104: Special effects of Chapter 104 "Shadow of the Blade"

Chapter 104: The Special Effect of "Shadow of the Blade"

Swoosh, swoosh!

Swish, swish, swish!

In the small living room, sharp, ear-piercing sounds of slicing through the air rang out.

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled across the window like a layer of gold powder.

The light shining into the room dyed the table, chairs, and floor golden-yellow, casting a unique glow over a young man.

He held a sharpened dagger in his hand, repeatedly swinging and attacking the empty air.

It was as if, at this very moment and place, countless enemies stood before him, and he was venturing alone into the tiger's den, fighting a bloody battle.

The blade reflected a cool-toned golden light as his figure continuously lunged, dashed, spun, and slashed in reverse.

Like a butterfly spreading its wings, fluttering its beautiful wings.

And the master holding it was equally exceptionally agile, constantly moving and thrusting at high speed.

Every movement was extremely concise and fierce, yet unpredictable and filled with deadly danger.

Suddenly, the figure twisted his waist, pulled back his hand, and came to an abrupt halt.

His eyes shone brightly as he stared ahead.

A pale blue light screen, visible only to him, slowly unfolded in the air.

[Congratulations! Through diligent practice of the Blade Technique, your skills have become fully integrated, reaching the Expert level.]

[Blade Technique LV1 (0/250)]

[Obtained enhancement reward: Skill Special Effect "Shadow of the Blade"]

Fang Cheng caught his breath, a look of gratification appearing on his face.

After several days of relentless practice, he had finally upgraded this crucial combat skill.

He then focused his gaze on the specific details of this new special effect.

[When launching an attack with a bladed weapon, your body seems to merge into the flash of the blade, turning into an illusion, making it difficult for others to track your movement trajectory.]

Seeing a reward without specific numerical values, Fang Cheng couldn't help but frown slightly.

After a moment's thought, he took two steps back, leaned against the balcony, and stared toward the doorway.

In his imagined field of vision, a black figure slowly emerged, taking an attacking stance.

Fang Cheng gripped his butterfly knife tightly, pushed off the ground with his right foot, and instantly exerted force.

Swish!

His entire body instantly shot forward like an arrow from a bow.

With a flash of the blade, the tip of the knife accurately pierced the target figure's heart, causing it to suddenly dissipate.

"Still not feeling much of a difference..."

Fang Cheng stopped and shook his head, twirling the knife in his hand.

Completing a surprise assassination in less than half a second just now was entirely reliant on the effects of his own Agility and Strength attributes.

It really didn't have much to do with the skill effect of "Shadow of the Blade."

"Is it just for show?"

Perplexed, Fang Cheng's gaze suddenly caught a full-length mirror on the living room cabinet.

A new idea instantly came to him.

He walked over to the mirror and stood sideways.

His left eye aimed at another imaginary enemy on the balcony, while his right eye watched his own reflection in the mirror out of the corner of his eye.

Then, gripping the hilt tightly once more, he bent down, pushed off the ground, and lunged forward to assassinate.

Swish!

This time, the action of stepping forward and thrusting was still fierce and swift, accurately hitting the target.

However, at the instant his body moved, Fang Cheng noticed a strange phenomenon in his reflection out of the corner of his eye.

The light of the blade in his hand seemed to become exceptionally bright, while his own figure holding the knife appeared somewhat blurry.

It was like a camera focus issue or overexposure, making it difficult to clearly see his exact appearance and posture.

To ensure it wasn't just an accidental illusion.

Fang Cheng then conducted five consecutive tests at different attack speeds.

Ultimately, he got a clear answer.

The specific effect of "Shadow of the Blade" was actually very simple.

When launching an attack, it forced the target's attention to be drawn to the light of the blade, thereby creating an effect as if his body was obscured by the light, rendering his figure faint and blurry.

This special effect was not an increase in the skill's actual combat power; it was purely a "special effect" in the literal sense.

Whether the speed of the attack changed or not, the illusory effect was always present.

And as the speed increased, this effect would become even more pronounced.

Admittedly,

when an object's movement speed reaches a certain level, an afterimage phenomenon occurs in the eyes.

But if your visual capability receives a corresponding level of enhancement,

then the so-called "afterimage" would no longer exist.

This is a relative concept.

Because the "afterimage phenomenon" is caused by the reaction speed of the optic nerve.

When the speed at which your eyes capture moving objects cannot keep up with the object's actual movement speed, it results in an inability to clearly see the object's position in motion.

But due to the effect of persistence of vision, the retina can still transmit images of the object's previous position to the brain.

Even with the optic nerve reaction speed provided by his 33 points of Spirit attribute, Fang Cheng was still unable to see his own movements when initiating an attack.

This showed just how terrifying this special "illusory" effect was.

In other words, the "Shadow of the Blade" effect solidified a fundamental effect on top of the high-speed afterimage mechanism.

No matter how strong or weak his future opponents were, regardless of their Spirit attribute or visual perception, they would at least be interfered with by the most basic illusory effect.

Furthermore, as his physical fitness improved and his movement speed increased, this superimposed effect would become even more obvious.

Unless the opponent also possessed some special ability that could block the influence exerted by skill effects.

It seemed that,

even though the force and speed of his strikes remained unchanged, and his offensive Moves and power did not seem to be enhanced,

it would make it much harder for enemies to predict his movements and defend in time. Its effectiveness in actual combat would exceed many people's estimations and expectations.

Fang Cheng held the hilt, staring in deep thought. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, feeling an urge to put it to the test.

After all, the true appreciators of this skill effect were not himself, but rather his enemies.

Amidst his reverie, a faint ringtone suddenly sounded.

Fang Cheng's eyes focused. He quickly reined in his thoughts and walked toward the shoulder bag tossed onto his bedroom bed.

He took out his phone from it and glanced at the caller ID; it was an unfamiliar number.

He hesitated slightly, but after a moment's thought, he still chose to press the answer button.

"Hello? Hello? A-Cheng, it's me, Donghe!"

As soon as the call connected, a gruff voice came through the receiver.

Fang Cheng was slightly surprised. He hadn't been able to contact him for the past two days and had no idea where the guy was hiding.

He then asked, "Donghe, where are you right now?"

"I'm hiding in our secret base, dammit!"

Not a single mistake, first release, all content is on Yiyi Kan!

Ma Donghe cursed, replying with some frustration:

"Those bastards from the Red Tiger Gang are looking for me everywhere. They even went to my house and terrified the old man..."

Fang Cheng listened patiently as he recounted his recent experiences, learning about some of the things that had happened.

Since wiping out the Three Wolves Gang, the Red Tiger Gang had completely taken over the Three Wolves Gang's territory in Jiangbei, absorbing the remaining forces of the Gang.

As a result, tracking down specific individuals had become much easier.

Ma Donghe himself was relatively famous in the Jiangbei underworld.

After this incident and offending the Red Tiger Gang, he had no place to stand at all and could only hide in the suburban countryside.

The people of the Red Tiger Gang had no intention of letting the culprit off. They sent men to Ma Donghe's hometown and trashed the place.

Fortunately, Ma Jianguo was no ordinary person either, and he held immense prestige in the village.

Those thugs were quickly cornered by the villagers and beaten half to death with hoes and carrying poles.

The police then arrived, carted them all away, and locked them in the detention center to freeze for a night before letting them go.

However, the Red Tiger Gang did not let the matter rest there and continued to search for Ma Donghe's whereabouts everywhere.

Ma Donghe didn't dare return home either, fearing he would bring even greater trouble to the old man.

Upon learning what had happened at home, he ran to a convenience store outside and made a call specifically to warn Fang Cheng to be extra careful as well.

After talking a great deal about his current situation, Ma Donghe asked with concern:

"A-Cheng, how are things on your end?"

"I'm fine for now. They don't seem to have figured out my background, and I usually wear a mask when I go out."

Fang Cheng replied calmly.

Indeed, he was just an ordinary office worker, completely unrelated to the underworld or the Jianghu.

If the Red Tiger Gang wanted to find him, they would have to spend some time and effort.

"Alright, the most important thing right now is to lay low and weather this storm."

Ma Donghe breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Then, as if to reassure both Fang Cheng and himself, he started talking about some rumors from the underworld.

"I've already dug up the details. The one who wants to drag us out is mainly that bastard Wu Shihao. He's holding a grudge because his drug factory was shut down and wants to take revenge on us."

"But the Red Tiger Gang acts so arrogantly and is making enemies everywhere now, so they aren't doing too well either."

"Once those old-school syndicates like the Dongcheng Association go to war with the Red Tiger Gang, Wu Shihao won't have the leisure to worry about us anymore. Dammit, when the chaotic war breaks out, we'll hit him even harder..."

After chatting with Ma Donghe for about ten minutes and exchanging information,

Fang Cheng hung up, put down the phone, and walked over to the window.

Through the dimly lit glass, he looked down at the scene on the street below.

At this moment, two loitering tattooed youths passed by on the street, collecting protection money from the owners of several restaurants and grocery stores.

They were low-level thugs newly recruited by the Red Tiger Gang in Jiangbei, specifically tasked with maintaining order in the Jiuchang Street area.

These people were not worth Fang Cheng's attention.

Fang Cheng's gaze mainly landed on the faces of a few other seemingly ordinary strangers.

Trusting his own memory, he could confirm that they were not residents living nearby.

Since Jiuchang Street was originally a mixed bag where many outsiders came to look for housing or work, Fang Cheng hadn't paid much attention at first.

However, when he returned home from the club at noon today, he had seen these same few people.

Now that it was almost dark, he could still see them loitering around his home.

It felt somewhat amiss.

It was as if... someone had deliberately stationed them here to keep watch.

Fang Cheng grew vigilant. Through covert observation, he firmly memorized the facial features of each suspicious individual and figured out the general pattern of their movements.

There were five of them in total.

Three of them were responsible for keeping watch at fixed spots within a two-hundred-meter radius around the Tubular Building.

The other two strolled back and forth along Jiuchang Street as if they were just window shopping.

Fang Cheng had a suspicion.

He guessed that someone from the Red Tiger Gang had once run into him on Jiuchang Street.

Thus, they wanted to find his whereabouts here again, while also trying not to alert him.

It was a decent plan.

Realizing they might be coming for him, Fang Cheng began to think of a counterstrategy.

At this moment, the distant setting sun was obscured by high-rise buildings, and the sky was gradually darkening.

Fang Cheng stood in front of the window, coldly watching those people.

The butterfly knife in his hand continuously spun, glinting with a cold light.