Roadside Robbery?

"The sun shone bright overhead, the flowers smiled at me, and the little birds chirped..."

Xiao Wen hummed a tune all the way back, in an exceptionally good mood.

Just as he was about to reach the village entrance, ten players suddenly surrounded him in unison.

Among those ten players, six had darkened usernames, three had faintly red usernames, and the leader's username was blood-red.

In the online game "Phantom God," having a red name was hardly anything honorable. It only meant one thing: these people had been slaughtering players!

The more players they killed, the brighter red their names became.

"Well, well, I didn't expect to run into a level-four little chick. Little chick, want to go back to the village? Pay ten gold coins for your life, and we'll let you in. Otherwise, we can only give you a free trip to the Resurrection Spring."

A female swordswoman holding a rusty longsword, whose username was Red Sand, stepped forward and pointed the rusty tip of her sword directly at Xiao Wen's chest.

"Highway robbery?"

Xiao Wen looked at the ten players before him, his expression somewhat strange.

After not gaming for so many years, he was now being treated like a soft touch.

"You've killed quite a few people, haven't you? You're already red-named."

Xiao Wen looked at the ten players in front of him without the slightest trace of nervousness on his face.

What was the most profitable thing in games? Grinding monsters?

No, it was killing people and making their equipment drop!

According to Phantom God's game mechanics, when a player died, they lost levels and also had a chance of dropping the items in their backpack and the equipment they were wearing.

Of course, if an ordinary player had a drop rate of one, then a red-named player had a drop rate of fifty. The more players they killed, the higher their chance of dropping equipment. It was common for them to lose everything but their underwear.

Now that these people had come to surround him, weren't they just treasure-delivering boys?

"Little chick, you know we brothers have killed plenty of people, yet you still won't hand over your valuables? Spend ten gold coins to buy back one level—when you think about it, you're actually getting a bargain..."

Before Red Sand could finish speaking, Xiao Wen shifted sideways, dodged the rusty sword, and threw a punch.

A summoner?

Throwing punches?

A summoner without even a weapon?

At that instant, Red Sand puffed out her chest, covered only by basic gear.

What kind of damage could a summoner without even a weapon possibly deal?

Five points?

Or one point?

Neither!

HP -450

A scarlet number floated up. Red Sand's full 150 HP vanished instantly, leaving behind three pieces of equipment glowing white.

"This is called the Blood Bar Vanish Technique. You can have a taste too." Xiao Wen's lips curled into a gentle smile.

Yet in the eyes of the ten players, that smile was no different from a demon's.

Th-This was still a summoner?

A full 450 damage?

And that was only because Red Sand had a decent piece of armor. Without counting that, wouldn't the damage from his punch have been 475?

Sand Bone, the red-named player leading them, went pale with disbelief written across his face.

He was already level six. After constantly killing players, he had gathered a full set of basic gear, and the weapon in his hand was even green-grade.

With such strength, he could rank among the top fifty in this Novice Village of a thousand players.

Yet even so, the total of all his attributes only gave him 150 attack, not even half of Xiao Wen's.

If he had not known that Phantom God absolutely had no cheats or bugs, he would have suspected this kid of using some illegal method.

A rare hidden summoner class... a druid?

A thought flashed through Sand Bone's mind.

"Get him together and kill him! With such high attack, he must have something good on him!"

At Sand Bone's command, the remaining eight players closed in on Xiao Wen in unison.

The nine of them together even dared to take on level-seven Elite-tier monsters, let alone a mere level-four player.

Swoosh!

A sharp sound cut through the air. A mage in the distance chanted an incantation, waved his wooden staff, and sent a fist-sized fireball flying over.

Xiao Wen shifted his body and easily dodged the attack.

At that moment, the remaining eight completed their encirclement of Xiao Wen, forming a circle around him.

"Little chick, leave behind your equipment as compensation for my sister. Since you're a hidden class, I won't kill you. Let's call it making friends."

Sand Bone stared grimly at Xiao Wen in the center of the circle and spoke in a low voice.

"Making friends is great! Come on, hand over all your equipment and gold. I won't kill you—just get lost on your own!" Xiao Wen replied in the same tone.

"You little brat, you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. Brothers, kill him!"

Xiao Wen's lips curled upward. He swayed aside to dodge a slashing sword, then threw a punch at someone's neck.

Critical!

-

800

One person's HP bar was emptied. Equipment and gold scattered all over the ground, but Xiao Wen paid them no attention and continued attacking the others.

Though he was fighting one against nine, Xiao Wen seemed to have eyes all over his body. He always anticipated their attack paths, evaded in advance, and in less than half a minute, six of the nine had died. Every one of them had been killed by a single punch, while Xiao Wen had not even suffered a scratch.

"King-tier! He's at least a King-tier player! I've hit an iron wall!"

Sand Bone had long since been stunned by Xiao Wen's moves.

His movement was as drifting as willow catkins. It looked slow, yet he repeatedly brushed past their attacks and avoided them. At the same time, whenever his own attacks landed, they perfectly caught their group in the rigid recovery periods of their movements, killing them with a single punch.

Such sharp perception and powerful combat awareness were not something ordinary players could possess. He was at least one of those legendary King-tier existences!

Sliding his body, Sand Bone slipped behind Xiao Wen, tightly gripping the green-grade dagger in his hand as he slowly approached.

One strike!

He only needed one chance!

As long as he, a thief, could get close unexpectedly, even against a King-tier expert, he was confident he could kill with one strike!

Hold his breath!

Focus!

He drew closer step by step.

Five meters... three meters... two meters...

The opportunity is here!

Sand Bone looked at the back so close before him, a fierce glint flashing through his eyes. One foot slid forward, and a layer of black light covered the pale-green blade of his dagger.

Skill: Shadow Kill!

Activate!

His body shot forward as his speed suddenly surged. The two-meter distance vanished in an instant, and his dagger slashed toward Xiao Wen's neck.

"I'm saying, you've been sneaking around behind me for so long, and this is all the strength you have?"

A light, airy voice reached him. Sand Bone discovered that Xiao Wen, who had been within arm's reach, had somehow taken half a step forward.

That half-step was enough for the tip of his blade to pass just a few millimeters in front of Xiao Wen's neck, striking nothing but air.

At the same time, a fist smashed into him, and intense pain surged through his body.

Critical!

His HP bar suddenly emptied, his consciousness dispersed, and all the equipment on his body exploded out.