Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 47 - 037. Performance is an art

Chapter 47: 037. Performance is an art

Are we fighting, or not?

Li Aozi prided himself as Ace Bro, not Terminal Case Bro; only reckless fools would think about picking fights with everyone they met.

His Main Attribute "Charm" was as high as 21 points, but the actual benefit was equivalent to 27 points. Solely based on the highest attribute, he shouldn’t be far behind the other.

Dealing with others might be okay, but Nimotin was an exception.

As a high-level, veteran elite template "Assassin" of Alpha Stage, she had over 30 points in both "Dexterity" and "Strength" attributes, not to mention at least four combat specialties.

Li Aozi remembered that players who chose "Assassin" had despaired when they discovered Nimotin possessed a whopping 18 combat specialties.

Throughout the storyline, Nimotin acted timid and shrunken, getting kicked around like a ball by all sorts of people—her political scheming was extremely poor and uncharismatic; she was slow to react, missing opportunities to let her enemies get away again and again.

But when it came to players, she truly threw heavy punches. Even though she was a Transcendent, she wasn’t shy to shake things up and call for artillery support, causing the players who picked "Assassins" to crumble.

Their bodies couldn’t withstand three rounds of 105mm artillery bombardment; they could hardly win in a one-on-one fight. If it were the less than 100 health points Li Aozi, a casual strike from Nimotin would be enough to obliterate him instantly.

Eventually, as expected, she was picked apart by the Player Forum, which studied her move patterns down to her underwear, and they battled against her ferociously until her demise.

If it were just an encounter in the wild, Li Aozi would choose to hide. The other wouldn’t be able to catch him anytime soon.

Looking at the situation now, it was obvious they were specifically after him, with vehicles and manpower at the ready.

Not easy to deal with.

Li Aozi was a bit conflicted: to fight, or not?

There was no benefit in fighting; now that he had leveled up, he wasn’t in need of the experience points from defeating some cannon fodder—plus, it would delay his task.

Most importantly, he didn’t have a reliable means to ensure a kill on the other side.

If he didn’t fight, this woman would definitely bite down and not let go. The tracking ability of "Assassins" was comparable to a bloodhound; being pursued like that was truly annoying.

"What a hassle..."

Even though Li Aozi felt it was quite a thorny issue, he was even more puzzled:

"How did they manage to draw Nimotin here? Among the elite of the special service, she was originally in charge of suppressing riots and uprisings... Could it be, the Rose Army actually deployed an intelligence line here? Nimotin might have followed the Rose Army’s lead."

Rose Army... intelligence line...

Nomi, Jian Neriya, a member of the Rose Army Guerrilla Team...

That Wanderer named Benny, he headed north to join the Rose Army too...

It seemed like the Mingji Humanity had only recently provided shelter to Nomi, and from the headquarters of Fourth Rule, passing through numerous wildernesses to reach this border city would take at least two months...

Li Aozi was somewhat bewildered, but after careful analysis, he suddenly realized something.

"Don’t tell me."

Li Aozi tugged at the corner of his mouth:

"Nomi, she wouldn’t happen to be the intelligence line placed by the Rose Army, would she?"

If that was the case... the Frost Plated Republic was really rotten to the core.

For a nation with a population of 40,000 registered players, it’s quite unbelievable that such an evident and coherent storyline went undiscovered.

Nomi was hiding under the chassis—the shoddily assembled vehicle had no cushion, and she signaled him through a gap with her lips:

’Don’t panic, except for that leading woman, we can deal with the rest.’

She hung upside down under the chassis, starting to modify the vehicle’s settings.

’Wait a bit, I’ll start the car, you create some commotion, and we get out of here.’

They could take care of it, but Li Aozi didn’t want to waste time here.

Where was this? The Outer World!

The climate and landscape were unpredictable, with storms and heavy snow possibly occurring at any time.

But once in the car, with Nomi’s relentless driving and the dim light of the Outer World, they could definitely shake them off.

Nimotin did not give him time to think, and the armed personnel surrounding the vehicle encircled it tightly. Li Aozi slowly emerged from the car, his hands raised above his head to indicate he was unarmed.

He had to come out to buy time for Nomi, and to provide cover.

The white light of the flashlight shone on his face, his black hair fluttering in the wind, revealing his handsome features.

The agents beside Nimotin immediately whistled and started whispering to each other:

"Hey, he’s pretty good-looking."

"How does he compare to that celebrity last time?"

"This one is obviously better! Look at that delicate collarbone, just his skin’s too pale—but those features are really pretty."

"Those grey eyes are as clear as crystal, I like them so much, I kinda want to dig them out..."

Nimotin couldn’t be bothered with such replies, nor did she want to correct this atmosphere—the female agents of Fourth Rule were used to being arrogant, this was the norm.

To put it bluntly, without these dirty benefits and powers, why would any woman join an organization with a bad reputation, always doing fieldwork, busy with all the dirty and tiring tasks?

If one could sit in an office, comfortably be a salary thief, why come out to shoot and kill, running back and forth from one end of the world to the other?

However, Agent Yawen seemed displeased, standing still and staring at Li Aozi.

Li Aozi had excellent hearing, so such remarks from subordinates didn’t count for much to him; players were always making abstract and outrageous posts in online forums every day, he had seen them all.

He raised his hands high and said in a deep voice,

"Ladies, I am Li Aozi, and I have not carried any weapons. I admit: I was the one who set the fire at the Village Town Bank, but that was to drive away an evil demon ghost—I have not betrayed my homeland! There is no second sun in the sky, my heart has only one Sun, His Excellency President Calisher. Please do not arrest me immediately, I have undisclosed difficulties..."

"You can save your words for your interrogation."

Nimotin waved her hand:

"Break his legs, take him away."

She was not one to cherish fragrance and jade, but Li Aozi was good-looking, spoke with fluency without evasion, and was neither humble nor arrogant, dead serious, with a poor and worn-out appearance that could not conceal his composed self-assuredness. He was full of Alpha charm in every move, which made her quite comfortable to watch, and since he was cooperative, she didn’t make things difficult for him.

Only, she did not want to complicate matters involving the Rose Army.

Her subordinates, upon hearing her command, did not hesitate to cock their guns, several rifle muzzles immediately pointing at Li Aozi, ready to pull the trigger at his legs when Li Aozi suddenly spoke out:

"Ma’am, don’t you want to know the whereabouts of the Rose Army?"

"Stop."

Nimotin raised her hand and walked forward with interest, and the oppressive feeling of an Alpha Stage Transcendent instantly enveloped Li Aozi like a force field. A bone-chilling cold breath swept up his spine and straight into the back of his head, causing Li Aozi to shiver uncontrollably—this was a pure physiological response. When humans face cruel things, natural enemies, or predatory animals, the warnings and panic etched in their genes get activated, urging him to flee quickly.

"You are very interesting, Mr. Leoz, more charismatic than many of our livestock and males—honestly, if not for your skin being a bit too pale, you resemble the Red Arrow People from the east."

Nimotin was very tall, standing at 197 centimeters, and as an ’Assassin’, she had a slim and well-proportioned figure. She lowered her head and extended her gloved right hand, gently lifting Li Aozi’s chin, her blue eyes meeting his:

"I suspected you from the start, you don’t seem like someone who would be a pawn of the Rose Army."

"I have not betrayed our great homeland and the sacred female protagonists!" Li Aozi said firmly, his chin covered by Qi Energy, coated with a layer of icy frost.

Nimotin was using Qi Energy to penetrate his nerves, ’Assassins’ might not specialize in using Qi Energy like ’Martial Artists’, but they were adept at intricate manipulation with Qi Energy.

As Qi Energy surged into his veins, Li Aozi’s facial temperature gradually dissipated, unable to control his own facial expressions. This was Fourth Rule’s most commonly used interrogation technique—"Facial Collapse."

In primitive times, human ancestors banded together to stay warm and hunt cooperatively. Cooperation meant the need to constantly improve communication efficiency, and after a long evolution, those who could more easily reveal their emotions, who could express intentions just with facial expressions and eye contact, managed to hunt successfully through silent communication and thus were preserved, leaving humans with genes for rich facial expressions that can convey inner emotions with just the brows, eyes, and facial muscles.

No matter how much a person lies, even if they could cover a sudden change in heart rate through long-term unrestrained speech training, the main thing is to control their facial expressions to perform.

"Facial Collapse" was an almost unbeatable move; even the best spies could have their facial expressions penetrated with Qi Energy by Fourth Rule’s agents, directly revealing the fact that they are lying.

Nimotin trusted this technique greatly, and she continued to mention other countries, ethnicities, and social anecdotes to test Li Aozi’s reactions.

However, Li Aozi just watched her, his gaze as steadfast as ever, his expression serious, consistently insisting,

"I, Li Aozi, am loyal and unwavering, I have absolutely not betrayed our great homeland!"

Low EQ: You ask which homeland?

High EQ: I am Li Zi, and I am also Li Aozi.