[Tofu! That armor must be made of tofu dregs!]
[Arasaka Tech, come out and take your beating! What military-grade quality! Pathetic!]
[My worldview is shattered... dismantling armor with bare hands (tail?)]
[I know that heavy armor; its strength is at least enough to go back and forth with a B+ rank. Under these circumstances, her strength must have reached at least A rank or above, right?]
[Hype! Absolutely hype! The armor must have had its casing swapped! The internal wiring was definitely made fragile on purpose! There's no other explanation!]
[The person above is really stubborn! You're watching armor being dismantled in a live broadcast and you're still talking back?]
At this moment, the bullet-chat surged again. There were those in shock, those questioning product quality, and those spinning conspiracy theories, but most felt pure awe toward the power Cifera displayed.
In the center of the screen, Pardofelis, the instigator of it all, simply leaped down from the shoulder of the frozen robot and landed nimbly. She didn't even cast a glance at that pile of priceless scrap metal.
She extended her fair fingers, casually brushing off nonexistent dust from her clothes. Her small nostrils twitched slightly as she let out a disdainful snort:
"Hmph, trying to play elevator traps and 'release the hounds'? Is that it?"
Back when that scalp-numbing sound of mechanical operation rang out in the elevator, her instincts had already been screaming red alerts.
Immediately after, she used the Godspeed ability stacked with Phasing, instantly escaping that metal coffin called an elevator.
After leaving that area, she even had the leisure to crouch in the shadows of the corridor ceiling, admiring for a full ten seconds the spectacular sight of that King Kong frantically pouring firepower into an empty elevator.
"Tsk tsk... that firepower density..." Looking at the thick layer of scorching shell casings and the dense craters on the walls in the elevator ruins, Pardofelis subconsciously swallowed, the tip of her tail curling up slightly. "...If I took that set head-on... hiss... I wouldn't die, but that pain... would definitely be a bitter pill to swallow."
Thus, Pardofelis had directly used the blade on her tail to stab into the interior of the big guy's body, then casually detonated an EMP grenade inside it, effectively scrapping the massive machine.
After easily handling the hunk of iron, Pardofelis stepped forward, intending to continue to the higher floors.
But as she took her first step, her cat eyes caught a glimpse of the smoking elevator wreckage and the completely blocked corridor behind her...
"Tsk, the elevator is totally trashed..." She curled her lip helplessly, her small cat ears drooping accordingly. "Fine, then... I'll just take the stairs."
Immediately, she turned around briskly and walked toward the nearby entrance of the emergency stairwell.
"It seems... after easily 'solving' our carefully prepared first line of heavy firepower," at the commentator's desk, Lin Ran's voice returned to a calm tone, "Miss Cifera has chosen to continue her upward exploration via the safety stairs."
"Without a doubt, Godspeed-type teleportation is one of the most troublesome abilities she has displayed so far," Su Xiaowei followed up quickly, her voice regaining its composure. "Traditional physical blockades and firepower coverage have extremely limited effects against a target who can ignore spatial obstacles to teleport. We must... change our strategy."
"Indeed," Lin Ran agreed. "Facing this kind of enemy, what we need are... spatial traps that restrict movement range! We must create high-threat 'no-go zones' that she cannot instantly penetrate on every path she might take!"
Almost the moment Lin Ran's voice fell.
The broadcast image suddenly cut.
The perspective switched instantly to the stairwell leading from L16 to L17. This was a standard safety passage connecting floors.
However, the sight currently presented to the audience caused everyone to gasp slightly.
The safety door leading to L17 had been completely sealed by a heavy, silver-gray alloy gate. The gate was perfectly fitted, its edges shimmering with the faint blue light of an activated energy field—it was clearly reinforced and sealed!
But that was only the beginning.
Inside the stairwell, the space that was originally empty was now completely occupied by a web woven from deadly lasers.
Countless thin, high-energy laser beams shot out from the ceiling, walls, handrails, and even the cracks between steps. They intersected, refracted, and overlapped, forming an incredibly complex and layered deadly geometric structure.
Red lasers emitted scorching heat, green beams carried an eerie sense of penetration, and blue ones bore extremely strong energy focal points...
There was no safe spot to land in the entire area. The laser web was so dense that if even a mosquito flew in, it would probably be sliced into molecular dust in an instant. The air was filled with the subtle hum characteristic of a high-frequency energy field. Just looking at the screen made one's skin prickle.
[Holy crap! A laser corridor?!]
[This... this is scarier than in the movies!]
[How do you dodge this?! If you teleport in, wouldn't you just slam into the laser web and get sliced?]
[It feels like space itself has been locked down.]
[Apex Entertainment is really going all out; the cost of this thing must be astronomical! Just to deal with one person?!]
[Now Cifera is blocked at the stairwell entrance. How is she supposed to go up?]
Lin Ran looked at the suffocating laser matrix, his voice carrying an expectant tone: "What you see is one of the top security systems from Arasaka Tech, one of the ultimate solutions for dealing with ultra-high-speed moving targets—the Heavenly Net Dynamic Laser Lockdown Array. It can instantly construct a 3D cutting web with no blind spots in a designated area. The energy of the laser beams is enough to instantly vaporize any known organism and most alloy armors. Even for teleportation..."
He paused, his eyes locked onto the surveillance feed of the stairwell entrance:
"...one still needs a safe place to land. And within the Heavenly Net, there are no safe zones!"
As his voice fell, Pardofelis coincidentally arrived at this location.
...
"Tsk..." Pardofelis stood at the entrance of the stairwell leading from L16 to L17. Looking at the heavy alloy gate that looked like a bank vault, her small cat ears flickered slightly, a look of perplexity flashing in her pupils.
"Sealing the door physically?" She tilted her head as if talking to the air. "I remember when I invaded your Third District branch, I performed 'wall-phasing' right in front of the cameras? Is the intelligence system between your Apex Entertainment branches disconnected?"
Then, she swished her tail, tossing aside the confusion regarding this minor "industry intelligence barrier."
"Whatever, forget it. Let's go in and see what new tricks these guys have cooked up."
Before her voice had even faded, her figure instantly became blurred, like a drop of ink merging into water.
The ability known as Phasing was activated.
After the ability finished activating, she stepped forward. As if passing through a non-existent water curtain, she merged without resistance into that massive alloy door capable of withstanding heavy artillery.
The moment she "passed" through the door, with her body still in an incorporeal state, Pardofelis immediately felt a very familiar sensation of scorching radiation. Countless particle beams, difficult to catch with the naked eye but highly concentrated in energy, were intersecting at high frequencies at the position where her "body" was located.
"..." Pardofelis's movement paused for a tenth of a second. The confusion in her pupils was rapidly replaced by a strong sense of speechlessness. "Lasers again? Hey, hey! Is the planning department of Apex Entertainment out of ideas? The 'laser corridor' trope is such a cliché. You're going to use it twice in the same series? Was the copyright fee high enough? Aren't the viewers going to get aesthetic fatigue?"
At this moment, she was standing in the "dead center" of the deadly laser web. Those high-energy beams capable of instantly vaporizing tank armor were now like harmless holograms, passing straight through her phased body and leaving scorched marks on the opposite wall.
She could even "see" the precise flow of energy inside the beams.
But to her, they were like passing through air.
"Boring." She curled her lip, her exquisite face written over with disappointment. "I thought the headquarters would have some new tricks."
Since she was already inside, she simply decided to wander around in this "ocean of lasers" composed of pure destructive energy.
Like a curious tourist, she ignored the crisscrossing deadly rays around her that were enough to slice her into a molecular state, even observing with great interest the laser emitters hidden in the walls, ceiling, and floor cracks.
"Tsk, they set it up quite densely. Do they really think they can kill me with just quantity?" At this moment, Pardofelis's mischievous side emerged again.
She suddenly stopped, looked up precisely, and her gaze pierced through the layered laser web, locking onto a hidden camera that was peering at her.
Then, a playful curve hooked the corner of her mouth. Facing that camera, she spoke in a tone mixed with laziness and provocation:
"Hey, to all of you watching me through the surveillance, good evening~ I know you're watching me, and quite clearly, too."
As she spoke, she even waved her small, slightly transparent hand that was still in a phased state.
"Since I've walked in so boldly and didn't even bother to hide my ability, could you... show a little respect for your 'guest'? How about some new tricks? Have some creativity, will you? It's either sending some big idiot for an elevator sneak attack or piling up a bunch of laser sticks for 'light pollution'... Is this all the imagination your Apex Entertainment 'welcome ceremony' has?"
Speaking to this point, she spread her hands, her expression extremely innocent:
"These little toys of yours really can't stop me at all. Look, aren't I taking a stroll inside just fine?"
Looking at the camera and imagining the constipation-like expressions the people in the monitoring room likely had right now, Pardofelis felt her mood improve significantly.
But just trash-talking wasn't enough; she had to leave them a deep impression.
Thus, she "strolled" to an area surrounded by laser emitters.
Although she could not directly touch physical objects while in a phased state, this was no problem for her.
With a flick of her wrist, several EMP grenades gleaming with cold metallic luster appeared in her hand out of thin air.
Immediately after, as if throwing pebbles, she extremely casually "tossed" these EMP grenades toward several key clusters of laser emitters.
Buzz—!!!
The moment the EMP grenades hit the ground, a silent but terrifyingly invisible shockwave erupted from them as the center, sweeping through the entire L16 stairwell!
Zzzt! Crackle! Buzz—!
All the operating laser emitters, whether fixed or rotating, regardless of power, let out a piercing wail at the same time. The light from the emission ports flickered violently and became extremely unstable as the precise internal energy confinement fields collapsed instantly under the impact of the violent electromagnetic pulse.
Immediately after—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A chain reaction occurred!
Losing energy confinement, those high-energy particle beams that were originally precisely guided immediately became like runaway horses, rampaging frantically inside the emitters and through the external passages. The accumulated massive energy had no outlet, instantly triggering earth-shaking explosions!
The intensity of the explosions far exceeded Pardofelis's expectations!
The entire L16 stairwell, along with part of the floor structure closely connected to it, was torn to shreds in the violent energy release as if made of paper. The sturdy alloy walls, floors, and ceilings were crushed as if by an invisible giant hand. A huge gap over ten meters in diameter, looking as if it had been hit by a meteorite, appeared abruptly on the side wall of the Apex Entertainment branch building!
Rumble—!!!
After the explosion, the entire building, dozens of stories high, suffered a violent structural tremor as if hit by a massive hammer. Glass curtain walls shattered like rain, internal lights flickered wildly and then went out, and alarms blared toward the sky!
Inside the building, everywhere above L15 felt as if they had encountered a massive earthquake. Computers, documents, and decorations on office desks were swept over by an invisible giant wave, crashing to the floor in a mess.
Employees screamed as they were knocked to the ground, tumbling and colliding with each other. Dense smoke, dust, and fire poured in from that huge hole, instantly turning the originally orderly office area into a scene of utter chaos.
"Uwah—!"
"Help! The building is collapsing!"
"Run! Go to the emergency exit!"
"My leg! It's pinned!"
"Cough cough cough... Smoke! So much smoke!"
...
At the center of the explosion, amidst the vortex of smoke and dust.
Pardofelis's figure shifted from phased back to solid. She first fanned the choking dust away from her face with her hand, her small nose wrinkling. Looking at the huge gap in front of her that directly revealed the night sky and distant neon lights, a flash of genuine surprise crossed her pupils.
"Hiss..." She took a breath of air smelling of char, the tip of her tail swishing a bit guiltily and subconsciously. "These... fireworks... seem to have been set off... a bit... too much?"
She had originally only intended to paralyze those annoying laser emitters to add some maintenance costs and psychological trauma for them, but who would have thought this pile of "laser sticks" was so weak against "electrotherapy" that they just exploded on the spot and took half a floor with them?!
"Whatever..." The surprise lasted only a second before Pardofelis's slightly wicked, easygoing nature returned.
She shrugged, looking at the mess before her. Since the passage to L17 had become unobstructed because the floor had been blown through, a peculiar curve hooked the corner of her mouth.
"In any case, the losses have indeed increased... as for the process... well, it's not important!" Having finished, she nodded happily, convincing herself. "As long as the goal is achieved, the form doesn't matter!"
With that, she leaped nimbly, landing precisely on the edge of a jagged, somewhat shaky broken floor section protruding from the gap. Then, as if running on flat ground, she sped off toward the higher floors.