Chapter 101: Xiao Bai's Home Run

“Boom!” With a thunderous crash, a player known as Good Person One finally fell, screaming amidst the chaos after Lin Jia and a horde of monsters combined their efforts to scatter a jumble of items. As Good Person One collapsed, his six level-seven centipedes flipped onto their backs with a pitiful “Aang!” In this game called Legend, summoned mutated skeletons by Taoists and monster pets by Mages cannot survive on their own once their summoner logs off or dies. Thus, with Good Person One’s death, his six level-seven pets also perished.

After consuming the last of his potent golden wound-healing potions, Lin Jia sighed deeply. The system notifications—“You have committed murder” and “Your weapon is cursed”—had turned his name red again. Earlier, when the young Feng Xi stepped on a fire wall and died, Lin Jia’s name had already been at risk of turning a dangerous brown. Now, having killed another player, not only was his name red, but the Sea Soul’s curse on his weapon also increased by six, finally restoring its cursed attribute.

Lin Jia checked his inventory—he was completely out of HP potions. He quickly turned and asked Lao Si, “Where are you? I’m red-named now!”

After being bitten and flung by a centipede, Lao Si hadn’t gone far, but the twisted terrain had given him plenty of trouble. At that moment, he was desperately rushing back.

Perhaps trying to evade attacks from the white wild boars, the remaining Taoist in their group hurriedly ran toward Lin Jia, while Nangong Zangma, having escaped, sprinted toward the corpse of Good Person One.

Lin Jia knew there had to be some valuable equipment among the items dropped by Good Person One—otherwise, Good Person One wouldn’t be lying dead on the ground unwilling to log out, and Nangong Zangma wouldn’t risk his life charging into the monster horde.

Lin Jia had no intention of competing with him for the loot. Regardless of whether he could snatch anything, the monsters were undoubtedly more interested in Nangong Zangma than in a Taoist who could turn invisible.

The Taoist in their group, “Moonlight Endless Years,” dashed up to Lin Jia, raised his hand, and cast a group invisibility spell, cloaking both himself and Lin Jia. Then, as a precaution, he urgently healed Lin Jia’s health and shouted a single word: “Lightning!”

This sequence of actions earned Lin Jia’s deep respect. Not many Taoists had the Group Invisibility skill, mainly because the skill book was rare. First, Moonlight Endless Years used the group invisibility to conceal both of them, breaking the monsters’ attention, then healed Lin Jia. Meanwhile, Nangong Zangma’s reckless charge into the monster pack made him the primary focus of all the monsters.

This was certainly bad news for Nangong Zangma. His charge had already drawn the monsters into a tight cluster. Without grabbing any equipment, he was now surrounded and unable to move. With Lin Jia and Moonlight’s invisibility, the monsters gradually moved toward him. Although Taoists had invisibility, being constantly surrounded was no good, especially with two anti-invisibility wedge moths nearby.

The wedge moths and several wild boars intermittently battered the exasperated Nangong Zangma, leaving him trapped between difficult choices. Lin Jia nearly laughed—it was a cunning trap laid by Moonlight Endless Years. Nangong Zangma could neither stay nor flee: staying meant facing Lin Jia’s furious lightning; fleeing with a random teleport scroll meant risking that valuable loot on the ground falling into Lin Jia’s hands.

But he had no choice. Surrounded by monsters, retrieving the equipment was impossible without losing his life. Resigned, Nangong Zangma cursed, “Damn it!” and used the random teleport scroll.

Whether it was poor luck for Nangong Zangma or good fortune for Lin Jia, the random teleport unexpectedly landed Nangong Zangma right in front of Lin Jia! Their characters were almost face to face. This sudden turn startled not only Lin Jia but also Nangong Zangma and Moonlight.

Instinctively, Nangong Zangma drew his blade to strike. Lin Jia didn’t hesitate either, casually casting a level-zero Fire Resistance Ring. Though this low-level spell could only push away lower-level players or monsters for a short distance, it was enough to snap Nangong Zangma out of invisibility. Since Nangong Zangma had used the teleport while invisible within the monster pack, he remained invisible after teleporting—but Lin Jia’s spell pushed him right next to a wandering white wild boar.

The white boar must have been puzzled—how did someone suddenly “fly” into its embrace? But since guests were guests, the boar politely swung its huge meteor hammer and struck Nangong Zangma on the head...

Already near death from the monster cluster, Nangong Zangma had no chance to heal. He died suddenly and inexplicably under the boar’s hammer. Even Lin Jia was stunned for a moment; he hadn’t expected such a scene. It felt like a baseball game: Lin Jia was the pitcher, the white boar the batter—and this home run had been hit so hard that even the “ball” was knocked down.

Lin Jia and the others froze, but the white boar was undeterred. The invisibility on Lin Jia and Moonlight had faded. Having just crushed an excited opponent, as the saying went, “When Little White gets excited, the consequences are severe.” The boar swung its meteor hammer mercilessly and charged toward them.

Lin Jia immediately took off running, but Moonlight dashed toward Nangong Zangma’s fallen body. On the ground lay a Demon-Slaying Summoning Scroll, dropped by Nangong Zangma.

Lin Jia hadn’t had a chance to check their gear, but judging by their levels and combat power, they must have carried some excellent items. No wonder Moonlight risked his life to grab the Taoist’s equipment.

“Man dies for wealth, bird dies for food”—this old proverb was proving true. Moonlight, rushing forward, might have thought he could dodge the boar’s attacks, but he hadn’t counted on the two black evil maggots trailing behind the boar! As soon as he neared Nangong Zangma’s body, the two wheels rolled out swiftly and struck him. As he recoiled, a huge shadow loomed overhead—the howling meteor hammer slammed into him painfully, especially as he tried to flee but couldn’t. The two black maggots attacked rapidly, forcing Moonlight into a series of staggered steps, unable to move his feet. Several blows from the meteor hammer finally knocked him to the ground. One should never be too greedy!

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[Note from the author: Last night the power suddenly went out again, and the chapter I had just written wasn’t saved, so I had to rewrite it. There will be more updates soon!

Actually, I find the heated debates in the book review section far more entertaining than my own story. For those waiting for updates, feel free to browse the reviews—quite amusing!]