Wu Shaozhen had just stepped out of the War God Hall when a private message notification sounded.
Xue'er: "You were offline for so long. Aren't you worried someone will overtake you?"
"Nope. If I wanted to level up, I could do it in minutes. Nobody could catch me," Wu Shaozhen replied. It was the truth-lately, he had kept complaining that he leveled up too fast.
Su Muxue pursed her lips at Wu Shaozhen's reply. She thought he was bragging, but the facts did back him up. Despite how long he had been offline, she was still only level 12. Shaking her head, she stopped dwelling on it and asked, "Do you have any mage equipment?"
Dustseal: "No."
Su Muxue felt disappointed by his reply, but she wasn't ready to give up. "Then do you have any way to help me clear the War God Secret Realm?"
Dustseal: "The bronze one?"
Su Muxue gritted her teeth and replied, "The black iron one."
Dustseal: "Oh, then this should work."
He attached a screenshot of the [Boar King Summoning Scroll]. He had never used it, and by now he no longer needed it.
Su Muxue's eyes lit up. This guy really did have plenty of good stuff. With this, she felt clearing the challenge shouldn't be difficult. She could let the Boar King tank up front while she poured out damage from behind.
"How much?" Su Muxue asked.
"Just give me fifty thousand," Wu Shaozhen said. Unless they were exceptionally powerful, single-use items were only worth a few tens of thousands.
They quickly completed the trade. Su Muxue returned to the city and ran toward the War God Hall. Many players had already realized how important advancing their realm was to their strength.
After the trade, Wu Shaozhen listed the [Black Bear King Armor], [Spiked Club], and [Bear King Necklace] in his inventory, along with the [Wolf King Legguards] he had replaced, at the Auction House. He chose auction mode and set the bidding period to half an hour-a longer auction could fetch a higher price. The Auction House had run out of equipment again. Everyone had discovered that shops sold plain equipment, while black iron equipment was so rare that anything listed was snapped up immediately. There were, however, plenty of materials for sale.
The moment Wu Shaozhen listed his three pieces of black iron equipment and one bronze piece, they caught everyone's attention.
"Holy shit, bronze equipment! I haven't even seen black iron equipment yet, and now there's bronze?"
"Three black iron pieces and one bronze! Which big shot is this badass?"
"Damn, that armor would be a massive upgrade for a shieldguard. If I had the money, I'd be the first to grab it."
World-Proud Under Heaven stared at the equipment in the Auction House with a grave expression. "Do we know who's selling these?"
"No. They were listed anonymously," World-Proud Jueqing replied.
"You could count the people capable of selling bronze equipment right now on one hand. And that armor didn't drop from the Silver Wolf King. Do you think Dustseal might be in Jinling City too?" World-Proud Lone Peak asked.
"Very likely. Buy that armor first, then tell our people to keep an eye out. If Dustseal really is in Jinling City, we have to find him. I want to see just what makes him so formidable," World-Proud Under Heaven said.
After listing the equipment, Wu Shaozhen shook his head at the pile of plain equipment in his inventory. He entered a nearby clothing shop and sold it all in one go. Each piece fetched only a few dozen copper coins, leaving him rather exasperated. At least he didn't have to visit separate shops-both weapons and accessories could be sold here. Still, he had made up his mind: next time, he wouldn't pick up plain equipment. It took up space and wasn't worth anything.
After selling his equipment, he checked the shop's wares, only to discover that buying back the pieces he had just sold would cost several silver coins each. Now that was a rip-off.
As he scanned the shop's goods, he noticed masks for sale. After a moment's thought, he bought one. It provided no stats; its only purpose was to conceal his face. He was something of a celebrity in Oracle now, so it was better to keep a low profile.
Being exposed in the game wouldn't really matter, but he was worried about repercussions in real life. After all, outside the game, he was just a nobody with neither money nor influence. If someone he offended in the game came after him in real life, he would be done for.
After putting on the mask, Wu Shaozhen left through the south gate again. Along the way, he encountered plenty of players heading out to fight monsters. It was four or five in the morning-did these people never sleep?
Just then, three men and a woman approached and stopped in front of him. The man leading them said, "Hey, buddy, want to party up? We're one damage dealer short."
"No, thanks!" Wu Shaozhen politely declined and continued walking.
"Bro, it's tough playing this game alone. Come with us," the leader said again. The other player's equipment looked pretty good, which was why he wanted to recruit him.
"No, thank you!" Wu Shaozhen repeated.
"Hey, what's with that attitude? Brother Hao's doing you a favor by inviting you," a young man behind the leader shouted, unable to stand it any longer.
Wu Shaozhen stopped and turned to look at the young man. "I've been perfectly polite. What, am I supposed to accept just because he invited me?"
"Of course! Brother Hao is a member of World-Proud Heroes. You should count yourself lucky he took an interest in you. Get on his good side, and you might even get to join World-Proud Heroes someday. Do you have any idea that World-Proud Heroes is the biggest guild in Jinling City?" the young man said proudly.
"Oh." Wu Shaozhen couldn't be bothered with someone like that and turned to leave again. But the group wouldn't let it go and promptly surrounded him.
"Kid, you don't know a good thing when it's offered. Believe me, I can kill you back to the Novice Village in no time," the young man threatened.
Meanwhile, Brother Hao stood with his arms folded, watching the show with a faint smile. Since this guy refused to cooperate, they would just have to kill him and take his equipment drops.
"No, I don't," Wu Shaozhen said calmly.
"Well, aren't you cocky! I'll teach you today that some people aren't to be messed with." The young man drew his weapon and slashed Wu Shaozhen.
-12
An embarrassingly low number appeared, making the young man's eyes widen. He was a warrior who had put every stat point into strength. Although he wore nothing but plain equipment, he still had over two hundred attack. Yet his strike had dealt only 12 damage. How could an assassin have such high defense?
Players could hide their IDs and levels, but not their classes. Everyone's class was apparent at a glance.
"That's it?" Wu Shaozhen glanced at the stunned young man, then leisurely pulled the Newbie Wooden Sword from his inventory and said casually,
"Then... my turn!"
The moment the young man struck him, all four of their names had turned gray. They were clearly in a party.
"Hahaha! A Newbie Wooden Sword? You're going to kill us with a wooden sword?" The only woman burst out laughing.
Wu Shaozhen couldn't be bothered to waste time on them. He activated Extreme Speed and moved so fast that, before any of them could react, he had slashed each of them once. Then he walked away without looking back.
"Damn, he's fast. But what's he doing, hitting us once and running? Did he realize he couldn't beat us and flee?" the young man said.
"Wait... I'm poisoned! Shit, I'm losing 260 HP per second! Xiaoli, heal me, quick!" Brother Hao cried urgently. As an archer, he had little HP to begin with, and those two seconds had already left him near death.
Xiaoli hurriedly cast a healing spell on Brother Hao, only for a miserable "+0" to appear.
"I can't heal you! Brother Hao, drink a potion!" But before he could even take one out, Brother Hao collapsed, dead.
The others met the same fate. By the time they noticed the poison, they were already falling. Even the shieldguard, who had the most HP, lasted only five seconds before the entire party was wiped out.
The nearby players stared in bewilderment at the people who had suddenly dropped dead.
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