How Do We Play If This Boss Isn't Nerfed?-Chapter 74 - 72: Ruined City Plus
As Lin Ye’s character fully materialized.
He regained all five of his senses.
The acrid smell of rain-eaten rust, the dusty scent of shattered concrete, and...
...the faint, rank stench of various mutated beasts drifting from the city’s deepest shadows—a foul mix of musk and rot. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but ruins and rubble.
This was no longer a simple case of déjà vu.
He truly felt like he had come home.
Though a storm was brewing in his heart, Lin Ye’s movements retained a caution that was etched into his very bones.
He didn’t rush into action. Instead, he crouched low, like a shadow, melting completely into the dead silence of the ruins as he moved quickly and soundlessly along the edge of the rooftop.
Lin Ye’s primary objective was to observe.
Observe the terrain of this area, and observe the distribution and types of monsters.
This was a lesson Lin Ye had learned from countless nights in the ruined city.
Soon, his gaze locked onto a corner of the street below.
There, a scrawny mutated dog with patchy fur was gnawing on something.
Its movements were full of nervous vigilance, its head jerking up from time to time to scan its surroundings.
In Lin Ye’s vision, level information appeared above the mutated dog’s head.
[LV.9]
It was a similar level to the monsters he had encountered in the outer ring of the ruined city before.
Lin Ye chose not to attack from a distance.
He slid silently down to a lower floor, using the exposed rebar and broken sections of the building’s exterior.
The entire process didn’t make a single unnecessary sound.
The mutated dog was still tearing at its meal, completely unaware of the death that was upon it.
Only when Lin Ye stepped out from the shadows to its side and rear did it jolt in alarm, a threatening growl rumbling in its throat.
But it was too late.
SHLICK!
Lin Ye’s figure stepped forward like a ghost. With no flashy moves, his standard-issue long spear shot out with the simplest and most efficient speed, accurately piercing through the mutated dog’s eye socket and straight through the back of its skull!
The entire motion was fluid and seamless.
The mutated dog’s body went rigid. Its growl cut off abruptly as the life was instantly drained from it.
And just a second before it dissolved into a stream of data...
...a cold notification sound echoed in Lin Ye’s mind.
[You have slain a LV.9 Mutated Dog.]
[Affected by *Five Qi Guiding Formulas*, your experience multiplier has been set to 150%. You have gained 24 experience points!]
Lin Ye’s eyes lit up instantly!
’It gives EXP?’
’And full EXP at that!’
The discovery made him feel his own heart beat faster.
If killing monsters in reality meant the system absorbed their life energy or souls to grant EXP...
...then where did the EXP come from in this virtual world made entirely of data?
’Or maybe my guess was completely wrong, and there was never a setting for absorbing energy and souls in the first place.’
’It could just be that as my combat experience grows, the system simply makes me stronger.’
Lin Ye couldn’t figure it out.
Nor did he dwell on it for too long.
’When God closes one ruined city for you, does he turn around and open another, even better-equipped one?’
A long-forgotten excitement, so intense it was almost a tremor, shot up his spine and straight to the top of his head.
This was the Virtual Space.
In the real world, he only had one life. Every step had to be taken as if on thin ice, calculated down to the last detail.
But here...
...although death meant elimination according to the rules, he wouldn’t truly die.
He could completely cast aside his deepest-held reservations from the real world and treat this place as a leveling paradise with infinitely more freedom!
His only slight regret was that killing monsters here couldn’t trigger the passive effect of *Soul Furnace*.
He couldn’t permanently increase his maximum Life Value by devouring souls like he could in the real ruined city.
But that single flaw couldn’t overshadow its brilliance!
Lin Ye had no time to revel in this discovery; instead, a sharp pang of regret struck him.
’Why does this competition only last for a mere three days!’
If he had more time, Lin Ye would even want to stay here until he had killed every last mutated beast!
Before he could grieve his lost opportunity, Lin Ye’s ears twitched. He immediately crouched down, instantly ducking back behind the wreckage of a nearby building.
There was a sound.
It wasn’t the chaotic, disorderly footsteps of a mutated beast.
It was the hurried, panicked footsteps of a human, accompanied by heavy panting.
Carried on the wind, Lin Ye even caught the stench of... urine.
He held his breath and peered out through a crack in the wall he was using for cover.
In his line of sight, a young Martial Artist of about his age, wearing the combat uniform of another Dongjiang Martial Arts High School, was scrambling and stumbling as he fled for his life.
His face was a mask of terror.
Above his head, the [LV.12] level indicator was clearly visible.
And behind him, a burly, tusked, LV.9 mutated boar pursued him relentlessly with heavy steps.
The young Martial Artist had a gash on his right leg so deep the bone was visible, dripping blood. It had clearly been pierced by the boar’s tusk in a previous encounter.
A question mark practically appeared over Lin Ye’s head.
What Lin Ye found even more absurd was the wet trail the person left behind as he ran.
He had pissed himself in fear.
Lin Ye didn’t understand, but he was thoroughly shocked.
’A Level 12 Martial Artist gets successfully ambushed by a mutated boar three levels lower than him, and his only reaction is to lose his nerve and run for his life?’
’Not even thinking of fighting back.’
’Are these so-called geniuses really this fragile in actual combat?’
The next moment, Lin Ye’s pupils contracted slightly.
He saw three black shadows dash out from another fork in the road, drawn by the thick scent of blood.
They were three mutated hounds with extremely keen senses of smell, all of them LV.10.
They swarmed forward, instantly cutting off the young Martial Artist’s only escape route.
Hounds in front, a boar behind.
It was a hopeless situation.
The young Martial Artist let out a despairing scream, his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.
The scene that followed was bloody and brutal.
The mutated boar let out an excited roar, its massive body charging like a tank and ramming violently into the man’s chest.
The crisp sound of shattering bones was clearly audible.
The three hounds pounced like starving wolves.
One of them precisely bit through his throat in a single snap.
Another was even more savage, sinking its teeth directly into the wound on his inner thigh and tearing at it wildly.
The last one even brutally ripped open his pants, dug straight into his anus, and spilled his intestines and organs all over the ground.
His screams lasted less than two seconds before being drowned out by the excited sounds of the monsters chewing and tearing.
Lin Ye watched all of this unfold, his expression impassive.
He saw a faint stream of light rise from the mangled corpse, shoot toward the sky, and disappear.
’That must be his consciousness.’
But his body remained, becoming food for the squabbling monsters.
Lin Ye’s gaze shifted from the corpse, which had been devoured until it was unrecognizable, without a ripple of emotion.
Only after confirming there were no other hidden observers did he slowly step out from the shadows of the building.
The LV.9 mutated boar was excitedly nudging pieces of the corpse with its tusks, letting out satisfied grunts.
The three LV.10 mutated hounds were off to the side, tearing at the intestines and growling at each other as they fought over the choice organs.
Lin Ye’s footsteps were silent, like a leaf drifting onto the surface of water.
The four mutated beasts were engrossed in their feast of flesh and blood, completely unaware that a human had come up behind them.
It wasn’t until Lin Ye was within three meters that the beasts seemed to sense something and whipped their heads around.
What one of them saw was the black afterimage of a spear, moving at unbelievable speed.
SCHLUK!
Though it moved second, the long spear struck first, accurately plunging into the hound’s open mouth, exiting through the back of its neck, and pinning it firmly to the ground!
Startled, the other two hounds and the boar simultaneously let out enraged roars and turned to lunge at him!
