Life Game In Other World
Chapter 615: Safe House (Extra Long - , Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 615: Chapter 615: Safe House (Extra Long Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

He Ao noticed Zhang Yusi’s gaze and simply nodded at her before shifting his attention to the gate beyond.

Zhang Yusi: ?

"I..."

Just as she was about to speak up and remind him again, she saw He Ao’s figure dart out through the small opening of the gate like a phantom.

The sharp pyramid collided with the snowy sword light, only to be swept away by the sword light and flung aside.

Immediately after, the sharp sword light followed through with a slash, splitting the humanoid spike monster diagonally in two.

Then He Ao instantly withdrew his sword and spun around, facing the four spikes coming at him from behind.

The closest two humanoid monsters, realizing something was amiss, simultaneously thrust their two spikes each toward him.

The directions of the four spikes varied, and although the monsters seemed to lack intelligence, their combat prowess was extremely high.

The spikes were incredibly hard, and without using the power of Divine Sense, He Ao’s bone sword couldn’t instantly cut through them, so he opted not to try destroying them outright.

As he turned, he positioned his sword vertically with the tip pointing downward, brushing aside the nearest and lowest spike with the tip, then rotated the full length of the blade clockwise around his wrist, turning away the remaining three spikes in succession.

Subsequently, he spun forward, taking advantage of the unsteady form of the closer humanoid monster whose spike had just been deflected, delivering a horizontal slash that bisected the creature at the waist.

This slash didn’t completely kill the monster but destroyed one of its energy convergence points, and as the creature’s body parted, it exposed the monster behind it that had attacked in tandem.

Without pausing, He Ao leaped forward, his body spinning mid-air, and his sword traced a brilliant arc of light, cleaving down from above to split another humanoid monster that hadn’t yet reacted.

As blood sparkling with a gray light splattered, He Ao had already breached the bifurcated humanoid creature, charging toward the last Sea Anemone Monster.

In the blink of an eye—or before Zhang Yusi even had the chance to blink—three of the four humanoid monsters appeared to have been ’dealt with’ so effortlessly.

As He Ao rushed towards the Sea Anemone Monster, the last humanoid creature charged at him as well.

It stood in front of the Sea Anemone Monster, crossing its arms and raising them high to effectively block He Ao’s descending bone sword.

He Ao landed, retracting his bone sword, as the humanoid monster raised its two spikes to stab downward on either side of He Ao’s body.

He Ao advanced instead of retreating, lifting the already-pressured bone sword sharply. He quickly gathered the energy in his body, focusing his strength on his wrist and forearm.

Then, with a forceful wrist, he raised his sword, and the blade swiftly thrust upward with the power reaching the tip, piercing through the monster’s throat and exiting through the back of its skull.

This monster’s two energy convergence points were close together but both located inside its head, so a little extra force was needed.

The creature’s movements stiffened, and it slumped limply to the ground.

Whoosh—

At that moment, the sound of cleaving air came from behind him.

He Ao sidestepped, pulling out his sword in the process.

A sharp spike pierced through the body of the collapsing monster.

Turning around, He Ao saw a monster with only its upper half remaining gazing at him, its metallic spikes towering behind it.

He Ao had destroyed the energy convergence points of both the first and third monsters with a single stroke.

Only the second monster had been bisected at the waist, destroying just one energy point.

As a result, its upper body was still functional.

By this time, He Ao had withdrawn his sword from the fourth monster.

He simply raised his sword and tossed it forward.

The keen blade sliced through the void, piercing the heart of the half-bodied monster that was about to launch another spike, pinning it to the metallic ground.

At this moment, He Ao turned back to see the Sea Anemone Monster already wriggling away.

Apparently noting He Ao’s lack of a weapon in hand and initially intending to flee, it turned back, its tentacles quivering manically as it sent slender metallic tendrils twining towards He Ao.

Seeing this, He Ao merely lifted his hand.

He took a step forward, reaching the Sea Anemone Monster before the tendrils could spread, and was upon it swiftly.

Retrieve objects from the air!

The snowy-white bone sword reappeared in his hand.

This creature had three energy convergence points.

Horizontal, diagonal, horizontal.

In virtually an instant, He Ao executed a ’Z’-shaped three-stroke combination.

As he cleaved the tentacles, he also split the Sea Anemone Monster’s body.

Along with the tentacles that scattered across the sky, the Sea Anemone Monster fell into four parts, strewn on the ground.

Just then, the gate finally swung fully open.

He Ao stood with his sword, the fresh red blood dripping down the snowy blade, splashing onto the dim, bloodstained carpet on the floor.

He turned his head and looked at the dumbfounded Zhang Yusi, revealing a smile.

This was his true form.

Without using Super Memory, without employing any Props, not accounting for any additional abilities, his basic physical fitness was 1194.

The most fundamental quality had surpassed the limit of C-level.

In some ways, this was the first time he had comfortably used his power since advancing to a Secret Mage.

Zhang Yusi watched the figure standing under the dim light, his feet trampling over corpses and blood.

For a moment, she even felt that the madness and contamination pervading this bizarre area were no longer terrifying; the man standing with a sword was the true king of this realm, a nightmare lurking in the deepest darkness of the night.

It took her a long while to recover from her astonishment and shock, slightly out of sorts.

To be honest, she knew before coming that Minister He Ao from the field department was very strong.

But his strength was a bit too outrageous, almost as if he were cheating.

Which C-level could so effortlessly kill four C-level monsters, as well as one with intense contamination?

And he had also achieved a swift kill without any injuries.

Is that even reasonable?

Zhang Yusi felt her long-standing common sense and logic about transcendent knowledge being overturned. If not for the fact that only C-levels could enter this relic, she would have thought that He Ao was a B-level boss masquerading as a C-level to gain entry.

However, the gradual return of her rational mind stabilized her spirit quickly. As the Sea Anemone Monster was killed, the piercing screams that affected her thoughts in her ears also gradually disappeared.

She stepped on the blood-soaked ground and quickly walked up beside He Ao.

Having not anticipated He Ao’s strength, she had such a plan, grateful that she did not reveal it outright; otherwise, she would likely be in an awkward situation now.

But under He Ao’s gaze, which seemed to see through everything, she felt like she had no secrets.

Well... as long as you don’t admit it, nothing happened.

She stood beside He Ao, crouched down, and looked at the Sea Anemone Monster, now severed into several pieces.

The Sea Anemone Monster’s exterior was writhing flesh, but the innermost core was a soft body woven from fine steel wires. Embedded within the body were distorted objects resembling circuits and chips.

The mechanical electronic creations intertwined with vibrant red flesh appeared absurd and grotesque.

However, these structures had already been severed by He Ao’s sword light just now, with only a few tiny sparks soaked in the blood indicating they might have once functioned normally.

"Minister He, this monster is dead, and that power that affected the mind seems to have vanished,"

Zhang Yusi shifted her gaze from the monster, feeling her mental resilience boost rapidly after witnessing such a brutal scene.

She turned to He Ao, "Were those hallucinatory ’contaminations’ emitted by this monster?"

"No."

He Ao shook his head. He lifted the bone sword in his hand away from Zhang Yusi and flicked his fingers, splattering the remaining blood off the blade, returning it to a basic level of cleanliness.

Although the bone sword had a certain flexibility, it still couldn’t compare with metal swords, so He Ao could only wait until most of the blood had drained before using this method to remove the rest.

Of course, this way of cleaning couldn’t get it completely clean. Most of the bone sword returned to its whiteness, but it still had some red spots.

He Ao inserted the bone sword back into the makeshift scabbard on his back. The scabbard’s mouth was wrapped with a layer of fiber cloth, which tightly adhered to the surface of the bone sword, so that sheathing the sword would ’wipe’ it down.

The relic’s passage restrictions applied to three transcendent items, but the bone sword wasn’t transcendent, so He Ao was able to bring it in additionally.

In fact, he had also brought the Pirate Treasure Box into the area, but unless absolutely necessary, he didn’t want to openly expose that he possessed a space-related transcendent item.

During the fight, suddenly taking out a transcendent item from the Pirate Treasure Box would certainly give the enemy a surprise.

"What is this monster then?"

Zhang Yusi became a bit bewildered.

"A Wi-Fi amplifier,"

He Ao sheathed his bone sword, "It collects the scattered contamination around, and after concentrating and strengthening it, it sends it out, giving the illusion that it can release contamination."

He turned and walked towards the external gate switch that the Sea Anemone Monster had opened, "In this area, pollution is everywhere, still subtly affecting you. Stay alert and focused."

Zhang Yusi’s somewhat relaxed state tensed up again with these words.

She had done her best to imagine the dangers of this ’relic scene,’ but the reality always seemed to be worse than her imagination.

She watched He Ao’s back.

For some reason, even with such dire circumstances, standing beside this young minister made her mind settle a bit more.

At that moment, rapid footsteps approached from a distance; it was Yasia rushing out after hearing the commotion of the battle.

His speed wasn’t slow, but his erratic stride due to an unhealthy mental state led to his delayed arrival.

Of course, this delay was relative to He Ao’s speed in battle.

He stared at the open gate, the blood everywhere, the scattered remains of monsters, and He Ao and Zhang Yusi standing amidst the blood, "Lord He Ao, what happened here?"

"A minor problem, it’s already been resolved,"

He Ao nodded lightly to him and walked over to the switch.

Watching all this, Yasia didn’t feel at all that it was a small problem.

But he didn’t dare to ask.

"Do you have a knife?"

He turned his head to glance at Zhang Yusi.

"Yes,"

Zhang Yusi immediately produced a dagger from inside her jacket and handed it to He Ao, then put the Heavy Pistol she’d just taken out back in its place.

He Ao took the dagger and pressed its tip just below the damaged switch.

This kind of dagger was a strengthened alloy specially made by the Research Institute, with very high strength and toughness. The sharp blade of the dagger quickly slid into the crevice of the switch’s casing.

He Ao then pushed the entire tip of the dagger in, and slowly applied force to pry it.

Clang—

Accompanied by a crisp sound, the switch casing, riddled with bullet holes, was pried open, revealing the master control board still flickering with a faint glow inside.

"It hasn’t been completely destroyed."

He Ao tore off the pried casing and tossed it aside, looking at the many damaged but still struggling circuit boards.

As he expected, the switch structure outside hadn’t been totally damaged, which is why the Sea Anemone Monster could control the gate.

He extended his right hand to touch the circuit board, and black filaments emerged from the Mechanical Core ring on his pinky, connecting to the board.

In that instant, he felt a certain connection with the gate’s control switch, enabling him to directly drive the circuitry and control the gates opening and closing.

Actually, He Ao originally planned to use the Mechanical Core ring to open the switch on the insides of the gate.

But when he placed his right hand on the gate, the feedback from the Mechanical Core ring told him that the switch inside was completely damaged, even the wiring had been utterly severed.

The inside switch was totally destroyed; the outside, despite being riddled with holes, had avoided the vital parts.

This, of course, was no coincidence.

From the very beginning, those who died long ago in this passage had been influenced by the contamination here. What they believed to be a way to save themselves was, in fact, leading them on the path to death.

He Ao fell into brief silence.

Zhang Yusi and Yasia by his side didn’t speak either.

Zhang Yusi followed He Ao’s actions and understood something, while Yasia was simply too scared to speak.

A soundless stillness spread over this narrow, gloomy space.

Actually, their current situation was not much better than their ’predecessors’ who had been chased by contamination and monsters.

This ’relic scene’ was not simple; further exploration was important. He Ao’s examination of this gate was a sign of readiness to delve deeper.

With stronger mental resilience, He Ao and Zhang Yusi might sustain the state of advancing exploration.

However, Yasia, with his unstable mental state and injuries, might not withstand stronger contamination or attacks of mightier monsters if they ventured deeper. For him, leaving here could mean death.

Gloom enshrouded the silence, intensified by the oppressive, dim lighting.

In the midst of this silence, He Ao raised the dagger and directly cut the circuit board’s surrounding pillars, severing the connecting wires.

Then, he went to the inner side of the gate’s switch, pried off its casing, pulled out the broken wires, connecting some to the wires on the circuit board and others as a jumper wire to bridge the originally damaged switch sections.

The circuit board’s modularity and simplicity made it so that connecting wires merely had to be inserted into the corresponding sockets rather than needing any additional soldering.

The makeshift device He Ao fashioned looked crude, so he took some metal components from the dead monsters and tied them onto the circuit board for reinforcement.

This was to ensure it would not become damaged from careless touches.

He Ao took a metal spike from one of the monsters to use as a lever.

Numb with shock, Zhang Yusi and Yasia watched as He Ao manipulated the lever, and accompanied by intense tremors, the entire gate started to lower.

The gazes of the two beside him shifted from blank to astonished.

He Ao had hidden the Mechanical Core ring with Silence Concealment, so they couldn’t see it.

All they saw was He Ao fiddling for a while, for just a few minutes by the speed he worked, and then he actually—repaired—repaired the switch that had been broken for god knows how many years...

"Minister He," Zhang Yusi stood behind the gate, staring at the lever, her mouth agape wide enough to fit an egg, "you can do this too?"

"A little,"

He Ao answered off-handedly before opening the gate again.

At that moment, Yasia finally grasped what He Ao had been doing. He opened his mouth and eventually whispered softly, "Lord He Ao, thank you."

This interior side is an independent space, and the overall level of pollution is relatively low, once the gate closes, it essentially becomes a small safety house.

The strength of this gate is considerable, even He Ao would need to imbue his sword with Divine Sense to break it open with ease.

Just now, he could have also forced the gate open, but since his Divine Sense is limited, he would not waste it on such things.

For those C-level humanoid monsters, breaking through this gate would be extremely difficult.

If this gate wasn’t strong, it wouldn’t have been used by those people who once hid behind it as a barrier.

The fact that they died from mental influences rather than being slaughtered after a forced entry shows the gate’s strength.

"It’s fine, I’m also making some backup preparations for myself."

He Ao nodded his head.

This safety house could also serve as one of their last resorts; for instance, if He Ao encounters problems during the upcoming exploration, he could retreat here first.

And this safety house needs an ’eye’, or rather a ’gatekeeper’, to operate the gate from inside and be able to distinguish between friend and foe.

When the combat broke out just now, Yasia’s reckless charge over here proved that he is at least grateful, capable of showing practical appreciation for He Ao’s recent help.

Add to this his previous good-intentioned warning when he ran back.

He Ao is inclined to believe that this man is dependable.

And Yasia’s current physical condition is just right for staying inside the safety house.

According to Ronald’s memories, someone who has resisted mental pollution once, when facing the same pollution again, won’t be easily controlled and will develop some resistance; if the right methods are found, this resistance can even be further enhanced.

Of course, Yasia’s mental state definitely couldn’t compare to someone like Zhang Yusi who had a high resistance from the start.

But he should be able to resist some external pollution interference inside the safety house.

The intensity of pollution here is not high; it should not be the core area of this ’relic scene’, so the impact faced won’t be too severe.

So Yasia is well-suited.

Yasia is not foolish, either; although he lacks He Ao’s extensive knowledge, he understands that He Ao wants to keep him here as a ’gatekeeper’.

In the end, considering the means He Ao has displayed, he probably has other solutions without a ’gatekeeper’, though it might be more troublesome.

Without this safety house, there would be other safety houses.

For He Ao, it may just be a simple choice, but it concerns Yasia’s life and death.

Without this gate, even if he hid here continuously, he could still be killed by a C-level monster bursting out suddenly.

He opened his mouth, mumbled for a moment, and in the end, all his words condensed into a single, "Thank you."

"It’s nothing,"

He Ao smiled.

At this moment, the gate had completely reopened, and he left the gate with Zhang Yusi, looking back at Yasia standing behind the door, He Ao said with a smile, "I trust you."

Yasia opened his mouth, then bowed deeply to He Ao.

He Ao waved to him, then turned around.

The gate slowly closed, and beyond it lay a long corridor; He Ao was now at a ’T’ junction with a choice of either left or right.

He looked down at the dark brown bloodstains on the ground; those on the right seemed a bit denser.

"Let’s go this way,"

He Ao looked back at Zhang Yusi, pointed to the right, and headed in that direction, "If you feel any discomfort, you need to tell me right away."

"Okay!"

Zhang Yusi nodded and followed behind He Ao.

She looked back at Yasia who had been watching them and saw him off until they were out of sight.

’Moonlight’ is an enemy of the Research Institute.

Initially, Yasia was obviously fearful and avoided He Ao, but in the short span of interaction, he had unconsciously become He Ao’s ’loyal companion’.

Is this the personal charisma of Minister He?

She turned her head back to He Ao’s slender but upright figure, a sense of security emerging in her heart.

"Minister He, where do we go next?"

The dim lights seemed less oppressive now.

"First, we need to find a usable map,"

He Ao glanced ahead, "This area didn’t naturally turn out this way, it must have some special aspects, and we need to keep the initiative in our own hands."

This time, it probably involved a certain ’friend’ again.

Sitting and waiting for demise isn’t in his character.