As soon as Liang Mingyue woke up and took in his surroundings, he let out a sigh of relief.
He was lying on the rooftop of a skyscraper. The sky was heavy with a thick layer of leaden clouds, and the area was a forest of leaning, derelict buildings. About two stories below him, everything was submerged in water.
According to the map on his multi-function watch, this place was called the Flooded City. His ability allowed for simple liquid manipulation; from the looks of it, he had a distinct home-field advantage.
After contacting his teammates, Liang Mingyue prepared to leave the rooftop and head toward the central Unknown Zone.
"Doesn't look like there are many mutants around here. Logically, the core of the competition's skill assessment should revolve around killing mutants, right?"
Liang Mingyue stepped onto a small shard of ice he had condensed with his ability, advancing cautiously.
After a period of seeing neither other ability users nor mutants, his pace grew considerably bolder.
"The detailed rules haven't been announced yet, so the match probably hasn't officially started, right?" He stepped onto the roof of another building and scanned the empty surroundings, letting out a small laugh. "Must be. What was I so nervous about just now?"
Not long after Liang Mingyue completely lowered his guard, a butterfly fluttered unsteadily out from within the building.
Its wings were damp with water, and much of the color used to confuse predators had faded. This fragile appearance meant that when it flew close, Liang Mingyue didn't take any defensive measures. Instead, he even extended a finger to give the butterfly a place to perch.
"Is this a mutant from the competition grounds?" Liang Mingyue studied the butterfly curiously. "Is it just there for aesthetics?"
However, before he could finish his monologue, he felt his eyelids grow heavy.
By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
Ultimately, Liang Mingyue fell into a deep sleep and tumbled into the water. His death in the simulated environment was quickly announced; the cause was drowning.
Having lost its perch, the butterfly flew away once more.
***
In his mind, Xin Ye asked Xun Yin, "Can I tell the other four to watch out for butterflies?"
Xun Yin replied: […Why do you think I told you in advance? It was so your team could cheat.]
Xin Ye happily sent out the message. As expected, Leng Xianye asked him why. He made up a lie on the spot, claiming he had encountered an aggressive butterfly.
Lian Muyun: *There are probably more butterflies in the forest, right? I haven't seen any here.*
Tang Qiuqiu: *I think I see a butterfly.*
Xin Ye: *Can you take a picture and send it over?*
However, Tang Qiuqiu didn't reply again, and Leng Xianye and Xing Yue also went silent.
Soon, another elimination notice popped up. This time, however, the elimination occurred in the Battlefield, and it was a participant killing another participant.
Xin Ye closed the communication software and took the modified handgun his Mirror Image pulled from the lens. "It’s started."
There were two ways to beat others in the comprehensive score: the first was to raise your own score, and the second was to lower everyone else's.
Clearly, someone had already chosen the second path.
Compared to the terrain in the other directions, the Forest seemed the most harmless at first glance, but that was only on the surface.
The biodiversity of flora and fauna meant that the number of mutants here would far exceed the other regions. Furthermore, the towering trees, ubiquitous water sources, and caves provided more room for ability users to maneuver.
Xin Ye confirmed the cardinal directions by checking the sun's position and the lean of the leaves. However, after locking onto his direction, he didn't choose to head straight for his goal. Instead, he intentionally took a detour.
He didn't want to run into other ability users this early. Moreover, the recent announcement must have alerted many people that they could win by killing others here.
But if someone was determined, no amount of detouring would avoid them.
[Hello, user. Your navigation assistant, Xun Yin, is at your service,] Xun Yin said, recalling how the GPS in his car sounded. [There is an ability user lying in ambush behind the giant elm tree two hundred meters ahead at the one o'clock position. User, please prepare to receive your guest.]
Xin Ye choked slightly at the phrase "receive your guest." Slowing his pace, he asked, "I took such a long detour and still didn't avoid people? Did you have a hand in this?"
Xun Yin looked at the screen, his eyes narrowing into a smile. [I did.]
Having received his answer, Xin Ye gripped the pistol's handle with his right hand and lightly tossed the lens with his left. The Mirror Image immediately understood the signal and returned to the shard.
This movement was their pre-arranged signal for "return to the lens."
Xin Ye asked in his mind, "What is that person's ability?"
Xun Yin made one up on the fly: [C-class ability, Body Hardening. But it's limited to the limbs; areas like the head, neck, and abdomen cannot be reinforced.]
Xin Ye breathed a small sigh of relief. "Then that's easy."
He feigned a completely defenseless posture as he walked near the elm tree. Just as his side was about to align with the center of the trunk, the person struck.
Most ability users underwent physical training to better synchronize with their abilities. As expected, the owner of the Body Hardening ability was a burly man. His punch carried the sound of wind, making his target, Xin Ye, look exceptionally thin and pitiful by comparison.
However, that "pitiful" look only lasted a moment before the scene flipped.
The man immediately used his left hand to pin Xin Ye's right hand, which held the handgun. His free right hand clenched into a fist and swung toward Xin Ye's jaw. Yet, before his fist could connect, a cold muzzle forced him to stop.
The Mirror Image held a gun against the man's temple. "Kneel. Hands behind your head. Get away from Xin Ye."
The moment the man had entered his field of vision, Xin Ye had pretended to be startled and dropped the lens in front of him. As soon as the Mirror Image emerged from the shard, he was able to control the man from behind.
The man tried to resist a few times. The Mirror Image's strength, like Xin Ye's, wasn't particularly great, and the man almost broke free. Fortunately, a gun is always more persuasive than a fist. After Xin Ye had the Mirror Image pistol-whip the man's temple twice, the man finally behaved and knelt a distance away from Xin Ye with his hands behind his head.
Xun Yin stopped writing at this point. [How do you plan to deal with this guy?]
"Ask a few things, then let him go." Xin Ye slowly adjusted his tactical gloves, looking down at the man. "Though my team rarely used it in the past, I did learn interrogation techniques for missions targeting internal personnel."
Logistics—a miraculous position. Seemingly powerless, yet actually all-powerful.
Xun Yin felt as if the cold wind of the forest was blowing through the screen onto his face. […It’s a bright, sunny day. Not really suitable for an interrogation. Maybe you should reconsider?]
Xin Ye: "Easy for you to say. If you're so capable, make him volunteer the information I want."
Xun Yin: [That’s easy. Just watch.]
From what he had seen so far, Xun Yin had never provided a reliable solution.
While the two youths and the one Mirror Image were at a standstill, butterflies began to arrive silently, one after another.
To fit their environment, the butterflies in the forest were more vibrantly colored than those in other regions. This brilliance naturally came with stronger toxicity.
They looked no different from ordinary butterflies, but no one could guarantee what was hidden inside those tiny bodies—just as a sparrow's body might already be stuffed with grapevines.
The Mirror Image was the first to notice the approaching swarm and immediately warned Xin Ye. "Xin Ye, butterflies are coming. I'm certain they're mutants."
Xin Ye drew the dagger strapped to his leg. "Fine. I'll handle it. You keep a grip on this guy."
The man clearly realized the danger of these butterflies as well, shouting loudly in protest, "Let me go! If you want to stay here and wait for death, don't get in the way of my escape!"
The Mirror Image used the gun to strike the man's head hard, making him howl in pain.
"Wait for death?" Xin Ye glanced at the man, his lips curling into a faint smile. "Then please, watch closely and see how I 'die'."
"Mirror, cover his nose and mouth. Watch out for the scales on the butterflies."
The Mirror Image lowered his eyes and gave a brief, "Yes."
He could confirm that the person before him was the real Xin Ye, but he could also sense… Xin Ye seemed a bit different than before.
Ever since he killed the Fish-Bug.
But such a change might not be a bad thing.
Xin Ye roughly estimated there were about thirty attacking butterflies. Looking at their direction, most were heading for him. After all, research showed that mutants could now sense the strength of a human's ability level; most mutants would prioritize attacking low-level ability users.
The Mirror Image present was an ability manifestation, and the other guy was C-class. Xin Ye, for the time being, looked like the easiest target.
The habitually non-confrontational Xin Ye was beginning to truly understand the "competitive spirit" he had been talking about.
In the past, he was looked down upon by people; now, he was even being looked down upon by mutants.
Whether it was the former or the latter, Xin Ye's current assessment was that both were intolerable.
Holding his breath, Xin Ye quickly switched hands, moving the dagger to his right. His left hand caught the gun and immediately fired a backhand shot behind him.
The bullet pierced straight through a butterfly trying to approach him and embedded itself in the elm's trunk. The man sitting nearby jumped in fright, thinking Xin Ye intended to eliminate him.
The Mirror Image immediately activated vision sharing for Xin Ye, allowing him to see what was happening behind him.
Simultaneously, the dagger sliced a butterfly in half at the waist.
With a faint *thud*, the two halves of the butterfly corpse fell to the ground.
It looked perfectly normal, making one wonder exactly where it had mutated.
While thirty or so butterflies were a nuisance for Xin Ye, they weren't unmanageable.
With the final crack of the pistol, a bullet tore through the butterfly attempting to ambush the C-class ability user, and the skirmish officially came to an end.
The man was still being held by the Mirror Image, but his body had gone limp.
Even though he was just a spectator, he could tell from Xin Ye's reaction speed and combat form that this person's strength was absolutely not to be underestimated. Furthermore, he had realized something during this time…
Two identical teenagers… the name Xin Ye…
This was the person who ranked first in both solo and team missions, the one everyone was told to pay special attention to before the team competition—the owner of the D-class ability "Mirror in Me," Xin Ye.
The man began to regret his insolence.
Xin Ye casually stowed his weapons and turned to the man. "Still think I'm waiting for death?"
The man shook his head frantically. "No, I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare…"
Xin Ye asked the Mirror Image for a damp cloth. Covering his nose and mouth, he crouched down to inspect a butterfly corpse. He still couldn't see anything unusual, so he turned his attention back to the man.
He didn't like using direct physical threats, but unfortunately, having just finished a fight, it was the most effective tool at hand.
Xin Ye rested the dagger, still coated in scales, against the man's unhardened neck. He flashed a gentle smile that seemed to carry no threat at all.
Because of the author's various descriptions, the youth possessed an undeniably handsome face; otherwise, he wouldn't have so many fans.
Only now, his features seemed like butterfly wings soaked in poison, using beauty to tell the person opposite him just how dangerous he was.
"Tell me which zones your teammates are in and what threats they've encountered so far."
"Better tell the truth, okay? Otherwise, I'll cut off your fingers and use them to unlock your watch to check your messages."
***
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Promoted to Protagonist: Persecuted by the Meta-Narrative | Chapter 9 | The Deceptive Butterfly | Novela.app | Novela.app
