Xie Litang was having the absolute time of her life.
Dash-sliding around was the very soul of Yasuo.
And without her even realizing when it had happened, Heartsteel's bonus true damage had long surpassed what those low-tier Skin Corpses could endure.
The instant Xie Litang locked onto a target and dashed past, a single touch would explode them into bits of shattered flesh.
She was like an insanely agile heavy truck right now, blasting everything to pieces wherever she slid.
Atop a roof, a Thousand-Year Skin Corpse with crimson eyes roared furiously, "Damned human, I'll kill you!"
The Thousand-Year Skin Corpse leapt down from the rooftop.
Its form ballooned violently in the wind as sharp, venomous claws sprouted from its fingertips, lunging toward Xie Litang.
An afterimage slid right past it.
【CLANG.】
The Thousand-Year Skin Corpse's health bar of over ten thousand instantly dropped by half.
Pfft—
The Thousand-Year Skin Corpse spat out a mouthful of blood. Don't ask why it was currently kneeling on the ground.
Ask and it would tell you it felt like it had just been slammed by a heavy truck; if that terrifying afterimage slid past it one more time, it would almost certainly die.
That damned, terrifying afterimage.
It paused for only a brief second.
And soon slid right back into the endless tide of corpses, unable to stop—completely unable to stop!
"Strange, did I slide past something just now? It didn't shatter into pieces."
"Whatever, none of my business. If it's got a problem, it can talk to my insurance."
Xie Litang muttered to herself.
She finally dash-slid her way back to the center of the battlefield.
Immediately after, she dashed back out toward the perimeter. Seeing this, the Thousand-Year Skin Corpse felt its scalp go completely numb.
If that terrifying monstrosity slid past it again, wouldn't it end up scattered all over the place?
Without a second thought...
...it turned on its heels and ran like mad.
When the other Skin Corpses saw this, they fled right after it.
Even a Thousand-Year Skin Corpse was fleeing; how much were they getting paid a month to stay? Stick around and wait for that monster to slide over and obliterate them?
And so...
...a bizarre scene unfolded.
Xie Litang was single-handedly chasing down a horde of over one hundred thousand Skin Corpses. As the corpses scattered in panic, she had no choice but to dash-slide all the way from East Avenue to West Main Street, without even blinking an eye.
"Wait, hold on."
"Why are you guys running?! You're too far away, I can't target you, I can't slide!"
Xie Litang looked thoroughly annoyed.
Meanwhile...
...inside a certain intelligence station, everyone was dumbfounded.
The operator who had first spotted Liyang City couldn't help but scratch his head. How on earth was he supposed to write this report?
"Over one hundred thousand Skin Corpses refused to surrender and had the audacity to launch an attack on the mysterious figure?"
Or...
"Mysterious figure chases down over one hundred thousand Skin Corpses?"
Soon, an urgently encrypted report was forwarded up the chain of command.
Inside the leadership office of the Department of Military Affairs...
...a middle-aged man with stars on his shoulders sat with a cup of tea and a pack of cigarettes. He opened the top-secret email that had just arrived.
Pfft—
A huge mouthful of tea leaves sprayed across the desk.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
"Someone, verify this file immediately!"
"If this information is accurate, investigate this person—no, we must find this person at all costs!"
The subordinates below couldn't tell.
But as a General-rank officer, he could discern many clues from the footage at a single glance.
Setting aside the mysterious figure's bizarre footwork, her combat and sword technique could only be described as crude.
To put it simply, she had never received systematic training, meaning she was extremely likely to be very young.
Yet that made it all the more terrifying.
The Department of Military Affairs operated with extreme efficiency.
While they couldn't find detailed intelligence on the mysterious individual right away, based on her outer physical attributes, such as her figure...
...body analysis experts were almost certain that it belonged to an extremely young female.
The General frowned deeply as he read the intelligence report and muttered, "Experts estimate her age to be strictly under twenty... Could she be a little monster of a prodigy from some prominent family?"
"Regardless of whose family she belongs to, if an opportunity arises, we must recruit her into the Department of Military Affairs!"
A single person chasing over a hundred thousand Skin Corpses—even if those corpses were weak...
...that kind of scene was still utterly shocking and fit the Department of Military Affairs' style to a tee.
On the other side...
...Xie Litang finally stopped.
Not because she couldn't dash-slide anymore, but because she couldn't damn well catch up with them!
Even if it were over a hundred thousand pigs running off in different directions, anyone in her shoes would be exasperated.
"The main force of Skin Corpses is fleeing toward the demon-occupied zone."
"I shouldn't kill off the remaining ones too aggressively. Better leave some roots of the chives behind so I can harvest another crop next time."
It couldn't be helped.
A grinding spot this good would be hard to find again.
Xie Litang found a spot, stopped, and took a rest.
After grabbing a quick bite of compressed biscuits, Xie Litang summoned her status panel to check it.
[Name: Xie Litang]
[Ability: Teammate Sacrifice (Uses: 0)]
[Class: Wind-Style Swordmaster]
[Skills: Wind-Style Swordsmanship (Major Accomplishment) 3,256/100,000, Sweeping Blade (Minor Accomplishment) 426/1,000. Available Enhancement Points: 4]
[Vitality: 184,200, Spirit: 45]
[Equipment: Heartsteel (Customizable activation)]
[Gold Coins: 1,960]
In just this single session...
...her Vitality had skyrocketed from 120,000 all the way to 184,200!
Now, a single Heartsteel ping dealt over 5,500 true damage.
The system panel had listed her skills separately, the equipment column added a customizable toggle function, and the system shop was now open.
Xie Litang focused on the skill section description. Skill points seemed to be used solely for unlocking skills.
Meanwhile, the proficiency realms of each skill corresponded to their natural leveling progression.
Enhancement points had far broader applications, including but not limited to increasing skill damage, duration, or even reducing cooldown times.
Xie Litang thought for a moment and said to herself...
"I'll save the enhancement points for now."
"I'll wait until all my skills reach the highest realm before deciding what aspect to enhance."
"I wonder if learning other skills, like the cultivation techniques of this world, allows adding enhancement points too."
If so, she would truly take off into the stratosphere.
At that point, pushing her E skill, Sweeping Blade, to a 0-second cooldown didn't seem out of the question.
When that time came, even against city defense Gatling cannons firing non-stop, she could dash-slide right on top of the bullet tips for them to see.
Xie Litang checked the time.
"It's about time to go back."
"Otherwise Linling will get worried. Leaving her alone in the vault isn't great either."
She took a slightly regretful look at the ground littered with Skin Corpses.
She had killed so many, yet not a single useful item dropped; they were a purely useless race.
The skin worn by Skin Corpses was harvested from humans, their blood and bones were foul-smelling, and their organs were poisonous—in short, utter trash.
Then again, if the materials on Skin Corpses had even a shred of economic value, such a massive horde wouldn't have gathered here without demon beast hunters coming to hunt them.
Xie Litang stepped onto her turbofan hoverboard and flew toward that remote residential complex in the suburbs.
Xiao Bai was hiding inside one of the houses.
Seeing her, he hurried out.
"Y-You're back."
"Yeah. Where's the car?"
Xiao Bai pointed to a mop-headed "Ghost Fire" scooter from the Old Era.
Xie Litang: "..."
She ended up making another trip back to the urban area to drive out a small car filled with fuel, while also loading a few extra fuel cans.
This time Xie Litang drove much more gently, and she was already familiar with the route.
Finally, on the afternoon of the agreed-upon third day, the small car drove into Fumu City.
She opened the vault door.
A joyful voice greeted her: "Sis!"
Xie Litang nodded. "Yeah, I'm back."
"It's good that you're back."
"Come on, let's head back."
"Okay."
Without another word...
...Xie Litang reached out and picked her up.
Rate on N.U.
