83: The Blue Flag country once again imposes a blockade

Long Country, Zhenwu Guild Headquarters.

Inside the ancient training room, incense smoke curled upwards.

Li Zhen sat cross-legged, his aura somewhat listless, his face bearing a hint of unwillingness and defeat.

Standing before him was a young man in a dark blue cross-collared Daoist robe, with a handsome face and an elegant, ethereal demeanor.

It was his elder brother, Li Yuntian, an elite disciple personally taught by the Zhenwu Guild Leader.

“Brother, I failed.” Li Zhen lowered his head, his voice a bit strained, “We couldn’t get first place in the eighth-floor trial.”

“Oh?” Li Yuntian raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone calm and unruffled, “Who did you lose to?”

Li Zhen took a deep breath, a hint of apprehension flashing in his eyes: “A Mage, a very powerful Mage!

I was instantly killed by him.

Even Archi and the other two, who combined to use the Dragon Tiger Strike, couldn’t even break his shield before he instantly killed them with a backhand.”

He recounted in detail his encounter with Lin Fei during the trial.

Especially Lin Fei’s effortless dispelling of the Qigong Cannon and the terrifying strength with which he instantly killed his two junior brothers at the end.

Li Yuntian listened quietly, without any expression of surprise or anger on his face.

He was as calm as still water.

“It’s alright.” He said faintly, his voice like a flowing spring, “Victory and defeat are common in war; the gains and losses of one trial don’t mean anything.”

He walked to Li Zhen and patted him on the shoulder.

“The Mage you mentioned is indeed very strong, far exceeding players at the current stage.” Li Yuntian’s gaze deepened, “To force you to use the Dragon Tiger Strike and even manage to escape unscathed, his strength has probably touched the threshold of the second tier.”

“Second tier? What does that mean, Brother?” Li Zhen was startled.

“Mm.” Li Yuntian nodded, “The Node Tower trials, the further you go, the greater the difficulty increase.

The first to tenth floors can be seen as a novice adaptation period; the truly brutal screening and watershed begins from the eleventh floor.

And according to our information, every ten floors, there will be a large leap in difficulty, and the tenth floor is also a difficult node!”

“Only by breaking through the tenth floor can one truly step into the threshold of this endless trial and be qualified to be called a high-tier player, which is what we internally classify as the second tier.”

A glimmer of longing and fighting spirit flashed in Li Yuntian’s eyes: “That Mage is very likely a top-tier internal tester from some hidden force, or he obtained an immense fortuitous encounter.

It’s no injustice that you lost to him.”

“What you need to do now is not dwell on a single failure,” Li Yuntian withdrew his hand and stood with his hands behind his back, “but to wholeheartedly cultivate and quickly improve your strength, striving to break through the tenth floor as soon as possible.

The road ahead is still long, and the true stage awaits us at a higher place.”

“Yes! Brother! I understand!” Li Zhen’s eyes rekindled with fighting spirit, and he nodded vigorously.

One failure is nothing; he will surely repay it a hundredfold in the future!

…

Meanwhile, in the Lighthouse Country, a conference room in a Wall Street skyscraper, the Angela Conglomerate headquarters.

The atmosphere was as oppressive as an ice cellar.

Several players from the Angela team were lowering their heads, enduring the wrath of a grim-faced middle-aged man on the other side of the holographic screen.

“Useless! A bunch of useless people!” The middle-aged man roared, spitting, “Three elite teams, nine B-grade armed personnel!

You couldn’t even defend a bridge?

And then you were completely wiped out in the final circle?!”

“You’ve completely disgraced the Angela Conglomerate!”

Angel Leader’s face was ashen, and he gritted his teeth, explaining: “Report, Supervisor! The target’s strength is too great!

We encountered a monster that could cross a rift in the flesh and instantly cast large-scale ice and fire spells!

There was also an undead summoned creature suspected of being a Boss! Our firepower simply couldn’t inflict effective damage on him!”

“Monster? Boss summoned creature?” The middle-aged man scoffed, “Don’t give me excuses! Losing is losing!

You lost fifteen sets of nano combat suits this time.

Truly useless!”

“However.” He changed his tone, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, “The intelligence on that mysterious Mage is quite interesting.

Add him to the ‘High-Risk Observation List’, mobilize resources, and gather as much information on him as possible.

Such an unstable factor, either he serves me, or he can only be eliminated.”

He made a throat-slitting gesture, his tone chilling.

“Yes! Supervisor!” Angel Leader and the two others responded quickly, as if granted a great pardon.

After closing the communication, the few exchanged glances, seeing the lingering fear and frustration in each other’s eyes.

Their trip to Leigong Island this time resulted in heavy losses, although two teams managed to get some ranking rewards.

But the rune stones opened from the treasure chests weren’t very good.

Even the equipment they brought in was completely lost, so overall, they suffered a big loss.

The most crucial thing was that they hadn’t even figured out the enemy’s specific identity.

“That Mage.” A team member said with lingering fear, “His strength is too terrifying.”

“Like a big shot from internal testing coming to bully noobs.” Another team member grumbled, adding.

Angel Leader rubbed his temples, saying tiredly: “Alright, stop talking.

This time we underestimated them; let’s go back and reflect properly.

If we get a chance in the future, we’ll get our revenge!”

…

At the same time, another day passed.

Inside the orphanage, Lin Fei and his group had just finished their journey through the ninth floor of the Node Tower.

The trial world of the ninth floor was called [Flesh Factory].

It was a horror dungeon full of twisted creatures and mad scientists.

The final Boss was a [Stitched Monstrosity Lv25 (Lord-tier)], made from countless pieced-together corpses, standing ten meters tall, constantly dripping pus and blood.

Facing Lin Fei’s team, whose strength had soared, this seemingly terrifying Boss fared no better than the Eight-Armed Demon Elephant.

First, it was gathered and frozen by Lin Fei’s [Ice Dragon Twister], then subjected to a barrage of lightning and explosive hammers from Lin Mengzi’s two [Undead Eight-Armed Demon Elephants], and finally, Lin Fei finished it off with [Blazing Impact] and a strengthened [Superspeed Icy Arrow] from [Multi-Shot], instantly killing it!

The clear-cut passage through the level was without any hitches.

“Ninth Floor Trial: Flesh Factory has ended.”

“Trial settlement in progress…”

“Trial Participant: Lin Fei”

“Team First Place Points (Shared): 20000 points”

“Personal Kill Points: 6000 points”

“Boss Kill Points: 6000 points”

“Team Contribution Ranking: 1”

“Overall Evaluation: S (Perfect!)”

Although he didn’t get an S+, the S-rank reward was still generous.

“Congratulations! You have reached Lv21! Obtained Skill Point x1!”

“Reward obtained: 1,000,000 killing coins, Skill Experience Book (200,000) x3, Purple Equipment Self-Selection Treasure Chest x1”

The killing coins account balance successfully broke through fourteen million.

Lin Mengzi and Xu Zhengyang also leveled up to Lv20, their strength steadily increasing.

“Phew! Finally cleared the ninth floor!” Xu Zhengyang wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face excited, “Boss, tomorrow is the tenth floor!”

“Mm.” Lin Fei nodded, his eyes sparkling with anticipation and determination.

The tenth floor is an important checkpoint of the Node Tower.

As long as he passes, he will gain the qualification to enter that mysterious “Nest” world!

However, just as Lin Fei was rubbing his fists, preparing to push through to the tenth floor in one go tomorrow.

Li Shun, on the other hand, delivered some bad news.

Inside Zhou Mountain Welfare Institute.

“Boss!” Li Shun pushed his glasses up, his expression somewhat grave as he handed over the tablet, “Look at this!”

The screen showed the local official news channel in New Jeju, currently broadcasting an urgent news flash.

“Urgent Notice: The Blue Flag Country’s temporary military command in New Jeju announced that due to abnormal energy fluctuations in the Node Tower surrounding area recently, posing significant safety hazards, to ensure the safety of citizens’ lives and property, effective immediately.

The three Node Towers in New Jeju and their surrounding two-kilometer radius will be placed under indefinite military blockade!

Any attempt to forcibly enter will be regarded as a provocation against the Blue Flag Country’s military forces, with consequences at one’s own risk!”

Below it was also a real-time video.

Around the Node Tower, the Blue Flag Country soldiers and armored vehicles that had previously withdrawn reappeared!

And their numbers were even greater than before! The scale was larger!

The blockade line was directly extended two kilometers out, completely surrounding the entire Node Tower area!

Even more striking was that among the ordinary Blue Flag Country soldiers, there were some special personnel dressed in pitch-black combat suits, wearing masks, and moving like phantoms.

They moved swiftly, equipped with various strange detection instruments, clearly not ordinary troops.