Chapter 708: Second Thrust

Two figures were fighting each other in the dark alley.

One of them was so agile and swift that he had unquestionably exceeded the human body's limits. It could perform incredible movements at critical moments. In contrast, the movements of his opponent were obviously slower. However, this opponent managed to block the swift attacks with the lone Tachi in his hand, like a rock on the shore—no matter how the wind and waves beat it, it still stood resolute.

Shen Xixi leaned against the wall and opened her eyes secretly. She was also the only witness to the battle tonight.

She was admittedly quite surprised when she learned that Simon ranked first in the proxy war's first round. The impression that Zhang Heng used to give her was that of a calm and reliable man. She had never seen him engaged in a battle before. In Dreamland of Death, the two had acted separately from the beginning, and during the Sphinx incident, Zhang Heng only showed that he could drive well and rescue Rabbit in time.

Tonight was the first time she witnessed Zhang Heng fighting. And she finally understood how he could get such a high score in the first proxy-war quest. His speed, strength, reflexes, and sense of balance were extraordinary. Although nowhere nearly as dextrous as Spider-Man, he still beat out most ordinary people. Clearly, Zhang Heng had undergone a lot of training to get to where he was today. What surprised Shen Xixi was Zhang Heng's skills on the sword and his combat experience.

Shen Xixi, a player herself, knew a thing or two about the skills that one could learn throughout the duration of a quest. Generally, most players had skills of Lv.0 and Lv.1. Those who possessed Lv.2 skills were relatively rare, considered as semi-experts in their related fields. As for players who possessed Lv.3 skills, these were one in a million. Most of them were players that practiced serious disciplines, and many played the role of team strategist.

Almost all the top guilds would treat these Lv.3 skilled players differently. As long as they had one Lv.3 skill, the three major guilds would offer generous benefits to recruit the player.

Shen Xixi figured that Zhang Heng had an Lv.2 driving skill, an unknown level of deduction skill, an Lv.2 shooting, and makeup skills. For the average player, this was their limit. Even if they had other skills, they would stay at Lv.0 for most of their journey. That was because everyone had limited energy to spend.

However, the sword skills Zhang Heng unleashed tonight were estimated to have reached Lv.3. Shen Xixi even suspected that it might have surpassed Lv.3. However, she had never seen an Lv.4 skill before. The results were inconclusive. With only a single Tachi, Zhang Heng managed to take on the Spider-Man, which possessed extraordinary power. This surely wasn't how a person with an Lv.3 skill performed.

Shen Xixi still could not figure out how Zhang Heng managed to accumulate so much combat experience. This was not something that could be faked or made quickly. It could only be earned through enduring battle after battle. The combat experience Zhang Heng demonstrated made Shen Xixi wonder if he had been fighting since he was born. Even if she factored in the time he spent in the dungeons, it was almost impossible for anyone to have such rich combat experience.

...

As Shen Xixi entered a state of trance, Zhang Heng and Spider-Man on the other side had understood each other's strength after a round of fighting and testing. Both sides knew that Zhang Heng could never defeat the Spider-Man with the Tachi he held. Even if he could land a successful hit on his opponent, he would not be able to deal much damage. From the very beginning, Spider-Man had been trying his best to behave like a human, pretending to avoid Zhang Heng's attacks. If his body composition were similar to that of the Sphinx they had dealt with, this Spider-Man would have no physical weakness.

Other than that, the trick Zhang Heng used to deal with the Sphinx earlier was estimated to be useless on Spider-Man. It seemed the enemy had learned lessons from previous battles. This "Iron Spider" suit looked like it was made of some kind of insulating material where an electric shock would not affect or destroy the components inside his body.

Fortunately, Zhang Heng was well prepared for such a situation.

He no longer focussed on defending this time, and in a jiffy, changed to an offensive fighting style. His attacks got faster, and after a while, he managed to back Spider-Man up against the wall. Zhang Heng then leaped and threw away the Tachi in his hand.

Spider-Man tilted his head, seemingly puzzled by Zhang Heng's actions. But then he noticed that Shen Xixi was no longer standing there. At some point, Shen Xixi had snapped back to reality, ran back to the trash can, took out a large travel bag from it, and passed the anti-material rifle to Zhang Heng.

This was the first time Spider-Man witnessed a criminal working together with the victim. He was left startled for a while. Zhang Heng did not waste this precious opportunity, and he instantly got down on the ground and aimed at the nearby Spider-Man with the anti-material rifle.

The previous battle with the Sphinx confirmed that ordinary bullets were useless against these things. However, the anti-material rifle's explosive bullets would explode when they landed on the target. It would then produce two times the force of the explosion to penetrate the armor.

When Spider-Man saw the anti-material rifle, he realized that his situation was turning for the worse. Immediately, he tried to make a run for it. Just when he raised his hand and was about to shoot a web to the wall, he was hit on his wrist. If this shot hit an ordinary person, the entire hand would have been blown off. With this mechanical body, however, Spider-Man's defense might simply be better than the original. The shot had destroyed his Web-Shooter, though, rendering him unable to shoot out webs.

Afterward, Zhang Heng fired a second shot, hitting the spider mark on Spider-Man's chest, sending him flying. The creature finally stopped moving when he landed on the ground.

"Did you kill it?" Shen Xixi asked.

"It looks dead," Zhang Heng replied.

After that, the two walked up to get a closer look at Spider-Man's corpse. However, just as Zhang Heng turned it over, Spider-Man opened his eyes again. He was about land a kick on Zhang Heng's chest, but Zhang Heng managed to step back to avoid the attack. When Zhang Heng turned around again, Spider-Man had already jumped onto the wall, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

Zhang Heng didn't panic. He deliberately missed the target's vital spots because his target was neither Spider-Man nor Master Yoda. He wanted to know who the mastermind was.

After the injured Spider-Man had gone for a while, Zhang Heng took out his mobile phone from his pocket.

"Is the tracker installed?"

"Well, let's get back in the car. Let's see where he takes us."