18: Chapter 18 Young Master Ling, are you out of your mind?

With trembling hands, Chu Tiankuo reached into a hidden compartment of his tactical belt and pulled out two identical glass bottles.

"This... this is all that's left."

Chu Tiankuo pushed the bottles toward Lin Mo.

Lin Mo picked up a bottle, pulled out the cork, and took a sniff.

Yes, that was it—the exact same scent.

"Not bad."

Lin Mo tucked the bottles into his pocket.

"I'm satisfied with your service today, so I won't cause you any more trouble."

"However... don't let there be a next time."

Having said that, he stood up and turned to leave.

"Wait!"

As if possessed, Chu Tiankuo called out.

Lin Mo stopped and looked back at him.

"That stuff... its effect is extremely potent."

Chu Tiankuo swallowed hard.

"One bottle can cover a ten-kilometer radius. If you aren't careful, you'll die."

He was afraid Lin Mo would accidentally get himself killed, as the matter would surely be traced back to them.

"You're overthinking it. I won't die even if all of you do."

Lin Mo waved his hand dismissively.

After walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, turned to look at Chu Tiankuo, and then gave a meaningful glance toward the priestess who was curled up in fear.

"By the way, don't follow me tomorrow, or you might lose your lives."

With that, Lin Mo lifted the door curtain and left the hall.

He had let the four of them go not because of the monster attracting incense—that was merely an unexpected bonus.

The real reason was that the priestess in their team was actually an old acquaintance of his and Su Xiaoli's.

That person had once shown kindness to him and Xiao Li.

However, after so many years, she didn't seem to recognize him.

In the corner...

The four people felt as if all their strength had been drained; they didn't move an inch for a long time.

Monkey slowly crawled up from the ground, his entire body soaked in sweat.

"Brother Chu..."

Monkey's teeth were chattering.

"Does he intend to trigger an even larger beast tide?"

Chu Tiankuo slumped into a chair, staring blankly at the water stains on the table.

"The goals of someone like him are not for us to speculate on."

Chu Tiankuo took a deep breath, forcing himself to steady his mind.

"Alright, everyone keep your mouths shut."

"This matter is no longer something we can handle. Report the situation here directly to The Consortium."

"Since a monster of this caliber has appeared here, it should hopefully lessen the punishment we receive."

Hearing this, the other three finally felt their hearts settle slightly.

Meanwhile...

By the railing in a corner of the second floor, Qin Lan stood with her arms crossed.

Every word of the conversation in the hall had reached her ears without fail.

A Fifth Class Advancement expert's perception was so acute that they could detect the finest details within a kilometer.

She had originally thought Lin Mo would use Su Xiaoli's influence to severely punish these freshmen who had plotted against him.

As it turned out, he only took two bottles of monster attracting incense.

"This kid... he doesn't actually plan to lure a super beast tide just to farm proficiency for that lousy Block skill, does he?"

Qin Lan's elegant brows furrowed tightly.

Through her secret observations over the past two days, she was almost certain that Lin Mo possessed some kind of extreme and highly efficient damage immunity mechanism.

But where in this world was there an absolutely invincible mechanism?

Level 20 monsters couldn't break his defense, and Level 30 wild boars couldn't either.

But what if it was a First Class Advancement boss monster?

What if it was a Level 40 high-tier magical creature?

In the world of professionals, there were no absolutely invincible effects.

Once the threshold of endurance was exceeded, one would surely suffer a backlash from the rules.

"I still need to keep an eye on him to keep him from playing with fire."

Qin Lan stared in the direction Lin Mo had disappeared, her gaze gradually turning solemn.

"He might be immune to ordinary damage, but if he encounters a monster with True Damage, that might not be the case."

"Moreover, this kid likes to use Berserk to suppress his health until only a sliver remains. If he runs into a monster whose True Damage exceeds his Block effect, he'll be instantly killed."

"He's still too young, after all."

Withdrawing her gaze, Qin Lan glanced at Chu Tiankuo and his three teammates below; she didn't step in to stop them from reporting to their superiors.

The local Ling Consortium of Shimmering City?

It was nothing more than a tiny branch.

As an Alliance Special Envoy, she didn't care about them at all.

On the contrary, she wanted to see just how many trump cards this local bully could force out of Lin Mo.

...

In the center of Shimmering City, at the top floor of the Ling Consortium branch building.

The holographic projection equipment emitted a low hum.

Behind a deep black desk, Ling Feng sat with his legs crossed, holding a thick, handmade cigar.

As the highest authority of the Ling Consortium stationed in Shimmering City, his status as the fourth heir made him accustomed to looking down on everything.

In mid-air, a pale blue light screen suddenly unfolded.

On the screen, the disheveled and miserable faces of Chu Tiankuo and his three teammates were particularly eyesore.

"So, not only did you mess up the task of climbing the rankings and lose two bottles of high-tier monster attracting incense, but now you're also hiding in a safe house like stray dogs, crying to me for help?"

Ling Feng exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, which blurred his cold and harsh features.

His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried a suffocating pressure.

On the screen, Chu Tiankuo's Adam's apple bobbed violently as he lunged toward the camera, his eyes bloodshot with terror.

"Young Master Ling! Let me explain! It wasn't a failed mission; we encountered a monster that defies common sense!"

Chu Tiankuo spoke extremely fast, fearing the other party would cut off the communication and sentence them to death in the next second.

"I saw it with my own eyes! Hundreds of magical creatures! Level three or four Wasteland Wolves, Level ten-plus Berserk Giant Lizards—a dense swarm of attacks completely buried him!"

"But he didn't lose a single point of health! Only zeros floated above his head! The teeth of the wolves that bit him all shattered, and the skulls of the giant lizards that rammed him cracked on the spot! They were all shocked to death by the rebound!"

"Young Master Ling, he was laughing! While those monsters were biting him, he was sitting on a rock and laughing!"

Chu Tiankuo's breathing sounded like a broken bellows; his mental state was on the verge of collapse.

"That's right! the three of us can testify for Brother Chu! We all saw it!"

The three teammates beside him also nodded repeatedly, their eyes filled with horror at the memory of that scene.

The meeting room fell silent for two seconds.

"Pfft."

Ling Feng couldn't hold it back and burst out laughing.

He casually flicked the ash from his cigar, looking at the screen as if he were watching a few clowns with underdeveloped intelligence.

"Chu Tiankuo, do you think I, Ling Feng, am a brainless fool?"

Ling Feng abruptly stopped laughing and leaned forward, his gaze piercing the holographic screen like a knife.

"A newly awakened Blank Slate Warrior, tanking the bites of hundreds of monsters with his bare body? And not losing health?"

"Do you think this is a web novel? Some god reincarnated to experience life?!"

"Young Master Ling! I swear on my life that every word I said is true! Monkey and the others were all there; you can check whenever you want!"

Chu Tiankuo was so anxious he slapped his thigh.

He knew how ridiculous his words sounded, but he knew even better how bizarre that guy Lin Mo was!

"Shut up."

Ling Feng coldly spat out two words, directly cutting off Chu Tiankuo's defense.

He leaned back into his leather chair, rapidly processing and analyzing the information in his mind.

"Use your pathetic brain, Chu Tiankuo."

"A newly awakened commoner's attributes are at most twenty or thirty points. Even if his talent is damage reduction, it would at most reduce ten or eight points."

"Just because you saw him not losing health and the monsters dying from rebound, you think he's a monster?"

Ling Feng let out a cold laugh, his tone absolute.

"The answer is simple: he is carrying a high-tier absolute defense item, something on the level of the 'Sigh of the Earth Mother' amulet."

Chu Tiankuo was stunned by the light screen.

An item?

Had this Young Master Ling lost his mind from living in luxury for too long?

High-tier items could only be worn by high-level people; they wouldn't have any effect if a low-level person put them on.

Equipment had level requirements.

Ling Feng didn't explain much; Chu Tiankuo's level wasn't high enough to come into contact with such things.

Just then, an adjutant pushed the door open and entered in a hurry.

He didn't even bother to look at the people in the holographic projection and walked straight to Ling Feng's desk.

"Young Master, the top-secret intelligence from the Awakening Plaza that was sealed by the Alliance..."

The adjutant placed a heavy black-gold box on the desk and took a deep breath.

"I've got it."