Chapter Twenty-One: Cheating and Countermeasures

The young man clutched his abdomen and slowly climbed to his feet.

“Hiss…”

A searing pain tore through his stomach, forcing Gongsun Ce to suck in a breath of cold air.

It had been a long time since he’d endured such a brutal assault.

He’d encountered many confident close-combat fighters—those skilled in unarmed combat, those wielding weapons. The way such gifted adversaries fought often inspired fear in those who watched. They either brandished illegally modified weapons of immense destructive power or ingeniously combined their abilities with physical attacks, always aiming for maximum devastation at close range.

Yet, not one of them had managed to land a blow on Gongsun Ce.

The reason was simple: his superpower was stronger.

Reflecting on all his previous battles, the logic was evident. The young man’s usual tactic was to identify the flaws or weaknesses in his enemy’s abilities, then devise a countermeasure and strike. It sounded perfectly rational, but for most superpowered individuals, this approach would fail from the outset—how could one survive long enough to discover the opponent’s weak point?

The difference between the passive defender and the active attacker was vast. Get hit in your weak spot, and you’d collapse; get struck by a powerful move before you could react, and you’d lose the will to resist. Sometimes, you wouldn’t even realize you’d been attacked before you lost consciousness. There was rarely time to observe and exploit weaknesses—most battles between superpowers were decided in the opening exchanges.

This was common knowledge in the city.

Ultimately, battles between gifted individuals came down to whose powers were stronger.

Replace superpowers with the techniques of the Lawless, and the principle remained. Combat experience, psychological fortitude, equipment, allies—these all mattered, but the ability to translate these factors into fighting prowess was paramount. The most basic talent was what counted.

He wasn’t boasting; Gongsun Ce was fully aware of his own strength. His ability was both offensive and defensive. The speed of his invisible forces surpassed bullets, the hardness of his white substance walls baffled even Tirlos’s divine powers. His superpower shield allowed him to think calmly and, in the end, defeat his enemies with ease. In every respect, he was a formidable superpower.

—And just now, that strength had been shattered.

“These days, violent girls aren’t exactly popular.”

The masked woman’s actions had been straightforward. She used her longsword to distract him, then charged alongside him. When his “web” triggered its warning, she moved even faster than his reaction, finally kicking him to the ground.

The entire process lacked any sense of superpowers or Lawless techniques. She had accomplished it purely with her body and skill.

“These days, frail boys aren’t popular either,” the masked woman retorted.

Her words irritated the young man.

He pointed to his chest. “I know I’m no professional and can’t compare to the experts, but this body can’t be called frail, no matter what! I train regularly!”

The masked woman scrutinized him from head to toe. “Ha.”

“I don’t mind objective criticism, but that laugh was really insulting.”

“Sorry, no intention to mock; I simply felt like laughing. By the standards of our age, you’re doing fine, hmm.”

For some reason, the sense of defeat grew stronger.

Whenever he spoke to her, he lost the rhythm. He should have been digging for information, but their conversation always felt like ordinary banter—like a sneeze stuck halfway, leaving him uncomfortable.

He slapped his own face.

Pull yourself together, Gongsun Ce! If there’s no breakthrough, try bluffing with psychological warfare!

“I’ll admit your skill in close combat. But, after one hit, I’m just a bit sore. Your strength still falls short of the experts.”

It was nothing but a bluff.

In truth, the pain in his abdomen was intensifying.

The masked woman nodded. “I held back. If I hadn’t, you’d still be writhing on the ground.”

Damn, the bluff had backfired.

He was a bit scared himself.

It wasn’t disbelief—he’d seen experts fight before. When Old Master Qin visited his granddaughter, Gongsun Ce had led the way, so he knew exactly how brutal those scenes could be.

“You deliberately held back while fighting? Do I really look that weak?”

“If you’d turned your web into a spear or scattershot, you might’ve made it in time. You held back yourself, pretending otherwise. And you still dare talk about being rigorous?”

That sounded oddly familiar.

The superpowered youth curled his lips.

No wonder—the earlier sense of incongruity now made sense.

“My lady, leaving room for maneuver is crucial. Let me show you…” Gongsun Ce clenched his right hand. “The limitation of close combat.”

Invisible force surged with his movement, telekinetic claws reaching for the woman with the sword. But again, his attack failed. The masked woman had already moved as he closed his fist, rapidly closing in on him!

“Even if an ability has no physical form, the user’s actions leave traces: gaze, gestures, expression, thoughts—there are countless signs that precede an attack.”

Gongsun Ce slid several meters backward, narrowly avoiding her charge. “You call ‘thoughts’ a trace? I’ve never heard of martial training so intense you can read your opponent’s mind!”

“Sometimes, I can.”

“You really can?!”

If he attacked with telekinesis now, this sharp opponent would surely change tactics mid-move and seize the advantage.

The gap in experience and skill was obvious; even after enhancing his speed with his power, he could barely react to her strikes. At this level, his odds in a solo close-combat fight weren’t zero, but they weren’t much higher.

Therefore, he had to exploit his own strengths.

He once more controlled his body, simultaneously bolstering himself with telekinetic aid—

“Hm?”

The masked woman sounded puzzled.

Just before her hand blade struck, she caught the young man’s gaze.

He was looking upward, indicating where his power was concentrating.

He could hammer down with an invisible fist, unleash a rain of wide-area attacks, or even drop a massive wall to crush them both—Gongsun Ce had plenty of options. Predicting his actions was nowhere near as simple as she claimed.

She withdrew, sidestepped, drew her blade to defend, intending to sense his next move as before and counterattack after identifying the attack.

“Seems it really is only occasional.”

But this time, her prediction failed.

There was no attack to counter. From above came only the young man’s voice.

“So that’s your plan, is it?”

She realized then.

Besides attacking, concentrating power above had another purpose.

It was the tactic he’d shown at the start—using invisible force to float himself into the air.

But this time, the superpowered youth did it even more dramatically.

He floated ten meters above the ground.

“To speak of close combat’s limitation, it’s the distance, of course. Masters of close combat can defeat enemies in the blink of an eye, but against guns and ammunition, they’re often at a disadvantage. Years of training can strengthen the body, but not overcome innate limits. As now, no matter how much humans train, we can’t sprout wings—your hands and feet alone can’t safely reach me.”

Hovering in the air, the young man pushed up his glasses. “Let’s be clear: I won’t stop attacking unless you agree to a truce. Do you still wish to continue this fight?”

“……”

The masked woman seemed deeply shocked.

After several seconds, she slowly said, “Idiot.”

“…Huh?”

He watched as his enemy stroked her sword.

The heavy blade changed texture at her touch, its dark surface fading, the metallic sheen disappearing. In her hand, the longsword dissolved into a colorless, transparent substance, like a solidified stream of water.

That state lasted only an instant; the black hue returned. This time, the weapon’s form was different—the longsword had become a short bow, with the excess material shaped into arrows.

The masked woman calmly set arrow to string. “It’s been a while since I shot at a moving target.”

“Hey! Who was it just now who looked down on fighting with powers?!”

“Those who rely only on their abilities are no better than chickens. But combining skill and power—that’s mastery.”

“Don’t give me that—you’re cheating, you’re cheating!”

“Biu.”

The short arrow shot straight at his right arm! Gongsun Ce instantly raised a wall of white substance, deflecting the arrow to his side.

On the ground, the masked woman rested a hand on her hip. “Cheating.”

“I hadn’t used this before. You broke the rules first—don’t blame me for lacking chivalry.”

“Narrow-minded man.”

“White substance bomb.”

He actually crafted a bomb-shaped object from the white material.

Gongsun Ce snapped his fingers; the bomb exploded in midair, scattering countless fragments. The indiscriminate assault covered every inch of space within ten meters!

The short bow and arrows morphed into a staff; the woman spun it deftly, keeping every shard at bay, enduring the bombardment with nothing but her cold weapon.

“Well, then, I’ll get serious too…”

Invisible force became a rain of spears, but as it neared the woman, it stalled, as if the air itself was an impenetrable barrier.

The ground beneath her feet transformed into a gel-like substance. She pushed off, launching herself rapidly into the air.

“Then I’ll be just a little less serious than you.”

With telekinetic and her strange power interfering, the entire area was as devastated as if a typhoon had passed. Yet neither showed any remorse; instead, their firepower only intensified.

The young man pointed his left arm at her, repeatedly disrupting her with invisible abilities. In his right hand, a giant white sword appeared, over ten meters long! The air around the masked woman thinned; gases became invisible ammunition, firing against his white wall and sparking like machinegun fire at point-blank range!

“One more strike and you won’t rise again.”

“One more strike and you’ll give up completely.”

The superpowered warrior wielded cold steel; the close-combat expert fought with abilities. By now, their tactics had completely reversed from the start, their attacks about to collide—

“Argh!”

At that moment, a thunderous sound erupted from the nearly forgotten sewage pool. A monstrous beast leapt out, spitting a vile attack at them both—a torrent of high-pressure water, powerful enough to sever trees!

Both the superpowered youth and the masked woman turned simultaneously. Her blade became a wall to block the beast’s attack; air bullets instantly struck the ground, tearing the monster apart.

In unison, they shouted, “Stop interfering with our fight!”