Chapter 1 The Components of the Trap...

Xing Hechou was slightly stunned upon hearing this, and began to think about the images he had seen on the screen in the tactical command vehicle.

"In fact, I noticed the problem when the invisible hellhound broke through the plastic curtain door."

Wang Congshan said with a smile, "It possesses the ability of phasing, which allows it to ignore terrain obstacles and pass through barriers at will.

"Moreover, the priority level of this phasing effect is very high.

"Even the enchanted bullets fired from the assault rifle in my hand cannot hit the invisible hellhound in its phased state.

"When it rushed into the room, launched an attack, and bit off my right arm,

"I tried to fight back, but it retreated, using its phasing ability again to evade.

"Although I lost an attack opportunity, I also gathered some valuable intelligence."

Wang Congshan raised her hand, held up a finger, and said calmly, "First, its phasing ability is very peculiar.

"It can ignore terrain obstacles,

"But it is also bound by reality—it appeared while stepping on the ground when it attacked me, and there was a clear sound of four paws landing.

"If the invisible hellhound could float and sink between floors at will like a ghost, passing through walls as it pleased,

"Then its attack strategy should be to jump out from the floor or ceiling behind the room and attack from behind, biting off the prey's head.

"This would be more in line with the hunting principles of canines.

"There are many possibilities why it didn't do this.

"Perhaps it is not intelligent enough, and it couldn't wait to launch the next attack when it saw the prey injured;

"Perhaps it is too confident and doesn't think it needs to flash behind the prey to hunt successfully;

"Perhaps it can phase at will, but its memories as an animal in life bind it, causing it to be bound by some kind of rule like a terrestrial ghost, such as habitually stepping on the floor and being down-to-earth when hunting.

"No matter which possibility, it is an advantage for me."

Wang Congshan paused and held up her second finger, "Second, the enchanted bullets from the assault rifle in my hand can effectively kill it.

"It is also aware of this and is wary of my counterattacks.

"It took the initiative to return to its phased state and disappeared.

"In other words, my means of attack can kill it.

"The hunt between the two sides has become a gamble of dancing on the tip of a knife.

"And third,"

Wang Congshan held up her third finger and said slowly, "Its phasing ability has many limitations and rules.

"When I fired, it first released its bite on my right hand before entering phasing.

"However, before it released its bite, my bullet still hit its body and disappeared in mid-air.

"After the enchanted bullet penetrated its fur and flesh, it was covered by the phasing effect of its whole body,

"Just like the rotten human head it spat out earlier.

"From this, it can be known that

"The invisible hellhound's blood also has a passive invisibility effect;

"Moreover, the invisible hellhound cannot phase a part of its body separately.

"Once the intangible state is activated, the whole body must lose its substantial form.

"Otherwise, it could have completely solidified its head to continue biting my right hand,

"While phasing its body to avoid my bullets."

Tap tap tap tap.

A team of fully armed Mobile Task Force soldiers quickly walked out of the unfinished building, carrying a rectangular box made of transparent bulletproof glass.

Through the glass, you could see that the box was empty.

But judging from the way the Mobile Task Force soldiers were carrying the heavy object, and the deep footprints they left behind,

There was some extremely heavy transparent object in the box.

It should be the corpse of the invisible hellhound.

"The third piece of information is crucial. The invisible hellhound cannot arbitrarily phase a part of its body, which means that when it can attack me, I must be able to attack it as well.

"Therefore, the fourth point is extended,

"That is, the boundaries of the phasing ability, or rather, the form in which it takes effect."

Wang Congshan pursed her lips and said slowly, "There are two possibilities.

"One, the invisible hellhound actively controls the phasing ability. It can control whether it phases or not.

"Two, for it, the phasing ability is more like a rule, an instinct, not controlled by itself.

"When the conditions are met, it will be forcibly kicked out of the phasing state, possessing a tangible form that is transparent but can be touched."

"The two possibilities for the form in which it takes effect..."

Xing Hechou frowned slightly, lost in thought, while Li Ang raised an eyebrow and looked at Wang Congshan, who was smiling.

"These two forms of effect may not seem different in most cases, but they are the key to my survival."

Wang Congshan smiled and said, "In the room at the third-floor stairwell,

"After the invisible hellhound noticed that I was shooting, it took the initiative to release its mouth from biting my right hand and entered phasing at the same time.

"If it can actively control the phasing ability, then why release its mouth, wasting that crucial moment of loosening, and allowing itself to be hit by a bullet?

"Wouldn't it be better to simply dissolve its form?

"To further test this point, I took the initiative to retreat and climbed all the way to the top floor of the unfinished building along the scaffolding."

Wang Congshan raised her chin towards the jungle of rusty scaffolding outside the unfinished building and said casually, "The top floor of the unfinished building has not yet been completed, and there are exposed steel bars everywhere.

"This kind of open and difficult-to-tread terrain is relatively unfavorable to me,

"But if my deduction is correct, the invisible hellhound is usually accustomed to stepping on solid ground, then this kind of terrain can also restrict its actions.

"At that time, my injuries were relatively serious, and after a hasty bandage, I still lost a considerable amount of combat power.

"So I threw micro-bombs around the vicinity, sat down to recover my strength, and at the same time, I applied a small amount of hemostatic gel to the palms of my hands, and then pierced my right hand with steel bars."

Wang Congshan raised her slightly dusty right hand and smiled, "The trace amount of anesthetic in the hemostatic gel can prevent me from fainting from the pain,

"Secondly, the blood flowing from the palm of my hand can also emit a scent and serve as bait.

"Finally, and most importantly."

The expression on Wang Congshan's face became slightly serious, "Since the invisible hellhound probably cannot actively control phasing,

"Then this ability should originate from rules similar to those of a terrestrial ghost.

"Recalling the previous attacks, the prerequisite for the invisible hellhound to exit the phasing state and possess a physical body was that it attacked and injured me.

"In almost all mutation events, the rules that bind terrestrial ghosts are not transferred by the will of the terrestrial ghosts themselves. As long as the triggering conditions are met, the rules will inevitably take effect.

"In other words, if I cannot counterattack instantly when the invisible hellhound attacks,

"I can only try to create an attack effect on me in terms of rules."

It was as if lightning flashed through Xing Hechou's mind. He looked at Wang Congshan's palm and instantly understood what was going on. "You deliberately pierced your palm with steel bars..."

"That's right."

Wang Congshan nodded and said, "With the steel bars pierced through, even the slightest vibration in the surrounding steel bar jungle environment can affect the wound in my palm, causing pain and bleeding.

"If the invisible hellhound follows the blood trail to the top floor, based on its previous attack rules, it is likely to continue attacking me, who appears to have lost combat power.

"Once it steps into the range around me and comes into contact with the steel bars on the ground,

"It will trigger the rule of [attack = solidification], be considered to have launched an attack on me, possess a physical body,

"And I can also press the micro-bomb button based on the direction from which the vibration frequency comes, detonate that area,

"And launch a kill with the enchanted bullets."

Wang Congshan put down her hand and said slowly, "Of course, these speculations about the rules are merely speculations in the absence of more information.

"I don't have 100% confidence in being correct.

"I set a ten-minute stop-loss time limit for myself.

"If the invisible hellhound does not appear within ten minutes,

"Or if my act of piercing my palm with steel bars has no effect, I will use hemostatic gel to stop the wound to prevent myself from bleeding to death.

"Then continue to carry out guerrilla warfare in the building, seeking more opportunities to survive.

"But...

"As long as there is more than a 50% chance of winning, it's worth betting on, isn't it?"

A slightly shy expression appeared on her face. Amidst the noise of the slowly descending drone swarm, she waved her hand and said, "Judging from the results, I survived.

"That's enough."