[The Real World]
[Central Province, Luoyang]
On one side of the city, at night, a scar-faced man in a leather jacket was walking down the street with another man beside him, heading straight for [Night Bar].
Along the way, Zhang Long was uneasy.
He suddenly stopped and grabbed Li Jun, who was walking ahead of him, "Brother Jun, let's run!"
"The boss definitely knows tonight's operation failed again, that the guild got wiped out, and that we got killed back to level 0!"
"So when he called you just now and told us to go to the bar overnight, he's definitely planning to punish us!"
Zhang Long's face was full of panic, "We're completely ruined now. Even restarting accounts will take a lot of time. We can't keep working for the boss and helping him kill Rulebound anymore."
"Once we lose our value, with the boss's methods, this bar tonight is probably a death trap!"
Li Jun suddenly took a bank card out of his pocket and handed it to Zhang Long. In a low voice, he said, "Brother Long, we've gone through life and death together."
"There's still hundreds of thousands left in this card. Run. Leave the country. Go somewhere the boss and everyone else can't find you."
"What about you?", Zhang Long said, "Brother Jun, let's run together!"
"Didn't you say before that you have a seven-year-old daughter, Li Tingting? For her sake, you have to stay alive! Let's take Tingting and escape overseas together."
"With our abilities, are we really worried about not finding a way to survive?"
A ripple appeared in Li Jun's deep eyes, " can't leave."
Hearing this, Zhang Long didn't ask why. He only gritted his teeth and said, "If Brother Jun isn't leaving, then I'm not leaving either!"
"If Brother Jun hadn't looked after me in prison back then, those prison bullies would've beaten me to death long ago! If something happens to Brother Jun, I won't live on alone."
Li Jun patted Zhang Long on the shoulder, "Good brother!"
The two arrived at Night Bar.
As soon as they entered, the receptionist immediately recognized Li Jun as a regular customer. She took an exquisite jewelry box from beneath the counter and handed it to him.
"Mr. Li, someone asked me to give this to you. They said it's a gift prepared for you."
'A gift?'
Li Jun could more or less guess it was from the "boss."
But he hadn't completed the mission, so why would there be a gift?
Click!
Just as Li Jun opened the jewelry box with doubt and unease in his heart, his eyes instantly went wide. He staggered back several steps and collapsed onto the floor.
The box in his hand also fell to the ground, throwing out a bloody severed hand from inside.
A red mark on the back of the hand was horrifying to look at. That was the birthmark on the right hand of Li Jun's seven-year-old daughter, Li Tingting.
"Ah?"
"AHHH!"
"AHHHHHH!"
Li Jun screamed in collapse.
He wasn't frightened.
At that moment, his entire faith collapsed.
At the same time, his phone started ringing.
Li Jun scrambled to answered it. A processed voice belonging to the "boss" came from the other side.
["Remember what I said before?"]
["You failed to handle things properly. The mission failed. It's time to accept punishment."]
The reason Li Jun worked for the "boss" and obeyed all his orders wasn't only because the Boss held great power, had repeatedly pulled him out of prison, and was someone he couldn't afford to offend.
It was also because Li Jun's seven-year-old daughter, Li Tingting, was in the boss's hands.
Li Tingting was Li Jun's fatal weakness.
"Boss! Don't hurt Tingting! I'm begging you, give me one more chance!"
"Just one last chance! I'll definitely complete the mission! I can definitely cripple Rulebound!"
Li Jun begged desperately.
But the boss said coldly, ["Your guild is ruined, and you yourself were killed back to level 0. To me, you no longer have any value."]
"No! I still have value! I still have value!", Li Jun said, "If I can't ruin him in Divine Oracle, then I'll do it offline!"
Savage intent appeared in Li Jun's sharp eyes, "Boss, don't worry. Once I find him, I'll handle it cleanly!"
["You can not,"] The voice on the other end carried an ordering tone, ["I want you to deal with him inside Divine Oracle. Don't create extra trouble for me."]
["Remember this. Under no circumstances are you to touch Rulebound in the real world."]
Hearing this, Li Jun found it hard to understand.
Because he knew he was a knife in the boss's hand. Over the years, he had followed the boss everywhere and had indeed killed many people for him and solved plenty of problems.
But in the past, whenever the boss ordered him to kill someone, he was always decisive, without the slightest hesitation.
So why was he acting so cautious and uncertain this time?
["One day,"] At that moment, the voice on the phone continued, ["This is your final chance. If you fail, prepare to collect your daughter's corpse."]
The call ended.
Li Jun collapsed onto the floor, clutching Li Tingting's severed hand in his arms, drowning in pain.
Only now did Zhang Long finally understand why Li Jun wouldn't run.
It was because his daughter was in the boss's hands.
He tried to comfort him, "Brother Jun, don't be too upset. At least Tingting is still alive."
"Didn't the boss give us another day? We still have a chance."
"If we can't deal with Rulebound online, then we'll do it offline!"
Zhang Long said, "I heard what the boss said, but I seriously can't understand him! Even if we kill Rulebound back to level 0 in the game, so what? Is this children playing house? It'd be better to just stab him to death in real life!"
Li Jun said, "The reason he won't let us touch Rulebound offline is probably because he's afraid we won't kill him in one strike and will only alert him instead."
Zhang Long frowned, "But if we don't deal with him in real life and remove the threat completely, then even if we really ruin Rulebound online, he'll still have a chance to rise again later. Endless trouble."
"This time, we'll go all out! If anything happens, the boss will cover for us anyway."
"Once we rescue Tingting... damn it! Brother Jun, I'll fucking stab the boss for you too."
Endless killing intent surged in Li Jun's eyes.
———
Night passed and dawn arrived.
[Morning, World of Divine Oracle]
[Beast Race Level 2 Main City, Inferno City]
[Ding~ Supreme Lord · Rulebound, welcome back to the world of Divine Oracle!]
As the system notification fell, white light descended over Inferno City, and Lin Mo and Ning Xi logged in.
Like usual, the first thing they did every day after logging in was challenge the Super God Arena.
Back when he only had a Tier 3 Sky · Venom set, Lin Mo was already unbeatable throughout the entire arena.
Now he had changed into a Tier 5 Illusion World · Thunder set.
One could imagine what happened after Lin Mo entered the arena. It was like a lion entering a flock of sheep.
Solo Arena, Pet Arena, Duo Arena, Five-Man Team Arena.
Three-hit victory!
Five-match domination!
Ten-match godslayer streak!
Without any effort at all, forty consecutive wins came easily.
Combined with the doubled rewards from the [Win Streak Scroll], he gained 206 arena points.
At the same time, he obtained 120 arena experience points from today's matches.
Lin Mo's rank finally broke through from Bronze to Silver.
Whoosh!
As the rank emblem before his ID changed from bronze to silver, countless nearby players immediately turned their attention toward him.
Player A: "Holy shit! Silver badge?"
Player B: "What the hell... Silver rank? Damn, I just reached Black Iron Rank 4, and someone's already Silver rank? Are we even playing the same game?"
Player C: "Wait! This big shot is... Rulebound!"
Player D: "Oh, then it's fine."
Player rank badges could not be hidden. They were displayed before a player's ID by default.
Looking across the entire arena, every player's rank badge was black.
Even bronze badges were one in a hundred.
Naturally, Lin Mo's silver-glowing badge was eye-catching.
Lin Mo opened the rank panel and took a look.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[ID: Rulebound] (Soul Archer):
Level: 58
Rank: Silver Rank 1 (80/100)
Points: 552
Rank Ranking: 1
Win Rate Ranking: 1
Solo Arena Record: 80 Wins / 0 Draws / 0 Losses
Duo Lovers Arena Record: 80 Wins / 0 Draws / 0 Losses
5v5 Team Arena Record: 80 Wins / 0 Draws / 0 Losses
Pet Arena Record: 80 Wins / 0 Draws / 0 Losses
Overall Record: 320 Wins / 0 Draws / 0 Losses
Overall Win Rate: 100.00%
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
A 100% win rate had an overwhelming visual impact.
After all, according to Inferno City Super God Arena's win rate rankings, o of the city's ten million players, only three people had a 100% win rate.
[Top 1: Supreme Lord · Rulebound (Lv58 Soul Archer, Win Rate 100.00%)]
[Top 2: Famous Across the World · Liuli (Lv57 Elemental Mage, Win Rate 100.00%) / tied for first, ordered by who arrived first]
[Top 3: Demolitionist · Wind Whistling (Lv54 Holy Knight, Win Rate 100.00%)]
[Top 4: Dark Hunter · Black Night (Lv55 Shadow Sword God, Win Rate 99.87%)]
[Top 5: Dragon Seeker · Ming Yuexin (Lv54 Sword Shield Warrior, Win Rate 99.79%)]
[Top 6: Wealth Beyond Measure · Troubled World Hero (Lv54 Sword Shield Warrior, Win Rate 99.75%)]
[Top 7: Benevolent Heart · Ashes (Lv0 Dark Wizard, Win Rate 99.72% / not a bug, confirmed level 0, related to talent, explanation later)]
[Top 8: Heavenly Summoner · Ruoxi (Lv54 Divine Marksman, Win Rate 99.66%)]
[Top 9: Control Master · Ironblood Merciless (Lv54 Dark Wizard, Win Rate 99.61%)]
[Top 10: Divine Archer · Dragon Soul Dusk (Lv54 Divine Marksman, Win Rate 99.55%)]
Even someone like Black Night, with both an A-rank hidden class and A-rank talent, couldn't maintain a perfect win rate.
That alone showed how valuable a 100% win rate was.
And after reaching Silver rank, there was another thing Lin Mo was looking forward to, the Silver Points Shop.