New Mission, Untrustworthy Teammates

Over the next few days, Li Wei was no longer harassed by Zhang Dequan. Life continued as usual, a monotonous commute between home and work without a ripple. His outstanding performance at the budget analysis meeting did not seem to have garnered the attention from headquarters that he had imagined, and that beautiful assistant had not appeared again.

Time slipped away in that dull routine until the seventh day. It was only when Li Wei saw the Yellow Paper appear for no reason that he realized the mandatory seven-day mission was about to begin.

It was hard to imagine what kind of power created that Yellow Paper, allowing a person to be instantly transported to another space. In any case, after a brief moment of dizziness, Li Wei arrived in a strange place.

This was a room with a somewhat medieval style, easily the size of a basketball court. The walls, constructed of wood and stone, were hung with many shields and longswords. The air was filled with the fresh scent of herbs. Looking out through the wooden rotating windows, a small town in the style of the European Middle Ages came into view.

As for Li Wei, his loose T-shirt had been replaced by a form-fitting leather jacket, and his undershirt was a white vintage-style shirt. Although the materials were ordinary, the craftsmanship was clearly the work of a master.

Scanning the room, Li Wei's eyelids twitched involuntarily.

He was not the only one in the room.

Besides him, there were two men and two women who had clearly just recovered from the dizziness. They were looking around, but surprisingly, no one spoke first.

Li Wei caught a familiar scent from these people, and beyond that, the scent of danger.

Like him, these people were Reincarnators from 'Shadow Street'!

The five of them sized each other up. One tall woman spotted Li Wei standing by the window; her eyes lit up, a smile appeared on her lips, and she walked over.

Li Wei immediately felt an uncomfortable sensation, and the hair on his skin stood on end. By intuition alone, he knew that this woman walking toward him was definitely stronger than he was.

Moreover, far stronger!

"It's you?"

After seeing the woman's face clearly, Li Wei's mind buzzed. Although he had only seen her once, her striking appearance had left a deep impression on him. It was actually the assistant, Zheng Yutong, whom he had seen at the company a few days ago.

At this moment, she was dressed in a form-fitting leather outfit, just like him, the only difference being that hers was a woman's cut. This medieval military attire accentuated her slender figure even more gracefully, especially the curves of her chest, which could drive any man to madness.

However, Li Wei knew clearly how terrifying she was.

"ID: 103, Half-Elf (Ranger), Primary Elf Bloodline Enhancement, Strength 21, Agility 37, Spirit 10, Stamina 25; Skills: Magic Arrow LV5, Advanced Archery Mastery, Wind Walk LV3; Overall Rating: C3!"

Under the Eye of Perception, the opponent's attributes appeared before Li Wei without omission. Whether it was her ID or her attributes and skills, Li Wei was deeply shocked.

"I didn't expect to meet you here! Let's reintroduce ourselves: Zheng Yutong, ID 103!" Her tone and posture were the same as in the real world, but her state of mind was completely different.

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Wei could clearly hear the other three gasp. On Shadow Street, the ID represented a person's strength; the lower the number, the earlier one had entered Shadow Street, and naturally, the stronger they were.

"Li Wei, ID 1987. This outfit suits you well!" Li Wei made a small joke. The two, who were not familiar with each other, now shared a knowing smile like old friends.

Yet, only the parties involved knew what that smile truly contained.

"Bad luck, it's a multi-player mission this time, damn it..." The burliest man among the other three grunted. From his height of over two meters and the robust muscles that seemed ready to burst through his clothes, it was clear he was a Reincarnator who excelled in strength.

ID: 348, Human (Warrior), Strength 30, Agility 9, Spirit 3, Stamina 29; Skills: Rakshasa Three Forms LV4, Qi Blast LV2, Primordial Origin Skill LV2; Overall Rating: C1.

He was also a veteran powerhouse!

Seeing that no one paid him any mind, the burly man stopped talking, sat down on the floor, and pulled up his 'Yellow Paper' to check the scenario information.

The other two, a man and a woman, also looked at Zheng Yutong and the burly man on the floor with wary eyes, clearly feeling very intimidated. Li Wei looked at the two and understood why.

The middle-aged man wore gold-rimmed glasses, ID 1627. His four basic attributes were 7, 7, 6, and 39. His stamina was exceptionally high, actually 10 points higher than the burly man's. Looking at his special skills, Li Wei understood.

It was 'T-Virus Enhancement' and 'Cellular Regeneration LV2'. He was a guy who excelled in defense.

As for the last woman, ID 2045, her four basic attributes were basically the same as a normal person's, and she only had one special skill, 'Slow Spell'. Other than that, there was nothing remarkable about her; she was the weakest of the five.

Of course, only Li Wei, who possessed the 'Eye of Perception', knew these things.

Compared to these two, Zheng Yutong and the burly man were clearly very dangerous existences, just as he had sensed. This was human nature; in this place, five strangers appearing in one room would make anyone cautious.

Sometimes, easy trust is a very difficult and dangerous thing.

Clearly, everyone who had gone through the initial trial knew this, so no one spoke. The silence made the air in the room feel somewhat congealed. Suddenly, the burly man on the floor cursed and jumped up to run outside.

Zheng Yutong was the first to react. She skillfully pulled up her 'Yellow Paper' to check the mission, and her face turned pale in an instant.

Now, not only her, but everyone in the room knew that there was a problem with this 'mission'.

Li Wei was not slow either. When he saw the scenario and mission on the Yellow Paper, his heart trembled.

"Scenario: Heroes of Might and Magic; C-Rank Scenario; The Fall of Dawn City... The border town of the human kingdom is about to fall under the attack of the evil Undead Necromancer Sand. Terrifying undead will shroud this once-bright city. Mission 1: Survive the attack of the undead army, reward 500 points; Mission 2: Kill the undead. Killing a Tier 1 unit rewards 50 points, Tier 2 unit 100 points, Tier 3 unit 200 points; 10 seconds until the mission begins... 9 seconds... 8 seconds..."

"Damn it, no way!"

Before Li Wei could finish cursing, urgent bells rang throughout Dawn City, and the town, which had seemed to be sleeping, instantly became bustling.

From the open gates, one could clearly see many Crusader Swordsmen in bright silver armor running toward the city walls, while crossbowmen wearing leather and chainmail were already standing in rows on the walls, waiting in full battle array.

For a moment, there were shouts and the sound of weapons rubbing against armor everywhere.

"Mission start!"

As the countdown ended, Li Wei felt a sense of danger coming from above almost instantly.

"Run, it's dangerous here!"

In the chaos, just as he ran out of the room, he heard a huge sound from beside his ear, followed by splashing rubble and intense vibration. An unknown impact threw Li Wei out entirely.

Even with Li Wei's enhanced body, he was left dizzy and disoriented. The sky full of dust made it impossible for him to see his surroundings. His arm burned with pain, and he could feel a chill; he had clearly been injured.

The intense vibration lasted for a few seconds before subsiding. Through the smoke and dust, Li Wei saw that the building he had originally been in had now turned into a pile of rubble. The cause of this was a boulder over 3 meters in diameter, clearly thrown from outside the city by some kind of siege weapon.

"It's a catapult!" Li Wei's expression grew heavy.

"Hey, are you alright?" A voice rang out from behind him. He turned to see an old acquaintance.

Zheng Yutong appeared far more composed than Li Wei. This was hardly surprising; with her agility attribute as high as 37 points, she could naturally use that 'Wind Walk' to escape to a safe area the moment a boulder struck a building. Yet, Li Wei no longer dared to consider this woman his 'acquaintance.'

Those who came out of Shadow Street all understood one thing: only one's own life was of paramount importance. At that critical moment, if she had brought him along, her speed would inevitably have been reduced, so it wasn't worth risking her life for him.

That was likely what she had been thinking, wasn't it?

"I'm fine. What about the others?" Li Wei climbed up from the ground and brushed the dust off his body.

"One dead, one injured." Zheng Yutong's tone held no ripples, as if she were speaking of a trivial matter.

Following her gaze, Li Wei first saw a woman whose lower leg was pinned by a stone slab. It was the woman who knew the 'Slow Spell.' She was covered in cold sweat, her calf stained with blood; she was clearly severely wounded.

As for the person who had died, it must have been the middle-aged man with the gold-rimmed glasses, who was now crushed beneath that pile of rubble.

"If you want to live, follow me and leave this place immediately!" Zheng Yutong looked toward the city wall in the distance, where chaos had already erupted and screams were incessant.

The Yellow Paper had made it clear: this town would 'fall.' Those Crusaders and crossbowmen defenders would never be able to hold back the Undead army's assault.

The woman pinned by the stone, upon hearing Zheng Yutong's words, turned ashen. If she were left here alone, she would surely die.

"What are you standing there for? Let's go!" Seeing that Li Wei wasn't following her, Zheng Yutong stopped, looking somewhat surprised.

At this moment, Li Wei walked over to the injured woman and reached out to lift the stone slab pinning her. His strength attribute had reached 9 points—a full twice that of an average adult male—so it wasn't particularly strenuous.

Freed from the constraints of the slab, the injured woman cast a look of gratitude at Li Wei. However, when she tried to stand, she discovered with despair that the injury caused by the slab had cost her her 'mobility.' The sharp edge of the stone had sliced through her calf muscle, making it impossible for her to stand.

"Let's go, she's beyond saving!" Zheng Yutong was somewhat surprised by Li Wei's actions. In her view, the woman on the ground had nothing to do with her; there was no need to waste time escaping for the sake of such an irrelevant person.

Time was clearly precious now. Once the Undead army outside the city entered the town, breaking through the encirclement would no longer be an easy task.

Li Wei didn't speak. With a flip of his hand, an antique-looking bottle appeared in his palm.

Zheng Yutong's eyes lit up. Was that 'Golden Sore Medicine'?

As the white powder, which emitted a pungent medicinal scent, was applied to the injured woman's smooth calf, the wound began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. Before long, the bleeding had stopped.

"Thank you! My name is Bai Jie, thank you so much!" The injured woman, now too excited to speak coherently, stood up from the ground.

"What a waste." Zheng Yutong shook her head inwardly. As a veteran, she knew full well the value of the bottle of Golden Sore Medicine in Li Wei's hand. While it only exchanged for a few dozen points directly, its value would multiply tenfold if sold on Shadow Street. The reason was that restorative medicines were extremely scarce and always in high demand; even she only possessed some low-grade recovery items.

And this man actually had something like Golden Sore Medicine?

Zheng Yutong began to re-evaluate the man before her. To be honest, when she first saw Li Wei, she felt a sense of familiarity, but that was all. During the subsequent meeting, his eloquent speech and clear logic had shown a natural air of leadership; an ordinary girl might have been infatuated with him.

However, Zheng Yutong was not. At the time, this man was, in her eyes, merely a mortal.

Now, seeing him again in this reincarnation world, she suddenly realized the source of that familiarity. Yet, she did not think highly of his strength, for his ID, 1987, clearly marked him as an out-and-out newcomer.

Newcomers lacked experience and were prone to acting on emotion. If it were her, she would never have used such precious medicine on a woman as useless as that.

On Shadow Street, such bleeding hearts were usually the first to die. This mission was C-Rank; the chances of a rookie with a comprehensive rating below C-Rank surviving until the end of the mission were less than 1%.

She should just leave on her own. At a time like this, acting alone was definitely better than carrying two burdens. Perhaps the burly man who was also a veteran had thought the same.

No one noticed a black-gray Giant Bat flying over from the direction of the city wall, like a flying grim reaper, baring its sharp fangs.