Chapter 127 : Ambush (2)
Ambush (2)
"What happened?"
The sudden, tragic scream plunged the entire lobby into a moment of dead silence.
Whether it was the spectators below, or Little Persimmon Puppy on stage hosting the auction, everyone simultaneously stopped what they were doing and looked up toward the second floor.
"Someone screamed just now... right?" a player whispered to the person beside him.
"No idea, don't ask me."
Sitting beside him was a woman in a white robe, her nose high, dark eyes somber, lips slightly pursed, looking as if she didn't care about anything.
From the start of the auction till now, her eyes had been on the counter ahead, but she had never called out a single bid. Judging by her manner, she was just like many others present—here for those few final auction items.
Unlike the casual players crowding around to watch from outside the windows and doors, every player qualified to sit inside the lobby and participate in the auction in person was a top dog in the online gaming world: wealthy, influential, worldly, and naturally not thrown off by a single scream.
After just a few seconds of unrest, and even before Little Persimmon Puppy could say anything to restore order, the lobby quickly returned to the previous calm.
"My apologies, the environment here isn't ideal—someone may have caused trouble on purpose. Our security should already be handling it, so I ask for your patience and understanding."
Having just received a private message from Cecilia, little Persimmon Puppy naturally knew who had screamed upstairs. Anyway, it definitely wasn't Cecilia. Regarding that barely eighteen-year-old young girl, she had a nearly fanatical, unquestioning trust.
"Well then, let's move on to our next auction item."
Forcing a smile, little Persimmon Puppy looked around at the audience, then took out a fresh piece of equipment from her backpack.
As soon as this item appeared, many players below visibly changed their expressions.
Last time in the Mutant Jungle, Cecilia had fought hard against Dragon Abyss's subordinates—over two hundred people, each formidable enough to rank among the world's top ten thousand players. Their teamwork was meticulous, battle experience rich.
However, these players, each seen as a "boss" by ordinary standards, scattered and fled before Cecilia, as though they were stray dogs facing disaster.
Their melee weapons and magic, when confronted with the descending power of the flintlock pistol, were unbelievably fragile. Let alone ganging up on her—by the end, most had lost not just their dignity, but also their equipment, all left behind in that lush rainforest.
After that battle, Cecilia had collected over ten pieces of blue equipment and a single purple dagger weapon, along with the loot from killing two world-class bosses. All these she gave to Little Persimmon Puppy, to be sold off at today's auction.
After all, since these were looted from others, they were technically "hot goods" and secondhand, so the starting price was naturally set lower than market value for similar items.
As the prices were announced, the temptation of cheap equipment quickly made the players forget the earlier incident and set off a new round of heated bidding.
At the same time, on the second floor.
Cecilia had steadied herself, leaning against the wall with one hand, frowning slightly as she closely observed the figure hunched a few meters away.
It was called a figure—not a player—because every part of his body, from face to equipment and weapons, was covered in a type of mosaic, as if he'd walked right out of a pixelated game.
However, judging from his sneaky attack and his reaction after being hurt, this living mosaic was definitely an assassin player. It was just that his pain simulation seemed to be set overly high, and he'd used some special method to hide his features, making his shape blurry and indistinct.
Thinking of this, Cecilia understood.
No wonder these people dared risk offending dozens of online "bosses" just to stir up trouble at the auction. They had a way to conceal their identities, so they were acting fearless, with nothing to lose.
It was just like robbers who cover their faces with stockings so they're not recognized—same logic here.
In only a split second, Cecilia had figured things out. Still, to go through the motions, she asked coldly, "Who are you? What do you want here?"
"Hss... ha... hss... ha..."
The mosaic man wasn't stupid. He didn't answer Cecilia, but instead gritted his teeth against the eggshell-crushing pain, shakily opened his interface, and instantly dragged his pain simulation all the way left—to 0%.
After he finished, he let out a long sigh, his entire body feeling light and unburdened. Apart from his almost-empty HP bar, he felt as good as new.
Cecilia noticed that this assassin's simulation had originally been around 70%. Although it didn't compare with her own 100%, it still was impressive—no wonder he had screamed so inhumanly after being struck.
Not so long ago, Cecilia had spent over ten years living as a boy, so she perfectly understood how excruciating a hit to that area was. But she could swear, her kick just now was absolutely not intentional.
She had originally meant to kick his abdomen or chest, to pull some distance and prepare for whatever came next. But the dress she was wearing was just too tight—there was no way to get her leg up to the proper height.
If she had been wearing her earlier maid outfit, not to mention kicking his chest, she could have launched a solid kick to his face without any trouble.
The mosaic assassin evidently also recognized Cecilia. The moment he stood up, he immediately opened the private message window, intending to alert his companions. Cecilia, seeing this, of course couldn't let him succeed. With a "click," she combined her table knife with the flintlock pistol, leveling the weapon straight at the figure a few meters away.
But before she could pull the trigger, three more people suddenly appeared behind her, blades flashing as they attacked.
"So many assassins?"
Cecilia had not yet realized that [Slaughter Paradise] was a guild focused mainly on assassins—over 70% of its members were assassins.
Her mind raced, and in the emergency, she improvised.
"Bang!"
A muffled gunshot rang out. The already badly wounded mosaic assassin was instantly blown to pieces, his body detonating into countless points of light.
At the same time, three daggers swept in from behind. Feeling the gust of wind at her back, Cecilia clicked her tongue and immediately activated [Night Raid], turning into a blurred black line and teleporting behind the three assailants.
"Where'd she go?! Ling@M//e^*n~g_first release"
Seeing their target vanish out of thin air, the black-mosaic–dagger–wielding assassin panicked, his voice stifled and hoarse.
He knew his opponent was the legendary assassin Cecilia, which put him under tremendous psychological pressure.
"She went into stealth, us too!" said another assassin holding a dark red, mosaic-covered dagger in a low voice.
But even before he finished, he felt a sudden pain in his back. Looking down, he saw a silver blade piercing through his chest.
His HP rapidly drained, and his vision blurred.
With her main and off-hand weapons combined, both the Rose Maid's Silver Dinner Knife and the Ornate Vampire Elite Flintlock Pistol had their attack power greatly increased.
So with just one stab, Cecilia instantly killed a high-level assassin with over 1200 HP.
"She's behind us!"
The remaining two, seeing Cecilia circling behind, were terrified out of their minds. No longer caring about the Golden Wheel's pre-action warnings, one shouted an alarm while the other immediately used [Shadow Step], trying to pull away from Cecilia.
Although he reacted quickly and teleported several meters away in less than a second, about to go back into stealth, Cecilia wasn't playing by the book. Once the second [Blood-Infused Silver Bullet] was ready, she calmly leveled her gun and pulled the trigger!
Bang!
The second shot rang out. This time, the [Explosive Shell] was triggered. Within five meters, it dealt a critical hit of 1537 dmg. The second assassin was shot in the back. Before he could even scream, his body flew like a ragdoll into the hallway wall, shattering into a sky full of light.
With the latest patch, new rules were added: after players die, they no longer respawn instantly but enter a "ghost" state, transported to that pure white space to wait out a lengthy revival timer before being sent back to the Main City's central plaza.
During this time, "ghost" players can't Exit Game, nor use [private messages], which stops them from alerting other companions.
In just a few breaths, what was an overwhelming situation instantly reversed; four assassin players reduced to just one, while Cecilia remained untouched, not even grazed.
Her judgment was correct—even without the full maxed-out [Maid Outfit Mastery] stat bonuses, relying only on her weapons, skills, and her vast trove of battle experience, she could still demolish ordinary players.
As expected, the last remaining assassin fell to Cecilia's casual slash within another second or two. By now, the sound of gunfire and fighting had already drawn others who'd infiltrated the building.
Cecilia could clearly hear the light footsteps closing in from two or three nearby corridors.
It was too late to change equipment now. The opponents had clearly spent long preparing for this operation and would not give up so easily.
For Cecilia, the situation at this moment wasn't optimistic—but rather than tense, she was swept by a thrill from deep inside.
Her grip on the flintlock pistol tightened. Within the wooden handle, threads of crimson slowly flowed; the blood-infused silver bullet was loaded once more. Cecilia aimed steadily at the corner of the hallway, her finger tightening slowly on the trigger.