Chapter 58 Investigation

While canceling her Animagus transformation, Yu Xunge swiftly used "Accio!" to morph herself into the likeness of a goblin, and then layered a Disillusionment Charm over herself.

It happened in the blink of an eye. Only one person in the group caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of her eye, feeling as though a shadowy figure had appeared in the tree, only to vanish the very next second.

First, she hurled an "Ice Blossom Seal" spell directly at the person standing at the very rear. Then, drawing her bow, she loosed an arrow imbued with a "Knockback Shot," unleashing a wave of energy that shoved all five of them toward the spider while simultaneously stunning them for three full seconds.

Three seconds was more than enough time for the spider's legs to pierce clean through two of them.

Next, she split off a shadow, which darted across the clearing and wrapped itself tightly around the two individuals in the exact center.

By the time those two finally snapped out of their stun, it was already too late.

Through the exquisite coordination between Yu Xunge and the venomous spider, the entire squad was wiped out in a matter of moments.

Having slaughtered the players, the venomous spider immediately set about feasting on its meal.

Yu Xunge did not move. The nearest treehouse stronghold was only a five-minute walk away. She recalled her shadow, transformed into a small bird to flit over to another tree, and then shifted into a tiny spider, wedging herself securely into a crevice of the bark—a magnificent visual blind spot.

She wondered if the other party possessed any detection skills. Although the Animagus form could shield her from the detection of most skills and items, even if she were somehow exposed, she still had her goblin disguise tucked neatly beneath her spider disguise.

After waiting patiently for a while, she spotted a squad approaching from a certain direction. With practiced teamwork, they quickly dispatched the spider that was still in the middle of its meal. Yu Xunge glanced at her pocket watch; only seven minutes had passed from the moment the squad was wiped out to the time these people arrived.

The group halted beside the five corpses.

One of them scanned all four directions and said, "Nobody here."

A long-haired woman knelt down and inspected the bodies. "Looks like a mistake." With that, she pressed her fingertips against the bloodstains and closed her eyes, clearly activating a skill.

Up in the tree, Yu Xunge narrowed her eyes. In that instant, a flurry of scenarios flashed through her mind: What should she do if their skill directly revealed the killer's information? How should she handle it if the skill let them view the victims' final moments before death? What if the skill allowed them to probe the deceased's memories?

Yu Xunge did not feel she had done anything wrong, but she could not yet gauge the authorities' mindset or operational style. Things had not descended into complete chaos just yet; it was not yet a time when desperate and heavy-handed measures were required. What was the authorities' actual attitude toward player-versus-player conflict and bloodshed? It was hard to say.

After using her skill on the blood of all five victims one by one, the woman shook her head. "Behind them... an energy impact hit them from that direction, stunning them for a few seconds. Right before she died, she was frozen by a skill, and these two were grabbed by a shadow."

The buzz-cut man turned his head and asked the person who had initially claimed "no one was here," "Was there truly no one when we arrived?"

That person replied, "Yeah, I used my skill before the spider was even killed, and I didn't spot any player information at all."

After chatting for a little longer and noting down the details of these skills, the group departed.

Yu Xunge did not rush to move. Instead, she waited quietly for another half an hour, during which the official squad returned twice more. Too weary to bother watching them, Yu Xunge transformed into a bird and flew away.

She was entirely certain that she had left no traces of herself behind for the authorities to find. After all, having lived on the run for years, she might not be omniscient when it came to tracking methods, but she was certainly superior to most people—not to mention her daily habit of meticulously checking herself for any lingering marks.

How, then, did the authorities find out about these players' deaths?

Divine-given talents?

She suddenly thought of the water spheres the stronghold had distributed to them at the beginning, the ones rumored to be crushed if one got lost so that someone would come guide them back to the stronghold. Finding the water sphere took up too much inventory space, she had thrown it away on the second day.

It seemed most likely...

That was somewhat troublesome.

Even so, Yu Xunge had no intention of stopping.

Using the Disillusionment Charm, she prowled through the forest for a long time before finally locating another squad.

This time, she bypassed her bow and arrows, pulling out instead the grenades she had purchased while collecting weapons earlier, and lobbed three of them straight into their midst.

Yu Xunge felt blissful, her mood uplifted, her thoughts thoroughly unblocked.

Those fellows who had chanted, "I want one too, I want one too," "Boss, I want one too," and "Even without legs, we can still play," were all gathered right here.

With both squads eliminated, it was time for Yu Xunge to have lunch. She cast a cleansing spell on herself, changed into a fresh outfit, finished today's gold coin production, and then shouldered her longbow as she walked into the nearest stronghold. Just as she finished her meal, she saw the five-member official squad she had encountered not long ago walking in as well. Curious, she spared them a few extra glances before continuing to finish the food in her hand.

Once done, she walked over, squatted down beside them, and asked, "Are you buying gear?"

The five men were unfazed. They had all heard of Yu Xunge, the remarkably fortunate celebrity; as internal personnel of the official faction, they knew even more than ordinary players, having even used skill crystals generated by "Feeling Blessed Again."

The long-haired woman asked with genuine curiosity, "What kind of gear?"

Yu Xunge produced a rare-grade piece of equipment she had looted earlier after defeating a living corpse—a pair of boots.

[Shadows] (Rare)
[Bonus Attributes]: Intellect +8 | Constitution +4
[Magical Attributes]: +2% Magic Damage | +1% Critical Damage
[Equipment Requirements]: Intellect ≥ 19 | Agility > 12

Equipment of rare grade and above generally carried two requirements: one for level, and one for attributes—though there were instances where both requirements were attribute-based. Even in such cases, it functioned as a covert level requirement; an ordinary person's maximum starting attributes capped around 10 to 12, and with 5 attribute points gained per level, meeting an Intellect requirement greater than 19 and an Agility requirement greater than 12 meant reaching at least Level 3.

However, if other equipped items boosted one's stats enough to reach the threshold, it meant a player could equip superior gear ahead of schedule.

Consequently, gear whose requirements were solely attribute-based tended to be twenty to thirty percent more expensive than gear tied strictly to level requirements.

The group straightened up immediately. Even upon seeing the equipment requirements, they felt no disappointment.

Having arrived early, they were already Level 2. While they were still a long way from Level 3, it was merely a matter of a month or two.

Naturally, Yu Xunge could not sell it for more than the auction house price, nor was she after gold coins. "I want to trade for skill crystals."

The long-haired woman asked, "Blank ones? You could just go straight to the exchange point to swap for those."

Yu Xunge replied, "They only let me exchange the skill crystals generated by my talent for blank ones, but I'd rather trade with you guys. I figured I could get a slightly better deal."

The group exchanged glances. This did not violate any regulations; not a single rule prohibited them from trading items they had purchased with players using their own blank skill crystals.

The buzz-cut man asked, "How many do you want for it?"

Yu Xunge answered, "50 blank skill crystals."

All five men stood up on the spot.

Yu Xunge hastily corrected herself, "40!"

The five men didn't even look back as they walked away.

Yu Xunge shouted, "30!"

The group started chatting loudly amongst themselves. "What are we having for lunch?" "Didn't we just finish eating?" "Oh, right, what did we eat again? I forgot." "How could you possibly forget?" "Scared out of my mind by that price."

Yu Xunge gritted her teeth. "Get back here! Let's negotiate in good faith! Whoever isn't negotiating in good faith is a dog!"

All five turned around in unison.

Yu Xunge: "..."

Clutching the boots, Yu Xunge felt a momentary urge to renege on the deal; she really should have found some more foolish people to trade with.

No matter how top-tier these boots were, they were still low-tier items and couldn't fetch an exorbitant price. Tossing them onto the auction house would yield at most a little over 3 gold coins. What Yu Xunge truly coveted was information; the previous exchange gatherings she had attended consisted entirely of free agents and solo wolves.

Internal personnel possessed their own exclusive circles, and since they enjoyed discounts when trading with official strongholds, they rarely engaged in transactions with solo players.