TAG Chapter 15

The three of them hid in the darkness and silently circled around to the back of the burning villa, finally getting a clear view of the horrifying battle scene.

On the empty ground behind the villa, two giant stone hands emerged from the ground, chasing after a fast-moving shadow. Behind the giant hands, there was an oval-shaped stone barrier. Whenever the shadow approached the barrier, more stone walls would jump up to block its path.

However, the stone walls were like low steps in front of the shadow, easily leaped over. The main reason the shadow couldn’t approach the barrier was that there were five players carrying heavy weapons such as rocket launchers, machine guns, heat-seeking guns, and grenades chasing after the shadow and attacking it. The shadow was darting around, evading their attacks effortlessly.

“What is all this?” Qiao Jingting felt like he was watching a science fiction movie. Everything seemed so surreal.

The shadow darted towards a player wielding a machine gun, but as soon as it approached, four stone walls sprang up around the player, trapping him inside.

Bai Er pointed at the shadow and said, “Zou Yidao is impervious to blades and bullets, but he can’t withstand artillery shells. Han Bin and his subordinates are coordinating well, trapping Zou Yidao in this stone formation. Han Bin can’t kill Zou Yidao, nor can he even touch him, but by prolonging the battle like this, he can exhaust Zou Yidao.”

“So ‘Shen Zhi’ allows people to transform into stone?” Qiao Jingting asked.

“I don’t know, but Han Bin was never this powerful before,” Shu Ai shook her head. “I heard that opening the ‘Shen Zhi’ class requires accumulating seven to eight thousand points. The weapons his subordinates are using range from a few hundred to over a thousand points, which shows how many points he has accumulated.” She paused and frowned. “If he kills Zou Yidao, he can get 3000 points. By killing monsters for a few days, he can easily accumulate 3000 points. Why would he take the risk to kill Zou Yidao?”

“If he doesn’t kill Zou Yidao, it will be him who dies,” Qiao Jingting said solemnly. “Do you really think Han Bin’s subordinates are loyal to him? They are loyal to power. If Han Bin grovels before Zou Yidao, his subordinates will immediately turn against him. Zou Yidao has no reason to keep this hidden danger. He can easily reward a potential player with Han Bin’s life and gain a loyal follower.”

During Qiao Jingting’s years of involvement in underground fighting, he had encountered all kinds of people, from powerful criminal organizations to small street gangs. The core cohesion of these groups was almost the same. There were few who would sacrifice themselves for brotherhood and loyalty as depicted on TV. The majority were driven by money, nakedly pursuing wealth. People, like animals, submitted to the strong. Han Bin had committed numerous crimes and couldn’t maintain his position of power. His fate was death, and not a good death at that.

Bai Er nodded. “That’s right. Han Bin had no choice since Zou Yidao arrived in the newbie village. He had to take action.” He suddenly pulled out a sniper rifle.

“Did you loot that from the sniper?”

“He gave it to me as a gift,” Bai Er aimed the sniper rifle and adjusted the scope.

Of course, no one would believe Bai Er’s words. In the game, if you found an item on the ground, you could use it, but it didn’t belong to you. You couldn’t store it in your inventory unless the owner of the item gifted it to you through the system. So, what Bai Er said seemed plausible, even though it wasn’t entirely true.

Bai Er said, “I’m not very skilled with a sniper rifle, but hitting the target shouldn’t be a problem. My first target is the bald guy. Once he drops the rocket launcher, you guys go and take him down.”

Qiao Jingting quietly approached the bald guy while hugging the wall, while Shu Ai circled around to the back of the player with the machine gun. The player was only level 3, and her energy shield could withstand a barrage of machine gun bullets for a while.

A few seconds later, gunshots rang out, and the bullets hit the bald guy’s left rib but were deflected back by his energy shield. However, the impact of the large-caliber bullets still knocked the bald guy to the ground in pain.

Qiao Jingting leaped from the rubble behind the bald guy and quickly approached him as he writhed on the ground. With a swing of his mace, he smashed the bald guy’s shoulder and then snatched the shoulder-mounted rocket launcher away.

The bald guy rolled in agony on the ground.

Qiao Jingting pressed his foot against the bald guy’s back, lifted the rocket launcher, and turned towards the player holding the grenade launcher. The player’s face turned pale, and he turned to run, realizing that he didn’t know how to use the weapon, so he quickly started reading the instruction manual.

At the same time, Shu Ai had already pounced on the person with the machine gun from behind.

The opponent noticed her presence and turned around to open fire. Shu Ai braved the rain of bullets and charged forward, fiercely striking him on the head with the hilt of her knife.

The man fainted and fell to the ground. Shu Ai grabbed the machine gun and started spraying bullets at the nearby enemies. However, she underestimated the recoil of the machine gun. As she pulled the trigger, the muzzle wildly trembled, losing its accuracy. The bullets hit the ground, sending debris flying, and a few shots struck Qiao Jingting, causing her to quickly let go of the gun.

Bai Er ran to Qiao Jingting’s side. “Why didn’t you kill him?”

Qiao Jingting replied casually, “This bald guy almost killed you yesterday, so I left him for you.”

Bai Er was taken aback. He couldn’t understand Qiao Jingting’s untimely sense of justice, but he didn’t dwell on it. He squatted down and used his sharp fingertips to slash the bald guy’s neck. A long, smooth, and bloody gash appeared on the bald guy’s neck, with blood slowly flowing out without the splattering and dirty feeling of blood mist. The man died quietly.

“You’re already level 6. You can leave whenever you want,” Qiao Jingting said, putting down these words and carrying the rocket launcher as he ran toward Shu Ai.

Bai Er stood silently in place for a few seconds, then rushed toward the next enemy.

Taking down two consecutive enemies, Han Bin noticed and quickly erected stone walls for protection. But he could handle one attack from Zou Yidao, not four at once. Zou Yidao began launching a fierce assault against Han Bin, leaping between the constantly rising stone walls and spikes, evading the stones thrown at him, and making his way towards Han Bin’s stone barrier.

Qiao Jingting and the others dealt with Han Bin’s subordinates below. After disarming them, they were no match and quickly subdued.

Qiao Jingting picked up the rocket launcher and ran towards Han Bin’s side. He had bought three shells and launched one towards Han Bin’s stone barrier.

The barrier was hit, causing intense turbulence. The stone walls cracked, and Han Bin fell to the ground in a sorry state, but quickly built a new stone wall.

A black figure shot towards Qiao Jingting like an arrow. Startled, Qiao Jingting barely had time to blink before he saw a creature covered in rough, hard scales, with sharp claws and a torso encased in brownish armor… a monster. The armor on the creature’s body was seamless, with block-shaped armor plates on the chest and three undulating, longitudinal ridges on its back that resembled… a tortoise shell. It was unmistakably Zou Yidao fused with his scales.

“Damn it…” Qiao Jingting exclaimed.

“Don’t attack the walls, attack his stone hands,” Zou Yidao commanded. “Aim for the joints.”

“I can’t aim, you do it,” Qiao Jingting tried to hand the rocket launcher to him.

“I can’t use it. I can’t use any player’s items in the newbie village. This damn system,” Zou Yidao cursed. In the newbie village, he was completely unarmed.

Qiao Jingting scrutinized Zou Yidao for a moment and said, “What the hell are you? A snapping turtle?”

“I’m an alligator snapping turtle!”

“A type of snapping turtle.”

Zou Yidao kicked him, “Go attack the joints!”

Qiao Jingting shrugged, carried the rocket launcher, and ran to higher ground. He aimed at the joints of the stone giant’s hands with difficulty and launched a missile, but it missed. Each missile cost 15 points, so Qiao Jingting felt a bit heartbroken.

Bai Er and Shu Ai ran over, and Qiao Jingting shouted, “Did you guys hear that? He said he’s an alligator snapping turtle.”

“The fiercest carnivorous turtle in the world,” Bai Er said while helping Qiao Jingting aim manually. “Fire.”

The missile hit the joint directly, causing the stone giant’s hand to break in half.

Qiao Jingting showed a joyful expression and wanted to hand the rocket launcher to Bai Er. “Your turn.”

“It’s too heavy and would strain my shoulder. You carry it,” Bai Er said, adjusting the aim manually again. “Fire.”

Two consecutive missiles hit the joints of the two stone hands. With no heavy weapons or stone hands harassing them, Zou Yidao propelled himself using the stone pillars raised by Han Bin, swiftly climbing upward. Then, with a single leap, he soared more than twenty meters into the air. His limbs and head suddenly retracted into his turtle shell, which began rotating rapidly and falling like a stone toward Han Bin’s barrier!

With a loud rumbling sound, Zou Yidao used his shell to smash Han Bin’s stone barrier! Han Bin was directly knocked unconscious and vomited a large amount of blood.

Zou Yidao extended his head and limbs from the turtle shell, grabbed Han Bin by the neck, and lifted him out of the pile of stones, throwing him to the ground.

Shu Ai stood still for a moment, her eyes bloodshot. It was only when Qiao Jingting gently pushed her that she slowly walked towards Han Bin.

Zou Yidao turned his head, and his scales and turtle shell quickly receded, revealing his human appearance.

Qiao Jingting let out a sigh of relief. Since entering the game, he finally felt a sense of unprecedented relaxation.

Bai Er also walked over and stabbed an acupuncture point on Han Bin’s foot, causing him to wake up with a shout.

Shu Ai crouched down, looking directly into Han Bin’s eyes without blinking. There was no longer anger or hatred in her gaze, but rather a cold indifference filled with disdain. She looked at Han Bin’s eyes with the taste of savoring a delicacy, a taste of despair.

Han Bin’s face turned pale, trembling as he said, “Don’t kill me… I, I have a lot of points, I can give them to you… I can buy weapons, buy anything you want…”

“Can you buy back my brother’s life?” Shu Ai pulled out her curved knife and ruthlessly stabbed it into Han Bin’s thigh.

Han Bin screamed in pain.

Bai Er grabbed Shu Ai’s wrist, pulled out the curved knife, and then changed the location, stabbing the inside of Han Bin’s thigh.

This time, Han Bin let out a wailing cry of agony.

“It hurts here,” Bai Er explained.

Qiao Jingting took out a cigarette and handed it to Zou Yidao.

Zou Yidao shook his head. “Don’t you remember? I can’t use other players’ items.”

“You call this a prop?” Qiao Jingting took out his own cigarette, lit it, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

From behind them, came Han Bin’s begging and screams again. Bai Er explained several acupuncture points on the human body to Shu Ai, using Han Bin as a teaching material.

Qiao Jingting couldn’t help but turn his head and said to Bai Er, “Kid, let her handle it herself.”

Shu Ai pulled out the curved knife and cleanly severed Han Bin’s head.

Bai Er raised an eyebrow. “Is that how you seek revenge?”

“I just want him dead.” Shu Ai stood up, wiping her face. It was all tears. She couldn’t control the trembling of her shoulders. The burden she had carried for a long time was finally released, and she didn’t know what to do for a moment.

Qiao Jingting squeezed her shoulder. “Your brother can rest in peace now.”

Bai Er didn’t understand. “Revenge should be at least an eye for an eye, if not tenfold. Your face…”

“I did it myself.” Shu Ai sniffed and said calmly.

The three men looked at her in astonishment.

Shu Ai nodded. “I did it myself, I burned my face. To protect myself, but also to remember my brother’s hatred.”

Qiao Jingting was speechless, deeply moved and deeply admiring. After spending more than ten days in this game, he had already felt his own mentality twist. Shu Ai, who had endured humiliation and carried heavy burdens under the eyes of her enemies for a year, must have experienced so much pain that he couldn’t imagine…

Shu Ai wiped away her tears. “I need some time alone.” With that, she walked back to the village with the knife in hand.

“This girl these days, she’s really something.” Zou Yidao’s tone was filled with admiration.

Qiao Jingting watched Shu Ai’s slender figure and once again felt a twinge of pity, as well as deep respect. Having been in this game for more than ten days, he could no longer imagine the kind of willpower it took for a young woman to destroy her own face with her own hands.

Bai Er said, “Clean up the battlefield, you should level up now.”

Qiao Jingting snapped out of his thoughts. They still had an important task left unfinished.

Those four-level players who were subdued, under Bai Er’s operation, fought against each other in pairs, resulting in two level-five players. Qiao Jingting killed one of them and successfully reached level six. The other one was tied up and left for Shu Ai.

The raging fire of Heart Moon Fox has been extinguished, and the news of Han Bin’s death appeared on the Demon Slayer List of every player. The players who had long been oppressed gathered around the Tree of Life, celebrating loudly. They rejoiced that Heart Moon Fox finally saw the light of day and temporarily gained freedom.

They returned to Shu Ai’s house, and Qiao Jingting asked about what happened last night.

“Han Bin blew up the house himself, intending to kill me,” Zou Yidao shrugged. “I never told Han Bin my true ability. Normal bombs can’t kill me.”

Qiao Jingting raised an eyebrow, looking at him. “And what is this ability of yours?”

“Crocodile Tortoise Variant,” Zou Yidao blew a smoke ring towards him. “Dare to call me ‘turtle,’ and I’ll teach you a lesson.”

“What are the five major professions?” Bai Er asked.

“Now that you’ve reached level six, you can see for yourselves,” Zou Yidao replied.

Qiao Jingting immediately entered the strengthening area of the platform. As expected, the previously inaccessible option to refine the marrow could now be opened. He looked at it and saw the five major professions displayed prominently before him: Hyperbody, Gu Shi, Variant, Guoshi, and God’s Order. The explanation stated that after refining the marrow, one must choose one of these professions for enhancement. The required points for activation were as follows: 3000 points for Hyperbody, 4000 points for Gu Shi, 4000 points for Variant, 6000 points for Guoshi, and 8000 points for God’s Order.

Qiao Jingting exited the platform and remarked, “God’s Order is surprisingly expensive.”

Zou Yidao nodded. “Because it’s powerful. Let me briefly explain these five major professions to you. Hyperbody is the enhancement of your own body, strengthening either the entire body or specific organs to a superhuman level. Gu Shi is the ability to control living creatures to fight for oneself using spiritual power. When the spiritual power is strong enough, one can even control humans. Variant is a system that will screen all the animal genes within your body, ranging from ancient to modern animals. If you have the genes of a particular animal in your body, you can possess its abilities, but you can only choose one kind. Guoshi is like a priest in the game, possessing various restorative, support, and enhancement skills. It’s the most versatile profession but relatively weak in combat. God’s Order is the ability to communicate with nature and control a chosen natural element. Han Bin chose stone.”

Qiao Jingting and Bai Er exchanged glances, and they saw the boiling fighting spirit in each other’s eyes.

“However, in the game, truly powerful individuals rely not only on their professional skills. Han Bin had a strong ability, but he was weak himself,” Zou Yidao grinned. “The tactics he used against me were leftovers from when we were still in the newbie village. Foolish.”

“And you almost lost to him,” Qiao Jingting didn’t give him any face.

Zou Yidao glanced at him sideways. “Who taught you to be so audacious?”

“I’m not just a brainless bimbo,” Qiao Jingting retorted.

Zou Yidao chuckled. “You foolish idiot, running up the tree and carving Morse code, completely disrupting my plans. But it’s also good. Han Bin was desperate.”

Qiao Jingting snorted.

Bai Er asked, “What was the name of your comrade?”

Zou Yidao shook his head. “Forget it, they’re no longer here, and they were from a distant branch of the Bai clan.”

“Was your comrade as fierce as this kid here?” Qiao Jingting found it hard to imagine that someone like Bai Er had a whole nest of them.

“No, not at all,” Zou Yidao sighed. “Not at all. The people from the clan no longer follow the traditions of the Bai clan.”

Qiao Jingting became even more curious about the Bai family after hearing Zou Yidao’s explanation.

Zou Yidao didn’t beat around the bush and squinted at Bai Er as he said, “The Bai family of San Tianzi is the oldest assassin clan in China, with a lineage that can be traced back thousands of years. The family used to produce top-notch assassins. However, as times changed, most of the Bai clan members switched professions, and only the core family still maintains the traditions, right?”

Bai Er remained noncommittal, sitting expressionless on the side without interrupting Zou Yidao.

The Bai family of San Tianzi?!

Although Qiao Jingting had never heard of it, he knew that in the vast land of Jiuzhou, there must be many ancient noble families hiding ancient secrets that had been lost in the river of history. However, ordinary people would never have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of them in their lifetime.

Zou Yidao continued, “Half of their family members are colorless people, and the higher the status within the family, the higher the proportion of colorless individuals. Colorless people are born with iris abnormalities, with night vision abilities more than 30% superior to ordinary people. After undergoing special training, they can see clearly in the dark without any obstacles, which is a natural advantage for assassins.”

Qiao Jingting glanced at Bai Er in astonishment. It suddenly dawned on him why Bai Er could spot traps on the ground in pitch-black environments. It was not just ordinary “good night vision.”

A flicker of mockery crossed Bai Er’s expression.

“Some say their ancestors were colorless people, which is why they became top-notch assassins. Others say that they intentionally bred with colorless individuals to continue this gene for their night vision ability. In any case, being colorless is the first necessary condition for selecting the Bai family’s successors. People from the Bai family roam the night, killing invisibly, and they are also known as the ‘White Phantoms,'” Zou Yidao said with a faint smile as he glanced at Bai Er. “However, colorless people have a fatal flaw. They are afraid of sunlight, especially their eyes, and they generally have a short lifespan. Most of them only live into their fifties. That’s why men from the Bai family take multiple wives and have many children. You’re at an age where you should get married, right?”

“No, I’m not,” Bai Er coldly stared at Zou Yidao. “Did that relative of yours tell you all this? He seems quite loose-lipped. Did he get eliminated to protect the family’s reputation?”

“Don’t talk nonsense.” Zou Yidao’s expression turned serious. “He sacrificed himself for the country.”

Bai Er turned his face away, and his delicate, pale skin trembled slightly, as if it could let light pass through. Indeed, he seemed like a beautiful embodiment of cold cruelty, akin to a ghostly figure.

Fear of sunlight, short lifespan, born for darkness and slaughter. These seemingly cursed genes were deliberately preserved. Qiao Jingting suddenly felt a twinge of pity for Bai Er.

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