19: Chapter 19: Counterattack Against the Robbers! Has the Dungeon Mutated?

"Hey kid up front! Stop right there!"

A coarse, hoarse shout came from behind.

Lin Feng stopped walking and slowly turned around.

Three yellow-haired youths had already formed a triangle around him, weapons in hand, malicious smiles on their faces.

The leader was a bald-headed yellow-haired guy with a scar on his left cheek, looking about eighteen or nineteen, holding a machete.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Lin Feng asked calmly.

"Help?" The bald yellow-haired guy grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellowed teeth. "Of course you can! Kid, you've got some nice gear. Mind lending it to us for a bit?"

The skinny yellow-haired guy beside him chimed in: "Yeah! A little brat like you wearing heavy armor is such a waste! Better give it to us!"

The fat yellow-haired guy licked his lips, his eyes roving over Lin Feng's body: "Boss, that greatsword looks good too..."

Lin Feng sneered inwardly.

*Lend? More like meat buns thrown at a dog—gone forever.*

"And if I say I won't lend it?" Lin Feng said indifferently.

"Won't lend?" The bald yellow-haired guy's face darkened. "Then don't blame us for being impolite!"

He waved his machete. "Kid, you look like a newbie. I'll give you a chance. Take off your equipment, hand over your points card, and we'll let you live."

The skinny yellow-haired guy snickered darkly: "Otherwise... if someone dies in this Gloomy Forest, no one will know who did it."

Lin Feng tightened his grip on the greatsword.

He glanced at the three of them, quickly assessing them in his mind.

*The bald one is probably the boss, estimated Rank 5-6, with combat experience.*

*The skinny one and the fat one are probably Rank 4-5, just thugs.*

"Three of them..." Lin Feng calculated inwardly. *Strike first!*

He suddenly moved!

Not to flee, but to attack!

He pushed off with his feet, the heavy armor clanging as his whole body shot toward the skinny yellow-haired guy like a cannonball!

"What?!" The skinny guy hadn't expected Lin Feng to take the initiative. He hurriedly raised his iron rod to block.

Clang!

The greatsword smashed against the iron rod, sparks flying everywhere!

[Strength 19×2 + Weapon 35 = 73 Attack Power, Actual Damage: 58]

The skinny yellow-haired guy was shaken back several steps, his palms numb.

"Damn it! Looking to die!" The bald yellow-haired guy was furious, swinging his machete at Lin Feng's back.

Lin Feng was prepared. He ducked low, sweeping his greatsword in a follow-up arc!

The fat yellow-haired guy lunged from the side, a dagger in his hand, aiming straight for Lin Feng's waist.

But Lin Feng's heavy armor's defense was too high!

The dagger stabbed against the breastplate, leaving only a white scratch.

[Damage Received: Attack Power 15 - Defense 85 =]

"What?!" The fat yellow-haired guy was dumbfounded.

*What kind of defense is this?!*

"Get lost!" Lin Feng kicked the fat guy in the stomach.

The fat yellow-haired guy let out a howl as he flew backward, crashing into a tree.

"Boss! This kid's tough!" the skinny yellow-haired guy shouted.

The bald yellow-haired guy's eyes turned fierce: "Attack together! He's slow in that heavy armor!"

The three of them surrounded him again.

Lin Feng's pressure suddenly increased.

Although his defense was high, fighting one against three was still difficult.

And these three guys were clearly not doing this for the first time; their coordination was seamless.

The bald one attacked head-on, the skinny one harassed, and the fat one ambushed.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of clashing weapons echoed through the dense forest.

Lin Feng gradually fell into a disadvantage.

It wasn't that he couldn't win, but he didn't want to reveal his skill—Light Flame Slash consumed too much; using it here wasn't worth it.

"Kid, you can fight!" the bald yellow-haired guy panted. "But it's useless! You're dead today!"

A vicious glint flashed in his eyes as he suddenly shouted: "Second Bro, Third Bro! Use your Talents!"

The skinny and fat yellow-haired guys exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously.

"Talent Activation—Iron Bones!"

A metallic sheen rippled over the skinny yellow-haired guy's body, his defense visibly increasing.

"Talent Activation—Brute Force!"

The fat yellow-haired guy's muscles bulged, his strength surging.

Lin Feng's heart sank.

*Two D-grade combat Talents!*

*This is trouble!*

"Haha! Scared now?" the bald yellow-haired guy laughed wildly. "It's still not too late to kneel and beg for mercy!"

Lin Feng's eyes turned icy.

*Looks like... I'll have to use that move.*

He pretended to be exhausted, backing up a few steps until he leaned against a tree.

"I... I surrender," Lin Feng said, panting. "You can have the gear..."

"Should have done that from the start!" The bald yellow-haired guy swaggered over, triumphant.

The skinny and fat yellow-haired guys also let their guard down.

Just as the three came within three meters of Lin Feng—

Lin Feng suddenly raised his hand!

A blazing light stone flew from his grasp!

"What the..." The bald yellow-haired guy's words were cut short.

BOOM!!!

The blazing light stone exploded against his chest!

Blinding white light and a shockwave instantly engulfed all three!

[blazing light stone dealt damage: 80 points of Light Attribute True Damage]

[Target 'Bald Yellow-Haired Guy' HP reduced to zero]

[Target 'Skinny Yellow-Haired Guy' HP reduced to zero]

[Target 'Fat Yellow-Haired Guy' HP reduced to zero]

The light faded.

Three charred, blackened corpses lay on the ground.

The bald yellow-haired guy was still frozen in a reaching posture, his face full of disbelief.

Even in death, he couldn't understand how this guy who looked like a newbie could possess such a terrifying item.

Lin Feng stood where he was, panting heavily.

Not from exhaustion, but from nerves.

This was the second time he had killed someone.

His hands were still trembling slightly.

"They attacked first... They wanted to kill me..." Lin Feng muttered to himself, as if trying to convince himself.

He took several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down.

Then he walked over to the corpses and began looting.

Three Storage Pouches, not containing much.

Some white and green equipment, a few bottles of Elementary potions, and a few thousand points.

Lin Feng collected anything valuable. Suddenly, his gaze stopped on a small booklet.

[Blood Wolf Group Probationary Member Handbook]

Opening it, he saw records of some team rules, contact methods, and the names of the three.

"Wang Qiang (Bald), Li Er'gou (Skinny), Zhang Sanpang (Fat)..." Lin Feng frowned. "Blood Wolf Group? An Explorer team?"

His heart sank.

*This is trouble.*

If these three were part of an organization, their deaths would likely be investigated.

Although deaths in dungeons were common, what if the Blood Wolf Group took it seriously...

"Need to clean this up properly."

Lin Feng dragged the three corpses deep into the dense forest and dug a pit to bury them.

He also tried to clean up the traces of the fight as much as possible.

After finishing all this, he was drenched in sweat.

"Probably... no one will find out, right?" Lin Feng felt uncertain.

But then he reconsidered. The world had been dataified for 5 years now. Countless people died in dungeons every day.

Being an Explorer was a high-risk profession to begin with.

"I hope so."

Lin Feng composed himself and continued forward.

He needed to find a safe place to rest now.

Although the fight was brief, it had consumed quite a bit of stamina.

And he had used up one blazing light stone; he needed to conserve them.

...

Half an hour later.

Lin Feng found a hidden hollow in a tree.

He crawled inside, drank an advanced mana potion, and began meditating to recover.

It was quiet inside the tree hollow, with only the occasional distant roar of monsters.

Lin Feng closed his eyes, but his mind was a mess.

Two entries into dungeons, two groups of people killed.

Even though it was self-defense both times...

"Why do I keep running into this kind of thing?" Lin Feng smiled bitterly.

Was it because he looked too easy to bully?

Or was the world just this cruel?

He shook his head, stopping his train of thought.

The most important thing now was to level up and get stronger.

As long as you were strong enough, no one would dare mess with you!

He rested for about twenty minutes.

Lin Feng felt mostly recovered and prepared to continue monster hunting.

Just as he opened his eyes, he suddenly felt something was off.

The light outside the tree hollow... seemed to have dimmed?

Lin Feng cautiously peeked out and looked.

Then he froze.

The surrounding trees... were moving?

Not the kind of movement from wind.

But as if alive, the tree trunks were slowly twisting, the branches quietly stretching.

"Am I seeing things?" Lin Feng rubbed his eyes.

He looked again.

They really were moving!

And the direction the trees were moving... seemed to be forming an encirclement centered on him?

Lin Feng's heart tightened.

He remembered the knowledge from his textbooks—dungeon mutation phenomena!

When monster density in an area became too high, or when there were special energy fluctuations, the dungeon environment could mutate, producing special monsters or events.

"Could it be... I've encountered a dungeon mutation?" Lin Feng gulped.

He hurriedly took out a scouting mechanical sphere from his Storage Pouch.

Activate!

The mechanical sphere floated up, emitting a faint blue light as it began scanning the surroundings.

Lin Feng stared at the feedback on the sphere's screen.

On the display, the red dots representing trees were slowly moving.

It wasn't an illusion!

He was really surrounded!

And the encirclement was shrinking!

"Holy shit..." Cold sweat broke out on Lin Feng's back.

He had been so focused on resting earlier, he hadn't noticed the changes in the environment at all!

What to do now?

Break out?

Lin Feng glanced at the terrain map scanned by the mechanical sphere.

Moving trees were on all sides. The only gap... was to the southeast.

But that gap was small and closing rapidly.

"I'll risk it!"

Gritting his teeth, Lin Feng put away the mechanical sphere and drew his greatsword.

He took a deep breath and charged out of the tree hollow!

Almost the instant he burst out—

Rumble!

The surrounding trees began to writhe madly!

Branches reached for him like tentacles!

The ground also began to tremble!

"Run!"

Lin Feng didn't look back, sprinting desperately toward the southeast!

His heavy armor clanged and clattered, severely affecting his speed.

But he didn't dare take it off—who knew how strong those branches' attacks were?

Behind him, the trees were moving faster and faster.

Lin Feng could even hear the rustling sound of branches rubbing together, getting closer and closer!

"Faster! Faster! Faster!"

The young man clenched his jaw, running with all his might.

Only one thought filled his mind—

Break out of the encirclement!

Then figure out...

What the hell is going on?!