177: assassination operation

Fallen Zone.

Liu Dong and his two companions had been walking for three days.

They got lost right away on the first day. Fortunately, starting on the second day, Liu Dong pulled out a satellite phone and used the real-time map to get back on track.

Xu Hui was a bit nervous: "Brother Dong, didn't Grandpa Village Chief say we couldn't use satellite phones? It's easy to expose our location."

Liu Dong laughed: "What are you afraid of? That's ancient history from over thirty years ago. Who even pays attention to the Fallen Zone now?"

"Let me tell you, back when I had patrol missions, I would sneak away to play on my phone for half the day, and nothing ever happened, right?"

"That's just PUA!"

"He's old. He's afraid we'll be too outstanding and affect his status, get it?"

Seeing the confused expressions of the two, Liu Dong carefully analyzed the methods of PUA and the information he had seen through his phone for them.

"That newcomer looks impressive, but he's actually just an F-grade Contractor. He only gains 7 points every two levels. Think about it, how strong could he possibly be?"

"But he seems very strong. With one Skill, he killed so many assassins." Xu Hui was somewhat skeptical.

Liu Dong sneered: "Heh, that's called class counter, understand? Mages counter Assassins, Assassins counter Warriors."

"The Village Chief always brags about how strong he is, but wouldn't he be useless against an Assassin? We are all SS-grade, and we happen to have a Mage, a Warrior, and an Assassin. No matter who comes, we can perfectly counter them."

"Pfft!" A mocking sound suddenly rang out in their ears. A black shadow clutched its stomach and revealed its form.

"Sorry, although I've received professional training, this level of comedy exceeds my limit of tolerance. How do you manage to spout such complete nonsense with a straight face?"

"You're courting death! A mere Assassin daring to tail us? You've already chosen your path to death!" Liu Dong was both ashamed and furious, his eyes blazing with anger, wishing he could hack the assassin to pieces. "Xiao Hui, I leave this to you."

'Mages counter Assassins.'

Xu Hui's heart pounded with fear from the sudden appearance. Comforting herself, she hurriedly raised her staff, chanted a spell, and released a Skill.

The assassin's figure lunged forward, and before Xu Hui's staff could aim, he had already swiftly slashed her throat.

'What was that just now?'

'My neck hurts so much. I'm going to die.'

'I just left home, I haven't even seen a Giant City yet. I'm so unreconciled!'

'Didn't Brother Dong say Mages counter Assassins? Why does it feel like I'm the one being countered?'

Xu Hui clutched her throat as her body slumped down softly, her eyes filled with confusion and nervousness.

"Xiao Hui!" Both men had tears in their eyes, panicking as they tried to cover Xu Hui's neck.

The assassin, moving swiftly as the wind, almost tripped while retreating.

'Their health bars are still half full, what are they doing?'

'They aren't acting, are they?'

'But with such a huge opening on their backs, it would be unreasonable not to go up and stab them, right?'

The assassin's mind raced. In the end, he couldn't resist the temptation. He rushed up and used "Backstab" to gouge the heart, stabbing his blade into the opponent's heart, then gave it a slash. The assassin's health bar, already thin, was emptied.

"Ah~ Brother Xiaohu, don't die!"

Xu Hui felt the spurting blood hit her face. Her companion's chest had a large hole, his heart was gone, and he was dead as a doornail.

"Tsk tsk, are you guys really this bad? If I had known, I would have just reaped you both at the same time."

"I have to say, you guys are so bad that I feel full of guilt. I'll have to gnaw on two extra chicken legs tonight to be able to sleep."

The assassin clicked his tongue in wonder, standing swaggeringly in the sunlight, holding a heart in his left hand while his right hand's dagger dripped with bright red blood.

"Ah~ Ah~"

Xu Hui broke down in tears.

Liu Dong was much the same, but his sense of responsibility as a man forced him to brace himself, roaring angrily: "Use the Forbidden Curse!"

The assassin was startled. A Forbidden Curse was a large-scale destructive attack; if one wasn't careful, it would blow up the Mage themselves.

Just as he retreated, he saw Liu Dong grab Xu Hui and immediately cast the "Savage Charge" Skill.

This Skill was originally for a Warrior's charge, but now used for escaping, the speed was incredibly fast.

Seeing the two figures leaving rapidly, the assassin sheathed his blade. He felt no guilt about letting the prey escape; instead, he lifted a faint smile.

"When it comes to acting, those bullshit movie stars would only be fit to carry my shoes."

...

Xu Hui ran after Liu Dong for a long time. Seeing the surrounding scenery becoming increasingly unfamiliar, she finally regained a bit of her ability to think.

"Brother Dong, where are we going?"

"To find the Village Chief and the others. Xiaohu cannot die in vain; we must take revenge!"

"But Xu Le's whereabouts are uncertain. I only heard he was going to the riverside."

"Then let's go try our luck!"

"Oh!"

A strange look flashed in Xu Hui's eyes. She vaguely felt that Liu Dong was acting a bit off. She remembered that he was always the one calling the shots before; she hadn't expected him to listen to her opinion this time.

She didn't think much of it and didn't notice that Liu Dong's whole body was stiff when he spoke, and his eyeballs were darting around, looking very anxious.

She also didn't notice that her own shadow occasionally moved out of sync with her actions.

But she was too nervous and too terrified, like a frightened bird. Her beautiful eyes scanned everywhere, and she paid no attention to her surroundings.

...

Yan River.

It was once famous because the river was so clear that wild geese would stop to look at their "reflection" as they flew over.

Unfortunately, the Abyss descended and Devilish Qi ran rampant, causing the place to lose its former beauty.

In the water, there were even tens of millions of demonic fish, terrifying and eerie.

For the past five days.

Xu Le led his contracted beasts, cleaning from the upper reaches all the way to the lower reaches. He had plowed through a full 700-plus kilometers of the river section.

His experience points had already reached over 1.2 billion. The experience points had long since exceeded the requirement, yet he remained stuck at the 90th-level Peak.

"Little Fish, tell me, what conditions do I still need to reach level 91?"

The Thousand-Year Fish curled its lips and dove into the Contract Space without even looking back.

"Emperor Fish, share it with me."

The Thousand-Year Fish's body paused. It was slightly tempted, but it was just that one pause, and then it turned into white light and disappeared.

Xu Le: "...Something is wrong."

He rubbed his chin. In his judgment, the Thousand-Year Fish was not a stingy fish.

The fish he had been slaughtering these days were all demonic fish. Although it didn't feel good about it, it understood.

Why wouldn't it tell him?

"Wait, could it be that it doesn't know either?"

"After all, it is a fish, and I am a human. It seems understandable that the leveling conditions are different."

"Forget it, let's get the water into the Contract Space first."

Thinking this, Xu Le opened an eight-meter-wide gap in his Contract Space, and the calm water of the Yan River poured into it endlessly.

A heavenly river descended from the sky, landing right into the river channel that Xu Le had dug using his consciousness.

"Damn, at this speed, how long will it take to get all the water from this river inside?"

"Given the river flow rate is 2.3 meters per second and the total length is over 700 kilometers, a rough calculation shows it will take over 80 hours, at least three and a half days."

"Can't waste time like this."

Xu Le made a plan. Besides sending the divine statue and the Little Peach Tree to intercept any demonic fish that might appear ten meters above, the rest of the contracted beasts went to clear out monsters on the shore.

[Experience + 236]

[Experience + 635]

[Experience + 1]

...

Dense numbers of experience points floated up. Xu Le nodded with satisfaction; this was more like it.