Chương 23: I Didn't Do Anything!

"You invited Liu Man to your party."

"Liu Man has joined your party!" Once she was in the party, Xiao Chen finally spotted the problem. Liu Man was afflicted with a lethal poison. It was draining her HP over time. And why did she have so much health?

"Xiao Chen, quick -- there's an Assassin." That caught Xiao Chen completely off guard. Why wasn't she talking about monsters or a boss? An Assassin?

"What the -- you serious?" An Assassin. A human player. Someone was out here killing other Awakeneds?

"It's dangerous, we need to run." Liu Man clearly knew what she was doing. She dodged mob attacks, healed herself, and still managed to throw a buff on Xiao Chen.

"Liu Man has cast 【Battle Resolve】 on you. Attack +1, 000, Defense +500" Level 60+ Cleric buffs. That was serious firepower.

"You received 【Rejuvenation】. HP +10, 000" Not one heal. Multiple heals back to back.

"Dude, you're about to die -- heal yourself!" Xiao Chen didn't know what to say. She was using heals on him at a time like this?

"No, I'm worried he'll one-shot you. A Level 60 Archer got cut down in a single hit just now."

"Don't scare me like that!" Xiao Chen couldn't detect a stealthed Assassin at all. If the guy snuck up and backstabbed him, he was in real trouble.

"Hurry, let's teleport back to the city!" The moment Xiao Chen said that, searing pain erupted in his back.

"Shit!" The bastard actually attacked!

"HP -23, 500" Xiao Chen's heart nearly stopped. His HP bar was bottomed out. Barely a thousand left.

"+10, 000" He had to admit, that heal was clutch. Level 60+ healing hit different.

"One hit took that much HP?" If his base stats weren't so far above a typical Archer, he'd be dead right now. Xiao Chen couldn't see the Assassin, but his 【Multi-Shot】 had already auto-fired. The arrows meant for nearby mobs slammed into the concealed figure.

"Power Strike! Critical Strike! -23, 650" Honestly, Xiao Chen had zero PvP experience. He'd never fought another player before.

"I'm dead." Assassins had insane attack speed. The next strike was coming any second. Then a system announcement rang out: If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"You have killed Li Fei. Star Pact Bounty reward: Gold +1, 000, Guild Contribution +100" Hearing that, Xiao Chen was stunned. He killed him? Just like that? Liu Man stared at the collapsed Assassin, frozen in shock, completely forgetting to keep healing.

"Hey! You're poisoned! Heal yourself, now!" She was about to die and she was just standing there.

"Y-you killed him?" Xiao Chen looked completely innocent:"I didn't do anything. He just fell over." Xiao Chen was starting to piece together what happened. Power Strike had triggered at the perfect moment, combined with a Critical Strike, plus the defense reduction effect, stacked with 【Armor-Pierce Arrow's】 damage bonus -- and somehow it one-shot a Level 62 Assassin. Holy crap. Talk about lucky.

"You're seriously only Level 55?"

"Good thing I'm only Level 55. This guy probably saw my level and didn't take me seriously. If he'd aimed for my throat with that first strike, I'd be done." Weak point attacks dealt massively amplified damage. Thinking about it, Xiao Chen broke out in cold sweat.

"At least Assassins are glass cannons. High burst, paper-thin HP." Even so, there was no way he should have one-shot the guy under normal circumstances. The dude was already wounded. His HP wasn't full. This was pure divine intervention. Almost killed by another human in the wilderness, not by monsters. Killing someone without even fully processing it, Xiao Chen needed a moment to collect himself.

"How did you guys get targeted by him?"

"We didn't do anything. We were fighting a Level 60 boss normally, and he suddenly attacked out of nowhere. He teamed up with the boss to one-shot our tank." Tank goes down, the rest of the party folds to the boss.

"He didn't just kill our tank. He took out several teammates while we were panicking. His poison dart damage was insane. If you hadn't been here, I'd be dead too." The sequence was easy to understand. What Xiao Chen couldn't wrap his head around was why. Turning your blade on your own kind? That was incomprehensible. If people died out here, nobody would think to look for foul play. A party that never came back from the wilds? Tragic, but normal. Everyone would assume the monsters got them.

Who'd suspect another player? Maybe a lot of missing people had died this way.

"Liu Man, this never happened. Don't tell anyone." This wasn't a lone wolf. There was probably an entire group involved. Xiao Chen knew the bounty board had plenty of names on it. If people found out he killed Li Fei, revenge was almost guaranteed.

"Xiao Chen, I don't need to tell anyone. The bounty board announces it automatically."

"So it's broadcasting me as a target now?" Normally, anyone capable of killing a bounty target like Li Fei was strong enough not to worry about retaliation. But Xiao Chen was different. Low HP, solo grinding in the wilderness -- he was the perfect revenge target. He wanted to refund the thousand gold.

"Brother Xiao, if I had to guess, he was boss stealing."

"Boss stealing?"

"Yeah, that boss was down to one or two percent HP. He probably didn't expect me to be decked out in Silver gear with a Gold-grade weapon. My HP and defense are way higher than a typical Cleric. If he had managed to kill everyone, he'd have the boss all to himself." A full Level 60 boss to yourself? That was a serious temptation.

"Whoa, hold up -- full Silver set AND a Gold weapon? Saying that out loud is gonna make people jealous!"

"Wait -- the boss was almost dead?" Xiao Chen's head snapped up. It finally clicked.

"Come with me, now!" A crippled Level 60 boss? Xiao Chen wasn't afraid of that at all. That wasn't a monster. That was a walking EXP bar. A loot piñata stuffed with gold.

"Xiao Chen, we don't have a tank. Are you sure about this? Wait up! I'll buff your attack and defense!" Xiao Chen didn't hear her. He was already diving into the monster swarm. If anything could make Xiao Chen forget everything else in the world, it was a boss. A dozen rapid Blinks later, he spotted a two-story-tall Abyss Demonspider roaring in fury. It was impossible to miss. Its HP had already started regenerating. In moments, it had climbed back to 4%. An 800, 000 HP boss, now sitting at just over 30, 000.

"This isn't a boss. This is a trash mob. Barely even qualifies as an elite." From 120 meters away, Xiao Chen opened fire. He poured on the damage, Blinking backward every few shots. Level 60 bosses had extended attack ranges, but not 120 meters.

"-8, 016""-8, 103" Before Xiao Chen had fired ten arrows, the massive Abyss Demonspider crashed to the ground. Liu Man hadn't even arrived yet. And in a truly shameless move, Xiao Chen left the party the instant the boss died.

"Ding! You have killed the Level 60 Abyss Demonspider. Gold +200, EXP +210, 000, Contribution +500."

"You obtained a 【Starsteel Dagger】."

"You obtained a 【Starsteel Helmet】."

"You obtained a 【Mana Vortex Potion Recipe】."

"You obtained an 【Abyssal Core】." Reading through the loot notifications, Xiao Chen knew he'd hit the jackpot. Solo EXP, solo drops. It felt incredible. He didn't bother calculating the gold value yet. Instead, he immediately re-invited Liu Man to the party.

"Sorry, that was a pretty scummy move on my part. Consider it payment for saving your life, alright? You're rocking a Gold weapon anyway. A Level 60 boss isn't that big a deal to you, right? From here on out, we're even." Xiao Chen thought it was fair. Clear the air now, avoid drama later.

"Xiao Chen, I get why you did it. But is my life really worth the same as a boss?"

"Hmm. Probably not quite."

"You --" Well, that was Xiao Chen's honest opinion. At least, in Xiao Chen's mind, that was the truth.

"Alright, boss is dead, Assassin is dead. You heading back now? If you don't feel safe, I can escort you back to the low-level zone." Only now did Xiao Chen realize he'd accidentally charged into a Level 60 mob zone. Trash mobs with 200, 000 HP each. Those would be a serious pain to kill.