Hoo—

Inside the simulation space, Li Chen was sprinting to his heart’s content, fully operating the Supreme Freedom Art.

In theory, the technique deduction should have been unbelievably complex, filled with countless risks, going through failure after failure and suffering agonizing torment.

Yet right now, it seemed so ordinary, as easy as eating and drinking.

‘The birth of a new technique is paved with countless corpses.’

That iron law of the martial arts world was completely shattered at this moment.

The partial results Dr. Lisa and her team had researched were, in the simulation world, deduced by Li Chen one by one in the simplest, clearest and smoothest way.

Qi sensing, power release, imitation, breaking force.

Every single stage was a bottleneck that would make top experts rack their brains for years and that would normally require countless sacrifices to overcome.

But in Li Chen’s hands, it became an absurdly simple problem, one that could be solved correctly with a casual flourish.

Dingdong.

[Detected player’s <Supreme Freedom Art> Incomplete proficiency has reached 100%, current realm is Beginner.]

[Player has reached today’s proficiency gain limit for this technique and can break through via live combat.]

“Hoo, hoohoohoo.”

Even though it wasn’t reality, under the ultra-realistic simulation state, Li Chen’s five senses were recreated one-to-one with a real environment.

In other words, he could raise his proficiency as much as he wanted without taking any risks at all.

This was also Li Chen’s biggest trump card back then, the reason he was confident he could “pass” Thunder Martial Arts Hall’s assessment and obtain a supreme art.

‘But this situation is completely different from what I originally expected.’

Li Chen shook his head helplessly but he didn’t feel any regret because of it.

He wouldn’t actively jump into trouble but now that trouble had come knocking and it even…

‘Threatened the person I love most, then there’s only one word waiting for them. Death.’

Buzzz buzzzz buzzzz.

A burst of humming sounded in his ears.

[This technique deduction simulation has been completed, thank you trainee Li Chen, No. 4119, please remember to promptly claim your reward points from the project plan host.]

‘Contribution points?’

Hearing that, Li Chen’s eyes lit up.

The main reason he rushed here to Thunder Martial Arts Hall was naturally the Supreme Freedom Art in his hands but the other top-tier martial arts in Thunder Martial Arts Hall’s collection also made Li Chen greedy.

When he had just transmigrated, Li Chen, who believed he had a prophet-like advantage, was arrogant to the extreme and didn’t even look at anything other than peerless divine arts.

Yet when he naively used every method he could to get his hands on book after book of martial arts, he was limited by his mediocre physical talent and could only sigh that even the best cook can’t make a meal without rice.

‘In the end, those martial arts all became that bunch of bad women’s startup capital.’

A few familiar yet unfamiliar figures surfaced in his mind and Li Chen’s heart stirred slightly.

‘Hmph, anyway, judging by the recent news, every one of them is doing better than the last, so I don’t need to worry, living my little life properly with Xiao Wei is better than anything.’

But peaceful living was not something that should be taken for granted.

‘Power.’

Feeling the aura on his body slowly rising, Li Chen’s blazing fighting spirit reignited.

With this technique, at least before he stepped into high tier, he no longer needed to worry about bottlenecks.

Thud thud.

Just as Li Chen’s thoughts flowed, the simulation space fell into darkness.

The simulation ended.

Li Chen blinked and an intense white light surged in from all directions.

Thunk.

The simulation pod slowly opened.

Li Chen climbed out and what greeted his eyes was Dr. Lisa, who had clearly been waiting a long time and was still holding a thick notebook in her arms.

“How is it, Dr. Lisa, my deduction results this time were pretty good, right?”

Half-sitting by the simulation pod, Li Chen asked with a beaming smile, teasing that old demon hag who only cared about experimental data and had no distractions.

“Hehe, for this round of contribution points, can you give me a bit more?”

Shaking out the sterile gown with a bit of dust on it, Li Chen’s eyes were full of anticipation.

“Of, of course.”

However, he didn’t know if it was his imagination.

Li Chen always felt that Dr. Lisa, who used to keep everyone at arm’s length and only held a pure scientist’s “curiosity” toward him as an experimental subject with no other complicated feelings, was now looking at him a little differently.

‘Uh, it’s my imagination, right? It has to be that I’ve been in this world too long and got influenced by those crazy women and I’m starting to think any woman who looks at me an extra second has ulterior motives. Other people might, sure, but Dr. Lisa?’

Come on, that old demon hag, in the original work, was famously impossible to conquer, meaning you could not “win her over” or raise her affection.

Other characters from other organizations and instances could accumulate affection through all kinds of bizarre methods and eventually be conquered.

But her?

She stubbornly stayed “unchangeable” through several version updates, to the point that the bounties offered by major forum guilds kept getting higher and higher, until her reputation got so big that even Li Chen, an entertainment player who wasn’t part of the romance crowd, had heard of her.

“You deduced it… very well.”

While Li Chen was lost in his own thoughts, Lisa stammered out a few words in a completely different tone from usual and her voice got smaller and smaller until it was barely louder than a mosquito.

“What do you want?”

Dr. Lisa lowered her head and asked, “I’ll try my best to arrange it.”

‘Wow, this polite?’

Li Chen stared deeply at the doctor whose attitude had flipped so drastically and after thinking for a moment, he finally nodded in understanding.

‘Got it! She’s taken a liking to me—no, to my compatibility with her deduced technique itself. That makes sense.’

With how passionate Dr. Lisa was about scientific research, once she ran into a perfect experimental subject like him, it would be normal for her to take him seriously.

As for her shy and awkward manner, wasn’t that even more normal?

With how carefree she usually was about human relationships, suddenly meeting someone she had to “please” and being caught off guard and not knowing how to speak, wasn’t that perfectly normal?

‘Hehe, looks like I can fleece a fat sheep again?’

Li Chen, who had no idea how many days he had crawled and scrapped in the Lower City, immediately climbed the ladder and started listing outrageous conditions.

“Anything I want, you can arrange it for me?”

“Dr. Lisa (I’m) really is generous!”

Pa.

Li Chen firmly tapped his newly registered Thunder Martial Arts Hall trainee account.

“Then, Doctor, since I’m part of Thunder Martial Arts Hall now, when it comes to internal contribution points, hehe, it all depends on your ‘sincerity.’”

That said, even though he really did contribute a lot to this project.

How much would this old demon hag actually pay him?

‘Tch, am I going to get cheated?’

It wasn’t that Li Chen liked maliciously guessing at people.

It was just that in Hive City, this kind of “betrayal” was way too commonplace, so common it was hard to call it anything unusual at all.

Ding—

[Hello trainee Li Chen, you have a contribution points disbursement from research project leader Dr. Lisa, total amount 5000…]

‘5000?! That many contribution points is enough for me to exchange for all the secret techniques on the first few floors of Thunder Martial Arts Hall’s grand library, isn’t it?’

Recalling the information he’d gotten from the hall intranet after registering as a trainee, Li Chen’s eyes burned with scorching fire.

In the past, before activating his player status, even a god-tier technique was useless in his hands.

But now that he had a proficiency template?

Rising higher and higher, rising higher and higher.

[System is verifying contribution points, please wait…]

He stared at the screen with eager anticipation.

Buzzz buzzzz buzzzz—

But just as Li Chen was about to take the contribution points Dr. Lisa transferred in and go on a shopping spree for all those martial techniques and secret arts he’d had his eye on, a blood-red warning flash blocked his view.

[Warning, warning.]

[System verification complete, this contribution point account has an anomaly and cannot be transferred into the trainee account, please apply to this company’s data department director for a review.]

“…”

Li Chen raised an eyebrow slightly.

‘Anomaly?’

A figure immediately surfaced in his mind, the one who had left with a half-smile after he sternly refused her.

‘That Schufestan family young miss?’

“No!”

Dr. Lisa seemed to have received even more information.

“That ungrateful traitor filed an objection with the Martial Arts Hall Technique Management Committee to fight for ownership of my R&D project…”

Unlike Li Chen’s calmness, Dr. Lisa, who normally lived in a scientific world, became a bit lost when faced with the sharp edge of reality.

She slammed the table beside her and paced back and forth with unwilling eyes.

Beep beep!

Li Chen was about to speak when another communication request popped up in front of him.

[You have a communication request from a stranger, signed: Titan Heavy Industries Security Department Senior Executive Director, Kate Schufestan.]

‘So it really is her.’

Li Chen silently accepted the call.

“Mr. Li Chen.”

On the other side of the screen, Kate, who had stormed off in anger not long ago, had already changed out of her plain clothing into a dazzling formal gown, showing off her alluring figure.

The Schufestan family young miss lifted her skirt hem politely and flashed a brilliant smile.

“Mr. Li Chen, it’s regrettable we have to meet under these circumstances.”

Even though she used polite words like “regrettable” and “apologies,” Li Chen didn’t feel even a hint of goodwill from those intimidating eyes of hers, only endless coldness and arrogance.

“However, I believe as long as you cooperate with me, Mr. Li Chen, you will surely obtain a wonderful life beyond your imagination.”

Kate raised the glittering wine glass on the long table and took a sip.

On the table were fine wine and delicacies.

With real musicians providing accompaniment, well-dressed elites were clinking glasses and socializing.

Li Chen saw many familiar faces from the news.

Senior City Hall officials, consortium executives, top mercenary group members…

And also a woman in a professional suit, her chest full of medals, her hair completely white and her face severe.

Director of the Public Security Bureau’s Administrative Affairs Department.

Xiao Wei’s direct superior.

“I think you’ll stand on the winner’s side, won’t you?”

Kate asked confidently.

“After all, isn’t there an old saying in Hive City? Only the survivors get to write the story.”

‘That’s why I hate Hive City.’

Li Chen glanced at the gilded splendor on the other side, then looked at the shabby lab beside him by contrast…

He smiled.

As carefree as ever.

“No, Miss Kate. Just as I said before, I will not cooperate with someone who threatens me with my family, never.”

He refused decisively.

“Cooperate? Interesting.”

Kate also lifted the same charming smile.

She set down the wine glass, picked up a pure silver steak knife beside her plate, cut into a bloody steak and chewed as she ate.

“But you misunderstood. This isn’t a suggestion. It’s an order. Since you love your wife so much, I believe you definitely don’t want her to get hurt, right?”

While enjoying fine wine and delicacies and watching that “lowborn” who dared refuse her, Kate asked softly, believing she held Li Chen’s weakness.

‘Hmph, he’s only a little handsome, yet he dares refuse me? Fine. I’ll make you crawl into my bed on your own. When the time comes, right in front of your dear wife, I’ll toy with you viciously.’

Staring hard at Li Chen’s perfect face, Kate drained her red wine in one gulp, only waiting for Li Chen to bow his head and surrender.

But she was wrong.

Facing Kate’s “threat,” Li Chen only replied calmly.

“I do love Xiao Wei, but it’s exactly because I do that I can’t agree.”

Kate blinked in shock.

“Why?”

“Because I believe in Xiao Wei.”

Li Chen answered as if it were obvious.

“Isn’t love believing? So I believe Xiao Wei won’t be hurt by your ridiculous methods.”

Li Chen lifted his head with unwavering eyes.

* * *

At the same time, at the Upper Hive Public Security Bureau headquarters.

In some office no one cared about.

A graceful figure in a pure white Public Security Bureau dress uniform swayed her skirt and carried hot tea toward a low table nearby.

“Good tea.”

A voluptuous beautiful middle-aged woman accepted the tea.

“Your skill is very good.”

“I learned it from my husband.”

The figure replied with a smiling squint.

“You really love that fiancé?”

The middle-aged woman rubbed her chin and thought.

“I remember his name is… Li Chen?”

“Yes.”

“He’s the person I value most.”

Bai Wei, leader of the Public Security Bureau Special Operations Unit and a B-rank employee, nodded firmly without hesitation.

“Love.”

A complicated glint flashed in the middle-aged woman’s eyes.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Yes.”

Bai Wei’s face overflowed with a blissful smile.

“So you’ll help me, right?”

“…”

The middle-aged woman sighed helplessly.

“Please don’t show this old woman that happy smile, it’s basically torture.”

“So~”

Bai Wei pressed on.

“I understand.”

“I’ll take that chip.”

The middle-aged woman gloomily picked up the chip on the table.

“Sigh, who told me I’m your teacher.”

Bang.

Pushing open the office door, the middle-aged woman turned back.

“Oh right, even though it’s probably pointless to say, I still have to emphasize this. Once I take out the chip, these matters will have nothing to do with you or your fiancé at all.”

“Understood, Director.”

The director of the Hive City Public Security Bureau gripped the chip and strode out without looking back.

A storm of bloodshed was about to rise.

But none of it had anything to do with Bai Wei and the one she loved most.

‘Dummy Xiao Chen, I did it!’

Bai Wei excitedly waved her pink fist.

‘Honorary Upper Hive citizenship, secured! With that, Xiao Chen, we can be together.’

Under the evening sunset, a hint of longing surfaced on that peerlessly beautiful face and her eyes shimmered with a sickly haze.

‘Forever… Forever together.’