Chapter 8: Using Monsters to Kill Others – Can You Even Lose Health in the Safe Zone?

After Zhao Kai fled, Lin Ye wasn't in a hurry to chase him. Instead, he returned to the Novice Village first to deal with the equipment in his backpack.

Over twenty pieces of blue equipment, plus the gold coins he had saved before, brought his assets straight past five digits—twelve thousand gold coins. At current market prices, it was worth at least thirty thousand yuan in real-world currency.

Lin Ye stared at the numbers on the screen, his fingers trembling slightly. It had been three months, and he finally saw money again. And this time it wasn't a few hundred, it was thirty thousand!

Just as he was about to withdraw the money, his phone suddenly vibrated.

[Private Message] Master Kai: Kid, do you really think you've won? Let me tell you, I've just called fifty elite players, all ranked in the top three hundred of the server. Their gear is all blue-grade or higher, and there are three big shots with purple gear. Today, I'm going to make sure you know the consequences of offending me, Zhao Kai!

Lin Ye glanced at the private message, a wicked smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

Fifty people? And three with purple gear?

He replied: "Fine, I'll be waiting. Bring more people, saves me the trouble of looking for you one by one."

[Private Message] Master Kai: You're damn stubborn! See you at the Novice Village square in twenty minutes! Whoever doesn't show up is a coward!

Lin Ye didn't reply again. He closed the private message and began to ponder how to deal with Zhao Kai.

Fifty elite players—a direct confrontation definitely wouldn't work. Although his Talent was heaven-defying, he was only level 8, and his health was only a few hundred points. He still wouldn't be able to withstand being focused down.

However... he glanced at the "Contagious Spread" effect on his Talent panel, and a wicked idea popped into his head.

Killing with monsters.

There were plenty of wild monsters outside the Novice Village. As long as he applied the debuff to the monsters and then lured the people over, he could let the monsters kill for him. Moreover, once the monsters had the debuff, their attributes would be weakened, but the debuff would still be there; whoever touched them would be out of luck.

The key was—this debuff could also take effect in the safe zone.

Lin Ye opened the map and began scouting.

There were three monster areas around the Novice Village—the Rabbit Area to the east, where the monsters were too weak to kill anyone; the Wolf Area to the west, where the monsters were okay but not fierce enough; and Black Wind Ridge to the north, where there were Wolf Kings and Elite Wolves, making it the most suitable "weapon."

Black Wind Ridge it is.

Lin Ye walked to the entrance of Black Wind Ridge and began setting things up. He applied the debuff to dozens of wild wolves near the entrance, stacking 50 layers on each, and then set the "Infection on Attack" effect—anyone who attacked these wolves, or was attacked by them, would be infected with the debuff.

After finishing the setup, he checked the time; it was about ready.

Lin Ye leisurely walked back to the Novice Village square.

The square was already crowded with people, at least several hundred, all waiting to watch the show. Zhao Kai stood in the center of the square, with over fifty elite players standing behind him, well-equipped and aggressive.

Seeing Lin Ye arrive, Zhao Kai sneered, "You actually dare to show up?"

Lin Ye shrugged. "Why wouldn't I come for the experience points delivered to my doorstep?"

"Stubborn!" Zhao Kai waved his hand. "Brothers, get him! Today, I'm going to kill this kid back to level zero!"

Over fifty elite players swarmed forward, charging toward Lin Ye.

But Lin Ye was well-prepared. He didn't fight head-on; he turned and ran toward Black Wind Ridge.

"Don't let him get away! Chase him!"

Over fifty people chased Lin Ye out of the Novice Village, all the way to the entrance of Black Wind Ridge.

When Lin Ye reached the entrance of the ridge, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at the approaching Zhao Kai.

"Do you know what place this is?"

Zhao Kai was stunned for a moment, then looked up—Black Wind Ridge.

His expression changed. "You damn well want to use the Wolf King again?"

Lin Ye smiled. "It's not the Wolf King this time; it's something even fiercer."

He waved his hand, and dozens of wild wolves near the entrance instantly rushed out, each carrying 50 layers of the Decay Debuff. Their health bars were plummeting, but they weren't dead yet.

Zhao Kai breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this. "Just these few pathetic wolves? What threat could they possibly be?"

But just as he finished speaking, an elite warrior swung his sword at a charging wolf—

"Ding! Player [Invincible Blade] attacked a wild wolf infected with the Decay Debuff, triggering the contagion effect!"

Dozens of layers of the debuff instantly spread to the warrior, and his health bar began to drop rapidly.

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

"Priest! Heal me, quick!"

Several Priests quickly cast Healing on him, but the debuff's damage was true damage, dropping dozens of health points per second—it was impossible to withstand. The warrior's health bar emptied instantly, and he died on the spot!

"Ding! Player [Invincible Blade] has died. Level dropped: Level 9 → Level 4."

Zhao Kai's face turned pale. "What's going on?!"

Lin Ye didn't give him time to react and lured another wave of wild wolves over. This time there were over twenty, each carrying 100 layers of the debuff.

"Brothers, don't touch those wolves! Get away!" Zhao Kai shouted.

But there were too many wolves, and the entrance was only so wide; there was no way to dodge. Several warriors were pounced on by the wolves and were instantly infected with the debuff. Their health bars plummeted, and they died within seconds.

"It's no use! We can't hold on!"

"Run!"

Over fifty elite players began to flee, but Lin Ye had already set the trap—their retreat was also blocked by wild wolves.

In just one minute, all fifty-plus elite players died. Their levels dropped by at least three, and as many as five.

Zhao Kai was among them. He watched helplessly as his health bar emptied and his level dropped from 1 to 0—he had become level zero!

"Ding! Player [Master Kai] has died. Level dropped: Level 1 → Level 0."

[System Notification: Player [Master Kai] is level 0 and has been forcibly kicked out of the Novice Village, returning to the Creation Space.]

Zhao Kai stood up in the Creation Space, looking at his level 0 status, and completely lost his mind.

"Agh—! Lin Ye! I'm not done with you!"

He frantically clicked "Recreate Character," but the system notified him that he needed to wait 24 hours before he could recreate it.

Zhao Kai was so furious that he smashed his gaming pod.

Meanwhile, back at the Novice Village square, the onlookers watching through the live stream were all laughing hysterically—

"Hahaha! Over fifty elites, all wiped out!"

"Zhao Kai dropped straight to level 0 and got kicked out of the Novice Village! I'm dying!"

"Brother Ye's play is a textbook example of killing with monsters!"

"I'm impressed. This Talent is just too heaven-defying! Even wild monsters can be used as weapons!"

"It's not that the Talent is heaven-defying, it's that Brother Ye is too wicked! To even think of this!"

Lin Ye looked at the equipment and materials scattered all over the ground, feeling great. The items dropped by these fifty-plus elites were worth at least several thousand gold coins.

Just as he was about to pick up the gear, he suddenly saw that Zhao Kai's ID was still online—wait, Zhao Kai had been kicked out of the Novice Village, so how was he still online?

Lin Ye opened his friends list and saw that Zhao Kai's ID was still there, but his level was shown as "0" and his location as "Creation Space."

It turned out that after being kicked out of the Novice Village, one wouldn't go offline immediately but would be trapped in the Creation Space, waiting 24 hours to recreate the account.

Lin Ye's eyes darted around as another wicked idea popped into his head.

He opened a private message and sent one to Zhao Kai—

[Private Message] Ye: Brother Kai, is it comfortable staying in the Creation Space?

The other side replied instantly—

[Private Message] Master Kai: Don't you damn well get cocky! I'll be out in 24 hours, and then I'm going to kill you for sure!

Lin Ye smiled and replied: "24 hours? Do you think you can last 24 hours?"

[Private Message] Master Kai: What do you mean?

Lin Ye didn't reply. He directly opened his Talent panel and found the newly unlocked effect—"Cross-Space Decay."

This was a new effect unlocked just now while applying the debuff to the wild wolves. It allowed the Decay Debuff to cross spatial limits and take effect on targets not on the same map.

[Cross-Space Decay (Newly Unlocked)]

Effect Description: The Decay Debuff can cross spatial limits and take effect on targets not on the same map, the same server, or even those who are not online. Effect reduction: 50% across maps, 80% across servers, and 90% across offline.

Unlock Condition: Cumulatively cause a single target to drop more than 20 levels (Completed).

Lin Ye looked at this effect, a wicked curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Cross-offline? It can even take effect after logging off?

Without a second thought, he applied 10 layers of the Decay Debuff to Zhao Kai.

[System Notification: Target [Master Kai] is located in the Creation Space. Cross-Space Decay has taken effect, with a 50% reduction. Current layers: 10, dealing true damage equal to 5% of the target's maximum health per second.]

Zhao Kai's health in the Creation Space was full, 1000 points, dropping 50 points per second, meaning he'd die in 20 seconds. But what would happen if he died in the Creation Space? Lin Ye didn't know, but he really wanted to find out.

Ten seconds later—

[System Notification: Player [Master Kai] has died in the Creation Space and has been forcibly logged off.]

Lin Ye looked at this notification and laughed until he was doubled over.

You can even die in the Creation Space? This Talent is just too heaven-defying!

Just as he was about to close the private message, Zhao Kai logged back on—

[Private Message] Master Kai: What the hell did you do to me?! I'm still losing health even after logging off?!

Lin Ye replied: "Nothing much, just gave you a little debuff. Don't worry, as long as you don't log on, you won't lose health. But once you log on..."

He didn't finish, but the meaning was already clear.

Zhao Kai was about to go crazy with rage—

[Private Message] Master Kai: You just wait! I'm going to report you to the GM!

Lin Ye laughed. "Go ahead, even the GM can't do anything about me."

He closed the private message and began leisurely picking up the equipment.

Meanwhile, in another main city, Qin Wentian, the guild leader of the Heavenly Temple, was looking at a post on the forum, his expression becoming increasingly serious.

"Killing with monsters, Cross-Space Decay..." he whispered. "This Ye is even stronger than I imagined."

The lackey behind him asked, "Guild Leader, should we take action? If we let him keep this up, the Heavenly Temple will lose all its face."

Qin Wentian shook his head. "No rush. Let's see how things go with Zhao Kai first."

He looked at Lin Ye's character model on the screen, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.

"Ye the Wicked... interesting. I'd like to see what other tricks you can pull."

Meanwhile, Zhao Kai was frantically sending messages to the GM—

[Private Message] Master Kai: GM! Someone is cheating! Ban his account, quick!

[GM001]: Please provide specific evidence.

[Private Message] Master Kai: Evidence? I'm still losing health even after logging off! Isn't that cheating?!

[GM001]: ...Please wait a moment, we are investigating.

Ten seconds later—

[GM001]: After investigation, all operations of player "Ye" comply with the game rules, and no violations were found. Thank you for your report.

Zhao Kai looked at the message and smashed his phone in a rage.

"Complies with the rules? You're telling me it's within the rules to lose health even after logging off?!"

He slumped in his chair, looking at his level 0 status, completely in despair.

Just what kind of monster is this Ye?