Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Silence.
Absolute, deathly silence.
Everyone fell quiet at the sight of Lin Tao fainting from sheer rage.
Even Zhou Ming was stunned.
He had never expected his opponent’s mental resilience to be this poor!
“Everyone saw that. I never insulted him!” Zhou Ming hurriedly proclaimed his innocence.
Heaven and earth were his witnesses!
Not one curse had left his mouth!
“You were waging psychological warfare from the moment the duel began!” The elder caught his unconscious disciple, killing intent filling his eyes. “Even this old man must concede defeat before the viciousness of your schemes!”
First, Zhou Ming had disguised himself as the weaker party and begged for a chance to wager. Then he learned his skills in front of everyone, placing invisible pressure on his opponent. Next, he abused his Movement Speed advantage to torment Lin Tao, before finally twisting the knife with sarcastic remarks until the man lost all reason.
Every step had flowed into the next without a single gap. It was ruthless to the extreme!
“Wasn’t this simply the result of your disciple’s inflated pride and inability to tolerate humiliation?” Zhou Ming replied calmly. “Otherwise, defeating him would have been anything but easy.”
Lin Tao had thrown a stone at Zhou Ming the moment they met. No matter how pitiful his fate now looked, Zhou Ming felt no guilt whatsoever.
If Lin Tao’s master had not been present to stop Zhou Ming from killing him, Zhou Ming would have gladly taken the opportunity to claim the first Silver Boss kill as well.
The elder could not respond.
He could not deny Zhouyou Shijie’s words.
“Since Lin Tao can no longer fight…”
Zhou Ming looked up at the god-tier experts floating around him and asked with a smile, “That means I won the duel, correct?”
“…We must admit that we underestimated you,” one expert answered gravely.
The statement indirectly acknowledged Zhou Ming’s victory.
“Ding!”
[System: Congratulations! You have completed [The Wager] (Difficulty: S). The quest reward is now in effect!]
Phew!
Only after receiving the system’s recognition did the enormous weight hanging over Zhou Ming’s heart finally fall away.
The entire “farce” might have looked like an effortless victory, but in truth, Zhou Ming had been dancing on a blade from the moment he arrived. Any mistake could have left him without a grave.
The experts had not even misjudged his power. They had simply underestimated the system rewards for his first boss kill and first class advancement.
Then again, perhaps they had never cared enough to pay attention to server-wide announcements about adventurers.
“Remember what you did today!” The elder fixed Zhou Ming with a cold stare. “This is not the end for you. It is the beginning of disaster!”
As if to prove him right, system chimes immediately rang one after another.
“Ding!”
[System: Attention! Spear of Thunder · Alva’s affinity toward you has decreased by 20. Current Affinity: 30 (Hostile)!]
“Ding!”
[System: Attention! Windwalker · Balen’s affinity toward you has decreased by 20. Current Affinity: 30 (Hostile)!]
“Ding!”
[System: Attention! Hero of Water · Shui Zhanqiu’s affinity toward you has decreased by 20. Current Affinity: 30 (Hostile)!]
…
Clearly, Zhou Ming had thoroughly offended every expert present.
He did not care in the slightest.
With the God-Demon Orb in his hands, they would never have spared him even if he had not interfered.
“I’m getting ready to leave, everyone.” Zhou Ming waved to them. “Would any of you like to see me off?”
“…Hmph!”
Someone could no longer endure his mockery and swept away in a fury.
At this point, all they could do was stand aside. Remaining here would only give the foul-mouthed adventurer more opportunities to provoke them.
“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!”
The other experts soon departed as well, each one deeply unwilling.
The farce ended in silence.
“Other experts may still arrive. We should leave now!” Qianying caught Zhou Ming’s hand and flew into the sky.
The elder watched them vanish beyond the horizon, his face cold and murderous.
“Let us see how long you can keep jumping around!”
…
Qianying landed safely with Zhou Ming in a deserted region. Her voice softened.
“Thank you for coming back to save me.”
She had sent Zhouyou Shijie to Qingshui Town for his own safety, hoping to preserve his life and leave behind some hope.
She had never imagined he would be the one to rescue her instead.
“Ding!”
[System: Divine Ember Queen · Qianying’s affinity toward you has increased by 5. Current Affinity: 65 (Friendly)!]
“You gave me the God-Demon Orb, and I saved your life. That makes us even,” Zhou Ming said with a smile. “If you still feel indebted, why not stay with me for now? You can enhance my equipment and help me grow faster. What do you think?”
Until now, he had asked Qianying to improve his equipment for free. After troubling her so many times, he had started to feel embarrassed.
Now he could make the arrangement explicit. In the future, he could hand over equipment openly and without shame.
“Of course,” Qianying agreed.
As soon as she answered, the greatest reward for surviving the crisis finally arrived, late but not absent.
“Ding!”
[System: Congratulations! You have achieved a perfect completion of [God or Demon at a Thought] (Difficulty: SS). Reward: God-Demon Orb!]
On the surface, the perfect reward looked no different from ordinary quest completion.
The true benefit was that he had forcibly kept the god-tier NPC the system should have “reclaimed” by his side.
In the future, Zhou Ming’s equipment would give him an advantage beyond imagination over players at his level.
“The danger is over for now. I need to rest.” Zhou Ming rubbed his brow, mentally exhausted.
It was already three in the morning in the real world.
The quest had allowed no room for distraction. He had been forced to concentrate with every ounce of his strength. Now that the crisis had passed, exhaustion crashed over him and his eyelids could barely remain open.
“All right!” Qianying understood. “Go rest. I will wait here for you to return.”
“See you tomorrow!”
Too tired for further conversation, Zhou Ming did not even have the energy to inspect his class panel. He immediately called up the system menu.
Log out!
…
Zhou Ming removed his gaming helmet, shook his foggy head, and stumbled into the bathroom. After a quick wash, he reached his bed and collapsed into sleep.
Staying online through such prolonged, high-intensity action was a serious trial for both mind and body.
Fortunately, his first day of the *Destiny* open beta had been immensely rewarding.
…
The next day, the sun was already high when Zhou Ming woke, fully refreshed. He checked his phone and discovered it was noon.
He sprang out of bed, washed up, left his tiny room, and went to a nearby eatery.
“Boss, one plate of fried rice noodles!”
After sitting down and ordering, Zhou Ming logged into the official forum on his phone to check the players’ overall progress. He discovered himself splashed across the front page.
*ID Zhouyou Shijie Claims to Be a Developer, Does THAT to Beautiful NPC*
Zhou Ming hurriedly opened the post. It contained nothing but screenshots of Qianying following him around. There was no explosive news at all.
One glance at the headline told him the writer had studied journalism.
“Holy crap, I’m crying with envy!”
“Maybe the poster isn’t wrong. At the start of the game, only a developer could have privileges like that!”
“Is the company hinting that players can do certain things with NPCs?”
…
People actually believed this?
Zhou Ming chuckled to himself as he read the comments.
Just then, two students sat at the table beside him.
“Bro, what level are you in *Destiny*?”
“Level 6!” The other student sighed. “I never expected leveling to be this hard at the start. The drop rates are terrible too!”
“Tell me about it!” the first student agreed. “I can’t understand how Zhouyou Shijie got the first boss kill within two hours of launch!”
“Everyone already figured it out. He’s an ugly developer desperate for attention!” the student said with absolute certainty.
Then he glanced at Zhou Ming, noticed the official forum on his phone, and struck up a conversation.
“Hey, man. Do you think Zhouyou Shijie is a real player?”
“Of course not!”
Without changing his expression, Zhou Ming turned off his phone screen and shook his head with a laugh.
“Anyone with eyes can tell the company couldn’t handle a fair game, so they hired a paid shill!”
The student nodded emphatically. “Great minds think alike!”
…