Noid soaked in the bone-cleansing fluid. As soon as he used the SNG-26 stimulant, the basin of water bubbled and boiled as if it were on a stove. He was familiar with this sensation, slowly feeling the impurities being expelled through his pores. Using the stimulant and the bone-cleansing fluid together produced a much more effective result.
Before, he always felt a nagging pain and stiffness in his neck and shoulders whenever he moved too vigorously, and even injections of strengthening solution didn't help. But since he started using the bone-cleansing fluid, the pain had vanished. Not only that, he felt his vision and ability to concentrate were getting better and better.
It took him nearly three hours to absorb the fluid. Noid climbed out of the basin. The more he used the bone-cleansing fluid, the less time it took.
Compared to when he was in his old world, he looked completely different now. He was taller, and his body had the well-defined contours of healthy muscle. Most noticeably, his mental state had improved.
After many days of using bone-cleansing fluid, stimulants, and continuous training day and night, his strength had solidly approached the peak of 0.7, not far from 0.8. Today, he decided he would inject the second vial of strengthening solution. There was a high probability he'd reach 0.8.
0.8 might sound low, but it's actually equivalent to most world-class athletes or the strongest martial artists, people who have had to endure long, grueling training and a strict lifestyle to reach that level.
Noid took a deep breath, and as the syringe plunged into his arm, a powerful surge of energy coursed through his body. Not long after, he felt a certain limit in his body being broken. He swung his fist, so strong that Noid could actually feel a slight resistance from the air. He was certain he had reached 0.8.
"Looks like I can do it now."
Noid breathed a sigh of relief. Being stronger didn't just mean he could earn accumulation points faster; it also meant he had more room for maneuvering.
He walked into the room. On the wall was a map of the entire District 17. Many red dots were marked on it, representing the small Doom strongholds he had taken down.
This was everything he had gathered over the past few days. The Doom cult was a dangerous and heretical organization. Sasha had warned him about this beforehand. But when Noid began to fight, he discovered that these small strongholds were unbelievably weak.
Aside from their ability to hide, they were just a bunch of weaklings with a lack of coordination. No wonder the police, despite capturing so many cultists, were only able to bust a few small strongholds. It was because no matter how much they interrogated them, they couldn't get any useful information.
However, he hadn't come up completely empty-handed. Many of the stronghold leaders he interrogated confessed that they didn't communicate with each other, but they did communicate with a high-ranking member of the cult. That communication had been cut off more than a week ago.
A little over a week ago coincided with the time his reputation was starting to spread, as well as the time the Doom cult and the police began to enter a period of fierce fighting.
This high-ranking member was probably the head priest of the Doom cult, or at least a very important member. When he asked for the person's identity, he was told that the high-ranking member never spoke directly. It was always a subordinate or someone similar who relayed orders. Communication was also one-way; they could only receive orders from above.
This didn't just happen with a few small strongholds, but all of them. For some reason, the "high-ranking member" in the cultists' words had decided to abandon all the low-level strongholds.
There was too little information, so Noid planned to raid a cult stronghold that was currently clashing with the police to see what he could find.
Strongholds that could fight the police head-on, he figured, couldn't have fewer than 50 members and also had a certain level of combat training. The difficulty of breaking through them was absolutely not comparable to the cultists in the small strongholds.
Noid, of course, wouldn't charge in head-on. If he did that, even if he reached 1.0, he would only be on a path to certain death. He would use sneak attacks, along with paralyzing bombs, ten of which he still had stored in his system and had never used.
Once thrown, these bombs would directly paralyze any target with a stat value below 1.3. Even targets above 1.3 would suffer from a slowing and electric shock effect. Using them effectively could turn the tide of a battle.
"Infinity, give me an item capable of high-speed movement, either in the air or on the ground. It's best if it's quiet, and invisibility is even better."
A list of items appeared before Noid's eyes. To his surprise, compared to weapons or strengthening items, flight items were much more expensive. It made sense; in the early stages when a traveler was still weak, the ability to fly was a huge advantage.
After some deliberation, he decided to choose a magical item.
Flying Carpet (Low-Grade)
Woven from the silk of the obsidian silkworm and enchanted by a witch to be a mode of transportation. Speed 200km/h, weight capacity 150kg, continuous use for 20 hours, maximum altitude 500 meters. After use, the carpet needs to rest for 4 hours.
Price: 300 accumulation points.
Partially because this item had the best features among the items of the same price, and partially because it was a magical item, he didn't dare to use a scientific flying item in Rorgh City. The city had radar, and being caught would cause a lot of trouble.
The evening shift ended, and Noid closed the coffee shop. He geared up carefully, then took out the flying carpet.
A rolled-up carpet appeared and was unfurled. It was 1 meter wide and 2 meters long, and it was easier to use than he had thought. Noid only fumbled with it for a few minutes before he could control the carpet. Basically, since it was a magical item, it didn't require complicated maneuvers from the user.
The main battlegrounds between the Doom cult and the police were in Districts 12, 5, 9, and 16. These districts were the farthest from the military base, more than 400km away.
To be sure he wouldn't be discovered, he put on the invisibility cloak and maintained an altitude of 200 meters in the air.
He arrived at District 9. He quietly observed from above, looking for a place to launch his sneak attack.
"This stronghold will do."
He chose a stronghold that was engaged in guerrilla warfare with the police. A 100-meter radius around a large block of houses had been cordoned off by the police. Noid felt it was a little strange. The Doom cult was dangerous because of their stealth. To expose themselves like this and be surrounded, wasn't this just asking for death?
He didn't know that for some reason, the Doom cultists had stopped hiding over the past week and had started to riot openly, even releasing Doom into residential areas. The fighting had been intense for the past few days.
Noid didn't pay any more attention to that. He found a corner and snuck in. The interior was heavily guarded, with weapons clutched tightly in their hands. Furthermore, the morale of these cultists wasn't as dispirited as the ones he had faced before.
But facing Noid, with a stat value that had reached 0.8 and fully equipped, these guys were nothing. The terrain of the housing block, which was divided into many different areas, was also to his advantage, allowing him to quietly eliminate parts of their force without being discovered.
Noid targeted the first group, a total of three people in one room. He observed that a person with a headset checked in on the situation every five minutes.
As soon as that person finished reporting and cut off communication, Noid rushed in.
Whack! Whack! Whack!
Three strikes from his baton were the only sounds made. All three were paralyzed and incapacitated. He didn't stop, continuing to use his invisibility to move to other rooms and attack. Within five minutes, Noid had to take down at least half of the lookouts in this housing block.