For the next few days, Li Wei wasn't troubled by Zhang Dequan again. Life went on as usual, back and forth between home and work, without a ripple. His outstanding performance at the budget analysis meeting didn't seem to earn the attention of the head office, as he'd imagined it would, and the beautiful assistant hadn't appeared again either.
Time slipped by uneventfully until the seventh day. When Li Wei saw the Yellow Paper appear for no apparent reason, he realized that the mandatory mission, which came around once every seven days, was about to begin.
It was hard to imagine what kind of power had created the Yellow Paper, or how it could transport someone to another dimension in an instant. In any case, after a brief spell of dizziness, Li Wei found himself in an unfamiliar place.
The room had a vaguely medieval European style and was about the size of a basketball court. Shields and longswords hung on walls made of wood and stone, and the air was filled with the fresh scent of herbs. Through the wooden casement windows, he could see a small medieval European town.
The loose T-shirt Li Wei had been wearing had been replaced by a fitted leather jacket, and beneath it he wore a white old-fashioned shirt. The material was ordinary, but the tailoring was clearly the work of a master.
Li Wei scanned the room, and his eyelid twitched.
He wasn't alone.
Two men and two women were in the room with him. They had evidently just recovered from the same dizziness and were looking around, but, strangely, no one spoke first.
Li Wei caught a familiar scent from them, along with a hint of danger.
Like him, they were Reincarnators from Shadow Street!
The five of them sized one another up. One of the women, tall and slender, spotted Li Wei standing by the window. Her eyes lit up, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of her lips as she walked over.
Li Wei immediately felt uncomfortable. The hairs on his body stood on end. His instincts alone told him that this woman walking toward him was definitely stronger than he was.
Much stronger!
"You?"
When he got a good look at her, Li Wei's mind buzzed. He'd only met her once, but her striking appearance had left a deep impression on him. It was the assistant, Zheng Yutong, whom he'd seen at the company a few days earlier.
Now she wore a fitted leather outfit like his, only hers was cut for a woman. The medieval armor accentuated her slender figure, especially the curves of her chest, which could drive any man wild.
But Li Wei knew all too well how terrifying she was.
"Number: 103, Half-Elf (Ranger), Basic Elven Enhancement bloodline, Strength 21, Agility 37, Mental Strength 10, Stamina 25; Skills: Magic Arrow LV5, Advanced Archery Mastery, Wind Walk LV3; Overall Rating: C3!"
Under Eye of Perception, all of her attributes appeared before Li Wei, leaving him deeply shaken. Her number, her attributes, and her skills were all far beyond his.
"I never thought I'd run into you here! Let's introduce ourselves properly. Zheng Yutong, Number 103!" She spoke with the same tone and carried herself the same way as she had in the real world, but her state of mind was entirely different.
As soon as she finished speaking, Li Wei heard the other three gasp. On Shadow Street, a person's number represented their strength. The lower the number, the earlier they'd entered Shadow Street—and naturally, the stronger they were.
"Li Wei, Number 1987. That outfit suits you!" Li Wei cracked a modest joke. The two of them, who hadn't known each other well before, now shared a knowing smile as if they were old friends.
Only they knew what that smile concealed.
"Damn it, this time it's a group mission? Fuck..." one of the other three muttered. He was a burly man, over two meters tall, with muscles that looked ready to burst through his clothes. He was clearly a Reincarnator who specialized in strength.
"Number: 348, Human (Powerhouse), Strength 30, Agility 9, Mental Strength 3, Stamina 29; Skills: Rakshasa Three Forms LV4, Qi Blast LV2, Primordial Origin Skill LV2; Overall Rating: C1."
Another seasoned powerhouse!
When the burly man saw that no one was paying attention to him, he said no more. He plopped down on the floor, summoned his Yellow Paper, and began checking the scenario information.
The other two, a man and a woman, watched Zheng Yutong and the burly man on the floor warily, clearly apprehensive. Li Wei glanced at them and understood why.
The middle-aged man wore gold-rimmed glasses. His number was 1627, and his four basic attributes were 7, 7, 6, and 39. His Stamina was abnormally high—ten points higher than the burly man's. Li Wei took one look at his special skills and understood.
He had T-Virus Enhancement and Cellular Regeneration LV2. So he was a defensive specialist.
As for the last woman, her number was 2045. Her four basic attributes were more or less average, and she had only one special skill, Slow Spell. There was nothing else remarkable about her. She was the weakest of the five.
Of course, Li Wei was the only one who knew all this, thanks to Eye of Perception.
Compared with the other two, Zheng Yutong and the burly man were clearly dangerous. Li Wei's instincts had been right. It was only natural. Five strangers had appeared in the same room, and anyone would be on guard.
Sometimes, placing your trust in someone was both difficult and dangerous.
Everyone who had gone through the initial trial clearly understood that. No one spoke, and the silence made the air in the room feel heavy. Suddenly, the burly man on the floor swore, got up, and ran outside.
Zheng Yutong was the first to react. She swiftly summoned her Yellow Paper and checked the mission. Her face paled in an instant.
Now, not only she but everyone in the room knew something was wrong with this mission.
Li Wei was quick, too. The moment he read the scenario and mission on the Yellow Paper, his heart lurched.
"Scenario: Heroes of Might and Magic; C-Rank scenario; The Fall of Dawn City... A border town of the human kingdom is about to fall under the attack of the evil Undead Necromancer Sand. Terrifying, immortal undead will soon engulf this once-bright city. Mission One: Survive the Undead Army's attack, reward: 500 points; Mission Two: Kill the undead. First-level units: 50 points per kill; second-level units: 100 points per kill; third-level units: 200 points per kill. Time until mission begins: 10 seconds... 9 seconds... 8 seconds..."
"Fuck, no way!"
Before Li Wei could curse aloud, the urgent tolling of bells rang throughout Dawn City. The town, which had seemed to be asleep, sprang to life in an instant.
Through the open doorway, they could clearly see Crusader Swordsmen in bright silver armor rushing toward the city walls. Crossbowmen wearing leather and chainmail had already lined the walls, standing ready.
Shouts and the clatter of weapons against armor rang out everywhere.
"Mission start!"
As the countdown ended, Li Wei felt danger coming from overhead.
"Run! It's dangerous here!"
Amid the chaos, he had barely run out of the room when a tremendous crash sounded beside him. Shattered stones flew everywhere, and a powerful shock wave flung him through the air.
Even Li Wei, whose body had been enhanced, landed dazed and disoriented. Dust filled the air, making it impossible to see what was around him. His arm burned, and he felt a chill against his skin. He was clearly hurt.
The violent shaking lasted for a few seconds, then subsided. Through the haze, Li Wei saw that the building he'd been in had been reduced to rubble. The cause was a boulder over three meters in diameter, clearly hurled from outside the city by some kind of siege weapon.
"A catapult!" Li Wei said, his expression grave.
"Hey, are you okay?" a voice came from behind him. He turned and saw someone he knew well.
Zheng Yutong looked much more composed than Li Wei. That was no surprise; with her Agility of 37, she could naturally use Wind Walk to get herself to safety the instant the boulder hit the building. But Li Wei no longer dared to think of her as an "acquaintance."
Everyone who came from Shadow Street knew one thing: only your own life mattered most. At the critical moment, taking him along would inevitably slow her down, so there'd be no reason to risk herself for him.
That must be what she thought, right?
"I'm fine. What about the others?" Li Wei got to his feet and brushed the dust off himself.
"One dead, one injured." Zheng Yutong's tone was utterly calm, as if she were talking about something insignificant.
Following her gaze, Li Wei saw the injured woman first. A stone slab had pinned her lower leg. She was the one with Slow Spell. Her forehead was slick with sweat, and her lower leg was covered in blood. She was clearly badly hurt.
The dead person must have been the middle-aged man with the gold-rimmed glasses. He was buried beneath the rubble.
"If you want to live, follow me and leave now!" Zheng Yutong said, looking toward the nearby city walls, where chaos had broken out and screams rang without pause.
The Yellow Paper had made it clear: the town would fall. The Crusaders and crossbowmen defending it had no chance of holding off the Undead Army.
When the trapped woman heard Zheng Yutong, her face turned ashen. If she were left behind, she was as good as dead.
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up!" Zheng Yutong stopped in surprise when she saw that Li Wei hadn't followed her.
But Li Wei had gone over to the injured woman. He reached out and lifted the stone slab pinning her down. His Strength was 9, twice that of an adult man, so it didn't take much effort.
Once free of the slab, the injured woman gave Li Wei a grateful look. But when she tried to stand, she discovered to her despair that her injury had left her unable to move. The slab's sharp edge had cut through the muscles in her lower leg, and she couldn't stand at all.
"Come on. She's beyond saving!" Zheng Yutong was a little surprised by Li Wei's actions. As far as she was concerned, the woman had nothing to do with them. There was no need to waste time escaping for someone who meant nothing to them.
Time was clearly precious. Once the Undead Army outside the city entered the town, breaking through would be much harder.
Li Wei said nothing. He flipped his hand, and an old-fashioned bottle appeared in it.
Zheng Yutong's eyes lit up. Was that Golden Sore Medicine?
As soon as the pungent white powder was spread over the injured woman's smooth lower leg, the wound began healing at a visible pace. Before long, the bleeding had stopped.
"Thank you! My name is Bai Jie. Thank you so much!" The injured woman got to her feet, too overcome to speak coherently.
"What a waste," Zheng Yutong thought, shaking her head to herself. As a veteran, she knew the value of the bottle of Golden Trauma Medicine in Li Wei's hand. Though it was worth only a few dozen points if directly exchanged, it could fetch more than ten times that much on Shadow Street. Restorative medicine was extremely scarce and always in demand. Even she had only a few low-level healing items.
And this man had something like Golden Sore Medicine?
Zheng Yutong began to reassess the man before her. To be honest, the first time she'd met Li Wei, she'd felt something familiar about him, but that was all. Later, at the meeting, he'd spoken with poise and clarity, displaying obvious leadership qualities. An ordinary girl might have fallen for him.
But Zheng Yutong wasn't an ordinary girl. Back then, to her, he'd been nothing more than an ordinary person.
Now she'd run into him again in this Reincarnation World, and only then did she understand where that sense of familiarity had come from. But she still didn't think much of his strength. His Number 1987 made it obvious: he was a complete rookie.
Rookies had no experience. They liked to let their feelings guide them. If it were her, she'd never use such precious medicine on a useless woman like that.
On Shadow Street, do-gooders like this tended to die the fastest. This mission was C-Rank, and rookies whose overall ratings fell below C-Rank had less than a one-percent chance of surviving to the end.
She'd be better off leaving on her own. At a time like this, traveling alone was far better than dragging two deadweights along. Perhaps the burly man, another veteran, had thought the same thing.
No one noticed a giant black-and-gray bat flying over from the city walls, like a death god in flight, baring its sharp fangs.
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