Soul Snatch: Eight Out of Nine!

Xiao Jing's hair stood on end, and his heart gave a violent jolt.

He instinctively held his breath, freezing in place.

The other man's gaze was fixed straight ahead, as if he were looking directly at him.

A few seconds later.

The man's gaze shifted away from Xiao Jing's direction.

He began scanning the ruins around him.

Then he turned back and faced the elite Scorpion again.

Only then did Xiao Jing slowly let out the breath he had been holding.

Fuck!

That scared the hell out of me.

He hurriedly checked his status panel.

[Shadowmeld: Active.]

No problem.

The skill was active.

There was no way the other man could see him.

That guy had just reacted on instinct.

This was far from the first time Xiao Jing had encountered something like this.

Some highly sensitive Awakened

could vaguely sense the location of invisible people, though they could not see them.

This pauper was the same.

He could sense him, but he could not confirm it.

However...

Xiao Jing's expression turned serious.

Old Li was right.

This kid was no ordinary person.

In that case, he definitely could not give him time to react.

Xiao Jing drew his dagger.

He began circling around to Gan Ming's rear.

But after taking only two steps, Xiao Jing suddenly froze.

Just now... what number had I counted to?

Gan Ming's sudden turn had completely broken his concentration.

The number he had been counting vanished from his mind.

A hundred and something?

He only remembered getting past a hundred.

But Old Wang had said three hundred.

That meant Old Li and the other two had not yet gotten into position.

Fuck, what hundred-something was it again?

Xiao Jing clenched his teeth anxiously.

If his counting mistake threw off the timing and caused Old Li's group to expose themselves early...

No!

He could not wait any longer.

He stared at Gan Ming's back as Gan Ming focused entirely on the elite Scorpion.

His grip tightened around the dagger.

Screw it. I'll go in directly and drive a Backstab through his heart!

As long as this strike landed, that poor bastard would be finished on the spot!

Then Old Li and the others could come over and clean up the body.

With that thought, Xiao Jing raised the dagger in his right hand and began speeding toward Gan Ming's back.

But just as Xiao Jing was about to activate Shadowstep.

Gan Ming suddenly spun around and faced him directly.

Those eyes stared straight at him.

Xiao Jing's pupils contracted.

He instinctively checked his status panel again.

[Shadowmeld: Active.]

It was still active!

He was still invisible!

There was no way the other man could see him!

Yet Gan Ming had already raised his sword and charged at him.

"Fuck!"

Xiao Jing had no time to think.

Driven by instinct, he immediately activated Shadowstep.

Whoosh!

In an instant, he shifted to directly behind Gan Ming.

Less than a meter away.

He raised his dagger. Backstab!

Xiao Jing poured all his strength into his right arm and thrust the dagger at Gan Ming's heart from behind.

Then...

The dagger tip stabbed into empty air.

The attack missed, and Shadowmeld was canceled.

Xiao Jing's figure was exposed along with his attack.

He froze on the spot.

What...

How had he missed?

He looked up and discovered that Gan Ming had already run more than ten meters away.

Yes, the instant Gan Ming had prepared to strike, he had activated [Swift Dash] and burst forward.

And after Xiao Jing activated Shadowstep, the coordinates he teleported to were behind where Gan Ming had been at that moment.

But Gan Ming himself was no longer there.

Xiao Jing understood instantly.

He turned around decisively and tried to flee...

However, a boar phantom had already condensed in front of Gan Ming.

[Ambush]!

Combined with Swift Dash.

The speed of the two movement skills stacked together.

Xiao Jing only saw a gray boar phantom slam toward him at an utterly unreasonable speed.

In that instant, only one thought flashed through his mind.

Is that... an Iron Bristle Wild Boar?

Bang!

The boar-shaped phantom slammed head-on into Xiao Jing's chest.

-224!

Pfft!

Xiao Jing was sent flying backward through the air, spitting out blood.

Bang!

His back smashed into a pile of rubble three meters away, and it felt as though his organs were shaking apart.

[Target struck by "Ambush +6," stunned for 2.5 seconds.]

The moment Gan Ming landed, he raised his sword and chopped down.

The dagger wielder wore excellent-quality light armor.

Its defense definitely would not be very high.

Besides, he was an assassin.

His health would not be high either.

Gan Ming locked his gaze onto Xiao Jing's neck.

There was no armor there.

First strike!

The blade of the Steel-Edge Sword slashed across Xiao Jing's neck from right to left.

-189!

Weakness hit.

The neck was an unprotected area, increasing damage by 150%.

Second strike!

He drew the sword back in a reverse slash across the same spot.

-201!

Flesh split apart.

Blood gushed out.

Third strike!

Fanged Charge triggered!

A surge of brute force flooded through his sword arm.

Following the wound carved open by the first two strikes, this slash buried the entire blade into the neck bone.

-427!

Pfft!

The head separated from the body!

A pillar of blood sprayed from the severed neck.

From the Ambush landing to the beheading, less than three seconds had passed.

Gan Ming grabbed the head before it could roll away.

Soul Snatch!

[Soul Snatch successful!]

[Innate talent acquired: Shadowmeld (Greatly reduces one's presence upon activation. Makes no sound while moving. Lasts until manually canceled or an attack is launched. Cooldown: 20 seconds. Mana Cost: 15.)]

[Specialization skill acquired: Dagger Mastery (When equipped with dagger-type weapons: Attack Speed +25%, Critical Hit Rate +15%, Damage from attacks behind the target +30%.)]

[Specialization skill acquired: Shadowstep (Instantly shifts a short distance to behind the target. Cooldown: 12 seconds. Mana Cost: 12.)]

[Skill acquired: Backstab (Launches an attack from behind the target, dealing 200% physical damage. Can only be cast while behind the target. Cooldown: 15 seconds. Mana Cost: 14.)]

[Skill acquired: Sprint (Greatly increases movement speed for 6 seconds. Cooldown: 15 seconds. Mana Cost: 8.)]

[Skill acquired: Physical Enhancement (Increases maximum health by 50 points and base physical attack by 5%.)]

[Skill acquired: Weakness Perception (Critical Hit Rate +5%, Critical Hit Damage +10%.)]

[Skill acquired: Wound Treatment (Cast on yourself or an allied target to restore a certain amount of health over 10 seconds. Cooldown: 20 seconds. Mana Cost: 10.)]

[Skill acquired: Danger Sense (Briefly senses targets within 30 meters that harbor hostility or intend to attack you. Lasts 10 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Mana Cost: 6.)]

Gan Ming stared at the long string of notifications before him.

Fuck?

Eight out of nine?

Two specialization skills and one innate talent—all acquired!

Awesome!

This was more profitable than killing Scorpions for an entire day!

Gan Ming did not have time to inspect them closely.

He stuffed Xiao Jing's head and headless corpse into the ring.

Clatter.

Three rings rolled onto the ground.

A Storage Ring could not be placed inside another Storage Ring.

He had known that rule already.

Gan Ming casually picked them up.

Just then.

Urgent footsteps came from behind the ruins of the building to the west.

It was the other three.

Gan Ming did not hesitate. He turned and ran deeper into the ruins to the southeast.

At the same time, he opened the Soul Snatch interface.

[Rotten Root Entanglement] unequipped.

[Shadowmeld], activated.

The instant the replacement finished, cast directly!

Hum!

Gan Ming's figure rapidly faded in the sunlight, becoming transparent, and ultimately vanishing entirely.

He simply evaporated into thin air among the ruins.

Five seconds later.

Old Li, Old Wang, and Xiao Tong rushed out from the breach in the western building.

Yet what they saw was only a Red-armored Elite Giant Scorpion crouching in place.

On the gravel ground lay a large pool of fresh human blood.

Old Li stared at that pool of blood on the ground, his pupils contracting violently.

"Where is Xiao Jing?"