Chapter Fifty-Seven: Ascending the Platform

"Three hours of cooldown, consuming twenty-five points of mental power—at last, I've summoned another impressive character," he murmured. The previous three Dark Fighters had proven useless against even slightly stronger bosses. If confronted with someone like Ar**, the boss, they would be unable to withstand a single blow, instantly defeated as if mere ordinary people.

But after being enhanced with the strengthening potion, their highest attributes were remarkable: the mop-haired dwarf's thirty-two points of agility, the brute's thirty-nine points of strength—numbers comparable to those possessed by a seasoned veteran who has completed many mainline quests. Wang Ling estimated that even Blackie, whose main attribute was agility, might not reach thirty-two points.

Moreover, having learned E-level skills, they had gained greater explosive power. As for the hippie, Wang Ling noticed his highest attribute was stamina. If he could acquire a stamina-type strengthening potion, he too could evolve.

After retrieving the mop-haired dwarf, the two-meter-tall brute, and the inconspicuous hippie, Wang Ling relaxed and drifted into sleep. Due to the chunk of flesh missing from his calf, and severe injuries to his tongue and throat, Wang Ling recuperated for two days at the harbor.

For an ordinary person, such wounds might not fully heal even after two weeks, but as a Dreamer, his constitution was far superior. Furthermore, after Cheng Fu brought him to the restaurant, Boss Li called a doctor to treat him, and after merely two days, he was nearly fully recovered.

Cheng Fu, true to his nature, refused to help again in dealing with Boss Brunov—not out of fear, but because Brunov's base in New York was a branch of the Dark Fighters, swarming with spies. If Cheng Fu accompanied Wang Ling, their faces might be noticed, reported to headquarters, and if their identities were uncovered, the New York harbor would be beset by a swarm of Dark Fighters.

Wang Ling felt a slight disappointment, suspecting perhaps the Dreamspace was manipulating events behind the scenes to prevent him from taking shortcuts again.

Gaining Cheng Fu’s help in killing Ar** had already been an unexpected boon; Wang Ling paid Cheng Fu the four gold bars promised during the battle. The drunkard, feeling a twinge of guilt for refusing to confront Brunov, nevertheless accepted the payment at Wang Ling's insistence.

"I'm truly embarrassed," Cheng Fu said with a broad smile. Having received six gold bars in total—nearly a million dollars—he no longer had to worry about his drinking expenses.

Seeing Cheng Fu's guilt, Wang Ling smiled slightly. "I'm planning to go to the Dark Fighters' New York branch. With Wang Long unable to resurrect for a while, I suspect I'll face great danger from their high-level members. I know you're a master of Drunken Boxing—I’m very interested in that style. Could you teach me?"

"Your tolerance for alcohol is far too low; you lack the aptitude for Drunken Boxing," Cheng Fu replied, shaking his head.

Wang Ling realized that, unlike tricking Mario in the novice world, it was unrealistic to try and swindle Drunken Boxing skills from Cheng Fu. There was nothing to regret; seeing that there was nothing more to gain here and his wounds had healed, he left the harbor.

Now, there were still nine days left before the end of Main Quest Four. Wang Ling left the harbor and took a taxi straight to Chinatown, discovering that the Double Dragon Martial Arts School had been completely destroyed, reduced to rubble, and the Double Dragon brothers were nowhere to be found.

He flagged down a familiar student from the school and learned that after Wang Ling had drawn away the helicopter, Bai Feng had fought with the Double Dragon brothers, ultimately defeating them.

Yet Bai Feng had not killed or even harmed them, leaving without further violence. However, yesterday, the school received news that Billy’s girlfriend Marian had been killed by the Dark Fighters, her body taken away. Furious, the brothers went to attack the Dark Fighters’ New York branch.

After Billy and Jimmy left, the white girl who had visited before returned, bringing a host of Dark Fighters, and destroyed the Double Dragon Martial Arts School.

Armed with this information and guided by the student’s car, Wang Ling arrived at the Dark Fighters’ New York branch: Factory District B11 on the west side of the city.

The student was clearly terrified of the Dark Fighters; after dropping Wang Ling off, he hurriedly drove away. Wang Ling followed the road into the factory district, discovering many corpses along the way—mainly mop-haired types and brutes, with occasional hippies and female thugs.

These bodies were in horrific condition, many bearing deep wounds, some with shattered skulls, evidently struck by metal weapons.

"These aren't the marks left by nunchaku," Wang Ling observed, studying a corpse. Nunchaku, two short metal rods linked by a chain, usually left short impact wounds from their ends. The wounds on these bodies, however, were long and straight, likely caused by longer metal weapons such as rods.

"My Task Two involved two nunchaku; Blackie's Task Two involved two iron whips. Now that the Double Dragon brothers are wielding rod-type weapons, it's highly probable that other Dreamers on our side have provided them with new weapons."

He carefully examined the bodies and noticed one female thug's chest was severely collapsed, flattened, while another brute's body bore a patch of charred, flame-seared flesh.

"It seems the two remaining Dreamers on our side are still alive. One possesses a skill for explosive force attacks, and the other has fire-based abilities."

After investigating the bodies, Wang Ling quickened his pace. Since the Dream Badge hadn’t given any notification, Boss Brunov must still be alive. Clearly, Dreamers were assisting the Double Dragon brothers. If Brunov were killed, the quest would be completed, but Wang Ling would miss out on the boss's loot.

The benefits of killing Brunov might not surpass those gained from Ar**, but they couldn’t be far behind, as this was the main quest’s boss. Other items didn’t matter, but there was one in particular Wang Ling was determined to obtain!

The farther he advanced, the more corpses lay along the road, all stained with blood. Wang Ling pressed onward into the depths of the factory district. Near a large building, his Dream Badge suddenly alerted him:

"Warning: Two Dreamers allied with the Double Dragon brothers have entered within one kilometer of your location."

Upon hearing this, he hurried to the building, glanced around, and recognized it as the game's final area, where Boss Brunov would be on the platform above.

The building had no stairs; to ascend, one had to climb a metal ladder fixed to the wall. But Wang Ling found the ladder destroyed! Clearly, the two Dreamers had done this to prevent interference during the battle.

"This floor is too high—even an agility-type Dreamer couldn’t leap up!" Wang Ling frowned, took several steps back, then sprinted forward, leaping high and using his meteorite spearhead to deeply embed it into the brick wall, hanging his body from the anchored weapon.

"Cough..." The force of hitting the wall nearly made him spit blood; he hadn’t reached the top, but was now not far from the first-floor platform.

With his superior attributes, Wang Ling’s strength exceeded that of ordinary people, his body light, arms easily supporting his weight. One hand grasped the spearhead; with the other, he drew his white-iron musket and blasted a hole in the wall above with a lead bullet. The hole was large enough for a finger.

He inserted his finger to anchor himself, then quickly pulled the spearhead free and drove it into a higher spot, repeating the process several times until he reached a thick pipe over a meter in diameter and climbed up.

Seeing that the metal ladder above had also been broken, Wang Ling continued using his meteorite spearhead and white-iron musket as tools for ascent. Each shot required a minute to reload, and the gunfire was loud, echoing far.

As he neared the target platform, Wang Ling paused, looked up. Though he couldn’t see the platform itself, he knew there was a strong chance at least one Dreamer waited above, ready to strike the moment he appeared.

Wang Ling smiled coldly and activated the badge skill: Dark Fighter Summoning.

Three Dark Fighters were deployed above, dropping onto the platform. After a startled cry, there was a flurry of flesh-pounding blows, followed by a scream as someone plummeted from above, crashing onto the hard concrete below with a dull thud, blood spraying everywhere!

It turned out that on the platform, two Dreamers allied with the Double Dragon brothers were fighting Brunov. Hearing the badge warning, they knew a Dreamer was approaching. They assumed the destroyed ladder would prevent anyone from climbing up, but Wang Ling had used his weapons to ascend the wall.

With the loud gunfire as a guide, the two above knew Wang Ling was approaching and sent one down to ambush him, hoping at least to knock him off if not kill him instantly.

But Wang Ling summoned three Dark Fighters. The agile, swift mop-haired dwarf rushed the unsuspecting Dreamer, catching him off guard, and a flurry of rapid punches stunned him. The brute seized the opportunity, grabbed him, and performed the "Ultimate Bomb" throw, hurling him from the platform to the ground below!