Chapter 569: Curse (4K)

Alcise's electronic pupils contracted; her hands withdrew from thin air a standard rocket launcher, and in the instant she thrust her arms forward, she had already aimed and pulled the trigger.

The rocket screamed outward. Gray Rain, cosplaying as a clown, stood motionless without dodging, catching the rocket midair with his left hand—not holding a knife—and despite the roaring exhaust from its tail, he remained utterly still.

"Sss—"

Gray Rain sucked in the thick smoke of the exhaust like an e-cigarette, then grinned at the human players, revealing a full set of slightly charred fangs.

Boom!

Less than a kilogram of high explosive couldn't cause any damage whatsoever.

Abdulla acted instantly, sidestepping, raising his left leg, gripping a pea seed in his right hand; as he squatted low on his right leg, lowering his center of gravity, his left leg swept forward in a half-circle, firmly planting forward, and his right arm whipped out like a whip, hurling the pea seed with full force—precisely landing beneath the clown's feet.

The moment the seed touched the soil, it split open, sprouting roots and growing at breakneck speed into a towering tree.

Gray Rain was trapped within the tree's core, surrounded on all sides by wood-hardened pea vines as thick as underground bunkers.

"'Jack and the Beanstalk'?"

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow; Abdulla belonged to the mid-sized guild 【Sultan Saladin's Eagle】, which was backed by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Saudi Public Investment Fund, Kuwait Investment Authority, and Qatar Investment Fund. Though it had few transcendentals, it was undeniably wealthy—no wonder it could afford such a clearly high-tier consumable as magic peas.

"No bean works."

Gray Rain sneered; the wood-hardened walls of the magic pea contained inherent magic that blocked the 【Soul Stealth Ambush】 skill's wall-piercing effect.

She pressed her skull-cracking power hammer—disguised as a cleaver—against the inner surface of the wooden wall and punched the hammer's tail with all her strength.

The transmitted kinetic force exploded entirely against the wooden wall, blasting open a gap with a thunderous crash.

Gray Rain stuck her head through the gap and laughed wildly: "Here's Johnny!"

"Wrong! Wrong!"

Li Cheng's eyelid twitched violently; he pressed his forehead and corrected over the comms channel: "That's a line from 'The Shining.' You're cosplaying a clown—not the same franchise."

Gray Rain replied confidently: "Aren't both 'It' and 'The Shining' written by Shi Difen King? It's not that different. Besides, these players will just fill in the gaps themselves."

"Huh?? You actually know Shi Difen King?"

Li Cheng was deeply shocked, feeling exactly like discovering his kid, who spent all day staring at his phone laughing at AI videos of baby dragons, had suddenly started reading extracurricular books.

"Of course!" Gray Rain boasted. "My favorite line from 'The Xiao Shenke Redemption' is Xiao Shenke's: 'Some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. Every one of them is stained with the light of freedom.'"

You… fine.

Li Cheng had no energy to retort; watching from afar as Gray Rain hacked through the tree wall, he exclaimed: "? She's fast."

Wu Quan and the others jumped into their off-road vehicle, ignoring the recovery of the shelter capsule, slammed the accelerator, and tore wildly through the streets among the mushroom buildings.

"Bro, why are we still heading toward the factory?"

Li Cheng smacked his thigh and helplessly told Gray Rain: "Do it."

"Got it."

Gray Rain absorbed the liquid metal portion disguised as a corpse on the ground, leapt out of the magic pea, and landed atop a building shaped like a chanterelle mushroom.

The off-road vehicle the human players rode in resembled a Dongfeng Mengshi in appearance, but its internal structure had been heavily modified—its top speed had been boosted from the original 125 km/h to 220 km/h.

The vehicle's tires crushed the cracked ground, stirring up millennia-deep dust into rolling clouds of smoke.

"Shaken them off?!"

REX shouted, biting open a packet of hemostatic powder (chitosan-based) and dumping it onto Priya's abdomen like water—she'd been slashed along the ribs when the shelter collapsed.

"Not yet!"

Wu Quan glanced in the rearview mirror; the clown's figure darted like a ghost, leaping lightly between buildings, closely trailing the vehicle.

"Fight it!"

Alcise stood up, pushed open the roof hatch, and turned to face the clown a hundred meters behind.

Her original brain, overwhelmed by fear, automatically secreted massive amounts of adrenaline and cortisol; these hormones, precisely regulated by her chip, did not accelerate her heartbeat or stiffen her muscles—instead, they activated the dorsal attention system in her frontal and parietal lobes, shutting out irrelevant thoughts, focusing all attention, and plunging her mind into a "low-energy, high-efficiency" flow state, where time itself seemed to stretch and slow.

The clown entity had far exceeded the level they could handle.

Perhaps on a flat wasteland, the off-road vehicle could use its endurance to pull ahead—but the mushroom city's roads were crooked and winding; they'd be caught within moments.

Escape was impossible. The only path to survival was counterattack.

The air around Alcise twisted; half a powered exoskeleton materialized out of nowhere.

The exoskeleton had no frontal armor; instead, it bore two massive mechanical gorilla arms, each holding a honeycomb-type mini-missile launcher and a 25mm chain gun.

Alcise's prosthetic thigh skin split in four directions, tearing her white stockings, her bones transforming into spikes that pierced the sofa seat, distributing her weight across the vehicle's frame.

Undeniably, times were advancing; the emergence of Lujie had accelerated the speed of technological improvement, integration,

and diffusion—indirectly boosting the overall strength of players at every tier.

Five or six years ago, a new player without connections was lucky to have an M2 "Old Dry Mother" heavy machine gun.

A new player with connections could spend extra money to buy authentic U. S. military heavy weapons, armored vehicles, even surface-to-air missiles—U. S. troops stationed overseas, especially in the Middle East, sold equipment shamelessly: from bullets and guns with soul rings, to night-vision goggles and radios, all the way up to infantry fighting vehicles.

Now, no smuggling was needed. New players simply had to sign a bet agreement with a bank before each mission, staking their player qualification for ten thousand game coins—and they could buy any equipment, including spiritual artifacts.

Just as now: the missile launcher and chain gun fired simultaneously; every third round, a special round transformed into a green ghost flame, clinging like a parasite, curving to chase Gray Rain.

Seeing this, Gray Rain didn't dodge at all—she slowly swung her blade horizontally, as if releasing blade qi.

"Blast team, fire!"

Li Cheng commanded calmly; the machine servants hidden in surrounding buildings rotated their turrets and fired invisible vector rounds, detonating the ghost flames midair.

Hmm… perhaps due to the forging materials originating from Nazi Germany and Caoxian, whether cylindrical or cubic machine servants, despite no formal training and merely having data imported, all displayed remarkably high tactical proficiency.

After detonating the ghost flames, the cylindrical machine servants became ecstatic, struggling to suppress the urge to raise their right mechanical arms.

The cubic machine servants next door couldn't hold back—they jumped up and raised their mechanical arms inside the cabin, roughly like this, \0/

\o/

\0/

Gray Rain, having successfully shown off, forced her lips downward, vanished instantly—actually activating 【Soul Stealth Ambush】, diving underground, emerging ahead of the vehicle with superior timing, standing directly in front of it.

Elbow strike!

The liquid metal beneath Hui Yu's feet rooted deep into the ground like tree roots; the off-road vehicle couldn't resist her—it was flipped upside down, its front end soaring high as it rolled forward.

If it landed like that, the vehicle would be totaled. At the critical moment, it was Ada again—her still-unhealed limb stumps spewed green data streams once more, covering the vehicle's body and instantly repairing the front end and damaged engine, further adjusting the vehicle's rolling trajectory to ensure a stable landing.

You've got some skills.

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow. Ada's data manipulation ability far surpassed that of Duizhan Qibing and Ba Mo Si—she consumed less spiritual power, operated with higher efficiency, and even generated a nitrogen propulsion system on top of repairing the vehicle.

The off-road vehicle's exhaust emitted eerie blue flames, increasing its speed further—just as it rounded the corner, about to shake off the Clown—

Zing!

Hui Yu suddenly flung a cleaver attached to a chain, piercing the armored body and bulletproof glass, driving straight into REX's ribs.

REX spat a mouthful of blood, his eyes still dazed—then, in the next instant, the chain tightened, yanking him and the entire pane of bulletproof glass out of the cabin.

"R—E—X!"

Alcyone screamed in anguish; six days of desperate survival, mutual support—only a few more hours remained before the mission deadline…

Wu Quan, seated in the driver's seat, had veins bulging on his temples; his emotional impulses made him press the brake pedal—but the calm voice from his Wanyan communication headset pulled his reason back: "Your mission is to survive!"

The battlefield is physical; raw courage cannot narrow the gap in strength.

The off-road vehicle's tires skidded slightly, still speeding toward the city's edge.

At the same moment, REX struggled to transform midair—his skin covered in dragon scales, a dragon tail growing from his coccyx, his entire body shifting toward a T-Rex.

According to the square-cube law, when an object's volume scales proportionally, its surface area increases with the square of its linear dimensions, while its volume increases with the cube.

If he becomes a T-Rex, the puncture wound to his lungs won't be fatal… right?

Hui Yu grinned with cruel amusement; the blade lodged in REX's ribs expanded proportionally, causing more blood to gush from the wound.

Plos!

Hui Yu shook the chain, yanked out the cleaver, and casually slammed it against the side of REX's skull—the hidden skull-crushing hammer embedded in the blade's body crushed the ten-ton T-Rex to the ground.

REX regressed to human form; he tried to forcibly exit the mission—but his rapidly dissipating will, weakened by blood loss and concussion, could no longer coalesce his consciousness to open the player interface.

Is this… the end?

Before slipping fully into unconsciousness, REX mustered his last strength and pressed the button on the walkie-talkie hanging at his side.

The next second, a rotund white police officer, wearing the golden badge of the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office of New York, appeared out of thin air beside the street—his belt secured with a baton, hand gripping a taser, he shouted at Hui Yu in extreme tension: "FREEZE! Put your hands up!"

WTF?

Hui Yu blinked. She was currently in her terrifying Clown form—didn't this cop fear her?

Neither paid much attention; Hui Yu casually kicked a roadside stone, which struck the obese sheriff's forehead like a bullet, killing him instantly.

Unexpectedly, as the sheriff collapsed, two Ford F-150 police pursuit vehicles spontaneously spawned from thin air, disgorging eight officers armed with pistols, shotguns, and sniper rifles.

"Isn't this the 【Fireline Police Walkie-Talkie】 I sold before?"

Li Cheng, watching from high above, couldn't help slapping his forehead. 【Item Name: Fireline Police Walkie-Talkie】 (not counted in word count)

【Quality: Fine】

【Effect: Call for Support. Upon use, immediately summon one fully armed officer to fight for you. The officer can partially understand the user's commands and lasts up to one hour. If the officer is knocked down by an enemy, additional forces will be summoned.】

【Note: After the initial officer is defeated, subsequent reinforcements will gradually upgrade their gear—from Glock pistols, rubber batons, and tasers, to AR rifles, bulletproof vests, and shotguns. If further reinforcements are repelled, additional vehicles, armored cars, and helicopters may be summoned.】

This item was obtained by Li Cheng after completing the 【Leap into the Madhouse】 scenario mission.

Its effect is actually quite strong—a five-star wanted level can summon armed helicopters, useful for either chasing targets or delaying enemies.

But the usage condition requires registering as a U. S. citizen and holding a police license—these days, risking a potential World War III and being sent to a U. S. internment camp just to join American citizenship isn't just like joining the Kuomintang in 1949—it's outright joining the Qing army in 1949.

At the time, Li Cheng immediately listed the walkie-talkie on the auction house—he never expected to encounter it here.

"Ah, this…" Hui Yu scratched her head, ignoring the incoming bullets, and casually crushed the action camera attached to REX's body, asking Li Cheng casually: "What now?"

Li Cheng thought for a moment and said: "Theoretically, if you don't knock out this batch of officers, the next batch won't spawn. But this kind of item information is only known to players. You're currently playing a supernatural entity—stick to the lore."

"OK."

Hui Yu leapt into the crowd, slashing and striking, raising a storm of blood and gore.

Li Cheng watched from afar; once Wu Quan's off-road vehicle had driven beyond the Mushroom City with no sign of returning, he descended from the air, injected REX with an anesthetic, pressed his hand to REX's forehead, and activated the 【Visual Memory】 skill.

【Visual Memory】 is essentially a high-end version of 【Absorb Brain Entropy】.

Above REX's head, a 3D projection appeared, clearly displaying all his recent vivid memories—including the mission details of 【Dream Curse】 and the past six days of survival.

"Survive seven days under the curse's pursuit…?"

Li Cheng pondered. His judgment was correct—if this were merely a survival mission, rather than 【Find the Toy Factory】—

then there was truly no need to continue hunting Wu Quan and the others.

But the battlefield is boundless—could it really be this coincidental?

Li Cheng casually pulled out a laptop, and with a makeshift doll, inserted a data cable into the back of REX's neck.

Hui Yu was clearing the third wave of American police; she turned curiously and asked: "What are you doing?"

"I don't plan to kill REX. To prevent someone from accessing his brain after he returns to the real world, it's better to alter, delete, and implant a series of memories of being tormented by the Clown."

Li Cheng said casually, "Also, I want to see just how strong this curse really is."

He typed a few keys, completed the memory modification, then used the makeshift doll to peel off the entire patch of skin on REX's back covered in red blotches.

As expected, after the red-blotched skin was removed, REX's dermis once again revealed large areas of red blotch curse.

"The curse follows the person—then…"

Li Cheng murmured, took a refrigerator from his automated warehouse, severed REX's head, and swapped it with the head of a frozen dog-man corpse inside the fridge.

The red blotches flickered, as if hesitating, then after a brief delay, appeared on the back of the dog-man corpse now wearing REX's head.

"Can the curse replicate itself?"

Li Cheng's eyes lit up—a plan flashed through his mind.