Chapter 32: The Great Battle—One Blade Pierces the Soul
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I did not answer.
This could not simply be let go. If I put on a show of strength without paying a price, the people of Ragnarok would continue treating me as an easy target, pushing me around whenever they pleased. This matter could not be brushed aside so easily.
So I said nothing and simply kept firing single shots.
“Bang, bang, bang…”
The Whisperer’s report was crisp and thunderous. Bullet after bullet tore through the air, striking the enemy’s third and fourth players and leaving them gravely wounded with barely a sliver of health remaining.
“Stop shooting! We were wrong!” One of the critically wounded players dropped to his knees and kowtowed, practically on the verge of tears.
Beside me, Ruo Lin also raised the green sniper rifle she had just obtained and fired repeatedly. Her accuracy was not particularly impressive, but she still posed a certain threat.
“Ding Han, should we kill them?”
“What do you think?”
I hesitated as well. If players could truly die in this game, then killing one was no different from murder.
“Forget it.” Ruo Lin frowned. “Just reduce them all to lightly wounded status. There’s no need to kill anyone at this stage. Killing players on the Dark Web is an extremely serious matter. Besides, those bastards have already knelt and admitted their mistake…”
“Mm.”
I nodded in agreement.
This game was far too realistic. Dying in the game might mean dying for real. To me, killing another player was a taboo, at least for now, unless there was no other choice.
…
The fifth member of Ragnarok was a shield-type superhuman. Holding a shield, he crouched on the ground and proved exceptionally resilient.
Unfortunately, under the sustained sniper fire from Ruo Lin and me, he had no chance of escaping. In the blink of an eye, his health dropped below thirty percent, placing him in a lightly wounded state.
At that moment, I finally opened the star map.
“Shadow Chaser, please show mercy…” The voice of Central-Lane Godslayer trembled slightly, almost reduced to a plea.
“Now you know how to beg for mercy?”
I frowned. “I told you long ago that players should help one another instead of attacking each other. Are the people of Ragnarok really planning to be the rat that spoils the whole pot?”
“No, I only…” The shield-type superhuman hesitated, apparently unable to bring himself to beg.
“I could kill all of you as easily as turning over my hand.”
I spoke calmly. “Take this as a lesson. You brothers had better stop provoking us. Consider it a favor to me. What do you think?”
“Of course. We must show consideration for Shadow Chaser’s sake…” The Zuan Liberal Arts Top Scholar said, “Don’t worry. From now on, whenever our brothers from Ragnarok see you, they’ll go around you.”
“Good. If you do it again, I’ll kill you outright. You’d better return to the city quickly. If the Devourers spot you, five wounded men may not make it out of this wilderness alive.”
“Understood, understood…”
The five men supported one another as they left the forest.
…
Ruo Lin and I slowly rose to our feet, keeping Xiao Bai behind us.
“See if the boss left behind anything useful,” I said.
“Mm!” Ruo Lin nodded. “Of course we should take a look.”
As it turned out, most of the Armored Ground Beetle’s body had been blown to pieces by the explosive grenades. Even the hard shell on its back had cracked into numerous fragments. Clearly, it had been unable to withstand the force of the grenades detonating inside it.
“This shell…” Xiao Bai frowned. “Our submachine guns could not penetrate it at all. That means the material is exceptionally good. It could be used as bulletproof material and should be worth quite a bit. Shall we take it back?”
“Sure!”
Ruo Lin and I nodded in unison.
The shell was simply too large. Our extra-dimensional storage spaces were only one-meter cubes, nowhere near large enough to hold it. And so, beneath the starlight, the three of us left while each carrying a huge piece of shell on our shoulders.
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…
The journey was uneventful, and we finally returned to the Red Dragon Kingdom border defense squad’s outpost.
At that moment, each of us had a golden icon above our heads reading “Carrying Supply Crate.” After speaking with He Xiangyang, he said excitedly, “Thank you! These supplies have returned at exactly the right time! Rest assured, the people of the Red Dragon Kingdom will never forget your help!”
A chime sounded beside my ear.
[Congratulations! You have completed the quest “Recover the Supplies” (B-rank). Rewards: 200,000 experience, 2,500 Star Coins, and 1,000 reputation with the Red Dragon Kingdom faction!]
[Congratulations! Your reputation with the Red Dragon Kingdom faction has reached: Friendly!]
I was quietly delighted. We had gained quite a lot.
The experience alone amounted to 200,000. On top of that, we had received 2,500 Star Coins. A thick stack of bills dropped into my extra-dimensional storage space with a slap. The joy of this windfall even surpassed receiving a paycheck!
Furthermore, the quest had unlocked the faction relationship system.
For players in Creek City, the ultimate destination would inevitably be the Red Dragon Kingdom. After all, the Red Dragon Kingdom was the colossal power in Star Abyss capable of standing against the Star Maple Federation. It would also serve as the in-game faction providing shelter for the Chinese players born into this world.
As luck would have it, only 1,000 reputation points were needed to move from Neutral to Friendly, and we had accomplished that with a single quest!
After bidding farewell to He Xiangyang, we retraced our route and used the teleportation array once more for free, arriving at the player black market inside Creek City.
…
We first went to the trading market to sell the heavy materials on our shoulders.
“Ruo Lin.”
In the distance, a middle-aged player with a horse-like face greeted us with a smile. “You’re back from Dawnlight Plains?”
“Mm.” Zhang Ruo Lin nodded. “Old Ma, you’re at the black market too. Are you going to the bar tonight?”
“Damn it, my surname is Liu, not Ma…”
“Sorry, sorry. It just slipped out.” Zhang Ruo Lin laughed. “This is Shadow Chaser, and this is Xiao Bai. Let me introduce you. This is Old Ma, one of the black market’s staff members.”
“I swear, my surname is Liu…”
“Hello, Old Ma,” Xiao Bai and I said together.
Old Ma looked pained. At last, he gave up in despair. “Forget it. What are those things you three are carrying? They look black and filthy, and there’s a faint stink coming off them.”
“Materials from a boss. We’re here to see if we can sell them for some money.”
“All right. I’ll find a professional to appraise them.”
“Okay, thanks for your trouble.”
Before long, a middle-aged man wearing a long robe and holding a magnifying glass appeared in the back room. After carefully examining the shells, he said, “If I’m not mistaken, these are the shells of an Armored Ground Beetle, correct?”
“Impressive. You could tell just by looking?” Ruo Lin encouraged him.
“Hmph…”
The middle-aged man smiled. “If I’m not mistaken, this Armored Ground Beetle was a blue-quality boss. These pieces of shell are quite valuable. They can be made into shields or used as the inner material of bulletproof vests. And you’ve brought a considerable amount. Since you’re Old Ma’s friends, I won’t waste your time with haggling. I’ll offer you 60,000 Star Coins for everything. Accept it and we have a deal. Otherwise, you can find another buyer.”
Ruo Lin looked at Xiao Bai and me, asking our opinion with her eyes.
I had no objections. We had picked the materials up for free, after all.
Thus, the three of us reached an agreement immediately. We could not be bothered to search for another buyer, so we sold everything on the spot and divided the money equally, receiving 20,000 each.
“I want to buy a batch of nine-millimeter ammunition for the Roarer.”
“Perfect. I need to restock too.”
Xiao Bai and I reached an agreement at once and went together to purchase ammunition. Ruo Lin, meanwhile, needed large-caliber rounds for her sniper rifle, so the three of us went together.
I bought 5,000 rounds in one go, gave 1,000 to Ruo Lin, and kept the remaining 4,000 for myself. That should be enough to last quite some time.
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After leaving the black market, Xiao Bai and Ruo Lin invited me to join them for a dry-pot meal. Unfortunately, I reeked of the Devourer’s foul stench. All I wanted was to return to my lodgings, take a hot shower, and get a good night’s sleep. So I politely declined and parted ways with them, leaving through another small alley in the old city.
It was the off-season for tourism, and the alley was deserted.
“Friend.”
Suddenly, a figure appeared ahead. He revealed his health bar and ID first, then gave a mocking laugh.
“You sent all five of my brothers to Creek City First People’s Hospital. Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”
Beneath the dim glow of the streetlamp, his ID stood out sharply.
[One Strike Into the Soul]
[Starry Superhuman — Sword Specialist — Tier One]
Level: 20
Guild: None
…
It was One Strike Into the Soul, the ruthless fighter ranked among the top players in the region!
He had already caught up to my level, and like me, he was still a Tier One player who had not advanced. He was probably in a hurry to seek revenge. In his hand was a single-molecule sword wrapped in a blue radiance.
The moment my eyes fell on the sword, I felt a chill. Its attack power was definitely far higher than that of my Vanguard Bee Stinger. After all, the Vanguard Bee Stinger was merely the standard weapon issued to every Vanguard captain on the outskirts of the Dark Tide. Even as a green-quality weapon, it was nothing more than mass-produced equipment.
“Did your brothers fail to tell you the whole story?”
I remained in my normal state and said, “On Dawnlight Plains, your brothers were the ones who fired first and wounded my teammates. We were forced to fight back.”
“Even so, you didn’t have to leave all five of them seriously wounded, did you? On their way back, they ran into two Devourers and almost failed to make it back alive. Did you know that?”
The veins on One Strike Into the Soul’s face bulged with fury.
“One Strike Into the Soul.”
My gaze turned cold. “Are you saying that after your brothers provoked the conflict and I wounded them, I was also supposed to escort them back to the teleportation point?”
“Enough nonsense.”
One Strike Into the Soul raised the single-molecule sword and pointed it lightly at me. “If you can defeat me, this matter ends today. If you lack the ability, then you’ll pay the price. I’ll cut you into a serious injury, one slash at a time, and leave you lying in the hospital for ten days or half a month!”
“That can be arranged.”
I smiled faintly. At last, I stopped holding back. My body sank slightly as I entered combat form, revealing my health bar as well. I raised my hand and switched my main-hand weapon to the Vanguard Bee Stinger.
“You’ve actually got the nerve to show me your health bar? You’re asking to die!”
One Strike Into the Soul charged at me with his sword raised, primal energy surging through his body. Amid the whistle of wind, he thrust the blade straight at me!
My Agility should have been considerably higher than his. I abruptly twisted aside, and the tip of the blue single-molecule sword passed within an inch of my nose. At the same time, my knee slammed into One Strike Into the Soul’s abdomen, followed by a three-hit combo of basic attack, Dragon Blade, and basic attack!
“Swish!”
One Strike Into the Soul twisted his body in mid-motion. His speed had not dropped by much. He suffered only the knee strike, losing a little over one hundred health, then launched a Stepping Slash in the blink of an eye, cutting toward my rear flank. At the same time, he turned and thrust his sword at me.
I had to admit that his ability to hold one of the top three positions among Creek City’s players was well deserved. His reaction speed and tactical judgment were both exceptional.
“Clang!”
As sparks flew in all directions, I blocked his sword from behind without even turning my head. Then I spun around and used a diagonal Stepping Slash to close the distance. Taking advantage of the fact that his Stepping Slash was still on cooldown, I instantly unleashed a basic attack followed by Groundspike Slash!
“256!”
“702!”
…
“Damn…”
One Strike Into the Soul’s expression changed dramatically. That Groundspike Slash had hurt him badly!
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