The Boundary

It was precisely for this reason that they dared to wage war against Tu Ran. With their [Absolute Aim], the bullets could chase her down, and since she wasn't faster than a bullet, they were certain she'd be caught—certain she'd die.

Too bad their intel on inner cores was severely outdated.

They had no idea that abilities could be upgraded.

When Tu Ran was about a meter away from the two, her body launched into the air, and in nearly 0.0001 seconds, she landed behind them.

The bullets, however, lacked such reaction speed. With a series of "thud thud thud" sounds—twenty-odd in total—they all buried themselves into the two men's bodies.

Under the immense impact, they both staggered back a couple of steps.

Blood welled up from their mouths, gushing out in streams and flowing down into their masks.

The weapons in their hands clattered to the ground. They couldn't believe this outcome, but the life draining from them could no longer sustain their stance, and they toppled backward one after the other.

The Pioneer Team's combat suits were decent quality—or perhaps their vitality was simply tenacious—because they didn't die right away.

They lay on the ground, still spewing blood from their mouths.

Tu Ran slowly crouched at their heads, pressed the button on her helmet, lifted the glass visor, and revealed her face as she looked down at them.

"You wanted my inner core?" Her eyes held undisguised scorn. "Ridiculous. Even the conglomerates couldn't catch me. You two?"

Their gazes were glazed over. At this moment, they felt nothing but deep terror toward Tu Ran. They wanted to beg for mercy, but they couldn't speak.

Tu Ran didn't want to hear them talk anyway. She placed both hands over their helmets.

Landslide.

The helmets shattered.

Shards fell onto their faces, jolting their nerves. For a brief instant, they snapped back to clarity, sensing death's approach. They opened their mouths to plead, but blood clogged their throats, drowning out their words.

"See you later." Such a gentle voice—the first time they'd heard it from Tu Ran's lips.

But the next instant, "Crack!"

Their skulls caved in, and both men died instantly.

Tu Ran didn't pause. With strong arms, she flipped them over face-down, exposed the backs of their necks, and pulled out a dagger to dig.

Two inner cores were quickly extracted.

Tu Ran wiped them clean and consumed [Absolute Aim].

[Absolute Aim]

Description: Want to become a sharpshooter? Eat this inner core, and within a hundred meters, you'll never miss! Every shot hits its mark! You're only one inner core away from being a crack shot.

Grade: Beginner

Tu Ran then destroyed both of their holographic recording rings before walking back toward Li Rui and the others.

The three women still hadn't recovered from what they'd just witnessed.

This was the first time in their lives they'd seen someone killed with their own eyes.

Their minds couldn't settle.

In that instant, they truly realized they were no longer in a law-governed society.

This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak—the most primal world. Without a single skill, you'd be killed; with treasure in your grasp, you'd also be killed. To survive, you had to have the means to protect yourself.

Whether they'd ever return to their original world was unknown, and even if they did, would that world be as safe as before? No.

Once independent worlds had become interconnected, and no world could remain isolated.

Every world would only grow more chaotic.

They couldn't just rely on Sister Tu Ran's protection.

Sister Tu Ran couldn't stay by their side forever. She had a bigger stage waiting for her, and one day she'd leave them. They needed to be able to protect themselves.

Tu Ran didn't notice the shift in emotions among the three. She opened her palm and offered [Truth] to them.

"It can tell if someone is lying—if they lie, it glows red. But it's limited by rank. If the other person has a higher-ranked support ability, they can lie without triggering the light. Who wants it?"

The three exchanged glances, then Song Bai raised her hand. "Sister Tu Ran, I'd like to try."

Tu Ran handed her the inner core.

After eating it, Song Bai turned to Li Rui. "Rui Rui, you don't want to become the richest person in the world, right?"

Li Rui pressed her lips together, playing along. "Right."

Song Bai's eyes lit up as she touched Li Rui's cheek. "It's glowing, glowing! It really turned red."

Li Rui held her breath. "Done testing?"

"Done testing." Song Bai smiled with her brows, immersed in her new ability.

Li Rui immediately let loose: "Pfft, pfft, pfft! Heaven has eyes—I was lying just now. I want to become the richest person in the world! Oh! No! The times have changed. Now I, Li Rui, am going to be the richest person in the whole universe!"

Li Rui pressed her hands together atop her head, faced the sky, and repeated three times: "I, Li Rui, will be the richest person in the universe."

Xiang Sheng, used to this, explained to Tu Ran, "She's really into this kind of thing. She prays like that all the time. Don't mind her, Sister Tu Ran."

Tu Ran was curious. "Does praying like that actually work?"

"No idea, but her family is super rich. Her dad's a hidden tycoon, and she's an only child," Xiang Sheng leaned in, covering her mouth with one hand and lowering her voice. "Word is his assets are about to surpass the richest man in the world."

Tu Ran was so shocked she almost couldn't close her mouth.

So she'd been poor from the First World to the Second World because she'd never prayed?

...

After their newfound realization, Xiang Sheng, Li Rui, and Song Bai began actively cooperating with Tu Ran in attacking the aliens.

Sometimes, when they came across weaker aliens, Tu Ran would let them handle it on their own.

Any inner core they obtained from killing aliens on their own, Tu Ran never laid a hand on.

During this time, the three each acquired some decent inner cores.

Li Rui, for instance, got the beginner ability [Dash]. Just as its name suggested, she could run faster than normal people—though not as fast as Tu Ran's [Blink], which could outpace bullets. Still, it was more than enough for escaping in emergencies.

Song Bai received the beginner ability [Healing], which allowed her to heal both herself and others without medicine or surgery.

Xiang Sheng's ability, meanwhile, was the most interesting.

[Boundary]

Description: The user can condense their Mental Energy into a barrier called "Boundary," which can withstand attacks from any weapon.

Grade: Beginner

Note: The gap between grades of this ability is vast. Please familiarize yourself with the amount of energy each grade can withstand to avoid accidents.

"Try setting the Boundary on this tree. I want to see its maximum defense capacity," Tu Ran said, eyeing Xiang Sheng and cracking her knuckles.

She was curious. She pulled out one of each weapon type she had in her space and laid them on the ground—by now, there were short knives, curved swords, electric batons, spiked clubs, pistols, sniper rifles, submachine guns, and laser guns.

Xiang Sheng was intimidated by Tu Ran's setup.

Trembling, she summoned the invisible Boundary and draped it over the tree trunk in front of her.

Tu Ran didn't attack right away. Instead, she stepped closer to inspect it. The Boundary wasn't entirely transparent—when she leaned in, she could see faint, sparse patterns like water ripples on its surface. When she touched it, it felt like touching actual water, sending ripples across it.