Chapter 100
Chapter 100
Having mastered the skill, Zhou Ming immediately opened his skill list to inspect its details.
[Bedrock Shield] (SSS Rank)
Description: A technique so profound that it seems beyond mortal comprehension.
Skill Effect: May be applied to any unit. Before that unit takes damage, it gains 50% of the caster’s total Defense and immediately deals damage equal to 600% of the caster’s Attack to the enemy unit.
Duration: 20 minutes after the skill is triggered.
Cooldown: 2 hours.
Restriction: Bedrock Shield may be applied to a maximum of 3 people.
…
“Renee, this skill of yours is incredible!” Zhou Ming praised it endlessly.
Bedrock Shield was fully worthy of its SSS Rank. Its most extraordinary feature was not actually its counterattack, but the 50% of total Defense it granted.
The higher the caster’s Defense, the greater the benefit.
At that thought, Zhou Ming gave Renee a long, meaningful look.
He had somehow coaxed such a wondrous stone into joining him with a few clever words.
What incredible luck!
“I know you were desperate to save someone, but I have to add one thing!” Renee looked crestfallen. “A skill learned without days and nights of dedicated study is no good. It has no… no…”
Her face scrunched up as she desperately searched for a flaw.
“No what?”
“No soul!” Renee finally managed.
“Hahaha!”
Zhou Ming burst out laughing. He reached out and rubbed her head, then said sincerely, “Thank you, Master!”
“Just call me by my name.” Renee sat down again, picked up a stone, and bit into it with astonishingly strong teeth. “Calling me Master just to make me feel better won’t make me happy.”
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ming took the Luminous Ore from his inventory and placed it before her. “It’s yours.”
Since Renee liked eating stones, this was the only one he possessed that was worthy of giving her.
He had originally planned to use it to forge a divine weapon someday.
But if he was truly destined to die in a month, keeping the ore would only allow an enemy to profit from it.
“Huh?”
Delight spread across Renee’s face. “Where did you find Demigod ore?”
“A rules reward,” Zhou Ming answered simply. “Consider it my thanks… I still have something to do, so I’ll be going!”
With that, he logged out.
He had to apply Bedrock Shield to his parents as quickly as possible, preventing another incident.
“Tsk!”
Renee watched Zhouyou Shijie’s form dissolve into motes of light that drifted through the air. She pouted. “Thanks? We’re on the same side. Why be so polite with me?”
She did not eat the Luminous Ore. Instead, she carefully stored it in her inventory.
Zhouyou Shijie had no use for it in the short term. She would keep it safe for him.
…
In reality…
Zhou Ming took off his gaming helmet, stood, and rushed straight to his parents’ home.
After offending so many people, he could not live with them, but he had to guarantee their safety.
Using Shadowless Step, Zhou Ming moved like the wind and swiftly returned home. There, he found numerous unfamiliar people in uniform already waiting for him.
When the man they had been waiting for arrived, they hurriedly rose. A middle-aged man in a suit approached first and extended his hand. “Hello. My name is Lin Zhongshan!”
“Hello!”
Zhou Ming shook his hand.
After what happened at the abandoned building, his identity had inevitably been exposed. But now that he possessed in-game power, he did not fear contact with government personnel.
“Zhouyou Shijie, I have admired you from afar for a long time!” Lin Zhongshan studied the young man carefully and laughed heartily. “No other player could replicate your feats in Destiny. They are truly impressive.”
“You’re too kind.”
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhou Ming applied Bedrock Shield to his parents in full view of everyone, ensuring that even firearms could not threaten their lives.
It was both a reminder and a warning, discouraging certain petty villains from courting death.
“At present, no one else can bring power into reality as you have.” Lin Zhongshan could not help sighing in amazement. Then his expression turned serious. “We already understand what happened today. Rest assured, we will do everything possible to protect your parents without interfering with their freedom!”
“Thank you!”
Zhou Ming nodded, then came straight to the point. “Elder Lin, what exactly is Destiny?”
He had far too many questions about the game.
His wager with Ning Wushen had only intensified his desire for answers.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know.” Lin Zhongshan shook his head.
Zhou Ming frowned. “You don’t want to tell me?”
“Young man, do you have any idea who you’re speaking to…”
A bodyguard behind Lin Zhongshan could not resist interjecting, but Lin Zhongshan raised a hand and stopped him.
“I am not deceiving you,” Lin Zhongshan said helplessly. “You can think of it as something that came from beyond our world, something Earth is incapable of deciphering. Perhaps the real answer is hidden within the game itself…”
“All right. I understand.”
Zhou Ming did not press him further.
After speaking for a while and obtaining an assurance that his freedom would not be infringed upon, Zhou Ming relaxed. He gave his parents an explanation for what had happened, then rose and left.
He needed to prepare for the challenge one month from now.
Even if every god-tier expert on the server might gather at Juyan City when the time came…
…
Dawn was beginning to break when Zhou Ming returned to his rented apartment.
He had not slept all night. The moment his mind relaxed, exhaustion washed over him.
Fighting back his drowsiness, Zhou Ming entered the bathroom and washed up. As warm water flowed over his body, he reached into empty space with his right hand. The God-Demon Orb appeared neatly in his grasp.
“I truly have you to thank for surviving this time,” Zhou Ming murmured.
He knew perfectly well that the God-Demon Orb had forcibly drawn his in-game power into his real-world body. Without it, he would not have escaped death today.
When Zhou Ming opened his palm, the God-Demon Orb vanished again and returned to the game.
He still had many questions about this mysterious orb that surpassed god-tier.
But there was no point dwelling on them.
Perhaps once he truly passed the Trial of the Seven Sins, every mystery would resolve itself.
After washing, Zhou Ming lay down in bed and soon fell into a deep sleep.
…
Around noon…
Zhou Ming woke feeling completely refreshed.
Perhaps it was because the Heart-Cleansing Wine had increased his Mental Resistance. Despite reversing day and night and throwing his entire sleep schedule into chaos, he woke without the slightest trace of fatigue.
After a long stretch, Zhou Ming went to a nearby restaurant and ordered a bowl of beef noodles. While waiting for his food, he browsed the official forums on his phone.
“Pinnacle Showdown: It’s Time for the Eastern Region’s Experts to Act”
“Zhouyou Shijie Has Made So Much Money, Why Keep Gaming? Quit and Travel the World!”
“Mysterious Expert Submit and Perish”
…
“Submit and Perish?”
Zhou Ming raised an eyebrow and opened the post. Its author had uploaded a video. In the footage, hundreds of people surrounded a man in purple robes. He raised his staff and chanted, summoning flashes of lightning and howling winds. Then a massive dragon formed entirely of lightning descended from the sky.
-255,448!
-261,475!
-245,997!
…
Damage exceeding two hundred thousand instantly killed every enemy it struck.
Post Author: “We didn’t know he was the third-ranked player on the level rankings. Then one Forbidden Spell wiped us all out.”
“Holy crap, seriously? A Forbidden Spell?”
“Players can already get their hands on Forbidden Spells? Even Zhouyou Shijie doesn’t have one, does he?”
“If third place is already this strong, second place must be even stronger. Zhouyou Shijie hasn’t fought either of them. Calling him the Eastern Region’s number one player now is premature and undeserved!”
…
The forum post had tens of thousands of comments.
“A Forbidden Spell, huh?”
Longing stirred in Zhou Ming’s heart.
Truthfully, this was something he did not yet possess.
After finishing his beef noodles and returning to his apartment, Zhou Ming immediately converted a portion of his gold into cash and bought himself a rather nice house. It came fully equipped with everything he needed. Its only drawback was the remote location.
That was precisely what Zhou Ming wanted.
If it were not remote enough, dealing with any future trouble would be difficult.
Once everything was settled, Zhou Ming steadied himself. “One month… I still have one month…”
Ning Wushen’s certainty that he would die one month from now could not be groundless.
But…
How could anyone remain calm when their life was at stake?
Zhou Ming returned to the game. With a heavy heart, he opened his quest panel and inspected the wager between him and Ning Wushen.
“Hiss!!”
The instant he saw the quest details, he sucked in a sharp breath, unable to believe his eyes.
It was actually…
…