Pass the Level

"All of us participated in this dungeon for the first time, so it was only natural that we overlooked the background. We simply treated the Head Chopper Demon as a fixed boss, never imagining that other information was hidden within."

They had assumed they were among the game's earliest players and that the three years mentioned by the game were merely background story. Just as they had dismissed the Woodcutter as a mere NPC, it never occurred to them that this place had been a dungeon for a long time, and a non-enclosed one at that.

"Who could have guessed that this place has been a dungeon site for decades, and that there are random players stranded here?" Liu Yuanyuan's arrogant attitude had subsided significantly.

"We also have that Woodcutter to thank," Yuan Yao said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have known that we couldn't clear the dungeon if one person remained."

As he spoke, his eyes lit up and he lunged at Xu Huo. "Brother Xu! We're good friends and brothers now, right? Let's exchange numbers. If not, adding each other on social media will do!"

Xu Huo pressed a hand against his face to push him away and turned to Wang Wei. "Connecting that to your little tricks earlier, it's certain that the Head Chopper Demon is a player."

"Then why didn't you suspect her!" Wang Wei pointed furiously at Liu Yuanyuan.

"I certainly did," Xu Huo said calmly. "Didn't we just run through the process of elimination?"

Wang Wei had nothing to say. He trembled all over for a moment, then suddenly began to laugh sinisterly. "It's my bad luck to run into you, but don't think you're going to end this dungeon that easily!"

He lifted a finger, and a thread so thin it was hard to notice appeared out of thin air beside Xu Huo. The thread was slightly different in color from the previous ones, seemingly able to hide by blending into the environment, yet the faint glimmer brought on by the metallic wire could still be captured by the eye.

"Again!" He reached out to grab the thin thread directly, but it was slick and elusive; it slipped through his fingers and darted toward Yuan Yao!

It wasn't coming for him!

Xu Huo kicked Yuan Yao out of the way. The thread did not attack Huang Junjie, who was heading straight toward it, but instead passed by his ear and flew toward Abel behind him!

Abel scrambled back in a panic, the massive Cross appearing in his hands once more. He swung it wildly in the air, but not only did it have no substantial effect, he was blinded by the foam the Cross produced, and in the next second, he was hoisted up by the thin thread!

Huang Junjie and Yuan Yao ran over to help. They intended to lift him up to detach him from the thread, but the thing seemed to have grown into Abel's neck—as the person moved up, so did the thread!

"This is my prop, 'Omnipresent Strings'. It can grow anywhere. Nothing you do will be of any use; you can only watch him hang to death!" Wang Wei laughed boisterously, acting extremely rampant. "But don't worry, I'll kill you all one by one!"

The faces of the players present darkened. Wang Wei had far too many bizarre props!

"His prop can't be used twice on the same person. Huang Junjie, go!" Xu Huo shouted, then tapped his heels twice and vanished from his spot!

His speed was so fast he left a blurred afterimage in the air. The expression of Wang Wei, who was still gloating a second ago, changed drastically. Before his smile could even fade, he saw Xu Huo standing right before him!

"Ah!!!" Wang Wei let out a miserable scream. He looked down at his left hand to see four fingers along with half his palm had been sliced off!

With the source of his control gone, Abel fell to the ground. Huang Junjie tried to use his Bamboo Knife to coil up the thread, but failed, and could only watch as the thread flew back toward Wang Wei!

"Xu Huo, look out, the thread is coming back!"

Hearing Huang Junjie's warning, Xu Huo did not look back. He parried the incoming axe, kicked Wang Wei back against the wall, turned around to catch the airborne thread with his Brass Lighter, tied several knots in it, and tossed it along with the lighter to Huang Junjie!

Seeing his own prop snatched away like that, Wang Wei roared and swung his axe frantically, desperate to fight Xu Huo to the death. Unfortunately, his speed couldn't keep up, he was injured, and without the bonus from the Black Cloak, his mindless, unskilled hacking couldn't hurt anyone.

Xu Huo gave Yuan Yao a look, and the latter understood, slipping off to the side.

"Die, die, die!" Wang Wei's roars echoed through the warehouse. Xu Huo looked composed and didn't engage him head-on, merely retreating as he dodged the strikes. Once Yuan Yao had silently reached Wang Wei's back, he suddenly asked, "Do you want to know how I spotted the weakness in your prop?"

Wang Wei's movements subconsciously stalled. At that moment, Yuan Yao lunged forward to pin his arms, shouting excitedly, "Brother Xu, do it now!"

Wang Wei's expression shifted, but it was too late to realize he had been tricked; a small knife swiftly pierced his heart!

Xu Huo watched calmly as the man's eyes bulged and fixed on him. He reached out to remove the axe before stepping back, letting the man collapse to the ground.

The moment Wang Wei breathed his last, a notification sounded in the ears of every player present:

[Congratulations to all players for successfully clearing the "Head Chopper Demon" dungeon. As the dungeon ended prematurely and the Head Chopper Demon was hunted down through joint effort, in addition to the rewards based on mission completion, all players will jointly receive a 100,000 bounty provided by the Mountain Villa boss and one special prop.]

[Additionally, the Head Chopper Demon's prop is a fixed item of this dungeon and cannot be acquired by players. Shortly, players may choose to exchange for either a one-time trait development permission or a prop. Note: The player who receives this exchange reward will be decided by a player vote.]

[Below are the mission completion ratings for this dungeon's players:]

[Player Passerby A: B-Rank
Player Zui Li Tiao Deng Jian: D-Rank
Player Cheng Xu Yuan Ni Bu Dong: D-Rank
Player Zhong Shen Xin Yang: E-Rank
Player Ren Jia Fu Bai Mao Mei: E-Rank]

"D-Rank!" Yuan Yao was the first to jump for joy. "I'm D-Rank! I didn't even get a rating on the Preliminary Train; I never expected to get a D on my first dungeon! Haha!"

"Congratulations." Huang Junjie's expression also relaxed quite a bit. He was also a D; his personal rewards and Ticket should be secure.

Since he and Yuan Yao were both D-Rank, the B-Rank Passerby A was undoubtedly Xu Huo.

"Why am I the lowest?" Liu Yuanyuan said, unconvinced. "I helped catch the Head Chopper Demon too."

"So did I," Abel said, scratching his head. "It's probably because we were running around like blind men from start to finish, and you almost caused us to fight each other."

Liu Yuanyuan hummed, her gaze shifting to Huang Junjie's hand. The metallic thread, which had initially been twisting and struggling like a worm, hung motionless from the lighter. She said greedily, "Let me see that prop."

Huang Junjie stepped back vigilantly. "It's four against one; you don't have a chance."

Liu Yuanyuan sneered and looked at Xu Huo, who was dawdling by the wall. "What are you doing? It's time to vote. Don't tell me you're planning to hog the exchange reward for yourself."

Xu Huo searched for a while longer, finally finding a reflective fragment in the corner. He tucked it into his pocket before turning back.

After the game announcement ended, the Black Cloak and axe that Xu Huo had stored in his inventory turned gray. Upon clicking them, only the voting tab remained.

"Before we vote, let's decide who gets this exchange reward," he said.