Good thing this thing didn’t hold back its skills at the start to stack shields on itself—otherwise, Bai Qiu’s Noble Phantasm might not have been able to break through its Earth Wall defense.
Even so, after releasing his Noble Phantasm, Bai Qiu still had no means of damaging it—and it was currently using Rock Armor.
Before that skill ended, it would be absolutely impossible to deal any further damage to it.
However, as Bai Qiu watched it continuously absorb earth-element energy from the ground to sustain its Rock Armor, a sudden idea struck him.
If it couldn’t make contact with the ground, wouldn’t that mean most of its abilities would become unusable?
Looking at the Black-Gold Mutated Rock Turtle—around twenty meters long and twelve meters wide—Bai Qiu quickly dismissed the idea of lifting it outright.
It might not look that big, but its strength was top-tier.
Despite its immense power, its agility was low and it was unwilling to move—this alone proved that the density of its armor and flesh far exceeded that of normal materials.
After thinking for a while, Bai Qiu decided to try the principle of leverage.
He reinforced his spear with magic and stabbed it into the rock beneath the turtle’s belly, then channeled magic into it to grind through several centimeters of stone with difficulty.
To be fair, there was a reason this ground could support its weight—even Bai Qiu struggled to break it.
With the entire spear embedded beneath it, he extended his magic, compressing it into a crude lever, attempting to pry the Black-Gold Mutated Rock Turtle up…
“Crack!” Not long after he applied force, the “lever” he created bent unnaturally, then snapped with a sharp sound.
Alright.
His lever wasn’t strong enough to lift the turtle.
That completely killed the idea of moving it.
He also silently felt fortunate that he hadn’t tried to lift it by force—otherwise, he might have ended this Tower run by getting crushed to death.
Bai Qiu put away his slightly cracked spear, then sat cross-legged at the center of the turtle’s shell, entering a meditative state to recover his depleted magic.
Since he couldn’t damage it for now and couldn’t move it either, there was only one option left…
Wear it down.
After all, his Noble Phantasm had a healing-nullification effect.
The eye he had pierced would never recover.
That meant once his cooldown ended, he could keep using his Noble Phantasm—sooner or later, the Black-Gold Mutated Rock Turtle would be worn down and killed.
As for sitting at the center of its shell, Bai Qiu had no worries about being shaken off or attacked.
With no offensive skills, the turtle simply had no way to deal with him…
The turtle dispelled its Rock Armor.
It raised its head and glanced at Bai Qiu on its back—its remaining eye filled with hatred—but it truly had no effective way to attack.
After observing for a while and confirming that Bai Qiu had no intention of continuing his assault, the Black-Gold Mutated Rock Turtle lowered its head and began scraping at the rocks beneath it again, trying to recover by eating them.
But this clearly wouldn’t work.
The wound on its eye had been caused by Noble Phantasm, and the healing effect from its Rock Body talent could not restore it.
Thus, no matter how many rocks it ate, the wound on its eye showed no sign of recovery—it continued to gush pale golden blood!
“Roar… roar…” The Black-Gold Mutated Rock Turtle wailed in pain.
It struggled to move, rubbing its head against the rocks on the ground, trying to ease its suffering.
Thirty minutes later…
Bai Qiu slowly opened his eyes.
The magic he had consumed from using his Noble Phantasm had almost fully recovered.
Looking at the Black-Gold Mutated Rock Turtle beneath him, something stirred faintly in his heart.
Were the monsters in this Tower of Heaven really just virtual?
Why… did it look like it was in so much pain?
The turtle continued to cry out.
Its injured head slammed against the ground at times, then scraped across it at others.
Pale golden blood stained the earth everywhere.
Even its remaining intact eye began to shed tears of pain…
There were still thirty minutes left on the cooldown, but Bai Qiu was no longer sure he could bring himself to strike again…
By his estimation, this Black-Gold Mutated Rock Turtle would die after at most three more hits of his Noble Phantasm.
But in the meantime, the pain it would endure would only grow worse.
If the transcendent creatures in the Tower were not system-generated data, but real living beings—then attacking a creature that had no intent to harm him…
Wouldn’t that go against his original principles?
“Roar…” The turtle lay weakly on the ground, its remaining eye fixed on Bai Qiu, tears continuously flowing.
At this distance, Bai Qiu didn’t even need to activate his eye technique to see it clearly.
But when he did, he could read many emotions from the turtle’s gaze:
Pain. Despair. Pleading.
“System! Are the monsters guarding this Tower really just virtual?!” Bai Qiu shouted.
But unfortunately, there was no response.
Neither from the system, nor from the Tower…
He opened the system interface and rapidly skimmed through the information, trying to find any indication that the Tower’s monsters were merely virtual entities.
But after a full ten minutes of searching through everything again and again, he found nothing that confirmed they were artificial beings…
Bai Qiu wanted to distract himself.
He wanted to convince himself otherwise.
But he couldn’t.
Even if he didn’t look, the turtle’s cries kept echoing in his ears, and its gaze lingered vividly in his mind…
“…Hah.” Bai Qiu let out a long sigh.
He took out the spear he had put away.
Under the Black-Gold Mutated Rock Turtle’s terrified gaze—
“Crack… crack!”
He snapped the spear in half.
The faint red curse-like energy lingering in the turtle’s injured eye was withdrawn by Bai Qiu.
After the spear was broken, it dissipated into the air.
The turtle suddenly felt the pain in its injured eye rapidly fading.
It let out a confused sound.
“Roar?”
Bai Qiu jumped down from its shell and walked in front of it.
At first, the turtle trembled uneasily, its body and head shaking.
But Bai Qiu simply said:
“Don’t move.”
And it actually calmed down, allowing him to act.
Bai Qiu placed his palm over its injured eye and used his magic to manipulate and withdraw the lingering energy from his Noble Phantasm that was continuously eroding it from within.
After finishing all this, Bai Qiu finally took out a bottle of Large Healing Potion and poured it over its wound.
Then he took out another bottle.
“Open your mouth.” Seeing no reaction, Bai Qiu opened his own mouth and said “Ah,” and only then did it understand, obediently opening its mouth.
After feeding it the healing potion, Bai Qiu turned and left, saying calmly:
“System, exit the Tower challenge.”
As a portal appeared, Bai Qiu disappeared from the 55th floor.
His climb ended there—at the 55th floor…
The Black-Gold Mutated Rock Turtle felt its wound gradually healing, momentarily stunned as it watched Bai Qiu leave.
…
“What’s going on? He cleared up to the 54th floor in under a minute each—how is it that he’s been stuck on the 55th floor for over half an hour and still hasn’t cleared it?”
Outside the Tower, many players were discussing, all guessing what kind of monster Bai Qiu had encountered.
“Holy crap, Boss Bai Qiu is out?! He actually couldn’t clear the 55th floor? What kind of monster is on that floor?!”
A sharp-eyed player noticed Bai Qiu appearing at the Tower entrance and shouted in shock.
“What?” Ning Xingxue and the others, including Zhang Shiyao, all turned to look.
They didn’t really believe Bai Qiu would stop at the 55th floor.
After all, he had been speed-clearing up to the 54th floor in under a minute—yet he spent over half an hour on the 55th and still failed? Just how strong was that monster?!
But when they saw the Heavenly Battle Armor, they had no choice but to believe it—Bai Qiu was indeed walking out of the crowd toward them.
Bai Qiu had been feeling somewhat troubled, but as soon as he came out, his attention was drawn to Huang Qi, who was practically glowing.
Naturally, he noticed the four of them immediately.
Even without Huang Qi drawing attention, Bai Qiu would have sensed their extraordinary magical auras within seconds and found them anyway.
Faced with their questions, Bai Qiu didn’t answer.
Instead, he glanced around and said: “Let’s find a place to sit and talk first.”
Zhang Shiyao nodded. “Then follow me.”
With her leading the way, Bai Qiu and the group left the Tower and headed southeast of the Black Tower, where a conspicuous small villa stood before them.
Bai Qiu had seen this villa when he first woke up, but he didn’t know who built it.
He was certain it hadn’t existed before the tide ended.
Now, seeing Zhang Shiyao bring them here, he already had his answer.
As soon as he entered, Bai Qiu saw Feng Yuling cleaning the yard.
She also noticed him and quickly greeted him.
“Ah… Brother, you’re back? Sorry, I didn’t know there were guests—I’ll go make some tea.”
After saying that, she hurriedly put down her broom and rushed off to prepare tea.
Zhao Daqiang and Huang Qi gave Bai Qiu a thumbs-up.
Even Ning Xingxue sighed: “Impressive as always.”
She actually had another teasing remark in mind—something about “well-trained”—but after a brief thought, she held back, since it wouldn’t be appropriate to say it in front of Feng Yuling.
Bai Qiu looked at Zhang Shiyao and said with a smile:
“Thanks for taking care of things while I was away.”
Ever since he had been betrayed, he had grown wary of people, and his desire to become stronger had intensified—so much so that he had forgotten about Wang Shiyun and Feng Yuling, two unarmed girls who still needed protection.
If not for Zhang Shiyao, there was no telling what might have happened to them.
Now, he suppressed the anger in his heart, burying his hatred deep within, and began to seriously reflect on the responsibilities he should shoulder.
He also gained a clearer idea of what he needed to do next.
But for now, he had other things to discuss with Ning Xingxue, Zhao Daqiang, Huang Qi, and Zhang Shiyao.
They were people he could truly trust.
If he wanted to take revenge without worries, he would need their help.
After all, the people of Zone 2203 wouldn’t just sit and wait…
— The end of the Chapter–
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