Chapter 4 turns the Wolf King into a wooden stake, leaving the GM completely bewildered while checking account information.

The moment the call ended, a lingering smile remained on Lin Ye's lips.

GM001? Account check?

He glanced at the Black Wind Wolf King's corpse lying on the ground, then at the flashing new prompt on his Talent panel, and he had a good idea of what was happening—the officials were getting anxious.

A Level 1 player with basic gear soloing a Level 10 BOSS—who wouldn't be anxious? But he really wasn't afraid of a check. The Talent was given by the game itself, the gameplay was his own, and the data was clean. What could the officials possibly find?

Lin Ye pulled back his thoughts and opened the Talent panel. While soloing the Black Wind Wolf King earlier, he had noticed a new prompt—

[System Prompt: Detected that the target [Black Wind Wolf King] has exceeded 200 layers of Decay. A new mechanic has been unlocked!]

[All-Dimensional Attribute Castration (Advanced Effect)]

Effect Description: Allows precise control over the target attributes castrated by the Decay Debuff. Specified attributes (Attack, Defense, Movement Speed, Attack Speed, Skill Effects, etc.) can be individually reduced to their minimum value (minimum of 1 point), while other attributes remain unaffected.

Unlock Condition: Stack debuff layers on any BOSS beyond 200 layers (Completed).

After Lin Ye finished reading, his eyes instantly lit up.

When he fought the Black Wind Wolf King earlier, he was just mindlessly stacking layers, weakening all attributes together. But now with this new mechanic, he could control it precisely—for example, weakening only Attack and not Defense, making the BOSS unable to hurt anyone but also unable to die; or weakening only Movement Speed, turning the BOSS into a turtle to be slowly tortured.

This room for maneuver had suddenly increased more than tenfold.

Moreover, the unlock condition was only 200 layers. For other players, they might not be able to stack that many in a lifetime. But for him? 200 layers was just the starting price.

“Interesting.” Lin Ye rubbed his hands, a wicked light appearing in his eyes. “When the Black Wind Wolf King refreshes, I'll use it to test the new mechanic.”

But for now...

He looked at the loot in his backpack—one blue breastplate, one blue iron sword, several scarce materials from the Novice Village, and over 500 gold coins. Combined with the 1,000 gold coins and bronze treasure chest from the first-kill reward, this haul brought in 1,500 gold coins directly.

Based on current gold prices, it could be exchanged for at least several thousand real-world yuan.

Lin Ye took a deep breath. The frustration he had bottled up for three months was finally mostly gone.

Just as he was preparing to return to the Novice Village to sell the gear, the system popped up another prompt—

[System Prompt: You have one unread message from GM001.]

Lin Ye raised an eyebrow and casually clicked it open.

[GM001: Player “Ye”, please cooperate with the official audit of your account data. Your Talent effect exceeds the normal range of the game. If you do not cooperate, mandatory measures will be taken.]

Mandatory measures?

Lin Ye sneered and replied, “I'm killing monsters based on my Talent. Which rule did I violate? Your game gave me an SSS-rank Talent, and you're not letting me use it?”

After sending the message, the other side was silent for a few seconds before replying again.

[GM001: SSS-rank Talents do exist, but your damage data is abnormal. We need to verify if there is any BUG exploitation. Please cooperate.]

Lin Ye didn't bother to waste any more words and directly closed the message window. Cooperate? Cooperate my ass. His most urgent task now was to test how powerful the newly unlocked “Attribute Castration” really was.

He looked in the direction of the Wolf Kings Lair—there were still ten minutes until the Black Wind Wolf King refreshed.

Just right, he'd go back and recover his status.

Lin Ye turned and walked out of Black Wind Ridge. Every player he met along the way stared at him as if he were a monster.

“Holy crap! It's him! That freak who soloed the Black Wind Wolf King at Level 1!”

“Big shot, please carry me! I'll be your lackey!”

“Brother, what exactly is the effect of that SSS-rank Talent of yours? Can you give us a hint?”

“Forget it. It's the only Talent of its kind in the whole server. Why would he tell you?”

Lin Ye ignored the onlookers and walked straight to the blacksmith shop in the Novice Village, putting the blue equipment and materials from his backpack up on the Trading House.

[System Prompt: You have listed [Black Wind Breastplate] (Blue) for 500 gold coins.]

[System Prompt: You have listed [Wolf Fang Iron Sword] (Blue) for 400 gold coins.]

[System Prompt: You have listed [Wolf King Fur] (Rare Material) x5 for 50 gold coins each.]

As soon as the items were listed, the Trading House instantly exploded.

[World Channel]

[Player “Little Prince of Pay-to-Win”: F*ck! Black Wind Breastplate! Wolf Fang Iron Sword! Aren't these drops from the Black Wind Wolf King? Did that Ye really solo the Black Wind Wolf King?!]

[Player “Brother Hu”: 500 gold coins? Isn't that too expensive? I can't afford it!]

[Player “Milk Tea Without Sugar”: He earned it with his own skill. He can sell it for however much he wants. What's it to you?]

[Player “Solo Player Old Li”: Big shot is awesome! It's just that price... we solo players really can't afford it.]

Lin Ye watched the discussion on the World Channel, thought for a moment, and lowered the prices—300 gold coins for the breastplate, 200 for the iron sword, and 10 gold coins each for the materials.

He didn't need to get rich off these few pieces of gear; what he wanted was a reputation. He wanted all the solo players in the server to know that he, Ye the Wicked, was a “fair-priced” big shot.

Sure enough, as soon as the prices dropped, the items were snatched up instantly.

[System Prompt: Your listed items have all been sold. Gold coins obtained: 870.]

Combined with the first-kill reward and the Black Wind Wolf King's drops, Lin Ye's total gold coins had already surpassed 2,000.

At current market prices, these gold coins could be exchanged for at least 5,000 real-world yuan.

Lin Ye took a deep breath, his fingers trembling slightly. It had been three months, and he finally saw money again.

But he wasn't in a hurry to withdraw it. Now wasn't the time—he had more important things to do.

Glancing at the time, there were still three minutes until the Black Wind Wolf King refreshed.

Lin Ye closed the Trading House interface and turned to run toward Black Wind Ridge.

Meanwhile, at the headquarters of gods domain: origin, the atmosphere in the technical department had dropped to the freezing point.

GM Xiao Zhou stared at the data on the screen, his forehead covered in sweat. He had been checking for a full ten minutes, from Lin Ye's character data, combat records, and Talent effects, all the way to the server backend logs, even using the highest-level audit tools.

But there was only one result—

Nothing could be found.

It wasn't that the data was hidden, but that his permissions weren't high enough. The underlying code priority of Lin Ye's SSS-rank Talent [Perpetual Energy Level Decay] was above all game mechanics; his GM permissions simply couldn't get in.

“Leader...” Xiao Zhou's voice trembled as he spoke to the Technical Director behind him. “I still can't check it. The data permissions for that Talent are higher than ours. I don't even have the qualification to view the detailed effects.”

The Technical Director's face turned ashen. “What do you mean higher than ours? This is a game we made!”

“I don't know either!” Xiao Zhou was almost in tears. “That Talent seems to come with its own native code. We didn't detect it at all before the server opened. Now it's already bound to the game core. Forcibly modifying it would cause the entire server to crash.”

The Technical Director was silent for a few seconds before gritting his teeth and saying, “Then just keep an eye on him for now. Don't let him cause any bigger trouble. When the version updates, find a way to take back the data permissions for this Talent.”

Xiao Zhou opened his mouth, wanting to say “we can't take it back,” but seeing the leader's expression like he wanted to eat someone, he swallowed his words.

He turned his head back to the screen and happened to see Lin Ye's character re-entering Black Wind Ridge.

Xiao Zhou's heart skipped a beat—was he going after the Black Wind Wolf King again?

He hurriedly opened the spectate system, wanting to see what Lin Ye was actually going to do.

In the next second, he was completely stunned.

Wolf Kings Lair.

The Black Wind Wolf King had just refreshed and was standing in the center of the lair, howling at the sky, its crimson eyes scanning the entrance. It still remembered that Level 1 human who had tortured it to death just now, and its entire body was now radiating an aura of fury.

When Lin Ye walked into the lair, the Black Wind Wolf King recognized him at a glance.

“Awoo—!”

The Black Wind Wolf King let out a heaven-shaking roar and directly activated its Frenzy Berserk, its body glowing red as it lunged at Lin Ye. That posture suggested it couldn't wait to tear Lin Ye to pieces.

But Lin Ye was unhurried, raising his hand to apply a debuff.

“Trigger Talent, target Black Wind Wolf King.”

[System Prompt: Successfully stacked 1 layer of [Decay] debuff on the target [Black Wind Wolf King].]

10 layers. 50 layers. 100 layers.

The Black Wind Wolf King's health bar began to drop rapidly, but this time Lin Ye didn't mindlessly stack layers like before. He opened the “Precise Castration” mode of the Talent panel and concentrated all the debuff effects on the Black Wind Wolf King's “Attack Power” and “Movement Speed.”

[System Prompt: Target [Black Wind Wolf King] Attack Power reduced by 80%, Movement Speed reduced by 80%.]

The originally lightning-fast lunge instantly became slow motion. By the time the Black Wind Wolf King rushed in front of Lin Ye, Lin Ye even had time to stretch before stepping aside.

“Too slow.” Lin Ye shook his head and continued stacking debuffs.

150 layers. 200 layers.

[System Prompt: Target [Black Wind Wolf King] Attack Power reduced by 100%. Current Attack Power: 1 point.]

[System Prompt: Target [Black Wind Wolf King] Movement Speed reduced by 100%. Current Movement Speed: 1 point.]

The Black Wind Wolf King's Attack Power dropped directly to 1 point, and its Movement Speed also became a snail's pace. It used all its strength to swing a claw, hitting Lin Ye, and a damage number popped up—

[-1].

Lin Ye looked at the 1 point of health he lost, then at the Black Wind Wolf King, and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

“Is that it? Are you just scratching an itch for me?”

The Black Wind Wolf King was completely bewildered. It looked down at its claws, then at Lin Ye, letting out an aggrieved whimper.

It couldn't understand why it, a dignified Level 10 Bronze BOSS, could only deal 1 point of damage to a Level 1 human.

Lin Ye didn't stop and continued stacking debuffs.

250 layers. 300 layers.

This time, what he castrated were the Black Wind Wolf King's “Defense” and “Skill Effects.”

[System Prompt: Target [Black Wind Wolf King] Defense reduced by 100%. Current Defense: 1 point.]

[System Prompt: Target [Black Wind Wolf King] Skill Effects reduced by 100%. Current Skill Effects: Ineffective.]

The Black Wind Wolf King wanted to use “Wolf Howl Intimidation” to stun Lin Ye, but after howling for a long time, Lin Ye stood in place without moving—the skill effect had been stripped away.

It then tried to use “Lacerating Pounce,” but fell halfway through because its Attack Speed had also been reduced to 1 point. Its movement was stuck in mid-air, like a freeze-frame.

In just five minutes, the ultimate BOSS of the Novice Village that once struck terror into the hearts of all players had turned into a living target that could only wail in place.

Attack Power 1 point, Defense 1 point, Movement Speed 1 point, Attack Speed 1 point, and all skills useless.

Forget about hitting people; it even struggled to walk. Every step was like a slow-motion replay, looking as pitiful as could be.

Lin Ye walked up to the Black Wind Wolf King, crouched down, and patted its head.

“Stop howling. Be a good boy and listen, or I'll leave you in this half-dead state forever.”

The Black Wind Wolf King let out a low whimper, its tail tucked between its legs, its eyes full of fear.

It had submitted.

Meanwhile, GM Xiao Zhou, who saw this scene through the spectate system, was completely dazed.

He watched helplessly as Lin Ye took a Level 10 Bronze BOSS and turned it into a training dummy that even a Level 1 novice could beat. Moreover, the BOSS was still standing there with more than half its health bar, but it couldn't move, couldn't attack, and couldn't use skills.

What kind of god-tier Talent is this?!

With trembling hands, Xiao Zhou sent a message to the leader—

“Leader, that Ye the Wicked is messing with the Black Wind Wolf King again.”

The Technical Director replied instantly: “Let him mess with it. The BOSS will refresh anyway.”

Xiao Zhou swallowed hard: “No... he reduced the Black Wind Wolf King's attack, defense, movement speed, attack speed, and skill effects all to 1 point. Now even a Level 1 novice can beat that BOSS.”

The other side was silent for a long time.

A very, very long time.

So long that Xiao Zhou thought the leader had gone offline before he finally received a reply—

“...Forget it. We can't control it. Just leave it be.”

Xiao Zhou looked at the message, wanting to cry but having no tears. We can't control it so just leave it be? Then how is this game supposed to operate in the future? Are all the players just going to watch him perform alone?

He looked at Lin Ye on the screen, then at the Black Wind Wolf King that had been turned into a training dummy, and suddenly had a strong premonition—

The world of this game was about to change.

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was crouching in front of the Black Wind Wolf King, a wicked smile on his face, speaking to the live stream camera—

“Everyone, did you see that? This is the consequence of provoking me. Whether it's a BOSS or a player, as long as you dare to oppose me, this will be your end.”

The number of online viewers in the live stream room had already surpassed 500,000, and the bullet comments were scrolling so fast they couldn't be read clearly—

“Holy crap! This is too ruthless! Turning the BOSS into a training dummy!”

“Big shot is awesome! Whoever dares to provoke you in the future will have their attack power reduced directly to 1 point!”

“Where are the officials? Aren't they going to do anything?”

“Do what? Didn't you see that even the GM couldn't check his account?”

“From today on, Brother Ye is my idol!”

Lin Ye looked at the bullet comments and smiled. This was the effect he wanted—to let the entire server know that he, Ye the Wicked, was not to be trifled with.

As for the officials? He glanced at GM Xiao Zhou's chat window, a more wicked smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

That GM seemed quite fun. Some other day when he had time, he'd use him to test the new effects of his Talent.