Chapter 1535: Forced Destruction and Deconstruction
She ate her food, her actions and demeanor like those of a playful young girl, but her tone of voice constantly revealed her identity as an elder. Overall, it looked a bit incongruous, yet she didn't have the oppressive pressure typical of an A-rank player.
She asked Xu Huo to address her as Madam Gong, and when he was about to introduce himself, she waved her hand. "I'm old, I can't remember that many people, so no need to give your name."
"But not having a name is a bit inconvenient," she said, not waiting for Xu Huo to speak before pointing at the plate in front of her. "How about I call you Little Barbecue? To commemorate our friendship over a meal of barbecue."
...
"As long as you're happy." Xu Huo had no objections.
Madam Gong noticed his gaze lingering on the few players ahead and asked with a smile, "To what extent can you use space rays?"
Xu Huo moved his fingers, shattering a small wooden ornament over ten meters away into pieces.
"Hmm, although you've just started, you're a bit better than the average person, at least you've found the right direction." Madam Gong lightly tapped the barbecue skewer, and the thin stainless steel rod automatically broke into several pieces. "Remote object control stays on the surface. Even if you destroy an object from a distance, the effect is no different from a long-range attack item. You haven't truly pushed space power to its limit."
"Deconstruct objects from the inside?" Xu Huo added.
For the sake of demonstration, Madam Gong moved her fingers again. The skewer, which had been split into several pieces and suspended in midair, turned into thin slices. A second later, it was further refined into gauze-like particles.
Such precise control amazed Xu Huo. Although he could remotely destroy objects, he only used the inherently unstable space rays within the object to achieve destruction. The extent of the object's destruction and its final shape were uncontrollable. Madam Gong, however, could directly divide the object into whatever shape she wanted. This was no longer mere destruction; it was deconstruction and reconstruction. Theoretically, as long as one had enough power, any object could be infinitely decomposed.
The fine sand stopped when it became powder-like, and Madam Gong moved her hand, letting it drift down.
"Thank you for the guidance, senior. But I'm afraid I still have a long way to go before reaching this level." Xu Huo said.
Madam Gong nodded with a smile. "You've found the main direction. You'll get there eventually. But don't always look for breakthroughs in external objects. There are thousands of different things in the world. It would be too troublesome to have to figure out each one you encounter."
"If you deviate onto that path, you'll be going down the wrong road. The longer it takes, the easier it is to form targeted control over a specific substance or substances. You see those in the game who control metal, control stone, and so on—most of them are like that."
"Forced destruction and deconstruction reconstruction can proceed simultaneously," she continued. "The key is to assimilate the rays inside the object with the rays you control, making the object itself a part of the rays."
"That might be somewhat difficult." For now, finding the ray patterns within an object was already the limit Xu Huo could touch. Assimilating the object's rays was another barrier entirely.
"Don't you have a little gadget in your hand?" Madam Gong pointed at his pocket. "See how it assimilates rays. Once the rays are assimilated, can't you control them just the same?"
Xu Huo instinctively touched the "Cube Space" in his pocket, thought for a moment, and then said, "I will study it carefully."
Madam Gong was very satisfied with his attitude. "Young people, you have plenty of time. No need to rush. Take it slow."
"Scoot over a bit. I'll tell you another trick."
Xu Huo moved his stool beside her. Madam Gong extended her right hand towards him. "See what's in my hand?"
Xu Huo nodded. She used space rays to create a cube about a finger's length, with all sides sealed by space barriers.
"Watch." As these words fell, new cubes began to rapidly stack outside the floating cube in her hand. With each new layer, the cube inside was compressed. Layer upon layer compressed down, and within just half a minute, the earliest formed cube had become extremely small, its complete shape almost indistinguishable to the naked eye.
But this wasn't the end. Madam Gong gently flicked the cube. The previously stationary stack of space barriers began to rotate. As it rotated, layer after layer of space barriers wrapped around it.
Without the overall volume increasing, this small cube was no longer simply a special space barrier.
The more layers of space barriers between intervals, the harder they were to control. If it were just a few layers or a dozen layers, losing control would at most cause the space rays to dissipate, without much impact on space. But this cube had already been wrapped in nearly a hundred layers. With the volume unchanged, the density of space rays inside was quite considerable. It already had a hardness comparable to a defense item.
However, this was clearly not the point, because the cube's stability depended on Madam Gong's control. If it went out of control, the changes caused by the eruption of space rays were unimaginable to Xu Huo.
After three minutes, Madam Gong finally stopped the wrapping motion. She pinched the cube between two fingers and applied force from both sides. The finger-length cube was compressed again to the size of a bean, looking like a solid entity composed of space rays.
"You can think of a space item as a carrier that stores and compresses space rays. The special materials used in item creation can keep space rays stable. But this cube in my hand will rapidly rebound once it leaves my control."
"If you put it into a narrow container and then release it, the rays it suddenly unleashes can, by sheer volume, crush the outer container."
Hearing this, Xu Huo immediately understood how she had controlled those six players. For those who couldn't see space rays, such a tempered space ray object could even openly enter their mouths and noses. And something as small as a bean or even smaller wouldn't be easily found. Once it was inside, escape would only accelerate death.
"Can space rays penetrate a human body for control?" he asked.
"You're quick on the uptake," Madam Gong winked at him. "Although the human body is complex, it is still an object existing in space. It can be seen as an object, or a container."
"Since it's an object and a container, of course it can be controlled, and even deconstructed."
As she finished speaking, she suddenly raised her left hand. A strange player flew over from a distance, stopped outside the window of this building, and was then encased in a layer of space barrier. Through that barrier, his entire body exploded into a mist of blood!
"You see," Madam Gong didn't even turn her head. "Forced destruction and deconstruction—one is rough work, the other is fine work. No matter how you look at it, fine work is more impressive, isn't it?"
(Chapter End)