1180 Prelude to Battle (1/2)

Jiang Fei stayed silent on the living room's sofa, quietly pondering about the events that had just transpired. Something was wrong and he could not put a finger on it.

\”0543, what happened to me? Shouldn't I be immune to any psychic attacks? I did fuse with the Core of Will, no?\” Jiang Fei asked suspiciously.

\”Captain, it is but a theoretical conclusion. However, it seems that there has been a problem during the fusing process, leading to a subpar fusing result. Although your mental powers were stronger than any Level 5 Metahumans, it is still a far cry from what the estimated true numbers are,\” 0543 explained.

\”That aside, why did you stop the attackers from mind-controlling me?\” Jiang Fei asked again, this time, his tone was full of contempt. Take Ariel as the standard benchmark—she possessed powerful psychic ability yet she would never be able to break through the AI support system's defenses. If that was the case, how strong were the attackers? How did they manage to break through 0543's defenses?

\”Captain, I sense that you have not fully understood the concept of psychic attacks. The attackers might not be a single entity but a large group of specialized psychic attackers that joined forces to attack you. By working together and focusing all their mental power onto a single target, their power output would be much stronger than a single Level 5 Metahuman. It is technically possible to penetrate your mental barrier even though you have achieved optimum mental power through the Core of Will.\”

\”Could that mean… I'm in danger?\” Jiang Fei barked.

\”Not exactly. Joining forces with other psychic users is a complicated feat. The attackers must have anticipated your move, striking with coordinated timing and cooperation. In fact, to attack someone such as you, a target with powerful mental defense would require them to time their attacks. In which, when you are most vulnerable.\”

\”The f*ck is that explanation? You're saying they had been planning this?\” Jiang Fei roared. To be honest, Jiang Fei had gotten overly confident about himself after fusing with the Core of Will. He had genuinely thought that he was completely immune to any psychic attacks. That was why he had never bothered to be wary about any mental assault.

Jiang Fei thought about the attack and realized that the psychic attack, in the form of illusion, started as soon as he entered the Shadow Faction map, when everything went dark. The Miluya he met there was nothing but a fictitious character. The attackers planted the mental image in his mind, tricking him into following Miluya. Even after he was forcefully logged out, the illusion remained, tricking Jiang Fei into thinking that he was kicked out of the game instead of logging out on his own.

After that, the attack persisted. He was tricked to follow Isabella to the mountains, leaving the base bare-handed. If Ariel was not on the alert, Jiang Fei would have been, figuratively, stripped naked, or perhaps, literally, killed.

\”Bunch of rapscallions! I'll have their heads!\”

Being on the receiving end of a psychic attack was not a prank that Jiang Fei could swallow and forget. First, the ambush on the Winter Islands, second, was the illusion trickery that cost Jiang Fei the Bio-Lab and the main Bio-Pod. The thought of actually being vulnerable to psychic attacks, creating the possibility of him losing everything he has rendered Jiang Fei fuming with rage.

When night came, Jiang Fei refused to log into Dawn Break. This unorthodox habit lasted for more than a week. During this period, night was as boring and dull.

Sometime later, Jiang Fei received a call from Bennette Straz.

\”Ah Fei, we have prepared everything for the attack,\” said Straz.