Half an hour ago.
In the Nask Graveyard, the ground was now littered with spirit essences and unequipped gear, left behind as players were smashed to pieces by the Skeleton Guards.
These were no ordinary Skeleton Guards—now wielding massive greatswords instead of shields, each swing carried terrifyingly wide attack ranges.
Once the battle ended, Ye Chuan immediately appeared beside the Skeleton Guards, harvesting the spirit essences scattered across the ground like ripe crops.
"Not bad. Giving the Skeleton Guards swords significantly boosted their farming efficiency. And thanks to the earlier rewards, I don’t have to worry about players not coming back for more."
"Once they stop showing up, I’ll just wrap up this world’s adventure," Ye Chuan mused.
After happily collecting the spirit essences, he suddenly sensed something and looked up in confusion—
A crack had abruptly appeared on the ceiling, glowing with an eerie light. Though different from the rifts of the real world, its emergence instantly put Ye Chuan on high alert.
What is this…?
Soon, a humanoid monster resembling a six-winged angel descended from the rift. Its torso was clad in shattered silver armor, the edges of the plates curled with scorch marks, while its exposed skin gleamed like cold metal.
Golden patterns crawled across its body, as though forcibly engraved with cursed sigils.
But the most horrifying feature was its head—devoid of a human face, replaced instead by a glowing silver ring, at the center of which were two vertical, blood-red pupils.
Ye Chuan silently observed before using his Inspection skill to check its information.
[Unit: Arbiter
Level: 1
Possesses the authority to judge all units, capable of eliminating any BUG hindering the world’s operation. Has a 100% instant-kill ability against monsters.]
100%… instant kill?
Ye Chuan froze for a few seconds before his gaze settled on the so-called "BUG." Realization quickly dawned on him.
If this was a game world, then there must be something akin to administrators. In that case, he had clearly drawn their attention.
Meaning… he was the BUG?
Well, it made sense. The monsters here originally capped at around Level 20, but ever since his arrival, he’d not only raised their levels but also occasionally tossed out trash from his inventory as rewards, luring players into an endless cycle of delivering spirit essences.
"The eternal burning wrath shall punish the fallen of the mortal realm."
The Arbiter’s eyes gleamed the moment it spotted Ye Chuan. Without hesitation, it raised its weapon—a silver greatsword wreathed in holy flames—and slashed down with a devastating sword beam.
"Judgment: Annihilation!"
Considering its instant-kill mechanic, Ye Chuan held back from using his Chaos Form and instead immediately retaliated with a Dark Beam!
The two energies collided midair. The moment the energy dust dispersed, Ye Chuan had already teleported behind the Arbiter.
"Cognitive Corruption." He unleashed a debilitating status effect with a wave of his hand.
Instantly, the Arbiter’s body was covered in swirling colors, its movements visibly slowing to a crawl.
Under the debuff’s effect, it even collapsed, its body limp and powerless.
Seeing it unable to even stand, Ye Chuan fired another Dark Beam straight at it!
A massive energy blast engulfed the Arbiter, shaking the entire castle. When the dust settled, not even ashes remained—only a single, enormous spirit essence floating gently in the air.
"Huh? Dead already?"
Ye Chuan blinked in surprise before teleporting down and pocketing the spirit essence.
That’s it?
He couldn’t sense its presence anymore.
Seriously?
I thought it’d be more of a speed bump.
"Instant-kill mechanic, my ass. Scared me for nothing," Ye Chuan scoffed. Maybe it was just because its level was too low. Even with an instant-kill ability, once his Cognitive Corruption took hold, it couldn’t even fight back.
"The spirit essence isn’t bad, though. The energy inside is pure." He nodded approvingly.
Would be nice if more showed up…
Just as he was thinking this, five or six more cracks tore open across the ceiling!
"Huh?"
One after another, Arbiters emerged from the rifts, and the moment they appeared, they swung their swords at Ye Chuan without hesitation!
"Judgment!" Their voices were solemn, yet eerie.
Countless sword beams slashed toward him!
Ye Chuan didn’t hesitate—he yanked a Skeleton Guard in front of him as a shield.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The sword beams relentlessly hammered into the Skeleton Guard’s massive frame. While the energy was absorbed by his Chaos power, the sheer impact shattered its bones to pieces.
"ROAR—!!!" The Skeleton Guard let out a final, unwilling cry before collapsing.
"So Chaos Form negates their attacks? Good to know." Ye Chuan grinned.
Now, he was completely at ease.
"Like ganging up on me?" He snapped his fingers.
In the next moment, dozens of clones materialized from the mist—each one as powerful as Ye Chuan himself!
Della struck first, smashing the nearest Arbiter into scrap with a single hammer swing!
Eighty!
Eighty!
The rest of the "zoo" clones pounced on the remaining Arbiters. Combined with Ye Chuan’s Cognitive Corruption, they were wiped out in moments.
"Come to papa." Ye Chuan happily collected the five or six massive spirit essences.
Jackpot.
With the Arbiters thoroughly dealt with, silence returned to the surroundings as if nothing had happened.
"Huh? No more?" Ye Chuan sounded almost disappointed. A single Arbiter’s spirit essence was worth five or six thousand from regular players!
Though he wasn’t fully satisfied, it seemed he’d have to return to farming players for now.
…
Meanwhile, in the game administrators’ realm—
"The Arbiters were completely annihilated?! How?!"
"The battle footage has been transmitted." The screen displayed exactly how Ye Chuan had dismantled the Arbiters.
Watching a skeleton teleport, summon bizarre minions, and even conjure flying swords left the administrators utterly baffled.
What the hell is this?!
This boss is way too broken!
"What do we do? This thing is destroying game balance. Are there stronger Arbiters?" Administrator A asked.
"Arbiters delete data at the root level. If we set their level too high, the game world won’t be able to handle it. The consequences would be catastrophic."
"Then what’s the plan?"
"In that case… I’ll go myself," Administrator B declared.
"Get me a set of legendary gear. I’ll handle this personally!"
"But—"
"Fine."
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
