Chapter 50: Rats

"Mm..."

Xiao Bai’s face turned pale with fright. At this moment, her health bar was down to a mere 16%, and taking two more shots would plunge her into the severely wounded state. For a player, this status was extremely dangerous, and right now, we had no idea if anyone was still tracking us through a sniper rifle's scope.

Therefore, Zhang Ruolin and I flanked Xiao Bai on the left and right, shielding her with our shields. Then we saw Axe charging over as well. Catching sight of Xiao Bai's dangerously low health, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot. "Damn it... The people from Twilight are completely insane. What about that idiot 'Yeah Right'?"

"Already dead," Zhang Ruolin said. "Ding Han slaughtered him!"

"Awesome!" Axe cast an appreciative glance in my direction. "Scumbags like that deserve to be put down!"

I remained silent.

Killing a player for the first time—even though the guy brought it entirely upon himself—did not feel good at all. I loathed the smell of blood lingering in the air, and I loathed the feeling of taking a life even more. After all... this could very well be actual murder.

Stepping into the phase teleportation array and arriving at the players' black market, we finally felt safe.

"Ding Han, are you alright?" Ruolin noticed something was off with me.

"I'm fine," I shook my head. "It's just that the scene of killing someone was too vivid, my stomach feels a bit uneasy..."

"Ding Han..." Xiao Bai said softly. "Thank you so much this time. You saved my life, and I'll always remember it."

"Why are you being so formal?" I frowned, looking at her. "Xiao Bai, we are good friends who stuck together from the moment we arrived in Creek City. From now on, we're bound by life and death, so let's not say things like that anymore. I believe that if I were ever in mortal danger, you and everyone else would save me just the same."

"Yeah!" Everyone nodded gently.

"Ding Han, your condition doesn't look too good..." Axe pulled out a shield and said, "Ruolin and I will escort Xiao Bai to get a cab home. You should take some time to decompress and not think too much about it. That guy brought his death upon himself. Besides, he might not even be truly dead; you probably just sent him to Nirvana and forced him back to the real world."

"Let's hope so. I'm going to head to the exchange; you guys go ahead and be safe."

"There won't be any danger inside the ancient city, don't worry."

"Not necessarily. It's always best to be careful."

"Alright~~~"

The three of them left, while I walked toward the exchange and found Old Ma.

"Yeah Right" had dropped quite a lot of loot, and I needed to sort through it. Whatever was usable I'd keep, and whatever wasn't, I'd sell. I needed to pay back Lu Xiaobei's 20,000 credits as soon as possible; after all, it wasn't easy for a girl like her either.

...

"Back again?" Old Ma chuckled.

"Yeah, went out to handle a few things," I said with a smile. "Old Ma, I've got some items here for you to appraise, looking to trade them for some cash and bullets."

"Sure, let's see what you've got."

So, I brought out "Yeah Right's" gear: a green-tier sniper rifle, a green-tier submachine gun, along with a white-tier pistol and a green-tier helmet. None of it was what I was looking for.

The drop rates in *Star Abyss* were truly abysmal. Basically, you only got rewarded with equipment from defeating Bosses or completing high-difficulty quests. As for regular mobs, even elite ones, the drop probability of psychic crystals was quite low. Therefore, even though "Yeah Right" was a Tier 2 firepower specialist, he didn't actually have many pieces of gear on him.

Or perhaps he did have gear, but had traded all of it for guns.

In addition, he had dropped three fragmentation grenades and 3,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Those were pretty good, so I gladly accepted all of them.

"Not bad, quite a haul!" Old Ma started evaluating the prices. "The green sniper rifle is good stuff, worth 1.8k. The green submachine gun is also decent, I'll give you an acquisition price of 1.3k. The pistol, well, it's pretty much junk, I'll offer 300 for it. This green helmet is alright, I'll take it for 600. Total is 4,000. How does that sound?"

"Pretty fair, deal." I nodded.

"Straightforward!" Old Ma smiled and nodded as well.

"However, for a big transaction like this, you've got to throw something in. 2,000 rounds of 9mm ammo, how about it?"

"What the hell, you're a ruthless bargainer..." Old Ma was momentarily speechless. After a moment of contemplation, realizing there was still plenty of profit to be made, he smiled and said, "Fine! You're a regular customer, and you've always supported Old Ma's... oh wait, my Old Liu's business quite a bit. I'll make an exception this time, throwing in 2,000 rounds of ammo is no problem!"

"OK!" I nodded. "Then I'll additionally purchase 3,000 rounds of 9mm ammo."

Not having enough stock leads to ammunition shortage anxiety, so from now on, I had to cultivate a good habit: always keeping a reserve of 10,000 rounds of ammunition in my different-dimension storage space so that I wouldn't feel anxious anymore.

"Also," I paused, checking my Star Coin balance. It wasn't much, really not much left.

"Old Ma, I'll buy two RPG-32 rocket grenades."

"Got it!" Old Ma smiled and nodded. "You have a launcher?"

"I do."

"Awesome, you managed to get your hands on such a rare piece of hardware!"

"Small matter~~~"

Before long, Old Ma returned, bringing 3,000 rounds of ammunition and two heavy rocket grenades. After the transaction was completed, I still had a little over twenty thousand left. Deducting the 20,000 to repay Lu Xiaobei, the remaining money should be more than enough to find a place and live on for a month or so.

...

Nighttime, a little past seven, I returned to my living quarters.

Although I was starving, I really didn't want to go out to eat looking the way I did. When I killed "Yeah Right," blood had splattered all over me, and my shirt was currently stained red in patches. I had to go back and change my clothes; otherwise, it would be way too terrifying.

*Click~~*

I opened the living room door and quickly turned to lock it securely behind me.

However, the moment I turned around, I saw a figure standing in front of the sofa. I had forgotten that I wasn't living alone anymore; I had a co-tenant whose WeChat was a complete blank.

"You..."

Lin Qingying looked over, her gaze falling directly on the large bloodstain across my chest.

"I was helping a friend paint furniture today. This is paint."

"Mhm."

She nodded, saying nothing more. She always seemed so quiet.

"Ding Han, when are you moving out?"

After a long while, she finally spoke softly, "Tomorrow is the last day..."

"Alright, I'll definitely move out tomorrow!"

She said no more, simply tidying up the documents and laptop on the coffee table before retreating to her room.

...

I let out a sigh. Someone like her, who clearly came from an affluent background, had no idea about the hardships of vagrants like us!

I took off my clothes, rinsed them under the tap first, and then ran them through the washing machine.

Only then did I head downstairs to get some food. Having gone all day without eating, I was famished. After devouring a pot of braised chicken, I checked the community's bulletin board to see if there were any apartments suitable for me.

I spotted a few options, but when I called, either nobody answered or I was told the rooms had already been rented out.

Finding a place to live was genuinely difficult sometimes.

I wandered around until nearly eleven at night, realizing the housing situation was probably not going to get sorted out today, so I gave up.

Back to the room, time to sleep!

...

That night, I actually had a nightmare. What I dreamed of was the scene of someone having their head hacked off by me with a sword. The sight of blood spurting out was so vivid, identical to the moment "Yeah Right" died.

"Ah..."

Right at that moment, a sudden scream woke me up from my slumber, and the scream came from right next door.

"What's wrong?"

I hurriedly threw on some clothes and stepped out, only to find the living room lights already on. Lin Qingying was dressed only in pajamas, looking at me in a panic as she pointed toward her room. "There's a mouse..."

"Isn't it just a mouse?"

I frowned. "You're usually so fierce, yet you're afraid of a mouse?"

"When am I ever fierce?" she replied weakly, looking somewhat unconvinced.

"Forget it."

I unscrewed the handle of a broom and asked, "Can I go into your room?"

"Mhm..." She nodded.

So, I walked into her room, and instantly, a refreshing fragrance washed over me. A woman's room really was quite different; back when Milo lived here, it was always reeking of foot odor or cigarette smoke.

After turning on the light, I searched everywhere, eventually crouching down to peer under the bed. Sure enough, I spotted the culprit: a large black mouse crouched under the bed, staring at me in terror.

*Whoosh!*

I hurled the stick, scoring an instant kill!

Advanced Throwing Lv.10, truly terrifying!