471: Chapter 9 Fortuitous Encounter (Part 1) 471: Chapter 9 Fortuitous Encounter (Part 1) The unfamiliar young man had fallen unconscious, his body sinking into the strangely altered ground, his clothes soaked with blood.
No matter what malicious intent he had harbored upon arrival, he now lacked the ability to resist.
The trajectory was as eerie as a serpent’s movements, and its speed was as swift as lightning.
“Flash Snake” was a strike focused on speed rather than strength and was suitable for probing before the actual combat began.
However, there were often opponents who couldn’t even withstand this initial test.
It was the right choice to show mercy.
This was good; there was no need to kill.
Now, it was time to leave this place.
She dissolved the long knife in her hand, letting it turn into flowing water that fell.
Her slender figure wove through the alleys like a gust of black wind.
What a chaotic city, just as the rumors said, she thought to herself.
What to do next?
At that moment, she heard footsteps.
Heavy, urgent, striking through viscous liquid, with a sound fueled by anger.
She turned around with slight surprise—
And saw the blood-stained, grey-haired boy running in the moonlight.
·
He had lost consciousness.
It took Gongsun Ce half a second to confirm this.
A pain like his neck had been broken coursed through him, and considering he was merely unconscious rather than severely injured, perhaps he should praise the high level of skill…
But before that, there were more pressing matters to focus on.
The world had tilted ninety degrees, and his vision was a bloody red.
With half his field of view plunged into darkness, his situation was literally “clear at a glance.”
He had been knocked out.
His whole body lay on the ground, half submerged in the misshapen earth, his freshly changed clothes undeniably stained with blood, liquefied concrete with debris flowing into his pockets.
All of this was caused by a stranger’s inexplicable attack.
He had been unconscious for about five seconds – a long time.
He would have been laying there until morning if not for the protective telekinesis.
The attacker’s force was so great that not even his protective power could fully resist it, and with a single strike, he was knocked unconscious.
— What a joke.
Rage surged, dominating the young man’s mind in an instant.
As if igniting the frustrations and indignation accumulated over the past days, his whole body burned with intense heat.
He couldn’t bear it any longer.
What the hell was this?
Attacked and knocked out without a word…!
“— Dammit!”
His form rose from the bloodstains, as eerie as if he were a puppet controlled by invisible strings.
He completely ignored the broken bodies in the alley, extending his telekinetic fibers to their utmost length, striving to capture any trace of the attacker.
His perception stretched along the ground, swirling around the narrow passageways.
Traces, footprints, disturbances in the air, signs of powers…
Found it!
Gongsun Ce sprinted through the alleys.
The telekinesis fortifying his body worked almost violently enough to tear his flesh apart, boosting his speed.
There, the long-haired attacker was looking back in his direction.
Seeing the girl’s expression, Gongsun Ce’s already peaked anger surged yet again.
After all that had happened, she still dared to look so nonchalant, with an unperturbed face!!
Gongsun Ce’s roar echoed in the dead of night.
“Apologize to me!
You uncouth woman!”
“Ah?”
For a moment, the girl let out a startled exclamation.
But the enraged Superpower User was too impatient for more words, launching his telekinetic strands before he spoke, binding the unfamiliar Superpower User firmly like ropes.
“Stay right there!
Is your first reaction after attacking a stranger really to think about running?!”
The grey-haired youth was furious.
Every action this girl took pushed his patience to the limit; it had been a long time since he had encountered such senseless combat!
“Even if it’s a misunderstanding, it’s unacceptable!
Besides, do you realize the situation you’re in—?!”
He stopped abruptly, mid-sentence.
Something was “off” about the feedback from his power.
The strands had indeed wrapped around her, but considering the physical abilities the girl had demonstrated, Gongsun Ce had deliberately controlled his output, using his real power without directly damaging her flesh.
Without any exaggeration, the level of force he applied was enough to effortlessly lift a small building—it was overkill for restraining a human.
However, the feedback from the invisible force told a drastically different story.
The strands that wrapped around her seemed as if they were “sitting” on her clothes, having no substantial effect.
The body that appeared frail concealed a power beyond his wildest expectations.
Despite her being only slightly taller than average, Gongsun Ce felt as if he was trying to restrain a thirty-meter-long bio-engineered berserker bear.
No, more exaggerated than that, he had a similar experience before…
“!”
He remembered—like with the giant dragon.
When Morton had attempted to restrain the giant dragon, he had felt this same helplessness!
Realizing his mistake, Gongsun Ce hurriedly increased his power, but it was too late to correct his initial miscalculation.
With a shake of her arms, the girl shrugged off his bindings.
She said nothing, only leaping towards the sky.
If this continued, she would surely escape!
Putting further thought aside, Gongsun Ce mobilized new power.
White material appeared out of thin air above the alley, forming a low canopy.
The unfamiliar girl, caught unprepared by this development, reflexively slapped the wall in an attempt to change direction.
“—Don’t even think about it!”
At the same time, Gongsun Ce used his superpower to accelerate and rush forward.
He decided to take a more secure approach and physically subdue her!
However, Gongsun Ce overlooked one thing.
When it came to using white matter, Gongsun Ce was a complete novice.
He hadn’t completely familiarized himself with the new power he’d acquired, let alone learned to use it proficiently.
So when the idea of “subduing” her came to his mind, the white matter dome promptly fell, like an ancient mechanism in an adventure movie, pressing down on both of them!
The girl, hovering in mid-air, had a look of surprise in her eyes.
The boy, frantically running, wore an expression of shock.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment, with only the falling white matter faithfully advancing the physical progression of time.
With a muffled thud and a cloud of dust, the white matter loyally executed the command of the young man with gray hair, pressing them down thoroughly – in a face-to-face position.
“…”
Gongsun Ce was at a loss for words.
His back was firmly against the falling white matter, his eyes fixed on the girl’s delicate face, the distance between two strangers so close they almost touched each other’s noses.
He instinctively tried to prop himself up, to at least get out of this awkward position, but found his right hand once again trapped in the mire-like ground.
And his left hand…
where was his left hand?
Gongsun Ce’s gaze naturally shifted downward, glancing past the girl’s icy stare, her beautiful face, her pale neck, her brown short-sleeved shirt, and then the part that couldn’t show any curve and could only be described as “disappointing.”
“…”
Damn it.
Damn it damn it damn it.
With all his might, Gongsun Ce yelled, “Withdraw!
Withdraw!!
Withdraw!!!”
Finally, his power responded to his will, and the white matter vanished.
He immediately straightened up, raised his hands high, and said rapidly, “I’m so sorry, very sorry, let’s not talk about the previous incident, this was my mistake, you can do whatever you want, but please hear me out for just a moment!”
Gongsun Ce closed his eyes tightly, braced himself for the backlash, and made his most sincere final plea.
“——I thought I was supporting the ground, I really didn’t feel anything!”
Smack!
Gongsun Ce had just experienced what could be the top three most embarrassing moments of his life and then heard the loudest slap he had ever heard.
He was infinitely glad that he had strengthened his body with telekinesis; otherwise, his head would have separated from his body and shot up like a champagne cork.
“Pervert!”
There it was, the scolding.
What else could be done?
He really couldn’t say anything more.
Being hit and being molested were entirely different matters.
If Gongsun Ce was full of righteous indignation when he chased after her, he was now utterly without dignity.
He cracked his eyes open slightly and was very surprised to see that the girl still maintained her mask-like composure.
Maybe she wasn’t that angry…?
As he thought this, Gongsun Ce noticed the air around him was getting thin.
The gases seemed solidified by some force, becoming a pitch-black dagger in her hands.
With a lack of strength, Gongsun Ce said, “You’re not really going to kill someone over this…”
What welcomed him was a blade light like thunder, accompanied by the girl’s fierce shout.
“Scoundrel!
Give me back my innocence!”
Oh, my God.
What era’s young lady have you time-traveled from?
·
In conclusion, Gongsun Ce was unilaterally attacked for half an hour.
During those chaotic thirty minutes, his mastery of white matter improved significantly because it was extremely difficult to defend himself with telekinesis alone without harming someone.
After half an hour of rapid pursuit, Gongsun Ce, who was now more familiar with white matter, came up with an excellent idea.
He used a large amount of white matter to create a cube and locked himself inside, not even leaving a single vent.
No matter how skillful the girl’s techniques or how strange her abilities, it’d be difficult for her to break this power inherited from the Knight of Dawn.
If there wasn’t enough air inside the white matter prison, he’d have to find a way to secretly make a small vent…
“Miss Unknown?
You must be tired by now, can we take a break for now, please?”
Boom!
Boom!
Outside the white matter prison, there were continuous blasts like missile bombardments.
The whole cube trembled like a shabby house during an earthquake, scaring Gongsun Ce into adding several new layers of defense inside.
Is she a body enhancement type or an energy projection type?
Surely she’s not an Impermanence Law Enforcer??
The pretty girl looked dainty but fought as fiercely as the comic book giants he remembered from X.
The commotion alone was enough to shake him to the core.
She was definitely a newcomer; if there had been such a notable figure in the City of Azure before, he would have known about her.
“Can we settle this temporarily?” Gongsun Ce said cautiously, “Mr.
Gongsun, at most, made a mistake in self-defense.
If we have to talk about it, it’s actually you who started it…”
There was temporary silence outside the prison.
A few seconds later, Gongsun Ce’s world turned upside down.
The 360° rotating view and strong impact made him feel like a hapless hamster.
He immediately imagined the scene outside – this damned girl had lifted the whole white matter prison!
She was smashing it to the ground like a monster in the movies!
Gongsun Ce sighed deeply, deeply.
He tried running two powers simultaneously – it was extremely difficult, almost causing him to feel like he was having a mental breakdown – but in the end, his extensive combat experience came into play.
Telekinesis lifted the prison, floating it about 20 meters high.
Gongsun Ce carefully made a small opening and looked down.
As expected, the girl stood on the ground, her eyes showing anger mixed with lingering embarrassment.
Even at this point, she still maintained her expressionless face, which made Gongsun Ce feel that nowadays, girls really go to great lengths for their image.
The surrounding environment was a complete mess due to their powers.
To prevent her from launching spear or arrow attacks again, Gongsun Ce decided to take the initiative, sharing the most critical piece of information to shift her attention.
“——Calm down, I know you didn’t do those things!”