Breakthrough Defense, Laser Probe!

"By digging a pit into the castle, we could find its structural weaknesses and break through the ceiling."

"Why does this castle feel like it was designed by him? Is this where I'm coming home?"

Relying on Marshall's hand-drawn map, Su Mo believed that his familiarity with the castle was at least much better than that of the Black Thief.

However, the Black Thief is clearly more familiar with the overall rules of the game!

"Indeed, the ceiling on the second floor is very thin; it's possible to cut it up."

"But because the fourth floor is for storing supplies, the ceiling can't be dug through. It all depends on how he handles the lower floors!"

They watched as the Black Thief crossed the dug hole and climbed up.

Su Mo moved with incredible speed, directly using Brute Force to carve out the top of the room.

"Hehe! You can find the weak point in the stone slab and dig up there. I have a high-quality Stone Pickaxe that can smash right through the stone slab!"

Thanks to the special properties of the Stone Pickaxe, Su Mo was not slow either.

As long as a critical hit is triggered, a large amount of rubble will fall off, until a passage that is roughly passable is carved out. Su Mo then braces himself with both hands and successfully flips over.

"His position should be on the right side of the castle, while mine is on the left. The stairs to the fourth floor are in the middle, so if we want to get up there, we either have to go in a certain order or it'll be a life-or-death struggle!"

The Treasure Room is at the end of the fourth floor. Whoever goes there first will be able to get more treasures immediately.

The thought that the Shelter Core and the most needed Laser Probe might be stored inside filled Ma Gu with murderous intent. Su Mo immediately picked up his crossbow and rushed towards the stairs.

Given their skillful methods of killing, they would definitely be a ruthless killer in the apocalypse.

The chances of reasoning with this kind of person or becoming their ally are extremely slim, so when they meet, they must determine who is superior! The loser will leave with their life!

The winner takes it all!

Su Mo walked quickly, but the Black-Clothed Man walked even faster.

Just as Su Mo turned the corner and saw the stairs, he saw the Black-Clothed Man leap over the corner and rush towards the fourth floor, clearly familiar with the castle's layout.

His purpose was quite clear: to find a place to store supplies.

Taking steps, Su Mo, cautious yet methodical, caught up quickly as well.

Before even reaching the long staircase, I could hear a constant rumbling sound from above.

Su Mo secretly turned to the side and peered outside.

As expected, the Black Thief running ahead was getting into trouble! At this moment, fireballs were flying from the fourth floor, clearly indicating that his intrusion had been discovered! "The kobolds really do have people deployed on the upper floors; luckily, this Black Thief rushed in quickly!"

The four-story space is not complicated; it is full of warehouses and there are no rooms for the kobolds to live in.

At this moment, the location marked as the supply warehouse on the map was almost within reach. As long as there were no kobolds blocking his way, Su Mo could reach the Treasure Room with its doors wide open in just a few breaths.

Unfortunately, Treasure Room, the dozen or so Kobold Warrior guarding it were already locked in a fierce battle with the Black Thief.

Four sorcerers and twelve warriors were engaged in fierce battle within the four levels!

The cooldown of a warlock casting a fireball is about 20 seconds, and all four players will choose to fire simultaneously each time.

Even though the Black-Clothed Man were quite capable fighters, they still faced numerous dangers in this situation.

On one occasion, in an attempt to dodge a fireball, he almost ran into the tip of a kobold warrior's spear!

"If it were me, even without using ranged weapons, these kobolds probably wouldn't last more than a few moves before being wiped out. It seems the Black Thief ' combat power isn't as terrifying as I imagined!"

While observing the battle situation, Su Mo put himself in the shoes of the enemy and simulated the battle in his mind.

In close combat, where you are outnumbered, the key is battlefield savagery. Your moves should be wide and sweeping, and you must avoid getting bogged down in Relay Battle.

That's when the Black-Clothed Man made this mistake.

His strength was too weak, and with Steel Blade, his attack range was not as far as that of the Kobold Warrior's spear. Each time, in order to avoid getting hurt, he could only try to dodge and counterattack.

"Should we take advantage of his predicament and deal with this Black Thief directly, or help him out and deal with these kobolds first?"

Delay could lead to unforeseen consequences. After about a minute of fighting, with the kobolds having already unleashed three rounds of fireballs and still unable to determine a winner, Su Mo grew increasingly anxious.

Holding his Electric Crossbow, Su Mo aimed at the Black-Clothed Man weaving through the kobold crowd.

The crossbow's rate of fire is not fast, especially in battle. To hit the enemy, you have to shoot from a distance and lead the shot. And if the first shot misses, it will alert the enemy.

Su Mo aimed at the arrow for about ten seconds, but still couldn't find a good opportunity to strike! Just as Su Mo was getting frustrated, the Black-Clothed Man suddenly changed his movements, and a small ball-shaped object appeared in his hand.

It slammed its head hard on the ground, and a cloud of black smoke rose up, obscuring the battle situation inside, even for Su Mo.

The next second, the black mist appeared, Kobold Warlock was instantly "blinded," only able to hear the continuous wails of the Kobold Warrior coming from within the black mist.

In less than twenty seconds, the smoke began to dissipate, revealing the true appearance inside.

All the kobold warriors were wiped out! But the Black-Clothed Man also had a bloody, gruesome wound slashed across his waist! Without the warriors' protection, the warlock couldn't create distance and was naturally slaughtered by the wounded Black-Clothed Man.

With a flash, Su Mo saw the Black-Clothed Man dart into the Treasure Room. He was extremely excited and rushed over with his crossbow in hand.

The Treasure Room's doors were heavy wooden doors, engraved with a huge diamond symbol!

Below the sign, the wooden door was opened with a gap large enough for a person to pass through.

On the floor near the wooden door, there were still traces of blood left by the Black-Clothed Man and the dog-headed men.

Having witnessed the Black-Clothed Man's fighting prowess, Su Mo, holding his crossbow, felt no fear whatsoever and darted into the Treasure Room.

The Treasure Room outside looked exceptionally magnificent, but after entering through the wooden door, it turned into a slightly dark room.

The oil lamps inside flickered, illuminating the supplies on the ground.

"Hey, where's the Black Thief?"

The instant Su Mo had this thought, a gust of wind seemed to come.

Without thinking, Su Mo landed and rolled headfirst, not caring where the enemy was, and fired blindly!

His exceptional reflexes compensated for his lack of combat awareness; even though the Black Thief had set up an ambush first, they hadn't expected Su Mo to react so quickly.

Meanwhile, the crossbow bolts, without being aimed, only forced the Black Thief back but did not hit their targets.

Su Mo threw the crossbow directly to the ground, then swiftly pulled out his pistol and fired a shot at the Black-Clothed Man.

Between life and death lies great terror! Having experienced the threat of Steel Blade whizzing past his head, Su Mo felt there was no need to say more to this ferocious and cunning enemy.

But at the same time, the moment the pistol was fired, a Riot Shield was erected in front of the Black-Clothed Man, and the bullet was deflected after hitting it.

The convenience of Storage Space allows people to carry many large items when they are out and about.

For example, this Riot Shield, with only a small strip showing, cannot be penetrated by a frontal assault using the power of a K1 pistol!

Standoff!

Stalemate!

Neither side had a way to deal with the other for the time being, but neither wanted to be the first to change their move and leave an opening. They looked at each other, stuck in an awkward situation!

"I just want the food. Take it and I'll leave. You can have everything else!"

"A woman?"

Su Mo was taken aback when he heard the Black Thief's cold female voice.

In the apocalypse, women have this kind of fighting power? Is it that terrifying? "What's wrong with women? I only want food. I can give you everything else. Besides, I only have two square meters of space. I'll fill it with all the remaining food and give it to you!" Seeing Su Mo's surprised look, the Black-Clothed Man a little embarrassed and annoyed, and repeated himself.

"Impossible, I'll take it first, and you can take the rest after I'm done!" With the gun pointed at the Riot Shield, Su Mo's eyes darted around the Treasure Room.

His purpose for this trip was only twofold: the Laser Probe and the core of Ma Gu's Shelter Core!

Given the priority of these two items, any food, any junk, or even ignoring them would be a huge profit! After a while, seeing that Su Mo did not reply, the Black Thief spoke up again.

"You're looking for this?"

At the same time, a slender, white hand emerged from behind the Riot Shield, holding a round object that shimmered with light.

At first glance, Su Mo was instantly certain that this was the "Laser Probe" he was looking for! Both in terms of size and shape, the item fit perfectly into the groove of the Thermal Weapon laser machine tool.

Before Su Mo could answer, the jade hand withdrew, and the Laser Probe disappeared from her hand at the same time.

"If you want this, then we can talk. Just go outside the Kobold Castle and I can give it to you!"

"How can I trust you? We can only talk if you give it to me first!" Su Mo rudely interrupted the Black Thief.

The atmosphere froze once again, with neither side willing to back down, so the talks naturally stalled.

After a while, seemingly sensing that the shouts of battle outside had subsided, the Black-Clothed Man grew anxious and awkwardly interrupted the stalemate:

"You should know that even if you kill me, you won't know the location of my refuge, and you won't be able to open my core. Why don't we each take a step back?"

"My name is Carola, what's yours?"

The Black-Clothed Man had a pleasant voice, but Su Mo remained unmoved and continued his cold retort:

"Carola? I call her Crossbow Bro!"

The Black-Clothed Man did indeed resemble the invincible Caroline from The Walking Dead, Su Mo wasn't far behind, wielding his crossbow like a typical wasteland "Crossbow Bro"! This lame joke immediately made the Black Thief behind the Riot Shield laugh in exasperation! "So what do you want! Let's just stall each other until the kobolds come back!"

Hearing the Black Thief's petulant tone, Su Mo smiled slightly beneath his mask, then changed the subject. "I can let you take it first, but you can only take food, and you must be under the gun!"

The automatic pistol in his hand gleamed with a dazzling dark light under the oil lamp!

The cold gun barrel, as icy as Su Mo's tone, always occupied the highest point in the Treasure Room!

In the end, "Carola" chose to compromise, raising her heavy Riot Shield and beginning to collect supplies inside the Treasure Room.

The food that can be placed here is mostly things that kobolds don't like, but at the same time, it is the food supplies that humans urgently need.

There was corn, potatoes, and some loose rice, scattered in a corner.

Of the numerous supplies, the Black-Clothed Man only took less than one-fifth before his own Storage Space was filled.

Then, right under Su Mo's nose, the shadowy figure began to take out unwanted items one by one and replace the food on the ground.

A pot! Two iron Iron Block! An iron shovel. A bottle full of water. And a strange magazine with pictures of scantily clad women! As the Black Thief pulled out more and more strange things, Su Mo was about to complain.

Unfortunately, before they could even speak, a frantic barking erupted from Supply Room! "Damn it! They're back!"

I've been quite busy these past few days revising my graduation thesis, finalizing it, and preparing for my defense. I'll try to update with two chapters of around 6000 words each in the next few days. Thank you all for your support! I'll pick up the update speed after my defense!