This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!
Chapter 385 Bodyguard

Chapter 385: Chapter 385 Bodyguard

Chen Ke suddenly materialized out of thin air in a pitch-black space, not even having time to react before suddenly crashing to the ground.

He got up and saw that it was the photofilm bridge space he had visited before, with blocks of film-like floating squares forming a bridge, leading to the next light curtain.

He leaped across the floating bridge, descending level by level, and finally jumped into the light curtain.

A bright white expanse filled his vision, lasting for only a few seconds, before he sensed the fresh air unique to a post-rain street.

Suddenly, he felt the firm ground beneath his feet, and a light night breeze wafted over from his right.

Chen Ke paused, the scenery around him coming rapidly into view; he was now standing beside a road, still in the posture of having jumped through the light curtain.

He took a breath, then turned his eyeballs, seeing before him a bustling metropolis with wide asphalt roads still glistening with wetness, a full moon overhead, and the city’s neon lights still twinkling.

People bustled on the streets, paying no mind to Chen Ke’s sudden appearance; some were bowing their heads to their phones, some hurrying on their way.

If he hadn’t traversed from the film, he would have really believed this was a normal city.

He straightened his tie and adjusted his posture before looking back.

Behind him was a bus stop with an advertisement for some perfume plastered on its shelter.

Agent Harlowin held a small pistol in both hands, dominating the entire right side of the ad with a seductive stance.

She was smiling at Chen Ke, a trace of blood on her cheek; the backdrop was the deadly warehouses and armed NPC militants.

A line of exaggerated artistic fonts adorned the left side, setting off several bottles of perfume in black packaging.

"Deadly Seduction, Dangerous Scent, Lescott Night Enchantment Perfumes."

It seemed to be just an advertisement then, unrelated to any movie.

Chen Ke shook his head, looking down the street, unsure what this visit would entail.

Since that was the case, why not walk with the crowd to see if, like last time, something like subtitles would be triggered?

The space of the photofilm was limited; though this was a large city, it surely wouldn’t be very real, and walking to a certain boundary would inevitably reach an edge.

What Chen Ke needed to do now was trigger an event within this area, figure out how to find the next photofilm.

With that decision, he moved slowly forward with the crowd, taking more than a dozen steps before growing impatient and picking up pace.

He edged his way through the crowd, noticing that these people were NPCs and didn’t respond to his actions, so Chen Ke became even more brazen.

He pushed people aside as he fervently moved towards the other end of the street, walking faster and faster until he disregarded everything and began to sprint through the crowd.

Every person who stood in Chen Ke’s way was bumped aside; these NPCs, even when pushed over and their shopping bags, phones, briefcases, etc., scattered, bore no complaints but merely picked them up and continued repeating their previous motions.

Chen Ke ran in one direction for over 200 meters until, with a crash, he collided with thin air and stumbled, sitting down on the ground with the front of his head hurting fiercely.

"Fuck... hiss..."

Chen Ke felt his forehead, grimacing as he stood up, and reached out to touch the air in front of him.

His fingertips encountered a tangible texture, akin to the sensation before he had completed the Fan Hede loop, like being closed off by the air in church doors.

It was an odd sensation of being obviously blocked, yet seeing nothing there; his hand touched something untouchable, an experience impossible to describe in words.

"I’ve made it, this is the boundary," Chen Ke muttered to himself, pedestrians beside him still able to move forward, but he had reached his limit.

This was similar to some linear video games, where beyond the air wall, there were still some visual assets deceiving your eyes, but that was not playable space.

He thought about turning back to see how far it was to the other side, but then thought, why not try crossing the road?

Chen Ke left his hand on the air wall, stepped off the curb, hopped over the railing, and walked onto the wide avenue.

Various high-speed vehicles filled the street, including taxis, luxury cars, regular private vehicles, and even large tanker trucks and buses.

A pedestrian crossing was 200 meters away, with the traffic signal changing every 20 seconds; as soon as the red light appeared, a wave of pedestrians would surge across the crossing.

But Chen Ke couldn’t be bothered to walk another 200 meters, so he just crossed the road directly; he didn’t want to test whether these cars could actually hit and kill him, he simply wanted to see what was on the opposite side of the street.

He first wanted to confirm the range of the air wall. What if the road across the street could continue downwards?

Chen Ke carefully evaded the vehicles, which seemed not to see him at all, whizzing past so close that he could feel the gusts of wind.

Having safely reached the other side of the street, he found out he was being overly optimistic—the air wall was a clean slice.

"This is the end over here... Looks like I can only try walking that way..." Chen Ke pondered and headed in the opposite direction.

On this side of the street was a Fountain Square, and not far off, a large shopping mall. Chen Ke decided to walk to the end in the opposite direction, touch the boundary, and then come back to check out the situation here.

Chen Ke had only taken two steps when a row of artistic font floated up in the sky: "The Bodyguard"

He had seen this film. It told the story of a female singer and her bodyguard falling in love, and in the end, the bodyguard died.

"Hmm... interesting," Chen Ke pinched his chin.

Four lines of new small text appeared.

Director: John Smith

Lead Actor: Harlowin Mestera

Photography: Felipe Ambrosini

Producer: Lorin Scott

It was almost the same crew, but Chen Ke noticed the photographer had changed, and it was the Felipe mentioned by Harlowin.

"So... Ms. Harlowin... where are you?" Chen Ke muttered to himself while scanning his surroundings, looking around as he walked.

Finding Harlowin would lead him to the next negative. From his previous experience, Chen Ke acquired valuable knowledge.

However, he didn’t know what kind of personality this iteration of Harlowin would exhibit.

A few minutes later, as he continued walking, Chen Ke kept his hand stretched out, not wanting to bump into the air wall again, but the boundary in this direction seemed to be farther away.

When he estimated he’d walked about four hundred meters, Chen Ke finally touched the air wall.

The small shops by the street were open, but he couldn’t enter due to the air wall blocking the way. Chen Ke could only peer at the shoppers inside, reminiscent of those single-player games with very limited interaction.

He started walking back. The entire length of this street was about 600 meters, which was actually quite long, but there wasn’t much with which he could interact.

High-rises surrounded the area; the street-side shops were bustling, and the intersections teemed with people. However, the livelier it seemed, the more Chen Ke felt a chill about the place.

Everything was fake. He wondered if these fabricated people captured on film had their own intelligence and spirit, and how they would react if they knew their world was false.

Only the large shopping mall and Fountain Square were left unexplored. If those areas were also blocked by the air wall, the world would seem overly barren.

Chen Ke ran in the opposite direction, eager to confirm the situation there quickly. As he was passing a pedestrian crossing, the sound of a gunshot immediately put him on high alert.

The pedestrians on the streets finally reacted, screaming and running in panic.

Chen Ke quickly drew his Model 67 pistol and pressed against the air wall of a nearby shop, looking in the direction of the gunshot.

The gunshot was very distant but powerful; it was from a rifle. The sound came from above, and Chen Ke’s first instinct was a sniper, with someone shooting down from a nearby high-rise.

He didn’t know if the shot had hit its target or whether the target was himself, but he soon found the answer.

On the pedestrian crossing lay a body, with long white hair sprawled across the road. A purple dress dyed black by blood, traffic deliberately avoiding the corpse. The surrounding people didn’t crowd around to spectate.

Chen Ke walked over. As expected, it was this world’s Ms. Harlowin. Her face was twisted in pain, with a large rifle bullet wound in her abdomen.

Harlowin was trying to hold her intestines in with both hands, but Chen Ke knew too well that with such an injury, she was beyond saving.

Chen Ke crouched next to Harlowin. She was still barely alive, fear written all over her face.

Chen Ke gently said, "Find me next time, at the Fountain Square."

Harlowin looked at Chen Ke with confusion, then seemed to understand something. She nodded vigorously, then closed her eyes.

Chen Ke stood up, pointed the Model 67 pistol at her chest, and pulled the trigger.