Asura!

I had finally completed the evolution necessary to transform from a Night Creature into a higher-rank undead!

I pulled down the hood on my head and adjusted the camera angle for a bit. A handsome face immediately entered my view. It was a man clad in glowing armor and fluttering battle robe with a sharp blade in his hand. Despite looking stern and unruly, his eyes looked as clear and as deep as a lake.

“Heh… hehe…”

I laughed dumbly for a second while all sorts of emotions churned inside me. I, Lu Chen, could finally show my true appearance to the world!

I was sorely tempted to screenshot my current appearance and send it to He Yi right away, but I held back the impulse immediately. It wasn’t time yet.

But I would show He Yi my true appearance one day. I would show her that Falling Dust had returned not as Lu Chen, but as Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!

Still overjoyed, I opened the skill window to see what the evolution had brought me. The first skill in the list was a passive skill.

Deterrence: Strikes fear into the hearts of all undead units within 5 yards of the player and reduces their stats by 25%!

…...

WTF!?

I was so stunned I didn’t move for a time. This “Deterrence” is absolutely ridiculous! Not only does it “strike fear” into nearby undead units, it reduces all their stats by a whopping 25%! 25%! If a mob had 1000 Attack, then they would be left with 750 Attack after they got near me! It is incredible to say the least!

My confidence grew by leaps and bounds. No matter how powerful the Violet Knights were, there was no way they could defeat me after their Attack, Defense and HP were reduced by 25%. Just like the Flying Shadows, I doubted that they could pierce my Defense!

Mn, this “Deterrence” is absolutely OP!

Ambition filled every corner of my heart. If an Asura was already this powerful, then what would I get for my next ascension, Asura King, or an even higher stage of evolution, Asura God? Would I literally be able to defy the heavens if I reached that level of power?

Anyway, right now my ability was super effective against any undead. Previously, my grinding speed was far lower than Lin Yixin’s because my Undead Energy skill was ineffective against the undead. But now that I had Deterrence, the situation had been flipped around completely. Holy Energy was strong, but Deterrence was even stronger!

Bzz!

I reapplied Ghost Deity Armor and faced the charging enemies. Over a hundred Level 70 Violet Knights were galloping at me, looking like they could crush anything beneath their hooves!

I gripped the Ghost Ice Soul tighter and smiled confidently. “Prepare for battle!”

The Dark Wasp buzzed up and down in excitement, and the little skeleton Xinran showed no signs of movement as usual. She didn’t seem to be planning to fight anytime soon. In fact, the little skeleton hadn’t even bothered to lift her spear when I fought the Flying Shadows earlier. She simply watched the battle without a hint of emotion whatsoever.

The Violet Knights reached me in the blink of an eye. The moment they entered within 5 yards of me, their body immediately became dyed in light purple. It was a sign that Deterrence was working and that their stats were largely decreased. Tsk tsk, to call this skill useful would be an understatement, especially when the opponents were Night Creatures.

In fact, players were expected to fight against Night Creatures most of the time. Over 80% of the mobs on the world map were Night Creatures, and the remaining 20% were wild animals and other miscellaneous creatures.

I raised the Ghost Ice Soul and summoned a Thousand Mirage Slash at the dozen or so Violet Knights charging toward me!

Boom!

A bunch of numbers rose from the mobs’ heads.

1284!

1193!

1220!

…...

Very good. The Violet Knights originally had 6000 HP, but after their stats were reduced by 25%, they only had 4500 HP left. It would be much easier to kill them all!

Ice Ray!

My longsword turned into an icicle and stabbed into a Violet Knight, turning into an ice sculpture and deleting much of its HP in an instant. A couple more basic attacks later, the Violet Knight was as dead as a doorknob!

My experience bar filled up visibly after the kill. Level 70 mobs gave a ton of experience!

The NPCs behind me weren’t idle either. The Priest healed me whenever I was low, and the Archer fired arrow after arrow into the Violet Knights and drawing painful howls from them every time he scored a hit.

I purposely kept the Dark Wasp on my right and the little skeleton on my left. Directly behind me was the sentinel tower. This meant that I only needed to fight 3 monsters at a time. Before Deterrence, the Violet Knights’ Attack was pretty deadly. After Deterrence, it was no longer a matter of concern.

I had to admit that I got really lucky getting Deterrence at the exact moment I needed it. Without it, I might not have been able to withstand the Violet Knights’ charge!

I wondered if the skill was effective against bosses. If it was, then it was absolutely a godsend. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be disappointed either. After all, bosses usually were governed by their own rules.

Every Violet Knight who attacked the sentinel tower was slaughtered in less than half an hour, including the 200 or so reinforcements that came later. Again, Thousand Mirage Slash was a key component in a PvE battle like this. Every time I used it, my DPS immediately broke ten thousand. It was incredible to say the least!

Moreover, after fighting all day long, I finally leveled up to 64!

Beep!

Lin Yixin sent me a message: “How are you leveling up this quickly? Are you a mule or something?”

I laughed. The Fruit Knife Goddess was finally panicking. I immediately sent her a reply: “I’m grinding mobs, duh. Wanna join me? I can level you up for the cheap price 500 gold an hour!”

“...”

Unable to muster any effective retort against my taunt, Lin Yixin simply said, “I’ll take my sweet time, thank you. Do your best, you need that Hero’s Token more than I do anyway…”

“Yeah. The first prize of the competition is mine for sure!”

“...”

Maybe Lin Yixin thought that my arrogance was insufferable, but she went back to her grinding and didn’t reply.

......

All of a sudden, a red light on the game window started flashing. At the same time, I heard a familiar ding.

Ding~!

System Notice: Your vital signs are too low. You will be ejected from the game in 10 seconds!

……

“Ah?”

I was confused. What’s going on? What did it mean by ‘vital signs are too low’?

Although the message seemed pretty random, I wisely took out a tent and logged out of the game.

The second I took off my helmet, I immediately felt like my body was on fire. When I looked down at my body, I nearly flew into a blind panic. I had no idea when it had happened, but my skin had turned from pink to purple, and my blood vessels were swelling like they would burst open at any moment!

“AH!”

I screamed involuntarily at my condition. The virus’s flare-up was swift and damning, and I wasn’t sure how much time I had left!

I felt despair as my consciousness started blurring. I hurriedly grabbed my phone and called Du Thirteen’s number.

“Hello? Lu Chen?” Du Thirteen sounded confused. After all, he was literally in the room next to mine.

“Thirteen, get… get over here… now…”

“Ah? What’s wrong…”

But I had lost even the energy to speak. My phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a thunk. I myself collapsed heavily on the bed, unable to hold myself up any longer.

A few seconds later, Du Thirteen kicked open the door to my room and rushed in with a worried look. The moment he saw me, he turned as white as death. “Lu Chen… Lu Chen! What happened?”

Yamete, Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi also rushed in in the next moment. Everyone was similarly speechless when they saw my condition.

I was on the verge of losing consciousness, and my body felt like it would explode at any moment. Hot tears streaking down my cheeks, I held Du Thirteen’s hand in a death grip and said in a trembling voice, “Thirteen… my brother. If I die, please keep the gang together and fulfill the promise I made to He Yi. Please accompany He Yi to the last moment. This is the only thing I ask of all of you…”

Du Thirteen shivered like a leaf as tears poured out of his eyes. “Lu Chen, I’ve never seen you cry in my life… so don’t… I’ve only ever had one brother in my whole life, and you’re not allowed to skip life like a truant! You’re not allowed to die, you hear me!?”

Gui Guzi rushed forward and grabbed Du Thirteen’s wrist. “What’s going on? What’s happening to boss?”

Du Thirteen gritted his teeth and pulled out his phone. “Save the questions for later and let me call for help…”

Beiming Xue dropped next to the bed and gripped a blood vessel on my elbow tightly as if it would stop it from bulging somehow. However, she quickly discovered that she was only making it look worse. Beiming was so worried that tears started sliding down her cheeks like a waterfall. They felt warm when they hit my body.

Yamete walked toward with a deep frown. “What else are we waiting for? Let’s send him to the hospital already!”

Du Thirteen immediately waved him away while shouting, “Shut up! Send him to the hospital? He’ll die from the pain before he gets there! Just shut the hell up and let me do my thing!”

Everyone was stunned. No one had expected the gentle man to have a side like this.

The moment the call connected, Du Thirteen immediately started describing my condition to the receiver. It was impossible to tell what the person on the other side was saying, but two minutes later Du Thirteen ordered loudly, “Bring all the ice in the freezer and pour them over Lu Chen’s body! Quickly!”

“Ah? Okay…”

Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi quickly went away to grab the ice. I felt slightly better after they put ice on my body. It was like falling into an ice cave during summer.

“Okay… what should we do next?” Beiming Xue looked back and forth between Du Thirteen and me in worry. “Boss still isn’t improving…”

Du Thirteen nodded. “I know. We’ll carry Lu Chen downstairs in half an hour. He will be transported to Nanjing for treatment!”

“Mn, okay!”

…...

It was a torturous wait. By the time half an hour was almost up, all the ice had melted and I was boiling up again.

Finally, the ambulance I was supposed to get into had arrived, and my friends carried me downstairs to be picked up by a couple of people dressed in white uniforms. The strangers asked, “Is he the one who caught the LC virus?”

“Yes!” Du Thirteen nodded before adding, “We would like to accompany him as well!”

The staff stared at everyone for a moment before nodding. “Come in!”

I was injected with something the moment I got carried into the ambulance. A sense of dizziness hit me, and I fell into a deep slumber.

…...

I didn’t know how much time had passed. All I knew was that I was at Nanjing when I opened my eyes again.

I was surrounded by medical devices, and there were tubes connected to every part of my body. To be honest, I felt like fainting again when I saw the sci fi–esque scene. It was the kind of experience you should never have the misfortune of experiencing unless it was through a display screen.

“Ugh…”

I groaned because my body was hurting pretty badly, and the noise I made immediately alerted a couple of nearby specialists. “He’s awake!”

The person at the forefront of the group was Du Thirteen. Although he had put on a uniform that was befitting of the setting, he still didn’t look like an expert. The middle-aged guy next to him looked very similar to him. I reckoned that he was Du Thirteen’s dad.