The sword that had been launched later arrived first, precisely sealing off the strange insect’s path. In just an instant, it would have slammed into the sword’s edge. Yet, with a sudden spread of its pair of elytra, they caught the air like a parachute, causing the strange insect’s movements to come to an abrupt halt.
The movements of exoskeletal joints were even easier to observe than those of muscles. Feng Xue completed his prediction almost without needing to think. His body suddenly pressed forward, while the elbow joint of his right arm erupted with an explosive crack!
The hand gripping the sword was not his left arm, transformed from [Mechanical Arm: Second Son], but his right arm, transformed from [Hidden Gun]!
The sword-shaped gun buried in his arm was not limited to firing bullets forward. Drawing inspiration from certain action games and comics, he had left a firing port in the sword hilt—corresponding to the position of his elbow when the weapon was retracted—allowing him to use the recoil from firing special bullets to further increase his speed and power!
“Yah! Hell Heart-Piercing Sword!”
“Clang!”
The sound of metal striking metal came with a powerful rebound that transmitted back into Feng Xue’s wrist. That sharp longsword, forged from Dam alloy—an alloy capable of allowing mechas weighing hundreds of tons to move at hypersonic speeds without deforming—had failed to injure that seemingly unremarkable chitinous shell under Feng Xue’s full-powered thrust!
Though his heart was filled with astonishment, Feng Xue did not freeze because of it. Seeing the strange insect’s blade-like jointed limb already right before him, his body twisted sideways in a manner that did not belong to humans.
Despite how bizarrely this strange insect was born, compared to the current Feng Xue, it seemed more like a human wearing a monster suit; Feng Xue was the one who looked more like a monster draped in human skin.
But now was not the time to worry about appearances. The instant he avoided the jointed limb, the longsword in Feng Xue’s hand had already withdrawn back into his body. Power burst from both feet, and his left hand formed a palm blade, chopping toward the gap in the carapace at the strange insect’s neck!
“Gwah! Eat this—[Hell Sword: Decapitation Sword] + [Heavenly Martial Killing Dao: Decapitation Dao]!”
A vast killing intent surged from within his body, and violent power gathered at his fingertips. Feng Xue’s left arm stabbed out fiercely, and within the extra skill slot granted to the Second Son Arm from being crafted using a blueprint, the skill named [Great Strength] was triggered!
Under the threefold amplification of Great Strength, the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao and Hell Sword were pushed to their limits. Feng Xue lowered his body, avoiding the blade arm that swept horizontally toward him. In the next instant, his fingertips had already pressed against the strange insect’s neck, right where the gap between the chitinous plates lay!
“Got it!”
Joy flashed through Feng Xue’s heart, but in the next moment, it all turned into a chill. This strike, condensed from every trump card he had, had actually failed to pierce in even the slightest. The dull pain transmitted back from his fingertips made him realize exactly what kind of monster he was facing.
Those compound eyes, utterly devoid of emotional fluctuation, seemed in Feng Xue’s eyes to gleam with a cold, sinister chill. For some reason, at this moment when his neural reflexes had already been pushed to their limit, Feng Xue suddenly felt that this strange insect seemed to be smiling.
There was no screech, no movement, yet inexplicably, he just felt that it was smiling. Before this somewhat absurd thought could even be understood, intense pain had already assaulted him from behind.
A pair of blade arms locked Feng Xue’s body firmly in place. The strange insect’s breastplate now seemed like a chopping board, while he was like the fish meat upon it.
During the activation time of [Nigerundayo], Feng Xue should have been immune to control effects, but at this moment, he no longer had any possibility of breaking free—
Because before this, at some unknown point, this body had already died. The consciousness that remained now was merely the final echo prolonged by [Nigerundayo] and [Spinosaurus Form] under [Battle Continuation].
……
[Character death. Synchronization lost.]
[Completed side quests: None]
[Evacuation failed. Supplies lost. Your insured item: Mechanical Arm: Second Son has been recovered.]
“Not bad. I only lost a few hundred points.” Feng Xue looked at the Second Son Arm, which had returned to its mechanical state, and spoke words of self-comfort, but his mind was still dazed.
Even without counting skill bonuses, the Second Son Arm was absolutely among the top tier of four-star prosthetics. Yet with such an arm, two peerless martial arts, and the amplification from multiple state skills, he had still failed to break through that strange insect’s defenses! What the hell kind of newbie dungeon was this?
Feng Xue looked at the [Beyond the Domain] banner in the battlefield selection screen, ranked below the junkyard. It was as if he had endless complaints he wanted to spit out, yet in the end, he swallowed them all back down.
Although the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao and Hell Sword were both extremely powerful, without Magnetic Field Rotation, he did not possess the body needed to fully display those techniques. Even if his arm could manage it, the other parts of his body still ultimately dragged him down.
As for Spinosaurus Form, its agility enhancement was indeed excellent, but the distortion it caused to his body ultimately affected the execution of his martial arts.
Then there was Hidden Gun. Though the concept of this prosthetic was good, the built-in sword-gun did not have suitable affixes to support it. Even with special ammunition, the enhancement it could provide was extremely limited.
……
Feng Xue continuously reviewed the gains and losses of this exploration Beyond the Domain. In the end, it could actually be summed up in one sentence—
His affix pool was too shallow.
If he had affixes like Sharp or Ignore Defense, his sword might not have been unable to pierce through that strange insect’s body. If he had affixes like Stealth or Invisibility, he would not have been treated by the rhinoceros-toothed beast as bait to block the strange insect. If he had affixes like Reconnaissance or Exploration, he could have discovered the rhinoceros-toothed beast earlier, and there would not have been that hurried flight afterward.
“Sure enough, I still have to make a trip to the tower district.”
Feng Xue stood up and glanced at the time. In the end, he still sent out Demon Sword No. 1 to leave the prosthetic clinic. Only this time, Demon Sword did not sculpt a new face. Instead, wearing Feng Xue’s own face, it made its way to [Two Gold Bars].
“You came at just the right time. The procedures for that shop of yours have already been handled. There’s also some progress on Old Jiang’s matter. For now, it seems it shouldn’t involve any big shots from the tower district, but I still need to investigate carefully to rule out the possibility of a smokescreen.”
Seeing Feng Xue arrive, Xie Miao tossed over a chip containing various electronic certificates before Feng Xue could even speak, then brought up Old Jiang’s matter. This manner of speaking also let Feng Xue breathe a sigh of relief. At the very least, it meant Old Jiang truly had not offended some untouchable big shot.
He accepted the chip and did not beat around the bush, saying directly:
“I need an identity.”
“Oh, planning to go to the street district, are you? That’s simple. Twenty points will do.” Hearing Feng Xue’s request, Xie Miao did not think much of it and agreed right away.
Although the people of the junk district could not afford even the worst houses in the street district, those low-end factories in the street district were all staffed by the poor of the junk district. Thus, travel between the junk district and the street district was not difficult. All one needed was a work certificate issued by a factory office.
But there were always some people who did not want to sign a slave contract with a factory yet still wanted to go to the street district and enjoy themselves a little. Therefore, temporarily buying an identity could be considered a fairly common business.
But Feng Xue shook his head and said:
“I want one that can get me into the tower district.”
“The tower district? That won’t be cheap.” Xie Miao finally raised his head. Seeing Feng Xue’s serious expression, he did not try to dissuade him. Instead, on account of Old Jiang, he quoted him a cost price—
“A one-time identity costs four thousand. It’ll get you into any non-controlled unit in the tower district, but it can only be used for three days. A long-term identity costs fifty thousand. It’s anonymous and won’t leave access records. As long as you don’t take the thing into a law enforcement agency, I guarantee it’ll remain valid permanently.
“If you’re just planning to broaden your horizons, I’ve also got a kind of fake identity here. Eight hundred will do, but it can only pass entrance checks. It’ll be scrapped after two uses. You can’t enter residential communities or corporate units, but it’s enough for one round trip and a stroll through a mall or something.
“There are also legal identities belonging to tower district residents, but those have to be paired with cosmetic surgery and body reshaping. You’d also have to replace your skin and teeth. Aside from wanted criminals, basically no one uses them. Any one of those will cost four or five hundred thousand at minimum……”