Chapter 5: Players exploited low health to steal kills, and everyone trying to take the boss got wiped out.

Lin Ye crouched in front of the Wolf King, watching this once-arrogant ultimate boss of the Novice Village lie on the ground like a dead dog, breathing feebly. He felt incredibly satisfied.

The number of viewers in the livestream had already surpassed 500,000. The comments were flying by, filled with shouts of "Brother Ye is awesome," "Is the official team not going to do anything?" and "This Talent is way too sinister."

Lin Ye glanced at the comments, a wicked smile playing on his lips. "Don't be in a rush; the real show is just beginning."

He stood up and circled the Wolf King, carefully examining the boss's status. 1 point of Attack, 1 point of Defense, 1 point of Movement Speed, 1 point of Attack Speed, and all skills disabled—it was nothing more than a practice dummy with a health bar.

But Lin Ye didn't plan to kill it.

If he killed it, it would respawn, and he'd have to stack the debuffs all over again. That was too much trouble. It was better to keep it around and slowly fleece it.

He opened his Talent panel and adjusted the "Precise Neutering" mode—preserving the Wolf King's "Health Regen" ability, but controlling the regen speed so it was just enough to keep it from being worn down to death. This way, the Wolf King's health would fluctuate back and forth within a fixed range; it would never die, but it would never reach full health either.

"This is what you call—a perpetual motion machine." Lin Ye nodded with satisfaction.

Then he began to try a new way to play: manipulating the health bar.

Lin Ye applied a layer of debuff to the Wolf King, watching its health drop from 50% to 49%, and then stopped. He waited for the Wolf King to slowly regenerate back to 50%, then applied another layer of debuff, dropping it back to 49%.

He repeated this process over and over. Every time the Wolf King regenerated health, he would use the debuff to wear it down, precisely locking the health in a 0.5% fluctuation range.

At first, Lin Ye wasn't very skilled and would occasionally apply an extra layer, letting the Wolf King's health drop to 48%. But after a few tries, he figured out the rhythm and became incredibly steady at locking it.

And every time the health fluctuated, the Wolf King would drop items.

That's right, it dropped items.

This was a hidden mechanism in gods domain: origin—when a boss's health fluctuated violently during combat, there was a chance for it to drop rare materials and equipment. The more drastic and frequent the fluctuations, the higher the drop rate.

Lin Ye's maneuver was practically exploiting a bug.

With the first fluctuation, the Wolf King dropped a piece of [Wolf King Fur].

With the second fluctuation, a [Wolf Fang Dagger] (Green) dropped.

With the third fluctuation, a piece of [Wolf Skin Leggings] (Green) dropped.

The fourth time, the fifth time, the sixth time...

In just ten minutes, Lin Ye had fleeced over a dozen pieces of equipment and materials, ranging from Green to Blue. There was even a Blue-quality [Wolf King War Boots] with quite impressive stats.

"Holy crap! You can fleece a boss like this?!"

"This is so unscrupulous! Using the boss as an ATM?"

"I'm convinced. Brother Ye's maneuver makes him the grandmaster of fleecing!"

"Official team, fix this now! How are others supposed to play?"

Lin Ye looked at the comments and smiled even more happily. Fix it? The official team couldn't even check his Talent data, so how could they fix anything?

He continued to fleece, and the Wolf King continued to drop. After another ten minutes, his inventory was stuffed with over thirty pieces of equipment and materials, from Green to Blue, and even a Purple-quality [Wolf King Necklace]!

[Wolf King Necklace] (Purple · Rare)

Level Requirement: Level 8

Stats: Strength +15, Agility +10, Critical Rate +5%

Special Effect: Deals an additional 10% damage to beast-type monsters.

Purple equipment!

This was the highest quality equipment possible in the Novice Village, and there were barely any in the entire server. Lin Ye checked the stats and satisfied, he put it on.

Just as he was preparing to continue fleecing, a sudden sound of footsteps came from the entrance of the lair.

Lin Ye looked back and saw three players in novice gear peeking inside. Leading them was a warrior with the ID "Overlord War God," followed by a mage and a priest. All three had decent equipment; they were clearly big spenders.

"Guys, this is it! The Wolf King's Lair!" Overlord War God shouted excitedly, then his expression instantly changed when he saw Lin Ye standing before the Wolf King.

"Damn, someone beat us to it?"

The mage beside him, "Flame Madman," leaned in for a look, and his eyes immediately lit up. "Holy shit! The Wolf King only has a sliver of health left! Quick, steal it!"

The three of them exchanged looks and charged in without a second word.

Overlord War God rushed to the Wolf King and swung his greatsword, cursing as he did, "Kid, we saw this boss first. If you're smart, get the hell out of here!"

Lin Ye's gaze turned cold, but he said nothing.

Flame Madman chuckled. "You're just taking up space without getting the job done. You've been fighting for ages and can't kill it, so you might as well hand it over to us. Look at how pathetic you are, your gear isn't even complete. Do you even deserve to fight a boss?"

The priest, "Radiant Light," was even more spiteful, mocking directly, "Brother, having a hard time in the Novice Village? Want big brother to carry you while grinding? You look so pitiful."

While mocking him, the three of them unleashed a frenzy of attacks on the Wolf King. But since Lin Ye had locked the Wolf King's health at 0.5%, the health bar didn't budge despite their efforts—because every time they dealt damage, the Wolf King would regenerate it back.

"Why won't this boss die?" Overlord War God grew anxious.

"It must be this kid's doing!" Flame Madman pointed at Lin Ye. "Kill him first!"

The three of them turned and charged toward Lin Ye.

Lin Ye finally spoke, his tone flat. "If you want to steal my things, you'd better have the life to take them."

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and applied a new debuff to the Wolf King—[Directional Contagion].

This was a new effect he had unlocked while fleecing just now. It allowed the Decay Debuff to be precisely transmitted to a designated target, and the number of stacks transferred would be exactly the same as the original target.

How many stacks of the debuff were currently on the Wolf King?

500 stacks.

The moment Overlord War God touched the Wolf King, he was instantly infected with 500 stacks of the Decay Debuff.

In the next second, his health bar was instantly emptied.

[-5000] (True Damage)

[System Notification: Player "Overlord War God" has died. Level drop: Level 8 → Level 3.]

??? Overlord War God didn't even have time to scream before he turned into a beam of white light and respawned at the lair's entrance.

Before Flame Madman and Radiant Light could react, they were also infected with the debuff.

[System Notification: Player "Flame Madman" has died. Level drop: Level 7 → Level 2.]

[System Notification: Player "Radiant Light" has died. Level drop: Level 6 → Level 1.]

Within three seconds, all three were wiped out.

And because the debuff was still active, their health bars continued to drop even after they respawned. As soon as Overlord War God revived, most of his health vanished again. He was so terrified he quickly gulped down a health potion, only to find that the debuff's damage was True Damage, which ignored potions.

"Holy crap! I'm still losing health! What the hell is this?!"

"My level! I dropped 5 levels! Dammit!"

The three of them wailed and howled at the lair's entrance, attracting a large crowd of curious players.

"Hahaha, isn't that Overlord War God? How did he become Level 3?"

"This is hilarious. Weren't they just talking about stealing the boss? They got counter-killed!"

"Serves them right! That's what you get for acting tough!"

Overlord War God's face turned green with rage, but he didn't dare enter the lair again. That one hit had caused him to drop 5 levels; if it happened again, he'd have to start over from scratch in the Novice Village.

"Let's go! Let's find Master Kai!" he said through gritted teeth. "I can't swallow this insult!"

The three of them fled in disgrace.

Lin Ye ignored them and continued fleecing the Wolf King. After another ten minutes, his inventory was completely full.

He checked the time; it had been nearly an hour since he entered the lair. By manipulating the health bar, he had fleeced over a hundred pieces of equipment and materials, from Green to Purple, including several high-tier Purple items.

"That's about enough." Lin Ye stretched. "Time to go back and deal with this gear."

He closed his inventory and turned to walk out of the lair. As he passed the entrance, the onlookers automatically made a path for him. The way everyone looked at him had changed—

Awe, fear, worship, envy... all kinds of emotions were present.

Lin Ye ignored it all and walked straight toward the Novice Village. All he was thinking about now was—how much money could this equipment sell for?

When he returned to the Novice Village square, Lin Ye was stunned.

The square was densely packed with people, at least dozens of them, all wearing uniform novice gear with the same guild emblem pinned to their chests—[Heavenly Temple].

Leading them was a warrior with the ID "Brother Kai's Underling," who looked to be under 20 years old and had an arrogant expression. Behind him stood over a dozen well-equipped underlings, a full-scale display of force.

"He's here, he's here! That's him!"

"That's the guy named Ye? The freak who soloed the Wolf King while naked?"

"I don't care how freakish he is. Offending Master Kai is a death wish!"

Lin Ye frowned but said nothing.

Brother Kai's Underling took a step forward and sized Lin Ye up, his eyes full of disdain. "Just you? Naked? I thought you were something special."

The underlings behind him joined in the jeering—

"Brother Kai, this kid looks like a pauper. He can't even afford novice gear."

"Exactly. So what if he has an SSS-rank Talent? He's still a broke loser!"

"Hurry up and hand over the gear before Brother Kai has to get his hands dirty."

Brother Kai's Underling raised his hand to signal his followers to be quiet. He stared at Lin Ye and said arrogantly, "Kid, be smart and hand over all the equipment in your inventory. Give me everything the Wolf King dropped. I'll give you 100 gold coins as a fee for your hard work."

100 gold coins?

Lin Ye almost laughed out loud. Any random Blue piece of equipment in his inventory was worth more than that. Was this guy treating him like a beggar?

"And what if I don't?" Lin Ye's tone was flat.

Brother Kai's Underling's face darkened. "Don't? Then don't blame me for being unkind. Boys—"

His underlings immediately swarmed forward, surrounding Lin Ye so tightly that not even water could leak through.

"Do you see this?" Brother Kai's Underling pointed at the surrounding crowd. "I have over thirty people here. You're naked; how many can you take on?"

Lin Ye looked around, a wicked smile curling his lips.

"Over thirty?"

He raised his hand and applied a layer of debuff to Brother Kai's Underling at the very front—[Mandatory Trade Contagion].

"Ding! Target [Brother Kai's Underling] has been inflicted with [Decay] debuff. Current stacks: 1."

Brother Kai's Underling's health bar instantly dropped by 10 points. He was stunned. "You fucking dare to attack in a safe zone?"

Lin Ye shrugged. "I didn't attack; I just gave you a buff."

Brother Kai's Underling's health was still dropping. He quickly drank a health potion, but the debuff remained. Losing 10 points of health every second was something he simply couldn't withstand.

"Priest! Quick, heal me!"

The priest behind him hurriedly cast Healing, but the debuff's damage was True Damage, which ignored Healing. Brother Kai's Underling's health bar kept falling, and he began to sweat profusely from anxiety.

"Dammit, kill this kid first!"

Over thirty underlings surged forward, charging at Lin Ye.

Lin Ye remained calm, standing his ground with a smile.

In the next second—

Every underling who touched Lin Ye was instantly infected with the debuff.

One stack, two stacks, five stacks, ten stacks...

Over thirty people were instantly afflicted, their health bars plummeting.

"Holy crap! Why is my health dropping so fast?!"

"Me too! What the hell is this?!"

"I can't clear it! Where's the priest? Priest, dispel it!"

"Dispel my ass! This debuff can't be cleared at all!"

In just ten seconds, all thirty-plus people died suddenly, respawning collectively at the safe zone entrance, having dropped several levels.

The onlookers were completely dumbfounded—

"Holy shit! Over thirty people, all dead?"

"Not a single one left? That's way too brutal!"

"You can kill people in a safe zone? This Talent is way too overpowered!"

After respawning, Brother Kai's Underling saw that he had dropped 3 levels and shook with rage. He wanted to rush back and settle the score with Lin Ye, but as soon as he stepped forward, he pulled back—he was afraid.

"You... just you wait!" Brother Kai's Underling pointed at Lin Ye, his voice trembling. "Master Kai won't let you get away with this!"

With that, he and his band of defeated soldiers fled in disgrace.

Lin Ye watched their retreating backs and scoffed.

Master Kai? Zhao Kai?

He shook his head and turned toward the Trading House.

Meanwhile, this scene was recorded by countless onlookers and posted on the forums. The title was—

[Shocking! Thirty People Besiege a Naked Pro, Only to be Wiped Out! Killing Possible in Safe Zones?]

As soon as the post went up, it exploded across the entire server.

"Holy crap! What kind of god-tier maneuver is this? Over thirty people all dead?"

"Killing in a safe zone? That's unscientific!"

"Didn't you watch the stream? This guy Ye has an SSS-rank Talent that can reduce someone's stats to 0 and is contagious!"

"Can't mess with him, can't mess with him. I'll have to take a detour if I see him from now on."

At that moment, in another main city, a player with the ID "Master Kai" was looking at the forum post, his expression incredibly grim.

He was Zhao Kai, a top-100 big spender on the server and the vice-guild leader of the Heavenly Temple.

"A naked novice dares to touch my people?" Zhao Kai sneered. "Investigate. Find out which Novice Village he's in. I want to meet him personally."

The underling behind him immediately replied, "Yes, Brother Kai!"

Zhao Kai stared at Lin Ye's character model on the screen, his gaze sinister.

"Ye, is it? Just wait. I'll show you the consequences of offending me."