Gao Zhu, upon hearing the nightmarish voice, immediately fell to the ground in terror. He scrambled to his feet, drew his dagger, and shouted at his surroundings, "Come out! Come… come out! I saw you!"
Gao Zhu's cry was met by the chirping of birds and the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves.
"Damn it… he's definitely here!" Gao Zhu looked around, about to flee again, when he saw a crow standing by the roadside.
"...Could things possibly get any worse..." Gao Zhu looked at the crow, his expression shifting from fear to rage, then to intermittent crying and shouting, his mind clearly disoriented by terror.
"Oh! Yes, they could get worse!"
Gao Zhu's last sight was a hookshot of a luminous green hue.
...
Seeing that the silver-haired woman before him was too powerful, Xu Zixu threw a few smoke bombs and turned to return to the assembly point.
"Ah—ah—"
"Where did that crow come from? I've never seen it before," Xu Zixu shook his head and continued on his way.
Just as he was nearing the riverbank, a purple figure suddenly rushed out from the grass in front of him, colliding head-on with Xu Zixu.
Xu Zixu's small frame was knocked to the ground. Gritting his teeth, he drew a shuriken and pointed it at the person before him, "Damn it! You are..."
Before he could finish, Xu Zixu froze, for the one who had bumped into him was Han Li, with bloodshot eyes and tear-streaked cheeks.
"Han Li? How did you..."
"Run! That guy named Mochuan just killed your sister and Young Master Ye! Now he's gone after Gao Zhu!" Han Li's voice trembled slightly as she grabbed Xu Zixu's hand and shook him.
"What!?" Xu Zixu didn't hear the latter half of her words, his mind consumed by the news of Xu Ziru's death. He gnashed his teeth, then summoned a Po Feng Pill, got up from the ground, and headed towards the riverbank.
"Come back! Where are you going!"
"None of your business!"
As soon as Xu Zixu spoke, he heard the clanging of chains in front of him. Years of muscle memory made him instinctively dodge sideways. A luminous green hookshot, exuding an aura of death, flew past his chest.
"Ah!!—"
Just as Xu Zixu was still reeling, he heard a wail. He turned his head with a tremor and saw that the hookshot had pierced Han Li's neck from behind. The severed carotid artery sprayed blood like a pump.
Han Li instinctively reached out to Xu Zixu, her mouth opening and closing, as if begging for help, but the gushing blood choked her, leaving only gurgling sounds.
Although Xu Zixu had taken a life before, the gruesome death of Han Li before him still greatly shocked him. He watched helplessly as Han Li's body was slowly dragged into the bushes, the smell of blood and urine permeating the surroundings.
It wasn't until Han Li disappeared from his sight that Xu Zixu slowly came back to his senses. He realized he was kneeling on the ground and quickly stood up.
Xu Zixu stared blankly at everything before him. If it weren't for the long trail of blood still on the ground, he wouldn't have even known if he was dreaming.
"He… killed my sister..." Xu Zixu recalled the familiar aura of death and immediately remembered Mochuan's presence. A hint of madness appeared in his bloodshot eyes.
"Yaaah!!—" Xu Zixu, holding the Po Feng Pill and several shurikens, charged into the bushes.
Seeing the familiar figure by the river, holding a lantern-like object to Han Li's face, Xu Zixu's rage instantly surged. He threw the Po Feng Pill and shurikens with all his might, shouting, "You bastard who killed my sister! Die!"
Hearing the sound, Mochuan turned his head slightly, lowered Han Li's corpse, allowing the ravenous crow swarm to peck at it. With a powerful swing of his right hand, he swung the hookshot, which collided with the shurikens in the air.
Ding ding! Ding! Clang!
All the shurikens were blocked and scattered on the ground, while the Po Feng Pill was caught by Mochuan's chains and firmly held in his hand.
"Ah!!" Xu Zixu, losing his mind, grabbed a shuriken from the ground and sprinted towards Mochuan.
"Your tired body greatly slows your speed, your confused mind greatly obscures your thoughts, and your hoarse voice greatly reflects your fear." Mochuan, watching Xu Zixu charge towards him, made no move but murmured to himself.
"Therefore, the flesh and blood body is merely a prison." Mochuan raised his right hand, "Netherworld Prison."
A pentagonal prison rose from the ground. Xu Zixu, intent on revenge, saw the rising green wall and didn't react at all, crashing directly into it.
But Xu Zixu didn't feel like he hit anything solid. On the contrary, he felt very relaxed, his body and consciousness feeling light and airy. The slight pain even brought a hint of comfort.
Watching Xu Zixu's body and soul being separated by the Netherworld Prison, Mochuan expressionlessly threw the lantern. Amidst a wail, Xu Zixu's soul was absorbed into the Soul Guiding Lamp.
Thus, the Linfen No. 2 Middle School team was annihilated.
Mochuan deactivated [Hell Curse] and [Netherworld Prison]. He bent down and washed his hair with river water, rinsing away all the dried blood from his face and hair.
With the recovery ability of [Ravenous Crow Swarm], Mochuan's injuries had long since healed, but he had used many skills, and his mana was almost depleted. He could only drag his exhausted body upstream to find Mo Fei and the others. During this time, the system's voice sounded again:
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the achievement: Pentakill, and receiving achievement rewards: 900 gold, 100 experience points."
Mochuan calculated carefully and found he had 1250 gold coins, so he said, "Open the shop."
Looking at the dazzling array of equipment before him, Mochuan first bought the most needed items at the current stage: Tear of the Goddess, Corrupting Potion, and Cloak of Magic Resistance.
[Ravenous Crow Swarm] could stack max HP, and [Hell Curse] could stack armor and magic power, so what he lacked most now was attack power, mana, magic resistance, and movement speed.
Although his four-digit fortune had returned to 50, money was meant to be spent!
Mochuan felt the pleasure of mana recovery. He thought carefully and suddenly remembered that he still had two skill enhancements and a new hero slot that he hadn't used. He then said, "System, what is this skill enhancement?"
"Ding! Since the host cannot upgrade skills through leveling up, this system uses enhancement points to replace skill upgrades. The host can consume one enhancement point to enhance a specified skill."
"I see..." Mochuan thought for a moment and decided to open the new hero slot first to see what the new passive was before deciding how to upgrade. So he said, "Fuse new hero."
"Ding! Host used a slot! New hero fusion has begun!"