"Prepare for battle."
Yang Shung's face became extremely serious, and he unfolded the basic shield in his hand.
They had just traveled here and stopped to rest for a few minutes, restoring their health and mana.
The beautiful girl, Lin Liyu, holding the staff, had been upset about not adding Yang Shung as a friend earlier.
"It must be because I'm covered in mud, and the boss hates me, wuwu…"
She was about to cry, but before she could be sad for long, the sight ahead shocked her. She quickly grabbed her staff, ready for battle.
More than a dozen crawlers appeared!
They had just wiped out a team of six players in seconds!
At first, Wang Meng prepared for battle, but...
The crawlers stopped, looked at their team, seemed afraid, and fled.
Before running, they absorbed the non-tradable lifespans from the six fallen players.
These monsters absorbed and stored lifespan quickly, and soon, they disappeared into the forest.
"Running away?" Wang Meng and the others were stunned.
"These monsters… they don't follow the rules!"
"And they're faster than I thought," Wang Meng muttered.
The crawlers weren't as fast as the sprinters, but they were still too fast for them to catch.
"They know how to pick their fights?" Lin Liyu wondered, confused.
Everyone stood there, amazed by the creatures' intelligence. In this 'God Forsaken Game,' monsters didn't wait to be killed—they attacked in groups and stole players' lifespans.
"What now?" Wang Meng finally spoke. "Let's move on."
They kept walking and soon spotted another team of six. Three had already fallen, and the remaining three were running, pursued by five crawlers.
"Arcane Orb!"
"Three consecutive shots!"
Two ranged players in Wang Meng's group fired at the crawlers, each hitting one and reducing their health slightly.
"Surround them! Don't let them get away!" Wang Meng shouted.
He rushed forward, shield raised, leaping into the air and smashing down hard, stunning the crawlers.
The fight was chaotic, and similar scenes played out all around Shell Town. Players were getting wiped out by coordinated monsters.
Back at the resurrection point, players were being reborn constantly. Their faces were filled with frustration.
"We have to reach level 3 to go back to reality. I thought it would be easy, but..."
"Monsters are teaming up. Do we have to risk our lives to level up?"
"I wonder, what if we can't hit level 3? Are we stuck here forever?"
"Won't we just end up in a coma in the real world?"
"We need more people. A team of six isn't enough. We need at least two or three teams!"
"No, too many people will attract a BOSS. Just now, a group of 40 attracted a 'Curser' and lost half their team in one skill…"
Everyone was terrified.
At that moment, a name appeared on the Shell Town leaderboard.
'Shadow' had reached level 3.
"Damn, 'Shadow' is that strong?"
"We're struggling to kill regular monsters, but he levels up so fast?"
"Seems like Shadow is playing solo. No one else is even close to his level."
At that moment, Li Zi, codenamed 'Yali,' resurrected with her team.
Her face was dark with frustration.
This was her third death.
Her non-tradable lifespan had gone from 80 years to just 10. She was under heavy psychological pressure.
Her teammate, a long-haired girl, spoke up nervously.
"Sister Li Zi… what should we do now?"
Their team had killed four crawlers, but each had less than ten experience points. Reaching level 2, let alone 3, seemed far off. And even those four crawlers had been a struggle.
"We can't let anyone die again," Yali said, frowning.
She noticed the leaderboard and saw that 'Shadow' had reached level 3.
Her eyes lit up.
"Everyone, spread the word!"
"I'll pay 10 million RMB to let Shadow help me level up to 3. If he's that fast, he can help me, right?"
Soon, word spread around Shell Town. A wealthy lady was willing to pay 10 million RMB to have 'Shadow' help her level up!
---
Meanwhile, Yang Shung was heading back after killing the Sprinter. He had taken down more than ten crawlers in the dense forest, earning an extra evolution point.
He used the point to evolve his 'Greedy Hand' ability.
---
[You have consumed 5 evolution points, and have 0 points remaining.]
[Hand of Greed (Platinum → Emerald): Assassin skill. Can be used on monster corpses, with a 110% → 160% chance to get an extra loot reward. The extra loot has a 20% chance to be upgraded by 1 grade.]
---
Yang Shung's 'Greedy Hand' evolved to Emerald level, giving it a special effect: a 20% chance to upgrade extra loot!
"This is amazing!" Yang Shung grinned. "If it evolves further, I'll get even better loot! Bronze BOSS drops silver gear, silver BOSS drops gold gear…"
He had already memorized the location of a BOSS called 'The Curser,' a monster in the form of a dried-up tree man. It had already killed dozens of players and was hiding in the forest, digesting its stolen lifespans.
Soon, the Curser would become a silver-level BOSS!