Sharing Roast Meat with the NPCs

After Xin Jiu jumped onto the flood dragon's head, she raised her bayonet and began cutting at its horn.

She cut several times but couldn't scrape off even a speck. As expected of a flood dragon on the verge of becoming a true dragon, it was far too hard!

Unable to cut off its horn, she switched tactics.

She drove the tip of her bayonet hard into the flood dragon's head.

The flood dragon had thick skin, but Xin Jiu's bayonet had been upgraded and pierced it easily.

The flood dragon writhed violently in pain, even letting out hissing sounds. It hurt so much that it had forgotten it was a flood dragon.

Dragons didn't hiss.

Xin Jiu kept stabbing it.

Unable to stand the pain, the flood dragon headed toward the lake, apparently intending to hide at the bottom.

Of course, Xin Jiu couldn't let it carry her into the lake. That would put her at a disadvantage, so she leaped off its head and landed steadily on the ground.

The players in hiding watched her drive the flood dragon back into the lake, their eyes widening in disbelief.

Xin Jiu put away her bayonet and gazed at the calm lake.

If only she had her heavy sword with her, she could have killed this flood dragon. A flood dragon this big was bound to drop something good. Just as she was lamenting the missed opportunity, ripples spread across the lake again.

The injured flood dragon poked half its head out, golden blood still flowing from the bloody holes in its head.

"Why won't my wounds heal?"

Was the flood dragon asking her?

How would she know?

Wait... she had almost forgotten that her bayonet had been upgraded.

"I'm not telling you."

The flood dragon was furious, and bubbles rose to the lake's surface with a series of glugs.

"My HP keeps dropping. Tell me, why?" After asking, the flood dragon seemed to suddenly think of something and asked again, "Did Blacksmith Xiongxiong upgrade your weapon?"

"You know Blacksmith Xiongxiong?"

NPCs from different instances actually knew each other?

This was different from the open beta.

"Why would he upgrade your weapon?"

Blacksmith Xiongxiong was highly skilled and charged little. NPCs below the tenth floor generally went to him for custom weapons or upgrades, but this was a human girl standing before it. He shouldn't have done that!

"Why? Maybe because of this."

Under the flood dragon's gaze, Xin Jiu slowly took out her inspector badge.

Then she saw fear on the flood dragon's face.

"You're an inspector. You're actually an inspector?!"

"Is that so strange?"

The livestream viewers were puzzled.

[What's an inspector?]

[Judging by this flood dragon's reaction, it must be pretty prestigious.]

[You don't need its reaction to know that. The word inspector alone sounds high-ranking.]

The flood dragon fell silent. Then Xin Jiu watched its body emerge from the lake as it chased after the players who had scattered earlier.

They had actually asked it to kill an inspector. These humans deserved to die!

The players hiding to enjoy the show were scared out of their wits when they saw the flood dragon coming after them again.

They were too far away to see what Xin Jiu had taken out.

All they knew was that the flood dragon had flown into a rage after seeing it.

The flood dragon vented its resentment on the players. During their earlier confrontation, it had marked all of them. No matter where they ran, as long as they remained in this instance, they couldn't escape!

The flood dragon and the players all disappeared.

Standing by the lake, Xin Jiu suddenly regretted taking out her badge.

The next time she encountered NPCs, she had better keep a lower profile. Otherwise, if she scared them all away, how would she get points and skill cards?

Figuring that the flood dragon probably wouldn't return anytime soon, Xin Jiu continued searching for the Tibetan fox.

The viewers who had been watching Xin Jiu's livestream were all discussing it.

[This maze is completely different from the open beta. I remember there weren't this many bizarre NPCs in the maze back then.]

[You don't even play the game. How would you know?]

[Jiujiu records her gameplay and shares it with us.]

[True. There weren't any mutated mantises or spiders before.]

While they were talking, Xin Jiu killed another wild boar.

[Item: Wild boar tusks x2]

[Tip: Just ordinary tusks. You can choose to make them into decorations~]

[Points: 13,480]

Killing the wild boar earned her 1,000 points. In this maze, killing NPCs that possessed skill cards gave very few points.

Conversely, NPCs without skill cards gave more points.

Xin Jiu wasn't very lucky. All she encountered along the way were ordinary mobs.

Half a day passed, and she grew a little hungry. She imitated Li Tao's earlier method of starting a fire by drilling wood, got a fire going, then found some herbs nearby.

[Is Jiujiu going to roast some wild boar meat?]

[I've had wild boar meat. It's a little gamey and doesn't taste very good.]

Xin Jiu did intend to roast some wild boar meat. Wild boar meat in modern times might not taste good, but the meat in the instance was different.

The aroma wafted out, leaving people dazed by its delicious scent.

Oh, no, that wasn't right. The nearby NPCs were also dazed by the aroma.

They gathered not far from Xin Jiu, their drool almost forming a little river.

Xin Jiu deliberately waved the wild boar meat in their direction and asked, "Want some?"

Several leopards and lion cubs nodded vigorously.

"Hand over your skill cards, and I'll share some with you."

The leopards and lion cubs began shaking their heads instead.

Giving up a skill card for a piece of meat wasn't worth it at all.

Xin Jiu ate by herself, saying between bites, "This smells incredible. I've never had meat this delicious."

She could actually have chosen to kill them outright and still obtained the skill cards. The problem was that the leopards ran too fast. If she startled one and it escaped, she wouldn't get that Speed Card.

The Speed Skill was very important for getting out of the maze.

"Still not willing to give me your skill cards? The meat's almost gone, you know."

The leopards and lions usually ate bloody raw meat. Now that they had suddenly caught the scent of roast meat, how could they resist?

The livestream viewers watched as the NPCs began handing their skill cards over to Xin Jiu.

For every skill card they handed over, Xin Jiu gave out a piece of meat.

Besides the leopards and lion cubs, wolves came too.

[This is the first time I've seen a human sharing wild boar meat with wild beasts. Live long enough and you'll see anything.]

[That meat must be delicious. Otherwise, why would the NPCs hand over their skill cards?]

[Their skills don't look very good to me. Jiujiu's losing out.]

Xin Jiu got the [Speed Skill (B-rank), permanent] she wanted, as well as a Teleportation Card.

[Item: Teleportation Card (A-rank)]

[Instructions: Allows instantaneous movement within a one-kilometer radius when used. No cooldown.]

[Tip: Don't be stingy about using it. It becomes invalid once you leave the maze!]

Teleportation within one kilometer... If I run into a monster I can't beat, I can use this card to escape. It's a very practical card.

"By the way, do you know where the Tibetan fox is?"

The moment she finished speaking, all the little animals enjoying the roast meat ran away.

A little lion cub ran more slowly and even fell, its chubby body bouncing and wobbling.

Xin Jiu: ...

Why are they all so afraid of the Tibetan fox?