Chapter Nine: Testing the Waters

“Huff, huff!” Murong Xun stood to the side, breathing heavily as he gazed at the body lying on the ground. He was still too weak; even dealing with someone like Li Jing at a distance had taken him a long time.

“How are you?” Chen Lian hurried over and helped steady Murong Xun, who was about to collapse.

“I’m fine,” Murong Xun shook his head.

“Let’s go.”

“Alright.” Chen Lian supported him as they headed toward where the car was parked. In truth, Murong Xun wasn’t seriously injured—he had simply overexerted himself, and without the power granted by the ghoul, he suddenly felt drained.

Neither of them noticed the black mist swirling above Li Jing’s corpse.

In the days that followed, Murong Xun and Chen Lian worked together in relative harmony. Aside from carrying out missions assigned by Chu Wannian, they often drove around the city, searching for traces of other anomalies.

Whenever he had free time, Murong Xun would practice swordsmanship alone in his small courtyard, honing his only skill and raising the level of his basic sword technique.

Though anomalies were reawakening, Murong Xun found it wasn’t so easy to locate twenty of them. First, anomalies concealed their presence; second, the city was vast and their numbers were limited. He also realized others were dealing with anomalies—likely other players.

This discovery made Murong Xun even more cautious, hiding his identity became paramount. After killing Li Jing, he learned that players could obtain a portion of their victims’ relics.

On the eighth day after entering this world, their third day as partners—

“This is the mission this time.” Chen Lian handed Murong Xun a dossier, then casually poured herself a glass of water.

After these few days together, she had realized Murong Xun was not easy to get along with, but if you ignored his quirks, he wasn’t impossible either.

“Hmm.” Murong Xun opened the dossier and read carefully, paying no attention to Chen Lian’s actions. This wasn’t his home, merely a stop along the way—why bother caring so much?

“This mission is quite troublesome?” After reading for a while, Murong Xun frowned.

“Yes, Fang Jin Xuan said two people have already been lost,” Chen Lian replied, sipping her water and sitting across from him.

“You know the people from Operations—they’re all capable. That’s why the task has fallen to us.”

“No information on the type of anomaly?” Murong Xun found it strange—two casualties, and yet the Intelligence Division had nothing?

“I heard the Intelligence Division has already lost over ten people. All they know is that the anomaly is Level 2. Our task isn’t to resolve it, just to determine its type. Someone more powerful will handle it afterward.”

In the Operations Division’s assessment, Murong Xun’s combat power was Level 2, so the assignment had come to them.

“The boss said once this mission is done, your advance benefits will be considered fulfilled, and you’ll get quite a few contribution points.”

Chen Lian didn’t waste words, going straight to the perks.

“Alright.” Murong Xun agreed without protest. His eagerness to hunt anomalies wasn’t just about completing missions, but also for the rewards from the Bureau of Special Affairs, which required contribution points for exchange.

Over the past days, his constant training had improved his sword technique, and he’d obtained valuable items from Li Jing’s stash, greatly boosting his strength.

“Let’s go, then.” Murong Xun grabbed a jacket from nearby and stood up.

“So impatient—I haven’t even eaten yet!” Chen Lian was exasperated. Her partner cared only about benefits, she had to run around and hadn’t had a bite, even had to pour her own water.

“Just buy something to eat on the way,” Murong Xun replied, unconcerned.

“You really are...” Chen Lian was speechless. Still, she followed him out—the pursuit of anomalies was her life’s goal.

But as they stepped outside, Chen Lian noticed Murong Xun had stopped at the courtyard gate, not leaving.

“Why aren’t you...” She began to ask, only to see Murong Xun stumble back into the courtyard.

At the gate stood a young man, his face cold and indifferent.

Murong Xun halted, clutching his chest, his expression grave.

Chen Lian, too, regarded the newcomer as a potential threat.

“The famous monster hunter?” The young man’s lips curled in mockery.

“You don’t look so impressive.”

“Who are you?” Chen Lian stepped forward, a faint golden glow surrounding her as she placed her hand on Murong Xun’s shoulder, swiftly healing his wounds.

“Me?” The youth’s face was filled with arrogance.

“No need for you to know. This mission is ours—Team One’s got it. You two can go find somewhere else to amuse yourselves!” With that, he turned and left.

“How do you feel?” Once he was gone, Chen Lian quickly checked on Murong Xun.

“I’m fine,” Murong Xun replied.

“That guy was so arrogant—aren’t you going to teach him a lesson?” Chen Lian was puzzled. The man hadn’t seemed particularly formidable; this wasn’t her partner’s usual character.

“There are others,” Murong Xun said quietly.

“Why is Team One competing with us for missions?” Chen Lian was baffled. Usually, Team Two handled the majority of tasks, only reporting to Team One when things got out of hand. Now, Team One was actively vying for assignments.

“No idea,” Murong Xun didn’t explain. That man was a player; his purpose here was far from simple.

He recalled killing Li Jing—perhaps she was his companion. Just now, because there were others targeting him, he hadn’t used the ghoul’s power; he wasn’t confident about facing several people at once.

Mainly, the young man had only been probing. If it came to a life-and-death struggle, no one would hold back.

When Murong Xun claimed the spoils, he’d gained much. Though it was his first time in the world of the Demon Tower, comparing himself to Li Jing and the youth he’d just seen, he knew he was no novice.

In a real fight, with the ghoul’s power and the strength absorbed from the ghost wolf, that guy wouldn’t have been his match.

The arrival of this person reminded him—when Chu Wannian sent someone to retrieve Li Jing’s corpse, they hadn’t found it. Perhaps her companions had taken care of it themselves.