The Goblin Boss was the greatest source of danger in this game.
If Su Baiye could have bought a Strategy, even the lowest-tier one, a single sentence would have been enough for him to avoid the biggest pitfall of this level.
But the Notice Board for buying and selling Strategies was completely filled with the Forbidden Knowledge left by the Golden Dragon King...
For Su Baiye, even if he wasn't on the Strategy Group's blacklist, Strategies were out of his reach.
The so-called "Stone Gambling Game" wasn't a gamble between a person and a stone. The two parties involved in the gamble were Su Baiye and the Goblin Boss!
Before the Strategy Group existed, many newcomers would get utterly wrecked on this level. Even if they were killed by a monster, they would just think they had bad luck.
Even the few who realized there was something wrong with the Goblin Boss would, at most, just refuse to let him recommend stones. Very few Players actually chose to cut the stones themselves.
Right from the start of the game, Su Baiye had found something strange:
"Without the Free Market, Players can't strengthen themselves. In that case, they'd face a very awkward situation in the Carriage No. 3 game—the Players would be no match for the monsters."
Looked at this way, the difficulty of this game was even more outrageous than Carriage No. 1!
Logically speaking, it made sense for the game to get progressively harder, but the difficulty spike in Carriage No. 3 was just too high!
Carriage No. 1: die once, lose only 1 Point.
Carriage No. 2: no risk of death.
Carriage No. 3: 200 Points per game. If you lose, factoring in Revival, that's a net loss of 203 Points!
Newcomers only have 1000 Points. That's like losing 20% of your entire fortune in one go!
If a newcomer lost in Carriage No. 3 five times in a row, their run would be over!
There was clearly a problem with the difficulty progression of the three games.
And one of the problems lay with the Goblin Boss.
As for the second problem...
Su Baiye's gaze fell upon a corner, locking onto his target—the Chainsaw!
On this level, the Chainsaw was the Player's weapon. The gamble wasn't about Monsters and Treasures at all... The real way to play was to use the Chainsaw to kill the monster inside the stone directly!
The Player didn't need to fight the monster at all!
The Chainsaw was the best weapon!
You have a chainsaw but you use your fists instead? What kind of martial arts grandmaster does that?
Su Baiye stepped forward, redrew the white line, aligned the saw blade, lowered the safety guard, and after confirming everything was correct, pressed the start switch with both hands...
Seeing Su Baiye's actions, the Goblin Boss's face darkened. He cursed in the Goblin language,
"Another one who's seen the Strategy."
"He acted just like a newcomer at first, wasting my time. Time is money, so this guy is stealing my wealth!"
"Looks like he bought a high-tier Strategy..."
The Goblin Boss muttered to himself,
"If he bought the Perfect Strategy, would he really attempt the Challenge Task? The success rate for that is less than 30%..."
The so-called Perfect Strategy was about perfect execution by the Player, not a perfect outcome.
If this guy really dared to gamble with him just because he had the Perfect Strategy, the Goblin Boss was about to make another killing!
At this thought, the Goblin Boss's earlier bad mood vanished, and he forgave the other party for the transgression of wasting his time.
The rapidly spinning blade descended. The stone split open, and green blood spurted out. The monster inside struggled to get out but was pinned by the saw table, and was finally sliced in two amidst the roar of the Chainsaw!
In the visions of death Su Baiye had seen before, the Goblin Boss would always start sawing the stone directly, stop as soon as a crack appeared, and let the monster inside fly out and kill him. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Watching it once or twice, one might not notice anything. But after seeing it many times, Su Baiye easily picked up on the Goblin Boss's subtle tricks.
The boss would use a special technique to cut the stone, as if afraid of hurting the monster inside.
Besides, the Goblin Boss had a legitimate excuse—what if there was a treasure inside and the saw damaged it?
Without knowing the correct method, a Player could easily be taken advantage of here.
There were 12 stones, 10 of which contained monsters. Having figured out the pattern, Su Baiye followed the same procedure and sawed through another 6 in a row.
With only 3 monster stones left, Su Baiye was about to finish sawing all of them!
Meanwhile, the Goblin Boss's expression had turned utterly grim. Su Baiye had grasped the surefire pattern; passing the level was only a matter of time.
Just before sawing the 10th stone, Su Baiye suddenly stopped.
A moment ago, he had another Soul Out of Body experience.
The chainsaw was halfway through its run when the blade got stuck. The monster inside the stone struggled frantically, finally breaking free with half the blade embedded in its body, and killed Su Baiye just before it died!
"Damn it, the monster..."
It all happened within 15 seconds. The previously invincible Chainsaw could actually break down mid-use?!
So that's how it is...
The 200 Points weren't the price for the stones, but the cost of the chainsaw blades?
If that's the case... it makes much more sense.
Su Baiye didn't start the Chainsaw. Instead, he looked at the Goblin Boss and said,
"Change the blade. I want a new one—sharper, with high durability."
The Goblin Boss cursed inwardly,
"Perfect Strategy! This guy definitely has the Perfect Strategy!"
The wear and tear on the blade required extremely careful observation to judge accurately. An ordinary person without a Strategy could never do it.
Even with a Strategy, you'd have to observe carefully and preferably run a few simulations at home. Someone as proficient as Su Baiye was clearly a veteran!
Moreover, every one of Su Baiye's cuts was precise, practically perfect, ensuring the monster inside the stone had no chance of survival.
If he were off by even a little, the monster could have burst out and killed him.
For this Player named 'Explosive Dragon Baby Wants a Hug', all of his actions so far could only be explained by one thing: the Perfect Strategy!
Not even a Strategy Group Administrator could achieve this level of perfection on their first attempt!
The name might be a bit of a mouthful, but damn, he's rich!
The Perfect Strategy for Carriage No. 3 had a public price of 5000 Points. Even after completing the Challenge Task, you could barely break even.
It seems this Explosive Dragon Baby is here for the Challenge Task...
After all, you had to kill all 10 monsters to even qualify for the Challenge Task.
Otherwise, there was no need for him to waste blades. He could have just opened the stones without monsters and completed the game at zero cost.
The Goblin Boss said irritably,
"Blade's 200."
"Payment successful."
When it came to spending money on tools of production, Su Baiye was never careless.
VMMMM—
The Chainsaw started up again, and Su Baiye cleanly and efficiently killed the last monster.
The remaining 2 stones were Su Baiye's spoils of war.
The Goblin Boss, feeling the sting, reminded him from the side, Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
"Cut carefully! If you break it, the treasure inside will be wasted!"
As a Goblin, he couldn't stand to see any waste. Even though he was on the opposing side to Su Baiye, he would still offer a well-intentioned reminder.
Su Baiye didn't use the Chainsaw. Instead, he picked up the tools by the stall and began tapping and chipping at the stone.
Soon, the outermost stone layer fell away. The material inside wasn't like stone at all, but a soft gel that could be torn open with a little force.
Su Baiye tore open the gel, and two items appeared before him, one after the other:
【Silver Hand (Silver): Can change any item to Silver quality. Duration: 30 minutes. Cooldown: 2 hours. Only effective on the first floor.】
【Blackjack (Bronze · Upgradeable): A versatile club, especially suited for sneak attacks. Has a certain probability of causing stun, unconsciousness, or other effects upon hitting the back of the head. Upgrade Condition: Land 10 sneak attacks.】
On the first floor, item quality was simply divided into:
Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Legend
Furthermore, most low-quality items had floor restrictions.
The 【Silver Hand】 was a single silver glove, as thin as a cicada's wing. It could be worn on either hand and had to make physical contact to take effect.
The 【Blackjack】 was a 30-centimeter-long club of moderate thickness, a perfect fit in his hand.
Su Baiye held the Blackjack, weighed it a few times, and swung it, creating a whooshing sound.
With the Blackjack in hand, he felt the urge to whack anyone he saw.
The Goblin Boss suddenly felt a chill run up the back of his neck...
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The Silver Hand was more versatile. In the early stages, it could raise the quality of his own items; later on, it could lower the quality of others' items. It could be called a divine artifact of the first floor.
As for the Blackjack, although its starting point was low, it had a growth attribute. Su Baiye was bound to fight people later, so there would naturally be plenty of opportunities for sneak attacks.
With these two items in hand, Su Baiye was like a tiger that had grown wings, his strength increasing once more.
"I just wonder, if I use the 'Silver Hand' on the 'Blackjack,' then complete its upgrade task, will the Blackjack be 'Gold' or 'Bronze' tier after the 'Silver Hand's' effect wears off?"
As a veteran player, Su Baiye was already thinking about how to exploit bugs.
While Su Baiye was sizing up his new items, the Goblin Boss wasn't idle either.
He had dragged out a pile of jars from somewhere—earthenware jars, porcelain jars, wooden jars...
The mouth of each jar was large enough to fit an entire head inside.
Once the nine jars were arranged, he looked at Su Baiye, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke,
"Stone gambling is for kids... Dare to play something more exciting?"
Su Baiye's eyes lit up. *What, you have a sexy dealer too?*
The Goblin Boss slapped the jars and declared loudly,
"Head Jars!"
"The loser's head will be sealed inside a jar!"
"You'd better think carefully, oh! These jars will eat your head! Hahaha..."
The Goblin Boss's laughter was sinister and sleazy, his eyes sweeping back and forth across Su Baiye's neck as if admiring his future prize.
The moment the Goblin Boss finished speaking, a prompt popped up in front of Su Baiye:
【Challenge Level (Optional): Seal the Black-hearted Boss's head in a jar.】