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[Cx330 (Lv4)]: Hold on a little longer, we'll come rescue you soon
The line of words printed on the retinal screen made Guo Pei unable to swallow his last breath, and he really held on.
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind - he had just acquired the skill, [Outside the Cone of Light].
The situation was urgent at the time, so he glanced at the skill description and didn't quite understand it, so he put it aside for the time being. Now, he suddenly recalled it for some reason.
"Using this skill, you can briefly enter outside the cone of light."
What is a light cone?
Light cone is an extremely unfamiliar term and concept. He couldn't remember what it was at first, but he actually remembered it.
The books he read were relatively one-sided, but his memory was pretty good, so he learned some unpopular knowledge by watching short videos, and "Light Cone T" was one of them.
The light cone, in simple terms, is the law of cause and effect: there is a cause before there is an effect.
Suppose the Sun suddenly vanished within one second, and the last ray of light from the Sun took eight minutes to reach Earth. Humans would only know of this event eight minutes later. On a larger cosmic scale, Jupiter, Neptune, and Proxima Centauri, four light-years away, would successively learn of this event later than we would. This is undeniable, because according to relativity, the speed of light cannot be exceeded. The effect of the Sun's disappearance would manifest as a spherical bubble reaching Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Neptune, and Proxima Centauri in sequence. To facilitate understanding, let's reduce this process from three-dimensional space to a two-dimensional plane. The Sun's disappearance would appear as a continuously expanding circle. With each unit of time, the circle grows larger, stacking on top of the smaller circle formed by the previous unit of time, encompassing the coordinates of Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Neptune, and Proxima Centauri. Finally, when observed in three-dimensional space, countless concentric circles stacked together form a perfect cone—this is the light cone.
When the light cone of past events does not reach our location, it will not have any effect on us. Just like during those eight minutes, no matter what method we used, we could not observe that the sun had disappeared. Even if we judged the disappearance of a star by the change in gravity, it would be impossible because gravitational waves cannot exceed the speed of light.
There is a famous saying in science fiction novels, "Destiny lies within the cone of light."
There is a cause for every effect. Everything is within the light cone. It is impossible for us to know about unpredictable events before they happen, and events that have not yet happened are even less likely to affect us now.
But the name of this skill is [Outside the Cone of Light].
Guo Pei was still holding his breath. Without time to think too much, he immediately cleared a skill slot, equipped himself with [Outside the Light Cone], and activated the skill.
Then, something magical happened, his vision suddenly became empty.
Nothingness is not darkness, but true nothingness. There is no light, no space, and no perception of the passage of time.
He lost all senses. He could not feel the existence of his limbs, could not see, hear, smell or touch. His wounds no longer hurt, and he had no sense of exhaustion or impending death.
He thought that the environment he was in now was probably outside the light cone.
Within the cone of light is destiny, outside the cone of light is nothingness.
Because the light cone of this world has not yet covered him, he is outside the light cone and naturally does not know what is happening in this world at this moment.
And as long as he wants, the world's light cone will never catch up with him if his energy value is enough to support the consumption of skills.
This was amazing. Outside the cone of light, he seemed to have entered an inner world. Although he could not perceive everything and did not know what was happening in the outer world at this moment and could not do anything, he could think.
Thinking is the most frequent and greatest physiological activity of human beings.
Wang Yangming's enlightenment in Longchang may not have been entering outside the light cone, where he had a thought beyond time and space and finally realized the great truth.
Everyone can think and everyone can gain enlightenment, and if someone happens to think of something valuable, they are what people often call a thinker.
At this moment, his body felt nothing. His wounds didn't hurt, he didn't need to breathe, he didn't feel hungry or thirsty, he wasn't led astray by superficial dopamine, and he wasn't disturbed by any external things. His thinking could be more focused and more free. The rope of his thinking was thick and tough, and wouldn't be entangled by random thoughts.
In this boundless and endless chaotic void, he began what he believed to be the greatest thinking in human history.
He began his thoughts with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, and contemplated the infinite expansion of the universe, the collapse of stars and the explosion of supernovae, the magnificent nebulae and dust, the earliest life on Earth 3.8 billion years ago, the dinosaurs of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, and the primitive society of humans, from the great apes to the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, the first ancestors of human civilization, who ushered in a magnificent civilization spanning five thousand years. From the Hundred Schools of Thought in the Spring and Autumn Period to Qu Yuan's suicide, the Qin cavalry swept across the six kingdoms, and the Yan and Han dynasties lasted for four hundred years.
After this came the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. Guo Pei's thoughts paused for a moment.
He suddenly thought of the Three Kingdoms mod for the game Rome: Total War he'd downloaded onto his computer. If Cao Cao's faction were to start the game by besieging the rebel-held Guandu, but without attacking, they would withdraw their troops every three turns, then re-besiege. This would prevent any third forces from attacking the defenders. This would keep Yuan Shao firmly contained north of the Yellow River. Once they had annihilated the vassal states south of the Yellow River—Lü Bu in Yanzhou, Kong Rong in Qingzhou, Tao Qian in Xuzhou, and Yuan Shu in Huainan—then it would be time for the decisive battle with Yuan Shao...
I don't know how much time passed. He probably went over everything in his mind in detail and there was nothing else to think about.
[Outside the Light Cone] used up the last of its energy. Without energy supply, the skill began to lose its effectiveness, and light slowly began to enter the empty space.
What followed was the pain of the wound, the feeling of suffocation, exhaustion and the feeling of impending death. He completely fainted in the agony.
It was a ridiculous dream. When I opened my eyes, the sky was bright and it seemed like I was in another world.
This is a bedroom with a slightly outdated decoration style. The whitewashed walls are peeling a bit, and the clothes in the wardrobe are sparse and messy.
He moved his gaze again and saw the girl sitting on the chair. She had a neat high ponytail and her eyes and eyebrows were full of heroic spirit.
The other party was also looking at him.
"Awake?" Tao Sai asked calmly.
Guo Pei was stunned for two seconds before nodding. He recalled being gravely wounded and near death, but he was surprised to find that his injuries didn't seem that serious anymore. If he hadn't misjudged the situation, he should have been rescued. He was in a house on the ground, not a boat swaying on the water. And there was no one else who could save him from Jiange.
"...You are?" Guo Pei swallowed hard, his heart in his throat, his breathing quickened. "You can't be... that?!"
If there is a girl in the world who possesses such a temperament, with an indifferent yet determined look in her eyes, a heroic demeanor, and a heart full of ambition, then this person can only be, Big Boss Cx330!!!
"You guessed it right," said Towsey.
When Guo Pei heard this, he wanted to jump out of bed immediately, but suddenly realized that his injuries had not healed yet. He rolled over on the bed twice, holding his stomach in pain.
He heard the other party ask: "You seem to have average fighting ability and no helpers. What are you thinking of attacking Jiange alone?"
As if a switch had been touched, Guo Pei's pain suddenly subsided. He half-sat up and told everything in detail, "I was in seclusion for a while before, so I didn't know what was happening on the world channel. But a few days ago, when I looked through the message logs, I was furious! Those bastards from Jiange! Bastards! Damn bastards! I wish I could eat them alive!"
He cursed and pointed to the sky, and his pale face even turned red.
"A greenhorn." Tao Sai commented calmly.
It's really a case of bravery without any brains, a simple mind and even simpler limbs.
Guo Pei scratched his head, feeling as if he was being scolded by his middle school teacher, and immediately looked away.
"I have something else to ask you," Tao Sai said. "You spoke on the Alliance channel last night, saying that your investigation revealed that Jiange was taking orders from Paradise Island. Do you have any other information about Paradise Island?"
Hearing this, Guo Pei immediately looked back, his vision suddenly becoming vague. He took out a notebook from the system's [Warehouse]. This was the homework he had been doing day and night for the past few days.
He held it up with both hands, his eyes full of anticipation, "Boss, all the information is here."
His injuries had not yet fully healed, so Tao Sai asked him to continue resting while he sat on the sofa in the living room with his notebook to study, and at the same time called He Zhaonian and others.
The notebook recorded the conversations obtained by deciphering the special characters in the message records. As he said, there were not only ten people from Jiange, but also about fifteen players working for the same organization, not including the "Deep Water Wolf" who did not speak using special characters. The remaining fifteen players outside Jiange also formed two full-staffed alliances, "Daegu New Generation" and "Blue".
These two alliances were weaker than Jiange and were also very low-key. Tao Sai vaguely remembered the nicknames of their members, and their previous statements were mostly used to target ordinary players. If it weren't for Guo Pei's major breakthrough in decryption, these hooks would really not have been found.
In addition, Tao Sai also discovered an important piece of information. They mentioned a concept, "district".
They seem to call this area "Zone 3" or "East Asia Zone".
He Zhaonian felt a chill run down his spine as he thought about this, his voice a little weak. "So, 'Insect Tide Online' is divided into zones just like other online games. We're in Zone 3, East Asia. If we divide it geographically, how many zones would there be in the world?"
"So, if that's the case, then the world channel is actually just a sub-area world channel," Tang Yingxue couldn't help but sigh. "I always thought our Hailou was basically the ceiling among players, but now I suddenly feel so insignificant."
"The most terrifying thing is that Paradise Island's reach should not only extend to East Asia!" He Zhaonian felt like he was suffocating.
Tao Sai nodded in agreement. There were probably as many tool men like Jiange as there were divisions in the world. From this, one could infer how huge the Paradise Island was.
Seeing the depressed faces of everyone in the living room, Tao Sai offered comfort, "It's okay. Think of it this way. There are even more players like us who are sworn enemies of Paradise Island. Since Paradise Island's goal is skills and resources, then all players in the world and in the entire game cannot stay out of it. All players are our potential allies. The devil is one foot taller, but the way is ten feet taller."
Paradise Island is truly the public enemy of all players, but it is not impossible to fight it by uniting all players in all divisions. The difficulty lies in the need for enough players to take the lead and act as the initiator.
After the entrapment of the real killer at East China Sea Deepwater Port and the previous siege at Jiange, Tao Sai believed she had already established a strong reputation among the players. This season, if she and Hailou could reach the top again, their absolute voice would be a foregone conclusion.
At that time, we will destroy Jiange, and then destroy the other two anti-hook alliances "Daegu New Generation" and "Blue", and then integrate all the players in Zone 3, and breaking out of Zone 3 will be a natural process.
This is a grand goal, but everyone is full of confidence. Because with a goal, the future is bright. Even if the mountain of Paradise Island is so heavy that it makes people feel breathless, we can still move the mountain like Yugong.
For the next three days, Hailou focused on recuperation and training, not rushing to catch up with Season 2. The season was almost halfway through, but Tao Sai still had enough confidence to catch up.
During these three days, Tang Yingxue's shoulder had almost recovered, and the joint movement was basically unaffected, but a large scar was left on the shoulder.
She herself was optimistic: "It's a soldier's medal. Anyway, I don't like wearing suspenders and tube tops, so it's not a big problem."
Guo Pei's resistance value was terrible enough. Even with the help of Shi Jiahui's skill [Recovery] and the continuous use of [Recovery Potions] bought from the [Mall], his body recovered extremely slowly. It took him three full days before he was able to get out of bed.
Tao Sai wondered, "Didn't you kill a Jiange player? You should have taken the freely distributable attribute points. Didn't you add them to your resistance value?"
Guo Pei slapped his thigh suddenly: "Oh right! How could I forget about this! I'll add some right away!"
Tao Sai: “…”
Tao Sai actually thinks it would be more appropriate for him to add points to the intelligence attribute.
The Season 2 quest heat map shows that this seaside town is located near a hotspot. The quest hall is rarely empty, with suitable quests always available. Two- and three-star quests are also starting to appear. The star rating indicates difficulty, with two- and three-star quests being significantly more difficult than one-star quests. However, completing one quest is equivalent to completing two or three one-star quests, so players are still willing to take them.
However, for safety reasons, Hailou has not accepted any missions that require leaving the town in the past few days. He has only done simple, system-assigned tasks and has spent most of his time on training.
Tao Sai pulled three people into the illusion at the same time. She personally acted as the instructor, not letting them off the hook, fighting for life and death, using combat as training.
Because the illusion greatly enhances her own attributes, she deliberately uses fewer or no skills, trying to keep the combat power of both sides at the same level.
In addition to combat training, there's also physical training, with everyone's program varying. For three hours each morning and afternoon, Tao Sai runs barefoot on the beach, combining sprints with aerobic jogging. With every step, his feet sink into the soft sand, the grit increasing resistance to his legs and enhancing the workout.
Tang Yingxue tried to run to build up her endurance, but she could only run for an hour or so before she was exhausted and out of breath.
Tao Sai trained at full intensity every day, then used [Deep Sleep] to recover at night, adapting to her stat points more and more effectively. If, at first, she'd walked like she was completely drunk, now it was only two pounds.
After three days of stumbling and running on the beach, she can now basically walk straight on flat ground. If she walks too fast, her brain will shake a little, but it is much better than before.
In the [S1 Season] player rankings, the total points of the top players reached 1,200, and it was no surprise that the current five members of Hailou took the bottom five places.
Over the past three days, there haven't been any signs of Jiange tracking near the town, and Tao Sai hasn't detected any signs of skill usage with [Energy Perception], so the risk of being followed has been basically eliminated. Now that everyone's recovered, it's time to catch up!
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