11: Chapter 11 The tea has gone cold, but the person hasn't left yet.

Chen Fan's running shoes kicked up fine gravel as they ground against the bluestone slabs. He could hear his own heavy breathing echoing off the alley walls like a beating drum.

The lantern at the end of the alley with "frost moon" written on it grew clearer in his vision, yet also blurrier—because Old Wu was swinging an iron rod against the vermilion door frame. Where wood chips flew, the "Moon" sign cracked in half.

"Boss Lady!" Xiao Tao's tearful voice pierced through the night wind. Only then did Chen Fan see the Little Girl in plain-colored short clothes kneeling among the wood chips, her arms tightly clutching a bronze bell shard.

Her forehead was grazed, and tears mixed with droplets of blood flowed down, yet she still craned her neck and shouted, "This is the Boss Lady's shop treasure!

You can't steal it!"

Old Wu's copper coin glasses slid to the tip of his nose, revealing the sinister eyes beneath. "Shop treasure?

It's nothing more than filth left behind by a demon." He used the iron rod to tilt up Xiao Tao's chin. "Cause any more trouble, and I'll purge you along with—"

"Bang!"

Chen Fan's tinplate saber slammed heavily against the iron rod, the vibration numbing Old Wu's hand.

Only then did he look up to see the young man whose work uniform fluttered in the night wind, two flames burning in his eyes: "Old man, what kind of skill is it to bully women and children?"

Old Wu took half a step back, his gaze sweeping over the blue-tier tinplate saber at Chen Fan's waist—it wasn't easy for a Bronze Tier player to scrape together blue-tier equipment, but the ruthlessness in this kid's eyes was like that of a seasoned Gold Tier veteran.

He sneered and jerked his chin toward the three players behind him: "New Player assisting in the purging of an illegal existence; rewards will be doubled."

The eyes of the three players holding green-tier weapons instantly lit up.

Among them, the tall one wearing a baseball cap lunged first, his iron axe whistling through the air toward Chen Fan's face.

Chen Fan rolled to the side, his tinplate saber blocking horizontally. With a "clang," sparks flew everywhere.

The system notification exploded in his mind: [Basic Fist Technique: Horizontal Block hit, damage +15]

Before he could catch his breath, the second player's short spear was already thrusting toward his ribs.

Chen Fan grit his teeth and spun, the back of his blade slamming against the spear shaft. This time—

[Critical Hit Triggered! Damage x2.5]

The tips of his ears burned, and the critical hit rate number on the system panel suddenly jumped: 10%→15%→20%?

No, it was an even more violent surge.

When the third player's pudao hacked down from above, Chen Fan suddenly saw the trajectory of the opponent's wrist movement clearly, as if in slow motion.

He sidestepped the blade and swung his knife back at the opponent's elbow. The system notifications exploded in rapid succession: [Basic Fist Technique: Counter hit] [Critical Hit Triggered!

Damage x3.2]

"Is this kid cheating?" The one wearing a baseball cap clutched his numbed hand and backed away, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Chen Fan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, only then realizing his left cheek stung—the place where the short spear had grazed him had been cut open.

But the sensation of pain was dispersed by a certain heat. He could hear a faint roar in his blood vessels, like a thundering war drum.

"monitor lock complete." Old Wu's voice suddenly sounded like rusting gears. A diamond-shaped metal block popped out from his sleeve, its blue light so piercing one couldn't open their eyes. "Illegal existence confirmed. Executing purge program."

The moment Chen Fan turned his head, he saw Su Shuang standing under the lantern.

The hem of her moon-white qipao moved without wind, and a gold-red mist rose around her, like dyed morning fog.

The mist wrapped around her fingertips, tracing a translucent fox tail shape in the air.

Her gaze toward Old Wu was no longer the gentleness of a Teahouse proprietress, but like an enraged beast. Even half of a furry gold-red fox tail was visible at the base of her spine, flickering in the mist.

"Xenogeneic Bloodline." Old Wu's Adam's apple bobbed. "The system should have purged you monsters back at the Silver Tier." He pressed the monitor, and a chain of blue light shot out, aiming straight for Su Shuang's throat.

"Boss Lady!" Xiao Tao suddenly screamed and lunged forward.

Chen Fan saw a faint red light rise from her originally plain white palms. That light was like a candle about to burn out, yet it slammed hard against the chain. With a "crack," the chain snapped in two, but Xiao Tao was also thrown back by the recoil. She coughed up a mouthful of blood as she hit the base of the wall, the bronze bell shard clattering to the ground by her feet.

"Xiao Tao!" Chen Fan wanted to rush over, but The one wearing a baseball cap grabbed him from behind.

He elbowed back into the opponent's chin, hearing the dull thud of bones colliding. The system notifications jumped frantically: [Critical Hit Rate Increase: High-concentration demonic power resonance detected, temporary critical hit rate +20% (Current: 30%)]

This time, he felt his fist was three times heavier.

The one wearing a baseball cap was blasted in the chest by his punch, flying back and overturning Old Wu's monitor table.

The other two players tried to run, but Chen Fan chased them down and added a kick to each. The system notifications exploded like firecrackers: [Basic Fist Technique: Combo Guard Break] [Critical Hit x2.8] [Critical Hit x3.5]

Old Wu's face turned completely pale.

He bent over to pick up the rolling monitor, but Chen Fan stepped on his wrist.

Chen Fan leaped down using the momentum of sliding off the roof tiles, his right fist carrying the sound of the wind straight for Old Wu's nape—this was the explosive power he had developed while moving bricks on construction sites, now amplified to the extreme by the critical hit system.

[Basic Fist Technique Final Strike! Critical Hit x4.1]

Old Wu's forehead slammed heavily onto the bluestone slabs, the monitor shattered with a "snap," and the blue light abruptly went out.

He struggled to look up, Chen Fan's blood-stained face reflected in his pupils: "You... shouldn't have this kind of reaction speed... the system won't let you go..." Before he could finish, Chen Fan added a kick, knocking him completely unconscious.

The wind in the alley suddenly went quiet.

In the swaying light and shadow of the lantern, Su Shuang leaned against the door frame. The gold-red mist was slowly dissipating, revealing her pale face.

Xiao Tao curled up at the base of the wall, her fingers still trembling as she gripped the bronze bell shard.

Chen Fan squatted down and carried Xiao Tao to the steps, only then discovering a wound on his arm deep enough to see bone—he had used his body to block the pudao earlier.

"You could have just stood by." Su Shuang's voice was as light as a sigh.

She pressed her hand against a crack in the wall, her knuckles turning white, "The system's purge program was aimed at me. You were just a guest who had a few cups of tea."

Chen Fan tore off a sleeve from his work uniform to bandage Xiao Tao's wound.

Blood soaked the fabric, yet he seemed unable to feel the pain: "That tea of yours saved me twice.

The first time was in the Newbie Village; I had been starving for three days, and you gave me two tea cakes. The second time was in a Bronze Tier dungeon; I was poisoned, and the Mind-Refreshing Tea you brewed saved my life." He looked up, the unextinguished fire still burning in his eyes, "I'm not the kind of man who bites the hand that feeds him."

Su Shuang looked at him, her gold-red pupils slowly contracting into vertical slits—a characteristic of a fox demon.

She reached out and touched Chen Fan's chest, where a burning bronze bell shard was pressed: "But do you know... that critical hit just now... wasn't given by the system." Her fingertip brushed over his blood-stained work ID, "It was... responding to me."

Chen Fan looked down and saw the bronze bell shard emitting the same gold-red light as Su Shuang.

He suddenly remembered the first time he met Su Shuang, when she said "Child of Destiny"; he remembered the "purge plan" in the system broadcast; he remembered the greenish-gray scales on the back of Old Wu's neck—it turned out that in this world, there were more than just the system's rules.

"Boss Lady!" Xiao Tao suddenly tugged at the corner of Su Shuang's qipao, "The monitor shards are glowing!"

Chen Fan followed her finger and saw a pale blue data stream seeping out of Old Wu's shattered Monitor, burrowing into the ground as if it were alive.

Su Shuang's expression changed drastically: "The system will receive feedback that the purge failed... they will soon send an even more powerful Monitor."

The night wind swept wood chips across Chen Fan's wound, and he suddenly heard the hum of a mechanical voice in the distance.

The sound was very soft, yet it exploded in his ears like a clap of thunder—it was the prelude to a system announcement.

"Tonight... we won't sleep peacefully." Su Shuang leaned against the door frame and stood tall, her fox tail completely vanishing into the mist, "But at least... we know that in this world, there's more than just the system watching."

Chen Fan picked up the tinplate saber from the ground, the dark patterns on the hilt pressing painfully into his palm.

He looked at the mist rising at the alley entrance, suddenly remembering that on the system panel, his original 10% critical hit rate was now steadily sitting at 30%.

And at the other end of the city, an optical computer suspended in the clouds suddenly emitted a piercing screech.

[Warning: Bronze District Monitor mission failed]

[Detected abnormal energy fluctuation: Demonic power + critical hit system resonance]

[Activate Level II emergency response plan：The Gold-Ranked Inspector will6Arrive after hours]

[Targets locked: Chen Fan (ID: 007-9527), Su Shuang (ID: Abnormal)]

Moonlight washed over the bloodstains on the bluestone slabs. Chen Fan touched the burning bronze bell shard.

He didn't know that at this moment, a line of announcement was appearing on the system panels of all players, one that would shake the entire game world at dawn—

[Emergency Notice: Attention all players, an S-rank abnormal target has appeared in the Bronze District. Anyone providing valid clues will be rewarded with 1x Gold Tier equipment]

Under the broken sign of the Frost Moon Teahouse, Chen Fan gripped his tinplate saber tightly.

This time, he was no longer a bystander.