Ambushed

Back in his Rental House, Wang Zhifan had just taken off the Wolf Pelt Armor, which was somewhat unsuitable for the current season, and put it back into his Personal Space when he noticed that the phone he had left on the bed had received a new message.

He picked up his phone and saw that Chu Wei had sent it not long ago, informing him of the approximate start time for today's Gray Domain Cleanup Work and telling him to arrive at East River Second Bureau early to meet up.

It's only this early, and they're already sending out notices. Chu Wei and the other Bureau of Management employees really are busy.

It was only eight in the morning. Wang Zhifan had originally planned to relax for a while before heading out for breakfast, but after choosing to become a Temporary Worker for the Bureau of Management, his life had suddenly become busy.

Of course, whether or not he was reluctant, Wang Zhifan now placed great importance on this Gray Domain Cleanup Work and could not possibly give it up casually.

This was not only because he was rather short on money right now. After experiencing yesterday's Goddess of Luck Statue incident, he had realized that Gray Domains were not as simple as he had once believed. There had to be many secrets and treasures within them waiting to be uncovered. Exploring Gray Domains while backed by the towering Bureau of Management as a Temporary Worker was arguably his best current option.

So, over the next half day, Wang Zhifan first went out for breakfast, then changed into suitable equipment and headed to East River Second Bureau for work.

But the facts proved that, no matter how unusual Gray Domains were, they could not truly be places stuffed full of treasure. Other than the various monsters that needed to be dealt with promptly, the vast majority of Gray Domains contained nothing valuable.

Especially the Gray Domains that Wang Zhifan, as a Temporary Worker, cleared alongside Chu Wei and the others. They had all been inspected once by Rank Assessors specially dispatched by the Bureau of Management. If there had been an easily killable BOSS inside, the Rank Assessors would have dealt with it themselves. If the BOSS was not easy to kill, that meant the Gray Domain was too highly ranked, and the Bureau of Management would not arrange for Wang Zhifan's cleanup team to handle it at all.

Thus, by evening, when Wang Zhifan, Chu Wei, and A Liao had completed every assigned task, received their daily wages, and boarded a Bus back to their Rental Houses, his only gain was this wage of less than a thousand yuan. There was not even a trace of things like BOSS rewards or Special Event rewards.

The Gray Domains we cleared today were seriously boring... Hopefully tomorrow's Dungeon will be more interesting.

By then, the sun had already sunk below the horizon. Having just gotten off the Bus, Wang Zhifan strolled at an unhurried pace along the street, now lit by all kinds of lights, toward the residential block where his Rental House was located, grumbling inwardly.

Ever since becoming a player and starting to run Dungeons, he had found himself gradually becoming addicted to the positive feedback of gaining rewards from them. Every day after finishing that day's Dungeon, he would begin fantasizing about what treasures he might obtain from the next day's run, to the point where he had almost ignored the dangers inherent in Dungeons themselves.

But today was clearly not going to be an ordinary day. Just as Wang Zhifan believed the street he was on was perfectly safe, he suddenly spotted something unusual ahead.

About twenty meters in front of him, a roadside sewer cover was suddenly lifted from below. Immediately afterward, a tall monster covered in long hair, with sharp fangs and a vicious maw, sprang out of it!

The monster stood upright on two legs like a human, but its entire body was covered in gray-black fur, and its limbs and head had the physical structure of a vicious wolf.

It stood nearly two meters tall, and its pair of thick, sharp claws looked terrifying. The moment it leaped out of the sewer, it charged at a pedestrian by the roadside. In the blink of an eye, it pounced on the passerby and knocked him to the ground, then began brutally tearing at the unlucky man's flesh with its claws. The once peaceful street was instantly filled with screams of agony and terror!

"What?! What is that thing?!"

Wang Zhifan was equally shocked. He truly had not expected a monster to suddenly appear on such a brightly lit street with so many people around, much less for it to disregard the crowd and pounce on someone to eat them on the spot!

I need to call the police!

Unaware of the monster's origins or strength, he immediately chose, like most of the screaming passersby on the street, to turn and run. He planned to reach somewhere safe, then call the police and let official professionals handle this sudden situation.

However, just as Wang Zhifan turned around and had not even run ten meters, he suddenly sensed something huge pouncing at him from behind. He immediately dodged nimbly, evading the attack from his back.

"Found... another... Xia Country Player!"

After dodging, Wang Zhifan discovered that the one who had just ambushed him from behind was precisely that tall monster covered in long hair with a Wolf Head. Its scarlet eyes were fixed on him, and it spoke in somewhat clumsy Xia Kingdom language, clearly possessing considerable intelligence.

"What are you?! Why did you ambush me?!"

Seeing that this seemingly formidable monster had already set its sights on him, Wang Zhifan confronted it while taking the Wolf Slayer Blade from his Personal Space.

But in response to Wang Zhifan's question, only a human-like cruel smile appeared on the wolfish head of the tall monster. Then its entire body suddenly erupted with terrifying speed as it charged furiously toward Wang Zhifan! At the same time, one of its thick, long-haired arms lashed out like lightning, its sharp claws stabbing directly at Wang Zhifan's chest!

So fast... but not faster than me!

As an overpowered Lv3 player with 31 Strength and 29 Agility, Wang Zhifan possessed speed and reaction abilities other players could scarcely imagine. Just as the monster before him burst forward and reached him, seemingly about to pierce through his chest and kill him instantly, he once again dodged with strange footwork. Missing by a hair's breadth, he evaded the monster's claws and came to a stop several meters away without a single hair harmed.

As for why he had not directly attacked the monster with his blade just now, it was because he had judged that the creature's arms were even longer than his blade. If he slashed at its body, he would likely be struck by it, while slashing at its claws in that situation would make it easy for its massive body to pounce on and knock him down. After all, although its burst speed was inferior to his, the difference was not that great.

"Interesting... prey... but today... you will die!"

Seeing the Xia Country Long-Blade Youth before it evade his sudden attack once more, the tall Long-Haired Wolf-Head Monster did not feel fear in the slightest. Instead, it revealed even greater ferocity. After speaking its threat, it suddenly lunged violently at Wang Zhifan, as though it had no fear at all that this style of attack would leave it vulnerable to a counterattack.