What to Do When the Enemy Is Hiding in a Small Shelter or Fortress?
Combat Strategy: Direct Grenade Explosion.
All the windows simultaneously blasted outwards. The intense shockwave, carrying large amounts of air, dust, and debris, erupted, turning the surrounding streets into utter chaos in an instant.
A silhouette emerged from the dust, rapidly ascending into the sky with the help of jetpack. However, before he could fully escape the scene, more drone beams had already locked onto his figures.
"Hmph." Lu Zhongyou said coldly from the outside, "The outcome is decided."
"Cheng Jinyang was too hasty." Seeing Cui Jinqi's puzzled expression, Lu Qingyun explained, "The correct strategy for this level is to use the environment and outmaneuver the drone swarm while ensuring one's survival. The essence lies in 'utilizing the environment.'"
"The highly complex urban combat environment, the presence of up to 1000 enemy units, and the combination of assassination, sniping, and explosive attacks are all designed to test the challenger's ability to use the environment and survive under high pressure. In a level with such design intentions, adopting flight mode is a fatal trap."
"Flying seems to greatly enhance mobility. But can your speed outmatch the targeting and shooting of a massive number of drones? Taking off from the ground into the air means giving up the cover provided by the complex ground environment. Getting shot down is only a matter of time."
"Then why did you deliberately equip him with a jetpack..." Cui Jinqi was almost speechless. Wasn't this a deliberate attempt to lure him into a cognitive trap?
"He's a member of the Shendu Cheng family. If we hadn't equipped him with a jetpack, he would accuse our Fanyang Lu family of deliberately making things difficult for him." Lu Zhongyou sneered, "Even with the jetpack, he can't pass the level. I'd like to see what excuses they have left!"
Including Cheng Yuexian, all the members of the Cheng family on-site glared angrily at him.
"Equipping him with a jetpack, yet choosing a test level unfavorable for flying, isn't that exactly making things difficult for him?" Cui Jinqi, unable to stand his arrogant demeanor, retorted sarcastically.
"How does it concern you whether I make things difficult for the Shendu Cheng family?" Lu Zhongyou raised an eyebrow and taunted, "Are you planning to marry into their family, Cui Jinqi?"
"You!" Cui Jinqi's face turned red with anger. She understood perfectly well that his use of "marry into" wasn't simply referring to a woman getting married, but specifically meant a high-status woman lowering herself to marry into a lower-status family, which would be a source of ridicule among the aristocracy.
However, she was also quick-witted and retorted sarcastically, "Yes, why not? He, being of the eighth grade, is valued by the Emperor and sent to the battlefield. While some people of the eighth grade still suckle at home, needing his younger sister to accompany him for social events because his elders are worried about him. Isn't it obvious who I'd prefer?"
"You!" Lu Zhongyou felt an immediate impulse to hit her, his fist clenching once again. However, Lu Qingyun quickly gave him a warning look, calming him down.
Provoking the Shendu Cheng family was fine here, but unnecessarily offending the Qinghe Cui family wasn't wise. Though Cui Jinqi, the young lady, had a poor reputation among the young aristocrats, she was still a legitimate daughter of one of the Five Great Families.
If Lu Zhongyou started a fierce conflict with her for the sake of the Cheng family, his reputation among his elders would also be affected.
"Qingyun, thank goodness you're here." Cui Jinqi hid behind Lu Qingyun, pretending to be scared, and muttered, "I just thought your brother was going to bite someone."
Lu Qingyun was both amused and exasperated. Hitting someone might be understandable, but biting? What do you think my brother is, a dog?
Then she recalled Cheng Jinyang's earlier remark about "the way of the dog" and couldn't help but laugh.
"Empty words!" Lu Zhongyou fumed, unable to find a comeback. He could only shake his sleeve angrily and say, "I won't argue with you. Let's see how you defend him when he loses!"
"Tch!" Cui Jinqi snorted dismissively and continued watching the screen with Lu Qingyun.
Huh?
She rubbed her eyes and confirmed the numbers on the screen.
Meanwhile, the Lu siblings also noticed something was off.
Wait!
We just had a brief argument, no more than half a minute, right? How did the numbers on the screen change to 831?
In about 30 seconds, more than 100 drones had been taken out!
"Replay the footage!" Lu Zhongyou quickly ordered.
Cheng Yuexian operated quietly, switching the live stream to recording mode, and quickly rewound the footage.
The group saw Cheng Jinyang leveraging the explosion's force to propel himself out of the store, climbing to about the height of the third floor when the first wave of beams suddenly shot towards him.
As he was flying through the air, Cheng Jinyang suddenly dived and rolled sideways, dodging all the high-energy lasers. At the same time, bullets from his gun sprayed backwards, shattering the nearest drones with rapid fire.
Lu Qingyun's mouth opened slightly, Lu Zhongyou's eyes widened, Cheng Yuexian stared blankly at the screen, and Cui Jinqi covered her mouth with her hand—seeing the Lu siblings' stunned expressions, she feared she might burst out laughing.
Incredible!
How did he do that?
Qingyun had just said, "Flying in this level is actually a trap," but he took off anyway, casually dodging all the attacks and destroying a dozen drones in the process!
"It's a coincidence!" Lu Zhongyou suddenly shouted, "It must be..."
He was about to say "He just happened to dodge them," when he saw Cheng Jinyang make another short emergency maneuver, narrowly avoiding two beams.
Without anyone prompting, Cheng Yuexian replayed the footage:
The drones' attacks were clearly accurate, with the laser targeting his path and the timing perfectly calculated.
However, he seized the fraction of a second between the drones' aiming and firing to make two emergency direction changes, barely escaping the laser's path and creating an exaggerated zigzag pattern.
"He must be cheating," Lu Zhongyou stammered out, but even he felt ashamed and embarrassed after saying it.
No one responded.
Even he realized that under these circumstances—where the software was provided by the Fanyang Lu family and the entire process was recorded and would be reviewed—if Cheng Jinyang could still cheat without anyone noticing, the Lu family's tech prowess would be less than that of a network administrator.
The room fell into an awkward silence.
It was still September, and the remnants of the summer heat lingered, so the air conditioning was on full blast. However, Lu Zhongyou felt sweaty, dry-mouthed, and at a loss.
He suddenly realized something he had overlooked from the beginning:
From past family discussions, it was clear that the current emperor was not the kind to appoint people based on favoritism. This meant that if the emperor wanted Cheng Jinyang on the battlefield, there must be a logical and convincing reason.
Now, that reason was obvious.
This test level was designed by the Fanyang Lu family to train their secret guards, with a passing requirement of shooting down 600 drones in 30 minutes, averaging over 20 drones per minute.
However, the Lu family's secret guards had to be at least of the sixth grade!
Cheng Jinyang managed to shoot down over a hundred drones in just half a minute. At this rate, he could easily achieve a perfect score...
A supernatural of the eighth grade achieving a perfect score in a test for sixth-grade supernaturals meant he could perform at the sixth grade level on the battlefield.
What a cunning Cheng clan leader, hiding his true strength and waiting to reveal it until I challenged him, making me look foolish!
Wait, even if the family elders didn't know his true strength, they knew the emperor wouldn't act without reason. They must have suspected something. So why send me to question the Shendu Cheng clan?
Could it be because this project was led by the Fanyang Lu family, and the emperor's interference required the family to push back to avoid seeming weak to the aristocracy?
And my rash, impulsive nature made me the perfect tool to confront the imperial family... also serving to humiliate me as a lesson and punishment.
Realizing this, he angrily glared at his sister.
Qingyun must have known, but why didn't she warn me earlier?
Lu Qingyun blinked, facing her brother's belatedly reproachful glare, and responded with a gentle smile.