Mandel Brick

"Extraction successful."

"Extraction point: Heding City Academy—Confidential"

"Duration: 00:55:29"

"Loot this round: 6,114,339"

"Total eliminations: 28"

He'd extracted with a full 6 million. Zhang Yang grinned and shouted, "Time to eat!"

The warehouse interface popped up, showing the spoils from Zhang Yang's run.

First came the big-ticket items: two Million-Value Room Cards, one blue room card, a 210,000-value wristwatch, a 220,000-value pocket watch, a 130,000-value Peace Fruit, and two gold bars.

These were all high-value collectibles worth over 100,000 each and taking up just one slot, for a total value of more than 3 million.

On top of that, he had a whopping seventeen gold collectibles worth over 40,000 apiece, including a Military Map Case, a Golden Branch Laurel, medals, Nutritious Porridge Cans, and a Gold Pen.

And then there were all the purple collectibles filling his backpack.

There was no denying it: a 20-slot large rig and a 40-slot large backpack could hold a lot.

Of course, Zhang Yang could only call this haul average.

In his previous life, a match where he filled his entire backpack like this would usually net him over ten million Haf Coins.

That was enough to craft a Heart of Africa by hand.

But now, even after looting two Million-Value Room Cards, he'd only managed to scrape together six million.

The reason was that he couldn't loot attachments.

An AW was worth a million, an MK47 Ember Barrel was worth 400,000, and an M7 Typhoon Barrel was worth 200,000.

In the high-pressure matches Zhang Yang liked best, how many times had he cleared the map and walked away with five AWs and six barrels?

Then, after skimming off the bullets and counting the small red and gold items, a nearly pristine Liu Tao Fake Account was worth a Heart of Africa all by itself.

Of course, don't ask how much he'd lost in the process.

Wear and tear were things of the past. The pros only cared about the profits.

After transferring all the loot from the match into his warehouse, Zhang Yang's consciousness returned to the real world.

A pale blue interface appeared before Zhang Yang.

9>>>10

422EXP↑

14348/18000

He was only 3,700 experience points away from leveling up.

He closed the experience interface, opened the Collection Room, and removed the gold bar inside, returning it to his warehouse.

Then Zhang Yang opened the [Season Mission] interface and tapped the [Collector] page.

On the [Collector] page, he'd already submitted the other four easy-to-find small red items. Only the gold bar entry still showed (0/3).

The two gold bars the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Master had given him, plus the one from the Collection Room, were just enough to complete the [Collector] mission.

Once he submitted the gold bars, the [Collector] mission was finally complete.

"Congratulations, you received [Mechanical Worker Bee Model*9]."

"Congratulations, you completed the [Season Mission] and received [Current Season 3*3 Secure Case Usage Voucher]*1."

"Would you like to use and equip the 3*3 Secure Case now?"

[Current Season 3*3 Secure Case Usage Voucher]: Use this to obtain a 3*3 Secure Case, usable only during the current season. It will expire when the season ends.

Seeing this, Zhang Yang cursed, furious. "Damn system! The season's about to end, and you make me finish the 3*3 mission now? Where were you earlier?"

Indeed, Zhang Yang was only a few thousand experience points away from level 10, so there was no need to use this voucher anymore.

"I'll keep it. Might as well treat it as a special collectible."

He sighed again. Without looking into the conditions for using the [Current Season 3*3 Secure Case Usage Voucher], Zhang Yang closed the interface, sorted his gear, and entered the game again.

At half past eleven that night, Zhang Yang, having successfully extracted, took a sip of water and steadied himself.

Fifteen hours straight—thirty hours of in-game time. This intense grind had left Zhang Yang mentally drained.

Fortunately, once he entered a match, a single shot of "Combat Stimulant" could temporarily sharpen his focus.

He gathered his wits and entered another match.

GTI Commander: "Confidential Academy is fraught with danger. Proceed with caution."

He spawned at Position One and hurriedly changed into the "Heding City Academy Uniform" from his backpack, ready to charge into the Administration Building.

Then he heard the GTI Commander's voice: "A Mandel Brick and Decryption Device have been found. Bring them back at all costs."

Zhang Yang was still a little dazed, but at the words "Mandel Brick," he hurriedly opened his personal terminal to search for it.

Since a brick had spawned in this match, he'd have to put off his plan to enter the Administration Building.

He changed back into his level-two armor, then injected himself with a "Physical Enhancement Agent," a "Perception Enhancement Agent," and an "M2 Muscle Injection," followed by a "Combat Stimulant." He shook his head, and his mind cleared considerably.

With the M14 in his hands, Soul Power surged as its magazine quickly filled with bullets. Zhang Yang kept moving, heading straight for the new spawn point.

The Mandel Brick had spawned in the Commercial Street this match, while the Decryption Stations were at two locations: the road in front of the Academy's Administration Building and the lobby of a hotel on Hotel Street.

As for what rewards came from decrypting a Mandel Brick, Zhang Yang still only had a vague idea.

Before this, Zhang Yang had encountered four matches with a brick spawn, and he'd decrypted them all.

After all, Lord M14's strength was still ridiculously overpowered at this stage.

But the decryption rewards from those bricks had left Zhang Yang baffled.

They were: "M14 Attribute Conversion Card Fragment (Ice)*1," "Spirit Bone Skill Compatibility Card Fragment*1," "Spirit Bone Realm Promotion Card Fragment*1," and "Ring Detonation Recovery Card Fragment*1."

Four fragments, each unrelated to the others. Just looking at them gave Zhang Yang a headache.

Still, after studying them carefully, Zhang Yang had managed to work out a little about how they worked.

The items inside Mandel Bricks were all things that ordinarily required extremely rare natural treasures to accomplish.

Take the "M14 Attribute Conversion Card," for example. It was a lot like Tang San's Blue Silver Grass gaining "ice immunity" or "fire immunity." The only difference was that one dealt elemental damage while the other granted immunity to elemental attacks.

To give his Blue Silver Grass "ice immunity" and "fire immunity," Tang San had not only consumed the two immortal herbs, the "Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass" and "Infernal Delicate Apricot," but had also undergone tempering in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Zhang Yang only needed to decrypt a certain number of Mandel Bricks and gather enough fragments.

The problem was that, at his current level, the chance of a brick spawning in his matches was too low.

He wondered whether the spawn rate would increase once he reached higher-level maps.

As he dwelled on this and that, the GTI Commander spoke again.

"The enemy has taken the Mandel Brick. Hurry, find and stop them."

"Someone took the brick?"

Zhang Yang quickly opened the map and saw that the Mandel Brick was indeed on the move.

"If someone's got the brick, there's no need to rush."

Remembering how badly things had gone the last time he'd chased a brick and run straight into four squads, Zhang Yang made up his mind.

This time, he'd just sit back and let others fight.

Ten minutes later, another announcement sounded in his ear.

"The enemy has taken the Mandel Brick. Hurry, find and stop them."

At the sound, Zhang Yang released the Bot Loot Box from his mouth, hurriedly opened the map, and marked the brick's current location.

Now he could be sure there was a squad's loot box there.

He could go over later and pick through the leftovers.

After changing hands, the Mandel Brick stayed put for two minutes before heading straight for Hotel Street.

A very sensible choice.

The Decryption Station on Hotel Street had spawned indoors. As the defending team, the brick carriers could hide inside and catch the attackers off guard.

However, close-quarters combat indoors would negate Zhang Yang's advantage in range, so he couldn't let the Mandel Brick get inserted into the Decryption Station on Hotel Street.

If he waited longer, two more squads chasing the brick might get wiped out, but Zhang Yang couldn't wait any longer.

It was time to make his move.

Cutting diagonally from the Commercial Street entrance and taking a shortcut, Zhang Yang reached the route the brick carriers had to take to the Decryption Station in just three minutes.

On a rooftop beside Hotel Street, Zhang Yang crouched behind a sign, keeping hidden as he stared at the Mandel Brick's location on the map.

"At this speed, they must be pretty badly hurt."

Zhang Yang analyzed the situation.

When he saw that the Mandel Brick had entered the main road on Hotel Street, Zhang Yang closed the map and cautiously peered out.

At the far end of his vision, a squad of three appeared, moving awkwardly.

As they advanced, their eyes swept back and forth over the surrounding buildings, brimming with vigilance.

But soon, they halted, all turning to look in Zhang Yang's direction.

The two sides were now a hundred meters apart.

That was the range at which the Mandel Brick gave a "slightly wary" warning.

"Careful. The Soul Tool—the Mandel Brick—has given a warning. Someone's nearby."

The frail support-type Soul Master called out to alert the others.

"How far away?"

"I'm not sure, but the warning was very faint. They should be within sight, around a hundred meters."

"About a hundred meters? Got it."