CHAPTER 101: CHAPTER 101: ASKING FOR HELP

Back in the familiar living room, Chai Cuiqiao’s head emerged from the floor, looking at Li Ang in confusion.

Just a second ago, Li Ang had been equipped with a wooden Mask, Cat’s Eye, and AK-47; the next second, he put on a gas Mask.

"Did you complete the quest?" Chai Cuiqiao asked curiously, pulling herself out of the floor. "How come I didn’t follow you in?"

"This quest was a bit special; I couldn’t use my skill bar or equipment bar," Li Ang explained briefly and headed straight into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and took a bath.

There might still be some chlorine gas residue on him, and it would be terrible if the smell lingered in the living room.

After his bath, a refreshed Li Ang walked out of the bathroom in a bathrobe and lay sprawled on the sofa, checking the loot from this quest.

[Player Overall Performance: S+, Game Coin and Experience Point rewards increased to 160%]

[Quest Reward 1: 300 Experience Points]

[Quest Reward 2: 500 Game Coins]

After multiplying by the 1.6 coefficient, Li Ang received a total of 480 Experience Points and 800 Game Coins.

Before this quest, he was Level 7, and his Experience Bar showed 579/700. After completing the quest, he had met the conditions to level up to Level 8.

He confirmed the level-up. His current level was now Level 8, and his Experience Bar read 259/800.

His current Game Currency was 4,395 points. Hmm, just shy of a lucky number.

[Quest Reward 3: Random Quality Skill Scroll*1]

It was time for Li Ang’s third favorite box-opening moment. He clicked on the treasure chest in his item bar, and a Sheepskin Scroll emitting a pale blue glow appeared inside.

[Skill Scroll Name: Mocking Taunt]

[Attributes: Consumable, disappears after three uses]

[Type: Universal]

[Level: Rare]

[Special Effect: The user designates a target to taunt with words or gestures, temporarily making them lose their sanity and attack the user. The skill’s intensity, priority, and duration are determined by the target’s current emotional state and the severity of the user’s taunting actions.]

[Cost: None]

[Cooldown Time: Limited to once per quest; no cooldown time outside of quests.]

[Note: Come at me, dummy ┌(`⦿ὢ⦿´)┐]

It might have been an illusion, but the font of "Come at me, dummy" in the scroll’s note section seemed crooked. Just like the kaomoji before it, it conveyed a very strong sense of mockery.

Hmm...

Li Ang, his eyes half-closed, commented, "Although this skill seems a bit comical, it’s actually quite powerful. It can make an enemy lose their reason and be forced to attack, which is very suitable for one-on-one combat."

Even though the scroll only had three uses and was limited to one use per quest, it was still valuable. In a fight where every ounce of effort counted, victory and defeat—life and death—often hung on a single moment. The taunt could be considered a semi-mandatory control skill, so one use was probably enough.

Li Ang muttered to himself, "If this had been a learnable skill without a usage limit, it probably would have been Perfect Level." He then allocated one free attribute point to Constitution.

Now, as a Level 8 player, his Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Constitution, and Perception attributes had all reached 8 points. They appeared neat, uniform, and visually satisfying.

Besides the System rewards, the regular items scavenged during the quests were also quite valuable.

This included a complete S.W.A.T. special operations squad member uniform, comprising a helmet, Bulletproof Vest, and combat boots; a SCAR-H rifle equipped with a grenade launcher, two spare magazines, and over seventy rounds of ammunition; two thermite Molotov cocktails, two smoke grenades, and one hand grenade; and one Individual Rocket Tube with one rocket.

Just these items alone were already worth the price of admission, not to mention Tama Riyadi’s collection of gold and silver jewelry, cash, antiques, and so on.

"Carrying out a mission can really be more profitable than robbing a bank," Li Ang couldn’t help but reflect.

In the following days, Li Ang spent his time browsing player forums.

The hot topic on the forums recently was an occasional series of items named "SOS Signal" that would appear on the game’s market shelves. The Special Effect of this series of items was that they allowed a player to invite an additional player during a quest to cooperate and carry out the mission with the signaler. It could be seen as an external call for help in the Killing Field Game.

The "SOS Signal" series had many types of derivative items, such as the "SOS Signal · Telephone Booth," which allowed the signal sender to contact a real-world helper using a phone booth during the quest; the "SOS Signal · Body Rent," which allowed the signal sender to transfer full control of their body to the helper; and the "SOS Signal · Reinforcements Arrive," which pulled the helper directly into the quest.

The appearance of this "SOS Signal" series of items greatly changed the ecosystem of the Killing Field Game. Some players with weaker deductive skills could use the "SOS Signal · Telephone Booth" during quests to seek help from those specialized in deduction in the real world. Players with supportive skills but weaker combat abilities could use the "SOS Signal · Reinforcements Arrive" to summon other combat-specialized players to join the quest.

Transnational corporations, financial tycoons, and monopolistic organizations were perhaps the group of people who favored these items the most. They wanted to become players possessing extraordinary abilities, yet they were afraid of dying in quests. The emergence of these items perfectly solved their dilemma. Official organizations like the Special Affairs Bureau were also quite pleased—hidden think tanks could directly provide intellectual support to players in the field and obtain first-hand information on the quest’s plane of existence, gathering a large amount of useful data.

As for gold farming groups, they were ecstatic. The "SOS Signal" series of items on the market were driven to astronomical prices. Members of these groups constantly monitored their marketplace interfaces, afraid to miss this money-making opportunity.

Of course, the "SOS Signal" series of items also had many usage restrictions. For example, each player could only use an SOS Signal once every three quests, and the helper’s level couldn’t be more than two levels above that of the user. The "SOS Signal · Telephone Booth" could only be used in solo quests, and the "SOS Signal · Reinforcements Arrive" could only be used in quests with fewer than four players and could only summon one player at a time. (If it were possible to call up a hundred or so brothers in one go—a single arrow piercing the clouds, an army to answer its call—then even the quest boss would have no choice but to sigh to the heavens, "Who could withstand this?" and die resentfully on the spot.)

The "SOS Signal" series of items also outlined a way for some high-performing players with average ratings above A-level to make money: by acting as strategy experts, providing intellectual or combat support to other players in exchange for a reward.