Chapter 183
Xing Nuo and the team leader’s coordinated attack was so swift, the other players barely had time to react.
An Zimuo, watching from the back, along with the Guild Zero One players, their mouths agape, couldn’t believe Feng-ge, their arrogant and powerful leader, had been so easily killed.
Xing Nuo, his shoulder bleeding from Feng-ge’s desperate grab, ignored the pain and picked up Feng-ge’s spatial watch and the dropped escape prop.
The team leader, grabbing Xing Nuo’s hand, seeing the monster now devouring Feng-ge’s body, quickly pulled him to the back of the car, away from the monster and the Guild Zero One players.
The Guild Zero One players, cold and ruthless, even their leader’s death not eliciting much of a reaction, just looked at Xing Nuo, a hint of wariness in their eyes, and didn’t move.
Xing Nuo, reaching the back, panting, wiped the sweat from his forehead, a smear of blood on his hand.
He smiled, his dark eyes sparkling, and gave the team leader a high five.
“Good teamwork.”
The team leader, impressed by Xing Nuo’s quick thinking and decisive action in pushing Feng-ge towards the monster, said:
“You’re pretty good. If you ever awaken your abilities or become a player, you’ll definitely climb the ranks quickly.”
Xing Nuo chuckled, his curls bouncing, and accepted the compliment.
“Thanks. You’re not bad yourself. Pretty reliable.”
He had been practicing martial arts for almost eight years.
Initially, his motivation had been his frail constitution and his desire to protect his family. He had trained diligently, pushing his limits.
He was no longer the clumsy little kid who stumbled and fell, clinging to his dad, refusing to walk.
The team leader smiled and clapped him on the shoulder.
“That spatial watch is bound to Feng-ge. How are you going to open it?”
Xing Nuo didn’t know, but the thing in his head surely did.
As if sensing his thoughts, the mechanical beeping in his mind intensified, a surge of mental energy erupting, shattering the spatial watch.
Xing Nuo, watching as the items inside spilled onto the floor, smiled.
Feng-ge, a high-level player, his inventory was filled with valuable life-saving props and even an S+ level energy stone!
The Guild Zero One players, their eyes gleaming, rushed forward, trying to grab the items.
But Xing Nuo was faster. He snatched the energy stone.
The next moment, it vanished.
The beeping in his mind intensified, and he quickly grabbed the smaller energy stones, absorbing them as well.
Finally, sated, the beeping stopped, replaced by the whirring and grinding of gears.
Like an old machine, its parts rusty and stiff, struggling to start after years of inactivity.
But it was enough.
Xing Nuo heard a familiar, yet also unfamiliar, voice:
“Beep! System 067 at your service. This system is for…cannon fodder reversal…hiss…”
After a moment of static, the cold, mechanical voice softened, a hint of warmth in its tone.
“Xing Nuo.”
It was Lu Qi’s voice.
The cold, robotic voice, stiff and unnatural,
but Xing Nuo’s eyes filled with tears, and his voice trembled slightly as he replied mentally:
“067, long time no see.”
Lu Qi seemed happy, his mechanical voice less monotonous.
“Long time no see.”
But their reunion was interrupted as the Guild Zero One players surrounded Xing Nuo, their eyes red with greed, like a pack of hyenas.
While Xing Nuo had been feeding the energy stones to Lu Qi, the team leader had quickly distributed the props among his teammates.
The Guild Zero One players, arriving too late, had gotten nothing.
“Those are our guild’s property! Hand them over!”
“Kid, look around! Give us back our stuff!”
Xing Nuo, being pushed and shoved, An Zimuo protectively pulling him back, smiled and, spreading his hands, said:
“Do I look like I have anything on me?”
The Guild Zero One players didn’t care. They had seen him take the energy stones.
The team leader, having received his share of the loot, stood beside Xing Nuo, his face grim.
“Do you have a plan? These guys are dangerous.”
Guild Zero One players were ruthless and more powerful than them. They wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight.
Xing Nuo asked Lu Qi mentally:
“Lu Qi, can I defeat them?”
Lu Qi, as a system, his processing speed incredibly fast, instantly calculated their odds.
“3.6 percent chance of success. But you don’t have to fight them.”
He offered a solution:
“Players have abilities. Abilities are a form of energy. I can absorb them.”
Xing Nuo hummed, then asked:
“If you absorb their abilities, will they die?”
Lu Qi: “No. I have a special method. They’ll live.”
Xing Nuo’s smile turned cold. “That’s a shame.”
Without another word, as the Guild Zero One players continued their threats, invisible tentacles, thin as spiderwebs, emerged from Xing Nuo and attached themselves to the players.
The players tried to attack Xing Nuo and the other players, but their abilities flickered and died, their powers gone.
“What the—?! What’s happening to my ability?!”
“My energy is draining! What did you do to me?!”
Their eyes red with rage, they lunged at Xing Nuo, who easily dodged them, kicking and tripping them.
Without their abilities, their strength fading, they were now weaker than ordinary humans.
And as Lu Qi absorbed their remaining energy, they realized they couldn’t even access their spatial storage anymore.
They collapsed to the floor, their faces contorted in despair, their eyes wide with disbelief and rage, looking up at Xing Nuo.
“What did you do?! Where are my abilities?!”
Xing Nuo shrugged, his cheeks still retaining a hint of childish roundness, his smile sweet and innocent.
“Nothing much. Just took your abilities. Now you’re ordinary people. No props, no abilities. Enjoy your new life.”
Having tasted power, then losing it, reduced to the very beings they despised,
they were devastated, their eyes bloodshot, and they lunged at Xing Nuo again.
But the other players, standing beside Xing Nuo, easily subdued them.
The players who had been bullied by Guild Zero One before laughed, their laughter a mixture of triumph and bitterness.
“So, not so arrogant now, are you?”
“Remember pushing my teammate towards the monster? Didn’t expect this, did you?”
The team leader sighed and explained:
“We’ve been in this car for two days. It was full when we boarded.”
“But at one of the stops, four or five monsters appeared. We were overwhelmed. They pushed half the passengers towards the monsters to buy themselves some time.”
“Even with our props, we lost a few teammates.”
Xing Nuo, looking down at the floor, the dark, sticky stains now clearly visible as dried blood,
realized they had been walking on blood since they boarded.
An Zimuo, hearing this, his eyes welling up, almost started crying.
Xing Nuo turned and saw the monster, having finished devouring Feng-ge, its gaze fixed on him, a sinister smile on its face.
It abandoned the last, now-unappetizing, arm and lunged at Xing Nuo.
It seemed fixated on him, ignoring the other passengers, its teeth chattering excitedly, its eyes never leaving him.
Xing Nuo, his scalp tingling, dodged its attack, the two of them circling each other in the cramped train car.
The monster, sensing that if it didn’t catch Xing Nuo before the train started moving, it would be doomed, its attacks becoming more frantic.
But the more it moved, the weaker it became, its strength fading, and just as its claws reached Xing Nuo’s face, it exploded, dissolving into black smoke.
“Lu Qi, did you do that?” Xing Nuo asked, panting.
Lu Qi’s voice, slightly distorted, as if his system was rebooting, paused for a moment.
“No. Still absorbing…those players’ energy.”
Having absorbed so much energy at once, and having reconnected with Xing Nuo, he needed time to process it.
Xing Nuo, puzzled, looked up and saw a figure standing at the door.
Black hair, black eyes, a black shirt, his gold-rimmed glasses slightly askew, his breathing ragged.
Shen Yan rushed over and pulled Xing Nuo into a hug, his eyes filled with relief and a lingering fear.
Xing Nuo, feeling his brother’s trembling hands, hugged him back, his eyes sparkling.
“Thank you, Big Brother. I’m okay.”