And, although this Energy Shield is said to be six times that of a Same Tier Awakened, for someone like Zhou Muxi whose Constitution isn't their Main Attribute and who is a Third Tier Awakened, having about two thousand Life Value points is already quite good. In other words, the Shield Value Limit of Zhang Yanhang's shield is now seven times that of her Life Value Limit.

"Hmm?!!"

Although she let out another "hmm," it certainly wasn't because Zhou Muxi was repeating herself or was stuck like a skipping disc. Rather, she had discovered that while Zhang Yanhang was speaking, he was also surreptitiously hiding the Equipment on his arm, and even slightly reducing the size of the Energy Shield.

This action had pushed her chest, which was already quite close to Zhang Yanhang's arm, to now be completely pressed against it, so much so that she found it difficult to move. She tried struggling a bit but as soon as she felt that Zhang Yanhang seemed quite satisfied with her struggles, she immediately gave up.

"If the Energy Shield is stretched too wide, it will affect the defensive power. Switching the equipment to hidden mode also creates a bit more space for the Energy Shield."

Zhang Yanhang felt this was entirely reasonable—at least in his opinion, it was. As for having Zhou Muxi's chest pressed against his arm, he couldn't have cared less, especially since he had long decided to pursue the path of Self-Immortality.

If you really must ask how Zhang Yanhang felt, it was probably soft and comforting. He could clearly perceive Zhou Muxi's heartbeat, and for some reason, her heartbeat seemed to be speeding up increasingly fast.

"You're fooling ghosts, aren't you?"

After hearing his words, Zhou Muxi instantly rolled her eyes. She did not believe for a second that Zhang Yanhang's skills would have such limitations. Even though the idea of an increase in defensive area leading to a decrease in defensive power sounded logical, it became the biggest illogic when associated with Zhang Yanhang.

"Okay, I admit there are no such restrictions. But what do you think about the suggestion I made earlier? Are you interested now?"

Zhang Yanhang looked down sincerely into Zhou Muxi's... chest.

"What suggestion?"

Zhou Muxi tried hard to recall but couldn't for the life of her remember any suggestion Zhang Yanhang had made to her.

"It's the one about breast enlargement. With my Human Body Refinement technology, increasing from a C to D and even E cup is no trouble at all."

Zhang Yanhang, having just been promoted in Rank, was in need of everything, so he thought about getting a little more from Zhou Muxi, a veteran Third Tier Awakened.

"Freaking dog, get lost!"

Zhou Muxi was on the verge of laughter due to anger at Zhang Yanhang, who, while still touching her, was already being a nuisance, which felt even more heartless than abandoning a sculpture halfway through. As this thought crossed her mind, she couldn't help but angrily push Zhang Yanhang, but she couldn't move him at all. Instead, her hand came into contact with a layer of blue energy.

"A shield within a shield?!"

Zhou Muxi looked at the thin layer of blue energy that had suddenly appeared on Zhang Yanhang's body in shock.

"Isn't that normal? You didn't think that by enclosing you within my shield it meant you could bypass the Energy Shield and harm me, did you? Moreover, if anything unexpected happens—for example, if you suddenly self-destruct—I would also be able to respond in time."

Zhang Yanhang, although he had included Zhou Muxi within his protective range, still only maintained absolute trust in himself.

"Who the hell would just suddenly self-destruct!"

Zhou Muxi couldn't help but blurt out loudly upon hearing Zhang Yanhang's words.

"Who knows? So, you better stay away from me."

After chatting for a while, Zhang Yanhang gradually felt a bit annoyed. Although it was indeed soft and bouncy, it was just that; he was more interested in the transmission channel than these things.

So, he casually found an excuse to withdraw his arm from Zhou Muxi's embrace and casually expanded the energy shield to two meters in diameter, giving Zhou Muxi a comfortable space to move freely.

"So... the defensive power of your energy shield really has nothing to do with the defensive area, does it?"

Zhou Muxi couldn't tell if it was just her perception, but she felt slightly snubbed for some reason. Where did this feeling come from? It was woman's intuition! Mainly because the reason Zhang Yanhang provided was indeed very odd.

"Actually, it's not that there's no relationship at all. At least when the defensive area is larger, it indeed means I'll be hit by more attacks and lose more shield value, making my shield value decrease faster and my energy shield easier to breach. So, looking at it from this chain of causation, it definitely affects my defensive effectiveness."

Zhang Yanhang felt the logic now was more coherent compared to before.

"..."

At first glance, Zhang Yanhang's words seemed reasonable, and upon closer listening, they still appeared sensible. Zhou Muxi couldn't find any reasons to refute him since an increased surface area indeed would turn more attacks, which might have barely missed, into direct hits.

As for the logical fallacy? It related to Zhang Yanhang's combat style. He mostly stood still in fights, tanking all attacks, so unless the monsters were blind and targeted poorly from the start, there would never be a chance for mere grazes to occur.

Zhang Yanhang didn't pay attention to Zhou Muxi's reaction. He checked the time on his phone and saw it was already 9:14 am; in just the last minute, the transmission channel would open, and he could officially start hunting monsters.

But just before the transmission channel opened, Zhang Yanhang suddenly remembered a problem. Since his Death Wave Skill had a reach of six hundred meters, wouldn't standing only two meters away from the spot where the transmission channel would open be somewhat inappropriate, or even a waste of the opportunity to use the Death Wave Skill?

With this thought, Zhang Yanhang immediately began to back up. Because the Death Wave Skill had a six hundred meter range, he thought he should at least back up two hundred meters to better utilize the Death Wave's effect.

Of course, this was just a preliminary assumption. If the actual use of the skill was not optimal, he would definitely adjust based on the circumstances.

In this regard, he was always very adaptable, much like his plans for clearing different areas. If anything unexpected happened, he wouldn't rigidly stick to the plan but would make adjustments before proceeding.

It could be said that Zhang Yanhang's four clearing plans for Raccoon City, the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, and the Goblin Plain had all been adjusted due to various unforeseen events.

Only the Demonized Swamp remained unchanged because, at that time, his peak Second Tier power was completely overwhelming against the Demonized Swamp, so miraculously, he followed the plan step by step and fully cleared the entire Demonized Swamp without any mishaps.

The only surprise beyond the plan was probably that he cleared the Demonized Swamp much faster than anticipated, but a faster clearing speed didn't affect the execution of the plan at all, so, astonishingly, he didn't need to adjust the plan and smoothly carried it out to the end.

During Zhang Yanhang's retreat, Zhou Muxi, who was enveloped by the Energy Shield, was also pulled back with him.

"I thought for sure you'd consider blocking the door; I didn't expect you to retreat," Zhou Muxi expressed her surprise. She had always thought that Zhang Yanhang tended to be reckless in combat, but now she saw that might not be quite the case.

"No big deal, pushing forward isn't hard," Zhang Yanhang still planned to wait and see what kind of Monster would come out.

While Zhang Yanhang spoke, he keenly perceived the surrounding Spiritual Energy starting to become active. This indicated that the Transmission Channel was about to open, and Spiritual Energy was already beginning to leak out.

Accompanied by a loud hum, a Space Gate tens of meters tall abruptly appeared at the location Zhou Muxi had marked and gradually began to open, revealing the unique vista of the Ashen World—an endless expanse of a vast volcanic range.

These young, erupting volcanoes were venting their robust energy as nature's roar, with a massive quantity of magma erupting in a scatter pattern.

Large chunks of molten rock, some meters in size, were hurled into the air by volcanic eruptions. Then, under the influence of gravity and inertia, they turned into volcanic bombs that fiercely crashed to the ground, causing destruction reminiscent of meteor craters.

However, Zhang Yanhang's attention wasn't on the magma, the molten rock, or even the volcanic ash that obscured the sky, which was many times more magnificent than the Thermo-baric Bomb he had released on the Goblin Plain. Instead, he focused on the monsters that erupted with the volcanoes, being expelled alongside the volcanic activity.

Although he knew the temperature of the magma wasn't very high, only around a thousand degrees, he was still astonished to see creatures living in the magma itself.

What surprised him even more was that this group of volcanic monsters seemed to have some special Skill that allowed them to move quickly with the volcanic eruption. They were approaching the Transmission Channel at a rapid pace, and by his estimation, it would only take a few minutes to assemble.

Of course, compared to these monsters currently assembling behind, Zhang Yanhang felt he needed to pay more attention to the Vanguard Army that had already gathered on the other side of the Transmission Channel.

These creatures had eagerly rushed into the Parallel Space as soon as the Gate began to open, and they were charging straight toward Zhang Yanhang's location. The fastest ones were now just a few dozen meters from Zhang Yanhang.

Based on their appearance, Zhang Yanhang thought these monsters that lived in the volcanic magma resembled Fire Lizards. Of course, he wasn't referring to the small lizards, barely the size of a hand, found in the Main World, but rather the giant lizards of a Western Fantasy World that could actually spew Flames.

These giant Fire Lizards not only had tails that constantly emitted fire but also intermittently breathed flames from their mouths. They were probably over five meters long, including their tails.

Though they were slightly smaller compared to the demonized prehistoric creatures that Zhang Yanhang encountered in the Demonized Swamp, ones that easily spanned seven to eight or even a dozen meters, their strength was likely quite formidable. He estimated these Fire Lizards were at least Second Tier Three Stars or perhaps even Second Tier Four Stars.

Having hesitated for just a moment, the Fire Lizards, which could cover dozens of meters in a second, had already reached his side. They were now aggressively spewing a unique semi-solid, semi-gaseous high-temperature substance that resembled magma but was even hotter, targeting his Energy Shield.

Although this seemed to be a Skill Attack, it was undoubtedly the case that even when he was at the peak of Second Tier, he could directly immune such Skill Attacks from Second-tier Monsters. Let alone now that he had advanced to Third Tier—this high-temperature attack was practically nothing to his Energy Shield, failing to inflict any damage.

"Aren't you going to attack?"

Zhou Muxi was feeling a bit anxious as she noted more monsters converging around them, yet Zhang Yanhang beside her seemed completely composed.

"Wait a bit, no rush, it's just Second Tier fodder monsters after all."

Based on Zhang Yanhang's scan, the monsters surrounding him hadn't even filled up a hundred-meter radius, let alone two hundred meters. It was not worth releasing Death Wave; he planned to do it later.

Moreover, he wanted to take this time to check the Attribute list of these giant Fire Lizards in front of him. He remembered that it had been quite a while since he last checked a monster's Attribute list.

[Molten Fire Giant Lizard (Ordinary)]

[Level: Second Tier Three Stars]

[Talent: 1, ███████. 2, ███████]

[███████: ???]

[███████: ???]

[Life Value: ???]

[Energy Value: ???]

[Strength: ???]

[Agility: ???]

[Constitution: ???]

[Intelligence: ???]

[Charm: ???]

[Skill: 1, ███████. 2, ███████. 3, ███████. 4, ███████. 5, ███████.]

"What the hell is this? Why is this Molten Fire Giant Lizard's Attribute list all question marks and black blocks? Could it be that I didn't pass some kind of judgment, so I can't see it? That's impossible, right?"

Zhang Yanhang had already checked the Attribute lists of monsters in four areas, but this was the first time he encountered such a bizarre situation.

If you told him that as a Third Tier looking at a Fifth Tier's Attribute list would be impossible to see, he would accept that, given the huge difference in Rank. But for a Third Tier Awakened not being able to view the Attribute list of a Second Tier Monster was very odd.

Being at the Third Tier, he should have clearly dominated a Second Tier Three Stars' Molten Fire Giant Lizard by now. The judgment at this point should be a mere formality, and success was almost guaranteed. Yet, all he saw was a bunch of question marks and black squares.

Overhearing Zhang Yanhang, Zhou Muxi was somewhat astonished, "Don't you know that monsters forcibly refreshed due to a defect cannot have their Attribute lists viewed? The only things visible are their name and power."

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