Zhang Yang held his breath, aiming at the stairwell.
Sure enough, the next moment, a young man appeared in Zhang Yang's sights.
"Die."
The M14 in Zhang Yang's hands suddenly erupted in a string of rapid gunshots.
"Who's there... Aah!!!"
The piercing gunfire rang in his ears. The man shuddered in fright, then a series of impacts forced him to stagger backward.
Then, all the strength drained from his body in an instant.
Enemy attack!
The man realized what had happened, but there was nothing he could do about it.
"Defeated [Tang Chuan]"
The Soul Master's body disappeared, turning into a box.
"...Phew." Zhang Yang let out a long breath and clenched his left fist.
"Yesss~~~!"
"Search: Tang Chuan"
Zhang Yang ran up to the box and reached out.
The box opened, and the search interface popped up.
First row, Martial Soul: "Clear Sky Hammer," "None."
"Clear Sky Hammer? Another Clear Sky Sect Tang San Aggro Bro." Zhang Yang curled his lip.
Zhang Yang had fought over a thousand matches in Classified mode, so he knew what types of enemies would respawn on the map.
In low-pressure matches, premade teams generally had ordinary Martial Souls, and their team compositions weren't particularly well thought out. Sometimes there'd be three attackers, and sometimes three agility fighters.
In high-pressure matches, there were solo Tang San Aggro Bros with top-tier Martial Souls, like Clear Sky Sect disciples and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan disciples.
Besides that, Zhang Yang had also run into a combination of White Tiger and Hell Spirit Cat.
Premade teams always brought a support-type Soul Master, such as one attacker, one controller, and one support, or two attackers and one support.
Besides that, Zhang Yang had also encountered escort teams. Of course, by "escort teams," he meant two Aggro Soul Masters accompanying a support Soul Master whose Martial Soul was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
After all, across the entire Douluo Continent, no Soul Master was better suited to being the boss than a disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Among them, the Clear Sky Sect's solo Tang San Aggro Bros were Zhang Yang's favorite targets.
First, they had no teammates. Once he killed one, he could be sure the area around him would be safe for a while.
Second, they were easy to kill. If Zhang Yang opened fire first with his M14, a solo Aggro Bro was basically turned into a box before he could fight back.
Third, the Clear Sky Hammer was a tool-type Martial Soul, so its Soul Master had less health. It took one fewer shot to kill him than a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Soul Master of the same level.
The M14 Lord in Zhang Yang's hands only held ten rounds when its magazine was full. Every bullet mattered.
Of course, because Zhang Yang had figured out this pattern, he'd completed Season Missions [Letter of Allegiance] 1, 2, and 3 early on.
After [Letter of Allegiance] ended, the missions that followed were much simpler.
"[Action Plan 6: Alternative Resources]" "Mission Briefing: Soul Beast resources are limited. Spirit Hall has always urged Soul Masters to kill fewer Soul Beasts and to kill them only with caution. But to gain great power, there are some things you have no choice but to do." "※ In any type of map, obtain a total of 999 Ten-Year Soul Rings. (0/999)" "※ In any type of map, obtain a total of 99 Hundred-Year Soul Rings. (0/99)" "Operation Reward: One Experience Card for a Level 3*3 Secure Container" "[Action Plan 7: Regional Overlord]" "Mission Briefing: Spirit Hall's influence isn't measured only by the number of Titled Douluo it has, but also by how firmly it controls its territory. How could anyone tolerate another man snoring under the same roof?" "※ In any city-type map, kill the map boss a total of 9 times. (0/9)" "Operation Reward: One Experience Card for a Level 3*3 Secure Container"
Zhang Yang had completed both of these missions long ago.
He selected Clear Sky Hammer, and a detailed menu appeared.
"[Clear Sky Hammer]" "[Image]" "Soul Ring Setup: [Yellow][Empty][Empty][Empty][Empty][Empty][Empty][Empty][Empty][Empty]"
Zhang Yang casually dragged the Yellow Soul Ring in the first slot into his backpack.
Then, his warehouse instantly gained [Hundred-Year Soul Ring] *3 and [Ten-Year Soul Ring] *1.
Zhang Yang had discovered this by accident a while back.
The system seemed to treat Martial Souls as melee weapons and Soul Rings as gun attachments.
So Soul Rings could be eaten, but Martial Souls couldn't.
What a pity. If he could, Zhang Yang would've loved to see what the Clear Sky Hammer felt like in his hands.
But later, Zhang Yang gave up on the idea.
If he could disarm and use his enemies' Martial Souls, there'd definitely be some hellish Season Mission like "Kill 99 people using the XX Martial Soul."
He continued searching.
Third row, chest rig: None.
Fourth row, pockets: five slots, all occupied.
They were "Purple, Gold Soul Coins, value 10,000" *12;
"Green, Silver Soul Coins, value 100" *18;
"White, Copper Soul Coins, value 1" *12;
"Gold, Jade Bracelet, value 54,620";
And then came the biggest prize, and Zhang Yang's most important haul of the match.
"Gold, Hotel VIP Room, value 1,251,490"
"Holy crap!!!"
Zhang Yang immediately closed the search interface and sprang up, hopping up and down on the spot, jumping around to his heart's content.
No wonder Zhang Yang liked entering Classified mode with high-tier gear. These people were loaded.
Only after thinking this did Zhang Yang reopen the box and slip the Hotel VIP Room keycard into his secure container.
Fifth row, backpack.
The backpack had twelve slots in total, arranged in a 3*4 layout and crammed full of all sorts of odds and ends. There were blue and purple items alike.
After looting the box clean, Zhang Yang searched the rooms on the first floor he hadn't checked and found another two-slot Small Purple.
Once he'd confirmed the whole building had been picked clean, Zhang Yang didn't linger. He headed straight for the next major loot spot on Hotel Street.
As he traveled, Zhang Yang couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from lifting.
He'd only searched one major loot spot on Hotel Street, and he was already this rich.
If he searched the whole map, wouldn't he be able to craft a Heart of Africa with his bare hands?
Thinking of this, Zhang Yang couldn't help sighing, "Classified mode is great—getting into Classified mode is great!"
By the time Zhang Yang had cleared out several of the major loot spots on Hotel Street and decided to leave, fifteen minutes had passed.
His haul had also reached 2.4 million.
Since he still had time, Zhang Yang decided to take a lap around the Academy Administration Building.
Even if he ran into the boss, Zhang Yang wasn't worried. His secure container was already full. He could just jump out and let the boss try to catch him.
After leaving Hotel Street, Zhang Yang reached the academy's eastern wall, the closest point to Hotel Street. He channeled his Soul Power and vaulted over it in a few quick moves.
After entering the academy by an unconventional route, Zhang Yang kept moving and immediately headed for the nearest Academy Restaurant.
He pushed open the door and entered the cafeteria he'd visited countless times. A young man's voice rang out from inside.
"Who's there? Who's in here?"
Zhang Yang focused his gaze. A middle-aged man stood not far away, a bottle of liquor in his hand, eyes unfocused and steps unsteady.
"Heh."
Zhang Yang relaxed, raised his M14, and killed the little bot with one shot.
This was the special effect of "Olivia Champagne"—it made bots drunk.
Zhang Yang loved this effect.
Just like that, a drunk bot was even easier to handle than a chicken.
Zhang Yang swiped his card to open the Academy Restaurant Storage Room on the first floor. After sweeping through it, he'd looted another 200,000. Humming a tune, he went over to the bot's box.
He'd looted the card room. He couldn't let the bot's box go to waste, either.
The bot's box opened. As usual, there was no chest rig or backpack.
Of its five pocket slots, the first two held "Silver Soul Coins" and "Copper Soul Coins," which Zhang Yang already had piled up in his warehouse.
Zhang Yang took them all, just as before.
This stuff wasn't worth much in a match, nowhere near the thousands you could get for a Small Blue or Small Purple.
But it was real money.
He could take it out and spend it in the real world, and even just saving it in his warehouse put him in a good mood.
Then there was the third slot: "White, Box of Nails, value 2,794."
As for the fourth slot, the magnifying glass spun around three times but still couldn't search it out.
Realizing that something good had spawned, Zhang Yang couldn't help singing, "Simon, Simon, don't have a penny..."
Just as Zhang Yang was gloating to himself, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up, and a bad feeling came rushing over him.
Zhang Yang instinctively rolled to the side. A blade glinting with cold light grazed his skin and plunged into the solid wooden table beside him.
His thousand-plus matches of training in the Secret Field had just saved him with a sixth sense.
Zhang Yang glanced over. A young man in his twenties stood there, holding a long sword.
"Can't believe there's still one slippery fish left in this deserted Heding City Academy."
The young man flourished his sword, then struck a handsome pose with it in hand, his expression contemptuous. "You ran into me, so you're just unlucky, brat."
"Your boast just now was more entertaining than the Pope living three lifetimes." Zhang Yang sneered.
"Kid, you dare talk to me like that? Do you know who I am?"
"Do you know who I am?" Before Zhang Yang's voice had even faded, the M14 in his hands was already roaring.
"Seven Treasures Have Names, first is Strength."
At the very moment Zhang Yang opened fire, a streak of colored light drifted in from beside the nearby stairs and entered the swordsman's body.
Then the young man was riddled with bullets.
Zhang Yang swung his gun toward the stairwell. A young man with a pale face stood there.
"Didn't he know I could fight?"
"Is he always this brave?"
Before you continue