RBCT Chapter 111 The Illusion of Manipulating Emotions
Chapter 111 The Illusion of Manipulating Emotions
Xiao Qianyu paused for a beat.
The murderous intent remained.
However, the resolute air that was imitated was marred by an inappropriate discordant note from Lu Yan's calm question.
For Lu Yan, that was enough.
"Similar in form, but not in spirit."
Lu Yan neither retreated nor raised the scepter in his hand, but rather looked at and commented on a defective product.
"You learned her stance, her gun-drawing angle, and even her breathing rhythm very well."
"But when she holds the gun, because of the calluses on her hands from holding it for so long, she keeps trying to adjust the gun's center of gravity. You don't seem to notice that."
Xiao Qianyu's fingers twitched slightly as she gripped the gun.
Lu Yan observed this, but his tone remained calm.
"Also, she wouldn't look at me like that."
He looked past that familiar face and into the deeply hidden shadow behind the illusion.
"When she looked at me, her eyes shone."
After speaking, Lu Yan completely ignored the imposter in front of him and turned to the long street behind him, where the fog was billowing, raising his voice.
"Xiao Qianyu!"
The sound traveled through the deathly silent ancient city, echoing through the dilapidated streets and alleys.
next second.
A crimson afterimage forcefully pierced through the thick fog to Lu Yan's left.
The real "Flash Strike" has arrived.
fast.
ruthless.
Without the slightest hesitation.
Upon hearing Lu Yan's voice, the real Xiao Qianyu immediately pinpointed his location. She didn't even ask who the enemy was or confirm the battlefield situation.
Lu Yan spoke, immediately mentioning the coordinates.
puff!
The Crimson Lotus Goddess Spear pierced through the back of the "fake Xiao Qianyu," with the tip protruding from her chest.
The feigned coolness of the face instantly crumbled, its features distorted like a projected image with a broken signal. It looked down at the hole in its chest, its body began to flicker intermittently, and finally exploded into a chaotic cloud of black smoke.
Xiao Qianyu drew her gun, and the gun vibrated, shaking off the remaining black energy.
She darted to Lu Yan's side, her gaze sweeping over the surroundings, her voice short and sharp.
"Are you injured?"
"no."
Lu Yan looked at the wisp of black mist that had not yet dissipated.
"Emotional illusions. They read our memories of the people we care about most and then attack us with imitations of those people."
Footsteps came from the other end of the street.
Wen Yue held the World-Destroying Thunder Crossbow, the bowstring already cocked, the grenade launcher flashing a dangerous red light. She quickly approached along the wall, and only after confirming that Lu Yan and Xiao Qianyu were both there did she relax her shoulders and back slightly.
The three met up.
But this ancient city gave them no chance to catch their breath.
The black energy that had just been shattered did not disappear; instead, it seemed to be grasped again by some force and flowed back rapidly.
This time, they didn't become a person.
Three plumes of black mist of different colors rose simultaneously, spreading out in front of the three people and transforming into completely different scenes.
A man appeared in front of Xiao Qianyu.
He was dressed in an old-fashioned Dragon Guard captain's uniform, kneeling on the ground, his body wrapped in black tentacles. The tentacles dug deep into his flesh, his shoulder armor was shattered, his chest was caved in, and blood kept gushing from the corners of his mouth.
Even so, he still looked up at Xiao Qianyu, his voice hoarse.
"Qianyu... let's go..."
"Leave me alone..."
Xiao Qianyu's grip on the gun tightened suddenly.
"Team Leader Ye..."
Ye Qinghan.
She was the previous captain.
He died during an S-rank secret realm exploration mission.
After that battle, Xiao Qianyu took over as the captain of the first squad and buried that defeat deep in her heart.
A completely different scene unfolded before Wen Yue.
Lu Yan was surrounded by dozens of White Eagle agents.
He was unarmored, pale-faced, and had blood on his lips. The agents' weapons were strangely shaped, with bluish-white energy emanating from their muzzles; one agent had already pressed a gun against his temple.
Wen Yue's finger was on the trigger, her knuckles taut.
This is the kind of scene she least wants to see.
There were no enemies in front of Lu Yan.
There are no monsters in the secret realm.
There was no fighting or swordplay.
There was only one street corner on a rainy night.
The streetlights cast a dim yellow glow.
Rainwater flowed along the curb, and two figures lay in pools of blood, with an old umbrella rolling beside them.
That was a scene from his previous life where his parents passed away.
Even though the Jade Void Daoist Rhyme was still circulating in his sea of consciousness, and even though he had long been accustomed to breaking everything down into rules and data, when this scene was presented to him without reservation, Lu Yan still felt as if a red-hot nail had been driven into his chest.
Three inner demons.
Three weaknesses.
They fell at the same time.
"Illusions are manipulating our emotions."
Lu Yan's voice came through the communication channel, speaking very quickly but with terrifying clarity.
"The scene in front of me is the most realistic. The two of you over there are very blurry in my view, as if there is a layer of fog between us."
Xiao Qianyu and Wen Yue realized it at the same time.
They are the same.
The scene in front of him was so clear that he could see every drop of blood, but the illusions of the other two were just rough outlines.
Lu Yan did not give the illusion a chance to continue its efforts.
"Don't attack the inner demons in front of you."
"Qianyu, break the illusion in front of Wenyue."
"Wen Yue, look at the illusion I'm seeing."
Use the tranquility of others to extinguish your own fear.
This is the key to breaking the deadlock.
Xiao Qianyu did not ask why.
Wen Yue did not hesitate.
"receive."
Xiao Qianyu forcibly looked away, no longer looking at Ye Qinghan who was calling her name.
The next moment, she vanished.
A crimson spear flashed as it charged into the encirclement surrounding Wen Yue.
The Crimson Lotus Goddess Spear thrust repeatedly, each strike piercing through a White Eagle agent. Those seemingly ferocious phantoms were as fragile as paper under her spear, shattering into plumes of gray smoke the moment the tip touched them.
At the same time, Wen Yue raised the World-Destroying Thunder Crossbow and aimed it at the rainy street in front of Lu Yan.
She didn't see the two fallen figures clearly.
There's no need to see it clearly.
She only trusted Lu Yan's judgment.
The trigger is pulled.
Several incendiary grenades ripped through the long street and fell into the rain.
Explosions rang out one after another, and flames spread out, engulfing the dim streetlights, pools of blood, and umbrellas.
The rainwater evaporated into white mist.
The street corner began to distort.
The two figures also dissipated in the firelight.
As they attack "others' fears," the feedback loop of the illusion is abruptly severed.
Before Xiao Qianyu, the tentacles on Ye Qinghan's body began to loosen, the painful expression on his face became blurred, and his whole body gradually became transparent.
In front of Wen Yue, "Lu Yan," who was surrounded by agents, lost his support and collapsed into ashes along with those White Eagle agents.
The rainy night before Lu Yan faded in the flames.
The entire ancient city fell silent for a moment.
The whispers stopped abruptly, as if their throats had been choked.
The three then realized that they were standing under a dilapidated clock tower.
Above, a massive bronze bell hung in mid-air, its surface covered in rust and densely engraved with ancient runes. It neither shook nor made a sound, yet it gave the impression that it was constantly watching over every intruder in this dead city.
Lu Yan closed his eyes briefly to activate the Black Lotus. When he opened them again, his emotions had sunk back to their lowest level.
"The key point of the formation is at the top."
He looked up at the top of the clock tower.
The stone slab is reflected in the map in my mind, where all the earth's energy flows converge.
"Walk."
Just as the three were about to set off, the communication channel, which had been dead for a long time, suddenly crackled with a piercing electrical sound.
"Sizzle...sizzle..."
Immediately afterwards, Zhao Leiguang's furious roar came intermittently.
"Oh shit!"
"Don't touch her!"
"I'll fight you to the death!"
The next moment, a violent explosion came through the communicator, mixed with the thud of a shield hitting the ground.
Then, the channel fell into a slump again.