As soon as he entered the conference building, Alan saw several closed doors and three people. Two wore blue security uniforms, while the last one wore a camouflage suit. From the looks of it, they had to be the guards of this place.

As his eyes spotted their figures, information entered his [Gamelink], and a notification popped into his mind.

[Security Guard]

[Type: Human]

[Rank: F]

[Remarks: Don't expect too much out of them]

[Regular Soldier]

[Type: Human]

[Rank: E-]

[Remarks: Your regular Army Joe]

In contrast to mobs that were virtually invincible from players' interference, these marked humans were allowed to be killed, and players could earn XP and survival points out of them.

At first glance, it might sound wicked to kill these people. They were, after all, soldiers and security guards who swore to serve and protect.

In real situations, it's much more logical to actually try to strike up a conversation and possibly negotiate with them.

However, In this game, any attempt to communicate with marked individuals would certainly doom to failure if one did not have a special skill or attributes to guarantee the success of such actions. In this case, Alan's D intelligence stats might allow him to succeed in the matter.

But Alan would not do such a thing. Aside from the fact that he didn't like to rely on chance, he could really use the XP and points he earned from these NPCs for the progression of his plans.

It's time ... for a hunt.

As soon as he saw the soldier turn and walk away from his position, with his new upgraded [Sneak (novice)] skill by the [Night cloak], Alan carefully made his way through the hallway and entered one of the nearby doors. He purposely made a subtle noise as he opened the door, enough to attract one of the security guards to leave his colleague and inspect the premises.

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When the guard came close enough, Alan swiftly sneaked onto his back and used one of his hands to cover the guard's mouth while his other hand thrusts the knife deep into the guard's body, just below the rib cage, piercing his kidney.

The moment the blood sponge got punctured, as if a dam had been broken, blood gushed out profusely, and the guard quickly lost his life without a sound.

[Stabbing: Lethal Attack. Inflicts 48 damage]

[Critical hit inflicted from ambush, 24 damage, Target dies…]

[You gained 60 XP and 30 survival points]

Alan's base attack damage, given by the knife, was 24. For hitting the vital part of the enemy, he received a 100% bonus multiplier; from a successful ambush, he received another 100% bonus.

Therefore, the final damage he dealt the security guard was three times his normal damage allowing him to kill the latter instantly.

With only one guard left in the hallway, to make up for the time he spent, Alan calmly used his novice skill to sneak up on him. As long as he didn't come into direct view or make loud noises, the guard, mere F rank, wouldn't immediately notice his approach.

Even so, there's still a limit to what a novice skill could do. It only managed to get Alan five steps closer before the man realized his presence. But it was already too late.

As the man turned his head, Alan threw the knife in his hand. It landed right into his throat and quickly stopped the man from making any sounds. Immediately after, his figure shot forward and grabbed the guard, slowly laying his body on the floor so as not to alarm the soldier who could be nearby. At the same time, he snapped the guard's head to confirm the kill.

[You gained 60 XP and 30 survival points]

Alan carefully peered into the door guarded by the two security guards. But, it's just an empty conference room. Still, his deed was not in vain, as it meant that one out of the 6 conference rooms had been cleared.

Grabbing the guard's legs, he pulled the body into the room to hide it from prying eyes. After that, he once again used [Sneak] and slowly made his way across the hallway. He peered into the second and third rooms as he passed, both of which were empty, until he reached a corner where he saw the soldier walking back in his direction.

Seeing that, Alan quickly but silently retreated to the third empty room and waited for the soldier there. As soon as the soldier figure was seen walking past through the small gap in the door, Alan jumped at him from behind. The hand holding the knife stabbed him in the back while the other violently strangled him.

[Stabbing: Lethal Attack. Inflicts 40 damage]

[Critical hit inflicted from sneaking, 20 damage]

"Arggghhh!!"

The ambush that packed extra damage was successful, but unfortunately, the soldier had high defense and more HP than the security guards. Hence he didn't die immediately from Alan's attack.

Of course, Alan had expected this. Therefore while the man screamed from the stabbing pain, he forcefully pulled the soldier into the empty room behind them.

"Fuck!!" The man tried to break away and pulled his sidearm, but with his E+ strength, Alan was able to overpower him, keep him on the lock and strangled him even harder. As he did so, he pulled the knife from the soldier's back and stabbed once more. This time he went for the neck..

Splaaattt

[You gained 100 XP and 50 survival points]

The instant the notification came, Alan let go of his choke, and the soldier's body fell helplessly to the floor with a thud. He checked the gun strap on the soldier's thigh, only to be disappointed that the gun was not a marked item.

Firing an unmarked gun such as this could only inflict 1, at most 2 damage, and the loud sound would do nothing but attract trouble; hence there was no point in taking it away.

With this, the first floor was clear; now Alan made his way through the stairs onto the second floor. He peeked and saw four people guarding one of the three visible doors in the hallway.

From the looks of it, the guarded room was most likely where they kept the ambassador. However, unlike their counterparts downstairs, these four people didn't seem to have any intention of changing places any time soon.

[43 minutes]

Time is ticking down, and Alan must deal with them quickly.