Chapter 22: The Arsenal of the Allied Forces in Flames!

After returning from his morning run and shower, Chenfeng slipped downstairs to the kitchen, grabbed two pieces of bread and a bottle of milk for breakfast, and hurried back up. The last time he'd been caught sneaking food from the kitchen by Lin Shanshan, she had scolded him, declaring that the studio didn't provide breakfast and that he should eat outside. But Chenfeng had no money; eating out was impossible. It was clear Lin Shanshan was trying to drive him away.

Once he logged into the game, Chenfeng appeared near the Withered Treant dungeon and saw groups of players gathering at the entrance, all aiming to clear the heroic difficulty for the chance at the Brotherhood Sword. So far, not a single Brotherhood Sword had dropped—the final boss was tough and the drop rate was abysmally low. Still, it wouldn’t be long before professional players and studio teams figured out the strategy; the dungeon wasn’t overly difficult—high magic resistance was the key, and technical skill was not in short supply among them.

Throughout the day, Chenfeng focused on questing, monster hunting, and leveling up. Thanks to his spatial teleportation banner, he could move in and out of the main city with ease, leaving the three teams from the Divine War guild waiting in vain outside the city gates for him to emerge. By nightfall, Chenfeng decided to stop leveling, as something special was about to happen: the Horde Infiltrators were going to set fire to the Alliance arsenal.

With so many players freely entering and exiting the city, the shapeshifting trolls of the Horde found it easy to blend in, planning to burn down the Alliance’s warehouse that night in preparation for their assault on the main city. Chenfeng remembered reading about this event in the game’s history—it was this very day that the fire would break out, though the exact time was uncertain. Rumor had it a player had snuck into the arsenal, stolen many rare items, became an enemy of the Alliance, transferred the loot, and deleted his character to start anew.

Of course, Chenfeng had no intention of deleting his character after such a heist. His class had cost him two Talent Stones, making him a super berserker shield warrior, not to mention his shapeshifter clone—deleting it would be a huge loss. Instead, he planned to sneak around the Alliance arsenal disguised as a Blood Dragon, reasoning that as a neutral faction character, he could probably get away with stealing from the arsenal.

Not knowing the precise timing, Chenfeng settled in to stake out the area for the night. The chance to enter the arsenal—a veritable treasure vault, possibly containing legendary orange-grade equipment—was worth the wait, even if nothing happened.

Someone was coming.

An elf rogue, skilled in stealth, approached. Chenfeng, in his Night Bat Cloak and hidden with stealth, was almost impossible to detect. The rogue, seeing no one around, dropped his stealth to prepare something, unaware of Chenfeng’s presence. Clearly, this player knew about the shapeshifting troll attack and had probably infiltrated their lair or even aided the Horde’s plan.

After placing a bomb by the outer wall of the Alliance military district, the rogue slipped away to hide. Chenfeng realized the rogue intended to blast an entrance. Normally, with so many guards patrolling, entry would mean certain death, but during a special event, things might be different—and a rogue was adept at slipping by unnoticed.

A deafening explosion soon rang out near the warehouse, flames lighting the night sky. Chenfeng wasn’t sure exactly how the shapeshifting trolls managed it, but what mattered was that, synchronized with the chaos, the elf rogue detonated his bomb, blowing a man-sized hole in the wall and slipping inside.

This corner of the city was sparsely guarded, and with the disaster unfolding, all the sentries had rushed to the scene, leaving the area deserted. The rogue made straight for the arsenal, heading for the unguarded side.

Blood Dragon!

Before entering, Chenfeng transformed into his Blood Dragon form, reasoning it would be less suspicious than morphing once inside. With stealth active and no guards present, it was enough. The elf rogue, oblivious to being followed, rushed to the arsenal and blasted another entrance.

Intercept!

As the rogue dashed toward the loot, Chenfeng activated his Intercept skill and slammed into him from behind. The rogue, completely unprepared, was stunned—this time, the Intercept triggered its hidden effect, extending the stun to 3.5 seconds.

To be caught committing high treason—breaking into the Alliance arsenal—while stunned for 3.5 seconds would be disastrous if discovered. The elf rogue had never imagined he was being followed, and now, unable to act, could only despair as he realized Chenfeng would have a 3.5-second head start to snatch the best loot.

Equipment, gems, scrolls, tomes, gold, rare materials… it was a trove of treasures! Chenfeng, a player of considerable experience, knew the arsenal was vast—he had to quickly identify and grab the rarest items. With his advantage, he could claim the pick of the haul.

System: You may take no more than 10 items from the Alliance military warehouse.

Just as Chenfeng was about to sweep everything into his spatial bag, this message appeared, dashing his hopes. The system allowed players to exploit the event, but only within limits—if someone could loot the place like a bandit, it would break the balance.

Without hesitation, Chenfeng dashed to the central platform to seek out the rarest treasures.

An orange two-handed axe—artifact grade—taken!

A box containing a purple ring—artifact grade—taken!

A Natural Talent Gem—the rarest and most valuable class item—taken!

A Frost Talent Gem—another one—taken!

An orange skillbook, unique and rare, for warriors—taken!

A pale yellow shard—artifact grade, even if just a fragment—taken!

A scroll glowing red—Forbidden Curse Scroll—taken!

A map, a treasure map?—taken!

A potion, a large bottle of Pet Mutation Elixir—taken!

An orange crafting scroll, Floror’s Dragon-Slaying Manual—taken!

As a gifted assassin, Chenfeng’s reaction speed was lightning-quick. Leaping onto the platform, he used his knowledge of in-game items to judge their value by color and rarity—first grabbing everything rare and stuffing it into his bag before making his escape. He couldn’t linger; if the guards arrived, he’d be trapped and forced to forfeit everything.

He had no intention of escaping the way he came; instead, he activated his spatial transfer banner to retreat to the Land of Chaos. The 10-second channeling time was risky, but safer than running. He wasn’t sure if he’d be discovered in the city, so it was best to leave. As for the elf rogue, Chenfeng had his own plans.

At eight seconds, he heard the guards’ footsteps—they were fast! At nine, he glimpsed a guard’s silhouette, but thankfully hadn’t been spotted. At the tenth second, Chenfeng was gone—warping into the Land of Chaos with ten stolen treasures. He dared not drop his Blood Dragon form and immediately logged out.

Logging back in as his shapeshifter alt, Chenfeng received the following messages:

System: Player “Indifference” colluded with Horde shapeshifting trolls to raid the Alliance arsenal, stealing many precious items and committing high treason. Any player who hunts down the traitor will receive a generous Alliance reward.

System: Xiluo City’s defensive barrier is now active; no player may enter or exit.

The system alerts startled Chenfeng—thankfully, his own name hadn’t been mentioned, or he’d be doomed. Now, Xiluo City was in chaos. The chat was flooded with players searching for “Indifference,” the infamous thief and traitor whose loot could potentially drop if killed.

Predator Form! Chenfeng shifted to his humanoid leopard form and entered stealth. As a shapeshifter, his bear form equaled a shielded warrior, his predator form a combat rogue, and his Tree of Life form a holy priest. Outside the military zone, he had to remain hidden—if a guard spotted him at the breached wall, he’d immediately be branded a traitor.

Chenfeng waited on his alt for the elf rogue to emerge, his goal being the ten treasures the rogue had managed to grab. But as he prepared to scatter revealing powder at the entrance, it struck him—if he killed the rogue now, his alt’s identity would be exposed and linked back to him.

In the end, Chenfeng decided not to kill the rogue just yet. Even if the elf escaped, leaving the city would be nearly impossible. With a high treason mark, logging off was probably not an option, so the rogue’s only recourse would be to stash the loot and retrieve it later with another character.

Tracking Powder!

Luckily, Chenfeng had purchased several varieties. He sprinkled some invisible tracking powder on the ground—undetectable to anyone but himself. If the elf rogue passed through, he’d surely step in it, leaving a trail of footprints only Chenfeng could see. That way, Chenfeng could follow the path and discover where the loot was hidden.

As expected, no sooner had Chenfeng concealed himself than he saw the elf rogue slip out, furtively making his escape, unaware of the invisible footprints he was leaving behind…