Chapter 15 Fifth of February, Zero Hour

February 5th, midnight.

Feng Bujue, as usual, went to sleep in his game pod, logging into Thriller Paradise in sleep mode.

Upon entering the login space, he first checked his friend list, and after confirming that both Xu Huaishang and Miss An were "in the game," he leisurely began to process his mail.

With the wedding date approaching, Xiao Tan and Xiao Ling had been busy these past few days scouting locations in Europe, so they were basically offline.

As for Ruoyu, who "hits anyone she meets," her situation had improved recently; at least, she could pass through airport security without any issues… Therefore, she and her parents had also gone to Europe with Xiao Ling and the others to help out.

In summary, this week, the only Hell Frontline members actually active online were Brother Jue, Xu Huaishang, and An Yueqin.

Normally, the three of them teaming up would be fine, but… due to the various restrictions Xu Huaishang faced after leaving Red Cherry, her character's raw power had been greatly reduced, and she needed a buffer period to raise her level and equipment… Therefore, without enough people for a six-person team, Feng Bujue, a teammate who would obviously raise the difficulty of the script, had become a burden.

In the end, Brother Jue decided to let Goddess Xu and Miss An team up together; the two of them were at similar levels, and An Yueqin, as a support-type player, could coordinate with anyone, making her the perfect person to help Xu Huaishang through her buffer period.

As for Feng Bujue himself… he was back to being a lone wolf.

"Hmm… the number is smaller than before, but the content…" While deleting emails, Feng Bujue noticed that he, the "Hell Frontline Guild Leader," seemed to have been mistaken for a "spokesperson for Xu Huaishang's guild," and many fans who had been blocked by Goddess Xu were trying to take a "circumvention" route through Brother Jue, hoping to get their messages across.

To these fervent requests, Feng Bujue naturally responded by blocking them all without a second thought, eliminating any future worries…

"Phew… done." Brother Jue spent three minutes scanning through the emails, then turned around, pressed a button, and went to the Mall Space.

As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, Feng Bujue headed straight for the Puzzle Card Exchange, because he had just seen a system notification email saying that the puzzle card he had listed there had been traded.

Long story short, when Feng Bujue returned to his storage room, his inventory contained two more puzzle cards that he had exchanged for the [Puzzle Card - Sparrow] and [Puzzle Card - White].

"Finally… I've got them all…" Feng Bujue muttered as he took out the five puzzle cards he had stored in his warehouse, "This combination… it'd be an overstatement to say it'll produce a Super-God tier equipment, wouldn't it?"

A week ago, after completing the Monster Kingdom Defense War, Brother Jue received the reward of "four selectable puzzle cards"; at the time, after some consideration, he combined them with a card he already had in his warehouse and envisioned a series that required seven cards.

Today, upon returning from the exchange, he had finally gathered all seven cards and was ready to exchange them for equipment.

[A possible combination sequence has been detected]

After clicking the "Combine" option in the virtual menu, the system voice sounded:

Set Name: [Hulu Brothers], combination can be formed by consuming [Puzzle Card - Strength], [Puzzle Card - Eyes and Ears], [Puzzle Card - Steel], [Puzzle Card - Fire], [Puzzle Card - Water], [Puzzle Card - Invisibility], [Puzzle Card - Lockdown].

These seven cards undoubtedly represented the seven abilities of the Hulu Brothers; among them, the four cards with clear indications, "Strength," "Eyes and Ears," "Invisibility," and "Lockdown," were all obtained by Feng Bujue using the "selectable puzzle card" reward, one "Steel" card was one he already possessed, and the "Fire" and "Water" cards, which were more common, were obtained from the exchange.

[You have chosen to generate the set combination: Hulu Brothers, please confirm this operation.]

After Brother Jue confirmed, the seven cards transformed into white light and recombined into a single, colorful card printed with the seven Hulu Brothers.

[The set has been generated, would you like to exchange it for equipment?]

Feng Bujue examined the card for a few seconds, then chose "Yes"; after the "Hulu Brothers Card" also turned into white light and dissipated, he walked towards the flip-drawer-style iron gate on the wall.

When he placed his hand on the metal handle, Brother Jue was quite nervous; after all… if the equipment he had exchanged for with a whole seven puzzle cards turned out to be a dud, he would really be beyond tears.

Clang—

When the flip-drawer was opened, the thing that fell out didn't look like a weapon, nor did it seem like armor that could be worn, so the result was obvious: like [just_we], this was a special equipment…

[Name: Seven-Colored Lotus]

[Type: Composite Weapon]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Attack Power: ???]

[Defense Power: ???]

[Attribute: ???]

[Effect: Fusion Refinement (Can only be used once)]

[Usage Condition: Universal Specialization A (This item is bound upon pickup)]

[Remarks: Can refine seven weapons and equipment into one, merging them into a new weapon and equipment; when refining, one weapon and equipment must be selected as the main body; the attributes and effects of the refined item are randomly generated and are unrelated to the quality, attributes, effects, or quantity of the refining materials; the quality of the refined item will definitely be Legendary and will retain the basic appearance of the main body.]

"Hmm…" Feng Bujue pondered after reading the item description, "As expected, it's a good thing… This is much better than randomly giving out a weapon or equipment that may not be suitable for the player; it's like letting me decide the type of item myself."

Indeed, the function of this [Seven-Colored Lotus] was to allow players to selectively DIY legendary equipment.

The remarks clearly stated that "the quality of the generated item will definitely be Legendary" and "the attributes of the refined item are random and unrelated to the refining materials" to remind players that there was no need to gather seven ridiculously powerful items to combine; even if you used seven pieces of trash to combine, the final quality would still be Legendary, and the effects would always depend on luck.

The "retain the appearance of the main body" aspect was to allow players to decide what the refined legendary equipment would ultimately be.

For example, players who were skilled with guns could obtain a gun as the main body for refinement and choose whether they wanted a pistol, rifle, shotgun, or sniper rifle; players who were skilled with melee weapons could use whatever they wanted, whether it was a knife, spear, sword, halberd, axe, hook, fork, tang, club, staff, whip, mace, hammer, or claw… just find one with a satisfactory appearance and refine it.

Similarly, the same applied to armor: chest armor, shoulder armor, helmet, leg guards… the [Seven-Colored Lotus] could turn any piece of equipment into a legendary item.

For players like Feng Bujue, who weren't very lucky when it came to "randomness," this kind of reward that allowed him to "choose to a certain extent" was much better than directly giving him a legendary item.

"So… which one should I use?" After figuring out the ins and outs of this item, Brother Jue began to carefully consider which legendary equipment he needed to supplement.

Brother Jue wasn't lacking in skills right now, so improving his weapons and equipment became the top priority.

"As expected… it should still be 'that' one; it's easy to use." Feng Bujue thought for a while, revealed a smile, and then… took out a pipe wrench from his inventory.

All along, Brother Jue had been using strange weapons, such as kitchen knives, pipe wrenches, military shovels, small knives, rat hammers… he had basically gotten used to using these shorter, unconventional weapons for combat; in the time since he lost the [Blade of Must Break Defense], he had not found a weapon that could replace its function. As a level fifty-seven player, not even having a handy main weapon was a bit unreasonable.

Therefore, he ultimately chose the first main weapon he had used in the game—[Mario's Pipe Wrench].

After deciding on the "main body for refinement," the rest was easy…

Feng Bujue currently had plenty of storage space; his warehouse was filled with a lot of "trash" that he was planning to accumulate and then sell to the shop, as well as "fuel" that he had stored for the pulverizer… Including the [Children's Bat] that Doctor Manhattan had given him when restoring his equipment last time, he casually rummaged through his warehouse and found six weapons and equipment of varying qualities, from "decrepit" to "fine."

After gathering the materials, Brother Jue immediately used [Mario's Pipe Wrench] as the main body and activated the [Seven-Colored Lotus]'s effect.

[Please note that this operation is irreversible; please confirm again.]

As expected, in situations where a large number of items were consumed, including valuable items, the system would provide a reminder.

[Confirmed, refinement begins.]

The moment Feng Bujue confirmed, the items he had spread out on the table transformed into seven-colored lights, gathering into the [Seven-Colored Lotus].

[Please wait patiently for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.]

"Huh?" Brother Jue was stunned when he heard this prompt, "It's not even using 'minutes' to measure time…"

Sayings like "the time it takes for an incense stick to burn" or "the time it takes to drink a cup of tea" could be long or short; because incense sticks could be long or short, and the time it took to drink tea varied in different seasons, this "time it takes for an incense stick to burn" from the system was really hard to estimate.

In addition, the "refinement" process in front of him was more complicated than Brother Jue had imagined; it felt like refining immortal pills in an alchemy furnace. As the [Seven-Colored Lotus] on the table constantly changed and emitted the seven colors of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, Feng Bujue's white storage room also kept changing colors, and the entire room was shrouded in a charming atmosphere.

"What's with the feeling of being in a disco from more than half a century ago…" Feng Bujue, standing by the table, was inexplicably a little annoyed, partly because the light was dizzying and partly because he hated this kind of waiting time that was "neither long nor short" but didn't have a clear duration.

As a result, he waited for more than twenty minutes…

Just as Brother Jue was thinking about whether to take out a jewel and play some racquetball, suddenly… he heard a "bang," and the lotus on the table unexpectedly exploded without warning.

Of course, this explosion wouldn't cause any real damage; it just burst out a cloud of colorful smoke.

Feng Bujue didn't even wait for the smoke to dissipate before reaching out and grabbing the weapon on the table that had already been "refined."

[Name: Z-Pipe Wrench]

[Type: Composite Weapon]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Attack Power: Extremely High]

[Attribute: Ice, Fire]

[Effect 1: Automatically absorbs kinetic energy during strikes to charge itself]

[Effect 2: Can transform into nunchucks after charging to 30%]

[Effect 3: Both ends will be imbued with Ice and Fire attributes after charging to 50%]

[Effect 4: Will gain the "Combo" ability after charging to 80%; repeated strikes on the same target within a certain period of time will gradually increase its damage]

[Effect 5: After charging to 100%, will always cause a "Critical Hit" when attacking and hitting the head of any creature]

[Effect 6: If the combo count reaches 70 and the critical hit count reaches 7 within a certain period of time, you can enter "Z Mode"; in this mode, the Z-Pipe Wrench's attack will ignore defense, and the user will receive a periodic speed boost buff]

[Effect 7: In "Z Mode," you can use "Z Burst" once, releasing all the accumulated kinetic energy from the start of this battle, dealing a devastating blow; after releasing, you will exit Z Mode, and the charge will return to 0%]

[Equipment Condition: Melee Specialization S or Machinery Specialization S (Bound upon Pickup)]

[Remarks: The experience of most of us buying nunchucks is the same: one day, we watched a kung fu movie, then impulsively went and bought a pair; after returning home, we excitedly beat ourselves up with them, then either put them on a shelf or simply returned them…

There is no doubt that this is a weapon that requires a very high level of skill; strong physical fitness will not help you master it better; it will only help it hit you harder; if you are not confident in your skills, it is recommended to stay in "pipe wrench mode" to fight, but if you can use it well, the Z-Pipe Wrench will be the king of melee weapons.]

"Huh?" After reading the item description, Feng Bujue immediately complained, "I chose this refinement because I was comfortable using the pipe wrench, but after refining it, you're telling me that I have to use 'nunchuck mode' to unleash its power?"

Even though he faintly felt like he had been tricked, since things had come to this, he couldn't possibly throw the weapon away; there was nothing he could do… he could only slowly hone his nunchuck skills in future battles.

After obtaining this item, Feng Bujue had almost finished dealing with his miscellaneous items; considering the many changes in Brother Jue's character status in recent months, let's take a look at his current stats for the first time in a while—

…………

Madness · Not · Aware: Lv57

Title: [Madness · Not · Aware], Title Ability: [The Paradox of Truth]

Experience Value: 3148650057000000, Skill Value: 251, Game Coins: 2762000.

Specializations: Universal A, Machinery A, Reconnaissance B, Melee S, Shooting B, Medical C, Spiritual Art S, Summoning S.

Inventory (1540): Survival Value Supplement (Medium) *5, Survival Value Supplement (Large) *5, Na Yuan Thorough Marrow Powder *5, Chuck Norris's Autobiography, Chuck Norris's Razor, Fraudulent Pocket Watch, Oxygen Pipe, Yi Ta, Qi Xu Ru Lin, Dong Ru Lei Ting, Bu Dong Ru Shan, just_we, Rat Hammer, "Poker Hero" Hero ID Card, Z-Pipe Wrench.

Equipment: Madness Poker (Spiritual Energy Weapon), Complete Stingy Armor, Ta Xu, Bell's Everyday Knife, Energy Gauntlet, Exodia Incarcerated Set, "Friend's" Mask.

Skill Bar: Empty.

Combo Skill with Ruoyu: Magical Power Kwai Senluo.

Soul Intention: Zero Time Difference Calculation, Rewrite (Second Order).

Character Quest: None.

…………

There are many things that need to be explained, so let's start from the top.

First, the title.

After killing the Fighting Demon, since the [Fighting Demon Descends] title ability could no longer be successfully used, the [Dark Vanguard] title naturally no longer existed. That day, as soon as Feng Bujue left the script, he received the new title [Madness · Not · Aware], which seemed to be tailored for him.

However, when he excitedly wanted to see the skill description of the title skill [The Paradox of Truth], he couldn't summon the relevant game menu at all…

For this matter, Feng Bujue had even specifically contacted customer service, but the other party's answer was "There is no bug; if you cannot see the skill description, it is the game's own setting."

Considering his own actual situation, Brother Jue speculated… that this matter was probably related to some things in the real world; moreover, the Dream Company's customer service department was not the kind of department where you could get different answers by repeatedly asking, so Brother Jue could only put this matter aside for the time being.

Secondly, Feng Bujue had improved in terms of level and specializations; because he could now freely use various skills he had once possessed or seen, his medical specialization had also been raised to C grade, and his summoning specialization had even reached S grade—for this, he had to thank the [Zhao Ying Wang] brother, who had fought him many times.

Next, let's look at skill points and game coins.

The last time Feng Bujue's skill points were displayed, he had more than ninety thousand, and his game coins were also in the eight figures; now, both of these data have been greatly reduced, naturally because he had spent them.

There's no need to say much about the game coins; looking at the inventory limit, you can also know that, as I said just now—Feng Bujue's storage space is now sufficient; obviously, he had spent the money to buy the upper limit of his inventory and warehouse.

As for the skill points, Brother Jue bought something from the Scare Box after gathering one hundred thousand and spent them all in one go.

And that thing was—[The Sealed Exodia].

Some people might be curious, what exactly is this thing? Is it worth 100,000 skill points?

Yes, it's worth it… In fact, the [Exodia Incarcerated Set] synthesized from this item is the most powerful piece of equipment Feng Bujue currently has, and its value exceeds the [Complete Stingy Armor] and the [Z-Pipe Wrench] he just obtained.

[Name: Exodia Incarcerated Set]

[Type: Special Armor]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Defense Power: None]

[Attribute: Absorption]

[Effect 1: Seal Release Ritual (Whenever the player receives physical damage, regardless of the final damage taken, gain magic power equivalent to the energy of the attack)]

[Effect 2: The Anger of the Sealed (When the player receives magic damage, can release magic power equivalent to the energy of the attack to nullify or weaken it)]

[Effect 3: Seal Defense Wall (Can be activated at any time, consuming magic power to create a defensive force field; the consumed magic power depends on the size and strength of the defensive force field)]

[Effect 4: Seal Breaker (Can be used on any "defensive effect" produced by items or skills, expending magic power equivalent to its energy to nullify or weaken it)]

[Equipment Condition: Any specialization reaches S grade (Bound after synthesis)]

[Remarks: Composed of "The Sealed One's Right Leg," "The Sealed One's Left Leg," "The Sealed One's Right Arm," "The Sealed One's Left Arm," and "The Sealed Exodia," containing unimaginable ultimate power.]

This so-called "incarcerated set," if it were to be "displayed" in the form of clothing, would be a complete set of translucent shackles wrapped around the hands, feet, and neck; of course… even in the "displayed" state, this set of shackles would not affect the player's limb movements; it just looked pretty dorky, so no one would display it.

The effects of this kind of equipment, which looks ugly, requires five items to synthesize, and whose most critical main component costs 100,000 skill points, are naturally astonishingly strong; as far as armor is concerned, as long as it is used properly, it can theoretically withstand any attack.

Next, let's look at the [Complete Stingy Armor]…

[Name: Complete Stingy Armor]

[Type: Armor]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Defense Power: Extremely High]

[Attribute: Isolation, Buffer]

[Effect: When equipped, all damage received by the player is reduced by 50%; all attacks with a strength rating of "Strong" or lower are ineffective. ps: Except for the damage caused by the axe "The Talking Trash Sprite Must Die."]

[Equipment Condition: Male player, Melee Specialization S, Spiritual Art Specialization B, Bound upon Pickup]

[Remarks: A long, long time ago, the legendary dwarven craftsman "Oll Allgottdamn" used the wood of the Mockery Tree as a raw material, supplemented with dragon blood, demon bones, and many gems… to create a notorious artifact—the Stingy Armor.

After this work was born, it immediately showed unparalleled divine power and unmanageable crazy characteristics. Even Allgottdamn himself could not fully control the armor's power, nor could he destroy it.

So, Allgottdamn used a special smelting method to divide the armor's power into twenty parts, sending three of them to the elves, seven to the dwarves, and nine to the humans. As for himself… he kept the main part of the armor and sealed it away.]

Compared to the original 1320 version, its defensive characteristics are obviously more powerful; this kind of damage reduction effect is basically equivalent to being invincible when facing trash mobs.

Finally, there is one more piece of equipment to mention, which is—["Friend's" Mask]

[Name: "Friend's" Mask]

[Type: Armor]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Defense Power: None]

[Attribute: Isolation]

[Effect: When negotiating with NPCs, the success rate of lies and persuasiveness is greatly increased; the effects of using spiritual art skills are doubled (excluding negative effects)]

[Equipment Condition: Spiritual Art Specialization A]

[Remarks: The mask used by the leader of a mysterious organization, "Friend" is not only a name, a code name, but also a will that brings terror and disaster to the world.]

This is a white mask, with a strange symbol drawn on the face part, looking… like a large, eyelash-lined, pupil-less eye, with a hand extending an index finger pointing upwards inside it, and a smaller eye with a pupil on the back of the hand; overall, it is very strange… Brother Jue naturally would not display this equipment normally.

This mask was the reward Feng Bujue received after completing his character quest [Complete more than 50 Nightmare difficulty scripts]; in addition to its effects in combat, its "diplomatic" effects are self-evident in Nightmare difficulty scripts with restricted abilities.

The above are the few pieces of equipment that Feng Bujue has updated during this period; as for the [Unmoving as a Mountain] and [Energy Gauntlets], they are items that have been restored from before, and there are no changes in attributes; and the [Na Yuan Thorough Marrow Powder] was one of the two items that he obtained when he took back the [Kunlun Mirror] from Lin Yan, which he had initially given to Rutte for safekeeping, so there is no need to elaborate further.

In short, judging from his character stats, Feng Bujue today seems to be covered in legendary equipment, with the strength to kill anyone in his path.

But in reality… the top studio players have about the same number of legendary equipment as him, and they're not lacking in items with causality characteristics either; moreover, those professional players have mostly leveled up to the maximum level now (with extra rewards).

Of course, this is also a normal phenomenon; like most large-scale MMORPG games that don't offer paid items, even casual players will eventually have a set of purple and orange equipment after reaching the level cap… let alone professional players.

However, Brother Jue has an advantage that others don't have, which is—he is not limited by the skill bar; based on this alone, he can definitely rank in the top five of Thriller Paradise players in terms of "raw power."

"Okay, no matter what… let's just queue up for a script to try out the new weapon first." After packing his gear, Feng Bujue muttered to himself as he returned to the elevator.

Now that he has completed his character quest and his abilities have been restored, there is no need for him to keep queuing up for Nightmare difficulty scripts. Therefore, as he said… with the mindset of "trying out the weapon," he casually queued up for a Normal difficulty single-player survival mode script…