Chapter 320 - Chapter 320: 251, contain Taboo ACE-011!
Chapter 320: 251, contain Taboo ACE-011!
The darkness enveloping the world dissipated.
To the outside world, that period seemed to last not even an instant, so brief that only demigods could sense it.
But for every Time Traveler, it felt incredibly long, and none could be sure how long their lives had been shrouded in darkness.
Qing Chen kept his eyes closed and did not wake immediately, but remained immersed in a certain world.
That was the world of the Taboo, ACE-0011, conquering through virtue.
He looked around, surveying his surroundings…
This place was a wilderness, vast and tranquil.
“Is anyone there?” Qing Chen shouted loudly, but no one responded.
Suddenly, Qing Chen sensed something was amiss, and looking down, he found himself holding a cold sniper rifle in his arms without knowing when it had appeared.
At some moment, Qing Chen had an epiphany, and peering through the scope around him, he quickly spotted a small coin standing on the ground in the wilderness 400 meters away.
He lay prone on the ground, breathing gently, then pulled the trigger.
In the gun chamber, the bullet erupted with immense force, traveling in an absolutely straight trajectory, and hit the distant coin precisely.
The powerful recoil of the anti-material sniper rifle hammered Qing Chen’s shoulder, and even with his Transcendent body, he felt a numbing sensation.
In the instant of the gunfire, the gas expelled from either side of the chamber stirred up all the dust beside him, leaving him covered in dust and dirt.
Qing Chen did not move, nor did he care about the dust that filled the air, as if he were a statue.
However, even though he had hit the coin, the world did not dissipate.
The young man was no longer uneasy or anxious, but gradually calmed down, searching for the next target as if playing a game.
In the next moment, another coin appeared in an even further distance, at 800 meters.
At a distance of 800 meters from the target, Qing Chen felt the coin had become virtually invisible, the crosshairs in the scope appearing much larger than the target in his field of view.
Qing Chen breathed slowly, and at the peak of a certain breath, his arm and body reached the most stable state.
He pulled the trigger again.
The coin was once again sent flying.
Qing Chen still did not get up; this time the coin appeared even further away, at 1600 meters.
A gentle breeze picked up in this mysterious world, and a light rain began to fall from what had been a clear sky, making the visibility deteriorate even further.
Qing Chen tried to pull the trigger, but the bullets deviated off course on the distant wilderness, unable to hit the coin.
He remembered what Lao Jiu had said: When sniping targets beyond 1600 meters, the target becomes nearly invisible to the naked eye, and the bullet will be interfered with by external factors.
At that point, a sniper needed not only skills but precise calculations and an even more mysterious sense of the rifle.
Qing Chen silently gazed at the coin that seemed forever out of reach.
He began to breathe in an odd rhythm, and the Fire Rune on both sides of his cheek glowed once again.
Painful memories flashed through his mind, yet the abundance of endorphins secreted into his system put him in a unique state of stability, as if someone were gently stroking his head, singing a warm song.
At times like this, a deviation of 0.1 degrees in the bullet’s trajectory could lead to a massive difference in the point of impact.
Qing Chen closed his eyes and silently calculated something, recalling over and over the trajectory of the recent bullet.
When he opened his eyes again, he subtly adjusted the sniper scope with the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
The movement of the chest is more stable than that of the wrist, fingers, or shoulders, but it is difficult for ordinary people to control and measure.
The young man pulled the trigger.
The slender bullet followed the spiral rifling inside the barrel, piercing through the curtain of rain with a tremendous initial speed.
This time, the world did not tell him whether he had hit the target before it quickly faded away.
Qing Chen replayed the bullet’s trajectory in his mind, thinking he had still missed, but the mysterious world seemed to have recognized him already.
In the small house on Xingshu Road, Qing Chen opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
When Uncle Li Dong was still around, he always looked forward to travelling; after Uncle Li Dong left, he always felt a sudden sense of ease upon returning to the Outer World.
By comparison, although the Inner World was full of opportunities, it was also fraught with danger.
The mysterious world just now was probably the containment condition for the Taboo ACE-011 to conquer through virtue; it had once experienced its peak and glory in the hands of a master gunsmith, so it did not wish to fall into mediocre hands.
This was the pride of a Taboo.
The bedroom door was knocked, and Nan Gengchen called from outside, “Brother Chen, Brother Chen, I have something important to talk about.”
“Wait a moment,” Qing Chen responded, “I have to deal with something first.”
While in the Inner World, he had to maintain his image as a superior, so he hadn’t checked “Conquering through Virtue” right away.
So much so that he had just taken the taboo object ACE-011 into his body by virtue of his character on the other side, and he was already back, with the containment process spanning two worlds.
At this moment, he sat on the edge of the bed, and with a gentle call in his heart, a black long sniper rifle appeared out of nowhere and materialized on his knees.
The rifle was 1.4 meters long, its entire body ink-black.
At the very front of the barrel, there was a large flame suppressor attached.
His right hand gently stroked over the black sniper, all the way to the stock, where the small yet profound character ‘De’ was inscribed.
“It indeed commands respect through virtue,” Qing Chen remarked, resolving from now on to be a person who reasons with others.
Whoever said he was unreasonable, even the respectful through virtue wouldn’t agree.
In some sense, this black sniper didn’t belong to the category of taboo objects, since it lacked clear and definite containment conditions.
However, containing it was harder than containing other taboo objects.
Because this time it was the weapon recognizing Qing Chen, not Qing Chen having mastery over certain containment conditions to possess it.
“Eh,” Qing Chen suddenly noticed an issue—the respectful through virtue actually had no place to load bullets!
Although he didn’t have sniper bullets in hand, and though he dared not fire at will in the Outer World to attract attention,
the issue was, a sniper rifle surely should have a place to load bullets.
Qing Chen pondered for a long time but couldn’t figure it out.
He stepped out of the door: “Xiao Nan, what’s going on?”
“Brother Chen, just before I returned, I received a letter affixed with the Devil’s Stamp,” Nan Gengchen said.
“What did the letter say?”
Nan Gengchen replied, “The letter said that our game was not yet over.”
“Where did the letter appear?” Qing Chen frowned, the holder was truly persistent, even finding Nan Gengchen’s traces in the Inner World.
“The letter was found at my residence at Qing Shan Villa, right beside Li Yinuo’s pillow,” Nan Gengchen stated: “Li Yinuo has agreed to help me trace the whereabouts of the Devil’s Stamp.”
“Hmm, that’s one approach. After all, a former President of the Federation once possessed the Devil’s Stamp, and it disappeared without a trace after he was assassinated in his later years. I think the whereabouts of this taboo might be related to the assassin,” Qing Chen considered the information he knew: “During that President’s term, the financial consortiums weren’t as overwhelmingly powerful as they are today. It’s said that he enacted many revisions to legislation that restricted the consortiums, so I suspect that the consortiums were behind his murder.”
Qing Chen continued, “If the financial consortiums were indeed behind his murder, then someone like Li Yinuo, who is from within the consortiums, should be able to track down the whereabouts of the Devil’s Stamp.”
Nan Gengchen became somewhat excited, “Are we going to dig out this holder of the Devil’s Stamp?”
“I didn’t pay much attention to him before, but now it seems we have no choice,” Qing Chen said calmly: “I wouldn’t mind having another slave.”
“What should we do now?” asked Nan Gengchen.
“First, let’s strip off one layer of his disguise,” Qing Chen answered.
How to strip it off, Qing Chen didn’t say, and Nan Gengchen, with his brains, couldn’t figure out how to proceed either.
Qing Chen glanced at the countdown: 167:45:02.
Another seven days.
At that moment, the group chat established by He Xiaoxiao became lively again. Time Traveler was the first to speak up: “Got a piece of news to share with everyone, not too big or small. In City #18, seven societies attacked Heng Society, and the result was nearly complete annihilation. Li Dongze broke through to A-Class on the battlefield, causing heavy casualties among those societies.”
Qing Chen held Nan Gengchen’s phone, and it was only when he saw this message that he realized the outside world didn’t know that Li Dongze had quietly achieved A-Class years ago.
Unexpectedly, Li Dongze had kept it hidden so deeply.
At this time, in the group chat, Lu Ya, who had spoken before, suddenly said: “I believe these seven societies all had the backing of financial consortiums, but no real experts from the consortiums appeared that night. Therefore, I suspect that one of the consortiums wanted to use Heng Society to clear out the underground world of City #18.”
Time Traveler became silent for a while: “For Heng Society to dominate alone in City #18, what good does that do for the consortiums? Do you have any evidence?”
“It’s just my speculation, no evidence needed,” Lu Ya replied calmly.
In the chat, Uncle Li, seeing the conversation getting heated, quickly changed the subject: “Time Traveler, we’re not too interested in the affairs of Heng Society; I want to know about the progress of the Shadow conflict.”
At this point, Time Traveler put on airs: “What’s the hurry? Coming back once a week, we naturally have to start with some appetizers before serving the main course. Let me share another piece of news. On the same night that Heng Society was attacked, Li Changqing, an important figure of power within the Li Family, was assaulted in the Fourth District, and the forces behind the attack are suspected to belong to other financial consortiums. Everyone, what does this tell us? It suggests that the Inner World could very well explode into war in the future!”
Time Traveler continued, “Chaotic times are brewing, and if one wants to survive well there, preparations must be made in advance.”
Uncle Li said, “Time Traveler, since you hold so much information, why don’t you start an organization, and we’ll follow you?”
“Heh, I’m used to being a lone wolf, not interested in starting any organizations,” Time Traveler responded: “Besides, I can’t be responsible for others’ lives or deaths, only for my own well-being.”
“Any more news? Stop beating around the bush and tell us about the Shadow conflict,” Lu Ya from the chat urged.
“Alright, then I’ll fill you in on the Shadow conflict so you can all gain some insight,” Time Traveler sent cheerfully: “All Shadow Candidates have arrived in City #18, and surprisingly, Qing Yi turned out to be blood-related to the Li Family and has now moved directly into the hillside manor.”
“What about Qing Wen and Qing Zhong?” Uncle Li asked.
“The other Shadow Candidates have also found collaborators within the Li Family, I just don’t know yet who they are collaborating with,” Time Traveler said.
Qing Chen thought to himself that Time Traveler was now speaking of all the information he himself already knew.
As for who the collaborators of the Shadow Candidates were… most people probably had no idea that four out of those seven people were collaborating with Li Yinuo.