The Shatang Tree's Fruit Pit

Xin Jiu hid nothing and told him the truth.

"The most precious part of a Shatang Tree isn't its fruit, but the fruit pit hidden inside its trunk."

"How do you know?"

"Believe it or don't."

"What does it do?"

"Raises your stats."

Xin Yue was about to curse her out when Xin Jiu added, "All your stats."

Ordinary fruit could only raise one random stat by one point, and the effects didn't stack.

But all stats... Xin Yue gritted his teeth. It was worth the risk!

The Shatang Tree was about to slaughter its way through everyone.

Xin Yue's expression grew uglier, and his calves were trembling.

Strangely, though, as long as they stood still, the Shatang Tree wouldn't attack them.

The other players were too terrified to notice this.

"How much longer do we have to wait?!"

The bloody scene had scared Xin Yue so badly that he was about to wet himself!

By then, most of the players had fled out of sight.

The slower ones had become nourishment for the Shatang Tree.

Seeing the Shatang Tree gradually quiet down,

Xin Jiu knew it had more or less eaten its fill.

"We'll split up and run at it from two sides. Whoever reaches the trunk first needs to dig out the fruit pit right away. You have to be quick!"

This was the best time to approach it.

Once the Shatang Tree had eaten its fill, it needed to digest, which made its movements much slower.

"I'll count down from three, then we charge."

"Okay."

Once the countdown ended, Xin Jiu took off like the wind.

She soon reached the Shatang Tree's left side.

She even found time to glance toward Xin Yue out of the corner of her eye.

Seeing him standing perfectly still, wearing a smile as though his scheme had succeeded, she curled her lips slightly.

...Idiot.

Xin Yue had deliberately stayed put.

From what had just happened, he could tell that the Shatang Tree wouldn't attack people who remained motionless.

Now there were only two of them, and Xin Jiu had moved.

The tree would definitely choose to attack her.

As long as she died, the fruit pit would be his!

Sure enough, the Shatang Tree attacked Xin Jiu.

What Xin Yue hadn't expected was how fast Xin Jiu's reactions were.

Several times, the tree's vines nearly caught her, only for her to dodge them!

This repeated several times.

The Shatang Tree grew increasingly agitated.

Its vines lashed wildly back and forth.

Finally, they actually attacked in his direction!

"Why is it attacking me!?"

A vine coiled around Xin Yue and hoisted him high into the air, its thorns piercing his skin.

He could feel himself losing blood rapidly.

The tree was sucking his blood!

In fact, the Shatang Tree wouldn't have attacked him.

But the thought of his detestable older sister dying any moment had made Xin Yue terribly excited.

That excitement caused his emotions to fluctuate violently.

And the Shatang Tree sensed it.

Xin Jiu was very pleased with this.

She had kept Xin Yue around precisely to divert the tree's attention. Even if the Shatang Tree hadn't attacked him, she would have led its vines over to him.

This couldn't have worked out better.

She rushed to the trunk as fast as she could.

Drawing the M9 bayonet from the sheath on her thigh, she slashed hard into the center of the trunk!

The Shatang Tree's vines were extremely tough.

But the center of its trunk was its softest part.

Xin Jiu easily cut a large gash into it.

The vines writhed violently!

Xin Yue was flung to the ground and coughed up a huge puddle of blood, his body curling up in pain.

Blood continued seeping from several puncture wounds.

With the golden fruit pit in hand, Xin Jiu smiled in satisfaction.

During the open beta, she hadn't known that a fruit pit was hidden inside the Shatang Tree. It wasn't until she reached the seventeenth floor that a beautiful, kindhearted NPC told her.

She swallowed the fruit pit.

A panel appeared.

[Player Xin Jiu has obtained the "Shatang Tree's Fruit Pit." Hidden achievement unlocked. Reward: 100 points.]

[Player: Xin Jiu]

[Identity: Inspector (inactive)]

[Strength: 15 → 16]

[Agility: 19 → 20]

[Perception: 28 → 29]

[Stamina: 80%]

[Points: 100]

She'd earned points already?

On the panel, the red dot marking Lakeside Park had disappeared.

Xin Jiu chose to withdraw. As she passed Xin Yue, he grabbed her ankle. "I won't let you get away with this!"

"Try surviving the game first."

Xin Jiu kicked him away.

With that blustering, cowardly stupidity of his, making it past the fifth floor would be one hell of an achievement.

At the same time,

every player received the notification that Xin Jiu had unlocked a hidden achievement.

Some expert players stared at the Shatang Trees before them, their mouths spreading into devilish grins. So there were fruit pits as well as fruit.

The official Codename: Divine Descent website posted a real-time announcement.

Non-players launched into a heated discussion below it.

[We got points this quickly?]

[That's Jiujiu! Jiujiu!]

[Who's Jiujiu? Never heard of her.]

[If it's Jiujiu, that makes sense. She's a top-tier gamer. In Dungeon, she skewered several underground creatures to death with a single thrust of her staff. Anyone who underestimates her will die horribly!]

The players standing outside Lakeside Park all eyed Xin Jiu like predators.

Right.

Xin Yue had called out her name earlier, and the game had issued an announcement.

They all knew she was Xin Jiu now.

"Hand over the fruit pit!" said the man with tattoo sleeves.

"I gave it to my younger brother. Go ask him for it."

The tattooed man didn't believe her, but when he tried to step forward, his companion held him back.

"She has a knife."

They hadn't expected Xin Jiu to be carrying a weapon, much less an M9 bayonet renowned for its sharpness.

While they hesitated, a system pop-up suddenly appeared.

[Skill card acquisition point: S City Museum.]

Every player present had a change of expression.

Skill cards!

These were even more important than stat increases!

The fact that the game was releasing them already meant that the situation inside the tower had to be far grimmer than they had imagined!

The players no longer wanted to keep hounding Xin Jiu.

Their top priority was getting the skill cards before any other players.

Even a D-rank card could keep them alive for a little while!

Xin Jiu also climbed onto her motorcycle and sped toward the museum.

On her way to the museum, Xin Jiu passed the tower again.

A red countdown hung at the tower's entrance.

[3:58:42.]

She opened the throttle further and raced toward the museum!

There were hundreds of Shatang Tree spawn points, and Lakeside Park wasn't in the city center, so she hadn't encountered many players.

But there was only one museum in S City.

If all the players crowded into the museum... it would become an all-out brawl.

Was the game trying to weed out a batch of players before it even began?!