Reddened

Upon confirming it was a bot, Zhang Yang finally set his mind at ease.

Channeling soul power into Lord M14 in his hands, Zhang Yang raised the rifle and aimed, the tip of the sight resting steadily on the bot's forehead.

"I'm taking you down!"

Seeing Zhang Yang standing there in such a strange posture, the young man roared, a flash of light appearing in his hand as a plain, unadorned wooden staff materialized.

He gripped the long staff with both hands, raised his arms high, and charged straight toward Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang remained completely unfazed, holding the rifle steady as soul power shimmered faintly around Lord M14.

When the bot was only about five meters away, a single "bang" rang out.

It was as if he had been struck head-on by a speeding truck; the bot's forward momentum halted instantly, his head snapped back, and he crashed heavily to the ground.

The next moment, the young man's corpse vanished, and a bot crate appeared in its place.

Zhang Yang let out a long sigh of relief and reached out to open the crate.

First row, Martial Soul: "Long Staff", "None".

Second row, Helmet: "None", Armor: "None".

Third row, Chest Rig: None.

Fourth row, Pockets, five slots in total, the first three of which were refreshing.

White, Elastic Bandage, value 1046.

White, Primary Recovery Potion, value 1589.

Green, Small Medicine Bottle, value 2649.

Fifth row, Backpack: Waist Pack (White).

Within the 2*3 grid of the backpack, a shadow occupying four slots quickly refreshed.

Blue, Local Fashion Weekly, value 17317.

On the cover, a beautiful woman dressed in sheer silk gave a seductive look that made one's blood boil.

Oh my, a sister-in-law's magazine? Not bad.

Zhang Yang hurriedly packed everything up; his total profit for the match had instantly broken 40k, reaching 40863.

To pull a four-slot big blue item right off the bat—what an unprecedentedly wonderful start.

After looting the bot's crate, Zhang Yang didn't linger outside for long and immediately entered the most prominent main office building.

The main office building had five floors in total, and upon entering, one was greeted by a three-story high atrium with a stone fountain in the center.

"Tsk, an indoor fountain. Nice design."

Zhang Yang thought to himself, his footsteps never faltering as he climbed onto the meter-high platform at the base of the fountain and quickly circled it.

Zhang Yang was checking the fountain platform to see if any open-air items had spawned.

Anyone who has played Delta knows that on the fountain on the first floor of the Bakshi bathhouse, there is a spawn point for the Heart of Africa.

Therefore, the indoor fountain was a spot Zhang Yang had to check.

Determining that nothing had spawned on the fountain platform, Zhang Yang felt no regret; he leaped off the platform and charged toward the other rooms on the first floor.

As an office building for a soul master academy, there were naturally many doors, but Zhang Yang moved quickly; if a door didn't open on the first try, he didn't waste time and headed straight for the next one.

Soon, Zhang Yang reached the third floor.

Emerging from the stairwell corner, a faint movement in the hallway made Zhang Yang pause his steps.

Zhang Yang reached the corner and peeked outside.

A frail-looking middle-aged man stood there, a horizontal blade in his hand gleaming with a cold, sharp light.

Someone was blocking the way.

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and didn't charge out blindly; instead, hiding behind the corner, he extended Lord M14 and aimed at the bot's head.

"Bang!"

The thunderous gunshot echoed through the silent corridor; the bot in the hallway fell backward onto the floor, his head lolling to the side as he turned into a crate.

After looting the crate, Zhang Yang did a quick sweep of the third floor and then headed to the fourth.

On the fourth floor, above the fountain, was a massive academy honor room.

On the interior walls, a timeline spanned the left, front, and right walls.

The timeline detailed major events that had occurred at the Heding City Junior Soul Master Academy at various points in time.

This included, but was not limited to, which big shots had served as academy leaders, which big shots had entered the academy during that period to receive their soul master enlightenment, and what honors they had achieved in the future, and so on.

Below the timeline were rows of display cases containing historical artifacts that served as evidence for the aforementioned events.

Zhang Yang had absolutely no interest in the academy history on the walls; his gaze swept rapidly across the display stands.

Logically, these display cases should have spawned some good items worth picking up.

Sure enough, from 280 years ago in the academy's history, a Soul Emperor-level powerhouse had donated a Ceremonial Scepter they had received while serving in the Heaven Dou Royal Army.

On this display stand, the meter-long, jewel-encrusted scepter radiated a faint white light.

This was the mark of a lootable item.

Zhang Yang raised his M14 and smashed the glass display case with a single, violent strike of the buttstock, reaching in to tuck the Ceremonial Scepter Replica into his backpack.

"Purple, Ceremonial Scepter Replica, Value: 112,094"

Shattering a few more panes of glass, Zhang Yang fished out several more items from the display case and shoved them into his pack.

Once he had picked the place clean, Zhang Yang left the Academy Hall of Honor without a backward glance.

The large safe on the floor above was still waiting for him.

Fifth floor, Dean's Office.

After dealing with the guards at the entrance, Zhang Yang pushed open the door to the Dean's Office.

The interior decor was just as Zhang Yang had expected; the space was vast but not empty, with desks, chairs, bookshelves, greenery, files, materials, and instruments arranged in a tasteful, visually harmonious layout.

They don't call it the Dean's Office for nothing; it was leagues better than the staff offices downstairs.

There were plenty of things to scavenge in the room, but Zhang Yang's attention was immediately drawn to the coat rack by the door.

Hanging on the two-meter-tall vintage rack was a wool overcoat.

Surrounding the coat was a circle of interactive white light.

This discovery thrilled Zhang Yang; he had scoured the entire building, and this was the first piece of clothing he could actually touch.

Zhang Yang reached out, and a container search interface popped up. Within the 4x4 storage grid, there were two 1x1 shadows.

"Keycard! Give me a keycard!"

Zhang Yang whispered, his voice growing louder as the magnifying glass icon spun round and round.

The item in the first slot had been spinning for nearly three full rotations without revealing itself. What on earth could it be?

It was truly impossible to guess.

Zhang Yang immediately organized his backpack, discarding his two-slot Claw Hammer (White) to free up space, then moved a green apple from his safe into his pack to make room for the incoming keycard.

Just as the third rotation hit the halfway mark, he heard a "ding." A flash of purple light erupted, and a keycard was whisked into his safe before Zhang Yang could even see what it looked like.

His subconscious reflexes were too fast.

Zhang Yang shifted his gaze to his nine-slot safe, and the information popped up:

"Purple, Academy Restaurant Storage Room"

"Value: 522,647"

"Durability: 20/20"

"Usage Location: Heding City Academy - Academy Restaurant"

"A key used to unlock the Academy Restaurant Storage Room."

520k, a keycard.

"La, la, lalala, lalalalalala, the lonely person sings a sad song~~~"

Zhang Yang grinned, showing all his teeth. He had just started his little tune when he noticed that in the search interface, the magnifying glass over the second shadow was still spinning.

Are you kidding me? You've been spinning for ages, and you're still going?

Zhang Yang craned his neck, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the magnifying glass.

"Ding!"

A flash of red light streaked across the screen, and an antique golden pocket watch was revealed.

"Holy crap! Is this, is this even fair? The red item needed by the [Collector], and it dropped in the first round?"

Zhang Yang's hands moved with lightning speed, stowing the pocket watch into his safe before exiting the search interface.

As the interface closed, a golden pocket watch appeared in Zhang Yang's hand.

The surface of the watch was carved with intricate patterns, the crown and edges adorned with raised filigree. A long, thin, pure gold chain was coiled in his palm, feeling satisfyingly heavy.

He pressed the crown, and with a crisp "click," the protective cover sprang open to reveal a white watch face.

Roman numerals circled the dial, and the hour, minute, and second hands ticked away with precision.

Closing the cover, Zhang Yang tucked the watch into his pocket, and the inspection animation ended.

Zhang Yang reopened his personal interface, located the watch in his safe, and the information popped up.

"Red, Hunting Pocket Watch"

"Value: 217,444"

"Crafted Collection"

"0.33KG, 1x1 slot"

"A pocket watch with a protective cover, commonly seen during Soul Hunter soul-hunting activities, designed to protect the dial from damage."

"Red Collection Special Effect: Disrupts time-flow synchronization; extends the duration of in-game activities within soul-hunting maps."

Extends in-game activity time?

Good stuff!

He wouldn't rush to submit it to the [Collector] just yet; he'd keep it in his collection room to enjoy the effect first.