Chapter 30: The Vengeful Assassin Group
Wang Wang Assassin Group:
"Boss, after a simple examination by the doctor, we found that Dark Night's brain has been completely turned to mush. He's already dead."
An assassin, utterly stunned, reported the results of Dark Night's autopsy to the Assassin Commander.
"His brain shattered from the inside?"
The Assassin Commander's heart skipped a beat. "King is too terrifying. Did any of you see him make a move?"
The other assassins present all shook their heads.
"He kills without a trace. He's far more terrifying than us assassins."
The Assassin Commander rubbed his temples in distress. "It seems we need to change our plan. We'll switch from close-range assassination to long-range sniping."
"Yes!"
...
Black Street Villain Club.
Qixi and Meijiaoniang stumbled in through the back door, gasping for breath, and returned to their rooms. They exchanged glances, the terror of their narrow escape reflected in their eyes.
(king: Is it necessary to be this scared?)
"I never thought that King, the Strongest Man on Earth, would actually have a bodyguard."
Qixi gritted her teeth in hatred, thinking of the "bodyguard" who had thrown himself forward to shield King from the Liquid Needle. They had been so close to success, but a lowly bodyguard had ruined their plan.
Meijiaoniang said worriedly, "Exactly. We painstakingly developed the 'Liquid Needle' specifically to assassinate King, but we never expected him to have a bodyguard, and that bodyguard's reaction speed was far too quick."
The Liquid Needle was a modification of the "Liquid Spray" they had developed specifically for their revenge on King. The needle it fired was concentrated water vapor. When the needle entered a person's body, the vapor would explode like a miniature bomb, turning the person's insides into a messy pulp.
That unlucky Dark Night took a needle for king, and his brain was instantly pulverized, killing him on the spot with no chance for rescue. This just went to show how deadly the Liquid Needle was.
"We need to change our strategy. A long-range attack will give King and his bodyguard a chance to react. Next time, we'll use close-range assassination and give King nowhere to run."
"Granny, I'll do whatever you say, as long as I can avenge my husband and son."
"You left out your father-in-law."
"Oh, my apologies."
...
"Is this a bad egg?"
In King's home, inside the utility room, king knelt before an incubator, staring at the Vaccine Man egg within the transparent glass, utterly frustrated. He had originally planned to hatch the Vaccine Man egg and train it to become like Piccolo the Great Demon King, but it refused to come out, which put him in a difficult position.
"Should I just cook and eat it? No, no, I can't pick up Saitama's bad habits. I might go bald!"
He stroked his chin, thinking hard, but he still couldn't figure out what to do with the Vaccine Man egg. He couldn't bear to throw it away, yet he didn't dare to eat it. Alas, he could only let it remain in the incubator and hope that one day it would have a change of heart and come out.
"Oh, right. System, pull up my attribute panel."
This time he had collected another four-star card, which was a huge harvest. In addition to the five attribute points he hadn't spent when he leveled up from Level 3 to 4, he now wanted to invest them in Defense to increase his chances of survival.
Sigh. Every few days he would encounter monsters, thugs, and the like. If he didn't add more points to Defense, not even Saitama could save him.
"Huh? When did I level up to 5?"
When the attribute panel appeared, he discovered that he had inexplicably reached Level 5.
Name: king
English Name: King
Level: 5
Experience: 327/2000
Stamina: 4
Strength: 3
Speed: 13
Defense: 2
Luck: Hidden attribute, cannot be viewed, cannot be changed.
Attribute Points: 10
Skill: Liquid Spray Lv. 1: Sprays liquid to attack enemies.
Skill Points: 4
Cards: Four-star Monster: Vaccine Man, Four-star Monster: Desire's Adjudicator
Friendly reminder:
1. A normal person's attributes are all 5! The max value is 100!
2. The power of a skill is determined by its level and is not affected by the character's own attributes, but the number of times a skill can be cast is affected by the Stamina attribute!
"Eh, System, why am I missing two cards?"
Where were the Two-star Card: Fanta Man and the Three-star Card: Vaccine Man (Young)?
"Ding! Today, the System detected that the Host's consciousness was being stripped away, posing a life-threatening danger. Therefore, the System consumed two cards to awaken the Host's consciousness."
"Huh?"
king was stunned. He remembered that he and Mike had indeed fallen into a coma, but he had then woken up for no apparent reason, while Mike only regained consciousness after the Desire's Adjudicator died. So that was it. He wasn't able to break free from the rules' constraints like Sitch and the others claimed. The reason he had been able to stay awake was all thanks to the System. He was lucky the System had woken him up, giving him the opportunity to collect a four-star card.
In other words, he had traded a two-star card and a three-star card for a four-star card. He had made a huge profit on this deal.
"System, thanks a lot. By the way, how come I've never heard you mention this awakening mechanism before? Don't tell me you have other hidden functions you haven't told me about?"
"Ding! The System has many hidden functions that require the Host to trigger specific conditions to be activated."
"Oh, so there's an exploration element to it. That's pretty interesting."
king chuckled. He had previously thought the System was just a simple card collection system. He never expected it to have so many secrets. How mischievous!
He then put all his attribute points into Defense, and his stats changed as follows:
Name: king
English Name: King
Level: 5
Experience: 327/2000
Stamina: 5
Strength: 4
Speed: 14
Defense: 12
Luck: Hidden attribute, cannot be viewed, cannot be changed.
Attribute Points: 0
Skill: Liquid Spray Lv. 1: Sprays liquid to attack enemies.
Skill Points: 4
Cards: Four-star Monster: Vaccine Man, Four-star Monster: Desire's Adjudicator
The reason he focused on adding points to Speed and Defense—two attributes for escaping and survival—while neglecting Strength and Stamina was because he would have various cards at his disposal and would certainly not lack offensive options. What he lacked was solely defense. It was just like the time he faced the thugs; he used the Fanta Man card, which had ample attack power, but his defense was a huge liability, forcing him to act cautiously. Otherwise, one careless mistake would have cost him his life.
A few more days passed.
king went out to buy groceries. On the way, he carried his shopping bag, a look of dejection on his face. In his previous life, his goal had been to one day sit at home and have people send him money so he could live without a care in the world. He never expected his wish to come true in this life, yet his heart felt incredibly empty. He could somewhat empathize with Saitama's feeling of emptiness.
Loneliness at the top!
Should he join a dance class? No, that wouldn't work. The moment he showed his face, people would swarm him like cats to a fishy smell. It would be an unbearable annoyance. So, become the strongest King in the world? Pfft, damn it, he had already become the strongest just by lying around.
Thinking about it, life... was so boring!
While king was lost in his thoughts, he was unaware that several strangers had appeared around him, constantly loitering nearby. These strangers were either wearing windbreakers and hats or dressed in cartoon character costumes... In short, they were disguised as various people to monitor his every move while reporting his whereabouts to their mastermind.
"King, this time we'll definitely take your life! Five hundred million is ours!"
Inside a coffee shop, the Assassin Commander stared viciously at King's back, his chest bursting with murderous intent. His palm violently crushed the coffee cup he was holding.
"Sir, you deliberately damaged a coffee cup. Please compensate us one hundred and thirty yuan."
A coffee shop employee appeared promptly to demand payment.
"Oh, my apologies. I'll pay right away!"
The Assassin Commander forced a smile and compensated the coffee shop for its loss. After the employee left, he once again glared viciously at king. "King, now there's another grudge between us."
Damn it, he cut his hand when he crushed the coffee cup, and now it was bleeding profusely. This debt would be settled with King.
Forcing a grudge out of thin air, impressive!
Many thanks to Floating Clouds with the Wind and Lihua Guolili for the tips. Thank you for your support!
(end of chapter)