[East of Blazing Ember City]
[Level 10 Wilderness Area, Saber-Toothed Tiger Forest]
When Wu Gang arrived at the location designated by the client, he only saw a mage girl standing quietly at the edge of the forest, wrapped in a black magic robe.
The girl was not tall, about one meter sixty.
The black magic cloak concealed her face.
Even the ID information above her head was hidden.
"You're… LittleLittlePudding?", Wu Gang asked the girl.
The girl did not speak, only gave a light nod.
Shhk!
Without another word, Wu Gang immediately drew his blade.
He said to the girl, "Follow me. I'll beat the monsters down low, then you take the last hit."
With that, just as Wu Gang was about to walk toward the girl.
Rustle! Rustle!
Suddenly, a disturbance came from the nearby bushes.
Wu Gang's expression instantly turned sharp.
Where his gaze landed, he saw three black figures dash out of the forest, daggers in hand, charging straight at him.
Wu Gang's jaw dropped on the spot.
"No way! Again?"
"Hey, sis! This order you placed is double compensation. You're not seriously trying to scam even six hundred bucks in breach fees, are you?"
The mage girl ahead said nothing.
And from the shadows, those three assassin players in black had already rushed right up to Wu Gang.
Wu Gang, only level 6, facing three level 10 assassins at the same time.
At this moment, he was already in despair.
"Mengmeng ignores me!"
"Wang Junjie humiliates me too!"
"You bastards! You just scammed thirty grand from me, and now you want to scam my breach fee too!"
"I'll fight you to the death!"
Wu Gang poured all his rage onto the three assassin players in front of him.
Just as he was ready to go all out with nothing left to lose, he unexpectedly discovered that although these assassins were level 10, their actual operation skills were unbelievably bad.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
In no time at all, the three of them were easily killed by Wu Gang.
Looking at the three beams of white light lighting up one after another, Wu Gang froze.
"Am I really this strong?"
Fighting one against three, a level 6 killing three level 10 players in return, Wu Gang felt an overwhelming sense of superiority surge inside him.
He had gone blood-mad, not even noticing that killing three players had already turned him red-named.
Gripping the blood-stained dagger, he stared sharply at the black-robed mage girl ahead.
With a cold laugh, he said, "If you want to scam breach fees, remember to find some better thugs next time."
The girl said nothing, standing quietly in place like a still maiden.
Unhurriedly, she took out a crystal staff.
Seeing this, Wu Gang burst out laughing.
"What, you want to die too?"
"Then all of you can go die!"
According to the contract, if the order failed due to the client themselves, the studio would bear no breach responsibility!
"Kill you, and I get three hundred bucks for free!"
As he spoke, Wu Gang clutched the bloodied blade and charged toward the girl with a ferocious expression!
The girl remained unmoved.
She only waited until Wu Gang entered the effective casting range of fifty yards.
BOOM!
In the instant she raised her hand, a blazing fireball burst forth from the crystal staff, precisely striking Wu Gang while he was moving at high speed.
-1085!
Buzz!
The four-digit burst damage instantly wiped out the remaining forty percent of Wu Gang's HP bar.
With a thud, Wu Gang dropped to his knees, eyes wide, staring at the mage girl in disbelief.
"How… is this possible!"
Wu Gang never imagined that this mage girl, who looked like a harmless newbie in her every move, hid such terrifying power beneath her fragile appearance.
Flash!
White light flared, and Wu Gang died, disappearing into the night.
At this moment, the mage girl slowly walked to the spot where Wu Gang had vanished. She crouched down and reached out to pick up the items Wu Gang had dropped.
———
[Blazing Ember City, Resurrection Spring]
[Ding~ You have been revived. Death penalty applied: Level -1!]
[Ding~ Because you had 300 points of crime value before death, additional death penalty applied: Level -3!]
As the system notifications rang in his ears, Wu Gang's level dropped from 12 to 6, then from 6 all the way down to level 2. He completely collapsed.
He could not understand it.
"She looked so average. How could her damage be that high?"
Unable to figure it out no matter how he thought, Wu Gang searched through the battle record and found the answer.
[Ding~ You were hit by player Liuli's Fireball skill, losing 1085 HP. You have died!]
Wu Gang's eyes suddenly widened, his face turning pale in shock.
"Liuli!"
"Number one on Blazing Ember City's reputation rankings?"
"Damn it! Why is it another number one on the Heavenly Rankings!"
Amid the shock, Wu Gang realized a very serious problem.
"Why would the number one on the Heavenly Rankings care about a few hundred bucks? But if she wasn't after the breach fee…"
"Then why would she set up this trap just to screw me over?"
Wu Gang thought back and forth.
As if something suddenly clicked.
He hurriedly opened his backpack.
Buzz!
Wu Gang's mind went completely blank.
He staggered back a few steps, lost his balance, and collapsed onto the ground.
"The Heart of Shadow…"
"It dropped!"
Only at this moment did Wu Gang finally realize.
"Those three assassins earlier weren't really weak. They were deliberately pretending to be weak!"
"The goal was to make me kill them, turn red-named, and increase my death drop rate… the same tactic as Rulebound!"
"So Liuli was after the Heart of Shadow on me from the very beginning. But how did she know the Heart of Shadow was on me?"
Wu Gang suddenly came to a realization.
"She's in the same group as that number one on the level rankings, Rulebound."
"Wait! But how did she know I'd put the Heart of Shadow in my backpack? And she even chose the exact moment when the main city warehouse caught fire… could it be…"
Wu Gang's eyes flew open.
"The warehouse fire wasn't an accident at all! It was… Liuli deliberately setting it!"
"Her goal was to force me to move the Heart of Shadow from the warehouse into my backpack! Then place an order at my studio to lure me out of the city! To blow up my Heart of Shadow!"
"All of this… every single step… was a trap planned by her and Rulebound together!"
Realizing it too late, Wu Gang took off his glasses.
Endless hatred ignited in his eyes.
"Liuli! Rulebound! I CNM!"
"Even the methods are the same. You really are a pair of adulterous scum!"
"You two adulterous scum! Even if you're number one on the Heavenly Rankings, I absolutely won't let you off! I swear!"
———
When Lin Mo woke up, it was already eight in the morning.
After a night of rest, Lin Mo felt full of energy from head to toe!
Just then, Xia Wanwan sent a WeChat message, [Senior Lin Mo, are you up?]
[Mm,] Lin Mo replied, [You guys go online and wait for me first. I'll log in after breakfast.]
Xia Wanwan: [Okay, okay! No rush, senior, take your time eating. We'll wait for you in Blazing Ember City.]
After washing up, Lin Mo went downstairs to the bun shop in the residential area.
While lining up to buy buns, he accidentally overheard a few young men talking in front of him.
"I heard the warehouse in the human race's level-three main city, Blazing Ember City, accidentally caught fire last night! The officials gave compensation to all Blazing Ember City players."
"Warehouse on fire? What kind of move is that?"
"So unlucky! We're not in Blazing Ember City. Otherwise we could've claimed a free compensation! I heard each compensation is worth several hundred bucks!"
'Blazing Ember City warehouse on fire?'
It sounded pretty outrageous, but Lin Mo did not think much of it.
After all, there was nothing in his warehouse.
He bought two meat buns and a cup of soy milk. After finishing breakfast, Lin Mo returned to his room, put on the Divine Oracle helmet, and logged into the game.
[Ding~ Player Rulebound, welcome back to the world of Divine Oracle!]
Splash!
White light poured down as Lin Mo appeared in Blazing Ember City.
At first glance, he indeed saw that his mail was flashing.
Clicking the mail, Lin Mo claimed an official compensation reward sent to all Blazing Ember City players: 3 silver coins plus 5 reputation points.
"So the warehouse really did catch fire last night?"
"Free three hundred bucks, and even five reputation points? Not bad! Not bad!"
Lin Mo was feeling pretty pleased with himself.
But right at that moment, he suddenly noticed something.
Aside from the system compensation reward, he seemed to have claimed two mails at the same time.
"What's the other one?"
Curious, Lin Mo opened his backpack and took a look.
In an instant, he froze in place.
Inside the backpack, the single Heart of Shadow he originally had had somehow become two.
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