The turbofan hoverboard was extremely fast.
Cruising at a speed of 220, Liyang City—which previously would have taken Xie Litang three days of rushing to reach—was now reached in under three hours.
On the outskirts of Liyang City.
Xie Litang caught a lone Skin Corpse.
“Steel Tempest.”
【CLANG.】
Dealing over three thousand points of damage, she instantly killed the Skin Corpse before it could even make a sound.
【Gained Gold Coins +2.】
“Wait, why only two gold coins? Even deer beasts gave twenty gold coins.”
【System Hint: Gold coins from Skin Corpses are based on corpse age. Every ten years of corpse age adds 1 gold coin.】
“Doesn't that mean...”
“...a thousand-year Skin Corpse only gives a hundred?”
Oh well, something was better than nothing.
With at least over a hundred thousand Skin Corpses in Liyang City, she could just treat it as a monster farming spot.
Under the cover of night.
Xie Litang sneaked into an armory filled mostly with Old Era firearms and ammunition.
After sorting through the loot, she picked up two sniper rifles, two handguns, and a large backpack packed to the brim with ammunition.
Her eyes gleaming, Xie Litang felt over the sniper rifle and said, “Within 700 yards, everything is within range of Heartsteel.”
Whether firearms were more practical or awakened ability users were stronger had never been a debate.
Firearms could effectively kill low-tier demon beasts and ability users, which was the fundamental reason humanity had been able to defend half of this world and maintain basic order; however, firearms and artillery proved ineffective against high-tier demon beasts.
One could already see hints of this from the revolutionary progress made by studying demon beast flesh and blood to advance materials science.
Xie Litang found a high-rise residential building and cleared out the Skin Corpses living inside.
Then she set up her rifle.
She glanced at the corpses on the floor inside the room, which was likely a family of Skin Corpses.
There was nothing to sympathize with. Taking the Skin Corpse child as an example, its skin had been skinned alive from a human child before the beast wore it.
Aim.
Bang~
The suppressor minimized the noise as much as possible.
However, she missed her intended target 600 meters away—a designated small tree.
The terrifying Vitality strengthening her body allowed her mastery over firearms to progress at a visible speed.
Eventually...
...she locked her engagement range within four hundred meters.
Bang~
Four hundred meters away, a walking Skin Corpse stumbled and fell sideways to the ground.
At the same time...
【CLANG.】
A pleasant chime echoed.
Xie Litang shifted her angle and continued firing.
【CLANG.】
【CLANG CLANG CLANG...】
Before long, chaos broke out in the area.
But what did that have to do with Xie Litang? She could just fire a hundred shots or so and relocate.
Her gold coins were rapidly soaring as well.
【Gold Coins +4】
【Gold Coins +3】
【Gold Coins +1】
Most were Skin Corpses under a century old.
Xie Litang speculated that the Skin Corpses posing as officials were likely older.
But there was no need to specifically target them; in the time it took to seek them out, she could get far more gold coins by firing a few extra shots.
One day later.
Xie Litang had emptied an entire backpack of well over a thousand rounds of ammo.
The Skin Corpses on the streets had basically gone into hiding, leaving corpse after corpse left uncleaned.
Her system gold coins had reached over two thousand four hundred, but with lend nine, return thirteen, she owed the system more than four thousand.
“Time to restock.”
Xie Litang avoided open areas.
She stuck to narrow back alleys whenever possible.
Suddenly...
“Huh?”
“What is this...?”
Xie Litang picked up a flyer.
Written on it was "Xiao Bai Math Tutoring, No Fee If Ineffective." Xie Litang was certain she had been sniping targets with her anti-materiel rifle the whole time.
No one would be handing out flyers like this at a time like this.
Furthermore, this Xiao Bai...
...wasn't he that guy from the Human-Faced Bear game back then?
Clearly, this was left deliberately for her to see.
And judging by the looks of it, whoever did it was in a rush, scattering flyers all over the streets in a short time even at the risk of exposure.
Xie Litang frowned slightly.
After pondering for a moment...
...she decided to follow the address on the flyer anyway. With her current Vitality of over a hundred thousand, she had more than enough confidence to check out what was going on.
Half an hour later.
Xie Litang climbed through a window into an apartment.
The instant her feet touched the floor, her eyebrows furrowed. A heavy stench of blood hung in the room, mixed with a faint rot.
Two dead bodies lay in the living room. Xiao Bai was huddled in a corner, clutching his head, looking utterly despondent.
“Were you looking for me?”
Xiao Bai lifted his head.
A spark of life flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by terror.
“Quick...”
“...run.”
Xiao Bai spoke hoarsely, terror in his voice. “Get out of Liyang City, fast. They're about to find you!”
Xie Litang said indifferently, “So what if they do?”
Xiao Bai finally broke down, yelling hysterically, “You'll die! They're going to kill you!”
“I know my own business. As for you, tell me, what happened?”
“Monsters... They're all monsters. My parents, my classmates, everything... Fake, it's all fake! I... I'm terrified.”
“Didn't I tell you not to trust anyone? You're a smart guy; I thought you'd pretend not to know and keep living your life.”
“The survivors of the Human-Faced Bear attack... they're all dead. I tried looking for others like me, and I found one—a really pretty, tough girl. On her eighteenth birthday, her parents skinned her alive, and she stayed alive, covered in blood, for hours... I found her diary... None of us live past eighteen.”
“How did you realize the Skin Corpses were looking for me?”
“I awakened an ability called Deception. I tricked myself into thinking I wasn't human, that I was one of them. I saw them conducting a ritual to locate you. The ritual is almost complete—you have to leave, quickly!”
Xie Litang fell silent for a moment before asking out of nowhere, “Do you want to leave?”
Xiao Bai's despondent expression stiffened, and he trembled as he stammered, “C-Can I?”
Xie Litang said, “You can. Though the outside world might not be as wonderful as you think.”
Xiao Bai looked up, his hollow eyes asking, “Out there... are they human?”
“Yes.”
“I want to go with you.”
“Go to the residential complex from the Human-Faced Bear killing game. I'll meet you there by the day after tomorrow at the latest. If I don't show up, head north. You might die along the way, but at the end of the road are the humans you long to see.”
“Thank you... thank you!”
“No need.”
“Can I ask a favor of you?”
“You ask for too much.”
“I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. But could you please bury Xiao Li? I don't want those monsters wearing her skin.”
“I have no obligation to do that. Besides, since you've awakened an ability, exact your own revenge.”
“Alright.”
Xie Litang left the place.
But she left him the pack of plasma bombs.
She had originally planned to hit up the armory for more ammunition, but an eerie, chilling aura suddenly enveloped her. She realized there was likely no need to go to the armory anymore.
Faint, shadowy human figures began appearing on the previously dead-silent streets.
【We finally found her! She's over there!】
【It's this damnable human! She killed so many of our kind!】
【Struck by our sacrificial curse, she won't escape even if she flees to the ends of the earth!】
【I'm going to skin her alive with my own hands!】
Xie Litang suddenly felt like laughing.
Wasn't this convenient?
They wanted to skin her.
And she wanted to farm them for gold coins.
Rate on N.U.
