Mouse

"Mm..."

Xiao Bai's face went pale. Her health bar was down to just 16%; two more shots would put her into a severely injured state. For players, that state was extremely dangerous, and we had no idea whether someone was aiming a sniper rifle at us.

So Zhang Ruolin and I stood on either side of Xiao Bai, shielding her with our shields. Then Axe rushed over as well. Seeing Xiao Bai's critically low health, her eyes immediately reddened. "Damn it... Are the people from Ragnarok insane? Where's that Ah Dui Dui Dui?"

"He's already dead."

Zhang Ruolin said, "Ding Han killed him!"

"Good!"

Axe shot me an approving look. "Trash like that deserves to be killed!"

I remained silent.

It was my first time killing a player. Even though he had brought it upon himself, the feeling still wasn't pleasant. I hated the smell of blood lingering in my nose even more than I hated the act of killing. After all... this might have been real murder.

We stepped into the Phase Teleportation Array and arrived at the Player Black Market. Only then were we finally safe.

"Ding Han, are you okay?"

Ruolin noticed that something was wrong with me.

"I'm fine."

I shook my head. "The image of killing him was just too clear. It makes me feel a little sick..."

"Ding Han..."

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

"No need to be so polite."

I frowned at her. "Xiao Bai, we've been good friends ever since we arrived in Creek City together. In the future, we'll be the kind of friends who'd trade our lives for each other. Don't say things like that again. I believe that if I were in danger, you and everyone else would save me too."

"Mm!"

Everyone nodded gently.

"Ding Han, you don't look too good..."

Axe took out a shield and said, "Ruolin and I will escort Xiao Bai back in a take a taxi. Take some time to pull yourself together. Don't overthink it. That guy deserved what he got. Besides, he might not really be dead. You may have simply sent him on, letting him return to the real world."

"I hope so. I'm going to the exchange. You guys go ahead and be careful."

"There won't be any danger in the old city. Don't worry."

"Not necessarily. It's better to be cautious."

"Okay~~~"

The three of them left, while I headed to the exchange to find Old Ma.

Ah Dui Dui Dui had dropped quite a lot of stuff. I needed to sort through it—keep what I could use and sell what I couldn't. I needed to pay Lu Xiaobei back her 20,000 as soon as possible. It wasn't easy for a girl like her either.

"You're back again?" Old Ma asked with a smile.

"Mm, I went out to handle something."

Smiling, I said, "Old Ma, I've got some things for you to look at. I want to trade them for some money and bullets."

"Sure, take them out and let me see."

So I took out Ah Dui Dui Dui's equipment: a Green Sniper Rifle, a Green Submachine Gun, a White Pistol, and a Green Helmet. None of it was what I wanted.

The drop rates in Star Abyss were absurdly low. Equipment was generally only rewarded for killing bosses or completing high-difficulty quests. As for ordinary monsters, even elite monsters had a very low chance of dropping Ability Crystals. So despite being a second-tier Firepower Specialist, Ah Dui Dui Dui had barely any equipment on him.

Or perhaps he had had equipment, but had traded it all for guns.

He had also dropped three Explosive Grenades and 3,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Those were pretty good, so I gladly took them all.

"Not bad, that's a lot of good stuff!"

Old Ma began assessing their value. "The green sniper rifle is good stuff. It's worth 18,000. The green submachine gun isn't bad either—I'll offer you 13,000 for it. The pistol is pretty lousy, so I'll give you 3,000. This green helmet is decent; I'll offer 6,000. That's 40,000 total. What do you think of that price?"

"Not bad. Deal."

I nodded.

"Straightforward!"

Old Ma nodded with a smile as well.

"But for such a big deal, you have to throw in something extra for me. How about 2,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition?"

"Holy crap, you're really ruthless..."

Old Ma was speechless. After pondering for a moment, he seemed to decide there was still plenty of profit in it. He smiled and said, "Fine. You're a regular customer, and you've taken pretty good care of Old Ma's... ah, no, Old Liu's business. I'll make an exception this time. Throwing in 2,000 rounds is no problem!"

"Ok!"

I nodded. "Then I'll buy another 3,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition."

Running low on stock would make me anxious about ammunition. From now on, I needed to develop a good habit: always keep 10,000 rounds in my Dimensional Storage Space as backup. Then I wouldn't have to worry.

"Also."

I hesitated and checked my Star Coin balance. Not much was left. Really, not much at all.

"Old Ma, I want to buy two RPG-32 rocket grenades."

"Sure!"

Old Ma nodded with a grin. "You have a launcher?"

"I do."

"Damn, you can even get your hands on something that rare!"

"Easy~~~"

Before long, Old Ma returned with 3,000 rounds of ammunition and two heavy rocket grenades. After the transaction, I had a little over 20,000 left. Once I paid Lu Xiaobei back her 20,000, the remaining money should be enough to find a place and live for a month or two.

It was past seven at night when I returned home.

Though I was starving, I really didn't want to go out to eat looking like this. Blood had splashed all over me when I killed Ah Dui Dui Dui, and my shirt was stained red. I had to go back and change first, or I'd look way too frightening.

"Click~~"

I opened the living room door, then quickly turned around and shut it.

But as I turned, I saw someone standing in front of the sofa. I had forgotten that I wasn't living alone anymore. I still had that co-renter whose WeChat profile was completely blank.

"You..."

Lin Qingying looked over, her gaze falling on the large patch of blood on my chest.

"I helped a friend paint some furniture today. It's paint."

"Mm."

She nodded without saying much. She always seemed so quiet.

"Ding Han, when are you moving out?"

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

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

She said nothing more. She simply gathered the documents and laptop from the coffee table, then returned to her room.

I let out a sigh. Someone who obviously came from a well-off family like hers could never understand the hardships of people like us!

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

Only then did I head downstairs to eat. I had gone all day without food and was starving. I ordered a chicken pot and devoured it, then went to the apartment complex's bulletin board to see whether there were any suitable listings.

I found a few that looked promising, but when I called, either no one answered or I was told the place had already been rented.

Finding a place to live could be really difficult sometimes.

I wandered around until nearly eleven at night. I probably wasn't going to settle the housing issue today, so I had no choice but to give up.

I returned to my room and went to sleep!

That night, I actually had a nightmare. I dreamed of chopping off someone's head with my sword. The sight of blood spurting out was so real, exactly like when Ah Dui Dui Dui died.

"Ah..."

Just then, a shriek suddenly jolted me awake. It had come from next door.

"What happened?"

I hurriedly threw on some clothes and went outside, only to find that the living room lights were already on. Lin Qingying stood there in nothing but her pajamas, looking at me in panic as she pointed toward her room. "There's a mouse..."

"Isn't it just a mouse?"

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

"How am I fierce?"

She replied weakly, sounding somewhat unconvinced.

"Forget it."

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

"Mm..."

She nodded.

So I entered her room, and a delicate fragrance immediately washed over me. A woman's room really was different. When Milo had lived here before, the place had smelled entirely of foot odor and cigarette smoke.

After turning on the lights, I searched around. Finally, I crouched down to look beneath the bed and found the culprit. A large black rat was crouching under the bed, staring at me in terror.

Whoosh!

I hurled the stick and killed it in one strike!

Advanced Throwing Lv.10 was terrifying indeed!