A New Approach

Originally, Chen Zixuan was prepared to let these two go, but since that female mage brought it upon herself, he couldn’t be blamed for what followed.

Besides, 11 gold coins meant nothing to Chen Zixuan, who still had thousands of gold coins in his backpack at the moment.

Sure enough, he thought, it’s better to take a gamble—maybe the bike will turn into a motorbike after all.

The situation was urgent, he might as well kill them both.

Seeing the silver-haired girl’s eyes grow colder in the distance, the Sharpshooter knew this battle was now inevitable.

With a determined expression, he raised his longbow, stubbornly nocking the arrow as he steadily aimed at Cecilia, a legendary player in the world of online games.

If he could win this fight, it would undoubtedly be the most glorious, dazzling highlight of his entire life.

To claim glory beneath this arrow!

One second later, Cecilia moved.

She vanished!

Then she reappeared!

Another arc of light flashed—her dagger left its sheath with a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. Slashing at his left hand, the silver-haired girl’s attack made him cry out in pain and drop his longbow. The Sharpshooter’s HP instantly dropped by more than eighty percent.

-169!

He slowly raised both hands in a French military salute, offering Cecilia his highest respect.

Chen Zixuan didn’t understand the gesture, nor did he intend to spare these two. With another stroke faster than lightning, he stabbed straight through, and the Sharpshooter’s body exploded into countless glittering fragments.

Clang! Two glowing orbs, one blue and one white, fell to the ground with a crisp metallic sound.

“It’s actually a double drop!”

He’d expected it would be lucky to get one piece of gear—he hadn’t expected his luck would explode this time, and he’d get two.

With joy welling in his heart, Chen Zixuan bent down and scooped up both glowing orbs from the ground.

At that moment, system Miss’s voice sounded in his ear.

“System notification: You have slain the red-named player [Nameless Passerby C], contributing to the peace of Kaloran. You are hereby rewarded with the title ‘Light of Justice’ by way of encouragement!”

Light of Justice? What a brain-dead title…

Just as Chen Zixuan was about to make a snarky remark, system Miss’s voice sounded again.

“System notification: You have received blue rare-grade armor [Rebel Light Armor]!”

“System notification: You have received white normal-grade armor [Apprentice Hunter’s Boots]!”

Neither of the dropped items were weapons, which was a bit of a letdown, but it was still an unexpected surprise—another few tens of thousands for free, better than nothing.

On the other side, the female mage player was already scared out of her wits and could no longer think about avenging her three brutalized teammates. Instinctively, she tried to flee.

For a scrub like this who couldn’t even break through his defense, Chen Zixuan couldn’t even be bothered to chase; he simply used 【Silverflash Pierce】. The silver blade light flashed instantly, catching up and sinking into the female mage’s back.

Even though her HP wasn’t low, with at least a fourfold attack multiplier and ignoring all defense for true damage, there was no suspense—she was instantly killed by that strike.

In less than two minutes, the previously arrogant four-member party had been utterly wiped out. This suddenly gave Chen Zixuan the illusion that he was the true villain here.

You guys started the fight, and you’re the first to die… what am I supposed to do with that?

Shaking his head, Chen Zixuan was just about to check his spoils when Gu Yanxi came running over. She was about to say something but then noticed the characters above his head and asked in confusion:

“Cecilia, why is your name above your head? And why has it turned red?”

Thinking Gu Yanxi didn’t know about the red-named system, Chen Zixuan patiently explained, “It’s a red-name penalty. As long as you attack other players, it’ll appear.”

Hearing Cecilia’s answer, Gu Yanxi immediately looked excited, asking, “You know so much! Do you often kill other players in this game?”

“… Not really.”

Slightly embarrassed, Chen Zixuan changed the topic.

From server launch until now, he’d spent most of his time in single-player mode, fighting monsters alone with very little interaction with other players. He had only become red-named twice.

The first time, he found being red-named inconvenient and worked hard killing monsters to clear the status. Now, he was already indifferent.

After all, no one could beat him; as long as he didn’t die, he wouldn’t drop equipment. The only minor hassle was having to go back to Main City to repair gear, but it was nothing serious.

The two of them continued on their way. Soon, Chen Zixuan returned to the Mutant Jungle, where he had been defeated last time.

It was in that spot, in this game, that he had lost his very first life.

Traveling in packs—Sawtooth Crocodiles are just too cunning!

Standing atop a cliff, overlooking the bizarre, twisted forest below, Chen Zixuan was overcome with emotion.

Last time he’d come, he was only level 8. Dealing with one Sawtooth Crocodile was tough; if two or three came at once, he could only flee in panic.

Now, he was already level 10, but he hadn’t learned any new skills yet, and he was still wearing level-5 gear. His stats were only slightly higher than last time.

If he rushed in again, the outcome would probably be the same.

At present, Chen Zixuan’s biggest weakness was a lack of wide-area AOE damage skills.

When fighting monsters one-on-one, he could use his high damage and agility to make up for his lower level. But against multiple foes at once, if he couldn’t kill them quickly, he’d be in serious trouble.

“This place just feels so gross… There aren’t snakes in there, are there?”

Gu Yanxi came to stand at Chen Zixuan’s side. She took one look at the Mutant Jungle and immediately grew nervous, timidly asking.

“Don’t worry, last time I was here, I didn’t see any snakes.”

With pale blue eyes, the silver-haired girl softly reassured her.

However, he didn’t tell Gu Yanxi that, while there were no snakes, there were monsters in this wilderness a hundred times more disgusting.

Those hundred-plus Sawtooth Crocodiles had such high Physical defense and thick skins that, as of now, they weren’t something Chen Zixuan could handle.

He wondered if there would be just as many minions near the BOSS.

At that moment, Chen Zixuan suddenly remembered: crocodiles were supposed to be water overlords with very strong territorial instincts. Bigger ones wouldn’t even tolerate their own kind.

The Mutant Jungle was big, and the small river running through it wasn’t short. By all logic, each crocodile should have claimed a large piece of its own territory.

So why were more than a hundred Sawtooth Crocodiles crowding together in that narrow canyon?

They obviously weren’t social animals, yet they were all huddled in one corner of the map. That canyon didn’t seem special either, at least on the surface.

Chen Zixuan couldn’t help but wonder—perhaps they weren’t acting out of instinct, but as if they were avoiding some massive, dangerous creature.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep