Free Web NovelChapter 120: Chapter 115: First Kill, First Sale
’So it really is teleportation...’
At noon, Guan Tong saw the official announcement and confirmed his earlier suspicion was correct.
The Sound Hunters didn’t move quickly; they used Instant Teleportation to appear next to the person making the sound, and after the kill, they would immediately teleport away.
Furthermore, it was now certain that a Sound Hunter would only hunt the individual making the noise. Even if others were standing right next to that person, they would not be affected.
As for whether a Sound Hunter would still attack if two people had their necks pressed together, no one knew. So far, no one had been suicidal enough to try.
Now that Guan Tong had confirmed the Sound Hunter’s movement and attack methods, he had an idea for an experiment.
Of course, he wouldn’t make a sound himself. Instead, he planned to summon a Living Dead and have it make the noise.
If the Living Dead were considered human under the current rule, Guan Tong would have unlimited attempts.
But to be safe, before starting the experiment, Guan Tong first summoned a thick layer of Shadow Armor that completely molded to his skin, enveloping his body.
He then went out into the yard, blew the Corpse Whistle, and summoned three Living Dead.
The Living Dead summoned by the Corpse Whistle wouldn’t roar unless Guan Tong gave them a command; they weren’t much different from robots.
Once everything was ready, Guan Tong had one of the Living Dead let out a cry.
"ROAR!!!"
He then stood to the side, observing the Living Dead.
About five seconds later, without any warning, the Living Dead’s neck was pierced, and it died.
A flash of joy appeared in Guan Tong’s eyes. ’It worked.’
Under this rule, the Living Dead he summoned were also classified as human.
This meant he could use multiple experiments to find a way to eliminate the Sound Hunters.
After a moment of thought, Guan Tong manipulated his Shadow to cover another Living Dead’s neck and then solidified it.
Then, he had this Living Dead let out a cry.
A few seconds later, the Living Dead’s carotid artery was pierced, along with the solidified "Shadow scarf" covering it.
’What incredible piercing power...’
Guan Tong looked at the round hole in the solidified Shadow and knew that a Shadow of this thickness couldn’t block the Sound Hunter’s attack at all.
’What if it were thicker?’
Guan Tong looked at the last Living Dead from this batch. This time, he expended a large amount of Psychic Power, shaping the Shadow into a huge "collar" over half a meter wide and placing it around the Living Dead’s neck.
After the Living Dead roared, the Sound Hunter’s attack arrived a few seconds later. freēwebnovel.com
But this time was different. The previous two were killed in a single blow, but this time, the Sound Hunter seemed to have attacked twice!
Guan Tong inspected it closely and confirmed that there were indeed two strikes.
The first strike pierced about 8 centimeters into the Shadow scarf, and only the second strike managed to break through and kill the Living Dead.
This made him realize at once that the Sound Hunter’s attacks didn’t just ignore all defenses. As long as the barrier was strong and thick enough, it could provide some degree of protection.
If that was the case, quite a few Ascenders should be able to survive this challenge even if they failed, especially those backed by large organizations.
These people usually possessed defensive items, and if they had high-efficiency, form-fitting defensive gear, it was possible to block a Sound Hunter’s attack.
However, just defending wasn’t enough. He had to find a way to counter-kill.
Guan Tong thought for a moment and summoned another three Living Dead.
He chose one and had his Shadow form-fit into a thick, spiked collar around its neck.
This way, when the Sound Hunter attacked the Living Dead, it would be impossible to avoid the spikes.
This time, Guan Tong didn’t just stand by and watch. He used 200 points of his reserve Psychic Power to summon a Giant Axe Warrior, positioning it next to the Living Dead. He himself raised his Silver Hunter, preparing for a multi-angled saturation attack against the Sound Hunter.
A roar.
At Guan Tong’s mental command, the Living Dead cried out.
Five seconds later, the Sound Hunter’s attack came. The instant the Shadow collar was struck, Guan Tong noticed the spikes on it pierce into something, and a dark, viscous liquid oozed out.
’Is that the Sound Hunter’s blood?’
Guan Tong didn’t dwell on it. He immediately ordered the Giant Axe Warrior to attack while his own finger pulled the trigger, unsparingly firing a dozen or so No. 3 High-Explosive Bombs.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
As the Giant Axe Warrior swung its axe, the explosions completely engulfed the Living Dead.
’Did it work?’
Guan Tong wasn’t sure, as he hadn’t heard any screams of pain.
Without waiting for the smoke and dust from the explosions to clear, he immediately directed his Shadow to slip inside and provide him with vision.
Next to the Living Dead, which had been blown to bits, lay a strange black creature.
The moment he saw the creature, Guan Tong was overjoyed.
’It must be the Sound Hunter!’
The creature was pitch-black all over, resembling a short snake but with no eyes, and its appearance was exceptionally ugly. Its attack organ seemed to be a long stinger within its mouthparts, which had been severed by the Giant Axe Warrior, a section of it lying on the ground.
Moreover, Guan Tong discovered that the monster wasn’t dead yet, despite taking such a heavy blow. It was still squirming slowly on the ground, its body gradually turning transparent.
’Not good!’
Guan Tong realized that once the Sound Hunter became completely transparent, it would probably teleport away. He immediately pulled the trigger, this time switching to the No. 2 slugs, which were more effective against single targets, and fired another dozen or so rounds.
After a series of explosions, the voice of the Fire Thief echoed in Guan Tong’s mind.
[You have killed a Sound Hunter]
[Sublimation Coins acquired: 350]
[Communication Secret Scrolls acquired: 3]
’Yes!’
As soon as the Fire Thief’s voice sounded, Guan Tong knew the Sound Hunter was truly dead.
Happy as he was, he remained cautious and didn’t let himself make the slightest sound, celebrating in silence.
The Sublimation Coin reward was secondary. The important thing was that he had gotten three tradable Communication Secret Scrolls in a single drop! This was a sign of exceptionally good luck.
After the smoke cleared, Guan Tong walked over and carefully examined the Sound Hunter’s corpse.
It didn’t look like a creature from Celestial Water Star at all. Inside its slender body was a stinger nearly as long as its body, several dozen centimeters in length. Its method of attack seemed to be spitting out the stinger to pierce the sound-maker’s carotid artery before retracting it.
’How does this monster teleport?’
Guan Tong wondered curiously. ’Is it an innate biological trait? Or is it the Fire Thief’s doing?’
Furthermore, didn’t the appearance of this suspected non-native species confirm that the Fire Thief was an alien? Just like the "Mother Transformer" before, was the Fire Thief mass-releasing alien creatures onto Celestial Water Star with each new rule?
He definitely couldn’t find the answers to these questions now. Guan Tong didn’t dwell on them, his eyes filled with eager anticipation.
By using the Living Dead as bait, then combining the combat power of his Shadow, the Giant Axe Warrior, and the Silver Hunter, he had enough firepower to eliminate a Sound Hunter.
This immediately gave Guan Tong a plan to "farm mobs."
The goal, naturally, was to acquire Sublimation Coins from the rewards and from selling the Communication Secret Scrolls.
Ever since before the Ascender Challenge, Guan Tong had realized that the Sublimation Coins given by the rules were no longer enough. They were fine for spending in the Sublimation Store, but in the terminal market, his small stash of coins was merely pocket change for the major organizations.
Any remotely effective items were all driven to sky-high prices by these organizations, so high that individual Ascenders could only look on in dismay.
Especially now, with the world in a state of war. According to the "Shelter Occupancy Terms" posted online, the Sublimation Coins and items of anyone who moved in would be subject to unified management and distribution.
This would undoubtedly give the government terrifying purchasing power. Imagine hundreds of millions of people all moving into shelters in the future; the number of Sublimation Coins the government could mobilize would reach the hundreds of billions, or even trillions.
Therefore, now that he had the chance, Guan Tong decided to use this rule to acquire more Sublimation Coins.
Before he began, he first called up his personal panel and opened the terminal market.
Just as he thought, there were no Communication Secret Scrolls on the market. Even though his post had been up for several hours, either no one had obtained any, or those who had chose to keep them instead of selling.
This meant he could be the first to list one and test the waters.
Guan Tong opened the listing interface, put up a tradable Communication Secret Scroll, and thought for a moment about the price.
’What’s a suitable price?’
’Selling it cheap is definitely out of the question. This thing might be useless to most ordinary people, but for high-level figures, powerful individuals, or even spies and other clandestine personnel with a high need for confidentiality... it’s definitely something they’d be desperate to get.’
’And the one thing these people have in common is that they control resources or have access to resource investments... In other words, they’re loaded.’
’...It would be a crime not to fleece them, with all those Sublimation Coins they’re holding.’
With that thought, Guan Tong first entered a 3, followed by three 0s.
He planned to test the waters by selling it for 3,000.
He selected "List Item." Barely a second or two had passed, before Guan Tong could even close the terminal, when he received a notification.
[The item you listed has been sold]
"..."
Guan Tong hadn’t expected it to be so fast. ’Looks like my pricing was too conservative.’
He listed another one, this time tripling the price directly to 9,000 Sublimation Coins.
Three seconds later, he received another notification.
[The item you listed has been sold]
’Nine thousand sold that quickly, too?’
’Could it be that I’ve still underestimated how high the demand for this kind of private communication is for certain people?’
Guan Tong had one last scroll. He thought for a long time before listing it for "20,000" Sublimation Coins.
In his opinion, this price was already outrageous. If it still sold quickly, it would mean this Blue Ocean market had huge potential, and he would really have to start grinding like crazy.
Sure enough, it didn’t sell as quickly this time. The buyers were probably evaluating whether the value matched the price.
After seven or eight seconds, just as Guan Tong was thinking it might take a while to sell this time, he received another notification.
[The item you listed has been sold]
"!"
’Twenty thousand Sublimation Coins, sold in less than ten seconds?’
Guan Tong was first surprised, then ecstatic, but then his brow furrowed slightly.
This should have been a happy occasion, as he could make a huge profit as expected.
But when he thought about how the people buying these Secret Scrolls weren’t using their own coins, but rather coins collected from a large number of people, he felt a strange sense of displeasure.
The buyers were most likely getting them for bigwigs to use for secret communications, not to help ordinary people. This made Guan Tong, an ordinary person himself, feel a kind of empathetic dissatisfaction.
’...Forget it.’
Guan Tong quickly came to terms with it. ’After all, in my hands, these Sublimation Coins might provide no less value than they would in the hands of those organizations. They might even provide far more.’
Before closing the panel, he glanced at his Sublimation Coin balance. The current amount was: 32,487.
His original 487 was now just the pocket change on top.
With over 30,000 Sublimation Coins, he could finally afford some decent things, even in the increasingly frenzied terminal market. But now was not the time for shopping. He had to seize the opportunity to farm some more.
Guan Tong had a premonition that this Blue Ocean wouldn’t belong to him alone for long. Soon enough, the government would likely find a way to hunt Sound Hunters in large numbers. When that happened, the market supply would increase, and it wouldn’t be so easy to sell a Secret Scroll for tens of thousands of coins.
