Chapter Eighty-Five: There Are Always Greater Heights

With a loud bang, the flash grenade exploded on the ground, sending up a cloud of black smoke.

What surprised Wu Hua was that Azure Starry Sky wasn't blinded at all. She stopped abruptly, lifting her left arm just slightly to shield her eyes with remarkable skill—clearly, she'd anticipated this move from Wu Hua and had already studied it thoroughly.

The remaining twenty rounds in the AUG magazine flew out in a rapid burst. Wu Hua swiftly drew his Desert Eagle, aiming straight at Azure Starry Sky's eyes and fired.

With the help of "Focused Strike," not a single bullet missed; every shot was directed at her face.

But when Azure Starry Sky closed in, Wu Hua realized her armor was crackling with electricity, and her entire face was protected by a transparent energy shield. All nine AE rounds inflicted less than eighty points of damage.

At that moment, Wu Hua understood—her armor had been modified with alloy and forged from pure electric crystals. Its fatal weaknesses were sealed off by the electric energy.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. A glowing blue cross formed by several sword lights flashed before him, and Wu Hua felt his whole body go numb—he'd been struck by the current. The Desert Eagle slipped from his grasp as the "Celestial Cross Blade" unleashed a flurry of dazzling colors.

"-753, -788, -762, -787, -777"—five consecutive strikes.

With a heavy thud, Wu Hua collapsed into the grass, covered in blood.

The Celestial Cross Blade had struck his left leg, right arm, abdomen, chest, and shoulder, utterly shattering his combat suit. His HP was down to just eighty-three points, and he couldn't move his limbs at all—this time, there was truly no escape.

"You're the first person to survive after taking five of my strikes in a row. That's already impressive," Azure Starry Sky said calmly. "But the game ends now. Allow me to send you off." With that, she rolled forward several times and leapt high into the air, her sword tip aimed down—this Thunderous Leap would be fatal.

Blood streamed down Wu Hua's face. Gasping, he laughed, "You think I'll die at the hands of a woman like you?" With his last bit of strength, he pulled out a black "cola can" with his left hand and bit open the safety pin.

"No!" Azure Starry Sky realized something was wrong, but it was too late.

A deafening explosion shook the earth as the patch of grass Wu Hua lay on erupted violently. A pillar of fire shot into the sky, sending grass, stones, and dirt flying everywhere. Amid the flames, a massive shockwave exploded again, blasting a fierce wind across the hillside...

This G4-type landmine wasn't especially lethal; it relied on generating a powerful shockwave to fling enemies away and deal damage. Its blast radius was a full ten meters.

During the explosion, a "-500" damage marker appeared above Azure Starry Sky's head, and she was hurled seven or eight meters into the air and over twenty meters away, landing squarely on a rock. Another "-770" damage number floated above her. The force of the shock truly was extraordinary. When Azure Starry Sky struggled to her feet, blood was streaming from her nose, and her entire body was wracked with internal injuries.

But Wu Hua had vanished from the charred grass. The ground was blasted into a deep muddy crater, littered with magazines and potions. Bloodstains and smoke covered the hillside.

A cold wind swept across the ridge, making the entire slope appear even more desolate and barren...

***

"Life in the underworld isn't easy—you can't avoid getting cut. Use Blue Sky Toothpaste, and even then you might get cut again..." a toothpaste commercial played on TV.

Dinner was already on the table. Wu Hua stared blankly at the screen.

"Hua!" Ah Jie grinned, sitting across from him. "What's wrong? You don't look so good."

Wu Hua replied gloomily, "I died in Star Wars today."

"Oh?" Ah Jie laughed, "Weren’t you the so-called Gun God? Even a Gun God can die?"

Wu Hua shrugged helplessly. "I killed myself with a grenade."

Ah Jie was astonished. "Hua, you're a gunner! You even have grenades? Impressive."

Wu Hua was surprised in turn. "Wait, you play Star Wars too?"

Ah Jie nodded with a smile. "I just started recently. It's pretty good. I even got Sweetie to play with me."

Wu Hua said, "That's great! Now we can fight side by side."

Ah Jie said, "I'm in Storm City of the Sacred Federation. Where are you?"

Wu Hua sighed again. "You might as well not have asked—I'm with the Radiant Federation."

"Haha, then never mind. Let's eat." Ah Jie laughed heartily. He knew Wu Hua’s personality—once he got in a bad mood, he'd eat in silence and then go back to his dorm to sulk.

Wu Hua really was unlucky this time. In his final showdown with Azure Starry Sky, he blew himself up with a grenade, losing an entire level's worth of experience—down from level 29 with 88% progress to level 28 with 88%.

When he revived in the Logistics Hall of Azure City, he found he'd dropped countless bullets and potions. AE rounds were expensive, and rare NATO hard-core purple ammo even more so—he'd lost at least twenty boxes, which made him furious.

Still, Yu Jialing had avoided the disaster. When she woke up, Azure Starry Sky was already gone. She returned to town, traded the S-grade Fire Crystal to Wu Hua, and comforted him for a while, but he soon logged off.

After dinner, Wu Hua sat down at his computer and logged onto the Player Forum. The Radiant Federation's Southern District board was already in an uproar.

Blue Corporation had released the video of Azure Starry Sky’s duel with Wu Hua—the scene where she unleashed five Celestial Cross Blade strikes in a row, leaving Wu Hua defenseless.

The video was short, no more than a dozen seconds. The title, given by "News Hound" from Azure City Wulin TV, read: "The Consequence of Defying Blue Ocean." Below, he gushed about the valiant female CEO and disparaged Explosive Maniac as utterly useless.

But anyone with discernment could see that Azure Starry Sky’s attacks were extraordinary—each strike dealt 700 to 900 damage, three or four times higher than a normal warrior. It was a terrifying number. Explosive Maniac wasn’t weak either—he dodged her killer moves three times in a row, making him outstanding among gunners.

The post became a sensation, with countless Blue Corporation members hyping it up. Views soared past 900,000.

Yet Wu Hua wasn't angry. On the contrary, he was grateful for the lesson Azure Starry Sky had given him today—it made him realize there was always someone better, always a higher mountain.

He’d had smooth sailing for too long and had grown a bit arrogant, thinking he was invincible just because he had a green AUG. Not assigning attribute points or wearing the Seal Team Blue gear had been costly mistakes.

Of course, this feud was only getting deeper. Sooner or later, Blue Corporation, that Dark Night Rose, and the Wulin TV reporter would all be on his list for payback.

Thinking back on his duel with Azure Starry Sky, Wu Hua realized the defeat wasn’t due to lack of skill but rather her overpowered equipment and high defense. If her armor had been ordinary twelve-element alloy, the best outcome would have been mutual destruction—it wouldn’t have been such a crushing loss.

But there was another puzzle—how did a gene warrior like her manage to get such armor? That was a mystery.

The fight also revealed several shortcomings: a lack of close-range weapons like a bayonet, abysmal melee combat skills, and the need for higher speed and strength.

Otherwise, never mind running into Azure Starry Sky again—even facing a low-attack, high-agility gene warrior would turn him into nothing more than meat on a chopping block.

With this in mind, Wu Hua resolved to change his training regimen and establish a new path to improve his strength. In any case, he’d finish the current quest tomorrow, and if the new weapon was successfully crafted, he wouldn’t have to worry about dealing with a bunch of crawlers.