Forge a path to success

“It’s possible, so I added a virus to the scanning band. If they reactivate it, it will cause multiple antennas to be infected at the same time, directly exposing the location of the main antenna,” VV said. “Right now, the enemy is busy reprogramming the psycho-signals, and their technicians are no pushovers.”

"It's reassuring to see you guys still fighting like gods in the virtual world!"

Ji Huaisu leaped into the air, rushing towards her destination thousands of kilometers away at top speed. At this moment, she really wanted to complain about the date of the Jinghua Festival. If it had been a few days later, she could at least have ridden a half-finished mount, which would have made her much faster.

VV's electronic voice rang out at the opportune moment: "By the way, next time please don't withhold information from me. You are actually mass point 3."

"Huh? Why are you suddenly bringing this up? Do you have any evidence?" Ji Huaisu shouted.

“Oh, you’re really something. Where do you get the confidence to outsmart this guy?” Van der said.

"Your direct combat power far exceeds that of a regular Free Wind, but your speed and destructive power are not commensurate. I can only assume that you are a special particle 3 with outstanding strengths in a certain aspect, otherwise you would have already reached this point."

"Okay, you're right. I'm not a free spirit yet, is there a problem?"

"Yes, the first wave of enemy pursuers has caught up with you. Watch your rear and try to use only one method at a time."

Ji Huaisu simply created a large block of ice as a rearview mirror. Three black iron-cast soldiers were soaring towards them, flying with retro wooden wings and wearing bronze eagle masks on their faces. If Li Ke were here, she would recognize these soldiers as identical to the messenger, except that they no longer had that grotesque bloody hole on their faces.

"Target detected. Initiate cluster strike." The eagle-faced soldier draws his bow.

Ji Huaisu unleashed a bolt of purple lightning, charring the bow and the soldier to pieces. The two soldiers then flew to the left and right to dodge, only to be struck down by lightning arrows.

"Easily."

Ji Huaisu didn't even turn her head the whole time. She gradually lowered her altitude and saw a dense, dark mass on the ground, with the grandeur of the music reaching all the way to the sky. There were people everywhere, even on the rooftops. Citizens sang and danced to the music, and giant floats filled the main road to the brim.

Van der was dumbfounded: "Where is the target?"

The previously infallible method of finding people failed. This time, the virtual map only zoomed in on a corner of the parade, narrowing down the area to at least a hundred people, and the blurry circle of light kept moving with the movement of the crowd.

VV explained, "The antenna is hidden in the crowd; the algorithm can't accurately identify too many targets. Stay close to it until I finish updating—"

"Are you sure you're in that circle?" Ji Huaisu drew his burning greatsword.

"determine."

"Mark the next point." She slashed down with her sword, "Purifying Soul Divine Fire!"

The sword light surged high, transforming into a pillar of fire that reached the heavens and the earth. The flames fell from above onto the crowd, like shooting stars heralding destruction falling from the sky. Before anyone could even cry out, the procession of over a thousand people was engulfed in flames!

“What have you done?” VV said.

Ignoring everything else, Ji Huaisu rushed straight towards the burning area. The flames died down with her arrival, revealing... a completely transformed group of people. The dancers and musicians in the group stared at themselves in astonishment, finding their skin smooth, their muscles strong, and even their spirits more than doubled. This unexpected stroke of good fortune made them overlook the fact that a few unlucky members of the group had been vaporized.

As Ji Huaisu picked up her fallen clothes, someone pointed at her and exclaimed in surprise, "That young lady did it!"

"Greetings from the Divine Guard! Happy Holidays!"

She leaped into the air, clutching the half-burnt antenna: "My pure fire punishes evil and promotes good, killing only demons and heretics without harming ordinary people."

“But I saw more than one person evaporate,” Vande said. “You killed the one who was lying in ambush with your sword.”

"Isn't this bad?"

“Excellent, you’re the most ideal counter-terrorism elite I’ve ever seen.” VV suddenly sent a massive amount of character information. “Next target, proceed along the route I’ve outlined. Pursuers are on their way, please avoid combat…”

This time, VV abandoned the side quests and marked a winding, maze-like route. Ji Huaisu saw several menacing-looking figures running towards her from the shortest direction and decided to heed his advice. She followed the navigation for three seconds when three more eagle-masked soldiers attacked, and she instinctively threw her thunder spear.

"I'll repeat myself, please avoid battle!" VV emphasized again.

"You've mistaken it for something else. This is the same thing as before..." Ji Huaisu gasped, "What the hell?"

The lightning spear struck the soldier head-on, but made no difference. The lightning seemed to be swallowed up and disappeared beneath the black iron uniform, with two points of cold light emanating from behind the eagle mask. Ji Huaisu suddenly felt an excruciating pain in her head, and the movements of her ghostly body instantly froze, to the point that she herself involuntarily stopped.

She pressed her temples hard, forcing herself to swing her flaming sword. The eagle-masked soldier drew his ancient Tang sword, severing her flames with a single blow. The mental anguish intensified as the assassins closed in on her back. Ji Huaisu caught a glimpse of a dark mass of movement out of the corner of her eye. More soldiers were approaching at that moment—not just three or five, but a hundred in number!

More than a hundred eagle-faced soldiers are closing in on her!

·

In the secluded room, Guo Yutu happily took a sip of cola.

"Intelligence analysis complete, emotional mapping analysis finished, all units equipped with anti-element armor, implanted with mental infection virus..."

He typed the "bombing order".

"Begin the encirclement and suppression."

·

"Please evacuate immediately." "I'm doing it!!" Ji Huaisu clutched his throbbing head. "What the hell is this?!"

VV transmitted a large amount of text description: "The Black Death Army is an army of automated puppets specifically enhanced and modified to target particular enemies. The enemy has already intercepted your intelligence through your previous mechs, and now all members of this army are assassins specifically targeting you." She also said in voice, "Protect your ghost body while you retreat, otherwise you will be contaminated by mental energy."

Ji Huaisu gritted her teeth and switched to her defensive Azure Armor. The ice armor's protection improved her condition somewhat, but at the same time, the pursuers behind her had arrived, and the leader, dressed as a mage, threw a fireball.

With lightning speed, she unleashed the Holy Trinity Array, instantly extinguishing the mage's fireball. Before he could even curse, a blow knocked out half his teeth. Ji Huaisu conjured an ice pop, shoving away the second assassin wielding a dagger, then grabbed the mage's head and slammed him down like a club, sending the third flying.

Ji Huaisu felt a piercing pain in her back; the Black Death Army's feather missiles had struck her, and blood seeped from beneath her ice armor. She ignited her purifying fire for emergency treatment, then turned to see the eagle-faced soldiers had already flown out of the array's range. They were too agile, and their controllers were extremely cautious—not at all like that madman who randomly threw bombs.

She shouted in her mind, "You've fought this thing before, haven't you? How did you take them down before?"

“The longer you fight the Black Death Army, the stronger they become. The only way to win is to take down their main body before they completely control you,” VV said. “Last time, I parachuted in my most trusted assassin and killed their commander.”

Ji Huaisu kicked a soldier away: "Great plan! Where's the commander? I'm going to kill him!"

"Finding the main antenna will lead to the commander."

Ji Huaisu almost choked with anger: "How am I supposed to find the main antenna when I'm surrounded by the Black Death Army!"

"Friends, just between you two, the main force is coming, we really have to run!" Van der screamed.

"Wide-area psychic attack," VV suggested as an emergency strategy. "Your companion has powerful psychic abilities; use them!"

With her final strike, Ji Huaisu knocked the wings off the third soldier, then looked up at the dark mass of troops in the sky. She pulled out her Vande and held it above her head: "Vande, hypnosis!!"

"Stop!!!" Vande screamed desperately.

A flash of twilight light streaked across the sky, and the Black Death Army, which was swooping down in mid-air, suddenly froze. Ji Huaisu was overjoyed: "It's done!"

Inside the secret room, Guo Yutu exclaimed in surprise, "Oh!"

Switch to manual mode.

The hawk-faced soldiers simultaneously drew their longbows to their fullest extent, their eyes flashing red. Vandal screamed, "Run!!!"

Chapter 342 Starry Chessboard, Dark Serpent Staff Rises (3)

"The target's speed has slowed down! Number 5 has stopped her!"

"gogogo!"

"Kill her!"

Riding the strong winds, using vehicles, or employing mutated limbs, the bloodthirsty assassins swarmed out. If someone could look down upon the Third Lineage from ten thousand meters above, they would see a long serpent winding its way through the buildings. At the end of this serpent were the pursuing assassins, in the middle was the Black Death Army like a dark cloud, and only at the very front was a single flash of light—the lightning-fast Ji Huaisu.

Ji Huaisu is currently seriously injured, and the enemy's mental attacks are quite troublesome. She has missed the original signal, which means that Trek has spent more time dealing with another bomb in the battle. She is currently running along the newly revised route, and her speed has been reduced by 20% due to the continuous attacks.

The Black Death Army pursued her relentlessly. These soldiers were extremely cunning, maintaining their distance and harassing her only with mental attacks and arrows. She wanted to turn around and use her Shadow Claws to take care of a group of them, but she was worried about wasting time and dared not make any rash moves.

"Damn it, I, a dignified knight, am being chased around by a bunch of puppets!"

“These puppets are the main force of Floating Light Path Point 5. Your ability to persist until now far exceeds my expectations,” VV said. “No path correction, moving forward at the fastest speed.”

Vande stared wide-eyed at the path ahead; another group of assassins had already reached them from the other side of the crossroads. It shrieked, "Aren't you going to change course?!"

Without a second thought, Ji Huaisu charged forward, not even throwing a single extra fireball. Just before she clashed with the assassins, three armed police cars sped out, smashing through the interceptors in their path. Ji Huaisu seized the opportunity to pass through the checkpoint. She saw the Divine Guard members salute: "Captain Huaisu, please be careful!"

"Thank you very much!" Ji Huaisu smiled. "You contacted the Divine Guard?"

“The Divine Guard had already taken measures, and I provided them with the precise coordinates.”

Ji Huaisu suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "Wait a minute, you can send messages to people other than me now?"

At the Dustless Grounds headquarters, Velvet was personally sending instructions to multiple information terminals. These magical devices, concealed by badges, buttons, pens, and other disguises, were converging on the center of the Third Meridian. Supporters like Councilor Croz began their operations upon receiving the instructions.

“Yes, 5 seconds ago.” Vilbert left the command to discard the terminal and confirmed that the supporters had evacuated before saying, “Now I can help you hack into a communication once, limited to the third pulse sequence only.”

"Okay! Locate the third floor of the Third Team's headquarters and find the man in seclusion in the secret room at the end of the corridor!"

“First of all, this is communication, not telepathy. If the other party doesn’t have the means to communicate, there’s nothing I can do,” VV said. “Secondly, the scan results don’t show any rooms that match your description. In fact, the third team is currently struggling to cope, and there are fewer than 50 team members left at headquarters.”

"What the hell is he doing?! This isn't right!"

Ji Huaisu scratched his head vigorously, searching for anyone else he could ask for help. The Divine Guards were all out of manpower, and their combat strength was severely limited in this situation. The bookstore veterans had gone to volunteer, and their absence meant they were also busy dealing with the mess. The rest were people who could help…

"I've got it! Contact Lico Trek for me!"

She seemed to hear VV's sigh: "You asked me to pinpoint a single name among 340 million people."

"You can do it! Right?" Ji Huaisu asked hopefully.

“I can,” VV said. “Transfer successful. You have 3 seconds.”

Several disguised terminals around the Third Team headquarters were overloaded, transmitting Ji Huaisu's voice to Li Ke's channel: "Fly over! Emergency!"

"I'm fucking busy here too!" Lico shouted. "The Third Lineage is a complete mess, and I'm trying to maintain stability—"

"I'm busy saving your dad!"

"Report your location!!!"

VV reported the coordinates directly, and a second later the exposed terminal was destroyed by the Black Death Army. Ji Huaisu rolled on the spot in a sorry state, dodging the incoming missiles. She was about to miss the next coordinates again when a large number of eagle-faced soldiers landed, completely surrounding her in a fountain square.

A bright red light shone in their eyes, and hundreds of mental energy attacks were about to strike simultaneously in the next instant.

"How about I try one more time?" Vande said, trembling.

A green storm descended from the sky, sweeping the array of black iron soldiers high into the air. Withered branches bursting from the ground transformed into spears that pierced the soldiers' bodies, while bright red fruits formed on the branches, exploding inside the soldiers and tearing them to shreds.

Ji Huaisu had already taken to the air, with huge wings woven from trees extending above her head, and two hands tightly gripping her waist.

“Give me an explanation in three sentences,” Lico said.

·

"So you've come here to find me to be your mount?!" Rico screamed.

Ji Huaisu shouted back, "Yes!"

"Miss Ji, if you need any manual labor, why don't you find your unparalleled boyfriend!"

"If I could get in touch with him, none of this would have happened. Next!"

Lico swooped down, using her branch-like claws to grab her thirteenth target. While capturing him, she paralyzed his senses with synthetic gas, Vande followed up with hypnosis to control his ghostly body, and Ji Huaisu delivered a thunderous punch that completely vaporized him. The three worked together flawlessly, a teamwork that would put even professional kidnapping gangs to shame.

This combination of punches is enough to instantly kill any opponent below Legendary Point 4. In fact, according to VV's assessment, even a Legendary Point 4 without the Unifying Path would probably be instantly killed. Lico wove a wooden sling to trap Ji Huaisu, then turned and glanced at him: "New pursuer, come on!"

Several falcon-masked soldiers flew out of the clouds; these were models specifically designed to absorb Lico's life force. Ji Huaisu swiftly threw three lightning spears, smashing them to pieces, and then five more life auras surrounded them from all directions.

"Change of personnel, it's the Flying Assassins!"

"They're as annoying as flies...!"

Lico suddenly slowed her descent, allowing her pursuers to close the distance rapidly. The assassins' bullets and melee weapons pierced her almost simultaneously, only to find it was nothing more than a piece of withered wood sculpted into a human shape. At the same moment, whip-like thorns pierced their chests; neither elemental beings, mechanical modifications, nor martial artists could stop the thorns from draining their life force.

Life Extraction, Lico's unique technique, instantly kills anyone who touches a normal life.

Above, Lico released the five people who had been turned into dried corpses, and Ji Huaisu threw five more lightning arrows, reducing them to ashes. Lico couldn't take it anymore: "Did you really have to grind them to dust?"

"Watching the enemy die without leaving a trace is a basic skill for a detective. Do you know how many times I was tricked by people pretending to be dead when I first started out?" Ji Huaisu said. "There are also those who pretend to surrender and then launch a sneak attack, those who ambush and then betray, those who use their child status to gain sympathy and then..."

Lico rolled her eyes: "Please have mercy on me. We people of Jingsha are honest and simple, we don't have so many strange things to do."

"Your simple and honest city-state of Jingsha is now riddled with bombs! Even my hometown wasn't this badly damaged back then!"

The two bickered but didn't let it interfere with their business; the moment they finished off their pursuers, the fourteenth target was also reduced to ashes. With the addition of new members, the counter-terrorism squad's efficiency improved dramatically. Miss Lico, as a legendary Skywing, possessed speed that was literally unmatched, and her diverse methods and sturdy physique greatly increased the squad's margin for error.

The only drawback is that her moral standards are too high, but this flaw is perfectly compensated for by Ji Huaisu, making the team virtually flawless.

“The progress is ideal. We have 30 seconds left before the next target analysis is completed. We can talk about some personal matters now,” VV said.

“Now?!” Lico exclaimed incredulously.

Van Der was on the verge of collapse: "Do you really have to hold a women's tea party at such a critical moment?!"

"25 seconds." VV continued the cold countdown. "Just out of personal interest, have you ever heard of an assassin named Chu Hengkong?"

Ji Huaisu nearly choked on the wind: "So you do know Ah Kong?! Who are you anyway?!"

"18 seconds. Sounds like you know him."

"I also know him... No one in this city-state knows him better than I do!"

“I disagree,” Vande muttered.