Pre-death assessment

The so-called "soul possession" refers to the possession of a person by a spirit, which must of course be a real entity.

Moreover, they must be related to you by blood.

To put it bluntly, summoning spirits and possessing the body means calling upon one's ancestors to fight for them.

Therefore, the strongest being that Guan Hao could think of was none other than Guan Sheng Di Jun, Lord Guan!

As Guan Hao used the Soul Possession Technique, a burst of golden light erupted from his body.

Then, the golden body of Guan Sheng Di Jun (Lord Guan) appeared on his body like a layer of golden armor.

"Holy crap, are our ancestors really down there?"

Guan Hao was immediately surprised.

Guan Yu, in history, was undoubtedly a formidable figure who could take the head of an enemy general from among thousands of soldiers.

But that's only in the real world. No matter how powerful he is, he's still within the realm of humans. At most, he can be considered a fierce general like Guan Yu!

But now, the power he has to summon spirits and possess beings is unbelievably strong.

This proves that Guan Yu must have been tested in the space below before his death, and had already become a being truly comparable to gods and demons.

It's the god-demon Guan Yu!

"In the future... there will most likely be a chance to meet the real person." Ling Wu said with a faint smile.

"Then we'll have to pay our respects to our ancestors properly in the future."

Guan Hao grinned, then charged forward with his Green Dragon Crescent Blade, shouting, "Take this! Cleave Mount Hua with a mighty blow!"

He raised his broadsword high and slashed down with a powerful, mountain-splitting motion.

Wow!

Instantly, a massive steel beast, tens of meters long, was cleaved in two from head to tail.

At this moment, Guan Hao seemed possessed by a god or demon.

"Wow, he's so handsome?"

Zhao Yu immediately felt a pang of envy: "Can I have one too? The Divine General Zhao Zilong!"

"Uh... this isn't a summoning ability."

Guan Hao smiled and said, "I can only summon souls to possess my own body, and I can only summon souls that are related to me by blood."

"Damn, if I'd known, I would have given this to you and you would have given me that."

Zhao Yu was somewhat disappointed.

He also wanted to become like Guan Hao, possessed by a god.

Ling Wu shook his head from behind.

This isn't a problem with his allocation.

Instead, Guan Hao's ancestor, Lord Guan, is in the seventh level below, or possibly the eighth level.

But Zhao Yu's ancestor, Zhao Yun, is not among them.

Even if it were given to Zhao Yu, its effect of summoning spirits and possessing beings would be far less significant than Guan Hao's.

"Again!"

After Guan Hao was possessed by Guan Yu, he became unstoppable.

Wearing golden armor and wielding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, he charged forward.

With everyone's cooperation, after a fierce battle, as the giant centipede beast king was killed, the other steel beasts in the horde also lost their lives on the spot and collapsed to the ground.

Now that they've added some special superpowers, dealing with the Beast King is certainly not difficult.

"You're getting more and more skilled, huh?"

Li Ming, panting, grinned.

In the past, when they fought, they mostly followed Ling Wu's orders.

But now, without Ling Wu's command or participation, they can still achieve that indescribable tacit understanding.

"We can't really rely on the captain for everything, can we?"

Guan Hao smiled, then cut open the head of the giant centipede beast king and took out a luminous crystal from it.

This is the core of the Beast King!

A single Beast King Core can open a passage to the fourth level.

Only one person can pass through at a time in the passage.

"Should we go down in batches, or wait until later and go down together?"

Li Ming then asked.

"This isn't the third level."

Ling Wu shook his head, of course they would wait until the very end to go down together.

Only this third level allows people to come in batches.

Moreover, once you arrive here, someone will come to rescue you immediately.

The levels below the fourth level may differ.

On the contrary, you were lucky that no one rushed out to kill you when you were teleported down.

"Let's go, let's continue hunting the Beast King!"

Ling Wu then waved his hand: "After we get enough Beast King Cores, let's go down together!"

Everyone nodded emphatically, and then, together with Ling Wu, turned and walked towards the pale, vast steel world.

At this moment, their departing figures were converted into live footage by the monitoring systems of the four major cities and played out.

"They...are very strong too! They're no worse than the previous team."

Everyone spoke up.

A year ago, everyone watched Jiang Liao lead a team to hunt down the Beast King, just like they are now.

"No, I think they're stronger!"

Someone continued, "Neither the fire maiden Liu Ruyan nor their captain Ling Wu made a move, yet they still managed to take down a beast king."

"It would be much simpler if the two of them were to take action."

"Yes, so in terms of overall strength, I think this squad is even stronger than the one from a year ago!"

"But... this squad is even more annoying than the one from a year ago. They're about to leave, yet they still cause trouble. They even tried to steal the superpowers from our four major cities?"

"That's really going too far. We, the four major cities, kindly took them in, but they've become ungrateful..."

"It's not exactly being ungrateful, after all, we did rely on their help in that previous battle..."

"At most, they might be... a little selfish!"

"Forget it, they've already been permanently blacklisted by the four major cities anyway, so they're no longer relevant to anyone..."

"..."

The people in the four major cities are actually quite well-mannered.

Contrary to Li Ming and the others' expectations, they did not hurl insults at them behind their backs.

Of course, some people don't care about these things.

After all, they were hunting the Beast King, hunting down everyone's former family...

……

Time passed day by day.

Ling Wu led everyone to hunt down the Beast King in various parts of the Third World.

Soon, all seven Beast King Cores were collected.

In other words, all the known Beast Kings have been eliminated by them.

Their team has nine people, so they are still two short.

There's nothing we can do but wait for the two that are missing.

While waiting, Ling Wu certainly wasn't idle...

On the pale metallic ground, Ling Wu and the others sat atop the corpse of a gigantic steel elephant.

At this moment, apart from Ling Wu and Liu Ruyan, everyone else seemed to have changed compared to a few days ago.

It seems... his aura has become even more imposing.

After all, having gone through these several major battles to hunt down the Beast King, they had all been injured and risked their lives.

In these major battles, neither Ling Wu nor Liu Ruyan made a move.

I just watched from the sidelines.

Even if they are injured, it doesn't matter, as long as they don't die, Lei Yun can heal them!

After experiencing a truly life-or-death battle, a person's temperament will naturally change.

Wow!

Just then, a small fighter jet slowly flew down and landed on the giant elephant's back.

Then the hatch opened, and Karina stepped out.

"Is there anything else you... I can help you with?"

After she came down, she looked at Liu Ruyan with some curiosity.

It was Liu Ruyan who contacted her, saying she needed her help with something, so she came.

Although Ling Wu and the others have now been permanently expelled from the four major cities, it does not mean that she cannot associate with Ling Wu and the others.

As long as she doesn't kill beasts with Ling Wu and the others, there won't be any problems.

She no longer held the same views as before regarding Ling Wu and the others.

Like many others, she used to harbor some resentment towards those who challenged her.

But since the Beast King, which her father had transformed into, died, she has become much more open-minded.

After experiencing that great battle, she also understood many things.

Not only did she understand, but many people in the four major cities also understood.

Those who have turned into steel beasts are no longer their own family members.

It's only because of that lingering feeling that everyone has a sentimental attachment to those steel beasts...

"Could you please provide me with a copy of your records regarding those who have successfully reached the fourth level in the past ten years?"

Ling Wu looked at Karina and said, "We'll be heading down there soon, so we need to find out what kind of opponents we might encounter beforehand."

"Hmm...of course!"

Karina clicked on her bracelet and immediately retrieved the data: "Although those who have cleared the level only appear once every now and then, the total number of all those who have cleared the level is actually quite large."

"Among those who pass through the level, there are all sorts of people; some are cunning and malicious, while others are righteous."

"Anyway, there are good ones, bad ones, stupid ones, smart ones, you name it!"

"Some people complete the game solo, while others complete it in a team."

"However, in the past ten years, the only team that has cleared the game with all members is Jiang Liao's team from a year ago."

Anyone who reaches the third level will basically be recorded in the records of the four major cities.

There are records of who stayed in the third level, who went to the fourth level, and who died at the hands of the Beast King.

Moreover, all the abilities that those people demonstrated would be recorded.

Karina immediately sent the information to Ling Wu.

Although their wristbands have been blacklisted by the four major cities, they can still be used as ordinary electronic devices.

Thanks!

Ling Wu smiled and waved, then said, "There's one more thing, do you have money?"

"what?"

These words left Karina somewhat bewildered.

Money? Why are you suddenly asking this?

You've already left the four major cities, so what are you still doing with the money?

Money is a form of currency, something that can only circulate in a normal society.

Do you need to make transactions while you're out there?

"I... have a little, but not much."

She then answered honestly.

"Okay, then I'll give you some."

Ling Wu smiled and then waved to Li Qingxue.

Li Qingxue walked up, holding several purple and red gold coins in her hand.

Then, use the copying capability.

Splash...

Suddenly a few coins became dozens, then hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands...

"this……"

Karina's eyes widened immediately: "This is the ability to copy?"

With this kind of ability, you'd never lack money.

"Yes, the ability to replicate."

Ling Wu smiled and asked, "How much do you know about this ability?"

"I don't know much about it, all I know is that it can be used to copy things," Karina said, shaking her head.

Upon hearing this, Ling Wu's lips curled into a smile.

He then raised his hand and placed it on Karina's shoulder: "Could you help us... stage a scam? We want to get some cash out of the four major cities, or rather... get some gold and ruby ​​out."

This purple-gold-red metal is the hardest of all the real substances in the entire pre-death assessment space.

Therefore, it is certainly possible to produce some and make them into permanent weapons.

"Huh?" Karina's lips twitched slightly.

What does it mean to commit a scam?

This is something that shouldn't be done, no matter how you look at it.

"What you don't know is that things copied using the ability to replicate have a time limit."

Ling Wu continued, "For example, these gold coins will naturally disappear when the time is up."

"So, we'd like you to do us a favor and take these replicated gold coins back, store them, and exchange them for electronic currency."

"Then, they withdrew real gold coins from another bank!"

In other words, they use counterfeit gold coins that disappear to try and obtain genuine gold coins.

"what?"

Karina let out another "Ah!"

No, I can understand why you can come up with such a way to cash out.

Why do you think I would do such a bad thing with you?

"Not much, a few tens of thousands will be enough."

Ling Wu then laughed.

Karina's lips twitched slightly.

Tens of thousands... is enough?

So you think tens of thousands is a small amount?

You all know the purchasing power of these purple and red gold coins.

What if the bank suddenly loses tens of thousands of gold coins and it traces it back to me?

There's a 100% chance they'll be able to trace it back to me!

"I can't do that."

Karina then replied, "Besides, if I did it, I definitely wouldn't be able to escape responsibility."

"Of course, that's right!"

Ling Wu smiled faintly and continued, "So I only asked you for help, not for you to do it."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and grabbed Karina's wrist.

Karina had absolutely no idea what Ling Wu was trying to do.

The next moment, Ling Wu took off the bracelet from her wrist and tossed it to Liu Ruyan: "Go, save it, and take it out."

"This, you..." Karina understood immediately.

They weren't actually doing it themselves; they were pretending to do it.

"It's okay, that way even if you get caught, you can say you were kidnapped."

Ling Wu then laughed and said, "Don't worry, the higher-ups won't blame you."

Liu Ruyan also sighed deeply and shook her head helplessly: "I'm sorry, I'm leaving anyway, and I still need your help with this."

After saying that, she boarded Karina's fighter jet with the tens of thousands of gold coins that Li Qingxue had copied.

Then, in Karina's guise, she controlled the fighter jet to autopilot and return to the city.

She then used the bracelet to unlock Karina's armor and put it on.

Her figure was almost identical to Karina's, so once she put on the armor, of course no one could tell who she was.

Karina watched helplessly as Liu Ruyan left, shaking her head and sighing in resignation.

There was nothing I could do; I was indeed being coerced by them...

Not long after, Liu Ruyan returned.

The matter is simple: unlike in the real world, large sums of money coming in and going out quickly will not be restricted or investigated.

After all, this isn't counterfeit money, nor is it money laundering.

This is a genuine, high-quality purple-gold coin.

It's like storing gold; you just need to be able to take things out.

Moreover, the source of this stuff isn't strictly investigated here.

You can say you found it during a patrol outside; any reason will do.

Liu Ruyan had just stepped off the fighter jet when a group of fighter jets came chasing after her from the sky behind...

"To avoid trouble for you when you go back, I laid my cards on the table as soon as I got the real money and left the city."

Liu Ruyan returned the bracelet to Karina.

It's obviously useless for Karina to explain this on her own.

So she confronted them on the spot, saying that they had kidnapped Karina and had cheated her out of real money with counterfeit money.

Then, someone caught up with them...

Now everyone can see that they did indeed kidnap Karina, so Karina is obviously innocent.

Let's go!

Ling Wu then waved his hand, and then led everyone down from behind the giant elephant.

"This time...it might really be the last time we meet."

Liu Ruyan and Karina said their goodbyes: "Unless... that guy can really completely overturn the entire pre-death assessment space."

"You said that day... there wasn't really any reason to continue."

Karina looked at Liu Ruyan and continued, "But now it seems that you have always had enough reasons."

Liu Ruyan shook her head helplessly. Yes, she had every reason to continue walking with Ling Wu and the others.

"In that case... take care!"

Karina could only smile and say goodbye: "Whatever your ultimate goal is, I wish you success."

"Yeah, you too, take care!"

Liu Ruyan smiled slightly.

Without lingering any longer, he leaped away and followed Ling Wu and the others.

Karina watched them leave, taking a deep breath.

I hope that one day we will really meet again.

"Commander Karina, are you alright?"

Just then, the people from Xuanwu City caught up from behind.

Karina simply shook her head: "It's alright, they didn't hurt me..."

……

After obtaining enough purple and red gold coins, Ling Wu and his companions arrived at a mountain cave.

Then, the melting and forging process begins.

With her current strength at the fifth realm, Liu Ruyan is capable of melting this purple-gold-red metal.

The whole process was very long; her terrifyingly high temperature required a long time of continuous melting to barely melt the coins.

Although the whole process was arduous, they eventually succeeded in forging the weapons they needed.

Li Ming was still the same as before, with an iron rod.

Zhao Yu, just like before, carried a long spear.

Guan Hao replaced his cleaver with a large Guan Dao (a type of halberd).

Li Qingxue's, however, was a gun.

Dr. Lu created an extremely powerful purple-gold-red sniper rifle.

Although bullets are limited, Li Qingxue has the ability to replicate them, so bullets are essentially unlimited.

Although Liu Ruyan didn't need it, she still forged a purple-gold-red dagger and tucked it into the side of her thigh.

As for the remaining materials, Dr. Ling Wurang drew them all into fine purple-gold-red threads, just like silkworm silk, but many times stronger than silkworm silk.

When all the weapons were finished forging, the time was just about right.

A few days later, a new Beast King appeared.

Therefore, Ling Wu and Liu Ruyan took immediate action and, at an extremely fast speed, obtained the last two Beast King Cores they needed.

At this point, the nine-person team has all cleared the level and all members have been strengthened!

……

On the pale, metallic ground, Ling Wu's entire squad stood together.

At this moment, they each held a Beast King Core in their hands.

"The fourth level of the pre-death assessment space... contains all sorts of monsters and demons!"

Before heading to the fourth level, Ling Wu naturally needed to give everyone some psychological counseling.

"The fourth level has another name... it's called the Terror Space!"

"Of the nine levels of the pre-death assessment space, the fourth level is the most reminiscent of purgatory."

"Once you arrive, whatever you see, do not be surprised or terrified, and do not panic."

"Also... when we were teleported to the fourth level, someone might immediately realize we were newcomers and then attack us."

"So, once we're teleported down, if anyone gets too close, kill them on sight!"

"Even if the other party is an exceptionally cute little girl, kill her without hesitation, because she definitely has malicious intentions."

"Anyway, don't show mercy to anyone!"

"If you've just reached the fourth level and can't even muster a little power, you'll only end up dying a miserable death at the hands of others. Do you understand?"

Upon hearing Ling Wu's words, everyone frowned slightly.

Although I haven't seen it yet, just hearing Ling Wu say that it seems to be a pretty terrifying level.

In any case, it is completely different from the first three levels.

"Dr. Lu, activate all defenses!"

Ling Wu continued.

Dr. Lu nodded emphatically, adding a thick protective shield to everyone.

"Remember my words: once we're down there, the first thing you do is kill anyone who dares to approach us, no matter what they look like or what they say!"

Ling Wu said one last thing: "Come on, activate the teleportation."

Everyone was holding a Beast King Core and then activating the teleportation.

Instantly, a circle appeared beneath their feet.

Then, the group disappeared together into the circles beneath their feet.

They were all teleported to the fourth level of the pre-death assessment space.

When they saw Ling Wu and the others completely leave.

At this moment, inside the four cities of the third layer, the four city lords all took a deep breath, as if relieved of a great burden.

"That plague god is finally gone..."

……

hum!

When moving from the first level to the second level, and from the second level to the third level.

The moment we passed through the tunnel, we were surrounded by a blinding white light.

However, when traveling from the third level to the fourth level and passing through the tunnel, a strange red light appears.

It seems to indicate that the difficulty of the upcoming assessment has increased.

After all, the next stage is the middle three of the nine-level pre-death assessment space!

As the crimson light flashed, Ling Wu and the others arrived in a completely new space.

A true hell on earth!

This is a bizarre, crimson world. Upon arrival, a strong stench of blood and decay assaults the nostrils.

Everyone couldn't help but frown and twitch.

Then his gaze swept across the room.

They were in a dilapidated old neighborhood.

The surrounding dilapidated walls were covered with uneven patches of blood-red, making it impossible to tell whether it was fresh blood or dried bits of flesh.

Clang...

Just then, a strange noise came from the intersection ahead.

The group looked over and saw a stray dog ​​knock over a garbage can by the roadside and then start rummaging through the blood-soaked trash.

Finally, they pulled out half of the baby's head...

"vomit…"

Upon seeing this scene, Jiang Luo couldn't help but cover her mouth, almost vomiting.

It's not the kind of nausea that comes from an upset stomach, but purely psychological discomfort!

The faint sound she made was, of course, noticed by the blood-covered wild dog.

The stray dog ​​immediately turned its head around while still carrying the head in its mouth.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment!

"Oh? A newbie who just came from the third level?"

The next moment, a human voice came out of the wild dog's mouth.

Wow!

Then, like a monstrous ghost, it instantly appeared before everyone's eyes, its gaping maw suddenly opening wide, spewing forth a stench and maggots...

"Welcome to the fourth level of the pre-death assessment space, ahahahahahaha!"