As the cable snapped, the elevator plunged past the third floor. The safety brakes engaged with a sharp screech and a shower of sparks, yet they failed to arrest the downward inertia.

The elevator, riddled with holes, continued its descent.

Yet Huai Shi felt a sudden, soundless chill. He whipped his head around to look behind him, only to see a large hole had somehow appeared in the twisted elevator wall.

A slender figure was already soaring down towards Huai Shi.

Her fingers traced a line downward through the air.

Before that gesture, walls, cables, and the elevator's outer shell alike split to either side. It wasn't a violent destruction; rather, it was as if a door was being opened with effortless ease, allowing the figure to swoop in unobstructed...

Third Stage Peak!

The unequivocal Third Stage Peak!

The chill Huai Shi felt was even more menacing than the nightmare he'd encountered in the Social Security Bureau's prison! After biding her time and deciphering Huai Shi's weaknesses, the woman launched a sudden attack, piercing through all obstacles in a direct line towards Huai Shi's vitals.

Then, she caught a glimpse of two ghostly flames suddenly igniting beneath Huai Shi's black helmet.

The pitch-black Nightmare Fog, composed of Apocalypse and heart poison, rose like a tide, sweeping towards the woman who had rushed in.

What the hell?

The woman froze for a moment. Her descending finger, however, didn't stop; an invisible power forcefully tore apart the Fear Aura's mist. But from behind the parting fog, a dazzling cross-spear blade came whistling!

The Spear of Compassion whistled, bursting with a Dragon Roar. Its blade, infused with Source Substance, flared with a fiery luminescence!

This split-second counterattack exhausted all of Huai Shi's strength.

But in mid-air, the woman's figure rippled like water. Huai Shi's vision blurred without warning. Did I miss?

The ripples vanished instantly. The woman, seizing Huai Shi's moment of stunned surprise, had dodged the spear's thrust.

Was this... an Illusion Technique?

By the time he reacted, the woman had already rallied and was attacking Huai Shi again. But Huai Shi sneered. The spear blade trembled, and a spurt of Dragon Blood flew out, splattering her face. Instantly, her hair, tied into dozens of thin braids, paled slightly.

Her energy dissipated.

"Let's go down together!" Huai Shi roared, raised his hand, and hurled a grenade.

In such a confined space, there was no room to dodge. The woman's expression changed drastically. She retreated rapidly. As she moved back, the elevator car behind her seemed to part, opening a gap just wide enough for her to slip through before it sealed shut the instant she was clear.

In that last split second, Huai Shi's grenade exploded.

It released only a puff of smoke and a few sparks. It fell to the ground, split into four pieces, and quickly dissipated into Source Substance.

Fooled!

The woman froze, dumbfounded. Behind the now-closed elevator doors, she saw the figure wave goodbye to her.

The elevator continued to fall.

It was already too late to catch up.

First floor.

Beside Huai Shi, the dark gold chest fully materialized. Without hesitation, the young man slammed his hand down on it, and a dazzling golden light shot skyward.

"Wow! A Golden Legend!!!"

The hearty voice spread in all directions.

The chest opened.

But before Huai Shi could see what was inside, Death Perception flared again, prompting him to dive to the ground.

Then, with a roar, the still-closed elevator doors shattered violently, revealing a large hole. A searing hot bullet grazed Huai Shi's helmet, tore through the elevator car, and exited through the now-missing opposite door. It slammed into a pillar in the spacious lobby, blasting out a chunk the size of a coffee mug.

A quick upward glance showed Huai Shi that the lobby, visible through the bullet-torn hole, was empty. Across the shattered tempered glass doors, hundreds of meters away on the main road, a gaunt figure was crouched low.

In her hands, a long firearm, faintly glowing with golden light, was aimed straight at Huai Shi's elevator.

A sniper?! How long has it been, and someone already found an eight-power scope and a Kar98k?

Huai Shi slapped the ground with his hand. The Nightmare Fog rose, obscuring his figure. Then, he snatched the item from the chest—it turned out to be a heavy bracer and... a thick manual?

A goddamn manual!

He had no time to read it. Instead, he slammed the manual into the Book of Fate, forcing himself to absorb its contents via Source Substance. Gripping the bracer, he scrambled for the elevator exit, terrified the bizarre woman from upstairs would pursue him.

As he raced out, he deliberately weaved to avoid the sniper's aim, ducking behind pillars. He was about to escape through the back door behind the lobby's front desk when his body convulsed violently. A gaping wound had appeared in his chest. Plasma sprayed. A critical hit! Only then did the sharp crack of a gunshot belatedly ring out.

Was I hit?

Huai Shi turned his head in disbelief, only to see the rows of pillars in the lobby. He was indeed behind cover, but how had the bullet hit him?

Could it be that legendary gunslinging art where you make bullets curve by flicking your wrist as you pull the trigger? That's too ridiculous, isn't it?

Beneath his feet, a chip of stone shot up, hitting Huai Shi's face. It forced him to look down, where he saw a fresh crack near his feet made by a bullet.

And his own shadow, pierced by a bullet...

*Shooting the shadow to hit the target.*

—The Third Stage Stigma·Yu of the Dongxia Genealogy!

That works too?

Huai Shi suddenly crumpled to his knees, gasping for breath. He heard footsteps approaching—the woman was catching up...

And he had nowhere left to run.

"Xueya, go! I hit him!" a frantic voice urged through the Source Substance link. "Don't let him get away!"

"Roger that!"

On the second floor, Ye Xueya burst through the floorboards in hot pursuit. She couldn't help but clench her fists excitedly. "Well done, Luo Shen!"

Immediately, the final layer of flooring split apart beneath her fingers. She dropped from above, landing in the lobby, and eagerly scanned ahead.

Then, she froze.

Where is he?

Following the blood trail on the ground, she looked up, only to see it vanish halfway. The empty lobby held no trace of anyone.

Ye Xueya's gaze quickly locked onto the large reception desk at the back of the lobby.

Hiding here, huh?

With an effortless flick of her hand, she pounced, only to hit empty air.

Behind the desk was nothing. Not even a ghost of a shadow.

In the ensuing silence, Ye Xueya looked around, bewildered.

Where is he? Where could he have gone?

All she could see was the split desk, two chairs, a few sofas to the left side of the lobby, and two pots of desiccated plants.

Not a single person in sight!

He ran away?

Refusing to give up, Ye Xueya tore the entire lobby apart, even prying up several floor tiles, ensuring there was no conceivable hiding spot. Only then did she snort coldly and depart.

As her footsteps gradually faded, the wrecked lobby returned to dead silence.

Several Sublimators, who had clearly arrived late, searched upstairs multiple times before leaving in frustration.

「A considerable time passed.」

Even the live-feed cameras were withdrawn due to the lack of action. Then, a figure abruptly materialized from thin air.

It was none other than Ye Xueya, who had supposedly left.

She looked around suspiciously, frowning. So he really got away?

But the 'Legion' surveillance network hidden nearby hadn't detected any severely wounded Sublimators leaving the area.

Could that piece of Dark Gold Equipment be some kind of invisibility or escape-aid device?

After wasting another half hour, she had no more time to linger. With a final, skeptical glance around, she suppressed the nagging feeling in her gut and departed.

「Another half hour went by.」

From afar, a boisterous shout echoed: "Wow! A Golden Legend!!!"

The lobby remained quiet. The only movement was a tentative quiver from one of the potted plants in the corner.

In the silence, apart from the distant exclamations of the off-site audience, nothing was out of place.

The plant quivered again.

Still nothing...

Only after confirming that Ye Xueya had truly gone did the plant illusion finally dissipate, revealing Huai Shi slumped in the corner, on the verge of death.

"Motherf*cker, that was suffocating..."

Wearing the bracers, he struggled to crawl, inching his way toward the other potted plant. He pulled off his helmet and took two deep breaths. Color visibly returned to his face.

However, the gaping hole in his chest remained unhealed.

Lifting his hand, he poured two more vials of Silver Blood Potion onto the wound. It looked somewhat better. Using his elbows, he propped himself up against the wall, still shaken.

He had underestimated the heroes of this world. One careless slip, and he'd nearly died right at the spawn point.

But all of this was undoubtedly worth it.

This round of conflict, without question, was his victory!

Huai Shi lifted his arm, inspecting the curiously designed bracers. He couldn't suppress a delighted expression.

One of the seventeen pieces of Dark Gold Equipment—and it was his!

Right at the critical moment, Huai Shi had skimmed through the manual and used it to save himself. While not as terrifying as that other piece of Dark Gold Equipment that had annihilated dozens of Sublimators with a single flash of white light, its own power was still sufficiently bizarre.

'Illusion Bracers.'

—Its full name: 'Coin-Operated Portable Panoramic Simulator.'

Yes, it required coins. What a bizarre design.

According to the manual, by inserting Golden Coins left by deceased players, it could perfectly disguise the user's appearance as any object the bracers touched. It could mimic any solitary object not intricately connected to something else.

Though merely a surface illusion, it was visually perfect, impossible to see through. The user's body would even scale up or down to match, leaving no flaws.

No Stigma, no Borderline Armament could penetrate its illusion without direct physical contact.

It was truly the ultimate tool for ambushes, backstabbing, infiltration, and disguise! The cost: one Golden Coin per use, with no time limit. With enough patience, you could lie in wait until the end of time.

It also had another function called 'Full Mimicry' mode. For three Golden Coins, it allowed the user to assume the appearance of anyone who had been within five meters of the bracers, for a duration of ten minutes. A perfect imitation.

Lost in thought, Huai Shi stroked his newly acquired equipment, his lips slowly curling into a mischievous smile.

But immediately after, his complexion turned pale again, and he vomited a mouthful of blood.

Not good. I need to lie low a bit longer, and take some more...

He glanced at the surrounding potted plants. Still not enough.

A minute later, a small stone chip silently detached itself from the lobby's ruins. It hopped along the curb, heading towards the park.

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