◎ [Passenger Offering] Skill Practice ◎
Somewhere at Jiuwan Dock, in the midst of wind and snow.
A group led by Ain huddled behind several trucks parked in a sheltered area, keeping a close eye on one of the players among them.
“How’s it going? How’s it going?”
The player’s eyes glowed with a high-tech blue light, projecting a virtual display in front of him. It showed an invisible “Owl” gadget he controlled hovering over the dock, reconstructing a real-time image of the area using some special imaging technique.
The player said, “No good. There are a lot of guards, all armed with live rounds.”
Ain stomped her foot and crouched by the truck, nearly getting her head knocked dizzy by the fine, icy hail. She asked with difficulty, “Can we lure them away?”
Another person chimed in, “Or we could just storm in—rush the warehouse, grab the stuff, and change our faces to run.”
“Easier said than done. How do you storm in? The officials in this dungeon aren’t like the last one—they’re strong, fully staffed, fully armed, and have everything arranged perfectly. We spent all day on them for nothing!”
“Enough complaining!” the leader scolded. “My informant told me that Wolf Sai’s group is also eyeing this batch of supplies.”
“What? That Wolf Sai guy? Doesn’t he have a crew from the special-class carriages? This is trouble.”
“There’s so much supply—they’ll take what they need, and we take ours.”
“You don’t know Wolf Sai’s people. Once they’ve taken enough, they might destroy the rest of the supplies!”
“Of course, they might let us take some, but it’s probably just using us as temporary storage—they’ll come back to take it from us later!”
The group frowned in the snow and rain, looking miserable.
Suddenly, the player with the glowing blue eyes said, “They’re switching shifts! Perfect, there’s a gap in the guard!”
The leader gave orders, “Good, we move fast. First, fill your backpacks. Second, take as much as you can carry! Move!”
At the same time, two other groups noticed gaps in the guards and also began moving.
…
At the command point warehouse, Jiang Qi had crafted a new face for herself and, within the limits of the mask, adjusted her height and build to roughly match an ordinary male figure.
She then put on combat gear, a bulletproof vest, an explosion-proof helmet, and a gas mask, leaving only a pair of cold eyes visible.
Dong Shengfeng, dressed the same, was checking her firearms. “Can you shoot?”
Jiang Qi looked at the gun on the table. “I can, but my aim is average.”
Actually, her aim wasn’t just average—it was terrible.
In her past life, she had picked up guns in previous dungeons, but ammo was extremely scarce, and she had only fired a few times.
“Forget it, I’m not fit for a gun yet—don’t want to shoot our own team. If Plan A fails, then you can give me a gun.”
Dong Shengfeng: “Got it.”
After changing gear, the two stepped out. Inside the warehouse, a dark, orderly line of people had already formed. Each person in combat gear had been selected to confront players today—they were here to gain experience.
Dong Shengfeng raised her hand, and her squad immediately stepped out from the line, surrounding Jiang Qi tightly, providing impenetrable protection.
Commander Zhao said on the side, “For this operation, Dong Shengfeng, your task is to protect Comrade Jiang Qi. Cui He, you are the on-site commander—fully cooperate with Comrade Jiang Qi. Jiang Qi, you have freedom of movement and some command authority, but must not separate from Dong Shengfeng’s squad.
“I will monitor every detail of this action. If any threat to Comrade Jiang Qi’s life arises, the operation will be immediately terminated, and open fire on the players regardless of anything.
“Understood?”
“Understood!”
“Move out!”
The warehouse doors opened, and squad after squad streamed out.
Snow and ice covered their helmets. Nightfall made visibility poor. Even in warm clothes, the cold seeped through every seam, freezing their limbs and draining heat rapidly.
Pushed along by the crowd, Jiang Qi hurried on and was soon panting a little under the mask.
Dong Shengfeng looked at her worriedly. Their team could march all night without issue, but Jiang Qi clearly struggled to keep up.
Suddenly, Jiang Qi stopped and looked up at the sky.
Those around her halted.
Dong Shengfeng whispered, “What’s wrong? Feeling unwell?”
“No, there’s something in the sky! Stay hidden!”
Dong Shengfeng looked up, but the sky was pitch-black—only snow and rain, nothing visible.
Still, she immediately ordered everyone to find cover and conceal themselves.
Jiang Qi was also pulled behind the building and continued looking up at the sky. In her eyes, an owl with one eye glowing blue slowly revealed its path.
[See Through Disguise] VS [See Through Fake ID] Skills: These allow one to easily see through a passenger’s disguise with the naked eye, see through most of a passenger’s fake IDs, and even detect some simple item disguises.
This invisibly cloaked owl fell under item disguises. Since its level was low and its invisibility technique clumsy, it happened to fall within the trigger range of these two overlapping skills.
Jiang Qi pointed at the sky, “Right there. Can we shoot it down?”
Dong Shengfeng looked carefully. “I can’t see it.”
Jiang Qi reached out to take the gun from Dong Shengfeng, but thinking of her poor aim, she gave up.
How could she take that thing down?
She raised her hand toward the owl in the sky and activated the [Passenger Offering] skill.
[Passenger Offering] Skill: If a passenger is not directly in front of you but nearby, and their item is within your sight, there is a chance this skill can be activated.
But the owl didn’t react.
Jiang Qi frowned and recalled the skill’s note: when activating the skill, you must focus on both the passenger and the item itself, that is, the target of the skill.
She quickly reviewed the players she had seen on the monitors and locked onto the one whose eyes glowed the same blue as the owl.
It had to be that person.
She recalled that person’s appearance and fixed her eyes on the owl.
It was her first time using this kind of actively offensive skill, and she didn’t fully have the technique down yet. She could only concentrate intensely in her mind, silently repeating that she wanted to capture that owl.
To reduce potential obstacles, she lifted the wind shield of her helmet, keeping her eyes locked on the owl.
Rain instantly soaked her face, seeping down her collar, making her shiver.
She gritted her teeth, and a streak of ghostly purple light erupted from her pupils.
Her consciousness seemed like an extremely long nerve, released from her eyes, connecting to the owl in the sky, passing through it, through wind and rain, and linking to its owner behind it.
Got you!
The purple nerve suddenly struck the player like a slap, claiming the offering!
The player’s body jerked violently, tilting to one side, covering their face in shock.
Then Jiang Qi’s consciousness pierced into the player’s mind.
In the next moment, the distant player screamed, and the owl in the sky let out a wail, tumbling a few times in the air before falling like a kite with a broken string.
Jiang Qi staggered as if hit on the head, her eyes aching from overexertion.
She immediately realized that while she had mastered the skill, her current body and mind were insufficient to wield it freely.
Especially [Passenger Offering]—activating it had been forced. If the opponent were any stronger, she wouldn’t have succeeded.
Dong Shengfeng steadied her. “What’s wrong?”
Suddenly someone whispered, “Look up!”
Dong Shengfeng looked up. A mechanical bird with a wingspan of about half a meter had appeared out of nowhere in the night sky, falling down. Its mechanical eyes were slowly dimming, as if forcibly powered off.
She was startled. Something was really up there! So big, so brightly colored, and it had been perfectly invisible just moments ago.
Jiang Qi exhaled, too exhausted to retrieve the owl herself, and said, “That’s a drone-like device. It’s been shut down. Go get it!”
Someone immediately went.
Jiang Qi pointed in another direction. “Over there, 200 meters away—capture the owner of that device!”
It was her first time using the skill; she wasn’t very proficient. The opponent probably sensed her. If the person escaped, it would be trouble!
…
At the same time, 200 meters away, the player in the Ain team with glowing blue eyes screamed, clutching their head. “Ah, my eyes! My head! It hurts so much!”
Two companions nearby were shocked. “What happened?!”
The player’s eyes turned completely blood-red, and two streams of bloody tears fell. He shuddered all over, his face full of panic and pain. “The Train Conductor! I can feel the Train Conductor’s presence! He’s here! He took my owl!”
The two others were horrified. “The Train Conductor can enter the dungeon too?!”
“It’s him, it has to be him! No one else could instill such an utterly uncontrollable fear!”
Thinking of the terrifying Train Conductor, all three shivered and immediately looked toward the warehouse.
They had been staying there to scout; the main force had already gone to the warehouse.
“Retreat! Quickly call them to pull back!”
Though they didn’t know what the Train Conductor intended, keeping distance was always safe. Besides, this wasn’t their only chance to collect supplies.
Before they could react, several black gun barrels were aimed at their heads. A few operatives in combat suits appeared.
They didn’t even have time to speak before the opponents pulled the triggers. Tranquilizer darts pierced their foreheads, and their consciousness immediately plunged into darkness.
…
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