Chapter 503 Crus.h.i.+ng Each Other with Technology, The True Ident.i.ty of The Demon Race!
The moon lingered in the skies, and silence reigned over the night. Since ancient times, humans consciously knew that wars could only be waged if there was a proper justification for it. However, the foreign races did not need reasons to wage war. Su Mo was afraid of alerting these visiting “friends” so, forty kilometers away from the borders of their territory, he had already abandoned Earth Tiger and, garbed in the combat uniform, like a ghost, he sprinted quickly and silently across the ground. Oreo who ran behind him moved even quicker. As she sprinted, one could almost see the tiny clouds of dust were left behind in her wake.
From this position, the fog column that was illuminated by the moon had basically taken on the form of a winding pa.s.sage. It appeared magical as it extended its way into the basin area.
Within the fog column, countless small particles that were visible to the naked eye floated about freely and swirled around like a b.u.t.terfly in the wind.
Combined with the scene of the desolate and barren land, it was a sight that seemed to have come straight out of a science fiction movie.
He was not in a hurry to study the composition of the fog column as he climbed over another small hill.
There, Su Mo could see the source of the fog column clearly.
“This is good. Changing the weather really helped a lot.”
“Since you dare to invade my territory, if I don’t send you all to h.e.l.l this time, shame on me!”
At this point in time, the skies outside the basin area were still not clear.
The torrential rainfall endlessly drenched the areas beyond the border.
From this position, one could even see the pitch-black skies split by the occasional flashes of lightning Due to the limitations of this environment, the only way to control the fog column was to enter the territory itself.
As a result, the unknown group of “visitors” had to set up camp at a position three kilometers from the border of the territory.
At this point in time, the fog column could be seen rising from the s.p.a.ce at the center of four large tents and spreading out into the distance from there.
The enemies were out in the open, but Su Mo was well hidden and concealed.
Su Mo did not venture forward recklessly. Instead, he beckoned Oreo to lay flat on the ground next to him. Su Mo took out a pair of binoculars and used it to spy on his “visitors”.
He was like a person observing the moon in the sky from the dark ground beneath. Covered by the darkness, Su Mo could observe the well-lighted place clearly and in detail, but the same could not be said for his enemies.
“One, two, three…fourteen…twenty!”
Temporarily, Su Mo could not make out the appearances of his enemies.
Therefore, Su Mo could only deduce the enemy’s numbers through the shadows that could be seen from outside the tents.
Weirdly enough, the shadows varied in size. Some were thin and tall, somewhat like an awl-and looked as if they were gravely ill.
Some of the shadows were short. Their height merely reached the legs of the taller shadows, and seemed no different from the dwarves.
Most of the shadows were irregular in shape and size and did not seem to belong to living beings from the same tribe.
“There are only three human-like shadows. Based on the shapes and sizes of the shadows, I can first rule out the humans from the Light Empire.” “As for the demon race, could it be that they, like the lizard coolies, are some sort of cross-bred species?”
The more he observed, the more unusual he found it.
Before Su Mo could formulate any guesses, hearing Oreo’s barks, the images in his binoculars transformed again.
“This…humans mixing with dwarves, weretigers, and wererats?”
“How is this possible? How can so many races be together in one place? Not to mention that there aren’t any dominant weretiger or wererat clans in this area.” Su Mo watched as four shadows emerged from the largest tent on the most left.
He watched as the four arranged themselves in all four cardinal directions around the source of the fog column. The four then respectively threw a glowing object into the source, and the fog column’s intensity was restored to its peak state again.
Su Mo was stunned to see this.
Immediately, Su Mo came up with a speculation in his heart.
“d.a.m.n it, I now know what information they are trying to collect!”
“What a difficult race to deal with indeed. No wonder the Light Empire has been having such a hard time against these monsters.”
“Given their unique talent, had it not been for my cautiousness, I can’t even begin to imagine the consequences once they successfully snuck into the territory!”
The human among the four turned his face. Even with the binoculars, Su Mo still could not clearly discern his facial features.
However, this did not affect Su Mo from recognizing the familiar characteristics of this human, as this person looked just like…
Li Hu!
It was an absurd scene, yet it somehow appeared right in front of Su Mo’s eyes.
This human was an exact doppelgänger of Li Hu. His height, weight, posture, and even his gestures were imitated almost perfectly.
However, Su Mo could not sense the intense willpower exuded by Li Hu from this person. This bizarre difference made Su Mo s.h.i.+ver subconsciously. “Ruff, ruff, awoo!” “I know, they’re not ghosts. They’re living, breathing creatures. I’m not afraid!”
Pressing onto Oreo’s head, Su Mo turned and let out a long breath that he had been suppressing inside his chest.
Even though he never mentioned it, Su Mo was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity about this mysterious demon race.
Initially, he thought that these were living beings similar to those from western fantasy and mythology, which possessed peculiar and magical abilities. However, after hearing about the people of the Light Empire, he then subconsciously thought that these living beings possessed an immense vitality and defense, which would make them difficult to handle in combat.
Now, who would have thought that things would have turned out this way? The enemy neither possessed terrifying strength that could suppress everything, nor did they possess a body that could endure weapons of steel.
What they possessed was some form of G.o.dly simulation technology. They could simulate and shapes.h.i.+ft into any living beings that they collected data on! “If I think about it, it makes quite a bit of sense.”
“When we first moved into the territory, everyone would still be present. It would be the perfect time for them to gather and collect data.”
“This sort of tactic is impossible to prevent without sufficient advance intel.”
“No, the demon race likely isn’t the real name of this foreign clan either. It is most likely that they deliberately release plenty of fake information based on people’s superst.i.tions and beliefs to incite fear and distort what others know about them.”
Based on simple observation and logical reasoning, in addition to the information that he acquired beforehand, Su Mo had generated a number of plausible conclusions.
Su Mo did not know how close his deductions were to the truth as he silently moved his body once again. With one hand, Su Mo slowly got to his feet.
As he stood up, at his behest, like a visitor from the void, a flash of faint black light emerged from his feet and rose slowly to the crown of his head.
It made no noise while doing so.
When Su Mo finally got to his feet and stood upright, a bizarre yet mysterious aura emerged from his body. After using the authority from the G.o.d of Cookery, the doppelganger created by the Stealing the Day, Changing the Light ability had undergone earth-shaking changes. After refining it for a month, the doppelganger now finally had a perfect body. A super body that was enhanced by nearly half of the authority he possessed!
Even though he was not in actual combat, Su Mo could feel the blood rush through his veins and his muscles bulging; his strength was magnified five-fold after the transformation.
Su Mo never told anyone his secret about the doppelganger. This included everyone in Hope Village’s leaders.h.i.+p team, Lu Kuan, Su Deben, and even Su Chan.
Aside from Oreo, who had seen it firsthand, no one else knew about Su Mo’s doppelganger body. Naturally, no one, including the game, knew that…
The territory range restriction could not restrain him at all!
In other words, on this continent, among all the territory lords, only Su Mo alone could step out of his territory without fear of his shelter crumbling.
“I originally wanted to reserve this doppelganger body as my trump card in the New World, and as my backup plan.” “However, now… your technology…” “I want it!”
The ability of the demon race to arbitrarily imitate and a.s.sume any other beings’ ident.i.ty was priceless. Once they acquired it, the basin area could send its inhabitants to infiltrate the enemy’s territory and easily acquire an endless stream of intelligence on their enemies.
This mechanism was equivalent to a maphack in MOBA games. As long as they were not in a terrible situation, they would basically be able to easily outmaneuver and vanquish their enemies.
The cutting-edge technology that the Light Empire possessed, the treefolks’ pristine seeds, and the dwarves’ precious resources, would all become readily accessible. With spies pulling the strings from the inside, these would all become nutrients to fertilize and develop the basin area.
Exploring this even deeper, Su Mo’s doppelganger body could even become his trump card. He could even shapes.h.i.+ft and head toward the enemy’s territory to cause untold ma.s.s destruction.
“This is simply a form of technology from the G.o.ds.”
“If our virtual reality technology can deceive other living beings within the territory, then this technology was intentionally created to be used outside the territory.” “The ancestors were right. Wherever there are risks, there are generous rewards to be reaped as well!”
The more Su Mo thought about the potential benefits of this technology, the deeper his breaths became.
Su Mo thought his mentality was strong enough, yet his heartbeat betrayed him. No one could calm down in such a situation, not even Su Mo!
“Oreo, there has been a change of plans. I need a large amount of information, you…” He swiftly whispered a few words into Oreo’s ear. He watched as Oreo nodded obediently, after which she ran back in the direction they came from.
He retracted his smile and ventured forward.
Similar to the time when he approached the kobold castle, Su Mo cautiously measured the distance as he approached.
Every two hundred meters, Su Mo would pause his footsteps and observe carefully. Once he was confident that there were no problems, he would then proceed forward. Two thousand five hundred meters away from the camp. No one in the tents had noticed him, and the occupants were still inside their respective tents as the fog column freely spread out into the territory.
Two thousand meters.
The atmosphere was still quiet and tranquil. As far as the eye could see, everything was still calm.
One thousand five hundred meters.
Someone had seemingly noticed that there was an intruder.
However, after Su Mo observed carefully, he realized the figure that had come out of the tent was merely on a routine patrol. This figure restored the state of the fog column, and then returned to the tent.
“Their defense is very lax, which is totally unreasonable. Could it be that the demon race sent a bunch of trash over?”
With a faint hint of doubt, Su Mo once again proceeded forward.
This time, just as he entered the one-thousand-meter mark, he felt a coolness rising from the soles of his feet. The sixth sense borne from his strong physical qualities whispered to him to not proceed any further, as he would likely trigger the enemy’s defensive measures.
Despite that, the shadows in the tent began to s.h.i.+ft rapidly.
There were twenty of them in total; eight came out immediately and started looking around in all directions from the entrance of their camp.
Lying quietly on the ground, Su Mo did not make any sudden movements. Instead, he even had the nerves of steel to take this opportunity and observe them further. He lowered his head and moved his body in accordance with his unseen sixth sense. His breath immediately slowed as he gradually merged and became one with the earth beneath him.
Imperceptibly, the rhythm of his heartbeat began to change as his body merged with the surrounding earth like a parasite.
If one did not stand close enough to look, any normal person would subconsciously overlook Su Mo, even if they were standing just five meters away from him.
The strong had a heart the size of a mountain.
Su Mo heard footsteps approaching, but he still did not raise his head.
He was confident that the enemy did not possess a detection device. If they had one, they would not need to scatter out and search for him like this. If the enemy did not have the corresponding technological equipment… They would have to search for him, just like in a certain survival game on Earth whereby one could only run but not fight back.
Su Mo could easily get through this without any worries.
A strong mentality gave rise to extraordinary mental stability. The owner of the footsteps paced about, but did not discover Su Mo, who was laying flat on the ground three meters away.
It seemed peculiar. However, the hunter finally gave up on his search and muttered several inexplicable syllables as he returned back to camp.
Smack!
Smack!
Su Mo waited until the sound of the heavy footsteps gradually disappeared, as he relished in the cold air that was still lingering in the surrounding atmosphere. His face was still planted in the ground, but a trace of mockery was on his silent, motionless face.
Whoos.h.!.+
The next moment, fifteen meters away from Su Mo, a wooden thorn suddenly pierced through the air from underneath the ground, which ruptured the ground and rose two meters in height.
The owner of the footsteps from earlier had never left!
The fading footsteps were merely a pretense. However, after not discovering any intruders with this sudden attack, the owner of the footsteps simply gave up.
Su Mo felt the cold sensation rapidly fading; he did not hesitate further and lifted his head to glance at the back of the retreating enemy.
Mmmmm.
It was an Ent!
The cunning demon race had even simulated an Ent.
Su Mo looked at the spot where the treefolk’s attack had emerged. He noted that the wooden thorn had not completely ruptured the ground from which it emerged, and nodded thoughtfully to himself. “It looks like their simulation technology can not only simulate appearance, but can also simulate the target’s powers to a certain extent.”
“I’m not sure whether this is deceiving my perception but, as far as the attack power is concerned, it’s decently strong.” He walked to the front and picked up the scattered sawdust. After that, he did not walk any further forward. Instead, he retraced his steps and returned to where he and Oreo had split up. He laid on the ground and, with the aid of the moonlight, he recalled the response of the enemy when he approached the distance of one thousand meters from the camp, and the peculiar, inexplicable sensation from his sixth sense that emerged from his body. By the time Su Mo came back to his senses, two figures hurriedly appeared in the distance.
They were Pei Shao and Chen Kai!
There were still twelve more hours before the end of the Rapid March buff.
The two had not engaged in combat with any enemies, so the two of them still had their 500% movement speed bonus.
In addition, they were running all the way, so their speed was no slower than Earth Tiger’s. At the sight of Su Mo waving, a hint of joy flashed across their faces. “Huff, huff…Shelter Leader, the things…the things that you asked for…we’ve brought them! Oreo is momentarily…momentarily still somewhere behind!”
Panting heavily, Pei Shao waved his hand at the void. An old TV that was initially placed in the Underground Shelter flew out from Pei Shao’s storage s.p.a.ce.
In addition, some batteries that were gathered from the entire village were taken out from Chen Kai’s storage s.p.a.ce and laid on the ground.
The two types of items looked ordinary. However, after they were laid on the ground, Su Mo’s face carried an unrepressed look of
joy.
One had to fight magic with magic! It did not matter if he could not get within one kilometer of the camp, because the demon race would never imagine that Su Mo would have such a useful detection device in his possession.
“Okay. You two go back and send over a message for me. Tell the others to not worry about me.”
“At the latest, I’ll be back tomorrow morning, or perhaps even tomorrow afternoon.” As he finished speaking, the other two nodded their heads simultaneously. Looking at the light from the base camp in the distance, the two had also guessed Su Mo’s intentions in their hearts, although they remained unaware of his purpose.
Unfortunately, they recalled Su Mo’s previous performance in the virtual reality trials.
Despite the two wanting to suggest that they stay and fight alongside Su Mo, they knew that their opponents would likely be quite strong, and there was a possibility of them getting in Su Mo’s way. As such, the two made the wise decision and chose to leave.
Su Mo watched as the two that had hurriedly rushed over once again disappeared beyond the horizon.
He was not in a hurry as he waited for another half hour. Only once Oreo appeared did Su Mo abruptly stand up from the ground. “How are you feeling? Do you still have enough strength to fight?”
“Bark!”
Oreo’s energetic bark was imbued with a hint of pride. Her expression explicitly expressed her intentions. “Very good. Go to the rear and block their escape. If they try to run, attack them immediately…”
“I want them either dead or alive. No, no matter what, we must capture at least one of them alive!”
He held the base of the old TV in one hand, and the batteries with the other. After seeing that Oreo understood his instructions, Su Mo ran forward.
It might have been difficult the first time, but his second time went much smoother.
Equipped with his previous experience, this time, even after Su Mo approached the thousand-meter-mark, the cold sensation from earlier merely lingered and did not trigger a reaction from the enemy. He looked at the campsite that was still emitting a warm light, and at the shadows that swayed within.
He found a low-lying area, took out his shovel, and swiftly began to dig. After three minutes, a “shelter” to lob bombs from was successfully excavated; the “shelter” was a hole that was 1.5 meters deep and 2.5 meters wide, which could accommodate two people. He placed the old TV inside, connected it to the batteries, and spiritedly got right down to
The next second, as the batteries began to supply power, the power indicator of the pitch-black TV lit up.
He pressed the b.u.t.ton and the TV began to clatter as it was turned on.
It was as expected. After leaving the shelter, the old TV could still be used.
“Heh, let me see…”
“What kind of monsters you all are!”
He toggled the controls and zoomed in on the camp-Su Mo’s eyes immediately focused sharply.