Abroad, in the Maple Leaf Kingdom, 500 kilometers outside Mexico City, at a level-40 monster grinding spot.
Guan Youlong caught the familiar scent of rust as it seeped into his nostrils.
Pain shot through the back of his neck, and his HP was instantly depleted. With a thud, Guan Youlong collapsed to the ground.
His vision faded to gray and black. This was the perspective of death.
Nearly losing his mind, he typed out a message.
“Big sis, why is it you again? Are you ever going to stop?”
Ever since the death of Werewolf Tuge, all the Disguiser Masks had stopped working. The players who had joined the evil faction had lost their final layer of protection and were exposed for all to see.
More importantly, their red names meant they could no longer survive in the cities.
Once they reached level 35, they could not even enter the final dungeon.
On top of that, the future maps required players to enter the Grand Hall of Master-Class Advancement. Red-name players naturally could not enter, which meant they could not go to any nearby leveling areas either.
Guan Youlong had no choice but to travel to high-level maps 500 kilometers away to hunt some beast-type monsters.
Not only was the area incredibly far from the cities, but supplies could not be obtained there either. Fortunately, Guan Youlong had money and could pay someone to bring supplies over.
He never expected this to trap him in a desperate situation.
The moment the bounty board was activated, a bounty was placed on him.
As soon as his coordinates were exposed, a gigantic mecha descended from the sky and crushed him beneath its foot.
“He has a guild too? Rocky Mountain Hidden Guests? Could that be his guild? Wipe it out.”
Naturally, it was not Guan Youlong’s guild. It was the most powerful evil guild in the Maple Leaf Kingdom, an organization formed from underground forces. Its members were all ruthless fighters, and more than half of them, like Guan Youlong, were red-name players from evil organizations.
Guan Youlong had secretly held out some hope. The Hidden Guests Guild was full of talented players. Perhaps one of them might be able to take these people down.
He knew it was impossible. The difference in attribute points alone was a full 1,000 points in every attribute.
But Guan Youlong’s darker thoughts had begun to surface. If he was going to die, then everyone else might as well die with him. That way, he would feel more balanced.
Chu Fu and the others were indeed arrogant. They wiped out the evil faction’s guild on the spot.
All three guild strongholds were uprooted, and the guild was disbanded immediately.
The Maple Leaf Kingdom’s authorities not only failed to pursue Chu Fu and the others, but actually thanked them for their righteous actions.
They even declared that they hoped to cooperate with them in the future.
Guan Youlong regretted everything all over again.
Once the guild was disbanded, there was even less chance of anyone rescuing him.
He could only pay a priest an exorbitant fee to revive him, hoping to kill monsters as quickly as possible and wash away his red name.
But removing a red name required killing monsters no lower than the player’s own level.
That left Guan Youlong with no choice but to travel even farther away to level up.
From that day onward, Guan Youlong’s nightmare began.
Shen Chi came to kill him whenever he had free time.
His aunt also came to kill him whenever she had the chance.
After killing him, they took all his equipment. He could only spend real-world money to buy replacements.
And the money in the real world was about to become worthless.
No matter how deep his family’s pockets were, they could not withstand this kind of spending.
He could not bear to give up an account he had already developed this far, so he continued gritting his teeth and hanging on.
As for logging off to lie low, he naturally did not dare to do that either.
He had information on Eighteen Stabs. Once she decided that someone was one of her targets for revenge, she could kill them in the real world after they logged off.
Logging off would be Guan Youlong’s true death sentence.
After a week, he finally broke down.
“Can’t you just let me go? My entire family has already left China and is barely scraping by overseas. We’re stray dogs with nowhere to go.
“I’ve had terrible luck. I wasn’t even the one who hit anyone. Why are you making my life miserable?”
“Oh? You weren’t the one who kidnapped the person in a vegetative state?” Xu Can sneered.
Guan Youlong fell silent, then began making excuses. “But nothing happened to her, did it? And you won in the end. Besides, she’s her, and you’re you. I’ve never offended you, have I?”
One fewer enemy was still one fewer enemy.
As long as he could deal with Xu Can, that would be enough.
Xu Can nodded.
It was true that Guan Youlong was not the one who had made things difficult for her.
Before Guan Youlong could celebrate, Xu Can continued, “Wan Huanyu was the one who made things difficult for me. So let me ask you this: Why didn’t you tell me where Wan Huanyu was?
“If you had told me, I could have gone after him, couldn’t I?”
Guan Youlong continued, “Big sis, I already told you. He disappeared. After he went overseas, he never contacted me again.”
“Heh. You’re pretty loyal to him. Then keep wasting your time here.”
Xu Can stripped all the equipment from Guan Youlong and returned to the city.
He was wearing a full set of silver-grade equipment, which made him look like an absolute pauper.
If he had not been unable to kill monsters, Guan Youlong would have preferred to wear a full set of bronze gear.
“Oh, and if you call me ‘big sis’ again, I’ll coat my dagger with a pain-amplifying poison before I use it on you.”
Xu Can gave him a contemptuous sneer, then returned to the city.
Guan Youlong was furious.
But in the end, he still gave in to Xu Can’s intimidation and called Wang Rongxun.
He asked about Wan Huanyu’s whereabouts.
Wang Rongxun, however, clearly found his naivety amusing.
“You really think they’re going to let you off?
“Your relationship with them is one of blood feud. If Chu Fu weren’t the leader of a major guild cooperating with the authorities, and if she didn’t have to worry about her reputation, you would have been crushed to death long ago.
“Whether Wan Huanyu disappeared or died is for me to determine.
“My family has gone bankrupt. Now all I can do is sign a contract with a dog and catch rats.
“By the way, don’t contact me again. You spoiled rich brats dragged me into this mess and ruined me!”
He was the truly innocent one.
…
Elsewhere.
After dealing with the new problems that had arisen, Li Weizheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He called Chu Fu.
“Chairwoman Chu, are you busy? The War Soul Guild is starting a city-defense battle shortly. Would you and your people like to come help us clear an Origin-tier dungeon?”
This time, Chu Fu hesitated.
The level-30 Origin-tier dungeon no longer held much appeal for her.
It might drop epic equipment, but how would they divide the loot afterward?
The War Soul Guild had also been brought up to speed by now. Every member had 1,000 points in all attributes.
They had enough damage and combat power.
If Chu Fu went, would she not simply be forcing them to split the equipment?
Besides, each city-defense battle took a full day.
The level-60 Origin-tier rift was still waiting for them to farm the machines.
After weighing the pros and cons, Chu Fu politely declined.
“Thank you for the invitation, Major Li. You’ve already helped us gain plenty of attribute points, but we have something more important to deal with right now, so we won’t be joining you.”
Li Weizheng was not angry at being rejected. In fact, he felt a little embarrassed.
It was like Chu Fu inviting him to dinner at her house and letting him freeload a meal.
Then, when Li Weizheng hosted dinner at his own house, Chu Fu did not show up.
It was rather awkward.
Although Li Weizheng knew that Chu Fu did not need that meal, nor did she need those ten attribute points.
Perhaps this was simply the difference in strength.
“All right. But if we run into trouble and need Chairwoman Chu’s help, you absolutely mustn’t refuse us.”
“Of course. If you run into difficulties clearing the dungeon, I’ll definitely come.”
By then, she would feel comfortable taking a share of the loot from the epic Lich Tower.
