Fierce Dog Attacks

Xue Hongling raised her finger, and the gem inlaid on the ring pulsed with a seductive purple light.

Xiao Ran's heart tightened, and he immediately became vigilant. He quickly turned around, only to see a red shadow rapidly approaching. The shadow gradually became clearer – it was a red skeletal ghost, extending its arms to grab his shoulder.

Xiao Ran's reaction was extremely fast. He almost instinctively took a step forward, dodging the shadow's grasping hand.

But before he could regain his balance, his abdomen was struck by a force again.

"You have been attacked by the F-class cursed object, Deceitful Cloak!"

The blow came very suddenly, but to Xue Hongling's surprise, Xiao Ran only staggered this time before quickly steadying himself.

Xiao Ran straightened his body, his eyes fixed solely on Xue Hongling. "Is this all you've got?" His voice was calm yet full of provocation.

Xue Hongling's expression darkened. "Kill him!!"

As she spoke, the red skeleton lunged at Xiao Ran, its speed much faster than before.

To everyone's surprise, Xiao Ran's speed seemed to have also received a massive boost at the same time.

The Black Swan Brooch on his chest flickered with a faint luster.

It was as if a continuous stream of power was flowing into Xiao Ran's body.

Privilege 1: Tempering

When you are attacked, there is a 30% chance to gain Tempering Points. Tempering Points can be used to temporarily enhance your physique, strength, agility, or spirit according to your needs.

Duration: 20 seconds.

(Note: Once the enemy stops attacking for more than three minutes, all accumulated Tempering Points will be reset to zero.)

The series of blows just now had earned Xiao Ran five Tempering Points, all of which he had poured into his agility. Combined with the boost from three Speed Talismans, Xiao Ran's speed instantly reached a level unattainable by normal humans.

Although the red skeleton was incredibly fast, it seemed to have slowed down considerably in Xiao Ran's eyes. He dodged the red skeleton's attack again, spun around, and charged directly at Xue Hongling. In his hand, a fruit knife appeared, its blade glinting with a cold, sharp edge in the darkness. With Xiao Ran's astonishing speed, a white afterimage trailed through the air.

"Brute!!"

Seeing Xiao Ran charging back at her, Xue Hongling brought her slender fingers to her lips and softly called out to the ring on her finger, "Xiao Ran!!" Her voice carried a strange rhythm.

At Xue Hongling's command, the gem on the ring once again flashed with a seductive purple light. The air seemed to fill with a strange and mysterious energy. Xiao Ran felt an invisible force attempting to erode his consciousness, and his eyes gradually became unfocused.

"You have been attacked by the E-class cursed object, Mourning Ring of Scrying."

The voices in his ears began to blur. Although his body maintained its forward momentum, his vision, hearing, smell, and even taste began to rapidly decline. Yet, at this moment, Xiao Ran merely opened his mouth and whispered softly, "Attack!"

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."

The instant Xiao Ran spoke, several dark figures leaped out from the bushes. Their movements were swift and agile, leaving no room for reaction.

Xue Hongling's attention had been focused entirely on Xiao Ran and she hadn't anticipated any ambush. By the time she realized something was wrong, a dark figure had already pounced, opening its monstrous maw and viciously biting into Xue Hongling's arm.

The immense inertia dragged Xue Hongling's body to the ground. Simultaneously, a heart-wrenching pain surged through her. When she finally saw clearly, she realized that the attacker was a Tibetan Mastiff with disheveled fur.

The Mastiff's eyes were vacant, but its expression remained ferocious. Its sharp teeth tore open a gruesome gash on Xue Hongling's arm. As the Mastiff thrashed wildly, Xue Hongling could even hear her bones cracking.

But before she could break free, two more dark figures pounced.

A German Shepherd and a mongrel. One bit into Xue Hongling's thigh, while the other leaped in front of her, tearing at her face.

"Get off, get off!! Ah!!"

In intense pain, Xue Hongling let out a piercing scream. With her other hand, she desperately swung her short knife, simultaneously calling for the red skeleton to save her.

But no matter how hard she slashed, these three dogs seemed oblivious to pain. Not only did they not let go, but they bit down even harder.

Then, more and more small dogs rushed out from the corners – Pomeranians, Chihuahuas, Schnauzers, Dachshunds, and Poodles. While their killing power wasn't high, they bit wherever they could reach, causing Xue Hongling to writhe on the ground in agony.

At this moment, the red skeletal ghost also lunged over, slapping the German Shepherd's head. The immense force directly crushed half of the German Shepherd's head, splattering blood and brains into the air.

Yet, the German Shepherd retaliated by tearing off a large chunk of flesh from Xue Hongling's thigh.

Immediately after, it lunged forward again, gnawing at her face. Her eyes, nose, and mouth were torn apart by the mongrel's sharp teeth, and pain and fear filled her heart.

The red skeleton punched the mongrel's spine, then slammed the attacking Mastiff to the ground with a palm strike. It kicked the Pomeranian's head into a pulp, but this did not stop the vicious dogs from tearing at Xue Hongling.

It wasn't that they were insensitive to pain; rather, they were corpses themselves.

These were dead dogs that Xiao Ran had asked Uncle Li to find from the dog pound.

Xiao Ran had first used the privilege of [Calamity Suppressing Token - Trainee] to borrow and extract three Speed Talismans from the corpses.

Then, using the privilege of [Black Swan Brooch - Corpse Stitcher], he had "gathered" them into servants he could control.

The only regret was that time was short, and Uncle Li had only managed to find the corpses of three large dogs. Only large dogs could yield talismans; the smaller dogs had no effect.

Even though the red skeleton continuously knocked the vicious dogs off Xue Hongling, her movements on the ground grew weaker and weaker. Blood stained the surrounding earth. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes unfocused, clearly unconscious.

The red skeleton gradually ceased its movements, standing beside her. A wisp of flame flickered in its empty eye sockets from time to time, as if watching Xue Hongling's life spark slowly extinguish.

In just a moment, the red skeleton slowly dispersed, finally vanishing into the cool breeze.

Xiao Ran, having recovered from his sensory deprivation, walked forward and kicked away a Poodle that was still enthusiastically wagging its tail while holding Xue Hongling's shoe.

He took a close look at Xue Hongling's corpse, which could only be described as unrecognizable.

"Hoo!"

Xiao Ran let out a long breath. After a moment's thought, he directly threw Xue Hongling's body into his Micheng Space.

As for the rest of these dogs, Xiao Ran glanced left and right, spotting a grave hole by the bushes nearby. He then directed all the dogs to crawl into the grave hole, leaving the rest to fate.

After waiting for about half an hour, once the privilege time of the pack ran out, these dogs would turn back into cold corpses.

Having done this, Xiao Ran quickly took out his needle and thread along with iodine. He lifted the front of his clothes and saw a dark red scar on his chest. Pushing it aside with his finger, he could see the cut was very deep.

"Fortunately! If it weren't for the curse left behind earlier that could rapidly solidify my wounds, I probably would have suffered a major loss the moment we clashed."

Black Swan · Corpse Stitcher

Privilege 2: Composure

You can stitch a curse onto any target. When the host is attacked, the curse activates, causing the wound from the attack to rapidly solidify, inflicting no damage on the host. However, if the wound is not stitched within thirty minutes, it will form a burst-type trauma after thirty minutes.

Xiao Ran took out his needle and thread, quickly stitching the wound to ensure there were no issues. Only then did he change into fresh clothes and slowly walk outside.

When he reached the guard booth, he glanced sideways through the window and saw Zhong Yi with her hands behind her back, her head resting on her arm, wearing headphones. Her long, slender white legs were propped up on the desk; she was clearly asleep.

Xiao Ran didn't have the heart to wake her up. After all, he looked quite disheveled right now, covered in dirt. Anyone seeing him might think he came here in the middle of the night to rob a grave.

He hopped onto a shared bicycle parked nearby and leisurely rode home.

Only after Xiao Ran left did his teammate's voice come through Zhong Yi's headphones: "He's gone, boss. Should we report this?"

Zhong Yi narrowed her eyes. After a moment, the corner of her lips moved, and she uttered only two words: "Pack it up."