2026-04-06 19:40:40Lin Feng's POV
The invisible edge didn't just cut, it erased. The beast’s head fell to the left, its body to the right, the cauterized wound puffing out a cloud of black ash instead of blood. [Kill Confirmed: Gravel-Dog (Tier 0).] [Reward: 50 Agony Points.] The other two dogs paused, their primal instincts screaming at them that something was wrong. But the smell of my rotting flesh was too enticing. They charged together. I didn't move with the grace of a warrior. I moved with the desperation of a man who had already died once. I swung the Phantom Rib in a wide, clumsy arc. The blade sliced through stone and bone alike. In seconds, the tunnel was silent again, save for the sound of my own heavy breathing and the steady drip-drip of the pus from my shoulder hitting the floor. I slumped against the wall, the invisible blade dissolving back into my skeleton. I needed to eat. I looked at the carcasses, my stomach churning. "Well, well. The rat has a sting." A flicker of torchlight illuminated the far end of the tunnel. A man stepped forward, clad in the leather armor of the High-Talent Guard. It was Kenan, one of Young Master Shen’s personal dogs. He held a heavy mace that hummed with Tier-2 Earth mana. "Master Shen was worried the dogs would be too quick," Kenan sneered, his eyes scanning my broken form. He didn't see the Phantom Rib, he only saw a dying boy and three dead mutts. “He wanted me to make sure you felt every minute of your final hour. Commoners shouldn't have the dignity of a quick death." He stepped over the bisected remains of the Gravel-Dogs, his mace glowing a deep, heavy brown. "Look at you," Kenan laughed, raising the weapon. "Starving, bleeding, and marked. You really thought you could be something, didn't you?" I didn't answer. I stayed on the ground, my head bowed. I could have drawn the blade again. I could have tried to gut him as he approached. But 50 points per dog wouldn't get me through the Extermination Trials. I needed a catalyst. I needed the "Hunter" to provide the "Prey" with a reason to ascend. "What's the matter, Lin Feng? No clever words left?" Kenan brought the mace down, not at my head, but at my outstretched arm. CRACK. The sound of my radius and ulna snapping echoed through the cavern like a gunshot. I let out a scream that was only half-faked. The pain was a white-hot spear that traveled straight to my brain. [HEAVY TRAUMA DETECTED: FRACTURED RADIUS/ULNA.] [BONUS MULTIPLIER: 'SADISTIC OVERFLOW' DETECTED.] [Points Harvested: 8,000.] "That’s one," Kenan grinned, his face twisting with a sick, voyeuristic pleasure. "Let’s see how many snaps it takes to make you beg for the finish." He raised the mace again, aiming for my ribs. Spin, I commanded the void in my mind. Give me the price for this arm. The blood-red Gacha wheel appeared, spinning with such violence that the weeping eyes on the interface began to bleed. The needle blurred past 'Iron Skin' and 'Stone-Wall Parry.' It was hunting for something darker, something that matched the malice in Kael’s eyes. [TOTAL POINTS EXPENDED: 10,000.] [EXECUTING 'DESPAIR-GRADE' PULL...] The wheel stopped dead on a black-and-violet icon depicting a hand crushing a glowing heart. [CONGRATULATIONS!] [You have obtained the 5-Star Skill: "Soul-Devouring Counter".] [Type: Reactionary Passive (Level 1).] [Description: When a killing blow or heavy strike is delivered, you may sacrifice the energy of the impact to momentarily paralyze the attacker’s soul. Duration: 7 seconds. Cost: 5% Vitality.] Kenan swung. The mace whistled through the air, aimed directly at my charred chest, backed by the full weight of a Tier-2 Earth-Elementalist. I didn't dodge. I leaned into it. The mace connected with my sternum. I felt the air leave my lungs, felt my vision go black at the edges as my ribs groaned under the pressure. But instead of being crushed, the kinetic energy hit a wall of dark, violet mist that erupted from my skin. The mace stopped mid-swing. Kenan's eyes went wide. His pupils shrunk to pinpricks, his body suddenly locking into a rigid, trembling statue. [SOUL-DEVOURING COUNTER ACTIVATED.] [Target: Kenan (Tier 2) - Paralyzed.] I looked up. My broken arm hung limply at my side, and blood was leaking from my mouth, but the grin I gave him was the most terrifying thing in that tunnel. "You're right, Kenan," I whispered, my voice thick with the iron taste of my own blood. "Commoners shouldn't have a quick death." I reached into my chest, the Phantom Rib emerging with a low, predatory hum. "So I'm going to take my time with yours." Behind Kenan, the shadows of the tunnel seemed to lengthen, the Tablet in my pocket pulsing with a hunger that was no longer just mine. It was the Tablet's first real meal. [TARGET ACQUIRED: TIER-2 SOUL.] [ESTIMATED HARVEST: LEGENDARY.]
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Chapter 15: The Alter Of Bone
Lin Feng's POVI looked toward the center of the forest. Toward where it all led.If the nobles were the true target… then everything happening here, every chase, every kill, every drop of blood, was just a setup.A funnel.“They’re herding them,” I said slowly. The mercenary didn’t respond.I could see it now, the structure, the design.“They’ll gather at the Altar,” I continued, my voice quiet. “All of them.”And then…. Fire, consumption and then finally refinement.Everyone here had been given a role.A script.And none of them ended in survival.“I’ve told you…” the assassin croaked, his strength fading now that the pain had passed. “I’ve told you everything.”His eyes darted toward the distant perimeter.“Let me go,” he pleaded. “I can still make it out. I can disappear. You’ll never see me again.”I looked back at him, the fear, the desperation.The broken remnants of arrogance clinging to a man who now understood exactly how close he was to death.“You served your purpose,” I s
Chapter 14: The Mercenary's Choice
Lin Feng’s POV“Tuehhhh,”The mercenary’s blood hit the mud with a wet slap, right next to where he’d just spat. The sound was thick, it sounded more like something being sealed. Even with my [Phantom Rib] buried into the soft tissue of his throat, angled just enough to threaten everything that mattered, the man’s composure didn’t waver.Up close, I could see fully the details of his face now, the jagged scar cutting across his forehead, the faint twitch in his jaw, the stubborn defiance burning in his eyes even as death hovered just an inch away. “A deal?” the assassin wheezed, a bubble of red foam forming at the corner of his lip, popping with a faint hiss. “I don’t make deals with walking corpses.”His voice shook, but the contempt in it didn’t.“You’re a stain, Lin Feng. A Zero.” He coughed, shoulders jerking as more blood welled up. “Your father was a failure… and you’re just the rot he left behind.”I quivered my lips in mockery to what he was saying. “Tell me more….” I said w
Chapter 13: The Hunter Becomes The Prey
Lin Feng's POV‘Because I’m not done,’ I said in my mind. The world twisted violently. The forest warped around me, trees stretching into streaks of pale white and violet, the ground dissolving into shifting shadows. The blood on the leaves, the dark sky above, everything collapsed into a swirling storm of red and gold.The Gacha was consuming.I clenched my teeth as my heart gave another painful, irregular beat.Just then, I heard the other assassins scatter around the forests, perhaps taking new positions.Give me something to end this quickly, I thought, desperation threading through the clarity.I don’t need a weapon, I need vision. I need to see through their bullshit.The spinning slowed.The colors blurred together, then stopped. A thunderclap echoed through the void.CONGRATULATIONS!You have pulled a Passive Utility Skill: [Eye of the Weak] (Rank: Unique).Description: "The strong hide behind walls of mana; the weak find the cracks."For a heartbeat, nothing happened.Then,
Chapter 12: Farming The Shadows
Lin Feng’s POV“oh shitt!” I did not have the time to adjust my neck so the needle would enter my shoulder or literally anywhere else. The sharp piercing pain hit me instantly. The venom was a cold, invasive sludge, crawling through my veins like a thousand frozen spiders. It didn’t burn, it settled, threading itself into every artery, every nerve. My throat constricted, the “Heart-Stopper” toxin living up to its name as my pulse began to skip, thudding with the heavy, uneven rhythm of a dying engine.One beat, accompanied by a pause that was just too long. Then there was another, a weaker one. My fingers twitched, slow to respond, like they no longer belonged to me. My chest constricted as my breathing dragged shallow, incomplete pulls that did nothing to satisfy the growing pressure in my lungs. I coughed, a little crimson liquid spilling on the floor. But in the center of my vision, the Gacha interface wasn’t just flickering, it was hemorrhaging gold.STATUS: LETHAL POISONING
Chapter 11: Into The Mouth Of Hell
Lin Feng's POV Honestly I was extremely disappointed with the number that turned up. I needed him to send more men, more! I needed to farm more. But unfortunately, we'll have to make do with ten. I smirked though the smile didn't quite reach my eyes, I could barely contain my anger. When they had all stepped fully into the forbidden forest. The gates did not just close, they groaned with a finality that vibrated in the marrow of my bones. *Thud.* The sound was a guillotine blade hitting the block. It was a bit satisfying, no lies. Around me, the air in the Forbidden Forest felt thick, like exhaled breath. The other "Nullities,” the commoners I had spent days training in the Pits disappointed me. They panicked. They were scurrying like rats in a flooding cellar, their boots splashing through the black mud of the Outer Wastes. I can't say I was surprised by their actions, but come on, I expected at least a few to have the balls to stand and see what happens. To them, this
Chapter 10: Information War
Lin Feng's POV The damp heat of the Scavenger Pits felt different now, heavy with the weight of Yue’s revelation. If this Tablet was one of seven, I wasn’t just a glitch in the Academy’s system; I was a target for the masters of the world.I needed eyes in the high places.I sat cross-legged in the center of my "throne room," the Cursed Tablet pulsing against my shins. I had 15,000 points left from the duel with Tie Yan. I didn't need a sword. I needed a secret.Pull, I commanded.The wheel didn't scream this time; it hissed. The thorns of the interface twisted into the shape of a thousand overlapping ears.[TOTAL POINTS EXPENDED: 10,000.][EXECUTING 'SUBTERFUGE-GRADE' PULL...][CONGRATULATIONS!][You have obtained the 4-Star Skill: "The Whispering Shadow".][Type: Reconnaissance Manifestation.][Description: Detach a sliver of your own shadow. It is weightless, silent, and can pass through any mana-barrier below Tier-6. Anything it hears, you hear. Anything it sees, you see.]I fe
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