Chapter 9: Forcing the Wolf King to Hand Over the Divine Weapon Leads to Overnight Riches and the Purchase of an Entire Building

Lin Ye finished cleaning up the equipment dropped by Zhao Kai's fifty-plus elites, and his backpack was full again. He checked the time; over an hour had passed since the last time the Wolf King was fleeced, so it was about time for it to respawn.

A wicked smile curled at the corners of his mouth—perfect, time to go talk business with the Wolf King.

Black Wind Ridge, Wolf Kings Lair.

The Black Wind Wolf King had already respawned and was lying in the center of the lair licking its wounds. It still remembered the experience of being tortured to within an inch of its life by that Level 1 human. Seeing Lin Ye walk in now, its fur stood on end.

“Awooo—!” The Wolf King let out a threatening low growl, but its body instinctively retreated two steps.

It was afraid.

Lin Ye couldn't help but laugh seeing the Wolf King's cowardly state: “Don't be afraid. I'm not here to beat you up today; I'm here to talk business.”

The Wolf King stared at him warily, not daring to move.

Lin Ye found a rock to sit on, crossed his legs, and said leisurely: “I know you have a hidden divine artifact on you. Hand it over, and I'll let you go. If you don't—”

He raised his hand and stacked 10 layers of debuffs on the Wolf King.

“Ding! Target [Black Wind Wolf King] has been inflicted with [Decay] debuff, current stacks: 10.”

The Wolf King's health bar instantly dropped by 10%, scaring it into howling.

“Don't be in a hurry, this is just the appetizer.” Lin Ye continued stacking debuffs.

50 stacks. 100 stacks. 200 stacks.

The Wolf King's health bar dropped to 50%, all its attributes were halved, its skills were rendered useless, and it couldn't even stand steadily.

Lin Ye stopped, precisely locking the Wolf King's health at 50%, then patted its head: “Have you thought it through? Handing it over or not?”

The Wolf King let out a wronged whimper and shook its head—it had no idea what divine artifact Lin Ye was talking about.

“Playing dumb?” Lin Ye raised an eyebrow and stacked another 50 layers of debuffs.

250 stacks. 300 stacks.

The Wolf King's health bar dropped to 30%, all its attributes were reduced by 70%, and even breathing became a struggle.

“Handing it over?”

The Wolf King nodded frantically, but it truly didn't know what Lin Ye wanted. It was just a Level 10 Bronze BOSS; how could it have a divine artifact?

Lin Ye frowned, looking at the Wolf King's innocent expression. Was the system prompt fake?

He opened his Talent panel and re-read that prompt—

[System Prompt: Detected that the target [Black Wind Wolf King] contains the hidden divine artifact [wolf kings protection], which requires specific conditions to trigger the drop. Trigger conditions: Target's health is below 10% and it is in a 'Submission' state.]

Lin Ye's eyes lit up—below 10% and in submission?

He glanced at the Wolf King's current health—30%, still not enough.

“Sorry, I have to give you another beating.” As Lin Ye spoke, he stacked another 50 layers of debuffs.

350 stacks. 400 stacks.

The Wolf King's health bar dropped to 15%, all its attributes were reduced by 85%, and it lay on the ground unable to move, its eyes filled with terror.

10%.

Lin Ye stopped precisely, locking the Wolf King's health at 10%. Then he crouched down and patted the Wolf King's head: “Are you submissive?”

The Wolf King nodded frantically, letting out whimpers of mercy.

[System Prompt: Target [Black Wind Wolf King] has entered the 'Submission' state, health is below 10%, triggering hidden drop conditions!]

[System Prompt: Congratulations to player [Ye] for obtaining the hidden divine artifact [wolf kings protection]!]

A blinding golden light burst from the Wolf King, and a silver-glowing wolf tooth pendant floated in the air, slowly drifting in front of Lin Ye.

At the same time, the server-wide golden announcement exploded—

[Server Golden Announcement! Congratulations to player [Ye] for obtaining the server's first SS-grade equipment [wolf kings protection]! Reward: Reputation +10,000!]

[Server Golden Announcement! Player [Ye] has become the first player to obtain SS-grade equipment since the launch of gods domain: origin! Recorded in the server-wide Hall of Fame!]

[Server Golden Announcement! Detected that the attributes of the SS-grade equipment [wolf kings protection] are abnormal; it has been automatically encrypted! Only the holder can view detailed attributes!]

A triple announcement!

The entire server erupted again—

[World Channel]

[Player 'Wocao Wuqing': Holy crap! SS-grade equipment?! The first one on the server?!]

[Player 'Little Prince of Pay-to-Win': Isn't Purple the highest in this game? How is there an SS-grade?]

[Player 'Solo Player Old Li': A hidden divine artifact! It's definitely a hidden divine artifact! Brother Ye is too badass!]

[Player 'Milk Tea Without Sugar': wolf kings protection? The name sounds so strong! Begging the big shot to post an attribute screenshot!]

[Player 'Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian': ...SS-grade? Interesting.]

Lin Ye ignored the bombardment on the world channel; he was staring at the [wolf kings protection] in his hand, his eyes wide.

[wolf kings protection] (SS-grade · Hidden Divine Artifact)

Level Requirement: None

Attributes: All Attributes +50, Critical Rate +15%, Attack Speed +20%

Special Effect 1 [Wolf Kings Will]: Each kill increases Attack Power by 1 point permanently, no upper limit.

Special Effect 2 [Guardian Aura]: Teammates within 10 yards gain All Attributes +20 and Damage Reduction 10%.

Special Effect 3 [Hidden Effect · Unlocked]: Requires specific tasks to unlock.

Lin Ye took a deep breath after reading the attributes.

All Attributes +50? He was currently Level 8, and his total attributes combined were less than 100 points; this single piece of equipment added 50 points!

And that [Wolf Kings Will]—each kill permanently increases attack power by 1 point with no limit? This meant as long as he killed enough, his attack power could stack infinitely!

This equipment was practically tailor-made for him!

Lin Ye didn't hesitate and equipped it immediately. A flash of silver light passed, and his attribute panel instantly skyrocketed—

Level: 8

Health: 1200 (Original 600)

Attack Power: 85-105 (Original 15-25)

Defense: 60 (Original 10)

Critical Rate: 20% (Original 5%)

Attack Speed: 25% (Original 5%)

His current attributes had already surpassed most Level 10 players. Moreover, with the effect of [Wolf Kings Will], as long as he continued grinding mobs, his attributes would keep rising infinitely!

Lin Ye nodded in satisfaction and patted the Wolf King lying on the ground: “Thanks. I won't come looking for you anymore.”

The Wolf King let out a whimper of relief, wishing this bringer of calamity would leave immediately.

Lin Ye walked out of the lair and checked his backpack—a full backpack of equipment and materials, plus the gold coins he had saved before, meant he now had assets worth at least twenty thousand gold coins.

Based on current gold prices, it was worth at least fifty thousand real-world currency.

Lin Ye took a deep breath; it was time to cash out.

He opened the game's built-in trading platform, listed the twenty thousand gold coins, and set the price at fifty thousand yuan.

In less than three seconds, it was snatched up.

[System Prompt: The 20,000 gold coins you listed have been sold. The amount of 50,000 yuan has been credited to your account. Please check.]

Lin Ye looked at the extra fifty thousand yuan in his bank card, his fingers trembling slightly. After three months, he finally saw money again. And this time it wasn't a few hundred, it was fifty thousand!

He took a deep breath, opened his phone's contact list, and found the landlady's WeChat.

“Auntie, are you there?”

The landlady replied instantly: “I'm here! Is the money ready? I'm telling you, if you don't pay the rent today, get lost tomorrow!”

Lin Ye smiled and sent a message: “Auntie, I'm not just paying the rent; I want to rent your entire building.”

The other side was silent for over ten seconds.

“What did you say? The entire building? Are you crazy?”

“I'm not crazy. That building of yours, six floors, four rooms per floor—how much per month?”

The landlady was silent for a while: “...Eight thousand a month.”

“Fine, I'll rent it for a year first.” Lin Ye directly transferred ninety-six thousand over.

Receiving the money, the landlady was completely stunned. She looked at the transfer record on her phone, then at Lin Ye's profile picture, and her tone instantly changed—

“Brother... Brother Ye, you really want to rent the whole building?”

“What? Not for rent?”

“Rent, rent, rent! Of course I'll rent it! Brother Ye, when will you move in? I'll clean it up for you!”

Lin Ye smiled: “Tomorrow, I guess.”

“Good, good, good! Brother Ye, don't worry, I'll definitely clean it up perfectly for you! By the way, Brother Ye, do you need furniture? I have a few sets ready here, you can use them for free!”

Lin Ye couldn't help but laugh at the landlady's 180-degree turn in attitude. Before, she called him a 'pauper' and 'worthless mud,' and now she was calling him 'Brother Ye.'

In this world, money is king.

He was about to turn off his phone when he received another message—

[Private Message] Master Kai: Brother Ye! Brother Ye, I was wrong! Please, I beg you, clear the debuffs on me! I can't take it anymore! I've already dropped to Level 0; if I drop any further, my account will be deleted!

Lin Ye raised an eyebrow and clicked to see. Zhao Kai had already sent him over a hundred private messages, ranging from cursing his mother at the beginning to begging for mercy now, with his tone becoming increasingly humble.

[Private Message] Master Kai: Brother Ye, I was really wrong! I shouldn't have provoked you! Please let me go! I'm willing to pay protection money! Any amount is fine!

Lin Ye thought for a moment and replied: “One hundred thousand gold coins, not a single coin less.”

The other side went silent.

One hundred thousand gold coins, at current market prices, was worth at least two hundred thousand real-world currency. Although Zhao Kai was rich, he didn't spend money like this.

After five minutes, Zhao Kai replied—

[Private Message] Master Kai: ...Fine! One hundred thousand it is! But I only have eighty thousand now; can I owe you twenty thousand first?

Lin Ye: “No. One hundred thousand, not a single coin less.”

[Private Message] Master Kai: ...You wait, I'll scrape it together right now!

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

With one hundred thousand gold coins in hand, he could rent several more buildings.

He was about to go offline to rest when the system suddenly popped up a prompt—

[System Prompt: A large number of hostile players have been detected near your Wolf King's Lair. Please be careful.]

Lin Ye frowned and opened the map—at the entrance of the Wolf King's Lair, over twenty players had appeared, all with the 'Heavenly Temple' guild emblem in front of their IDs.

The ID of the leader was 'Heavenly Temple Sword Soul,' showing a level of 15, and the equipment on his body glowed with purple light, marking him as a top-tier elite.

Lin Ye's gaze turned cold.

Heavenly Temple? Qin Wentian's people?

He had just finished dealing with Zhao Kai, and Qin Wentian sent people already? Was this to avenge Zhao Kai, or to steal the Wolf King?

Lin Ye put away his backpack and turned toward the Wolf King's Lair. He wanted to see what this Heavenly Temple was actually trying to do.

When he reached the entrance of the lair, over twenty Heavenly Temple elites had already blocked the way. The leading Sword Soul saw Lin Ye and sneered: “You're Ye? The one with the SSS-grade Talent?”

Lin Ye didn't speak, waiting for him to continue his performance.

Sword Soul took a step forward, his tone arrogant: “Our Guild Leader said this Wolf King belongs to Heavenly Temple. If you know what's good for you, hand over [wolf kings protection] and apologize to our Guild Leader, then we'll let this matter go. Otherwise—”

He pointed to the twenty-plus elite players behind him: “See these people? All elites ranked in the top two hundred of the server, each with at least two pieces of purple gear. You think you can win?”

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

“Heavenly Temple's property? Was this Wolf King raised by you?”

Sword Soul was stunned: “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is—” Lin Ye raised his hand and stacked a layer of debuff on the Wolf King, “This Wolf King is mine. Anyone who touches it dies.”

[System Prompt: Target [Black Wind Wolf King] has been inflicted with [Directional Contagion] effect; attackers will automatically trigger the Decay Debuff.]

Sword Soul's expression changed: “You damn well dare—”

Before he could finish his sentence, a warrior beside him had already rushed into the lair and slashed at the Wolf King.

The next second—

[System Prompt: Player [Temple of Gods - Berserker] attacked the Wolf King infected by the Decay Debuff, triggering the contagion effect!]

Hundreds of layers of debuffs instantly spread to that warrior, his health bar was emptied immediately, and he died on the spot!

“Ding! Player [Temple of Gods - Berserker] has died, level dropped: 14 → 9.”

Sword Soul's face changed drastically: “What's going on?!”

Lin Ye didn't give him time to react and shouted to the Wolf King in the lair: “Wolf King, come out and work!”

Hearing Lin Ye's voice, the Wolf King shuddered. It didn't dare not to listen—it still had hundreds of layers of debuffs on it.

It let out a roar and charged out of the lair, pouncing toward the Heavenly Temple elites. Although its attack power was only 1 point now and didn't hurt, it carried hundreds of layers of Decay Debuffs; whoever it touched would die.

“Don't touch that wolf! Get away!” Sword Soul shouted.

But the entrance to the lair was only so large, and over twenty people were crowded together, making it impossible to dodge. Several warriors were pounced on by the Wolf King and were instantly infected by the debuffs; their health bars dropped wildly, and they died within seconds.

“It's no good! We can't hold!”

“Run!”

The twenty-plus elite players began to flee, but Lin Ye had already set up a trap—the retreat path was blocked by wild wolves he had filled with debuffs.

In just one minute, all twenty-plus Heavenly Temple elites were dead, with their levels dropping by at least three, and as many as five.

Sword Soul was among them; he watched helplessly as his health bar emptied and his level dropped from 15 to 10.

“You... you just wait!” Sword Soul stood up at the resurrection point and pointed at Lin Ye, his voice trembling, “Our Guild Leader won't let you off!”

Lin Ye smiled: “Let him come. I just happen to want to meet him.”

Sword Soul gritted his teeth and fled miserably with his group of remnants.

Lin Ye watched their retreating backs, his gaze turning cold.

Qin Wentian, the leader of the server's number one guild, is finally going to take action personally?

He opened his Talent panel and looked at the flashing new prompt—the 'Social Death Package' effect was mostly unlocked.

[Social Death Package (Progress: 80%)]

Unlocked effects: Forced nearby channel voice chat, continuous health loss while offline, synchronized gaming pod vibration.

Effects to be unlocked: Server-wide forced rotating announcement.

Unlock condition: Cause a total level drop of more than 30 levels for the same player (Current progress: 28 levels).

Lin Ye looked at Zhao Kai's Level 0 ID, a wicked smile curling on his lips.

Just two levels short.

Brother Kai, let me borrow two more levels from you.