"How could this happen?"
Lu Xiaobei looked at the blood on my clothes, tears streaming down her face in fright.
"I'm fine."
I frowned but remained calm. "I ran into some robbers in an alley just now and got stabbed twice. Luckily, neither wound hit anything vital. Looks like we won't be having those skewers tonight. Help me get to the hospital so I can have these superficial wounds bandaged."
"Okay!"
Without the slightest disgust at the blood on my clothes, Lu Xiaobei carried one of my arms on her shoulder and laboriously helped me toward the hospital.
The hospital wasn't far away, only a few hundred meters.
As expected, they were only light injuries. After taking a look, the emergency surgeon said, "They're cuts. Fortunately, they aren't deep... Young man, how did you get hurt?"
"I ran into a few thugs trying to rob me. They slashed me a few times with knives after I fought back."
"It's fine. Just disinfect and bandage them."
"Okay, thank you, Doctor."
After that, I sat there quietly while the nurse disinfected, medicated, and bandaged the wounds on my chest and arms. Lu Xiaobei stood beside me with tears in her eyes.
By the time everything was settled, it was past one in the morning.
She insisted on taking me back to my place before taking a taxi home.
Milo hadn't gotten off work yet. I lay on my bed and looked at my character status.
[Lightly Injured]: Status duration countdown: 11 hours, 33 minutes, 24 seconds
After treatment, the Lightly Injured status would last twelve hours. Fortunately, my body in Combat Form was tough enough. Otherwise, after Nightingale's barrage of Psionic Attacks, I would probably have been riddled with holes. The doctors at the hospital likely wouldn't have diagnosed me with mere superficial injuries.
Still, I'd better not even leave the house for the next twelve hours. This was the dangerous period.
Only then did I remember the BOSS Ability Crystal Nightingale had dropped, so I took it out and opened it.
"Crack!"
The scene of the Ability Crystal opening was incredibly dazzling, with golden lightning flashing through it. In the blink of an eye, countless cracks appeared on the crystal before it exploded. The opening was successful. As I looked at the brilliant text, my heart rose to my throat. I'd risked my life to get this thing. It couldn't be bad, right?
[Congratulations, your BOSS Ability Crystal has been successfully opened. You have obtained: Roarer MP25 Submachine Gun (Quality: Blue)!]
Blue?
A Submachine Gun?!
My mind buzzed instantly, and I was completely overwhelmed with wild joy. That female agent from Dark Tide really knew loyalty—sending me a blue gun from a thousand miles away!
With a soft thud, the blue submachine gun dropped into my Dimensional Storage Space. I hurriedly took it out. The entire gun glowed blue, and after my gaze lingered on its body for a few seconds, strings of text and data floated into view, making my heartbeat speed up uncontrollably!
[Roarer MP25 Submachine Gun] (Quality: Blue) Tier: 2 Base Parameters: Firepower 180–200, Fire Rate 800 rounds/minute, Magazine Capacity 50 rounds, Attack Range 120 meters Strength: +20 Weight: 3.3 KG Blessing: Continuous Shooting, attack damage +20% during Continuous Shooting
This was invincible!
Not only was this gun blue, it was actually a Tier 2 weapon!
The attributes of a Tier 2 weapon were on a completely different level from a Tier 1 weapon!
Previously, the Tier 1 Green Roarer I used had a pitiful firepower of only 55–70. Even five consecutive bursts could deal a maximum of just 350 damage. But this new weapon had a staggering firepower of 180–200. Five bursts from one magazine could deal over a thousand damage at most!
That also meant that if I used this gun with my Level 10 Advanced Shooting, I could empty all fifty bullets in the magazine within seconds. Theoretically, the maximum damage would be 10,000 points. With the 20% boost from the Continuous Shooting blessing, it could reach nearly 12,000 damage!
Terrifying. Against a low-armor BOSS, a ferocious assault that emptied the entire magazine would probably be enough to bring even a BOSS down!
More importantly, with the increase in firepower, every bullet would deal more damage. The money I spent on firearms would become much more worthwhile, and my leveling efficiency would undergo a complete transformation!
In short, with this Roarer in hand, my overall Combat Power had been completely reborn!
"Click!"
I equipped it and replaced my previous Green Roarer.
When I looked at the Green Roarer again, there was already a faint trace of disdain in my eyes.
I lay in bed and began to rest.
I picked up my phone and sent Zhang Ruolin a "1."
"I'm here."
She replied instantly and sent me a picture. It showed the atmosphere of a music bar. She had her arm around a woman—Ling Baiwei.
"Damn, living it up..."
I sent a dog-head emoji. "Sister Ruolin, your life is my dream!"
"Oh, cut it out!"
Zhang Ruolin said, "You must have something going on if you're messaging me in the middle of the night, right? If there wasn't anything, you wouldn't take the initiative to message me."
"There is something."
I replied, "I completed a mission not long ago and got a blue submachine gun, so my old Green Roarer has been phased out. Its firepower is 55–70, and it adds 5 Strength. I wanted to ask whether you need it. If you do, I'll sell it to you first instead of taking it to the black market."
"I do! Of course I do!"
Zhang Ruolin said, "I'm still using a plain white submachine gun. Save this one for me."
"Sure. About how much can you offer?"
"For a Green Roarer, the current market price is around 15,000 Star Coins. But our relationship is different, and I've been a little short on cash lately, so I can probably offer 10,000. See if you can accept that?"
"Why wouldn't I? Deal."
"Great!"
Zhang Ruolin said with a smile, "Then we'll trade another day... No, not another day. I want it right away, so nothing unexpected happens. Send me your address. After I finish drinking and send Xiao Bai off, I'll come find you. Cash and goods, hand to hand."
"Sure."
I sent her my detailed address.
After that, I slept until around three in the morning and woke up hungry.
"Rustle..."
I had just stepped out of my room when the living room door opened. Milo walked in, looking exhausted, and glanced at me. "Why are you still awake?"
"I woke up hungry."
"Want me to cook you some noodles?"
"Forget it. I won't eat. I'll eat tomorrow morning."
"Works for me."
He looked utterly worn out. "I sang all night. I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep first."
"Okay, go sleep."
I nodded.
A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door. When I opened it, I saw Ruolin standing outside in full splendor. She wore a bodycon dress underneath and a coat over it, looking incredibly feminine.
"Come to my room for the trade."
"Ok!"
She had drunk a little too much, her pretty face flushed red as she made an okay sign.
After entering my room, I switched into Combat Form and took out the Green Submachine Gun, tossing it to her.
"Hahahaha, your sister here finally gets to use a green main weapon!"
She looked delighted. "Not bad, not bad~"
As she spoke, she took out a stack of cash from her Dimensional Storage Space and handed it to me. "Ten thousand. Not a cent short. But I still have to thank you. Otherwise, it would be almost impossible to get a submachine gun of this grade in the player market with this amount of money."
"Mm, as long as you like it."
I accepted the money and was already considering when I should next go to the black market to buy ammunition.
"Eh?"
Only then did Zhang Ruolin notice the bandages on my arm and the Lightly Injured icon above my head. She couldn't help asking, "What happened to you? Are you badly hurt?"
"I accidentally failed to control my health during a mission and triggered Lightly Injured."
I said indifferently, "It's fine. It's already over, so don't worry."
"You have to be careful."
Her delicate brows furrowed slightly. "Ding Han, to Xiao Bai and me, you're actually something of a spiritual pillar in this world. You absolutely can't let anything happen to you, understand?"
"Don't worry. I'll definitely be more careful in the future!"
"Mm~~"
Just then, Milo knocked on my door. "Ding Han, come out for a word."
"Mm."
I opened the door a crack and saw Milo looking at me with a mischievous grin. "You've finally figured it out. You even know how to bring girls home now. But don't ruin the poor girl. Take this, and remember that line from The Wandering Earth: There are countless roads, but safety comes first. Drive improperly, and your loved ones will shed tears."
As he spoke, he stuffed something into my hand.
"Fuck..."
I looked down and saw that it was actually a Durex condom.
"Get lost, get lost!"
I shoved it back into his hand. "She's just a normal female friend, not what you think. Go to sleep already and stop meddling!"
"If you don't listen to your elders, just wait and see."
Milo picked his nose. "I'll just wait for the kid to call me Uncle Milo."
"Get out!"
"Look at you getting all worked up again!"
He burst into laughter and returned to his room. I shut the door as well.
"Who was that?"
Zhang Ruolin asked with a smile.
"My roommate."
I smiled. "All right, the trade's done. Be careful on your way back."
"Don't worry. I'm an Level 18 Super Weapon Master, after all. Ordinary people can't do much to me."
She happily headed out.
After closing the door, I lay down again and fell into a groggy sleep. The Lightly Injured status really didn't feel good.
The next day, early morning.
Just after I finished washing up, I received a message from Lu Xiaobei. "I'm downstairs. I'll take you to breakfast. Get ready and come down quickly."
"Huh?"
I was slightly stunned. "The boss is personally coming to pick me up for work? What kind of treatment is this... Are you driving a Mercedes?"
"Mercedes my ass."
She said speechlessly, "Go take a look from your balcony and you'll see."
I walked onto the balcony and saw Lu Xiaobei, dressed appropriately and beautiful beyond belief, sitting on an electric scooter that was utterly mismatched with her appearance.
"You haven't eaten either?" I asked.
"Mm!"
Lu Xiaobei nodded with a smile. "Come down quickly. I've been waiting for you forever."
"I'll be right there."
"Okay~~"
Downstairs, I sat on the electric scooter of my twenty-three-year-old beautiful boss. The two of us swayed along the edge of the ancient city toward Feiyang Internet Cafe, then stopped at a breakfast stall across from the cafe. We ordered two breakfasts and began enjoying the warm morning sunlight.
"Are your wounds better? Do they still hurt?"
She held a bun in both hands and looked at me with a bright smile.
Under the morning light, I felt a little dazed. At that moment, Lu Xiaobei seemed to be glowing all over.
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