Chapter Thirty-Two: Analyzing the Mission

In truth, Kuro had little intelligence regarding Bai Feng; after all, this was his first time encountering this woman during a mission.

After a brief silence between the two, Kuro asked, "How should I address you?"

Wang Ling pondered for a moment. He realized that these Dreamers likely preferred using code names instead of their real names to avoid unnecessary trouble. So he replied, "Just call me the Gunman."

It wasn't that Wang Ling had decided to specialize as a marksman focused on long-range combat in the future, but regardless of his actual path, the codename "Gunman" was certainly misleading enough.

"Gunman, after completing your novice mission, how many mainline missions have you been through?"

Out of caution, Wang Ling hesitated before answering, "Three."

Kuro, who was driving, glanced back at him in surprise. "I didn't expect you've only participated in three mainline missions, yet you already have elite red-tier equipment and such a practical skill as Accelerated Sprint. Seems you've been rated highly on those missions."

Wang Ling made no comment. In truth, he'd just barely finished the novice mission. If this guy knew the truth, who knew what he'd think.

"Compared to you, I suppose I'm a veteran. Don't underestimate me—I've already survived seven mainline missions. Out of the five thousand people in the lower district, I can at least count myself among the top thousand! As for Bai Feng, I don't know exactly how many mainline missions she's completed, but it's at least twelve. A month ago, she acted as a referee in the arena for a while. I happened to see her there when I was dueling an opponent."

"If Bai Feng is that strong, why hasn't she moved to the intermediate district?" Wang Ling asked curiously.

"She should be close. Most likely, her next mission will be her advancement trial."

"What are mission scenario cards?" Wang Ling continued.

"They're rare and precious items. I've never seen one myself, but I know there are group scenario cards and personal scenario cards. They allow you to enter a specific mission world. Bai Feng must have some scheme in the Double Dragon world, which is why she got her hands on a scenario card and came here—only to run into us, her unlucky victims. Damn it!"

"You have to understand, the difficulty of Double Dragon II is meant for Dreamers who've been through three to five mainline missions," Kuro added. "Because I suffered a major setback in my last mission, my evaluation from the Main Brain likely dropped, so I ended up here. I thought this mainline mission would be risk-free, and I'd be able to rake in rewards in a relatively easy world. Just my damn luck!"

After some idle conversation, Wang Ling learned that Bai Feng was Chinese. Thus, when confronted with an enemy Dreamer from China in a mission world, she would usually spare their life—provided she could check their attributes and equipment to ensure that letting them live wouldn't cause her any trouble. This woman was extremely cautious.

Kuro himself was a Southeast Asian, specifically Indonesian, skilled in close combat, and had acquired several abilities from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles world. If not for the presence of Bai Feng, he likely would have been the strongest among all the Dreamers who arrived in this scenario.

Of course, Wang Ling knew the man wasn't disclosing the full extent of his power. No one would reveal everything to someone they'd only just met.

"With Bai Feng here, the difficulty of this world has increased. Unfortunately, we can't find the other three Justice-side Dreamers. If all five of us joined forces, our chances of completing the mission or challenging Bai Feng would be much higher," Wang Ling sighed.

A cold smile flickered across Kuro's face. "There are at most two Justice-side Dreamers left. I saw with my own eyes one of them being sliced in half by Bai Feng’s combat chi slash!"

Wang Ling remained expressionless. The car fell into silence, broken only by the hum of the engine. After a while, he suddenly asked, "What do you suppose the mainline mission for the Evil side is? Could it be to eliminate the Double Dragon brothers? If so, with Bai Feng present, those two are in real danger."

"I already killed one of their Dreamers and forced the mainline mission out of him before he died. The first mainline mission for the Evil side is to destroy five martial arts dojos in New York City: a Muay Thai gym, a Taekwondo gym, a Karate dojo, a Boxing gym, and the Sōsetsuken Dojo run by the Double Dragon brothers themselves."

"The second mainline mission is to obtain the Double Dragon brothers' blood and deliver it to the leader of the Shadow Warriors, to create their clones—the Double Dragon Phantoms. The Evil side only has two mainline missions. They don’t need to kill the Double Dragon brothers, and their goals don’t conflict with ours. The brothers are mini-boss-level characters—not easy to deal with. The Evil side won’t want unnecessary complications..."

"But with that woman in play, there could be changes! In any case, we should complete our second mainline mission as quickly as possible. That way, we can ignore the Double Dragon brothers altogether—even if they die, we won't face mission failure and erasure," Kuro said.

Wang Ling recalled the plot of Double Dragon. For someone like Bai Feng to pay the price to enter this world, she must be after something... But what? The secrets of Sōsetsuken? Some skill or technology possessed by the Shadow Warriors? Or perhaps the Dragon Soul hidden within the Double Dragon brothers?

Yet, those two only awaken the Dragon Soul in the arcade fighting game version, when they gain terrifying skills like "Twin Dragon Rebirth." For now, they're merely martial artists. Even if killed, there's no way to obtain the Dragon Soul. If it were possible, that would be a glaring loophole, and the Dream Space would never allow such an exploit.

With that in mind, he asked Kuro, "Do you know what happens if the Double Dragon brothers—the main protagonists of the scenario—are killed in this world?"

Kuro replied, "I've researched this world. If it doesn't conflict with the mainline mission, killing the Double Dragon brothers has little impact. The next time someone enters, the scenario resets and the brothers reappear. They aren't easy to defeat, though. Their base stats are average, but they're formidable in actual combat. Even with my experience from seven mainline missions, I’d only be able to take on one if fighting one-on-one."

"If you do manage to kill them, the reward chests may contain skills from Sōsetsuken—like the Flying Knee, Neck Throw, or Flying Kick, all E-grade skills. The best is the Tornado Kick, a D-grade skill. Not a big deal. However, the Shadow Warriors' Double Dragon clones can drop the Ki Energy Blast, which is even more useful than the Tornado Kick!"

"What about if you kill the leader of the Shadow Warriors? What do you get?" Wang Ling pressed.

Kuro shook his head, his expression cold. "Based on all the intelligence I’ve gathered, no one has ever managed to kill the final boss of the Double Dragon II scenario, the leader of the Shadow Warriors. His strength is overwhelming; his organization is massive. Trying to kill him would be like trying to assassinate the President of the United States in reality—and the President is the world's top fighter!"

Now Wang Ling understood. Though Double Dragon II was an E-grade scenario, its difficulty far surpassed that of the novice world, Super Mario Bros. As the final boss, the Shadow Warriors' leader, "The Dragon Head," must possess at least the power of the Koopa King. The level gap between him and low-tier Dreamers was simply too vast.

"Could Bai Feng's true objective be the Dragon Head...?"

Watching the scenery blur past as the car sped along, Wang Ling asked Kuro, "How are you progressing with your mainline mission?"

Kuro replied in frustration, "On the first day after arriving, I eliminated quite a few Broom-heads and punks, as well as five hippies, but haven't found a single female thug. As for the other mainline missions, being hunted by Bai Feng left me no time to complete them."

"Then let's not drive too far from Mike Street. I have the address of a low-level Shadow Warriors base not far from there."

"You mean the Bad Kids Disco? Right! I found the address on a business card after killing a Broom-head, but I didn't get a chance to go there before Bai Feng started chasing me."

"Let's eat and rest for a while. Tonight, we'll head over. It's best if we complete mainline missions one and two by tomorrow. As long as we get the Sōsetsuken to the Double Dragon brothers, even if they die, we won’t be stuck with an impossible mission."

"My second mainline mission isn’t to find the Sōsetsuken—it's the Iron Whip," Kuro said as he parked the car. After the earlier battle, both were feeling hungry. Wang Ling changed out of his vagrant disguise, showered the yellow dye from his hair at a hotel, and the two found a restaurant.

Wang Ling deliberately ordered the famous American specialty, "Giant Steak." This dish featured steak marinated in a fruit-based sauce, making the meat extremely tender and flavorful. With sides of curry, broth, minced garlic, onions, MSG, wild chili, even red wine, the steak's taste was elevated to new heights.

Listening to the waiter's description, Wang Ling nearly started drooling. But when the steak arrived, it was practically rare, still streaked with red juices, immediately killing his appetite.

As it turned out, Americans disliked wasting time. With such large and thick steaks, cooking them well-done took far too long, so restaurant steaks were usually served medium at most. Unable to stomach such food, Wang Ling sent his steak back for further cooking, earning himself a round of disdainful glares from the wait staff.