Chapter 371: Toywar (17)
Chapter 371: Toywar (17)
【Name: Armor-Piercing Incendiary Round】
【Type: Consumable】
【Quality: Fine】
【Special Effect: Penetrates the target's first layer of defense before igniting; if the Defense layer isn't pierced, it detonates immediately but with half the power】
【Usage Requirement: Shooting Proficiency C or Mechanics Proficiency B】
【Background: Depleted uranium alloy product, enhanced with micro-liquid propellant. Penetration power is extreme, with incendiary effects dealing fire attribute damage.】
This specialized ammunition isn't rare on the black market—it’s just that most listings come with exorbitant price tags, often selling for more than a Blood Vial (12,000 game currency). But anyone who’s used one knows these rounds are game-changers—literally. Just a single shot can shift the tide of battle or end the fight outright.
In today’s Terrifying Paradise, most mid-to-high-level teams actively seek players with Shooting Proficiency. Why? Because this skill offers massive damage potential at relatively low costs—damage that could turn defeat into victory.
Compare this to Martial Arts Proficiency players. To wield a weapon capable of altering a battle’s outcome, they’d need to spend at least six figures. A Shooting Proficiency player, on the other hand, needs only an average-quality gun and bullets costing over ten thousand currency per round to match the damage output of martial artists who’ve spent hundreds of thousands.
True, bullets are consumables—once fired, they’re gone. But think of them as insurance, or an ace up your sleeve. Save them for the perfect moment, the critical second. It might take dozens of scenarios before you ever need to use them.
For mid-level players, buying thirty of these rounds and pairing them with a mid-tier gun can last for ages. By the time a martial artist’s six-figure equipment is destroyed, the shooter might still have bullets left in reserve.
For someone like Gu Xiaoling, a wealthy real-life heiress, choosing this proficiency might seem like a waste. On gaming forums, Mechanics and Summoning are widely considered the most "expensive" proficiencies to train, while Shooting and Scouting are seen as cost-effective options.
Of course, if you’re just burning cash for fun, none of this matters. Who cares if bullets cost ten thousand currency each? That’s barely six or seven Rmb per round. With fifty thousand Rmb, you could mount a gatling gun loaded with specialty rounds and mow down enemies like nobody’s business.
……
Back to the action. The armor-piercing incendiary round screamed through the air, striking the Lego Puffer Fighter’s exterior.
Despite the scenario’s setting—where most toys possess shocking durability—this shot was clearly beyond what Lego bricks could withstand.
Zzzzz— A short, continuous screech erupted as the bullet pierced the Puffer Fighter’s hull and burrowed into its interior.
Here’s the twist—the round hit a crucial spot: the narrow space between the main and secondary cockpits. If it had deviated slightly into either cockpit, it would’ve detonated mid-air, unleashing full energy and dealing catastrophic damage to the pilot trapped inside a sealed environment. But instead, the round lodged itself deep within the Lego structure before exploding.
Boom—clatterclatterclatter…
An explosion roared, followed by the sound of Lego bricks scattering everywhere.
Unexpectedly, the Puffer Fighter split into two halves. The front half was a massive, rounded fish head. The rear became a slimmer fish tail with two legs.
The pilots’ capsule-like cockpits remained relatively intact—though both lost about 35% of their vitality value.
Xiao Tan, trapped inside the "fish head", was essentially caught in a cage. Worse, the sudden blast left him dazed, rendering escape impossible in the short term.
Feng Bu Jue, in the "fish tail", quickly assessed the situation. "Armor-piercing incendiary round… (Hell Front’s four members knew each other’s gear and skills inside-out) Definitely a wise choice… but seems like luck wasn’t on our side this time, failing to detonate mid-air."
Muttering, he frantically mashed buttons on his control panel. The Puffer Fighter was already dead; might as well test if any weapons still functioned for a counterattack.
But then—
The Lego Puffer Fighter’s combat power exceeded imagination.
After Feng Bu Jue’s random button-mashing, five bizarre events occurred:
1. The "fish head" section, seemingly severed from the secondary cockpit, received a weapons system command. It swelled instantly, sprouting countless sharp spines across its surface.
2. The pectoral fins began spinning like high-speed chainsaws.
3. The secondary cockpit started playing the theme song "Sincere Smile" from Sky Pig on Sunny Days.
4. The Puffer Fighter’s rear half pivoted on the leg joints, rotating its cockpit 90 degrees upward while its legs locked into a half-crouching stance.
5. A barrel ejected diagonally upward from the secondary cockpit, launching a round projectile. Ten seconds later, the projectile fell straight back into the barrel, detonating with a minor explosion. The shockwave cost Feng Bu Jue another 10% vitality.
"That monster split in half but’s still moving…" Bei Ling’s gaze darted between the two Puffer Fighter halves.
"And both halves look even nastier than before", Si Yu added.
Bei Ling checked the enemy’s status on her game menu, confirming both Feng Bu Jue and Xiao Tan were alive. "The explosion changed both halves. That means someone’s controlling each section." Her deduction wasn’t entirely accurate, but her conclusion was correct.
"But the operation feels… strange. Almost like they’re flailing randomly", Si Yu mused.
"Three possibilities", Bei Ling said swiftly. "One: the commander and Xiao Tan haven’t mastered this Lego vehicle’s controls. Two: it’s malfunctioning. Three: they’re faking it to confuse us."
“Well…” Si Yu gestured for her to continue.
“Truthfully, whether it’s one or the other, it won’t affect us at all,” Bei Ling said, loading another armor-piercing incendiary round into the sniper rifle before smirking. “Just one more shot will do.”
As Bei Ling prepared to fire another round at the eerily thrashing “pufferfish tail,” Feng Bu Jue, inside the toy, slammed his palm down on the button marked with a nuclear weapon warning symbol.
“There’s no way that perverted elementary student could’ve built a nuclear bomb out of Lego bricks!” Feng Bu Jue roared, half-crazed, as his finger hit the switch.
Zhi—Hu—
The roar of a rocket igniting.
The Lego Puffer Fighter, crouched in a squatting position, spewed a thick jet of flame from its tail. The joints connecting its legs to the torso simultaneously snapped apart. The powerful propulsion system in the fish’s tail sent the fuselage, now tilted vertically, soaring into the Sky.
“Hey! Is this thing literally a warhead?!” Feng Bu Jue exclaimed, stunned. “It’s launching a suicide missile strike while playing cheerful music in the cockpit?!”
On the top shelf, Bei Ling and Si Yu—one lifting her head from the sniper scope, the other lowering her telescope—watched the sudden flare of fire in the darkness and the fish-tailed missile ascending slowly. Their expressions were blank, stupefied.
Meanwhile, Xiao Tan, unnoticed at this moment, snapped back to his senses and pushed open the pilot’s cabin hatch to peek out. To his shock, he caught sight of the “pufferfish rocket” blasting off…
“Holy crap… What the hell is going on…?” Xiao Tan’s jaw dropped. “Did it ascend to immortality?!”
“Right… Don’t panic…” Feng Bu Jue muttered to himself inside the rocket. “If I can just find a time machine…” He abruptly stopped himself. “Wait! No! Think rationally! This missile has no clear target—it’ll just shoot straight into the Supermarket’s ceiling. So if I just open the hatch and jump out, I can escape easily using moon step.”
As he pondered, he added, “But… this dramatic launch will definitely draw Bei Ling and Si Yu’s attention. If I open the hatch, they’ll probably target me immediately.”
Reality matched Feng Bu Jue’s assumption. After a brief shock, Bei Ling raised her sniper rifle again, aiming at the fish-tailed rocket, now soaring past the sniper’s effective range.
A few seconds later, the hatch truly opened.
In that instant, Bei Ling focused her scope on the cockpit.
But just as the hatch swung open…
A deafening Bang! sounded as the rocket’s exterior on the opposite side exploded inward.
Lego bricks scattered like shrapnel. A crimson-glowing figure darted out of the breach. Moving at maximum speed with moon step, he covered over a meter in an instant, leaping onto the nearest shelf’s upper level.
Feng Bu Jue’s decoy maneuver worked flawlessly. He’d known that the moment he opened the hatch, their attention would lock onto the cockpit exit. That’s when he’d made his move, breaking through the hull on the other side. With his spirit sense body technique-enhanced speed, Bei Ling wouldn’t have time to swing her rifle around. This wasn’t a video game like CS, where a flick of the mouse could swing a gun sixty degrees. In reality, aiming a heavy sniper rifle manually, hitting a moving target like that was practically impossible.
“Xiao Tan’s spotted our position and is running up the wall,” Si Yu said, already darting forward toward the shelf Feng Bu Jue had occupied.
“Got it,” Bei Ling understood her cousin’s intent. Gripping her sniper rifle, she moved to the edge of the shelf, looked down, and immediately spotted Xiao Tan scaling the shelf’s rim. “What an idiot… Just circle halfway around and climb from the side,” she muttered, adjusting the scope’s crosshairs to target Xiao Tan’s legs.
Meanwhile, after several leaps, Si Yu reached the top of the shelf Feng Bu Jue had landed on moments ago—only to find no trace of him.
Following her instincts, Si Yu kept chasing.
She’d already stowed her night-vision telescope in her satchel, swapping it for the sealed sainthood sword.
Boom—
A distant explosion rattled the air as the rocket struck the ceiling and detonated.
The blast was powerful (for a toy), though nowhere near a nuclear bomb’s scale. It resembled a massive skyrocket explosion, its scattered debris more dangerous than confetti.
The Supermarket’s environment couldn’t be damaged by toy attacks, but the rocket had triggered the automatic fire-suppression system.
All the ceiling lights blazed on, and sprinklers rained water from above. For the shrunken players, it felt like a sudden monsoon.
“Well, look who got drenched,” Feng Bu Jue’s voice suddenly called from behind Si Yu. “Looking for me?”
Si Yu slowly turned, brushing damp hair back from her forehead to clear her vision. The lighting and mist made her face appear unusually pale and ethereal. This version of Si Yu was one Feng Bu Jue had never seen before.
“Not running this time?” she asked.
“After turning on the lights, you’d find me eventually,” Feng Bu Jue replied, smoothing his wet hair into a mock pompadour. “Besides, I never planned to. I’m the stronger one here, right? I could’ve ambushed you from behind, but I greeted you first.”
“Hmph…” Si Yu’s smile was both amused and icy.
“Rare to see you smile at me.”
“I don’t smile much at anyone.”
“So it’s not just me…” Feng Bu Jue trailed off.
“Can we discuss this later?” Si Yu tried to deflect.
“At this point, we’re both soaked like drowned rats. Does it matter?” Feng Bu Jue shrugged. “If you want to chat, meet me offline sometime.”
“Offline… you mean call me?” Feng Bu Jue added, steering the conversation back.
“You want to meet in person?”
“No, no, no…” Feng Bu Jue shook his head.
Si Yu stared silently.
“Uh… yes,” Feng Bu Jue admitted under her gaze.
“So you already know I live in S City too?”
“Of course… with my investigative skills…” Feng Bu Jue began to boast before she cut him off.
“If you lose this fight…” Si Yu raised her sword. “Be prepared to be arrested as a stalker.”
“You’re threatening me out of nowhere!” Feng Bu Jue yelped, then paused. “Wait… So if I win…”
(End of Chapter)
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