Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

"Where are you going?"

Kuang Xin panted heavily, having chased out of the arena.

Seeing Hans's sleazy figure fleeing through the chaotic crowd, he knew this old geezer was definitely screwing him over again.

A wise man never falls into the same hole twice, and he certainly wouldn't let this old man take any advantage of him ever again.

Hearing the furious shouting not far behind, Hans's steps faltered, and he stopped.

He had seen how that foolish lad had performed earlier in the arena; there was a hint of madness inherent in him, and that wasn't someone to irk seriously.

Besides, the most important point was he hadn't intended to bring a hand gun to the arena today... or even if he had, now it was questionable whether he would dare to use it.

Compared to the foolish lad he first met that day, today's looked exceptionally frightening; the bruises on his face weren't signs of dishevelment but badges of honor for a warrior.

"I... I'm going back to sleep," Hans's voice was weak.

"Sleep?" Kuang Xin advanced step by step, eyeing Hans from top to bottom, and finally rested his gaze on the latter's hand concealed at his chest, "Where's my money!"

He didn't particularly care about the property in the game, but at least he couldn't let someone who disgusted him take advantage of it.

"It's here... right here..." Cautiously pulling out five banknotes from his bosom, Hans trembled as he handed them to Kuang Xin, "I was just thinking of keeping it safe for you temporarily..."

Kuang Xin had no interest in the old man's bullshit; he had made up his mind not to trust this old guy again. His voice rose sarcastically, "Didn't I win?"

He knew his own odds; one to one point one.

He should have at least 1050 Heishui coins by now.

With missing teeth, Hans flashed an embarrassed smile, "At least I acted as your guarantor to let you enter the contest; let me have a share..."

Kuang Xin clenched his fist, still unsatisfied, "Honestly, I didn't get enough of a fight just now."

"All yours! All yours!" Hans bristled instantly, eagerly pulling out the money he had just obtained from his bosom—eleven banknotes, 160 crystal coins...

"Here it is! But..." holding onto one hundred Heishui coins strung together with string, Hans showed a pleading look on his face, "This is my own capital..."

Kuang Xin glanced at them.

They felt oddly familiar... even though Heishui coins should all look the same.

But he felt that these were probably the same hundred he had been cheated out of by the old man.

"..."

[If it weren't for his referral, I wouldn't have met the big shot, nor Dai and Yanzi... It's hard to say what turns my fate would have taken.]

Seeing the contemplative look on Kuang Xin's face, Hans pulled on a strand of Heishui coins he had already pushed into Kuang Xin's hand, "There are one hundred and ten more that I've won with my capital..."

"Bullshit!" Kuang Xin suddenly drew back his hand, "What's all this about your or my capital, everything I won is mine!"

Poking the man in the face with his finger, "Stop f***ing scamming people, you hear? I'm letting you off this time."

Turning away triumphantly, Kuang Xin felt jubilant inside.

Robbing an NPC! How much worse could I get?

Although the amount looted wasn't much, just 110 coins, it was an epic step forward!

I'm so cool tonight!

...

Clenching the remaining 100 Heishui coins in his hand, Hans experienced the roller coaster of life...

Not reconciled!

Not reconciled!

Power... money... slipped away again!

Huh? There seemed to be an indecisive figure hesitating in the shadows over there.

What was he up to?

Hans narrowed his eyes and approached proactively...

"Join a competition? Do you know you need a guarantor to enter?"

A young man exuding metal punk vibes deliberately stood on tiptoes, his expression somewhat disdainful, "You think I don't know that?"

"You know? If you know, then it's easy. Come with me."

The young man, grasped by Hans's bony palm, became flustered, "What are you doing? Where are you taking me?"

"Taking you where?" Hans turned to look at him, his face ghostly under the hazy moonlight, "To compete in the match, of course!"

"I'm not going to compete! I was just hesitating! I didn't say I wanted to enter..."

[Target automatically rejected your commission request...]

[The other party does not possess the qualifications to accept a commission...]

A faint voice played from the void.

Without hearing any strange noise, or getting a reply from Hans, whose eyes were trembling with restlessness, he grew more irritated, "You won't agree? Why won't you agree? What right do you have not to agree!"

His voice grew heavier with each word.

Beneath his frail and aged body, there seemed to be bulging muscles growing rapidly, aged veins grotesquely prominent, dark aura ceaselessly emanating from Hans's body.

"You! How could you! Not agree to my terms!"

"I agree! I did agree!" The young boy desperately backed away, trying to break free from the opponent's grip, as strong as reinforced iron, shouting as if on the verge of collapse during the struggle.

"No! You didn't agree!"

Power! No power! Without power!

That intoxicating sense of power is absent!

Liars! All liars!

"Bang!"

[Successfully hit the target with a stealth attack. Light firearm proficiency experience +1.]

[Hit the target's vital spot, inflicting 24 points of piercing damage! Plus the "Heavy Bleeding" status.]

[The "Bleeding" effect from your attack inflicts 10 points of ongoing damage to the target.]

The flare of the gun blossomed in the night.

The fireworks of the burning ammunition dispersed from the muzzle, and behind the hazy dust, Kuang Xin's face loomed in and out of view.

The moon's radiance could not penetrate the heavy clouds. His face, half-hidden in darkness, half-bathed in light, watched as Hans, still struggling on the ground, had returned, and Kuang Xin's eyes displayed indiscernible thoughts.

"This bullet, I saved it for you until now."

Drip, drop, drip, drop...

"Murder! Murder!" The boy was already on the edge of mental collapse, and the sudden gunfire pierced through his last line of defense, causing him to run away frantically into the distance.

Black blood trickled down his clothes onto the ground as Hans blankly lowered his head, his body weakly slumping forward to kneel and fall.

"Crash..."

The rope snapped; the blackwater coins he had been carrying in his arms rolled and scattered everywhere.

One... two... three...

"I... I..." His vision grew darker in waves. Hans tried to reach out with his blood-coated hands, attempting to gather all the scattered blackwater coins back into his arms.

They were his! All his!

One... two... three...

Huh?

Why are they gone?

Grabbing a handful, his palm sinks in.

That was his principal, his own property, his own 100 blackwater coins.

How... are they gone?

As he opened his palm, the silver-black particles, like the ashes of a firework burned out, were blown away by the wind and quietly dispersed.

Dissolving into the air, leaving no trace behind.

"Liars... all liars..." Blood foamed at Hans' mouth as he lay on the ground, looking up at the direction where the particles disappeared, his eyes empty.

[Your attack's "Bleeding" effect has caused 6 points of continuous lethal damage to the target.]

[The target's breathing has ceased; vital signs lost.]

Tucking away his pistol, Kuang Xin turned and left, without any lingering sentiment.

[You have completely killed the target. Combat ended, earning 180 battle experience points.]

...

"Finally killed him," Gong Yan said with a complex tone.

"That was tough on the gorilla...."

Gong Yan and Dai Lian, who were there to back up Kuang Xin, hid in the shadow of a rock, watching the gun murder that occurred in this wasteland. Dai Lian had a hint of satisfaction in his eyes, "Gorilla is fine in every other way, just too rule-bound."

Being bold, one would discover a different side of the game, and also discover another self...

As a player, Kuang Xin indeed had a certain mindset to break preconceptions, but stealing an axe might have been the most brazen act he had done.

Facing this game that felt as real as time travel, they could clearly sense that Kuang Xin was reluctant to let loose and act recklessly.

Having known him for only several days, they had all heard the story of Kuang Xin being conned by an NPC at first.

Even when confronted with an NPC who had betrayed him time and time again, unless it truly touched his last bottom line, he found it hard to go for the kill.

If it had been Dai Lian himself, the night he found out he was deceived, either Hans' corpse would hang in the streets, or he'd just restart with a new account.

But to Kuang Xin, humanoid NPCs and those wolves, rats, they held a different place in his heart.

"But also not bad, right?" Gong Yan's lips curled into a faint smile, "This dummy is quite reassuring to watch in action."

Although he always gets tricked, nobody can feel at ease...

"Let's go, let's go." Dai suddenly got up, "Let's head back first, don't let him find out we were spying on him, he definitely thinks he's just been exceptionally cool..."

Gong Yan covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, "Okay~"