36: Chapter 36 Borrowing Points and Spending Money

Someone has delivered themselves to my doorstep.

How could I refuse free points?

He slowed his pace, pretending to stroll through the black market once more.

He paused for a moment at a weapon stall, peered into a potion shop, and occasionally asked about prices, like a nouveau riche who had just struck it rich and didn't know what to buy.

The tails behind him followed at a distance, neither too close nor too far.

After strolling for about ten minutes, Wang Lin headed towards the black market exit.

Upon leaving the black market, Wang Lin did not head in the direction of Laifu Inn.

He chose a small path that led to the edge of the camp, flanked by abandoned, dilapidated houses, with no lights and no patrols.

He slowed his pace, as if hesitating about which way to go.

Behind him, the footsteps of those people drew closer.

Wang Lin continued walking forward, entering a narrower alley.

After walking about fifty meters, he stopped.

He turned around.

In the fog, five figures followed from behind.

Leading them was a burly, bald man, a Level 2 Calamity.

Behind him followed four others, tall and short, fat and thin, but they all shared one common trait: they all carried the aura of a Calamity.

Some had skin with an unnatural gray tinge—that was the Rockification ability.

Some had fingers longer than normal with black-tinged nails—that was a characteristic of the Poison-type.

Some had eyes that glowed faintly in the fog, like some kind of nocturnal animal.

Five people, five Calamities.

Seeing Wang Lin stop, they also halted.

The bald man laughed, "Kid, you're pretty sharp, knowing we were following you?"

Seeing that Wang Lin didn't speak, he assumed Wang Lin was scared.

He took a step forward and clenched his fists, a layer of dark gray stratum corneum beginning to appear on them.

That was his Calamity ability: Hardened Skin—high strength and durability.

"You were pretty generous back in the black market. Twenty-five thousand for a crystal core, buying it just like that."

"My brothers and I are a bit short on cash lately, so we want to borrow some points from you to spend."

The four people behind him also laughed, laughing unscrupulously.

The man with ash-gray skin stepped forward and clenched his fists, rock-like patterns beginning to appear on them—Rock-type.

The man with black nails extended a finger, the nail shimmering with a faint, eerie light in the fog—it looked poisonous at a glance.

The two Calamities with glowing eyes didn't transform, but they had already spread out to the left and right, blocking both ends of the alley.

Five people, five Calamities.

Their coordination was tacit; it was clear this wasn't their first time doing such a thing.

Wang Lin looked at them and suddenly laughed as well.

Although that smile couldn't be seen behind the white cat mask, the bald man felt as if something terrifying was about to descend.

"What are you laughing at?" He frowned.

Wang Lin didn't answer, simply raising his hand.

His five fingers curled slightly.

Then, those five fingers transformed into five tentacles, shooting out from Wang Lin's palm in an instant.

The Speed was astonishing.

The bald man didn't even have time to react before a tentacle wrapped around his neck.

The barbs on the tentacle pierced into his skin, and blood began to flow down his neck.

The other four tentacles simultaneously attacked the remaining people.

The Rock-type Calamity reacted the fastest, clenching his fists as his entire body was instantly covered in thick, rocky skin.

He sneered, "You think you can break my defense with this trash?"

Before the words left his mouth, the tentacle had already pierced his chest.

The tip of the tentacle bore a sharp spike and was wreathed in Black Flame.

His Rockification skin was pierced like paper.

His smile froze on his face as he looked down at the bloody hole in his chest, "Ho... how is this possible..."

The Poison-type Calamity turned and ran.

But he had only run two steps before a tentacle wrapped around his ankle.

He fell to the ground, his nails carving black, poisonous marks into the earth, but that poison had no effect on the tentacles.

The tentacle pierced into his back.

The two Calamities with glowing eyes transformed simultaneously; one had his legs become thick and powerful—that was the Speed type; the other grew sharp claws on his ten fingers—that was the agility type.

But no matter how fast they were, they weren't faster than Wang Lin's tentacles.

Two tentacles struck out simultaneously, one to the left and one to the right, piercing through their bodies.

It took less than three seconds from start to finish.

All five people had been pierced by the tentacles.

The bald man knelt on the ground, his hands grabbing the tentacle on his neck, trying desperately to pull it off.

But his hardened skin had already been pierced, and his strength was rapidly fading.

"Sp... spare me..."

"I have points... I'll give them all to you..."

Wang Lin looked down at him.

"Didn't you want to borrow points just a moment ago?"

The bald man shook his head desperately, "I don't want them anymore... I don't want them... please..."

Wang Lin didn't speak.

The suckers on the tentacles began to writhe frantically.

Five streams of power surged in along the tentacles simultaneously: the heaviness of the hardened skin, the solidity of the Rockification power, the chill of the Poison-type, the lightness of Speed, and the sharpness of the claws.

The five powers rampaged through his body, like five trapped beasts trying to break free from their cages.

But Wang Lin's Calamity Seed was stronger than them.

Devour.

Digest.

Absorb.

A few seconds later, the tentacles automatically let go.

The five corpses collapsed limply to the ground, all of them shriveled beyond recognition.

Wang Lin opened his eyes.

He looked down at his hands, feeling the five newly added powers within him.

Then he discovered...

The world had changed.

The surrounding fog, which had originally been too thick to penetrate, could now be seen through.

Not entirely, but it was much clearer than before.

The cracks on the broken wall thirty meters away, the silhouette of a nocturnal rat fifty meters away, and even the figures in the abandoned buildings further away were all visible.

That was the ability of the two Calamities with glowing eyes: night vision.

He raised his hand again, and his nails slowly grew longer, shimmering with a black luster.

Poison-type.

He gently scratched the wall beside him with his nails, leaving a black mark on the wall that hissed and smoked.

The toxicity was very strong.

Wang Lin retracted his nails and moved his body a bit.

Speed and the claws were also within him, ready to be called upon at any time.

With a thought, a layer of dark gray stratum corneum appeared on the surface of his skin.

This was the result of the fusion between Hardening and Rockification; it seemed his own hardening ability had become even more...

The abilities of all five Calamities had become his.

Wang Lin stood in place, silent for a few seconds.

Then he laughed, looking down at the five corpses on the ground.

Their bracelets were still there.

Wang Lin squatted down and touched them one by one.

[2300], [1800], [1500], [2100], [1200]...

Five transfers of points entered his account.

[4600] → [13500]

Thirteen thousand five hundred points.

Wang Lin took a look and nodded.

Then he stood up, and blue flames surged from his palm, falling onto those corpses.

Five balls of flame burned simultaneously, illuminating the narrow alley.