Shen Zhi hesitated.
“A… Persian?”
“Not Persian, a BOSS!” Zhang Yang corrected his pronunciation.
“Tsk, that HP bar is massive. This is going to be a pain.”
“…You can’t beat it?” Shen Zhi didn’t know what an HP bar was.
His attention was entirely focused on her last words, “a pain.”
As soon as he said it, he froze.
He knew better than anyone how useless this benefactor was.
Why had he subconsciously assumed she could handle a difficult enemy?
Before he could feel ashamed or regretful, Zhang Yang scoffed.
“What kind of bullshit are you talking?”
A crappy game that had been running for sixteen years would obviously have version updates and new level caps.
From the initial level cap of ten at launch, the maximum level was now one hundred and fifty.
Players grew in strength at a breakneck pace.
NPCs who fought against players naturally couldn’t be left behind.
They grew stronger as the plot progressed, their stats receiving various buffs.
But only NPCs involved in the main plot received such benefits.
NPCs outside the plot did not.
Zhang Yang was, naturally, an ordinary NPC outside the main plot.
If she were an important NPC in the main quest, how could she have disguised herself as a player and lived freely for all these years?
She hadn’t exposed herself, nor had any of the human subjects she’d been secretly observing discovered any clues.
It wasn’t that these subjects were incompetent, but that she, Zhang Yang, was simply too good!
She observed and imitated them as she went, blending in with the players so perfectly that her behavior and speech showed no trace of anything unusual.
“So what if the BOSS who’s coming has a massive HP bar?” As long as it had an HP bar, it was a target that could be killed!
Zhang Yang cherished her life, but that didn’t mean she’d sacrifice her own happiness just to survive!
Amidst the chaos, the sound of a horse’s hooves rang out with startling clarity.
“Do you openly intend to make an enemy of my army?”
A majestic, deep voice boomed from within the ranks.
The newcomer glanced sideways at the soldiers who were so captivated by the gold coins that they were fighting over them, completely disregarding military discipline.
He didn’t even try to suppress his aura; a single cold snort unleashed a shockwave that sent the soldiers tumbling over each other in a chorus of agonized screams.
“Who are you?”
The Headless Person turned to face him.
Without a head, she naturally couldn’t respond in words.
But “She” blocked the newcomer’s path, and right behind “Her” were the prisoners fleeing in panic.
Her stance was clear.
“You refuse to step aside?” The newcomer seemed to care little whether the prisoners escaped or not.
The eyes beneath his visor shifted from seriousness to mockery.
“Fine, you’ve got guts! But if I do this, what are you going to do?”
He raised his blade and charged toward the direction the prisoners were fleeing.
Suddenly, a series of drumbeats erupted from the rear of the army.
The rhythm was so powerful it seemed to force the heart to beat in resonance, and the blood in one’s limbs and bones was violently heated.
The soldiers, who had just been dazzled by the gold coins, froze as the drums sounded.
The coins they had clutched fell to the ground with a clatter, yet they paid no mind.
When they half-raised their heads, their eyes, which should have been black, were now blood-red.
Zhang Yang let out a soft “Eh?”
“What kind of support skill is this?”
Zhang Yang didn’t understand the situation, but Shen Zhi knew it all too well.
He was even traumatized by this kind of drumming now.
“This drumming makes those soldiers fearless. Their minds are left with nothing but the reckless courage to charge forward.”
Naturally, they would no longer be corrupted by the gold coins.
Below, the Headless Person stood unyielding amidst the swirling sand and wind.
Along with the majestic and resonant roar of “Kill!” that poured forth, the Headless Person hurled the gold brick in his hand.
Atop the mountain, Shen Zhi clenched his fists.
He had never expected the noblewoman beside him to be so reckless and impulsive, but he soon had no time to worry about Zhang Yang.
Seeing the situation below clearly, his eyes nearly split with fury.
“How dare you!” The Headless Person charged at the Main General’s face with the gold brick, while the soldiers under the Main General’s command surged forward like two torrents, chasing the fleeing prisoners.
What could this move possibly mean?
Shen Zhi knew perfectly well!
The sound of metal clashing was accompanied by a spray of sparks.
The Main General had not expected the Headless Person to possess such immense strength; misjudging the force, he suffered a minor blow.
However, the sharp, hawk-like eyes beneath his visor showed no anger—only mockery.
“Remember, you are the one who will get rid of these people!”
Shen Zhi’s voice trembled with hatred.
“These villains are going to slaughter the prisoners!”
The war drums had conveyed only two simple orders.
First, Chase!
Second, Kill!
The commanding general sneered at the Headless Person.
“If the prisoners are marched back, they might at least survive a little longer, no matter what fate awaits them. With some luck, they might even keep their lives. But now that they’ve escaped, it’s an unpardonable crime! You tried to save them but ended up costing them their lives. So, ‘Hero,’ how does that make you feel?”
Want to be a hero?
Sure.
But being a hero comes with a price.
And the price for failing to be a hero and becoming a villain instead is even higher!
The Headless Person, who the general had assumed would not respond, spoke with startling clarity.
The voice, neither male nor female, emanated from the Headless Person’s abdomen. Find the original chapter at g.com.
“I feel nothing,” the Headless Person said indifferently.
“Kill me if you wish, but you should consider this—if you strike, how many of you will walk out of here alive today?”
Players never cared about the lives of NPCs.
Red-named NPCs were just mobs.
And Zhang Yang, realizing these NPCs were merely a pile of data controlled by the game’s official servers, not her own kind, didn’t care about their lives either.
After all, NPCs didn’t have lives to speak of!
They would simply respawn, over and over again.
Even if she couldn’t save the prisoners, slaughtering these Red Names would count as avenging the prisoner NPCs.
Zhang Yang didn’t see anything wrong with that.
The Commanding General had never expected the Headless Person to reply like this.
“You didn’t come here to save them?”
What answered the General was no longer the Headless Person’s ventriloquism.
A golden-red glow, like a raging aura, surged from beneath the Headless Person’s feet, wrapping around her body before converging entirely into the golden brick she gripped in her palm.
Forsaking all flashy techniques, she concentrated her entire strength into this single point, aiming to smash the brick down upon the General’s crown!
BOOM—
A thunderous roar echoed across the entire battlefield.
The General’s eyes widened, shifting from astonishment to sheer terror!
CRACK—
The war saber, struck full-force by the golden brick, shattered under the unbearable pressure.
Its fragments were instantly devoured by the golden-red flames, incinerated into nothingness.
The General himself was sent flying backward like a cannonball by the irresistible impact, the shockwave even rupturing his internal organs beneath his armor!
The Headless Person tossed the golden brick up and down.
In three or four strides, she closed the distance to the still-recoiling General.
She prepared to repeat the attack.
Zhang Yang’s human observation sample had taught her well:
No matter how high your martial arts, you’re still afraid of a brick.
Zhang Yang didn’t have a common brick, but she had a golden one in her hand.
The General narrowly dodged the second strike.
But even though the brick missed, the shockwave from its impact still dealt a heavy blow, forcing him to retreat another hundred yards, away from his army.
True fear finally took root in the General’s heart.
With no time to weigh his options, he was forced to believe the Headless Person’s words.
“He” truly did not care whether the captives lived or died, but if the captives all perished, this escorting army would also be left with no survivors.
And the first one to die at the Headless Person’s hands would be him!
The General’s first instinct was survival!
He ordered his soldiers to rally and buy him time to escape.
“Sound the retreat!”