Chapter 248: Hacker

In an instant, Li Cheng was pulled ten meters underground, where the soil was thick and damp, with no oxygen to breathe.

Meanwhile, the surrounding earth was compressing and hardening at an extreme speed, like a hydraulic press, firmly clamping his limbs from all sides with pressure.

If the trapped person's physical condition was inadequate, just this single action would crush their bones and cause internal bleeding to death.

Li Cheng's heart rate remained steady; he did not rush to use his familiar's teleportation to return to the surface, but instead activated the 【Assemble Puppet】 effect, severing a segment of bone from each of his five right fingers, then storing all the bone fragments in his backpack slot.

With the missing bone segments, the range of motion in his right hand immediately increased; Li Cheng clenched his fist and activated 【Condensed Qi Internal Explosion Fist】, striking the solid rock wall several times in succession.

Invisible, intangible Qi clung to the rock strata, accumulating until it exploded violently, like an underground blast, shattering the compacted soil layer.

The hardened soil became loose again; Li Cheng released his temporary skill 【Leopard Leap: Double Jump】, stepping on the rocks below and leaping out of the earth.

At this moment, Mo Si still crouched at the spot where Li Cheng had vanished, turning his hands into drills, sweating profusely as he dug through the soil trying to find him.

"Stop digging, I'm right here."

Li Cheng called out to warn him, brushed his hair aside to shake off the clumps of dirt, and looked around.

The surroundings were utterly silent, with not a single figure in sight; only after activating his Information Synthesis Glasses could he detect faint green lines drifting invisibly through the air.

These were not mere light beams, but lines of data code.

Vast amounts of code formed a web-like network, connecting to the bulb atop a nearby lamppost.

Li Cheng picked up a stone and tossed it casually, striking the lamppost with perfect accuracy and shattering the bulb.

Boom—

Green data gushed forth, forming a blurry humanoid silhouette standing atop the lamppost, looking down at Li Cheng from above.

Among the six players participating in this death match, only one possessed this ability.

"Batmos of the Whale Song Guild, Lv21 Transcendent."

Li Cheng said with interest: "Just now, you first digitized the surrounding environment, then used data manipulation to directly soften the soil and drag me underground, attempting to trap and suffocate me there.

If this were a normal Lv16 player, caught off guard, they might truly have fallen for your trick—after all, many gear skills require gestures or movements to activate,

and in that environment, even moving a finger was extremely difficult.

What I'm more curious about is how you found me so quickly."

Li Cheng's starting identity was assigned by the system; his citizen profile existed in the Toy City database, and he had done nothing out of the ordinary under surveillance cameras—

like shouting, "Your unchanging electric fingers are my only faith; I'd trade my entire moral integrity for Eternal Yuanshen and never regret entering the East; in my next life, I wish to be born in the Fantasy Land," then running onto the streets to take selfies with celebrities;

mocking the Autobots: "You guys talk like actual cars.";

recruiting mercenaries under the excuse that "sex toys are still toys."

"I didn't track you—I tracked Ma Liao."

Batmos's green silhouette moved its lips; speakers hidden in the bushes emitted a mechanical electronic voice:

"Toy City is a metropolis of over eight million people, over 80% of whom are LEGO and mass-produced plastic figures; truly named, individualized toy citizens make up only a tiny fraction."

Batmos said calmly: "Toy City is currently undergoing a major event called 'Glitch Syndrome.' If the arena is to assign plot significance, it's far easier to give major roles to well-known toy characters."

Thus, Ma Liao—as a classic IP character—had generated over thirty billion U. S. dollars in profit for Nintendo over decades;

in terms of commercial value alone, he could sit at the same table as Pokémon, Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, and Hello Kitty.

The hacker had tracked Ma Liao first, then traced Li Cheng along that trail.

"Among a group of average Lv21 players, the presence of a lone Lv16 wolf is highly suspicious. The evidence proves I was right."

Batmos looked down at Li Cheng from above: "You're certainly not an ordinary Lv16 player—whether in terms of your base physical attributes or your summon."

"Who are you calling a summon? Who are you calling a summon?"

Mo Si's eyelid twitched; he rolled up his sleeves, revealing biceps as hard as steel: "Little brat, you've never seen real gangsters, have you? Dare you come down? I'll make you fly if you keep showing off!"

"Oh? This thing can actually speak?"

Batmos was slightly surprised; he was currently perceiving the world through data streams rather than direct vision, and in his view, Mo Si clearly displayed attributes: combat power off the charts, intelligence low, brain capacity insufficient.

He had assumed Mo Si was merely a berserker unit like an ogre or troll, never expecting it to produce human speech.

"One de la mi, Aminos!"

Mo Si's rage exploded—literally—so furious he wanted to rush forward and beat Batmos senseless right now.

Li Cheng quickly blocked Mo Si and said: "Finished analyzing? Now it's my turn.

Judging from the Joker's actions, among the six participants in this mission, the strongest and most threatening is undoubtedly Gouchen of the GOC Guild.

With your level, you're unlikely to defeat him.

Here's the question: this mission requires survival until the end to win. Logically, someone of your mid-tier strength should form an alliance to jointly oppose Gouchen,

or simply hide somewhere and leverage your greatest advantage—your hacking skill—to constantly cause chaos from the shadows, luring Toy City's authorities to hunt down other players and thus survive to the end.

Instead, you acted like a berserker, immediately hunting down other players and targeting me—the one with the lowest level and weakest apparent power.

Even if I'm weak, eliminating me still consumes your Spirit Power and increases your Corruption Level, effectively doing the work for someone else.

Once you eliminate the impossible, what remains becomes obvious.

One: your hacking ability is not universally effective; after Toy City's official forces react, you cannot freely infiltrate electronic systems as you would in other script worlds—

countless works of fiction feature computer geniuses, so your hacking advantage isn't as overwhelming as you imagined.

Two: your hacking ability consumes a significant amount of Spirit Power; due to the Corruption Level system, you cannot abuse it freely, especially since you must reserve your strength for your final battle against Gouchen.

Three: you possess some ability to control, brainwash, or manipulate other Transcendents; controlling me would grant you a powerful enforcer without consuming your Corruption Level quota.

That's why you were willing to risk it by targeting me first."

"."

After a moment of silence, Batmos's green silhouette nodded: "It seems the Stack Qibing's evaluation was correct—you're indeed very intelligent."

"Thank you, thank you."

Li Cheng replied modestly: "Don't be fooled by my current disheveled appearance—I was once a famously renowned inventor. My invention: the Human Water Heater—water at zero degrees, after passing through the human body, transforms into 37°C urine, proving humans are a new type of water heater."

(End of Chapter)