Chapter 576: Girl Group (4K)

The iron chains generated by the bat-hook gun slowly dispersed into the wind, while the Bagua Alchemical Magic Cannon, its surface scorching red from violent friction with the air, spun wildly before crashing to the ground; upon contact with a puddle, thick steam rose in a haze.

The Hua Chong’s body extended its arm, clad in a spiked armored gauntlet, passed through the dragon-shaped handles of the cauldron, and lifted it up.

As the steam cleared, half of the Hua Chong’s head had vanished without a trace, and the skin of the remaining half of its face had been entirely burned away.

“If it were any other human player,”

Li Cheng, utterly baffled in the literal sense, spoke coldly: “You would have already killed me by now.”

In the instant the Bagua Alchemical Magic Cannon flew toward him, the Phase-Shifting Demon fired a metal spear—so powerful that even with Li Cheng activating [Skill: Move USB Drive] to trigger [Stony Rooting Art], it pierced his defense, shattering more than half his skull and the brain tissue within.

Muscles can be trained, bones strengthened—but the brain, humanity’s most intricate organ, has no effective enhancement method even for martial cultivation transcenders.

Precisely because of this, Li Cheng chose another path.

“He backed up his brain...”

In a hilltop mansion in Manila, Zhongtian Beiji suddenly rose from his sofa, unaware that his elbow had knocked over a glass of red wine.

“Backed up his brain?”

Beside the sofa, Zhongtian Beiji’s younger brother Gouchen instinctively frowned, closely observing the 163-inch, million-dollar giant TV screen.

The screen’s pixels were finer than hairs, faintly revealing red, white, and gray undulations within the ant’s severed brain surface—indicating the neural tissue was self-repairing.

Gouchen, confused, asked: “What’s the difference between this and drinking a medium-sized Life Potion?”

“Vastly different.”

Zhongtian Beiji’s expression turned grave: “Life Potions are produced by the Killing Field; they work on carbon-based, silicon-based, atmospheric organisms alike—essentially, the Killing Field exerts force to restore the drinker to a state it deems ‘healthy and intact.’”

That standard of ‘healthy and intact’ grows progressively lower under intense combat.

After drinking ten or twenty bottles in succession, subsequent effects diminish drastically—you start losing fingers, missing ribs.

Continuing to consume despite side effects can even cause memory confusion and personality splits.”

“I know that.”

Gouchen nodded; his backpack always carried over ten Life Potions and fifty-odd different magical potions from various guilds—always prepared for any contingency.

“But brain backup is entirely different,”

Zhongtian Beiji spoke rapidly: “Personality stems from memory; memory’s essence is the arrangement and combination of neurons and synapses—the dynamic reshaping of synaptic connections.”

The average human brain has nearly a hundred billion neurons, each with thousands of synapses—totaling tens of quadrillions of connections.”

When a person learns or memorizes new information, new neural pathways form between neurons, linking synapses; through repeated memorization, these connections strengthen—like carving paths through a forest: the more people walk, the clearer the trail becomes.”

Thus, cloning technology is not equivalent to memory transfer—cloning can at best restore the basic neural framework, but cannot replicate specific neural pathways.”

It’s like replicating a bare concrete shell—the interior furnishings are still empty.”

Upon hearing this, Gouchen immediately recalled the Joker he’d matched against during the Toy City brawl.

His Relic chip essentially controlled others’ neurons, severing existing neural pathways and regenerating them according to his own records, thereby achieving soul usurpation.

It’s like stripping all the furniture from someone’s bare shell and reassembling it, then painting it fresh.

The entire process inevitably causes massive distortion, blurring, and errors—hence why forum users mocked him for self-deception—but Joker himself didn’t care.

“The Ant uses its own regenerative ability to restore its brain. That means...”

Gouchen hesitated: “He has fully decoded the arrangement and combination of neurons and synapses within his own brain.”

Zhongtian Beiji nodded, took a deep breath: “Do you know what this means? It means he can mass-produce copies of his brain, just like GS Biotech mass-produces clones—store these brains in different locations.”

This isn’t Joker’s self-deception, nor is it like the Whale Song Guild uploading consciousness to radically alter existence—it’s genuine immortality.”

In past Killing Fields, countless brilliant Lv25 and Lv30 transcenders—those deemed destined to reach the pinnacle—vanished mysteriously in scenario missions, their bodies never recovered.

Everyone has their glorious moment—don’t mistake a moment for eternity. The true master is the one who survives to the end.

Thinking of this, Zhongtian Beiji felt a quiet surge of relief.

Thank goodness I surrendered early and abandoned my grudge against the Ant—otherwise I’d be dead: even Contra only has thirty lives, and you’re better than Contra.

San Francisco’s streets were in chaos; black smoke from colliding, burning vehicles rolled like a battlefield.

In the reflection of shattered glass walls, Li Cheng twisted his neck—his brain tissue and skull had fully healed.

Tap—

Footsteps approached from afar; three figures stepped out of the smoke at once. Undoubtedly the Phase-Shifting Demon—its surface pitch-black, expressionless—but its form was that of three fashionable Asian girls.

“K-pop girl groups have arrived.”

Gouchen muttered instinctively, noticing an overturned truck at the street’s end, its side plastered with a girl group’s fan poster—the Phase-Shifting Demon had likely copied its appearance from that. Human form was more convenient for combat.

“Not just any commercial girl group.”

Zhongtian Beiji, privy to more secrets, added: “They’re backed by South Korea’s official institutions. Each member is a transcender who absorbs and channels fans’ admiration and affection to strengthen herself—equivalent to a weakened version of Faith Ascension without Divine Fire.”

Faith Ascension is a powerful system—low cost, rapid results, high ceiling. It conflicts with no other power systems like primal force or internal energy; at advanced stages, one can even forge a personal divine realm capable of housing millions or tens of millions of believers.

The more believers, the more abundant the faith energy, the stronger one becomes.

The only problem: it requires ‘Divine Fire’ and ‘Divinity.’

South Korea, as a small nation, naturally lacked the extremely rare Divinity, so it mobilized national resources to develop the [Zhao Mu Liu Xin] power system, leveraging its global head start in entertainment to launch male and female idol groups, harvesting fans’ admiration and affection.

If the efficiency of Faith Ascension with Divine Fire is 100%, then South Korea’s crude [Zhao Mu Liu Xin] system operates at roughly 5–7% efficiency.

Its advantage lies in lower thresholds and aggregation—fans can recharge idols by attending concerts, buying posters, voting on charts, or getting tattoos.

As for why the United States allows South Korea to promote K-pop domestically—three reasons: first, South Korea is a loyal U.S. ally, inherently supportive.

Second, K-pop primarily targets American teens, who rarely attend church and don’t compete with Christianity for faith.

Second, K-pop primarily targets American teenagers, who don’t normally attend church or compete with Christianity for faith.

K-pop has massive global noise but a tiny actual market. SM, JYP, YG, HYBE—combined, their revenue is 3.6 trillion KRW, equivalent to 17.5 billion RMB.

Boy and girl groups work their legs off all year, then look over at miHoYo’s 27.3 billion RMB revenue and Honor of Kings’ 37.7 billion RMB.

The boy and girl groups worked themselves to the bone singing and dancing all year, legs nearly broken, only to turn and see miHoYo’s 27.3 billion in revenue and Honor of Kings’ 37.7 billion.

Back to San Francisco’s streets: Li Cheng’s eyes held no sorrow, no joy—even though one of the girl group members was someone he’d met long ago in the [Oh No! I’m Surrounded by Beauties!] mission: ICEY Jin Huiying.

Back on the streets of San Francisco, Li Cheng’s eyes held no sorrow, no joy—even though one of the girl group members was someone he’d met long ago in the quest [Oh No! I’m Surrounded by Beauties!]: ICEY Jin Huiying.

Come to think of it, my own growth curve isn’t far behind Truth’s Side or Han Shuishi at Lv40, right? After all, times have progressed—when Truth’s Side was active, the Slums were just being founded, and there wasn’t such a convenient trading system...

As he pondered, the three girl group members charged forward, wielding guandao, long swords, and short daggers—so fast that in the glass reflections, only afterimages remained.

Metallic clashes rang out in dense, chaotic bursts; Li Cheng’s Tangbi bone blades severed the long sword, shattered the short dagger, and with a single kick, killed Jin Huiying’s teammate.

Yet Jin Huiying and her remaining teammate had already seized Li Cheng’s arms with their bare hands.

This was the Phase-Shifting Demon’s hidden move—it had lost too much of its body mass and was forced to fight in human form.

But human form had advantages: as long as it touched Li Cheng, through close contact, it could activate its corrosion and assimilation traits...

But the humanoid form has its advantages: whenever it comes into contact with Li Cheng, it can activate the Phase Demon’s corrosion and assimilation properties...

Li Cheng’s arm armor suddenly popped off and flew away.

He’d long known all the Phase-Shifting Demon’s tricks—how could he not have prepared?

Not only the outermost armor, but multiple layers beneath—like wearing cotton pants over thermal underwear over wool pants over underwear—each layer capable of exploding and rebounding.

Next...

Li Cheng freed both hands, clasped the Bagua Alchemical Magic Cannon, and prepared to load it with alchemical materials.

“This is the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s [Great Open Eye] Anti-Memetic Special Ops Team. Drop your weapons.”

At that moment, a broadcast echoed from afar; as one of America’s major West Coast cities, San Francisco had its own transcenders stationed. Previously blocked by the Phase-Shifting Demon’s time-slowing field, they now rushed in as the field dissipated.

Li Cheng casually glanced at the dozen or so transcenders—average level around Lv20—wait...

“Holy shit, don’t come any closer!”

One transcender’s body was fitted with a Prometheus-made [Manassas] tactical cybernetic limb.

And all these tactical cybernetics were networked to Prometheus Corporation’s headquarters...

As expected, the moment the special ops team appeared, the Phase-Shifting Demon instantly abandoned its fight with Li Cheng, transforming back into black smoke and surging toward the cybernetic user.

Li Cheng’s battle with the Phase-Shifting Demon occurred in the digital realm—parallel to the real world.

Now, those networked cybernetics provided the Phase-Shifting Demon a perfect opportunity to fully enter Earth’s reality.

Vast black smoke stretched into a long, straight line; most of it surged into the top of the Lv23 transcender’s head—he froze instantly, silver-gray cybernetics spewing thick steam, his cybernetic eyes cascading black 0s and 1s like a waterfall.

Vast black smoke formed a long, straight line; most of it surged into the head of the Lv23 transcendent, who instantly froze in place, his silver-gray cybernetics blasting forth billowing steam, black 01s cascading like waterfalls across the surface of his cybernetic eyes.

“He’s being possessed!”

Surrounding comrades, panicked, jammed a cross-shaped item into his body, trying to halt the corruption.

“You guys are here to mess things up, aren’t you?”

In the glass reflection, Li Cheng laughed bitterly. Though during the era of political correctness, the FBI had recruited plenty of LGBT minorities, ethnic minorities, and environmental activists to meet quotas—lowering combat effectiveness—this level of incompetence still made him rub his forehead in disbelief.

The transcender with dirty dreadlocks, known as Buddy, suddenly opened his eyes—his irises now dyed black by the Phase-Shifting Demon.

He yanked the cross out with his left hand, kicked away a teammate trying to help, and with his right hand—bent backward at the joint—fired a black energy blast from the [Manassas] cybernetic palm, blowing everyone else away.

Worse still, the crater left by the blast was stained with a mold-like black substance.

The substance evaporated and rose into tangible mist, surging toward San Francisco citizens who hadn’t escaped—wherever it passed, people’s muscles, bones, and skin turned black—fully assimilated and possessed by the Phase-Shifting Demon.

“So many Black people—if I summoned the Farm Lord, he’d probably pay me extra Qi just to whip them into a spinning top.”

Li Cheng mentally grumbled—he’d nearly crushed the Phase-Shifting Demon, but the FBI’s interference had only worsened the situation.

Earth was the planet Li Cheng depended on for survival—if the Phase-Shifting Demon infected and assimilated it, things would get very difficult. He couldn’t just hide in the Slums forever as an island warrior.

The Hua Chong’s vector nozzles behind its back erupted in flame, propelling Li Cheng forward in a zigzag trajectory; his left hand seized the last wisp of black smoke still entering Buddy’s skull, his right hand withdrew the alchemical material nearly loaded into the cannon, replacing it with the [Standard of Steel and Victory].

Earth was ultimately the planet Li Cheng relied on for survival; if it were corroded and assimilated by the Phase Demon, it would be a serious problem. He couldn’t just hide in the Slums for the rest of his life as some island warrior.

Through his armored gloves, Li Cheng gripped the black smoke and pulled back with all his strength, forcibly dragging the Phase-Shifting Demon out of Buddy’s body, while the Standard plunged into the cauldron and melted into pure light.

Hss!!!

Li Cheng, through his glove armor, gripped the black smoke and pulled back with all his strength, forcibly tearing the Phase Demon away from Badi’s body, while his flag spear plunged into the cauldron and melted into pure light.

Light converged at the muzzle of the cauldron, slow in appearance but swift in truth, coalescing into a two-toned siege spear of red and gold.

The Steel and Victory Flag Spear was forged in a toy factory using artifacts from the Soviet Patriotic War, a theme reflected in the siege spear’s design.

On the spearhead’s front was carved the hammer and sickle; on its reverse, CCCP. Along the shaft were printed images styled like propaganda posters.

The siege spear pressed against the Phase-Magic Body. From the perspective of the Federal Investigation Bureau and others, they could not directly see Li Cheng or the Phase-Magic Body—only their reflections in the glass.

Power accumulated, then—fired.

The siege spear and the Phase-Magic Body vanished instantly. San Francisco’s skyscrapers stood only two or three hundred meters tall; the glass walls revealed no form, yet in the puddles on the ground, the Phase-Magic Body appeared as if turned to a star, hurled beyond the atmosphere by the siege spear.