Thriller Paradise

"Qie… if not for the damage for my scanning program, this level of illusion…" V1- War God looked at the giant claw that came at him and grumbled with dissatisfaction. He knew very well that this was Freddy's illusion. Normally, with just a simple intrusive scanning, he could download the defensive mechanism and neutralize it. But now… V1- War God had no choice but to turn the target of his aggression around to face the illusion in the air.

The punches cut through the air but it only brought upon the sound of leaves fluttering. The next second, the giant metal claws morphed into millions of flesh-colored moths and landed on V1- War God's body. When the moths opened their wings, the pictures formed were that of many fluttering human faces… they looked creepy and scary.

"a ha ha ha ha ha…" Freddy's laughter echoed in the air. "You will never win this nightmare!"

"So boring!" V1- War God growled and unleashed yet another indiscriminate photon explosion. In the flick of a finger, a circular light ball about 10 metres in diameter expanded from V1's body… the destructive enough crumbled everything it touched into dust.

"Not bad. Ha ha ha…" Freddy was still laughing. "Let me see… how many times you can do that…" He said as another 10 more metallic giant claws reached out from the edge of the roof and surrounded this place.

"Hmph… don't get ahead of yourself." V1- War God scoffed. He slowly lifted his left arm and pointed behind him. "The 'storage of fear energy' of your company… is down that direction, right?"

"You…" Freddy panicked instantly.

"For him, to find out something like that is easy as pie." Feng Bujue chose then to explain. "Electrical system, surveillance system, broadcast system… as long as he could hack into any one of them, he could predict the general structure of the place through the lining of the wiring. Other than that… he could accomplish the same thing through visual scanning of data layer, it will only take more time." Regarding Brother Jue's explanation, Freddy was confused but he had no time to spend on this because he needed to stop V1- War God before he could make his move.

Huff, huff, huff… The metallic claws that dangled in the air slammed down at the same time, they looked at large beasts with long necks. However, V1- War God only responded with derision. He ignored the attack that came from above and used his raised left hand to fire off an energy blast down the direction he was pointing. Half a second later, a light beam shot out from his finger tip like a light lance. There were many small rings of light that surrounded the beam like springs. This might not look as impressive as the energy blast that V1- War God used earlier but Feng Bujue could see how scary it was.

At the same time, the metallic claws all fell and hit their target… V1- War God's body was torn into pieces and disappeared into the cloud of dust. And the energy blast successfully cut through everything in its path and hit the fear energy storage very far away.

"So you used a skill you picked up from the NPC?" Feng Bujue stood in the wind and said calmly.

"Yes… even though that is not something I would do on principle." V1-War God's voice came from the cloud of dust. "But under this circumstance, I believe there is no reason for me to hold onto these so-called principle."

"No, you have not violated any principle." Feng Bujue replied. "Do not forget, you are a data… following the most suitable method and conducting them is your most basic principle."

"Ha ha… you seem to have a point there." V1- War God said with a smile. As they conversed, the cloud dispersed. At the same time, so did the illusions created by Freddy.

"Qie… just a little bit longer…" At that moment, Freddy's voice had turned back to normal and he appeared on the roof.

"Freddy, your power is indeed very trouble." V1 turned around and told the man, "But unfortunately… the weakness is very clear as well, you need 'fear energy' to activate it." He said as he moved his neck as his body recuperated. "To deal with normal human, you would sneak into their deep consciousness when they were asleep or spacing them and kill them through their own fear." He paused. "But facing an opponent like me, you have to rely on external power. Ha ha… so by destroying your source of power, you will be rendered useless."

"Don't get so proud…" Freddy glared viciously at V1- War God, "the show is just beginning…"

As he finished, 7 strange figures, appeared on the different sides of the roof and surrounded this Anomaly who was too proud for his own good.

…

And now we shall return to the underground of Spectre Inc.

"Aiya~ Aiya~" Talim studied the pattern on Xiao Tan's arm and said in pure surprise. "No wonder I can sense you from so far away… this is quite amazing."

"There was once a wound there that was infected by Slowing Dust." Xiao Tan raised his left hand and pointed at the centre of the blood lines with his middle finger. "I do not quite understand what happens after that."

"Oh?" Talim's expression shifted. His 4 pupils turned strangely around. "ha ha… interesting."

"You seem to know something." Xiao Tan said, "Mind explaining it to me?"

"Hmm… Well, I can." Talim paced casually around. "But… what can I get out from it."

"You can walk away with your life." A chilly voice said in response to Talim's question.

"Ha ha ha…" Talim followed the voice and turned, "Now why…" Then he stopped talking. At that moment, Talim matched Ruoyu's gaze. They only locked eyes for 2 seconds but these 2 seconds… were enough…

"Ha… ha ha ha…" Talim soon moved his gaze away. Cold sweat appeared on his forehead and his words started to stammer. "I… I… okay…"

At that moment, of the five present, Greedy Wolf and Tired Dream were still confused but the other three were calm….

"Cough…" Talim cleared his throat to clear away the awkwardness, then he assumed his previous tone and told Xiao Tan. "Erm… theoretically speaking, when dust of time seeps into one's blood, they will soon steal away the 'time' of the cells near the wound and cause irreparable atrophy. But that is not all.. if you do not cut off the affected body part, and allow it to grow… then without too long, the dust will reach the heart through the capillaries and from there reach the rest of your body…"

"But this injury occurred a long time ago." Xiao Tan answered.

"Yes, I know." Talim added. "The reason that did not happen to your hand probably has to do with the unique property you possess as a traveller from another world. But… I cannot explain further about that." He paused for two seconds. "But I believe… it has to be related to that or else the 'time-stealing' effect of the dust of time would not have been stopped."

"Based on what you said…" Soulie intervened. "There are other effects when one's blood is infected by the dust of time?"

"Yes." Talim's expression turned serious as he replied. "When dust of time enters the body of a strong creature from a higher dimension, normally it will lead to two results… one, the dust will be suppressed by the creature's own power and it will lose its effect fully; two… the 'time-stealing' effect of the dust will be suppressed, but the 'time-awakening' effect will be gradually released…"

"Oh~" When Xiao Tan heard this, he seemed to understand something. He mumbled to himself. "So that is what happened…" What Xiao Tan was reminded of was during the Tournament of the Best… when Root used TENDRIL_BARRARE_DEVASTATOR, Xiao Tan used Mantra of Heaven and Earth Inversion to escape into the air but obviously he would be too late. In that moment though the time around him slowed down… when he recovered, he realized he was already more than 100 meters away from Root. Now that he thought about it… it should be then that he had activated the power in his left hand, obtained 'excess time' and escaped from death.

"That is basically it…" Talim said matter-of-factly and added, "Actually you could get these information from anyone at a Time Warden level." His subtitle was, [you can easily find out I am not lying to you.]

"Very good." Xiao Tan's expression returned to normal and he said kindly. "Thank you very much."

Talim's lips twitched twice. "hah… it's nothing." Actually he was thinking. [how unlucky can I get… If I have known, I wouldn't have come. I Should have let the thing play with you, why am I such a busybody!]

"Erm… no, we should thank you, you even helped us kill that giant creature." Tired Dream added.

"Oh… that…" Talim said weakly. "That is just a common nuisance…" he said as he looked around. "This place… is actually the building's trash collection centre. You'll realize that by the smell in the air… and that beast is a original creature that survive on trash. They can be found everywhere over this kingdom, most large public spaces will rear one of them. Normally, they are quite tame. The one before us was hostile because it was controlled by the Anomaly."

"So that's why…" Greedy Wolf said in thought. "It looks like that… the structure of its body and limbs and the mouths on both sides were from the evolution needs from consuming trash…"

"Alright, if there is nothing else, I shall be taking my life… I was here because I sensed the ripple of 'the power of time', I still have something else to do…" When Talim said that, his eyes were on the trio from Underworld Frontline.

"Go." Ruoyu thought for two seconds and said lightly.

Hearing that, Talim was like a prisoner released from the electric chair. "Ha.. ha ha ha… then, this is farewell." He then slowly and cautiously retreated back into the darkness. Even before the King of Demon, he was never so cowed…

…

At the same time, back on the roof.

"The Great Eight Spectres?" V1- War God's giant eye widened and slowly moved around.

Even though he had lost the aid of intrusive scanning and auto-battle analysis program, he could still use visual scanning to collect the data of the eight monsters around him and used analytical model to come up with the battle solution. They were both Anomalies but D1- Drake did not have this power…

As the most 'powerful' creation born for the sake of battle, V1- War God lived up to his name.

"Ha ha ha…" Freddy lifted his head and tipped his hat with his metal claws. He looked at V1 and smiled. "I have not met my old friends in many years already. Tonight, we will let you experience… the true meaning of fear and despair."

"Don't be too careless, ruined face." Before V1 replied, Feng bujue turned around to cut ahead to warn Freddy. "Based on the current condition, it is hard to predict who might win…" Black data flow crossed his eyes rapidly. "I predict… the winning probability of your party is at around 48 percent…"