LWGP - Chapter 136
Chapter 136: Dou E
Four assassin-type players with mid-tier, high-quality invisibility skills or items. The other six consisted of two mages, one priest, and three melee fighters. However, aside from the four assassins, the other six were currently holding rifles, firing down from behind pillars, corners, and other cover on the staircase above. Because Wang Jiu's group had previously been standing on the stairs shooting monsters in the hall below, they were now caught in a pincer attack from the rear. It wasn't just that they were being forced into a dead end; simply having their backs exposed was enough for the gunmen to seize the opportunity for a massacre.
Not every bullet resulted in an instant kill. Their Stamina provided a certain level of armor, even if they were shot in the head. But after being hit, they were at least severely wounded. In the blink of an eye, ten or twenty of the forty people were grievously injured. Just as they were about to turn and counter-attack, they saw a person hidden behind a pillar lean out, revealing a face wearing night-vision goggles. With a gun in one hand, he threw an item toward the top of the stairs with the other.
The item's valve had already been opened. As soon as it landed, it released a pungent gas.
The moment they smelled the gas, they received a system notification—【Congratulations, you have been affected by the KP-1 Bleeding Agent. From now on, your wounds will be unable to heal, and your bleeding speed will be tripled.】
Everyone was shocked, especially those with gunshot wounds. They had planned to have their companions use Holy Light to repair the damage, but after being hit with this effect, forget their Holy Light—even Jesus's Holy Light would be useless. The person who threw the item had timed his move perfectly.
On Wang Jiu's team, aside from the four strongest—Wang Jiu and her group—only Lin Guiwan was uninjured. However, everyone had been hit with the KP-1 agent's status effect.
This was a terrible situation. Once severely injured, they would be in a state of infinite blood loss. Given the human body's limits, their consciousness would fade into a stupor in less than two minutes.
"Tactical Bandages can slow the blood loss!"
"I have Tactical Bandages!"
"It's useless! It can stop the wound from bleeding, but it can't stop the body's overall blood loss. Don't waste resources!"
Tactical Bandages were a very effective medical resource, but they didn't have many on hand. If they were useless, there was no point in wasting them. But what could they do now?
They had no choice but to raise their shields to block the continuous gunfire from above. The shields rang out with a series of pings. They had to pour Spirit Power into their defense, but the bleeding status couldn't be stopped. The most terrifying part was that the mutated monsters below were starting to pile up at the staircase. If the venom they spat touched their feet, they would be afflicted with an even more potent poison status. Everyone was on the verge of despair.
Force a retreat? Break through downwards?
Mei Qingshu and the others were considering this, waiting for Wang Jiu's order. But at that moment, they suddenly heard a soft yet steady chant in a strange language that entered the depths of their souls, resonating in unison with the element of light. The elements trembled, and a soft, milky-white halo descended upon their bodies.
One of the Priest's Baptism skill trees—Prayer.
Under the Prayer, all negative status effects were dispelled, and it left a ten-second state of protection. This meant that for the next ten seconds, they would not be afflicted by any more negative statuses, unless the status's level was higher than that of Prayer.
This is a real priest? Those who only know Holy Light don't count. So powerful!
A group Prayer, dispelling the negative statuses of all eleven people, plus ten seconds of protection!
Wang Shu and the others were astonished. After their shock, they saw Wang Jiu throw a Black Flame Swamp downwards. "You guys go down. Bai Bai and I will go up. Lin, hold your position. Liao Luo, you take care of those four assassins."
Wang Jiu herself went up, and Bai Bai quickly followed. Lin Guiwan knew what she meant by "hold your position"—it was the distance from which Mei Qingshu and the others attacked downwards, and the distance from which Wang Jiu and her group fought upwards. She had to stand in a position where she could support both sides.
This was a true priest.
She acknowledged with a sound and said no more, simply keeping a close watch on the situations above and below. But at that moment, they all heard the sounds of people being assassinated or wounded by the assassins.
Xie Lu immediately had Mei Qingshu stand by Lin Guiwan's side.
In a battle between two armies, the priest was the primary target!
Those four assassins were very likely approaching her.
Lin Guiwan didn't refuse Mei Qingshu's protection. She just activated her Eagle Eye Insight skill, scanned the area, and said, "They're using an assassin's innate talent skill. Usually, unless one's insight skill is many levels higher, only an assassin from the same class can break it. Using a talent to break a talent."
Wang Jiu hadn't given any instructions, probably because she hadn't found the four's positions either. But she knew Liao Luo could?
Just as Lin Guiwan was pondering this, Liao Luo spoke in the team channel. "I'll report the positions of those four assassins to you. I estimate two of them also have flash or damage-mitigation skills. Xie Lu, cover me. The rest of you, throw whatever buffs you have on me. Just stack my Strength to 800. I can counter their skills. If my assassination fails, I'll report their escape positions. Xie Lu or Mei Qingshu will be responsible for intercepting them. Sister Lin, please have Holy Light ready."
Since Wang Jiu had spoken beforehand, the others would naturally cooperate with Liao Luo. They just hadn't expected him to actually have the ability to handle those four assassins.
This meant his assassin talent was likely extremely powerful, far stronger than those four.
Because their conversation was in the team channel, Luo Sheng and the others were unaware. She only knew that Wang Jiu had opened a barrier and was brazenly charging upwards. Her team hesitated, wondering if they should go up to support her.
"No need. This is a good chance to see her true strength. Hold your positions. Stand next to that Lin Guiwan. The safest place on our side is next to the great priest."
At Luo Sheng's words, Zhong Qing's eyes flickered. Luo Sheng's meaning was clear—if they were still on the same side as Wang Jiu, being near Lin Guiwan would allow them to help protect the great priest. But if they turned on each other and Wang Jiu made the first move, the great priest would be their primary target.
As for whether they would turn on each other, that depended on how much strength Wang Jiu had left after dealing with the six people above, and how that compared to her own.
Zhong Qing glanced at Luo Sheng, thinking to himself that this was the product of being raised in a powerful family. Just like Li Chui, profit was the sole standard for measuring alliances.
However, the key point was that this Wang Jiu person had no intention of forming an alliance with them in the first place. Luo Sheng's pride had been wounded, and she wasn't going to let it go.
"I wonder what the background of that team up there is." Zhong Qing wasn't just concerned with Wang Jiu's team. In fact, Li Chui and Dong Long were also very strong, especially Dong Long. But basically, anyone who could enter a dangerous-level dungeon was a powerhouse.
On the other side, after Wang Jiu emerged with her barrier, the six people who had been maintaining a high frequency of fire all went into hiding. The lights above were all extinguished. In the pitch-black darkness, Wang Jiu's barrier suddenly vanished.
Silence.
The moment Silence took effect, a bullet shot out from the darkness, but it missed, because Wang Jiu was gone.
Currently, Wang Jiu didn't really have any stealth or hiding skills. Her resources weren't focused in that area; they were mostly status and attack-oriented, completely geared towards slaughter. However, her other auxiliary skills were terrifying. A single Demon's Eye could already see past an assassin's talent skill to their location. But she didn't say anything. If Liao Luo could do it, but the rest of her team combined couldn't even handle these four assassins, she would consider replacing them.
For now, she didn't care about what happened below. The lives of the six people above were what her fingers had to deal with.
Having already used X-Ray Dissection to see the surrounding cover, Wang Jiu saw one of them raise his hand to fire.
Under the Demon's Eye, the names and attribute data of the six people were clear.
Their average stats were over 750. The strongest was Hao Ze, with average stats of 1700. The second was someone named Hua Zi, with 1500.
Oh, their original stats would be double this.
That Hao Ze's average stats were slightly lower than hers, and his 6800 Spirit Power was a far cry from her 11,000-plus. But Hua Zi was powerful, stronger than even Xie Lu and the others. And looking at his skills, he was a perfect match for Hao Ze. If the two of them ganged up on her, she would be under some pressure. Coupled with the skill effects of the others, she would be in a very passive position.
So, she would take out the smaller fries first.
Wang Jiu didn't care that her barrier was silenced, because she had dodged. After dodging, she appeared behind a pillar seven or eight meters to her left, in the blind spot of their line of fire.
"It's Wang Jiu from Gobi, Luoyang. Go."
"A Xin, you take the left. Hua Zi, you take the right… flank her, force her out."
"Be careful of her little fox. Use a beast capture scroll to pinpoint its location. You two hold her off, the four of us…"
With the social circles established, Wang Jiu's fame had spread. Many people recognized her and generally considered this woman to be extremely dangerous. They also believed that someone with such an extreme personality and exceptional talent would be an adventurer. So, the fact that she had come up with only a fox was a golden opportunity for them.
If they couldn't take her down, it would be a huge loss of face.
The six people coordinated seamlessly, quickly moving to cover and closing in on Wang Jiu's position. One of them flipped his hand and produced a grenade, preparing to attack Wang Jiu's location. To do so, he had to move away from the pillar.
Swoosh. A black shadow flashed out, and a bullet shot forth, aiming for A Xin. A Xin was startled, not expecting his well-hidden movement to be tracked by the enemy. He had already rushed out. He raised his left hand, and vwoom, a defensive shield blocked the attack.
On the other side, two other team members flashed out from the left and right, aiming for the sides of Wang Jiu's temples.
The bullets tore through the air, their bright trails converging on Wang Jiu's head.
As Wang Jiu dodged backward, her figure became illusory. Behind her, Hua Zi leaped out, and a grenade landed at her feet.
BOOM!!
It was a perfect encirclement—steady, methodical, and precisely calculated. But after the explosion, Hao Ze was suddenly stunned. "It's a mid-tier Puppet!"
He swept his gaze, confirmed the positions of his teammates, and immediately warned, "A Xin…"
Just as he finished speaking, bang! A man opposite A Xin was shot in the head.
Hao Ze: "…"
He felt humiliated.
Hua Zi and the others were shocked.
With their attributes halved, getting a one-shot kill, especially a headshot with a gun, was almost impossible. That's why Hao Ze had thrown the KP-1 agent to amplify the damage. Even so, it would take two or three shots to finish someone off. To get an instant kill, the power difference would have to be like Hao Ze versus Wang Shu—a complete curb-stomp.
But the one killed just now, Chen Guang, was an expert with 1100 average stats even after the reduction, ranking fifth in their team. Yet he was instantly headshot.
"Chen Guang, don't get up."
"Her critical damage is over 100%! Quick, cover!!"
As Hao Ze spoke, he identified the pillar from which the bullet had been fired and threw a grenade. It wasn't to kill Wang Jiu, but to cover the retreat of Hua Zi and the others in the explosion. Amidst the blast, Hua Zi and the others did indeed retreat quickly, trying to get back behind the cover of the pillars and group up to avoid being picked off one by one.
But in that instant, a female team member suddenly warned, "That fox is out!"
The warning had just been given.
Bai Bai, having dropped its stealth, landed and struck a pose like the Statue of Liberty holding an ice cream cone. A dazzling white light erupted from its paw.
Flash. Aurora Blind.
Night-vision goggles could see in the dark, but against such an extreme aurora, even if it only lasted for three short seconds, Hao Ze and Hua Zi heard two successive screams.
In that instant, Bai Bai bit into A Xin's throat, while the other person saw Wang Jiu stepping out from behind a pillar with her gun as he fell.
As he hit the ground, he reported Wang Jiu's position and the lethality of her bullets.
"Based on her firing damage, if it hits me, it's about a 70% kill chance. I won't die. Captain, I'm going up."
Hao Ze agreed. "Ah Ling, keep an eye on that little fox. Cover the two of us. Prepare Holy Light and Dispel."
This Ah Ling was clearly a powerful support member. She agreed at once. "It's hiding on the ceiling, probably watching A Xin and the others, not letting them revive."
This was a deterrent. After reviving on the spot, there was a brief moment of weakness. This little fox had powerful burst damage; they would be killed again as soon as they got up. This was the main reason Hao Ze didn't let them revive while Bai Bai was uncontrolled.
Bang, bang, bang! Hao Ze fired continuously at Wang Jiu's position. Under this covering fire, Hua Zi, holding his rifle, transformed into a blur and charged toward Wang Jiu.
At this moment, Wang Jiu, hidden in complete darkness behind a pillar, gently tapped her gun when Hua Zi was about fifteen meters away. A slight smile touched her lips as she threw out a puppet.
The puppet stepped out. This time, Hao Ze and Hua Zi saw that it was a puppet, but it was only a second before they realized.
Not good, the person behind the puppet is moving in sync with it!
They both aimed simultaneously, but they were a step too slow. Wang Jiu, who was almost overlapping with the puppet behind it, had already extended her hand, aiming her gun at Hua Zi.
Swoosh. A bullet tore through the air. Confident he could withstand one shot, Hua Zi managed to shout in that short time, "Combined fire, shoot…"
He and Hao Ze aimed at Wang Jiu at the same time. Their bullets flew almost parallel to the one Wang Jiu fired, crossing paths in mid-air.
The result was…
Bang! A drop of blood appeared on Hua Zi's brow, and another on the back of his head. It had gone straight through his brain.
Headshot.
Wait, that's impossible! Her damage… no!
In the team channel, Chen Guang roared, "She switched guns! This one is Gold-grade, and it probably has a skill!"
The deceased Hua Zi: "Penetration and armor-piercing. Her critical damage isn't just 100%, it's at least 120%."
The moment Hua Zi fell, two bullets also reached Wang Jiu.
No one knew if she could have dodged in time—because she didn't even try.
So what if she took the hit? It was just the Serpent Phantom, and it didn't even cost Spirit Power.
The phantom flickered. The person who should have died didn't. Hao Ze's pupils shifted, and the fallen Hua Zi also chose to revive on the spot.
In that brief moment, Hao Ze aimed and fired a second shot at Wang Jiu, simultaneously using a Blind and a Chaos skill on her.
The revived Hua Zi also swapped his gun for a radiant golden longblade, preparing to slice Wang Jiu in half with a five-meter-long blade aura.
But Wang Jiu was faster than them.
She did three things simultaneously.
1. Spirit Tentacle.
2. She sidestepped, avoiding the trajectory of Hao Ze's second shot, and while moving, fired a bullet into the air behind and to the left of Hao Ze.
3. She ignored Hua Zi's surprise attack and brazenly walked toward Hao Ze.
After the first action, Ah Ling screamed. A Spirit Tentacle had wrapped around her ankle, yanking her out from behind her pillar. In mid-air, a bullet tore through the space toward her. It was the most terrifying experience of her life. Dangling upside down like a female ghost, a bullet came against the wind and struck her squarely in the head.
Bang!
Ah Ling was killed. This was the second thing Wang Jiu did.
Hao Ze was, after all, a powerful expert with high attributes. He hadn't made it this far for nothing. Faced with such a situation, after a fleeting moment of turmoil, his mind calmed. He knew he could no longer be stingy with his Spirit Power, so he gave an order.
"Revive on the spot, surround her directly…"
He hadn't even finished his sentence when Hua Zi, who had just launched a blade aura at Wang Jiu, was pounced on and pinned to the ground by Bai Bai, now free from Ah Ling's restraint. The fox let out a roar, its body swelling to several times its size. It swiped down with a claw—a skill. Vicious claw marks were gouged into the ground, and Hua Zi's body was directly dismembered into several pieces.
Second kill, get!
Then, Wang Jiu ignored the slain Hua Zi, whose surprise attack had failed, and walked toward the only one still alive, Hao Ze. At this moment, Hao Ze had just ordered everyone to revive.
But as soon as he gave the order, he had a strange premonition—he might have made a mistake.
"Wait, don't get up!"
The problem was that he usually commanded too much authority. His teammates followed his orders without question, so they all revived on the spot.
Seeing his teammates get up, Hao Ze felt a subtle unease. For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh at himself for being paranoid or to trust this feeling and choose to retreat. But he definitely had a bad feeling… he heard a faint noise from the staircase behind him.
Not good!
Hao Ze hadn't dared to look back at the staircase below because turning around meant giving his back to Wang Jiu. He didn't dare. Besides, there was no one down there who could pose a threat to him. Their Agility was low; if they were really coming up, he would have sensed it. Not to mention, he still had four assassin teammates down there.
He just hadn't considered one possibility—for example, a Spirit Tentacle had already reached the bottom, grabbed the corpse of a mutated monster, and thrown it up the stairs.
Thud. A grenade was thrown up from below, hitting the corpse.
BOOM! It exploded, splattering a large amount of venom everywhere.
Hao Ze noticed it. His pupils contracted, and he immediately chose to use a stealthy dodge. The other five, including the newly revived Hua Zi, also dodged in horror.
But in that same instant, Wang Jiu activated her barrier, blocking the venom. She fired shot after shot, killing Ah Ling, who had the Silence skill, and Chen Guang. Then Bai Bai used Charge, followed by a paralysis skill, and then swatted the afflicted Hua Zi away with its tail. As Hua Zi was sent flying, he quickly used a cleansing skill to remove the negative status effect. But while he was still in mid-air, he suddenly had a bad premonition—it seemed the little fox had deliberately thrown him into the air.
It seemed Ah Ling had died a pretty miserable death after being thrown up.
Sure enough, in the same second, the corpse of a second mutated monster was thrown up from below. As before, Xie Lu detonated it with a grenade. Flesh and blood mixed with venom swept across the area…
The venom splattered all over the unprepared Hua Zi's face.
It's over, I'm hit!
Thud. Hua Zi was weakened the moment he landed. In his weakened state, he saw Xie Lu, who had switched guns, charging up. Before he could even make out the expression on this exceptionally handsome, top-tier young master, a bullet was delivered to his head.
In that instant, he understood something—the one with the best gun skills wasn't Wang Jiu, but this man.
Because from the moment Xie Lu started up the stairs, in less than ten seconds, without Wang Jiu's freakish insight ability, he had located and killed two people with just a pair of night-vision goggles.
Then he stood there, holding his gun, quietly looking at the corpses on the ground, at Wang Jiu standing in the open without cover, and at Hao Ze hiding behind a pillar.
For a moment, it was very quiet. The people below had already dealt with the four assassins and all the mutated monsters, but they knew the duel between Hao Ze and Wang Jiu was happening above.
It was to be expected—the fact that Hao Ze wasn't dead yet meant his stats were high enough to afford it.
But it was also clear that in this battle, he had lost his entire team's dignity. All that remained was his personal honor.
Zhong Qing, Luo Sheng, Dong Long, Li Chui, and Diao Guang were all speculating about the origins of Hao Ze and Hua Zi's group. The first two teams came to a conclusion—they didn't recognize this group's name from the powerful family circles.
Perhaps they were raised in secret by some faction.
"They could also be self-made," Luo Sheng said. Ever since meeting Wang Jiu, she felt that one should always be aware that there are mountains beyond mountains.
Zhong Qing raised an eyebrow. "She's not exactly self-made either."
He had heard that she had deep ties to the government. He didn't know if she was a secret weapon deployed by the state. The background of that noble young master, Xie Lu, was quite obvious.
The state?
Luo Sheng remained silent on this. In the words of her old man—if long-term planning is not feasible and you don't have that kind of capability, then focus on the immediate gains and losses, and don't overreach.
Therefore, she wanted to know how that Wang Jiu would finish off Hao Ze.
Just as she had this thought, she heard a gunshot from above.
With a thud, Hao Ze fell.
Just one shot, just like that?
Luo Sheng was dumbfounded. What just happened?
It was Li Chui who spoke in a trembling voice, "She used a curse on that Hao Ze, then had Xie Lu take a cheap shot. All in all, she has no martial virtue."
Luo Sheng: "…"
Oh, so it wasn't some grand duel like Hui Man-keung and Ting Lik on the Bund?
Wang Jiu, of course, wouldn't explain. This wasn't a mock exam review session. What, was knowing the correct answer going to get them extra points? She just walked over and picked up everything that dropped from Hao Ze. Not much had dropped, actually. After all, most people now knew about the bug of listing items on the auction house to avoid dropping loot. But some things couldn't be listed.
Mystic Realm Fragments, and the most precious treasures like Homesteads.
Wang Shu was confident he would die a few times, maybe even a dozen, so he had obediently given his 500-square-meter Homestead to Wang Jiu.
But Hao Ze had no one to entrust his things to. No, more accurately, he was the one Hua Zi and the others entrusted their things to.
So…
"Your team of 10 people dropped three Homesteads in just three stages of this one dungeon? And they're all over 90 square meters?"
Wang Jiu looked down at Hao Ze's corpse, her tone a little strange.
Hao Ze had suffered a huge loss, but he didn't lose his composure. He ignored her victory speech about his family's property and simply said, "Lord Lao Wang, impressive methods."
Wang Jiu glanced at him and said flatly, "Not as classy as Your Excellency colluding with certain people, secretly reporting our position for an ambush."
Secretly colluding, reporting their position?
At this, everyone who had come up was stunned. Then, the corpse of a third monster exploded.
The venom sprayed all over everyone, including Luo Sheng and Zhong Qing.
Not good, run!
It was too late. Wang Jiu had already begun her merciless slaughter.
Luo Sheng didn't move, because it was Li Chui's team that was dying.
Including Dong Long. Because of the applied negative status effects, even he was thoroughly killed by Wang Jiu's terrifying insight and Golden Gun.
The corpses of Hao Ze and his team: "…"
She really was the number one most ruthless person. But what was this about secretly colluding and reporting their position?
The corpse of Li Chui was about to roar in anger, but Wang Jiu pressed the muzzle of her gun against his dead head and said flatly, "If no one reported, how would they have known our geographical location and timed such a perfect kill-shot? If they had that kind of insight, would they have been killed by me so easily?"
The corpses of Hao Ze's team, lying quietly and refusing to get up: "…"
It wasn't that easy, you know. What's the point of belittling us like this?
Li Chui still wanted to explain, but Wang Jiu added, "First, you divert the disaster onto us, then you coordinate an ambush to wipe us out. Truly impressive methods."
Li Chui exploded, "I didn't, I haven't, I really didn't do that!"
"It's okay. You're young, not quite a man yet. I forgive you." Wang Jiu looked down at him, sweeping up all the loot that dropped from his team, completely indifferent to Li Chui's explanations.
In their team channel, Mei Qinghe and the others were filled with righteous indignation, utterly despising this shameless fellow from a prestigious family.
While spitting in disgust, Wang Shu, as usual, expressed his 100-point level of sycophancy. "My Master is truly infallible! She knew this dog had ill intentions, knew he colluded with Hao Ze's group. This counter-kill was so damn beautiful! By the way, Master, how did you find out? I couldn't see any flaws at all."
Wang Jiu: "Huh? I didn't find out."
Wang Shu: "???"
Wang Jiu: "You always need a reason to kill someone. I'm not a murderer. I have to give them a reason, so they don't suffer innocently."
Everyone: "…"
The way you put it, it sounds quite logical, and even tolerant and considerate.
Wang Shu: "Ahem, Master, Sister Lin just got here. You didn't really have to tell the truth."
Lin Guiwan was also embarrassed. "It's fine. I think I'm getting used to it."
Back in the plane dungeon, Doctor Wang had already displayed her powerful charisma. This charisma might have included a fan filter, a specific reference being Wang Peng's brain-dead fan effect.
Her life-saver was here. She could extensively beautify any of Doctor Wang's improper behaviors.
On the other side.
Luo Sheng specifically created a small group chat to humiliate him. "Idiot, you got me involved. My people are all poisoned now!"
Li Chui: "!"
Dong Long: "Second Young Master, did you really contact Hao Ze's team? We could have just joined forces to counter-attack. Attacking alone like this put us at a disadvantage. That Wang Jiu is too strong, and the others are very powerful too."
Li Chui: "Fuck, it wasn't me, it wasn't! The person I contacted is still on their way! That fucking idiot has no sense of direction! He got lost! I've been so fucking wronged, I'm going to change my name to Li Dou E!"
Luo Sheng was certainly surprised, but her cold mockery didn't change. "Don't tarnish Dou E's name. Was she not wronged? You should change it to Li the Teasing Goose. It suits you."
So it was?
Li Chui couldn't swallow such a huge accusation. Just as he was about to refute Wang Jiu, suddenly, the entire underground research institute shook.
An area had exploded.
It was an extremely powerful explosive attack. A rolling heatwave washed through the air. By the time it reached them, many had come to a conclusion—someone over there had used a high-explosive bomb.
Was it players fighting each other? Or players using it against mutated monsters or experts from the research institute? Or was it the other way around, the institute using it on players?
Everything was unknown.
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