Ambushed

Back in his rented apartment, Wang Zhifan had just taken off the Wolfhide Armor, which was somewhat unsuitable for the current season, and put it back into his personal storage 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 Ash Domain cleanup and telling him to arrive at Dongjiang Second Bureau early to meet up.

It's only this early, and they're already sending notifications. Administration employees like Chu Wei really are busy.

It was only eight in the morning. Wang Zhifan had originally planned to relax for a while before going out for breakfast, but after choosing to become a temporary worker for the Administration, his life had suddenly become busy.

Of course, regardless of whether he was willing or not, Wang Zhifan took this Ash Domain cleanup job very seriously and would not give it up so easily.

It was not only because he was short on money right now. After experiencing the Goddess of Fortune Statue incident yesterday, he had realized that Ash Domains were far from as simple as he had once believed. There had to be many secrets and treasures waiting to be unearthed within them, and exploring Ash Domains as a temporary worker backed by the mighty Administration was arguably his best option at the moment.

So, for most of the following day, Wang Zhifan first went out for breakfast, then changed into suitable equipment and headed to Dongjiang Second Bureau for work.

But the facts proved that, no matter how unusual Ash Domains were, they could not truly be wonderful places filled with treasure. Apart from all kinds of monsters that needed to be dealt with promptly, the vast majority of Ash Domains contained nothing valuable.

Especially the Ash Domains Wang Zhifan was currently clearing with Chu Wei and the others as a temporary worker. All of them had already been inspected by Administration-appointed evaluators. If there was an easy-to-kill BOSS inside, the evaluators would handle it themselves. If the BOSS was difficult to kill, that meant the Ash Domain was of a higher level, and the Administration would never assign Wang Zhifan's cleanup team to deal with it.

Thus, by evening, when Wang Zhifan, Chu Wei, and A Liao had finished all their assigned tasks, collected their daily wages, and boarded a bus back to their rented apartments, his only gain was this wage of less than a thousand yuan. There was not even a trace of BOSS rewards or special event rewards.

The Ash Domains we cleared today were boring as hell... I hope tomorrow's instance will be more interesting.

By then, the sun had already dipped below the horizon. Having just gotten off the bus, Wang Zhifan strolled at an unhurried pace down the street, now lit by countless lights, toward the residential complex where his rented apartment was located, grumbling to himself inwardly.

Ever since becoming a player and starting to run instances, he had found himself gradually becoming addicted to the positive feedback of clearing instances and receiving rewards. Every day after finishing that day's instance, he would start imagining what treasures he might get from tomorrow's run, nearly overlooking the dangers inherent in instances themselves.

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

A manhole cover by the roadside roughly twenty meters in front of him was suddenly lifted from below, and a tall, fanged monster covered in fur leaped out of it!

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

It stood nearly two meters tall, and its pair of thick, sharp claws looked utterly terrifying. The moment it jumped out of the sewer, it charged at a pedestrian by the roadside. In the blink of an eye, it pounced the passerby to the ground, then began savagely tearing apart the unlucky victim's flesh with its claws, filling the previously peaceful street with screams and shrieks in an instant!

"What the hell is that?!"

Wang Zhifan was equally shocked. He had never expected a monster to suddenly appear on such a brightly lit street with so many people around, much less ignore the crowd and immediately pounce on someone to eat them!

I need to call the police!

Not knowing the monster's origins or strength, he immediately turned and ran like most of the screaming pedestrians on the street, intending to reach a safe place before calling the police and leaving the sudden situation to the professionals.

However, just as Wang Zhifan had turned around and run less than ten meters, he suddenly sensed something huge pouncing toward him from behind. He immediately dodged nimbly, avoiding the attack from his back.

"Found... another... Xia Kingdom player!"

After dodging, Wang Zhifan discovered that the one who had just ambushed him from behind was that tall monster covered in fur with a wolf's 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 set its sights on him, Wang Zhifan confronted it while taking the Blade of the Wolf Fiend from his personal storage.

But in response to Wang Zhifan's question, the tall monster merely revealed a humanlike cruel smile on its wolfish face. Then its entire body suddenly burst forth with terrifying speed as it charged fiercely at Wang Zhifan! At the same time, one of its thick, fur-covered arms lashed out like lightning, its sharp claws thrusting straight for Wang Zhifan's chest!

So fast... but still not as fast as me!

As an overpowered Level 3 player with 31 Strength and 29 Agility, Wang Zhifan possessed speed and reflexes beyond the imagination of other players. Just as the monster before him explosively rushed into range, seemingly about to pierce straight through his chest and kill him instantly, he once again dodged with an uncanny movement technique. He avoided the monster's claws by a hair's breadth and came to a stop several meters away, completely unscathed.

As for why he had not immediately attacked the monster with his blade, it was because he had judged that its arms were longer than his sword. If he slashed at its body, he would likely be struck in return. If he aimed for its claws, he could easily be knocked down by its massive body under those circumstances. After all, although its burst speed was inferior to his, it was not that far behind.

"An interesting... prey... but today... you will die!"

Seeing the Xia Kingdom youth wielding a long blade dodge its sudden attack once again, the tall, fur-covered wolf-headed monster showed no fear. Instead, its savagery became even more apparent. After uttering its threat, it suddenly pounced fiercely at Wang Zhifan, acting as though it had no fear of being counterattacked by such a reckless fighting style.