The Second-Round Ability Pool

Department Store, rooftop.

Guo Mi tossed away the cigarette in her hand and ground it out under her toe. "Why hasn't he come back yet?"

"He probably got held up by that kid Peng Qi again. Yang Bo went down with him, too. What's there to worry about?" Old Song said with an ingratiating smile.

Instead of reassuring her, his words only made Guo Mi's expression shift uneasily.

"Yang Bo isn't as unreliable as Peng Qi."

Ding-dong~

Lu Bai stepped out of the elevator and looked around. "If there's no one on this floor either, that just leaves the rooftop."

After taking care of Yang Bo and Peng Qi, he'd searched his way up one floor at a time.

He'd even taken a moment along the way to wash his face and change his clothes, making himself right at home.

The elevator obviously couldn't go straight to the rooftop. As soon as Lu Bai stepped out, he headed for the Safe passage beside it.

The handrail in the stairwell was old and battered, and the gaps between the stair tiles were full of black stains.

When the Department Store was still in operation, the rooftop had always been locked for safety reasons. It was no exaggeration to say that hardly anyone ever went up there.

Everything seemed perfectly ordinary, except for... the overpowering stench of blood!

It was as if someone had heated a pungent cocktail mixed with rust on an electric stove until it boiled. The stench was so thick it filled every inch of the passage.

It was hard to imagine how many corpses could be the source of such a smell.

Lu Bai held his breath and quickened his pace.

As he rounded the corner, he saw chunks of flesh, bones threaded with bloody sinews, and other remains piled throughout the entire escape passage. Blood streamed everywhere, leaving nowhere to set foot.

The glowing green "Safe passage" sign at his feet only made the area seem more like a ghostly realm.

Lu Bai let out a breath, took the stairs two at a time through the stretch, and ran up onto the rooftop.

"Who are you?" Old Song stared at Lu Bai as he suddenly appeared, momentarily stunned.

Having already learned the hard way, Lu Bai didn't let his guard down.

Without a word, he swung his sword at Old Song.

"Go!"

But the instant Guo Mi saw Lu Bai, she quickly lit a cigarette.

[Floating Like an Immortal (Silver): While smoking, you can reduce your own mass, down to a minimum of one percent.]

She took no chances and immediately vaulted over the railing.

"This is the tenth floor..." Lu Bai said, wincing at the sight.

He figured that if he jumped after her, he might still be salvageable as long as he didn't land on his head—but the risk was considerable. "...No need. No need."

He glanced back at Old Song, who was taking his last breaths, and went back to finish him off with another sword strike, ending his suffering.

[Points +1, Current points: 6, Current rank: 1/200]

A mechanical prompt rang in Lu Bai's mind at almost the same time. He'd heard it several times by now, and knew it well.

But this time, the prompt didn't end there.

A string of similarly mechanical prompts followed.

[Ding!]

[The current elimination rate among Deathmatch Arena contestants has reached sixty percent.]

[Attention! The second-round Ability Pool is now open. You may select an ability.]

"Three."

"Six."

"Rocket!"

"Pass." "Pass."

"Pair of twos."

"Damn it, do you even know how to play? You're seriously playing like this?!"

In a reception room, three men in black suits and sunglasses sat around playing Dou Dizhu.

Compared to the vast majority of Deathmatch Arena contestants, who were hiding wherever they could, the three of them were so relaxed they seemed to be on vacation.

Suddenly, all three fell silent.

After a moment, one of the bald men looked at the man across from him. "Boss, I'm not in first place anymore."

"Didn't you already take out five people?"

The boss raised an eyebrow. His sunglasses hid his eyes. "There are people like that in the initial round? Could he be here to prey on the weak, too?"

Teaching Building, first-floor restroom.

Uncontrollable laughter came from a stall in the corner.

"Hahaha! I bet right! I'm going places!! Woohoo!!!"

One line on this guy's ability panel described his ability.

[Three-Surname Slave (Silver): You may have no sense of family, but you can rightfully become anyone's adopted son.]

Judging by the description alone, honestly, few abilities could be more useless than this one.

Even without an ability, he could call anyone "Dad" if he had no shame.

But he wasn't excited because he'd gone crazy.

It was because he'd spotted another useless ability in the second-round Ability Pool.

[Unemployed Youth (Silver): When your parents talk to other people, they will automatically avoid the topic of you and deliberately ignore your existence.]

"Hahaha! There are no useless abilities, only useless Deathmatch Arena contestants! Even with a Silver-tier ability, I can make it work like a Rainbow-tier one!"

"Hm? Why is it gold again?"

Lu Bai sat with his legs dangling over the outside of the rooftop railing, the cool breeze brushing past him as he enjoyed the moment.

Although one of them, Guo Mi, had gotten away, he didn't think taking out three Deathmatch Arena contestants was a bad trade.

There was no need to hurry, so he decided to wait until the next round's locations were announced before making his move.

With this free time, Lu Bai figured he could think carefully about which second ability to choose.

Just like the first round, the second-round Ability Pool offered him three abilities to choose from.

[Great Fireball Technique (Gold): Consume a certain amount of stamina to spew a massive, high-temperature fireball from your mouth.]

[Blood Rage (Gold): Consume blood to gain a certain degree of increased combat power.]

[Sign-in System (Gold): You may sign in once a day to receive a random reward.]

Lu Bai had been hesitating over these three abilities for quite a while.

When he chose his first ability, he'd been more or less trying it out with a healthy dose of doubt. If it worked, great. If it wasn't useful, he could live with that.

But after experiencing Super Regeneration firsthand and learning just how incredible these abilities were, making a choice wasn't so easy anymore.

After all, judging by their descriptions, all three seemed pretty good.

After agonizing over it for a while, he ruled out the overly random Sign-in System.

Lu Bai slowly rubbed his chin. "The other two both seem like they could be big finishing moves. In that case... I'll pick this one."

The description of the Great Fireball Technique was a little too supernatural. It gave him the vague feeling that it wouldn't be able to kill anyone.

Blood Rage, at least, seemed a little more compatible with Super Regeneration.

Lu Bai's pupils lost focus, and his personal status panel appeared before his eyes.

[Deathmatch Arena ID: 87****0023]

[Initial user name: (Unavailable)]

[Title: None]

[Talent: 8]

[Current points: 6]

[Current rank: 1/200]

[Abilities: Super Regeneration, Blood Rage]

Compared to the beginning, this crude personal status panel hadn't changed much.

He wondered when that initial user name would become available.