Zhu Yan stared at the video and the overwhelming barrage of comments covering it, then swallowed nervously.
The broadcast chose that exact moment to announce the news, practically maxing out the Hunters’ aggro.
“At present, we have a total of thirty Hunters.”
The military vehicle sped along the highway. Captain Zheng, who was driving, suddenly let loose with an angry string of curses.
Zhu Yan hunched down in the back seat like a quail, not daring to make a sound.
“Of those, twenty-eight successfully completed their Hunter missions this time.”
The woman’s voice was so cheerful it was almost ethereal.
“We extend our highest respects to these twenty-eight Hunters!”
“As for the remaining two, may their deaths be forgotten forever by the Frenzied Paradise.”
“May they rest in peace!”
Zhu Yan took a sip of mineral water and topped up a little of Trembling Pleasure’s health bar.
Poor Illusion was probably still trapped in the auditorium, because his health bar was continuing to drain at a slow but steady rate.
However, he didn’t seem to be doing very well.
Not only had the rate at which his health bar was draining slowed considerably, but even the red text before Zhu Yan’s eyes had almost disappeared.
He lowered his head and scrolled through his phone. Several new posts about the “Hunters” had appeared.
“Can someone explain what the term ‘Hunter’ means?”
“Are they human traitors? Why does it sound like they’re unforgivably evil?”
…
“To save time, we will selectively broadcast the results for the top three.”
“The overall Hunter rankings will be pinned publicly on the Player Forum.”
The woman’s voice was brimming with excitement. “First of all, congratulations to you, User Deleted!”
Damn.
Zhu Yan was startled again.
He had been logged into Zhu Zeyu’s account for so long that, upon hearing that ID again, he instinctively thought it was the wail of fate.
“As Hunter Number One and a veteran among the Hunters, the player with the ID User Deleted has once again used an innovative method to deceive everyone at the heavily guarded Anwu City Western Suburb Shelter, successfully causing a dungeon to descend!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Zhu Yan saw Director Jin’s body jerk to a halt.
“What?” Director Jin murmured.
“How the hell is that bastard here?” Captain Zheng blurted from the front.
Their SUV skidded again, and Director Jin hurriedly warned, “Watch the road!”
Captain Zheng muttered another curse under his breath. Yang Zhanbai abruptly turned around and looked at Zhu Yan in the back seat.
Zhu Yan jumped. “…Why are you looking at me?”
Yang Zhanbai’s brows drew tightly together.
“Captain Jin said he saw a Hunter earlier.”
“And?”
Zhu Yan was getting nervous.
“You’ve been acting like an idiot ever since you came out.”
Yang Zhanbai’s brow furrowed into a deep knot, and he asked with utmost seriousness, “Did the Hunter’s mental attack turn you brain-dead without you realizing it?”
Zhu Yan immediately stopped feeling nervous.
What a scare. He had thought he’d given himself away.
“…I don’t think so,” Zhu Yan said.
Yang Zhanbai opened his mouth to argue, but fortunately, the woman’s broadcast interrupted him at exactly the right moment.
“Congratulations to Mr. User Deleted for placing first in this Hunter ranking!”
“He creatively simulated the descent of a dungeon, deceiving the leaders inside the Western Suburb Shelter and successfully planting a key item in the shelter’s central control room.”
Director Jin’s fist gave a sharp crack.
Zhu Yan turned his head slightly and saw that the man’s face had darkened. His lips were pressed into a tight line, and he was clearly seething.
“Afterward, relying on the new identity of the dungeon Boss, Urban Legend, and working together with the horror creature Illusion, he successfully brought down the open-beta dungeon!”
“What does that mean?” Yang Zhanbai’s voice turned grim. “What do you mean, ‘relying on the identity of the dungeon Boss, Urban Legend’?”
Captain Zheng let out a cold laugh.
“The meaning is obvious.” He shook his head. “That bastard has been completely assimilated by the Frenzied Paradise. He can serve as a dungeon Boss now. Heh.”
Zhu Yan continued to remain silent, because the woman clearly had not finished her announcement.
“Considering the entertainment value and the ingenuity of his strategy, we’re giving the number-one Hunter a big thumbs-up.”
“However, there is one point that deserves criticism.”
There was still something to criticize?
Zhu Yan silently objected in his heart.
It had been perfect, hadn’t it?
The next second, the woman’s voice ruthlessly exposed him over the public broadcast channel.
“After the open-beta dungeon descended, this Hunter took advantage of the opportunity to carry out his Hunter mission. Using his dungeon Boss abilities, he deliberately trapped his own colleague—the horror creature Illusion—inside the auditorium of the Western Suburb Shelter.”
Zhu Yan blinked innocently.
How could he be blamed for screwing over a colleague?
If the Frenzied Paradise had simply given him a piece of land, would he have needed to fight and scheme for it?
“…This directly caused the horror creature Illusion to fail in its attempt to breach the auditorium’s barrier through a suicidal attack, resulting in its complete destruction.”
“After Illusion’s destruction, the death rate at the Western Suburb Shelter fell far short of expectations. Compared to the Hunter ranked second overall, the number of fatalities was a full thirty thousand lower, placing him among the bottom three in terms of ranking.”
“As for the death toll, we’re giving him a rating of absolutely terrible.”
“Furthermore, we hereby issue severe criticism to Hunter Number One!”
“Please be mindful of your public image, Mr. User Deleted!”
Zhu Yan, on the other hand, felt relieved.
Illusion was dead. The land was his now.
As for the rest, what was the broadcast yammering on about? He hadn’t heard a word.
Yang Zhanbai’s expression, however, had grown somewhat strange.
“Zeyu, did you see that horror creature? How strong was it?”
Zhu Zeyu did not answer immediately. Instead, Captain Zheng replied in a solemn tone.
“That thing was incredibly bizarre,” he said. “It seemed capable of assimilating people. At the time, I was beneath the stage…”
Captain Zheng recalled the slick, oily texture of those “people,” as well as the dizziness, nausea, and chills he had experienced when facing the stage. His thick brows sank heavily.
“It was at least… probably an eighth- or ninth-level creature, I’d guess.”
“There’s a player in the vehicle behind us who can determine a Boss’s level. We can ask him later, too.”
A flicker of surprise crossed Yang Zhanbai’s face.
“So the broadcast means that this Hunter Number One was able to take down a ninth-level horror creature all by himself?”
“His Boss ability is at least level nine?”
What kind of overpowered ability was that?
Even within the talent-rich Human Alliance, players with level-nine abilities were few and far between!
Captain Zheng gave a cold laugh. “Who knows how much modification he received from the Frenzied Paradise? Damn it, thank goodness he was busy fighting that horror creature this time.”
“Otherwise, the entire Western Suburb Shelter would have been wiped out!”
“Next, let us congratulate Hunter Number Three on ascending to second place in the Hunter rankings!”
“Hunter Number Three’s player ID is User Deleted. However, because his level has not yet met the requirements, he has not temporarily obtained a dungeon Boss identity.”
What?
Zhu Yan straightened slightly in his seat, sharing Yang Zhanbai’s exact sense of displeasure.
What the hell was this supposed to mean?
Someone had stolen his ID?
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
