In Lin Youwei's timid and weak voice, there was an overwhelming sense of pain and despair.
Lu Ming paused but did not turn back.
Lin Youwei thought Lu Ming had stopped because he was willing to help her. She cried, "My brother never harmed anyone. He was always a good person. Why, why did they have to kill him...
Ye Chen! They were all sent by Ye Chen. It was Ye Chen who killed my brother... I want to avenge him!
If you help me kill Ye Chen, I'll give you all the money I have!"
As she spoke, tears streamed down Lin Youwei's pale cheeks.
Through the recent battle, she could see that Lu Ming was very powerful, so she placed all her hopes for revenge on him.
She opened the WeChat page linked to her game account, showing a balance of 13,584.2. This was all the money Lin Youwei had earned through part-time work and study before entering the Sky Abyss.
Her parents had passed away in the Sky Abyss when she was young, leaving her and her brother to rely on each other. Not wanting her brother to have to both take care of their lives and earn her tuition, she chose not to continue her studies after high school and instead ventured into the Sky Abyss with her brother.
But just as Lin Youwei was about to ask for Lu Ming's WeChat ID to transfer the money to him, Lu Ming walked away without a word.
Watching Lu Ming's indifferent back as he left, Lin Youwei's eyes filled with helplessness and grief.
Lu Ming left the Shadow Forest, with Lin Youwei's heart-wrenching cries echoing behind him.
In his previous life, Lu Ming might have sympathized with this poor girl. But now, he prioritized his own interests above all else and wouldn't empathize with anyone else.
Ye Chen, Lu Ming was determined to find him. But not for Lin Youwei, rather to avenge himself!
***
Lu Ming returned to Moonfall Town. It was already midnight. The town was still bustling with people.
Ever since the Sky Abyss descended a hundred years ago, the world had been divided into two.
According to big data analysis: excluding the 31.82% of the global population under 18, 35.97% chose to remain ordinary people in the real world. Yet, 32.21% chose to enter the Sky Abyss as professional players! Sky Abyss, had become humanity's second world for survival, and its popularity would only increase.
Back in town, Lu Ming went straight to the bar, found the security guard Dick, and submitted the task.
Receiving the ring from Lu Ming, Dick's face lit up with joy.
"Great! My ring is finally back!
Thank you, young hero, here's a little reward for you!"
As Dick finished speaking, the system's pleasant notification followed.
[Ding~ Congratulations on completing the task "Who Stole the Ring?" at the tenth level, reward: Experience Points +1000, Silver Coin +1, and equipment Hero's Sword (Black Iron Equipment) +1!]
Lu Ming's experience bar instantly surged by 83%! He opened his backpack and took out a pitch-black iron sword lying quietly inside.
> [Hero's Sword] (Black Iron Equipment)
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> The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
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> [Level: 5]
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> [Physical Attack: +28]
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> [Bonus: Strength +6]
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> [Durability: 15/15]
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> [Profession: Trickster, Warrior]
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> [Description: A sword only worthy of a hero, the bearer symbolizes the people's hero of Moonfall Town...]
Lu Ming immediately replaced his level 1 whiteboard iron sword, which only added 3 attack points, with the Hero's Sword. He checked his status bar and saw his attack power jump from 10 to 41!
Lu Ming gained a 31-point increase in attack power, equivalent to the War Tread's attack bonus against the Undead Warrior, an equal 31-point increase.
Not bad at all!
As for the whiteboard iron sword he replaced. Lu Ming noticed that after a night's use, its durability had dropped from 7 to 6.
"I bought it for a hundred, selling it for 80 after losing 1 point of durability isn't unreasonable, right?"
With this thought, Lu Ming listed the iron sword on the trading market for 80 bucks.
Reflecting on it, the first level reward for this task was only 50 experience + 5 copper coins, and the equipment was just a small chance of whiteboard quality.
In contrast, the tenth-level reward was truly enticing!
No wonder professional boosters outside charge at least a thousand bucks for a full ten-level task run for anything under level 10!
After all, within the ten-hour task time, going from killing 10 monsters at level one to 300 monsters at level ten is something ordinary players simply can't achieve. According to big data, the single-player limit is only up to the sixth level!
Feeling his growling stomach. Lu Ming opened the [Logout] interface and exited the game.
Whoosh!
A white light fell, and Lu Ming returned to the Ant Internet Cafe where he had logged into the game.
In the early morning, there were only a few people on the street, most of whom were staying up late playing Sky Abyss.
Lu Ming went to a roast duck noodle shop across the street and used the last 13 yuan in his WeChat to order a bowl of roast duck noodles.
As Lu Ming ate and pondered how to deal with Ye Ling'er and Ye Chen, he overheard a conversation from a group of young men and women at the next table.
"Who is this [Chen Emperor]? My goodness, ten thousand people online in the live stream! It shows the streamer is 13 km away from me... Do we have such a big internet celebrity in Linhai City?"
As soon as a bespectacled young man finished speaking, the twin-tailed girl sitting opposite him proudly said, "You don't know? I've been following this streamer for a while!"
"I've been following him for months, and although his popularity wasn't great before, I always thought he had potential! Turns out I was right, he's finally famous!"
Hearing the name "Chen Emperor," Lu Ming's heart skipped a beat.
As if realizing something, he picked up his phone, opened TikTok, searched for Chen Emperor, and entered a live stream.
The live stream showed a young boy with a delicate and youthful appearance. And this boy was Ye Ling'er's brother, Lu Ming's brother-in-law from his previous life, Ye Chen!
Ye Chen had been streaming for two years, which Lu Ming knew. He was on the looks-based streamer path.
After all, it must be said that both he and his sister Ye Ling'er had some charm, otherwise, Lu Ming from the previous life wouldn't have fallen for Ye Ling'er's allure.
However, in Lu Ming's impression, Ye Chen had always been a small-time streamer with little traffic or fame.
But now, the live stream had over 100,000 viewers online!
The popularity was so high that the screen was almost entirely covered by high-end gifts like supercars, yachts, and rockets.
The chat was flooded with countless messages scrolling crazily, with hundreds of comments in the blink of an eye!
Lu Ming glanced at it and unexpectedly found himself caught in the gossip!
[Chen Emperor's Little Fan Girl]: "Chen Emperor, I heard your sister's boyfriend died in Sky Abyss last night? Is it true?"
[Seeking a Rich Woman to Support Me]: "His sister already confirmed it in the live stream last night, so it can't be fake, right? She looked sad, seems like a devoted person!"
[If I'm Unhappy, I'll Rant]: "To be honest, I only noticed you because your sister accidentally appeared in your live stream once. With her looks, her ex-boyfriend didn't deserve her at all! He deserved to die, your sister deserves better!"
Seeing these comments, Lu Ming thought Ye Chen would pretend to be a good person and say something insincere.
But to his surprise, Ye Chen didn't even bother pretending and directly ranted in front of over 100,000 viewers!
"You're right! So many people pursued my sister, but she rejected them all because she had a boyfriend! Although my sister was willing to endure hardships with him, she couldn't suffer with him for a lifetime!"
Ye Chen sighed, pretending to be disappointed, and said, "Honestly, my sister's ex-boyfriend had no money or power, and my sister never minded. But the key is, he was unambitious, idle all day, and expected my sister to support him.
Sigh, if only my sister wasn't so devoted..."
Ye Chen's lament instantly resonated with countless fans in the live stream. For a moment, the chat was filled with curses!
"Truly a flower stuck in cow dung!"
"I used to sympathize with your sister's boyfriend, but now it seems he deserved to die!"
"Exactly! If it were me, I'd have kicked such a freeloader away long ago!"
...
Seeing Ye Chen's hypocritical behavior, Lu Ming was amused by his own anger.
"I'm unambitious? I'm idle?"
Although Lu Ming's aptitude wasn't great in his previous life, he could confidently say that no one was more hardworking or eager to improve than him!
Enough. Lu Ming couldn't be bothered to think about these things now. He had more important matters to attend to.
Just then, Lu Ming received a text message.
[Your item "Moon Demon Blade" listed in the Sky Abyss trading market has been successfully sold, with a 5% handling fee deducted; your account ending in 649 has received 2,660.00 yuan, balance 2,660.00 yuan!]
Seeing this message, Lu Ming was delighted, "This transaction is really a timely help!"
So, Lu Ming immediately switched to a TikTok alt account, changed the nickname to [My Heart], set the gender to female, and changed the profile picture to a cute girl type that seemed easy to manipulate.
He entered Ye Chen's live stream. Choosing a time when there weren't many people sending gifts, he gritted his teeth and sent a [True Love Forever] gift worth 899!
Then, he shamelessly sent a comment: "Streamer, I'm your new fan, can I ask if you're a Sky Abyss player?"
Sure enough, Lu Ming's gift made him stand out from the tens of thousands of viewers.
He successfully caught Ye Chen's attention and made him notice his message.
Ye Chen first thanked the young lady named My Heart for the gift, then gently and patiently answered the question:
"I wasn't before, but I will be soon.
Early this morning, I just registered a two-star Sky Abyss account and plan to officially enter the Sky Abyss world at 8 AM today!"
With that, Ye Chen took the opportunity to confidently announce to all the viewers in the live stream, "To all my fans in Linhai City, let's meet in the Sky Abyss world at 8 AM!"
"I declare here that any fans I encounter online will receive a gift worth 1-10 silver coins! If you want it, type 1!"
As soon as he said this, the chat was instantly flooded with countless 1s...
Having achieved his goal, Lu Ming quietly exited the live stream.
A revenge plan had fully formed in his mind.