Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Challenge of the Tiger-faced Warrior

Wang Long’s blow landed true, and Blackie collapsed immediately. Then, Wang Long planted his feet, leaped with force, and brought the club down with both hands in a crushing strike. The sheer force behind the blow shattered Blackie’s spine, severing it completely and ending any hope of escape.

Blackie lay face down, struggling to lift his head, trying to utter something. Wang Ling, having played countless games and read a myriad of fantasy novels, knew all too well the folly of letting a dying enemy speak; so many unfortunate souls, after leaving their foes crippled or near death, lingered in conversation only to be overthrown at the last moment.

So he gave Blackie no chance to babble. A fireball shot from his white-iron firearm, striking Blackie’s head. The crimson bullet burst, forming a scorching ball of flame that engulfed the slight figure entirely.

Watching the flames roar, Wang Ling exhaled in relief. Killing this Indonesian man lifted a heavy burden from his heart. After all, the man’s strength surpassed his own, and from his previous treatment of ordinary people, it was clear he was ruthless and venomous. Working with him felt like living with a nail buried at his side—far too much pressure.

In truth, Wang Ling hadn't planned to kill Blackie so soon. The main storyline’s boss, Brunov, would surely be hard to defeat, and there was the unpredictable factor of Bai Feng. If possible, he would have preferred to cooperate with Blackie.

But after William’s death and the appearance of the agility-enhancing potion, Wang Ling abandoned the idea of partnership.

Blackie was a veteran, his original strength formidable but still within acceptable bounds. After all, Wang Ling possessed the "Kung Fu" scenario card, capable of summoning the martial arts master Wang Long.

Yet, if Blackie used the potion, his power would surge dramatically. Wang Ling couldn’t guarantee Wang Long would be able to defeat him then. Moreover, Blackie was an agility-based dreamer—quick and elusive—he might bypass Wang Long and attack Wang Ling directly. Wang Ling had no confidence he could survive a sudden assault from a strengthened Blackie.

Thus, upon discovering the agility-enhancing potion and its startling stats, Wang Ling grew extremely cautious. When he saw Blackie hadn’t used it and learned the potion required a period of transformation, he resolved that, during Blackie’s fight with Linda, even if he didn’t kill Linda, he must eliminate Blackie.

As Linda suppressed Blackie in battle and gravely injured him, the situation became too advantageous to ignore. If Wang Ling didn’t act now, he’d be inviting disaster later.

Wang Ling knew: he had his own trump card, and Blackie, as a veteran of seven missions, surely had his. Blackie would likely use it during the fight with the ultimate boss, Brunov—at the very least, to severely wound the powerful foe.

At that point, danger would be at its peak!

There was another benefit to striking now: Blackie believed the threat of the main storyline boss would deter Wang Ling from attacking him, leaving him unwary. After gaining the potion, Wang Ling had even insisted on priority selection rights for items after Brunov’s death—a subtle psychological guide.

Pretending to be a gunman had also been a perfect cover. When facing Linda, Wang Ling had ample reason to avoid direct combat, instead lurking in the shadows for a sneak attack. Blackie, being primarily agile and secondarily strong, naturally took on Linda head-on—especially since he had agreed to help Wang Ling deal with her.

Blackie never realized that, even without his help, Wang Ling would not fear failing the main mission and being erased from existence, because he had the life-extending mushroom.

Wang Ling, drawing on the deduction skills honed from detective games, crafted his plan to kill Blackie, though a small accident occurred: he hadn’t anticipated Blackie’s trump card, the Thunder Summoning Talisman, would be an area-effect pinpoint strike. Fortunately, the trash can lid blocked the lightning; otherwise, the outcome would have been grim.

Regardless, Blackie was dead, finally removing the severe threat at his side. Immediately, the Dream Badge issued a prompt:

"You have killed Dreamer No. 9136. Your kill score increases by 1. This individual had killed 27 other dreamers, with a kill score of 27. The chance of item drop upon death is increased. You may choose one of the following three reward methods:

One: Obtain 77% of the opponent's currency points, attribute points, and skill points.
Two: A 77% chance to acquire one piece of the opponent’s equipment.
Three: Draw from five random slots in the opponent’s storage bag. Only one of each stacked item will drop. If a slot is empty, nothing will drop."

"He killed so many dreamers!" Wang Ling was startled, but reflecting on Blackie’s specialization, he understood. Blackie was high agility, secondary strength, with powerful skills and high weapon attack—a figure akin to an assassin class. Those of equal rank likely couldn’t handle him one-on-one.

Of the three reward options, Wang Ling immediately ruled out the second—there was still a 23% chance of getting nothing.

He hesitated between the first and third. He was desperately short on currency points—even summoning Wang Long had only cost 100, and he had barely over 200 left.

But the agility-enhancing potion in Blackie’s storage bag swayed him to choose the third. Even with severe side effects, it could fetch at least 8,000 points in the free market!

Besides, novice dreamers were unlikely to spend currency to expand their storage bags, so the slots were few. Drawing five, the odds of pulling that potion were high. Combined with other items, the expected yield likely exceeded the first option.

A black key appeared, identical to the one dropped by William—a black key summoning a black-iron treasure chest. The dark metal was tinged with ominous crimson. Wang Ling used the key, and, to his delight, the first item drawn was the bottle containing pale blue liquid—the agility-enhancing potion!

After securing the potion, Wang Ling’s luck ran out, and he hit “no item drop” twice in a row. He grimaced as he tried the fourth draw, only to receive a packet of premium tea—no special effect, just tea for brewing, exchanged for 1 currency point in the Dream Space.

Determined not to waste, Wang Ling resisted the urge to toss the tea in the trash and stored it in his bag, then made his fifth and final draw. He reached into the chest and felt something light and thin—paper, apparently—which chilled his heart.

“Is it rubbish again? If I’d known, I’d have chosen the first option… Damn, what a loss…”

Resigned, he pulled his hand from the chest and found a sealed envelope, with bird-like Japanese script on one side and three bold characters on the other: "Challenge Letter!"

“What is this?” Wang Ling wondered, using the Dream Badge to inspect the envelope:

"Challenge Letter of the Tiger Mask Fighter: This is a rare and precious item. When entering a scenario of the Hot-Blooded series, using the challenge letter triggers a special storyline: Tiger Mask Fighter issues a challenge to masters of various schools, convening a Hot-Blooded Fighting Tournament. You will receive an invitation qualification and may seek another dreamer to form a duo, participating in the tournament alongside Kunio, Alex, and other champions."

"Hot-Blooded Fighting?" Another classic game name flashed through Wang Ling’s mind. He recalled the myriad practical skills and powerful combo techniques in that world. Realizing the item’s worth, his frustration vanished, and he carefully stored the challenge letter.

After securing all his gains, Wang Ling lifted his head and saw Wang Long, the burly man, searching the charred corpse of Blackie. Curious, he asked, “What are you doing?”

Wang Long stood, brushed black ash from his hands, and chuckled awkwardly, “Our Bully Clan, besides fighting, also dabbles in banditry—robbing travelers and blocking roads! I thought the dead man’s blade looked valuable, figured he’d be a fat sheep, but not even a fart came of it!”

Wang Ling was speechless. Though Blackie was dead, as a dreamer, the equipment on his corpse was protected by Dream Space and couldn’t be stripped directly—only obtained through the draw. Wang Long’s hope of profiting from the dead was futile.

“I wonder, the Kung Fu scenario card still has four Bully Clan members… What kind of personalities do they have? Worrisome…”

Feeling a touch of concern, Wang Ling walked over to Linda, only to find she was still alive!

But she was close to death, her body bearing burn marks from the lightning, her chest wound bleeding profusely, forming a small pool beneath her—her health bar empty, seeming ready to die at any moment.

Sensing someone nearby, Linda’s tightly shut eyes opened a sliver, gaze falling on Wang Ling. From her throat came a low, pleading sound: “Daughter… my daughter…”

“Please don’t mistake me for your kin—I’m not your daughter!”

Wang Ling was startled, but then saw Linda’s eyes drift to the corpses of the young girls nearby, and realized her meaning.

Linda, an elite leader and target of the third main storyline quest, should have been dispatched as efficiently as Blackie. Yet her plea moved him.

Regardless of her status as a villain or quest target, she was also a mother, and seeing her three daughters dead beside her, the grief must be overwhelming.

“You’re about to die anyway—I’ll grant your wish.”

Wang Ling gathered the three girl’s bodies and placed them beside Linda. The dying woman struggled up, kissed each blood-stained face, and drew them to her chest, nodding gratefully: “You… you may… do it now.”

“I’m sorry, please don’t blame me. I have no choice.”

With a sigh, Wang Ling avoided using the axe, instead heading to the disco to fetch a sharp steel rod. To be killed by such a weapon would at least be a little more peaceful than being hacked by an axe.