“Shen Lu,” a mysterious game that descended upon Lan Xing 20 years ago. Only one million spots are available each month. Once you become a player, you gain extraordinary power and rise to the top of society. ...... Ling Yi awakens the Super Mutation System. From consumables to divine artifacts, everything can be mutated! Once the mutation potential reaches perfection, he can even mutate multiple abilities comparable to a “golden finger”! By mutating the “Luck +1” talent, he gains the game-breaking ability—Probability Reversal! A 10% probability flips to 90%! A 0.1% drop rate becomes 99.9% for him! By mutating the “Eye of True Vision,” he gains the game-breaking ability—Eye of Truth! Not only can he see invisible units, but he can also view hidden information about items! In addition to these, there’s “Malice Manifestation,” which turns others’ ill will into voice-over commentary, and the “Intelligence-Lowering Aura,” which continuously reduces enemies’ intelligence… One year later.
Chapter 8: Luo Yao
The Grassland Wolf Camp was located on the northern side of the plain, three thousand meters away from the player camp. When the players from Zone 66 arrived here in a massive procession, they were met with the sight of two endless, vertical cliffs stretching into the distance. Looking up, they couldn’t see the top at all. It was as if they were standing at the bottom of a cliff. Between the two rock walls lay a crevice known as “One-Line Sky,” about fifty meters wide. A five-meter-high wooden barrier stretching from the eastern rock wall to the western one blocked the entrance to One-Line Sky. Beyond that barrier lay the Grassland Wolf Camp. With the exception of a few players who hadn’t made it over, the more than 9,000 people present all voluntarily kept their distance. Instead, they spread out and formed a defensive formation at the entrance to One-Line Heaven. The Grassland Wolf Camp was cramped; if players were to enter, there would be heavy casualties. The best approach was to break through the wooden barrier and force them to come out on their own. And the task of breaching the barrier was regarded by countless players as a great honor, as it signaled the official opening of the path to the main road. To ensure a smooth conquest of the main road, each zone selects a powerful player with the authority to command respect to carry out the opening. Zone 66 was no exception. Now, on a small patch of grass in front of the wooden fence, dozens of players who had been nominated by the crowd gathered together. Some were foreign celebrities, some were well-known tycoons, and some were the children of powerful figures... These people all had one thing in common— None of them were ordinary players. Alhan, a wealthy businessman from the Kingdom of White Elephant, glanced at the group and said bluntly, “Time is limited. Let’s cut to the chase.” “Let’s compare experience points!” “Whoever has the most experience gets to open it! How about it!?” The group exchanged a few glances, then nodded in unison, unanimously agreeing to the proposal. In the past, this had generally been the standard procedure. Seeing everyone nod, a smile spread across Alhan’s face, and he called out, “Then let me go first.” As soon as he finished speaking, he confidently revealed his experience bar. 『Level: 2 (122/300)』 “Level 2 with 122 experience!?” Upon seeing this, the group wore a variety of expressions. Some sighed quietly, their faces clouded with disappointment; others stared wide-eyed in surprise; and still others looked slightly relieved, their expressions easing. Players with less experience than him shook their heads and voluntarily withdrew from the contest. More than thirty of them walked away one after another. Only twenty or thirty people remained. Seeing this, Alhan’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. “Heh, surprised?” Beside him, Australian star Casey smiled lightly, then waved his hand through the air, revealing his experience bar. 『Level: 2 (137/300)』 “Wow! That’s a full 15 points higher than Alhan!” “That’s amazing!” The few who had just withdrawn whispered in astonishment from the sidelines. Upon seeing Casey’s experience bar, a few more players withdrew with regret. Immediately afterward, the others began revealing their own experience bars one after another—each one higher than the last! 『Level: 2 (139/300)』 『Level: 2 (146/300)』 『Level: 2 (151/300)』 ...... 『Level: 2 (173/300)』 When the last experience bar was revealed, everyone looked on in awe. “Level 2 with 173 experience points—that’s insane.” “Yeah! I have no idea how he did it—that’s incredible!” Everyone turned their gaze toward the young man standing in the center of the crowd, surrounded by the others like stars around the moon. His name was Wang Tianze—he was the very man who had amassed all that experience. “If no one here is higher level than me, then I’ll take the lead.” Wang Tianze scanned the crowd. Seeing no objections, he flashed what he considered a handsome smile. Just as he was about to walk toward the wooden railing, a voice suddenly called out from behind him: “ “Wait a minute.” It was a crisp, cool-sounding female voice. The crowd was somewhat taken aback and turned to look. They saw a young girl with wavy, lustrous hair and delicate, pale golden eyes walking slowly toward them from behind. She wore a gray jacket trimmed with black, the zipper left open to reveal a pure white short-sleeved top printed with a butterfly pattern underneath, the bottom of which was tucked into her jet-black shorts. The hem of the jacket sat at the same level as her pant legs. As a result, when viewed from the side, her snow-white thighs were directly visible beneath the jacket. “It’s actually her! She’s actually in this section too!?” “Whoa—I’m so freaked out... I’d better stay away from her...” These wealthy business tycoons and celebrities clearly all recognized the young girl, and one by one, they wore expressions of shock. Upon seeing her, Wang Tianze instinctively took a step back, then drew in a sharp breath, his eyes wide with astonishment as he said: “Luo… Luo Yao?” The one now walking toward them was none other than the daughter of one of the world’s top-tier powerhouses. Her father was a warrior ranked among the top thirty in the entire world! You have to understand. Combat power at that level has long since replaced the “nuclear” capabilities of the old era, becoming the most important strategic deterrent for major powers today. Any country without individuals possessing that level of combat power cannot be considered a major power. Needless to say, the families of individuals with such combat prowess are inevitably under the strict protection of their respective nations. If anyone else were to provoke her, they’d likely never see the next Sun. It was precisely because Wang Tianze and the others knew this that they were so surprised to see her. Foreign players might get away with it, but Shen Xia players certainly wouldn’t dare get too close to her. After all, no one wants to get into trouble. “Well… ... then you go first.” As Luo Yao approached, Wang Tianze swallowed hard and said. In front of her, he really didn’t dare to show off. Otherwise, if any messy news were to surface, it wouldn’t do him any good. Luo Yao stopped in her tracks, cast a casual glance at him, then swept her gaze over the others before speaking slowly: “Everyone uses experience points to compare, so I won’t break the rules either.” With that, she revealed her own experience stats. 『Level: 2 (292/300)』 The moment everyone saw it, their eyes nearly popped out of their heads! “292!!? ” Many thought they were seeing things and quickly rubbed their eyes to look again several times. But no matter how many times they looked, the number remained the same. “Oh my god! She was so close to leveling up to Level 3—this must be the fastest leveling speed in the history of Shen Lu!” “Exactly! If she just kills a few more high-level prairie wolves later, she’ll definitely reach Level 3, right!?” “This is insane—this batch of players is truly terrifying!” After getting Luo Yao’s approval, the group shared this shocking news with the over 9,000 players gathered on the outskirts. Meanwhile, Luo Yao stepped forward and fired a fireball that shattered the wooden fence. At that very moment, inside the enclosure, the prairie wolves began to stir one after another! ...... “Hey, beautiful, what are they doing?” Half a minute earlier, Ling Yi had noticed dozens of people gathered in front of the wooden barrier, seemingly discussing something. Curious, he asked the beautiful girl standing next to him. “You don’t know?” Lin Qingyu looked at Ling Yi with a surprised expression, then realized— This young man... is actually pretty handsome. Without giving it much thought, Lin Qingyu cleared her throat and explained, “They’re selecting people to go open that wooden barrier leading to the main road.” “Oh...” Ling Yi let out a strange “oh.” Is that it? What a waste of time. But he wasn’t in a hurry right now. He could no longer gain experience on the grassy slope, because the nearest Red Fruit Monsters were only up to Level 6 at most, and as a Level 7 player, killing them wouldn’t yield any experience. The higher-level Red Fruit Monsters were farther away, and with his current casting range of about 400 meters, he couldn’t reach them. Unless Xingluo continued to level up, or he revealed himself and went out there. But if he revealed himself, all the Level 2, 3, 4, and 5... Red Fruit Monsters in that area would charge right at him. Dying before reaching Level 10 wasn’t a big deal, but dying just for a few points of experience—only to have to run all the way back—wasn’t worth it to him. Since everyone was gathering anyway, he decided to tag along. He’d heard that while most of the monsters in the Grassland Wolf Camp were below Level 5, there were also quite a few high-level ones. Those were his targets.
