Obtaining a title

Yin Chao was startled by the system's sudden notification.

He was a little dazed and repeated under his breath, "The title Child of the Evil God? What's that?"

[Titles are blessings bestowed upon each player by the Lord God. Different titles grant different abilities.]

This was the first time the system had ever answered Yin Chao. He continued, "Then what abilities does the title Child of the Evil God grant?"

[The system cannot detect them...]

Even the system doesn't know?

Yin Chao felt lost.

Did I get this title because of Yin Rui? Is she really an evil god?

The game world was created by the Lord God, so the system must be a creation of the Lord God, too.

Is that why the system doesn't know what abilities the Child of the Evil God has?

Just like the Myriad People Umbrella. Yin Rui left that to me, and the system couldn't detect its properties either.

Yin Chao suddenly felt uneasy. Child of the Evil God sounded like a villain's title. He had better keep it hidden if he could.

Anna couldn't hear the system's voice. All she saw was Yin Chao standing motionless in front of the door, as if his soul had left his body.

She tilted her head and tugged at the hem of his shirt. "When, go out?"

Only then did Yin Chao snap out of it. "Let's go."

With their unusual appearances, Anna and Yin Chao turned plenty of heads as they walked down the street. People kept glancing their way.

They had barely reached the supermarket entrance when someone blocked their path.

"Y-Yin Chao?"

The girl blocking their way called out timidly.

Yin Chao looked down and realized she was the girl with straight bangs from the game.

His pupils contracted slightly as a bad feeling crept over him.

[Ding. Player: Bai Yu. Level: 3.

Health: 200. Stamina: 90. Mental power: 60. Intelligence: 70.]

"Bai... Yu?"

Yin Chao could hardly believe the system's notification, so he repeated the name, unwilling to accept it.

Bai Yu's pale face flushed bright red. She nodded and asked quietly, "You weren't hurt, were you? I heard Mo Nan sent people after you."

Yin Chao shook his head, but inwardly, he was stunned. The name the system had given him was correct.

"Bai Yu, is this the player who was in the game with you?"

A pleasant male voice came from behind him. The speaker seemed to be with Bai Yu.

Yin Chao turned and saw a handsome man with a tall frame and long legs. Sure enough, another system notification sounded in his ears.

[Ding. Player: Bai Xu. Title: God's Messenger. Level: 20.

Health: 1,500. Stamina: 1,000. Mental power: 90. Intelligence: 90.

Special abilities: He is the Lord God's messenger and most faithful believer, capable of hearing divine revelations.]

Bai Xu's stats practically blinded Yin Chao. Only one thought kept repeating in his mind: Don't mess with him! Don't mess with him!

Also, this guy has 1,000 stamina? Is he even human?

No one noticed his inner turmoil.

Bai Yu cheerfully introduced him to Bai Xu. "Yes! This is Yin Chao, big brother!"

"Hello, Yin Chao."

Bai Xu was not only good-looking but also impeccably polite.

Before he knew it, Yin Chao had reached out to shake his hand. "Hello."

"We aren't the first players you've met in the real world, are we, Mr. Yin?"

Bai Xu got straight to the point.

Yin Chao's lips curved into a smile, but he didn't answer.

They certainly weren't the first. Those thugs earlier had been.

Looks like he knows perfectly well that I ran into them and got away on my own.

Did those people contact him?

He didn't seem to be trying to hide it, either.

Yin Chao couldn't quite figure him out.

Bai Xu continued, "There's someone you should know, Mr. Yin. His name is Yang Fan."

Bai Yu quickly chimed in, "He does, he does! Yang Fan was a new player in that game, just like Yin Chao."

"I just received word that Yang Fan died at home. The cause of death was gas poisoning."

As he spoke, Bai Xu took out his phone and opened Yang Fan's death certificate, along with photos from the scene.

There was no doubt about it. That was Yang Fan.

Yin Chao's expression darkened. Yang Fan's death was definitely not that simple.

He asked bluntly, "Someone killed him? Aren't they afraid of facing the law for killing someone in the real world?"

Bai Xu shook his head. "As you know, there are all sorts of items in the game. Most can't be brought into the real world, but that only applies to most of them. Besides, the B-rank instance you cleared wasn't an ordinary one."

Yin Chao wanted to ask more, but Bai Xu suddenly interrupted him. "It isn't safe here. If there's anything else you'd like to know, Mr. Yin, why not come to my territory? I can protect you."

Yin Chao didn't answer.

The two stood facing each other in a standoff.

Suddenly, Anna, who had been standing off to the side, walked up to Yin Chao. "Go to supermarket, buy me, chips."

The moment she spoke, all three turned to look at her.

Bai Yu looked a little nervous. "Is this... your girlfriend, Yin Chao?"

Yin Chao was embarrassed. Anna looks fifteen at most. You've really got some imagination. That would be a crime.

He hurriedly denied it. "No, Anna is my little sister."

With that, he pulled Anna toward the supermarket, saying goodbye as he went. "We'll be going, then. We can get in touch if anything comes up, Mr. Bai."

His eyes narrowed slightly. Anyone in the game who wasn't an idiot could have seen that Mo Nan had hired Bai Yu.

Mo Nan must have used some kind of item to pinpoint everyone's location so precisely.

Why did they want to kill Yang Fan?

Were they killing every new player indiscriminately?

No. Bai Xu said there was something unusual about our instance.

Could they be looking for something?

The master and the mad dog, the smiling thug and Bai Xu's little sister.

None of them were ordinary. Right, and there was also that hooded man who never showed his face to the rest of us.

All those people gathered in a single B-rank instance.

That definitely wasn't a coincidence.

Yin Chao had formed a rough theory.

Someone had used a special item to learn that there was a chance of obtaining a treasure in that B-rank instance, so powerful players from various quarters had all joined.

But none of those powerful players had received that treasure among their final clearance rewards, so they had turned their attention to the two beginners who had also cleared it.

After all, item drops in this game depended on luck.

An innocent man could become guilty simply by possessing a treasure.

Yang Fan had brought a fatal disaster upon himself.

Still, Mo Nan might not have been the one who killed him.

If Yin Chao's guess was right, there had been three separate factions there.

Yin Chao looked at a new flavor of chips on the shelf, picked up a bag, and tossed it into the shopping basket.

It seemed the real world might simply be another kind of life-and-death game.

After the two finished buying chips, Yin Chao, the poor sucker carrying shopping bags in both hands, had barely stepped out of the supermarket.

He came face-to-face with a man wearing a black mask.

As they brushed past each other, the man pulled his hand out of his pocket, drawing a short blade as long as a forearm.

Cold steel flashed as the blade swept toward Yin Chao's exposed neck.

Then, with a clatter, the blade that should have pierced his neck was kicked away by a pair of gleaming little leather shoes.

Anna's gaze sharpened. "Keep, my chips, safe."

With that, she began fighting the attacker.

Yin Chao looked around and realized that, at some point, the plaza outside the supermarket had become enclosed in a barrier.

People outside seemed unable to see what was happening inside. No wonder these people dared to act so brazenly.

Perhaps if he were killed inside this barrier, his death would be made to look like an accident, just like Yang Fan's.

It really was the perfect item for murder and robbery.