Just as Jiang Yu was feeling good about himself, the Plasmic Dullahan raised its shield and charged forward at incredible speed.
Jiang Yu dodged the shield bash with a swift sidestep.
He had just pulled out two shotgun shells and was about to load them when the Dullahan’s long blade thrust right up to his face.
*CLANG!* He raised his gun to block, parrying the strike, and used the brief window to rapidly stuff the two shells into the gun.
The Dullahan shifted its stance, slamming its large purple shield toward Jiang Yu.
With no time to dodge, Jiang Yu had no choice but to take it head-on.
*BANG!* The massive shield delivered immense force followed by an immediate wave of pain, sending him flying backward to crash straight into a lamppost.
*Damn it!* That bastard was holding back during the first two slashes on purpose, deliberately giving him the illusion that he could put up a fight!
Having landed a hit, the Dullahan charged forward again, its blade rapidly gathering a dazzling glow.
Without a doubt, it was charging its ultimate move.
Jiang Yu’s scalp went numb.
If he took a direct hit from that, he’d be left black and blue all over.
Ignoring the intense pain in both arms, he raised his shotgun and pulled the trigger at the Dullahan’s core.
The Dullahan reacted with lightning speed.
A calyx-like structure instantly wrapped around its core, and the dense spray of pellets merely produced a burst of sparks against it.
The Plasmic Dullahan finished charging its blade.
Wrapped in fantastical light, the long sword slashed down violently toward Jiang Yu with matchless momentum.
Hiding behind a building, Shepherd cried out in alarm.
That was the Dullahan’s strongest attack—given Jiang Yu’s performance just now, it would be difficult for him to take the strike.
If hit, he would be killed or crippled at the very least.
Watching the magnificent strike expand in his eyes as the oppressive weight of death closed in, a pocket watch materialized in Jiang Yu’s hand out of nowhere.
The long blade descended, cleanly severing the lamppost and carving a massive gash into the ground.
The tremendous impact kicked up a cloud of dust that veiled the sky.
The Dullahan gave the human in the dust no chance to counterattack; its left-hand shield immediately followed up with a heavy slam straight into the smoke!
Shepherd broke out into a cold sweat, terrified by the Plasmic Dullahan’s ferocious combo.
An attack of that magnitude would have finished him off instantly if he were in Jiang Yu’s shoes.
Could that young man really be gone just like that?
Shepherd stared grimly at the dust ahead, completely failing to notice a hand reaching out from behind him, yanking him into a spatial Hollow fissure that had appeared out of nowhere.
Taken off guard, Shepherd didn’t even get a clear look at the person’s face before a wave of discomfort from spatial distortion hit him, forcing him to clutch tightly onto the person’s shoulder.
“It’s fine now, Mr.
Shepherd.
You’re safe.” Hearing the familiar voice, Shepherd finally calmed down.
He released his grip on Jiang Yu’s shoulder and walked around him in a full circle.
“You tanked an ultimate attack from a Plasmic Dullahan completely unscathed?!” Shepherd stared at Jiang Yu in shock, his face filled with sheer disbelief.
“I didn’t tank it, I just ran fast.
At my current level, I can’t block that strike yet.
I’ll come back to settle the score when I get the chance.” Naturally, he wouldn’t tell Shepherd that he had used the pocket watch’s Train Pervert trait to dodge the blow, then summoned a spatial fissure using the carrot’s Double-Headed Dragon to successfully escape the Hollow.
“How did we suddenly leave the Hollow?” Shepherd looked at the bustling street around them, utterly perplexed.
“A spatial fissure spawned behind you.
Given the situation back then, I couldn’t care less about anything else, so I pulled you in with me, and we ended up here.” After listening to Jiang Yu’s explanation, Shepherd felt a bit dazed.
What had just happened was indeed surreal, but there was a far more important matter waiting for him to attend to.
He needed to contact his friends in the Outer Ring immediately to pinpoint the location of the kidnapped hostage.
The client had put immense pressure on him regarding this matter.
He straightened his top hat and said with a gentle smile, “Since we’ve safely left the Hollow, our commission ends here.
Should I transfer the 100,000 Dennies commission to you, or pay in cash?” “Transfer it.
Cash isn’t very convenient.” Mainly, this trash system didn’t recognize cash.
Not only did it refuse cash, but it would also scan for malicious cheating behavior by the host.
He had previously asked Rein to help him farm money, only to end up receiving a three-day account ban penalty box.
100,000 Dennies, boosted by the 5% bonus from his main trait Pure Ox-Horse, amounted to 105,000 in total.
[System detected an income of 100,000 Dennies.] [Current total Dennies: 105,500.] [Sufficient Dennies detected.
It is recommended to unlock the second main trait slot.] Ignoring the pop-up notification from the system, he shook hands with Shepherd, and the two bade each other farewell.
He watched thoughtfully as Shepherd hurriedly jumped onto a bus.
German Shepherd’s identity was definitely not simple, though he didn’t know whether he belonged to the official authorities or another organization.
*I should find a way to deal with that tachi at home first.
Having it sitting in my house feels a bit creepy.* At this thought, he opened his system panel to check his current status.
– [Name: Jiang Yu] [Race: Human] [Dennies: 105,500] [Trait 1: Pure Ox-Horse (Green)] Standing tall in the factory, a pure ox-horse am I!
Effect: Dennies earned increased by 5%.
(Cost 10,000 Dennies to refresh this trait) [Trait 2: Unlocked] Cost 100,000 Dennies to unlock this trait slot.
– A massive fortune of a hundred thousand!
This was the first time he had ever seen so much money.
Quelling the urge to refresh the trait, he pulled out the pocket watch from his coat.
– [Name: Pocket Watch] An old pocket watch in the Victorian style.
The Latin signature etched onto the back of its casing has long been worn down into a faint blur by time.
[Trait: Time Stop (White)] Technological endorsement from Sakura Island.
With this, it seems you can do some special things on a train.
Effect: Pauses time for 1 second.
Cooldown: 23/24 hours.
– If he hadn’t activated the pocket watch’s trait ability, he probably would have transmigrated again just now.
A white-grade trait could pause time for one second.
He wondered if there were higher-quality Time Stop traits—if there were, that would be way too overpowered!
Putting the pocket watch back into his coat, he pulled out the carrot he had borrowed from his Hollow Raider friend.
– [Name: Carrot] Borrowed from a Hollow Raider friend.
(Can a good citizen’s act be called robbery?
I’m just borrowing what’s yours for a bit.) [Trait: Double-Headed Dragon (Green)] Effect: Allows travel back and forth between the inside and outside of a Hollow.
Note: Defaults to the nearest unit when selecting a Hollow.
Uses: 1/1 – He had thought the uses for Double-Headed Dragon were exhausted, but unexpectedly, there was still one left.
Could it be that coming out of a Hollow and then returning counted as a single complete round trip?
Feeling somewhat puzzled, he decided to test it out when an opportunity arose.
Holstering the barrel module and the short shotgun at his waist, he walked toward the bus stop.
Habitual for a former citizen of Earth, he naturally didn’t forget to check his phone while walking.
Inside the Hollow, there had been no signal, so he hadn’t had the chance.
Pulling his phone from his left trousers pocket, he unlocked the screen, and a stack of notifications popped up.
Most were official notifications from New Eridu warning that a Companion Hollow had spawned near Crate Hollow, instructing nearby residents to evacuate.
Among the heap of notifications were two Inter-Knot messages sent from an anonymous account calling itself “Child of Destiny.” “Hello.” “Are you still selling that cursed blade?” Selling!
Of course he was selling!
The corners of Jiang Yu’s mouth practically pulled back all the way to his ears.
His luck over the past two days had been phenomenal—every wish was coming true!
To earn some Dennies, he had posted his trait items on the Inter-Knot, though the descriptions were so exaggerated that no one had ever PM’d him to buy them.
Now a sucker…
er, no!
A distinguished client had finally appeared.
How could he not be thrilled?
The tachi he had scavenged was worth practically nothing, but it held the very first red trait he had ever pulled.
However, one of its trait effects was completely absurd: It granted a 100% Ether erosion rate increase inside Hollows.
Forget it.
He had no desire to get eroded into an Ethereal monster.
He immediately typed out a message and sent it: “Selling!
200,000 Dennies.” Just as he was about to leave the chat interface, the other party replied with a message.
“Fine.
How do we trade?” He had thought the honorable Child of Destiny would bargain, but the guy had agreed outright.
“Tomorrow night at midnight, at this location.” The message was sent, accompanied by an attached address.
“No problem!”