Chapter Nine: The Butcher's Knife Strikes Back

Chen Hao swung the wooden stick, landing several consecutive blows that left the man with triangular eyes dazed. The other two players hurried forward with their own clubs to help, but the disparity in their fighting attributes was simply too vast. Even the tallest and strongest among them was nine points lower than Chen Hao, no match for him either.

The fight lasted less than a minute before the three players vanished into white light, leaving behind six copper coins and a rough circular ring. In the game "War," there were hardly any restrictions on PK in the wilderness. However, if the aggressor was killed, there was an 80% chance of dropping items held in their hands and a 40% chance for things in their pouch.

Chen Hao picked up the coins and the ring from the ground. The bronze ring was adorned with simple patterns and served as a decorative item. What delighted him was that this ring was a quest item.

Item Name: Bronze Bracelet (Quest Item)
Item Attribute: Appearance +1
Item Description: An item carried by Zhang Jingui, the opium addict. Before dying, Zhang Jingui was struck by conscience and hoped someone would deliver this bracelet to his daughter Zhang Yuanyuan, whom he had sold to a brothel, begging for her forgiveness.

Such bronze bracelets could hardly fetch a few copper coins if sold, so Chen Hao was pleased to see it was a quest item. Routine quests in the game seldom yielded substantial rewards, but unique quest items like this usually promised more than just a handful of coins.

Stowing away the bronze bracelet, Chen Hao killed two more opium addicts before returning to Zhao Si to hand in the quest and received five copper coins as a reward. Now he had twenty-two coins—enough to go to town, eat a bowl of shredded pork noodles, and restore his satiation.

With the opium pipe and a pinch of opium paste, killing opium addicts became much easier. He had no plans to return yet and instead sought Zhao Si again for the quest to kill fifty opium addicts, which would reward him with fifteen copper coins.

This time, Chen Hao ventured farther, arriving at a place where opium addicts roamed frequently. He loaded the opium paste into his pipe and lit it. The scent quickly attracted several addicts sunning themselves nearby, their eyes reddening as they rushed toward Chen Hao.

He deliberately threw the pipe and opium paste onto the ground. One addict gleefully picked them up, took a drag, and before he could savor the bliss, another addict kicked him over and snatched the pipe for himself.

Five or six addicts, eyes aflame, began fighting over the pipe and paste. Chen Hao swung his stick hard at them, and the addicts, unwilling to leave, endured the blows for a chance at the opium. Soon, Chen Hao easily killed six addicts and earned two copper coins. Since they spent most of their time squabbling, the opium paste hadn’t been consumed much. After reclaiming it, Chen Hao began luring them again...

In less than half an hour, Chen Hao completed the quest to kill fifty addicts, leveling up to level two. By then, the opium paste was depleted, and his satiation dropped to seventy-eight, making him feel hungry. He decided to return to town for food and to complete the bronze bracelet quest.

As Chen Hao neared the city, three players at the central respawn point in Penglai County wore grim expressions—they were the trio whom Lu Xiaoqi had slain. After half a day of gaming, they had struggled to reach level five, only to be knocked back to level four. Adding insult to injury, the quest item painstakingly acquired by the man with triangular eyes had been dropped.

The man with triangular eyes was known as Butcher Knife—a real-life gangster, never one for introspection. After suffering such a loss, he lashed out, “Bullet, keep an eye on the city gate. Find out that guy’s name. If I don’t ruin him, I’ll write my name backwards.”

Bullet, the thin, dark player, quickly led his group to the city gate. As Chen Hao entered, Bullet hid among the crowd and had others watch Chen Hao, then hurried off to report to Butcher Knife.

Having killed three people in the wilderness, Chen Hao suspected they wouldn’t let it go easily and remained alert. He noticed Bullet leaving but pretended not to, strolling leisurely into the county.

The PK system imposed no restrictions in the wild, but if players were spotted by the authorities or the patrol, they’d be in trouble. Killing within the city incurred far harsher penalties; if anyone died there, the government would investigate and issue a warrant for the killer, making it impossible for players to operate in that city again.

Inside Penglai County, Chen Hao wasn’t worried about Butcher Knife making a move. They operated as a group, so he’d need to be cautious while leveling up. The experience required for leveling increased dramatically; being hunted and killed would mean dropping levels and missing out on being the first to reach level ten.

If a player was constantly fleeing, even if luck allowed them to escape each time, the rapid depletion of satiation would become unbearable. During movement, satiation dropped much faster, and running meant no chance to earn money. Once satiation fell below sixty, attributes would decline, leaving the player too weak to escape.

Chen Hao entered Penglai County, and several players at the gate quickly followed him. After walking a while, he suddenly quickened his pace, heading toward the eastern district. The East District was home to the wealthy, with large mansions clustered together, and countless alleyways between them—easy to get lost if unfamiliar.

The game had been running less than a day in real time, and most players were busy leveling up; no one would deliberately memorize the county’s streets. Chen Hao was different. His mind held memories of the next ten years, and he knew every nook and cranny of Penglai County. After turning into an alley, four players continued to pursue him, but he remained calm, entering a dead-end at an unhurried pace.

The alley lay between the backyards of two mansions, about one meter wide, with walls over two meters tall on each side. After walking four meters, Chen Hao stopped, looked at the right wall, and spotted a missing brick less than a meter up, leaving a hole just big enough for a foothold.

Quickly, Chen Hao stepped onto the hole, gripped the top of the wall with both hands, and climbed up. Just as he reached the top, the four players entered the alley, oblivious to the hole in the wall or to Chen Hao above. To avoid mishaps, Chen Hao clung to the wall and lightly jumped into the right-side courtyard.

When the four players realized it was a dead end, they soon made their way to the back door of the left mansion, which was ajar. With their target vanished in a dead-end, the left mansion’s rear door ajar, and the right mansion’s door tightly closed, anyone would assume the target entered the left mansion.

The four players were no exception. They gently pushed open the door and tiptoed inside. From the hole in the wall, Chen Hao watched with a sinister smile. In his memory, the owner of the left mansion was called Huang Batian, nicknamed Huang the Flayer, the tyrant of Penglai County.

The Huang family’s back door was never locked. If an unsuspecting person entered the Huang mansion through the rear, meeting Huang the Flayer meant, at best, losing a layer of skin—if not their life.