Chapter 128.2 Merfolk Shore
【Stake: Ten thousand points.
Wager Details: 1. Player 460872 initiates an attack on the NPC concealed in the shadows. Player 444444 may assist the NPC. If the attacking player survives the night, Player 444444 must pay ten thousand points.
2. After Player 460872 survives, they must not engage in retaliatory actions maliciously due to this event in the future.】
When Chubby Guy wrote the promisory note, his player number was included, making it easy to remember.
“What if the NPC launches an indiscriminate attack?”
Wen Shi shook his head. “That won’t happen. The hidden one isn’t the defiler but a merfolk observing us.”
Chubby Guy hesitated for a moment. Connecting the strong aquatic presence with the merfolk’s modus operandi, this statement held a high level of credibility.
Whether it was truly a merfolk didn’t matter much. What mattered was the enticing content of the contract. The terms of the wager didn’t mention the potential gains for the winner, but given their previous borrowing and lending relationship, if Wen Shi were to die, most of his possessions could be reclaimed by the【Wangcai Bank】.
“So, what do you think?”
Wen Shi declared that as long as the other party signed the contract, he would initiate an attack on the merfolk.
Chubby Guy swiftly contemplated and organized a logical chain. It was highly probable that Pei Wenwei was in cahoots with the defiler. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a sudden change of allegiance. In other words, regardless of whether he signed the contract or not, he would inevitably face off against the merfolk.
However, Pei Wenwei could also notify his accomplice not to show up tonight, or he could simply stay out of it, letting his comrade be killed while he accomplished his quest.
Chubby Guy didn’t know this person’s character.
In the virtual world, opinions varied widely. Players who had just entered the instance and were already creating a second-round endgame probably couldn’t be considered virtuous. Other experienced players might take him along, but the motivation was primarily for the 3S instance. It was unclear how much personal character played a role in this.
“It’s quite advantageous.” Wen Shi’s lips curved into a smirk.
A life-or-death gamble, yet it didn’t cost much.
Ten thousand points were trivial for Chubby Guy, and if the merfolk chased him, he just had to slow his pace. His survival rate would be as high as ninety percent.
The contract specifically mentioned not engaging in malicious retaliation afterward. In other words, if they were to attack without signing the contract, the other party would spare no effort to retaliate.
“I have some valuable possessions.” Wen Shi’s gaze lowered as he rubbed the hilt of the sword. “Hiring an expert to kill you would be a piece of cake. If I want to make a move, I’ll have to spend money.”
Chubby Guy: “If…”
Wen Shi knew what he was about to say. “Ji Yuanzhi and the others won’t help me deal with the merfolk.”
Seizing the moment while Wen Shi answered, Chubby Guy secretly activated the【Abacus】skill.
Wen Shi understood what Chubby Guy was up to. Chubby Guy had mentioned before that there was a seventy percent chance of predicting a player’s survival rate.
In just a few seconds, blood appeared at the corner of Chubby Guy’s eye, and Wen Shi’s mouth twitched. Players knew well that skills came with backlash, yet that didn’t stop them from using them without hesitation.
“Deal.” Chubby Guy always believed in probabilities.
The system indicated the activation of the contract item. Wen Shi, whose calculated survival rate wasn’t promising, approached the shadow with his sword in hand.
The merfolk concealed in the darkness was just as Wen Shi had suspected. It was ready to wait until they attacked the defiler later, using that as a gauge of their true intentions.
Upon seeing Wen Shi approaching, the merfolk’s gloomy aura intensified. He had a feeling that the sword in the other’s hand was aimed at him.
Without wasting any words, when Wen Shi halted, he immediately activated his skill.
“One strike, flattens all.”
The Greenwood Sword swept through the void, and a torrent of sword energy surged toward the merfolk in an instant.
“F—ck!” Chubby Guy jumped in surprise, stepping back repeatedly.
No one mentioned that Pei Wenwei had an attack skill.
Despite being a formidable move, after Wen Shi used the skill, he didn’t stand his ground as usual. Instead, he retreated.
The sword energy primarily aimed for the merfolk’s tail, causing the scales suspended in the mist to be instantly splattered with bloodstains. The sharp sword energy should have severed and shattered the tail, but at the critical moment, a force blocked it.
Blood trickled slowly down the curve of the tail, and the merfolk, with his exquisite features, had an expression almost as serene as an icy lake. It seemed as though the thin ice could shatter at any moment, plunging them into a bottomless abyss.
Being near the well that sealed the Merfolk King, the merfolk could tap into the king’s power to the fullest.
Wen Shi wasn’t surprised by this outcome. If he used the sword skill again, its power would be greater. While in Sealed Coffin Village, he had realized that regardless of the might of the sword skill, some NPCs were protected by the game mechanics.
The incomplete success of the sword strike already indicated that killing the merfolk wouldn’t be so simple.
Wen Shi chose to retreat.
Chubby Guy wouldn’t let him escape easily. He extended his pre-prepared item,【Thousand Spider Silk】, toward Wen Shi’s trouser cuff.
However, at this moment, Wen Shi, who was running ahead, suddenly turned around with a chilling smile. Almost simultaneously, another figure appeared beside him. The summoned Wandering Corpse activated the skill【Heavenly Melody】.
Clang!
Notes danced through the air.
“Eulia!” Chubby Guy’s expression slightly changed.
This was an unexpected ally for him, catching him off guard.
As the melody of the harp played, a sensation ten times more painful than in a classroom exploded in his mind. The merfolk and Chubby Guy both moved sluggishly.
Chubby Guy spat out, still analyzing Wen Shi’s actions. To strike and then suddenly flee could only mean he intended to divert the merfolk’s attention. Thus, his purpose was evident: when the merfolk left, the defiler would likely do something to the Merfolk King’s remains.
No wonder he made that bet, aiming to draw him away simultaneously.
Amidst his fit of vomiting, Chubby Guy hesitated whether to stay or not. However, it seemed that the state of the Merfolk King’s remains had little to do with him, and the side quest hadn’t indicated any clear penalties.
It had to be said that Pei Wenwei was truly adept at calculating human emotions. After calculating that the other’s survival rate was extremely low, Chubby Guy actually wished for the merfolk to chase him down.
Several seconds passed, and the merfolk regained its mobility, though its severe injuries had slowed it down.
Chubby Guy opportunely instigated, “He definitely can’t pull off that move again, otherwise he wouldn’t have fled.”
Even in its enraged state, the merfolk was resolute. Today, it would kill this damned traitor, even if it disturbed the King.
Wen Shi spent three hundred points on a single-use speed-boosting item. While its effect wasn’t as good as【Wild Dash】, it was better than nothing. Along the way, he felt like his heart was about to leap out of his throat.
The Wandering Corpse was always a step ahead of him.
Wen Shi really wanted to call back this unpredictable ally, but he still needed the help of the Wandering Corpse to deal with Chubby Guy’s troublesome items.
Just eight hundred meters left.
The fifteen-second lead he had gained through his initial burst of speed was steadily decreasing. The cold wind hit his face, stinging his eyes. With purpose, Wen Shi ran in a specific direction.
In the final five hundred meters, the merfolk’s flowing hair wildly extended, while the Wandering Corpse intercepted Chubby Guy’s item.
The Wandering Corpse momentarily struggled to break free from the sticky threads. Chubby Guy frowned. Items like【Thousand Spider Silk】, clearly designed to trick others, were subject to various limitations in their effectiveness and power. He couldn’t use it again in a short period.
Chubby Guy didn’t hesitate. His gaze hardened as he produced the coin transformed from the promisory note and issued a low command, “Freeze.”
Using the promisory note, members of【Wangcai Bank】could freeze a debtor’s points and actions for two seconds. When exercising this power, they suffered severe backlash. It was limited to two uses.
As Wen Shi, who was almost at the lakeside, momentarily froze, the merfolk’s speed was still slower than Chubby Guy’s due to its injuries. However, within the two seconds of freezing, its horrifying tendrils reached Wen Shi first.
“So that’s how it is.” Wen Shi had been testing the tricks of【Wangcai Bank】. Now he understood.
Similar to a time freeze, but not as potent as Yu Xingzhou’s skill, it could only restrict a single target.
Once he grasped the situation, a cold sneer appeared in Wen Shi’s heart. He had witnessed how merfolk killed before. He summoned the Old Man Ghost to intercept the hair that aimed to slit Wen Shi’s throat.
The resilient tendrils sliced through the air like a buzzsaw, narrowly missing severing his hand bones.
The Old Man Ghost wanted to cry without tears. Why did it seem that every time he was called out, it was never for anything good?
Wen Shi had retreated to the lakeside, and behind him, the merfolk’s cheek twitched. Suddenly, it spat out an ice cone formed from condensed water vapor, catching him off guard.
The ice cone came hurtling through the air. The merfolk appeared fatigued, but the attack power of the ice cone was undeniable. It pierced straight through its thin chest, blood splattering.
Upon witnessing the ice cone successfully puncturing the target’s heart, both Chubby Guy and the merfolk experienced a momentary relief.
Wen Shi’s body collapsed straight onto the lake behind him. As he made contact with the water’s surface, there were no splashes or ripples. Instead, he seemed to dissolve into nothingness.
The game’s notification sound chimed—
“You have triggered a hidden map.”
“Goodbye.” Wen Shi mouthed to Chubby Guy, his coin, representing the debtor, gleamed between his fingers, radiating a silent provocation.
Triggering the hidden map alone was the reward for completing the quest of finding the lost half of the heart.
If he hadn’t triggered the map immediately, Wen Shi would have used【One Strike Flattens All】a second time. The ten thousand points could potentially be spent tonight, and someone needed to foot the bill. Chubby Guy was the obvious choice.
The merfolk arrived at the lakeside. Other than the bloodstained water in the lake as evidence of Wen Shi’s presence, there was nothing left.
Ignoring the furious growls from the shore, in the moment when the world turned dark, Wen Shi thought with an expressionless face that finding half of the Merfolk King’s heart would bring him closer to removing the principal from his position. He had already come up with a new name for Mingzhu Academy—
The carp leaps over the Dragon Gate.
Let’s call it Dragon King Academy to celebrate this memorable day.
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