Descending all the way to the fifth floor, Gu Ran paused his steps as he crossed the corridor corner, choosing not to continue his escape but to stand firm against the wall instead.
With the Mechanical Bow and quiver strapped to his back, he instead drew the short-handled machete from his waist, his muscles tensing, almost indicative of a thunderous strike to be unleashed next.
The reason for forsaking the Mechanical Bow in favor of close combat was quite simple: during the descent, the quiver had been depleted to only four arrows left, and even if all four arrows were to hit the same Goblin, it was unlikely to kill it outright.
And even if he managed to kill one, there was still a second one, wasn't there?
In other words, close combat was inevitable; thus, he decided to use the limited visibility around the corridor corner to create an opportunity for an instant kill.
Offensive close combat, rather than being reactive, might catch the enemy by surprise; this was Gu Ran's thought at this very moment.
As long as he could kill one first, the second would be much easier to handle.
Thud, thud, thud!!
The rush of footsteps grew from distant to near, Gu Ran's eyes narrowed into slits, a murmur audible only to himself whispered in his heart.
"Three, two, one!"
As the word "one" sounded, he burst forth, stepping forward, and as his figure was exposed, his right hand swung the short-handled machete out at incredible speed, targeting the neck of the Goblin running ahead.
Swish!
A cold gleam flashed, and the next moment, the Goblin's head in front of him was severed from its body, startlingly decapitated by a single stroke.
This revealed just how fearsome the force of Gu Ran's strike was, to the extent that even the Goblin following closely behind paused abruptly, seemingly unable to react.
However, Gu Ran himself was not surprised. Not only were Goblins not known for their sturdiness, but also with his level advantage and a body enhanced twice, it was not strange for a full-force strike to be this powerful.
Ignoring the loot in front of him, Gu Ran sheathed the machete and dashed along the fifth floor's corridor once again, without a hint of reluctance.
At the same time, he took down the Mechanical Bow from his back once more, readying an arrow, continuing the kite-fighting tactic from before.
Gu Ran's series of actions might not seem dazzling, but due to sufficient decisiveness and agility, they appeared pleasingly efficient and resolute.
Of course... this was destined to be a one-man show with no audience.
The second Goblin soon fell to the precise attack of four successive arrows.
Standing at the end of the corridor on the fifth floor, Gu Ran's expression was calm, his figure standing still, not choosing to approach immediately, waiting several seconds until a beam of white light shot out from the Goblin's corpse.
Once the mechanical notification sounded in his ear, he stepped forward to collect the loot.
It must be said that after the crisis with the ogre, Gu Ran had indeed grown a lot. He might not have felt it directly, but it was a fact.
.....
As he picked up the drops, the corners of his mouth twitched, unable to suppress the joy in his heart.
Not only had he killed two with one, but crucially, he did so without using the power of the Eye of Insight card. Truthfully, Gu Ran was extremely satisfied with his own performance.
After a quick sweep of the ground, he found a bedroom with an intact door lock and began to examine the loot.
The two Goblins combined dropped three cards, one of which was a "2-point" denomination card fragment, allowing his card points to break into double digits, reaching 11 points.
The other two gave Gu Ran a great surprise: both were fragments of the "Chieftain's Whistle" card, identical to the last time.
This meant he could now directly piece together a complete "Chieftain's Whistle" Miracle Card. The sudden surprise made Gu Ran initially think he was dreaming.
After repeatedly checking the attributes of the two cards several times, he was certain he hadn't seen wrong.
However, the excitement in his heart refused to dissipate.
As far as he knew, the Goblins could drop two kinds of Miracle Cards: one was the "Chieftain's Whistle," and the other was the "Goblin Standard Wolf Fang Club" that had appeared in the First-Kill Benefit Card.
Even if there were only these two types, the probability of getting the same card from three consecutive Goblins was also pitifully low.
He had thought that he would need to wait at least a few more days to have a slim chance of collecting three pieces of the Chieftain's Whistle.
But he didn't expect that just tens of minutes later, he would obtain his second complete Miracle Card; it wasn't strange that Gu Ran lost his composure.
[Do you confirm the fusion of the three card pieces into one complete card?]
"Confirmed!" With his firm response, a flash of light appeared before him and the three stacked card pieces in his hand disappeared, replaced by a complete "Chieftain's Whistle" card.
[Azurestone Card•Chieftain's Whistle]
[Quality: Blue Stone One Star (Common)]
[Passive: Equipping this card…]
...…
After repeatedly ensuring that the "Fragments" term was indeed gone from the top row of the attribute panel, Gu Ran finally let go of his anxiety.
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he forced himself to calm down.
The Chieftain's Whistle card was collected back into the card book, and then Gu Ran quickly left the room.
Happy as he was, the most important thing right now was to clear the monsters from the entire building as soon as possible.
Gripping the Mechanical Bow tightly once again, he walked slowly towards the sixth floor; the only thought in his mind was one.
Since his level had increased, and he had acquired another complete Miracle Card, why not take advantage of today and clear the entire building in one go?
...…
No sooner said than done, Gu Ran quickly returned to the sixth floor, but this time there were no more monster figures.
It seemed that besides those two Goblins earlier, there were no other creatures on this floor, um... of course, that included people.
"??"
After checking all the rooms on the sixth floor, Gu Ran's confusion deepened; the rooms on this floor were almost identical to those on the fifth floor with all the doors violently smashed open, yet there were no signs of any human survivors.
"Could they be on the seventh floor?"
His gaze was fixed on the ceiling above, the last floor of the residential building, with the rooftop above that, were there really any survivors up there?
Gu Ran's brows were slightly furrowed, a hint of unease crept into his heart without notice.
If there truly were survivors, and if all the rooms on the fifth and sixth floors had been visited by "humans," then whence came those two Goblins on this sixth floor?
Could it be that they came up from the lower floors, the first or second? Or was it a careless omission by the survivors while searching through the rooms?
He felt that both possibilities were unlikely.
PS: During the new book period, the reading data of followers is very important, so I hope that readers try not to save books for later, thank you!!