Volume 2, Chapter 24 – As You Walk Down the Road, Experience Falls from the Sky!

Stowe took the lead and walked out of Little Gold Tooth’s restaurant.

They stepped onto the street outside.

Rabion, who was carrying Wilson on his back, stopped in his tracks. “What are we going to do about the captain and Kane?”

Stowe froze for a moment. This was going to be difficult. The captain was already dead. If Rabion hadn’t insisted on bringing his body along, Stowe would have thrown Wilson aside long ago. As for Kane, he was trouble too.

He was half dead. Bringing him along would slow them down, but leaving him behind would be no different from abandoning him to die.

As the temporary leader, Stowe was torn.

This was a crucial moment for him to establish his prestige. As long as he successfully killed that woman and avenged Jian and the captain, then returned and voluntarily accepted punishment, it would be easy for him to build authority within the guard squad.

Then the position of next captain would be his.

So at a critical time like this, Stowe absolutely could not do anything that would damage his reputation.

After thinking it over, he said, “How about you take the captain and Kane back first, Rabion?”

Losing Rabion alone would not be too big a problem. But if they lost one more person after that, there would only be two left on their side. Forget avenging the captain, they might just be marching to their deaths.

Rabion fell silent in hesitation. He understood as well that they were short-handed.

At that moment, someone immediately spoke up. “We’re already low on people, so we really shouldn’t split up. I say we leave the captain and Kane with Little Gold Tooth and his people for now and have them watch over them.”

Stowe frowned slightly. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t considered that suggestion, but Little Gold Tooth’s loyalty was not exactly trustworthy.

Wait.

A gleam suddenly flashed in Stowe’s eyes. He realized this might actually be an opportunity.

Whether Little Gold Tooth obeyed them out of fear of Morningstar’s strength or not, sending Wilson and Kane over there would do no harm.

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If Little Gold Tooth really was obeying them, then getting rid of that burden would leave them with nothing to worry about, and they could go after that woman without holding back.

If Little Gold Tooth was a turncoat and had already colluded with that woman, then being on guard against that possibility seemed even more beneficial.

First, they would be rid of the burden. Whether Little Gold Tooth killed Kane or not would not matter much, and it would save them from having to look after a piece of dead weight.

Second, Little Gold Tooth and that woman would definitely think their side had fallen for the trick. Little would they know that he had already seen through them.

The problem now was how to get Rabion to accept the plan.

Rabion’s expression kept shifting. Wilson had taken very good care of him, so naturally he wanted to avenge Wilson in person.

Only…

Rabion weighed the matter over and over. Stowe did not try to persuade him and simply watched. After a while, Rabion finally came to a decision. “Fine. We’ll do it that way.”

Stowe let out a sigh of relief. Good. This would save them quite a bit of trouble too.

The more said, the more likely something would slip. If he accidentally let his real scheme show, it would all be over.

After leaving Wilson and Kane with Little Gold Tooth, Stowe and the others departed again to the sound of Little Gold Tooth’s obsequious assurances.

“Boss, what do we do with these two?” one underling asked.

Little Gold Tooth waved his hand. “Just dump them in the corner. One’s dead, and the other’s practically dead. What’s there to bother with?”

…

Colin’s Repair Shop was still some distance away from Little Gold Tooth’s restaurant.

Dusk was drawing near. The fighting had already gone on for half a day, and the streets had unexpectedly emptied out, though the distant thunder of artillery could still be heard.

After some time, the four of them finally reached the area near Colin’s Repair Shop.

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“Wait!”

Stowe suddenly raised a hand to stop the man who was about to walk straight out.

“What is it?” the man turned back and asked in confusion.

“Just to be safe, we’d better check the surrounding area first,” Stowe explained.

The others heard that and immediately felt Stowe was right. They had been too impulsive.

They quickly divided directions among themselves and split into pairs, beginning a search of the area within five hundred meters of Colin’s Repair Shop.

At the end, they regrouped at the same spot.

Stowe shook his head first.

“Found nothing,” Rabion said.

“Same here. Of course, if stray cats count, then I guess we didn’t find nothing,” Stowe said with a smile.

Then his expression turned sharp. “Since we haven’t found anything nearby, let’s move in carefully.”

They advanced with great caution, both hands on their guns, rounds chambered, ready at any moment to turn any sudden enemy into a sieve.

The distance from there to Colin’s Repair Shop was short. Even though they moved slowly, they still reached the entrance before long.

Stowe stopped at the doorway.

It was a narrow storefront, and it looked rather old. Even the words Colin’s Repair Shop on the sign had begun to yellow. Most importantly, the roll-up shutter was locked.

He walked up to the door and aimed at the lock before pulling the trigger.

Bang!

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With a flash of sparks, he grabbed the shutter and yanked it upward. Amid a clattering rattle, the repair shop’s door opened just like that!

…

Anran ran through the streets wearing a baseball cap, her long flaxen hair tied up and tucked into it.

She also had a small backpack on her back, which made her look much more neat and capable at once.

Though she was not tall, she looked strikingly heroic, darting swiftly through the crowd. Her serious expression was extraordinarily charming for a time. If Anran had had the spare attention to check her Charm stat, she would certainly have discovered that her original 6 had quietly risen to 7.

Just after noon, Anran had already started looking for a way to escape.

But after a long stretch of time, she kept running into dead ends.

Either she could only watch helplessly as someone drove off and fled, or she would suddenly run into armed soldiers sprinting past, forcing her to turn around at once.

Her current strength was still too weak. Once she got caught up in a large-scale battle, her chances of survival would be extremely low.

And so Anran found that the number of people around her was growing smaller and smaller, while the sounds of gunfire and artillery became clearer and clearer, until in the end not a single soul could be seen anywhere on the street.

Anran’s heart sank at once. It was going to be hard to get out of the city now.

She touched the pistol strapped to her thigh and the alloy dagger there as well. Just as she was about to turn back, she suddenly received a notification from the game system.

“You killed the captain of the Morningstar Resistance guard squad and gained 1,000 free experience!”

“Your favorability with the Morningstar Resistance has decreased by 100. Current favorability: -200.”

“…”

Anran’s raised foot froze in midair.

What?

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She had killed the captain of the Morningstar Resistance guard squad?

And even gotten 1,000 free experience as a reward?

And her favorability had dropped by another 100?

What the hell was this?

Anran was completely dumbfounded.

As you walk down the road, experience falls from the sky!

That kind of thing was possible too?

Could it be that the game had bugged out and credited someone else’s achievement to her?

Countless thoughts flashed through Anran’s mind in an instant. One of them was even the absurd notion that the captain of the Morningstar Resistance guard squad was some kind of microorganism that she had accidentally stepped on and killed just now.

Wild guessing would never produce the real answer.

Only practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.

But Anran could not worry about all that for the moment. Being able to get free experience for nothing was a huge profit no matter how you looked at it. She decided to head home first. Since she could not escape, she would have to think of another way to hole up and survive this battle before it spread to the whole city.

“You killed a Morningstar Resistance soldier and gained 500 free experience.”

“Hm?”

Anran, who had just reached the area near her home, froze again.