Free Web NovelSeventeen minutes earlier, inside Ward 906.
Two crescent arcs of light slashed directly toward Bai Liu. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Liu Huai dropped from above, gripping a dagger in each hand as he grit his teeth and intercepted the attack head-on. The impact smashed him straight into the wall as Miao Feichi’s twin blades crashed down against his crossed daggers.
At the same instant, Bai Liu activated Thief’s Stealth at full speed.
His body dropped low to the ground as he slid beneath the charging Miao Feichi like a swallow skimming the surface of water, darting straight toward Mu Ke behind him.
Miao Feichi stared in disbelief as Bai Liu passed beneath him.
“Fuck!!”
He immediately twisted around and hacked downward with his blades at Bai Liu’s retreating figure. But before the strike could land, Liu Huai forcibly locked the twin blades in place with his daggers.
His entire face twisted with strain.
Using all his strength, Liu Huai dragged the daggers viciously along Miao Feichi’s blades, sparks shrieking through the air as he slashed upward toward Miao Feichi’s arms.
At the same time, his own hand was ripped open by the curved blades.
[System Notification: Player Miao Feichi has been struck by Player Liu Huai’s full-power Nightblade attack. Mental value reduced by 43. Entering hallucination danger zone.]
[System Notification: Player Liu Huai has been hit by Player Miao Feichi’s Crescent Moon Twin Blades. Health reduced by 13.]
Liu Huai threw his head back, suppressing a scream of pain.
A strip of flesh had been hooked cleanly off his arm by the curved blade and slapped wetly onto the floor.
But the result of the exchange was obvious.
Miao Feichi staggered backward in a daze.
One of the reasons Miao Feichi had always disliked Mu Shicheng was because his resistance stat was low.
And against players with high judgment skills—whether someone like Mu Shicheng or someone like Liu Huai, whose attacks targeted mental value directly—that weakness became fatal.
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The combination of [Thief and Assassin] had originally been designed specifically to counter low-resistance players through rapid judgment-based attacks.
But over time, everyone had forgotten about the Assassin standing in the shadows behind the puppet strings.
All they remembered was the flamboyant, arrogant Thief.
“Feichi!” Miao Gaojiang roared. “Bai Liu teamed up with Liu Huai! It’s an ambush! Drink the Mental Bleach now!!”
The moment he saw Bai Liu charging toward Mu Ke—who was still trapped in his arms—Miao Gaojiang snapped out of his shock.
He immediately twisted Mu Ke’s neck, intending to kill him on the spot.
But Bai Liu moved like a gust of wind sweeping across the floor.
Barefoot, he crossed the corridor at a speed almost impossible to follow with the naked eye. Only fragmented afterimages remained behind as he stepped lightly across the ground and appeared directly in front of Miao Gaojiang.
Bai Liu raised his right hand high.
Instinctively, Miao Gaojiang lifted his arm to block.
But it was a feint.
Bai Liu’s calm gaze never left the unconscious Mu Ke in Miao Gaojiang’s grasp.
His left hand—the monkey claw—shot out at a bizarre, twisted angle and hooked directly into the back of Mu Ke’s collar, wrenching him free with brutal force before hurling him across the slick corridor floor.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has successfully used personal skill (The Thief’s Trained Capuchin Monkey) to steal Player Mu Ke from Player Miao Gaojiang.]
Mu Ke’s unconscious body skidded across the corridor before crashing hard into the elevator doors at the far end.
The impact jolted him awake.
Coughing violently, he scrambled upright and stared blankly at Bai Liu and Miao Gaojiang, who were already fighting in the corridor. His mind was still muddled, unable to process what was happening.
Miao Gaojiang immediately tried to rush forward and kill Mu Ke again.
But Bai Liu sprinted sideways along the wall like a streak of wind, intercepting him mid-charge.
Looking directly into Miao Gaojiang’s startled eyes, Bai Liu attacked without pause while shouting sharply toward Mu Ke:
“Take the elevator downstairs and call the nurses from the other floors!”
Though still confused, Mu Ke instantly understood the command.
He scrambled into the elevator and frantically hammered the button for the first floor.
Held back by Bai Liu, Miao Gaojiang could only watch helplessly as the elevator doors slowly closed.
Inside the elevator, Mu Ke collapsed against the mirrored wall, breathing hard.
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But after only a few seconds, realization suddenly hit him.
Mu Ke sat bolt upright, his face full of shock.
Was Bai Liu insane?!
He was actually cooperating with Liu Huai to counterattack the Miao father and son?!
At that very moment, Miao Gaojiang was thinking the exact same thing.
Watching Bai Liu attack him from every angle, Miao Gaojiang felt as though he’d lost his mind.
Using Liu Huai to ambush and stall Miao Feichi—a high-attack S-rank player—
and then sending a low-health player like Bai Liu to pressure a tank-type player like himself?!
What kind of suicidal battle plan was this?!
Had Bai Liu gone completely crazy?!
But the instant Miao Gaojiang saw the black monkey claw reaching toward him, his chaotic thoughts froze.
That was Mu Shicheng’s skill.
[Thief’s Monkey Claw].
“...That’s Mu Shicheng’s skill. How can you use it?!” Miao Gaojiang stared at Bai Liu in disbelief.
Finally, he understood what he was facing.
“Your personal skill... it’s rule-based?!”
“Not only can you share backpacks across dimensions and timelines—you can even share skills?!”
Bai Liu ignored the question entirely.
He continued attacking with relentless speed.
While gritting his teeth and defending himself, Miao Gaojiang glanced sideways toward Miao Feichi, who remained trapped by Liu Huai.
And in that moment—
he finally understood Bai Liu’s strategy.
It was absurdly simple.
Bai Liu had never intended to fight them head-on.
He was using an old tactic.
The classic [Thief and Assassin] setup.
Bai Liu wanted to steal something from them.
After having the Assassin ambush and drag away the high-damage player, Bai Liu, acting as the Thief, would exploit the opening to steal “loot” from the remaining target.
This was the exact tactic Mu Shicheng and Liu Huai had once used repeatedly against other player groups.
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The Assassin would ambush and lure away the stronger attacker.
Then the Thief would rob whoever remained.
Miao Gaojiang narrowly dodged another monkey claw that sliced past his cheek.
Grinding his teeth, he swung a vicious punch toward Bai Liu, but Bai Liu slipped away with infuriating agility.
Dammit.
This was exactly why nobody wanted to deal with Mu Shicheng.
The Thief’s skill was slippery as oil and disgustingly difficult to pin down.
Bai Liu’s attacks couldn’t meaningfully injure S-rank players like Miao Gaojiang or Miao Feichi.
But likewise, catching Bai Liu wasn’t easy either.
Under normal circumstances, the fight would devolve into a stalemate.
But Bai Liu’s frantic, almost suicidal attempts to steal from him made Miao Gaojiang realize one thing immediately—
whatever Bai Liu wanted, it was extremely important.
Important enough that he was gambling everyone’s lives on this ambush.
Thinking that far, Miao Gaojiang couldn’t stop himself from cursing internally again.
What part of this was # Nоvеlight # a normal player route?!
This lunatic had staked everything on a group of NPC children generated by the game.
He was risking his own life just to buy those children a chance to escape.
...But what kind of item could possibly stall two S-rank players?
Whatever Bai Liu wanted to steal had to be decisive.
A one-hit kill type of item.
Otherwise, this entire [Thief and Assassin] speed assault would be meaningless.
If the stolen item couldn’t instantly cripple them, then the moment Miao Feichi recovered, his overwhelming attack power and speed would erase all three of them immediately.
But such an item simply didn’t exist.
Miao Gaojiang wasn’t being arrogant.
It was an objective fact.
There was nothing on him capable of bypassing his own resistance panel.
So what exactly was Bai Liu trying to steal?!
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No matter what it was—
Bai Liu wouldn’t get it.
Miao Gaojiang’s mind rapidly settled into clarity.
He glanced toward Miao Feichi, who was still occupied by Liu Huai, and completely calmed down.
Bai Liu’s plan had one fatal flaw.
Even after separating Miao Feichi from the fight, stealing from Miao Gaojiang himself was still nearly impossible.
The amount of power Bai Liu could exert using [Thief’s Monkey Claw] on an F-rank panel was far too limited.
Miao Gaojiang couldn’t catch him easily—
but Bai Liu couldn’t penetrate his defenses either.
Especially after activating his personal skill.
[System Notification: Does Player Miao Gaojiang wish to fully activate personal skill (Carrion Zombies)?]
[Once fully activated, the skill will temporarily upgrade to S-rank. However, excessive stamina consumption will prevent use of stamina recovery potions for 24 hours.]
Miao Gaojiang: [Confirm.]
[System Notification: Activation confirmed.]
[Body undergoing zombie transformation.]
[Defense +8037.]
[Stamina rapidly decreasing...]
Miao Gaojiang’s body immediately began swelling grotesquely.
His skin turned thick and bruised purple. The fangs at the corners of his mouth lengthened, while his eyes glowed an eerie green.
When Bai Liu’s monkey claw struck his skin, the impact produced the metallic screech of steel colliding with steel.
It felt like striking solid iron.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu’s (Thief’s Monkey Claw) attack judgment insufficient. Attack ineffective.]
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Miao Gaojiang’s palms enlarged dramatically, black nails extending like hooked claws as he swung toward Bai Liu.
Missing the attack, Bai Liu planted one foot against the wall and dodged upward with nimble speed.
Miao Gaojiang’s claws tore through the wall behind him, shattering the concrete apart.
But even this monstrous transformation failed to shake Bai Liu’s offensive in the slightest.
His gaze remained cold and steady, utterly indifferent to the fact his attacks were ineffective.
Lightly tapping against the wall with the ball of his foot, Bai Liu flipped through the air at astonishing speed and attacked again with the monkey claw.
Miao Gaojiang had completely stopped panicking.
Rather than chasing Bai Liu around, he simply stood his ground like a patient old hunter waiting for exhausted prey to collapse.
Statistically speaking, as long as his skill remained active, it was impossible for Bai Liu to steal anything from him.
All he had to do was stall.
Once Miao Feichi finished dealing with Liu Huai, the two of them together would kill Bai Liu within minutes.
And Bai Liu clearly understood that this entire speed-assault strategy was an all-or-nothing gamble.
If they failed to end things quickly, death was inevitable.
That was why Bai Liu had sent Mu Ke downstairs to call the nurses.
An insurance policy.
If the fight dragged on long enough for the nurses to arrive, those NPCs—with their inherent authority over players—could interfere with Miao Gaojiang and Miao Feichi’s counterattack.
But—
“I think,” Miao Gaojiang sneered contemptuously, “that before the nurses arrive to save you...”
“...this fight will already be over.”
“They’ll only be here to collect the corpses.”
Perched atop a cabinet, Bai Liu lowered his eyes and looked calmly down at Miao Gaojiang below him.
“I agree,” he said evenly.
“With your opinion.”
Miao Gaojiang immediately realized Bai Liu meant their corpses.
His expression darkened instantly.
“Still acting tough at a time like this,” he cursed coldly.
