Chapter 203: Battle, awesome!

He moved out a large table, Ji Ming took out paper and pen and began writing on it.

The corpse of Edgar, cut in half, is the criminal suspect.

Still roaring, the hatred from the bloody battle—this is the evidence caught on the spot.

The several notebooks at hand—this is physical evidence that could lead to countless major cases.

As myself, who guarantees order and goodness for the Holy Light God Church—this is an absolutely trustworthy witness.

So, if we add all these things together, then:

The great Holy Light God's Chosen, whose good name spreads far, whose heart concerns the safety of Sunlight City's citizens, Doctor Ji Ming unintentionally discovered traces of strange creatures.

Worried the other might flee, he summoned courage to investigate and found it was the evil alchemist Edgar, wanted by the Church.

He originally intended to immediately notify the three great houses of Inner City and the Church for reinforcements, but was accidentally discovered by the opponent, forced into battle, and finally…

No.

It can't be that simple.

As the recently rising Holy Light God's Chosen, isn't this the best time for me to monetize my popularity?

Question: what is the endpoint of online livestreaming, or rather, the ultimate code of the traffic era?

So, it should be:

Originally, even if only Edgar acted alone, Ji Ming couldn't defeat him.

But! Is!

Relying on his exclusively crafted, valuable high-end armor that can effectively defend against savage creature attacks: Talisman Sheepskin Garb.

And his exclusively crafted, deluxe-upgraded high-end device that can effectively suppress savage creature behavior: Calming Talisman and Suppress Evil Talisman.

Also his exclusively crafted, complex-process high-end medicine that can quickly stop bleeding and accelerate wound healing: Rejuvenation Fourth Generation.

In short, after a fierce struggle, he relied on a sneak attack to defeat the powerful enemy and killed Edgar before the hatred could reinforce!

— Exactly, it's product promotion!

Originally, there were too many competitors in the medical channel; even a slight price war could easily earn grudges, too dangerous.

Better to seize this opportunity to directly transform, switch tracks, skillfully exploit current pain points, and uncover related industry blue oceans.

Of course, to increase competitiveness and persuasiveness, one must harvest consumers via IP value and also know how to tell a brand story.

So the continuation is……

However, just as Ji Ming was gathering more evidence, he accidentally triggered Edgar's self-destruct array, destroying everything except the diaries.

However, in the very end, he discovered that the mastermind behind a series of terror creature incidents was someone else.

Edgar was merely a minor evil hiding in Sunlight City, muddying the waters in the chaos; killing him is meaningless.

The true culprit was, is, and will be…… at least in the story he will forever remain.

In short.

Although busy with a whole event of fighting and killing that left a place dead, this land still remains in suffering; afterwards, Grandpa forgot spicy.

After looking at this press release, Ji Ming discovered that this product-promotion story still has a loophole,

— how exactly did the innocent and weak Doctor Ji Ming get rid of this fugitive?

Eh, simple.

Regarding matters of the Holy Light God, you need not ask further; all this is the arrangement of Our Lord.

Holy Light God: I have not!

Wait, wouldn't this increase my prestige?

Holy Light God: Yes yes yes, it's all my arrangement!

Okay, tell me, Holy Gate~

However, these things are merely extra gains afterward; my purpose in coming here is to inherit Edgar's alchemical knowledge.

Since I've searched every container in the ruins, the spatial artifact can only be on Edgar himself, in his torn-apart corpse.

Ji Ming suddenly felt somewhat sorrowful.

This morning I just fought the Wendigo cultists in a sea of corpses and blood; tonight I must personally venture therein to seek treasures……

How could I be so unlucky today?

Anyway, as the lord of the underground city, I am a good neighbor of Lao Yang Tou.

Over there, such a thing happened: believers had their heads twisted, and creations were minced into meat filling.

As the Lord of All Living Beings, I should at least give him a consolation call.

Think about it; maybe he's now losing sleep over this.

Perfect; when dawn arrives and he's exhausted with dark circles, I'll go use Flash Strike to bring him a smile, then transfer that smile to my own face.

Plan succeeded!

Having made up his mind, he returned to Edgar's laboratory.

Stone Gargoyles have high defense with armor; Hatreds have thick blood and self-heal; players are numerous, mighty, and fearless of death.

It can be said to be a meeting of equals and talents; this three-way battle may still need a long time to conclude.

"Come on!"

Giving them sincere spiritual support, Ji Ming walked toward Edgar's corpse.

According to the usual pattern, a spatial container is either a ring or a pouch.

Coincidentally, Edgar's short, stubby finger truly bears a blue ring.

"Hehe, hand it over."

But just as Ji Ming's hand was about to touch it, a voice suddenly sounded from afar.

"Don't touch my mom!"

The shrill, righteous tone startled the guilty thief, making him hastily withdraw his hand.

Fortunately, although Hatred let out a roar, it remained deeply entrenched in the fierce battlefield and could not disengage to deal with him.

However, this patchwork monster doesn't have much of anything else—it just has a variety of organs in abundance.

On his arm, a twisted, split face stared fixedly at him, its fang-filled giant mouth opening and closing, as if it wanted to devour him on the spot.

"You're so good-looking, you must want to steal my mother! I won't let you succeed!"

"I..."

Although the place was crowded and chaotic, with a bunch of people mixed together like porridge, Hatred was undoubtedly the focus of the entire scene.

Its outrageous argument directly shifted everyone's attention onto Ji Ming.

Now things are great: "Mom's Head Thief," "Mom's Heart Hunter," "Global Image Ambassador for MILF Enthusiasts"…

Not to mention the player himself, the chaotic titles flooded the stream's chat, destroying the bit of positive reputation Ji Ming had painstakingly built.

Moreover, according to his original plan, he was supposed to grab the loot and run immediately, but now everyone has seen him—how can he slip away?

Never mind, whatever!

He steeled himself, yanked Edgar's ring off, and first used his Identify Eye to gauge its quality.

As expected, it is a spatial container with a capacity of about ten cubic meters; he finally doesn't need to have Sylvia constantly craft magic pouches for him.

He glanced inside and found several items lying there, along with various oddly shaped objects.

They should be alchemy-related books, records, and raw materials, extremely precious.

But before he could even feel happy, seeing Ji Ming actually take his mother's belongings, Hatred on the other side became so agitated it didn't even want to fight.

After punching away the Stone Statue, it sprang forward on four legs toward him.

It also let out an ear‑splitting shriek, like a wailing evil ghost.

"Beast! Return my mother's relic to me!"

This behemoth's charge is far more terrifying than Hawk and Death God combined; if it goes all out, players simply cannot stop it.

However, Ji Ming also has the privilege of free teleportation on the underground plain, giving him enough leeway to maneuver against the enemy.

Thus he did not panic or rush to leave; instead, he first issued an announcement.

【Congratulations to player 【Wai Shu】 for discovering the stage's hidden reward: Edgar's inheritance, granting qualification to transfer to the new profession 【Alchemist】】

He then backhanded threw a thunderclap bomb, exploding once again beside Hatred's ear.

Unfortunately, black powder damage is still too low; even an amplified otherworldly version hardly has any effect, so it can only be used as a control measure.

Hatred merely staggered a bit from the intense pain and impact, then continued forward resolutely.

Meanwhile, the players watched the boss rapidly retreat and saw the global prompt above their field of view; after a brief moment of confusion, they suddenly understood.

"It seems we still haven't figured out this stage's procedure; we should first search Edgar's corpse to settle the first round of combat!"

"Yeah, that way the reward recipient would instantly draw all of Hatred's hatred, instead of leaving it to fight the Stone Statue."

"Awesome, how did the strategist discover this key point—did they develop a habit of looting corpses while gaming?"

"If I had known, I would have just become the mom‑stealing thief; at worst I'd drop a level to exchange for the reward."

"As the saying goes, 'hands change, crutches stay firm'; this Alchemist profession looks powerful, likely a support for the main carry—Wai Shu is about to take off!"

Meanwhile, the Stone Statue, finally having time to think, also guessed a bit of the situation here.

These human‑looking figures before him, with a strange smell, were likely here to kill the alchemist in this cavern.

This alchemist is also ruthless, having first unleashed Hatred to buy time, then hoping to rely on his own resurrection to turn the tide.

He never expected to be immune to its control; not only did it not help, but he stabbed it to death with a single claw……

So he was completely innocent, dragged into this; he shouldn't have been involved in this battle at all!

Although he could estimate that the strongest among these humans was no more than level ten or so, it couldn't match his own existence of level twenty or above.

But quantitative change can lead to qualitative change; the gap between low levels isn't yet an abyss, so he isn't absolutely certain.

In that case, he should leave quickly, clarify the situation, then decide.

Seeing that no one had noticed him yet, the cautious him hurriedly slipped away.

However, before he had taken a few steps, he heard shouts of killing from behind again.

"The Stone Statue boss wants to run, brothers, quickly stop him!"

"I get it—this stage isn't a multiple‑choice question, right? If we choose to pull Hatred's hatred away, it triggers the Stone Statue to flee?"

"Indeed, how despicable the game officials are—each process design is more sinister than the last!"

However, the Stone Statue's speed is great; by the time the players reacted, it had already reached the cave mouth.

"Laughable humans, do you still think you can stop this great lord?"

He had already seen that the outside of the cave was obviously much more spacious; there he could flap his wings to gain speed, and these little crawling creatures could never catch up!

However, upon looking up he discovered that the humans outside were far more numerous than inside—dense crowds of black‑haired, black‑eyed people, a sea of dark heads.

If he were delayed again, even if he didn't die he'd end up being skinned alive!

Helpless, he could only cover his face with a claw and shout shamefully.

"Ladies and gentlemen, little heroes, please let me go—I'm innocent, I'm a good ghost!"

"Just because the Stone Statue killed someone's mother at the start, does that make it a good person? Why don't you say succubi don't milk ○ and still play holy light?!"

So nobody believed his ghostly words; on the contrary, some saw him crawl out of the cave mouth and fly upward recklessly, scaring their faces green.

"Mouse Kid! Mouse Kid is still out there—he's not running, he's going to kill Mouse Kid!"

"Is the setting this malicious? They're treating players like monkeys to play with!"

"Ugh ah ah ah, game officials, you deserve to die!"

However, the advantage of group combat is that there is always a calm mind thinking, no matter when.

Thus, after some top players rushed in to fight, for safety Fan Shao and Howard organized the players to transfer all the mole folk outside the cave, in order to first secure this group reward.

This is good news for players, but it's a huge bad thing for the stone gargoyle.

Originally he only needed to carefully pass through this residential area, proving he had no grudge against Mouse Kid, and with just a "boss kill reward" on him he might still be able to escape.

After all, this stuff is prepared for high‑level players; ordinary players couldn't care less.

But now, to hold onto that little minimum reward they have in hand, all the players have gone berserk, insisting on keeping him here!

"Friends, we can't just let high‑level players fight to the death; we bought helmets to get in too, we've got to show our strength!"

"Think about it, Death God can die ten or so times a day; anyway our level is low too, what's one more death? Charge!"

"Damn it, shield in hand, follow me!"

Unlike the closed‑beta period, the shields bought by players during the internal test have basically all been reinforced by Master Weiermo.

So even a stone gargoyle over level twenty can't be easily split open; at least a full‑force strike is needed.

One player with a shield makes a line; ten players make a wall—if hundreds swarm him, even he won't be able to move!

"Awesome, I feel like we've turned into zombies, rushing in all at once."

"I get why my dad keeps going to those old‑comrade reunions every year—fighting together like this feels amazing."

"No wonder closed‑beta players get along so well, staying in touch across different guilds—so that's why, huh..."

Players excitedly queue up to die, and if they can land a hit on the boss, they count it as a profit.

But the stone gargoyle has no idea why these players are so excited, and it's anxious enough to almost cry.

"You bastards, I said I wouldn't hurt you—why are you doing this? Are you crazy?!"

However, before his question could be answered, he heard a laugh.

"Haha, did I just hear someone mention the closed beta?"

He turned his head and saw that, unbeknownst to when, a giant crossbow had been mounted at the exit of this huge cavern.

By rights, a three‑bow bed crossbow that big couldn't be moved here.

But players have backpacks. Even if it doesn't fit whole, I could take it apart, ship the pieces in, and reassemble it—wouldn't that work?

So, thanks to the challengers' efforts, in just a few minutes the players deployed their own heavy firepower.

After several days, this weapon finally fired again, its target being the biggest stone gargoyle standing right in the crowd.