World’s End: My Keyword is One More Than Others

A moment of silence.

Du Ge clearly sensed Nalan Li making a motion to throw his phone, but he quickly retrieved it.

It seemed like the two were on a call, but in reality, it was just Nalan Li talking to himself. If Du Ge had the ability to control minds, he would be an enhanced version of Professor X.

"Lin Hong, I don't care what your keywords are, but you absolutely cannot enter the Academy of Sciences without the permission of the Homeland Defense Bureau," Nalan Li said.

"Alright."

Du Ge agreed with a smile, watching Nalan Li leave in a hurry, the smile on his lips gradually fading.

People!

They're never satisfied.

The better you treat them, the more they want to control you, manipulate you...

If I don't give them something to do, they'll never realize how important I am!

Luo Yan's reaction time is too slow. By the time he figures everything out, it'll be too late, and Du Ge can't wait for him.

...

Not long after Nalan Li hung up, Tang Houming called, similarly advising him not to go to the Academy of Sciences without permission.

It must be said.

Du Ge's identity was too sensitive, making everyone uneasy about him.

Du Ge naturally agreed readily.

That day.

Imperial Capital University erupted with a dozen love confessions, all targeting Gu Qingyan and Shen Yuning. Some even put up banners saying "Ten Steps to Kill One, if you dare, come on," blatantly challenging Du Ge.

Gu Qingyan and Shen Yuning, knowing their intentions, still hoped that the girl in Ten Steps to Kill One's heart was one of them, so they naturally ignored these toads jumping out.

The harassment on the Battle Network was even worse, forcing the two to retreat to the training ground and spar in mechas.

Even so, they couldn't escape their pursuers. Seniors from the Mecha Department followed them to the training ground, finding various excuses to watch their training, making the two quite annoyed.

Du Ge watched the commotion from his dorm for a while, then leisurely went to his private training ground, picked a Windwalker, and started modifying its flaws. After all, he had nothing else to do now, so honing his skills wasn't a bad idea.

His every move was, of course, reported to Nalan Li by the spies monitoring him.

And Du Ge's consciousness was always in full force, like an omniscient and omnipotent god, monitoring everything around him.

Mo Shengmin and Xu Wan logged into the Battle Network, training their skills and expanding their influence.

Luo Yan was urgently mobilizing personnel to reinforce and modify the Homeland Defense Bureau, preparing to accommodate more Alien Star warriors. He still hadn't given up on utilizing all the Alien Star warriors.

As for the underground organizations in the Imperial Capital, they were still plotting how to eliminate the Masked Hero, even going so far as to bribe the Imperial Capital's sheriff to gain temporary control over the city's surveillance.

...

In the middle of the night.

After a day of chaos, Imperial Capital University gradually quieted down. Du Ge was still in his training ground modifying mechas, sometimes tweaking blueprints, sometimes logging into the Battle Network to check some information, seemingly fully immersed in mecha modification.

Seeing Du Ge so busy, those responsible for monitoring him also relaxed a bit.

After all, they didn't have the abundant energy of Alien Star warriors.

Moreover, watching someone endlessly tweak a cold machine, fiddling with a bunch of incomprehensible parameters on a computer, was quite boring and tedious to those who didn't understand.

Taking advantage of a moment when the spies monitoring him were dozing off, Du Ge slipped into the bathroom, climbed out of the training ground through the window, donned the Masked Hero's mask, and vanished into the night like a bolt of lightning.

Tonight, Du Ge maxed out his attributes of romance and low profile.

Moving through the night, his figure was ghostly, the cameras capturing only a fleeting shadow, far surpassing the speed of a mecha.

With his heightened perception, Du Ge easily bypassed surveillance blind spots.

Just like that, Du Ge made his way to the gang's gathering place, swiftly eliminating everyone gathered there, leaving no survivors, and wrote a few large characters on the gang leader's office wall with blood: "Heaven is watching."

Then he drifted away, heading straight for the Homeland Defense Bureau's headquarters.

The Homeland Defense Bureau had 360-degree surveillance with no blind spots, making it impossible to bypass. Du Ge simply pushed his speed to the limit, breaking through a window and barging in.

Amidst the blaring alarms, Du Ge took the shortest route, heading straight for Mo Shengmin's room, burst through his door, and before Mo Shengmin could react after logging out of the Battle Network, snatched the machete from his hand and, with a swift motion, decapitated him, then crashed through the wall and vanished.

...

When Luo Yan and Xu Wan arrived, they only saw a headless corpse.

"Damn!" Xu Wan's face turned pale instantly, "Who the hell did this? A one-hit kill, Mo Shengmin didn't even have time to defend..."

Luo Yan looked at the large hole in the wall, his eye twitching violently: "Nalan Li, check the surveillance."

Nalan Li swallowed, immediately opened his portable computer, accessed the Homeland Defense Bureau's surveillance system, and replayed the entire process of Du Ge breaking in and leaving.

From Du Ge breaking through the door to his departure, the surveillance showed only a rapidly moving black line, with no clear figure visible.

Even when slowed down to the lowest speed, it was just a blurry figure, with no discernible features or height.

"Three seconds." Nalan Li pursed his lips, "It took only three seconds from when he entered to when he left. This isn't a speed humans can achieve, and he was clearly targeting Mo Shengmin, with no deviation in his route, suggesting it might be someone from within our ranks..."

"Damn, is there an Alien Star warrior hidden in the Homeland Defense Bureau? Don't you guys do any checks?" Xu Wan's face was bloodless, "Judging by the speed, his attributes must be maxed out, it has to be Ten Steps to Kill One."

"Are you sure?" Luo Yan looked at Xu Wan, asking sharply.

"He's the most renowned among all the Alien Star warriors, who else could have such high attributes?" Xu Wan said, "I've always said he's a menace, but you wouldn't listen. Now Mo Shengmin is dead, and I'll be next. I can't stay here, I need to leave, Luo Yan, find me a safe place, as far from the Imperial Capital as possible..."

"Besides Ten Steps to Kill One, do you have any other suspects?" Luo Yan asked.

"General Feng, Fallen Leaves Know Flowers, I Am the Sea God... anyone who commands the winds and rains on the Battle Network could be possible," Xu Wan said, "To achieve this, either their attributes are maxed out, or they have keywords like speed or agility, there's no other possibility. It's outrageous, I should've known you guys couldn't be trusted, I was stupid to believe you."

"Xu Wan, don't panic." Luo Yan looked at the panicked Xu Wan, comforting her, "He struck once tonight, theoretically he won't strike a second time. Xu Wan, his precise assassination of Mo Shengmin proves he's well aware of our Homeland Defense Bureau's situation, hiding anywhere won't help, better to calm down and think of a solution to eliminate him, it's in everyone's best interest, Bi Xing won't allow such a disruptive element to exist."

He gave Nalan Li a look, "Nalan, start investigating the internal personnel of the Homeland Defense Bureau, see who has the most motive to commit the crime."

"Yes." Nalan Li understood, put away his computer, and left.

"There's no way." Xu Wan shook her head, "With my current attributes and skills, facing him is a death sentence, he can forcefully kill me with speed, just like Lin Hong, his speed is at its peak, I can't react."

"So, what's your keyword?" Luo Yan asked.

"Calculation." Xu Wan hesitated for a moment, then said, "The skill I awakened is called 'Strategic Mind,' everything appears as data to me, allowing me to achieve the best outcome.

So, I can see Mo Shengmin's attack route and strength without error, and choose the best evasion path.

When fighting Lin Hong, he blocked all my escape routes, the least costly option was to use my mecha to withstand his pulse cannon, all other routes would result in serious injury, so I chose to take the pulse cannon head-on."

"Lin Hong?" Luo Yan furrowed his brows again, first Ten Steps to Kill One, now Lin Hong, the direction is so clear?

"..." Xu Wan paused, then asked, "Where is he, have you investigated him?"

"His background should be fine, we'll look into him." Luo Yan steadied himself, asking, "If it's a speed-type keyword, how can it be countered?"

"Keywords like slow or stop!" Xu Wan said, "Luo Yan, take me to see Lin Hong, he definitely has issues."

"He's hospitalized, mentally exhausted, severely traumatized, it can't be him." Luo Yan looked at Xu Wan, saying, "I know you players recover quickly, but at that time, he was still in a severely injured state in the hospital, so it can't be him."

"Alright!" Xu Wan glanced at Luo Yan, "If possible, I'd like to visit him in the hospital, after all, compared to you guys, he's quite young. He looks like a seventeen-year-old Ten Steps to Kill One."

"..." Luo Yan looked at Xu Wan, shaking his head, "Xu Wan, we'll investigate Lin Hong and Ten Steps to Kill One. But you can't see him."

"Why?" Xu Wan asked.

"If he really is Ten Steps to Kill One, seeing him would be the greatest danger." Luo Yan said, "Xu Wan, with Mo Shengmin dead, you're my only choice now, contact your people from your planet! We need to quickly form a team, we can't let this happen again..."