18: There is a man in the woods

Lin Chuan didn't hesitate and told him directly: [After consuming the qing ling fruit, the number of crystal cores you can absorb daily is increased by 1.]

He wasn't lying; for the vast majority of players, the only function of the qing ling fruit was to increase the number of crystal cores they could absorb daily.

But in essence, the qing ling fruit was something that enhanced a player's Divine Soul!

A setting like the "Divine Soul" would only appear in the very late stages.

And the higher the level of the Divine Soul, the stronger the player would become.

This strength was not just limited to increasing the daily limit of absorbed crystal cores.

There were other benefits as well—

For example, weakening level suppression.

Or, breaking through the attribute limit.

Before the First World Fusion, the limit for a player's four-dimensional attributes was 100!

Very few people could reach this limit.

Yet Lin Chuan, who possessed the bug-level Talent Fireball, could easily reach this limit!

In his previous life, before the First World Fusion, Lin Chuan had reached his attribute limit but could never find a way to break through it.

It wasn't until the late stages that he discovered enhancing the Divine Soul could break through the attribute limit!

A single qing ling fruit could increase the limit of his four attributes by 10 points.

With a total of ten God Chosen, it meant he could obtain at most ten qing ling fruits, increasing his limit by 100 points!

In this life, Lin Chuan hoped to become strong to the absolute limit!

Therefore, he was determined to get those ten qing ling fruits!

On the other end of the trade, Bakanov looked at Lin Chuan's reply, his heart filled with shock!

After all, a treasure that increased the daily limit of absorbed crystal cores could be said to be extremely practical!

This kind of practicality was long-term!

If he absorbed one more crystal core than others every day, accumulating day by day, he would only get stronger and stronger!

However, although the effect of the qing ling fruit was long-term, it required time to accumulate.

If he kicked the bucket tomorrow, the effect of the qing ling fruit would basically be non-existent!

At this moment, being tracked in real-time by players worldwide, Bakanov was facing a life-and-death crisis at every moment!

For him in his current situation, the effect of the qing ling fruit was naturally not as urgent as a B-grade offensive Talent!

After a brief consideration, Bakanov already had the intention to trade with Lin Chuan.

But he was still unwilling to settle.

Was he really going to trade away something he had obtained at the cost of being hunted globally so easily?

After hesitating and pondering endlessly, he finally sent a message: [Actually, the effect of the qing ling fruit should be far greater than a B-grade Talent, right?]

Lin Chuan replied calmly: [It depends on who it's used on.]

Bakanov gritted his teeth: [Add something more, otherwise I won't be satisfied.]

Lin Chuan sneered: [Then go die with your dissatisfaction!]

Bakanov's face turned grim, but because he was being pursued, he didn't reply to Lin Chuan for the time being.

Lin Chuan was also a bit anxious.

The qing ling fruit was something he absolutely had to obtain on his path to becoming an ultimate powerhouse!

If he missed even one, his strength would never reach the true limit!

Thus, he sent another message: [Actually, besides absorbing crystal cores, there are other ways to obtain experience points.]

Bakanov's eyes lit up: [What way?]

Lin Chuan: [I won't tell you, but I can prove it to you by leveling up to level 3 today.]

On the other end, Bakanov vaguely felt that Lin Chuan was a very mysterious person.

He seemed to know a lot of things!

After hesitating for a moment, Bakanov promised: [Alright, as long as you can reach level 3 today, I will trade with you!]

Lin Chuan: [It's a deal!]

Having basically secured the qing ling fruit, Lin Chuan turned his attention back to Aiya in reality.

In the curtain of rain, the girl's body in her white school uniform was swaying precariously.

Not a trace of color could be seen on her delicate and beautiful face.

Her eyes were dazed, looking as if she could faint from blood loss at any moment.

However, Lin Chuan had absolutely no thought of showing tenderness to the fair sex.

He glanced at the Blood Gu insects on Aiya's hand and those that had fallen to the ground, making a rough estimate of their number.

After that, he used empty mineral water bottles to collect all the Blood Gu insects.

He filled three bottles in total.

Lin Chuan felt it wasn't enough and shook his head slightly, saying, "I still need to find another hornet's nest."

This meant he intended to continue drawing her blood!

Aiya almost thought she was hallucinating!

She didn't even have the strength to speak. Her body slumped, looking as if she really was about to faint!

Fortunately, Lin Chuan supported her in time.

Holding her soft, fragrant body in his arms, Lin Chuan still showed no tenderness, and even subconsciously complained, "It's just drawing a bit of blood, why are you so weak?"

"I, I..." Aiya was so angry she wanted to curse, her chest rising and falling slightly, but she was so weak she didn't even have the strength to curse.

She closed her eyes, looking as if she were on her last breath.

Lin Chuan frowned, unsure whether this girl had really fainted or was just faking it.

He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly took out a crystal core from his pocket. "Try absorbing this?"

Aiya's eyes lit up, and she immediately absorbed the crystal core.

However, her dizziness didn't lessen much, and she was still so weak that she couldn't even stand steadily.

Lin Chuan asked, "Have you absorbed crystal cores before? How many did you absorb?"

Aiya glanced at her status panel. "My current experience points are 4, still 6 points away from leveling up..."

She was about to ask if leveling up would restore her physical condition.

But Lin Chuan just put her down directly on the ground.

He retracted the iron wire that had been wrapped around her neck. However, even without the wire, in Aiya's current state, she couldn't escape anyway.

So Lin Chuan instructed, "Stay here by yourself for a bit. I'll be right back."

Saying that, his figure flashed, and he instantly disappeared without a trace.

Aiya sat on the ground, drenched in the rain all alone, her school uniform skirt stained with mud.

She wanted to take the opportunity to escape, but her body was completely limp and powerless. She couldn't even stand up, so she could only sit in place and wait.

During the wait, being all alone, Aiya felt inexplicably afraid.

This fear actually made her secretly hope that Lin Chuan would return quickly.

After waiting for about ten minutes, she suddenly heard the sound of people talking nearby.

Thinking it was Lin Chuan who had returned, she looked over toward the sound in pleasant surprise.

But what she saw instead were four men holding knives!

The leading man was cursing and grumbling:

"What kind of bullshit apocalypse is this? There are more people than monsters! We don't even have a place to go to fight monsters!"

Another lackey-looking guy suddenly whispered, "Boss, I just saw someone in the chat channel saying that although the drop rate of crystal cores from monsters is 1%, the drop rate from players is 100%!"

The other lackeys nearby also chimed in, "Yeah, I saw that news too!"

"I heard that kid Yuan Feng was able to get a global announcement just because he dug crystal cores out of human corpses!"

"Exactly! Even a trash like Yuan Feng can get a global announcement. Boss, if you work a bit harder, maybe you can too!"

The phrase "work a bit harder" was used very subtly.

But obviously, it meant urging the boss to kill people for crystal cores.

That boss was named Fan Hu, a local hoodlum.

Although he was a hoodlum, he had only been in street fights before the apocalypse; he had never killed anyone!

Moreover, in the regional channel, the authorities had already posted a notice strictly forbidding players from killing. Violators would be arrested, and those with severe offenses would even be executed on the spot!

As Fan Hu hesitated, one of his lackeys suddenly said, "Although the forum says killers will be severely punished, look at that Lei Ming, Boss. He killed so many people and went straight onto the level ranking and slaughter chart, yet he's still alive and well even now, right? People are even discussing him in the world channel! Don't you want to be famous all over the world, Boss?"

Such words were highly tempting.

Fan Hu's resolve immediately wavered.

Just as he was about to agree to kill people to level up, one of the lackeys suddenly spoke up again, "Eh! Boss, look! There seems to be someone in the little woods ahead!"

"Holy shit! It's even a beauty!"