As soon as he finished speaking, the man across from him lost his grip on the knife in his right hand.
His eyes bulged wide as both hands clutched at his throat, blood gushing out like water being splashed from a bucket.
He could not stop it.
A few seconds later, the dangling man had become a bloody mess. The blazing heat quickly congealed the blood, and after his body twitched twice in the air, it went still.
Dead?!
Witnessing the murder with their own eyes sobered everyone up a little.
Lu Ce found it rather interesting. Looking at the corpse roasted crisp on the outside and tender within, he even had the mood to crack a cold joke.
"This red-skinned duck's cosplay is pretty good. Honestly, this really is a hanging oven in here."
Actually, under the influence of the Greed Mask, he should have used this contestant who dared to make a move to farm more Pain points.
But he did not. What had been engraved into his mind was already incomparably firm—never hand over your chance to survive to someone else!
If someone wanted to kill him, he would not waste too many words on them.
He removed the dagger from his shoulder and looked at the weapon description that automatically popped up before him.
Sharp Blade (Fine Weapon)
Effect: Armor-piercing. When the user attacks with it, their strength will erupt at three times its normal level. (There is a strength limit; explore it yourself.)
Description: When you do not know what to do, just stick it in.
Lu Ce:?
Hm? Was there something slightly off about that description? (;′⌒`)
"Ah, a fine weapon. The rank doesn't sound that high, but it's better than nothing."
As he spoke, Lu Ce tossed the knife directly into his backpack as spoils of war.
Besides, if things were classified this way, the mask on his face did not seem to be a weapon-type item.
Sequence Sealed Item... it seemed to be a unique item of its own category.
He swept his gaze around the area. No one else dared to look directly at the dark-blue mask.
In places beyond the reach of human-made order, such as the law, violence was always the best way to make oneself heard.
"Alright, since things have come to this, name your price."
At last, the first smart person spoke up, and Lu Ce turned to look at him.
"I know players like you don't care about money. You must want bargaining chips in this game, right?"
"In my initial game, I received 500 points for clearing it. Since my performance was relatively outstanding, my Guide gave me another 300 points."
"I'll give you all those points. Help me get out of this."
Clearly, people who had cleared a game before had much better psychological resilience.
But Lu Ce's next words nearly made him cough up blood.
"Eight hundred? That's all the points you have?"
Everyone:?
What the fuck were you talking about? Eight hundred points was a lot, alright?!
"What are you talking about? Those are all my points! The game has only just begun. How many points could anyone have? Didn't your Guide explain the situation to you?"
Lu Ce:...
My Guide?
Would you believe me if I said I killed him?
My reward was directly 3,000 points, you know?
"Fine, small business. Since you're the first one, I'll agree." Lu Ce accepted the other party's trade request.
"Also, since you're my first customer, I'll give you a little bonus."
"What?" The man did not understand at first. After all, he still had not mentally prepared himself to saw off his own leg, and even his teeth were trembling.
Lu Ce merely pulled up his personal game panel.
Strength: 10 Agility: 10 Speed: 10 Luck: 3 Spirit: 0 Bonus Medals: God Slayer (Legendary), System Attacker (Epic) Current Pain Points: 28
From the moment he entered the game, Lu Ce had realized the greatest use of his Pain points—allocating stats!
The values on this personal panel could normally only be increased by players through fortuitous encounters in the game or special items, but Lu Ce could increase them directly!
The stat-point ratio for Strength, Agility, and Speed was 1:2. Luck was 1:5, while Spirit was 1:10!
To maximize his current abilities, Lu Ce barely had to think about it. He put all his points into Strength!
Strength increased! 10→24!
His strength, which had already surpassed human standards, more than doubled once again!!!
He clenched the saw in his hand, and its wooden handle creaked as though it might collapse at any moment.
The swelling of his strength brought a swelling of confidence. Looking at his not particularly muscular arm, Lu Ce felt as though the Hulk lived inside his body.
"Hey, what do you mean?..."
The trade had already been completed. Seeing Lu Ce's veins suddenly bulge, his right hand tightly gripping the saw, while the mask still wore an exceptionally deranged expression, the man was suddenly terrified.
"Nothing. Hehe, as a service provider, I'll personally help you saw off your leg."
Man:!!!!
"No! No need! Stay away from me! That wasn't part of our deal!"
As he spoke, he began struggling violently. The courage and determination he had painstakingly gathered earlier vanished completely in that instant.
You're going to saw it off for me?!
You might as well just let me die?!
Wouldn't you torture me the same way you tortured yourself earlier? I'm not a lunatic—I can't take that!
"Don't be afraid. I'm an honest businessman. Would I harm you? I'm just running an experiment."
As the other man struggled desperately, a vicious glint flashed through Lu Ce's eyes, and the shapes on his mask formed a remarkably human-like exclamation mark.
The saw in his right hand swung out. The strike was so fast that it faintly carried the sound of wind and thunder.
Crack!
The crisp sound was like a butcher chopping ribs apart on a cutting board. Driven by immense speed, the completely rusted saw teeth became the sharpest cutting tool.
The figure fell at once, crashing onto the platform with a dull thud.
Only after he was freed did the man whose leg had been cut realize it was over, and only then did the pain arrive.
After letting out a scream, he twisted in agony while clutching his leg, then endured the pain through a head full of sweat.
He raised his severed left leg and tightly compressed the blood vessels to prevent excessive blood loss.
Forcing a smile even uglier than crying onto his face, he gave Lu Ce, who was still hanging in the air, a thumbs-up and said in a trembling voice:
"Th... thank you, boss!"
He genuinely meant those thanks. Although he had made his choice in the face of life and death, he truly did not think he could endure the pain of sawing through his own leg with a rusty saw.
Lu Ce's godlike move made him feel that the points he had spent were not wasted. At the very least, he had kept his life.
"Heh, look at this mess. He still has to thank us..."
Before you continue