Xue Hongling raised her hand. The gem set in her ring pulsed with an alluring purple light.
Xiao Ran's heart tightened. He immediately went on guard and spun around. A red shadow was rapidly closing in. As it came into focus, he saw a red skeletal ghost reaching for his shoulder.
Xiao Ran reacted instantly, stepping aside almost on instinct to dodge the shadow's grasping hand.
But before he could steady himself, another force slammed into his abdomen.
"You have been attacked by the F-class Cursed Object, Deceptive Cloak of Fraud!"
The blow had come out of nowhere. But to Xue Hongling's surprise, Xiao Ran merely swayed before quickly regaining his balance.
Xiao Ran straightened and fixed his gaze on Xue Hongling. "Is that all you've got?" His voice was calm and taunting.
Xue Hongling's expression darkened. "Kill him!"
At her command, the Red Skeleton lunged at Xiao Ran, moving much faster than before.
What was surprising was that Xiao Ran's speed seemed to surge at the same time.
A faint glimmer shone from the Black Swan Brooch on his chest.
It was as if a steady stream of power were flowing into Xiao Ran's body.
Privilege 1: Tempering
When you are attacked, you have a 30% chance of gaining Tempering Points. You may use these points to temporarily boost your constitution, strength, agility, or spirit as needed.
Duration: 20 seconds.
(Note: If the enemy stops attacking for more than three minutes, all accumulated Tempering Points will be reset.)
The barrage of attacks had earned Xiao Ran five Tempering Points. He poured them all into agility. Combined with the boost from the three Speed Talismans, his speed reached a level no ordinary person could match.
The Red Skeleton was incredibly fast, but to Xiao Ran, it seemed to have slowed down. He dodged its grasp once more, spun around, and charged straight at Xue Hongling. A fruit knife appeared in his hand, its blade glinting with a cold gleam in the night. As Xiao Ran raced forward, it left a snowy-white streak in the air.
"Brute!"
Seeing Xiao Ran turn back toward her, Xue Hongling raised her slender fingers to her lips and softly called out to the ring on her finger. "Xiao Ran!" Her voice carried a strange, rhythmic cadence.
At the sound of her voice, the gem in the ring flashed with an alluring purple light once more. A strange, mysterious energy seemed to fill the air. Xiao Ran felt an invisible force trying to eat away at his consciousness, and his gaze grew hazy.
"You have been attacked by the E-class Cursed Ring, E-class Cursed Ring: Face Reading."
The sounds around him began to blur. Though his body still lunged forward, his vision, hearing, smell, and even taste rapidly faded. But all Xiao Ran did was part his lips and whisper, barely audibly, "Attack!"
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
The instant Xiao Ran spoke, several dark shapes sprang from the bushes, moving so quickly that there was no time to react.
Xue Hongling had been focused entirely on Xiao Ran and hadn't expected him to have an ambush waiting. By the time she realized something was wrong, one of the shadows had already pounced on her, jaws wide open, and sunk its teeth savagely into her arm.
The massive force dragged Xue Hongling to the ground. Agonizing pain hit her. When she could make out what had attacked her, she saw a Tibetan Mastiff with matted fur.
The Mastiff's eyes had long since lost their spark, but it still looked ferocious. Its sharp teeth tore a ragged wound in Xue Hongling's arm. As it thrashed wildly, she could even hear her bones cracking.
Before she could break free, two more shadows pounced on her.
One was a German Shepherd, the other a mutt. One bit into Xue Hongling's thigh, while the other threw itself at her and tore at her face.
"Get off me! Get off! Aah!"
The searing pain drew a shrill scream from Xue Hongling. She frantically swung the short blade in her other hand and called for the Red Skeleton to save her.
But no matter how desperately she hacked at them, the three dogs seemed not to feel a thing. They didn't let go—instead, they tore at her even more viciously.
Then more and more little dogs came charging out of the corners: Pomeranians, Chihuahuas, Schnauzers, small hounds, and poodles. They couldn't do much damage, but they bit whatever they could reach, sending Xue Hongling rolling on the ground in agony.
The red skeletal ghost rushed over and slapped the German Shepherd's head. The tremendous force smashed half its skull, spraying black blood and brain matter through the air.
But the German Shepherd only tore another huge chunk of flesh from Xue Hongling's thigh.
Then it lunged at her again and began gnawing at her face. The mutt's sharp teeth ripped into her eyes, nose, and mouth. Pain and terror flooded her heart.
The Red Skeleton punched the mutt, snapping its spine, then slapped the charging Mastiff to the ground and kicked the Pomeranian's head into a pulp. But none of this stopped the dogs from tearing into Xue Hongling.
It wasn't that they couldn't feel pain. They were corpses.
They were dead dogs Uncle Li had found for Xiao Ran at a kennel.
First, Xiao Ran had used the Privilege of the Calamity Suppressing Token: Trainee—the power of Tempering—to extract three Speed Talismans from the corpses.
Then he had used the Privilege of the Black Swan Brooch: Corpse Stitcher—the power of Companionship—to turn them into servants he could control.
The only pity was that Uncle Li had only managed to find the corpses of three large dogs in the little time he had. Only large dogs could yield talismans; the small ones were of no use.
Although the Red Skeleton kept knocking the dogs attacking Xue Hongling aside, her movements grew weaker and weaker as blood soaked the ground around her. Her breathing was faint, and her eyes were unfocused. She had clearly lost consciousness.
The Red Skeleton gradually stopped moving, standing beside her. A flame flickered from time to time in its hollow eye sockets, as if it were watching the spark of life in Xue Hongling slowly die out.
A moment later, the Red Skeleton began to disperse, vanishing completely into the cool night breeze.
Xiao Ran had also recovered from the loss of his senses. He walked over and kicked aside the poodle that was still clinging to Xue Hongling's shoe and shaking it furiously.
He examined Xue Hongling's corpse. Calling it unrecognizable would be no exaggeration.
"Phew!"
Xiao Ran let out a long breath. After a moment's thought, he tossed Xue Hongling's body into Micheng Space.
As for the other dogs, he glanced around and spotted a grave pit beside the bushes. He ordered all the dogs to crawl inside. The rest could be left alone.
In about half an hour, when the duration of the Companionship privilege ran out, the dogs would become cold corpses again.
Once he'd taken care of that, Xiao Ran hurriedly took out a needle, thread, and iodine. He lifted his shirt and saw a dark red wound on his chest. When he pried it open with a finger, he could see that it was deep.
"Good thing! If it weren't for that curse I left on myself earlier, which made my wounds clot quickly, I'd have been in serious trouble from the very first exchange."
Black Swan: Corpse Stitcher
Privilege 2: Composure
You may sew a curse onto any target. When the host is attacked, the curse activates, causing the resulting wound to clot rapidly and preventing harm to the host. However, if the wound is not stitched within thirty minutes, it will turn into a burst wound after thirty minutes.
Xiao Ran took out the needle and thread and quickly stitched up the wound. Only after making sure everything was fine did he change his clothes and leisurely head out.
When he reached the guard booth, he glanced through the window and saw Zhong Yi with her hands behind her head, her head resting on her arms, and earbuds in. Her long, pale legs were propped up on the desk. She was clearly asleep.
Xiao Ran didn't have the heart to wake her. He looked pretty disheveled, after all, covered in dirt. Anyone who didn't know better might think he'd come to rob a grave in the middle of the night.
He got on a shared bike nearby and leisurely rode home.
Only after Xiao Ran had left did her teammate's voice come through Zhong Yi's earbuds. "He's gone, boss. Should we report this?"
Zhong Yi narrowed her eyes. A moment later, her lips moved. She said just two words: "Clock out."
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