Oni Princess and Yaksha, a pair of twin Red Name PK Players who embraced and acted upon the core philosophy of "Others Hoard Food, I Hoard Guns."
Among the many new player communities, the type of prey they most enjoyed hunting was players assigned to Super Mario Bros. for their Novice Trial who had just survived their first official Moon Trial.
The Mario Novice Trial's guidance for players was simply too good—so good that they could understand the basic operating rules of Chosen Space without any guide, so good that they might even develop certain misconceptions about Chosen Space—
That the danger Chosen Space brought players was no more than this.
The main reason was Mario's exceptionally well-designed player guidance and dungeon layout, along with the mechanism trap built directly into Stage 1-4 that could instantly kill Fake Bowser.
While this method of clearing greatly improved the survival rate of newcomers, it also meant losing a proper BOSS loot chest. Players who passed the Novice Trial would at most gain some Mushroom Gold, Super Mushrooms, and Fire Flowers, essentially trading a safe clear for increased strength.
As a result, the players' "Hidden Rating Score," which existed only within the space's internal evaluation system, remained at a relatively low level.
If players who entered the low-score bracket were a little more cautious—or simply chickened out and ran back to the real world to hide like turtles, failing to seize the chance to improve themselves through Bounty Missions—then they would begin their first official Moon Trial with that low score.
At that point, whether they lived or died was entirely up to fate.
But if they were lucky enough to survive that Moon Trial, PK Red Name Players like Oni Princess and Yaksha, who only dared target newcomers, would sniff them out.
Because there was a high chance that such players had savings they had yet to deal with.
They did not know the market prices of equipment and items, nor did they know what Chosen Coins were best spent on first. They might even be picky about skills and equipment requirements, leaving some points unassigned for the time being. In truth, they were still weak and had little ability to resist.
Having narrowly survived, they naturally could no longer remain so naïve. It was only natural that they would begin getting involved in areas such as equipment trading, enhancement, and Bounty Missions.
Oni Princess and Yaksha would stake out the Player Market and Mission Hall separately, using the guise of warmly offering newcomers free guidance to extract more information, identify their prey, and finally choose a suitable mission to complete the PK.
Once people like Oni Princess and Yaksha had tasted the rewards of this behavior, there was no going back. Like gamblers addicted to the thrill of gains and losses worth hundreds of thousands in a single second, a monthly income of three thousand could no longer stir even the faintest ripple in their hearts.
What a fine way to get rich through murder and arson~
Under normal circumstances, Cheng Tian did not fit their hunting criteria at all. There were far too many possibilities for a freak who had crawled out of the novice Shit Pit, and the variables were immense.
But as the saying went, people died for wealth. The special lure that was the Knight Armor ultimately made them choose to act. They even put the Person-Finding Guide Bug, which had a limited lifespan, to use right away. Before they had even seen him, they had already paid no small price.
After entering the dungeon, they had still been praying that Cheng Tian would not die too easily at the hands of an NPC or another player.
So when the guide bug confirmed Cheng Tian's identity, their delight was impossible to hide.
When dealing with newcomers, they usually wasted no words and relied on their strength to beat them senseless first, injuring them as close to death as possible. Then they used the fear of death to threaten them into handing over everything they had. If they refused, they simply killed them and drew a loot chest.
Oni Princess and Yaksha would never allow any prey to leave a dungeon alive.
Yet at this moment, the Knight Armor had completely blinded them. They had never considered why Cheng Tian was standing alone and openly in an empty alleyway.
The distance between both sides rapidly shrank, but when they saw the unmistakably painted shield flash into Cheng Tian's hand, their eyes widened as they moved through the air in mid-jump.
Captain America's Shield!?
Wasn't he a pure newcomer from Demon World Village? What kind of sucker had sold him something like that!?
Or had he already found a Player Guild to rely on in such a short time, and was it some high-level guild so wealthy and generous that it could casually give away a main-tank-level Protagonist's Armament like this?
...Damn it! Could he have traded the Knight Armor for it!?
Thinking of the same possibility, Oni Princess and Yaksha instinctively exchanged a glance and saw identical worry and anger in each other's eyes.
Because it might mean that all their initial investment had gone down the drain. Even if they truly killed Cheng Tian, the Knight Armor would be forever out of their reach.
Should they retreat and pretend nothing had happened? Or should they keep going, kill Cheng Tian, and make up for their losses as much as possible?
But Cheng Tian gave them no opportunity for further wild thoughts. The arm muscles beneath his Chimera uniform instantly tightened, and in the next second, the highly aerodynamic shield shot toward the twin on the right!
With Shield Master's one-hundred-percent increase to throwing speed and his immense 24 points of Strength, the distance of over twenty meters was crossed in an instant... Yet Oni Princess, Cheng Tian's chosen target, successfully evaded it with an extreme backbend, missing it by a hair.
Oni Princess was a typical high-Agility build. With her combat suit and other miscellaneous equipment suited to her, her normal Agility stat exceeded 22 points.
But while she remained in that dodging backbend, she saw the shield she had evaded strike the wall and ricochet straight back at her face!
Shield Master! Double Ricochet!
At that very moment, Oni Princess took a heavy kick to the waist, sending her tumbling across the ground.
Yet that kick, which left her in such a miserable state, successfully avoided Captain America's Shield's second ricochet.
That kick had naturally come from the other twin, Yaksha, the younger brother. It was an excellent emergency response... But in the next second, his hand passed over his older sister and reached straight for Captain America's Shield, embedded in a discarded trash can nearby.
As long as he touched the shield, this Ownerless Item that had already been thrown could immediately be placed into Yaksha's inventory. Whether for disarming Cheng Tian or for profit, taking the shield was a higher priority than helping his sister up.
Yaksha's hand touched the ownerless shield, but his inventory showed no intention whatsoever of collecting it. A small message appeared across the shield's surface: "You cannot forcibly loot another player's equipment and items."
...Soul Binding!?
An incredulous expression climbed onto Yaksha's face once more.
"Watch out!"
Almost at the exact moment Oni Princess, who had just climbed back to her feet, shouted her warning, Cheng Tian arrived in an instant. The sharp horn atop the Giant's Head mercilessly stabbed toward Yaksha, whose attention had been seized by Captain America's Shield—
Flash Charge!
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