Chapter 44: Counter-Kill

This was gold. So much gold, and now it was all hers.

Even though she was long gone from Azurea, gold had been humanity’s currency for thousands of years. She couldn’t help but feel thrilled. Not to mention, aside from the gold, there were other ores scattered about. Lily Rhodes bent down and picked up the piece of ore closest to her. Its details instantly popped into her mind.

[Refined Steel Ore: Formed naturally through the purification and refining of iron ore. Its quality surpasses man-made products.]

Reading the information, Lily nearly screamed in delight. On the previously released vehicle leaderboard, Lily was the only one who had reached Level 7. Most of the others were stuck around Level 5. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to upgrade their vehicles; they simply lacked the necessary materials. The specific resource they needed was no secret—ever since The Supreme Shop opened, many people had privately messaged her asking for news about Refined Steel.

Exactly—what they lacked was Refined Steel.

Lily rubbed her hands together excitedly. She started collecting from the edges, sweeping an endless stream of golden sand into her Treasure Chest. This was gold; it might come in handy later. As for the Refined Steel Ore, she stored it in a separate Bronze Treasure Chest.

Although The Golden Desert covered a massive area, it was only about ten centimeters deep. Even so, the sheer volume was astounding. It took Lily several hours to gather all the gold and Refined Steel Ore.

Just as she straightened up to stretch her stiff neck, she glanced up and spotted a gleaming Golden Treasure Box resting on a tree branch. Talk about luck! Just looking up yielded a Golden Treasure Box. She had totally hit the jackpot.

As she prepared to retrieve the box, she caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye. Behind a tree diagonally behind her, a figure had silently appeared. The person was well-hidden. If Lily hadn’t been trying to reach the box in the tree, she probably wouldn’t have noticed her.

The ambusher, realizing she had been spotted, tightened her grip on her sharp knife and charged straight at Lily. Why did this woman have to spot the Treasure Chest and reach for it right at this moment? The attacker had noticed the black Soft armor Lily wore long ago, which was why she had hesitated to strike.

This person had arrived on the island around the same time as Lily. They had landed one after the other and explored toward the center from different directions. Unlike Lily’s resource-gathering spree, Chloe Bishop was encountering an island for the first time. She had been incredibly cautious, pausing at every step to ensure it was safe before taking the next. This explained why, despite Lily wasting so much time gathering resources, they had reached this spot simultaneously. In fact, Lily was even a bit faster.

Seeing the charge, Lily immediately stepped back, dodging Chloe’s sneak attack. Lily had no prior combat training, but the Potential Seed had completely transformed her. Even without martial arts foundations, handling a few people was no problem. After all, absolute strength conquered all techniques. Her opponent, Chloe, also seemed to be a novice with no basic skills; otherwise, she wouldn’t have resorted to a clumsy sneak attack.

With both sides being beginners, Lily had the overwhelming upper hand.

She dodged the dagger aimed at her and spun around to grab Chloe’s wrist, applying heavy force to prevent her from breaking free. Shock washed over Chloe’s face as her wrist was caught. Then, her gaze sharpened. The surrounding plants suddenly came alive. Their leaves stiffened into sharp points and shot toward Lily like flying darts.

Startled, Lily instantly channeled her Water Power, creating a barrier that blocked a portion of the leafy blades. Her Soft armor deflected the rest.

Once the danger passed, Lily’s breathing remained remarkably steady, though her adrenaline was surging. She glared at Chloe, whose wrist she still held in a death grip. Only one thought echoed in her mind: This person wanted to kill her!

Chloe never expected her lethal move to fail. Meeting Lily’s murderous gaze, she couldn’t help but flinch.

In the next second, Lily condensed a Wind Blade and slashed it straight across Chloe’s fragile neck.

Blood splattered.

Feeling the warm blood spray across her face, Lily stood frozen in place, utterly terrified. She had killed someone! Even with her Skills keeping her physically composed, her breathing grew uncontrollably ragged. As the killing intent faded and rationality returned, Lily tried her best to calm down, but her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

"I just want to survive. I didn’t do anything wrong," Lily thought.

Even though she was scared, if she had to do it all over again, she would make the same choice. This person had shown lethal intent and made the first move. That alone meant she couldn’t be left alive.

Once she calmed down, Lily stood up. She had lost all interest in continuing her search. She needed to head back and settle her nerves. Leaving the corpse exactly where it fell, she headed back. Her legs were still weak, making her walk look extremely awkward.

Upon returning to Shelly’s back, Lily went straight to her second-floor bedroom. She stripped off her gear, took a hot shower, and collapsed into the soft bed. Closing her eyes, her mind endlessly replayed the recent events. It wasn’t out of fear—she was certain of that—but she simply couldn’t stop her brain from recalling it.

Realizing she couldn’t control her thoughts, Lily decided to just let them run wild.

"Just sleep. Everything will be fine after a good sleep," she told herself.

She thought she would suffer from insomnia, but surprisingly, after closing her eyes and completely letting go of her mental defenses, she fell asleep very quickly.

When she woke up again, it was already the next day. Lily had slept for an exceptionally long time. Upon waking, she felt much better. Her hands were no longer shaking. She changed her clothes and went downstairs, where three dishes and a soup were already set on the table, still steaming. Taking a seat, Lily began to eat. Even though she had eaten this before, the taste was still stunningly delicious.

After eating her fill, Lily stretched and walked outside, ready to continue exploring the island today.

However, the moment she stepped out, a gloomy ship with a skull hanging from its bow entered her line of sight. From what Shelly told her, this ship likely belonged to the person she had killed yesterday.