The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

“System notification: You have slain the elite monster [Enraged Demon Bear], kill points +3000!”

The silver-haired girl flipped and landed steadily. At the same time, the system assistant’s voice echoed in her ears.

If it were someone else, hearing this figure would surely make their heart surge with excitement.

However, Chen Zixuan remained calm. He knew that only players who survived until the end of the event would receive the chest reward from the system.

Before that, no matter how many kill points you had, they were just numbers.

So, for the sake of the reward, the commander at the very back of the monster army— the mastermind—must die!

Thinking of this, Chen Zixuan slowly stood up. Just as he turned around, he saw Yuewu and Dawn’s Light, both wearing stunned expressions.

“What’s with you two?”

The silver-haired girl tilted her head slightly and asked with a blank face.

“Cecilia… I want to ask, how much attack do you have now?”

Yuewu swallowed and asked with difficulty.

“Let me see.”

The silver-haired girl lowered her head, tapped a few times, opened her character panel, glanced at it, and answered, “A bit over one hundred.”

Upon hearing this answer, Dawn’s Light immediately took a deep breath. In the morning, Cecilia had said her attack was only 59, and now it had jumped to over a hundred.

As expected, was it because of this epic set of equipment?

Thinking this, he couldn’t help but sweep his gaze over the silver-haired girl’s equipment, especially lingering a little longer on her flat stomach and chest.

Sensing Dawn’s Light’s gaze, Chen Zixuan immediately narrowed his eyes and asked with a cold tone, “What are you looking at?”

Even though his body was now that of a beautiful girl in her teens, Chen Zixuan’s soul was still male. Even after so long, he still found it hard to get used to being eyed by the same sex like this.

Especially since he had seen, more than once online, that the older a man was, the more interested they seemed to become in young girls—commonly known as “antique collectors.”

People like Dawn’s Light—a successful middle-aged man—were the main force in that field, and Chen Zixuan needed to keep a close eye on him.

Yuewu seemed to think of this too. She immediately frowned and shot Dawn’s Light a look of disgust.

Dawn’s Light, however, was not as depraved as Chen Zixuan suspected. In real life, he had a happy family and a lovely daughter; he actually loathed those “antique collectors.”

Seeing the increasingly suspicious looks from the others, Dawn’s Light hurried to explain, “No, no, I was just curious about your equipment. By the way, why does your set add so much attack?”

Chen Zixuan glanced down at the [Blood Moon Slayer’s Dagger] in his hand, some of his suspicion toward Dawn’s Light fading, but he still said coolly, “We’ll talk about it another time. Let’s clear this event first.”

“Alright.”

Dawn’s Light couldn’t wait to end this awkward topic and nodded quickly.

At this moment, the goblins who had fled from the earlier battle started to swarm back in groups. Chen Zixuan was about to switch to his novice dagger for grinding, only to realize the durability was almost depleted.

What a piece of trash weapon, its durability is this poor…

Helpless, he could only settle for equipping the [Executioner’s Dagger] he had won in a previous draw and continued clearing a path through the monsters.

“Looks like I’ll need to start carrying spare weapons from now on,”

Chen Zixuan thought to himself as he hacked through the monsters.

Other players had poor sustainability. After fighting monsters for a while, they’d have to return to the main city to resupply and, along the way, get their gear repaired at the weapon shop. As a result, they didn’t have this concern.

But Chen Zixuan was different. He passively regenerated health, and his equipment restored mana, so he never needed to return to the main city frequently for supplies. Naturally, that meant he couldn’t often repair his gear. When situations like this occurred, equipment durability became a big issue.

After taking down the elite black bear monster, they encountered no further obstacles. Two minutes later, the silver-haired girl kicked a goblin in front of her flying, and the world before them suddenly opened up into a wide plain.

They finally broke through…

Dawn’s Light was next, then Yuewu, and finally Gu Yanxi. They closely followed behind Chen Zixuan, charging out of the monster army’s encirclement together.

At this point, the four of them were in pretty bad shape. Dawn’s Light only lost just over 70 health thanks to his epic set’s protection. Yuewu was in the worst shape, left with a pitiful 47 HP. If Gu Yanxi hadn’t healed her twice, Yuewu would surely have perished in the recent monster army.

As for Chen Zixuan, though he still appeared full health, his equipment had lost the most durability by far—especially his armor, which had dropped by half. The repairs after this event would likely cost him a fair amount.

I hope the rewards for this event are worth it… Chen Zixuan thought to himself.

Actually, this monster siege event might have been extremely challenging for others, but it posed no real threat to the current Chen Zixuan.

The main reason he proceeded with such caution was, after all, the three burdens behind him.

Dawn’s Light and Yuewu could be left behind, but Gu Yanxi had to come along.

As the monster horde behind them gradually dispersed—apparently to hunt other players—Yuewu clutched her chest, fear lingering, and asked, “Are we safe now?”

Despite having a top-tier player like Cecilia leading them, this mission had been far more intense than Yuewu had imagined.

To barrel straight through the most dangerous part of the monster army—perhaps this really was a do-or-die, and life emerges after death.

“We aren’t done yet. We’re just out of danger for now. To finish this event, we still have to bring down that mastermind behind the scenes,”

Dawn’s Light explained on Chen Zixuan’s behalf.

“So are we going to look for him next?”

Yuewu finally reacted and asked.

The silver-haired girl thought for a moment, her twin-tails swaying slightly, then slowly shook her head, saying, “It should be pretty safe here for a while. The three of you stay put; I’ll go handle him alone.”

At the moment, they had no idea what level the mastermind was.

In the worst-case scenario, anyone who could command such a monster army might well be a world-class boss.

If they went together, once the fight broke out, Chen Zixuan would find it nearly impossible to look after all three of them. Therefore, going alone was the best known option now.

Dawn’s Light and Yuewu considered it. With their combat power, they’d only hold him back, so they simply nodded and agreed to Chen Zixuan’s plan.

Once everyone was settled, the silver-haired girl lightly frowned, took a deep breath, and began to stride steadily across the plain.

The most difficult boss fight was finally right before his eyes…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep