Black Silk Female Police Detective Exorcist

To be considered as having some strength by Lei Mingming, one must undoubtedly be a top-tier expert; the Arrogant Saintess's power is definitely not weak.

However, Qin Huanyu was more concerned about another word:

"Transformation?"

"Yes, transform, just like the magical girls in anime."

Lei Mingming smiled and nodded, then explained after a moment's thought:

"When she doesn't use her power, that girl is just a plain, unsophisticated country bumpkin. But once her power of arrogance is unleashed, she transforms into a stunning beauty in a gorgeous gown, her charm increasing dozens of times over... That gown she's wearing should be a magical costume from the ancient Western Continent sect, and it's also the main carrier of her power of arrogance. One of the main reasons she ultimately lost to me is that most of her power came from that gown-like magical costume. After I destroyed the gown, her strength was greatly reduced, and I ended up killing her."

"You mean that the Arrogant Saintess didn't directly use the power of arrogance to strengthen herself, but instead used a magical shroud to bear most of the power of arrogance?"

Qin Huanyu's heart stirred, and she sighed inwardly that the arrogant saintess's thoughts coincided with her own. Perhaps even the arrogant saintess couldn't stand the drastic change in personality when using the power of arrogance.

Thinking of this, Qin Huanyu quickly pressed for more information:

"Do you still remember what that arrogant saintess's personality was like? How does it compare to my personality when I used the power of arrogance last night?"

"Personality... I don't remember it very well. After all, I didn't talk to her much at the time. We practically started fighting as soon as we met until I killed her."

Lei Mingming frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then shook his head:

"But it's definitely not as exaggerated as you acted last night... You practically put all your attribute points into arrogance last night, your IQ was terrifyingly low. Even though your strength has increased a lot, your actual combat power has actually weakened."

"That's it...I understand."

Qin Huanyu nodded thoughtfully, having developed more speculations about the inverted cross collar. The next step was to find a place to study it carefully and verify it.

As early as yesterday when they first met, Lei Mingming said that he would occupy Qin Huanyu's time until the days before the selection of concubines began.

So after leaving the Royal Treasury, Lei Mingming took Qin Huanyu directly to the headquarters of the 404 Investigation Bureau in the capital, saying that he would personally give Qin Huanyu special training in the next few days to improve her strength.

Qin Huanyu naturally wouldn't refuse, but sparring with Lei Mingming right now would be no different from getting beaten up. So she suggested that they study the two treasures they had just acquired today to improve their combat power before sparring with Lei Mingming.

Lei Mingming smiled and agreed, even clearing out a workshop in the research department of the Investigation Bureau headquarters for Qin Huanyu to freely develop her ideas.

The promised reward of the Spirit Iron arrived quickly, and with all the tools and materials ready, it was time to craft and upgrade some equipment.

But before that, we must first completely unravel the secret of the inverted cross collar.

While in the Royal Treasury, Qin Huanyu dared not act recklessly, but in the workshop at the headquarters of the 404 Investigation Bureau, there was nothing to worry about. She used the highest authority of the Power of Pride to deeply analyze the Inverted Cross Collar, and at the same time searched through the memories she obtained from the Incarnation of Pride to find more information.

The process was easy and went smoothly. In less than 30 minutes, Qin Huanyu had a thorough understanding of the inverted cross collar.

She received both good news and bad news.

The good news is that she doesn't need to worry about the negative effects of the inverted cross collar. This item actually turns the wearer into a slave of the highest authority of the Power of Pride, not a slave to the embodiment of Pride. Qin Huanyu is currently the highest authority of the Power of Pride and is completely unaffected.

However, this is also bad news, because the principle behind the Inverted Cross Collar's ability to help the wearer eliminate the negative effects of arrogance is that it transmits that arrogant emotion upwards to the highest authority for absorption, leaving only pure energy. Now, Qin Huanyu herself is the highest authority, and the arrogance absorbed by the Inverted Cross Collar will eventually return to her, perhaps even becoming stronger.

If Qin Huanyu could abandon her humanity like the embodiment of arrogance, she would naturally not be afraid of these things, but she cannot abandon her humanity.

It is impossible to eliminate the negative effects of the power of pride by hoping that the inverted cross collar can be used.

However, Qin Huanyu was not completely disappointed, because after studying it, she discovered that the inverted cross collar had another function.

As an artifact of the Church of Pride, the Inverted Cross Collar can store the power of Pride, and the storage capacity is quite high. Previously, Qin Huanyu was worried that the power of Pride would affect her temperament, so she dared not accumulate the power of Pride, only gathering and using it when needed.

Now Qin Huanyu can store a large amount of Arrogance Power in the Reverse Cross Collar and use it directly at crucial moments, saving a lot of effort.

Moreover, Qin Huanyu made a new and unexpected discovery when actually testing the energy storage limit of the inverted cross collar.

This inverted cross collar even has a design similar to the vent of a pressure cooker. When the arrogance power stored inside exceeds its limit, it will shoot out a portion of the arrogance power from the inverted cross position in the form of pure energy.

It's quite powerful; it's a dark golden ray about 20 millimeters in diameter that can easily penetrate a 50-millimeter-thick steel target in the Bureau of Investigation's training ground, and its effective range exceeds 200 meters.

Although it takes a certain amount of time to accumulate the power of arrogance before it can unleash the dark golden ray, Qin Huanyu finally has a powerful ranged attack method.

Afterwards, Qin Huanyu also tried to fire the Arrogance Force Ray even faster, but she did not get the desired effect... at least the ray could not be fired continuously.

If described numerically, let's assume the inverted cross collar can store a maximum of 10 units of Pride Power. Once it exceeds 10, it will automatically emit rays to consume Pride Power. However, this consumption doesn't reduce Pride Power below 10; instead, it directly reduces it to around 4. The Pride Power rays will continue to emit during this time, which is the source of their power.

Qin Huanyu can maintain the Pride Power within the Inverted Cross Collar at around 10, ready to unleash a beam directly at the target when needed. However, to fire in rapid succession, she must recharge the Pride Power within the Inverted Cross Collar from 4 to over 10, a process that, at Qin Huanyu's current rate of Pride Power accumulation, takes at least 39 seconds… and even longer if she needs to maintain high-intensity combat while accumulating it.

Overall, the inverted cross collar in Qin Huanyu's hands is equivalent to a laser weapon with a cooldown of about 39 seconds but one pre-loaded charge.

Qin Huanyu was not very satisfied with this. She thought she could make a similar beam weapon herself using technological means, the only problem being that charging it would be more troublesome.

More importantly, it would be a waste to use the inverted cross collar only as a laser emitter, as the overflowing power of arrogance would be greatly diminished when it is fired.

It would be best to make full use of the power of arrogance stored in the inverted cross collar. Qin Huanyu already has some ideas for this, but she still needs to look up some information and is missing some necessary materials.

However, Qin Huanyu wasn't worried about these things. Lei Mingming was training her these past few days, clearly needing her to play a role in the events that would unfold during the princess's selection of consorts. So, he probably wouldn't mind using some of the Investigation Bureau's resources to help her improve her strength. She could talk to Lei Mingming about it later.

With the inverted cross collar set aside for the time being, Qin Huanyu began to try out the illusion mirror again.

The mirror's effect is exactly the same as described in the secret vault; it can record the user's actions and then perfectly replicate them using a mirror image.

Qin Huanyu tried out various moves she often used, including deceptive poses full of openings and serious strikes after charging up her power. The Mirror of Illusion was able to perfectly replicate them all, including the resonant strike of the Dragon-Slaying Mace and the arrogant power ray of the Reverse Cross Collar.

Through the trial of the illusion mirror, Qin Huanyu once again confirmed that the Pride Force Ray consumed a huge amount of energy; a single action could almost deplete the entire storage capacity of the illusion mirror.

A lot of energy is wasted after it is emitted from the inverted cross collar. If we can prevent this energy from being lost or even find a way to utilize it, we can definitely increase the effectiveness of the inverted cross collar several times over.

After half a day of trial use, Qin Huanyu had mastered the inverted cross collar and the false mirror. That evening, she practiced with Lei Mingming again.

It was still a one-sided beating. Even though Lei Mingming had released Hai, Qin Huanyu was still electrocuted until her eyes rolled back and her tongue stuck out. She had no chance of winning at all.

"Your use of the Mirror of Illusion is quite good. Your First Encounter Kill must be pretty powerful. If I hadn't known beforehand that you had this treasure, I probably would have suffered a small loss twice just now."

After a sparring session, Lei Mingming lit a cigarette and stood beside Qin Huanyu, who was still lying on the ground, her black-stockinged legs twitching occasionally, and offered his commentary:

"But that collar from the Church of Arrogance really disappointed me... Its power in your hands is far less than that of the saintess. All you can do with it is fire lasers? And about once a minute? Can't you use it to enhance yourself? Can you even use that magical artifact?"

"Strengthening myself is certainly an option, but I would become that arrogant fool again, seemingly stronger but actually weaker."

Qin Huanyu grimaced and gasped for breath twice before answering:

"As for the magical costume... I didn't find any related functions on the collar. It should be the saintess's own ability, which was just enhanced by the collar."

"The Saintess's own abilities... well, that's quite possible."

Lei Mingming took a deep drag of his cigarette, recalled for a few seconds, and nodded slightly:

"I remember that before becoming the Arrogant Saintess, she seemed to be a rather famous genius and beautiful young magician from the Western Continent... But it was precisely because of this that she became arrogant, and ultimately failed when she was fighting against the Arrogant Incarnation. Instead, she was brainwashed and controlled by the Arrogant Incarnation and became the Arrogant Saintess."

"Actually, I had a similar idea, but I was lacking some technical skills and materials..."

Qin Huanyu gasped for breath a few more times before finally recovering from the tingling sensation of the electric shock. She sat up and looked at Lei Mingming, saying:

"Since our Investigation Bureau has lightning-attribute spirit orbs that can be used to make arc rifles, shouldn't we also have water-attribute spirit orbs with similar effects? Could you get me a couple of high-quality ones? Maybe I can make my own magical artifacts."

"Water Spirit Pearls? There are indeed some in the warehouse, including a few of high quality."

Lei Mingming nodded and then blew a smoke ring:

“Normally, we distribute these extraordinary materials as rewards, but this incident is quite special. I need you to improve your strength as much as possible in the next few days, so I will grant you special permission with my authority as deputy director.”

"Thank you, Deputy Director."

Qin Huanyu chuckled twice:

"In addition, I need some conventional weapon-making materials and to borrow some equipment."

"Okay, you can have them all."

Lei Mingming waved his hand generously, finished the last puff of his cigarette, and stubbed it out.

"But I'll check your results in 3 days. If you're still this weak, I'll electrocute you so you won't be able to get out of bed for a day."

"Don't worry, I won't let you down."

Qin Huanyu raised her head and straightened her chest, her eyes sparkling with confidence.

. . . . .

Three days later, at the same training ground at the Bureau of Investigation headquarters.

Qin Huanyu and Lei Mingming resumed their sparring.

However, this time, there were not only the two of them in the training ground, but also several curious onlookers.

These people were all over 30 years old and looked shrewd and capable. Ling and Lü Meng, whom Qin Huanyu knew, were among them.

The others chatted and laughed with Zero and Lü Meng quite casually, not like a superior-subordinate relationship... They were very likely all inspectors.

This discovery made Qin Huanyu's eyelids twitch twice again.

As far as she knew, the inspectors of the Investigation Bureau were extremely busy. They often received information about the next case before they had even finished the previous one. Apart from their fixed annual vacation time, they had almost no free time at all.

But now all these inspectors have put down their cases and returned to the capital... It seems that Lei Mingming is planning something very big.

Qin Huanyu took a deep breath and stared intently at Lei Mingming through the AR interface in front of her.

Lei Mingming still showed no intention of making the first move, and even looked quite curious:

"This is the new equipment you spent three days hogging most of the machinery and used up hundreds of kilograms of the finest titanium alloy in the warehouse to make? It looks pretty impressive... but is it just for show? You won't cry if I break it, will you?"

"Hmph, believe me, you won't win so easily again, Deputy Director."

Qin Huanyu confidently assumed a fighting stance, looking for an opportunity to attack.

Her voice was still beautiful and melodious, but her hot figure was temporarily hidden, covered by a full-body high-tech armor.

Due to time constraints, Qin Huanyu didn't design the armor's shape and paint scheme much, prioritizing performance. The color was also the original silver-white of the titanium alloy... which actually looked quite ugly.

However, it has everything you need: the palms, back, calves, and soles of the feet of the armor have multi-functional booster nozzles, weapons are clearly mounted on the arms and shoulders, and there is a flexible and dangerous alloy tentacle like a scorpion tail on the back.

Creating a suit of armor to enhance herself was an idea Qin Huanyu had long had. She had already drawn several designs for various suits of armor and was ready to start making them at any time, but she had put it aside because she did not have a suitable energy source to power the armor.

The problem of energy source has now been solved by the inverted cross collar.

After practicing manipulating the inverted cross collar many times, Qin Huanyu was able to stably charge the collar to the critical point where it was about to automatically emit energy rays, maintaining it in a wonderful state of being about to fire but not yet firing.

In this state, a large amount of energy will condense on the metal surface of the inverted cross section of the necklace, causing it to heat up rapidly.

If the charging process is not stopped or the energy is not continuously emitted, the high temperature could even burn the wearer of the inverted cross collar.

Qin Huanyu took advantage of this and came up with an ancient but effective way to provide energy for her armor—boiling water.

A water spirit orb is placed on the chest of the armor. The water produced by the orb is transported to the inverted cross at the front of the neck through the armor's internal circulation system, where the water absorbs the high temperature. The water that has absorbed the high temperature instantly turns into water vapor, which is continuously compressed, circulated, and flows within the armor, providing energy for the various functions of the armor.

This is a steam-powered battle armor that utilizes the power of arrogance and extraordinary materials. However, the pressure and energy of its steam far exceed those of any boiler. Its core components are merely a strawberry-sized water spirit orb and an ornamental inverted cross collar, making it very easy to carry.

puff!

After observing for a few seconds, Qin Huanyu still saw that Lei Mingming was full of flaws. Knowing that there was no point in continuing to observe, she chose to take the initiative to attack.

As Qin Huanyu launched himself forward, the nozzles on his armored back and lower legs simultaneously emitted high-pressure steam jets backward, using the reaction force to accelerate his charge again, reaching a speed of over 150 meters per second in less than half a second, before throwing a punch at Lei Mingming.

"Well done!"

stab.

Lei Mingming praised her, remaining motionless, but her eyes flashed with electricity. An invisible magnetic field instantly enveloped her, and static electricity also enveloped Qin Huanyu as she charged forward.

To increase the strength of weapons and equipment made from titanium alloys, a small amount of iron is usually added, and Qin Huanyu's armor was no exception.

Now, Lei Mingming simultaneously activates magnetic field protection and imparts static electricity to Qin Huanyu, which is theoretically sufficient to generate enough repulsive force in an instant to prevent Qin Huanyu's charge from getting close, or even throw Qin Huanyu away.

This is also one of Lei Mingming's favorite moves. In this society full of iron products, people who can use magnetism naturally have a huge advantage, and it has worked for her time and time again.

But this time it failed... or rather, it didn't achieve the desired effect.

Lei Mingming's own magnetic field was functioning perfectly; the problem lay with the static electricity that was enveloping Qin Huanyu. This static electricity failed to impart sufficient magnetism to the armor, resulting in a weak repulsive force from the repulsion between like charges. It only reduced Qin Huanyu's charging speed by about a third, and the fist encased in the armor still struck Lei Mingming's nose.

"You even plated your armor with Spirit-Extinguishing Iron? No wonder you just received His Majesty's reward; you really don't feel bad about using it..."

Lei Mingming reacted instantly, his body crackling with electricity as he pushed his speed to its limit, narrowly dodging Qin Huanyu's punch.

Even with the steam jet boost, Qin Huanyu's speed was still considerably slower than Lei Mingming's, who could control lightning. After dodging Qin Huanyu's first punch, Lei Mingming immediately planned to retaliate and teach Qin Huanyu a lesson, to stop her from being so arrogant.

Unexpectedly, Qin Huanyu's fist, which was almost grazing Lei Mingming's hair, suddenly stopped at a point parallel to Lei Mingming's head, and she opened her hand, her palm facing Lei Mingming's face.

Lei Mingming, who had prepared his palm lightning strike to shock Qin Huanyu, abandoned his counterattack without a second thought and rolled backward in a rather disheveled manner to dodge.

The next instant, high-pressure steam with a temperature exceeding 800 degrees Celsius shot out from Qin Huanyu's palm, hitting the spot where Lei Mingming had been standing.

This was a carefully planned combo by Qin Huanyu, with an expected hit rate of over 35%. If Lei Mingming was even slightly careless, he would suffer a loss.

However, Lei Mingming was a veteran of many battles. Even if she was careless, her body had long since developed an instinctive reflex to danger. This level of attack was not enough to hurt her; at most, it would only make her dodge in a slightly awkward manner.

Without a moment's regret for the failed attack, Qin Huanyu knew that the electric sparks flashing all over Lei Mingming meant she was serious, so she could only continue the pursuit.

Using the reaction force of the high-pressure steam jet she sprayed to the side from her palm, she quickly turned around and slashed at Lei Mingming with the chain alloy blade that had already deformed behind her.

At the same time, a steel cable on the left arm of the armor shot out towards the spot where Qin Huanyu had been standing and firmly fixed it to the ground... Regardless of whether the chain alloy blade's attack succeeded, Qin Huanyu would use the power of the steel cable to quickly create distance between herself and Lei Mingming.