedly with the falling hammer shadows. In that instant, more than ten collisions occurred, the iron bells rang out in a continuous series, and the five hot blades exploded into a sky full of sparks, hissing and sizzling as they fell.
Wang Xuan strode forward, braving the dense hammer blows and the fiery rain from above. Though his steps faltered, he continued to advance. His left hand, held in front of his chest, resembled an angry tiger's jaws, ready to devour anyone who dared to attack.
The serpent chain hammer suddenly contracted, then shot out like a rapid-fire crossbow, striking straight at Wang Xuan's body. The hammerhead's trajectory changed constantly, sometimes above, sometimes below, making it difficult for him to defend against. Even with both claws outstretched, he could not defend against it.
Each hammer blow was as heavy as a boulder rolling down a hillside. Wang Xuan, with his ingenious human wisdom, would either deflect or slap the blow, never taking it head-on, lest he break his sharp claws.
The two attacked and defended each other in a short span of time like a torrential downpour. If any ordinary martial arts master were here, he would be shocked and dazzled by the exquisite execution of their moves.
The various cyborgs and armored warriors controlled by artificial intelligence already possess far superior on-the-spot reactions compared to humans. Their fighting skills are unparalleled, and their unconventional attack strategies and movement patterns are unmatched by any martial arts master throughout history.
Logically speaking, Lin Zhuo would be subtly suppressed in terms of skill even when facing an ordinary swordsman like Min Peier, and it would be impossible for him to fight against the armored warrior.
However, the chain hammer in his hand was completely illogical, its movements were strange and unpredictable, making it difficult to anticipate. This caused Wang Xuan's individual AI to malfunction, and the completeness of the data collected on Lin Zhuo's actions decreased instead of increasing, which made him curse inwardly.
The boost a suitable weapon can provide to a Qi Master is unimaginable, so it's perfectly normal that so many powerful individuals still relentlessly pursue divine weapons and treasures.
Seeing that they had exchanged dozens of blows in just a few breaths and still had no chance of winning, Wang Xuan decided to go all out and use his sturdy armor to withstand the hammer blows in order to gain the upper hand.
Relying on AI-controlled motion, his body moved with the agility of wings, his massive frame suddenly shrinking into a tiny ball, seemingly disappearing from Lin Zhuo's sight, before lunging forward in an instant, braving the hammer blows to cross the line of fire. When he stood up again, he had already teleported to his opponent's side as if by magic.
The two are now facing each other, no more than two feet apart, and can be seen by simply raising their hands.
The vicious, scorching claws lunged forward, this time without any resistance, grabbing directly at the shadowy figure.
However, Wang Xuan felt no joy whatsoever. Instead, his heart sank. His claws hadn't grasped anything substantial; they had merely passed through the afterimage left behind by his opponent.
This speed of movement already made him feel very uneasy.
"Not only do they have camouflage prosthetics, but they also have neural acceleration protocols?"
The perfected "Finger Flicker Escape Technique" has a very simple effect: it can increase the maximum number of stacks of the Escape buff from Divine Speed True Qi to 100. It can consume 3 stacks of Escape effect at the same time, providing a movement speed bonus of 10.5 times the power of Divine Speed True Qi for the next action.
In this way, Lin Zhuo's movements and attacks would become incredibly fast in a short period of time. Wang Xuan could no longer keep up with his actions even with his brain.
In the midst of the crisis, his hair stood on end. He also activated the neural acceleration protocol attached to his armor. From his tail to his neck, his entire spine was filled with intense burning and soreness. Microcurrent pulses surged throughout his body and flowed into his brain. In an instant, the dramatically enhanced information processing ability made the movement of the surrounding world seem relatively slow, and time transformed from grains of sand slipping through his fingers into drops of bright pearls.
The armored helmet provides a 360-degree field of vision with no blind spots, allowing Wang Xuan to clearly see the opponent's blurry black shadow moving behind him.
He tried to move, but found that his legs were stuck in place and he couldn't move.
Looking down, he realized that his legs were already wrapped in long, python-like ropes. This was the consequence of ignoring the chain hammer attack and forcibly rushing to his opponent. This venomous dragon would not let him off easily and had already laid a killing trap.
If the snake's body is wrapped around the legs, then where is the snake's head?
Of course, it was also behind them.
The gleaming silver iron ball, like a distant and bright planet on the dawn horizon of his hometown, hovered in the air, spinning rapidly. Under the influence of the neural acceleration protocol, Wang Xuan could clearly see his opponent's movements as swift as a white horse flashing past. He raised his fist once more, like the hammer of an ancient temple bell, and struck towards the head of the hammer.
Seemingly slow but actually swift, the fist pushed through the dim yellow air, splashing out circles of transparent, colorless ripples, finally landing on the iron ball. The unparalleled force was fully injected into it, pushing this distant planet to suddenly magnify in Wang Xuan's vision.
The target landed squarely on the back of his head.
He felt a chill run down his spine; if that blow landed, he would be dead without a burial place.
Once again, they faced a life-or-death situation.
At times like these, the air always smelled sour, like the stench of rotten vegetable leaves floating in the stinking ditch where he washed clothes back home. Life's revolving lantern flashed before his eyes; since arriving on Emerald Star to infiltrate, he hadn't experienced this kind of fear for some time.
At the critical moment, Wang Xuan issued an order to the combat AI.
The armored creature lowered its head and stretched out its left claw to meet the rapidly spinning shell flying towards it.
click-
The five scorching spikes shattered with a bang, and fragments flew out like hundreds of thousands of tiny meteors.
Click—
Five fingers were bent, metacarpal bones were shattered, and flesh and metal were mixed together in a mushy mess. The part above the wrist was turned into a tattered towel used for wiping cars in a factory, curled up and twisted beyond recognition.
With his legs bound, Wang Xuan used one hand as a sacrifice, falling forward and managing to avoid having his skull shattered by the iron ball that grazed his scalp.
Even at this moment, he was still able to react accurately, his right claw taking the opportunity to slash at the rope on his leg, slicing through the tough carbon fiber in one swift motion.
This is also part of the battle strategy; once this intelligent weapon is dealt with, the threat level of the opponent will be greatly reduced.
He succeeded.
However, looking at the exposed loose threads inside the rope, Wang Xuan and his combat AI were somewhat bewildered.
"This isn't an intelligent weapon... so how did he do that?"
The armored warrior stood up, the chain hammer that had caused him endless trouble lying limp on the ground, leaving only a short whip wrapped around Lin Zhuo's arm.
Both sides are now at a disadvantage, and the battle is still undecided.
Only when one person completely collapses and stops breathing can the other continue to walk into the future and into the peaceful and tranquil Hongshui City of tomorrow.