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

"While researching the Hill Civilization's spaceship, it released a disruptive wave, causing the Battle Network's backend program to malfunction, making it impossible to retrieve information? What a joke, that's the Battle Network, the future retreat for the world's populace. What are those scientists doing?"

Third Army Group.

Commander Cao Taihua angrily smashed a cup, pacing back and forth in his office, roaring, "The sooner we find Ten Steps to Kill One, the more we can enhance our army's combat power. Do they realize how much they're delaying?"

In the office.

Shang Jiliang and several others in military uniforms frowned deeply.

Clearly.

This result left them very disappointed.

After his outburst, Cao Taihua quickly calmed down, looking at the people in the office, he said sternly, "Song Lian, Shang Jiliang, speed is of the essence, we can't rely on the central command. You must station yourselves in the Battle Network, find Ten Steps to Kill One at all costs. At this critical moment for Bi Xing's survival, such talent cannot be left outside the military."

"Yes."

Shang Jiliang and Song Lian stood at attention, saluting Cao Taihua.

...

The same scene played out in various institutions.

The technology displayed by Ten Steps to Kill One has surpassed this era. Whoever finds him first will achieve great merit in this crisis, a chance to rise to the top.

To find Ten Steps to Kill One, various army groups and major institutions have offered astronomical rewards.

Feng Chen, the first to release Du Ge's video, found his dormitory threshold almost worn out, but no one could get any information about Du Ge from him.

Missing out on a fortune, Feng Chen was filled with regret.

Just one step, just one step away, Ten Steps to Kill One had already pointed out the key to his video, showing great goodwill towards him. If only he had persisted a little longer, he could have gotten the contact information of the great master!

How could he have been so foolish?

...

Battle Network, Mecha Training Module.

The intermediate training module was almost full, with everyone hoping to be the lucky one to discover Du Ge's real identity.

For this.

They tried all sorts of methods.

Some experts provoked Du Ge in the Battle Network, calling him a coward, a turtle hiding in its shell.

Some media appealed to Ten Steps to Kill One to step forward for the sake of national righteousness.

There were even beauties posting their photos, saying they'd be his girlfriend if he showed up, and so on. Various characters displayed their supernatural powers, making the Battle Network unprecedentedly lively.

But no matter how people clamored, Ten Steps to Kill One seemed to have vanished. Since winning a few matches on the Battle Network that day, he hadn't shown up again.

This led to many different voices emerging.

Some said Ten Steps to Kill One didn't actually possess such advanced technology, that he merely exploited a loophole in the Battle Network during the server's disruption, thus breaking human limits and achieving those incredible battles. Now that things have blown up, he's hiding, afraid to show himself.

Others said Ten Steps to Kill One wasn't a real person, but that the Battle Network had developed its own consciousness, and only an intelligent brain could ignore the limits of human mental power to perform those unbelievable actions...

In short.

After Du Ge stopped appearing, all sorts of rumors emerged.

...

After the president refused everyone's request to investigate Du Ge's information under the guise of Battle Network maintenance, Du Ge awakened his first skill related to being low-key:

Hidden Like Void: As long as you don't actively expose yourself, no one can discover your whereabouts or talents.

A concealment-type skill.

Whether in the Simulation Field or the Alien Star Battlefield, concealment-type skills almost always appear.

These skills are usually associated with keywords like hiding, assassination, etc.

On Qi Yuan Star, concealment-type skills are typically ranked in the first sequence, only countered by skills like insight, clarity, detection, chaos, or large-scale destructive skills.

Accurately speaking, insight-type skills and concealment-type skills are mutually counteracting, usually depending on the skill description, not necessarily who can restrain whom.

But in most cases, concealment-type skills can well ensure the safety of Alien Star warriors.

Du Ge's Hidden Like Void is a level higher than concealment-type skills, even hiding talents, perfectly aligning with the keyword low-key.

At Imperial Capital University, Du Ge verified this skill.

As long as he remained still in one spot, even if he stood there for a day, no one would notice his presence, as if he were invisible.

Once he moved or spoke, the skill's effect would disappear.

When he left others' sight and returned to a stationary state, the skill's effect would reappear.

Additionally.

This skill also had a slight disguise effect.

In a crowd, as long as he didn't greet or speak to others, even those familiar with him wouldn't notice him.

Du Ge inferred from the skill's effect that Hidden Like Void should be superior to detection-type skills.

...

After separating from the president in the Battle Network, the president didn't contact Du Ge again for the next few days, likely focusing on searching for Alien Star warriors to verify Du Ge's claims.

Tang Houming also didn't contact Du Ge.

However, the day after meeting the president.

Du Ge noticed many unfamiliar faces around his dormitory, and after he left, more than ten well-hidden listening devices appeared in his room.

Those agents were very cautious, disguising the listening devices perfectly, almost without altering the layout of Du Ge's dormitory.

But Du Ge's five million mental power, combined with the low-key keyword, finally came into play, his physique advancing rapidly, his divine sense covering almost half of Kyoto.

Any changes around him couldn't be hidden from him.

However, Du Ge didn't touch those monitoring devices.

He had nothing to hide, and since the president had helped him greatly, he naturally wanted to assure the president.

With such a vast coverage of divine sense, Du Ge didn't even need to leave his dormitory to be fully aware of everything happening at Imperial Capital University, even able to simultaneously attend dozens of professors' lectures.

In the past few days, besides keeping up with online news and understanding societal dynamics, Du Ge spent most of his time learning about mecha knowledge and intelligent operating systems.

Having witnessed the power of Pan-Universal Entertainment, Du Ge was doing his best to make up for his knowledge gaps.

With high enough mental power, Du Ge not only had a photographic memory but could also simultaneously study dozens of courses. And with Imperial Capital University's professors being industry leaders, Du Ge's understanding of mechas advanced rapidly, far surpassing Lin Hong's years of accumulated learning.

However, because a mecha encompasses so much content—control, perception, operation, energy, weapons, transmission, armor, framework, life support, etc.—each part is vast and profound, making it impossible to develop a mecha suitable for himself in such a short time.

Back then.

Lin Hong's idea of designing a mecha for his goddess single-handedly was simply wishful thinking.

Imperial Capital University has forty thousand students and over twenty thousand faculty and staff. To Du Ge's surprise, there wasn't a second Alien Star warrior in the university besides him.

Considering the previous Alien Star Battlefield's operation to reduce numbers, Du Ge understood that Pan-Universal Entertainment feared his charisma would quickly gather more people, so they dispersed the Alien Star warriors.

It must be said, such a large company really exudes a petty vibe in its operations.

...

Now, the entire Battle Network is filled with the legend of Ten Steps to Kill One. At Imperial Capital University, students from the Mecha Combat Department have abandoned high-performance mechas in practical classes, starting to practice with basic mechas like the Petrel.

Students and professors from the Mecha Department also focused on the Petrel, researching whether they could add more advanced functions and equipment to it...

In short.

Although Du Ge hadn't exposed himself, his reputation was soaring on Bi Xing, firmly holding the top position among Alien Star warriors.

Until other Alien Star warriors emerged, Du Ge didn't plan to go back on the Battle Network. He couldn't let himself always dominate the headlines; he had to give other Alien Star warriors a chance, so the president could gain something.

In this Alien Star Battlefield, his keyword is low-key, not suitable for being in the spotlight, sweeping the world with absolute advantage. Therefore, letting others step up is the best strategy.

...

Of course.

Besides learning mecha knowledge, Du Ge didn't idle. Every night, he would sneak out of Imperial Capital University, roaming the vast city, masked, to uphold justice.

With the skill Hidden Like Void awakened, the agents sent by the president to monitor him couldn't possibly keep track of him.

With divine sense covering half of Kyoto, Du Ge was more daring than Daredevil, not needing to listen to the radio like Spider-Man to find criminals. A sweep of his divine sense made it clear where the criminals were.

With the decisive battle against the Hill army imminent, although most people on Bi Xing were preparing for war, the doomsday-like negative emotions affected a large portion of the population.

These people, holding pessimistic thoughts, neither wanted to contribute to Bi Xing nor were willing to abandon their lives to become data in the Battle Network. So, they indulged in life, releasing their emotions.

Burning, killing, robbing, looting, committing all sorts of evil.

After the war with the Hill Civilization began, the global crime rate skyrocketed.

Night is the best cover for crime.

Every night, those societal scum would emerge, some in groups, some alone, doing things inconvenient during the day.

At night, the busiest were the police and patrolling drones.

But Bi Xing's technology level was too high. Although drones could deter some criminals, more criminals chose to confront drones head-on. A crude pulse weapon could easily destroy a finely crafted drone.

The police force was also insufficient to maintain order throughout Kyoto. Often, by the time the police responded to an alarm and arrived, the criminals had already fled, leaving the police to clean up the crime scene and comfort the victims.

Moreover, the number of mecha pilots was scarce, most were on the front lines confronting the Hill Civilization's vanguard, each with their own duties. The Federation couldn't possibly deploy resting frontline pilots or trainee pilots from schools to maintain order.

So, the chaos in various cities dragged on, in a state of muddling through.

This gave Du Ge an opportunity. Having just unlocked a skill for being low-key, he still had two more skills to unlock for romance. Progressing both online and in reality would speed up skill unlocking.

...

To hide his identity, Du Ge crafted a mask similar to Black Mask, covering most of his face, leaving only his mouth and chin exposed. Lin Hong, being a student in the Mecha Repair Department, had all sorts of tools, making it simple to create such a mask.

The attribute boost gave Du Ge incredible speed, allowing him to reach crime scenes in the shortest time, replacing the police in fighting criminals and saving innocent victims.

Against criminals bullying the weak, Du Ge showed no mercy. If he encountered them, at the very least, they'd have broken limbs, at worst, they'd be unable to care for themselves.

In just a few nights.

Du Ge thwarted nearly forty criminal acts, saving over sixty people from the hands of villains...

The criminals he thwarted gnash their teeth at him, while those he saved affectionately call him the "Masked Hero," offering him all their praise in front of reporters' cameras.

...

"The Masked Hero emerges, thwarting over ten criminal acts in one night, police highly suspect it's an organization!"

"Nemesis of evil, protector of the people, the Masked Hero displays superhuman combat power. Has the government developed stronger human modification drugs?"

"A new direction in human evolution, does the Masked Hero's appearance mean human modification can rival mechas?"

"Corner surveillance clearly recorded the Masked Hero's process from appearance to rescue, police conducted technical restoration, hoping informants would provide information."

"The Masked Hero is very fast. When my leg was broken, he took me to the hospital, and I felt like I was flying. I bet his speed exceeded 500 kilometers per hour; he should be called the Flash."

"I saw his chin, it was very smooth. I think he must be a teenager."

"The Masked Hero might really be Superman. He traveled from one crime scene to another in less than three minutes, but the distance between them was ten kilometers. We highly suspect he has super hearing..."

"Anyone with information about the Masked Hero, don't be tempted by the reward to sell him out to the police. Those incompetent guys might dissect him for research. We need him to protect us; with him around, criminals won't dare harm us."

...

Du Ge could avoid any camera, but he chose to expose part of his whereabouts. Being low-key requires some high-profile actions to complement it.

High-profile actions need promotion.

So.

When various videos of the Masked Hero were uploaded online, his fame began to rival that of Ten Steps to Kill One.

After all.

Ten Steps to Kill One represents advanced mecha control technology, while the Masked Hero represents superhuman personal combat power. Both aspects are what people aspire to and pursue.

Compared to Ten Steps to Kill One, who showed off on the Battle Network and then disappeared, ordinary people preferred the Masked Hero, because the Masked Hero was truly guarding them, able to protect them...

...

Shortly after Du Ge created a new persona.

Many Alien Star warriors hidden in the shadows finally couldn't hold back.

...

"Ten Steps to Kill One's position may be at risk. 'Princess Ling Shuang' perfectly replicated the Petrel vs. Blade battle scene in the intermediate training ground, inviting top mecha pilots to challenge."

"'General Feng' replicated Ten Steps to Kill One's maneuvers, issuing a challenge to Ten Steps to Kill One in the intermediate training ground."

"'A Madman' used the Falcon in the intermediate simulation field to achieve ten victories in ten battles, brutally defeating ten opponents on the battlefield, forcefully entering the ranks of advanced mecha pilots in just one day?"

"Black Cat Hero, following the Masked Hero, a new superhero emerges. No criminals survive encountering her. She single-handedly swept through the Tiger Head Gang, slaughtering 187 members, leaving the gang in a river of blood..."