039 Playing You to Death!

For the past three days, Outlets has been targeted by two players: the previously mentioned Enhancement Shaman and an Assassination Rogue. Yet, Outlets simply refuses to die. Having been caught off guard once, it is now incredibly difficult to take him down again. If not for the Enhancement Shaman, Crazy Virus, being clever enough to realize Outlets must have a contingency plan, the Assassination Rogue might have been counter-killed. Since Yin has truly taken on the role of Outlets’ bodyguard, the Elven Assassination Rogue nearly ended up being controlled to death this time.

"Yin, you're quite impressive! If you become a god-tier class, will you be able to kill them with just a blink?" Outlets, now a very close friend of Yin, brought Stan along to their stronghold in District 23 to celebrate with drinks.

Yin sneered. "God-tier class? Keep dreaming. Any random quest would be the death of me. I can't even complete the simplest material-gathering quests right now, so how could I finish that? If the Shadow Priest, Beach, could become a god-tier class, she might actually be able to kill people with a blink!"

"Is Beach that strong? Her gear is a bit lacking, and while her skills are decent, she’s still far from joining our team." Outlets rubbed his chin and downed a beer.

Stan drank his own beer in silence and asked, "What about Morning Wind? Why hasn't he come to the Great Map lately?"

"He’s in the China Region leveling up with his girlfriend! Even I’m being watched, so he’s definitely being tracked too. Last time he helped me win back the Ring of Life, he offended some people; how could he dare to show his face?" Outlets felt Morning Wind was being overly cautious, bordering on cowardly.

If he knew what Morning Wind knew, he would likely be even more terrified. From Outlets' perspective, he was in the light while the enemy was in the shadows—a disadvantage. From Morning Wind’s perspective, he was in the shadows while the enemies were exposed—he had the advantage. Apparent caution can sometimes turn the tide. If all the Cobra organization’s psychic entities focused on Outlets, he would be in deep trouble. But the person they found most headaches was Morning Wind.

Morning Wind avoided the Great Map because he was waiting for his Doppelganger Shapeshifter’s attributes to recover. During this time, he used his Blood Dragon avatar to make brief forays into the Great Map, killing and immediately relocating so the psychic team could never track him. The Arcane Mage, Yahun, once encountered Morning Wind's Blood Dragon, but Morning Wind went all-out, activating his "God Mode." The Arcane Mage didn't even dare to touch him, fearing that if he got close, Morning Wind would one-shot him.

When a Berserker activates God Mode, only they get to attack; no one dares to trade blows with them, as that leads only to death. The Arcane Mage managed to survive, hoping to bait Morning Wind into a prolonged fight, but Morning Wind ran off before his God Mode even ended. He couldn't find him anywhere.

Yahun held many meetings. Their primary targets were Morning Wind and the Blood Dragon; Outlets could wait, as he was too cunning and would take too much time to deal with, and might even counter-kill them. So, they decided to focus on Morning Wind and the Blood Dragon. Once they got Morning Wind's Ring of Blood or the Blood Dragon’s Arcanite Axe, dealing with Outlets would be easy. However, because the Enhancement Shaman, Crazy Virus, refused to cooperate and insisted on targeting Outlets, Yahun left him to his own devices. Few players were as impetuous as Arthur.

*The enemy is in the light, I am in the dark—I’ll toy with you all to death!* There was nothing on the Great Map worth Morning Wind’s concern. Let the Ring-bearers fight among themselves; his own ring was already powerful enough that further upgrades wouldn't make a significant difference. When the time came, he could just kill someone and take their ring—it might be worth two or three rings at once, which was more efficient. The Cobra organization’s psychic entities had all arrived, and Morning Wind had grown accustomed to their style, planning to wear them down slowly. If it weren't for this group suddenly appearing, he would currently be rampaging across the Great Map with his Blood Dragon.

Morning Wind continued to level up comfortably in the China Region. With the help of the Dark Rhinoceros Warrior, his leveling speed was exceptional, and his troops were slowly being trained as well. For the time being, he wanted to keep his troops hidden; there would be plenty of time to use them when it was time to lay siege to a city. Conquering the Steel King City would likely be a task for after level 60.

"Morning Wind, I’m almost level 30! Let’s go to the Great Map to level up!" Lin Shanshan was nearly level 30. Since Morning Wind had been carrying her, she hadn't really done much. Now, she was eager to see just how dangerous the Great Map—where all the world's players gathered—could really be.

Morning Wind couldn't be bothered to argue with this beautiful but airheaded woman. If not for the need to maintain his cover, he wouldn't want to stay in this studio at all. They didn't really help him; if anything, they constantly held him back. At least using them as an excuse for leveling up came in handy when dealing with the Cobra organization.

"I don't even dare to roam the Great Map right now! That guy named Balu is extremely cunning. If I show up there, he’ll likely come looking for trouble." Balu was definitely watching him. If he weren't unable to enter the China Region, he would have ambushed Morning Wind long ago. With his Bone Sand Scorpion body, ambushing and escaping were both easy, allowing him to harass Morning Wind incessantly.

Fortunately, Balu seemed to have recently acquired a neutral Dark Werewolf identity, allowing him to kill just like the Blood Dragon. Many didn't know who this Dark Werewolf was, but Morning Wind could guess it was Balu. Balu wasn't as clever as Outlets; he didn't know how to mask his style, and despite his small tricks, he couldn't fool Morning Wind’s eyes. Morning Wind, being the Blood Dragon himself, knew the character's traits too well.

Balu was merely trying to imitate Morning Wind’s style of large-scale slaughter. But his ability was far inferior. Even though he had been a mercenary with training, he wasn't qualified compared to a true supernatural assassin.

Lin Shanshan had nothing to do. Her leveling was poor, her dungeon performance was weak, and she couldn't command troops. She was a total vase. If not for following Morning Wind, she would have had to wait for the rest of the studio to reach level 40 just to get a carry. Morning Wind was currently thinking about how to get her into bed, which was the only reason he put up with her. By his estimation, he was close to success.

"Crow, where the hell are you? Big news. Meet at the usual spot." Outlets sent a message. After reading it, Morning Wind said goodbye to Lin Shanshan, promising a feast that night.

Upon arriving at the District 23 tavern, Outlets shared the news in the party channel. "Those guys have likely hired the Assassin Organization to deal with us. They have a lot of manpower now. Crow, be careful this time. Even in the China Region, you aren't entirely safe."

Outlets and Morning Wind were in the same boat now, so he shared the intelligence immediately. Morning Wind wasn't worried about the Assassin Organization; he had known a high-ranking thief from their ranks in the past and understood them well. He figured that if Cobra had hired them, combined with their own lackeys, there were easily over a hundred experts coming for them. He had to prepare.

Yahun and his team thought they were in the shadows, but they didn't know Morning Wind already knew their every move. Sending so many people to surround him? If they wanted to play big, he would play along.

After discussing a plan with Outlets and the others, Morning Wind stepped outside the tavern and sent a friend request. The player he was targeting, "Shadow Corner," was a high-ranking member of the Assassin Organization. He was a decent person, and in the past, he and Morning Wind had often collaborated on assassination missions. They had only failed once; every other time, they succeeded.

Morning Wind knew he was also a hidden class: a Shadow Hunter. Morning Wind remembered him mentioning his quest data and the two failures he’d experienced. If he hadn't failed those two, his strength would be at the absolute pinnacle of the game. Morning Wind was reaching out to him to reveal those two quests—and how to complete others.

Because Morning Wind was his target, receiving a friend request from him was suspicious. Under normal circumstances, Shadow Corner would ignore it, but being able to contact the target directly was a chance to lure him out.

After adding him, Morning Wind didn't initiate a voice call, simply sending a string of keywords: "Shadow Hunter, Shadow Crawl, Light-Devouring Shadow, Thousand Spiders, Wicked Giant."

"How do you know this data? What is your goal in telling me this?" Seeing the keywords related to his personal quests, Shadow Corner immediately initiated a call. Even with the Assassin Organization’s support, he hadn't been able to complete these quests. How could Morning Wind possibly know?

Morning Wind hadn't known about "god-tier classes" back then, and Shadow Corner’s class hadn't revealed that it could evolve into one; he only knew it offered high rewards. Clearly, his class was inferior to Yin's, as he was unaware of the existence of god-tier classes. If not for that, Morning Wind would have sought out a hidden class much earlier instead of choosing a dual-talent path.

"I can tell you how to complete the quests and minimize the risk. I can even tell you that if you complete nine tasks, you can become a god-tier class. But if even one quest fails, you lose the chance to advance." Morning Wind held the upper hand. "Don't ask how I know, and don't bother with talk of trust. If you suspect there’s a mole in your organization, go check for yourself."

"God-tier class?" Shadow Corner paused, thinking. "Some of my tasks aren't even known by the organization. It's impossible for there to be a mole. What do you want me to do?"

Shadow Corner was the fourth-in-command of the organization. His skill was second, but he lacked political cunning, and his class stats were inferior to others, so the best gear always went to the higher-ups. He was easygoing; he didn't care about his rank, he only wanted to improve. The leader, however, was indeed much stronger than him.

Improving himself to catch up to the leader was all Shadow Corner wanted. Now that Morning Wind was offering him a chance, he would seize it. As for business, he didn't care about the money; he wanted strength and fame.

"I won't say what I want from you yet. Just keep your people in check and don't let them come deliver gear to me." Morning Wind was in no rush. Shadow Corner wouldn't dare attempt the quests yet; he hadn't dared to touch the first one until level 50. "Here's a gift to start: your fourth quest, 'Searching for the Shadowman'—he is buried in a grave in the Death Hollow of District 14, placed under a sleeping curse. Find him carefully and break the curse."

The killers of the Cobra organization pursued an elite path, and their numbers were few. This coalition with the Assassin Organization was forced by Morning Wind. But since they had brought in the Assassin Organization to surround him, Morning Wind had his own ways to deal with them. As for who would toy with whom to death, in Outlets' words, it all depended on who was smarter.