LWGP - Chapter 131
Chapter 131: Golden Gun
Even with a 50% reduction, everyone present was still an elite. Though utterly exhausted, they all retained an instinctual vigilance. So when the potion bottle releasing the mist rolled across the ground, gurgling into the cell block corridor, everyone startled awake. The moment they heard the sizzling sound, they all covered their noses in unison.
“Fuck!”
“What is that?”
“It’s mist gas!”
“Block your noses and mouths, quickly!”
“It’s useless to block them, we still have to breathe, and this place is sealed!”
“If we break out, the 50% attribute penalty will probably jump by another half. If it’s below 25%, aside from those with over 2000 in their base attributes, the rest of us basically won’t be able to withstand the firearms of the police.”
“So we’re not leaving?”
Just as the crowd was arguing, with a loud bang, a cell door was blasted open. Wang Jiu emerged, covering her nose and mouth, and beckoned to Qi Shuanghan in the next cell. The Gobi members naturally understood—Xie Lu shattered the cell door with his sword, and Qi Shuanghan rushed out. Holding his breath, he spread his hands and released a wind-type skill. A small spiral of wind stirred the air in the room, catching and swirling the mist gas, bringing it under control. Qi Shuanghan didn’t speak, but the main door was kicked open by Liao Luo. Liao Luo then sidestepped, conjuring a shield in front of him. Bullets from outside struck the shield, but before they could fire many rounds, Qi Shuanghan swept his hands forward. “Go!”
Whoosh! The small tornado of mist rushed out, enveloping the police officers holding firearms outside.
The police were terrified and tried to dodge, but they were essentially ordinary people and lacked the ability. They instantly inhaled the gas, their bodies convulsing and struggling. They clutched their stomachs, spat saliva, and collapsed to the ground, curling up. In a few moments, they stopped moving.
That potent? Damn, the natives in this dungeon were vicious, no less so than the cannibals in the previous Nightmare Dungeon.
As everyone’s hearts pounded with fear, they saw Wang Jiu walk by with a casual stride, not even glancing at the dead men on the ground.
A group of people followed her instinctively.
With one hand covering her nose and mouth and the other conjuring Flowing Light, she casually blasted a beam toward a nearby window. The moment the glass shattered, the head of a sniper aiming at them from seven or eight meters away also exploded.
Watching this scene, Wang Shu’s eyes sparkled with excitement—this was the perfect moment for the BGM “Superstar in a Turbulent World.” My master really has style.
A master strategist, killing like scything flax.
The other windows were also broken by the others, who took out the snipers outside. Among them were Diao Guang’s and Luo Sheng’s teams.
Then, the group quickly rushed through the police station’s office area, checking each room for hidden gunmen.
No one.
When they reached the lobby, it was empty. Outside was the bleak night, but it was nearing dawn, and the air was especially crisp and cool.
“It seems Lord Wang has already resolved the penalty issue.” Luo Sheng, who had fought her way out with Zhong Qing and the others, raised an eyebrow and smiled.
Resolved? How was it resolved? Was it that little cockroach that dragged back two loaves of bread?
“To deal with a faithful wife, you destroy her love. To deal with police who hold the power of law enforcement, the highest method should be to directly nullify the power in their hands and turn them into criminals as well, including the chief who ordered our execution—so, did you find evidence of these police colluding with Bi Yue Villa?”
Luo Sheng was clearly a highly intelligent person, effortlessly deducing the key point.
Moreover, her interest in and high regard for Wang Jiu led her to carefully analyze the latter’s style and actions, then reverse-engineer her methods.
Wang Jiu was never one for empty gestures. When she struck, it had to be fatal.
As soon as Luo Sheng spoke, the others had a moment of realization. Xie Lu and Qiao Xuejing both glanced at Luo Sheng. This woman was also a ruthless and cunning individual. She had controlled Bi Yue Villa for two days; could she really have not found those videos?
“You two don’t have to look at me like that. I don’t have Lord Wang’s perverted memory, able to find their criminal evidence from such a massive number of videos.”
“She’s that amazing, and you all didn’t know?”
Luo Sheng’s tone was light and her words friendly, yet they made Wang Shu and the others feel particularly uncomfortable.
The two sensitive ones, Xie Lu and Qiao Xuejing, glanced at her. This didn’t look like Wang Jiu was trying to recruit someone, but rather that someone was trying to recruit Wang Jiu.
Heh.
Was she showing off or provoking them?
Just as Qiao Xuejing had this thought, she caught a glimpse of Wang Jiu’s expression, and her brow twitched.
Wang Jiu never liked to engage in meaningless chatter with anyone during a battle. Whenever she did, there was always a reason.
So… was she feigning distraction, or was she trying to lure something out?
Police, evidence, the chief?
Were they putting on a show together to make the chief act out of desperation?
A glint flashed in Qiao Xuejing’s eyes, and she responded, “Probably not. After all, we’re family. Being too familiar can affect judgment, and even if we did judge, we wouldn’t necessarily voice it, unlike Miss Luo, who can say anything.”
Luo Sheng and Qiao Xuejing exchanged a look, their eyes deep and profound. But at that instant, bang!
A hail of bullets shot in from outside the lobby. The two glanced to the side and retreated in unison.
Bang, bang, bang! The wall behind them was riddled with bullets.
Such dense sniper fire. Everyone scrambled for cover behind pillars and under tables. “My god, so many police. Can we even fight back?”
It wasn’t that they hadn’t heard Luo Sheng’s earlier theory, but they were skeptical. After all, if they really broke the taboo rules of this normal dungeon again and the penalty increased, their situation would become perilous.
The answer came in the form of a scream from Wang Shu.
“Master, watch out!”
As he screamed, he raised his hand to blast a fireball at a potion bottle falling from the ceiling above Wang Jiu. But with his agility weakened by 50%, he couldn’t intercept it in time, so…
It fell.
And was batted back up by the blade of Wang Jiu’s upward slash.
Bang!!
It exploded against the ceiling. The ceiling was fine, but the invisible person clinging to it was not. The liquid from the exploding potion splashed onto him, instantly seeping into his skin…
The invisible person let out a pained cry and fell from the ceiling. He landed with a thud, leaving a wet imprint of the mist potion’s liquid, which continued to release a strong gas.
But in a flash, they saw the liquid-covered invisible person quickly vanish.
He had gone outside.
Wang Jiu tapped her foot and charged out the window with her blade, chasing after this terrifying invisible person. The moment she landed, she ran into a crowd of police. As a dense barrage of bullets shot toward her, a barrier activated.
Amidst a series of explosions, Wang Jiu charged into the crowd, shrugging off the bullets.
The others charged out behind her.
A chaotic battle erupted between players and native police, with bullets and flesh flying everywhere.
But soon… boom!! A sudden, sweeping explosion turned some people into minced meat before they could even react.
It was a grenade.
While dodging the explosion, Wang Shu was grazed in the arm by a stray bullet. He howled in pain and hid behind a tree.
What kind of dungeon was this? It was too insane!
“Damn it, they have so many firearms!”
“Watch out!”
“Dodge!”
After several explosions, the two sides, who had been engaged in close combat, quickly separated to avoid the terrifying blasts.
The players had powerful skills, but the police had high-end firearms. Disadvantaged in close combat, they used grenades to create distance. Then, an armored car drove in. When the crowd saw the cannon port on the armored car open…
“Fuck!!”
Liao Luo and the others turned pale with fright, frantically dodging with all their speed. Wang Jiu, who was in the middle of a killing spree, didn’t move. She simply held out a hand, releasing a Spirit Tentacle that rapidly crawled across the ground. It passed by many police officers near the armored car and swiftly slipped through the crack of the vehicle’s door. At that moment, the person inside the armored car was about to press the fire button but was ensnared around the neck by the Spirit Tentacle. A sharp tug backward, and a few moments later, the sound of a neck snapping was heard.
The firing process was halted.
Other police officers tried to approach, but someone was faster than them.
The invisible person had somehow ignored the car door and appeared directly inside the armored vehicle. He sat down and pressed the button.
The cannon fired, the shell instantly covering the dozen or so meters to the main entrance of the police station.
At the same time, Wang Jiu, the only one standing in front of the building, still didn’t move. Because between attacking and dodging, after activating various buffs, she had chosen to attack.
Dismemberment + 20% Blood Wrath + Heavy Strike.
The entire armored car was enveloped in the surgical theater of Dismemberment. With the slash of a blade, a cracking sound was heard, and the entire vehicle twisted and fractured, but it wasn’t completely dismembered.
After all, it was a super-durable armored vehicle. The highest level of Wang Jiu’s attack only managed to warp its frame and leave it covered in cracks, its body dented inward.
The transparent person inside panicked as the vehicle groaned and shook, but he quickly composed himself. He watched as Wang Jiu, with her barrier active, was engulfed by the light and fire of the cannonball exploding behind her…
Suddenly, he felt something was wrong.
Where did it crack?
Not good!
Horrified, the transparent person tried to rush out of the armored car, but he was a step too slow. A fireball controlled by Wang Shu had already rolled under the vehicle’s body and shot upward, hitting the part of the fuel tank that had been completely cracked open by Dismemberment.
The invisible person inside the car let out a terrified scream.
Boom!!
The entire armored car exploded.
Five minutes later, the ground was littered with corpses. The players who had died were resurrected, and several rays of Holy Light descended, healing the injured, but everyone was still shaken.
“I never thought in my life I’d be thrown in jail and end up fighting the entire station.”
“This… my dad’s a veteran cop. If he saw this today, he’d break my legs.”
Many people had complicated feelings. Since this game appeared, all of humanity had faced two hurdles.
1. The psychological trauma of being killed.
2. The psychological trauma of killing others.
Later, two more hurdles emerged.
1. The trauma of being killed permanently, unable to resurrect.
2. The psychological trauma of killing others permanently.
These four hurdles, like oil separating from water, quickly distinguished different types of people.
Those who frequently dealt with life and death, such as medical professionals.
Those who frequently experienced life-and-death situations and high-intensity combat, such as soldiers and police.
They adapted extremely quickly. The exceptional ones entered the right state of mind almost from the first time, like Xie Lu and the others.
There were also… those like Wang Jiu, who were already perverts and needed no adaptation at all.
From the moment she saw someone dismembered during the tutorial period, her state of mind had never wavered.
Except for the time the Old Lady died.
So it was the same now.
She didn’t even look at those who were struggling and conflicted. She just stood by the wreckage of the exploded armored car and used Weeping Blood to lift a piece of the vehicle’s armor plate. Boom! A charred body hidden underneath lunged out, trying to attack Wang Jiu.
Plunk… Weeping Blood pierced its body.
After the kill, a system notification appeared.
“Congratulations, you have killed the fallen chief of Mist Town. This person is an Alienated and can be unlocked.”
An Alienated?
As Wang Shu came over to unlock it, Xie Lu also examined the chief’s body. “The invisibility was this chief’s alienated ability?”
Qiao Xuejing: “It’s not just alienation, but also a phasing ability. He entered the armored car without any obstruction, moving freely. This should be a native ability, just like the cannibals before. Their native advantages are like this, very difficult for us players to detect.”
But that time, they hadn’t been restricted. Here, the pervasive mist gas limited their stamina, and the police station’s presence reduced their attributes.
Future dangers and nightmares would likely have similar settings.
“I’m more curious about what caused his alienation.” Wang Jiu pulled out Weeping Blood and poked the chief’s charred belly with the tip of her blade. Her expression was indifferent, her eyes somewhat deep.
Xie Lu glanced over and said, “With a belly that big, he must have been living a life of luxury even before the alienation. I’m afraid there weren’t many channels for it besides some external substances.”
Qiao Xuejing mused, “The rich rely on mutation?”
In that case, there was only one place.
The Research Institute.
This alienated chief’s actual combat ability was quite ordinary, but his invisibility and phasing abilities made him extremely difficult to deal with. That’s why after he silently approached the cells and threw in a potion bottle, Wang Jiu knew such a bizarre person existed. She then brought up the matter of the evidence with Luo Sheng, deliberately forcing him into a corner and making him anxious to silence them all. This caused him to lose his composure, and he was ultimately killed by Wang Jiu in the armored car.
Wary of his alienated abilities, she didn’t even leave him alive to question, killing him directly.
As they spoke, Wang Shu had successfully unlocked the chief’s body. A pile of items burst forth. It was still gold-grade armor, similar to what Wang Jiu had obtained before, but the other items were excellent.
Seven Class Skill books, three tubes of mist potion, an Upgrade Scroll, some special items, and Puppet Cards.
Among them was a card that was neither a Puppet Card nor a special item. It looked more like… some kind of work ID.
This was all the output from Wang Jiu and Wang Shu’s combined efforts, so the others naturally had nothing to say. But it was strange. Besides the chief, who was an Alienated and could be unlocked, the other police officers were all considered human, right? Did that mean there were no rewards for this part of the normal dungeon? Even in simple dungeons, there were alienated monsters to kill for rewards.
“They can’t be unlocked, but there’s mail.” Mei Qinghe had already received his mail. “The system says they were criminals, traitors to the country and the people, who had fallen. We successfully stopped them from continuing to harm the survivors of this town, so there are rewards for killing them. They’re all edible, normal foods, as well as random resources and so on.”
The random resources were mostly basic materials, along with some bronze equipment and Basic Skill books.
The more you killed, the more rewards you got.
This should have been a happy occasion, especially the food. The system noted that this food was survival supplies awarded by the country and was not subject to restrictions, meaning it could be freely moved in and out of one’s inventory. But the problem was…
“Why is the reward food stinky tofu and snail rice noodles?”
Wang Jiu had the most kills. After collecting all the food with one click, she frowned. It was a matter of personal preference; she didn’t like this kind of food.
Wang Shu: “No, Master, that’s just the food you got. Mine is lobster and abalone, and also egg yolk meat zongzi.”
Wang Jiu glanced at him, snatched the lobster and abalone he was holding, and stuffed the stinky tofu and snail rice noodles into his arms.
Wang Shu’s face immediately fell into a pitiful expression. Wang Jiu ignored him and was about to store the top-tier food when she saw Xie Lu, Qiao Xuejing, and Mei Qingshu spontaneously offering her things.
Egg yolk meat zongzi, three-delicacy dumplings, and mitten crabs.
Wang Jiu looked at them. “You like stinky tofu and snail rice noodles?”
Xie Lu coughed lightly, his gaze slightly averted. He maintained a straight face, his handsome, pale features tense. “Yes.”
Mei Qingshu was less patient and said fiercely, “I like it, but you don’t, do you? I used to drag you to those stalls, and you never once went along with me. This works out perfectly. Hurry up and trade.”
One was subtle and a bit embarrassed, the other was direct but unwilling to admit she was looking out for her.
Only Qiao Xuejing smiled calmly and said, “I don’t eat these, and I don’t need to trade. I just wanted to give something to you, Captain.”
So direct. Liao Luo and Qi Shuanghan’s brows twitched in unison. Then they saw Wang Jiu smile, accept all three of their offerings, and give nothing in return.
In the misty environment, everyone had consumed a lot of energy. Having to prepare food right after a battle was a miserable experience. After Luo Sheng and Zhong Qing settled their team’s affairs and sorted through their resources from this encounter, they turned to look for Wang Jiu, only to find she was gone.
They had already broken out of jail and killed people, yet there was no penalty. This showed that Wang Jiu’s methods had achieved their goal—these police officers had been classified as criminals, so all their resistance was considered self-defense. If it was self-defense, then…
Luo Sheng was a bit suspicious but didn’t feel it was her place to go looking. After a while, Wang Jiu returned, carrying a backpack. Her steps were casual, her expression composed.
But the bag on her back didn’t look light. Luo Sheng wondered what was inside. As she thought about it, her eyes suddenly lit up. She knew where Wang Jiu had just been.
She was about to chase after her when she saw that Xie Lu, Qiao Xuejing, and the others had already gone out, leaving only Wang Shu cooking and Wang Jiu, who had returned, sitting down to eat lobster.
Hmm? Did Wang Jiu tell them? Probably not. Wang Jiu was an independent person with her own unique way of doing things. She didn’t like to bring along useless people. There were some methods she never informed her team about. It was usually Xie Lu and Qiao Xuejing, the quick-witted ones, who figured things out on their own and followed up to cooperate.
This time was no different. They had won, proving that they understood Wang Jiu better than an outsider like her.
Just now, both Qiao Xuejing and Xie Lu seemed to have glanced at her.
Checkmate.
A glint flashed in Luo Sheng’s eyes, and she called for Zhong Qing and the others to go out. Zhong Qing and the others trusted her completely and followed without a word.
In the team channel, Zhong Qing asked where Wang Jiu had gone before.
“The armory,” Luo Sheng replied.
Zhong Qing understood immediately. Firearms? Right, they still didn’t know if their attributes would be weakened in the upcoming parts of the dungeon. Seizing firearms was a way to guarantee their strength.
The two teams left one after another. Diao Guang and the others weren’t blind; they quickly followed.
A third oriole?
By this time, Qiao Xuejing, Xie Lu, and the others had already entered the armory, which Wang Jiu had opened using the chief’s work ID. They were selecting guns, ammunition, grenades, and other items.
However, Xie Lu keenly sensed that Wang Jiu had already searched the place before they arrived. Perhaps she had taken more than just those guns and ammunition.
At that moment, they had no idea that Wang Jiu was examining a rifle in a slot in her inventory.
This was a gold-grade firearm.
It was also the reward for clearing the final boss of this normal dungeon, the chief, and his lair—the armory was the lair.
tk-18 Mist Rifle
Attributes: A high-damage rifle with 100 rounds, capable of penetrating the armor of any creature with a stamina defense below 2000. Comes with 100 rounds. To replenish ammunition, compatible bullets can be purchased from the auction house. (Note: This ammunition is exclusive to the Mist Dungeon and can be obtained from players who acquire it in the dungeon and sell it at the auction house.)
Description: This rifle was developed by the Research Institute and has special killing power against mutated monsters.
When Wang Jiu saw the gun’s attributes, the first thing she noticed wasn’t its firearm category or its special output that required no spirit power or skills, but two pieces of information.
1. Developed by the Research Institute.
2. Developed to kill mutated monsters.
If it was for the mutated monsters they had encountered earlier in Mist Town, the existing firearms at the police station would have been sufficient. Why would they need to develop such a weapon? Arms research and development was a formidable undertaking. It would be very difficult for a town-level research institute to meet the conditions for such research, and the country would not allow it, which meant it was developed illegally.
“There are higher-level mutated monsters elsewhere, and they are not under the Research Institute’s control. The police station is clearly a force controlled by the Institute; otherwise, the potions developed by the latter wouldn’t be used by the chief. Taking it a step further—the police were able to replenish their stamina, likely with the Institute’s help. And then there’s the chief’s mutation… So, just how many Alienated like the chief does the Research Institute have under its command?”
As Wang Jiu pondered, she suddenly looked toward the bombed-out entrance of the building.
System: “This was once a place that protected the people and the law, but under the pressure of survival, it is not just bodies that have been alienated, but also human hearts. What do you think?”
After coming into contact with humans, it had become quite sentimental. But it received no response from Wang Jiu. The System quickly realized—Wang Jiu was staring at the building not out of sentimentality, but because she was looking for a way to pass the normal-level stage and leave this place.
Had she found it?
Xie Lu and the others had already tried to use their original butterfly method to leave the normal dungeon, but they failed. The moment the butterfly flew out, it lost its direction and fell weakly to the ground, on the verge of death.
“The mist has gotten thicker.”
Xie Lu frowned. He saw Wang Jiu get into a police car and remove the dashcam.
She had previously hacked into the chief’s computer and checked the town’s recent police dispatch records. There were basically no criminal cases, mostly just killing mutated monsters or normal patrols.
The mutated monsters were mostly in the wilderness. If the butterflies were useless, and they didn’t have any special items, yet they could travel between the town and the wilderness, there must be another reason.
Either the cars had a special ability, or they knew the route.
“I’ll check the routes, you check the cars.”
After telling Xie Lu, Wang Jiu started tinkering. Soon, she had finished reviewing the recent records and found that the routes were mostly different; there was no single safe route.
That only left the cars.
Soon, Xie Lu found the secret.
“Their cars are equipped with an identification system. The headlights are specially made and can penetrate the mist to see the correct direction, guiding them out of the mist cluster with the system’s help.”
So, it was the Research Institute again?
“Very impressive.” Wang Jiu looked at the sky outside, which was just beginning to show the pale light of dawn but was still shrouded in mist, and raised an eyebrow slightly.
Comments
Post a Comment