025. Cutting Tendons and Breaking Bones (Part 1)

The strength of Gravitational Arcane Energy surpassed other types by four points, previously demonstrating absolute hits and indirect kills against the Vigilant.

However, the often overlooked factor was that gravity appeared in the form of a "field". As long as one was within the Gravitational Field, all resistances were ignored, and it could affect anyone.

Additionally, the most important point was that Gravitational Arcane Energy had no casting lead-time, no sound or light effects, and was released completely silently.

This was one of the reasons Li Aozi chose gravity as his starting point, as it could provide him with powerful control capabilities, even allowing cross-level kills.

The only problem was that his development level was too low, his Arcane Energy was not sufficient, and his consumption rate was as high as 110%—that was, 1.1 Arcane Energy per second in an active state.

The "Charm" attribute was directly linked to the Arcane Energy limit, but in the early stages, there were basically no quick means to restore Arcane Energy, only quiet rest to wait for recovery.

And during this period, most Mutants had no combat power.

Li Aozi was not worried about potential and development; he was willing to spend a lot of resources to develop Gravitational Arcane Energy, and an Omega Level Arcane Energy never lacked potential.

But doing so early on meant undoubtedly ending up in jail. Li Aozi also did not want to waste experience on other secondary professions and attributes.

This was an economic issue, and many Mutant players in his previous life couldn't continue playing for the same reason.

Cash players could choose to find someone to play alongside or level up, getting through tough times to enjoy the game happily after level 60. Ordinary players had to grind for specialties, hone their skills, and pay attention to suppressing their level—because if their level was slightly higher, other primary profession players could easily defeat the Mutants of the same period.

After all, the attribute gap was too large.

Li Aozi couldn't help but sigh, thankful his basic "Charm" was a bit higher, or he'd be sitting in jail by now.

Reality was already exhausting, and no one wanted to continue being miserable in a virtual world.

"By the way, since you're so strong, why did you want to team up with me?"

Nomi suddenly realized this issue, carrying a wrench.

Li Aozi couldn't be bothered to explain, picking up a gun from the ground and shooting himself in the arm.

Bang!

[You received 24 damage, limb destruction—left forearm, disabled (unable to lift)]

"Damn!"

Nomi was startled, while Li Aozi maintained a calm expression, skillfully removing the bullet and using a medical kit he had just scavenged from the Vigilant to disinfect and treat the explosion.

"That's it, I'm weak and can't withstand two shots."

"Why didn't you just say that? Why shoot yourself? That really scared me!"

"I'm used to it."

Li Aozi tossed aside the gun. For an ordinary person like him, a 9mm caliber pistol was a matter of two bullets.

The powerful kinetic energy and cavitation effect, even without hitting vital organs, were enough to devastate ordinary people through the bullet's tumbling within their flesh, causing unbearable pain and loss of sanity.

Being hit by a bullet felt like being punched hard by a 200-pound strongman. Even with a bulletproof vest, you might not get a broken bone or get pierced, but the impact still would bruise and injure the skin.

However, for those level-ten bandits or Mingji Humanity members, bullets were almost as harmless as peanuts.

Mingji Humanity's medical tools were quite effective, quickly stopping bleeding to allow normal arm movement, but Li Aozi instead cut open the wound with a knife, spilling blood to showcase a severe injury.

After the make-up, Li Aozi led Nomi around the floor's surveillance to the shelter's west entrance, already sealed and stocked with some discarded oil barrels.

"What are we doing here?"

Before Nomi's query settled, gravitational rotation repositioned the oil barrels into a staircase leading to a higher sewage pipe.

"Oh?!"

Li Aozi did not elaborate further. In fact, there were many shortcuts within the shelter, but he remembered this spot had a hidden easter egg.

Using his memory, he led Nomi up the pipe, crawling a short distance.

"Walk straight for forty-five meters, turn right at the end marked with a red 'X' spray paint, then climb the ventilation pipe, turn left at the end…"

Being too tall for the narrow space, Li Aozi sent Nomi instead. A few seconds later, Nomi crawled out, covered in soot.

"Ugh! It's all dirty stuff, this is disgusting!" Nomi wiped the oil off her hands onto her clothes, not caring about her own clothes.

"Where's the stuff I wanted?"

Li Aozi immediately asked, and Mino, shoulders drooping, handed a light blue badge to him. Li Aozi spread his palm, inspecting the badge that depicted a yellow dog with an exaggeratedly large head, encircled by text:

"I'm Destruction Warrior Xi Shihui!"

[Eureka! You have discovered a producer easter egg "Muster! Destruction Warrior's Forest Friends"!]

[You have triggered an achievement task: "Ready Player One"]

["In the making of 'Starry Abyss', we drew a lot of inspiration from past video games and traditional competitive events. To pay homage to the games of the traditional era, the 343 members of the development team have set various easter egg badges within the game. Players who collect the old era game easter egg badges will be rewarded accordingly based on the number of easter eggs collected." – The entire 'Starry Abyss' Studio Team]

[Enjoy collecting game easter eggs!]

"Collecting four easter eggs will get you a reward."

Li Aozi recalled that there were not many easter eggs in Frost Plated; they were easy to find, just fixed in a few locations.

Calculating the time, the White Fang Guild should have started fighting with Mingji's senior forces. He led Nomi through the pipe, and within two minutes, the sounds of shouting and bashing reached their ears. The twisted and deformed bodies on the floor, either shattered bones or torn-off necks and limbs, made for an extremely gory scene—Li Aozi could recognize it as the attack style of a Martial Artist at a glance.

Simple, brutal, direct, effective.

Martial Artists' lethality was overly terrifying in the early stages, and their attacks on humanoid targets were typically shattering blows, often leaving opponents in such a way that players felt uncomfortable and had to activate 'Teen Mode' to mitigate the impact.

"My god… these people died horribly, it's creepy—must be the work of Head Nurse Nodley."

Though Nomi voiced fear, she walked on the skulls without hesitation. Tilting her head, she realized something:

"There's still fighting up ahead—hey, you're not going to make me fight that she-T. rex, are you? I don't want to die!"

"I'll go through the ventilation pipe." Li Aozi instructed, "Later, we'll attack the White Fang Guild. Follow me in—attack some of Mingji's doctors first."

"Why complicate things? If we're going to do it, let's just do it!" Nomi impatiently said, "I reckon you can fight by yourself. With me standing by, you could make them all kneel down. Isn't that hard? My boss would kill them all if they came!"

"Don't rush." Li Aozi squinted, "Killing them all won't yield any benefit."

"Hey, what do you mean by that, are you chickening out?"

"It's better to break one finger than to hurt ten fingers—on the flip side, if you truly hurt and cripple someone, will they still think about gathering strength to seek revenge?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Li Aozi smiled:

"My favorite book is titled 'How to Get Rich by Scientifically Raising Pigs'."