Just as Old Wang was marveling at how quickly he had leveled up, Zero's electronically synthesized voice suddenly rang out.
"Sir, watch out!"
But Old Wang was still too slow. An energy crossbow bolt struck Unit Zero square in the chest.
-165
The bolt had originally been aimed at the weak spot on his neck, but at Zero's warning, Old Wang had moved and avoided it.
Without a moment to spare, Wang Qianduo immediately looked for cover, trying to hide himself. But another bullet hit him.
-85
That was as much as his opponent could manage, though, because Wang Qianduo had already found cover.
He looked in the direction the bolt had come from and spotted a player squad of five Mechas, hiding at a distance behind the ruins created by the Elite Demon Rat.
-80
As he watched them from cover, another bullet struck Unit Zero in the head.
Thankfully, it didn't hit the eyes. Wang Qianduo immediately ducked back and stopped looking around.
But he had already spotted the enemy and identified their lineup. Zero generated a minimap, allowing him to check their positions at any time.
The squad's five Mechas were a first-evolution Agility Mech, the Hunter Mech;
a first-evolution Agility-Type Mech, the Sniper Mech;
a first-evolution Agility-Type Mech, the Assassin Mech;
a first-evolution Strength-Type Mech, the Shield Mech;
and a first-evolution Intelligence-Type Mech, the Shaman Mech.
None of these Mechas were Rare Mechas, but the squad had an almost perfect lineup.
And judging by the Hunter and Sniper's performance, they were no slouches.
At the very least, Wang Qianduo couldn't match their accuracy.
"Old Feng, the damage doesn't look right. This guy's defense is absurdly high!"
"Obviously! You think you could solo a boss without high defense? That's clearly a Rare Mecha!"
"Should we keep going? We might not want to make an enemy of this guy!"
"We're going in. No matter how strong he is, he can't be in great shape after soloing a boss.
"His drops plus the boss's drops are worth at least tens of thousands, maybe even over a hundred thousand.
"That's way more than our monthly pay from the club. We'd be fools not to go for it!" said the driver of the Shield Mech, Old Feng.
"Fine! Let's do it!" The rest of the group saw all that money on the table and stopped worrying about whether they'd make an enemy of the guy.
"Old Shaman, buff us up. I'll push in from the front, and the Assassin will sneak around behind. The rest of you, be ready to focus fire!"
Old Feng finished speaking, and the group sprang into action. The Shaman Mech's "long staff" flashed, and an Energy Shield appeared around the Shield Mech.
Then the Shield Mech advanced toward Wang Qianduo from the front, while the Assassin Mech gradually faded until it was almost invisible.
Their plan was solid, but unfortunately, they were up against Wang Qianduo—a man who defied all reason.
They had barely begun putting their plan into action, and the Shield Mech hadn't even gone far.
A bolt of lightning shot out from behind the building where Wang Qianduo was hiding, striking the Shield Mech at the front of the group.
It had just entered Wang Qianduo's attack range.
The Shaman Mech's shield and the Shield Mech's own shield melted almost instantly. Then the raging lightning obliterated the Shield Mech entirely.
But this was only the beginning of their nightmare. The lightning didn't stop after destroying the Shield Mech. Instead, it leaped between the other Mechas.
They didn't even have time to spread out. In the blink of an eye, the entire squad—with its near-perfect lineup—had been wiped out.
Meanwhile, after killing five Mechas in a single attack, Wang Qianduo looked around, picked up the Elite Demon Rat's drops and the players' drops, and left.
Killing five Mechas in one attack really wasn't that impressive. The Shield Mech, which had the most HP in the squad, had just over a thousand HP with its two layers of shields. How could it possibly withstand Wang Qianduo's Chain Lightning?
A skill of this caliber was far too overpowered in the early game, especially with equipment boosting it by two levels.
The players had dropped only some money and materials, along with a level-five Rare piece of equipment. It was all just stuff to sell.
The Elite Demon Rat, on the other hand, had dropped some good loot. Aside from the No. 7 Tooth Fragment Wang Qianduo wanted, there was also a Perfect-grade material and a skill disk.
The material was also a tooth, but it was a whole Rat Tooth.
[Rat Tooth] (Perfect): A Rat Tooth made of special material, perfect for crafting certain pieces of equipment.
That wasn't anything special, but the skill was powerful.
Magic Explosion (Rare) LV1 Instantly unleashes Magic Energy, dealing (500 + Intelligence) points of damage to enemies within a 15-unit radius and knocking them back. Attack Range: 15 Cast Time: Instant MP Cost: 500 Cooldown: 120S Proficiency: 0/500
It was a powerful lifesaving skill for Intelligence-Type Mechas—and an important skill Wang Qianduo was missing.
After tallying up his loot, Wang Qianduo checked the seven tooth fragments in his inventory.
Contrary to everyone's guesses on the forums, collecting all seven fragments hadn't triggered a quest.
They hadn't even joined together. They simply lay there without a response, quietly taking up seven of Wang Qianduo's inventory slots.
"What's going on? Zero, analyze them!"
"Of course. I'm analyzing them now!"
As soon as Zero's voice fell silent, a holographic projection of the seven tooth fragments appeared in front of Wang Qianduo.
Zero then fitted them together. Looking at the enormous tooth before him and the cracks across it, Wang Qianduo began to understand.
"Is this a map?" Wang Qianduo asked Zero, uncertain.
Zero replied, "Yes, sir. More accurately, it's a treasure map. The tip of the tooth marks the treasure's location."
"So that's it. Can you pinpoint the location? Let's go check it out!"
"Yes. Based on the route we took to get here, the treasure is somewhere in the Underground World."
Once again impressed by the power of artificial intelligence, Wang Qianduo flew into the sky and began searching for the treasure.
~~~
"We're too late. This boss has been dead for quite a while!"
"The tracks suggest one person killed it solo. He's probably pretty high-level!"
"And it looks like someone else came through here, too. They must've been wiped out by that guy—and killed in a single hit. The difference in strength was huge."
While Wang Qianduo searched for the treasure from the sky, another squad of players followed the commotion to the battlefield where he'd killed the boss.
This squad seemed far from ordinary. With just a few words, they had pieced together the general course of Wang Qianduo's fight.
If Wang Qianduo had been there, though, he would have recognized one of the Snow-White Mechas at a glance. It was Lin Qimeng's Dragon Princess Mech.
Lin Qimeng was piloting it. She was level 11, and Demon Rat Star was the area where she was leveling, so it made perfect sense for her to be there.
"Qimeng, should we go after him? He might have the No. 7 Tooth Fragment we've been looking for!" said the driver of the Tank Mech in the squad.
After talks with the manager of the Mountains and Seas Professional Gaming Club had gone south, she had set up a small gaming club of her own and affiliated it with Mountains and Seas.
"No! We can't go after him! That item is consumable, and there's one less every time it's used.
"Even if we caught up, we might not be able to beat him. Actually, we'd definitely lose.
"The squad that got wiped out here belonged to the seventh group of Ten Thousand Miles. They were a professional team, not a reserve squad.
"They'd only just reached level 10 and evolved their Mechas, so they hadn't upgraded their equipment yet. But I doubt we're much stronger than they are."
Before Lin Qimeng could speak, a woman piloting a red Mecha cut in.
"Sister Hua, how do you know who got wiped out?"
"I have them on my friends list. They all changed maps at the exact same moment just now. Considering what happened here, it's not hard to guess."
Hearing Sister Hua's explanation, the others gave up on their ill-advised plan. But as they were getting ready to leave, a missile suddenly appeared, heading straight for Sister Hua.
Luckily, the squad's Strength-Type Tank Mech, War Rhino, reacted quickly. It raised its shield and braced itself, blocking the missile for Sister Hua.
-110
When the others saw the damage War Rhino had taken, their hearts sank. Even with a successful block by their Tank Mech, it had still taken that much damage. The enemy's damage output was unquestionably far beyond theirs.
Seeing this, Lin Qimeng drew the Tang Straight Saber that had been hanging behind her. Flames spiraled around it, and a Fire Dragon soared into the air before crashing down in the direction the attack had come from, lighting up the entire area.
"Judging by their Mecha lineup, they're from the third group of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon!
"Find cover. I'll try talking to them," Sister Hua said, recognizing the other side at once.
"Friends from Wind, Flower, you've got it wrong. We didn't kill the boss. We only got here a little before you!" Sister Hua called out over the area channel.
"Do you think we believe that?"
Sister Hua: "..."
Before you continue