LWGP - Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Witch Drain

A sociologist once said that when two people are in peril, there can be a beautiful tale of mutual support and shared struggle. However, as the number of people in peril increases, the probability of such positive behavior decreases exponentially. The root cause lies in the inconsistency between ability and need—in short, selfishness.

Everyone has a selfish side. Even though they were all trapped in this laboratory, they were wary and hostile toward one another, making it infinitely difficult to agree on a common course of action.

Besides, they had already clashed before.

In terms of conflict frequency, Wang Jiu, who had beaten all the teams they had encountered before, was undoubtedly the target of public criticism.

But she seemed completely oblivious. While everyone was lamenting Xie Lu's background and the profound meaning of the game, she unbuttoned her shirt. Her shoulder was bruised by shrapnel, and blood had already soaked through her shirt.

Xie Lu's brow twitched, and he averted his gaze, but still offered a reminder, "You have a wound on your neck too."

The reason she didn't use Holy Light to heal was to conserve spirit power in a situation with so many experts of unknown alignment. After all, it wasn't a major injury.

A tactical bandage would suffice.

Leaving a wound open was also troublesome—the potion Hao Ze had used earlier was specifically for bleeding wounds.

"Mm," Wang Jiu replied casually. But when she tried to apply the tactical bandage, it was difficult without a bird's-eye view. At the very least, she couldn't treat the wound on her back. Lin Guiwan came over, half-squatting in front of her. "Let me."

Wang Jiu handed her the bandage and wiped the blood from her hands. As she looked up, she saw Lin Guiwan's serious and meticulous expression. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she said coolly, "I wasn't the one who helped you."

Lin Guiwan was taken aback, her hands pausing for a moment before she immediately continued, "Two years ago, Lin Jun threatened me with my daughter. I thought I was hopeless, but then he received a phone call and stopped. He never bothered me again after that. I guessed someone had helped me from behind the scenes, but I didn't know who. When I saw you today, Dr. Wang, I thought..."

"It wasn't me."

"But it must be someone you know, right? And this person has a great deal of influence over you. Because of her kindness to me, you're also willing to look out for me a little?" Lin Guiwan asked. Wang Jiu, whose shirt was slightly open as her wound was being dressed, smiled.

"Her name is Lin Zi. She's Lin Jun's aunt."

This time, Lin Guiwan was truly stunned. Wang Shu and the others nearby were also a bit bewildered. They were family?

"Why... did she help me?"

"Probably because she's always been one of those old-fashioned types who incorporates public justice into her personal honor."

As civilization progressed, more and more people became lost and struggled in the pursuit of economic gain, learning to weigh pros and cons, each with their own hardships and difficulties. But some old-fashioned people never changed.

That spine of theirs was always straight.

It could never be broken.

So, for an ordinary woman who was insignificant to a powerful family, to take action against her own blood nephew—only Lin Zi was capable of such a thing.

Xie Lu suddenly recalled some rumors from back then. It was said that the Old Lady had thrown a huge fit at her own family for some reason, even using her connections to block one of the Lin family's projects. The higher-ups had even sent down an investigation team. Her actions were decisive, leaving no room for rumors or sentiment. Not long after, that little pervert who had been doted on by the Lin family was sent abroad, and their shady businesses were all shut down, casting a large gray shadow over the Lin family's prestigious background. After that, the younger generation became much more obedient and well-behaved, not daring to cause trouble.

The younger members of other families were also warned and disciplined as a result.

At the time, everyone thought it might have something to do with Wang Jiu, but thinking back now, it wasn't.

If the Old Lady had known that Lin Guiwan was being coerced by Lin Jun, it would have been remarkable enough for her to just reprimand him. After all, he was her blood relative. But she didn't. She didn't bother with words because she knew words were useless. The only thing that could make a powerful family take notice was when their interests were truly threatened, when the enemy was truly at the gates. Only then would they pay attention.

So she acted without a second thought, swift and impartial.

Therefore, when an Old Lady with such power died so suddenly, Yang Yu and the Yang family, who were tainted with a bit of suspicion and hadn't had time to deal with the other living witness, were destined to be eliminated. Even if the state didn't act, there were plenty of others who would. It was just that the timing of this action was fraught with undercurrents. It was unknown if Wang Jiu had considered this when she made her preemptive strike.

Thinking back on the events of that day, Xie Lu felt more and more that Wang Jiu had known everything all along, yet she had played her own game.

So, where was the chessboard laid out?

Who was she playing against?

Lin Guiwan was probably still processing this information, but she looked at Wang Jiu with deep sincerity. "In a way, Dr. Wang, you're very much like her."

This made Wang Jiu laugh. "I suppose so. I did imitate her for over twenty years, after all."

Her answer was transparent, yet it carried an indescribable strangeness.

Perverse yet loyal.

Lin Guiwan didn't dwell on it. Her eyes filled with sincere gratitude as she finished bandaging the wound. "I must pay a visit to Ms. Lin and thank her for her help. If it weren't for her, I..."

She hadn't finished speaking.

Wang Jiu chuckled softly, stood up, and said nonchalantly, "Don't bother. She's dead."

This time, Lin Guiwan was truly stunned, unable to recover for a long time. The tense atmosphere in the laboratory, which had been simmering with hidden conflict, seemed to be washed away, replaced by an indescribable silence.

After Wang Jiu stood up, the collar of her shirt was slightly open, revealing the blood-stained white tank top underneath. She walked over to the lab bench. Her long, slender, cold fingers, bathed in the light cascading down from above, slowly fastened the buttons one by one, concealing the pale skin and exuding a cold allure.

With her other hand, she flipped through a lab notebook on the side, looking at the material ratios... her expression was cool and detached, her thoughts forever inscrutable.

Everyone else was resting. Seeing that Wang Jiu had already started searching for clues in the laboratory, they didn't want to be left behind and also began examining the notebooks on the lab benches, as well as some of the experimental materials. After looking for a while, their heads were spinning.

Li Chui: "What the hell is all this stuff?"

Luo Sheng: "The periodic table of elements."

Li Chui: "Get lost!"

There was no shortage of top students present. If they looked at it piece by piece, they could understand some of the chemical equations and biological experiments. But putting it all together... what were these experiments for?

If you don't understand it, don't bother looking. Find someone who does.

"Hello, Lord Wang, can you understand these experiments?"

Wang Jiu turned her head and saw the two experts from the strongest team at the moment standing before her. After the 50% reduction, their attributes were almost on par with her own.

"Mm, hello. Are you the fallen Henpecked or the Radiant Blind Old Man?" Wang Jiu's greeting was delivered in a very casual tone, but the two slightly older men were visibly embarrassed. They coughed, and the more refined-looking one extended his hand. "I'm Yan Guanqi, and this is Xia Laoci."

Xia Laoci also extended his hand. The two gaming kings, who had once been formidable figures, both wore elegant yet polite smiles.

Wang Jiu shook hands with them in turn. "Wang Jiu."

She glanced at the two middle-aged women in their team. Their eyes were full of vigilance. Wang Jiu chuckled softly and withdrew her hand, not rushing to answer their question. Thus, Yan Guanqi could only ask again if she could understand.

"I don't, but that doesn't stop me from showing off, or..." Her tone paused, and she looked at the two of them with a meaningful glance, "it can also attract allies."

Yes, the old Lord Wang was truly simple and crude in her elegance.

The two were true gaming experts; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to accumulate such formidable strength at the start of this new world, which was dominated by capital. They were true grassroots players, but they also relied on the experience accumulated from their own professions.

"In that case, Lord Wang, do you have any suggestions for our joint attack on this Lycanthrope later?"

While Yan Guanqi and the other were chatting with Wang Jiu, the rest of the people were watching with varied reactions. However, in terms of average intelligence, no team could compare to Wang Jiu's.

Mainly because Xie Lu, Qiao Xuejing, and Lin Guiwan raised its upper limit. The three of them casually deduced and leaked a lot of information to Wang Shu and the others.

1. Yan Guanqi and the other proactively sought out Wang Jiu to confirm an alliance against the Lycanthrope, but they did so in a public chat rather than a private one. This indicated that they wanted to ally not just with Wang Jiu, but with all the teams.

2. They approached Wang Jiu first because they judged her to be the strongest among all the teams here. If the two strongest teams united, the other teams would have no choice but to obey. Otherwise, they could be ostracized and eliminated by the two teams working together, and without any pressure. People like Luo Sheng, seeing the situation clearly, could only go along with it.

3. Asking for Wang Jiu's suggestion was a way of declaring their leadership. Although the two of them were allying with Wang Jiu, they had no intention of giving her command. The word "suggestion" was a hint, as well as a statement of their position.

4. However, they were also skeptical about whether Wang Jiu could understand the experimental data. So, while Yan Guanqi was talking to Wang Jiu, that Xia Laoci was also checking if the potion bottle Wang Jiu was holding matched the page she was looking at. If it didn't, it meant she was really just posturing to attract attention and form an alliance.

Mei Qinghe: "So, did it match or not? Does our lord understand this data?"

Qiao Xuejing: "It didn't match."

Mei Qinghe: "Ah, so..."

Mei Qingshu: "She said her social circle is simple and she doesn't like making friends. Do you believe that?"

She didn't like to speculate about this person's affairs.

Well, now that you mention it, nothing Lord Wang said could be trusted. She was a professional at making people eat their words.

"It's always the ones who can swim that drown," Qiao Xuejing concluded. Then she silently organized her resources, waiting for Wang Jiu's orders, but she didn't stop observing the people from the other teams.

After a moment, Qiao Xuejing asked, "Was it that Chi Mantou who slowed down the captain earlier? Is he from Shenzhen?"

Lin Guiwan: "I don't know if it was him, but he seems to be a melee staff-wielding class, supplemented by the Vajra Seal and Eighteen Chaotic Staffs for group attacks. His melee and defense are very strong, and the Vajra Seal is a group defense seal. With him around, his team's defense is probably the strongest here."

So that was his class path.

Everyone was unsure, but they could see that Li Chui seemed unwilling to be suppressed by Wang Jiu, so he was trying to ally with Chi Mantou, Luo Sheng, and Diao Guang's teams.

If their four teams joined forces, they might still be able to stand up to Wang Jiu's side.

Unfortunately, the idea was very positive, but the result was very negative.

Luo Sheng, who was eating a stamina pill, responded, "Do you think you're your uncle? Calm down, will you? Leading an alliance is a technical job, not suited for you."

Diao Guang: "Ahem, our team, well, we're more peace-loving. This kind of fighting and killing isn't really for us. Let's all be harmonious. Let's stick together. Don't take sides. My sense of direction is bad."

Chi Mantou: "If Miss Luo isn't participating, then I'm not either."

Li Chui's face was completely wiped clean. He couldn't argue with Luo Sheng, so he turned on Chi Mantou. "You monk, your six senses are not pure."

Chi Mantou smiled. "When faced with a beauty like Miss Luo, even a Bodhisattva would have to return to secular life."

Luo Sheng's expression was natural, showing no impatience, but she was noncommittal in her heart.

What kind of people were these? They were a hundred and eight thousand miles away from the refined tastes of that person, Lao Wang.

Li Chui's attempt to take the lead failed, but Wang Jiu's side was making rapid progress because Wang Jiu had made her position clear. "I have no suggestions. As long as we can win, you two can command."

She gave up the right to command so easily?

Yan Guanqi and Xia Laoci were both surprised, feeling a bit of gain and loss, but they didn't show it. They just smiled and agreed, then called their two teams to get acquainted and prepare to fight the Lycanthrope.

Their side united so easily, which greatly surprised the others.

Why was Wang Jiu's persona so changeable?

Wasn't she supposed to be domineering and intolerant of others?

Li Chui and the others were in a difficult position for a moment. On the other hand, Luo Sheng and Diao Guang reacted surprisingly quickly and immediately joined in. Seeing this, Li Chui knew that the situation was lost, because Dong Long and Chi Mantou had already made their positions clear.

Unless they were trapped here to die, they had to kill the Lycanthrope to escape—it hadn't left yet and was still banging on the outside.

Yan Guanqi hadn't expected it to be so smooth, but with five teams combined, the number of people was already considerable, and experts were gathered.

But there was still one team left.

"Sir, I wonder if you..."

The aloof and silent young man, "Wei Yuan," shook hands with Yan Guanqi, gave his name, and said, "I'm willing to join, but I need you to guarantee that you won't harm the others on my side."

Everyone looked at the few weak players behind him and agreed. Yan Guanqi said solemnly, "Rest assured, as long as your side doesn't violate the rules of peacefully fighting the BOSS, we will also ensure the stability of this alliance and not let any party violate its original intention."

He said this without any particular intention, but many people instinctively looked at Wang Jiu, who was flipping through the lab notebook while listening to their discussion about surrounding and killing the Lycanthrope.

Wang Jiu noticed everyone's gazes, looked up, and swept a faint glance over them. Many people quickly averted their eyes.

Slap. The book closed. Wang Jiu asked Yan Guanqi, "Distribution according to work?"

"Of course, the game's participation rules are like that."

"When do we start?"

Yan Guanqi looked at the banging but still relatively safe door, then calculated everyone's depleted spirit power.

"About half an hour. Now, those with spirit power recovery skills and arrays, report. We'll recover together."

After speaking, he himself reported having a spirit power recovery array. There was also a woman in his team who had a spirit power recovery skill; she was also a priest.

Then, Lin Guiwan looked at Wang Jiu. Wang Jiu didn't say anything, just activated her small spirit power recovery array. Seeing this, Lin Guiwan also activated her small array.

The teams regrouped, and everyone shared the recovery. The more people who enjoyed the recovery from such a small array, the less spirit power was recovered. However, with more small arrays, the total was quite considerable. Everyone's spirit power was recovering, but the system prompted that there was a limit—it was still capped at 50%.

This damn Dog System!

Everyone was helpless, but they could only cherish their spirit power even more, recovering quietly and digesting their resources.

Half an hour should be enough, but the teams were ultimately just a temporary alliance. No one would entrust their trump cards to others, so each team found a private corner. Since they were already sharing, there was no need to huddle back-to-back to build camaraderie.

Wang Jiu chose one of the data management rooms in the laboratory, took out a puppet, and used it to enhance her equipment. Her real body sat in a chair and began typing, hacking into the system.

Everyone was dumbfounded. Xie Lu hadn't thought much of it at first, but he suddenly remembered something. Xie Jiang seemed to have mentioned that Wang Jiu was from Cai Market and had even used Cai Market's system to hire a master hacker.

So, how did her skills compare to that master hacker?

Perhaps she was just familiar with it. After all, she was part of this system.

Xie Lu quickly cleared his mind of distractions and focused on digesting his resources, because he mentally rejected this kind of speculation.

—If Wang Jiu herself was more skilled than that master hacker but still deliberately hired someone to hide herself, it meant she had long known about the connection between Cai Market and the state, and was avoiding both. In that case, all her actions at the funeral would be overturned again—she wasn't just acting to kill Yang Yu and his son and protect her own life; she was also hiding a deeper secret.

And this secret was not tolerated by the state or Cai Market.

After hacking into the system, Wang Jiu discovered three things.

1. This laboratory was indeed conducting a project to modify animal bodies (including humans) with the mist gas.

2. The project initially experimented on mutated monsters, but in the later stages, the effects became more and more powerful, and a mishap occurred—the Lycanthrope's power exceeded the research institute's control, and it slaughtered the underground laboratory. So the research institute decisively closed the valves of the upper and lower laboratories, sealing them underground.

3. Due to the intrusion of outsiders, the access control of the underground laboratory was broken, and all the tunnel entrances opened automatically.

This could explain why the research institute led them to the basement. Because the access control had been broken and the tunnel entrances couldn't be closed, in order to eliminate these monsters and prevent them from rushing out of the basement to the surface, they simply led all outsiders to the basement and let them kill each other.

Xie Lu and the others had also summarized this information, but they always felt that something was not quite right.

While they were pondering, Wang Jiu said, "It's not locked."

It was like a sudden enlightenment for everyone. Right, such important information, yet it wasn't locked or destroyed.

It didn't even require a password. They saw it as soon as they hacked into the computer. Although it had some difficulty, it was actually illogical.

Was it because the people in the surface laboratory didn't have time, or was it intentional?

"If we saw this content, we would start searching for experimental data on the Lycanthrope. There should be some hints about its weaknesses, right? That would fit the game's pattern."

As everyone expected, Wang Jiu soon found all the experimental data on the Lycanthrope.

"Find its original mutation potion, unlock it, destroy its chemical chain, and then use it on it. It should have some effect."

After Wang Jiu finished speaking, Xie Lu immediately went to the potion room. But Wang Jiu watched his departing back, tapped the keyboard with her finger, and sighed softly, "I doubt he'll be able to get it."

Qiao Xuejing: "That Wei Yuan?"

"He's been here." Wang Jiu's gaze swept over the pen holder on the desk. Qiao Xuejing noticed that the pen holder was displaced from its original position, with marks and a break in the dust.

They had entered almost at the same time and were all in the main hall of the laboratory. No one had been to these side rooms, except for Wei Yuan's group.

Sure enough, after a short while, Xie Lu returned empty-handed.

"This is a bit difficult. This damn dungeon. We can only work hard for participation points," Wang Jiu sighed, then said to everyone, "There are fifteen minutes left. I'll give you five minutes to organize your resources. After five minutes, I'll release the Goblin Trader, and we can exchange some of our resources to fight the Lycanthrope."

They had too many resources on them. Digest them, exchange them for something better, and fight a fatter BOSS. Perfect!

After she finished speaking, she ignored the ecstatic crowd and began to check the enhancement results of the equipment that the puppet had just finished upgrading.

When she looked, her expression was slightly strange.

The strengthening stones were all synthesized to the highest quality. The result was that the enhancement level of all four badges and four accessories increased by 1 level, and the total attribute points increased by 1200 each, with spirit power increasing by 200. The focus of the Nightmare Descent badge was not on spirit power and attribute points, but on the skill.

The all-attribute boost increased from 40% to 60%. A single skill was enough to offset the system's 50% attribute reduction effect, with 10% to spare.

Now, her attributes were as follows.

HP: 639 (Attribute points 5:1 exchange for HP)

Spirit Power: 5400 (Permanent Spirit Power Cap: 11200)

Strength: 2450 (4900)

Agility: 2550 (5100)

Stamina: 2350 (4700)

The system was amused. "Speaking of which, the puppets you make have better luck than you? I say, why don't you have your puppet wear that sexy slip dress of yours next time? Maybe you can get a group enhancement to +9."

Wang Jiu actually replied seriously, "You've finally given me a good idea."

System: "..."

You damn pervert, ptui!

After Wang Jiu finished enhancing, she sorted through the more than a thousand densely packed items in her inventory—cards, equipment, props, class skill books. She had been saving them to use on the Goblin Trader.

Time passed quickly, and everyone was eagerly prepared.

So Wang Jiu released the Goblin Trader.

The two sides met.

Goblin Trader: "Damn, it's you bunch of country bumpkins again. What, did the village fields have a good harvest? Eager to buy some tea eggs to satisfy your cravings?"

Everyone: "Yo, it's you again. Have all the Goblin Traders died out? Are you the only one with such a foul mouth running around outside? How come you haven't been beaten to death yet?"

The two sides exchanged a round of solid taunts, but it didn't delay the speed at which they exchanged resources.

Wang Jiu also threw in eighty to ninety percent of the resources in her backpack. Her points skyrocketed, jumping to 12,000 in the blink of an eye. Oh, she could exchange for ten Blazing Light Fire Mines.

Unfortunately, Wang Jiu didn't want it right now. She wanted another kind of resource.

"Skill, lifesteal type."

There were too many items. She directly entered the filter criteria, and the page changed, instantly displaying dozens of skills that met the lifesteal condition. Looking from the lowest price to the highest...

Wang Jiu quickly scanned through them and paused at the advanced skills section.

《Witch Drain》, can drain the blood of all living targets (Level 1, absorbs up to 5 targets, absorbs 20% of their blood). As long as the opponent has a bleeding wound (and their stamina is lower than yours), you can absorb their blood for your own use. No cooldown, no side effects. Cannot be dispelled unless by a higher-level skill of the same type that grants exemption or severs the skill.

Learning: Requires 3000 permanent spirit energy.

Usage: 500 spirit power.

Purchase Points: 10,000 points.

This skill was awesome. The points were as high as ten thousand. Most importantly, she had finally cobbled together a long-term, stable attack system.

System: "Lifesteal + Blood Wrath + Holy Light? Are you a pervert?"

It wasn't that it hadn't seen talented people who created their own attack systems. These talents could retain the skills they had built up with early-game resources and make them applicable to all stages. But this was the first time it had seen someone do it like Wang Jiu.

She had taken a Blood Wrath skill that was useful in the early game but became mediocre in the late game and turned it into something amazing.

Perhaps because there weren't many witches, and there weren't many witches with such black hearts.

Wang Jiu: "No, you system people are stingy and not good to me. You gave me a Blood Wrath that's mediocre in the mid to late game. It's a pity to abandon it. I have no choice."

While she said that, her hands quickly gathered some resources to make up 800 points and bought four copies of Blood Wrath, bringing it to level 3. Its short-term attack boost and critical damage reached 60%. If the amount of blood drawn at the time was high enough, this critical damage could soar even higher.

With this, her attack index exploded.

It was done.

Wang Jiu's exchange was fast, and she had a clear goal. So after she was done, she had nothing to do and began to peacefully recover her spirit power. The Goblin Trader, however, gave Wang Jiu a few more glances. "Beauty, add me as a friend."

Wang Jiu opened her eyes and looked at it with some surprise. "NPCs can do that?"

"Of course. There are even players who have improper relationships with us NPCs. Oh, I don't mean it like that. We goblins never like women with small butts who are taller than us."

Wang Jiu looked at the short, ugly, and not at all cute Goblin Trader, who spoke with extraordinary arrogance, and smiled. "Oh, no wonder your entire race is so short and ugly. Your genetic level is permanently stagnant."

Goblin Trader: "..."

Just then, Wang Jiu suddenly raised her eyebrows and turned to look outside.

What did she just hear? It sounded like... the sound of the main door opening automatically.

Not good!

"It's in!" When Wang Jiu went out, the others' faces changed in horror. The moment they rushed out, they saw that after the main door opened, the dozen or so players in the main hall were swept by a scythe from the Lycanthrope that had charged in.

Cut in half at the waist!

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