Chapter 1 Li Cheng Yi's Predicament

Li Cheng颐 had just dealt with one masked figure when he immediately heard a series of sharp whistles approaching rapidly.

The sounds came from all directions.

From the entrances and exits of every store, black shadows pounced at him one after another.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!!

A series of fierce impacts struck Li Cheng颐 relentlessly.

But it was all in vain.

The Zǐténg Huā (Wisteria Flower) defense was already stronger than the Jiànlán (Gladiolus), and with the added Flower Language of Fortification, Li Cheng颐 felt almost nothing. He even had the spare hands to condense sword blades, wildly slashing at everything around him.

As a series of soft popping sounds echoed, one black-masked figure after another was cut into a pile of robes.

After over thirty consecutive shrieks, finally, the whistling stopped.

From within Wu's Grocery Shop behind the slot machine, a black-masked, cloaked figure over two meters tall slowly emerged from the shadows.

This cloaked figure was dressed the same as the other monsters, except that it was much taller than them.

The other monsters were only around 1.7 to 1.8 meters tall, but it was already reaching 2.5 meters or even more.

From the wide sleeves on either side of its tall, slender body hung two serpentine, sharp daggers.

Subtle arcs of electricity flickered faintly at the tips of the daggers.

"Is this an elite?" Li Cheng颐 exhaled. He put his hands together, merging the two sword blades into one wider, longer, and thicker golden greatsword, and strode towards the tall cloaked figure.

No skills were involved.

It was all brute force.

Whoosh!

A muffled sound rang out.

Li Cheng颐 slashed fiercely at the opponent with his sword.

The sword was nearly two meters long, giving it an advantage over the small daggers that were only a dozen centimeters long.

The diagonal slash collided with the two daggers thrust out by the cloaked figure.

The resulting shock made Li Cheng颐's body tremble slightly. Then, the daggers broke, and the greatsword cut down.

The entire cloaked monster was sliced in two from shoulder to waist.

Hiss...

It twisted and contorted, and a large amount of black smoke billowed from its body, turning into a pile of clothes on the ground in the blink of an eye.

'Its power is not as good as that bald-headed modified human from before,' Li Cheng颐 assessed as he sheathed his sword.

This monster wasn't fast, and its power was weaker than the bald man. In reality, it wasn't much of a threat.

But then he thought, if someone were entering the Dead Angle for the first time and encountered this guy, it would probably be a death sentence.

This cloaked figure, compared to the Big-Faced Monster from back then, was at least equivalent to the strength of a Big-Faced Monster from the third entry.

It might even surpass it in power.

He didn't think much of this guy, simply because he was much stronger now. The Huā Lín Yī (Flower Scale Armor) greatly enhanced his speed, strength, and defense.

That's why he was qualified to make such an assessment.

Hiss...

As a large amount of black smoke dissipated from the cloaked figure's body, everything around began to distort.

Li Cheng颐 quickly understood that he was about to exit the memory flash.

He immediately deactivated the Huā Lín Yī and stood still, waiting quietly.

In an instant, there was a flash.

Everything before his eyes flickered as if the TV screen had glitched, jumping abruptly from one scene to another.

The speed was so fast that even with Li Cheng颐's eyes wide open, he couldn't see what had happened.

When he came back to his senses.

He was still standing in the passageway of the shop front on the right side of the old street.

On the right was a row of closed shops, and on the left, a red car was slowly driving past.

A black fly buzzed nearby, circled his face, and flew away into the distance.

The wind carried the stench from the garbage can not far away.

"The person... where is he!?" Li Cheng颐 quickly regained his senses and looked up ahead.

Where was the little fatty!?

He still needed him to find the real-world prototype of Mist Street.

But unfortunately, the little fatty was nowhere to be seen. Li Cheng颐 ran forward for a distance and came to a corner, looking left and right, but there was no sign of the little fatty on the street.

'How long was I in there?' Li Cheng颐 pressed the AR glasses to check the recording time, but the AR was completely frozen.

Any electronic device, after entering the Dead Angle, would experience various malfunctions or failures, and this wasn't the first time.

That's why very few modified humans and Flying Instrument Mechanists entered the Dead Angle, and they had various problems.

The most typical example was the boss, Syndra's son – Lean.

After searching around, Li Cheng颐 found nothing extra. He thought for a moment, then returned along the original route and saw an old man sitting and relaxing in front of a hair salon.

"Old sir, excuse me, did you see a little fatty running past just now?" Li Cheng颐 naturally pulled a hundred-yuan bill from his wallet and placed it in the old man's hand.

"Little fatty?" The old man wore a military green peaked cap and crumpled old clothes, his eyes were sleepy, and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, still a little unclear.

"Yes, a fatty with eyes and a mouth like three lines," Li Cheng颐 nodded.

"No, I didn't see him. I only saw you running past shouting and yelling, I didn't see anyone else passing by," the old man said lazily, pocketing the money.

"Didn't see him?" Li Cheng颐 was a little unhappy. The man took the money but didn't help, that wasn't right.

"Really, you were talking to the pillar by yourself just now, and you were cursing and gesticulating. I thought you were recording a video. These days, with internet celebrities, there are all kinds of videos," the old man laughed.

"Alone?" Li Cheng颐 frowned. He had clearly been chasing after him all the way from the cake shop, how could he have been alone?

"Old sir, are you sure you didn't see wrong? I just saw a little fatty stealing something from the cake shop, so I chased after him..."

"What are you talking about? Cake shop? Where is there a cake shop within five kilometers of here?" The old man blinked his eyes in confusion.

"No cake shop? It's just over there?" Li Cheng颐 straightened up and walked quickly to the corner, pointing to the Zhōu Family Pastry Shop he had just seen.

"!!??"

But this point left him stunned.

The shop that had been the Zhōu Family Pastry Shop was now just a wall.

It was a gray wall that had long been sealed off, how long ago he didn't know. The wall was smeared with a lot of messy slogans in red.

'Have more births and better births, enjoy a lifetime of happiness.'

'National birth incentive money increased threefold, 80% free medical care....'

'Life is good in every way, but fire prevention is the most important.'

'Don't be afraid of infertility, An Sheng Gene guarantees the whole family.'

The slogans, which clearly had been there for a long time, were somewhat blurred.

At the top of the wall, there was a broken solar-powered lamp, with a thin red ribbon hanging from it.

The red ribbon had faded slightly from being exposed to the wind and sun, turning pale red.

"There... there was clearly a Zhōu Family Cake Shop here before..." Li Cheng颐 stood in front of the wall, looking dazed.

"Look, there's no Zhōu Family here..." The old man put his hands behind his back and slowly followed from behind.

Seeing this scene, he shook his head with pity, and the way he looked at Li Cheng颐 became a little pitiful.

"But I just..." Li Cheng颐 reached out and pressed the AR glasses. The AR usually had automatic playback recording enabled.

But it was useless.

The AR was completely devoid of records at this time, and even all the previous records had turned into a snowstorm of static.

The old man patted Li Cheng颐 on the shoulder and slowly returned, and from time to time, he could be heard sighing for a long time.

"This illness is really not clear..."

Li Cheng颐 didn't speak, carefully recalling the situation when he met the little fatty before.

He quickly pressed the AR command button.

"Contact the boss."

"Okay, please wait a moment," the AR gave feedback.

But more than ten seconds passed, and the connection was still unsuccessful. Only a continuously rotating white dot was flashing in his vision, indicating that it was waiting to connect.

"Looks like it's broken." Li Cheng颐 took off the glasses. He might have damaged the AR glasses in the Mist Street while fighting those black-masked monsters.

He simply walked towards the place where the few of them had separated earlier, while taking out his mobile phone from his pocket.

Fortunately, the phone worked.

He dialed the number, and soon Syndra answered.

"What's wrong, Xiao Yi?"

"Boss, I've encountered a troublesome matter," Li Cheng颐 quickly explained the situation he had encountered before.

Of course, he omitted the part where he had a fight after entering Mist Street.

After listening to everything, Syndra calmly thought for a moment.

"Remember the specific name, specific appearance, store layout, etc., and I can profile it out. I'll search for information in this area, wait a moment."

"Okay!" Li Cheng颐 breathed a sigh of relief. He was now uncertain about whether everything he had just seen was real or not.

It would be best to have Syndra help him confirm.

After waiting in place for a while, soon, a black luxury SUV slowly approached and stopped beside him.

The car door slid open, revealing Syndra and Zhong Ying sitting inside.

"Get in the car." Syndra's face was solemn, "I've found out something, let's look at it in the car."

Li Cheng颐 quickly got into the car and sat in the back row with them.

The back row of the Mist Flag car was very spacious, enough for four people to sit facing each other.

After Li Cheng颐 got into the car, he saw the side window quickly turn black, and then a clear screen appeared in the middle.

The car window had actually turned into a large screen.

"Regarding the details you described just now, I mobilized the company's AI to quickly query it, and got a very interesting situation," Syndra said in a deep voice.

"What's the situation?" Li Cheng颐's heart was slightly raised. He was eager to know what he had just encountered, was it a memory flash, or something else?

"The information about the little fatty you mentioned is not much, and there are too many people, so we haven't found a match for the time being, but that location, the location of that wall, there was indeed a Zhōu Family Pastry Shop opened there more than a hundred years ago, and the specific layout is almost the same as you described," Syndra said in a deep voice.

"Another hundred years ago??!" Li Cheng颐's heart shivered, "Then why would I suddenly see a pastry shop from more than a hundred years ago?? What does it have to do with the Dead Angle?"

"Don't know. But... you most likely did enter the Dead Angle's memory flash. I suspect that there is another Dead Angle near here that is different from Mist Street. So you were able to stray into it," Syndra said.

"Another Dead Angle?" Li Cheng颐 narrowed his eyes and thought. Indeed, that possibility couldn't be ruled out.

But why, why are the two Dead Angles so close together? Why did he encounter one, and then immediately encounter Mist Street?

"Dead Angles also have depths and levels. Do you know that?" Syndra said.