Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 603 - 513 Exploring Potential

Chapter 603: Chapter 513 Exploring Potential

Looking at Du Qianqian’s expectant expression, Xu Yang nodded slightly.

Indeed, it was time to share with the naive Qianqian some uncle-level insights.

Her willingness to bring this up indicated that she truly wanted to maintain her relationship with Wei Shiyue for the long term. People were often reluctant to discuss such things publicly, but everyone acknowledged that Doi’s contentment and harmony were key to sustaining an emotional connection.

"Hair... tongue... nails... diet... toys..." Xu Yang muttered some details to Du Qianqian.

After exchanging a few words, Du Qianqian felt like her brain had upgraded.

Never-before-thought-of new methods, fun, and numerous preparations entered Du Qianqian’s knowledge base. Her face flushed and her heart raced, practically itching to get her hands on Wei Shiyue tonight, to really show off Du Qianqian’s skills.

Du Qianqian only knew Xu Yang was knowledgeable, but she hadn’t expected him to know this much. Just listening to him made her feel a lot, and she looked forward to the good times to come.

"...and so on and so forth..." Xu Yang finished explaining.

"Thank you." Du Qianqian really wanted to put this into practice right away. Looking at Xu Yang, she couldn’t help but smile.

She had already liked Xu Yang, and now it was even harder to define those feelings. At least for the moment, Du Qianqian felt lucky. She hadn’t succumbed to a sad fate but had climbed her way up bit by bit through her own cleverness and acumen, and right now, she felt she had the upper hand in the relationship.

"You’re not wearing your ring," Xu Yang noticed the engagement ring was missing from Du Qianqian’s finger.

"I took it off just now," Du Qianqian shook her head. "I need to reevaluate my relationship with her, meaning, I want to start over if possible."

Immediately after, Du Qianqian revealed a meaningful smile. She liked the idea of sharing intimacy with the widely-admired Wei Shiyue.

Du Qianqian was with Wei Shiyue not just for love, but also to maintain her own sense of pride and vanity. How impressive would it be to have Wei Shiyue firmly by her side?

Wei Shiyue was the ultimate "luxury item," surpassing anything else Du Qianqian could buy with money. Were Wei Shiyue to leave her, Du Qianqian would be exposed overnight, which is why she was determined not to let go.

Observing Du Qianqian’s subtle expressions, Rinne frowned. Rinne, with her keen mind, although she couldn’t directly read Du Qianqian’s thoughts, felt an urge to probe further. Unlike Xu Yang, Rinne tended to assume the worst in people.

"You’re too thin," Rinne started her blunt critique of Du Qianqian, "too weak, too short, too plain-looking, with small cup size, how could you possibly be a match for Wei Shiyue."

"What are you talking about!" Du Qianqian looked up at Rinne, angered.

Rinne, with hands on hips and leaning forward, didn’t back down an inch. Towering over 1.7 meters and wearing thick-soled boots, her slender and lofty figure was deliberately arrogant. Her bright white hair and pale purple eyes were intimidating.

The difference in their heights determined the differentiation in their presence. Du Qianqian was merely 1.6 meters tall and always looked like a child next to Wei Shiyue. She was already prone to self-doubt, and now these facts were being listed one by one, infuriating her even more.

"In short... you’re still far from it," Rinne straightened up and dusted off her hands.

"Oh? And what would you know." Du Qianqian retorted, "You only know the surface about our relationship, then you ramble on... Just get lost!"

Du Qianqian left with a sweep of her sleeve, busy with finalizing the contract for the ad deal.

"Why are you being so harsh on her," Xu Yang turned to Rinne, "that’s not like you."

"Because I don’t like her. She has the kind of personality I’m most afraid of," Rinne watched as Du Qianqian walked away.

"What kind?"

"Vanity."

"I rarely judge others," Xu Yang regarded Rinne, noticing many changes about her, "How was the surgery?"

"The surgery went very well, and I want to become stronger," Rinne’s mind was a whirl of thoughts, "I want to become stronger... in every way. I don’t know why, but I always feel that I should never stop, as if I could never attain true security."

"We live in a chaotic world," Xu Yang nodded, "you have to become stronger, it’s time to go deeper."

"No, not hacking skills!" Rinne blurted out, "I mean in combat."

"I’ve heard you performed exceptionally well in the Battle of the Wilderness," Xu Yang read the report by Seeking Shadow, which detailed how Rinne took down many ninjas, "You have a talent for combat."

"I want to leverage my combat talent," Rinne stated with conviction, nodding, "I know I can, and I now have stronger implants to support me in battle."

"That can be very dangerous, very complex," Xu Yang warned, "The system of the Battle Witch is entirely different from that of the Hacker Witch."

"I want to master both paths," Rinne said seriously, "I’m not satisfied with being just a Hacker Witch."

Xu Yang pondered for a moment.

"We have advanced combat training programs," he thought Rinne’s talent should not go wasted, "would you like to give it a try?"

"Of course!" Rinne’s face lit up with anticipation, "To Xisheng Shrine?"

"Yes... get ready," Xu Yang nodded, "We’re going to the Xisheng Shrine."

It seems everyone will still need about 20 years to get used to calling that place Nestor Headquarters.

Rinne nodded slightly on the surface, but inside she was thrilled.

Xisheng Shrine was renowned, as the most famous landmark in Shangjing, it had complete facilities, the best training grounds and Combat Simulation Pods. The combat elites of Xisheng Group all underwent training in the shrine, each of them possessing extraordinary skills and superior martial prowess! Rinne had an intense desire to undergo systematic and professional combat training, to add another piece to the puzzle of her missing sense of security.

On the way to Xisheng Shrine, Rinne silently recalled the process of her recent exchange with Wei Shiyue.

Although it was a brief encounter, her brain processor had recorded all the content and had reconstructed and analyzed the technical details in the combat module.

Could she defeat Wei Shiyue?

According to the system data analysis, in terms of speed and precision, Rinne might be able to compete with Wei Shiyue; but as for endurance and physical strength, even with implants, Rinne was still no match for Wei Shiyue; and in the specific combat techniques and detail management, Rinne was far behind Wei Shiyue by a lot.

Combat experience required rigorous refinement to accumulate. Wei Shiyue had gained her experience on the ever-changing battlefield of corporations, whereas Rinne had only participated in various small-scale skirmishes; their foundational experiences were worlds apart.

Her computational module repeatedly performed combat calculations, finding that if the fight dragged on past 30 seconds, Rinne would be undoubtedly defeated and couldn’t even delay Wei Shiyue.

A complete defeat.

This result unsettled Rinne. She had intercepted Wei Shiyue’s hatchet with her Monomolecular Wire and had thought she stood a chance. However, the combat model pointed out that with Wei Shiyue’s strength and agility, Rinne would be cut down within a few more exchanges.

This made Rinne even more eager to explore her own combat potential. Most opponents couldn’t be dealt with using hacking techniques; in the end, it all came down to relying on pistols, monomolecular wire, and her Personal Blade.

Moreover, Rinne couldn’t leave behind the perilous life of living on the edge, wrestling in the darkness her entire life. How could Rinne put down her memories to enjoy an ordinary life?

If she had to spend her life in an office, she would rather take a bullet and die.

Lost in thought, they arrived.

Xu Yang led Rinne into the specialized combat training level of Xisheng Shrine. The spacious training ground was located here, blank for now, with targets, dummies, and obstacles yet to appear, leaving a vast flat open space of around three to four thousand square meters—a surplus for indoor training—which made Rinne feel small in comparison.

She turned her head and saw that Xu Yang had already left, which made her heart beat faster.

Without Mr. Web Monitor around, Rinne felt somewhat lost.

"Where is the enemy!" A technical pod rose from the center, and an Elite Soldier, bristling with energy, leaped out. Holding two katanas, it was clearly of the berserker type, attacking Rinne ferociously as it lunged at her.

Her expression changed drastically as she quickly rolled backwards to dodge the Elite Soldier’s fierce onslaught, maintaining her distance while deploying her Monomolecular Wire. The slender metallic wire known as "Butterfly" swept out rapidly like a frenzied green snake, retaining its lethality up to about ten meters, continuously slashing and wounding the Elite Soldier, leaving gashes on it.

"The enemy is here!" The Elite Soldier leaped forward, rolling in mid-air and swinging its katanas—it used Rapid Slash, streaking past Rinne in an instant!

Rinne still tried to maintain distance from the Elite Soldier when she saw two flashes of blade light cutting towards her, the blades pressing down forcefully from the right, striking at Rinne’s side!

Almost instinctively, Rinne pivoted on her left foot, making an extremely difficult evasion maneuver.

Her whole body sharply dodged to the left, while she stretched out the Monomolecular Wire using its resilience to intercept the Elite Soldier’s dual katanas; the soldier pressed the blades down hard, nearing Rinne’s right rib, but no matter how it tried, it couldn’t move an inch further, blocked by the Butterfly.

The dual blades slid on the Monomolecular Wire! Flicked off!

Immediately after, Rinne and the Elite Soldier passed by each other.

She turned on her heel to stabilize her stance, drawing her blade as the Monomolecular Wire automatically retracted into the launchers on her wrists and vanished, allowing her to switch weapons quickly.

The Elite Soldier landed, turned around in a non-human posture, and swung its dual katanas ferociously, Rinne blocking with two sharp blades as well.

Clang!

The reforged Dragon Blades exhibited unparalleled destructive power, instantly carving huge notches in the Elite Soldier’s blades!

As it swung wildly again, the fragile blades broke straight in half, no longer fit for battle!

Following this, as if receiving a command, the lights in the Elite Soldier’s eyes turned from blood-red to black, then to white.

It stood still, assuming a standby position.

Had she passed the test? Rinne was gasping for air.

She heard the sounds of machinery and engines roaring, and turned to see a figure with Iron Wings, tall and wearing a Ghost Face Prajna mask—the ultimate Battle Witch—fly towards the center of the arena.

She held a Black Long Spear, hovering in the air like a terrifying specter.

"Huff, huff... Is this the trainee? Looks weak," Pan Ruiyi pointed the spear at Rinne, landing on the ground, "Your choice to challenge... go ahead and die!"

So arrogant? It’s still unclear who will die.

Rinne let out a cold laugh, adjusted her breathing slightly, and then dashed forward rapidly to attack her opponent.