The battle lasted less than thirty seconds. On the ground were left some potions and two pieces of equipment. Xiao Hua picked them up and examined them; they were around level forty blue items, estimated to be worth a few thousand gold coins—a small fortune!

After the previous team of players died, Montu did not transfer his hostility to Xiao Hua's group. He simply glanced at them expressionlessly, put away his axe, and walked back to the wooden house.

The lumberyard had only two wooden houses, with piles of various kinds of logs in front of them. One could easily step on a few logs by accident.

Seeing this, the four people hurriedly followed him inside.

Soon, after just a few minutes, the four people came out again and left the lumberyard.

"That NPC is so annoying!" Fang Ying, who rarely spoke, was the first one to voice her frustration.

"I really want to stomp on him a few times! I really want to kill him!" Fang Ning clenched her staff tightly!

"This is the first time I've felt someone more infuriating than Icebound World, and it's an old man!" Piaoling’s fair forehead showed veins popping up!

"Why isn’t the super bomb directly deducting 100,000 HP? If it did, I would use it to blow that old guy up!" Xiao Hua said through gritted teeth.

They followed Montu into the wooden house and carefully observed the interior decorations. Apart from a sneaky rat that wasn't afraid of people, there was nothing suspicious. After politely asking Montu about the missing person, they finally understood why the previous team had attacked him!

When Montu heard their question, he didn't say a word, opened his mouth, and gave them a verbal lashing as if they owed him nine lifetimes of gratitude. If they hadn’t known they couldn’t defeat Montu, they would have turned on him right then and there!

"Now what? Without any clues, the mission can't proceed." Fang Ning said dejectedly.

"Following the normal mission steps, we should fight him like the previous team did, beat him half to death, show him our strength, and trigger the next part of the mission. But the problem is, we can't beat him," Piaoling analyzed. However, they all saw Montu's attack power, which was something they could not contend with!

"Hehe, actually, I have an idea, but it will take some time. The question is whether we have enough time," Xiao Hua smiled mischievously.

The others looked at Xiao Hua in confusion, but then they saw him summon an illusion, which then walked back towards the wooden house.

"Steal from Montu?" Piaoling’s eyes lit up, thinking it was a good idea!

"For this type of quest NPC, if we can steal something important, maybe the mission isn't entirely impossible! Hopefully, we can get something before the other team returns. Otherwise, if we steal something valuable, we might as well give up on the mission." Xiao Hua smiled, thought for a moment, and then called over Abooli to monitor the distant Snowfall City from the sky to prevent the other team from coming back for revenge.

Stealing from humanoid NPCs, excluding Andrews, was something Xiao Hua had never done before. Usually, the consequences were too severe compared to the benefits. But Montu, this despised NPC, seemed like the perfect target for stealing without worrying about chain reactions!

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In front of the wooden house, Montu sat down on a pile of logs after Xiao Hua and the others left, still expressionless despite his weathered face full of wrinkles, chopping wood with his axe.

Xiao Hua controlled the illusion to quietly move behind Montu.

Steal!

Steal failed!

Xiao Hua had experienced countless such failures before and knew that rushing wouldn't help. His mind remained calm.

"Did you get it?" Fang Ning’s impatience showed through.

"Take it easy. If it were that easy to steal, I wouldn’t bother with this mission. I could just steal from every NPC and switch cities." When the illusion revealed itself, it was cut in half by Montu’s axe. The real illusion skill was still cooling down. While waiting, Xiao Hua responded irritably to Fang Ning.

"I must strip him bare, even down to his underwear, let him freeze to death!" It was clear that Montu had thoroughly offended Fang Ning, who let her imagination run wild.

"That's not a bad idea. I agree. Let me try to strip him naked!" Xiao Hua, equally annoyed by Montu, nodded in agreement with Fang Ning's suggestion.

"Go for it!" Fang Ying and Piaoling encouraged him, eager to teach Montu a lesson.

...

(Several paragraphs omitted describing Xiao Hua's repeated attempts to steal from Montu)

...

"At this rate, we have about half an hour left. If we can't steal anything important within this time, the mission will fail."

The illusion snuck over again. Steal!

System prompt: You obtained... a rare piece of wood!

Rare wood: High-quality wood that cannot be found in ordinary trees, with significant uses!

Seeing the word "wood," Xiao Hua was about to curse Montu as a pauper, but then realized it could be useful. He happily put it away. Although its use was unclear, based on his experience stealing from Andrews, he expected better items to follow!

What else could he steal? Dark gold equipment?

Thinking about the attributes of the Andes hoe, Xiao Hua salivated inwardly!

Xiao Hua became energized, his previously frustrated heart now filled with determination. He focused intently on continuing his thieving endeavor against Montu!

However, after obtaining something useful, he tried six or seven more times without success, contrary to the high success rate earlier.

Could this rare wood be the last item on Montu?

Xiao Hua was unsure but had no other options. There was still a possibility that the next item could be Montu's most critical possession. So, he continued patiently stealing.

At this moment, Abooli flew down from the sky.

"Master, six people are approaching. They will be here in about ten minutes," Abooli warned.

Ten minutes, three more chances!

Three more opportunities, Xiao Hua had no confidence, as success depended on luck.

"You guys hide somewhere far away. I'll stay here and keep stealing from Montu!" After deliberating, Xiao Hua had another idea.

The three women obediently ran to a distant forest and hid. Xiao Hua continued to patiently steal, but unfortunately, the next three attempts all failed!

Under Abooli’s warning, Xiao Hua sneaked into a forest about thirty to forty meters away from the lumberyard.

A six-person team soon appeared around the lumberyard. From Xiao Hua's perspective, he could clearly see them. Five were the previous team members, and one was a new archer, seemingly aimed at helping against Piaoling and Fang Ning.

"Damn! Those guys escaped." Looking at the empty lumberyard, the fire mage cursed angrily.

"Probably fled far away. Can't chase them now. Luckily, Montu is still here. Let's take him down first, trigger the next part of the mission, and complete the task!" The warrior, who seemed to be the leader, decisively ordered.

No objections arose. After preparations, the knight pulled Montu out.

With the additional archer's output, Montu’s HP dropped faster!

Xiao Hua hid behind the woods, silently calculating Montu’s HP. When Montu’s HP dropped to half, the real illusion skill had cooled down. Xiao Hua immediately summoned the illusion and snuck over!

Logically, Montu was a necessary quest NPC, killing him was impossible. Therefore, he needed to act early, before Montu’s HP dropped below a certain threshold. If the system weren’t too unrealistic, the threshold should be around 10% HP!

Seeing Montu’s HP drop to about 15%, the illusion had already sneaked within two steps behind him.

With such low HP, surely there must be something to steal!

With this thought, Xiao Hua focused and gave the order!

Steal!