Chapter 316 Tiger Hall

Ling Mo’s current battle armor form has basically reached the final version, version V9.0, and there’s no more upgrading it—at least for now. The defensive capabilities are at his current limit of manifestation technology, and though there might be breakthroughs in the future, he doesn’t see any hope in the short term.

So this battle armor might be with him for quite a while, but up till now, he really hasn’t properly tested its limits—like its resistance to hits and such.

When it comes to testing, neither taking off the armor to measure nor standing still to let monsters pound on him can compare to having someone else wear the armor for a real-life or death showdown.

After all, in actual combat, there are various unforeseen changes; testing it while taking it off is too limited, while standing still for the monsters to hit him is similar in nature, and it could very well lead to life-threatening situations. After all, no matter how strong Ling Mo is, he’s still human flesh and blood. If he chooses not to use his abilities, a single bullet could still take him out, making it challenging to find the right balance.

As for testing in dungeons or private spaces… well, there’s another issue—Ling Mo might not be able to create or find a suitable testing scenario. “Realm of Divine Presence” isn’t like typical RPGs where you can just draw a monster and keep it aggro; in this game, you often end up being the one getting ganged up on…

Although the environment in the private space might be decent, Ling Mo can’t create monsters that support testing—game limitations apply; otherwise, if a player becomes too strong and summons a monster twice their strength… who knows, that monster might directly break into the real world.

After all, “Realm of Divine Presence” isn’t an actual game, and such situations could certainly occur, so there have to be restrictions.

Ling Mo had previously fretted over this, but he never expected a testing opportunity to present itself in this manner.

Meanwhile, Xia Xinyan and Tiger Ba Tian, relegated to the spectator seats, found themselves watching a high-intensity fireworks show.

After shaking off the haunting influence from that dungeon’s ghost realm, Ling Mo’s true power and his terrifying ability to control explosions to his will surprised Tiger Ba Tian, who couldn’t help but exclaim, “When we encountered that replicant earlier, we really thought it was Brother Ling, wondering if he had lost his mind due to this area and weakened… But looking at it now, his strength is considerably stronger than during that dungeon encounter!”

The Chicken Head couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

This made him realize one thing—explosive guys are not to be trifled with.

Previously, when they were being pushed hard by that replicant, it felt pretty tricky, likely because they didn’t want to hurt the other party and had only been on the defensive… but the overwhelming feeling of being bombarded was pretty similar.

Now, the authentic Ling Mo turned the oppressive atmosphere up a few notches—so much so that even the spectators could clearly feel it.

However, perhaps because that replicant was too resilient, or maybe the battle armor was just too tough; anyway, everyone watched the explosions for quite a while and didn’t see that replicant fall.

By the way, this scene looked rather fantastical—two identical people throwing various explosives at each other, giving off the vibe of players in a fighting game who had chosen the same character and were hurling their ultimate moves at one another… it felt as if they were playing a game, despite being in the real world.

Even the Chicken Head felt a bit dizzy watching.

He rubbed his eyes, then turned to Xia Xinyan nearby—who was holding a steel kite: “Ahem, may I dare to ask if you are engaging in performance art or something?”

Upon hearing this, Xia Xinyan looked up at Tang Tang still soaring in the sky.

The girl seemed captivated by the preceding battle, now too absorbed to shout, just fiddling around with the kite while watching.

Xia Xinyan then met Chicken Head’s gaze: “Do you want to fly up too?”

“No, no, no, I’ll pass.” Chicken Head quickly shook his head.

Xia Xinyan didn’t press the issue further but asked, “Are you from around here? Or did you come in to rescue someone?”

“Neither,” Chicken Head glanced at Tiger Ba Tian and explained, “We’re from the neighboring city, and our boss just happened to bring us over to expand our business. Then we ran into this situation and got trapped, so we came to lend a hand.”

After a pause, he asked with a hint of curiosity, “I’ve heard this incident involves a lot of organizations. When we came over, we saw many people rushing this way.”

Xia Xinyan responded with a question of her own: “Like what specifically?”

“New Dawn, plus a bunch from the Investigation Bureau.” Tiger Ba Tian, who had somehow approached, chimed in, “I’ve heard that New Dawn and the Investigation Bureau are pretty tight now? Isn’t New Dawn primarily controlled by the Summer Family? Doesn’t Miss Xia know about this?”

Xia Xinyan didn’t confirm or deny: “I just want to know if there are any other forces involved.”

“Oh, there are plenty,” Tiger Ba Tian shrugged, “Now that the game has thrown reality into chaos, even a small area can have four to five small groups or forces springing up. Who knows how many unknown characters are involved in such a big mess? People like us probably don’t even register on the radar.”

Xia Xinyan followed up with interest: “People like you?”

“Does Miss Xia still not know?” Tiger Ba Tian paused, then laughed, “My bad for not introducing myself earlier—allow me to formally introduce us; we belong to Tiger Hall, and I’m the boss. But it’s just a name to sound impressive; the folks in the hall are pretty easy to get along with.”

Just as his words fell, the fight on Ling Mo’s side finally came to an end. The battle armor was strong, but there is still a limit. Under Ling Mo’s intense barrage, that replicant couldn’t hold out for long and was ultimately obliterated by the bundle of cluster bombs Ling Mo threw.

However, the series of explosions also attracted several other replicants, prompting everyone to leave quickly and relocate to a much safer place.

Meanwhile, the fat guy sent Ling Mo a communication, asking about the source of the explosions—after all, in such a calm environment, nearly everyone could hear the ruckus, making it practically a location signal.

However, the fat guy and the others couldn’t come over right away. Once they entered the main affected area, the hidden replicants would basically all reveal themselves, indicating that the source of the invasion was nearby, but it also somewhat hindered most of the teams’ movements.

Moreover, the affected area wasn’t quiet anymore; although it wasn’t as loud as the earlier fireworks display, all sorts of chaotic sounds filled the area… it had that festive feel.

It also meant things were getting interesting.

   

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