novelraw Chapter 275: Using one's own spear to attack one's own shield
Chapter 275: Using one's own spear to attack one's own shield
Su Zhan flapped his newly grown flesh wings, feeling the unique sensation of airflow brushing against the wing membranes. A sense of freedom and exhilaration welled up within him.
He soared into the sky.
He circled wantonly a few times beneath the cloud layer, acclimating to the skills of flight.
However, the sky was still covered by the Mist.
Su Zhan descended back to the ground, retracting his flesh wings into his body, without feeling too much disappointment.
Once a Mist incident forms, you can only wait for the Mist to dissipate. Otherwise, entering this Mist means entering the Mist World, and that would be a real pain.
Su Zhan, as the summoner, was no exception.
The flight ability here served more for mobility and air combat advantages.
Su Zhan felt that his Mist Energy seemed to have undergone some changes.
He walked up to a large tree that would take two people to embrace. With a thought, sharp claws extended, wreathed in a layer of faint, thread-like dark hues.He lightly swiped a claw across the tree trunk.
"Sss—!"
A deep mark was left on the trunk.
This wasn't strange.
But Su Zhan keenly perceived that the wood fibers at the edges of the claw mark did not rapidly char and carbonize from the erosion of Mist Energy as they usually would.
Instead, it was a kind of... loss of vitality, turning grayish, withered, and wilted.
"Is this... an effect that suppresses recovery?"
Su Zhan carefully sensed the residual Mist Energy on his claws. It indeed carried an additional characteristic of lifelessness, specifically targeting the self-healing abilities of living beings.
This was a common ability trait that High-risk Aberrants and high-tier Mist Creatures would generally awaken!
Precisely because Aberrants and Mist Creatures commonly possessed powerful recovery capabilities.
In the long evolution, or rather, the derivation of the power system.
Higher-tier existences naturally mastered this means that could effectively counter the recovery abilities of their kind.
"Using the enemy's own spear to attack their shield... an interesting evolutionary trend."
The corner of Su Zhan's mouth lifted in a cold smirk.
This new characteristic undoubtedly made his attacks even more lethal.
In the future, when facing enemies also known for their recovery capabilities, he at least wouldn't be at a disadvantage in terms of self-recovery.
Breaking through to High-risk, obtaining flight ability, Mist Energy gaining a recovery-suppressing effect... this time's gains far exceeded expectations.
Feeling the surging power within his body, Su Zhan cast his gaze into the distance.
He could no longer stay in Lincheng;
it had already attracted too much attention.
He needed a new starting point.
A place that would allow him to continue steadily improving his strength and offer opportunities to investigate the Transcendence Society and the truth of the world.
...
Su Zhan did not leave Lincheng immediately after the summoned Mist incident ended.
He returned to that simple rented room.
He laid low and stayed for another month.
During this month, he lived in seclusion, spending most of his time consolidating his newly broken-through High-risk first-tier realm.
And familiarizing himself with the flight ability alone in the suburbs.
Practicing the ritual to summon the Mist on a deeper level.
Of course, the frequency of using this thing couldn't be too high either. Using it frequently in this location would easily raise suspicion. It could only be used with less frequency in uninhabited places like the mountains.
However, during this entire month, he didn't manage to summon any High-risk Mist Creatures.
At the same time, he also closely monitored the outside situation through various channels.
Sure enough, as he had anticipated, the Lincheng scrapyard incident caused quite a stir. The Aberrant Purge Division and the Transcendence Society both seemed to be secretly investigating.
But because he had handled things cleanly, and with no new movements afterward, the commotion gradually subsided.
During this period.
Su Zhan clarified one thing—it wasn't only the Mist incidents he summoned that had high-tier Mist Creatures appearing.
Over this month, the intensity of the sporadic Mist incidents erupting across the country had generally shown abnormal increases.
Official announcements, while not specifying the cause, also acknowledged that the activity and intensity of Mist incidents had been abnormal recently, the situation was becoming increasingly severe, and they urged the public to be more vigilant.
Seeing these messages.
Su Zhan actually felt a bit more at ease.
This indicated that the early appearance of high-tier Mist Creatures wasn't an isolated case, but a widespread phenomenon. It was likely that some unknown change had occurred on a global level.
His own particularity hadn't been highlighted for the time being.
A month was enough time to let suspicion cool.
Su Zhan gave up the room, completely erasing all traces of his presence in this place.
Then, he used the new identity named "Chen Qing".
He purchased a plane ticket to the northwestern stronghold, "Xichuan City".
Why not fly there himself?
That would be purely suicidal.
Daxia's airspace defense system wasn't just for show. An unregistered High-risk flying unit intruding into flight paths?
He'd probably be locked on by air defense firepower or attract powerful Awakened individuals for aerial interception before even flying out of the city limits.
In an orderly human society with established systems, keeping a low profile was the way to go.
Su Zhan's destination was the vast, uninhabited areas of the Great Northwest.
That place was sparsely populated, with large stretches of desert, Gobi, and mountains that official forces found difficult to cover in detail.
It was an ideal location for hiding and conducting summoned Mist incidents.
Summoning Mist incidents, and then using the characteristic that Mist Creatures wouldn't perceive him as a threat to kill them and advance his strength—that was his current plan.
Of course, choosing uninhabited areas wasn't out of any compassionate sentiment of "not harming the innocent".
After struggling to survive in the Mist World for over a year.
Su Zhan felt that much of his humanity had already been worn away.
His considerations were more practical: if he frequently summoned Mist incidents in densely populated areas, causing massive civilian casualties, it would inevitably draw the full force of official suppression, which wouldn't be worth the gain.
In uninhabited areas, as long as he didn't cause too much commotion, the authorities would most likely turn a blind eye.
His hatred for Qin Bai, his wariness of the Transcendence Society, and his thirst for powerful strength had already made him determined to improve his strength rapidly at all costs.
The uninhabited areas were the leveling ground he had chosen.
The plane landed smoothly at Xichuan City Airport.
Su Zhan followed the flow of people down the airstairs, stepping onto this unfamiliar and vast land.
The dry air and blazing sunlight were completely different from the humid prosperity of southern cities.
Su Zhan pressed down the brim of his hat, his gaze sweeping across the airport terminal, then he strode out.
The next step was to purchase a reliable off-road vehicle and sufficient supplies. Then, he would truly venture deep into that desolate land full of unknowns and opportunities.
After all, it's all uninhabited area.
Planes definitely don't go there. If you want to get in, you can only buy a vehicle to drive in.
The uninhabited area is mainly because the environment is too harsh, so no one lives there.
But roads are still built because they are needed to traverse this area to reach border fortresses, and transporting supplies is extremely important.
Or to reach other cities, one also needs to pass through this uninhabited area.
So first, get an off-road vehicle.
Su Zhan finalized his first step of the plan.
Sunlight poured down without obstruction, baking the ground hot.
Looking around, the city's architectural style was rugged and practical.
Most buildings weren't tall, with exteriors commonly coated in light-colored paint resistant to wind and sand.
The lines were sharp and angular, with little ornate decoration.
The streets were wide, but vehicles and pedestrians seemed sparser than in eastern cities, giving a sense of openness tinged with slight emptiness.
In the distance, the undulating outlines of earthy yellow mountains could be clearly seen.
The pace here also seemed a bit slower.
With less hustle and bustle, and more vastness and desolation.