Filling Out His Equipment

Wind whistled past their ears as the two men, one chasing and one fleeing, quickly charged into the fire escape stairwell.

The skinny man running ahead bounded down the stairs in a few strides, with Lin Hao hot on his heels.

But when they reached the fifteenth floor, just as Lin Hao was about to catch him, the skinny man lunged toward the fire door, pulled out a steel pipe wedged through its latch, and flung the door open.

Lin Hao immediately realized something was wrong. There were probably Madmen inside!

But the momentum of his rapid descent was not so easily stopped. He had only just landed at the bottom of the stairs when he felt a rush of air from the fire door. A figure burst through and lunged at him.

Off balance from the chase, Lin Hao swiftly swung his arm and knocked the figure aside, but the collision still sent him to the floor.

It really was a Madman!

Lin Hao's heart sank. His physical fitness was only average, after all. This sort of chase really was not his strong suit!

When the five of them came upstairs, they had deliberately barricaded the safety door on this floor. There was probably more than one inside!

Sure enough, before Lin Hao could climb back to his feet, figure after figure charged through the fire door.

They all shrieked as they came.

"I can't take it anymore!"

"You're done for!"

"I just love hearing you scream!"

Thump! Thump!

Two figures landed on Lin Hao in quick succession. Their faces were crazed, drool dripping from their mouths as they clutched his arms and bit down.

Crack!

The hardness enchanted into Lin Hao's arms kept him from being injured, but to get the most out of these pure mass enchantments, he also needed speed behind his swings.

Now that they had him pinned at close quarters, his chest felt compressed, and his right hand was trapped.

But Lin Hao had already released the pot lid with his left hand. He clenched his fist and smashed it into the head lunging toward his face. Thump!

He knocked that Madman straight into the one on his right, though that only put more weight on his right arm.

"What handsome food!"

A female Madman stared at the fallen Lin Hao with gleaming eyes, then opened her mouth and lunged toward his groin.

Even with the defense provided by his [Mink Coat], Lin Hao's expression changed. He snapped his knees together, clamping them tightly around the female Madman's neck.

The savage force of her struggles gave Lin Hao a true taste of a Madman's brute strength!

He could barely restrain even a woman!

He forced himself halfway upright and, without hesitation, brought his free left hand down on her head in a chopping strike.

Though the iron pot on his left hand weighed less, and the tugging of the Madman gnawing on his right arm left him unable to wind up, this seemingly feeble "light punch" still struck her face like a claw hammer, leaving it covered in blood.

But Lin Hao had no time to think about finishing her off, because another Madman was swinging a kitchen cleaver at him!

A sideways slash from the cleaver might not badly injure him through the leather coat, but Lin Hao had no desire to take that hit. Releasing the dazed female Madman with his legs, he rose and caught the cleaver's blade with his left hand.

Only then did he have time to ride the force of the cleaver's swing and slam his head into the skull of the Madman pinning him on the right, creating a sliver of room for his trapped right arm.

That tiny bit of movement was enough to loosen the whole restraint like a rickety scaffold.

His right arm, enchanted with ten kilograms of mass, suddenly unleashed a terrifying impact. He bent his elbow, instantly jolting the Madman's arms away, then brought the back of his hand down onto the Madman's chest, making blood spray from his mouth.

The violent impact stirred the dust on the floor into a swirling gust.

At the same time, Lin Hao snatched away the cleaver and smashed its handle into the head of the Madman in front of him. His right hand reached for the dazed female Madman, his five fingers sinking into her face like an eagle's talons to finish her off.

Though the struggle had been perilous, it had lasted only a dozen or so seconds.

After disposing of the Madmen with an eruption of brute force, Lin Hao discovered that the man who had been fleeing had not gone far. He was skulking between the fourteenth and fifteenth floors, peeking around.

When the Madmen first rushed out, the open door had hidden him in a blind spot, keeping him from attracting their attention.

But he had not dared make any noise either, only creeping away quietly, and had not gotten far.

Only when he peeked out again and met the eyes of Lin Hao, now standing, did he startle and prepare to keep running.

"Want to loot my equipment? Here, I'll give it to you!"

Lin Hao picked up the pot lid and hurled it straight at him from the top of the stairs.

Having seen Lin Hao put people down with one blow each, how could the skinny man dare take this hit? He would rather fall over than fail to dodge it.

Clang!

The pot lid struck a step, its thin aluminum already beginning to warp.

Before the skinny man could think, something whistled through the air.

The ruler came flying at him too, forcing him into another clumsy dodge.

But after dodging, delight spread across his face. Instead of running, he scrambled toward the pot lid and ruler on the floor, willingly taking the flying cleaver in the back just to get both objects into his hands.

Then, copying Lin Hao, he turned around with the pot lid in his left hand and the ruler in his right.

"Idiot! You even threw away your equipment. Now the tables have turned!"

What greeted him, however, was Lin Hao, who had closed the distance and was already charging at him.

"Hah!"

The man shouted, swinging the ruler at Lin Hao while thrusting the pot lid forward.

Lin Hao did not even glance at the incoming ruler. He let its featherlight blow land on him and drove a heavy right-handed punch straight at the pot lid.

Clang!

How could a thin aluminum pot lid withstand such an impact? It crumpled and slammed heavily into the skinny man's chest.

The skinny man had been brimming with confidence, but the instant he raised his "shield" to block, he felt an overwhelming force sweep through every bit of resistance he could offer.

He could clearly feel the tortured groan of his arm bones, the tremendous force pressing the deformed lid against him, and the crushing blow to his chest.

The collapse of his ribs and the taste of blood in his throat were so clear, yet so unreal.

All at once, his entire body seemed to become weightless.

"Motherfucker..."

He had no idea why things had turned out this way, or why this equipment had proved so utterly useless in his hands.

Then his vision went black, and he collapsed to the floor.

Lin Hao had also taken a blow from the ruler in the man's hand, and he let it fall to the floor.

After seeing the man collapse, Lin Hao still

could not quite swallow his anger. He picked up the ruler and struck the man's head twice more, battering it out of shape.

"Almost let him get away."

Only after making certain his target was dead beyond all doubt did Lin Hao let out a breath.

He picked up the pot lid, which his own punch had warped and even torn open, set it on the floor, and stamped on it a few times. He managed to restore its general shape, though its surface was now covered in dents and creases, with a torn hole in one spot.

Afterward, Lin Hao searched the corpse but found nothing worthwhile. He went back and finished off the incapacitated Madmen on the fifteenth floor.

Then he returned to the seventeenth floor.

His attacks had been heavy, but two of those left on the seventeenth floor were still breathing. The one whose spine he had broken had even crawled to the fire escape door.

Seeing Lin Hao return, his face filled with despair.

"Sir, I had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai..."

"Has anyone come back through your Teleportation Point?"

"Not yet..."

Having asked his question, Lin Hao swung the ruler and finished him off.

The remaining man, who had wielded the machete and had his ribs broken by Lin Hao, was in even worse condition.

A rib had probably punctured his lung. Bloody bubbles kept spilling from his mouth.

Though he might have suffocated even if left alone, Lin Hao still took the initiative to send him on his way.

"What rotten luck."

Looking at the battered pot lid that had accompanied him for so long, Lin Hao felt rather miserable.

He also reviewed the mistakes he had made this time.

"I shouldn't have chased him so hard. Or rather, I should have thrown my equipment from the start."

If he had not acquired the new helmet and Mink Coat, things really might have gone disastrously wrong!

Then again, without those two pieces of equipment, Lin Hao would not have been so bold.

"And when that Madman grabbed my arm, I could have bent my elbow directly, or found a way to flick my fingers. Any little bit of room to maneuver would have let me break free immediately. I panicked a little when I first got pinned. Luckily, it was a scare without disaster. The equipment gave me room for error.

"If that guy had a dagger and enough nerve to risk coming back and stabbing me while the Madmen had me pinned, I'd have been injured unless my left hand caught it. I'm still short on experience..."

Thinking about injuries, Lin Hao felt another wave of pain in his back.

Aside from the impact of being knocked down by the Madmen, he had taken a club to the back at the start.

Fortunately, they had been attacking him together, and his pot lid had covered most of the available space.

The remaining space had not allowed the attacker to put his full strength into the swing. Combined with the cushioning of the Mink Coat and the loaded backpack Lin Hao was already wearing, the blow had grazed the pack and struck near its edge. Otherwise, the injury would probably have been worse.

Feeling the spot where he had been struck, Lin Hao was certain it would bruise.

On the other hand, the fact that he could still feel that burning pain actually suggested the injury was relatively minor.

"My physical fitness and fighting experience really are lacking. And I was a little reckless this time. I can't let it go to my head..."

Lin Hao sighed softly. Though he had sharpened his spear at the last minute by practicing his swings, a fragile code monkey like him really could not compare with these thugs. He was relying entirely on his cheat.

Fortunately, this blow had knocked some sense into him at a relatively small cost. He still had to learn from it...

"At least I gained something from it..."

Lin Hao first glanced at the door to room 1708. Aside from the locksmith, Brother Ji should have had equipment on him too...

Lin Hao went over to search Brother Ji's corpse, and his eyes lit up.

"This much?"

Brother Ji's workout tank top, elastic wrist supports, knee supports, and shoes were all glowing!

[Workout Tank Top (Gray)]

[Value: 8 wish power]

[Weight: 0.1 kg]

[Additional trait: Explosive Power Boost (Gray)]

[A workout tank top for pumping iron. It displays the results of your training, showing off well-built muscles and attracting envy and desire.]

[Sports Wrist Supports (White)] [Sports Knee Supports (White)]

The wrist and knee supports had attributes similar to the tank top. They supported the muscles and had the traits [Strain Prevention (Gray)] and [Explosive Power Boost (White)].

With two wrist supports, two knee supports, and the workout tank top, Brother Ji had four stacked [Explosive Power Boost (White)] traits and one [Explosive Power Boost (Gray)].

The drawback was that the increase in explosive power reduced endurance to some degree.

No wonder his burst of speed had been so fast, and even an attack he changed at the last second had hurt Lin Hao despite the iron pot enchanted onto his left arm!

"I don't have special slots for wrist or knee supports yet, but I can just wear them directly. Same with the workout tank top."

Lin Hao's equipment slots provided an additional layer and did not interfere with the equipment he physically wore, allowing their effects to stack.

Brother Ji had not been beaten into a bloody pulp, so Lin Hao stripped the items off him and put them straight on.

One piece alone made almost no noticeable difference to Lin Hao.

But once he had all five on, he felt his muscles tighten a little, and exerting force seemed more natural.

The stacking effect of these five pieces was even more noticeable than that of the two Yoga Outfit pieces before.

Still, the Yoga Outfit also had a [Training Effect Boost] trait. He could try it out when he practiced later.

"My baseline is pretty poor, so the effect probably isn't as good as it was for a musclebound brute like Brother Ji."

Lin Hao swung his empty hands a few times, testing the change in his strength.

Then he turned his attention to the still-empty shoe slot among his equipment slots and equipped the shoes directly.

[Nike Limited-Edition Sneakers (White)]

[Value: 35 wish power]

[Weight: 0.8 kg]

[Additional trait: Jumping Power (White)]

[Extra additional trait: Dexterity (White)]

[Limited-edition sneakers from a famous brand. They offer good breathability, strong cushioning, and some collectible value.]