The duration of the 「Frenzy」 state still had over 4 hours remaining, and Chen Luo could cancel it at any time. However, his intuition whispered to him that within the bustling shopping center up ahead lurked a threat far more terrifying. To ensure Hina's safety, he immediately opened the system store, purchased a reinforced 「Pet Leash」, and secured her in a hidden corner nearby.
Hina struggled with all her might, but it was completely futile. The rope seemed to be forged from some special magical alloy; no matter how she bared her fangs and claws to bite and tear, she couldn't leave even a single scratch on it, even though it looked like nothing more than ordinary rope. The she-wolf turned her head to look at Chen Luo, her eyes filled with a burning desire to charge into battle alongside her master. But when she met his chillingly resolute gaze, Hina suddenly felt a profound helplessness at the gap in strength between the two of them. She understood that with her current power, if she insisted on following, she would only be dead weight for him.
— "Remember... you absolutely must come back!" — Hina retracted her haughty demeanor, let out a soft growl, and obediently lay down on the ground to wait.
The moment Chen Luo turned and took a step, a massive figure like a small mountain stepped out from the bone-white mist, blocking the entrance to the shopping center. That was exactly the Region Boss of this area. Chen Luo swiftly activated the 「Appraise」 skill, and rows of blue text immediately appeared. He narrowed his eyes and recognized this as one of the most infamous beginner destroyers from his past life: **Large Zombie (Level 19)**.
Although it possessed a somewhat sluggish movement speed, its Strength, HP, and Armor stats reached outright absurd levels. Even more brutal were its two active skills: 「Earth Tremor」 and 「Enrage」. In his past life, countless players had underestimated it, only to be grabbed by it and smashed into pulp in the blink of an eye.
— "Tsk, looks like I've hit another stubborn roadblock head-on!" — Chen Luo let out a sigh, his brain immediately running at full capacity to calculate the terrain and movement angles.
However, before he could even finish sketching out his strategy, a wind-tearing swing of the monster's arm slammed directly down at the spot where he was standing.
*BOOM!*
Bricks and rubble went flying in all directions. Although Chen Luo's overwhelming speed advantage allowed him to leap backward in time to dodge the direct hit, even the terrifying shockwave from the strike alone was enough to make him spit blood, his HP bar immediately draining by half. Without a single second of hesitation, Chen Luo used the momentum of being flung backward to lightly bump into a nearby monster corpse, triggering the passive of 「Eater」.
His figure blurred and vanished, his health instantly being pulled back to a safe level. When he reappeared, Chen Luo was already standing firmly on the second-floor eaves of the building across the way. He sheathed his dagger and flipped his hand to pull out the great bow 「Hardened Brassnium Longbow」. The bowstring drew taut, and arrow after arrow embedded itself into the bulging flesh of the Large Zombie, sending black blood spraying and causing its HP bar to begin crawling backward.
*ROAR... OOOOH!*
Enraged by the long-range attacks, the Large Zombie crouched and leaped up onto the eaves. Chen Luo callously activated 「Vanish」, his invisible form surging toward higher ground, firing arrows like a torrential rain while on the move. Although the damage from each arrow was negligible compared to its beefy health pool, the continuous piercing pain completely stoked the boss's frantic fury.
When its health dropped to the 40% mark, its skin turned a deep crimson. The monster entered its 「Enrage」 state, becoming completely immune to long-range bow and arrow attacks. It let out a roar that shook the very space, then activated its ultimate skill 「Earth Thunder Peak」, charging madly at Chen Luo.
Chen Luo was no fool either. He decisively stowed away the longbow and military dagger. In one smooth motion as he passed his hand through his inventory, a burst of vibrant green magical light flashed brilliantly. In his left hand now appeared the keen blade of the 「Venom Fang Wolf Dagger」. Without retreating, he charged straight at the frantic boss.
Although the boss's speed in its berserk state had now caught up to him, thanks to the combat thinking of a top-tier expert, Chen Luo exploited every single closing step with extreme precision to swing his dagger, then immediately used 「Vanish」 to escape the counterattack. Each slash only carved off a tiny amount of health, but the toxin effect of the 「Venom Fang Wolf Dagger」 began to take its devastating toll. The poisonous green spread across the boss's entire body, gradually slowing its movement speed while its HP bar plummeted uncontrollably over time.
After over 15 minutes of suffocating kiting and bleeding, the massive monster corpse crashed to the ground, sending up a violent tremor of dust. At the same time, the system's notification bells rang relentlessly in his head:
-"Congratulations to the Host and pet beast Hina for defeating a total of 425「Zombie Goblins」(Level 8) and 1「Large Zombie」(Level 19)!"
-"The Host received 28,250 EXP and has leveled up to Level 12!"
-"Level-up rewards include: 40 Free Attribute Points, 4 points of Magic Power, 2 points of Physical Power, 5% Crit Rate, 3% Crit Damage, 6 points of Auto Regen HP."
-"Congratulations to the Host for defeating a Large Zombie for the first time, receiving the rare equipment: 「Earthquake Hammer」!"
The moment he saw the level-up notification, Chen Luo immediately and voluntarily dispelled his 「Berserk」 state. The instant his feet touched the ground, a terrifying sense of exhaustion and heaviness from the side effects invaded his entire body. In his past life, he had only controlled his character through a computer screen and had never experienced this sensation. Now, enduring it himself, he finally understood why the top experts were so cautious with burst-type skills. If not for his body having been significantly enhanced through attribute stats, he likely would have vomited blood and passed out on the spot.
Unable to resist the extreme exhaustion, Chen Luo's vision darkened, and he sank into a deep coma.
Within the coma, Chen Luo entered a strange dream. He saw the blurred back of an unfamiliar woman. Yet, deep within this body, a heartbreakingly familiar feeling surged up, urging him to charge toward that figure. A vague, whispering voice echoed around his ears—it shifted between real and illusory, impossible to make out clearly. Even so, that sound brought a strange warmth to his soul. But immediately afterward, the scene suddenly shattered, and Chen Luo felt himself falling freely into a bottomless abyss. He jolted violently and snapped awake from the nightmare.
— "How strange... Who was that woman? Why did she give me such a sense of safety? What on earth was that conversation...?"
A tangled flood of questions swirled endlessly in Chen Luo's mind. The sensation of falling into the abyss in his dream was exactly identical to the moment his soul transmigrated to this world. He vaguely realized that his entry into this body seemed to be no mere coincidence.
Seeing Chen Luo awake and sitting blankly, Hina nearby cast a gaze filled with worry in his direction. Chen Luo lightly waved his hand to signal that he was fine. He pushed the unresolved questions aside, walked over, and unlocked the chain to free Hina.
Now free, Hina looked at Chen Luo with completely different eyes. The she-wolf realized this master of hers was by no means weak or someone who relied only on tricks. That berserk state he had just displayed—if he were to truly go all-out against her, even with stat differences, she would certainly have met a bitter end.
After composing themselves, the two stepped inside the shopping center together. The interior was vast but shrouded in gloomy darkness. Chen Luo strode through the stalls, beginning to sweep up clothing and all kinds of daily necessities. According to this world's timeline, they still had a very long shelf life, so he unceremoniously stored everything into his inventory. As for the fresh food section, he skipped it entirely—because in a post-apocalyptic world, fresh food still existing normally was the greatest abnormality of all.
Chen Luo leisurely swept through the resources without a care about security systems or surveillance cameras. Hina silently followed behind him, her majestic bearing now no different from a great Fenrir beast protecting its master.
The two advanced deep into the internal management area. While observing, Chen Luo accidentally touched a hidden protrusion on the wall. *Rattle... Rattle...* A large section of the wall slowly slid aside, revealing a hidden passageway. Chen Luo was rather surprised to discover this was purely a mechanical mechanism. Why, in the middle of a modern structure, would there exist a secret passage using such classical technology? Signaling Hina to stand guard outside, Chen Luo took a torch himself and stepped inside.
Entering the dim space, he activated 「Mind Map」. The 3D structure displayed showed a long corridor stretching ahead. The sound of his footsteps echoed through the hollow space until the path opened up into a vast area. Chen Luo raised his torch to look—it turned out to be a colossal underground warehouse.
Every room around was inscribed with Light Rune Formations, but their energy had been exhausted. At that moment, a yellow-white magical guidance trail appeared, indicating an interaction point. Chen Luo tried channeling a thin thread of Mana into the rune block. Instantly, the entire magical system blazed to life, illuminating the entire underground space.
The scene before his eyes left Chen Luo quite astonished. Deep beneath the earth lay an incredibly luxurious and debauched underground ecosystem. This was clearly the secret playground of the upper echelons—the venue for their expensive and degenerate entertainments.
This area was divided into multiple sections: from secret auction houses and ballrooms to treasure vaults. Chen Luo strode through every room, inspecting and quickly sweeping all valuable items into his inventory. After all, his inventory was system-supported with unlimited capacity, unrestricted like ordinary players.
-"System Notice: Congratulations to the Host for unlocking the 「Auto Collect」 feature!"
-"Description: When activated in areas with concentrated resources across a wide area, the system will automatically gather all items into an Intermediate Reward Bag for the Host to inspect and receive immediately."
This new feature saved Chen Luo countless hours. He no longer needed to walk into every corner to rummage—with a single thought, all the resources in the underground ecosystem were swept clean into his inventory.
After finishing the collection, Chen Luo's keen eyes settled on a sturdy iron door deep within the storage room. He pushed the door open and stepped inside. A thick musty smell wafted up, and on the floor lay several dried-out human skeletons, along with a row of enormous iron cages imprisoning a pack of「Silver Demon Wolves」, each letting out weak growls. Around them were scattered many「Monster Cores」.
Chen Luo approached the skeletons, and his gaze suddenly stopped when he spotted a dark red cloth pouch lying beside a corner of the wall. He bent down, picked it up, and opened it to inspect.
Items received:
- 「Slave Key」x10
- 「Slave Collar」x2
- 「Slave Certificate」x8
- 「Slave Control Stone」x1
- A bundle of mechanical keys x1
Looking at the list of items that had just appeared, a strange and oppressive feeling suddenly welled up in Chen Luo's heart. In his past life when playing the game, he had known this world possessed a slave system as a normal NPC mechanic and had never given it a second thought. But right now, holding these items directly in his hands, a powerful wave of unease invaded his mind, leaving him restless and unable to sit still.
Chen Luo focused his mind and began carefully reading the detailed information panel of each item...