Change’s head hung low under Su Shu’s verbal lashings, rendered entirely speechless.
Yet he could not find a single word to counter her—
Because every single phrase Su Shu uttered struck squarely at his secret, self-righteous core.
He felt as though he had been stripped stark naked and thrown onto the main street.
Everyone was staring at him, ridiculing him.
Ridiculing his gross overestimation of his own abilities.
Change closed his eyes, bracing himself for even greater humiliation from Su Shu—
However, Su Shu’s gaze drifted past him, landing on the crowd gathered behind him.
Su Shu was no saint. On the contrary, because of her past profession, she understood the sinister nature of human hearts better than anyone.
Granted, Change was self-righteous and acted high and mighty, but he was merely a puppet being used as a pawn by others.
Su Shu’s gaze swept over the crowd with such piercing clarity that many turned their heads slightly, avoiding direct eye contact with her.
Yet some met her gaze and stared right back—
With ridicule, with defiance, and with deep-seated malice.
The corners of Su Shu’s lips curled upward—
She did not care what these defeated opponents thought.
Nor did she need their genuine submission.
It was just a game, after all…
Beat them a few more times, and even the most defiant would fall in line.
Su Shu said, “To everyone standing here today: since I dared to keep you all pinned down here, I am fully prepared to play a long game of attrition with you in the future.”
Su Shu tossed aside the axe in her hand, and a long umbrella appeared out of thin air in her grip.
Using the umbrella like a walking stick, she nudged the bundle on the ground beside her feet—the one overflowing with dropped equipment—and tapped it lightly.
“Now, I don’t have many virtues, but I am pragmatic.”
“To tell you the truth, I am currently level 35, wearing a set of trash gear picked up off the ground.”
“Yet if I could find a way to wipe you out the first time today, and spawn-kill you the second time, I can come up with a thousand and one more ways to handle you a third time, a fourth time, and countless times after.”
“Don’t think that just because you have numbers on your side, you’ll definitely win next time.”
“I’m not trying to lecture you; I really mean it…”
“Sometimes, winning a fight isn’t about headcount,” Su Shu tapped her forehead, speaking with earnest patience. “It’s about brains.”
“Besides…” Su Shu smiled sweetly, pointing her finger in the air at the invisible livestream camera. “Who knows? Maybe one day, the people watching my stream will be just like you following Rumeng Zhimeng—they’ll follow me to hunt you down instead.”
Everyone in the stream room: “…”
Fuck!
When you didn’t need us, you treated us like background pixels, and now you finally remember us?
Do you think we’re at your beck and call whenever you feel like it?!
The audience in the stream room raised their noble heads—
We, the noble and reserved audience of this stream room, definitely won’t agree to that!
Yet the livestream bullet chat flew past like falling snowflakes—
—Ahhhhhhh, Master Huashuo! Are you taking apprentices?! I’m willing to follow you!!
—I’m in!
—Count me in!
—I’ve been sick of Rumeng Zhimeng for a long time now!
—Master Rumeng, carry me! Tell me who to hit and I’ll hit them!
—Yingyingying, Master, as long as you’re willing, I really can!
—Master, just say when! I’ll transfer servers right now! As long as you’re willing to fight a match with me!
—Even sleeping together works?!
—???
—Huashuo decapitation warning activated!
Tsk, painful to watch.
Su Shu spoke with a beaming smile, lacking the aggressive sharp edge she had displayed when reprimanding Change earlier.
Yet, paradoxically, it made people feel even more…
Chilled to the bone.
Indeed, the players currently inside the resurrection point felt an indescribable, eerie chill.
Su Shu was currently just a level 35 alt character—
Yet to reach level 35 in just a few short days, and to wipe out a full group of max-level main characters using a piece of trash axe bought from the system shop…
Could a player like this still be measured purely by level?
Right now, Su Shu was being pressured by Rumeng Zhimeng, seemingly in a position of being isolated and outnumbered—
Yet hadn’t she wiped them all out single-handedly anyway?
What’s more…
Rumeng Zhimeng hadn’t shown the responsibility or loyalty she usually flaunted this time.
The sensible players remaining inside the resurrection point now felt as much dread and fear toward “Huashuo” as they felt suspicion and disgust toward “Rumeng Zhimeng.”
Leaning against the doorway, Su Shu used the tip of her umbrella to tease the viper hanging upside down from the doorbeam, watching with a cheerful smile as the expressions of the people inside continuously shifted.
It was just a game…
The strong always ruled supreme.
Su Shu wasn’t worried that these people wouldn’t figure it out.
If they really couldn’t figure it out…
Su Shu poked her snake, thinking that those who truly couldn’t figure it out would eventually understand after dying a few more times.
Tsk, who hadn’t been beaten black and blue by reality a few times in their life?
Yet before anyone else had to die, someone stepped forward first.
It was Wuwei Youxi, the very first person to die by her hand.
Wuwei Youxi walked out from behind the dense crowd, stepping onto the only patch of open ground Su Shu had left clear without any snakes.
Su Shu raised an eyebrow.
Wuwei Youxi’s face still bore an indelible trace of dejection, but there seemed to be something else added to it.
—Ever since he watched Su Shu cook, he had been looking utterly downcast.
He said to Su Shu, “My skills were inferior to yours. I forfeit Rumeng Zhimeng’s bounty mission.”
The moment he spoke, the resurrection point, which had been buzzing with endless whispers just a second ago, fell instantly silent.
—Wuwei Youxi was able to become the number one bounty hunter in Zhaoxingchen precisely because of his relentless persistence and lack of fear toward being counter-killed.
And yet now…
He gave up?
Everyone: confused_face.jpg
At the same time, a “ding” sounded in Su Shu’s ear—
[System Notification] Player Wuwei Youxi has forfeited player Rumeng Zhimeng’s bounty order against Huashuo.
[System Notification] Player Huashuo has received compensation from Wuwei Youxi: 1,000 Gold Coins.
“You were right. When you get beaten, stand at attention; when your skills fall short, admit defeat. Stubbornly enduring isn’t called perseverance—it’s called throwing a tantrum.”
Wuwei Youxi spoke neither too loudly nor too softly, just enough for everyone in the courtyard to hear clearly.
Su Shu smiled and nodded, speaking with double meaning: “Falling short in skill isn’t shameful; holding on to a fake front is what’s truly embarrassing.”
Wuwei Youxi looked deeply at Su Shu, neither echoing her words nor denying them.
Su Shu leaned back, clearing a space for him to pass through.
Wuwei Youxi nodded at her expressionlessly and walked toward the exit—
As he passed by Su Shu’s side, he whispered, “Thanks for the soup. It tasted great.”
He had been rushing around in the game for bounties all this time. In the midst of entangled conflicts with countless mission targets, he had lost the original aspiration that brought him into the game years ago—
Wuwei Youxi felt a trance-like daze, realizing he couldn’t even remember why he chose to stay in the game back then.
He walked past Su Shu’s side with a trace of confusion—
Just as he stepped out of the main gate, he heard Su Shu let out an “Hey” behind him.
Wuwei Youxi turned his head, and a glinting, golden item was tossed toward him.
He subconsciously caught it—
It was the money pouch and equipment he had dropped when he died by Su Shu’s hand earlier.
Su Shu maintained her original posture, leaning against the doorway. A touch of warmth was added to her still-smiling expression: “If fate allows it, I’ll treat you to soup again.”
Wuwei Youxi tightened his grip on the items in his hand and said softly, “Okay.”
—He didn’t actively add Su Shu as a friend, nor did Su Shu add him.
Since she said “if fate allows,” then they would truly have to wait until fate brought them together.
Wuwei Youxi walked away without turning back.
Su Shu withdrew the warmth from her face as well, resuming her role as an emotionless, cold-blooded killer—
Warmth and kindness were meant to be reserved for those who knew how to appreciate them.
Besides…
Training people was just like training dogs. After giving them a smack with a stick, you always had to offer a little sweetness to truly train them properly.
After all, she hadn’t come to the game to act as a gang leader.
—Everyone inside the resurrection point understood Su Shu’s attitude now.
It boiled down to this—
Those who yielded to her might not necessarily prosper, but those who opposed her were guaranteed a miserable death.
—She wasn’t just talking the talk; she actually had the power to back it up.
No one wanted to cross an unknown yet powerful enemy in a game.
Thus, after Wuwei Youxi took the lead, the group of bounty hunters who had no real connection with Rumeng Zhimeng and were purely in it for the money surrendered one after another—
They all forfeited the bounty order to hunt down Su Shu.
Standing at the doorway, Su Shu watched the people inside with a insincere smile, as the enemy symbols beside their heads vanished one by one.
With 1,000 gold after 1,000 gold steadily crediting to her account, Su Shu was genuinely grateful to Rumeng Zhimeng—
This was practically free money picked up from nowhere!
How many gophers would she have had to sell to make this much!
Su Shu wasn’t greedy, however. Just as she had done with Wuwei Youxi, whenever she returned equipment she had picked up, she handed it back upon their forfeiture of the mission—
As for the gear she hadn’t managed to pick up before the system recycled it, the owners could only blame their own bad luck.
Most of the equipment wasn’t worth more than 1,000 gold, though a small portion could be considered decent high-tier items.
Su Shu felt no reluctance to part with them.
After all, she hadn’t forgotten her original purpose for joining this game.
Su Shu was here to make money, not to forge deadly grudges.
Just as she said, everyone was here for money; no one was inherently nobler than anyone else—
Now that both sides were stepping back, if anyone decided to fool around and cause trouble again later, it wouldn’t be too late to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys.
It wasn’t much of a hassle anyway.
—Until only the last group of people remained in the courtyard.
There weren’t many of them, but the way they looked at Su Shu made it seem as though she had murdered their parents.
Su Shu understood: these were Rumeng Zhimeng’s true brainless die-hard fans.
She looked over them one by one; none of them seemed very old.
Change had also been standing in the same spot all along, remaining motionless no matter how many people walked past him.
However, the shame on his face from earlier was gone, replaced instead by a face full of cold detachment.
Su Shu didn’t really have the time to deal with these youngsters’ drama, nor did she want to play the role of an understanding big sister to teach them how to behave.
Either way, once life beat them black and blue a few more times, they would learn everything on their own.
So Su Shu simply ignored them, retrieving her pot to start frying flatbreads instead.
Without proper tools at hand, Su Shu didn’t bother being meticulous. She took out the flour bought from the general store, mixed in some water, and cracked an egg into it, stirring until smooth.
The oil in the pot gradually heated up. Lacking a flat-bottomed pan, Su Shu used her spatula to spread the oil along the inner walls of the large iron wok—
Then she scooped up a large ladle of batter and spread it directly onto the oiled wall of the pot.
The batter took shape the moment it hit the surface—irregular, yet neat.
As the temperature rose, the vegetable oil and batter gradually released the unique aroma of freshly cooked pastry.
The golden-white flatbread against the dark wok wall appeared exceptionally mouth-watering.
—The players inside the resurrection point, who had been pinned down by Su Shu for several hours now, were genuinely starving.
A student who looked even younger than Change sniffled, glanced left and right at the people beside him, and finally made up his mind, looking toward Su Shu—
The moment Su Shu looked back at him, the icon above his head indicating his acceptance of the bounty mission to hunt her down disappeared.
—The people around him glared at him with fury!
Su Shu watched him with great interest. His ID was Yisheng Xunmeng.
Su Shu couldn’t help but chuckle softly—
At such a young age, he had already pledged his entire life away so casually.
Under the furious glares of those around him, Yisheng Xunmeng cringed slightly, but ultimately took a deep breath and took firm steps toward Su Shu—
He walked up to Su Shu, raised his youthful face, and said to her, “My spear was picked up by you.”
Su Shu didn’t move, merely staring at him.
Yisheng Xunmeng stubbornly held out his open hand in front of Su Shu.
Su Shu spoke up: “Are you sure you want it?”
Yisheng Xunmeng nodded.
Su Shu pulled the spear out of her bag and handed it to him with the barrel pointed toward herself—
This wasn’t out of any self-sacrificing spirit on Su Shu’s part; it was merely a habit from her past profession.
Yisheng Xunmeng took back his spear and rubbed it.
Then, he rapidly pulled the trigger—
Yet Su Shu, as if she had eyes on the back of her head, flipped around and executed a side kick—
—Bang!
Yisheng Xunmeng’s gun veered off course, the bullet shooting straight into the roof beam and hitting a hundred-pace viper dead center!
Woken abruptly by the smell of blood, the snake that had previously settled down—the very snake Su Shu used as a rope hanging over the door—came crashing down—
Falling straight beside Yisheng Xunmeng!
Yisheng Xunmeng was wracked with pain all over from Su Shu’s kick, unable to even crawl on the ground.
Looking at his pale face, Su Shu let out a cold sneer: “I warned you earlier.”
Even though this person had canceled the bounty on her, the malice in his eyes couldn’t be hidden at all—
She had been on guard against him from the very beginning.
It was simply that he failed to cherish the opportunity himself.
With a flick of her long umbrella, Su Shu suspended the cluster of snakes mid-air, hovering directly above Yisheng Xunmeng—
Yisheng Xunmeng’s face turned deathly pale—
“I… I’m still a student, you can’t do this!”
Su Shu shook her long umbrella and sneered: “Even better that you’re a student.”
A student? What about being a student? Did he think he could do whatever he wanted just because he was young?
“This happens to be the perfect chance for me to teach you a lesson: don’t think that the whole world is your mother.”