The next morning, when Shen Huai logged into the game, he immediately noticed something was off. His character now had a golden ingot above its head. This was the mark of being wanted. Sure enough, the system notified him that he was guilty of heinous crimes and owed a blood debt. The player “Zui Xue” had placed a bounty of 500,000 gold coins, calling on all capable players to avenge her.
Shen Huai opened his mailbox and saw that the email he sent to Zui Xue last night had been read.
[Speaker] [Xuan Yun]: Attention everyone! The scammer is online! He scams people out of their money and kills them. If you encounter him, make sure to steer clear to avoid getting splattered with blood.
This Xuan Yun was also from the Xiaolang Guild, with an ID format identical to Zui Xue’s from yesterday, clearly from the same family.
Shen Huai wasn’t the type to respond to public messages, so he pretended not to see it. If they really had the skills to take his life, they could come and try.
He planned to do some quests first, upgrade his equipment, and then head to the arena when more people were online in the evening.
Whether it was because his ID had become infamous or because the Assassin class was underrated, several teams rejected his application to join.
[World] [Yiye Bianzhou]: Looking for DPS for Luozhiyuan, need a big DPS.
Shen Huai clicked to apply, and this time he quickly joined the team.
[Team] [Mobei]: Is this the big DPS you called for?
[Team] [Yiye Bianzhou]: Hehe, it’s all about the same.
[Team] [Mobei]: Not even close, okay? This lineup can’t make it through!
Luozhiyuan is a level 100 weekly dungeon that drops equipment materials and fragments. The dungeon isn’t particularly difficult, but it has a timed boss. If the boss isn’t killed within the allotted time, it goes berserk and wipes the team, testing the team’s DPS capabilities.
Shen Huai glanced at the team composition, which indeed wasn’t great. The leader, Yiye Bianzhou, was a Warrior, Mobei was a Healer, and the team also included another Healer, a Sorcerer, and a Gunner, making six with Shen Huai’s Assassin.
When Shen Huai got closer, he realized the Sorcerer was actually a Dream Thief! Among the Sorcerer’s three branches, the Dream Thief had the weakest support abilities and low damage, with skills mostly for fun. Its only advantage was strong self-preservation, reducing the healing burden.
The other Healer in the team saw Shen Huai’s mediocre equipment and simply left the team. Unexpectedly, Yiye Bianzhou clicked to enter the dungeon, and the five of them were teleported inside.
[Team] [Mobei]: …
[Team] [Yiye Bianzhou]: Hehe, sorry, my hand slipped, miss.
Shen Huai was speechless. The team’s DPS was already lacking, and now they weren’t even full.
[Team] [Yiye Bianzhou]: No worries, ladies, hide behind me. I’ll tank, and we’ll take it slow.
Except for Yiye Bianzhou, all the characters in the team were female. Shen Huai felt the need to clarify.
[Team] [Mu Wange]: I’m not a girl.
[Team] [Mobei]: … A guy?
[Team] [Yiye Bianzhou]: Bro, your name doesn’t sound like it.
Shen Huai controlled his little Assassin to jump in front of them using light skills, showing them the golden ingot above his head.
[Team] [Yiye Bianzhou]: You’re wanted?
A wanted character can’t change gender or name, so Shen Huai had to play with this purely feminine name.
[Team] [Yiye Bianzhou]: No matter what, let’s give it a try. Healer, keep an eye on the health.
Luozhiyuan has three stages, with the boss difficulty increasing progressively. The first stage’s mobs aren’t timed. Yiye Bianzhou seemed careless but was quite skilled at pulling mobs, quickly holding aggro and barely losing any health.
Under his protection, they fought their way to the boss. This stage’s boss was a giant robot with three attack modes: a ground-pounding fist causing a small area stun, a high-damage frontal cone flame spray that could wipe the team if not careful, and a roar causing percentage health loss but not lethal. The skills were randomly released, with a 5-minute DPS window. Every 30 seconds, the boss summoned mechanical puppets that had to be killed within 10 seconds, or the boss would go berserk.
A normal lineup would have a Warrior tank the boss, two DPS handle the puppets, two DPS attack the boss, and the Healer provide mobile healing.
But in this lineup, the only true DPS was the Gunner, who clearly couldn’t handle it alone. Yiye Bianzhou was worried when a shadow suddenly flashed by, fast enough to stir a breeze.
[Team] [Mu Wange]: You handle the puppets, I’ll take the boss.
Mobei immediately objected.
[Team] [Mobei]: How much DPS can an Assassin have? Isn’t this just suicide?
But the Assassin’s figure had already vanished, quickly jumping in front of the boss. With dual blades dancing, a combo under the Death Mark successfully landed a critical hit. The attacked boss raised its hand, starting with the highest damage skill, Flame Spray!
Everyone held their breath. This skill was extremely hard to dodge for melee classes and dealt massive damage. Even Yiye Bianzhou, a Warrior, would be severely injured by it.
But the expected scene of the little Assassin being one-shot didn’t happen. As the boss raised its hand, Shen Huai used a thrust, narrowly dodging the edge of the Flame Spray.
Everyone was stunned by his agile movements, only reacting when the boss summoned the first wave of puppets.
Yiye Bianzhou quickly gathered the mobs, and everyone unleashed their DPS, killing the puppets just in time and then turning to help Shen Huai with the boss.
Seeing Shen Huai’s health drop, Mobei used a single-target healing skill to raise his health limit.
Shen Huai took a moment to type in the team chat.
[Team] [Mu Wange]: Don’t heal me.
Mobei was a bit angry. This Assassin was ungrateful. Without healing, wouldn’t he just die?
She held back her anger and typed “Okay,” then really ignored Mobei.
After two waves of puppets, the Assassin was down to 10% health. Mobei pretended not to see, and the others didn’t dare say anything. But after two more waves, they were shocked to find he was still at 10% health! He was like an unkillable cockroach, holding on with 10% health and taking down half the boss’s health!
Yiye Bianzhou noticed that after the Assassin’s health dropped to 10%, his movements became extremely precise, and he didn’t miss a single skill. His damage was incredibly high, completely different from when he first charged in with full health.
After finishing the last wave of puppets, they immediately turned to the boss. The long-haired female Assassin’s blades danced continuously, her agile figure weaving around the boss. A critical hit-enhanced Blade Dance successfully brought the boss down.
[Team] [Yiye Bianzhou]: You’re a pro! Amazing!
Shen Huai sent over an emoji.
Mobei didn’t say anything, but she was convinced. She had never seen an Assassin with such fast combos and high DPS. It was well-known that as long as an Assassin’s combo continued, the damage would stack. During the 5 minutes of DPSing the boss, he never broke his combo once.
The boss dropped five treasure chests. According to the unwritten rule among players, each person took one chest, and whatever they got was theirs.
Shen Huai got some crafting materials, but compared to what he needed for equipment upgrades, it was just a drop in the bucket.
The second stage required accepting a quest from another NPC. They all exited the dungeon together, and as soon as the loading screen passed, a flurry of sword lights flashed across the screen, blindingly white and overwhelming.
Shen Huai immediately activated Swift Movement to dodge, and at the same time, an area immobilization skill landed where he had just stood, freezing Yiye Bianzhou and the others in place.
Leading the charge was a Swordsman named You Lang. With his ID and class, Shen Huai instantly guessed he was from the Xiaolang Guild.
[Team] [Mu Wange]: You guys go ahead with the quest.
Shen Huai quickly typed this and left the team. As long as he was in the team, the others would also be attackable. Xiaolang was one of the top guilds in the professional district, and there seemed to be about thirty of them this time. Yiye Bianzhou and the others would only get beaten.
Assassins are naturally fast, and with Swift Movement, You Lang’s large group couldn’t catch up. Only two Swordsmen, taking advantage of their class, managed to pursue him.
In the game, each class has a universal skill besides their branch skills. This skill is often the core of a class and can be used regardless of the branch chosen.
Shen Huai’s Assassin’s universal skill was Stealth, allowing him to go invisible even in combat. The Swordsman’s universal skill was Wind Walk, greatly increasing movement speed, making it almost impossible for any class to escape.
Shen Huai made a quick decision, turning to the nearest Swordsman and using Soul Capture, then leaping over a Y-shaped tree branch.
The Swordsman following him wasn’t so lucky, getting stuck in the branch and unable to move. Shen Huai took advantage of this, quickly executing two combo sets to take down the trapped Swordsman. The following Swordsman was stunned again, and suddenly there were two clones!
The Swordsman’s health was halved, and Shen Huai controlled the clones to run in three different directions.
You Lang immediately ordered, “Split into three teams, chase!”
The 30-man team chased after the three shadows, and You Lang led his team to a densely wooded area. Suddenly, four figures emerged, surrounding them and quickly casting a skill—Draw a Circle to Trap!
Shen Huai’s Assassin, like a ghostly figure, rushed over, quickly targeting the Healer with a Dark Blade. This skill hit hard, and Shen Huai followed with a Death Mark and a four-hit combo, triggering a critical passive and creating another clone!
His fingers moved rapidly, and the surrounding clones multiplied, quickly reaching six!
The Healer, dizzy from the clones, was soon taken down. The pursuing You Lang was also reduced to half health. Shen Huai fought and retreated, and after a long chase, they found he was still at 10% health, while their side was left with casualties, half of them gone.
The fastest Dual Sword Swordsman couldn’t take it anymore, quickly closing in on Shen Huai and activating his ultimate—Sword Intent Unmatched!
Dozens of sword light shadows rushed forward, too wide to dodge. But the Assassin, after taking the ultimate, didn’t die. Instead, a yellow immunity status appeared on him.
Talent skill Redemption—immune to damage when taking a fatal hit.
Another “survivalist” Assassin!
Thanks to Cang Yu, many Assassins had recently specced into Redemption, though few played it well. But fighting them was incredibly annoying. Seeing his ultimate’s damage nullified, the Dual Sword Swordsman angrily pounded his keyboard.
But before he could, he suddenly saw a skill light point aiming at him. Almost simultaneously, his character fell, and his screen went gray.
“Sniper! There’s a sniper!” he shouted in the team channel.
You Lang immediately commanded, “Mechanics, prepare, flares!”
Four flares shot in the northeast, southwest, and northwest directions, exploding into silver flashes at their maximum range.
Shen Huai also stopped. His dynamic vision was excellent, and he had indeed seen the skill light point aiming at the Swordsman. The surrounding 800-meter circular area was instantly illuminated, but strangely, the minimap showed no one.
Flares reveal hidden units in the illuminated area, but there was no one around, indicating the enemy sniper was beyond 800 meters.
Snipers are a branch of the Gunner class, with extremely long range, capable of sniping up to 2000 meters. However, long-range sniping is very difficult, and most snipers in combat snipe within 500 meters.
Shen Huai surveyed the terrain and suddenly changed direction, heading towards the distant Luoyun Peak.
The Swordsman pointed in the direction he was fleeing, shouting, “He’s running!”
“Don’t chase,” You Lang immediately ordered, “Let’s go.”
The group was puzzled but didn’t dare question. An elder privately messaged You Lang, “Are we letting him go because of that sniper? Who is he?”
You Lang didn’t respond, lost in thought.
Among the many sniper experts, one person stood out with his ultra-long sniping range and precise predictions, topping the national sniper rankings. His longest sniping range in competition was 1500 meters, and he even stated in interviews that his limit could be further.
This person was the captain of the Maple Moon Team, Song Xueyang.