Chapter Thirty-Four: Enhancement Serum

“Everyone calm the FUCK down! Stay where you are, don’t panic!”
After sprinting down the stairs, Williams was startled by the explosive chaos before him and immediately shouted at the crowd. But flames blazed across the dance floor, smoke filled the air, and Wang Ling continued to toss decapitated heads hacked with his axe, spreading terror. The situation had escalated beyond what mere shouting could control.

Seeing that his yelling had no effect whatsoever, Williams realized the club had been breached by enemies—though their whereabouts were unknown. Unable to regain control, he retreated toward the stairwell—a smart move, avoiding ambush in the chaos. By returning to his room on the second floor and shutting the door, he could block intruders and use the landline to contact the New York branch commander of the Shadow Fighters or other elite leaders for backup.

Yet Wang Ling and Blackie had orchestrated this chaos for one purpose: to lure Williams downstairs. There was no way they would let him escape back upstairs!

As Williams retreated, a sudden sense of danger surged in his heart. He swiftly dodged to the side, but a scream escaped him as a smoking wound appeared on his right arm.

It was Wang Ling who fired. The White Iron musket’s hour-long cooldown had long ended. This shot used a standard lead bullet aimed at Williams’s heart—the smoke was dense, but with a steady gaze, one could still make out silhouettes and major body parts.

Unexpectedly, this short, small man reacted with astonishing speed. Wang Ling, taking advantage of the chaos, had crept within ten meters before firing, nearly missing his target. The bullet struck only his arm.

As Williams cried out, Blackie rolled across the floor, arriving at his feet. With a sinister grin, he swung his machete at Williams’s calf.

Smoke bombs thrown earlier and the spreading flames had left the club shrouded in haze. Blackie’s ground-level attack was stealthy—he felt confident no one could evade it. Yet Williams, despite his impaired vision and the distraction of a gunshot wound, managed to dodge!

In truth, the elite leader hadn’t noticed the enemy on the ground. His evasion relied entirely on instinctive reflexes! Feeling a weapon graze his trouser leg, he swiftly retreated. Though his pants split and a shallow cut marked his skin, his calf survived Blackie’s sneaky, dangerous slash.

This alone showed the extraordinary agility and nerve reflexes of Williams!

Blackie’s sure-hit attack had failed, but as a veteran of seven mainline missions, his combat experience was vast. As the ground slash ended, he sprang up and unleashed another skill:

Ice Skate Assault!

Still from the Ninja Turtles world, Blackie’s body stiffened as he held the machete with both hands, thrusting forward. His feet planted firmly, unmoving, yet he glided forward at high speed, defying physics as if skating.

Williams relaxed after dodging the ground slash, not expecting Blackie’s relentless, bizarre follow-up. He hurriedly retreated, only to slam into the wall in his confusion.

Blackie’s gaunt face tightened, his eyes gleaming bloodlust. He plunged the machete into Williams’s chest. Just as he prepared to twist the blade, shredding both chest and heart, several fists flashed before his eyes.

With a muffled thud of fists striking flesh, Blackie screamed and retreated—Williams’s punches were astonishingly fast. In an instant, he landed six blows, all aimed at the heart.

Williams was an agile-type elite leader—but never forget, he was a mini-boss! Although not strength-focused, his strength stat exceeded twenty points. Such consecutive punches, all hitting the same spot, inflicted considerable damage.

With Blackie’s endurance and defense, his life dropped by eighteen points in a moment. For an ordinary person, suffering such a barrage would be fatal!

Yet this scrawny, dark-skinned man was truly fierce. As he retreated from the punches, he suddenly swept the machete toward Williams’s right-side heart. The weapon, a D-grade blue item enhanced four times, boasted tremendous attack power. The blade tore open a large chunk of flesh, revealing a network of blood vessels and a violently beating heart through the wound!

Wang Ling stood just five meters away, eyes fixed on the terrifying injury, raising both hands with steady aim, and pulled the trigger! With a thunderous crack, a blazing fire bullet shot out, trailing a crimson arc through the air!

The smoke had thinned somewhat. Williams, seeing the muzzle’s flash, raised his right arm to shield his heart. If it were only a lead bullet, he might have blocked it—but this was a potent fire bullet!

The bullet exploded on impact, along with Williams’s arm and a torrent of flames! The fire inflicted fifteen points of elemental damage within a one-meter diameter, spreading into a five-meter-wide fireball.

Williams was an elite leader, his stamina and defense far superior to ordinary thugs. Normally, a fire bullet would wound him, but not kill. However, Blackie’s machete had already torn open his chest, leaving his heart unprotected. Shrapnel and roaring flames surged straight into his heart—blood vessels shredded, the heart riddled with fragments! Within the flames, cardiac cells rapidly blackened and shriveled.

“That shot sealed his fate.”

Hearing the screams from within the fireball, Wang Ling was reassured. With Williams dead, the club’s fate was sealed; the remaining Shadow Fighter underlings posed no threat. Moreover, as an elite leader, killing him meant half the third mainline mission was complete.

Suddenly, Wang Ling saw Blackie dive into the five-meter fireball left by the bullet’s explosion! Raising his machete, Blackie stabbed into the heart of the fireball, then swung the blade, bringing out a burning, half-charred corpse…

Wang Ling narrowed his eyes. Blackie, risking the fire’s damage to stab the dying Williams, had a clear motive. In online games, this move was called “kill-stealing.”

Watching Blackie retrieve a black key from Williams’s corpse and stow it in his spatial pouch, Wang Ling silently holstered the White Iron musket, swapping in the Fine Iron Battle Axe, and pursued the terrified, fleeing Shadow Fighters—now the priority was to kill them and complete Mainline Mission One.

Blackie joined the hunt, blocking the club’s entrance after killing the doorman, slaughtering anyone who tried to escape—showing his formidable strength, as none of the Shadow Fighter underlings could withstand a single blow!

In less than ten minutes, everyone in the club, including a handful of female thugs on the second floor, was dead. Amid the carnage, the Dream Badge announced completion of Mainline Mission One.

As the club emptied, Wang Ling drew the White Iron musket, pointing it at Blackie’s forehead—the weapon was still cooling, but Blackie didn’t know that. With the gun aimed at his head, he nervously said, “Don’t shoot! We need to work together if we’re to survive this world!”

“Explain yourself,” Wang Ling said coolly.

“Williams was an agile-type mini-boss among the Shadow Fighters. I heard he might drop an agility-enhancing potion! I focus on agility, with strength secondary. Such a potion is crucial for me! If my power increases, our chances of escaping White Phoenix improve, and killing Brunov for Mainline Mission Four becomes more likely!”

“Why should I trust you?”

Blackie gritted his teeth. “I’ll summon the chest with the key right now! If it’s a potion, it’s mine—if it’s something else, I’ll give it to you. How about that?”

He truly wished to maintain their partnership, wary of the musket’s power. Without hesitation, he used the key to summon a black iron chest. Upon opening it, a pale blue potion glowed faintly inside, the liquid shimmering with phosphorescence.

Wang Ling kept the muzzle aimed at Blackie’s head. “I won’t snatch the potion, but you must share its data with me. I want to see what’s so important you’d risk breaking ties to obtain it.”

Blackie had no choice but to share the potion’s description:

“Agility Enhancement Potion: A gene-mutating booster crafted by Shadow Fighter scientists. Grants +16 agility, +15% movement speed, +9% neural reflex speed, +12% attack speed. Side effect one: After use, cells contract, altering body shape—becoming shorter than before. Side effect two: 90% mortality rate; every 1000 currency spent reduces death rate by 10%.”

“Note: If you don’t mind your stature, use it—but beware of the risks. Spending some currency is wise.”

The potion’s effects were formidable! Sixteen points of agility, plus crucial boosts to movement, neural reflexes, and attack speed! Two side effects—the second could be avoided by spending nine thousand currency. If not for the first, Wang Ling would have summoned Wang Long, killed Blackie, and taken the potion himself!

But the change in body size was unacceptable to Wang Ling; even if he acquired it, he would sell it. Of course, his inner thoughts didn’t show on his face.

“This potion is remarkably potent. I don’t want conflict either, given the difficulty of the mainline missions and White Phoenix’s looming threat. Your increased strength benefits us both. However…”

“You seized what was rightfully mine; Williams was the target for Mission Three. Compensation is due. First: I lack healing items; you, as a veteran of seven missions, surely have plenty—I demand three healing items. Second: You must help me kill another elite leader: Sister Linda. The final blow and loot are mine. Third: If we kill the big boss Brunov, I get first choice of the loot!”

(The fourth chapter burst is complete! Starting Monday, with website recommendations, this week I’ll definitely reach the newcomer rankings. My goal is at least the top five! If I hit fifth place, four chapters on Sunday! Third place, five chapters! Second, six chapters! First, ten chapters, totaling thirty thousand words! If you dare vote, I dare explode! As long as most readers hand in their recommendation votes, I’ll certainly reach first—everyone, cast your votes and exhaust me!)