[Ding! Player (sender anonymous) has sent you an item via mail: Heart of Shadow (attachment has been claimed)!]
Seeing the mail content, Lin Mo was instantly filled with shock!
"I remember in my previous life, there were only three Hearts of Shadow in all of Blazing Ember City. The one I have should have belonged to Wang Junjie. Aside from this one, one of the other two was in the hands of Dragon Soul Aoshi, the leader of the Dragon Soul Guild, and the last one was in the hands of that Chasing Dreams Pure Heart."
"Dragon Soul Aoshi? I haven't even seen him so far, and he doesn't even know I'm collecting Hearts of Shadow. There's no way he'd just hand over the one he has to me for no reason."
"Chasing Dreams Pure Heart? That's even more impossible! He'd rather pay three hundred thousand in breach penalties than sell the Heart of Shadow to me. How could he possibly give it to me for free?"
"Then who on earth sent me this mail?"
Just as Lin Mo was racking his brain in confusion, a familiar voice suddenly sounded behind him.
"Senior Lin Mo!"
Turning around, he saw Ling Xiao, Xia Wanwan, Skinny Monkey, and Fat Dahai hurrying over.
'The top priority right now is to go to the Insect Nest Dungeon, farm the Venom set, and then get the Heart of Shadow from Dragon Soul Aoshi. That way, even if Wang Junjie breaks through Shadow City, the entire Blazing Ember City will have only one person who can enter the Shadow Holy Hall, and that'll be me.'
'As for the person who anonymously sent me the Heart of Shadow, maybe he doesn't know its true value. Otherwise, even if he had a way to get one, he wouldn't just hand it over to me like this.'
'But since he chose to help me, he's bound to appear in my sight again sooner or later.'
Lin Mo believed that the other party's goal was to use the Heart of Shadow to get closer to him, the number one on the Heavenly Rankings, so he did not think too much about it for now.
So after restocking some mana potions at the apothecary, Lin Mo left the city with Ling Xiao and the others, heading for the Insect Nest Dungeon.
On the way, Xia Wanwan checked the Blazing Ember City level rankings and said happily, "Wang Junjie isn't much higher level than us. With the pace Senior Lin Mo is leading us at, Ling Xiao, you'll definitely reach level 30 before Wang Junjie."
"Senior Lin Mo, thank goodness we have you," Xia Wanwan looked at Lin Mo with gratitude on her face.
At this moment, Ling Xiao suddenly asked, "Senior, these past couple of days you've been constantly taking us to farm the Insect Nest Dungeon. I've noticed you're collecting that Venom set. Does it have some special meaning?"
"Oh, I don't mean anything by it. I'm just a little curious."
As the saying goes, one can never be too cautious of others.
To put it plainly, Ling Xiao and Xia Wanwan and the others were only in a cooperative relationship with Lin Mo. They had not even reached the level of being friends yet.
Naturally, Lin Mo would not tell them the truth that this was preparation for the Shadow Holy Hall. He casually explained, "No special meaning. Set equipment is just a bit stronger than regular gear."
Ling Xiao nodded and said nothing more.
The group of five continued toward the Insect Nest Dungeon.
They had already cleared the fourth floor of the dungeon last night, so this time the five of them advanced directly to the fifth floor.
The mission on the fifth floor was still to collect ten bottles of venom.
But this time, the poisonous creatures they faced had become venomous snakes with levels as high as 24.
"Ah! Snakes!", Most girls were naturally afraid of snakes, and Xia Wanwan was no exception. She hid behind Ling Xiao with a frightened expression.
Not just Xia Wanwan.
Even Skinny Monkey was trembling with fear, "Fatty, later you go pick up the drops!"
Fat Dahai looked blank, "Why?"
Skinny Monkey said seriously, "You've got a lot of meat. Let it bite you a couple times, it'll be fine. Perfect timing too, aren't you trying to lose weight?"
Fat Dahai replied, "Thanks a lot, Monkey Bro!"
While the others were still hesitating,
Lin Mo had already lifted his bow and stepped decisively into the venomous snake territory.
Rustle! Rustle!
Several pairs of eerie green eyes locked onto Lin Mo.
Lin Mo raised his bow.
Ice and Snow, Extreme Cold Grasp!
Heaven-Slaying, Seven-Star Volley!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Star arrows filled the sky, raining down into the extreme cold domain.
Three venomous snakes were hit, and two of them were instantly killed.
However, the remaining one was still almost at full health.
Although to Skinny Monkey and the others in the back line, being able to instantly kill two level 24 monsters at once was already terrifying enough, Lin Mo was not satisfied at all. Instead, he frowned slightly, "It's getting harder and harder."
Holding an orange-quality level 8 Hero's Golden Bow, Lin Mo felt a kind of powerlessness that came with middle age.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
-879 (Critical)!
-879 (Critical)!
-586!
Relying on the Extreme Cold Domain's 88% slow, 44% defense reduction, and 33% damage amplification, Lin Mo needed six or seven normal attacks to finally kill the remaining venomous snake.
[Ding! Killed level 24 venomous snake. Experience +2178 (121%)!]
[Ding! Killed level 24 venomous snake. Experience +2178!]
[Ding! Killed level 24 venomous snake. Experience +2178!]
Splash!
A beam of golden light poured down from above.
[Ding! Congratulations on reaching level 18. All attributes +1, free attribute points +3, skill slot +1. Next level requires 1,100,000 experience!]
Lin Mo said with satisfaction, "Not bad. One step closer to level 20 and equipping the tier-two golden Venom Crossbow."
Besides that, what was even more worth mentioning was that on the fifth floor, the drop rate for venom bottles had already reached 50%.
These three venomous snakes alone had dropped two venom bottles.
He let Fat Dahai and the others go pick up the loot.
After waiting for his skill cooldowns, Lin Mo continued on to the next round of combat.
———
On the other side—
[Offline, Ning'an City, Tianyi Building]
[Chasing Dreams Studio]
Wu Gang, who had not slept all night, stared at the red exclamation mark behind the messages he had sent to Zhang Meng on his phone screen, as well as the constant loan repayment reminders popping up in the background.
He took off his glasses and covered his face with both hands. He was already on the verge of a breakdown.
At this moment, a studio member suddenly said to Wu Gang, "Brother Gang, we found it."
"Liuli's information can't be found for now, but I found information on Rulebound."
"According to what we have, Rulebound came out of Yunbian Town in newbie village number 116. He has a girlfriend whose Divine Oracle ID is Xia Zhi, and that Zhufeng Shadow who placed an order with us yesterday should also be Rulebound's close brother."
"They're both in Blazing Ember City."
The member speaking sounded worried again, "Brother Gang, Rulebound and Liuli are both top-tier powerhouses ranked number one on the Heavenly Rankings. Are we really going to go against them?"
Wu Gang put his glasses back on.
Endless hatred burned in his eyes.
"They made me pay three hundred thousand in breach penalties! Took my Heart of Shadow! And even caused me to lose Mengmeng!"
"I have to settle this score with them!"
"No matter what, I must take back the Heart of Shadow."
The studio members were still worried, "But the two of them are both number one on the Heavenly Rankings, and they're so strong. With just the strength of our Chasing Dreams Studio, I'm afraid we can't deal with them…"
Wu Gang, however, was unconcerned, as if he already had a plan in mind.
He immediately instructed everyone in the studio, "In my name, contact the other Divine Oracle game studios in Ning'an City right away!"
"Tell them we're planning a big order worth ten million together!"
"Understood!"
Wu Gang clenched his fists tightly, his eyes bloodshot, and gritted his teeth, "Rulebound, Liuli, you pair of adulterous scum, just you wait!"
"What I've lost, I'll make you repay a hundredfold!"
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