The Beast Lure Powder—truly terrifying!
Zhang Da felt incredibly unlucky.
On his way to work, he had been inexplicably pulled into some lordship game and randomly assigned the class of Swordmaster, which seemed really impressive. At that moment, Zhang Da thought he was the chosen one, the protagonist of the world, the favored of fate itself.
But right from the start, his invitation to form a team was rejected. Later, when exploring the forest with other players, he was targeted by a wild boar nearly three meters tall!
The boar was massive, its yellowed tusks capable of easily piercing the soft, fragile human body.
When other players were skewered by its tusks, Zhang Da stood not far away, splashed with warm blood, his mind blank with fear.
His only thought was to run—run as fast as possible, without stopping.
They ran with all their strength, but no matter how fast, the boar’s heavy panting kept close behind, impossible to shake off.
Then Zhang Da saw her—the woman who had rejected his team invitation at the start, frail and weak.
Without thinking, he instinctively shouted: “She’s a life player! As long as we run faster than her, we’ll survive!”
Seeing the shock in her eyes, Zhang Da felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
Perhaps the boar also deemed her weak, only focusing on her. Finally, they could make their escape. As for that woman… a useless life player—if she died, so be it. After all, she had rejected him before.
After narrowly escaping the boar, Zhang Da grew cocky. He organized ten or so players to cooperate in hunting within the forest, and their gains were decent.
But that day, they ran into trouble again.
A spiky beast appeared out of nowhere, rolling toward the group. Two players were instantly pierced by its spikes, blood gushing, dead in under two minutes.
Zhang Da’s pupils contracted. He abandoned the players beside him and ran.
Screams and curses soon rose behind him:
“Ahhhhh!!”“Zhang Da, you bastard!”“Exit the dungeon! I want out!!”
Looking back, the slow-reacting players had been killed, while the faster ones either fled or exited the dungeon.
The spiky beast then focused on itself, rolling toward him with threatening force.
Zhang Da gritted his teeth and increased his speed.
He didn’t want to leave the dungeon before the last moment—there might be extra rewards if he stayed until closure—so he ran blindly. Soon, his eyes caught a familiar figure.
Without hesitation, he dashed over.
It was a tall, slender woman with striking red wavy hair. In front of her was a cooking pot, which she skillfully stirred with a spatula, humming a cheerful tune. The air was filled with a savory aroma.
Zhang Da was stunned: “It’s you?? You didn’t die!?”
His gaze scanned over her head and landed on her class info: Level 1 Cook. A sneer crossed his eyes: “Picking a useless life profession and still Level 1… what a waste…”
He didn’t know how she had survived the boar attack.
But perfect—time to make use of the useless player again, and have her block for him one more time!
Yan Yiqiu had already noticed this brat, but her braised fish was at a crucial stage. She stirred a few more times, finished cooking, and put it into her backpack.
“You’re quite unlucky,” Yan Yiqiu finally looked at the man.
The man had been living rough these days—tattered clothes, messy hair, looking like a mountain hermit.
She had no intention of approaching him, yet he had basically delivered himself into her hands—heaven has a path he won’t take, hell has no gate yet he walks in.
Zhang Da thought she meant the beast chasing him, grinning slyly: “I think I’m lucky. You’re the one with bad luck!”
“Useless… even dying for me serves some purpose.”
He dashed past Yan Yiqiu, laughing arrogantly, unaware that a white powder had stuck to his clothes and skin in that brief moment.
Running ten meters ahead, he looked back, wanting to see her get killed.
Then he saw the red-haired woman raise her spatula and strike the charging beast.
The beast, which had killed several players before, died instantly, collapsing to the ground, then dissolved into a white light absorbed into her body.
Zhang Da: ???
He stumbled, almost falling flat on his face, dumbfounded and unbelieving: “???????”
A spatula kills a beast? What kind of damage is this??
This is a life player? Then what the hell am I??
As Zhang Da was questioning himself, he caught Yan Yiqiu’s piercing gaze, his scalp tingled, and he ran even faster.
If he didn’t run quickly, she could easily seek revenge later… considering her terrifying combat power, killing him would be effortless.
Watching the man’s increasingly frantic figure fade, Yan Yiqiu sighed.
She had wanted to see what would happen to someone affected by the Beast Lure Powder.
Never mind—time to gather materials.
[Player dealt 429,384,625 damage to the mutated beast; effective damage 2,365.][Obtained Meat Chunk·Green x4, Feces x1, EXP +52, Copper Coins x349.]
Why did the mutated beast come into the forest?
The thought flashed through her mind, interrupted by another beast rushing out. She swung her spatula: “In such a hurry? Then become roast meat!”
Repeating the same action grew boring. Yan Yiqiu opened the chat channel, cooking while simultaneously killing incoming beasts—three tasks at once.
[Wow, why do the forest beasts suddenly feel so strong? My team used to kill one in half an hour; now it takes an hour, and we almost got killed?!][Is it because the dungeon is almost over?][Those aren’t normal beasts! They’re mutated beasts—way stronger than regular ones! Damage is 4–5 times higher! Be careful, if you can’t win, exit the dungeon to survive!][Guys, you won’t believe what I saw!! Here’s a short video…]
Curious, Yan Yiqiu opened the video and saw the man—Zhang Da fleeing.
The video was only ten seconds long, but those ten seconds left a huge impression—Beast Lure Powder is terrifying.
Watching Zhang Da scream as the beast attacked, Yan Yiqiu turned off the video, while other players in chat were baffled.
Chat was filled with question marks.
[Ah? No way?][My butt…][Why didn’t he just leave the dungeon?!]
Yan Yiqiu thought: he was trapped by the beast. Unless the beast was killed, he couldn’t escape.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to—he couldn’t.
She looked at the remaining feces in her backpack, pondering whether to make more. This stuff dealt high damage, insulted the enemy, and could crit—it was a joy to use.
[Obtained Braised Fish x1, EXP +10.][Obtained Braised Fish (White) x1, EXP +15.]
…
Suddenly, ripples spread across the surrounding space, and an eerie synthesized female voice rang out.
[Dungeon closed. Players will return to their respective territories. The next dungeon opens in 24 hours.]
The world spun, and Yan Yiqiu returned to her tiny ten-square-meter territory.
She first checked her backpack.
[Backpack (52 slots): Braised Meat (White) x5, Braised Fish x219, Braised Fish (White) x91, Roast Meat x153, Drinking Water x3, Stamina Potion x2, Energy Potion x4, Gloves (Green) x1, Goblin Great Club (Blue) x1, Mechanical Minecart x1, Wild Mountain Peach x459, Apple x637, Lychee x342, Watermelon x666, Sugarcane x888, Wild Mountain Peach Pit x32, Apple Core x22, Lychee Pit x56, Watermelon Seeds x163, Sugarcane Seeds x100, Wheat Seeds x10, Wood x889, Level 1 Ore x8018, Level 2 Ore x2223.]
[Personal assets: 1,289 Gold, 299 Silver, 352 Copper.]
She ignored the life materials—they were mostly meat, hides, herbs, and feces.
[Level: 4 (2,567/3,000)][Stamina: 10/90][Energy: 2/90][HP: 2,000/2,000 (with armor bonus)][Satiation: 67][Life Professions: Cook·Novice (Level 4), Carpenter·Novice (Level 1), Tailor·Novice (Level 3), Pharmacist·Novice (Level 3), Builder·Novice (Level 0), Mechanical Engineer·Novice (Level 0)…][Territory Level: 0][Energy and stamina restore 6 points per hour, increasing with upgrades.]
She had enough ore to upgrade her territory, but lacked wood. From Level 0 to 5 required 24,200 wood; she had less than 1,000.
Without wasting time, she listed items on the trading post.
Braised Fish (Restores 20 Satiation) 200 wood per unit—had 219, listed 119.Roast Meat (Restores 10 Satiation) 100 wood per unit—had 153, listed 100.Braised Fish (White, restores 20 Satiation, adds damage) 500 wood per unit—had 91, listed 41.
[Real-name verification?]
“No, no, no,” she replied quickly, listing anonymously.
The trading post allowed barter or game currency.
Exchange rate: Copper/Silver/Gold = 1000:1. With nearly 1,300 gold, calling herself rich wasn’t an exaggeration.
Chat was lively.
[Who put up so much food and only accepts wood?!][500 wood for Braised Meat?! Crazy!][Greedy much!][… Damn, I clicked to buy, told item sold out?? Bastards!][Who has lots of ore? I’ll trade wood for ore!][My backpack is almost full, how do I expand it, guys?][You’re out of the dungeon? Was it dangerous?]
The sound of successful trades rang in her ears.
[Obtained Wood x20,500, fee 205 Copper.][Obtained Wood x13,264, fee 132 Copper.]
She first withdrew enough wood for upgrades, then submitted all at once: “Upgrade territory to Level 5.”
[Required: Level 1 Ore x6,200, Level 2 Ore x1,200, Wood x24,200, 11 Gold 205 Silver 100 Copper.][Confirm upgrade?]
“Yes.” Yan Yiqiu confirmed.