Fatal Shot

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

In truth, it wasn’t only pets that could advance; the monsters in War could advance as well. For example, back when Feng Luo was doing his mission in the Withered Desert, he encountered a Level 40 Quasi-Boss, the Desert Fire Ant Queen, in an Intermediate level nest.

Just as the Quasi-boss was at its deathbed, it succeeded in advancing itself into the strongest grade in War, the Boss grade Desert Fire Ant Queen. With one skill, it obliterated all the players within a 200-meter radius!

Of course, that situation was quite unique. It was because it was clear that a group of players was trying to complete their mission back then, and they had used some unique method to induce the Desert Fire Ant Queen to evolve.

Feng Luo was still using the Barrett back then, and after he stole the last hit on the Desert Fire Ant Queen from the Light Armor Warrior clad in black, for some unknown reason, it activated his talent’s evolution and his HP also increased by 1,000 points.

Even now, Feng Luo still did not know why it happened.

Feng Luo was distracted, but after hearing the sounds of puzzlement and disappointment, his gaze shifted to the other side.

“Why and how did this happen?”

“What is this? Isn’t it supposed to be a piece of Legendary Grade equipment? Is it a bracelet, wristwatch, or a decorative item?”

The remaining five players from Nightless City looked at the assembled “bracelet” that Mu Zi held in his hands. They looked despondent.

It was because — though they had collected all four pieces — they had never seen the assembled item before, so they did not know which profession it was for.

One should know that apart from Mu Zi and Little Witch, the others in the team did not really lack anything. They were more curious about the attributes and stats of the Legendary equipment than its value in the market.

But now that they had made it to the end of the exploration after so much hard work collecting all four pieces, none of them recognized the assembled item. Even the attributes were all simply large question marks.

“The attribute here says that its status is currently ‘broken’ and it needs to be repaired. There are no other clues… We’ve waited for this for so long. Four of us even died… And this is the result?!” Faced with the current situation, everyone was feeling a little down.

Only Feng Luo wasn’t surprised by the turn of events. He was very aware of the difficulty of obtaining a piece of Legendary Grade equipment as well as its value.

It was quite improbable that they would be able to obtain a piece of Legendary equipment from just exploring an underground ruin and killing a few Commander Grade monsters — that was why Feng Luo guessed that they needed to do a lot more to finally settle this matter.

“The exploration progress is only at 80%, but the system gave us a hint, which was that we need to repair this Legendary item before we can move on to the next step!” said Mu Zi. He frowned while looking at the popup message in his mission logs as well as the recon meter he was holding in his hands.

“The source of the signal is just behind this silver metallic wall, but both routes on the left and right are blocked by this thing. It looks like we need to find a way to repair this item if we really want to complete this exploration mission!”

On the silver metallic wall, there were several holes created from the bites of the Black Beetles; however, the deepest hole was only a dozen or so centimeters. Even the Black Beetles that could bite off alloy shields were unable to completely go through this metallic wall, so it was clear that they did not have the time nor the effort to force their way through.

“However, since we’ve completed the first stage of the exploration, the ruin will only be open to our team for the next month. This also means that we will have one month to find an NPC who can repair this item.”

Mu Zi was reluctant and unconvinced. He moved around and tried searching again. After failing to find any mechanism or installation to open the silver metallic wall, they finally decided that the only option was to leave and to repair this Legendary Grade equipment.

“One month? Okay, let’s bring it to the Appraisers Guild and ask an NPC tomorrow!” said Rose Thorns while nodding.

“Sigh. This is disappointing. After working for half a day, all we managed to get was the blueprint of some weapon!” Chairman Jiao complained.

“Forget it! Since we can only get this far, let’s return for now. It’s not like this place will be running away!” Mr. Meng was more optimistic; he carried his golden broadsword and turned around decisively. The others could do nothing else but follow.

…

“Oh, that’s right. Young Brother Feng, I saw that your pet seemed to have leveled up just now. Did it complete that hidden mission?” Mr. Meng asked Feng Luo in the tunnel on their way back.

“Completed. That’s right. I haven’t thanked everyone yet!” said Feng Luo.

“Oh, please… If it weren’t for your pet’s mission, we might have had to fight against the Commander Grade monster. But Young Brother Feng, I’m a bit curious. What’s the reward for the mission? Can you let me know?” Chairman Jiao was initially quite down, but after hearing Feng Luo’s words, he seemed to have recovered and became curious.

“Of course! There’s nothing that can’t be said. The reward for completing the mission is that 24K ‘evolved’ once!” answered Feng Luo with a smile. On his shoulder, Feng Luo’s round eyes and body emanated an energy that was undetectable by humans.

Upon hearing this, everyone seemed quite surprised, and Mr. Meng also said very loudly, “Evolve?! Brother Feng, you’re way too lucky! Your pet was already a mutated Elite grade! Now that it has evolved, isn’t it at the Commander grade now!?”

“Yup… That’s about right…”

At that time, Feng Luo deemed it better not to say that 24K was already at the Boss grade, so even if it evolved, it could no longer advance its grade — he simply followed the flow of Mr. Meng and Chairman Jiao’s conversation and allowed everyone to believe that 24K was Elite grade. If he were to clarify things now, he might be suspected of being a poser. Moreover, though he had decided that he would no longer hide 24K’s abilities, he could still keep its stats and attributes confidential, which was why he answered vaguely.

“Commander! Commander Grade pet!” Seeing Feng Luo “acquiesce,” the five looked at him in admiration.

“Comparisons are odious!”

“I bought three Intermediate pet biochips at a high price and only managed to control one Elite grade Wind Thunder Bird, and even after so many days, I’ve not even experienced evolution once! Moreover, there’s no way to use it in a mission like this!” Mr. Meng complained.

After that, the topic of their conversation continued to revolve around pets.

…

“Squeak, squeak…”

At that time, while Feng Luo talked to the others, 24K continued to send him messages through the mental link.

“You’re saying that the Black Beetle is not the same as you!”

“It does not have the ability to lay and incubate eggs. Moreover, the summoned beetles were originally your minions, but they did not listen to you at the beginning, which is why you got mad!” Feng Luo looked surprised since it was quite unexpected.

Initially, he thought that the Black Beetle was the same species as 24K, and they had the ability to produce soldiers through the wormhole summoning technique; however, now it seemed like he was wrong.

The Black Beetle Commander only possessed psionic energy. After that, for some odd reason, it managed to manipulate the remaining beetles after 24K left.

After all, the Lu Conglomerate city wasn’t that far away from the underground ruins. Back then, during the City Building cleanup mission, many surviving beetles managed to escape, and it was highly likely they crawled their way to the underground ruins.

“But this is a good thing!”

Feng Luo felt relieved, and he smiled.

After all, if 24K and the Black Beetle were from the same species, it would mean that other people would be able to raise and develop a Normal or Elite Black Beetle and finally end up with a King Beetle. Then, 24K’s one and only unique identity and role would be challenged!

For Feng Luo, though he did not desire it a lot, he still hoped that a powerful pet like 24K only belonged to him.

As for the reason why 24K was unable to control its minions earlier? Feng Luo knew that it was because 24K became his pet. The system would definitely not let him have things so easy. Otherwise, he only needed to spend some time looking for the beetles that escaped; then, he would quickly assemble a genuine “beetle army.” Wouldn’t that be too much?

“Squeak, squeak, squeak…”

24K was still sending Feng Luo messages.

“Yes, the reason you ate its core crystal was that it was very attractive to you. Also, you felt a strong attraction to something behind the silver metallic wall, correct?”

Feng Luo looked even more surprised now. He smiled, and then whispered to himself, “In that case, I’ll also have to participate in follow-up missions to go past that silver metallic wall. Perhaps there’s a chance to trigger a follow-up mission to the ‘Heart of a King Beetle!’”