Chapter 1 Dealing With the Aftermath

"Get rid of these pets first. Thieves, search everywhere. That Nie Yan guy should be nearby!" A necromancer in dark gray robes said in a deep voice. His name was Chenmi. A veteran gamer, he had poured tens of millions of credits into various virtual games. Fortunately, he came from a wealthy family and could afford the extravagance. Regardless of the game, he always managed to make a name for himself, so many people remembered his name.

Through the shadows, Nie Yan clearly saw the man's profile. He looked to be in his thirties, with a square face and thick eyebrows. He directed his subordinates in an orderly manner, giving off a mature and experienced air.

"Do a good job, everyone. If you kill that human thief and he drops his equipment, everyone gets 50 gold coins!" Chenmi said. As soon as he finished speaking, the players became excited.

Fifty gold coins was a huge sum for an individual, and few could resist the temptation.

The players immediately worked harder, quickly carrying out Chenmi's orders. Nie Yan realized that this group of players had been assembled temporarily. It seemed to consist mostly of professional players. However, their skills were only average. Truly high-end professional players would disdain joining such a motley crew.

Checking the guild badges of these players, they were indeed very scattered, representing various guilds. Many were casual players without any guild affiliations.

The news of Nie Yan being in the Fallen Canyon must have been leaked, which was why these people had come here to search for him.

It seemed it wouldn't be so easy to get to the nearest town. If people kept coming to surround him, he would be annoyed to death.

The only way to deal with incessant harassment was to use strength to intimidate them, making them afraid to come again!

These people thought they could kill him by gathering such a ragtag army. They were too naive.

Nie Yan looked ahead. More than a dozen Undead Warriors were closing in on the five Zombie Foremen, holding heavy shields and looking a bit nervous.

"Charge!" Chenmi's voice fell.

Charge! Charge!

One by one, the Undead Warriors charged in a straight line towards Nie Yan's Zombie Foremen.

Nie Yan smiled slightly. These people were treating his Zombie Foremen like wild monsters. They couldn't be more wrong!

Wild zombies often had no tactics whatsoever, but these Zombie Foremen, under Nie Yan's control, were essentially intelligent.

Two Zombie Foremen blocked the dozen or so Undead Warriors, while the other three Zombie Foremen simultaneously swung their knives, slashing at one of the Undead Warriors. Their movements were uniform, all three blades hitting at the same time, without any hesitation, cleanly and crisply. After being struck, the Undead Warrior had three damage numbers pop up above his head, all around seven or eight hundred. The Undead Warrior didn't even make a sound before collapsing.

The simultaneous attack from the three Zombie Foremen instantly killed the Undead Warrior. The necromancers in the back, who were preparing to heal, were stunned. The Zombie Foremen's movements were so synchronized! They didn't even have a chance to heal before the Undead Warrior was killed.

Was it just a coincidence?

Just then, the three Zombie Foremen simultaneously retracted their knives, stood up straight, and targeted another Undead Warrior. They struck at the same time again, killing another Undead Warrior with three blades. The entire process was seamless.

These Zombie Foremen were elite creatures to begin with, and Nie Yan's Undead Sacrifice provided them with certain stat buffs, making their attacks very high. Each blade could shave off about a third of the Undead Warriors' health. The three Zombie Foremen swung their knives in unison, as if they had rehearsed beforehand, creating a strong visual impact.

After killing the second Undead Warrior, the three Zombie Foremen steadied themselves and struck again in unison, their blades gleaming coldly.

Drawing, retracting, and striking again, the three blades combining to instantly kill anyone they hit. This was clearly no coincidence!

"Damn, these Zombie Foremen are strong!"

Even the most heavily armored shield warrior among the players was instantly killed by their combined attack.

The necromancers were basically useless. If their teammates were killed in one hit, their healing couldn't bring them back to life!

Everyone was stunned.

The Undead Warriors in front were frightened, disobeying orders and quickly retreating.

"Two people block one, don't retreat, don't panic!" Chenmi roared, while commanding the magic-based classes to unleash their full power.

But this group was, after all, a temporarily assembled team, motivated by profit. Not many were willing to die for it.

"Anyone who dies gets a 50 gold coin subsidy! Those who retreat can get lost, hurry up and block them!" Chenmi shouted, seeing that the group was still retreating.

Upon hearing about the money, the group thought about it. If they ran back to their corpses after dying, they wouldn't lose much experience. As for equipment, they weren't wearing anything valuable anyway.

The Undead Warriors stopped retreating and listened to Chenmi's orders, forming a solid wall.

Under Nie Yan's command, the three Zombie Foremen stood in a row, limping towards the Undead Warriors, targeting one Undead Warrior, drawing their knives, slashing, killing instantly, and sheathing their knives. A perfect strike! Another Undead Warrior fell.

The three Zombie Foremen broke through the wall of Undead Warriors, while the other two zombies and the Golden Earth Dragon charged towards the magic-based classes in the rear.

The six units charged forward with unstoppable momentum, initiating a one-sided massacre. Cries of agony echoed.

Nie Yan, hidden in the darkness, had to expend a great deal of energy to control each unit so precisely, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

*Bang, bang, bang,* dense magic exploded on one of the Zombie Foremen, depleting its health and causing it to fall to the ground.

The first Zombie Foreman was killed.

The Golden Earth Dragon unleashed a breath of dragon fire, instantly killing a dozen magic-based players gathered nearby.

Losing dozens of people right away, Chenmi hadn't expected things to develop like this. The strength of these summoned creatures exceeded his expectations.

Especially the nearly perfect combined attacks of the three Zombie Foremen, which were truly amazing.

Dense magic rained down on the Zombie Foremen. Under Nie Yan's command, the remaining four Zombie Foremen charged forward, with the Golden Earth Dragon providing support from behind, pursuing and killing along the way, leaving corpses strewn everywhere.

Another Zombie Foreman was killed. The remaining three Zombie Foremen were also low on health, but Nie Yan didn't care. These Zombie Foremen were summoned, so he didn't feel too bad about losing them.

The Golden Earth Dragon rampaged, unleashing a counterattack storm that swept away five or six players nearby.

These creatures were too fierce. Seeing that continuing the fight would result in heavy losses, Chenmi began to organize the players to retreat in an orderly fashion, falling back into a pile of jagged rocks.

The terrain of the jagged rocks was somewhat complicated, making it impossible for the huge Zombie Foremen and the Golden Earth Dragon to enter. Nie Yan thought, *Forget it,* and pulled back the three low-health Zombie Foremen and the Golden Earth Dragon.

The group retreated into the jagged rocks. Seeing the Zombie Foremen and the Golden Earth Dragon retreat, they all looked shaken. Chenmi looked at the players around him and sighed. As expected, a hastily assembled ragtag army couldn't be relied on.

These players were fairly skilled among ordinary players, but they were used to normal tactics, with warriors tanking and mages leisurely attacking. Suddenly encountering the three Zombie Foremen controlled by Nie Yan unleashing such fierce and sharp combined attacks, sweeping away a group of Undead Warriors, they were thrown into disarray.

Thinking back, Chenmi realized that the combined attacks of the three Zombie Foremen could be described as unstoppable. Even the most heavily armored Undead Warriors were killed in one hit, let alone other classes!

To be able to bring out the strength of the Zombie Foremen to such an extent, this player from the surface was truly not simple. If he had the chance, he would like to get to know this person called Nie Yan.

During the battle, several thieves from Angel Corps were watching from a distance, waiting for Nie Yan to appear. But to their surprise, Nie Yan never showed up, and the battle ended in just a few minutes. They exchanged glances. The combined attacks of the three Zombie Foremen could be described as invincible.

Thinking about how they had lost nearly half their team to Nie Yan before, it didn't seem so unfair after all.

Seeing that the battle was over, Nie Yan emerged from the darkness, letting the remaining Zombie Foremen and the Golden Earth Dragon rest in place.

He checked his military rank status and saw that he had been promoted from civilian to sergeant. He looked at the sergeant's rank rewards, which were +3% defense and +5% health, not bad.

Just then, he suddenly sensed something and looked towards the darkness in the distance. In the darkness, it felt like something was watching him.

Thieves?

Thinking of this, Nie Yan's temples throbbed, and he activated the Eye of Truth, emitting a brilliant divine light from his eyes, scanning the surrounding darkness.

Shi Zi and the others, hidden in the darkness, were shocked. Nie Yan's gaze was as if it were tangible, piercing through the darkness, a chilling killing intent directly entering their hearts. They huddled in the corner, not daring to move at all.

A devilish gaze. Shi Zi and the others felt like their breathing was about to stop.

This was a pupil skill!

Many pupil skills could see through stealth. They were afraid of being seen through by Nie Yan. Once they were seen through, it would be a disaster for them.

Time passed second by second. Shi Zi, hiding in the corner, felt his back soaked with sweat.

Nie Yan looked around, not finding anything. Only then did he withdraw his gaze and leave with the Golden Earth Dragon and the Zombie Foremen.

Watching Nie Yan's departing back, they finally breathed a sigh of relief. The weight on their hearts lifted. It felt like they had brushed shoulders with death.

"Damn, that scared me to death. What kind of pupil skill was that just now?"

"It's a bit like Demonic Gaze."

"It's not Demonic Gaze."

"Did anyone record the process of the Zombie Foremen slaughtering the Undead Warriors just now?"

"I recorded it."

Shi Zi collected the videos. Everything that had just happened had left an indelible memory on them.