023. Hanging out with Brother Ao, getting hit by iron rods every day

```

Ding ding ding bang clang!

"I'm in deep trouble! Murdering a beautiful girl——"

Nomi yelled, but her movements were agile. She ducked and dodged a barrage of bullets, then suddenly sprung forward with a burst of energy like a white lightning bolt, smashing into the embrace of an armored guard. A fierce elbow strike landed heavily on the ballistic insert, making the sound of metal shattering and breaking underground.

Crack——

The broken steel plate couldn't completely disperse all the force, and the mechanical structure of the exoskeleton kept the security personnel anchored in place, forcing them to take the heavy blow. Then, the guard swiftly raised a mechanical arm to grab at the petite Nomi.

However, Nomi simply ducked and weaved through the gaps under the security's ribs, even flipping over to kick at the security's spine. She skillfully kicked open the exoskeleton armor's safety cover, pulled out the hexagonal prism-shaped battery, triumphantly flung it away, and pulled a face:

"Stumped, aren't you? Big daddy's five foot and weighs ninety-five pounds, can you even catch me?"

Deprived of battery power, the security personnel stiffened and was immediately overburdened by the heavy exoskeleton armor, collapsing to the ground.

In this narrow corridor, firing at will could lead to ricocheting bullets causing accidental injuries. The remaining security personnel quickly caught on, drawing their sidearms or military sabers, and moved in on Nomi with cohesive and swift actions, not missing a beat.

"Bring it on! You think I'm scared?!"

Nomi tilted her head to dodge a headshot, and even though her chest was punctured by several 9mm bullets, her figure did not pause. Her bare feet stomped on the alloy floor as she swung a wrench violently at the opponent's head. With a muffled ding, the carbon fiber polyester helmet caved in with a deep dent. With a flick of her wrist, the teeth of the wrench peeled the helmet off entirely.

"Clang clang clang, cracking open the lobster—ugh, what the hell is this?!"

As the helmet flew off, what was revealed wasn't the anticipated face of a Frost Plated female. Nomi's mouth twitched as she saw, displayed before her, a culture tank embedded in the cheek and skull.

Within the semi-transparent glass tank, a brain riddled with various wires and electrode tubes bubbled relentlessly.

This was by no means a living person.

Nomi felt a chill down her spine and quickly moved away in disgust. Dodging a swipe from a military saber, she retreated repeatedly:

"You've got to be kidding me—I'm gonna puke—turning living people into this ghastly, inhuman thing—it's just as I expected, the handiwork of Mingji's dog doctors!"

[You witnessed a bio-mechanical security force, fluid and powerful, reacting far beyond that of any ordinary soldier, and even warriors awakened to arcane energy find it challenging to face such beings. Yet, every drop of technology crystallized behind this mature technology is a silent accusation of blood and tears.]

[Exploration of "Not to be Remembered" has increased.]

[Current progress: 6.5%.]

At this point, Li Aozi decided not to just stand by and watch anymore. Nomi proved to be stronger than he had anticipated. He had planned for this 19-constitution "Plunderer" girl to take the brunt of the battle upfront while he would back her up from behind.

Yet, relying on her exceptional combat awareness and movement, Nomi single-handedly dispatched two enemies in succession and stopped the fire suppression dead in its tracks.

The combat panel indicated that these Mingji Wardens averaged around level 18 with armor values as high as 140. It seemed Nomi possessed some hidden skills and techniques that allowed her to bypass the armor and inflict damage.

The girl was unexpectedly useful, which was good.

With his low level, he had not hoped to take part in reaping the rewards, just to advance the plot and be done.

But now it seemed that Nomi's combat capabilities were considerable, and he could take this opportunity to make a killing.

Li Aozi took a deep breath, stepped out from cover, and the grey of his eyes lit up with a golden ring. Simultaneously, an overwhelming sensation of constricting oppression descended out of thin air.

"Kneel down!"

Gravitational • Intimidation

Humm——

Silently and without warning, a gravitational field had already ensnared everyone in front.

Unlike telekinesis, which leans towards mental interference, the gravitational arcane energy possessed by Li Aozi was pure physical force.

This arcane energy was sparsely described, only about controlling the direction and magnitude of gravity. However, gravity is, in fact, within the scope of gravitational force.

All creatures on the surface are constantly affected by the Earth's core gravity.

Even though he was limited to a "perception" level due to his development and lacked sufficient professional knowledge to expand the usage of his abilities, as an Omega Level arcane energy, its potential for harm was far beyond that of inferior-grade arcane energies.

The strength of gravity was manifested in four aspects.

First, as one of the four fundamental forces, gravitational force transmits at the speed of light, thereby the deployment of Li Aozi's gravitational field was also at light speed. At this stage, there simply wasn't anyone who could dodge or ignore the entrapment of the force field.

Absolute hit.

There were 14 remaining participants, including Nomi, crammed in the corridor, seven in total.

Without exception, all of them were captured within Li Aozi's 15-meter radius gravitational field.

Creak——

The oppressive force crashed down suddenly. In an instant, Li Aozi's arcane energy reserves dropped by sixty percent, but the effect was far more shocking than the expense.

Five times gravity!

The mechanical armor squeezed and deformed, and all the Mingji Humanity guards fell to their knees, unable to rise. Under the pressure of five times gravity, each person was essentially bearing five times their body weight.

The second aspect, the gravity ability is one of the rare abilities that produce indirect damage.

```

```

Ordinary people would feel extremely painful to withstand twice the gravity, as if they were carrying another self on their shoulders.

Even with the best anti-load suits equipped, fighter pilots could only endure 9 to 10 times the momentary overload, any longer than a second would make them dizzy.

Even extremely excellent astronauts, wearing spacesuits, would faint and die facing prolonged periods of 10 times gravity.

Yet these Vigilants, their own armor was too heavy, and the material could not compare to the high-strength aerospace alloy.

As Li Aozi approached step by step, the Vigilant tried to lift his gun to counterattack, but before his arm could rise ten centimeters off the ground, a grinding, cracking noise was heard.

Crack!

The heavy armor covering them, and the prosthetics implanted in their bodies, separated from the flesh under the oppression of super gravity.

They would watch helplessly as they were killed by their own mass.

Thanks to the "hatred pulling" done by Nomi earlier, these people were gathered together, allowing Li Aozi to walk into their midst leisurely, as the Vigilants, like lowly subjects meeting a Monarch, witnessed his arrival.

A bunch of lobsters paralyzed on the ground were no threat at all, Li Aozi flicked his finger, launching blades, thumbtacks, and staples, reaping these Vigilants.

[You have killed a lv15 Mingji Warden—total output less than 60%, high-level killing, team rewards, extra rewards, calculating...]

A huge amount of experience poured in since Li Aozi had never leveled up before, he was still killing above his level at lv0.

Eventually, when the last Mingji Warden was killed by Li Aozi's throat cut, he had already racked up 12,750 experience points.

"Although there is an 80% experience penalty for teaming up with higher-level characters, overall it's still a big gain."

Li Aozi tried to dismantle the Mingji Warden's exoskeleton but found it was integrated with the body—he immediately realized that this was not the work of a Mechanic.

"Implanted tech system, brain wetware, composite vasculature, it's a Biochemist."

The equipment from a Biochemist is mostly encrypted with genetic engineering, and there might be biological virus traps, so Li Aozi abandoned the idea.

Li Aozi also dared not tamper with the dropped firearms, as Biochemists are even more treacherous than Mechanics, most of their gear is custom-designed. Any unauthorized weapons taken casually are like carrying a tracker; even at the ends of the earth, they could be traced.

However, the overall gain was good, and Li Aozi invested the experience into [Mutant]. Early experience is precious, and it's most cost-effective to stack the main profession's levels.

"Next in the plot, Nomi probably won't be able to act with me, I need the capability to protect myself."

Although the behavior of receiving welfare benefits can accumulate experience quickly, Li Aozi didn't want to lose his life for those few thousand points of welfare benefits.

Anyway, there's no shortage of specialization grinding in Frost Plated, and it's no easy task finding professional knowledge temporarily, so just heap on the main profession for combat strength.

[Main Profession [Mutant] has leveled up to lv.7]

[Based on specialty, you gain the following benefits: Charm +3.]

+3

This is still with the premise of having a specialty; the main profession gives an attributes boost every 5 levels. Without a specialty, he would only get 2 points of [Charm].

A pity.

The attribute bonuses from [Mutant] in the early stages are ridiculously low, something like Nodley's [Martial Artist], can easily bring dual attributes to around 20 points.

Li Aozi's foundation was already good, but he lacked the strength to foster other attributes from the start.

Arcane Energy is useful alright, but it doesn't cover up the fact of low attributes.

Low attributes mean you cannot move heavy objects, withstand cold, heat, poison, radiation, or pass certain assessments.

What's most daunting is not meeting the standards, lacking the ability to wear equipment.

Especially the [Constitution] and [Strength] attributes, which dictate the defensive gear one can wear.

"This familiar feeling..."

The corner of Li Aozi's eye twitched, reminiscent of the feeling of being in prison.

The call of the prison seemed to echo in his ears, and he already envisioned himself unable to wear various kinds of equipment or weapons, going to the battlefield barehanded in casual clothes.

Li Aozi's raised hand trembled slightly.

Yes, that's right! This was the tearful history of his previous pioneering days!

"Forget it, Gravitational Arcane Energy is pretty effective. I'll just be a Glass Cannon. Besides, don't I have a tank?"

Li Aozi steeled his heart; he decided to simply not grind any other specialty, max out [Charm], and charge ahead on the path of being a Glass Cannon.

"By the way, where's my tank?"

"Hey... idiot..."

Lyinjg on the ground, Nomi was breathing painfully with a flushed face. The equivalent of the weight of 5 times herself burdened her, her organs felt as though they were being squeezed out, and she almost spoke with her tongue sticking out:

"You... (Quality Frost Plated)... hold back a little! How come... um... you even attack your own people... haah...!"

```