Chapter 4: Five People
The third brother of the National Football Team held a plain white revolver, looking expectantly at the Wolf Butler. The others had varied expressions. The detective loli covered her forehead with one hand, while the Fatso studied the Wolf Butler with interest. The gold-rimmed glasses man gave the third brother a thumbs-up, and the third brother responded with a shy smile.
"Your fate... will be quite turbulent."
The Wolf Butler's words were somewhat ambiguous—neither a refusal nor an agreement.
"Quite... turbulent."
The third brother panicked. His gaze wavered between the plain white revolver and the golden revolver. Finally, he put away the plain white revolver, picked up Fate Dominator, held it with one hand, and aimed the muzzle at his own head.
"Oh, right!"
The third brother suddenly remembered something.
"Wolf Butler, can I leave a suicide note first? If I go 'pop' (die), I can..."
Before the third brother could finish, he noticed the Wolf Butler staring straight at him.
"Ha, I was just joking."
The third brother of the National Football Team took a deep breath. The equipment on his body quickly disappeared. Moments later, he removed most of his gear, leaving only defensive equipment. Not only that, but he also transferred the emergency items from his personal storage space to the team storage space, and placed the removed equipment there as well.
The third brother was an honest man, and he knew that Fate Dominator was too powerful. Based on the collision between the previous bullet and the shield, he judged that his own defensive capabilities were likely insufficient to withstand this shot.
Unfortunately, the three brothers of the National Football Team weren't high enough in rank. If they had developed their Paladin class to a certain extent, they could have mastered invincibility-type skills. With such skills, the three brothers would be so "annoying, flashy, and shameless" that they'd drive enemies to question their existence.
Noticing what the third brother had done, the first and second brothers silently clenched their fists. The third brother was preventing the loss of his equipment and items if he died in the game—he was leaving behind an "inheritance."
"Third brother, you've got this."
"Yeah."
The third brother tightened his grip on the trigger, his expression serious. Although the three brothers of the National Football Team were carefree, they were elite contractors who had climbed to the third rank. In terms of courage, they far surpassed most ordinary contractors.
Click.
The firing pin of Fate Dominator struck empty—a blank shot.
After firing this shot, the third brother raised an eyebrow, and a smug grin gradually spread across his face.
"Didn't fire? Didn't fire!"
Having just faced life and death, the third brother's reaction was unusual. He hadn't lost his composure due to the threat of death.
Seeing this, the Catwoman and the detective loli secretly admired him. They felt inferior to his attitude of taking life and death lightly.
"Wolf Butler, I request to participate in the game early."
It was the first brother of the National Football Team who spoke. He had already placed his equipment and emergency supplies into the team space. The three brothers were members of the same adventure group, so most of their items were stored in the team space for shared resources.
"Permission granted."
"Then I'll participate early too."
This time it was the second brother. The reason they chose this was that the fates of the three were almost intertwined, and after the third brother pulled the trigger, the Wolf Butler hadn't immediately given a reward.
"Two game participants have voluntarily joined the game."
The Wolf Butler placed Fate Dominator in front of the first brother. Without hesitation, the first brother picked up the revolver and activated his defensive skills.
Click.
Another blank shot.
The first brother's reaction was minimal, but the second and third brothers laughed heartily.
The Wolf Butler took the revolver from the first brother, recocked the firing pin, and placed it in front of the second brother.
The second brother was ready. He picked up the revolver, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.
Click.
Three consecutive blank shots. The three brothers of the National Football Team had successfully passed this round of the game. Their gazes simultaneously turned to Su Xiao. So far, only Su Xiao had been hit by a bullet.
The three brothers grinned at Su Xiao in unison. Su Xiao lowered his eyelids, meeting the gazes of the "Three Fools of the National Football Team."
The three fools simultaneously averted their eyes, perfectly in sync. They stared at the ceiling, whistling.
"What great luck."
"Second brother is right."
"Cough, mind your manners. We need to consider the feelings of a certain comrade."
The three brothers were practically "incurable annoyers." This was even when facing Su Xiao, who had once beaten them half to death. If it were someone else, they would be even more annoying and shameless. As for drawing aggro, these three fools weren't afraid at all. All three were Paladins who could fight, tank, and heal, so ordinary people couldn't do much to them.
Just as the three brothers were being annoying, the Wolf Butler pulled out a rune card. The rune card burned in midair, and the three brothers simultaneously received a notification.
[Notification: You have received Alice's Blessing (Friendship). You and the other two members of your adventure group have formed a Life Link (Permanent).]
[Life Link: Three individuals linked. When any target's health drops below 30%, the Life Link will activate. Once activated, 70% of the damage taken by the low-health target will be shared by the other two, until all three have health below 30%, at which point the Life Link will be interrupted. If any one of them dies, the Life Link will disappear.]
...
Upon receiving this notification, the three brothers were dumbfounded.
"Ha, haha, hahaha, we're invincible."
The second brother slapped the third brother on the back of the head. The third brother, who was about to laugh, choked it back. The first brother also showed a joyful expression.
For the three brothers, who could both tank and heal, gaining this ability meant a qualitative leap in their survivability.
Their healing output was already considerable, but if one of them was focused down, they could still be killed instantly. If one of them died, a team wipe wasn't far off.
Now, killing one of the three brothers was extremely difficult. Combined with their energy hammer control abilities, their combat style would be disgustingly annoying. Anyone who fought them would be driven to nausea by their survivability within five minutes.
Noticing the reaction of the three brothers, the other five contractors had varied expressions.
In fact, the number of participants in this game wasn't large. At least, that's how Su Xiao saw it. Apart from himself and the three brothers he had worked with before, there were only five remaining game participants.
After a preliminary observation, Su Xiao ranked the five in terms of danger.
The Fatso ranked first. Yes, that fat guy who never let go of his meat. He hadn't performed particularly well along the way, even rarely speaking up, but he gave Su Xiao a sense of threat.
The Fatso appeared obese, but after Su Xiao's observation, this guy was definitely a melee expert. His steps were steady, his breathing powerful, and the sharp gaze he occasionally revealed was something ordinary contractors couldn't possess.
Moreover, when the Fatso moved, the fat on his abdomen and arms trembled like flowing water, seemingly containing some kind of vibration or impact force.
Besides the Fatso, another person was also quite threatening—the gold-rimmed glasses man.
From the gold-rimmed glasses man's series of actions, it could be seen that he was likely a charm-specialized contractor, possibly a control-type, summoning-type, or mental-type. The charm attribute had too many branches to determine for now.