48 Hours a Day-Chapter 1202: Code
Loki wore a smug look on his face. He was the god of lies and pranks, so his obsession with them was an innate instinct. Back in Asgard, he had to enjoy dancing on the edge of a blade, but in the end, he had everyone under his control.
His combat power had never been the strongest among the gods, let alone Thor, the number one warrior of Asgard. But even Thor had to come to him when he was faced with a problem that he could not solve. His brain was what he indeed relied on.
Loki knew what Zhang Heng was up to from the moment he met him. He also knew that Zhang Heng had shot him with an arrow to test and understand his teleportation ability. He wanted to find a flaw in his ability, but Loki did not expose it, even deliberately displaying how far he could teleport to Zhang Heng.
He also knew that Zhang Heng must be trying to find an item that could’ve been used for teleportation. Thus, Loki had deliberately used an ordinary coin, acting as if he could not use his teleportation ability once it left his hand. He tricked Zhang Heng into attacking him, but he took the opportunity to teleport, sneaking behind Zhang Heng.
He had already obtained [Parris’s arrow] from Zhang Heng, and now that he had picked up the [Pestilence Bone Bow], the two items could be matched together. This B-grade item from the White Horse Knight left Loki rather curious, and he wanted to take it and play with it.
However, as soon as he reached out to touch the bone bow, he realized that something was wrong. Just a moment ago, the [Hidden Scabbard] had been slashing at where he was standing, but now, it was closing in on his back like a ghost.
Loki immediately realized that he had been tricked by Zhang Heng again. Zhang Heng had never believed that the coin was the key to his teleportation, so when he contacted Zhang Heng, who had deliberately thrown away the [Pestilence Bone Bow] before drawing his sword, Loki was certain that Zhang Heng had been planning this attack for a long time.
Back at the Pripyat Hotel, Loki had already experienced the power of the [Hidden scabbard]. The non-healing properties of this knife and the damage it dealt with divine creatures were something that Loki would be afraid of, even if he were at his peak. This was not to mention that his strength had been suppressed by 60%.
Zhang Heng’s level-4 blade technique was also among the reasons why Loki was unwilling to face Zhang Heng head-on. Although there were many gods in Asgard whose strength far surpassed that of a mortal like Zhang Heng, the Norse gods basically walked the path of one strength against ten. In terms of combat techniques, most of them were brats. When it came to blade techniques, they were not much better than mortals. And among mortals, Loki had never seen anyone who could surpass Zhang Heng.
And this time, Loki could feel that Zhang Heng’s knife was over twice as strong as before, his skills almost reaching the limits of an ordinary person.
Loki was shocked. He did a rough calculation in his mind and realized that he might not have enough time to snap his fingers and escape. He could only pounce on the spot like before and dodge the knife from behind. But if he did that, he would be entangled with Zhang Heng, and the script would be similar to the fight at the Pripyat Hotel.
Next, he would probably have to roll around on the ground. His posture wasn’t elegant, but the most important thing was that Zhang Heng would probably not give him another chance to snap his fingers.
Loki was not wrong. Zhang Heng had indeed been planning this attack for a long time.
To kill Loki, he had to first destroy his teleportation ability. Zhang Heng had initially planned to find the item on Loki’s body and destroy it. Still, he also knew how difficult it would be because the god of lies and pranks was the most cunning among all gods, and Zhang Heng knew that his intentions couldn’t be possibly hidden from Loki.
Once the latter was prepared, it was almost impossible to destroy or take the item away. So after some thought, Zhang Heng decided to give up on this option.
Although Loki was cunning, he was not without weakness. In fact, as Zhang Heng fought more and more supernatural creatures, he came to learn more and more about them. These self-proclaimed gods were born out of the faith of mankind, and in the past, relied on bards’ tales and stories carved on stone tablets to spread their faith. Now, with the advent of new media, they had a bountiful method to spread their religion. Games, novels, and even rock and roll had made some gods even more powerful.
They had an almost unlimited lifespan, a power beyond the imagination of mortals. Because of this, many increasingly feared them, thinking that they were invincible.
However, in Zhang Heng’s eyes, these gods were no different from the high-level NPC in a game. Their power was strong, but they had lost their most precious thing—freedom—the stories and deeds they relied on to spread were like shackles that bound them tightly. They were like computer programs—no matter how open-minded the game world was, they couldn’t betray the lines of code that were hidden behind them.
Loki was the god of lies and pranks, for instance, and stirring up trouble was his biggest label, an instinct rooted deep within his soul. Thus, when Zhang Heng realized that this was Loki’s dungeon, the first person he suspected was the subjugator. The reason was simply that the subjugator was too close to him.
Even though the subjugator’s words and actions didn’t reveal any flaws, and to eliminate his suspicion, Loki even obtained a real ID from the forum, but that didn’t change his behavior. It was something rooted deep in his bones.
Was there any benefit in using coins to trick Zhang Heng? Strictly speaking, there was none. Loki had only picked up the [Pestilence Bone Bow] because Zhang Heng had thrown it away, and he didn’t really care about this B-grade item that all players coveted. Picking it up and playing with it was one reason, but the bigger reason was that Loki wanted to see Zhang Heng hopping mad after losing the precious bow and enjoying the pleasure of messing with his opponent.
If it were any other sane person, they probably wouldn’t have put themselves in danger for such a boring reason, but Loki would do it, and he did it with relish because he was the god of lies and pranks. Thus, he was destined to be unable to dodge Zhang Heng’s attack.
Furthermore, Zhang Heng had used the new C-rank item he had just obtained, [Worldly Scale]. This item from the Black Python could greatly increase Zhang Heng’s strength in a short period of time, and in theory, directly increase his strength to the limits his body could take. But considering the aftereffects, Zhang Heng didn’t do so.. [Hidden Scabbard] was already sharp enough, and as long as he doubled his strength to slash Loki’s body, even more strength would be wasted.
