Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Outside Qingshui City.
The players who had begun considering retreat suddenly found their morale soaring. They stared at Zhouyou Shijie with undisguised greed and killing intent.
Money moved men’s hearts!
Before the bounty, they had not felt much genuine hostility toward Zhouyou Shijie. They mainly resented his string of achievement rewards and wanted to knock him down a peg.
Now, both the situation and the nature of the conflict had changed completely.
To current players, the extravagant bounty offered by a god-tier NPC was enough to change their destinies!
“What are you all waiting for?” Gaibang Laoer shouted from his hiding place at the rear. “The reward is right in front of you!”
The crowd exchanged glances. Then, as if by tacit agreement, they began closing in on Zhouyou Shijie.
They might not know what the God-Demon Orb was, but merely killing him would earn them a Rare A-Rank item. On the second day after launch, a prize like that was enough to make anyone’s eyes burn red.
“What an extravagant offer!”
Zhou Ming’s expression turned grave.
It was not the mob of players that put him under pressure.
The real problem was…
He wanted that Rare A-Rank item too!
If only I could kill myself and claim the reward!
Zhou Ming sighed inwardly, then abruptly froze.
Kill himself for the reward?
That might… perhaps… possibly… not be entirely impossible…
“Kill him!”
The surrounding players finally lost all restraint and charged Zhou Ming.
Levels were still relatively easy to regain this early in the game, so dying did not hurt them too badly.
But if they killed Zhouyou Shijie, they would become famous and rich in one stroke. Why wouldn’t they take the gamble?
“Now let’s see whether you die!” Mo Yun sneered from where he hovered in the sky.
The crowd surged like a tide.
Whatever Zhou Ming had been considering, he had no choice but to suppress those distracting thoughts and focus on his enemies.
-674!
-655!
-657!
…
Zhou Ming carved through them like vegetables. The Blackwind Sword rose and fell, sending several players away in the blink of an eye.
With a Radiant weapon in his hand, his Attack was undoubtedly in a class of its own across the entire server. Normal players had no hope of surviving a blow.
“This is completely absurd!”
Gaibang Laoer watched from a distance, dumbfounded.
The terrifying damage stood in stark contrast to the attacks landing on Zhouyou Shijie.
-12!
-4!
-16!
…
Almost no one could break through his Defense to any meaningful degree. Their damage was pitiful.
“What are you afraid of?”
Gaibang Laosan, who had clashed with Zhou Ming back in the Novice Village, was not particularly surprised. “We have this many people, and plenty of solo players have joined for the bounty. Zhouyou Shijie is guaranteed to die!”
So what if their damage was low?
As long as his HP bar kept falling, it would eventually reach zero!
As he spoke, Gaibang Laosan raised his staff and aimed at the besieged Zhouyou Shijie from a distance. After a brief incantation, he shouted, “Eat my Fireball!”
Boom!
A fireball the size of a basketball traced an arc through the air and struck Zhou Ming.
It hit!
Gaibang Laosan’s eyes lit up.
MISS!
Zhou Ming did not lose a single point of HP.
“???”
Gaibang Laosan stared blankly.
Hadn’t it hit him?
Where was the Fireball’s damage?
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Everywhere Zhou Ming looked, he saw players. All kinds of weapons rained down on him in a frenzy.
Despite facing such a spectacle for the first time, his expression never changed. His blade fell in rapid succession, taking down one player after another.
“Ding!”
[System: You have killed the player [Let’s Run Away Together]. Infamy +1!]
“Ding!”
[System: You have killed the player [Little Punk]. Infamy +1!]
…
System chimes announcing kills rang incessantly beside his ear. Zhou Ming simply muted them. Meanwhile, his Infamy climbed rapidly as his slaughter continued.
“Don’t be afraid!”
Gaibang Laoer continued shouting from a distance. “The higher his Infamy, the greater the chance he’ll drop equipment when he dies. He might even drop the God-Demon Orb and let one of you change into a unique hidden class!”
“Kill him!”
The players were pumped full of adrenaline. Throwing all caution aside, they rushed Zhou Ming and fought as if their lives depended on it.
“I was worried there wouldn’t be enough of you!” Zhou Ming welcomed them with open arms.
Whether his equipment would drop could only be determined after he died.
Their equipment, on the other hand, already covered the ground. The loot rights belonged to him, so no one else could pick any of it up.
The grass outside Qingshui Town was swiftly dyed red with blood.
In the blink of an eye, over a hundred players died beneath Zhou Ming’s sword.
At the same time, his own HP continued falling.
80%!
60%!
40%!
He was almost out of health!
Seeing the first glimmer of hope, the surrounding players grew even more excited.
“Out of my way!”
Gaibang Laoer saw that the time was ripe. With his HP restored above the safe threshold, he charged back into the fray and swung his axe at Zhou Ming, hoping to steal the kill.
Zhou Ming remained perfectly calm. He opened his inventory and equipped his own gear, including the Level 20 Dark Moon Legguards. His HP and Defense soared.
-1!
-1!
-1!
…
In an instant, every incoming attack failed to break his Defense.
“You!”
The smile froze on Gaibang Laoer’s face. “You did this on purpose?”
“Obviously it was an accident!”
Falsely accused, Zhou Ming looked at the equipment scattered across the ground and nearly shed a tiny tear of grievance.
When he saw Gaibang Laoer trying to flee again, Zhou Ming raised his left hand. Fire elements gathered as he summoned Fallen Sword and brought it crashing down.
There was no need to check the damage. Gaibang Laoer died on the spot.
Zhou Ming gulped down a red potion, and his HP began rising instead of falling.
+10!
-1!
+10!
…
“Son of a bitch, he played us!”
Seeing their miserable damage fail to penetrate his Defense, the remaining players ground their teeth, faces black with rage.
Zhouyou Shijie had deliberately held back from the beginning, baiting them into delivering themselves to his sword!
Zhou Ming casually cut down another player. “Stop coming! Seriously, stop! My inventory’s full!”
The crowd had no words.
Damn it!
Within a few short minutes, the surviving players broke and fled, leaving weapons and armor scattered behind them.
After driving them away, Zhou Ming flicked the blood from the Blackwind Sword and looked up at the god-tier expert above.
“Happy now?”
…
Mo Yun’s expression darkened. He glared coldly at the ant below who dared challenge him, refusing to speak.
Zhouyou Shijie’s growth had far exceeded his expectations. Ordinary players fell before him like chickens and clay dogs.
“Heh. Enjoy your triumph while it lasts!”
After a long silence, Mo Yun finally squeezed the words between clenched teeth. Feigning indifference, he gave Zhou Ming a contemptuous smile. “The day will come when you can no longer laugh.”
“Is that so?”
Zhou Ming paid the threat no mind. “Whether I can laugh in the future is a problem for the future. What I do know is that you won’t be laughing much longer.”
“Hm?”
The corner of Mo Yun’s eye twitched as unease rose within him.
What was this brat planning?
Zhou Ming took the God-Demon Orb from his inventory. “Qianying, I have a question for you!”
Whoosh!
White light drifted from the God-Demon Orb and transformed into a silver-haired young woman of incomparable beauty. Her delicate brows framed a flawless face, and her slender waist seemed made to fit within a man’s hands. Beneath the setting sun, she looked more enchanting than words could capture.
“What question?” Confusion flickered in Qianying’s eyes.
“I know your feelings for me run deep!”
…
“Barring any surprises, you’ve probably given me your heart already.”
“???”
Zhou Ming slowly opened his arms to her. “Under these circumstances, if I asked you to kill me… could you really bear to do it?”
Clang!
Without a word, Qianying pulled a sharp sword from empty space.
“I can hardly wait!”
…