Chapter 46: Invasion
When leaving the Fifth Rank Arena, Su Xiao turned back to look at the massive circular structure. It towered into the sky, with an unknown number of floors, though it seemed Su Xiao was already standing at the very top.
Su Xiao opened the arena rankings, and something unexpected happened. The 12th place in the arena had changed. A contractor named Maple Leaf had climbed up, someone from Death Paradise.
Su Xiao closed the list and headed toward his exclusive room. He still had many things to handle.
As soon as he returned to his exclusive room, with Bubu Wang's aura assisting, Su Xiao began concocting permanent enhancement potions.
In the near future, Su Xiao planned to challenge the old sage within the [Greed Chapter]. His blade technique had improved, and he was confident he could win... confident he could injure the old sage.
...
In the arena, inside a spacious underground chamber, flames blazed fiercely, and the surrounding wooden walls showed signs of damage.
A young girl with long hair tied back, wearing a light black dress, stood on a metal wire. She was looking down at her enemy below, who wore a white mask with a red maple leaf pattern.
"Maple Leaf, from Death Paradise."
The female contractor named Maple Leaf spoke, holding twin rapiers and wearing tight leather clothing.
"Mm, hello."
The Hedgehog Girl responded. Just as she was about to strike, Maple Leaf asked, "If I may ask, how far are you from the tenth place?"
"Quite far. I fought my way up once, and got taught a harsh lesson."
The Hedgehog Girl was a bit annoyed at having her wound reopened.
"Is that so? Then the current first place, you've fought him, right?"
"No!"
The Hedgehog Girl's answer was exceptionally firm. Then, a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she asked, "You're not thinking of challenging that guy, are you? The first place one. Give it up. That guy... is a monster. Gu Sheng Yi lost. I really want to see the scene when those two monsters fight."
"People need dreams."
Maple Leaf smiled. Her ambition was the first place; that was her current pursuit.
"Stop kidding. Fighting that monster will make you understand how despairing the gap in strength really is!"
The Hedgehog Girl's eyes widened, and a wave of soul impact spread out, forcing Maple Leaf back several steps.
"See? It's despairing."
The Hedgehog Girl shrugged.
"?"
Maple Leaf endured the discomfort in her head, looking at the Hedgehog Girl in confusion.
"You wouldn't understand. Even if you defeat me, that bastard in tenth place will make you realize how strong the top ten are. Even if you pass that hurdle and defeat a few stronger opponents, the magnetic maniac in third place now will block you. Then there's Gu Sheng Yi, that madman from Reincarnation Paradise. After that... there's a surprise."
The Hedgehog Girl vented her frustration, bloodshot veins rapidly spreading in her eyes. Waves of soul impact radiated out. After three waves, Maple Leaf froze in place, one hand blocking in front of her. A dagger slashed across her throat, and she was forcibly teleported out of the arena.
...
Su Xiao put down the fire gold block in his hand. He had been researching how to shorten Apollo's detonation speed, but there was no progress.
Apollo couldn't be detonated quickly because its explosion range was wide. To shorten the detonation time without changing its basic structure, he could only tamper with the explosion range.
Su Xiao's idea was to create a second type of Apollo. This Apollo would have a range of about 10 to 20 meters, but its power couldn't be reduced. No, it actually needed to be enhanced, and the detonation speed had to be fast.
The ideal result was: an Apollo with a long detonation time and wide explosion range for destroying buildings and large numbers of enemies.
And the one with a small explosion range would be for dealing with single, powerful enemies, like the Black King or the Moon God. Ideally, the detonation time could be shortened to within 1 second, thrown and exploded directly.
The ideal was plump, but reality was a skeleton. Su Xiao somewhat regretted not researching Apollo first before fighting in the arena. That way, he could have vented his frustration.
Su Xiao lit a cigarette and exhaled a long stream of smoke.
He checked the time. There were 14 hours left before returning to the real world. [Deformed Love] had been sold, and all the Glory Potions he had concocted were sold too, earning a total of 2.58 million Paradise Coins. Su Xiao planned to invest all these Paradise Coins into developing his blade technique.
Before going to the Land of All Beings·Third Layer, Su Xiao first contacted Sha.
...
Inside Sha's exclusive room, she was holding a bowl of ice cream in her left hand and a spoon in her right, her eyes fixed on the huge screen in front of her.
"Wait for me a moment, this episode is almost over. Hahaha, these two bugs are really funny, hahahaha..."
Sha was laughing uncontrollably at a red and a yellow bug on the screen. Bubu Wang had recommended it to her. At first, Sha didn't pay much attention, since she didn't usually watch cartoons, but then she got hooked.
"Hahaha."
Sha was lying on the carpet, naked from the waist up, occasionally laughing a few times. When the injection gun in Su Xiao's hand pressed down, Sha immediately stopped laughing.
After finishing Sha's treatment, Su Xiao headed straight to the Land of All Beings·Third Layer to hone his blade technique. With the boost from the Origin Stone, his efficiency greatly improved. The blade technique moves that had previously stumped him were now developed smoothly.
Unknowingly, Su Xiao's remaining time was only 2 hours. He returned to his exclusive room, took a shower, and then lay down on a recliner. All supplies were ready. He was going to use the Cursed Gold Coin once.
As soon as Su Xiao took out the Cursed Gold Coin, a communicator in his storage space emitted a fluctuation.
Taking out the communicator, Su Xiao found it was from the Demon Race of the Void contacting him. It was most likely the female succubus, Lilim.
'Urgently need Black Maple Tree branch to save a life, 20 grams or more. If you have a channel, please contact me. Generous reward guaranteed. — Lilim.'
Although it was just a message, delivering this information cost the Demon Race a considerable price.
After thinking for a moment, Su Xiao used his Fifth Rank authority to reply. Exceeding 5 words would incur a fee, and a hefty one at that.
'None now. Will contact if any.'
Putting away the communicator, Su Xiao planned to stall the Demon Race for a while. It wasn't to drive up the price, but to be safe.
Su Xiao tossed the Cursed Gold Coin. It flew high while spinning.
Ding~
When the Cursed Gold Coin was a meter from the ground, it bounced twice and stopped in midair. Thorn Flower, reverse side.
[Hunter's Luck Attribute temporarily reduced by 15 points, lasting 48 hours.]
...
Putting away the Cursed Gold Coin, Su Xiao began waiting to return to the real world.
Two hours later, the sensation of teleportation appeared. Su Xiao felt a faint unease in his heart.
Bang!
Everything went black. When Su Xiao regained consciousness, he saw a patch of grass getting closer and closer.
Boom!
A not-so-loud explosion sound spread. Su Xiao stabilized himself in midair and landed. He had fallen into his own backyard, nearly headbutting a modified landmine.
Dusting off his clothes, Su Xiao grabbed the handle of the back door.
Crack~
Su Xiao looked at the metal handle in his hand. He calmly forced the door open, entered the first floor of the accessory shop, and sat down on the sofa.
"Woof~"
Bubu Wang let out a somewhat guilty bark.
"It should... be fine..."
Before Su Xiao could finish his sentence, the glass door shattered with a bang, and a brown bear charged into the accessory shop.
"Don't run! It's domesticated, not fierce, but don't provoke it!"
A shout came from outside the door. Several men and women in uniforms jumped out of a car, one of them holding a tranquilizer gun. They looked like staff from a nearby zoo. In the distance, the faint sound of police sirens could be heard.
The brown bear was indeed "not fierce." It stared blankly at Su Xiao, then plopped down on the ground, a puddle of yellow liquid spreading beneath it.
"Looks like the side effect of minus 6 Luck Attribute is no joke."
Su Xiao beckoned to the brown bear, signaling it to come over.
"Roar!"
The brown bear turned and fled. Outside, faint shouts could still be heard.
"Amu, clean this up."
Su Xiao looked up at the chandelier above. He felt like it could fall at any moment.
Boom!
A loud crash shook the entire three-story building. Su Xiao and Bubu Wang exchanged a glance and both rushed to the backyard.
A truck had crashed through the wall, directly hitting the small building. The truck driver, in a blue work uniform, climbed out of the truck.
"Ugh~"
The truck driver retched while waving his hand repeatedly, saying, "Sorry, sorry, I have insurance. I'll definitely pay."
Su Xiao: "..."
Bubu Wang: "..."
Real life had become exceptionally lively, until the Luck reduction effect wore off.
Su Xiao placed a large iron box into the basement. He had already called a renovation crew to fix the outer wall; they would arrive in the afternoon.
After a flurry of activity, the accessory shop returned to its usual state. Su Xiao let out a long sigh. There hadn't been any extremely dangerous situations, but it had kept him very busy.
This was just the side effect in the real world. If it were in a derivative world or a primordial world, it wouldn't be like this.
The stay time in the real world reached its limit three hours after the construction crew left. Su Xiao returned to his exclusive room.
[Hunter has returned to Reincarnation Paradise.]
[Notice: Hunter is about to undergo the Sixth Rank Promotion Assessment.]
[Detected: Hunter is the First Place of the Fifth Rank Arena (Extremely skilled in combat against contractors).]
[Detected: Hunter is a Team Slaughterer (Extremely skilled in combat against contractors).]
[Promotion Mission being drafted...]
[Drafting complete. The following information is classified.]
[Hunter is about to invade another Paradise! Invasion Target: Apocalypse Paradise.]
[Hunter will be teleported to a primordial world under Apocalypse Paradise's jurisdiction.]
[Restrictions have been completely lifted. Hunter may freely kill contractors from Apocalypse Paradise!]
[Disguise complete. Hunter will be teleported to the primordial world under Apocalypse Paradise's jurisdiction in one hour.]