DEG - Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Implicated
Berry Milkshake stared at the quest that popped up right in her face.
Seeing the high star coins reward and the requirements that were so simple it was basically a giveaway, she fell into deep thought.
Wei Jin wasn't worried they'd refuse. As far as he knew, creatures like players were always unscrupulous and profit-driven.
Berry Milkshake and I Heal Your Whole Family exchanged a look.
"What should we do? Take that quest?"
I Heal Your Whole Family raised an eyebrow and held out a hand to Wei Jin. "Give us the money and we'll leave."
Berry Milkshake quickly grabbed I Heal Your Whole Family's hand, who patted her back reassuringly.
Berry Milkshake knew she must have something up her sleeve.
Hearing their swift transaction, Jiang Xun fiddled with the card in her hand.
The Eldest Miss was already getting impatient, pacing around in the room.
She wondered if Nanqiu would spare a glance for her in this world.
Jiang Xun put on a show of struggling. Shielded from view, her face was expressionless, but her voice was urgent.
"No, save me! I have money too!!"
"I drew a really powerful card this time! I can definitely make a lot of money fighting in the arena!!"
But Wei Jin had already cleanly transferred the money, and I Heal Your Whole Family pulled Berry Milkshake away.
Berry Milkshake kept looking back as she walked, clearly a little regretful.
Jiang Xun also regretfully tucked the card away, thinking that in some ways, the Eldest Miss was also quite ruthless.
But just as she finished the motion, Wei Jin slammed her to the ground with enough force to nearly shatter her bones.
"What are you trying to do? We have no grudge against each other..." Her voice trembled violently. Through tear-blurred eyes, she saw Wei Jin point his gun at her again.
Does he really want to kill me?
A trace of doubt flashed through Jiang Xun's mind.
Then why not just carry out the assassination cleanly back in the room?
She pricked up her ears, trying to sense the faint movements around her, but unfortunately, there were too many people, and the sounds of breathing were a chaotic mess.
Wei Jin fired. The bullet was inches away, and Jiang Xun's hand, pressed to the ground, twitched. But in the next instant, another bullet appeared before her eyes.
The moment seemed to play out in slow motion. The two bullets collided, veering off their trajectories and ultimately flying off behind Jiang Xun.
"Who's there!" Jiang Xun heard Wei Jin demand.
The next moment, a man in a brand-new combat suit leaped down from a wall.
His short, dark blue hair bounced, giving him a roguish charm.
"Bullying a lonely little girl... isn't that a bit much?" He twirled the gun in his hand as he slowly approached.
Wei Jin sneered. "A hero saving the beauty?"
Jiang Xun: ...
She had a sudden realization.
So that was the plan.
Once she had a lead and confirmed the two were working together, Jiang Xun could deduce a few things.
First, this group didn't seem to be after her life.
Hmm, a hero saving the beauty. They want me to fall in love with him.
Based on the original owner's eighteen years of life experience, she didn't think anyone would go to such great lengths to win her heart this way.
So, this must be an enemy of that little gang leader.
To be precise, an enemy from within the same gang, a rival who's probably been on the losing end.
Looked at this way, the situation became much clearer.
After the man and Wei Jin finished their verbal sparring, they began an intense, staged fight.
If the original owner had been here, she might have actually fallen into the "hero saves the beauty" trap.
After all, the man who came to save her was the one who won in the end.
And then he turned, wiped the blood from his cheek with his hand, and walked step by step toward Jiang Xun, whose eyes were red-rimmed.
"Are you okay?" He held out his hand. His voice was slightly cold, but it couldn't hide his concern.
Sigh, not bad acting.
He'd get good grades in a camouflage class.
But could he please not perform right in front of her?
Jiang Xun felt a strange sense of discomfort.
So uncomfortable that she couldn't keep up the act anymore.
Besides, there was no need for her to keep playing the fragile damsel now.
Jiang Xun was hesitating.
Meanwhile, Berry Milkshake, who had walked halfway before coming back to watch the scene unfold, nudged I Heal Your Whole Family's waist with her elbow and sent a private message, "Something feels off to me."
"This doesn't feel like a hero saving the beauty."
"It's a bit fishy."
I Heal Your Whole Family watched Jiang Xun, who was still hesitating to take the man's hand. "Indeed."
It's said that players are profit-driven and have no conscience.
Having been an immersive quester for years, I Heal Your Whole Family had long since developed her own set of rules for completing quests.
After leading Berry Milkshake a short distance away and splitting the star coins, Berry Milkshake saw the quest issued by Jiang Xun turn gray, meaning it had expired. She was a little unhappy.
"I still think there's a major quest line if we follow Jiang Xun."
I Heal Your Whole Family hummed in agreement. "I think so too."
"?"
Berry Milkshake's face was a big question mark, as if asking, Then why did you still take Wei Jin's money?
"It's just one part of the chain."
"Have Big Orange turn around."
"We'll grind some NPC favorability. As long as we can explain ourselves, we can probably still get in on the follow-up quests."
That was why the players were back here now.
The two of them had no intention of disrupting the plot's performance.
Berry Milkshake asked in a private message, "I have a feeling Jiang Xun is about to punch this NPC?"
I Heal Your Whole Family replied, "And I think Jiang Xun has a different CP."
"?"
"What are you shipping now?"
While the players were chatting excitedly, Jiang Xun finally, reluctantly, placed her hand in the man's.
Her gray eyes were calm, yet held a hint of apprehension.
The man felt something was off, but then decided Jiang Xun was just forcing herself to stay calm.
So he kept smiling and even said reassuringly, "Don't worry, I've taken care of him. You're a student, right? Why would you choose to live here...?"
He talked way too much.
Jiang Xun sighed.
And so, before the man could finish his sentence, Jiang Xun grabbed his wrist and, with a skillful burst of force, swung his entire body into the air. The smile froze on his face.
Then, with a loud thud, he was slammed onto the ground. Blood trickled from his forehead.
Jiang Xun also took the opportunity to kick the gun out of the man's hand.
Berry Milkshake: ...
She watched the entire sequence, stunned.
The speed, the deftness of her movements, left Berry Milkshake dumbfounded. She gripped I Heal Your Whole Family's arm tightly. "Holy crap, that was so cool..."
"That move... was seriously badass..."
The throw left the man completely dazed. He finally realized what was happening, and his expression changed despite himself. "You!"
But halfway through the word, what little reason he had left reminded him of his goal. His face twisted as he asked, his voice strained and his feigned concern unable to hide his anger, "What are you trying to do?"
Jiang Xun shook her slightly sore arm, glanced back in confusion, then walked over to Wei Jin, who was lying on the ground. Seeing that he was still playing dead, she rose onto her toes and kicked him, sending him flying next to the other man.
The two collided, taking more damage.
Only then did Jiang Xun answer the man's question. "Ending this clumsy farce."
Her gray eyes were incredibly sharp and cold, as if she had seen through everything.
Wei Jin also "woke up" from his feigned unconsciousness. He looked at his boss, who was staring in disbelief, seemingly still not understanding what had happened, and cursed under his breath.
"This bitch is playing us."
He knew it! How else could this bitch have dodged all his shots by some fluke?
Jiang Xun looked at the two of them, who now looked like they wanted to skin her alive for revenge, and then turned her gaze to the players.
A new quest from Jiang Xun popped up in their list.
【Help Jiang Xun escape her predicament.】
It was probably a chain quest following the last one, so there was no instant reward.
"Big Orange!" Berry Milkshake summoned her contracted Star Beast.
And because they were now in a combat state, they could see the NPC's panel without using an appraisal skill.
Then I Heal Your Whole Family gasped.
Countless healing and MP-restoring spells rained down on Jiang Xun.
Ahhh, your health bar is only half full, and your MP bar is almost empty! How dare you take on these two NPCs!!!
In the players' eyes, Jiang Xun was completely overestimating herself. The quality of her Ability aside, how could a level 20-something, a third-rate ability user among the game's NPCs, take on two level 50-plus opponents?
She even kicked one away and threw the other to the ground!
And she was in a state where she looked like she could die any second!
I Heal Your Whole Family was now thankful for her powerful heals. While chugging a blue potion-a Mental Power potion-she topped off Jiang Xun's health bar.
She was terrified that if Jiang Xun got grazed by a stray bullet, their quest would be gone.
But because Jiang Xun had a "grievously poisoned" debuff, her health bar could never be fully healed.
I Heal Your Whole Family could understand that part.
What she didn't understand was why Jiang Xun's Mental Power could never be fully restored either?!
Out of 100%, she could only heal it up to 99%.
How could this be!!
Did this strange poison also debuff Mental Power?
Why didn't she see a notification?
But Jiang Xun didn't give her a chance to look for one.
Thanks to the heals from I Heal Your Whole Family.
Jiang Xun felt much better.
Although her Mental Power was still somewhat depleted, her sea of consciousness was simply too vast. A level 60-plus player still struggled to heal her.
But this was enough.
A level 50 Star Beast was indeed having a hard time dealing with two level 50-plus NPCs, even with its master hiding in the back and applying all sorts of buffs.
Seeing Jiang Xun step out from behind the Star Beast, a trace of resentment appeared in both men's eyes-the resentment of those used to being in charge after feeling like they'd been played.
They wished they could grind her bones to dust to avenge the humiliation they had just suffered.
Wei Jin's Ability was metal control. In the Slums, which were filled with scrap metal, he was on his home turf.
He formed the metal into bullets and loaded them into his magazine, giving him an endless supply of ammunition here.
He fired his pistol with the intensity of a submachine gun, sending a dense barrage of bullets at Jiang Xun.
I Heal Your Whole Family's heart leaped into her throat. She watched Jiang Xun's health bar closely, confident she could replenish it quickly.
But after the dense hail of bullets, the health bar hadn't moved.
And Jiang Xun was already standing on Wei Jin's shoulder.
She even bent down, tilted her head with a smile, and asked Wei Jin, "Are you looking for this?"
Her gray eyes seemed gentle at that moment.
But when Wei Jin saw the object, a cold sweat instantly broke out on his skin.
It was a needle that Wei Jin had secretly formed from metal and hidden within the dense barrage of bullets.
It had been aimed at Jiang Xun's temple, an attempt at a one-hit kill. Many of his enemies had died to this very attack.
But...
Jiang Xun had found it.
It rested obediently in the palm of her hand.
Jiang Xun was definitely not a simple level 23!
Who sent her?
Why was she pretending to be weak?
What was she doing here?
What had she discovered?!
His hands were so slick with cold sweat that he could barely hold his gun. His nostrils flared as he panted heavily. The composite metal on his body instantly formed a suit of armor under his control, tightly encasing every inch of his skin.
He was terrified that Jiang Xun would stab the thing into his skull in the next moment.
Jiang Xun tapped the iron shell, a little frustrated.
Her current physical body's level wasn't high enough for her to tear through metal with her bare hands.
It seemed she would have to use her own Ability.
She thought with a smile.
I Heal Your Whole Family saw Jiang Xun's MP bar plummet in an instant. She quickly cast two heals, but it was of little use. The bar bounced wildly a couple of times before obediently flatlining.
Jiang Xun's face turned pale, and a dark, hazy, fog-like substance appeared at her fingertips.
What is that?
I Heal Your Whole Family stared blankly.
It felt...
Terrifying.
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