Chapter 11 (1/2)
Chapter 11 — A Bet is A Bet!
The Game's Number 1 Dangerous Man! He has appeared!
Edited by Planetes
Ling Xiaolu arrived at a safe spot, but above his head appeared a golden and s.h.i.+ny ”Reward”.
He tilted his head to the right, and the word tilted to the right. He tilted his head to the left, and the word too tilted to the left. He reached out to grab at it, only to grasp air.
”Quick, look!” He nudged Ling Long. ”I'm also a gold name now!”
Ling Long was stoic. ”Which benefactor would call themselves 'reward'? It just means that someone has placed a bounty on you.”
”A bounty?” Someone who had a grudge against him, as well as having money with nowhere to spend it, Ling Xiaolu could only think of that person. ”Papa Dou did this?”
”Probably,” Ling Long used his GM rights to check the records. ”There's a total of ten bounties, each bounty is worth a hundred thousand gold. Seems like you've really riled him up.”
Ling Xiaolu lamented deeply. ”That's so much money. He could have just given it directly to me, I wouldn't mind killing myself on the spot.”
”A hundred thousand is not a small sum. With such a huge reward, it's more than enough to attract all sorts of a.s.sa.s.sins.”
”You even have a.s.sa.s.sins in this game?”
”According to the stats, the total amount of money offered as rewards for bounties last quarter reached as high as one billion. From this, you can imagine how many would work as a bounty hunter. No matter how many characters the company design to be a big boss in the game, the biggest resentments in the game are always between players.”
”This actually sounds rather logical.”
”I'm afraid the a.s.sa.s.sins are already trying to track you down now. People who dare to take up this bounty of a hundred thousand gold won't be easy to handle. What do you plan to do?”
”What can I do? I only have one life, and who knows how many people there are out there. Of course I'll just walk down the path of death myself.”
”Walking down the path of death means…?”
【Global】Lu Bi: A large bounty has been placed on me, and I'm right here waiting for you to take my life. There's only going to be ten chances, first come first served. [Location]
【Global】Dandan: Isn't this the Lu Bi who has something going on with both Adonis and Hubby? Why, after having a bounty placed on him, he decided to give up fighting?
【Global】Tian s.h.i.+: It must be Papa Dou who did this. We all saw the livestream just now, look at how angry Papa is!
【Global】Cao Sanxin1: I was planning on looking for you, and didn't expect that you would take such initiative. It's really searching high and low only to find it when you least expect it.”
【Global】Lu Bi: A friendly warning: If you don't have the ability, don't come seeking your death.
【Global】Cao Sanxin: Ho! Such brash words from a newbie. May I ask if you even have the ability to fight me?
【Global】Lu Bi: I personally don't, but why don't you guess if the others do?
【Global】Cao Sanxin: … That seems to make sense. Then I won't go anymore, have fun!
Ling Xiaolu's words managed to persuade most of the restless people. However, there were always confident people abound in the world, and this also included the temptation of a one hundred thousand gold reward. Taking a look, Ling Xiaolu saw that there were at least a hundred over people.
It felt that most people who wanted to come had arrived. Ling Xiaolu raised a loudspeaker — he got Ling Long to make it appear — to maintain the public order.
”Thank you everyone for your support. There are so many people here. For me, I sincerely wish that each one of you would be able to make your fortune. But as you can see, there are only ten bounties available, and there's no way every single one of you can be satisfied. As such, we can only go along with a first come first served basis. Friends who were late, I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait for future opportunities.”
He glanced around, and randomly pointed at the closest person. ”Here, we'll just start from you, you'll be the first one!”
Just as the first one revealed a smug look, he was immediately attacked by over ten different skills. The first one swayed, falling down onto one knee, and his spirit floated out from his body.
Spirits could not speak, and could only hold up a card. The first one… No, he should be called the ex-first one indignantly raised a card: You bunch of beasts!
This was the first time Ling Xiaolu saw someone died in the game, and he even died in a second. He should be frightened, but instead, he was so amused by the card-raising of the spirit that a laugh burst out from him.
The spirit flipped the card: The h.e.l.l you laughing at!
”I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't manage to hold it back.” Ling Xiaolu forcefully suppressed his laughter. Pointing at the ”dead body”, he reproached the crowd. ”What are you guys doing? Is anyone going to revive him?”
There clearly was not. The ex-first one too understood this point, and in a fury, he released his spirit, leaving a small gravestone on the ground.
”The first one has left, then what should we do? I guess we can only move on to the next person.” Ling Xiaolu pointed at the person next to where the ex-first one was standing. ”It's your turn now.”
Before that person could even express that he did not want this honour, he was killed immediately. After all, there were so many people on site, no one would be able to withstand the combination of random attacks.
The second first one who was killed indignantly raised his card: d.a.m.n you!
Next to the first gravestone appeared another gravestone. Primly, Ling Xiaolu put on a straight face. ”What you guys are doing is wrong, how am I going to proceed with my work like this? How will I maintain the order of society? How am I going to successfully distribute these bounties? Do you guys still want to earn this money?”
”You can't do this again!” Ling Xiaolu raised a pointed finger again. ”Then we'll start from…”
The person who was pointed out shook his head, terrified. ”Not me, not me! I'm just here to watch the show!”
Ling Xiaolu s.h.i.+fted his finger, and the next person retreated desperately, ”I'm also only here as a spectator, don't point at me!”
Wherever Ling Xiaolu pointed, the crowd would retreated. As such, the first row had now moved two metres back.
Resigned, Ling Xiaolu put his hand down. ”If you're just here to watch the show, don't stand right in front, it's very easy to get hurt accidentally. How about this, I'll give you time to leave now, and the ones who really want the rewards will stay, ok?”
In a twinkling, the size of the crowd was reduced by two-thirds.
”I believe all of you standing here are the elites of the industry. If you all have any opinions about first come first served, then you can vote and decide amongst each other. You're all peers and colleagues, don't destroy your harmony, we're all civilised people here!”
The crowd descended into silence for a few seconds. Everyone attacked simultaneously, wanting to catch each other off guard.
The ones left behind were all top-tier a.s.sa.s.sins. For the moment, they were all unable to get rid of anyone, and all sorts of attacks and items were flying about the place.
Ling Xiaolu took a few steps back from the chaos for fear of turning into collateral damage.
Right now, only he could see his chatbox furiously vibrating away.
Ling Long: There's someone on the tree diagonally ahead of you!!! It's a Cat 5 danger!!!
Ling Long: Don't look up deliberately!!!!!!!
Who was this person that could make Ling Long, a GM, enter so many exclamation points? Ling Xiaolu remembered that Ling Long had been very composed even when meeting benefactors like Ji Meng and Dou Kou.
Ling Xiaolu controlled his impulse to look up, secretly wondering if he could be as lucky this time to escape without harm from a group of a.s.sa.s.sins and someone dangerous.
The chaos ended, and the survivors stopped. A dozen more gravestones appeared on the ground.
”You're done?” Ling Xiaolu's concentration returned to them, and he counted. ”One, two, three… ten, eleven… Eh? There's still one additional.”
”What should we do now there's one extra?” Ling Xiaolu picked a big and bulky man. ”You can go now, you've been eliminated.”
”On what basis?”
”You're too ugly, I don't want to be killed by you.”
”Oh.” The big, bulky man bowed his head dejectedly, turning around and leaving.
After a few steps, he suddenly turned around, rus.h.i.+ng towards Ling Xiaolu maliciously. ”I'm going to kill you!”
Like an unparalleled expert, Ling Xiaolu stood his ground expressionlessly. He did not dodge or hide, as though he had full confidence that he could withstand his iron fist.
The fist of the big, bulky man froze one cm away from Ling Xiaolu. His tense expression revealed that he had already used his utmost strength, but it did nothing in helping him take a step further.
Two weapons crossed in front of his chest, and two a.s.sa.s.sins that had appeared in a flash protected their prey like bodyguards.
The eyes of the big, bulky man were filled with disbelief and unreconciled feelings. With a hundred thousand gold so close within grasp, he fell heavily to his knee. Only then did Ling Xiaolu see a poker card on his back with 6 spiders drawn on it.
When he fell, the person behind him was exposed. That person was still in the position of throwing the card, and seeing the success of his action, he made a small gesture. The poke card turned into a tiny spider, crawling back to him and up into his sleeve. Chills ran down Ling Xiaolu's spines watching that.
Everyone else all looked rather disdainful, but they did not dare to be too obvious about their feelings. Ling Xiaolu speculated that the strength of this person was definitely amongst the top of these people.
The card that the bulky man's spirit raised was aimed towards that person: Spider, you just wait and see!
Seeing that the person's ID was not Spider, it seemed to be a very famous nickname of his. Most people standing right there were probably quite famous in the game, but unfortunately, Ling Xiaolu was only a newly arrived player, and there was no guidebook to a.s.sa.s.sins where he could take a look and recognise them.
Spider ignored the man's threat, turning to urge Ling Xiaolu. ”Now the count is perfect.”
Ling Xiaolu pursed his lips. So what if the count was perfect? Even if it was, he did not want to be bitten to death by a spider!
He cleared his throat. ”Now that there's ten of you left, each will get one hundred thousand. I only have one request…”