Fishing in troubled waters

The ring Lin Jie revealed was purple.

One-Eyed Dragon's voice trembled. "H-how is that possible?"

"How could you have a purple ring?"

The lackeys beside him cried out too:

"A purple ring's Mutation is hundreds or thousands of times stronger than a blue one's!"

"Boss, let's run!"

Yet One-Eyed Dragon only panicked for a moment before quickly recovering:

"What nonsense are you spouting? There's no way he has a purple ring!"

"Shut up, all of you! Anyone else who shakes our morale gets a bullet!"

The commotion around him gradually subsided, but the lackeys' faces were still filled with fear.

One-Eyed Dragon looked grave. "Lin Jie, what trick did you pull?"

"You're clearly a newcomer who's been here less than two days. How could you possibly have upgraded your ring to purple?"

"This has to be an illusion!"

Lin Jie gave a faint smile. "If you think it's an illusion, why don't you come and test it?"

Though Lin Jie was a newcomer, after two days in this world, he had grasped its rules.

Everything came down to ring rank.

White, green, blue, purple, and gold, each stronger than the last.

Each higher-ranked color was hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than the previous rank.

Reaching green rank was already difficult, and those at blue rank were the elite of the elite.

Only a handful in this world had reached purple rank.

As for gold, it only appeared among the Administrators of the Realm of the Dead.

So Lin Jie exploited this with a classic stratagem.

The empty city stratagem.

Lin Jie could not unleash any powerful Mutation, but he did have a purple ring.

This purple ring was his spoils from his first game.

Canglang's ring.

So he pretended to possess a corresponding purple-rank Mutation to intimidate his enemies and force them to retreat of their own accord.

Lin Jie held the ring high, bluffing everyone present.

He looked relaxed. "Why doesn't one of you come exchange a few moves with me? Then you'll know whether it's real."

"It makes no difference to me, but you could easily lose your lives."

The enemy soldiers exchanged glances, but none dared step forward.

"That's not right! You clearly had a green ring! I saw it perfectly clearly before."

One-Eyed Dragon stroked his beard, muttering to himself.

"I remember now! That ring isn't yours at all!"

One-Eyed Dragon burst out laughing. "Well played, Lin Jie! Using someone else's ring to fool us!"

Lin Jie frowned. "What makes you say that?"

One-Eyed Dragon licked his teeth. "According to reliable intelligence, you killed an Administrator in your first game!"

"His name was Canglang, and he held a purple ring!"

"That purple ring of yours is actually his!"

"Am I right?"

Lin Jie's brows knitted tightly.

He had not expected the enemy to know that he had killed an Administrator too.

But Lin Jie understood that One-Eyed Dragon was only guessing. He was not certain either, or he would have attacked already.

At a time like this, he could not show fear.

Only by fooling himself could he deceive the enemy.

Lin Jie's voice was full of mockery. "Oh? You're pretty good at comforting yourself."

"Canglang's ring? This?"

"This is my own ring."

"Are you really that unwilling to believe you've bitten off more than you can chew?"

"What if my ring was purple to begin with?"

One-Eyed Dragon kept scrutinizing Lin Jie, hoping to spot a clue.

Yet Lin Jie's mental fortitude was formidable, and his expression betrayed nothing.

One-Eyed Dragon took half a step back and sighed.

He muttered to himself, "I'm going to die here today."

Then his eyes widened, and he snarled at Lin Jie:

"Whether you're real or fake, I'm attacking!"

"Because our boss said that if we don't bring Lin Jie back, he'll sentence us to death."

"Going back means death anyway. We might as well die here!"

"I have a blue ring, and most of my men are green-ring elites. We outnumber you. We're not afraid of you!"

"A purple ring isn't necessarily unbeatable!"

"Boys, charge!"

"Kill every last one of them!!!"

Roaring, he led the charge at Lin Jie.

Lin Jie's heart jolted.

He had planned to trick One-Eyed Dragon into retreating, but he had never imagined that this boss of his had actually issued an order punishable by death.

That drove One-Eyed Dragon to risk everything and fight him to the death.

Stay calm. Stay calm...

The more dangerous the situation, the less I can afford to panic!

If only I could actually activate Canglang's ring and trigger its Mutation!

Lin Jie had never actively triggered a Mutation, nor did he know how.

He also did not know whether he could use someone else's ring.

But he knew that in this situation, triggering a Mutation was the only way to save himself.

He silently recited in his mind.

I want to trigger Canglang's Mutation!

He raised the ring high above his head.

Please, this has to work!

Yet the purple ring on his hand showed no reaction at all.

The black ring in Lin Jie's pocket, however, erupted with an intense black light.

A black arc blasted outward from Lin Jie, spreading in every direction.

The charging soldiers were sent flying the instant they touched the arc.

"A monster! There's a monster!"

An enormous, red-eyed werewolf suddenly appeared behind Lin Jie.

He spread his sharp claws, raised his wolf head, and let out a piercing howl:

"Awooo-"

The howl resounded across the entire wilderness.

"That's not a monster! That's... that's a werewolf!"

Sprawled on the ground, One-Eyed Dragon cried out in shock:

"Summoning a werewolf? That's Canglang's Mutation!"

"How could you possibly trigger Canglang's Mutation!"

"Boss, he really can trigger a purple Mutation! We're going to die!"

At last, a bitter smile appeared on One-Eyed Dragon's face:

"I lost the bet."

"Dying to a purple Mutation isn't a bad way to go."

Yet it was not over.

Lin Jie kept his head lowered as black mist emanated around him.

Then he slowly raised his head.

His eyes were blood-red.

He waved his hand.

Over the ground around him, the black mist continued to gather without end.

Finally, it took the forms of countless werewolves.

The summoned werewolves attacked One-Eyed Dragon's army indiscriminately and frenziedly.

The soldiers were utterly unable to fend them off, falling one after another to a single blow.

Wolf howls and screams rose one after another.

One-Eyed Dragon scrambled to his feet and activated his Mutation, trying to escape.

"Activate blue Mutation, Divine Speed!"

Yet the black mist flew toward him swiftly.

It was hundreds of times faster than he was even after activating his Mutation.

The black mist wrapped around One-Eyed Dragon, then took the form of a werewolf.

The werewolf's eyes were blood-red as he reached his sharp claws toward One-Eyed Dragon's face.

One-Eyed Dragon roared in disbelief:

"Impossible! I clearly activated the Divine Speed Mutation!"

"How are you faster than me?"

"No! This isn't Canglang's Mutation! Canglang could only turn into a werewolf himself, not summon them..."

"This isn't a purple-rank Mutation..."

"...This is a God Tier Mutation!"

In the distance, the lackeys shouted:

"Look at the sky!"

"It's Divine Revelation! Divine Revelation has appeared!"

"A god has appeared!"

"A god has activated a Mutation!"

One-Eyed Dragon also raised his head to look at the sky.

The previously clear sky was now pitch-black.

A gigantic blood-red symbol appeared overhead.

It was a pointed skull face, with two sharp horns on either side of its upper end.

One-Eyed Dragon murmured:

"...A God Tier Mutation..."

"So that's how it is."

"Lin Jie, you're not human."

"...You're a god."